Planet Waves Weekly for Oct. 12, 2023 by Eric Francis

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Note on the Horoscope

Today’s Planet Waves is based on the chart for Saturday’s annular eclipse of the Sun in Libra. Eclipses are growth checkpoints. They are places where we pass through a narrow opening and must align with ourselves. That is why they are so challenging; most people are not so aligned or so in tune with their inner reality.

Here is an article that describes their energetic and spiritual properties in some detail, from the “lost era” in late 2020 when nobody remembers anything — The Venturi Effect.

Saturday’s eclipse casts a shadow over part of the United States. It enters from the Pacific Northwest, making a diagonal stripe to the Southwest and through Texas, then heading out over the Gulf of Mexico. The shadow moves at the speed of a jet airliner.

The last time an eclipse crossed the United States was really the first — the Great American Eclipse of 2017. In the past, eclipses had touched bits of the U.S., but nothing vaguely like a shadow going southeasterly from Oregon to the Carolinas. That was the year that the United States was ripped in half by a diversity of contrived social and political issues.

Another eclipse crosses much of the U.S., on April 8, 2024, this time spanning from Texas to Maine. Suddenly eclipses are crisscrossing the continent of the Manifest Destiny. That is concerning for many reasons.

The plans of world managers in Switzerland and elsewhere are afoot. Nothing you see unfold is an accident. Everything is planned. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s business.

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Path of annularity, Oct. 14, 2023.

What you need the most right now is a sense of equilibrium. That would be the mysterious inner feeling that guided you if you were to balance on a seesaw. It’s like dancing; flow with the energy.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Relationships are never really equal. There is always a working out of power, and there are imbalances of power that must be addressed. Pretending the situation is otherwise is the source of much confusion and grief. Yet any lack of equality does not need to stop us being happy in them, though awareness and understanding are necessary. What you need the most right now is a sense of equilibrium. That would be the mysterious inner feeling that guided you if you were to balance on a seesaw. You could not do that consciously step by step, from millisecond to millisecond. There is something instinctual about balancing; I am personally in love with the feeling of walking up a flight of stairs carrying a heavy package. You cannot overthink such an experience and still do it, and in a similar way, it will not help to overthink the relationship situation in which you find yourself. It’s like dancing; flow with the energy. And as the energy builds, listen to your inner observer whisper to you about where you belong and do not belong.


A solar eclipse is an excellent time to reset a certain facet of your existence. It’s a moment to let go of a pattern, and set a new one. For the next couple of weeks, make the time and space and do the thing you love to do the most, with your physical body.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The forthcoming solar eclipse in your house of work and wellness is providing encouragement to balance out your life. This is not about “work/life balance.” That idea is a joke. Anyone who must balance work with life needs to ask themselves whether they are really invested in their life work. From the look of your solar chart, balance means letting off pressure, and also emphasizing what you may have neglected over the past few years. Think about what that might be — or maybe you don’t need to. A solar eclipse is an excellent time to reset a certain facet of your existence. It’s a moment to let go of a pattern, and set a new one. For the next couple of weeks, make the time and space and do the thing you love to do the most, with your physical body. This opportunity is not about planning or making a commitment any way other than getting your hands, your feet and your senses involved.


This week’s eclipse in your fellow air sign Libra may entice you to explore something you’ve never actually done and might not otherwise do. This falls in the realm of some unusual, direct experience (not digital) that may be associated with creative or sexual experimentation, or some direct adventure that feels enticing.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — This week’s eclipse in your fellow air sign Libra may entice you to explore something you’ve never actually done and might not otherwise do. This falls in the realm of some unusual, direct experience (not digital) that may be associated with creative or sexual experimentation, or some direct adventure that feels enticing. You should know two things: it will probably be truly interesting and satisfy your curiosity about something or someone, and you may want more. Second, it would represent a real change to your life trajectory, and you will not have direct control over the results. You will release something and it will have a life of its own. Due to the nature of eclipses, you don’t need to do anything different for such unplanned results to unfold. Yet what you have is the opportunity for a personal adventure that will defy the dimensionless, boring, predictable realm of the internet environment, by which I mean actual adventure, the better and all the more real for being slightly risky.


Leo with Gemini rising. Photo by Eric Francis.

