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EVERY ASTROLOGER on the planet is wondering how the Bush administration has lasted this long. The more you know, the more astonishing it is; the more impossible it seems. Not that the ship of state is doing particularly well these days, adrift as it is in sundered and stormy seas -- but it really is a wonder how it's even floating.

The United States is not floating based on the generosity or integrity of its government, or its reputation in the world.

The US of A is happening because its people are hard working, determined and ultimately, optimistic in all matters. We are put down by the world for working too much, but it would appear that at least as a nation it's something of our salvation that we are willing to, especially when we're in a pinch.

Earlier this week, we were delivered by Herr Bush another version of the same thing we keep hearing over and over for the past six years: war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. The real "state of the union" would sound something like this.

"Ahem. My fellow Americans, listen up. The state of the union is jest, well, it's jest all buggered-up. I mean, it's plain dismal! If you can tell me how it could get worse, raise your hand. No wait, you better not."

[Cut to standing ovation; camera pans both sides of the aisle. A few scattered cheers and hoots from the floor. You wonder what distinguished member of the institution is doing that.]

"The bottom line is, you're screwed over, we're all screwed over and so are our great grandkids and their kids. We've hocked America up to the 22nd century and all the jobs are over in China, and we're borrowin' two billion a day from them and spendin' it to buy all the stuff they make. And the war -- I don't like it either. It's no fun any more. Country hasn't been in worse shape since Hoover's day."

[Cut to wild standing ovation, with feet stomping and streamers flying from the balcony. Close-up of the First Lady with tears in her eyes. Momentary shot of Dick Cheney, grimacing, putting his plump hands together a few times unconvincingly. After 45 seconds, Madam Speaker Pelosi smashes the gavel authoritatively till order is restored in the chambers. Cheney's face twitches in the same approximate rhythm as the gavel strikes.]

Ah yes, were it so.

Okay, so, I'm usually Mr. Good Citizen Journalist, and I could not bring myself to watch this speech, the SOTU, the real one. Oh, I thought about it. I kind of wanted to. I sort of felt I must and I was up late enough. I was ready to stream it live to my desk from the ever-dependable BBC News site when my better judgment seized my awareness. In point of fact, I smoked a bowl and put on the Kate Bush CD that I've been listening to nonstop for the past three weeks, and let myself be reminded how much more there is to life.

However, as your Friday morning quarterback who missed the game, I'm here with a review of the astrology. But before I get into the chart, I'd like to point you to two resources. First is the Democratic Party's response, by a new senator from Virginia named Jim Webb, whose son is an infantryman Marine in Iraq. This video is worth 10 minutes of your life. It at least provides some evidence that not everyone in Washington, DC is out of it -- and hey a federal legislator finally has a kid over there risking his neck.

Keith Olbermann is also in touch with reality, and as usual is pulling no punches. For his program on MSNBC on the eve of the State of the Union Address, he put together a compilation of lies told during prior SOTU addresses, which make it difficult to believe a single word coming out of Bush's mouth, but which moreover reveal the agenda, if anyone cares to look. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine how someone could lie more times in less time, but more difficult to imagine how so many people could believe them all. Olbermann is one of the few people actually calling the president a liar. Notice how few people do this; how few people dare. Maybe it's because so many make a habit of believing lies.

And please do not miss this, also from Olbermann. It is too rich for words.

Let's look at the chart for Tuesday's presentation for a few clues, and remember that it's as much a barometer of the nation as it is of what is being said. Everyone factors into a public chart like this, and there are many relationships described. This chart is for the stated time of the event was 9 pm; Bush started speaking at about 9:08 pm. I have used the stated time.


First let's look at the basic gestalt of the chart, the shape, the obvious -- not really applying classical astrology. And by the way, STFU is polite for "shut the fuck up."

Relatively little is happening above the horizon; note that most of the planets are on the bottom of the chart. Yet the ones that are above the horizon are the Moon and Saturn, the two most karmic planets.

Before I get to that, though, let's mention the mysterious little point called the Part of Fortune; pars fortuna; the Fortune. Not setting aside the value of human life, indeed, affirming it, let us remember that this whole discussion is on some level about the wealth of the nation: the Part of Fortune in the 11th house, "the community," in Cancer, the family of the nation; our collective wealth as a country.

Then there's a whole mob of planets in the sign Aquarius, the sign of the people. It's a funny image of a crowd in a sign that inherently represents just that. Then, opposite that crowd, we have dorky old Saturn up there, retrograde in Leo -- the Naked President.

