Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005 WE'RE NOW in the thick of the Gemini Full Moon; this is what it feels like. I'm always interested in how the "astrological phenomenon" has no official approval but everyone knows that the Full Moon does something to you. People who know best are the the ones who deal with people -- customer service reps, restaurant servers, cops, emergency room personnel. The difference between being an astrologer (or astrologically aware), or not, is about the same as the contrast between being a kid who grew up around the ocean and knows to jump when a wave comes rather than just stands there. Or, people with ocean experience from a young age know instinctively to do something that may seem counter-intuitive -- dive straight into the wave front if the thing is too big; you come right out on the other side, usually in placid water. Or, you get ready in advance, and you surf! Aquatic waves and planetary energy have a lot in common, and planets do function on the wave principle. Though this was not a conscious thought when I named Planet Waves a while ago, it's possible to work with planets as either particles or waves -- just like light. When you consider a planets as a static point, a thing standing still, it's more like working with a particle. When you consider a planet as something in motion, alive and expressing energy, it's more like a wave. Early in my astrology studies, I was drawn to the wave side of the equation and have invested much more energy into transits and progressions than I have into understanding the fixed "meanings" of natal positions. In this time, I've observed that there are not so many natal meanings that mean much, particularly given that astrology texts discuss placements out of context; for example, you can look up the house, or the sign, but not the house and sign; you can look up an aspect, but not a house, sign and an aspect; and very little is written about when a planet contacts multiple planets, and most of them do. There never really is a time when a planet stands still, and this is why the study of progressed horoscopes is so important. I can offer my progressions theory in about a sentence. Progressions are the movements of the planets applied to a longer-than-real phase of time. For instance, your progressed chart for your 35th year is the actual chart for your 35th day. The day per year method is a way to scale time; those of you who are familiar with fractal theory will recognize the concept of natural patterns existing in many forms and contained within tiny samples of any system. Okay so the progressions theory: simply, when you look at a progressed chart, you have a reminder that the planets in the natal chart are moving. They are not just sitting there. The progressed chart offers information about where they have moved and what has developed -- but the very short version is, the planets have moved and thus they are moving. The study of progressions is the study of small samples of cycles and making an analysis of the larger picture from the representative sample. Among the things you learn from progressions is, how fast the planets are moving; whether they have stationed direct or retrograde shortly after birth (which opens up information for the natal chart); and what new shapes they take in the days and weeks following birth. Studying progressions is very similar to studying horary astrology -- the astrology of the moment. In horary, you look at the chart close-in and track the immediate prior, current and subsequent developments and make up a story. In a way that consistently proves astonishing, the story tracks realty and vice versa. As for the Fool Moon -- time to take that ride again.