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Beyond The End Dear Friend and Client: I once had a crush on a Jehovah's Witness girl named Wanda. I guess she was about 19, an old soul, and positively beautiful, with long, thick gold hair, all-knowing eyes and a graceful, sanctimonious way about her. She seemed to like me even though I was a bit of a Pagan astrologer freakazoid. She invited me to come to church a lot with her family, invited me even more times to the Book of Revelation study group, and once arranged for a VIP tour of the enormous Witness compound in upstate New York where they print all those copies of The Watchtower. After the tour of press rooms and translation labs and the office where operators work the phones using a complete national telephone database, a tour which went on for about six hours, we went back to her family's home for tea. Their home was cozy, nestled in the woods of a town called New Paltz. Mom served us tea and cookies. She told the story of how Wanda was born upstairs in that house, delivered by her father without the assistance of a doctor or midwife. (She even gave me the exact birth time.) She told me how much she loved her home. "We plan to stay here until the end," she then said, out of approximately nowhere. I knew what she meant, but gave her a questioning look back. "You know, The End," she repeated. "Wanda hasn't told you about The End?" Mom turned around. Poor Wanda rolled her eyes. Mom was nestling in for Armageddon. This is not especially strange; she is just like tens of millions of people across our great nation, who have been studying the Book of Revelation since Vacation Bible School. This masterpiece of esoteric literature, with its cryptic seven stars and seven seals and four horsemen and a pale horse followed by Hades and the wrath of a Lamb and islands disappearing into the sea, is enough to send a 33rd degree Mason's head spinning, or, alternately, terrify a child. And it is not good news, with its pestilences unleashed and its earthquakes thundering and the Sun becoming black and the Moon turning to blood. And why does all this happen? But of course -- because God loves us! Why else would He blacken the sky with smoke and locusts? Make no mistake -- this is big business. It's big bomb business and church business and duct tape business and gun business and poison gas business and gas mask business. God loves us so everyone can make money spreading fear and threatening the world; this is perfectly logical. I'm going to get in on the endgame; soon I'll be releasing a line of premium greeting cards that say things like, "Good Luck on Armageddon" and "Thinking of You on Judgment Day." I can guarantee domestic delivery; the Post Office has a plan to deliver the mail in the unfortunate event of The End. We are all here together floating on the cosmic bubble known as World Earth. It's very weird here, out on the far edge of the galaxy. Existence is tenuous. Beneath all our ideas about life lurks a big question, you might say, the existential question. Little kids ask it all the time: what happens to me when I die? But adults tend to forget this, and lots of them get obsessed with The End. When images in the newspaper seem to match Bible images we have programmed in our minds, that can seem validating. Then the World Trade Center fell down, and that was pretty gosh darned millennial. We have a presidential administration that wants to bring back smallpox, demands a war every year, and creates wish lists (after we miraculously manage to survive the arms race and the Cold War) of countries on which to use nuclear weapons. We have AIDS tearing across Africa and Asia. We have people struggling in our own country, scrambling for food, but we talk endlessly each day of eternal war. Whatever happens or doesn't happen in the next two hours to 10 years, human life will go on. So the end is not really the end, it's a kind of transition. It may be a rough, horrible, grotesque transition that you're not around for; it may be an exciting, uproarious time of power to the people, after which we all get to lounge around on a utopian, well-maintained lawn with friendly zebras and pigs, like in that painting in The Watchtower. But life will go on, even if it's just mutants and cockroaches. The End is a very convenient psychological device which spreads well past fundamentalist religion. It provides a mental construct with which we can supposedly cope with fear, but without having to approach the questions of change, emotional surrender and individual mortality. The End helps us not worry about what a mess our lives might be, or about the pain of loss, or the prospect of growing old. Or what we want that we might have to work for. Everything will be fine; it will all just End. There are those who are wound so tight that their only notion of surrender involves a nuclear bomb going off over their heads. I won't get into a rant here, but it has a lot to do with suppressed orgasm. The end is a guarantee that you won't have to deal with the necessities of growth, or change, or love, or losing love, or taking a chance. It's often a reason to not deal with sexual feelings. If you can hold out till The End, you may never have to fall in love, or deal with jealousy, or the prospect of tyranny, or the more frightening prospect of freedom. You can forget about death. There is not death; there is just The End. We won't have to face cleaning up the environment, getting involved in a 40-year political struggle, changing our lives, or making difficult decisions. The End will solve everything for us. Part of the problem with this process is that it can work on an underground level. In other words, rising up in resistance to our millenialist fundamentalist Purple Kool-Aid and Cute Little Nuke-wielding government means we need to face the real choice to live and breathe. Waking