The Moon in Aries is a good representation of the American people. The Moon is the public and Aries has a wonderful, endearing gullibility that is fun to play with; you can tell an Aries the same joke 20 times, and they will laugh every time, like a little kid. But this Moon is not laughing. The Moon, which represents mothers as well as the public, is feeling burned -- square Mars in Capricorn -- burned by the government, and thinking of war and death, and its children.

Saturn can always be used as a stand-in for the government or the chief, regardless of how the houses fall. Retrograde in Leo, we have an image of pride turned on itself; a leader stuck in the past, and ideas about the past. Retrograde Saturn is not what you could call forthcoming. In the 12th, moreover, we have the image of someone whose motives we must not take for granted, and which are far-reaching because the 12th is always bigger than you can conceive of. Also, the 12th is slippery. Everyone should keep a little pouch of sand hanging from their belt, and when you find yourself dealing with a 12th house situation, throw it on the floor so you don't slip.

Let's look at something else easy to follow. When doing a chart like this, or any chart, it's worth checking the rulers of the angles. The angles are house cusps with dark lines -- the ascendant (left side, to the east) and descendent (right side, to the west); and the 4th cusp (below, to the north) and the 10th cusp (above, to the south); these are often the most sensitive lines of a chart. Think of them as awareness reaching out into the energy fields of life.

In the chart we're reading now, they have a lot going on. They work directly, and also by proxy; for example, Virgo is rising, so we look at what's going on with Mercury (the ruler of Virgo) for a clue about the ascendant. Mercury is the green planet in Aquarius, with horns and the number 14 next to it. The ascendant represents the people and their state of mind. It also represents the subject of the chart, the "state of the union."

Gemini is on the 10th cusp and so it represents the president -- the leader of the nation. Mercury rules Gemini as well, so now both the people and the president are represented by the same planet.

Now, notice Neptune, the glyph shaped like a trident, right next to Mercury with the number 18 next to it. Mercury with the lower number is "applying to" Neptune -- it's about to make an exact conjunction. This aspect is the crux of the chart. Neptune in Aquarius represents deception and delusion, of the public, generally through electronic media. In other words, it's the symbol of lies, and lots of them, and also the media trance, aided and abetted by mood stabilizers.

Mercury, which represents the American people and how they now feel, as well as the president, is slipping deeper into those Neptune waters. Neptune works very much like a beach -- a few degrees away, you might be in shallow water.. The closer you get, the deeper the water gets. Then sometimes you get caught in a riptide or undertow. Neptune in my experience has a very wide orb, wider than any other planet. Mercury is in pretty deep at the moment, but not all the way just yet.

Now, this aspect -- which so far brings together the rulers of three angles -- could represent a few different things. One, everyone is being taken ever-deeper into deception. Or, it could mean that as the conjunction perfects, the awareness of those lies will become explicitly clear and the intelligence of Aquarius will take over. Mercury is a lot stronger planet in Aquarius than Neptune is, so awareness of the lies might wake us up. But by then, we need to ask: is it too late to respond effectively? We shall see. It may be that by the time people figure out they've been lied to, there will really be no easy way out -- which is on one level the essence of the crisis now.

Is there a clue which way things are going?

There were many interesting developments in the news this week. One of them is that the trial of Scooter Libby is underway. Libby, who was indicted for lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury, is the former chief of staff of Dick Cheney.This involves the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, then a CIA agent, in retaliation for her husband, Joe Wilson, revealing that Bush had lied about Saddam Hussein's alleged nuclear weapons program. Wilson was a former ambassador (under several presidents) who had personal knowledge that Bush was lying about Saddam supposedly trying to acquire uranium ore from Niger.

Someone in the White House got "revenge" by exposing Plame's identity to the media and thus blowing the cover of her entire spy network, which had the mission of keeping actual weapons out of the hands of actual terrorists. The message was, don't mess with us; we are psychotic and we'll stop at nothing to get our way.

This week at the trial, a couple of things came out: one of them being that Dick Cheney had instructed Libby (his flunky) about what to say to the press. This is usually how it works, but you usually don't find out. Another is that Libby destroyed some of the notes he was given by Cheney. So, just a few days into the trial, Cheney is deeply implicated -- and unless something stops this trial, Cheney will be called to the witness stand. This is impressive; even if you're not a baseball fan, you might enjoy watching the World Series. These things always seem smaller than they are; Watergate seemed inconsequential at first. What is most disgusting about this case, though, is that the Bush administration, allegedly protecting us from terrorism, would be so willing to expose the identity of a spy risking her life doing just that.

