Do It Yourself Essay
This edition I'm going to take a break from essaying -- I will be back Monday. However here are some of the articles I might have spun together into a piece of writing, which include an astrological overview from StarIQ.com (where you will find more interesting clues about the current astrology). You can read these over and try it yourself. It's easy; you just give your intellect something to work on while you report on your personal observations and intuitive connections.
Remember that today the Gemini Moon occults (or occulted, depending on your time zone when reading this) Venus just as Venus makes her way toward her exact transit of the Sun.
I have been asked what the symbolism of this is by some readers. Speaking in what you might call Gestalt terms -- the obvious -- it emphasises Venus. It also emphasises the idea of exact contact, since both an occultation and a transit are exact by two measures, longitude and declination. There is precision implied and demonstrated in these aspects. I think that also besides taking the meaning as apart from something we can see and feel, we are witnessing some awesome, if disgusting, developments in U.S. history and world history. I don't think anyone likes what is coming out about the Iraq war but few people at this point can look directly at it and call it a good thing.
As these developments and this astrology have unfolded, the issue of gender has come up on my radar quite directly. If what we are seeing unfold in Iraq is a perversion of masculine energy, that relates to a crime that was committed against men and women, and of course kids, at an earlier time, and that crime involved the theft of what you could call legitimate masculinity. What has all this got to do with Venus? Besides the obvious -- I'll meditate on it and get back to you Monday.
Also this past week two planets have recently turned retrograde in air signs (Venus in Gemini and Neptune in Aquarius). And the Sun just entered Gemini yesterday after the New Moon Wednesday. Essentially, the many elements of the cosmic weather pattern have shifted in a matter of five days.
Also remember this is the Year of the Monkey -- the year of reaching for great strides; and it is a leap year, the year we can really take a leap. And one last reminder: the theme of Planet Waves is always "The political is personal."
http://stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0005331.HTM
http://truthout.org/docs_04/051604A.shtml
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5026083/
http://truthout.org/docs_04/052004C.shtml
and when looking for inspiration always tune into http://theonion.com/
Please send your essays back to this address.
Catch you Monday.
ef, in London
Early Gemini Birthdays from May 20 Onward
If you were born the first week of Gemini, this is the year to let your feelings lead the way. There is nothing you can do about the world being a mysterious place except use your sixth and seventh senses, which are little other than your intuition and your emotions.
It is worth mentioning the difference; intuition is on a somewhat higher frequency than your gut instincts, but if you will check in with both as you make your many surprising manoeuvres this year, you will make some surprisingly shrewd and even clever decisions. The trick is not to be ruled by your emotions or intuition but rather to give them an important voice in all your decision making processes.
This is necessary because a pattern is likely to play out as follows. You sense a situation is going to work out a certain way with no real evidence that it will. Then, it does. You are never quite sure of whether this is just wishful thinking. But if you compare your sense of expectancy with what you really want, you may notice a distinct difference. And that difference is the measure of realism and practicality, which are two of the most important resources in your toolbox.
Others include awareness of various rules, policies, laws, guidelines, and keeping a constant mind for strategy. And you need to meet a lot of people, as many as you can. And last, you need to keep a rapidly evolving strategy. Pallas Athene in your sign is the master strategist. But Gemini says move quickly, evaluate data, take it into account and revise the strategy.
Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. You're thinking, "This is a presidential election year, but I'm not running for office."
See? I knew that…
But while you're not running for president, this is a time of unusual ambition and quite possibly achievement for you. As you may know, Uranus entered your 10th solar house last year, Pisces. And while Uranus takes seven years to go through a sign, we are talking about Pisces here, where things can be invisible and unnoticeable, and we are talking about a mutable sign, which is a little slower acting than the rest, and finally, we are talking about true achievement, which is always a long journey even under the best of circumstances.
So I am humbly proposing that you shake your ass.
You need to assemble your Reputation Building Kit, which shall consist of:
1. Good computer. Telephone of your very own. Fax machine or access to one (they are not obsolete). Various other business gadgets.
2. Resume, bio, portfolio, work samples, kept in your computer, flexible for amending to various needs of new situations. Plus copies that you carry with you all the time. Oh, and business cards.
3. Several advisors, at least two of whom are over the age of 50 and one of whom is under 35.
4. A day planner that you use regularly and follow, which includes a variety of public appearances at parties, meetings, the Kawanis Club, Toastmasters, the Skull and Bones annual reunion, the PTA meeting, The Vashon-Maury Land Trust, or whatever.
5. The Attention Span Enhancement Program, which is essentially your clearly enumerated long-term agenda. This shall be called The Attention Span Enhancement Program, so that you laugh every time you see it.
6. The Financial Independence Plan. Now for a little additional astrological justification for this bizarre and appropriately Gemini chatty birthday report. Because Saturn is moving through your second solar house, your financial focus is on independence. Wherever Saturn moves you are also working to eliminate the influences of your parents and this happens to involve money and you happen to have been influenced unduly by your family's values when it comes to money. We all are to some degree but because you have the sign Cancer here, whatever feelings they put into you more or less stuck and now Saturn is working on purging your files.
I suggest you be prepared. The forthcoming transit of Venus to the Sun, as well as numerous rather powerful influences in your ever-important 7th house of partnerships (that will be met by the Venus transit event) suggest an unusual degree of success in certain matters of life, and they might as well be the ones you want. And that requires the formula for luck which defines it as where preparation meets opportunity.
Last, a word about your private relationships. Each and all must support your whole life and your personal ambitions. You are good at being supportive of others. Now you need to define this as a key principle in your personal relationships. It's not that you need to make demands but rather invest your energy where you know support is coming toward you. Or looked at another way, when you go out dowsing, dig your well where you get a strong pull, just like I was saying up top of this birthday rant.
