We are now in the thick of the Gemini Full Moon. Welcome to the gateway.

Luna entered the sign of the cosmic twins about two hours ago, and is on course for an exact opposition to the Sun in about eight hours, Friday night European time and afternoon in the states. Luna is slow today, and will cover just 12 degrees and 7 arc minutes of space; on some days she covers nearly 15 degrees. The slow Moon acts a little like a retrograde planet, displaying some of the less obvious aspects of her nature -- fitting enough, given her current Gemini placement, Mercury warming up to a retrograde, and the fact that when the opposition to the Sun occurs, she makes an exact conjunction to the minor planet Chaos.

Chaos is a planet beyond Pluto. There are about a dozen of these with names; I suspect this is unlikely to be mentioned even in a basic university level astronomy class. These minor planets, members of the Kuiper Belt (a vast region of space that's home to millions of comets, centaurs and other stuff before it gets pulled into the inner solar system, and we get it at full-strength) come in two basic groups: the Plutinos, whose orbits resemble that of Pluto (orbiting our Sun in about 240 years), and those whose orbits resemble something called 1992 QB1, the first object discovered in an orbit beyond Pluto's, which have somewhat longer orbits. These are called the Cubewanos. While QB1 has no name (for reasons I have not been able to deduce as of yet) a whole class of minor planets has been named for her.

Astronomers -- not astrologers -- come up with the naming schemes for new planets. Most of them don't 'believe in' astrology, but they are often highly intuitive and would convince you from their choice of names that they are first-rate mystical adepts. Here's how it works with all objects beyond Neptune. Those objects in Pluto's group, the Plutinos, are named for lords of death and the underworld. The Cubewanos, alternately, are named for gods and goddesses of creation and resurrection.

Chaos, a Cubewano named for the supreme Greek creation deity, was discovered in 1998 and is presently making a very slow trip across the sign Gemini, where the Full Moon occurs in a few hours. I have a few ideas about Chaos, which are a preliminary attempt at delineating (defining) this planet. Planets take a long time to get to know, but the discussion must begin someplace.

In Greek mythology, Chaos is forebear of the first generation of primary gods, including Gaia (Earth) and Eros (the love that softens hearts). In the Greek cosmic scheme, first there was Chaos -- the fertile void. Then there was the dualism of Earth and Passion. If we have come a long way from that idea in our society, we can be sure the journey back is not nearly as distant. Earth and Passion are what we are, so to return we
merely need to return to our own inner source. This is not so easy for many people because the rules of convention, cultural norms, expectations and most of all, fear, all block this awareness. Wilhelm Reich called this stuff "personality armor." This is the rigid coating that we are taught as children to put around our true personalities. It makes us more acceptable to society, and makes it easier to find a mate with whom we can play by the rules. But it makes it very difficult to just be oneself.

Chaos has an orbit of just over 311 years. Its planetary theme, as I see it, is potential made manifest. Its presence in any chart or aspect structure reminds us that the cosmos or prime creator is the source of all life and all existence, and is our ultimate destination beyond the end of time. We return whence we came; we are infinitely connected with our own living origins.

Within the psyche, Chaos is the process of giving names to the unnamable, so we can enter into relationship with them. As we give names to things, we become a vehicle of creative expression and become like our infinitely creative source. Chaos is a personal access point to the fertile void within -- what you could call the space-out-of-mind that is the richest creative well available. Artists, musicians, poets and other creative writers, those who study the cosmos, Liz Green fans, Burning Man freaks and those who practice the use of entheogens, are all no doubt familiar with this realm of consciousness. People who see the awesome creative majesty of their dreams, or feel the presence of the wild unconscious, are also intimate with this source. But the planet Chaos is like the nib of the visionary pen; it is the action point, the moment or focus of expression of that wild storm of creativity in the living, waking world. And from the world, it's a keyhole or periscope where we can glance at the cosmos within.

For those attempting the uncreative use of power, or power as a control method, Chaos can bring the conditions for which it's known in common modern usage: devastation and havoc.

