It's Not Hubris to Play With Crayons Dear Friend and Reader: You're familiar with the idea of hubris, yes? It's that amplified blend of blind, stubborn ego and overreaching that spelled the tragic downfall of many a character in the myths and dramas of Greek antiquity.
Yet when it comes to living creatively and trusting that our gifts are worth trying out, expanding upon and even -- gasp! -- sharing with others, so many people live as though Zeus himself might strike them down with a lightning bolt should they dare. You may or may not see yourself in that. At the very least, you likely know someone who shows creative promise but shies away at any suggestion of 'doing something' with it. The astrology of these current weeks has focused on variations of the theme of creativity. This has included acknowledging and understanding 'the inner critic', and putting that voice in its place; expanding into career and creative opportunities that present themselves, yet also seeing where some restraint (possibly financial) is warranted. It's also possible that any interactions you've had in public forums have been especially fruitful, or that conversations in your intimate relationships have been noticeably heartfelt or articulate, particularly if they've contained an element of reevaluation. All of these ideas and the events in your life that they relate to are indicated by the activity in the signs Leo and Virgo. Two weeks ago Venus stationed retrograde in Virgo (cue the inner critic); last weekend, it moved back into Leo (reclaiming a sense of play).
Between now and through the weekend, the story shifts yet again -- though we're still in the same basic ballpark. On Friday at 3:15 pm EDT (19:15 UTC), Mercury leaves Leo and ingresses Virgo. Then on Saturday at 7:32 pm EDT (23:32 UTC), Mars leaves Cancer and enters Leo. When Mercury and Mars enter their new signs, they aspect some interesting minor planets that play on the predominant themes. Waiting for Mercury in the first degree of Virgo is a hypothetical point called Transpluto. Tranpluto relates to criticism, narrowness and over-focus. Eric gave a great overview of Transpluto in this 2012 blog post, which includes a link to Lynn Koiner's excellent delineation of Transpluto, and its association with Virgo. Square Mercury and Transpluto are three asteroids in Sagittarius. Icarus is named for the mythological character who ignored his father's cautions about the dangers of hubris, and flew too close to the Sun with his wax wings, thereby plummeting to the sea. Asclepius is named for the mythological father of medicine and was a student of Chiron. And Hybris is literally hubris.
One way to read this configuration is that if you try anything that is not 'practical' or 'rational' (Mercury in Virgo), you'll get a taste of your own medicine, and will fall from grace. But that's a very defeatist, narrow view, and my reading is that the presence of Transpluto serves as a caution against getting stuck in this mindset. Alternatively: What if what you were taught was 'hubris' as a child, regarding what you're capable of creatively, is untrue? What if that idea came from a long line of people who were not encouraged to try, to experiment, to play, to make (or who were actively discouraged or punished), and who therefore turned their pain in on themselves -- and onto successive generations? In that context, consider this: you're not being an egotistical show-off if you decide to go for it. Rather, you're reclaiming the right you were born with to live as a creative, engaged being. See, Mercury opposite Nessus pretty much screams out that the idea that 'any creative daring is an act of hubris' is a false assumption, based on ideas that were handed down to you (or pushed on you). Nessus points to the thing you have an opportunity to stop, possibly an abusive pattern. Nessus often has connotations of sexual misconduct, yet consider this: sexual energy and creative energy are, at their core, the same thing. Any past violation of your sense of yourself as a creative being is, in fact, a violation. Period. But that does not mean you are broken, or that you must pass along the sense of injured creativity. The thing is, it takes a leap of faith on your part to test out those wings. It does not need to be a big leap; in fact, a modest skip could be the most effective. It may still feel incredibly daring. And it's that sense of daring, of actually pushing past the inner voice telling you, “That's too far! You're not good enough!” that could prove to be medicinal.
Notice those emotions, acknowledge them, maybe give yourself permission to grieve a little; then give yourself permission to let any bitterness go. You have new things to try. Mars will be on the scene in Leo the next day (Saturday at 7:32 pm EDT) to give you heart and the extra energy you need to marshal yourself and try again. Mars, too, is aspecting some noteworthy minor planets. It is square the centaur planet Pelion in Taurus, named for the mountain home of Chiron, the teacher and healer. Also in early Taurus is minor planet 1992 QB1, which represents thresholds into new states of being, and those who assist others in getting there. Often healing requires a push beyond our 'home' or comfort zone. Mars will also be conjunct Tantalus in Leo. My take on this is: you might not quite grab the metaphorical fruit you so desire, and that seems so close; at least, not with your first attempts. But just in trying, you'll be crossing a threshold of some kind -- perhaps a threshold into a new sense of confidence. Yours & truly,  Amanda Painter P.S. This week's horoscopes have been lovingly provided by Len Wallick, filling in for Eric. Eric will be back next week with your horoscopes and lead article. Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Annual basic subscription rate: $97/year. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb and Chad Woodward.