I don't expect Cheney will be in office much longer. Even though the astrology has been no kinder to him than it's been to anyone else, he is becoming an extremely big liability, and to think, he is a heartbeat away from being commander in chief.

Here's something else that impressed me this week. I'll quote from The New York Times. It involves Senator John Warner, the Republican party's hawk of all hawks, urging Bush to reconsider sending more troops into Iraq. So, this tells us which way the wind is blowing.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, one of Congress' leading authorities on the military, presented a bipartisan proposal Monday that rejected President Bush's plan to send more American troops to Baghdad and urged the administration to find a new course in Iraq.

"Mr. President, go back and look at all the options," Warner said.

"The American GI was not trained, not sent over there -- certainly not by resolution of this institution -- to be placed in the middle of a fight between the Sunni and the Shia and the wanton and just incomprehensible killing that's going on at this time," Warner said Monday.

John Warner is not a columnist for an alternative news website -- he is a respected, senior member of the president's party. But the point being made all around is, this war is not popular, escalating it is not popular, and the White House is now like a little boat floating in shark-infested waters.

Political commentators, for their part, have not missed the opportunity to make some excellent points. "This was a tiny, tepid performance by a tiny man who is shrinking, even now, before our very eyes," wrote William Rivers Pitt on Truthout.org Wednesday, "Let all the gods that are or ever were be thanked that he only has one more speech to go before history swallows him, before this nation and the world are faced with the grueling challenge of cleaning up all the bloody messes he has made."




AS I AM fond of reminding my readers, before I was an astrologer, I covered toxins issues. These included cases of mass poisoning, the community responses, and what is called toxic tort litigation -- lawsuits against the perpetrators, typically cases of fraud, including fraudulent lawsuits. I also covered (and still cover) scientific fraud, that is, pretend science used by industry against the public.

It takes time and a strong stomach to get used to the game played by corporate and public officials: they are able and willing to lie shamelessly to cover their own asses, even in the face of damning evidence that they themselves created. This will fluster the mind of any intelligent person, and it defies credulity that people in positions of responsibility can commit what amounts to murder by speech. Part of the psychology that protects these perpetrators is that we are trained to have absolute trust in government leaders and health officials. Despite a good deal of lip service paid to skepticism and "how little people trust government," most people (when push comes to shove) choose to believe what they are told by men and women in suits, even when presented with contradictory facts or overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

What is more difficult to swallow, is how willing poisoning victims are to be lied to. There is almost a level of desperation for being assured that it's "safe." One will live with gnawing doubt for months or years before doing something, clinging to any reassurance. The longer one stays, the more difficult it is to get out, because the more one needs to believe it was safe. This conflict and pain seems to be allayed only by the palliative of deception, and like any painkiller, it is addictive. Part of what people are protected against by the addiction and indeed the game of believing lies is waking up to the truth, which many suspect is far worse than they fear.

It is difficult to say what wakes people up, and sometimes nothing does. There are instances when people in power must be held at intellectual knifepoint, forced to act in the face of pressure, media attention and threat of legal action -- and the public is then unwillingly dragged along for the ride. This was the case when the Love Canal neighborhood near Niagara Falls was finally evacuated in 1980. Some people were angry. Many resisted citizen efforts to resolve the problem. Some people stayed behind after the neighborhood was condemned for dioxin contamination. I visited their homes, and it was shocking.

With the situation involving Bush, Iraq, how he came to power, who he really represents, and how they are benefiting from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's easy to see that people have good reasons to keep believing lies; when you question one, you must question the next, and where ends the process? But more frightening yet is the prospect of questioning oneself: one's inner motives for self-deception. Is it the need not to grow; the need to feel safe at any cost; the desire to abdicate one's power; or a refusal to challenge one's parents, lest we be kicked out of the clan?

We may indeed wonder, but we can also ask ourselves what it is for us.




Here is an advanced look at the chart, with Ursula Fugger reporting in from the 17th century, actually following the rules of classical astrology.

William Lilly, not Ursula.

WHAT ABOUT the people of the country? Are they feeling healthy, wealthy and wise? That's the 1st house, and we find Mercury as the lord of the 1st (the ascendant).
 
The leader of the nation -- he's the MC, again governed by Mercury, so now we have Mercury/Virgo on the Asc and Mercury/Gemini on the MC, with Mercury in the 5th, applying to Neptune by conjunction, separating from Jupiter by sextile.
 
