| Copyright © 2003 all rights reserved by Planet Waves Digital Media. |
| Planet Waves offers syndicated monthly, weekly and daily horoscopes to the editorial community. Planet Waves Weekly is $49.95 per year for individuals, published 52 times per year. Not a subscriber? Subscribe directly by secure credit card transaction at http://www.ericfrancis.com/orders.html Planet Waves Weekly home | Planet Waves home | About Renewals, Subscriptions & Customer Service - Chelsea Bottinelli support@planetwaves.net | (206) 463-STAR (7827) or (877) 453-8265 For Friday, March 21st, 2003 | Version 2.1 |
Off to See the Wizard Dear Fellow Traveler: War was launched at 9:45 ET Wednesday night on the Iraqi people, and a second military campaign was commenced half an hour later, on the people of the world. There are two wars in this equation. One is a war being waged with cruise missiles, and the other with television. I don't have a cable video feed into my home. I watched Bush's speech on a sputtering stream that, in between frequent stalls to reload the buffer, was for some reason running at 28.8 Baud. The four-inch image and the audio were serious low-resolution, fuzzy and echoy, minus the vividness and glamour that can make TV so shocking and convincing. Every time the presentation stopped, I could stop and think about what I was seeing. The blur and the distorted audio, strangely, worked like an enhancing filter. Looking at the tiny screen I felt like I was staring down the wrong end of binoculars but seeing everything much more clearly. It was real; it was not. I heard someone who resembled the self-acclaimed president speaking in his most measured voice ever, with his tongue smoothed and polished, his words like silver, and his eyes looking like two little holes. He spoke gently of his compassion and his desire for peace and healing, then would freeze mid-frame as I would mediate on the still image. He spoke, in even tones and carefully paced language, of the many friends who were supporting our great nation in our time of need, in this necessary struggle against a common enemy. He promised, in his kindly and fatherly way, democracy and freedom for the people of Iraq. He reminded us how a terrible villain was a threat to peace. All as sirens wailed and his cruise missiles and cluster bombs pounded hellfire upon a civilian population, people just like your kids and your neighbors and yourself. If we play the entire history of the Bush administration in fast-forward, we see a sequence of events starting with the outright theft of an election. Bush lost the popular vote and cheated in Florida. A moment later arrived the Sept. 11 attacks, followed by mysterious and unsolved anthrax incidents directed at certain key federal legislators, the Supreme Court and specific members of the media. After shutting down newsrooms, congressional offices, the court building and making everyone freak out about their mail, there was a war against Afghanistan launched on the pretense of fighting terrorism. But the important terrorist got loose while the way was opened for the long-planned Unocal oil pipeline with which the Taliban (the old Afghani government) was not cooperating. These developments came with the imposition of the Patriot Act and the Terror Alert system. Under this system, Red Alert is functionally martial law. (Recent news reports say that it's like a snow storm -- you stay home from work. Under Red Alert, anyone outside their house can be presumed to be the enemy.) Next, we either learned and quickly forgot, or never heard, that the federal government was repeatedly warned about the possibility of just such an attack as happened on Sept. 11, by governments considered both friends and enemies. We forgot or never heard, as well, that Florida's Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, had issued an ominous executive order relating to terrorist attacks, merging the police and National Guard into one entity in the event of an emergency, on the Friday before Tuesday, Sept. 11. Through this time, the fear of terrorism -- manufactured pumped out in a steady stream by the Department of Homeland Security and the television news conglomerate -- became the excuse to do anything and everything, to declare anyone an enemy, and to spy on any person or organization. We were told that wire taps, secret arrests and military tribunals were going to make us safer Near the anniversary of Sept. 11, the administration ramped up its push to go to war with Iraq, and over the next six months, lost most of its allies, ignored the United Nations, and pretended that UN weapons inspections were not working. It was revealed that various documents being used to convince the world of Iraq's danger were falsified. We learned that the US and UK sold Iraq most of its weapons. Valentine's Day weekend, worldwide protests erupted. They, too, were ignored by leaders of the US and UK in the single-minded push for war. The terror alert was raised to Orange, then lowered to Yellow only so that it could be raised back to Orange again. Speaking at John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland this week, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia informed the public that civil rights would be scaled back as part of the war effort. "The Constitution just sets minimums," he said. "Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires." He did not say what rights he was talking about. He did not mention that under executive order, numerous plans are in place to suspend the constitution entirely in a state of emergency. Many people believe this is all for their own good. It's likely they would be saying the same thing as they were herded into football stadiums put to use as detention centers. Who is the enemy? Would it take Jefferson or Franklin to see that we are moving toward tyranny, and are at best out in the parking lot? It takes a man named Noam Chomsky to see that we've already arrived. The single most important way that autocratic efforts are effected in a democratic society is by media hypnosis, which is so pervasive most people would argue that they are quite well informed by their TV sets. He explains that what guns and violence are to military dictatorship, propaganda is to a democratic dictatorship. Chomsky is the famed linguistics professor from MIT who has devoted