Breakfast in America, Rue des Ecoles, Paris. The only place in Paris to get a really decent breakfast for 10 euros. Digital photo by Eric Francis. (This was my first digital photo taken outside my apartment and the first saved in the iPhoto archive!)

Planet Waves for May 2005

By ERIC FRANCIS

Aries (March 20-April 19)
To keep your momentum, you'll need to move in the direction that seems the most difficult or challenging. Certain factors may seem to slow you down, but they're the ones that you're using to summon your deeper strength and your unquestionable sense of purpose. You may have noticed that the prevailing meaningless quality of life on Earth is starting to wear a little thin, and it's being replaced by a deep sense of longing and searching. By all indications, this is reaching you with a particularly strong pull that is in truth a kind of homing signal. Please don't make the mistake of not listening to it because it seems too good to be true, too difficult to be feasible or an occasion for which you would need to do a little rising up above your everyday routine. That is the whole point.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
No fire burns without a purpose, and the fire at your core is the prime example in the world. Tend both the flame and its meaning. Both have what you might call life cycles, which is to say, they change, and when you monitor those changes and when you act in ways that are appropriate for the particular stage of your life, nature can act in your behalf. I have no doubt you're in touch with some sense of purpose distinctly beyond yourself, whether you feel you're serving someone or something, even if you can't give it a name. Now is the time to bring that purpose closer to you, or to reach toward it. Rather than ask why, honor what you already know. Any astrologer will tell you that a sense of purpose is a kind of cosmic homing signal, and those who feel it are truly privileged.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Life is more about who you are than what you do. This is particularly true now, when there is so much to do, and so much to be. You'll need a basis upon which to make decisions and plan your actions. The primary reference points must be within you rather than in the world. An obvious example is a choice that is based on whether something 'looks good'. What is not so obvious is that motives of appearance often disguise themselves. And it's a little tricky when the inner reference points either look like worldly goals or are so subtle we don't quite trust them. So you will need to be discerning, but I don't think that's going to be anything less than a true pleasure and journey of actual self-discovery. For now, it's a fair enough starting point to live like you're free to be anyone, or do anything, you want.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
The beacons that you're seeing and the callings that you are hearing may be from faraway lands, distant times and places, or represent goals that extend through the course of your lifetime. You may surprise yourself with what you decide is possible or even likely; you may determine that nothing is out of reach if you really want it -- and that is the true spirit of this time in your life. The beauty of all this is that you have the maturity to take yourself seriously, and you have enough experience to know about your ability to go beyond what you've thought of in the past as your limits. I'll give you a clue as to what has actually changed: you have developed a new relationship with your own possibilities, one that exists on a much more mature level. Everything possible today was possible yesterday. Now you just see things differently.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 22)
You're now in the weeks before a genuine initiation into the world. While Saturn does not reach your sign until July 16, that is right around the corner, and it's a corner you're about to turn. This is a time in life when certain commitments you have developed will deepen. Others will fall away like they never existed. Others will emerge as if from nowhere. But there is really only one commitment that truly matters -- that which you offer to yourself. You can use this as a model against which to assess everything else in your life. It's unlikely to fail you, and it's very likely to lead you on the process of inner-reconciliation that you've been craving for a long time. For now, start assembling the pieces of yourself, what you want and what you need, in your mind. Soon enough, they will lead to choices that truly support you for who you are.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
There is little you will attempt this month or anytime soon that is not magnificently well supported by the positions of the planets and the story they tell. There is little you will not achieve if you truly set out to do it. Yet at the same time you may be noticing a strange sense of apprehension approaching. It may be the sense that something has run out. You could want for no better news, because much that you've lived with and lived through has served its purpose, particularly the odd way in which your mind gravitates toward fear -- or, we could say, away from your strength. While on the one hand we could view the coming years as a time when you will slowly purge your mind of everything that drags you down, we could also say you're now on a steady course for the heart of the Sun within you.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
What have you been through the past two months? Intense for sure, and maybe the most fun you've had in a long time. I'm also pretty sure there are some Libras who got knocked upside their butts, however the developments involved are likely to have come with several important revelations and corrections in the course of your existence. Whether good or bad, we could surely use the word 'real' to describe this time in your life. Now a particular situation or circumstance is calling you in a rather specific direction. It may be a relationship. It may be a mission. It may be an agreement that you need to take part in or fulfill. All in all, what you stand to gain is more important than what you are being called upon to give up. The sense of adventure that has characterized your recent life at its best is just a door that has opened to what is possible almost all the time.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Relationships are nothing if they are not functional. That is the test. Functional means the experience of loving and relating fits in your life, and your life fits into it. You can look at the current era as a time of experimentation or observation. You are under some of the best astrology in quite some time, supporting harmonious coexistence and sharing of deep emotions. What you may notice as the month progresses is that a light touch serves you well. Bring your feelings, doubts and contradictions up to the level of normal conversation. Be honest about the places within you that seem to make no sense or which reveal that you have deeper motives. Ask those close to you about these things as well. If there was ever a time for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to work brilliantly, it's right now.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
The past two months have come and gone with a surge of energy in the fire sign Aries, which has with any luck felt like hitching your wagon to a locomotive. But the unusual advantages offered by the planets are hardly over, and if anything, the current shift of energy into Taurus is leaving you with a lot less on your mind and feeling stable enough to make one particular decision or commitment that is bound to renew your sense of purpose. One of your children might be involved, if you have any; in any case, the circumstance involves your family or close circle of friends, which is a lot closer to your wavelength than you might be suspecting. Yes, you're coming up with some pretty innovative ideas that will challenge you and everyone else -- but you are all up for it. Thank God people have you around to keep life interesting.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
It is true that for a while you will be learning the same lessons over and over, but in vastly different ways. Had someone not pointed out the connection, you might not have noticed that there is a continuity of theme from what you experienced over the winter to what you are about to experience over the summer, and for the remainder of the year. In whatever form it takes, you're receiving a kind of workshop intensive in actual contact in relationships, contact that changes you in the very moment it is made. There is no turning back from the depths to which you have agreed to go in a particular situation with the person you may have least expected would be there for you, but for once, you are correct not to have your doubts. What is interesting is that your own choices and growth have influenced the situation more than anyone else's.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Recent events seem to have liberated you from some kind of professional commitment, even if they only helped you change your perspective, open up some possibilities, or sense how you actually feel without any guilt about it. What you now have access to are some experiences of living and working where you start off feeling secure and confident, rather than having to convince yourself of anything. The possibility to be free that you felt so tangibly is still there; but where you must stay focused is at your foundation, rather than on top, such as on decisions, action or ambition. It is true that there are some situations you can't get out of without causing yourself problems, but I assure you that within those endeavors there is plenty of room for you to get your way, or at least find your way.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You're likely to see changes in your financial picture, and by all indications, changes means improvements. It's essential that you consider your economic and creative potential as something tangible and real, which is more a feeling than it is a thought. If what you learned last month has taken root, then a space should be open inside you. That space is the willingness to receive the benefits not just of what you do, but of who you are. A partnership is involved, and someone, perhaps several people, who know you well is willing to cooperate fully. That, if anything, emerged as the theme of last month's eclipses and Mercury retrograde in the financial angle of your solar chart. When the time comes, make sure you state what you need in terms that you feel are absolutely fair, and then be willing to negotiate.

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