Amsterdam, Friday, April 21, 2006
Revised Brussels, Saturday, April 22, 2006
For daily edition, click link above.
To subscribe, call (206) 567-4455

Psyche Speaks

Who will save your soul from all the lies that you told?
-- Jewel

chart >> http://planetwaves.net/chart.php?c=scottresign

SO it's not exactly the most exciting thing in the world when a couple of guys in suits get new jobs, but on the current Great Stage these are pretty special guys and anyway, politics is largely a game of reading the signs. Just like astrology.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, and Karl Rove, the political brain behind George Bush and Dick Cheney, are off to greener pastures, or potentially in Rove's case, indictment. This week's development comes close on the heels of Bush's chief of staff, Andy Card, and Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, being shaken out of the big tree as well (Libby last autumn, and Card three weeks ago). And just about everyone but Bush himself is calling for the beheading of Donald Rumsfeld, the adorable secretary of defense with a taste for torture, a nice stock portfolio in Tamiflu, and a knack for making comments that sound like existential poetry.

With these developments, we get some fulfillment of the 3/29 cluster I've been writing about for months, which included a big shift in the impressively sensitive progressed horoscope for the Cheney/Bush Inauguration (Gemini Moon opposing Pluto), as well as Pluto reaching the Galactic Core and a total solar eclipse on March 29. The signs were all there, and remain there, and I am absolutely not convinced that this is the end of the story.

Eclipses have lasting effects; this was a potent one, and the Aries Point is still hot, with Mars and Mercury still present and Venus fast approaching. There is something far stranger and considerably more satisfying coming. We may know more about what it is when Mercury in Aries crosses the degree of the 3/29 eclipse on Saturday.

Speaking of signs, and of Mercury, Gemini was rising when both McClellan and Rove were quitted. McClellan official title was White House Press Secretary, and his apparent job was George Bush's doublespeaker. He was kind of like a linguistic stunt man who would fall off the roof for his boss, and then claim to be flying.

Moments later came the bigger news: Karl Rove was removed from his position of policy making guy and given a political job. Which is ridiculous: Rove has had one function only, probably since he was born, which is political manipulation.

Gemini rising suggests we need to watch for the double meaning. McClellan quitting was a distraction designed to cloud over the demotion of Rove, which was really a reassignment equivalent of firing. Salon.com writer Sidney Blumental described McClellan as "a flea on the windshield of history," whereas Rove has been the lead manipulator of everything we've lived through in political life since election day 2000, and I suspect a good deal before.

He has personally implemented the agenda of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), the product of many years of dark imagineering, which has given rise to an astonishing degree of pain, chaos and corruption within the American government and as a result, the world. Therefore, an acknowledged change of his role is actual progress, potentially enormous progress. It is an admission of defeat.

The fact that Gemini's ruler, Mercury, is in Aries and was just two arc minutes from the North Node at the time of the announcement says this is something of the true direction of things.

It has always surprised me that Rove was given such a visible role in the administration, and even that his name was so widely known. Usually people who do his kind of work want to stay behind the scenes, and it's often politically important to keep them out of sight. Rove is the kind of person who most people don't know exists, and there's a good reason for that. His acknowledged existence betrays the fact that power is not vested where the Constitution says it is.

There has been speculation that Rove was demoted due to losing his security clearance as a result of the ongoing investigation of his role in the Valerie Plame spy leak case. And consider that at the time of his announcement, the Gemini Moon of the Sept. 11 chart was quite close to the ascendant. It makes you wonder what information is coming out in the investigation and whether the next news conference will be closer to this subject.

Psyche in the Ascendant

Though not depicted in the chart, Psyche, one of the most complex and meaningful asteroids, is rising. It is the keynote of the chart. The myth of Psyche and Eros drips with sexual energy, passionate longing and erotic tension, and it verges on humorous that this is how the cosmos has reflected the moment. But asteroids carry many more meanings than their myths would suggest at the surface (as do the myths themselves).

