Planet Waves by Eric Francis

Planet Waves by Eric Francis | Oct. 18, 2001

we will survive (every silver lining has a touch of gray)
By Eric Francis | Thursday, Oct 18, 2001

Hey Cousins,

.....The spotlight is on Libra at the moment, if you don't count all the rest of the madness in the world: A New Moon this week (at 23 degrees, 29 minutes on Oct. 16, 2001 at 12:23 pm PDT), the entry of Venus into one of her home signs, followed by Mercury ending its retrograde in what promise, at least in my imagination, to be several of the most interesting days of the year between Oct. 21 and 26. These events in Libra are all fair reminders to keep the emphasis on balance and communication within our intimate relationships. So what if nobody understands one another? Do we ever? It's okay to pretend, as long as we keep asking questions, and listening to the answers.

.....Regarding the current Mercury Rx, right about now is the time to stop doing surgery on hardware and software; backups are okay, in fact, a grand idea. The coast is clear for electronics repair and purchases around the 24th.

.....As for the rest. The hostilities of the world are taking their toll, on our souls and on the Afghanis' bodies, kids, culture, food distribution programs, homes and animals. These are some of the most stressful and uncertain times that people have lived through in known history, on par with the world wars, which is another way of saying we are being forced to cope with quite a lot of bullshit and violence, and it is simply not a necessary fact of life on this planet. But I will say it again: television is poisonous. If you are watching television and also happen to be experiencing anxiety or depression in your life, I suggest you turn it off, unplug it, put it in the closet or give it away. Please don't listen to the people who say you will be "in denial" if you do. They are in denial of something else entirely. What you see on TV is simply not reality. But it is a fountain of paranoia.

.....The same is obviously true of radio; even "progressive" hosts are pumping out a lot of fear. And certain internet news sites are, well, so masterfully spin doctored to create fear and confusion that I am truly impressed with the dedication and talent that went into the work. But it ain't reality; it is more like the spinning of fantasy into an ugly dream. Remember, you never know the actual source of information you see broadcast. And watch the pattern: the media says something is possible, then it starts to manifest. I mean really.

.....If you want reality, hang out with friends, animals and kids. Read books about the Sixties (Acid Dreams by Martin Lee and Bruce Schlain will turn on your lights, and is a bargain at twelve bucks.) Play your CDs or dig out your vinyl. Drum, dust off your guitar, go to a beach, forest, desert or weird old neighborhood. Explore the darkness on the edge of town. Draw, write, or get naked.

.....They say sex is on the rise thanks to the terrorism and the uncertainty of life on the brink of Buddha-knows-what. This is the best news I've heard in a month. Whatever it takes, right? In case you don't feel like contributing to the upcoming baby boom, remember, sharing masurbation is Sex Lite™ ("all the pleasure, half the fuss") and it's fun with friends of either sex -- and it can put some jazz back into a committed long-term relationship that's become a bit passionless. But don't believe me... try it for yourself! (More info at Sexuality.org.)

.....In case you haven't gotten to it, I've written a reflection on TV and paranoia called The Photoelectric Effect. Also, here is the October Monthly Horoscope. November will be posting shortly. Weekly updates are here.

Good to be with you,

Eric Francis
on Puget Sound

And now for an endorsement for a free service. For more than a year I've been getting Planet Forecast readings from StarIQ.com, which are transit reports keyed directly to your natal chart. They come by email, a few a week, depending on the week. They are excellent. To sign up free, use this link.

Sign dates below are approximate. They now overlap by one day -- this is the day the Sun changes signs in 2001. The date and time of the Sun's ingress to the new sign changes a little each year, so check with an astrologer if you want the exact positition of your Sun. The reason for this is that our calendar is still not accurate, or rather, natural.

Aries (March 20-April 21)

There's no point pushing right now, especially if the situation involves a person. Someone important in your life is making up their own mind, and making progress. If you let nature take its course, you're likely to benefit from a new cycle of experience in this relationship, which is could mean a shift from the mental to the emotional levels. If you want to help, keep your mind and your eyes on feelings and color, especially bright green and orange. Leave analysis to shrinks.