Early praise for the 2015 Midyear Reading, available now: The reading not only got what I am actually experiencing, but truly helped me name what I have been dreaming about! I am just beginning to realize that these are things I've always wanted. You helped de-code the language of the twins inside. -- Fe Bongolan  The 2015 Midyear Report is now available for instant access -- The Art of Living / Astrology for Artists. The theme is how to live artfully; how to turn your life into a creative project; and how best to integrate conscious creation into your life, as a way of life. This is a 12-sign audio reading plus an introduction which moves elegantly through the astrology of the second half of the year -- Venus retrograde, the two additional Venus-Mars conjunctions, the two additional Venus-Jupiter conjunctions, and Jupiter ingressing Virgo. You may order here. Note, this fantastic project is a fundraiser for Planet Waves. Thank you for signing up. You will love it. By the way, I describe the project in detail, along with my personal commitment to the subject matter, in the last segment of this recent Planet Waves FM. -- efc Please note, the article by Eric below first published on Aug. 17, 2012. The Folk Art of Therapy Dear Friend and Reader: For a few years I've been wanting to write an article about how to pick a therapist. I know that there are those for whom opening up a real discussion about their lives is burning in their soul. Others know they've been dealing with the same problems over and over for years. You may see the same patterns repeating in your relationships, your career, your family life or other aspects of existence, and you decide that it's time for that to change.
Yet till now I haven't felt comfortable writing the article. So in the interest of good therapy, I'll start with my hesitancy. First issue is that I've heard a lot of stories of unhelpful or even hurtful experiences. I've had a few myself. I'm aware that there's a lack of trust looming around the whole issue of therapy. There is also a belief that it's superficial. Next issue is that when most people are choosing a therapist, they are in some kind of crisis, and that's not necessarily the best time to be making such a critical decision. Yet it's the time that it typically happens. Another issue is that there exist a diversity of misunderstandings about what therapy is and how it works. For many people there is the perception that it's supposed to be a magic or at least deeply mysterious solution. Images of the patient reclined on the couch in Dr. Freud's office come to mind; he and he alone understands the workings of their unconscious -- and the old man had a lot of problems (as do many contemporary therapists, who according to Alice Miller tend to come from abusive backgrounds). Others treat therapy as if "going to talk to someone" is the ultimate admission of weakness -- they are somehow not self-sufficient or intelligent enough to live their own lives. They want to go it alone. Lurking in the background here may be the idea that "I don't want to go talk to someone because I'll find out something I don't want to know" or "they're going to tell me I'm crazy." (Often this translates to some form of, "I don't want to deal with my problems.") Despite the existence of these reservations, I'm confident that good therapy is helpful and possible, though I am skeptical of how many people are actually qualified to do it. When I consider the diversity of innate and trained skills that it's necessary to have, and the level of ethics required, and how bad the training can be, it doesn't seem like there will be too many qualified candidates.
Yet I can see I was onto a significant distinction: I was looking for someone who practiced the folk art of therapy, rather than the institutional or academic kind. I'll explain the difference in a moment, with a reminder that there are people who are part of both worlds. My reference to someone named Joe Trusso came from a guy named John, who was having a torrid affair with my then-lover Sabine. One night I went to have dinner with the two of them, and after a while John suggested that I call up Joe and talk to him. John was an illustrious (even notorious) character. I think what I may have trusted the most was that John understood something about me, and his recommendation was an outgrowth of that. I had nothing to lose by going in for a session. Now, you probably wouldn't ask your partner's lover for a reference to a therapist, or to anything for that matter. However, you might get the name of someone by some means that seems unusual. A synchronicity might be involved. In truth, references are a pretty good way to get started shopping around. Ask people you trust if they have heard of anyone, and ask what they heard. The key fact is this: however you may be feeling, you're going to need to make an informed decision, you're going to need to trust that decision for a while (say, for three sessions, till you have a feeling for how things are going), and then you'll need to evaluate how you did. Even an informed decision is a roll of the dice, however there are common-sense ways you can skew the odds in your favor, which could be applied to any selection process for a healer or practitioner.
