By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

THE SEASON'S TURNING, much as a kaleidoscope shifts to reveal stunning new shapes and colors. Here in the Patch, the freesias and the daffodils have added yellow accents to a faintly greened countryside and I saw a flowering pear tree dressed in pale white blooms the other day; the redbuds will be right behind, pinning Spring into place. We've enjoyed a few mild days and more sunlight than usual -- even more telling, the ants have invaded my kitchen -- so that must mean that Equinox is here. The Mother is speaking loud and clear: we begin again.

Louise Hay.

That is very welcome energy in a nation whose heart has contracted under the winter onslaught of cold fact and cool projection. My prayer list is burgeoning under the weight of those with heart problems and brain tumors; a long-time Louise Hay fan, it's effortless for me to interpret that as trouble with our hearts and heads. If ever we needed a renewed sense of beauty and possibility, of a world warming to the Sun's kiss and a return of Spring's enthusiastic, initiating energy, it's now. The cycles remain dependable, if nothing else is.

A good many of us would very much appreciate an opportunity to begin again, and under different circumstances. I live in a devastated neighborhood; I will soon be one of a scant handful of people who has hung on, not been forced out or had to relocate due to economic stressors. Endings and beginnings happen simultaneously but very often we come to them at circumstantial gunpoint; on a global level, ethereal as well as literal guns are waving in the air. And in this springing of the year into a new cycle of life, a larger death-cycle is shaking us in its teeth as the paradigm closes; we're birthing something bigger than just a shift of seasons.

In a perfect world, a new beginning would have a sparkly, exciting feel to it, yet in this vast end-cycle of ours too many of us are dragging past 'failure' along with us; unable to slough off sad circumstances, unyielding loss and debt. No matter how productive or willing we've been in these last months and years, great numbers of us have fallen behind. And of all the scams being perpetrated upon us by a corrupt system, that sense of failure -- which we willingly embrace as errors in personal judgment -- is the biggest fraud of all.

The working class has been bled frequently and systemically in the last three decades; slowly at first, and then more aggressively. It happened by increments until just lately, lulling us like those boiled frogs that didn't notice until too late. Now, anemic and wobbly, the middle class is bleeding out, and we're smack in the midst of that incubation process that will welcome in a Phoenix stirring from the ashes of the Sagittarian Pluto; one that allowed us a glimpse of our zealous overconfidence, aggrandized sense of self-righteousness and faltering ethics.

A quote from Kay Lyons, speaking to the spiritual principle of remaining in the moment, caught my eye the other day. She said, "Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have; so spend it wisely." It's revealing to describe life from a monetary point of view; we too often do that, thinking we are our job, our collection of material assets or our bank account. Indeed, an entire system of class warfare rests on that notion.

In some quarters, the reality of the Wall Street meltdown hasn't hit home. The financial employees who demand millions in bonuses believe that they deserve every penny given them, based on their position in society. Bernie Madoff, who bilked folks out of billions for over a decade, has indicated that he didn't know how to 'disappoint them' so he just continued his scam; surprised that it lasted so long. While I have limited patience with this consciousness, I think it's clear that these people are held emotional hostage to their class construct. Leaving its privilege behind is just unthinkable to them.

The whole topic of class is confused in the public mind because of our form of government, which avoids these kinds of definitions whenever possible. Former White House press secretary Dana Perino recently defended the AIG bonus flap by saying that those who received bonuses were "middle-class" people and that not paying them would drive away Wall Street talent; in which we are all now, appreciably, invested. There is not much sympathy for her position. The public is angry enough, finally, to hold that very talent responsible for bringing us to this disastrous pass; and consider a million-dollar bonus not only excessive, but obscenely indulgent.

There is no finite definition of what constitutes the middle class: Democrats consider this a salary range of between $40,000 and $80,000 per year -- Republicans see this as under $200,000 yearly. Obviously, the two sides see money issues differently; it's interesting, however, that so many people assign themselves middle-class status when they are actually lower-class earners, or even less. That old American Dream really is a pernicious illusion. Our current situation can be summed up by a recent definition that middle-class citizens are those to whom the loss of a paycheck or two would result in a thin-skinned home in one of the many tent cities springing up in the nation; which can also be said for the lower class and those in poverty.

