Dear Friend and Reader:
 
A FRIEND OF MINE in Los Angeles is working on an article for a newspaper about why some men there allegedly don't want to have sex with the women.
 

Film still from The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman.

Or at least that's how it started. After doing voluminous research, she now seems to be going in some different directions, and I'm eager to read it. While I have not rushed to LA to personally investigate the crime scene, for the sake of the article I accepted her premise, providing quotes and some relationship theory speculating why this might be so.
 
She first noticed it in her own experience. She's an attractive, intelligent young woman -- a friendly Aquarius with a sense of humor and some attitude: the alive type. She would ask men she knew for sexual attention and they would refuse.
 
She couldn't get a one-night stand and just one guy would provide some mercy sex; I guess when you're a hot chick, there's always one guy who will eventually submit. Then she started hearing similar stories from her female friends, including one who is an exotic young Scorpio starlet. These women, playing the role of strong and confident suitor, specifically wanted honest sex without a relationship commitment. The men, allegedly playing the role of insecure boys, would not buck up.
 
Last week, she told me the story of a guy who, immediately prior to sex-about-to-happen, freaked out, got dressed and left her house after seeing her altar with crystals and feathers; he presumed she was practicing witchcraft. I laughed so loud I think I woke up my neighbors. She was left with the proverbial blue ovaries.
 
None of this information is based on sociological data, but it's rich territory. Guys on the East Coast where I live just roll their eyes when I tell them the scenario, because it's so incredulous. Assuming it exists, you could point to many sources for such a phenomenon, from environmental toxins messing with hormones (they are), to stress, to the fact that LA tends to be the biggest masquerade ball in human history.
 
Wearing a costume does not bode well for authentic sexual communication. There is no way to act cool when you have your face buried between a woman's legs. You have to just take off your Revos and go for it.
 
I also pointed to the many unsettling changes of our world, the crumbling of tradition and the Internet (another kind of masquerade ball) corroding our social skills. Uncertainty is leaving a lot of people feeling like they have no clue what to do or how to act. Maybe it's time to stop acting.
 
She said that the men's apparent fear of women had taken hold on the social level as well, where she described parties that were strained for any authentic conversation. The imagery reminded me of an elementary school prom, with the barely pubescent boys on one side of the gym and the more sexually mature girls, simmering with estrogen and feeling the exciting presence of their breast buds, on the other. Only these are grownups who make movies and TV commercials and impregnate our minds with their many ideas about life.
 
The Awakening of the Divine Feminine

Her theory as to why this is happening involves what she feels is the awakening of the divine feminine. That is another way of saying that the women she knows are experiencing some unusual surge of confidence, inner strength, volition and the freedom of choice; such (if it's to be real) always involves the prerogative of sexual choice. Our culture does not view the sex-for-marriage equation as a weakness. It's viewed as a virtue, and the cost to women's independence is not counted.
 
As Planet Waves covered in its current edition on sexuality (please see front page), feminism began to give women some new ideas about themselves, but next to no new ideas about sex or how to handle their feminist identity in the context of sex. If there was a sexual revolution in the same era as feminism, it had nothing to do with relationships. And feminism didn't touch the subject either.
 
In our conversations, my friend describes her perception as a kind of pole shift happening, where women are beginning to claim their inner power and sense of identity in the midst of the patriarchal world.
 

Woman on Couch with Boy by Buffalo, NY resident artist Bruce Adams.

No longer content with the choice between being cute girlfriend or mommy, they are busting out. My friend feels that men are not only threatened by female awakening, they also seem to be regressing to boyish patterns of insecurity and dependency when faced with it. So well accustomed to bimbos or women acting like them, they have no clue how to handle a mature, hot, wet woman who actually expresses desire.
 
I've heard this a lot of times in my career as both an astrologer and erotic photographer. Why don't women make the first approach?
 
Because it doesn't work. No matter how much guys might say they want women to be more self-assertive, it's still intimidating. It dents or tarnishes this thing called the male ego. It's dangerous to generalize, but I can see the truth of this, and I've heard it a lot of times. Why so many men feel rejected by so many women may be another story, but we have some clues that we are all here having similar human experiences, not experiences that are strictly divided by gender.
 
The essence of her theory, as of the last time we talked, is that men are withholding sex in a last-ditch effort to keep their power. I've had a few good laughs contemplating the poetic justice of this.

I would add a bit. If men are responding to the awakening of some new feminine archetypes in women, they may also be feeling the change within themselves. This may keep them clinging to traditional roles. According to this scenario, the guys want relationships and marriage and not casual encounters. It remains to be seen whether it's inspired by maturity or fear. In other words, if men are opening up to their more sensitive feminine side, maybe they want the "safe container" of a relationship to have that kind of inner emergence. Or maybe they are just clingy little babies who want their mommy and not a steamy night of passion.
 
We all contain male and female energies and inner polarities. Every chart has Venus and Mars; the Moon and the Sun. Usually we project our inner opposite polarity onto the opposite sex, and the genders become these self-parodying exaggerations of macho and macha. If you're a man, you look for the kind of woman you want to be in the world around you, and try to get her attention. But what happens if you're a hot-to-trot man and your inner woman is a prude; and then you're approached by an Aquarian sex goddess who has no interest in dating or marrying you, she just wants to tap into your maleness for a hot night of scratching that deep, womanly itch?
 