The separating aspect is only two degrees though -- so something was to this leader's advantage that was exact two days previous.

This indicates some kind of cooperative relationship, though not necessarily among friends, as a sextile is about cooperation but not perfect cooperation. Jupiter in Sagittarius indicates the possibility of some kind of international situation or agreement being developed covertly. Mercury making a conjunction to Neptune suggests there are some big lies being told.
 
Mercury is in Saturn's sign in the 5th, so the leader wants to be taken seriously (he's in a somber mood) by the people, (1st house) and the Senate (a 5th house subject).
 
Bush (also represented by the Sun, as is any king or ruler) in Aquarius wants to be on good terms with the public with Moon in Aries in 7th (separating sextile) but at any moment the public could turn on him; it's a feisty time, with tension in the air.
 
The Moon is separating from a sextile to the Sun, applying to Chiron, Mercury and Neptune by sextile to which I'd say that there is an opportunity to appear chastened, almost humble but it's fraudulent: an act. Gemini on the 10th cusp indicates this as well -- the government is duplicitous, talking out of both sides of its mouth.
 
The 2nd house (Libra on the cusp) is the currency of the country and it's ruled by Venus in the 6th house, just past a conjunction with Neptune and the money of the country is disappearing as a result of military involvement (6th house) in a foreign country (9th house) and being involved with terrorism and covert operations by way of an opposition with Saturn in the 12th.
 
Saturn is the lord of the 5th and 6th houses, taking us back to the Senate, which does not think this is a good gamble (see Bush's speech from two weeks ago); nor does the armed forces wish to continue to suffer losses, again reflected in the Saturn opposition Neptune conjunct Venus.
 
Enter Mars. Mars is always this guy who sets it off. He's a trigger. So -- where and what is he up to?
 
He's sitting in the 4th house, the home of real estate, crops (corn) and what is known as "the party out of power." There's only one aspect to Mars and it's already happened. The Moon, which stands for the public, has already separated from him and left him behind. The Moon rules the 11th which stands for associations, organizations that accept one as a member, it is also our networks of friends. They have deserted him and with a square they are angry to boot.
 
And guess who's really angry -- mothers. The Moon in Aries is in the sign of the military with the planet of our Moms who don't want their sons fighting. That Moon's in the house of open war and is unsupportive. The very same families that backed him are getting very testy with him. There is also the distinct possibility this escalation of troops could precipitate a huge protest or strike of some kind, much like the immigration marches last year (Jupiter square Uranus, a revolt).
 
Bush wants more money to go to war. (Venus ruler of 2nd and 9th). Will he get it? Not easily. As Venus is not in good shape, separating from Saturn, he will cajole and use every trick in the book (Mercury applying to Neptune) and pull many favors out but with the ruler of the 12th in the 5th, it goes back to the Senate and again, he's the guy out of power, at the bottom of the chart. He'll really have to dance to get that money.
 
Is there anything good in the chart?
 
Well, with a trine from the Moon to Jupiter in the 7th to the 3rd, he's working hard to keep up friendly relations with the adjacent countries like Mexico and Canada. Why? Ruler of the 4th, Jupiter in Sagittarius, is the business investment in foreign resources. Since Jupiter (big) is applying to Neptune (0il) your friendly neighbors to the north have plenty of oil. Perhaps they will share.
 
I also feel that based on the mutable signs rising on the Asc and MC that we don't know the whole story, that Bush is presenting two stories, one public and one yet to be revealed. Mars is also the lord of the 3rd and 8th, which I feel is telling in that he's anxious to get his hands on the neighboring countries' resources and with the last aspect to the Moon trine Pluto, he has the tacit approval of the leaders (Mars in Capricorn) of Mexico and Canada to start moving toward energy integration thru the Security and Prosperity Initiative.




Every subscriber has a sequence number in our database. When I first created the Planet Waves Weekly subscription service in the summer of 2002, I was wondering (for a moment) who the first person would be. Well, it was Kathy, from Venice, CA. She is officially Subscriber Number One! Here she is, with her beautiful family.


Today, she writes:

"You know, the reason I signed up as a subscriber is that I believe in the idea that if you find what you love to do and you do what you want the money will follow. So I subscribed, not just because I enjoy your particular horoscopes, but that I want to be part of that being real in the world. I also have gotten a kick out of the fact that you started in environmental reporting which was an interest I had once had. Anyway -- all is well here in Venice California. Another beautiful day ahead! -- Kathy

Voyager Tarot, courtesy of James Wanless.