Money, so it seems, is the God we worship in America; if so, that God is warped and toxic to the life-force of the nation, and an idea that obviously needs more than just a facelift. Money is only symbolic as an exchange rate for our energy; where we put our energy defines us. If too much of our energy is required for the simplest needs, then we are used up by the effort; offering us less leisure for creativity, enjoyment and reflection. It's been our standard of living in the last century that has allowed us the opportunity to become self-aware. Now that 'more' appears to be worth 'less' -- money, time, employment opportunities -- it's no wonder we're exhausted. When we live with our nose to the grindstone, we haven't much spare energy to look up and see what's happening around us; or feel it, which is the critical ingredient for change. If we do not feel the death-energy of this period, we will be unable to release the sorrow of it.

For years now, I've held that everything would change when it became personal to the collective. Bit by bit, the public has lifted its nose to smell the decay around it -- issues of faux-patriotism, religious mugging and deafening militarism didn't do it; money did. Martha Beck has posited that, "Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis." Made to order for Mr. Madoff and the Wall Street players; and custom-fit for this nation, which has been mindlessly behaving as creatures of its various class systems and inflated mythologies. Surely the new thing that is efforting to be born is not designed to replicate the old, and we are called upon to bring new attitudes and possibilities to the table to assist it; our challenge is to leave our old way of witnessing the world behind.

The topic of moment is rage; cable news and websites are abuzz with it. The public is angry, so it's reported, to the point of tar and pitchforks. The Left is angry that the banking bailout has not been handled more stringently, with more control of errant bookkeeping; the Right is angry that the nation is being 'socialized' and changed from the same-old political process that kept it fattened. The traumatized populous has noticed how many homes stand empty, how merciless the cuts to local government, how difficult the daily assaults on their dwindling piggybanks. They're in a fury.

Yet anger is exactly the energy that we need in order to gather ourselves for this birthing process; anger is the second of the five Kubler-Ross requirements for moving through the grieving process. Ahead are bargaining, depression and acceptance. While some of us are farther along than others, outrage seems to be the public mood -- or so say the headlines. Interesting that journalists are just awakening to what has seemed to me a low-lying thread of anger that's been growing steadily for years.

Anger is a useful catalyst, as long as it's not shot-gunned out as hostility to the whole, but instead targeted specifically and within reasonable limits. "I don't get a paycheck so you don't get one either," isn't reasonable; that's pitchfork waving. Revamping a pay scale to reflect current realities is reasonable, and should be demanded by a public weary of looting and carpetbagging. It's important to allow our rage to move through us and inform us, but we can't live there; it's too toxic. Personal coach Iyanla Vanzant speaks to that in this statement: "When we want to move beyond the pain, when we want to feel better, when we are ready to move beyond where we are, emotionally and spiritually, we must forgive."

The Kubler-Ross theory of grief.

Getting to that productive period of renewal will require us to quickly move through those next three stages Kubler-Ross defines. We must begin to prepare ourselves for a forgiveness process, not only of what has happened in the nation but in our own response to it. I believe that the system that has victimized so many is a zillion times more responsible for the mess we face than are we; but we are not blameless. Our unrealistic consumption and Pavlovian response to authority has put us in this unhappy spot. While we're making a list of those to forgive, we must put ourselves at the tippy-top, keeping in mind that breast-beating and guilt are useless activities.

What is old is folding; what is new begins every day within our expanded awareness. You are better off feeling that, than understanding it. That has very little to do with our heads, ultimately; remember, it is in our heads that we assign blame of self and others, and seek vengeance OF SELF and others. We self-sabotage, we self-judge, we project anger without taking responsibility; time-wasters, energy blockers. Our minds are not the refuge we seek nor can they dictate what the future will bring us if we move our understanding into heart wisdom.

Those who have caused so much ruin in the nation have fouled their own nest, as well; short-sighted egoism and self-centered victimizing is increasingly difficult to tolerate but we must quest to find a way to forgive and release our response to it. The Talmud tells us that, "Sin is an obstruction in the heart; an inability to feel and comprehend all that is noble, true and great, and to take part in the good."

In order to take part in the good, we must offer our compassion to those who have wronged us; a radical proposition, and one of the reasons why I remain a fan of the Biblical Jesus. If we're looking for the comeuppance of those who wielded power like a club, rest assured that they will find it increasingly difficult to secure their own good if they remain unchanged by the shifting paradigm. Better, I think, to remember that they are part of the whole of us; that we carry them with us, like unwell cells in the body of humanity. Compassion asks us to walk a mile in another's shoes; if those are the shoes of egoists, please remain with that meditation long enough to feel the littleness and fear you'll find there -- and let your heart open. That is how we heal.