Speaking more broadly about an eclipse in Libra, there is a shift coming to your emotional foundation and security base generally; this is more like an opening to something new rather than a seismic shock. Hence, the more open you are, the better.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Often those born under your Sun sign or with Cancer rising use sex as a way of gaining emotional security. This can be because it is associated with a domestic partnership, or one’s sense of feeling loved and needed. Yet you’re at a point where you need to move away from that and into a new concept of what your erotic nature is about. The closer you come to the thing most distinctive about humans — our capacity for an aesthetic sense, and the realm of creativity for its own sake — is closer to the idea. Yet then there is something that can only be described as the cosmic or the existential; the grounding of our foundation in existence. Nearly everyone misses this core experience, or sees it for a fleeting moment. Speaking more broadly about an eclipse in Libra, there is a shift coming to your emotional foundation and security base generally; this is more like an opening to something new rather than a seismic shock. Hence, the more open you are, the better.


It’s essential that you slow down your thought process and give yourself time to integrate different points of view. You must collect enough facts, and then be sensitive to the different shapes they form. Pattern recognition is the essential skill of the true artist.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — It’s time to re-learn how to think. I don’t mean that as an insult to your intelligence; I mean it as a commentary on how nearly everyone has been digitally drugged out of their ability to experience actual cognition. Instead, near everyone is content to be told what to think and therefore what to do. At times, you see how unpleasant this is, and then you are capable of slipping back into a significant blind spot — the one of accepting the views that you like, and disregarding the ones that seem ugly or unappealing. Yet whether you like something is not a measure of its veracity. That includes when something is shocking; neither does that make it inherently true or false — especially true. It’s essential that you slow down your thought process and give yourself time to integrate different points of view. You must collect enough facts, and then be sensitive to the different shapes they form. Pattern recognition is the essential skill of the true artist.


Venus is in your sign right now, so you may be experiencing an enhanced mental acuity that is more physical than it is mental. (That is what I would describe as similar content, but moving toward warmth.) We think with Venus, but think differently: in an intuitive way, more connected to the senses.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Venus and Mercury are more similar than most astrologers and astrology fans realize. You might say they are the same thing, but one has a red-shift and the other has a blue-shift. Venus is in your sign right now, so you may be experiencing an enhanced mental acuity that is more physical than it is mental. (That is what I would describe as similar content, but moving toward warmth.) We think with Venus, but think differently: in an intuitive way, more connected to the senses. Venus is the essence of what we call ‘emotional intelligence’. Yet in Virgo, this is going to be full-spectrum. At the moment, Venus is in aspect to many planets, which means open to dialogs — some of them rather unusual. One important feature in your astrology these days is that your creative inspiration and breakthroughs are going to come from the ancestral realm: your grandparents, great grandparents and beyond. In our society, we don’t believe in things like that. But you don’t need to believe anything; you just need to summon their presence, and go about your daily activities.

Astrology Studio for Virgo is now available for instant access.

This reading is included with a Backstage Pass


A bevy of bulldogs, at the Italian Festival, Kingston. Photo by Eric Francis.

The action to take in the region of an eclipse (which takes place on the 14th) is to emphasize what you want. Your choices, attitudes, and how you spend your time will have a way of establishing a pattern you can work with.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — The forthcoming solar eclipse in your birth sign or rising sign may have you feeling edgy without knowing why. The sensation might be like a bubble building, and you’re wondering when it will burst. What is more likely to happen is that the air will rush out and equalize the pressure between you and your environment. Till then, do your best to live in harmony with yourself and whatever you may be feeling. That’s passive, though. The action to take in the region of an eclipse (which takes place on the 14th) is to emphasize what you want. Your choices, attitudes, and how you spend your time will have a way of establishing a pattern you can work with. At the same time, be prepared to drop what you don’t need and don’t want. Even small steps in this direction can be rewarded by positive results, and a new sense of potential. We may have limited freedom in this life, though we do have some — and it’s always either activated or cast aside in the moment when you are able to make a decision.

Astrology Studio for Libra is now available for instant access.


