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| 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, July 18th, 2003 | Version 2.0 |
| Mars In the Stars Dear Compatriot: We are finally seeing the Gordian knot of the Bush administration come unraveled. The issue is nuclear lies, and lies used to drag the country into what is apparently an endless war. Visiting the supermarket today, I was greeted by a large New York Times headline announcing that additional National Guard troops may be called into Iraq to deal with "a classical guerrilla-type situation." This, after Tommy Franks told us two weeks ago that the war could drag on another four years. In the March 28 edition of Planet Waves Weekly, an astrologer named Dale O'Brien, one of the Chiron pioneers, described the Mars-Chiron conjunction which began this war. "With Mars-Chiron, one does not win by overwhelming force," he said, speaking of the Iraqis. "It is not like Mars-Pluto or Mars-Saturn. It's associated with what would be called guerilla warfare. During the American revolution, the British and the other European soldiers would go out marching in a square. They would stand in a square and shoot at each other in a square, like Saturn. And what happened in the American revolution is that the Americans would stand on the edge of the woods and from behind trees and shoot at the British standing in their red coats. And they [the Brits] would say, 'That's not fair'. They weren't behaving like human beings in war, they were using their animal instincts." Under the influence of Mars-Chiron, says O'Brien, "The advantage is often for the underdog." He explained that the U.S. recently dropped numerous pamphlets in Iraq about how to surrender. And then what happened is that the Iraqis read the pamphlets and in an incident last week, came out looking like they were surrendering, and caught the American military off guard. 'Oh, we figured you were either fighting or surrendering'. And now the Americans are saying, 'This is totally unfair, you guys are not fighting fair'. The American position is that they're just supposed to stand there in their underwhelming numbers and their underarmed capacity and get the snot beaten out of them. So that issue is up, big time." He said the aspect could be likened to "Underestimating one's enemy militarily." Mars-Chiron conjunctions during the Vietnam war were associated with many of the worst turning points, from an American perspective. It was associated with the fall of the great Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, as well as the fall of President Johnson, both men who were the staunchest advocates of that war. Then there was the Tet Offensive of 1968, which was a public relations disaster for the Americans and turned the media and the people against the war. But the issues that are now surfacing are nuclear. The whole issue of the war and lies about war is in question just as Mars gets ready to do a three-month retrograde in Pisces July 29, the same day as the new moon, adding some emphasis to the event of Mars retrograde. Note the (ongoing but especially interesting) chaos among the hawks right now. But as Homer Simpson says, nu-cue-lar, nu-cue-lar. Here is a chart for the first sustained thermonuclear reaction, posted at StarIQ.com: http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/T1.asp?pageid=1117. An article is attached to that chart describing the significance of the figure, but it doesn't include mention of a new planet, called Ixion, a "plutino" or Pluto-like body (object 28978, originally 2001 KX76 and now in early Sagittarius). We are blessed, for better or worse, to have Ixion working its way across the most sensitive point in the nuclear reaction chart, called the "nuclear axis." When the nuclear axis is hot, nuclear issues are in the news, and they are now and have been recently. Ixion is the lord of second chances. In the history known as mythology, he was not a nice fellow; he is vindictive and he has no respect for anyone. The second chance we are now faced with is whether to have a second cold war and perhaps the chance of a shooting war involving nukes. Bush has bandied this about quite casually during his administration, even obsessively, pushing our nuclear emotional buttons. The generation known as the Baby Boomers were babies when the Cold War was booming. They were taught to duck and cover in kindergarten, that is, jump under their school desks as protection from a nuclear blast. (I am old enough to remember the five-bell "shelter drills" of the 1970s, which I later learned were nuclear drills but which did not involved ducking and covering under school desks, which I am sure was a very reassuring exercise). Baby Boomers were conditioned to be freaked out by the Ruskies from Day One and were being prepared not for the Day After but rather being vaporized instantly from the beginnings of their lives. (For reference, please see The Atomic Café, available in your neighborhood video store.) Cheney and other real policy makers knew that when they included the fraudulent reference to Iraq developing a nuclear program in the State of the Union address, they were assaulting the deepest fears of many, many people. They did this to drag us into a war they knew we would not be getting out of any time soon. I think it's interesting that "sixteen