Aries Full Moon afterthoughts... Good Gods. It has been a crazed week. Not the inner planets going direct kind of crazed, but the freaking Fool Moon kind of crazed. Emotional? High intensity? Any school teachers in the audience? What are your kids doing? Hey mom, hey dad, how was your week? I am always amused how waitresses, cops and the local film processing guy are always the biggest believers in the Fool Moon.
This is the new issue of Planet Waves Weekly, re-presented to you in corrected form. There were more than the average number of typos. It's always better to read it here. I also usually provide a lot more links and a cleaner, more detailed edit, if such things matter to you. (In this edition, I've added a paragraph on Jerry Garcia, for example.)
After posting this I started getting letters from Aries Moon people telling me what wild and crazed critters their mothers were. We have then described below as pioneering and so forth, but I am hearing stuff such as "childish" and "tantrums" and the like. I began to think: this Moon grants such unusual creative talent, what becomes of people who don't get as far as a paint brush or movie camera? What happens when there is no creative outlet? Look out!
This seems to be a message to those born under the Aries Moon to get that fire stoked and give yourself a way to express yourself. You must; you will.
The Moon series has been one of the most popular in this column's long history. I take it people here like to read about astrology. What a coincidence! I'll do my best to stick to the subject. Truth be told, it is far far EASIER than taking on those social conscience, political kinds of themes. I do it when I feel like I've got no choice, when the affairs of the world are just too important to ignore.
I'll be back next week with (more than likely) another perspective on the Harmonic Concordance. One of the messages I'm reading into that chart is about the need for real efforts at sex education, and a real discussion of the issue. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Please have a look at this -- a gorgeous picture of Sombrero Galaxy taken from Hubbell.
-- Eric Francis
In Motion
The Dauntless Moon
Dear Friend and Client:
When I sat down to research the Aries Moon (which was full overnight Thursday to Friday), it seemed strange that initially, I couldn't think of anyone born with this placement. I then searched my charts database and had a rather surprising experience as I scanned a long list of pioneers, innovators and highly original entertainers -- people who you might expect, having such a fiery Moon in the first sign of the zodiac, to be authentic pioneers in their fields. They include Marlon Brando, Ellen DeGenres, Jerry Garcia, Anne Rice, Bill Gates and (skipping back a few hundred years) Galileo.
Galileo was the first person who saw the individual stars of the Milky Way, the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus. DeGenres was the first lesbian TV actor to come out of the closet. Rosie O'Donnell predicted her career would flop as a result; it didn't happen. Every industry has its Jackie Robinson (he had an Aquaraius Moon, another famous for its inventors, innovators and highly successful freakos).
As for Aries Moon villains, we have Joseph Stalin, Jim Jones and Jeff Dahmer, all innovators of darkness in their times.
Let's consider what astrological theory tells us about the Moon in this sign. The Moon is by nature watery, cool and receptive. Its natural sign is Cancer, which is about nourishment. Aries is by nature hot, fiery and assertive. It's natural planet is Mars, which is about desire, sexuality, anger and war. Looked at this way, the Aries Moon is a contradiction. The Moon helps us interrelate with physical reality; in it, we find experiences of being in our body, of relating to our needs, and of communicating to the world through the filter of a personality. Aries Moon people adapt to this contradiction by attempting to shape the world their way. It is not easy, but they do it. Really, they have no choice. What the Moon and Aries have in common is cardinality. Both involve cardinal signs, the ones that initiate the seasons, and initiate in general.
I once worked as a hired gun for something called the Center for Judicial Accountability, which battled corrupt judges, and which was headed by a bold little woman named Elena. She was a, no, rather, the human tornado: brilliant, contentious, opinionated, feisty, did I say contentious, and able to get the job done. Her Moon graced the sign Aries. She was out of control, in that totally in control way, which was item one in her job description. As for her mother... she is another book.
The Aries Moon would seem to denote a restless, agitated and passionate way of going about life. I could see the Aries Moon being comfortable in its body only when it's expressing itself, conquering or taking some kind of action, preferably naked.