Greetings Friends and Readers!

With the Spiral Door complete, we're taking a deep breath, catching up on our sleep, and thinking about what to do next.

We are cooking up some new ideas for you at Planet Waves, and one of them is an indie music section -- for which we need an editor and one or two assistants. Many of the best CDs in my collection, the ones I would have worn out ages ago if they were records, were created by musicians who don't have a record contract. That was the source of this idea: how to tell the world about those artists, and help them find their audience worldwide. I imagine something a little like You Tube -- only with the most outrageous music you've ever heard.

Your job would be to find and contact independent musicians, then make arrangements to post some of their music, and establish a link back to their site or CD Baby listing. This is a development project, so you need to be creative, adaptable, friendly, clever -- and have a strong sense of team values. You need to be willing to serve diligently as a volunteer for up to one year. You need a natural feel for musical talent, diverse tastes and a true sense of adventure. Please contact priya@planetwaves.net if you are interested.

We are also seeking two web assistants to help Anatoly with basic tasks such as modernizing pages, chasing down 404s, and so on. You need a good knowledge of HTML, CSS and any extras, and once again, a willingness to volunteer for up to one year. Please contact chelsea@planetwaves.net if you are interested, or call (877) 453-8265.

Next, we are looking for literate and astrologically literate people to assist with the third incarnation of Astrology Secrets Revealed, our Q and A forum that started with my column on Cainer.com. You will need a solid professional background as an astrologer -- or a good start and substantial promise. You will be responding to reader queries from a humanistic astrology perspective, in plain, honest talk. This is volunteer, but if you are developing an astrology practice, you will get referrals and transition into working with the public. Please contact deirdre@planetwaves.net if you are interested.

Finally, we are planning a community fundraising project this spring, which I'll tell you more about then. The question with all startup companies is, are they adequately capitalized to survive until they're on their feet? Planet Waves defied all the odds. We began in in the autumn of 1998 with an idea, one writer (hello), one artist from California (Via Keller), and an $89 web program called Page Mill -- the closest thing we came to capital was an old Mac donated by my friend Allan Rousselle. For years, we have grown and thrived on the love, devotion and brainwaves of our mostly volunteer staff. Then starting four years ago, you, our readers, many of whom became subscribers. That gave us a budget -- and we have responded well, and I think done very nicely with it.

So if you really enjoy projects like The Spiral Door, you know our two secrets to success: our talent magnet, and some cash to work with.

These days we're growing Planet Waves into an Internet creative zone with an edge. The edge is having a cosmic perspective. Whatever vision emerges at Planet Waves, we will all be keeping company with the planets and the galaxies. I'll tell you, they make a heck of a co-writer. We specialize in creating intellectually sound media projects aimed at integrating astrology, political awareness, sexuality and sustainability -- and something the world needs a lot more of, beauty.

This announcement is designed to plant a seed in your mind for a fundraising campaign that begins shortly after the Aries equinox. Together we can build the publishing company of the future that will help our readers go through the Spiral Door of 2012 and well beyond.

We welcome the input and assistance of those who have experience in gift development, as well as your contributions. If you are interested, please write to me at dreams@planetwaves.net and please copy in chelsea@planetwaves.net.

Yours & truly,




By Priya Kale with Eric Francis

YOUR RECENT past might have caused you to undermine yourself, or at least underestimate your self-worth. Now, the idea of self-esteem is chucked around a lot, but what does it really mean? Well, it's a difficult balance (at least in PR terms) between holding oneself in high esteem, and seeming egotistical. This is not, however, your problem. With Pisces in your 2nd house, you tend to underestimate; with Uranus transiting that house, however, you're experiencing some wild fluctuations. What matters is that you be resolutely who you are, and be humbly who you aspire to be.

You have a genuinely idealistic view of the world, indeed, you're one of the models for idealism because your whole being vibrates with the future. You also possess an inherent ability to see the good in others. It's likely this has caused you to be let down more than once by people who don't live life by the same sensitivity and standards as you do. This is not to say that you are the one who needs to change, but rather that what would serve you well is to cultivate your talent for discernment. It is necessary for you to have a vision for yourself and your world as you would like it.

Apply that vision a little bit every day, like you're gradually building up a coating on the world. Meanwhile, figure out who you can trust, and whose beliefs and cosmology identify with yours -- and let go of those that don't match up. And yes, you can do this without being judgmental, as long as you are decisive. Being surrounded by people who don't match your imagination and bold sense of adventure is a drain on everyone, and you need room in your life for who really belongs there; if nothing else that is the message of Saturn in the 7th house.