words" is how many are in contention right now: Trump 16 in the Tarot is Lightning Strikes the Tower, the card of Mars. The Tower is an awakening card. The silver lining of this situation is not that Bush will quit or be impeached. It's that we see the lies for what they are and stop believing them. We have a right to be angry about this, but awareness trumps anger. Stay tuned. ++ For a free copy of the Deception Dollar, send an SASE to Planet Waves, PO Box 2624, Vashon Island WA 98070. If you'd like a few, just ask. Planet Waves for July 18, 2003 by Eric Francis - http://www.PlanetWaves.net/ Birthdays This Week There will be important financial developments in your life this year, as you mature into your true calling and your proper value in the employment or creative markets. In other words, inner growth will have outer results on a fairly consistent basis. Clearing away what does not belong in your definition of yourself will take considerable effort, but by the time you're done pruning, you will have cleared the ground for substantial progress in the future. Cancerians are by nature people who live cyclically, following the motion of the moon. Yet the presence of Saturn in your sign right now is adding stability, consistency and follow-through. Plans you've wanted to put into action for a long time will move higher on the agenda and actually begin to take tangible form. Yet the stars are placing much more emphasis on your spiritual life. Important beliefs you have held about yourself are changing, and changing fast. You can no longer leave unhappiness unquestioned. You simply must ask yourself why things are the way they are, in your life and in this world, and seek answers. The answers are unlikely to be definitive and they may come in the form of additional questions, but once you have this process moving, you will begin to see yourself in new ways. Relationship is now synonymous with commitment, but commitment means far more than bonding in a situation that is not right for you. Commitment means dedication to the right partnerships for you, and meeting people on a similar level of maturity or with whom you identify closely in important aspects of being. You will, I think, be drawn to people who love you in a way that it's appropriate for you to love yourself. Chiron continuing its four-year journey through your opposite sign Capricorn suggests that people play a teaching role in your life more so than in past eras of your life. Look for the presence of a spiritual teacher, healer, therapist or mentor. This person will probably be older and wiser, but the primary purpose of the relationship is for you to seek and recognize your equality with this person, whose spots or stripes are likely to come in unusual colors. Aries (March 20-April 19) The fog will clear and/or the dust will settle once the sun arrives in fire sign Leo next week. Once you've got a clear picture, you'll see what changes you're looking at, which date back to the big changes of spring 2001. Those decisions are the foundation for what you're now experiencing, and it would be very helpful if you traced your logic, both emotional and mental, from that time. You're not reliving the past, you're just sorting through its various subtle causes and effects, a process you'll be going through for a couple of months but which will leave you younger, wiser and much more free. Taurus (April 19-May 20) Get prepared to take control of your home. You're going to do it with light. Imagine that you unscrew all the closet doors in your house and put them out in the shed (if you live in the city, under the bed). Then get some of those clamp lights at the hardware store and make the whole scene into a movie set. Take a few pictures for the record. Take down all the window drapes and blinds wash them -- invite the cousins to help out, buy pizza. Then start throwing things out (or recycling them at Goodwill). Remember to save a few artifacts, in envelopes or a special box dedicated to the purpose. Gemini (May 20-June 21) Please get over your whole "conservative streak" and prepare to make some decisions that will dramatically alter the scale and purpose of your life. Written plans and objectives are important now, as is the written word as a business and social tool. The upcoming conjunction of your ruler, Mercury, and Jupiter in Leo is not an opportunity to miss, or miss out on. This is an event of making contact, of releasing potential and discovering what it means to have a large mind in a small world. International contact is strongly favored, though it may be at home rather than abroad. Cancer (June 21-July 22) A penny saved may be a penny earned, but it's dumb to be penny wise and pound foolish. Adages aside, you're about to discover that there are far better ways to make money than the ones you now employ, or that employ you. At the same time, you need to master a few better ways to manage money, because half of gaining wealth is keeping it organized; it's fair to say that organization doubles your wealth. In short, if new prospects, agreements and offers arise on the horizon, take them as an opportunity to initiate new management policies. Meantime, do what you need to do to get those offers. Don't skimp -- do it right. Leo (July 22-Aug 23) A series of developments over the next two weeks will show you how good you have it in life, and how far you can go. At the moment most of that goodness exists in potential rather than expression. Expression is always a matter of taking risks, but this happens to be a fine time for gambling. There is one liability you face, which is self-doubt, despite having exceedingly few reasons to feel that way. Doubting another person is not necessarily doubting yourself, as long as you don't blame yourself for the feelings of anyone else. It works out this may be the most important trick we learn in our complex little lives. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) Dream on, because in a while (and by that, I mean six to eight weeks) you'll be handed opportunities to experiment with some of your grand designs. But for the moment, developing your concepts is the essential step in the process that will get you to the next one. You may feel like your ideas are laughably large, impractical or idealistic, which may be true. It's also been true of every other great development in society, so you're in good company there. Even if you never journal your dreams, this is the time, because it's currently raining gold in your unconscious and platinum in your superconscious. Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) Emphasis remains on your professional life, and it will for the next two years -- but now is a peak moment. I want to suggest that you make a list of all the compromises you've made in your career. A compromise is a deliberate choice to give up one thing so you can have another, often of lesser personal value but of greater necessity value. Study this list carefully, and compare it to your most basic, minimal ideals. Make an audit of where they have gone, one by one. Make careful note of the ones that have survived. Track how each of these processes has worked. Learn from your mistakes, but more from your successes. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) You can now get a feeling for how different the "same old issues" are once you have a little clarity in your heart and support around you. You can also get a sense of how the qualities of yourself that you long considered to be liabilities and "unhealed regions" from your past are really your deepest, greatest assets. That does not justify what was done to you in the past, but it does make it your ally rather than your enemy. But the past, too, is very likely providing you information about your present circumstances that, in truth, you would have no other way to know. You are experienced in these very matters, and can trust that. Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22) In a short time there's about to be as much action in the fire signs as there is currently in the water signs, and for you that means a wider field of reality. Of all the basic four elements in the world, fire is the one in our culture that is most often reduced to metaphor. Yet moving beyond your current circumstances, in place, time, commitment and most of all, ideology, takes fire and is not any kind of symbol. These are real commitments that will lead honest decisions, and provide opportunities to take action. One thing is clear enough from your charts: you know you need to travel. Ideally, go someplace alone, for maximum freedom. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) You are hopefully getting a sense of how good taking care of the necessities of partnership can be. There is no one right way to do things. People who have original ideas about relationships are usually criticized fast by their lover or their peers. But Saturn is now very strong in your relationship angle, which means living your life the right way for you. If you try to do it any other way, you're going to fail. While you can only really get this message from experimenting, you've in fact already done plenty of that. Presently there is one thing you need that you're not acknowledging. Give it a few days. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) I'm afraid you don't know quite how you feel about how well things are going, particularly in one specific partnership. The problem is you're living with an idea about something and with a reality about it which can't seem to make up their mind about which is the actual experience. In about a week, once the sun enters your opposite sign Leo, you'll have plenty of additional clarity and be able to see the even-bigger picture. I really suggest you keep your options open at the moment, because more possibilities are coming. At a certain point you may need to choose, but not any time soon. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) As hot, decisive Mars gets ready to make its extremely rare retrograde in your sign -- something that happens perhaps once every 25 years -- you may notice that certain factors that seemed extremely resistant to change are finally starting to budge. They are responding to your focus, intensity and the power of your will. But prepare for your inner life to take on the far more important emphasis -- your private world, the people in it, and the inner life wherein you negotiate your path through your actual cosmos. In other words, no matter how busy life is, take time out for time in. The past is as important as the present. 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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