Strange Arrangement: Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Your Weekly Horoscope for Nov. 9

The Coxing on the Grandmother Land in Ulster County. Listen to a recording of the stream on the player below. Photo by Eric Francis, late Saturday afternoon.
WEDNESDAY, we have a crescendo event. Like other recent aspects, this one is defined by a combination of fast-movers and a slow-mover. The Moon forms a conjunction to Saturn, at the same time that Mercury and Mars form a conjunction to one another — and an exact square to Saturn.

Mercury and Mars are at the top right; the Moon and Saturn are at the lower left. The squares between them are indicated by the red lines. See full chart.

Because it’s the slowest-moving planet in the arrangement, Saturn is said to be taking all the transits.

Without interpreting, let’s just describe the energies that are working on one another. This is the latest in a series of events where fast-movers are making unusually tight aspects to slow-movers.

These include last week’s Scorpio New Moon, and several weeks ago, Mars lining up with the ultra-slow Pluto-Eris square (just as it was completing its two-year run).

The latter incident came within hours of a famous actor shooting someone on a film set with what was supposed to be a cold firearm, making world news for days. I have a video discussing that chart; in my reading of that incident, there was more to the picture than we were told.

From the standpoint of classical astrology, this aspect would not be considered friendly. It consists of the two “malefics” — Mars and Saturn — making a square to one another. We have one planet that likes to push (Mars) and one that tends to resist, contain or hold structure (Saturn) in a dynamic aspect. This setup begs the question: what gives? Something has to.

Stone monument of some kind on the Grandmother Land, which I suspect may predate the European settlers. This is in Ulster County, close to Marbletown, about a quarter mile from the Coxing. Photo by Eric Francis.

Classical Astrologers Have Agita Over This One

In classical (rather than modern) terms, each is in its domicile; Mars rules Scorpio and Saturn rules Aquarius. Those are both fixed signs. So there is a mixture of tremendous force and resistance operating simultaneously.

That is then set off by the Moon and Mars sweeping through the picture. The orbs are extremely tight: they are all at 7 degrees of their sign, and all within about zero to 17 arc minutes (the tightest aspect recognized in astrology is a 17 arc minute, or less, conjunction).

The mathematical odds of this happening are minuscule. Or you might say astronomical. To get all four of those points together at once, including the Moon, which is flying through the heavens, is impossible, but it is in fact happening. (Searching Mars-Saturn squares back to 1993, I find one aspect vaguely resembling this, but the Moon is off by 13 degrees and Mercury is off by three degrees. Searching back to 1985, there is again something similar but again, off by several degrees.)

The question is, what happens? It would seem that something notable, noticeable and even significant is in the works. Today by happenstance, I found this Mars square Saturn in an important news chart from 1978. I was looking at this event because by my telling of history, our extended moment has an eerie resemblance to the specific moment in the 1978 figure — which was not a pretty scene.

The Coxing at sunset looking upstream in a southerly direction. Photo by Eric Francis.

Squares Represent an Inner Dynamic that can be Expressed by Projection

This is a fabulous chart for a predictive astrologer to get wrong. I’ll come back to the news possibilities in the next section. Broadly speaking, though, this chart feels like a hologram of the times we are living through.

Squares move from the inside of consciousness to the outside. They represent inner conditions that can be so unbearable, they need to be ejected, or in psychological terms, projected. The whole challenge of a square, in a natal chart, is to integrate it. To integrate means to take on the tension and work it out; to resolve it rather than make it everyone else’s problem.

In a collective chart like this one, there is the same challenge, but many more people are involved. In many recent articles and presentations, I have been describing how the essence of our time is pitting the individual against the collective. I am shocked every day to be living through a propaganda campaign about how bad freedom and choice are. Yes, freedom implies responsibility, but it does not imply mindless submission to authority. Hello class, that is the opposite of freedom, and the opposite of responsibility too.

With this aspect, I see a lot of people getting to the “this has gone too far” point. What might register as a collective aspect or event involving Saturn is suddenly made very, very personal by the presence of Mars — and even more so by the Moon and Mercury.

Cattails growing on marshy lands approaching the Ashokan Reservoir, as best I can tell, in the town of Hurley in Ulster County. This spot is just outside the protected watershed area. Photo by Eric.

Like an Earthquake or Someone Wanting to Scream

This aspect looks either like an earthquake or someone wanting to scream, and there are a lot of people feeling like they are going through a prolonged experience of both at the same time. Mars in Scorpio looks like a life-or-death crisis, and it’s trapped by Saturn, which is contained inside some public ideology.

