Planet Waves

Two years ago, when I was wrapping up a session with a successful, talented young man who had come to me for astrology work, he said, "Your web page reminds me of a Porsche with the keys left in it."

That was an image I could see. I trusted this man's opinion on both journalism and money, and was for the first time compelled to reflect on the nature of that particular reality. He was not a commercial dude, either. He was independently wealthy, in his 20s, and was at the time enjoying a fully optional, and thriving, and high-energy career in public radio.

Planet Waves had been on the air as such since 1998, and in other incarnations continuously since 1995. In the world of ads with ads in them and of fees for the privilege of paying fees, the whole Planet Waves project was both free and advertising free. I loved it that way: I always had that subtle feeling of being a small-scale revolutionary against capitalism, and there was a lot of resonance in the community for such a critter. But my client's comment convinced me to begin making some changes, so in August of 2002, I took a one month break from the weekly horoscope and set about the conversion of Planet Waves to a partial-subscription service.

One commitment in becoming a subscriber-supported service was that the web page would get better once I was selling the subscription service. Another was that we would turn away nobody for lack of funds. The third was that my writing would begin to nourish me in those basic material ways we all count on. And, for those of you who recall, your subscription fee was only supposed to be for a once-a-week horoscope and a little tiny birthday report; it has become a much more complex and valuable service as time has gone on: now twice weekly at least, at times much more, and many of the essays you get are in fact book chapters. Hmmm. All for a dollar or two per week, the cost of a flavoring at Starbucks.

When the news that Planet Waves would be charging a fee for some of its services got around, I received some of those letters from people telling me I was selling out, but none included falafel. Mostly, I received subscription payments and letters from people who said they were thrilled that I was taking care of myself; that what I was writing every week was fully worth the subscription fee. Thanks to a lot of support, encouragement and honest reflection, I now fully agree -- but getting from there to here has been one of those self-esteem journeys. You know what I mean?

The result has been that Planet Waves has only grown into its mission that much better. Suddenly there was an office budget and the Internet bill was paid. Suddenly we could do a lot of things that were never possible, and all basic responsible business practices. And in the end, I was granted more time to write. And the more we grow, the more this process continues. Every subscription dollar goes into providing you this service. In a world where "money is everything" this 100% return on your investment is extremely rare. But for me as a writer, the amazing lesson was that the value of my writing could enhance my life and my work. I was really able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

Here's an interesting fact I've been meditating on since coming back to Europe (where I wrote the first Planet Waves essays on Rob Brezny's web page the summer of 1998, and then began the weekly horoscope). When I arrived here the last time around in March 1998, my total writing income was $2 per day. Okay, $2.25 in a 31-day month; the Planet Waves column had one magazine that published it, and my total fee was $70 per month.

"And you were so happy when it came," my friend Maria, who paid my way that summer as we explored Germany, recently reminded me. I was. One can never drag enough exotic, small press astrology books around in one's backpack. And salads are always nice.

Skip ahead to last night, after dinner in a cafe with another of my most successful clients, who is working on location in Amsterdam and took me out to a fine Tibetan dinner last night. She asked me how I got this thing started, the web page and all, and I told her the story of buying an ephemeris (at Esoterica Books in New Paltz) in 1994 to figure out how Patric Walker wrote his column, and then beginning my own column about a year later. (She gave me that 'Oh really?' look, in Technicolor.) And onward and upward one project at a time, one horoscope at a time, one leaflet at a time, one little cool or pathetic gig at a time, one meeting with an editor at a time insisting on getting paid, leading up to last night when it was all good for a laugh. She told me the story of being on location in South Africa and printing out my monthly horoscopes and distributing them to the people on her staff, years before she ever came to me for a chart reading. Then she said something that pretty well floored me.

"I couldn't have done it."

She couldn't have done it? Here is a woman who I admire with what I can honestly call reverence for her capacity to make things happen and take care of herself, and really make her job fun for herself and her staff. The companies she works for value her as a prized business asset for her excellence and integrity. And here she is telling me she wouldn't have had the persistence to overcome all the endless obstacles on the way to starting something from nothing and actually make it happen. Reality checkpoint.