his life to exposing what he describes as "the culture of terrorism" -- that would be the United States. I highly recommend a video documentary on his life, available for rent at many video stores, called Manufacturing Consent. I've been a media activist for years -- and still it was a shocking eye-opener. The Astrology People opposed to this war and those who support peace and freedom may take some consolation in the fact that it was launched under extremely shaky astrology, and that when the other shoe falls, it's going to come down with a stomp. The United States government has spoken. I think we will be surprised at the response we hear. While the war itself began under miserable astrology for such a venture, Friday's stunning conjunction of Mercury and the sun in the first degree of Aries promises that a message will be heard round the world, loud and clear and with never-before-seen energy. We know the risks of this war: mainly, killing, hurting and shattering the lives of a lot of people, an unpredictable deterioration of world conditions and a serious economic downturn. But regime change begins at home, and there are political risks for the administration as well. These appear in several charts, but a good example is the chart for Bush's televised announcement that the war had begun, at March 19, at 10:15 p.m. ET, Washington DC. Given that this is a propaganda war on the people of the world, I consider this the official opening salvo. (MSNBC reported that Bush 'launched the order' at 6:30 p.m. ET; NBC reported that the bombing began at 9:45 p.m. ET.) In the 10:15 p.m. chart, the moon in Libra is very close to being void-of-course. Void-of-course means the moon won't be making any new aspects until it reaches the next sign. It is an uncertain time -- the moon is 'out of play' and in a kind of null zone. The moon is still separating from its trine to Saturn at 10:15 p.m. The fact that the moon is making its last aspect, and at that, a separating trine to Saturn, does not bode well for anyone being able to control this situation. It starts off in control, then control disappears like it was never there. (One of the root charts in this situation is the Sept. 11 chart, during which the moon was void, and that situation is now very much out of hand.) The Bush War II chart has Scorpio rising and Taurus setting. Thus Mars represents the United States and Venus represents Iraq. The two planets make no aspect. In a real war, one would expect to see the two planets interacting in some way, or moving toward a meeting rather than away from one. But the lack of a meeting suggests that this is not about Iraq -- or what we think of as Iraq, its leader and government -- at all. If we take Pluto rather than Mars as the ruler of Scorpio, we see that the most recent aspect between the two planets was a sextile -- a very harmonious and integrated meeting. But it's separating; it has already happened. Much like the Sept. 11, 2001 chart, in which the planets representing the terrorists and the government are in perfect harmony, Venus and Pluto have recently been in perfect cooperation. Also in the Bush War II chart, the moon rules the 9th house, that of foreign governments besides the open 'enemy'. The moon, in general, can represent the public as well. With the moon about to go void, we might wonder about what the peace movement is made of, but we shall soon see. We also have an interesting picture of France, Germany and Russia, which, like the world population represented by the moon, have little to lose. With war "news" now being used as a excuse to eclipse any other actual word of world events (I guarantee you it's been extremely annoying to the mainstream press to have to write all these stories on protests, France, Germany and the UN) anyone depending on major media will be cut off from reality, and treated to a nonstop feast of bombs busting in air. But there is the Internet. The Mercury-sun conjunction on Friday says that real news will be moving fast and furious. I would project that some kind of retaliation -- not necessarily military or violent -- comes unexpectedly from a foreign government, perhaps in the form of going public with information damaging to the administration. In a propaganda war, what you have to fight with is propaganda. This could be something like unreported 9-Eleven secrets held by foreign governments (perhaps, for example, credible information could resurface that the White House was warned in advance of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and let them happen). Here is the main element in the Bush War II chart -- the kicker. The sun is very much void of course, which is a much larger issue (and at that, in the last degree of the zodiac). If I were the White House astrologer, I would have selected Friday afternoon for the launching of the war, unless I wanted to sabotage the plan, in which case I would have chosen the day they picked. To do the war well, we would want to wait until the Sun is in Aries (the sign of the god of war) and the moon is a lot less shaky -- and in Scorpio, another Mars-ruled sign. Instead, they started a war with the sun in Pisces and the moon in Libra, both signs involving Venus, the goddess of love. Well, good for them. Meanwhile, sun void in my experience opens the door to strange possibilities and connotes a less-than-positive, and unpredictable, outcome, for the actor. The 10th house, the president's house, is involved -- Leo is on the 10th, so the sun represents Bush. This is just not good news for Bush. He has done something truly unusual here, which us unleash a massive pre-emptive war, on false pretenses, for private gain, allegedly singling out one person, upon an entire society, against the direct will of many governments and worldwide popular uprising. This is extremely unusual. His own chart tells us that the other shoe will indeed fall; this will unravel. The question is how many people he will kill first. The sun is at equinox now. In the northern hemisphere, light is about to take over where darkness long ruled. There is a sense of balance moving into consciousness and awakening to life. But this war was launched in the last moments of winter. Both the sun and moon so close to the edge presents a picture: Bush (the sun in the 5th) as childish, deceptive and rogue, and other governments (moon in the 9th house) at the end of their restraint (separating trine to Saturn, someone they used to cooperate with). Astrologers may note that the sun is also in an exact square to the Mars-Pluto midpoint, and that Mars is on the sun/moon midpoint. You could say they are shooting themselves in the foot. It may not be obvious quite yet. With powerful tyrants, the best thing you can hope for is that they will take care of their own undoing. Few other things could get me to subscribe to cable television. And hey -- the really good news is that once I finish the horoscope, I can head over to Seattle for a peace rally. ++ Current Astrological Highlights Will be posted separately. Also watch Planet Waves Daily. 