up to what is happening means actually paying attention, and at first, that often hurts. It is much easier to let it all slide, to let them do what they're going to do and hope for the best. The issue, it seems, is really better stated as The Beginning. The beginning involves a choice to live, rather than to jam oneself into a cave and avoid life, waiting for The End. Having suppressed life for so long, many people live on a level of fear that sounds like this: "If I make this choice, how can I escape the bottomless pit of regret that I had not come to the choice sooner?" And it may indeed seem hopeless, since the issue is compounded. There is the original suppression, and the terror of letting it go because of the fear of regret. But that question is a very powerful thought. One who is asking it can see the levels of the situation. Anyone who chooses to come out of the fitful slumber of The End may notice that the world is a rather frightening place right now, tuning into the main channels of thought. One may also notice how much is possible, how much energy is moving, how amazing life can be when looked at the right way, how many choices we have, how mysterious history is. Then, in that moment, arises the eternal question. Imagine you walk up to the supermarket checkout clerk, reaching for your wallet, and he or she asks you: "Will that be Love, or Fear?" Spam Watch I have noticed three new items being advertised over Spam. The first is potassium iodide pills for nuclear war. The second are these Code Orange survival kits, with plastic sheeting and duct tape. The third is Valium. Beware of Lone Extremists The FBI issued a warning last week to police agencies to watch out for "lone extremists" who may be traveling in groups of two or three. Current Astrological Highlights Luna is new on Sunday, March 2 in the 13th degree of Pisces. This is one lunar month from the loss of Columbia and two weeks since the massive worldwide peace demonstrations. This lunation is, on its face, not as spectacular as the recent two we've experienced (perhaps fortunately so), but let's see what we can find. A New Moon is a conjunction of the Sun and Moon. The two are out in the same direction, relative to Earth, in this case, the direction known as Pisces. In other words, the Sun, Moon and Earth make a nice row for a New or Full Moon. From where we stand, Sun and Moon are aligned in one degree of the zodiac. There are a number of astrological systems which assign a symbolic image to each of the 360 degrees of the great wheel. Basically it turns the zodiac into a 360-card Tarot deck, and the 'cards' are selected by the elements that show up in any given chart. One of the more popular sets is the Sabian Symbol collection, which tells us that the 13th degree of Pisces is about "an ancient sword, used in many battles, displayed in a museum." Gee whiz! What an interesting symbol to pop up right about now. In the commentary, Dane Rudhyar writes, "this symbol emphasizes the imperative need to make use of the will in meeting the basic challenges of the inner life as well as outer adversaries." He suggests that will power operates differently depending on one's spiritual level; on the mundane level, will power is experienced as one's own. On the more aware level, God's will works through us. That is a fair enough theme for a Pisces New Moon. Now, this New Moon is conjunct a major asteroid, Pallas Athene, which is about strategy. That is two degrees away, with another military theme: "An officer instructing his men before a simulated assault under a barrage of live shells." In other words, when times are dangerous, practice makes perfect. Athene is herself a warrior, born in full armor from her father's head. So we get a mental image. She is a strategist, an attorney, a political leader, a negotiator. Interesting, interesting. Now, here's the kicker. And it IS a kicker. There is a point called the Great Attractor. Few astrologers work with it. I put it into every chart. It's in the 15th degree of Sagittarius. The Great Attractor is a very, very powerful astronomical phenomenon which has a double-million description: it's drawing together about a million galaxies, including our own, at about a million miles per hour. I've written about the thing; see this link: http://www.ericfrancis.com/sagittarius/sagittarius10.html In terms of its dynamics, the Great Attractor polarizes people and situations. It pushes people and events to extremes, or leads people to perceive things as extremes (whether or not they are truly so). This New Moon is square the Great Attractor -- square is astrological shorthand for something happens. That promises to be interesting, particularly early next week when the Sun makes its exact square to the point. We are, it would seem, under perfect stars for the perfect diplomatic showdown. In other Astrological News Venus enters Aquarius about 14 hours prior to the New Moon on Sunday. Venus is in a conjunction to slower-moving Icarus, which has been prominent in recent lunar charts. See horoscope for details. Webcasting Comes to Planet Waves, or Vice Versa Every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. PST or 11:45 a.m. EST, I do a live webcast at http://www.voiceofvashon.org/ hosted by Susan McCabe. Please spread the word. +++ Email of the Week +++ > A temp agency called me for a long term assignment for 3 months. Probably > nothing I couldn't handle (paralegal work - I do have a MBA, so it's > probably stuff I've seen before) and god knows, I REALLY need the money, but > you know I turned it down, because I get more of a buzz from acting and > somehow I feel it has to work...in another day it would be "irresponsible" > but somehow it feels right... Planet Waves by Eric Francis http://www.PlanetWaves.net/ Mid-Pisces Birthdays This is a time for a fully conscious long-term strategy. Pisces