Eric appeared Wednesday as the guest columnist on Jonathan Cainer's homepage, and in the London Daily Mirror, while Jonathan was on vacation. The column is archived at Planet Waves.
| Everything under the Sun is in tune
and the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon... At this time, many people are feeling pushed to their limits. This may include you. Lots of people are also describing what in modern parlance is called old stuff coming up, conflicts coming to a head, and situations becoming polarized. It's as if life is being run through a series of filters that are allowing through successively finer and finer material. The big chunks must be broken down, or left behind. There's another population that is riding the winds of change, basking in a moment of truth and revelation. This is possible for anyone, but it takes willingness and a sense of adventure. If you're having a hard time, that may be the whole issue. We might well ask: just what are we holding onto? That having been philosophized, we are entering a proceed-with-awareness stretch of interdimentional highway. Even if your life's process is demanding your full attention and taking all your time, it's still possible to do both. And while we're caught in the dearth of trivia, it's a fine time to allocate some resources to making major changes and, carefully if so, resolving real differences. We are now moments, as in a few short days, away from an historic solar eclipse, technically known as an annular eclipse due to the Moon's relatively far distance from the Earth. This occurs at Gemini 19 degrees and 54 minutes, Monday at 4:46 pm PDT, or 7:46 pm EDT. We've been building toward it for weeks, spiraling as if toward a vortex, and living with its effects (intensification of experience, people in various frenzies, and others), whether consciously or not. Eclipses are super-New Moons, and their cycle, which runs about 5-1/2 months, is one of the most basic tempos in all of astrology. Living eclipse to eclipse is a pretty good way to manage one's life, if astrology is your guide. This eclipse, not visible from North America (the path of totality crosses the north Pacific a few thousand miles south of Alaska, generously avoiding places like, oh, Pakistan for instance, or Iraq). It is conjunct Saturn and a hypothetical point called Hades, which is associated with stagnation, loneliness and decay. And it is opposite Pluto, the transformer. Heavy stuff, and best to move it a little a time, attentively. On Saturday, about 48 or so hours before the eclipse, Mercury stations direct in early Gemini. All the usual Mercury retrograde advisories are hereby posted: back up data sooner rather than later, verify communications two or three times, tell people you got their email, keep tracking numbers handy, don't run through all your cash, that kind of stuff. If you don't need to make some major purchase right now, wait a week or so. Then there are the details. Charge the freaking cellphone, for instnace -- it will work better. Keep some gas in the tank. That kind of thing. We live in a very mercurial world. Mercury loves this place now, like never before. Do you think he was all hot and sticky over the Pony Express? We can get along with him just fine. We can change the name of our planet to Mercury II, rather appropriately. Mercury aslide for a moment, we're at what you might call the orgasmic crescendo of the infamous Saturn-Pluto opposition that has been so fabulously influential in our lives for the past year or more. The exact Saturn-Pluto aspect (part three) was Memorial Day weekend (marked and enhanced greatly by a lunar eclipse). The coming solar eclipse works like an activating agent to release or even magnify some of the opposition aspect's energy. Above all else, eclipses mark breaks in continuity, and shifts of levels. With Saturn, Pluto and Hades involved, this is a time to move past our stuck places, no matter how deep they are. It is a time of healing, but the healing is largely psychological, such as communicating well and getting our mental house in order. This is a time to make a true stride toward the freedom we seek, because it is stagnation, loneliness and decay that most surely keep us in chaos and chains. But as has been said so many times before, but never often enough, or loud enough, free your ass and your mind will follow. As we do unto the web, we do unto ourselves. - Chief Seattle | Sign dates below are approximate. They now overlap by one day. The date and time of the Sun's ingress to the new sign changes a little each year, so please check with an astrologer if you want the exact position of your Sun, and while you're at it, your rising sign -- this horoscope is written for both your Sun and rising signs. If you find that some other sign's interpretations work for you, then go for it. | | Aries (March 20-April 21) | | Now is a really good time to take in your own life in all is complexity, passion and need. You have so much to offer, and so much to become, and yet to move that potential from an inert state to an active one, it needs to move through you, and then beyond you. You need to become yourself, and then that becoming radiates outward into the people and experiences of your world. But all you need to concern yourself with is the first part of this equation, the taking in of your own highly charged energy reserves. The flower you are growing into will bloom as naturally as any tree makes leaves and fruit. | | Taurus (April 21-May 20) | | Certain key decisions have yet to be made, and you seem to reluctant to make them in the context of how fortunate your life really is. We might all wonder, what if the good fortune doesn't last? And what about all the other people who are struggling? Can I really allow myself to feel good even if they are facing some of their greatest challenges? Ah, but do you have a choice? You now stand at one of the true crossroads of your inner journey. Within you, two competing values systems are struggling for supremacy. You may be waiting to see which one wins the battle, but really the choice is all yours, and, bottom line, it's the only choice you'll ever make. | | Gemini (May 20-June 21) | | I recognize you may feel like you're under enormous pressure. There has not been a solar eclipse in your sign for nearly a decade, and Monday's is quite impressive, combining forces with Saturn, Pluto and an odd, grouchy point called Hades. For the past year or more, cosmic influences have conspired to mature, temper and focus your soul. But you've never been called upon to go more deeply toward the roots of what has held you back in life. You may not like it when you find it, but you'll like it a lot