This whole chart is about being backed into a corner, and that is how a lot of people feel. The New York Times can vent all the spleen it wants about “vaccine hesitancy,” casting nurses and firemen as misbehaved children, terrorists or mentally defective. Do you care about the vaccine status of someone carrying you out of a burning building or apprehending an accused felon?

If you don’t want to inject yourself or your child with an experimental genetic modification known to have killed more than 18,000 people, you’re going to be in a lot of conflict if someone tries to force you to. And you will be in even more conflict if you might lose your home and your farm for honoring your bodily integrity. (The second link is the story of a nurse in Canada who understands vaccines and medication.)

Why is any of this OK with anyone?

Reported deaths from the covid shots equal the total of all reported vaccine deaths from all products during the past 30 years that the CDC’s count has been kept.

Lurking right behind this, though few are thinking about it, is: what is coming next? No cannot mean no when you have no right to say no. The fallacy of believing that the collective trumps all individual rights is that there is no collective unless there are free people. And this chart is about people being trapped inside an ideology, and a legal and economic structure, that they cannot escape. What gives, and why all the pressure?

What threat could possibly be so bad that we kick police officers, firemen and nurses to the curb?

Ashokan Reservoir near the former township of Browns Station, looking northward from the Beaver Kill Dikes — accessible from the frying pan parking area. Photo by Eric Francis.

Saturn Meets the Healer: Sextile Chiron

This chart will have public implications. When I cast for Washington, DC, we get a chart where the aggressive action is concealed (Mercury and Mars lurking behind the 10th house cusp), and acting like a veiled psychological fear. The Moon and Saturn are in the 2nd house: there are personal financial implications, though that is not a shocking prediction.

More interesting is a longer-range contact. Saturn in Aquarius is about to form an aspect to Chiron. If Mars square Saturn feels like bashing one’s head into a corner, Saturn sextile Chiron feels like the tumblers aligning in a lock, and the door opening.

Or you could say that Chiron in Aries is much better suited to engage the seemingly intractable, restrictive forces of Saturn in Aquarius. This meeting of Aries and Aquarius is through a golden mean sextile aspect. It places equal emphasis on the individual and the community, while keeping sight of how these are distinct concepts.

Mars square Saturn is not a critique. It is a blunt confrontation. Saturn square Chiron is analytical, describing weighing and balancing ideas, and finding some sane relationship between you and the rest of us. Additionally, we speak of the “collective” in our time as if it is a real, rather than a theoretical, idea.

Ashokan Reservoir, along the Beaver Kill dykes. Photo by Eric.

Who in Charge and When Was the Election?

Who are the individuals leading this collective? Groups have leaders. Who is in charge? Who is making the decisions right now? Who is making the declarations? Who decides what is “good” and “not good” and who is protecting those in the minority?

Who says what ideas are relevant, and who determines which the rest of us must follow? What are the underlying values that are driving events forward? Who profits? Who loses?

This diagram adds Chiron to the chart. You can see it on the lower right. The sextile is the blue line. The aspect is exact November 26. See full chart.

In the flow of time, Mars square Saturn leads to Saturn sextile Chiron. This looks like an experiment in our concepts of personhood. Mars is a valid concept of human identity, though in this instance, its efforts are frustrated. Yet they also demonstrate a way of thought that is itself meeting extreme resistance (Mercury in Scorpio, obsessed with death). And yet Mercury offers the possibility of expressing its anger and other challenges.

Open your senses and you will see, feel and hear the answers to these questions — if you are interested. Nobody is going to force you to have the truth, or some common sense, injected into your body. The truth is a voluntary state of being.

Only deception needs to be enforced at the point of a gun, or a medical instrument. Most people are smarter than believing the lie, but will usually do what you say when you point a gun at them, or threaten their food supply, their home, or to end their career.

What is so strange is, most people will usually rise up and resist when you threaten their children.

Eric signature

PS — I keep meaning to say this, and I keep forgetting, no matter how many articles and podcasts I do about this aspect tomorrow. Apart from all else, this is the time TO TURN A CORNER. It is a time to make a decision, perhaps something that has evaded and eluded you for years or decades. Square is the aspect of ACTION. Yes, something happens, and that something is you may choose once again, and this time — your decision sticks because it is time, and the full weight and power of your psyche is behind it. — efc



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Your Nov. 9, 2021, Weekly horoscope by Eric Francis

Nearly all ideas are implanted in the minds of people; very little is original. You might consider the source of these ideas; any fear you’re experiencing is unlikely to be sprouting from your own mind. However, it’s also fair to recognize whatever predispositions you may have towards being obsessed by death-dealing thought forms, or fears related to your health.