usually goes with the flow, but your agenda demands that you take the long view on your goals and any potential obstacles, and then begin making decisions that move things forward. For a number of years, you've worked with a plan, but it hasn't been totally conscious. It would be good to investigate your goals of the past three years and analyze both what they were and how you went about accomplishing them. At this point, you're not quite in a position to see how much change is possible and is, in fact, in the offing. It's as if the real possibilities and the real rewards lurk around a corner, or are filtering in through your dreams. Soon enough, you'll see that a very different life awaits you beyond the one you've known. But to be sure, each measure of real success, whether personal or professional, will require a measure of discipline. Discipline is easier when you're working with a strategic scheme, and the muse of achievement is, in these very days, looking right over your shoulder. Aries (March 20-April 19) You are being tested to see how wide and far your vision can reach, but you need to seek a vision not so much for yourself, but rather, of yourself. Your ruler, Mars, is now exactly aligned with the galactic core, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. You could view the galactic core as the force that holds all known reality together. Spiritually, this is an influence that acts on you all the time, pouring in where you naturally seek the biggest and most eclectic visions of yourself. But it's getting unusually strong emphasis now, and I think you know it. One physical effect could be a distinct sense of restlessness about where you're currently located, wanting to search further in the world for what you need. Travel to other cultures is always good for you. Make plans, but for now, use your inner sense and see how far you've really come. Taurus (April 19-May 20) Once again your ruler Venus changes signs, this time crossing the mid-heaven of your solar chart -- Aquarius. That and many other influences are both encouraging and empowering you to reach beyond what you thought was a comfort zone but has turned out not to be so comfortable. The kind of discomfort you've been embracing recently is a lot more productive and a lot more fun, though it's come at a price; success always does. We are often eager to look for reasons for things. Reasons are not the causes of reality but they help in the reasoning process. Without a price of success, we would not appreciate it, and we would be unlikely to trust it. The important thing is to enjoy it when it arrives. And, perhaps more vital, to trust it. You may be getting jolted but your inner reality is quite stable. Gemini (May 20-June 21) You appear to be headed for a series of breakthroughs. Such experiences generally arrive in two forms. The first is on the idea or conceptual level -- a revelation or a solution to a problem. The second is an event or an action. Both, for you, are in the stars. But a potential hang-up is whether you will notice that you're equal to that to which you aspire. If you respond with a sense of intimidation, you may scare yourself out of the ability to move on what you feel or what you know, and without movement, you can't go anywhere. I suspect if you're presented with a radically new idea of how your life can be, it may present some serious challenges to old, rigid ideas that you're still trying to let go of. If I had to guess, the next few weeks will help you quite a lot. Cancer (June 21-July 22) Much has been said about the transformative power of art, and most of it is true. I find art to be one of the most trustworthy entities or modes of reality on our strange little planet. It is usually made of a clear desire to express beauty. Alternately, art can work through a desire to resolve a feeling or an idea. It's both an end and a means, and exists, in a strange and rare way, beyond anyone's ability to question its motives. You need to embrace that spirit now, because you have beauty to express and you don't need to be judged -- particularly by yourself. The spirit of art changes anything it touches; that is, the artist changes the world, though few of us are willing to let the soul's light shine through so clearly, or to take the responsibility for altering reality in a conscious way. It's happening to you. Leo (July 22-Aug 23) Tune into your home and its surrounding environment. Do you feel safe there? Tune into your heart; do you feel safe within yourself? You're in the midst of a deep rearrangement of the way you relate to people, and that will only work if you're sure your environment is secure. People may be coming and going from your life; there is a sense of movement and shifting commitments and most of all, growth. It may be taking a lot out of you, but it's also adding a lot as well. One thing that you're learning is the utmost value of clear contracts. Contracts are always based on good faith; at any time, anyone can bail. But what contracts give us is a framework of expectation. Just relieving the mystery of what to expect can help us get on a lot better with people, which right now counts for a lot more than it usually does. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) You are heading for a major shakeup in your relationships. Now -- pause. How did you react to that statement? I suggest you measure your fear level with respect to changes in both the people and style of your most personal relationships. A clearing out is in order, and from the looks of things, there is no way it's not going to happen. The first clue will be some event or experience that shows you how complacent you've become. The second may be a wave of awareness of how you've shifted so far from working toward your true desires. These desires may reach further than your 'romantic' life; any facet of your existence that's not a true expression of what you want from life is aligned to be struck by lightening. The world is not playing games with you. The source of life has your best interests at heart. Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) Most Librans take a relationship-oriented and somewhat cautious approach to sex, mainly because they understand its power. But you are headed straight for a moment that's rather uncharacteristic of you, a daring time when the magnetism of passion exceeds all your best skills at feigning demur reserve. You know what you want; you know where you can get it; now you just have to let yourself have it. There is, in our world, still the emotion running loose which makes all but the most proper sex seem dirty or irresponsible. We 'know' that's a matter of opinion and of situational ethics, but it can still have an effect, and it often shapes our whole life process. Don't worry about what your mother would think, that's the whole trick. Most people think they've gotten over that. Most of them are wrong. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) Many who indulge in committed relationships often fail to recognize that it's natural for people to want to be free, and moreover, to feel free, and 'commitment' presents its challenges. There are phases in the best relationships where questioning, fear and a desire to do something else are completely natural. So if someone close to you is restless or acting in an odd way, give them a little space. If you try to hold them down, you may do actual damage where there otherwise would be no harm at all. More to the point, however, you have a unique perspective to look beyond all your present activities and commitments. You may not be making changes any time soon, but it's always good policy to leave others as much room to grow as you leave yourself. This way, everyone has a chance of growing together. Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22) Most of us base our security on a certain degree of shelter from change. My sense is that you base security on your ability to change. Part of the difference is found in how you trace your origins. You know you're not exclusively a product of this Earth, though you don't often talk about what or where your source might be. If you had any questions, some of them are about to be answered. Those answers will have a number of long-term effects, but for now, they will light the way for you to take a totally new perspective on one particular set of relationship circumstances that have been riling you up with all their twists and turns in recent months. Since you're not totally attached to this world, you're usually in a far better position than everyone else to embrace new ideas. But you already know that. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) What you're wanting right now, or what you've suddenly discovered is true, may be scaring the shorts off of you. It is indeed a strange notion to feel an impulse to run from what you truly value. But the other side of this sensation is that the experience of truly valuing something or someone is an extremely daring prospect, because, as you have discovered so many times, you cannot always keep or possess what you value the most. Yet there is a way of looking at life, and of coexisting with life, whereby our values can be directed at building that which will last. That takes two things, really: vision and cooperation. Neither are guarantees of success. But we can be assured that without both, there won't be much that will last till the tide comes in. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) I'm not sure which roller-coaster you're on, or why exactly you're doubting your dearest desires so suddenly. What exactly is there to doubt? Some people in our culture read Buddhist texts and doubt desire itself. I've never been able to make peace with that one. It's not that desire doesn't get me into all kinds of trouble. It's just that I trust it to keep me in the game of progress more than I trust doubt, and, lately, more than I trust ideas about right and wrong. The big problem with desire is that, for obvious reasons, it can lead to lack of fulfillment. But it's also one of the few things that can get us closer to what we want. I suspect that on some level you're wrestling with these issues. Give your mind a rest. You need it. The answer won't come from a struggle, anyway. Events of the next two or three days will be more than enlightening, however. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Given how much you value peace of mind, it must be truly disconcerting when people express what seem like inappropriately strong reactions to you. Remember, though, you're not inside their body or soul and you can't really have any sense of what is going on for them. Given three or four paragraphs, I could prove that it has nothing to do with you, and I could prove that you take on way too much from the world around you. (I could not convince you not to take it personally however!) Now, however, but what about people who have what we might call appropriately strong reactions to you? Is that all their property too? It surely is. But it's just a lot more fun to be around. And while all karma is not dandy, you are in a very good position to negotiate what you want, to choose, and to take in as opposed to take on. How do newspaper horoscopes work? Planet Waves Weekly and PlanetWaves.net are edited by Eric Francis, with help from Chelsea Bottinelli and the Vision List. This newsletter is $49.95 per year and published 52 times per year plus the monthly horoscope. We encourage our readers to contribute their artwork and writing to the Planet Waves project and to cultivate themselves as creative forces in the unusual and socially formative times in which we live. |
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