These and many other votes of confidence have slowly convinced me to see my work for what it is, even though it really does feel like a pretty modest accomplishment overall. These votes come every day from the people without whom this project would be about impossible, and without whom my life would be a lot less fun: Chelsea Bottinelli, who you know as the person who answers Planet Waves phone lines and emails, and who I know as a beloved sister; Tracy Delaney, this mysterious Welsh woman up in Liverpool who showed up a few years ago -- she programs the web page and makes sure that my columns are presentable, and is a research demon, and great friend and constant workmate; and Pam Purdy, who is keeping track of things in Seattle after I suddenly left there this Spring, who meticulously archives my columns and feeds my fish, and whose friendship is a beautiful lesson in love and devotion.

They are results-oriented people and the main result is that I am beginning to feel safe on this planet.

There are so many people who have helped create Planet Waves, motivated by love, art and justice (and the occasional modest paycheck or PlanetWaves email account) over the years that I can barely name them all, but I'll name a few: Jeanne Treadway, Jenny Singer, Chris Grosso, Maya Dexter, Cassia Landacre, Elle McKenzie, Jordan Laughlin, Jay Wade the Mac Guy, and the artist usually known as Via Keller. This is a truly original bunch of first-class freaks, and many have become very close friends with one another as the years have unwound.

Then of course there is this guy up in York called Jonathan Cainer, who has introduced me to, and entrusted me with, millions of his readers, over and over and over again. (Yes, I was sitting in a state verging on shock the first time I wrote his column as a stand-in in 2002, right before creating the subscriber service.) And then there are all the amazing people who work with and for him who, like I am, are happy to contribute our energy to his successful, high-vibration projects.

There are the clients who pause the program at the beginning of astrology sessions to take five minutes and tell me how helpful my writing has been, and I thank them from my heart but I really thank God and the gods for making it possible, and letting the connection happen.

And then there's you. My subscribers are the people who literally underwrite my writing; whose votes add up to my actually being able to create my columns every week, which requires (in the words of Joe Trusso, this Gestalt therapist who looked after my sanity for a while, when it counted) "a roof over your head and sandwich in your hand." (And a DSL connection.) The subscriptions come in, the renewals come in at well above the industry standard, and there are the little gifts and supporting memberships and referrals to friends and people who forward the newsletter all over creation. There is the subscriber who's connected me with two national horoscope gigs in the U.S., just because she could. There's the subscriber who knew of this little apartment in Paris that I stayed in, and so on and on.

I get this feeling as I show up in new cities thousands of miles from anywhere I've ever called home that my work has made its way around the world, and the energy I've put out, and the message that it's okay to be yourself, is coming back to me.

We live in a time when being yourself is about the scariest thing you can endeavor, but fortunately that's becoming less and less of a big deal as everything else seems to be even more scary, particularly all the fear and lies we're being soaked in via the corporate media that is selling one product, consumption itself. I have no pretenses of PlanetWaves being anything more than a viewpoint, but it feels very good to put that viewpoint out into the world in a time when the purpose of most journalism is to shock people into a stupor of paralysis and buying more.

One reason putting the horoscope and newsletter on the market to subscribers was scary was because, while I had next to no income from years of writing Planet Waves, I was free to be naked on the page. For a long time that seemed a fair exchange, but I now see that it was a false dilemma. Putting a cash value on something came with the thought, conscious or not, that people would no longer subscribe if they don't like what I think. For many publications, this is how they become entirely an ad, since every word is considered in light of whether it's going to piss somebody off. I have, I think, continued to be a fairly bold writer -- though one could always be bolder, and what's in my notebooks will slowly make its way into the newsletter. And you have continued to be a bold reader, considering views that you may not agree with at all, accepting the fact that I change every day, and taking this adventure along with me.

The thing is this. We have to keep living in the face of all the insane fear that's being thrown at us and pumped into us, and to which so many people are addicted. Life is none the longer for all the bad vibes we're bashed with every day. The fear ranges from lurking dread of abstractions to people being carefully cultivated into stark paranoia, contempt and misunderstanding of one another. This fear is nothing more or less than an addiction, but the addiction was forced on us in the first place. Speaking particularly of American society, it is difficult to see how intolerant it is of different viewpoints until you actually look at it from a distance.

If Planet Waves has one message for us all, it's YES.

Please pass it on.

Thank you, truly.