Psyche, expressed astrologically, has a few major themes that I've noticed. One is the loss of faith in a relationship or situation. Gemini is about a message, and it is becoming painfully obvious to many whose idealism was taken advantage of that the Neoconservative message means nothing. It is greed wrapped in a demented social vision that panders to fear, intolerance and war mongering. And it's failing miserably.

As much as people try to shore up their anxiety with anger, it only works temporarily. The Neocon attitude will not fail because it's inherently bad; such an attitude will fail because it cannot hold a system or a community together. Indeed, it's gone a long way to tatter what was left of the United State's integrity.

Psyche suggests a loss of faith in what you might call the national identity. This asteroid can also express herself as the sense or feeling of the psychological wound that never heals. I've put those words in bold because I mean to say specifically that this supposedly unhealable wound can indeed heal, but psyche is the sense or feeling that it cannot. This deeper layer is what Psyche addresses.

In Gemini, we get an image of extreme dualism. How would you like to consider it? Perhaps the dualism of extolling American values while doing everything possible to destroy them? Is it the sense or feeling of a broken mind? The feeling is a little like someone or something on the verge of insanity.

Last, Psyche is the Greek word for soul, in this case, the national soul. This is not exactly a consideration on the minds of most people. When they consider whether something is right or wrong, it's usually in personal terms. But the 12th house is one of the houses of collective events, so we have an image of the national soul of the United States, and its now rather prominent place in the affairs of the country.

Pluto and the Core

Gemini rising puts Sagittarius on the 7th house cusp and, precisely to the degree, Pluto and the Galactic Core were in that angle, also called the descendent.

Pluto on the GC is the big significator for our moment of far-reaching shift, and the Pluto/GC conjunction pops right into plain sight, on the public, visible, tangible 7th house cusp, also called the relationship angle. Interestingly, the 7th is the house of 'open enemies' and so whatever appears there can play this role. That would seem to be the rising tide of public opinion.

Pluto is one of those planets that represents 'the millions' and which also impacts the millions. The Galactic Core is one of the most vivid ambassadors of truth and justice we know of -- though there has not been a conjunction of these two points since before the American Revolution. If I may give it a personality, Pluto on the GC reminds me a little of Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson -- enlightenment thinkers who were the architects of the American system, which was extremely enlightened for its day (and would be so today, if it were actually followed). The Galactic Core appeared VERY prominently in this chart, exactly in the angle, a position it maintains for about four minutes a day.

Put that together: it takes more than 250 years for the conjunction of Pluto and the core to happen; then, once a day for four minutes, it aligns with the 7th cusp with this precision, and when the announcement came, that's where it was, exactly setting. So this ultra long-term aspect shows up with direct and immediate significance in the event we're looking at. What manifests as a result of all this remains to be seen, but the astrology is a backstage pass into reality and reveals what we're seeing is a lot bigger than it looks.

Another measure of the impact is Mercury, the ascendant ruler, on the North Node. The node is a personal point but it's also one of those places where the individual contacts the larger scene, much like the Aries Point where this the Node is now positioned. This conjunction is exact to the tiniest fraction of a degree, in the 5th degree of Aries, near the Aries Point. The combination of ascendant ruler + North Node + Aries Point says this is all about public impact, and the chart even looks like McClellan, despite himself, later becomes a messenger for the public good -- or already is one.

Something else is brewing, noted by a minor planet which makes a strange appearance: the asteroid Sphinx occupies the same degree. Sphinx says mystery. Old mystery. The Sphinx itself may be the oldest artifact in the world. If it's not the very oldest, it's right up there. It was being repaired during the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, so it was super old even then, and it bears considerable water damage in the middle of a desert.

Note also that the mean lunar apogee, also called the Black Moon Lilith, is exactly on the South Node, opposite Sphinx. This is the interior, subtle and darker aspect of the feminine, also very old, appearing on the South Node. This is one clue among many that women are playing a crucial, behind the scenes role in all that is developing in national politics, particularly the wife of a prominent individual (who also makes a guest appearance in the McClellan resignation chart in the form of Moon exactly opposite Juno). In many charts this year, clues about the behind the scenes roles of women abound, particularly as the Saturn-Neptune opposition approaches in August.