Taurus (April 21-May 20)

There's no time like the present for making the future happen. There is no future, anyway, but we do arrive there sooner or later, and the way we get there is by way of right now. It would be a fine idea to get lost in your work, and at the same time, arrange your life in such a way that nobody is nagging you to come home. Enrich your work environment with some music, comfort and good food, do everything that needs to be done, and a lot of seemingly separate areas of your life are destined to harmonize into a rare kind of success.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)

You're likely to want to take action on something you learn about yourself this week, particularly if it involves a new person you've met. Yet a constellation of factors suggests that not only do you have time, but that the time is not quite ripe. If you wait, you'll be able to work out one additional hitch in your own thought process that, had you not done so, would have proved to be a problem in the near future. In less than a week you'll have a new perspective, and you'll be glad you do.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Ever had one of those days when things are going really well, and, for example, you're sitting on your couch listening to your favorite CD and your mind conjures one petty thing after the next to be irritated about? It may be that kind of week, but on the other hand, there may be something that you're in fact irritated about, but you don't know what it is. Petty insecurities now have the potential to point you to one problem in particular that will grant you a true sense of well-being when you solve it.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 22)

Life may seem like one colossal mental exercise, and with Mercury retrograde in your 3rd house of brain power through the 22nd, it wouldn't surprise me if you're obsessing over the past. But lately, you've been too inclined to fall for the temptation of believing you're being treated unfairly. Is there not more you can do to further your own cause? Is your mental energy not better spent on conjuring ideas and learning from the past rather than obsessing over what went wrong? Time is wasting.

Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22)

If you don't act too soon, you have a chance to recover financial losses that have set you back over the past few weeks. You're still missing information, or rather, there's something you're not telling yourself, and you really need to figure out just what that is. I have this image of you looking through last year's financial files for a clue. It doesn't really matter where you begin; just take a peek and you'll pick up on the trail.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

Anyone who thinks they can't figure you out should really give you a break, since you can't seem to figure you out, either. There's no actual reason why you might do subtle things to undermine yourself when you are, at the same time, making so much progress. No reason, unless you count the fact that the world has not only gone mad, it's slowly revealing even to the sleeping masses that it always was. But please don't hold the world's fears and insecurities against yourself. It is, in fact, usually someone else's problem.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)

You're inclined toward some truly monumental moments of doubt this week, but beyond the veil of your existential questioning is a faith so powerful that it could, indeed, move mountains. Have you got any mountains to move? It looks like it. Heavy objets are best handled with levers. Invest your time carefully designing a few of those and you'll have a lot less work when the time comes to make one particular arrangement that will, in the end, strike you and those in your world as nothing less than a miracle.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)

Now that you're starting to get back to "the old you," are you really sure you want to be this person? Are you not more practical and less self-centered than the person you used to be? How long did it take you to drag yourself out of the fairly miserable place where the galaxy had to revolve around you? Dear, it took a long time. It took a lot of work. You can devote your experiences and often-wise philosophies to a few pragmatic issues where they are needed -- but please keep the new you.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

This is one of the more ambitious and promising moments of the year for you, but don't let worrying about the petty details hold you back from much greater rewards. In other words, you need to prioritize, and you need to put your true strengths forward. If you can do this, you'll notice that there are both disruptive elements in your environment, and truly helpful ones, and that you have a choice as to where you invest your energy. If you remember to make conscious choices, you'll succeed at whatever you put your mind to.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Everything may seem like it's going hunky-dory, but you need to make sure that one particular person comes through with the goods. They have promised to do so, and they're more than capable of it; making an inquiry and a offering few friendly nudges would be good for both of you, since this person has a need to prove their dependability, and you have a need to hold people to their word. Isn't karma beautiful?

Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)

If you can catch yourself hesitating or indulging in self-doubt this week, you may iron out a few of your seemingly permanent neurotic wrinkles for good. Some fancy you mysterious; you are normal to the extent that you make the same mistakes twice. Though you've been putting an enormous amount of emphasis on cooperation, in fact, no one has quite the ability to advance your cause that you do, or at least, not at the moment. Do stuff for yourself. It will pay. ++

Additional Research: Angela Mahan