Think of your friends like animals in a forest, whose sounds and behavior give you a clue to what you might not otherwise be aware of. In this sense they serve as extensions of your own consciousness.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — With Mars in your sign, you may be living with gusto. Yet beware of potential blind spots in all that you do. That’s the thing that can hide a whole truck next to your right fender — if you don’t turn your head and take a look before you change lanes. It will help to slow down just a little, and stay in tune with the vibe coming through your close social circle. There’s intelligence available from certain friends, most of them female, that will temper your passion and provide you some guidance and even wisdom. This will help you make the most of your emotional drive while avoiding some of the pitfalls, such as giving the impression of being insensitive. Think of your friends like animals in a forest, whose sounds and behavior give you a clue to what you might not otherwise be aware of. In this sense they serve as extensions of your own consciousness. Every bit will help, if you listen, and tune your frequency through emotional resonance and dialog.

Astrology Studio for Scorpio is now available for preorder.


Accept that you have no control over how people perceive you and you will be a lot happier. This is in part because it will help you discover how little their perceptions matter — whether real or imagined.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Accept that you have no control over how people perceive you and you will be a lot happier. This is in part because it will help you discover how little their perceptions matter — whether real or imagined. Yet though these matters are currently out of your reach, you have tremendous influence over the choices you make, your sincerity and the quality and integrity of your work. That’s about as good as it gets, unless you confuse social media with God (and plenty of people do). That is easy enough to sort out, though the ego lays all kinds of snares and fetters, and you will never know the truth if you do not love the concept. These traps can lure you into thinking that your “approval rating” (in whatever form it takes, which is all precursory to the “social credit score”) actually matters. That is not true. What matters are your direct, one-to-one human relationships. Coincidentally, that is what matters the very least in the wider world right now, or so people think.


Italian Festival, Kingston. Photo by Eric Francis.

You may not recognize it, though this is a very special time in your life. No matter how old you are, and what you’ve been through, this is a formative time, a time of self-formation.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may not recognize it, though this is a very special time in your life. No matter how old you are, and what you’ve been through, this is a formative time, a time of self-formation. Yes, you have been through many layers of this. Yet those layers were more like the level of magma and crust, and now you are up to the layer of terraforming. Perhaps there are beings at the core of the Earth, but you are not one of them. You live at the surface, amidst trees and oceans. The stage you are at now is about shaping your world as you want to live in it. This may involve your psyche or your personality; it may involve your home and immediate landscape. In the most immediate sense, your mission on Earth is up for consideration. What are you doing here? What do you want to be known for? Those are two different questions, and it’s essential that you keep them separate. There is no ego in the dharma; “being known” is not an issue.


The message of your charts is to listen; to be available; and to consider your relationship with yourself. That relationship opens you up to the seeming “higher powers” of the universe, whatever name you give them.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — There is about to be an opening in your world and in your awareness. I would use the word revelation, though it’s more like a discovery that dawns on you when you are looking in that direction. And that direction, generally, is meaning. With each passing day, it seems the world becomes increasingly devoid of that very thing, which is also to subtract purpose, and that is about the loss of direction. The clues you’re about to get addresses all three ideas, yet you must be open and willing to receive. It will help if you slow down and also consider what is driving you to move so fast. The message of your charts is to listen; to be available; and to consider your relationship with yourself. That relationship opens you up to the seeming “higher powers” of the universe, whatever name you give them. Your relationship to yourself is the sacred honor and the divine privilege of the life that you have. What you are now learning is how to be present for yourself.

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Look for a logical way to connect to the energy source of anything that might have an influence over your affairs. This includes turning negatives into positives — that is, what might seem to threaten you into something you can benefit from.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The way to improve your financial situation is to never count yourself out of the benefits of any arrangement to which you’re a party. That goes as far as being near the situation, or anything that affects you. Look for a logical way to connect to the energy source of anything that might have an influence over your affairs. This includes turning negatives into positives — that is, what might seem to threaten you into something you can benefit from. The essence of this transformation is to remember that everything is happening in the human realm and is subject to the emotions and biases of human relationships. Understand the preferences that people have, and work with them. Figure out what they want from life; try to get a sense of how they relate to you, and where they think you fit into the world. To do this you will need to be circumspect and objective. And if you can do that, you stand to gain tremendously.

Street festival, Kingston. Photo by Eric Francis.

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