Hello Aries Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — We can agree that the world has been obsessed with death and disease for nearly two years. However, this is optional. Nearly all ideas are implanted in the minds of people; very little is original. You might consider the source of these ideas; any fear you’re experiencing is unlikely to be sprouting from your own mind. However, it’s also fair to recognize whatever predispositions you may have towards being obsessed by death-dealing thought forms, or fears related to your health. These are normal enough in a culture where half the ads on television are for drugs, and nothing but dead bodies (and the occasional live celebrity) make it onto the news. That said, this is an unusual time, and you are being pushed to account for your thoughts and your feelings, and take full responsibility for them. This includes accounting for the influence of friends and partners, as well as public sources of input. It will probably help if you compare notes with some people you trust, and take the lead in your relationships if you determine that fear and anger cannot be a way of life. They are, however, useful emotions to those who have unwholesome agendas. Make sure you understand your own intentions.


At the same time, you may be in a complicated situation yourself, having nothing to do with what others are experiencing. However, your crisis of faith leaves you vulnerable to whatever others are going through. Either way, it’s time to make note of how the feelings and beliefs of others influence you.

Hello Taurus Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Someone close to you is under some unusual stress, which is to say, don’t take their state of mind or treatment of you personally. That may not be easy if they’re in intense mode. At the same time, you may be in a complicated situation yourself, having nothing to do with what others are experiencing. However, your crisis of faith leaves you vulnerable to whatever others are going through. Either way, it’s time to make note of how the feelings and beliefs of others influence you. This ranges from the obvious to the sublime. The obvious might be the person standing in front of you asserting the latest bad news from all the usual sources. The sublime being distant memories of things your grandmother said to you about what God expects of you, or what you were told about your alleged karma by a clairvoyant in 1997. Have you ever considered subjecting everything you are told to questioning, without prejudice to your prior beliefs? In fact your beliefs are the very thing that is up for discussion. You might even subject the whole notion of belief to extreme scrutiny. “I believe” usually translates to “I am clueless.”


With all the talk of trauma in the world (most of which is mental and emotional) we might choose to become more aware of what inflicts it, and try to avoid those things. Your situation is calling for some black humor: the kind where you laugh at all the dark and dreary things you notice.

Hello Gemini Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — There is a natural endpoint to everything, including fear. Finally, the psyche just gives up and finds another state of being, though along the way it’s possible to do considerable damage. With all the talk of trauma in the world (most of which is mental and emotional) we might choose to become more aware of what inflicts it, and try to avoid those things. Your situation is calling for some black humor: the kind where you laugh at all the dark and dreary things you notice. Why laugh? Well, that’s the mind acknowledging that the danger has passed, or that it never existed (test this for yourself — notice when you think something is funny, and why). You may, in any event, be experiencing some unusual tension, fear or anger. There is an element of frustration. Here’s a clue: the source of conflict is something you are supposed to think of as a good thing, therefore you’re disinclined to be honest about its actual role or effect on you, or the world. Another word for that is prejudice, which blocks honest perception. Clue part 2 is that there are always many sides to an issue — any and every issue. Where there is just one side presented or said to be valid, you, of all people, will feel like the oxygen is being sucked out of the room. 


You may also find that aspects of your life seem to end unexpectedly. Particularly in matters of sex, sexuality and the relationships that contain them, if you have been living a certain way for a while, or a very long time, now is the time to open up new territory.

Hello Cancer Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You know that a specific element of way of life you’ve been following for quite a long time has served its purpose. It’s up to you to make the changes you need to make, though the first step is remembering that it’s time to move on, and not forgetting. I don’t suggest attempting to “change everything” or “start over” but recognizing the people, places and things that are not serving you, yet to which you are still attached. You might choose a couple of things you know no longer work and bring them to their conclusion. You may also find that aspects of your life seem to end unexpectedly. Particularly in matters of sex, sexuality and the relationships that contain them, if you have been living a certain way for a while, or a very long time, now is the time to open up new territory. Where sexuality is concerned, this week’s astrology runs so deep that it describes fundamental changes in your approach to how you think of who you are, and how you think of who other people are to you. Here is the most important factor: it’s essential you not make these decisions based on what you think is popular or socially acceptable to others. That is irrelevant.

 


If you find yourself chafing your heart or banging your head on the resistance of someone in your life, that is the state of the relationship. It is unlikely to change, and if it does, it probably will not be on account of you.