Have you seen the movie Contact? The scriptwriters provided the fictional character Dr. Ellie Arroway with a birthday -- Aug. 25, 1964. Dr. Arroway is the brilliant astrophysicist and technological innovator who gives up her Harvard teaching career to join SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Despite the substantial professional resistance and numerous obstacles, she persists by the pure force of her personality and wits, becoming the first person to establish contact with life from another planet, then the first person to travel interdimensionally. She is impassioned, determined, inventive, perceptive, extremely intelligent, and will stop at nothing. How does it work that a movie character's chart works? Possibility one is synchronicity. Possibility two is that somebody hired an astrologer to create the chart (I heard a rumor to this effect). If so, the astrologer did a good job. Dr. Arroway is the incarnation of the Aries Moon, with a powerful Pisces-Virgo alignment and born in the year of the Dragon.
"They feel with their egos and live in the future; they're brave and restless," writes Debbi Kempton-Smith of the Aries Moon in Secrets from a Stargazer's Notebook, descrinbing Arroway to a tee.
Grant Lewi, in Astrology for the Millions, concurs. The Aries Moon is "an independent thinker, a mental force, a person of intellectual or physical daring and courage. The truth is important to you -- the truth, that is, as you see it individualistically, which may not bear a relation to proven facts."
In the book Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars, Evangeline Adams speaks of "great brilliancy, acuteness, and susceptibility to the senses, but they are always on a terribly fine edge, so that extreme nervousness is likely to result."
She continues, "The directness and vividness of the sensations usually lead to great mental independence and activity; mental reaction takes place very rapidly. It is very difficult for persons with this position to doubt the evidence of their senses; and, unless some other aspects tend to diminish the executive power or to delay the operation of the judgment, the native will be so convinced as to the accuracy of whatever is presented to him that he will act immediately without consideration."
Thank God for miracles. The world needs impetuous people who don't think the past is the only guide to the future, and who can't be shaken in their beliefs by people who know less than they do, or worse, by those who know more. The Aries Moon doesn't need book knowledge and it doesn't need a badge or certificate. You're not going to impress these people by quoting Shakespeare. As Mark Twain, an Aries moonboy to the hilt, said, "Don't let your schoolin' get in the way of your learnin'."
Searching several thousand charts in my database, two names I noticed in a class by themselves were investigative journalists Bill Moyers and Peter Montague. Both do extraordinarily impressive work in a day when investigative reporting has gone the way of Earth Shoes and the Ecology flag. Moyers is one of the few people in the mainstream broadcast industry today who is both fearless and unflinchingly dedicated to telling the truth about political and corporate activities. In a world of Geraldo wannabes, he does stories nobody will dare to touch which then end up on national television, currently PBS [in the earlier edition, I mistakenly said his prior employer, NBC]. How he manages to pull off such stunning coverage of corporate crime in the corporate media is something of a genuine mystery of our times, though Mars, Chiron and the Sun in Gemini certainly don't hurt matters any.
Peter Montague is the founder of the Environmental Research Foundation, which publishes Rachel's Health and Environment News. His approach was to create a small news service that does big stories, which then find their way into the hands of journalists, editors and activists around the world (his articles have appeared repeatedly on Planet Waves). He has been the single most faithful chronicler of dioxin, PCBs, genetic engineering and numerous other issues that would terrify most other journalists, or swallow their gumption whole. He has faced vicious libel litigation from Monsanto and stood them down. His dedication to the environmental movement over more than three decades has been an inspiration to everyone who knows him, and I predict that his articles will be evermore valuable as the decades progress.
One might describe Aries Moon natives as outspoken, blunt, brazen, dauntless, outrageous, authentic or whatever it takes to get the job done. On one level, they can appear simple, but that simplicity hides a complex worldview that they know is wise to keep mum about. What's really going on is they tend to refine their message to the high-contrast projection that it takes to stand out from the crowd. With this Moon, the inner and the outer person are strikingly different, with the inner being far more perceptive and sensitive than what you see.
In film, there is Marlon Brando, who embodies both the sensitivity and brashness of this Moon in equal proportions. Consider his roles, in Apocalyose Now, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and A Streetcar Named Desire. Some of his greatest and most moving scenes were neither scripted nor acted. Rather, they were intense moments of actual human drama caught on film and made into cinema (he has Sun, Moon and Chiron in Aries trine Neptune in Leo – fire, fire, fire, fire). His characters all seem to be seamless extensions of himself, and are unapologetic, vivid and rarely-witnessed expressions of humanity. In each, there is the sense that you are dealing with an extremely receptive person behind the veil of power and conquest.