Well, in addition to the fact that most humans think that any unfamiliar territory is scary, you could get a little freaked out because you're being confronted by a woman who is more like your inner man. (This is starting to sound queer.) That might mean that you would need to be submissive in the encounter, since she took the lead. (Now we're really talking queer. What's next, a strap-on?) Plus, your prudish inner femme is probably nervous about how casual it's all going to be. Her feelings might get hurt. She might want flowers the next day. She may be worried she's going to get an icky disease from a promiscuous person, or even get pregnant. (Now we're talking straight.)
 
Plus, if your inner chick is used to being uptight, she might not be too friendly to the kettle of estrogen that she's noticed is starting to simmer inside her. She might be afraid of losing control, and go out of her way to take over the whole show and keep a grip on herself (like so many men have experienced around women). Hence, s/he sees crystals and feathers, presumes this bitch is a witch and makes a hasty exit. When this kind of thing happened during the Inquisition, the results were a lot worse.
 
I know, I have fancy theories. And I could go on.
 
A Gender-Bending Extravaganza in Gemini

Every time I think of the magnificent astrology that's unfolding in Gemini right now, I think of this story. It's written in the stars: the confusion, the role reversals, the awakening of the feminine aspect; as are all the feelings that come with it. Here is the scenario. Tell me if you agree. This gets technical but I'll do my best to hold your hand the whole way. But don't take that as a sign that I want to have sex with you. We're just holding hands, okay?
 
First, one thing to remember is that Saturday is the midpoint of the two extremely rare Venus transits of the Sun. Click that link for the background; these are two potent events that occurred/will occur in 2004 and 2012. So that is the backdrop, and 2012 -- the chronological symbol of transformation and taking the leap -- is involved.

Whatever else may be happening, we're in a kind of tipping point toward the future, and the planet involved is Venus and all her themes of values, beauty, love and eroticism. And the Goddess. The pentagram (five-pointed star) of the Pagan faith is the pattern that Venus makes in the sky every four years. The pentagram is an organic symbol. It is a cool design, but it existed before people arrived on the planet. When you see that five-pointed star, think of Venus and when you think of Venus, think of the Goddess.
 
We could use some future orientation on all of these themes (values, beauty, love and eroticism, the Goddess), and actually Gemini is a pretty good place to get it. Gemini is not Aquarius, but it's great at considering the many possibilities and tends to have pleasantly easy boundaries. Gemini is conversant, it's heard of the future and embracing the dance of opposites doesn't offend it. In fact, Gemini, the sign that understands twinning the best of all, is in my opinion one of the two kinkiest signs of the zodiac.
 
Gemini also emphasizes the bivalence of any planet that is visiting. In other words, it's not stuck; it has a moving perspective. In Gemini we put Venus in a mirror and explore the two sides of the polarity; the way she reflects herself, how she sees herself. Venus in Gemini might be about experimenting with female bisexuality, bisensuality or self-eroticism. Venus in Gemini is also not afraid to assert her male side: be it desire or the more typically male propensity for words, ideas and intellectual authority. She might want to get out that strap-on.
 
Then there is Mercury. Mercury, androgynous by nature, is currently retrograde in Gemini. Here is a sample of the chart for the moment I am writing. How exciting! How adorable! Everything is in the 8th house!
 
Mercury is both the planet of ideas and the communication of ideas. And it's about to make conjunctions to both the Sun and to Venus. (Notice, at this moment the Moon has just swept through Gemini and as of Wednesday afternoon is sitting on the Cancer Point, square the Aries Point.)

The Sun brings the male principle into the discussion: the assertive, creative, glory-seeking sense of "true self" or, alternately, what some call male ego. The Sun represents the regal factor in the psyche; it represents the president or the king in many other charts; it has executive decision-making power and is associated with the metal gold.
 
Venus is currently moving at about the same pace as the Sun, just a shade faster. (The motion of Venus today is 1.22 degrees per day, and the Sun is .95 degrees per day.) So Venus is about to catch up with the Sun and form what is called the exterior conjunction on June 9 just past midnight EDT. Here is the full chart, set for where I am now, in New York.
 
By this time, Mercury (moving retrograde) has just made exact conjunctions to both the Sun and Venus, energetically spinning them backwards (inward) and touching them with a dose of energy and extra consciousness.
 
So you could interpret that as firing them up to be more honest with themselves; more self-aware; and more acclimated to what they would not normally say, think or feel but indeed want to feel and express.
 
Remember, this little fireworks display is happening on the North Node of Venus and at the exact midpoints of the two Venus transits of the Sun described above. So it's happening in a hot spot in both space and time, accented by the fact that it's opposite two massive galactic points in Sagittarius.

This is Now. What Was Then?

Mercury retrograde is the symbol of inner communication. It also takes us back to the past and helps us question and reassess the past, and encourages discoveries of things, ideas, memories and events long forgotten.
 
