Paris, July 14, 2005 Looking at Io Sprite, my chart animation program, it appears that Saturn is just 16 arc minutes (a little over 1/4 of a degree) from the threshold of Leo. In the approximately 47 hours between this writing (9:18 am Thursday morning, Eastern time) and the ingress on Saturday, I suggest taking things very slowly. As the Moon moves through Scorpio beginning tomorrow, Saturn will be the void of course planet: nothing applying to it, making no solid aspect. This is to say that we're essentially functioning without the guardrail that Saturn provides; that assured, stable structure. While this comment does not apply to everyone, there are certain people whose psychic constitutions may be finding this extremely challenging; and others will respond in other ways, perhaps introspectively, perhaps recklessly. Take it easy. Be aware and take care. Consider yourself walking at the edge of a cliff; you just don't rush. We're in the very last moments of an extremely difficult cycle of history. Saturn in Cancer has been truly challenging for many people I've been hearing from. It's demanded changes, maturity, internal cleansing and learning to feel -- and to feel safe. For some, it's been oppressive. And it's taken its toll on a collective scale. Many thousands of people have been killed and many tens of thousands wounded by selfish, closed-minded oil greed, facilitated by constant deception and manipulation, and we've spent this entire phase of Saturn in Cancer watching, hearing about, thinking about, and dealing with the results of this, even if only on television every night. Some families have been harder hit than others, experiencing direct losses. But the short way to summarize Saturn in Cancer is: the bombing of Iraq, which has culminated in some kind of result in the UK; whoever was responsible, a series of bombings that are striking us on the way to work here in the 'free world'. We can pretend to ignore the causes of this all we like, and we can watch the polls squirm around and wonder what's going to happen to Mr B or Mr B, and let the media tell us what we're supposed to believe and watch the television to find out what we're supposed to think. But I know how I feel and I suspect you know how you feel. The worst of it is that I large measure, instead of dealing with our own problems -- domestic problems, in our homes, schools and communities -- our energy and our resources go to create pain. I am not trying to lay a downer on anyone, just to acknowledge what we've been through. And when the rest of the truth comes out, we're going to need ways to cope and deal with it and to direct our anger constructively. Today there is not a rush, but I suggest we really look back over these two years since June 2003 and think of what we have created, and ask ourselves if we feel safer, and ask ourselves what we're willing to do. It's quiet today in France, because it's Bastille Day, the day the French Revolution is celebrated. This morning, the government put on a little air show, and the fighter jets flew down the Seine River near my apartment. I looked at the military might of the Western world, considered the message of the French government flexing its muscles, and was grateful those planes were not here to drop bombs on me and my neighbors. Saturn in Leo is a very different time than Saturn in Cancer. I've got a new article on this being posted tonight to Cainer.com, under the Q/A section. The article looks at Saturn in Leo's impact on history. Writing it has changed my view on life. Here is part one, from last week (this same link will take you to part two in a few hours): http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html Thanks for reading.     e