Joe Pesci is another actor who's portrayed Mafiosi and has an Aries Moon. I don't personally know anyone in the Mafia or I would check their charts.
I did however come up with Al Capone, who (I learned this week visiting Alcatraz) at one point in the 1930s was making $100,000 a week and who, when he was finally busted, had a carpeted jail cell with a government-sponsored telephone in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary before he became one of the first federal prisoners transferred to Alcatraz (where he had neither a carpet nor a phone).
I found another interesting example of 'real world parallels cinema' searching this file. Bob Fosse, the director and choreographer, is born under an Aries Moon, as is the man who portrayed him in All That Jazz, Roy Scheider. Here again, we see the essence of restlessness, innovation and passionate creativity. These are colorful, expressive men who always seem to be dancing in fire.
No discussion of the Aries Moon would be complete without mention of Jerry Garcia, Leo sun with an Aries Moon. Jerry certainly had a way of bending reality to his preference. His energy, intensity and focus were inspiring. And you could trip on a drop of his sweat. Jerry dealt with the intense disscomfort of the soft, childish Moon roasting in Aries by taking drugs. He must have consumed his formidable body weight in Persian heroin several times over. He was diabetec, which is another way of saying burning up. He did not like conflict and took it out on himself, letting loose, for the most part, only when he played. And it was a tight, ultra-refined kind of looseness, but he really could dance on those strings.
Now consider this collection of artists born under the Aries Moon. Let's start with Salvador Dali, one of the great leaders of the Surrealist movement, whose mind is hot enough to melt reality like wax; George Braque, founder of the Cubist movement; Peter Max, the vividly outrateous psychedelic artist; and Andy Warhol, the Pop Art master. If successful artists have one thing in common, it's that they're not afraid to put themselves out there, quite literally putting their vision of inner and outer reality in people's faces, and to persist in the face of the considerable adversity that the world dishes out for those who choose to live their creativity fully.
On the list of artists is Betty Dodson, the classically-trained illustrator whose detailed portraits of cunts (Betty's term) stunned the New York feminist and artistic circles in the supposedly wild 1970s. She then gave up art and went into holding women's masturbation workshops for 25 years. Betty is author of the million-selling Sex for One and the brand new Orgasms for Two. (See http://www.bettydodson.com/ for more information).
"If I had continued with an art career, I would have brought back realism," Betty said in an interview this week. (Like the fictional Ellie Arroway, she is a strong Virgo with an Aries Moon.) She said she had little use for the abstract art that was so popular in the 1970s, when (for instance) Frank Stella became world famous for painting black rectangles on black backgrounds, among other innovations (such as black squares on black backgrounds). Betty is way too practical for that. And unlike the other Aries Moon artists mentioned in this essay, her work is not flamboyant. She works in pencil, often on large illustration boards that require hours of expressing details.
Early in her career as a sex activist, Betty objected to the fact that vulvas were not depicted realistically and instead were portrayed as little black triangles (apparently yet another reference to Frank Stella). She set about expressing the beauty and detail of women's genitals in a way that, well, got a little attention. She also did realistic portrayals of people masturbating and having sex.
Betty met Salvador Dali once and two significant contributors to our society born with their Moon in the sign of the Ram engaged one another for a moment.
He greeted her by saying, "Ah, dees ees dee fucking artist."
"No," Betty said, "I'm the artist who draws people fucking."
Notice the of sublime subtlety the transaction. Betty said that Dali was too full of himself for her tastes. "There was nobody home," she commented.
I asked Betty about her mother, since the Moon always tells us something about people in that role in our lives. The wisdom of astrology says that, as the double significator of the personality of the native, and of mom, a lot of who we are on the personality level is based on maternal influences. We'd expect anyone with this Moon to have been raised by a woman whose personality was dynamic, intense and self-assertive; perhaps this was a lot to handle. That, in turn, would be very likely to lead one to stand up to the challenge, to be undaunted.
"She was great," Betty said of her mom. "I consider her a woman of the pioneer stock that settled this country, the ones that shot wild animals" and helped their families survive on the new frontier in the face of all adversity. Betty's mom was born in 1899 and the family was from Kansas. She was one of the first women in her community to drive a car and truck, to get an abortion, and to travel alone. "She was a strong woman who voiced her opinions whether they were popular or not," Betty said.