So the question is, who were you way back when? Most people are happy to have given up their sexual history. But many miss it, particularly the sense of discovery and scalding curiosity that was once associated with both sex and sexuality. For many people, there was a time when masturbation was a lot more potent and meaningful, instead of the maintenance routine that it often becomes later in life. This is astrology under which it is possible to connect with that deep thread of inner awareness.
 
For many people, sexual memories are painful: humiliation, abuse, chaotic boundaries and incredible fear can permeate our sense of the past, and going back there might not be so welcome. Yet it's possible to open up to yourself and begin to resolve this stuff; it needs to be brought out into the light where it can heal. Nobody else needs to be there, but it's good to have someone understanding to talk to; still, the conversation begins with yourself. The inner dialog is going to involve one of our most dominant masculine principles (the Sun) and one of the two commonly acknowledged female principles (Venus).
 

Photo by Eric Francis / Book of Blue.

And in Gemini, it speaks to a thorough assessment of the dualistic nature of human beings -- in particular the other side of who we are that we do not usually acknowledge. What is that other side of your nature, the one that the ego masks out, or cannot get into words? We have many sides to our nature, but the "other side" in the big sense of that is the one to watch. It is the person free to do what he or she wants and say what he or she wants, but this side of the psyche is fragile and eclipsed by the normal (or moral side). I love the similarity between these two words.
 
I like to think of this other side of the personality as the one that comes out during the last 10 seconds before orgasm. You know how you get. Nothing is inappropriate. Reality is boundless and anything can happen -- especially what you want or fear the most.
 
This is most often when bisexual scenarios slip in, and anonymous sex, and violence or being forced to submit, or any number of scenes that I am not comfortable mentioning here but which you can envision. Then those memories are quickly masked over by the ego and we resume being more or less the person we were before.
 
I'm sure I've told this little parable here before, but imagine how mortified you would be if a video or transcript of what happens in your mind during those amazing last 10 seconds before you let go were broadcast to everyone you know.
 
Yet why would that be? It's just you!
 
I am however less concerned about what other people would think, and more concerned about why anyone would mask their feelings or mental imagery from themselves. And this we often do. We often forget during the day what we imagined the night before, and often we don't even want to think about what we did the night before. It does not mix well with the false identity that we put out, who is so often a conservative, a prude, or one for whom trying a new flavor coffee seems daring and innovative.
 
This weekend's aspects seem brilliantly designed to take us through all these dimensions and acquaint us with them. And remember, Gemini is the sign of your neighbors. Long distance is cool; Craig's List Minneapolis is hot; you have this guy in Anchorage; but at the moment, the theme is local.
 
Yours & truly,




By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

THIS NATION now has a presumptive nominee: Barack Obama. No matter where you stood on the race to nomination, you must admit that he has broken historical ground as the first African American in such an exalted position and that his proposed break with old political models is both welcomed and longed for. And although I fully appreciate the passions of Mrs. Clinton and her supporters, I was deeply disappointed that she did not resurrect the flagging legacy of the Clinton era or soften accusations of her personal ambition by giving a speech that reflected the reality of Obama's win. At the long-anticipated moment when a person of color crossed the lines of prejudice that has defined the underpinnings of our nation, and reflected back to us not only our intention to move forward into a new era but to unify in creating ourselves differently, Mrs. Clinton made it all about herself. I was hoping for graciousness; I got old politics. But if I was disappointed, it's my own fault -- I was wearing the majik glasses.

Star Trek actor George Takei, seen here in his role as Sulu, is getting married this fall now that California has legalized gay marriage.

I have always loved science fiction; it seems odd to me that sci-fi enthusiasts are always thought of as geeks and nerds when they are, more likely, futurists and idealists. (OK -- maybe the ones that dress like Klingons every weekend are geeks and nerds.) Sci-fi has been a platform for discovery, not simply an imaginative device to explore possibilities but an accurate reflection of where we are as opposed to where we want to go; a genre in which discussions of morality take their rightful place as the driving narrative. In the early televised 60s offering, Star Trek, James T. Kirk's Enterprise crew, reflected the end of racism, sexism and nationalism -- at the same time, the plot lines allowed us to chew on the concepts of territorial dispute, warfare, empiricism and colonization. We examined those problems under the fictional umbrella of Starfleet's Prime Directive: interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations was forbidden. The interactions of crew and aliens bounced against General Order #1 provided, week after week, an allegory to our own problems of race relations, national bias and military aggression.

Having both read and watched sci-fi since childhood, I recall several plot lines that revolve around x-ray glasses: no, not the kind that render women naked beneath their clothes, although there were several of those stories as well. The glasses I'm speaking of showed you the alien or the reptile under the guise of human; that clarified both motive and intent by seeing through their cellular projections to get to the heart of them. Mini-morality plays like those of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, and novels like Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land that dissected religion and sexuality, gave us a glimpse of our internal cultural workings in cartoon fashion, entertaining us while revealing us to ourselves. The context of majik glasses provides us an illustration of all we see but don't recognize; and while they clarify all that's wrong around us, they ask us to look down at our own hands, as well, looking for any hint of talons.

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, June 6, 2008, #717 - By ERIC FRANCIS