Tune in next week for more information.
Planet Waves Friday Horoscope
by Eric Francis
Friday May 21, 2004
Aries (March 20-April 19)
There is a difference between thinking you've cleared your mind and taken a refreshed attitude toward life, and having suddenly discovered that you've done so. You're in one of the more nostalgic seasons of your life, and one when memory is as vivid as what you are perceiving through your senses. The thing is, we do this all the time, though rarely noticing it. Everything we see is connected to some memory, feeling, scent or awareness of the past, until we become aware of this process and start to see the edges of light around everything when we look at the actual moment with open eyes.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
There is this sense in your charts that you are coming into your own. At your core, you're one of those people who can have an unusually satisfying relationship with just yourself. Yes, when it's time to connect deeply with another person, that's the only thing that will do it for you. Looked at one way, your stars point to some awesome possibilities of relationship, but to the extent that this involves other people right now, it's really an exploration of potential. But your potential increases as you begin to realise not just your worth, but your actual state of completion, wholeness, fulfilment.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Your birthday season has arrived, in grand style. You are definitely on the cusp of a major emotional breakthrough. There are two sides to this, really. One is respecting your limits; another more important one is learning to push them. And as the Sun enters Gemini, you are certainly in the mood to advance your own cause and to break free of the inner limits that you've become aware of the past 12 months. Yes, they have been frustrating blocks and constraints, and they have taught you discipline. That's precisely what it's going to take to get you free from this rather uncomfortable legacy of your past you are quite ready to leave behind.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
The word "impending" is all over your charts: a force that is building inside you and that will lead you to one kind of action or another, or shake your world with events beyond your control. I would propose that to the extent you've grown weary of living within the limitations that other people so casually laid on you, and which you so naively took on, you are basically about to blow the lid off the roof of your night. By all rights, freedom should be the single most important item on your agenda, and freedom as I define it begins with the freedom to feel. While other people can take that away, only you can claim it back.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
I hope you are filled with the undeniable sense that you're no longer doomed to be a victim of your fear, and the fear that was tattooed into you as a kid. Fear is so pervasive as to be invisible. And what it hides, we cannot see. Your chart paints the following image, of which I offer a fictional interpretation: there is, at once, a build-up of fear happening, and a remarkable sensitivity to beauty that is developing at the same time. It's as if these two realities are living in adjoining rooms, or affect you by day and by night alternately. It may be that you can hold awareness of one or the other at any given time, but by holding awareness of both, you guarantee yourself a choice.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
There have been few times in recent years, or perhaps decades, when so many professional doors were open. At the same time, you may feel like the more visible you become, the more you're noticed and the more controversial you become as well. This equation forces most people into hiding; it is the closest thing to an explanation I can offer as to why people do not develop their creative gifts. You are not encountering any kind of theoretical resistance; it's quite likely the real thing. But you must persist; what you have to offer the world will benefit everyone. And now is the time.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
There remains a question whether people can take on authority and power and maintain a shred of their humanity. Too often it really does seem that power corrupts. And you must not let it corrupt you. There is an influence working on you that may well seem to be eroding your compassion, which is your greatest asset as a leader. And while events in one aspect of your life may certainly be trying your patience, you're also connected to an endless well of wisdom and divine energy. You just need to apply one to the other, literally like drawing water from one tank and filling another. There may be situations wherein you are tempted to anger. It is not necessary.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Something cannot be real for you unless you feel it. The problem with that is that it doesn't follow that everything you feel is real. And you must be constantly willing to discern between the two orders of reality even though you may be able to feel them both viscerally. If you pay attention over the next few days you will see there are two kinds of feeling; you might call them sensing and emoting. The world does not make many distinctions between these two experiences. But as immediately upcoming events unfold, you will have a number of choice opportunities to discern the differences, and these make a truly meaningful contrast for you.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Few people would be daring or visionary enough to try single-handedly turning the entire U.K. on to bean sprouts long before anyone had ever heard of them. But I have it on excellent information that it was a Sagittarian who attempted this, with dauntless faith. Fortunately, what you now have to offer the world is a lot more popular an item, and it has a practical application today. A deal is brewing in your life; a transaction of some kind is developing, and the negotiations may be stressful even to the point of discomfort. But there is no impasse; if you can keep a discussion going, you will come to a mutually beneficent arrangement. Even if you have to use a hammer.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
A relationship situation is coming to a head, and you have to keep your head. Keeping your head means expressing yourself before you feel backed into a corner. Keeping your head also means remembering who your long-term friends are, and not doubting them for a moment. There are some unusual forces working in your life right now, but if you look closely you will see that they are nothing with which you are unfamiliar. And you know that what's finally come to the surface is part of the resolution of a situation going back quite a long time; you might think a year, but really more like two.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Okay this is the week to get to Yoga class, join a gym and get to the health food store. You may even want to get some bean sprouts and consider eating them, even though I can see you're more likely to be craving raw buffalo meat. The current weeks have the power to be a major and auspicious turning point in being able to care for yourself. In any event, the unusual upsurge of energy you are feeling is calling for expression: demanding it, even. It is safe energy if you remain aware of it, let it loose, let it go, let it flow. It is dangerous energy if you suppress, depress, compress and repress. Therefore, when in doubt, express, or better yet, undress.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You are about to take that big chance on the count of three. Taking a chance means no guarantees; that's written right into the deal. But we are also not talking about going to Vegas and betting the house on a roulette wheel spin. Einstein was right. God does not play dice with the universe, and God does not play dice with you. So what happens over the next few days is anything but random, even though the events that feed into current developments have roots so far in the past you may not remember them. But think back; there are obvious connections.
