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Planet News
Wednesday of last week we experienced the first high-energy test of Uranus in Pisces. Venus slid into the deep waters of the last sign, making a conjunction to Uranus. And Mercury re-joined Capricorn after retrograding into Sagittarius and stationing on the galactic core. The three planets aligned exactly overnight Wednesday, and we had a week to go with it.
The Venus and Uranus in Pisces combination is an interesting mythological pickup. When Kronos overthrew his father Ouranos (Uranus, originally lord of the overhanging heavens), he castrated him and threw his testicles into the sea. Venus emerged from the sea foam. Venus joining Uranus in Pisces would seem to put the balls back onto Uranus. I like the feeling of that. Uranus in our mythology is the lord of rebellion and brilliant ideas. He needs balls around these parts.
As personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) move through their signs and aspect Uranus during this stretch of history, they will pick up and make personal the newly-Pisces-coloured Uranian energy with interesting effects. I experienced a palpable shift Wednesday as a frenetic, volatile and mentally active day, with ideas, conflicts, solutions and various intense emotions pouring into light. I became aware of how fast things within and without are changing. That all went well with the 3.6 earthquake that visited my zip code.
Change can be a stressful energy, and we can forget how much there is to celebrate. We may not feel this moment as a little golden age, but it is. Are such times ever appreciated for what they are, or only seen in retrospect? Perhaps the view is obscured by how much focus, energy and faith are required to express oneself, and by the prevailing atmosphere of fear in our world. But when things are changing as fast as they are now (it has happened before) fear is one of those things we really need to learn how to deal with rather than pretend is not there.
One quality of life that promises to change dramatically as Uranus proceeds through Aquarius is the tone and quality of group dynamics. Uranus in Aquarius shifted group dynamics drastically: our groups are just about all e-groups these days. For the young people in the office, it is not folklore that there was a time when people got together and met and had conversations.
The Pisces activation will shift that, because the group dynamics of Uranus are more emotionally involved in Pisces, and for emotions we need the touch, feel and smell of other human bodies. This comes just in time for the political season to pick up torque, with the Iowa caucuses approaching in a few days. Politics on the collective level emphasises communication on the personal level. Politics, like religion, is a fact of life. The question is what you're aware of and what you do in response to that awareness. But you will never fully escape politics on this planet, being so fundamental to human organisation here.
Though the Iowa caucuses involve an American election, by proxy it's a world election because as the sole superpower, the United States dictates the fate of much or perhaps (on a bad day) all of the world. To the extent that this election will shape the ecological future of the planet, we're all in it together. The world, meanwhile, has certainly not ceased its wonders. To great fanfare, Wednesday was the day that Mr Bush announced that Americans would be going back to the Moon, this time to start a colony, and that we would then be off to Mars. That's Uranian enough; time to invent our way past remote control toys like Spirit. We need to get there and stick a flag in the ground, like real conquerors.
This news came as the Spirit rover, the current NASA robotic mission to Mars, rolled down the ramp of its mothership and began its exploration. They sent it 10 feet, so far. (The craft landed in the midst of Mercury retrograde. The unit worked, but problems retracting the airbags required scientists to roll Spirit out an alternate ramp from the lander. Not bad for Mercury retrograde). Mars, for its part, is currently conjunct asteroid Pallas Athene -- the asteroid of politics -- in the pioneering sign Aries.
In case we were wondering whether Bush's announcement was news designed to cheer us up a bit, like a royal wedding in England, or perhaps designed as something that helped throw a little distraction in the way of more important matters, we can do a reality check on the budget. The Moon-Mars program is to be funded by $1 billion in new money, plus diverting $10 billion from other programs in cash-strapped NASA, which can barely afford new tiles for its employee kitchen, much less its space shuttles.
John F. Kennedy, in his day, successfully urged congress to allocate $9 billion (in 1969 dollars) to fund the Moon landing effort four decades ago. For just a trifle more severely inflated dollars, Bush proposes starting the plan to colonise not one but two planets and maybe a few asteroids.
