Monday, Sept. 12, 2005 FIRST, A MATTER of in-house business: I've nuked Google ads from Planet Waves. They made a brief appearance on the cover, beneath the banners of our good friends which have also recently been added, those graphic links for London Astrology and Sally Brompton and others. Google ads seemed like a sensible and modern experiment; I am always game for trying (most) things, and that "Ads By Goooooogle" bit is everywhere you look. The way this program works is that Web sites put the little box on their page(s), with some corresponding code, and every time that site loads on a user's screen, Google serves some links that are supposedly related to the page they reside on. You click; the site makes a few cents each time. However, what I noticed is that the ads that kept coming up were basically the bottom feeders who can afford to generate hits for their "services" but which few people would bother with otherwise. Fortunately, exceedingly few readers were clicking, so there was neither a loss nor a gain. I've replaced it with the Planet Waves Weekly banner, which takes you through to our subscriber service: weekly horoscope, bonus Monday horoscope mailed to you, lots of other stuff, including three years of article and horoscope archives not available to the general public. We guarantee our work; you can subscribe free if you don't have the money; I know what you're getting because I'm the one who writes it. So please click. I'll make a special offer for the next few days: subscribe for three months and we will upgrade you to a year. That should bring the service closer to the reach of those who want to subscribe but, like many, won't ask for a comp subscription. So, if you want to take advantage of this, subscribe and then email chelsea@planetwaves.net or call (206) 567-4455 and let us know you want an upgrade. Then next year, we'll send you a renewal in a year at the regular price. The Moon is now in Capricorn and Venus is now in Scorpio. I'm feeling it, cousins: it's emotional and a little dark, at least in my sensorium. There's a favorable enough aspect coming next, Moon to Uranus by sextile; I'm hoping that will get me through the next few writing projects today smoothly enough. Then, Luna is about to square a bunch of points in Libra at the same time it trines the Sun and Mercury in Virgo. A bit of mild chaos, but harmless enough. I am also noticing that the six times per year Mercury-Sun conjunction is sneaking up on us. When Mercury is direct, as it is now, this is the midpoint between Mercury retrogrades; we're quite nearly halfway through the all-clear zone, and a month away from the next shadow phase; thus approximately seven weeks from the next retrograde (of Mercury). But as retrograde planets go, the big news is Mars. I've got some excellent research support looking at historical cycles specifically for Mars retrograde in Taurus, and they are interesting. Over the next two weeks, I'll present our findings from three centuries of Mars Rx specifically in Taurus. Mars Rx is associated with an eclipse of the Sun on Oct. 3, so in experience and feeling, anyway, the two events are inseparable. Today is the day that Saturn in Leo crosses George W. Bush's ascendant; indeed, it's happening right about now. This is the branching of the road for Mr. Bush; the day he leaves the past behind him; the day he meets the future. Sometimes there are dramatic effects the days of major transits; sometimes they take a week or a month to show some results; but they are never without some kind of progression of events. I've been sent this article by a friend -- it's one of those things that summed up my own thoughts better than I could. It's from the Manchester Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1567841,00.html Expect a week of lighter blogging -- I've got quite the writing schedule for the next five days. But if you're in Paris, feel free to show up with coffee. Thanks for tuning in. Yours and truly,     e