Yours,

Eric Francis Coppolino
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug. 6, 2004

 

Leo Birthdays, Part Three

With the Sun and Neptune (along with Psyche) in full opposition, there's a strong emphasis in your anniversary chart on making sure that your relationships have clear boundaries. I dislike this word, not because it inherently lacks meaning (though it's a bit over-general). I dislike it because its meaning has been stripped by overuse, and because it's become the paragon of virtue among people who would shut the door and not let anyone into their lives. To be effective, boundaries need to open, close and move. But really, to be effective, we just need to know where they are and why they exist.

The most challenging theme you seem to face is one of actually knowing where people stand. There is a kind of conspiracy in life of people attempting to get away with saying as little to relationship partners as possible. We all do this to some extent, and we all get caught in the game as well. One of the most easily remedied boundary issues is just opening up and saying how you feel, and asking others to do the same.

The interesting thing is that you may not even feel inclination to ask. You may, instead -- check me on this, but it's what I see in the chart -- feel as if some people's problems are yours to solve, with their having little investment in the process, or their having asked you, or your having agreed. Whose thing belongs to whom? Whose material is whose? Where is that question coming from? Do you feel a certain way because I do, or do I feel a certain way because you do? Hmmm. This is very Piscean territory, and with the Sun standing at full opposition to Neptune, you are in very Piscean territory.

Even more subtle: How do we lose ourselves in one another? And how do we know when we've done it, since losing yourself really means losing awareness of yourself?

Based on a variety of aspects, you need, I think, to tune into ever subtler levels of reality when it comes to being aware of your awareness when relating to others. This is part of your commitment to being true to yourself, and part of your commitment to helping the people around you in being true to themselves.

Your goals, and what you think is going to make you safe in the world, are changing; several important matters have now drawn very close to long-contemplated conclusions, and several new beginnings are close at hand. But there is no way to begin your life over, or even parts of it, without the full cooperation of the people around you. It would be wise of you to request that cooperation, or if necessary, permission, in clearly vocalized terms.

Mostly, though, you have to give yourself permission to want different things, to hold different people in admiration, and to redefine your notion of safety. You may need to redefine your notion of a good job or a good house, or both. You may find that circumstances of your life make this perfectly natural. The one thing I don't suggest doing is fretting. There are times when challenging situations need to be allowed to work out, and worry does nothing. There are other times when what is called for is resolving situations, though the previously mentioned presence of Neptune may seem to resist that clarity.

So, when in doubt, go slowly, gently, and ask yourself what is real.

Where Neptune shows up, it's always very smart to check in on how substances are affecting your life. This may be through yourself, or through others. I will include on the list of substances anything that changes consciousness for any reason (short of home-made Thai food), including all the 'minor vices' that can be very slippery when we try to examine their effects, and prescribed vices, which are officially legitimate. These effects may not be devastating or even imminently dangerous, but they can make communication rather difficult and then can skew the inner sense of emotional awareness that lets us know when we're uncomfortable, annoyed, or lacking in resources of some kind.

Now, speaking of resources, you are at a truly interesting point of transition around how you manage your wealth and your self-worth. The process that's unfolding has less to do with your actual business relationships than it does with how you think of your value, and what you do with your personal resources. There are questions here that may seem more complicated than they are, particularly early in your solar year, but they seem to work out quickly enough if you apply your intelligence.

So let's focus on the house in question, your second solar house. As a Leo, your second solar house is Virgo. This is within the system used exclusively by newspaper horoscope writers (rather than your actual natal chart) but it works well enough to give some clues. That your second house is Virgo speaks to your natural tendencies to be cautious with money, intelligent about it, slow to develop your plans, and ultimately extremely resourceful. You could say that the Leo motto with money is, "I'll figure it out." Money is not a matter of magic or even, necessarily of labor: it is mostly a matter of intelligence.

And with Jupiter there, you should be thinking bigger -- but Virgo never thinks that big, so I suggest you stretch your imagination. The effects of Jupiter in Virgo will be slow acting, like anything in Virgo, and the projects you initiated under its influence the past 12 months will slowly begin to take root. But a certain worldliness around your resources, that wider perspective that Jupiter always offers, as well as a deepening of your wisdom and an expansion of your financial base, have certainly been manifesting in different ways, even if it's been challenging.

