The Moon, still full of itself, chit-chats into Gemini. No major aspects today, except a lot of what are called "parallels" -- when planets line up on the same plane of space, rather than at the same longitude. Parallels are like conjunctions turned sideways. They are still conjunctions, but on another level. The Sun is parallel Neptune. Mercury is parallel Jupiter, echoing the two recent conjunctions. Venus is parallel Neptune. Mars is contra-parallel Saturn, a little like an opposition.

Mercury is retrograding in to a conjunction with Venus and both are moving into a square with Neptune; this is the astrology of the election. The Sun is also moving into a square with Neptune. It's an interesting sky, and it's an interesting moment. It's a summary moment of the six years since that harrowing night -- the worst night of the lot, if you ask me -- in 2000, when we had what should have been a constitutional crisis, but instead, it was just George Bush and Dick Cheney ripping off the election, to cheers and accolades. Trust me I am not whining at them, I am whining at you. We have not made a big enough deal out of that fact, the stolen election, on its own nor in the context about fair elections now. We cannot imagine that letting go of fair elections will not have an impact on everyone.

We have what, at the moment, should be the perfect situation: a big anti-gay fundamentalist preacher and political crusader was revealed to be just another cocksucker. That, and a government report has been made public which states the government knew in 1999 that if it invaded Iraq, disaster would ensue. We see the whole program (social policy: gaybash; foreign policy, make war) revealed to be an illusion, a mirage, an hallucination. And what have we got on the cover of CNN.com splashed across the front page so big you would think it was Sept. 11 all over again? HUSSEIN SENTENCED TO DEATH.

For those who wish to dump the hypocrites and faith-based lunatics out of office, we have our grand chance. Will it work? Or will Rove's turn-out-the-vote orders win the day? Will people believe Saddam is really being executed for knocking down the Twin Towers?

But let's forget all that. Here is the question I have, which is personal: Until this weekend, Haggard was respected minister of a church of 14,000 people, to whom he related mostly on the theme of how evil homosexuality is. Now we find out that he describes himself as "a deceiver and a liar" in a letter read to his New Life Church.

He stated: "There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life," pertaining to his sexuality. Hmm, it sounds normal; it sounds like a common human struggle, the kind of thing we work out in therapy, and by learning to be transparent and authentic with the people we say we love.

Unfortunately, that is a long way from Kansas, or in this particular case, Colorado Springs. His is a constituency that's been raised on Abstinence Only sex "education," which does not teach anyone about gay people. So we can be sure that the members of his parish really don't have full information to deal with this crisis. Now, 14,000 members of the parish and millions of fundamentalists across the country who looked up to Rev. Ted have to be wondering just what is up. How did this happen? Is it really true? Do people do this kind of thing? What did he do? And, Why did he say one thing and do another? It must seem a little extreme, even up close.

I wonder about the young people both in his parish and national organization he used to lead, who have gay desires themselves? Who is going to counsel them? What will they be told?

The personal is political.

-- eric francis