You yearn for intense emotion and fascinating bewitchment in intimate relationships. The social circles you find yourself in this year will certainly offer up some interesting opportunities. But you are changing every day and so are your emotions. Independence might be a key to your happiness until you figure out what it is that you really want.

Chiron's placement in your sign says this is another year of deep healing and growth, and the keyword here seems to be 'balance'. Things at the moment may seem deeply confusing, because there are so many planets now in your sign, and therefore so many energies to work out. But because of this, the emphasis is certainly on you, your values and your view of the world; which is ultimately what is reflected in your relationships. There is a chance to work on this aspect of yourself so that when the moment arises, not only will you see it, you will be ready to seize it.

Mercury conjunct Chiron and Pallas in your 1st house is powerful astrology. This is the time to talk through old wounds. Overcome your reluctance to express some of your deeper emotions that you keep hidden away out of feelings of vulnerability. You have an emotional volcano lurking inside that needs a safe gentle outlet. Communicate and express your feelings on a regular basis. Your words are powerful, so don't be afraid of intense conversations. It is only when we are honest with one another that true healing and growth can happen.

The truth is this -- this is your moment to shine. Live your truth and you will see some of your most cherished dreams manifest themselves.

Notes to Remember

Sun conjunct Solar Ascendant/Solar Return
Impossible to be inconspicuous. Presence and authenticity. You've got nothing to hide. Live your truth and potential to shine. Marked leadership potential. Marked moment. Self-reliant confident individual.  

Mercury Pallas Chiron Nessus Conjunct 1st House (Mercury close conjunct Sun)
Deep healing possible. Time to talk through old wounds. Need for emotional negotiation. Talk talk talk, communicate. Overcome reluctance to express, mind and body. Powerful words, intense conversation. Emotional growth. Deep sensitive insights expressed maybe even through non-verbal means.

Venus conjunct Neptune, opposite Saturn, square Vesta
Stop underestimating. Led to believe at young age that you were less talented than you really were. Don't marry for security. Choose partners with care for the right reasons. Vulnerability in relationships. Risk factor, emotionally and financially. Look closely before committing. Keep sense of discernment between reality and fantasy. High degree of idealization of relationships. Image of perfect partner. Guard against putting on a pedestal. Trusting. Emotionally vulnerable. Take pleasure in culture arts music fashion, like wearing rose-colored glasses. Universal love, healing through sexuality and spirituality.

Moon sextile Mars
Mental control over volatile feelings. Emotional volcano lurking, but you can manage it like a spigot. Pace and release blocked energy in intimate relationships. Overwhelming emotion needs a gentle outlet. Self-confidence. Abundant energy to combine with emotional desires to accomplish aims. Co-operation. If you have to, agree to disagree. First reactions are emotional. Minimize by thinking things through. Don't bottle up. Seek communication before conflict.

Jupiter square Uranus
Conflict between need to be externally successful and inner struggle to release and transcend limitations, which results in a breakthrough. This applies to ALL Aquarians. Drive for success. Don't resent roadblocks; look for creative solutions. FEEL the energy and ideas moving within you.


By Priya Kale with Eric Francis

Your mind is buzzing with a strong intellectual ability that others may fail to match up to. It can be a burden, but I am sure you're grateful that, at the very least, you can think, and you like to think. These days you are at your perceptive and creative best, and this can be a year of breakthroughs in the areas where you have previously felt limited.

Just be very upfront in negotiations and read the fine print. State your expectations clearly; there is always room for discussion once you do, but please don't leave anyone wondering what you're thinking, what you want or what you need. This goes for personal as well as professional relationships. Precise or at least sincere words can avoid misunderstandings down the road, and the risk you take now will pay off in the benefit of clarity. When in doubt, I would advise you to stick to the rule of say what you mean and mean what you say. Only make the promises you know you can keep.

The thing with any relationship is that it takes two to make it work, and often the two involved each have a relationship with themselves and any inner conflict that they bring into the situation -- and this can mean a whole lot of unwanted psychological baggage weighing down the situation. Compromise and not conflict needs to be the conscious focus here, and it's necessary for you to own what is yours, and to reasonably expect others to own what is theirs. Remember that you are recently emerging from a degree of denial that -- when you discovered it -- surprised you. Now, you're something of an awareness junkie, but others will take some time to catch up.