when you leave it behind. Yet at this time, there is no forcing anything. You can only let your life unfold. And it will. | | Cancer (June 21-July 22) | | Far as I can tell, you are rather aware of living simultaneously in two separate universes: one in which you feel, intuitively, that all good things are possible, and one in which your worst fears loom about your mind for many of your waking moments. Which is true? We seem to be left with the question of what is the more accurate barometer of reality, your feelings or your mind. Or, we could say that fear is fear, wherever it shows up on any given day, and that it must be offered to the light. There comes a time when the good must learn to trust in their goodness. For you, that time has arrived. | | Leo (July 22-Aug. 22) | | When a solar eclipse happens, the all-powerful rays of the Sun are blocked, for a few moments, by the Moon. Only the most courageous Leos will find these to be pleasant experiences. But the break in continuity is so necessary for your well-being, as is the shift in perspective that these events offer. Once again, you get a chance to go past the person you thought you were for so long. You get a chance to forget many things about yourself that were not true. You get an authentic opportunity to redefine your relationship to yourself and the world. Even if it seems totally hopeless, give it your best, most honest effort, and have just a pinch of faith. | | Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22) | | Over the next few days and weeks, much that did not fit will have the mysterious feeling of falling into place, turning in the right direction, or resolving itself. That is, provided that you've done your best to nip certain problems in the bud and keep lines of communication open. And there is still time. In any case, it's vital that you keep your priorities in order and make sure you know what people are saying to you, and what you are saying to them. The only real potential problems you face involve miscommunication. That's not much to ask as a prerequisite for the miracles that are poised to come into your life, in force. | | Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) | | If the world went through what you are now learning, there would not be nearly as many problems as there are on this planet. We face a crisis of leadership. Our leaders, whether installed or elected, have little in the way of moral understanding or spiritual grounding. And it would seem that there is little you can do about their lack of experience, or their greed. But you are now in a rare position to take on a leadership role that is strongly founded upon true values and a wide perspective. That perspective is about to get a lot wider, if you remember, as Einstein observed, that God does not play dice with the universe. | | Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) | | Please watch your health, especially your mental health, for the next few days. If you could slip in an extra day off around the weekend, that would be very helpful, because you do need a break from the pressure and the intensity of life. On the other hand, I would not be surprised if you were moving at full speed and feeling very good, though the stars are still suggesting that slowing down for an hour here and there, soaking in a hot bath, or meditating will both recharge you and provides clues as to your true direction. At the least, eat food and drink water. In any case, the mantra for the week is Be Here Now. | | Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) | | You can safely back off on any pressure you may be placing on the situation. In fact, it would be wise to do so, because forces much larger than yourself have long since taken over. What unfolds over the next few days and weeks will surely change your life, but you have so much protection around you that you have few reasons to worry. The most important thing is that you offer your assistance to others only when it's fully appropriate, and only when you won't get dragged into the drama. There not be so many of those opportunities, but you're still in a fine position to be a witness to history. | | Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) | | Either you must meet the world on its terms, or it must meet you on yours. Only you know whether your level of strength, clarity and integrity are sufficient to afford you the right to make certain demands. And while others may be speaking in no uncertain terms about what they want, and while they seem to have all the luck (or is it money), you have something that they do not. So, let me revise my original idea. If all parties are vividly clear, and acting in good faith, then a genuinely productive collaboration is possible. Everyone has so much to gain, but the most precious is seeing the world a new way, in a truly new moment. | | Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) | | You don't need to carry your family's legacy like a wound that never heals, or a trailer-load of secret karma. It seems clear enough that how they felt about kids, and how this impacted you, is becoming more apparent as time goes on. You would gain much by being more open with people close to you about your past, and also by sharing the truth of what you really want from your life -- and we both know you want more. In sum, you were taught to take far fewer chances than any fully lived life demands. Yes, life is risky, but it's better than the alternative. | | Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) | | There is no telling what you will decide, and it's not necessary to predict. What's important is that something deep, old and very stuck is finally moving, dissolving or giving way to an evolutionary, or is it revolutionary, process. With this, it's likely that you're letting go of a whole lot of fear, particularly of the emotional kind, particularly that your parents branded you with. I offer this encouragement: you have every reason to keep a bright outlook, to have faith in your heart and to allow yourself to make plans for the future. You do have the power of choice. You always have, but now you know it, or are about to learn. Please, never forget. Eric Francis is a Seattle-based astrologer. He specializes in newly-discovered planets such as Chiron, and often works as a consultant to people in the performing and creative arts. His column appears weekly at http://www.PlanetWaves.net and monthly on AOL-UK. | Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index | Consultations  Space graphic above from the Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur.
Credit: T. A. Rector, B. Wolpa, M. Hanna. Planet Waves logo by Eric, and Via Keller. |