Is the person easy to reach? If you leave a message, do they call you back fairly soon? Do they answer your questions patiently? This is more than good business practice; therapists know that people often call them when in crisis, and they know that those first few minutes are a key time to cultivate trusting communication, and to offer a prospective client the chance to feel listened to and cared about. When you pick someone you want to have a first meeting with, you might be inclined to tell them your whole story, which would be a good sign. But sometime during that first visit (or before), make sure you ask for a copy of their CV (curriculum vitae, a long-form resume that all professionals should have available). In my opinion, you're looking for two things on their CV -- the first of which are educational and professional experiences that qualify them for the service that they are currently offering. Second, I suggest you look for diversity of interests. When I read Joe's CV, it included therapy training in workshop format, educational experiences, teaching, educational consulting, plus some of his artistic and scientific endeavors. Among them was the fact that he's a musical composer, with some of his notable performances listed. The topic of his master's thesis was the magical powers associated with the shapes of musical instruments in indigenous cultures. This impressed me as intelligent and open-minded. I think it's far preferable to work with someone who is excited about life, and who challenges themselves to grow and explore existence. That's the kind of example you want -- and a therapist is very much an exemplar, not of a perfect person, but of an alive one. Such a person is more likely to relate to what you say and the unusual things you might want to do, and less likely to try to fit you into a box. The essence of therapy is to bring out the person you are inside, rather than have you be someone else.
Let's make a distinction between the academic/institutional approach and the folk approach to therapy. To the extent that therapy exists these days, much of it takes the academic/institutional approach -- coming with the need to make a diagnosis, for example. Psychologists and social workers have this cryptic thing called DSM-IV, which supposedly lists everything that can possibly go wrong with a person's mind. As the patient, you would need to fit one of those categories; your diagnosis gets a little code, and that code is used to collect insurance (for example, social anxiety disorder is DSM-IV 300.23). Some people also find it comforting to know what's 'wrong' with them, at least in the theory of a psychologist. Many practitioners who use the diagnosis model will either prescribe mood-altering drugs, or refer you to someone who will. I find it stunning, shocking and unbelievable that so many millions of people you see on the street are taking 'anti-depressants'. In my opinion, mood-altering prescription medications are only necessary in rare cases, not for everyday depression or anxiety. There is considerable evidence that they make matters worse. And they are prescribed without actual scientific data (for example, indicating exactly what 'chemical imbalance' is being treated). The purported goal of this kind of therapy is to cure the patient. Alternately, the folk art of therapy has a more down-to-earth approach. The therapy room is a place of refuge or sanctuary. That's how it should feel when you sit down there -- like a place off to the side of existence, protected from the demands of the world, and a place where you want to come back. If after the first session you feel better about your life and you want to come back, that's a good sign. Then see how you feel after the second session. If things go well for a month or so, give the person a chance and reassess in six months. Remember that there may be ups and downs in your attitude toward the work -- but that's not a given. In this approach, the therapist is a witness and mentor. They maintain a loving presence, though one that's not attached to your outcome. This is the crucial difference between a friend (or lover) and a therapist: someone you're involved with personally may have a diversity of biases and attachments to you; your therapist will see you more objectively, and when you walk out the door you're free to live your life -- and come back -- without worrying about their opinion of you.