Eleven billion is a stretch even to do the initial paperwork and pay Halliburton to cater lunch. But I have a scientifically tenable idea for how the Mars program can be done inexpensively using quantum space travel. For considerably less than a conventional space vehicle, NASA can develop a very comfortable space capsule. No rocket; just the capsule. Then, scientists will suspend the thing 10 feet above the ground, and drop it. Under quantum probability laws, there is a chance it will fly up to Mars.
It's not a very large chance, I admit, but it is a real chance. Then, if they drop it a few thousand times a day, the probability will increase. And if you don't pay attention to space program news, the probability you'll hear something meaningful will also increase.
What, amidst the Mars hoopla, did we miss on Wednesday? Here's one I bet wasn't plastered on CNN.
Across town the same day, Ted Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts, gave a speech at the Centre for American Progress. Kennedy's scathing comments, delivered with the directness and boldness reminiscent of his beloved older brother Jack, covered from top to bottom the criminal follies of the Bush administration, documenting the administration's acts of fraud committed along the march to war: the false Saddam-9/11 connection, the scare tactics and vicious fear-mongering of the past three years, and the neoconservative faction that has seized control of the government, tanked the economy, plundered the treasury, and more.
Since you won't read it anywhere else except truthout.org, here's a little excerpt, and remember, these are not words spoken by a Communist sympathiser standing on a soap box on 14th street or by a feisty cab driver in San Francisco. This is a real senator who votes on laws and everything. Said he:
"I believe that this Administration is indeed leading this country to a perilous place. It has broken faith with the American people, aided and abetted by a Congressional majority willing to pursue ideology at any price, even the price of distorting the truth. On issue after issue, they have moved brazenly to impose their agenda on America and on the world. They have pursued their goals at the expense of urgent national and human needs and at the expense of the truth. America deserves better.
"The Administration and the majority in Congress have put the state of our union at risk, and they do not deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress.
"I do not make these statements lightly. I make them as an American deeply concerned about the future of the Republic if the extremist policies of this Administration continue.
"By far the most extreme and most dire example of this Administration's reckless pursuit of its single-minded ideology is in foreign policy. In its arrogant disrespect for the United Nations and for other peoples in other lands, this Administration and this Congress have squandered the immense goodwill that other nations extended to our country after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. And in the process, they made America a lesser and a less respected land.
"Nowhere is the danger to our country and to our founding ideals more evident than in the decision to go to war in Iraq. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has now revealed what many of us have long suspected. Despite protestations to the contrary, the President and his senior aides began the march to war in Iraq in the earliest days of the Administration, long before the terrorists struck this nation on 9/11.
He continued:
"Eleven times in the two years since 9/11, al-Qaeda attacked Americans in other parts of the world and other innocent civilians. War with Iraq has given al-Qaeda a new recruiting program for terrorists. For each new group of terrorist recruits, the pool is growing of others ready to support them and encourage them.
"As another dangerous consequence of the war, our Army is over-stretched, over-stressed, and over-extended. Nearly 3,500 of our servicemen and women have been killed or wounded. By the end of 2004, eight of our ten active Army divisions will have been deployed for at least a year in the Middle East in support of Afghanistan or Iraq. The Army is offering re-enlistment bonuses of $10,000 to soldiers in Iraq, but many are turning the money down and turning a new tour of duty down. Members of the National Guard and Reserve are being kept on active duty and away from their families, jobs, and communities for over a year.
"Al-Qaeda and the Taliban fighters who support them are stepping up their terrorist campaign in Afghanistan, launching more and more attacks against military personnel and civilians alike. The warlords are jeopardizing the stability of the country. They make their money from the drug trade, which is now booming again. International humanitarian assistance workers, once considered immune from violence, are now targets of a new Afghan insurgency.
"In all these ways, we are reaping the poison fruit of our misguided and arrogant foreign policy. The Administration capitalized on the fear created by 9/11 and put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth to justify a war that could well become one of the worst blunders in more than two centuries of American foreign policy. We did not have to go to war. Alternatives were working. War must be a last resort. And this war never should have happened."
End of quotation.