If you're practicing Lent, give up judgment of self and others this season; allow the water to find its own level without your influence. Most of life does that anyway; look around you. Spring is upon us -- it comes without our help, and it arrives pretty much everywhere in this hemisphere in exactly the same manner. It has a natural heartbeat that we can listen to in the next few weeks, an unstoppable insistence that we awaken to life renewing itself around us despite the petty affairs of humankind.

The robins are hopping, buds are swelling, shoots are breaking the crust to poke up their tiny green heads -- life is celebrating itself. Much as we must take time to notice the advent of this intoxicating new season, so must we let the winter of old ideas and outworn methods go if we are to midwife a wonderful new era. The Mother knows how to do this, even as we search our hearts for instructions; she does it every year. Listen to her: we begin again.

Coming Up in Daily Astrology and Adventure

A crying baby tugs at a person on a very deep level. But, it turns out, some people can learn to hear more in that cry -- and perhaps, by extension, other audible cues -- than they were able to when they were younger. The key? Musical education.

A study by Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Ill., which found that musical training can apparently change the way our brains are wired.

In short: A group of people -- half with serious musical training, half with none to speak of -- were hooked up to electrodes that measure electrical activity in the brain, then they each watched a nature film on a monitor. Occasionally, an infant's cry was played over the headphones the participants were wearing, and the reaction of the listeners' brains was measured.

What the research team discovered was that a baby's cry is actually composed of different types of sounds, including "brief bursts of complex sounds that vary in intensity, frequency and strength," according to Dye's report.

And musicians were able to pick out those complex sounds, the study found. Not only that, but they could also tune out less urgent sounds like so much background noise.

Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, told Dye that the study provided "the first biological evidence" that the study of music really can alter how the brain works. As for further applications, she noted that the processes enhanced by musical studies are the same as those that have been found deficient among certain children with language disorders, indicating musical training could possibly be developed as a therapeutic treatment for such disorders.




As Lee Pullen reports for Astrobiology Magazine, during the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life Conference in Florence, Italy, a new theory was floated about where in the solar system life first originated.

Photo by Danielle Voirin.

Not Earth. Not Mars or any of the other usual celestial subjects, but the main asteroid belt -- Ceres, its largest member, to be specific. Ceres accounts for a third of its total mass of the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Even so, it is just a tiny dwarf planet: At 590 miles in diameter, Ceres would fit comfortably in America's heartland, spanning the distance from Kansas City to Denver.

In astrology, Ceres represents the nexus of food, family and emotional issues. She is our connection point to the harvest, and the results of our cultivated emotions. She is also about seeking balance, such as the balance of the seasons. Taking a more mythological view, she's the goddess who feeds us and sustains our lives.

Joop Houtkooper from the University of Giessen finds merit in the idea that Ceres, which has a rocky core believed to be covered in a vast water-ice shell topped with a thick crust, was a point of origin of the biological process. In the article, Houtkooper says, "This idea came to me when I heard a talk about all the satellites in the solar system that consist of a large part of ice, much of which is probably still in a liquid state. The total volume of all this water is something like 40 times greater than all the oceans on Earth."

And since Earth's oceans include hydrothermal vents that produce chemicals and, in chilly depths, sustain life, Houtkooper reasoned that the same could be true on icy bodies within the solar system. "In the ocean, there could be life," he told Astrobiology Magazine. "On the surface, it would be more difficult. But there are some possibilities. There could be hydrogen peroxide-based life, able to withstand the low temperatures."

There are still holes in the theory -- for instance, it is not known if hydrogen peroxide is to be found on the dwarf planet, and then there's the problem of how such life could have reached Earth. Some of the scientific questions, at least, could be answered in 2015, when the DAWN Mission from NASA reaches Ceres.




Parliamentary elections in India begin on April 16 and extend into May, but astrologers on the subcontinent are worried that the timing of the 15th Lok Sabha poll will be inauspicious. According to a March 12 article from The Times of India, astrologers have predicted that unrest and even violence may follow the elections.

"This election is not good for the Indian constitution. The country has seen too much criminalization of politics and it does not point to good times ahead," astrologer Jagannath Mishra, associated with the Arya Samaj Mandir at Harit Vihar in the capital, told the newspaper. "The period post-election will be marked by terrorism, treachery and violence."