At the exact moment of the lunation, Chaos and the Moon will be conjunct in the 5th degree of Gemini. In the truly essential book of degree-by-degree images called the Sabian Symbols [please see reference below], the 5th degree of Gemini's picture is, "A revolutionary magazine asking for action." The symbols were channeled and assigned to the astrological degrees by a clairvoyant in the 1920s, with the assistance of an astrologer called Marc Edmund Jones. Another explanation of the symbol is, "The explosive tendency of repressed feelings and root emotions." Could we have a better symbol for the Full Moon conjunct Chaos? Astrology is a beautiful thing.

It's worth quoting the longer commentary on this symbol by Dane Rudhyar, the late composer-astrologer whose book on the Sabian Symbols, An Astrological Mandala, sits on the shelf of just about every professional astrologer, and hopefully spends some time in their hands. My own copy, which I've been toting around the world since having my first office in Rosendale, New York 10 years ago, is tattered, and still sings magnificently. I quote Rudhyar directly from it:

"Every movement overstressing one direction calls forth in time an equally extreme movement in the opposite direction. This is particularly true at the level of the dualistic mind symbolized in the zodiac by Gemini. What is rigidly bound in form and convention tends to explode into formlessness. It may do so violently if socially oppressed -- through revolution -- or at the psychological level in psychosis; or it may withdraw inwardly into the mystical state in which one identifies with an unformulatable Reality."

Unformulatable Reality: a nice description of Chaos. But now that this point has been discovered, named and taken up in to the processes of astrology, we have a formulation or at least an access point, and that point comes alive today, as we speak.

By the way, tonight's Full Moon is also square the [modern] planet Uranus, which is like a huge ball of electricity that is a good analogy for the planet Chaos. Uranus has just stationed direct at 3 degrees of Pisces and is two degrees shy of an exact square to the solar-lunar axis. This is a nice example of how the established planets repeat the themes of the minor planets; any traditional astrologer would have described the Gemini Full Moon with a similar energy as I've used based on Chaos purely by looking at Uranus. What the minor planets give us is psychological depth, specific themes and a sense of cosmic adventure because they are indeed something new under the Sun, or new for us, anyway.


The Current Mercury Retrograde Story

Speaking of unformulatable reality...

The Sun entered Sagittarius Monday, several days after Mercury in Sagittarius went into its "shadow phase" -- that is, the degrees wherein it will be retrograde between Nov. 30 and Dec. 20. The retrograde motion ends about 30 hours before the Capricorn solstice, and Mercury then re-crosses the degrees where it was moving first forward in November, then in reverse during December.

As I have mentioned in previous articles (and see current Q & A piece on http://cainer.com for a recap) Sagittarius is the scene of all kinds of wild activity right now. It is the home to two major "center of the universe" kinds of points: the core of the Milky Way Galaxy at 27 degrees of that sign; and something called the Great Attractor at 14 degrees and two arc minutes of that sign. Mercury will make a total of three conjunctions to these points as this retrograde unfolds, and when it stations retrograde on the 30th of November will be in an exact conjunction to the core of the galaxy.

While there is no such thing as an ordinary Mercury retrograde, this is no ordinary Mercury retrograde. Also involved is a precise three-way conjunction between minor planets Achilles, Arachne and Quaoar on the Great Attractor -- quite a metaphor for the struggle with divisiveness, polarization, insecurity and false confidence that currently has the human family in its grips. This to me is the symbol of a widespread family-like conspiracy of fear and weakness. Quaoar brings in the family theme; it is the dance of psychological creation that occurs with households and networks of relatives, and what is generally created is neurosis.

Also present in Sagittarius, a point which the Sun will cross this coming week, is Ixion, a newly discovered planet that to me represents all that we are capable of, the good, the bad and the brilliant. Mercury however has made one conjunction to Ixion and when it retrogrades back to the 11th degree of Sagittarius will not get that far back again. That's okay; one Mercury-Ixion conjunction is more than enough, thanks.

When Mercury finally stations direct, it embarks on its new cycle just over a day before the Sun goes into the sign Capricorn and the days begin getting longer (up north here). As the light grows, we will see exactly what happened this truly strange and ominous autumn. Until now, those of us in the northern hemisphere, where it's winter where the days continue to grow shorter for the next four weeks, are more or less left in the dark. Fortunately, the Full Moon will help us see, if we look from the intuitive side of the mind.