-- with research by Tracy Delaney

Minor planets for the McClellan resignation are at this link: http://snipurl.com/pflo

How To Become An Astrologer
Astrology Secrets Revealed will be updated later Friday at this link:
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

==

"Last year I think it was, Apollo was grieving because he said we would see the consequences of his killing the Pyhthea at Delphi. In other words, we were disconnected from our existential terror of life, it was never owned and so it was always projected out there into the world. As we reclaim our own Pytheas we feel these terrors and we assimilate them and transform them, we real*eyes they are just the accumulation of centuries old beliefs and the we will get to see the truth."

-- From the Pod Files

==

Planet Waves by Eric Francis
Weekly Horoscope 607 - Friday, April 21, 2006
 
Happy Birthday Taurus!
If it's an adventure, it's love. And if you also need stellar, perfect commitment and the promise of eternal stability, what then? I think that fidelity is the part of this equation that's going to take care of itself. Passion is the part you need to commit to, and moreover, notice when it's not there. That's when to push the envelope, do something different, be someone you need to be, and generally explore the unknown -- the more disorienting the better -- including unknown people. Don't worry, to the 'outside world' you will seem like the very picture of propriety. Nobody will believe you could be so utterly inappropriate.
 
Aries (March 20-April 19)
You are still glowing with the otherworldly influence of the solar eclipse, and you can assume that gives you a few extra supernatural powers. For example, a situation in which you would normally risk being too forthright with the wrong person can be turned into the statesmanlike experience of schmoozing the most perfect deal you've ever known. So you may as well go for something you know you and the world need, something involving art or film, something that once you start you won't be able to put down till you stop. Something that obsesses you to the point where you're free. One thing that leads to another.
 
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Folks are pretty much addicted to folks they know. There's nothing like old friends, I have a few myself. But the notion of new friends is often outright scandalous. There are some very interesting people waiting for you to get to know them. And since you are the one who has so recently emerged into the new phantasm of humanity you've dreamed up, it's your move to be the discoverer. I suggest you go somewhere new you've never been, a place by the water, salt water if possible but any water will do. Make it an evening or a week. Use a different name and if you're asked, change the place you were born.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
What makes you feel good about yourself now is different than it was just a few blinks of the eyes ago. It looks like you're on some kind of quest to discover just what that might be, and you run a good risk of discovering it. Yet you need to watch a tendency to acquire and to count things that are not really attainable as attachments. Keep the curtains pulled open and the front and back doors unlocked. People will be coming and going. One or more might arrive to stay. The thing is, you never know; and to have maximum fun and in truth maximum gain, all you need to do is remember that life is an experience.
 
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Marriage is the theme, and you may find it's time to ask a long list of questions about your original childhood perceptions of the perfect household or long-term amorous partner. Some ideas came from your parents, and some came from those of friends. A religious figure was involved somewhere in there, perhaps a nun or a female minister whose ideas factor into the equation. The point of knowing your perceptions of the past is to deduce what you want and need now. The subject of connubial connection is making a tour de force in your mind. Best to keep on course and make sure the discussion gets you to the next place. And it's time to forgive everyone who's not right for you.
 
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
There's something coming loose in your mind that's allowing you to let go of fear and at the same time free up energy. This can go for something a bit beyond what even you would consider creative. Fear is just brainpower turned on itself. It's creative or perceptive energy that gets bound up in thought patterns that make up stories where we're a victim. Those patterns can take new shapes and arrange the energy different ways. They can focus and multiply what's already an abundant and colorful little movie you've got going. The way you're going to learn is in relationship to someone, or most likely a group of people, who help you discover another way of considering what you perceive and what you create.
 
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Now you see what is possible when you open your eyes, look straight ahead and let yourself enter your circumstances so fully you change them and they change you. You're still magnificently impressionable and the universe is vibrating with its unique song of this very moment. Since you can't keep music in a jar, you may as well listen. Since you can't catch the stars in a box, you have the perfect excuse to let them rain their light on your head. Do you still need an excuse? I really hope not. You seem to be in rare form, inhibited by nothing, and pulled in some urgent or inevitable direction.
 