Create a space where genuine feelings and emotions can be expressed and acknowledged mutually, and that means being an actual optimist. Resolve your inner struggles without projecting these onto a partner; this is tricky, and you can ask for help. You can ask for others to help you clarify whether you are projecting, which will encourage them to clarify whether they are projecting. Remember the only person you can control is yourself, and in truth, that is difficult; you might want to set as a goal, rather than self-control, awareness of what you're thinking and feeling, and then living with those facts in a straightforward way.

Uranus, one of your ruling planets, is currently conjunct the North Node. This says one thing: You are here to be an innovator. When in doubt, invent something. When you cannot see in the dark, invent a new form of light. When your old life does not work, invent a new one.

As the Sun makes a conjunction to Chiron in your sign, there may be times you doubt yourself deeply. But the message of Chiron is this: Existential challenges are a fact of existence. The sense that we don't belong can fuel a deeply meaningful quest to create a space for yourself in this life that creates a safe space for others as well -- and in so doing, you will discover that you not only belong here, but that there are many others who have lived through similar struggles and learned much about themselves.

Remember not to confuse your ideas of limitation with actual limitation. Most obstacles are perceptions, and often all that is needed is a little twist in perspective. If you see a wall, try walking around it; if you see a door, don't assume it's locked just because it is closed. All that might be needed is for you to knock, or turn the knob. In all aspects of your life, be ready to ask the difficult question, because in a strange way, when you ask that question, you will discover another small and perhaps subtle path to healing and freedom.

You may not always like what you hear, but I suspect you know how necessary accepting the truth is to the process of who you are becoming. You came to this planet with a mission, a worldly agenda that matches your soul's agenda. In this most unusual year of your life, where Chiron blesses your life with the mark of distinction and the rare gift of self-awareness, these are four seasons that you will remember well, and for which you will be remembered well. Today, it's more than a memory: it's potential, a life yet unlived that you are actually free to live.

Notes to Remember

Sun conjunct Chiron
Coming into your own power. Deal with father's projections and his sense of being "less than a real man." His stuff is not yours. Dynamic conjunction brings in healing power to release old wounds leading to growth. Chiron acts as catalyst.

Venus opposite Saturn
Stop underestimating self-worth. Believe in yourself. Limits are not necessarily real. Put yourself in the position of the other; if someone else seems stuck in the past, free yourself from the past. Remember how much you have in common with the people around you, and be honest about the differences.

Saturn opposite Neptune
This is a threshold transit for the world, a moment of self-questioning, confusion and potential freedom from the lies and deception of so many years we have lived under the thumb of ideas that are not our own, and people we did not elect to represent us. Know your relationship to technology. Make sure you set limits on doubt, and slightly higher limits on faith. Know who you can trust, and remember all trust starts with trusting yourself.

Saturn trine Pluto-GC
Use willpower to maximize talent and resources. Clearly defined purposes manifest into real potential, but you need to make it happen -- one step at a time, from idea to manifestation.

Mercury opposite Saturn
Strong intellectual ability. Strong opinions. Be upfront in negotiations to avoid misunderstandings. Read the fine print and check the history of every situation that you encounter -- there is a great deal in the history.

North Node conjunct Uranus
Born to be an innovator. That is an important part of Aquarius karma and it is happening NOW.

Jupiter square Uranus
See above.

Ceres conjunct Neptune
Beware of idealization of mother.

Weekly Horoscope for Friday, January 26, 2007, #647 - By ERIC FRANCIS

Aries (March 20-April 19)
Make sure you know the difference between the present and the past when handling important business matters, particularly ones that can have an impact on your reputation. Certain points of history that have come up repeatedly are no longer factors you need to consider, whereas one or two new developments surely are. A hunch or intuitive message that may come from a friend or arise in a group meeting of some kind holds the key to this situation, though it may not be obvious at first, and the idea may seem to have pitfalls. You can work through those problems and get the benefits of this idea -- if someone bothers to remember it.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You need to keep careful track of the many diverse threads developing on the work front, though what counts more than anything at this point is that you see and feel the common theme. Theme is not plot; it's not the story itself. Rather, it is the message of the story, which is often subtle. Part of that involves learning the art of diplomacy, which is another way of saying that you have to treat everyone in a way that is specific to them and not count yourself a hypocrite. Really, it involves having confidence in your ideas. As you're learning, even when you think you're wrong, you're usually right.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
You are making contact with an aspect of yourself that is always there, but which often hides. Indeed, you may experience something of a common phenomenon along the spiritual path this week, which you should recognize when you see. First you have this transcendent revelation that seems like it can change your life or your whole idea of your existence. Then, it fades and you start to wonder whether it was real, or if it's possible, and maybe on some level deny that the whole thing even happened, or was meaningful.
 