However, he also predicted smaller political parties could do well in the polling, possibly leading to another coalition government for India.

The Times also spoke to astrologer Ashok Sanoria of Vivek Vihar. He predicted, "Around September, when five planets converge in Scorpio, the climate will prove fickle. Storms, those that originate in water, will ravage the US and will also affect India."

Possible natural disasters -- from earthquakes to "mini-tsunamis" -- are also foreseen in the astrological portents, the paper reported.

Not all astrologers saw only bad signs, though. The newspaper also spoke with Bejan Daruwalla, a well-respected astrologer, and while he hadn't calculated the positions of the planets during the elections, he was quoted saying, "I think India will ultimately do well."

"I had predicted last year that the country would win an Oscar either in 2008 or 2009," the astrologer was quoted as saying.

Monthly Horoscope March 2009, and Weekly Horoscope #758 - By ERIC FRANCIS

Aries (March 20-April 19)
At a certain point we all learn to stop judging ourselves. It could be sooner; it could be later; but in terms of saving time, emotional energy and conserving opportunities that only come once, the sooner the better. One thing you might have to get over is the notion that the kind of self-critique you're accustomed to makes you a better person. I don't think it does. I would say that the only possibility we have of being better people is awareness, and the gradual, repeated choice to surround ourselves with aware people. In the trapeze act of life, we need to work together and the main thing we need support in is consciousness. What you seem destined to learn over the next few weeks is that having a fixed concept of who you are, or who you're supposed to be, is the basis of your overly critical opinion of yourself. Judgment requires criteria, and when those are unconscious, unreasonable or unrealistic, then the assessment is more of a mental or emotional trip than it is a growth process. You're working toward an extraordinarily rare moment of being able to let go of the self-concept that is at the heart of this crisis. With it, you may find yourself letting go of certain ideas of why exactly you deserve so much attention. You do, but it's for reasons other than you think.

Read your 2008 annual for Aries. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Aries and Aries rising here.

Taurus (April 19- May 20)
Visualization is one of the tests of what is possible in the world, or rather, what is possible for you. If you can imagine something, then you can assume it's possible. One reason we stop ourselves doing this is because we assume that if we fear something, then it may happen; then we shut down the process of imagining, even of the things we want or worse yet, what we actually are. This is a way of letting fear rule your life. I want to propose two exercises that involve the theme of how you see yourself. The first involves observing yourself now: how you move through your day, and how your mind navigates the ocean of consciousness. Notice your moods and what affects them; how you respond to people and how they respond to you. Notice every time you make a decision, and observe the basis of each decision you make; that is, the information you're working with that leads you to action. This is an exercise in mindfulness; that is, paying attention and staying awake. The second involves envisioning yourself in the future: not what you will look like or what you will be doing, but rather how you want your presence in the world to feel. This is subtle, but not so subtle as you may think.

Read your 2008 annual for Taurus. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Taurus and Taurus rising here.

Gemini (May 20- June 21)
Every time you tell yourself how open-minded and flexible you are, I suggest that you question this assessment. I'm not saying you're wrong; but you won't know if you're not asking. Every time you discover that you're actually less progressive than you think is an opportunity to make a choice to open your mind to other influences. Part of the problem is that we currently have exceedingly few examples of what it means to actually be open. Our entire social climate is so guarded right now that the smallest modicum of depth or authenticity feels completely radical. This is a distortion. If you're on a path of self-development, seeking your freedom and willing to explore, I suggest that you open yourself to the ideas of other cultures and other times in history. What is normal now is not what is or was normal at other points in space and time. We live in a unique moment, most notably because so many people feel so paralyzed and indeed passive, waiting for something to happen. You seem to be among those who have decided that you've waited long enough. One thing to look at closely is everything you avoid; check out what you pretend you don't want; make a little note every time you decide something is impossible. Then, ask yourself how you came to be in this place.

Read your 2008 annual for Gemini. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Gemini and Gemini rising here.