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. Planet Waves by Eric Francis http://www.PlanetWaves.net/ Early Aries Birthdays This is a year of true innovation, an unusual awakening of your mental power, and of disproving the theory that an Aries can't finish what they start. Experience is your best teacher, and all but guarantees that you can work effectively with your ideas. You don't need to learn something new if you already know it, but you do need to remember that what you know is considerable. For several years you've prepared the ground for the events now about to unfold in your life, which will have the feeling creating something meaningful, significant and constructive that will serve you for years. This process started with a kind of spiritual awakening in 2001, which may have not seemed all that spiritual or easy at the time, but very much necessary. You may also be taking a fresh look at the impact of your parents on you. Their bad influences will be more clear and forgivable, while their positive influences will seem to be a lot more worthwhile. You can take the bad with the good, but you have to see and understand both first. That requires discernment and what may feel like judgment. While much of your activity this year will involve rethinking the concept of the structure of your life, remember that ideas don't come from structure, they come from the subconscious ocean within you. Structure helps bring ideas into form, but most people working with ideas emphasize the structure and not the inspiration. If you can ease off on any ideas you have that it's your responsibility to be creative, you'll discover that it's a lot easier to integrate two very different aspects of your nature, one of which you've just recently discovered. While it may at times feel like you're deceiving yourself, you're not; you're just tapping into that secret inner Pisces nature that is so elusive, a little strange, and right in the next brain cell over. In personal relationships, beware of anyone who presents themselves as a prude, and if people seem to be devoting more energy to work than they are to you, that's a good cue to move the discussion along, or move along. If these same people exhibit jealousy, the test of whether they care about you will be whether they will be willing to talk about it honestly. Aries (March 20-April 19) You seem to be pulled between high initiative and the sense that recently you've had no basis to know what you really want. But with the Sun's ingress into your sign Thursday night, I think you'll feel the ground firm up beneath your feet, and be filled with a sense of clarity that you have not felt for many years. That depressing world news may try to encroach on what is by all rights one of your favorite times of year is not, in the end, your problem, and you need to feel no burden of guilt for being happy. In truth, anyone who does not feel a measure of contentment is little use to any effort at reforming and recreating our world. Aries is usually considered the sign of the 'self'. But at the moment, it is the sign of all of us here. Taurus (April 19-May 20) Detaching yourself emotionally from a difficult situation has worked pretty well. But the larger theme is a test of whether you can make peace with your own jealousy, and allow another person their jealousy for long enough to have a clear conversation. This test includes understanding how deception, on the one hand, relates to your sense of permanent injury, on the other. A test of truth is now in order -- your truth, or that of someone else. The way you test the truth is to test what you think might be a lie. This is challenging -- few people want to call anything a falsehood because our lives seem to be made up of so many petty deceptions, we think we might fall apart on the spot. But as the Bible says, the truth will set you free -- if that is what you want. Gemini (May 20-June 21) To think one original thought is to let go of the oppressive monarchy known as the past. And one original thought is most assuredly becoming clear, and it has a revolutionary quality to it. The thing is that the monarchy may still be infecting your consciousness, and if you want to find out how and where, you'll have to look everywhere. That is, you will need to notice in every single situation in your life were there is a source of oppression, be it internal or external. Another interesting experiment is to notice what happens each time you allow yourself to do, think or feel something that you want. What is your mind's most immediate response? Whose voice does it sound like? Cancer (June 21-July 22) Have you ever been confronted with an issue that you know you should be able to feel, but you know you can't, but you know it's there? As though it's lurking somewhere in your emotional body but your radio can't get the signal? Here's a clue. It's about living in a world where people are repeatedly injured by their own tendency to deceive others. The part you understand is the hurt. The part that's elusive is the way that conniving and manipulation are so woven into the social fabric that to see them you'd need to walk around with a magnifying glass or jeweler's loop. Really, you just need to step back and see the bigger picture, back, back, take a good look. Leo (July 22-Aug 23) Awareness of death can work two ways -- as a kind of morbid interlude, or as the inspired calling to celebrate life. It's a little like a poem about death where the awareness and vibrancy of living is woven in between each and every line, as sense and color and the essence of liberation. We live in a universe of opposing forces and this particular balance is vital to be aware of now. For the most part, we seek connection with Spirit, God and religion because we are uncertain or fearful about existence. But now that energy or experience is seeking you. You are standing at a point in life that appears to be completely unfamiliar, and are here to learn something that you've never been offered or dared to understand. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) You are having a head-on meeting with whatever tendencies you may have to be unforgiving of even the slightest transgressions in relationship, be they yours or those of someone else. Compassion cannot be enforced, and while it's not hypocritical to expect softness when you can't give it out -- how, after all, do you learn? -- it does make life more difficult than necessary for you. This is time of peering through the layers of your life, Virgo, not merely living on the surface. If you find that people are having an agitating effect on you, use their presence to go deeper. Because upcoming events over the next two weeks are going to summon you to a depth that's truly unusual, it would be very helpful to begin now. Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) If you feel called to widen your awareness and offer your highly advanced sense of responsibility to a larger community than the one you typically work within -- or to devote yourself more fully to the community you are a part of -- be assured that such a choice would fulfill a deep need that has been growing in recent weeks, and longer. You are likely to sense some huge threshold approaching, the sense of opening up both to yourself and to people, and to a new depth of feeling. But at this point there are no words that can easily describe what that shift will actually feel like or look like. As Venus makes its conjunction to Uranus on the 28th while moving into Pisces, it's safe to say that you'll be on special assignment in a world that needs full access to your intelligence and compassion. Remember to keep some for yourself. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) It may seem like you can't really be the one responsible for instigating all the changes in your life, both in recent months and recent days. That's because resistance makes change just as much as the need and desire for change creates change. But know that it's your nature to feel oppressed and bored when the world and its people, right down to your household, are not working the edge of their very being. You are, however, on a kind of campaign to change your thinking and see life through a new set of filters. You've also grown tired of living on half-passion. Your current process is leading you toward a very meaningful personal revelation, which, when it arrives, may feel more like a revolution. Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22) You know that unless you invest your most vital energies into everything you do or touch, you are not really living. And if you are investigating your frustration or discontent with the way certain aspects of your life are, look to this as both the problem and the solution. There is an aspect to your being that is deeply invested in traditional values. Given certain of the other more out-there aspects of your nature, that's a very good thing. But recent events have suggested that an ending point of one kind or another has come, and you're very likely to be questioning whether quite a bit of your spiritual energy is tied up in material form rather than a form you can easily express. As Jupiter gets ready to station direct in your sympathetic fire sign Leo on April 3, making the shift will be a lot easier. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) Desire is one of several important and necessary forces that drives the human soul in its experience on Earth. Desire of one kind or another has certainly been driving you in recent weeks. But desire is not that good at feeling what comes back from the world around it. And desire is, of its own nature, not given to sharing much of anything; that impulse must come from another source. And we might well ask what it is. I would suggest the answer lies in what you do with your pain. Life is painful and the past was painful -- not exclusively so, but enough to make an impact. The paradox of pain is that the more we truly choose to own it, the less we have to spread it unconsciously onto others. As that happens, a miracle can occur within the healing process, and that is your current destination. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You are at the end of a very long phase of looking straight at that which could kill you, make you strong, or transform your world -- probably all of the above in varying degrees. But the chances are, one way or the other, that it's already done so. Several extremely rare turning points have passed in recent years, though you may still be living as if they are present, and experiencing the effects of their fear even as you read these words. I ask: have you internalized the vital lesson of being gentle on yourself yet? It's now more necessary than ever. To the extent that you're able to shift with the rapidly changing energies within you, and in the world, you will find greater comfort in your current experience. But you must consciously adapt, one step at a time, and act only on what you know is true. Gently. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Developments of the past 24 hours, and the coming week, will do well to demonstrate how strong your foundations are, despite how radically the pace of change has picked up. I would imagine that you are drawing an unusual amount of strength and inspiration from the process of just simply being, which is rare enough even for your contemplative nature. But the rare presence of Uranus in your birth sign suggests strongly that there are going to be a lot of new and unusual people in your life, and that you will be relating to them in ways that only you can offer. By this late hour in the transformation of the universe, you have probably figured out that guilt is utterly futile. But the moment you feel it, remind yourself again, because as the next days unfold, you will see that you've got no choice but to be yourself. 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. |
| |