In public, people would have seen a reserved, even stoic woman who would "present a different face behind the Irish lace curtain. She was a great party girl." As was Betty, who was as famous for her sex parties as she is for her workshops.
When I interviewed Betty, who recently turned 74, she was feeling a bit achy. "I jumped on a bicycle for the first time in 20 years and rode six miles," she said of her recent weekend activity.++
Birthdays This Week
If the most personal aspects of life have been unusually complicated in recent seasons, you are heading for a stretch of time during which you will be able to untangle the many threads of your life and make some sense of your emotions. This is going to happen more or less naturally, as a part of a cycle and as an outgrowth of what was once called wising up. Until recently, a combination of pushing and brooking unexpected delays has characterized your existence, leaving you feeling like you'd been drawn and quartered; now, time is on your side and there is no need to push, just to direct, decide and allow.
There is a monumental shift occurring in your life that, if it does its work well, and if you move with the flow, will compel you to reassess everything you have previously held to be true about doing meaningful work. This has three distinct aspects. One is security. The past two years have taught you that you need an entirely reliable foundation below your feet and a dependably dry roof over your head.
The second is finding work that grants you a sense of authority, which is completely necessary. You are not a peon, and less now than ever. You need an opportunity to let your leadership skills shine, and you know it. If you were not so intelligent, it would be another story, but unfortunately for those who underestimate you, you know exactly what is wrong with the world and what you need to do to fix it. In order to get out of the way of petty tyrants, you need to find yourself a role in which you get to make the important day-to-day decisions, and one in which you have final say in developing the long-term vision. You need to answer to yourself.
Last is money. Regardless of the state of the economy, some people, indeed, many people, thrive when times are a little strange. You are getting wiser by the day where money matters are concerned. Part of this is because you are suddenly developing a real sense of your worth. Getting from that authentic awareness of your value to a cash conversion can require many steps, but this is your time to set the wheels in motion. I must say this again, however: much of this process involves your taking authority.
Reach from the place in yourself that knows you have the awareness and inner strength to do what you need to do, to that place of action and decisive ability to put your plan to work. Don't worry if you don't have everything calculated from start to finish; a lot happens once you take initiative. Remember as well that every successful person has learned to do one thing, which is delegate. In fact many successful people know how to do little else.
In your personal relationships, you may finally be seeing the value and importance of allowing yourself to feel like a sexual person. That can be a daring move in a world where such is a kind of ultimate rebellion against boredom and tyranny, but it is a vital step in your self-realization process. There are few people who have mastered actual self-respect and self-confidence who have not reached a space of strength and beauty in their sexuality. To do this, start as your own lover, and share what you learn and what you discover with people who are genuinely receptive and respectful, and who you know have something to offer you. Suffer neither fools nor misers and you will, in these four seasons, reach a whole new dimension of existence, freedom and safety in the world: your world.
For a full solar return (birthday chart) reading, you can call Eric's office to make an appointment at (877) 453-8265.
Aries (March 20-April 19)
This is a sexy, mysterious full Moon (exact early Friday at 12:27 a.m. PDT) and it's happening in your sign. If everywhere you go and everyone you meet seems strange, a little different, a little transparent like you can see through them, it's not them: it is you. You are the one thing that all your experiences have in common. You're not necessarily going to like everything you see, but the gift of vision is that it allows discernment. You get to choose. Think of this momentary gift as offering a long-term asset. Over the next few days you are likely to notice people you feel a burning desire to get to know. Perhaps not yet, but take notes.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Memories of the trauma known as last year may be percolating back to your thoughts and senses. If not, it would be a fine time to have a good, long talk with yourself about how far you've come, what you've learned, and what it says about your character that you've persevered. It would also be a good time to leave yourself notes, in your pockets and on your dashboard, that say things like "You can do it alone, but you don't need to do it alone." Yet in order to choose people who resonate deeply with your values, you need to appreciate your values more fully. Self-esteem is boring. I say go for self-respect.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
The question of how well you apply your energy and focus when times are relatively good is the one to ask right now. Most people throw all their effort and concentration into life when faced with a crisis, and tend to slack off when things are going well. Usually, it's a lot more efficient to work in precisely the opposite manner, increasing your energy flow when the weather is good and backing off as much as possible when you're facing difficulties. As of this moment, you are moving toward good, clear territory. Rise to the challenge of things going well, stay in the present and remember to think clearly about the future.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Get out of the way of other people's conflicts. Don't even stay around to watch. If you hear anything vaguely reminiscent of bad vibes, remember you have something important to do and head for the exit. I'm not suggesting that avoiding conflict is an appropriate way to live; I'm saying that now is a very good time to mind your business. This is particularly true given that you have some very excellent business to mind. Your reputation has an unusual penetrating power right now, and you exude the qualities of both business and artistry. That's the winning combination.
