Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 Okay, an astrology interlude. Our lists are working better, by the way; you can be sure that lots of people on our friendly, kitchen-based, coffee-fueled technical crew have been working this one out all week. And I've bought Chelsea a brand new whip. Both the Sun and Jupiter are about to change signs from Libra to Scorpio. Planets seem to move in patterns; studying astrology one notices fairly soon that nothing much seems to be random. The simultaneous ingress of both a gas giant (i.e., Jupiter) and the Sun into a fixed sign is reminiscent of the Sun and Saturn (also a gas giant) going into Leo more or less together back in July. This is another way of saying the events are separated by about 90 days -- and when you have big events separated by 90 days, something budges; the budgie goes tweet; something happens Monday. Imagine a lot of light (El Soul) and a big magnifying glass (Jupiter) are dropped into Scorpio, the sign of secrets, money, power, and for those who register a pulse, erotic, reproductive and hormonal strength. At the moment, the Moon is in late Gemini, indeed, late in the 29th degree, applying in a close trine to the Sun and Jupiter, which are now in the 30th degree of Libra. Sun and Jupiter form an exact conjunction in the last degree of this sign, bringing a very interesting month to a close. With the Moon applying, this sign change is in the spotlight right now. The Sun-Jupiter conjunction is exact just before 3 pm European time Saturday, and both the Sun and Jupiter have been square Chiron the past week or so -- and that aspect is close enough to count. In fact, the Jupiter-Sun conjunction is in a much closer square to the Centaur planet Nessus, a Chiron-like world that influences matters of an even edgier nature than Chiron itself, a discussion more appropriate for Scorpio time -- soon enough. Chiron and Nessus have been in a fairly close conjunction for nearly a year, and this is one of those aspects that is defining the times in which we live. But much like Pluto-Uranus defined the 1960s, most astrologers and the mainstream astrology community does not quite recognize the significance of Nessus (people are just now waking up to Chiron) to really grasp that this is a conjunction that is on the mind-blowing level. People are worried about Pluto in Capricorn, and the world turning into a giant police state. But here is where I've put my money in the cosmic casino. The combined influence of Nessus and Chiron through Capricorn has utterly fucked things up so badly for "the powers that be" that they ain't gonna be eating that particular cake. (They apparently don't eat other kinds of cake either, or they would be thinking about war and money during less of their waking hours.) The Halliburton Boys should take a lesson from the man they admire so well, Germany's former chancellor (1933-1945): you can't conquer everything all at once no matter how crazy you are. In other news, the opposition of Mercury in Scorpio and Mars in Taurus is happening now as well. These two personal planets are in a less-than-one-degree opposition, with Mercury direct applying to Mars retrograde (applying means the aspect is forming, not dissolving). Mercury is rising in my chart, cast for The Hague (usually I use Paris, but the annual horoscope project uses charts cast for The Hague, the world capital of peace and justice). But while Mars-Mercury hardly feels like "peace and justice" -- we could say that communication provides a distinct advantage in all matters. Another noteworthy opposition is Juno opposing Pluto, now applying to a fraction of a degree across 23 degrees Gemini-Sagittarius. Not sure about this one, but Juno (the spouse, divine consort, or jealous bride) reminds me a little of what Laura Bush must be going through right now, realizing that most of her husband's friends are war criminals and that he can't handle the stress of the job. This may signal a general awakening in conjugal relationships; a conveniently intense point of inevitable transitioning. We like to say that relationships are "for work" but often what we really mean is that we are willing to suffer for the illusion of security. If something is for work, it's perhaps sensible to ask what work is getting done. If the problem with the way we are taught to construct our emotional and sexual relationships involves piling all our eggs, figs and glass trees in one basket and balancing it on our heads and calling that safe keeping of the soul, the solution is simple enough: open up to people and take some of the pressure off. I recognize that popular culture has made it seem like you can come down with a fast case of AIDS from having a conversation with someone you don't know so well, but I assure you this is not true. I say this recognizing that often the shadow of freedom manifests in someone telling you you cannot be free. And I say it recognizing that often, this is an assigned role that someone is going to get, until we stop giving the assignment. Venus has just crossed the Great Attractor in mid-Sagittarius. Ceres, which moves considerably slower than Venus most of the time, is a few degrees behind. By the way, Ceres, which possesses 25 percent of the mass of the inner asteroid belt, is a planet by any logical definition thereof. Neptune is retrograde, in Aquarius, closely sextile the Great Attractor (for more on this point, read this link, posted for the 3 millionth time until you get totally bored of it :) http://www.ericfrancis.com/sagittarius/sagittarius10.html And while I'm wrapping up the Opposition Report, Saturn is just four degrees away from an opposition to Neptune. As with all Neptune aspects, which sneak up on you, this one kind of just appeared. It will be reaching greater exactitude next year, but I have seen Neptune work with full force from a distance of 10 degrees. For those who like to ponder Orb Theory, I offer you that observation. Neptune's orb is wide enough to drive an ocean liner through, even when sloshed. Have fun, take notes Love     e