More interesting stuff at Sagittarius Central:
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html


Early Sagittarius Birthdays

The Full Moon Friday begins the Sagittarian journey of 2004-2005 at maximum intensity: your goals, needs and the people in your life should be in full focus now and, though the current journey may be rather high-speed, wild and unpredictable, if you look you'll see exactly where you're going.

Current events and activities of your life will set the tone for about the next six months and in some respects you will be coasting on the decisions and momentum of the present moment. That's fine. You've certainly been doing enough planning, goal setting and prioritizing lately to last 10 years. Over the next six months or so, the intensity will wane and this will be a good time to prune your list, sort out the real goals from the flights of fancy, and to apply the time and the resources to getting the job done.

I suggest you plan now for vacation in early June, and work toward that as a natural midpoint in your activities for the solar year. At that time, a whole new set of objectives will make themselves known.

Meanwhile, let's see what's on the radar. Much of what is defining your life now is getting accustomed to the new position you've taken up in the world; you have a more public role, more attention is focused on you, and in an era of dwindling resources and a widespread belief in scarcity, you are in your role as benefactor and community center. This is not so much because you live in a silver mine, but rather because you are someone who cultivates a vision above all else. Your mind is capable of embracing long periods of time and wide areas of space; you can see your whole life in context; you understand what you need to do to make the best use of time.

But there is one thing you seem utterly undaunted by, which is the need to rely on unconventional means to get your work done, and protect you and those you have to care for. You've never been stopped before by the need to be normal; perhaps slowed down for a moment while you considered the various consequences of your decisions to do things your own particular way. However, you just by this point be sensing that the only way to have fun, much less to survive, these days is to take innovation to an extreme and to think in exactly your own language.

The added bonus here is that you're going to take a trip through your own wires, and engage with your life process on an unusually deep level. You tend to be one of those "there's no time to think" people to whom the most vital and accurate information arrives as if on a whim. But now, you will need to take plenty of time to think, to investigate and generally to understand the many possibilities that you contain. And there are plenty.

In relationships, you may be seeing the people around you in terms of their maximum contrast from who you are. I don't doubt at all that this is a valuable perspective to be gaining, one that is offering you many opportunities to respect your individuality, and theirs. But as the year progresses, you will slowly discover that there is much more common ground between you than you had imagined. In a strange way, seeing the differences is what will lead to the awareness of that shared territory, common spiritual agenda and the necessity of interaction.

Generally you are the person in your relationships who is the shocking source of unpredictable inspiration for freedom. It's about time that you gave others that role in your life, and about time that they began taking it. It's a sign that they're not nearly as intimidated by your as they once were, and also a sign that you've grown comfortable enough with yourself to let the cosmic wind blow through your doorways and not worry what it's going to bring in. Even the most fearless of this world at some point must face their fears, and if I were to give your most promising [projected] accomplishments of the next six months a few words to wrap around them, that's what they would be.


Planet Waves Weekly Horoscope
by ERIC FRANCIS
November 26, 2004

Aries (March 20-April 19)
The Sun's recent entry to Sagittarius has certainly offered you a major change of perspective -- a welcome one, for the most part. But if the events of recent days were anything like what you were expecting would develop, I'd be very surprised. Concerns at home must be balanced against concerns further abroad. Neither is really offering you a walk in the park, but events in distant lands are certainly compelling, even urgent, and demand your full attention. For now the best thing you can do is listen, and delay any decision until you have more information.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Events that have been developing for well over two years are about to come to a point of closure and completion. You have probably sensed this, and I've been alluding to it for months. The return of Venus to Scorpio for the first time since fall 2002 is a truly momentous development; something that came close at that point can actually come together now. Something that was damaged at that point can be healed or repaired. While the planets sometimes point towards inevitable concrete events, more often they show us potentials; they are resources that must be used well, if at all.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
The recent meeting of Mercury and Pluto may have done quite a bit to remind you of how powerless you feel in your intimate relationships. Yet I hope you can take the cosmic lesson a different way. The fact is, you are involved in what you do, and that implies the existence of a definite risk. Those who live life at arm's length take few chances, and receive few benefits. You are certainly into some daring territory, but not every decision is being made for you. Don't be surprised if you find yourself going right back to the danger zone in search of something that will satisfy your soul.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Don't let this week's Full Moon in the most sensitive angle of your solar chart drive you to insecurity. You may not be able to see the solution, but you can certainly feel it if you try. Trying means keeping your focus: on work, on your spiritual practice, on your studies, whatever it takes to hold center. It's true that certain matters of a deeply personal nature have nearly run their course, which may be plainly obvious this week. Take the losses with the gains, and remember that you have not only survived, you're an active participant in your own life. It's about time.