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
You are currently in rare form when it comes to making business arrangements, and this is the time to make forays into the future, particularly where a group partnership of some kind is concerned. From the look of your charts, you are opening up your psychic doors to being on the receiving end of collective resources, which is more about your own state of mind than about anything else. What you have going for you at the moment is a certain penetrating quality to the message you're delivering, which will be like water that soaks into the Earth and gets some seeds growing. The roots will grow first, then the leaves, then the flowers.
 
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
Listen between the notes and read between the lines for the message or information you're looking for. It may be that you don't quite see the reward in one particular situation, or don't feel actually and truly appreciated by the people who you're with. However, just remember that everyone is coming from their own place, dreaming their own dream, and finally the opinion or perspective of others doesn't really matter to you. It would appear that the moment you start to practice detachment, the rewards will show up, and in somewhat typical fashion of an upside-down world, people will notice how much they really do love you.
 
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
You don't always like it when life doesn't add up to something perfectly sensible, but every now and then, senselessness works for you. If nothing else, it should come as a relief that you don't need to think so hard about what you're doing, and just do it. At times, allowing oneself to be guided by invisible or seemingly irrational forces has no appeal due to pride in one's intelligence. However, given the choice between being proud of myself and finding out exactly what I need to know by some method I could not take credit for, I would go with the second option -- but that's just me.
 
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
I suggest you set aside as much regular business as you can the next few days, through the weekend, and follow your creative inspiration -- which seems to be rather abundant at the moment. But please do something else: watch what happens in your relationships when you do; notice the impact of letting your inspiration flow in a tangible, constructive direction. Then, observe yourself responding to them. This is a feedback loop you need to study, I think, if you really want to be the master of your own creative power. Inspiration is from within -- but what we get to do with it is all about how we relate.
 
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You have two basic modes of operation: logical and psychic. Trust me, I don't expect to win a big award from an astrological association for that statement, and I know I've left out the one quality about you that everyone thinks they notice all the time, which is "emotional." Yes, that's always there, but it's more like an energy source than a way of approaching the world. Indeed, your world is emotional, and you have two ways of approaching that. Both are going at about full throttle right now. Make sure you apply the right mode to the right situation, and when in doubt, follow what you just know -- because you do just know.
 
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
Two voices are speaking at the moment, and one almost has a paranoid edge, while the other seems extremely idealistic. But this is not just another Day in the Life of Sagittarius. The chatter in your mind and the dreams you have are floating in the background; leave them there. Something much more significant has surfaced, both a creative breakthrough and a personal revelation that seems to have changed the substance and structure of your soul. This is more than an illusion; it is a fact, and the implications are deep -- and they suggest that you have a new degree of freedom and have struck a deep well of self-respect. These are the same thing, in truth, as you will soon enough discover.
 
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
The practical side of the equation will dawn on you soon enough; don't start with it. Keep the inspiration part hot, and practice keeping it hot. You are discovering you have a talent you did not know about. In fact, you may have specifically denied that you were gifted in this way, all the while, building that particular gift. As a personal resource, it can't really be summed up so easily, but at the moment it's working as an ability to see through the illusion of lack, and to be able to see the way that working with a group is more than about adding things together. It's about having the right combination of ingredients that can compensate nicely for anything that seems to be missing.
 
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Basically, you're a magnet right now, and who and what you draw to you will be meaningful for a long time to come. While you're attracting so much, though, you have access to a special gift of discernment. Look at everyone and everything carefully; sense yourself carefully, and assess your motives, methods and goals. Clarify these things, and make a few not-so-dramatic but important choices based on actually noticing what you observe. What matters the very most right now may seem to matter least; the truth will not scream, it will whisper. Listen carefully and whisper back -- it will be a great dialog.
 
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Your normal awareness is soaking in a dimension of which most people lack any sense. For you, it's so ordinary that you barely notice. However, at the moment, it's worth noticing. One possible interpretation of your chart is that someone is trying to communicate something meaningful and vital to you -- but not saying it directly. You are supposed to just know. It is sometimes annoying when people do this, but at the moment, what they are saying is not easily put into words, and in truth, it's too good for words. It will be more fun if you figure it out, and you're well on the way. However, at the moment, consider that the entire universe is attempting to get your attention using this method.