Planet Waves Weekly for Aug. 29, 2024 by Eric Francis

Quite Early One Morning — This Week’s Photos

This week’s photos were created the morning of Aug. 10, all within a very small range of the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, N.Y. All are from locations on the map below, fairly close together. Awake before daylight and unable to fall back asleep, l set out from my apartment in Kingston at about 5 am and headed south for the hills, exploring a wider range of what I call the Grandmother Land. I would say where the scene is in each caption, but I often don’t know what road I’m driving on; I just know how to get there and back. Though I try, the map never seems to match the roads in this part of the county. Some scenes are views from along a private road that does not seem to be on the map. There are many places in Ulster County that have roots into other centuries (including here in Kingston, which has many colonial-era stone houses). I’ll give you a tour of those one week. My photos are always presented large enough for wallpaper or to get a nice print. However, if you ever want to purchase a print of one of my photos (including any from the Book of Blue project) made personally made by me, just get in touch. – efc

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Aries (March 20-April 19) — Don’t let yourself be distracted from important matters related to family and heritage. They will be front and center as the new season commences in a few weeks, and you will benefit greatly from being prepared. What the moment calls for is honesty. And this relates to how your family has conducted itself over long generations, often under the influence of alcohol. Being anything but honest is self-destructive. If you decide in advance that you don’t want to be that way, then the solution is simple: be real about who you are and what you feel. You might err on the side of saying less generally and a little more when the situation calls for it. That means speaking up when you know you’re withholding from someone. We’ve all been painted into this corner, and we’ve all found our way out. To the extent that you value your relationships, you will be sincere.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Your chart is describing you as someone who dearly wants to express yourself but is caught in some idea of why you cannot. I’m here to tell you that it’s probably not true. The untrue thing may be some form of creative phobia. This is the panic that can set in when you find yourself having a real idea that you care about. It’s the inner shock of knowing that what you think and may express could shake things up a bit, or mark you as a wholly unconventional person. Would that really be so bad? There is also the hint of wondering whether your desire to express yourself is real, or valid. And I reckon, a touch of “where this all might go” in terms of leading somewhere self-destructive. Please, get over yourself. One cannot think creatively and also think in terms of worst outcomes. It’s true that we’ve all had the fear of being real flogged into us, and sometimes people make a big drama when someone is honest. And?

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Aggression does not lead to a sense of safety. It only comes back at you as the reverberation of bad vibes. Mars coursing through your sign for a month and a half has given you the opportunity to get results of various experiments in self-assertion, confrontation and maybe even open combat. However, skipping to some friendly astrological advice: if you’ve been into any of that, this is the week to cool off. Mars in your sign is forming a square to Neptune in Pisces. This is potentially self-destructive, and it could spread into any area of your life — especially personal. Make sure you have a few people around you who serve as reality checks. They should be people who you agree with on most, but not all, things. Before you make any decisions, get their input. You might not like it, but at least it will get you to consider the possibility that the law of unintended consequences is running at full strength these days.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Use your intelligence. Nearly everyone on Earth is smarter than they let on, or smarter than they would be if they didn’t regularly anesthetize themselves and call it a honkin’ good time. There is likely to be one project you can focus on for the next few weeks, which you both want and need to do — but ‘cannot find time for’. This is largely a matter of patterns. People who are good at anything tend to establish that thing as a pattern in their daily life, and getting into something else is difficult. And that is because the pattern does not exist. So this suggests that you may need to over-focus for a while, and that may feel like you have to neglect certain things. If you only knew what was neglected for the sake of your favorite books, record albums, or most useful tools. And if you only knew what people had to stand up to and resist. For everything in the world you love and value there was at least one person who did not sell out.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You must get your attitude toward money straightened out. It’s currently kinked up like a hose, not allowing the necessary flow. This is a matter of mental concept that can influence the material world. Everything starts as an idea, and this is an idea about yourself. By that I mean an idea about your value. Some people think you can puff out your chest or your feathers and say, “I’m worth more! I deserve my value.” But what, exactly, would that be? And when you look at that inventory, where did you get those ideas? They came from somewhere. It’s like someone is bending that hose around the other side of the house where you can’t see them and the flow of water stops while you’re watering the plants. Actual value is a relationship to existence, and a relationship to yourself. It’s an understanding of who you are and what you contribute to your environment. It can take some time and effort to figure that out.