Leo (July 22-Aug 23)
This is a remarkable time for you, in part because you've finally begun to feel your potential as something other than an idea. Your thoughts have power, they have influence, and this puts you in a position where you can imagine taking chances, creative or otherwise, that you would never have ordinarily considered. This week's Full Moon in the most public angle of your chart strongly suggests that your talents and gifts are far from a private affair. You are visible, and not only that, you're appreciated; live as if that's true and you'll feel that odd mix of safety, security and true boldness.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
You may be playing the starring role in your own life this week, but don't forget the supporting cast. If you think anyone who expresses doubts and concerns is undermining your talent or authority, think again. Far to the contrary, you'd be wise to mind their suggestions. If discretion is the better part of valor, listening is the better part of understanding. It seems that recent events have provoked you to express yourself in many words, but if the stars have their say, you will hold your piece until this week's Full Moon passes. There are times when less really is more, and this is one of them.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Revelations that have recently dawned on you are not arriving too late to be effective. In truth, what's coming through now is merely the first wave of information that seems to have been hiding for months in a secret corner of the cosmos. Let the process develop. You'll be very surprised at what you learn in the next few days, and more surprised to discover that you knew it all the time. Because of that, I can tell you that in fact you have already been acting on this information. If the end results look suspiciously like a setup, you can be sure they were.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Venus has returned to your sign, reminding you of something you learned about yourself once upon a time: you don't need to go out and get everything in your life; it can come and find you. You become all the more attractive of an entity, the more in harmony with your inner being you become. That means being who you are and, in a sense, who you are not. There are many factors in your life that are urging you to strive for balance. There is also a voice screaming in your soul for action, passion and expression. You've held still for quite a while. They are the exact same thing.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, one of the great lights of 20th century astrology, said that any meeting between Jupiter and Saturn should be considered significant. Though to my knowledge he personally did not refer to the quintile aspect, the two largest worlds remain in a pattern that is perfectly blending the energy of expansion with the energy of restriction. You can trust what is happening, even though the past few days have had a certain wildly disruptive quality. This will settle within a few days, when Friday's Full Moon is in your opposite sign Gemini, perhaps even sooner. From that point, you can live by one word alone: focus.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
One particular crisis has passed, and another one is building to a new pitch. It's not nearly as serious as you think; you're just getting a little lesson in the power of emotion to make the mind into its little puppet. But let me put it this way. People have to come through with action where formerly there were only words. I suggest you call them on it right on the spot -- or don't accept the promise. There comes a time when, at long last, we have all waited long enough. So be done waiting or get ready to move along.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
I have been on a campaign of advising people to get over the weather. It rains, it's sunny, it's cold, it's hot -- so what? People laugh at the idea that the planets can somehow influence their lives when all it takes is a cloudy day to put much of a city in a narrow mood. Then the Sun shines and suddenly everyone seems happy and horny. You would think we'd be over it by now, after umpteen thousand years of human civilization. Friday's Full Moon is fair weather for you and rainy weather for many other people. But that's only because you're not scared of progress.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Career matters are about to come to a head, as they often do this time of year. Late every Fall, there is a new mountain to climb and another opportunity to show the world who you are and what you can do with your talents and positive qualities. You may get the idea that the universe is asking you to be a little more adaptable than is really fair. It happens, though, that one of your greatest gifts is to adapt to any situation and really let yourself shine. I suggest you welcome these opportunities, which will be paced at a reasonable tempo, and come with plenty of advanced notice.

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Planet Waves for Nov. 26, 2004 with weekly horoscope #534.

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