Now, with Mars about to enter this house, that is going to provide a lot of drive. The magnificent, late, great Lois Rodden said that "Mars is the money planet." Thus, the ideas that you come up with over the next few weeks and months, and your plans for making them real, are all genuine treasures of your soul. The ideas that you have are still very much in the germination stage; they are little baby plants. Soon they will poke their heads out of the Earth. This is very much a long-term process in motion. Mars is about to oppose the region where it was retrograde last summer (remember that?) and you got to make a whole new set of contracts with the world.

Then the next thing that happens is that Mercury goes retrograde in Virgo, which represents a rethinking of your plans, perhaps much older plans. Mercury proceeds backwards while Mars proceeds forwards. At a certain point these two independent processes meet and you can have a pretty big revelation about how to solve a problem. The thing is that you need to be cautious during this stage, because errors in judgment are possible. In sum, if at any point this fall you are selling anything you make, you might want to double the price for good measure. You may think that's too much but I assure you your work is worth more, and you're going to have to get there sooner or later.

The other thing is that for a while I suggest you be particularly conscious of cash flow. I suggest you limit your outgoing commitments for now, and focus on income. Learn the details of accounting, or at least of keeping track of things. This will all be excellent therapy. You will feel infinitely better about yourself. ++

 

 

Bush misspeaks during signing ceremony

 

McClellan: 'This president speaks with clarity and conviction'
Thursday, August 5, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/05/bush.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog
of "Bushisms" on Thursday, declaring that his administration will "never
stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people."

Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a
$417 billion defense spending bill.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said.

"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our
people, and neither do we."

No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.

The president was working his way toward a larger point. "We must never
stop thinking about how best to defend our country. We must always be
forward-thinking," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush's misstatement "just
shows even the most straightforward and plain-spoken people misspeak."

"But the American people know this president speaks with clarity and
conviction, and the terrorists know by his actions he means it,"
McClellan said. ++

 

 

Planet Waves Horoscope

for the week of August 6, 2004

Aries (March 20-April 19)
Your chart has the look of a fabulous lover about to move into your house. This may not be a literal event, but the energy is all over your astrology and I suggest that the most appropriate action is to do that little ritual where you clear out half of your closet to make room for whoever or whatever is about to enter. If you can think of any way to do this on the heart level, I strongly suggest it. Open those spaces. An entity truly beautiful, wise and compassionate is knocking at your door. You do not need to search, merely to listen and respond, but most of all, be ready -- and be free.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You have not merely been going in circles. If you look carefully and with a bit of objectivity at the pattern of your life this year, I trust that you'll see not only the logic of your choices but also the sense in experiences over which you've had little control. Somewhere in the mix of events and emotions I truly hope you'll observe that there's more to life than being good. Usually, that something more is called being real. Being real always comes at a price, but this time around you may notice that you've got something to show for it.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
The events of this spring and summer have been nothing if not revolutionary. You have finally come to a point in your life where you are able to live from your center, and express yourself from the core of your ideas. It is amazing how much unreality we need to exchange for a little reality, but the good news is that a little goes a long way. If you see life as a thing that offers lessons, your solar chart is strongly suggesting that the lesson of the hour is honoring what is most important to you. Skip the top-10 list and go for number one.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Your choices have impact, and the events of your life are part of something much larger. This is a peculiar quality of the sign Cancer, and it's being enhanced rather profoundly at this moment, as is every aspect of your life. In the end, the highest spiritual practice is loving, and most of the world's values are defenses piled high and mighty against this truth. But those defenses, to the extent they exist within you, are giving way to your extraordinary capacity to see the world as a purely natural place, at every moment worthy of your joy and gratitude. So drink deeply.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
You were born in the season of what the ancient people called 'first harvest' -- the feast of Lammas. Harvest is always the result of long seasons of work, and this you have done with superb diligence and integrity. While on the one hand, it's clear that your work isn't over, the best results have yet to come. Over the next week, it should become obvious that you need to put more energy into managing what you've gained, and being more aggressive about the building process. I'm not suggesting adopting a lifetime mantra of 'more', merely that you take advantage of some excellent opportunities to safeguard your financial future.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Virgo is a sign famous for reviewing its mistakes and learning from them with expert skill. Many have said that doing things wrong can be more valuable than doing things right because of the amount we gain in knowledge. But you've learned enough about one particular issue to avoid making a mistake in the first place. The best way to do that, at this particular stage of your affairs, is to slow down right when you think you're supposed to go faster. The chances are you're going to want to reverse any major decision you make in the next week, particularly if you act impulsively. So easy does it.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
All the labor in the world cannot match the results of a moment of charm. And all the manmade constructs and achievements of our society are no match for an encounter with natural beauty. It seems clear enough that a certain business item, long in the planning, is still very much a high priority. But certain relatively small or subtle moves you make over the next few days and beyond can prove enormously instrumental in accomplishing your most cherished goal. The key is simply act naturally; being you is all you need -- that, and remembering what you're working to create.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You may fear that you're on the short end of a certain relationship situation, or that a person in your life is all too ambivalent for your tastes. To you, commitment is a total offering that's given once your emotions have told your mind what to think. Then you dive in. Other people take more time, and have different ways of approaching life. I propose that over the next few days you'll realize you really had more reasons to trust this process than not. So you might as well get with the program now, expect the best and enjoy your life. You have far less to worry about than you think.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
You are finally starting to see the rewards of a seemingly endless, exhausting process of negotiation. Why in God's name do people have to put anyone through that? And was it worth the work? I assure you: it was. Your star has only begun to rise, and the substantial progress you've made this year on any and all matters of a contractual nature, or involving partnerships or shared resources, is likely to succeed beyond all expectations. This will take time, but current events and those of the next three or four days should prove to be deeply encouraging.