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
The pull to be in a certain relationship may be strong, and it may exist regardless of your current situation. But before long, you may note that the desire to relate has nothing to do with 'relationship' and everything to do with you discovering yourself with the help of one. You're living in a highly charged psychic environment, with the world bristling with revelation and wonder. And there's a powerful voice in your emotions for stability, security and negotiating every point down to the last detail. There is something or someone you're trying to protect, perhaps yourself, perhaps someone else. But I would ask, protect from what?
 
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Lust is easy sport for you this time of year, and the lightning bolts going off over in Pisces and Cancer are stirring up that alluring force of nature known as passion. But thus the stars say: keep your focus, and stay in strategic position. Think with your mind and not your hormones. Calculate one or two moves ahead, or as many as you may need without reverting to living in your mind. And then when the moment is right, jump into the energy. Remember your birth control (I am a two-method man myself). Remember to use it. Then forget everything else but the moment. Take notes. Maybe take a few pictures. This is a rare season, Scorpio Sphinx, so I suggest you resolve in your heart to live it like rolling thunder.
 
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
Yours is a fire sign, but Jupiter, your ruling planet, is currently in Scorpio, a water sign. So too are Venus and Uranus (in Pisces), plus Mars and a couple of meaningful asteroids, Juno and Vesta (in Cancer). This is a whole different kind of adventure than you're accustomed to, distinctly interior, difficult to express, strange to understand, but easy and necessary to feel. It's also going to take you a different place than your previous journeys, but I gather you're starting to figure that out already. In distance, it doesn't need to take you very far at all to take you many light years on your own personal quest for fulfillment.
 
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
Sometimes you just need to be there. So, why don't you go there? You may be viewing someone in your life who's nudging your rear end with one of those electronic jolters to do something or be someone. That someone is really just the voice of your own conscience encouraging you to plan a little less and play a little more. Remember that everything doesn't have to be based on a strategy, and other people don't have to be the ones who have all the fun. The Sun in Taurus and many other factors are saying there's a big cushion between yourself and anything that could 'go wrong', so therefore, let it go right.
 
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
So much is changing so fast you don't have time to make sense of it all. You may want to pause a moment and ask whether that's necessary. You've known for a long time that this would be an era in your life when you would finally get to make major adjustments and drop some of the weight that's been holding you down. Remember that the one thing you need is freedom, and all the forces of nature are conspiring to give you just that: freedom to feel what you feel, to be who you are, and to relate to people in the way that's most appropriate now: not last week, not five years ago, and not 10 years in the future.
 
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Whatever is happening, it looks like fun. It seems everything is suddenly different. There is a touch of unbelievable in the air. This has been building for a while but it's particularly noticeable right now. You have every reason to believe you're safe, and you have emotional evidence, too. Yet I'm detecting an uneasy feeling in Jupiter retrograde, which is vibrating a question, a doubt, or a reference to the past. Let's pick up on the past theme: can you think back to a moment when you had more going for you and less to worry about? Maybe there will be one or two times that come up, and I suggest you consider what, if anything, prevented you from seizing the day -- and ask yourself if it's a factor now.

==

If you've received this edition by forward, you can subscribe for your very self! People are happy they do, and you get to come along on our publishing adventure. Here's our reader feedback:

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/feedback.html

Here's the subscribe link. It's easy, fun and very economical!

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Published by Planet Waves, Inc. of Vashon Island, WA, Palm Coast, FL, Paris, Brussels, Kiev, Liverpool, Los Angeles and anywhere else you like. All rights reserved. Planet Waves is a trademark of Planet Waves, Inc. To subscribe or for all editorial inquiries, please call (206) 567-4455.

Subscriber Services: chelsea@planetwaves.net
Webmaster: anatoly@planetwaves.net
Media Contact: najma@planetwaves.net
Reach Eric: francis@planetwaves.net