What we are seeing over and over again is that the truth can and does come out, and it is coming out. Uranus is our staunch ally in this process. A lot of lies will be stirred up as well. As the smaller planets make aspects to Uranus, we will be able to track a whole progression of revelations of the real and the unreal and maybe, maybe, maybe even begin to notice the difference on a larger scale. A lot of what we see has to do with our level of fear. Fear entices people to believe lies, because they want to feel better. The lies make them feel worse, so they seek out more lies, and it's a vicious cycle.
What we manage to keep faith in, and how we manage to do it, is another story. Uranus in Pisces has faith spray painted all over it (in fluorescent green). Meanwhile, faced with fabulous lies and authentic statements of facts and perception, what you hear is based on what you listen to.
Up & Coming
We are under the waning Moon. The Moon is new January 21, a day after the Sun transits into Aquarius. This is Tet, the New Year throughout much of the world, particularly the East. The Year of the green Monkey begins in early Aquarius, emphasising the highly energetic nature of this year.
Monkey is a yang or active energy, like fire. Green Monkey brings in the element wood, which will fuel the fire. Here is what Susan Levitt and Jean Tang write in their (highly dependable and road tested) book Taoist Astrology, which covers the Chinese cycle. "Wood qualities include boldness, creativity, idealism, imagination, planning, decisiveness, steadfastness, benevolence, and competitiveness. These are strong natural Monkey characteristics (except planning and steadfastness), so green Monkey achieves goals.
"Green Monkey's spirit is inspiring to others. He is very aware of opportunities in the present circumstances and can find the quickest route to success. Green Monkey is a competitive seeker who wishes to improve his status in life. No challenge is too overwhelming in the pursuit of wealth and success."
Now we need to learn to work together toward collective goals. I know this sounds corny, like the Sixties. Next thing you know, we'll be sitting around on campus, strumming guitars and smoking reefer and really digging the scene. The political nature of this year will bring people together. Win or lose, politics is about collective reality.
Of note, when incumbent George H.W. Bush ran against Bill Clinton and lost, it was the most recent year of the Monkey. (And for reference, the last year of the green Monkey was 1944, just prior to the defeat of Hitler.)
Tet helps set the stage for the Vernal Equinox New Moon two months later on March 20, a particularly powerful event as the Sun and Moon meet exactly on the Aries point, the influential first degree of Aries. This is considered the beginning of the astrological year, as the Sun crosses the degree from which the entire zodiac is reckoned. If you are planning ahead, this lunation (like the forthcoming Aquarius New Moon) is an excellent time for beginnings of any kind.
In more immediate planetary news, as of this Friday, Jan. 16, Mercury is in Capricorn, Venus is in Pisces, Mars is in Aries, Jupiter is in Virgo, Saturn is in Cancer, Chiron is in Capricorn, Uranus is in Pisces, Neptune is in Aquarius and Pluto is in Sagittarius. The Moon moves through Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces over the next 10 days, conjoining all the outer planets.
Capricorn Birthday Report - This Week
Remember -- the weekly birthday reports work as a series and I suggest reading the weeks on either side of your birthday for additional ideas and information.
There is no doubt you are making important decisions, ones that seem long overdue. They are not; only recently have you attained the mental flexibility and the confidence to even see certain options. But changes that have arrived in your immediate environment are opening the way to possibilities you're unlikely to have ever considered, or even noticed. In short, the seeming divider between your dreams and your realities has all but disappeared.
Yet to go from one to the other requires a wild dare, mostly of the imagination.
Are there any other kind? Not in your world, for the moment. But I don't see this being a problem. The moment you pause to think, you're going to think creatively and I mean the potential is wild. The beauty is that these are not flights of fancy but ideas grounded in something tangible. I speak of the combination of Uranus and Venus in your third solar house (Pisces) which provides the energy, the ideas and the grounding to bring them into tangible form.
Recognise the value of originality! Too often people revert to putting themselves down for innovation. You are taking the lead in your life as an originator.
How often do people dare to think something that's actually different? You may suddenly notice that it doesn't happen especially often. But if the past few years have taught you anything, it's that you're different, and becoming more different by the day. The next year or two will emphasise the point, compelling you to use your intelligence and experience to rebel and seek your independence in ways that are more bold even if they are more discreet.
Essentially, you may be in a position where your notions of life, of the world and of yourself, are in stark contrast to those around you -- but where they need you somewhat desperately as well. Work the social politics of that carefully.