Capricorn (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Updated Aug. 9
Somehow omitting Capricorn from the horoscope was an interesting sign for the first occurrence of this phenomenon, this weekend in particular. Saturday, Venus entered your opposite sign after quite a few months in Gemini. Venus thus moved from healing and transformation mode into a position where she was personally accessible. One implication is some kind of meeting or direct encounter, perhaps long awaited, with either a man or woman, depending on what you're into. Another is a distinctly excellent opportunity of some kind, though more likely a human one than a business one. In any event, the way is open, and the healing process, confidence-building and evolution that were in progress for so long have begun to get results that you should be able to see or take advantage of by now. And this remains in effect for weeks.

Venus plays an important role for Capricorn, as the esoteric ruler of your sign. Saturn, another ruler of Capricorn, is also in your relationship house. You have more in common with the world and the people in it than you may imagine, but you merely need to give the process of getting acquainted an opportunity to take root. Differences in age, in temperament, and to some extent in values matter less than they ordinarily might, but you need to be constantly aware of the differences, as well as of the limits you've set on certain aspects of all relationships while matters progress. With Saturn still so strongly placed in your chart, your are likely to have a good idea where the edge is, and as Venus moves toward Saturn over the next few weeks, you are likely to take an increasingly realistic approach to the situation.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You may be wondering whether what is happening is too good to be true. If that is the case, the chances are, it's just exactly good enough to be true. What you are experiencing is the materialization of desires and experiences that seem to have lived only in fantasy and imagination. True, there may be a touch of fear to these events, but consider that the price of admission -- a mere token. A secondary reward of what you are going through is precisely the opportunity to experience a life wherein fear is a choice, not an obligation. It's a good choice to have. It's good to feel better.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Something is coming into focus in your life. There are some Pisces who will experience this weekend's extraordinarily potent astrology with a sense of danger, but I suggest you avoid such a cheap thrill. This moment is a point of decisive action and of working effectively with your most serious priorities. The leverage you have in making these priorities real right now is nothing short of stunning, so keep them in mind. Do something very un-Piscean and keep a keen sight on exactly what you want, what you need and what you want for the people around you. And be ready to let go of everything else.

---

Published by Planet Waves, Inc. of Seattle, WA. Written & produced in Amsterdam & the UK. Please direct all inquiries to (206) 463-7827 or to info@planetwaves.net

Customer Service: Chelsea Bottinelli (877) 453-8265, Eastern business hours please. International, please use above number.

Editing and Web Design: Tracy Delaney.

This is a subscription service. To subscribe, please visit this link:
http://planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are located here:
http://planetwaves.net/TOS

All rights reserved. Copyright 2004. Non-commercial forwarding is permitted. Web reproduction or print distribution expressly prohibited without written consent.

Planet Waves horoscopes are available for print publication. If you're interested in publishing them, please contact us.