Hello Leo Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — What makes you feel safe may be threatening to others; what makes others feel safe may be threatening to you. Stick a lot of air quotes around the words ‘safe’ and ‘threatening’ as it’s all an illusion or rather, an emotional condition that is not reflective of reality. Where we are talking about emotional safety, though, there is a valid question, and that is: how do the people you are involved with (a close partner or lover, for example) respond to what you want? Do you find them to be generous in their response, or do they clam up? It is time for you to orient yourself emotionally on the reality of who other people are, rather than who you want them to be, or who you wish they were. If you find yourself chafing your heart or banging your head on the resistance of someone in your life, that is the state of the relationship. It is unlikely to change, and if it does, it probably will not be on account of you. There’s this seemingly obscure thing known as ‘calling in your projections’, which is another way to say seeing things as they are, rather than as you are.


Planets in Motion

Slow Motion Flash Sale! Planets in Motion 2022

What’s happening in your astrology right now? What year were you born? That says as much about you as your Sun, Moon and rising sign. Your year of birth is the true focus of your growth process and the opportunities that you have. Dear Friend and Reader: My approach to astrology is based on what is happening right now. I have just completed Planets in Motion, an e-Book that covers about 20 transits happening to people ages 1-84. This is an easy introduction to using astrology in practical ways. I write in clear language and bring your astrology to life. It comes with an audio introduction to the topic to help you get oriented and learn the value of transits. Thank you for your business and your trust.


You may have an encounter over the next few days that compels you to re-evaluate your position on something about which you thought you were fully decided. What provokes you may be anger you can no longer deny.

Hello Virgo Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find our more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You might think changing your mind would be the easiest thing in the world; thought is flexible, and both us and the world are a work in progress. Yet despite being a mutable sign, Virgo has a mentally fixed quality. You may have an encounter over the next few days that compels you to re-evaluate your position on something about which you thought you were fully decided. What provokes may be anger that you can no longer deny. Many people go to great lengths to avoid learning things that compel them to rethink an issue, much less their entire reality. This, despite the fact that their original assessment may have been based on little to no factual information. What you learn this week may make you uncomfortable, though if so, that is mostly a consequence of your resistance. If it involves a decision you’ve already made, the first thing to do is to not make that same choice again, and to not tell others to make it. It is true that reversing the effects will be more complicated than making your original choice, and to be sure, there’s a life lesson in there.

 


To succeed financially, you must be driven to do so. That would imply not thinking this is in some way evil. However, there’s another dimension to that, which is not holding financial success above all other priorities. Beware of the place where you might say, “Screw everything, having values and ethics is costing me too much and wasting my time.”

Hello Libra Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You have reached a limit on a certain personal policy regarding how you manage your funds and other resources. Hopefully this does not come as a consequence of running out of anything, though if so, you will need to take up the matter with some urgency and allocate your supplies, your energy and your funds. Success with money is in part based on intelligence and the ability to make good decisions and learn from your mistakes. Mostly, though, it is based on motivation. To succeed financially, you must be driven to do so. That would imply not thinking this is in some way evil. However, there’s another dimension to that, which is not holding financial success above all other priorities. Beware of the place where you might say, “Screw everything, having values and ethics is costing me too much and wasting my time.” You need to work within your actual framework of values in order to succeed in a way that is spiritually fulfilling in the end. This is, perhaps, a challenging set of ideas to negotiate, though is there really one more important or meaningful at this time? Take advantage of a rare moment where you are capable of being truly decisive, and find positive motivations for your anger.


What I suggest you observe is the way that most of these expectations are in your mind. They are not actually expressed to you, and fewer people than you think care what you do. In this way, your projections onto others become a mental prison.

Hello Scorpio Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — If you take some time and suss out what is frustrating you, it’s unlikely to be what you think. My take on your charts is that you’re exhausted from trying to conform to the expectations of others. It’s just that you’ve gone along with this for so long, particularly with your family, that you don’t notice most of the time. Or it’s just the thing to do. Yet this has now expanded into many other aspects of your existence, or at least you’re finally noticing. What I suggest you observe is the way that most of these expectations are in your mind. They are not actually expressed to you, and fewer people than you think care what you do. In this way, your projections onto others become a mental prison. You are now feeling the limits that this imposes on your ability to feel, to feel confident, to feel safe, to make your own decisions and generally to live your life your own way. If you feel pelted with the view that “freedom is selfish,” you might trace that message to its source, and do your own assessments into someone’s motives for saying it. Peel back the layers of everything. Look in every file and every folder. If there is a room you cannot get into, call the locksmith or break down the door.