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
The ethics of a professional situation may be weighing on you, but I would propose that's a waste of your imagination and thus your potential. You seem intent on proving yourself right, or demonstrating who you are; give it up. You're as right as you need to be, and it's only a point of emotional confusion, based on the past, that is leading you to believe that you've got a problem that you do not have. So what's really going on? You want more, with urgent, yearning, lustful passion. You may not even know what that passion is pushing you toward. This seems to conflict with a self-image of certainty that you've been trying to project. This image, however, is different than the substance of what you actually want. True, you may be thinking in terms of status and social acceptability, but your real quest involves expanding your horizons. I suggest you think less in terms of results and more in terms of your potential. That will mean devoting yourself to new things rather than sticking with the ones you've been pushing with such determination. You're much closer to connecting with one of those fresh experiences than you imagine. The key is this: give up on whether it's right or wrong by an external standard. Connect with the calling that only you can articulate to yourself.

Read your 2008 annual for Cancer. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Cancer and Cancer rising here.

Leo (July 22- Aug. 23)
Long ago you decided that the simplest way to deal with life's complexity, and with the many agendas people have, is simply to be authentic. This has proven to be an excellent policy, though it's had results you were not expecting, one of which is bringing out the deeper truth that others close to you were not planning to reveal. You've only seen the beginning of this process. Your life has simplified somewhat from the circus of the past few months. This has cleared emotional and mental space to work through a key matter in a relationship, and to put to good use the information that you have spent so much time acquiring. There's a point of discussion that has for months seemed non-negotiable. It's as though you or someone else was taking a kind of parental authority over the matter. You may therefore be surprised to discover that soon enough it will be up for discussion. This is an emotional or spiritual matter, which will open common ground that previously seemed impossible to reach. Give it time; let the new environment settle into place, and prepare to proceed in this relationship with an entirely new understanding. If you take the opportunity to get clear, a side benefit of that clarity will be making you aware of shared financial resources that were there all along.

Read your 2008 annual for Leo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Leo and Leo rising here.

Virgo (Aug. 23- Sep. 22)
Yours is one of the signs that puts the most profound emphasis on finding yourself through relationships. I know this is nowhere in the traditional delineations of Virgo. If you're wondering why you feel so volatile or unstable at times, this involves the many ways in which your sense of self is invested in what you think other people expect of you, and how you think they define you. As Venus moves retrograde in Aries and many other developments take place, you're starting to see the extent of this situation. The idea is not to divest yourself of deep or risky contact with others. You will always be relationship-oriented and you seem determined as ever to clear the haze and fog where you seek clarity. Venus is suggesting that you stop deciding in advance what other people think, and more to the point, why they think it. You don't really know their true thoughts and you don't know their motives -- that is, until you find out. You're more sensitive than most to this dimension of existence. The more people express themselves, the more there seems to be the potential for misunderstanding. Therefore I suggest you give yourself the benefit of the doubt in any situation that's bothering you. The chances are when you discover what someone you care about is really thinking, it will be a lot happier than you feared.

Read your 2008 annual for Virgo. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Virgo and Virgo rising here.

Libra (Sep. 22 - Oct. 23)
By one measure, the purpose of life is healing. It's not the only measure, and healing takes many forms. Not all of them are boring or arduous; many are inadvertent results of exploring honest pleasure. Your current involvement in a relationship is a good example of this. There seems to be an undertow of some kind pulling you toward some destination that you were not expecting and could not have predicted. This is including an inner confrontation that is potentially coming with a sense of loss or sacrifice. You might ask what you're having to give up, and more significantly, what you want that would have an even greater emotional value. The situation you're in is compelling you to assess what is important to you in a deep way, particularly where a key relationship is concerned. You know you cannot go forward from this point without being absolutely honest with yourself; and the bottom line is that if someone close to you is not willing to be equally honest, there's not much of a meeting. You haven't seen the end of this particular discussion, so I don't suggest you predict how it's going to go -- only that you be real with yourself from day to day, and make sure you have some of the beauty and pleasure you seek in the present, not in the future.

Read your 2008 annual for Libra. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Libra and Libra rising here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
You seem to be having a difficult time understanding why someone in your life is being so self-centered. The ongoing result has been an emotional disconnect that for you is the next worst thing to sleeping on a bed of ice. This is particularly true with Mars, the planet that best sums you up, moving through emotional, impassioned Pisces at the moment. The phenomenon of so close and yet so far may be the most difficult part of the situation. Given the astrology, I can offer the following suggestions. First I would counsel patience, and remember that historically, you've kept plenty of people waiting. Do your best to vent any frustration in a constructive way. You can get all intense, but that's not going to help. This is a significant risk at the moment, but the truth is that all this energy and creativity you're feeling is a rare resource. If you have to express sexual energy, figure out how to do it in a way that won't create alienation. Also, you can go cover a lot of territory simply by expressing your basic needs with the understanding that if there's a meeting place, that's excellent and if there is not, you will live. Your situation is moving toward a meeting point, and it's closer than you may think; and in fact, it's a mutual turning point: a place to have a real conversation about what you both want.