Partners, particularly those people closest to you, may go on something of a wild ride with respect to their family situation that demands a lot of their attention. You're likely to have numerous suggestions and observations, yet it would be wise for you to keep your opinions about this to yourself until asked, or until an appropriate opportunity arrives to share your viewpoint. It's critical that you allow the people closest to you to live their own experiences as fully as possible. They are growing, and they will grow, and so will you, as they do.
Capricorn Birthday Report - Last Week (9th-14th January)
This is a potentially apprehensive time. So much in your life has outdone its use; your personality may feel like an old computer you've gone back to for a day. But in the world of people and feelings (rather than computers) one cannot shed their skin at will. A real measure of patience is required as cellular processes do their work, in their time -- and at this point, that time is not long.
While there is a wave of new and welcome energy coming into your life, and what feels like the palpable promise of a genuine new beginning, you may be facing one extraordinarily challenging dilemma. It may involve your household situation, and a situation that you feel compelled to resolve with an exceptional degree of diplomacy rather than through confrontation. Despite these desires, it's likely that you feel like people (or someone in particular) does not believe you when you tell the truth, and that you lost your chance to really use your power and move the situation some time earlier.
It is now largely a matter of internal growth for you, and part of the larger situation of maturing in your relationships that has been a theme of the past six to eight months. This maturity process has confronted you with aspects of your own personality that you may, at once, feel you need to change, feel you cannot change, and feel you have no obligation to change. Is it possible that all of these are true at once, and is it possible that this is the essence of the dilemma you face?
Beware of the phenomenon of the "false dilemma." This is a logical fallacy that can arise from drawing the wrong conclusion from the facts at hand. It can come in the form of believing that something is an either-or situation when it's really nothing of the kind. I suggest you go back to the basic facts of the situation and size up everything anew. Start with what you know, and what you need, and work from there. I can assure you that no matter what the problem, there is a solution you are holding in your hand, but you have to define the problem in relevant terms.
You are right to apply diplomacy to this situation rather than a fighting spirit, and to look at yourself before looking to others as the source of both problem and solution. This does not mean that others don't have a role. It merely means that you're starting from the centre, from yourself, which is the source of all of your reality anyway. Beware of the thought that "you never get it" because clearly you DO get it, you are capable of real understanding, and if it starts within yourself it will spread into your partnerships with little effort and potentially great ease.
Focus on what you have to offer people. It is substantial, because you are substantial, and you need merely to recognise how deeply you are appreciated to ease any confusion about your life that may surface.
Your Planet Waves Weekly Horoscope | By Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19)
This week's aspects offer some unusual opportunities to work out the man-woman, woman-man thing in its many manifestations. What you have in common and what you don't take on new and subtle shapes and forms, and you really can get past personal inhibitions and creative blocks if you make the effort. The chemistry may not be torrential heat, and neither will the discord be like the philharmonic on crank. Rough spots promise to point the way to intriguing connections that may, over the year, develop into something much more interesting. There is no rush, but this is some fun astrology warming up to the Sun's ingress to Aquarius, when the night time becomes the right time.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
In one particular situation someone is just as nervous or at least concerned as you are about a variety of unknowns and uncertainties. These feelings are just ripples from the sense of potential and passion. However, with Mars in Aries, it appears that you may be experiencing a bit more overt anxiety or pressure. Trust that lines of communication are open, feel free to use them. Often, anxiety points to unspoken needs, unanswered questions. Other times, there's just some general apprehension about whether things will work out. Only time will tell, but if nothing else, that time will be more than interesting.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Mercury is working its way out of what proved to be a fairly productive retrograde phase that seems to have completely revised your view of yourself and certain relationship situations. I see changes to your sense of scale, and also your appreciation of being in a wider world than you've imagined any time recently. You may feel some need to codify developments in writing or firm commitments, and that may or may not be a good idea; you definitely need to use some sensitivity there. If you sense a genuine understanding, that should be more than enough to hold things over till the next developments show their faces.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Prepare for an opening in a contractual matter, and keep a broadminded view of the situation, perhaps around the 20th or 21st. Position yourself as one whose concern is for the benefit of everyone involved, because as usual it clearly is. Remember that no matter how clear a written agreement may be, it's ultimately going to ride on good faith and the intent of the parties. Contracts should be designed to protect the weaker party, though in this case it's not clear who that is; therefore, equanimity is the appropriate order of the day. You don't need to presume yourself in a worse position than befits your talent and vision.