Get some actual evidence of where you were at, what you were thinking, what you were planning, and what you were doing with others. Do some research into yourself. Look at the photos you took around those times and just before. Who were you then and who are you today?

Hello Sagittarius Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You may feel like you’re between two important phases of your life, which is true. However, for some perspective, I suggest you ponder for one whole hour each of the events around your birthday in 2019, and again in 2020. Get some actual evidence of where you were at, what you were thinking, what you were planning, and what you were doing with others. Do some research into yourself. Look at the photos you took around those times and just before. Who were you then and who are you today? Things have changed so rapidly after each of your last two birthdays that it’s likely those things are currently in the memory hole. Yet they are not too deep to fish out, look at, and evaluate in an honest way. Even considering the most rudimentary facts will help you get a sense of perspective and hence, of direction. Yet the deeper matter is who you felt you were at both of those intervals, and who you feel you are today. What world did you live in then, and what world do you live in now? What is your sense of what you did with the past two years of your life, evaluating one at a time? Look right in front of you. Where are you headed?


You must pay attention to when your hackles are raised, when you feel ripped off, when you feel lied to, and when the actions and choices of others make you angry. From the look of your solar chart, you have reached a limit on your ability to tolerate this kind of behavior from people who hold themselves out as trustworthy.

Hello Capricorn Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may be struggling to find a place where your priorities and your values align with what you perceive as those of society. But have you questioned what you are seeing in the world? Have you questioned what is motivating your friends? Have you taken a close look at any of these things? If you wrote a 500-word essay about “The Current State of the World,” how well would your description align with what is being broadcast on CNN? The closer it aligns, the further you may say your perspective is from something that accurately reflects either the world, or your own experience. You must pay attention to when your hackles are raised, when you feel ripped off, when you feel lied to, and when the actions and choices of others make you angry. From the look of your solar chart, you have reached a limit on your ability to tolerate this kind of behavior from people who hold themselves out as trustworthy. It is a fact that in your life and also for many around you, you are the reference point for what is right and true. This will work whether you are brilliantly well-informed or utterly ignorant. The choice is yours; so too is the resulting karma.


If you supervise others or are in charge of them, take a light touch with all that you do, and observe how scenarios play out over the next five days. You have an ability to coordinate people in group situations, though this requires you to use the part of your psyche that is not so concerned with being an individual or in any way special.

Hello Aquarius Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Sidestep all direct conflict and confrontation this week, and instead, take a step back and observe. You must pay special attention where relationships with authority figures, bosses, senior colleagues and the government are concerned. This might apply to family matters as well, since they are covered by the same angle of your chart. If you supervise others or are in charge of them, take a light touch with all that you do, and observe how scenarios play out over the next five days. You have an ability to coordinate people in group situations, though this requires you to use the part of your psyche that is not so concerned with being an individual or in any way special. Rather, you have a job to do, and you are depending on others to help you. However, while others bleat like sheep at “collectivism” and “communism” and “we’re all in this together,” it’s fairly easy to see that most people are out for themselves only. The flake factor is going through the roof lately. You have a lot to hold together, and you must put your humanity first. This is no small assignment, though it’s where you are now.


You will discover what is going on with you if you keep your flow going. You do not need to explore “issues” — working in art, music, pottery, photography or textiles are not psychology. They are about feeling, form, and expressing ideas in tangible ways, guided by beauty and your inner sense of curiosity.

Hello Pisces Sun, Moon and rising! Use this link to find out more about the METAMORPHOSIS reading for your sign. Here is a direct link to your preview video. The reading is included with a 12-month subscription.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You may not have a sense of what is irritating you, though I suggest you do everything you can to stay connected to your creativity this week. The opposite of depression is expression, and thankfully you have the ability to make things with your soul and your hands. It’s essential that you do so, if you want to stay happy, healthy and emotionally balanced. You will discover what is going on with you if you keep your flow going. You do not need to explore “issues” — working in art, music, pottery, photography or textiles are not psychology. They are about feeling, form, and expressing ideas in tangible ways, guided by beauty and your inner sense of curiosity. There may be a lot going on, and you might think these are the last things you have time for. However, I suggest they be the first thing you dedicate yourself to, or at least tied for top priority. Two other suggestions: get near some water, preferably more than a bath with sea salt (though that’s a good start). And the second is get around people as much as possible, and remind yourself what a social being you are. Here in the New World Order, you’re supposed to hate everyone. Thankfully, you do not. 


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