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Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The forthcoming New Moon in your birth sign (on Sept. 2) is reminding you to take it easier on yourself. Give yourself more room to maneuver. It looks like you’ve defined a too-narrow space for yourself to do the things you want to do. You’ve also been chasing the truth in circles, and this has burned a lot of energy. If you relax a little and let the story of your life unfold, a number of mysteries will reveal their truths without you having to do very much. Mostly, spread out a little. Space is intelligence. Most people cram themselves into a kind of mental funnel. This is not going to work for you. You need room to breathe and room to grow. That means the space to think in different ways — which may represent physical space. Explore your world until you find a couple of physical environments that inspire you to think in different ways. Roam around the world alone for a whole day and see what you learn. Then do it again.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You’re in a time where profound inner vision is possible. It’s as if you’re in the Halls of Amenti in a special room just for you, where you can read through your personal Akashic Record. Imagine somewhere you can be for as long as you want where you leaf through the documents of your life, past, present and future; including ideas, emotions, and memories. What if you had access to all of that information — and were able to remember it and act upon it? Imagine if your ideas about yourself were informed by the truth of yourself. How would your life be different? You might see the past differently; you might recognize the beauty of the present moment; you might have far more faith in the future. This may seem like a tall tale, though many spiritual traditions hold that such a record exists. You may use it as a metaphor; imagine yourself there, in a quiet and open space, in the privacy of your own thoughts, surrounded by an all-knowing presence.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You are a human magnet these days, drawing toward you all kinds of people, who may bring a friend along. Yet I suggest you be highly selective in your social affairs. I don’t mean elitist; I mean choose carefully who you spend time with, and especially carefully who you take into your trust. You are vulnerable to various forms of propaganda, and social environments are often encampments next to a river of lies. This is especially true when corks start popping or near the sound of a cocktail shaker. I once worked for a politician who said, “Always stay three drinks behind the crowd.” I would rewrite that to either staying five drinks beyond the crowd, or sticking to seltzer, the Shirley Temple or the Virgin Mary. You need your wits about you whenever you’re in a group. You will need to make actual assessments of who is who, where people’s loyalties are, and what their intentions and motives are.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The essence of any difficulty you face is likely to be emotional. That, in turn, is about a resistance to vulnerability. You seem to be living in a cordoned-off area where people can’t really get to you. They don’t actually know how you feel because you’re probably not letting on. But to do that, you would have to know, for yourself, what it is that you’re experiencing inside. You may be worried about what that is, but it’s not as bad as you think. It’s the mystery you’re keeping from yourself that is the cause of all the tension, rather than the solution to the mystery. For the next few days, Mars in your opposite sign Gemini will be making a tense angle to Neptune. Such is likely to hype up your fear of the unknown. And that, in turn, may lead you to be reactive, and to make decisions you regret. Take it slow. Stay close to yourself, and stay close to at least one person you know you actually trust.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may feel as if there is something you must sacrifice, for the sake of your purity. It will be worth giving this a name and recognizing what it is — by which I mean what you think you have to submit or release for your own good. This may or may not be true. You might not need to give up anything, but your idea is what matters. And in that, if you can trace the idea back to something you were told, some limit someone put on you, some notion of yourself that someone else gave you, it will be much easier to let go of. Once you realize that this was done to you and did not come from you, your options will be much more vivid, and more appealing. If you are feeling like your feelings, or your conduct, is being enforced or hedged in somehow, the likely controlling agent is shame. Shame is usually inflicted on people as an intentional act. It is deliberate control rather than an unintended consequence. So, who did this? What was it about, really?

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You probably feel like you’re done negotiating, especially if such means compromising again and again. That is the thing you’re done with, yet you must stand up for yourself if you’re going to get anywhere. And you cannot let others try to overwhelm you with irrelevant details that are just serving as a diversion. And most of all, in any actual negotiation process, there must be one or more things on your list of deal breakers. This had best be a short list, especially if it involves an intimate situation, though you must know what you will not brook. There have been all kinds of back-and-forth discussions and adjustments the past month, and it’s likely that you’ve come up short more than once. In any situation that serves everyone, there must not be any major sacrifices, and you cannot be the only person expected to give up what you need or value. But that means having a spine, and being impeccably honest.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — There is something or someone you must dedicate yourself to with total devotion. A special purpose is involved, something specific and necessary, and you are the one who must hold the space open for the right thing to happen. You will know what this is because it feels right and good to apply your intelligence and your talent — and because you know it’s not about what you get in return. This task is about doing for the sake of impeccability, and for a purpose larger than your own, whatever that might be. You may now know how good it feels to bring yourself to a task or project with a gentle focus on what simply must happen. Remember that you are on a healing mission, and if you honor that at all times, your way will be eased and open and resources will become available. Take things one step at a time, and remember to be your own best friend.