Read your 2008 annual for Scorpio. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Scorpio and Scorpio rising here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
In a word, participate, and keep at it. Involve yourself in your close-to-home community and with the most important people in your life. I suggest you not concern yourself with the rewards for doing so, but rather count the opportunity to share and grow as its own magnificent benefit. You're learning so much that I cannot imagine a better environment for you to put that knowledge to work. There's something about your current life journey that has only begun to come into focus, or for that matter, into manifestation. You consider yourself an idealist, a problem-solver and someone who respects a beautiful idea when you have one, or see one. Your role is therefore pivotal. You are able to process information into knowledge; you're in a central position to many people and have the ability to create a rare nexus point. This will continue to focus through the year, so I suggest you make friends with being in for the long run; that's how you will get results. The other way that communities and organizations get results is by sticking close to the common values that you share. Close partners are intent on one thing, which is doing what they truly have faith in; and this is a baseline truth that you can depend on, and that will nourish you deeply.

Read your 2008 annual for Sagittarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22- Jan. 20)
You're under enormous pressure, and you're turning it into power. There is one simple truth you must face, which is that you are now in a position where you establish or at least observe the basic terms of reality. Give them the space to agree or disagree and you will discover that you have far more in common than you thought. Even disagreements, psychological tension and your own inner emotional struggle can be turned into common ground. Do this and you'll focus the considerable impact that you can have on the world. We both know that 'the world' is involved. You may not be president, a news anchor or a Supreme Court justice, but your choices have impact that is greater than anything you've known, experienced or imagined. You're also being influenced by external forces in a way that few people would admit or even notice. There are other influences on you that could cause you to be hot-headed, or leap to false conclusions. If you keep your fear in its place, you will have access to some of the most stunning intuition that a human is capable of. After all is said and done, this will turn out to be the key, and the gift: understanding the role of fear.

Read your 2008 annual for Capricorn. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Capricorn and Capricorn rising here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20- Feb. 19)
You need to be careful with your finances, and conscious where debts in any direction are concerned; but I suggest you recognize that your true wealth is not in cash or assets bur rather in ideas, intelligence and your perceptive abilities. You may be thinking that you cannot take ideas to the bank, but some would say that once you graduate from the chicken factory, that's all you actually can take to the bank. However, at the moment, the most important ideas you're having are about yourself. The past year has been full of 'aha' moments. There have been hundreds of them. You've probably filled two notebooks. You keep figuring it out (yourself, that is), then you figure it out again. The look of your charts over the next two months suggest that some perceptive gift is coming into focus for the first time. When you start to notice this shift, you will also notice that it's been dawning for a long time, but like eyesight itself, the brain takes time to get accustomed to it. I could also describe this evolution in terms of events, which promise to be highly unusual and shift your whole sense of existence. But this is truly one of those moments when you don't see things as they are; you see them as you are.

Read your 2008 annual for Aquarius. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Aquarius and Aquarius rising here.

Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
If you think you're getting no results, have no fear. Not only are you a Pisces, but your sign is the dominant energy in the sky right now, owing to many aspects involving Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius. What happens in Pisces or involving Pisces planets takes longer than most things, but the outcome is more complete, it goes deeper and it lasts longer. Processes involving water, emotional energy, creativity and turning ideas into tangible form have little in common with pure logic, and if they cooperate with linear time, it's usually a coincidence. So don't depend too heavily on time as a metric, though it will be a powerful tool when you need it the most. In recent months you have been seeking something, or working to create something, that seems to be all investment and little in the way of results. You can see the process unfolding, but so far you haven't been able to put the pieces together. In a sense it's like you've been assembling a puzzle blind. And you have no way to tell if all the pieces are even there. The puzzle you're assembling has an odd property: the pieces mold to fit one another. The image is fluid, like an animation. But there is a solution, and you're rapidly approaching the moment when you know you've found it.

Read your 2008 annual for Pisces. Order your Next World Stories 2009 annual for
Pisces and Pisces rising here.