Leo (July 22-Aug 23)
There is no security possible in this world other than love. Look at the lives of the people who are financially wealthy and have no one they actually trust, and no one they are sure cares about them. You don't need a thin dime to survive. All you need is to acknowledge and affirm the presence of the people around you, particularly those who abide anyplace you call home. It works out that those relationships will either provide or point you toward some of the more financially lucrative experiences you've known in quite a while. Focus on what resources you have to exchange. Business is based on the principle of exchange.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Keep reassessing your financial situation, and remain not just flexible but proactive. Reassess your fees constantly right now, and question the morality of wage slavery. It's critical that you not balk when negotiating your economic value. There are two ways to approach these kinds of questions. One says that if you can't get $25 an hour, lower your fee to $20. The other says that if you can't get $25, raise your fee to $50 and do what you're the very best at, which is likely to be what you love the most. Stick to your principles, and if people don't understand the value you offer, make it clear in words they understand.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Get used to the fact that certain people, or a certain person in your life, possesses a power that goes beyond the magnetism and confidence that most people actually notice. When people take on positions of deep significance in our lives, it can bring up a lot of insecurity; they seem to have something that we need and cannot get anywhere else. The paradox is that people need you as much as you need them, though you may not be so inclined to notice. If you can set aside your modesty and remember the strengths that everyone brings to the situation, you'll get a look at how balanced a vitally important relationship is to you.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
It's not like you to have a take it or leave it attitude about sex, but I think you've tuned into the practical reality that sex creates karma. The question is always what kind of karma. Marianne Williamson once suggested that we only have sex with people we want to be like, because we in fact do become like the people with whom we are intimate. This has seldom been a more vivid fact of life for you. At this point, you can take on very nearly anything from anyone, so you need to be selective. You're also a heck of a lot more attractive than usual, which is saying a lot, and which raises the stakes.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Be careful what image you project, and if you feel you're compromised in some way, or given to excessive doubts, keep to yourself for a while. I'm suspicious of the idea that "I am this way, and I'm never going to get better." That's rarely true, certainly for anyone with your ability to ask questions and seek answers. The problem is one of objectivity. Objectivity is nearly impossible, especially when questioning oneself. Keep your curiosity and you'll keep your faith. If you feel you're losing faith in yourself, it would be very wise to question why -- remember, there is a reason.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
How are you doing on your self-constructive tendencies? Are you noticing that you build yourself in each relationship you're in? Relationships are all processes of becoming, and who you become becomes what you are. This is one reason why tendencies of all kinds, from artistry to addiction, from harmony to conflict, are supported by relationships. Every relationship you enter is an affirmation of some quality within yourself. Fortunately, we get to be selective -- that is, when we remember and select instead of allowing life to "just happen." The more you see and feel that process happening, the better you will be at it.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Remember that what you say is rarely the product of an evolved thought process, particularly now. Rather, you are more inclined to think out loud and revise your thinking based on listening to what you say. For what my opinion's worth, this is perfectly reasonable, as long as you know what you're doing and as long as your friends don't assume you're going to stand by today's ideas tomorrow. This is annoying to many who feel like the spoken word is poured concrete. It's not, unless you're making promises, so be careful what you promise.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Fish, more than many other critters, are one with their environment. The health of the water is the health of the fish. Analyze the water and you'll get a pretty good idea of what's going on with its inhabitants. I recommend applying this process to your life, because now you have the power to make changes in your world, including many that have seemed unlikely, unreasonable or impossible. Identify what you need, identify its source, and view the connection between the two as a series of decisions. While it may feel like you're doing this with the force of your will, it is something far deeper.
Planet Waves is a full service astrology office. We offer a variety of published products, web access, private consultations, written reports, "just charts," and more. Call (877) 453-8265 for more information, or visit us on the web at http://www.PlanetWaves.net/