There's a deeper layer, though. I believe that ultimately, therapy is about the cultivation of trust. That is the thing learned; the missing experience had. This is saying a lot on a planet where trust is the rarest human element, and the thing most often abused when it's found. There is an idea going around that 'talk therapy' is superficial, and can only go so far, particularly compared to 'energy work'. Without commenting on 'energy work', I will say this: trust is a core issue in life. Our cynical and self-judgmental attitudes are usually based on lack of trust, and this is almost always crippling. The therapy relationship becomes the vehicle for that experience of learning trust, not in theory but in actual practice. That takes time, though it will proceed from a point of contact. That point of contact leads to the conscious observation that your trust in someone is growing, that it exists at all, or that some benefit will come from it. The relationship becomes an active demonstration that trust really is possible. One of the deepest learning experiences of therapy is looking for that trust in other relationships -- and if you discover it's not there, taking that fact to heart. Trust leads to the ability to be vulnerable in a conscious and sincere way. Vulnerability without trust can have some catastrophic results. Most people struggle with trust and vulnerability. The therapy relationship becomes a place to experience those things that were largely missing, and to open up to the missing experiences, carrying what you learn over into other relationships. It's a pretty powerful contrast if you sit in your therapist's office and have an intelligent conversation about your life, then you go home and feel like you cannot say a word to your partner about anything you talked about. The best therapists have the flavor of part sage mentor and part peer. They become the authority in our lives which we aspire to be, and then get busy being. They can help supplant the negative or unsupportive influences of parents, whose authority we also aspired to, but who sometimes or often betrayed our trust. Your therapist must be someone who teaches you to respect and take care of yourself -- by example, and through the relationship. Your insurance, if you have any, may not pay for the person you find who takes this approach. That means you will have to pay for it yourself, something I've always thought was worth the expense even when I could barely afford food and rent. Therapy is the place you will begin to heal your pain, let go of the past and access your deepest potential. Once you find someone you're willing to do that with, I suggest you not put a price on it. Do what you have to do to earn the money and write the check every week. You may discover that makes the experience all the more meaningful to you. Lovingly,  PS: I have covered the topic of therapy a few times before. One is an article called A Visit With Joe. I also have an article called In Canada, They Call it Therapy, which describes an astrology process I use with Chiron. I give more details on that process in this article, called When Astrology Listens.   The Bottle Boys, or Flaskedrengene as they are known in their native Denmark, gettin' down to "Billie Jean" in Mariendal Kirke -- chosen for the acoustics. In no particular order, they are: Christopher Bogar, Philipp Brodersen, Johannes Ettrup, Kaspar Frederiksen and Martin Handberg.
You Can Blow It and Still Get It RightBy Amanda Painter Classical art…the avant-garde…modern art; art can be serious business. And works of sublime beauty and seemingly superhuman technique deservedly hold a place in cultural esteem. But sometimes it's good just to create for the sheer fun of it. Along that theme, and riffing on the current astrology crowned by Venus' retrograde through Virgo and Leo, behold: one of the King of Pop's greatest hits, played on…empty bottles. There's a chance you've seen this already, as it became an Internet sensation last year, but it seemed the perfect fit this week. Welcome to The Bottle Boys covering "Billie Jean." What began as a way to get a party started one night out on the town in Denmark has become "a global phenomenon," according to the group's website, with millions of YouTube views and shows in 20 countries. Live or on video, their act is fun, irreverent and not without skill. And it all started with just being playful.  Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes We published your extended monthly horoscopes for August on Thursday, July 23. Your extended monthly horoscopes for July were published Thursday, June 25. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Aquarius Full Moon were published Tuesday, July 28. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.  Weekly Horoscope for Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 #1061 | By Len Wallick
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
Leo Birthday Reading: Roar Into Your Solar Year
How can this chart be for all Leos, when you nailed each important event, prompting, frustration and calling of my personal life all in this one reading? OMG. -- CM Dear Friend and Reader: Believe it or not, you still have time to take advantage of the discounted pre-order price on the 2015 Leo Birthday Reading, at just $24.95. As you likely know, after these readings publish, the price increases.  The reading focuses on Venus' retrograde phase, and its extended visit to your sign. Venus will not fully leave Leo until early October -- and Eric will have a lot to say about how you can use this energy to boost your self-esteem and courage. The astrology also indicates that you likely have an important mission for the coming year. Eric was hoping to record the audio for this before departing on his much-needed vacation. Unfortunately he was not able to do so, and it will now publish soon after his return. This means you can still get the Leo Birthday Reading at the lowest, pre-order price -- and we know it will be worth the wait. Your Leo Birthday Reading includes two sessions of astrology of at least 30 minutes each, a tarot reading using the Voyager Tarot deck by James Wanless, and an extended written description of your astrological sign. Eric will provide images of the charts and tarot spread he uses. When you order, you'll also receive instant access to last year's reading, so you can review it -- and all of your progress these last 12 months -- as Venus backtracks. The 2015 Leo Birthday Reading is an essential tool for the coming year, for everyone with Leo Sun, Moon or rising. Pre-order it now for just $24.95, as a gift for yourself or the Leo you love. Best wishes,  Amy Elliott Planet Waves Client Services  Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
 Have you looked at the Planet Waves Catalog yet? New Horizons of Self: Planet Waves Readings and Classes
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