Leo (July 22-Aug 23)
The Sun soon moves into your opposite sign, greeted by a fine New Moon a day later. This seems to represent a revelation or perhaps a revolution, but at the last, a welcome turn in a relationship situation that's been a bit mired in the day-to-day. Just remember it's your ability to firmly lodge yourself on the level of worldly necessity that allows for some of your more illustrious extravagances. And illustrious and extravagant are good words to describe the current astrology of your sex angle, which happens to be currently on-fire Pisces. Experiment, love, experiment, love, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
You may be hesitating rather severely on taking a chance on something that you know will set you free. If I may summarise the condition of your life for the foreseeable future and in reality the foreseeable past, it's that experience is your best and only teacher. Whatever it is you're wanting to learn or try, theory is not going to do it. And it's not as mundane as education or an attempt. You are seeking a new twist, a sudden dare and a rare opportunity. But you have to stop thinking about it and get yourself into action mode. And -- the answer is yes, you have learned the lesson about which you're wondering.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Here's a way to celebrate Venus in Pisces and its recent conjunction to Uranus: see a film you've never heard of, and buy a few CDs by artists you don't recognise from genres to which you don't normally listen. Push the unfamiliar artistic. Cut work and get to an art gallery. If you're feeling especially brave, dig out a creative project that's dwelled at the back of your closet and remember how sensuous paint is, or how good your guitar feels in your hands. There will be rich rewards from tuning into this frequency of experience, including learning a new communication style that will close the gap between you and someone else.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Forthcoming developments more than promise to make up for recent trials, tribulations and losses, but make up for doesn't quite convey the right nuance. That's in part because what's passed was so old and what is coming is so new. You really do need lusty, vivid indulgences because you need to get it into your heart, mind and body that there are other ways to relate to yourself and the world than the ones to which you've become too accustomed. The best way to unlearn the untrue is to plunge yourself into missing experiences. They should be available in abundance right about now. If not, go outside and look around for an hour.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
What you've learned, and more importantly, envisioned during the past month that Mercury was retrograde (or becoming unretrograde) in your sign will provide the basis for your self-creation for many months to come. The thing is, you need to remember. Just like we on Earth often forget we're on a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy, we also forget that anything not immediately in our field of vision is possible or available. You must presume anything is possible, then test its availability; that is, if you want to get anywhere. If you don't ask, nobody can say yes. Just remember what you're asking for.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You are getting a second chance to work out something that may have seemed hopeless and that perhaps drifted out of reach. There's an old expression that one must get it right the first time, but if that were true, very little would ever succeed. I do, however, suggest, that you get it right the second time and measure the extent to which your own self-doubt can cloud or interrupt the natural development of communication. It appears that you'll learn from this particular mistake that it's always a good idea to verify what you perceive with others involved in the situation who may have valuable input.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
That pins-and-needles, high-anxiety feeling you have is not an earthquake about to happen, but rather the approaching simultaneous movement of the Sun and Moon into your sign. Hang loose; you have every reason to, because this wave of energy will stack various decks and sway the gaming wheels in your favour. You must get accustomed to somewhat wild swings of fortune which will, it seems clear enough, leave you on the winning side, if you're willing to play along with the whole adventure. While certain other factors may have you feeling insecure, just make sure you match your fears with the facts and do the math.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You can count current developments as a stroke of good fortune, or you can consider them one in a series of awakenings lighting up the entirely new landscape of your life. There's a difference, of course, which is that one is temporary and the other is an indicator of where you are and what the quality of life in this new space can be. I suggest you relax and get the all-too-familiar feeling of struggle out of your body. The world has become a lot more abundant and far more responsive to your creative power. Yet to truly feel that, you need to be receptive to life's wealth and dare to express your dreams in a heartfelt way. Sooner or later, you'll figure this out, but today would give you an exceptionally convenient beginning.
