Blog by Eric Francis | Planet Waves

Feb. 17 | Adios, Mars in Taurus, by Eric (revised)

TODAY is the day, even in Europe (where it happens just before midnight), when Mars ambles or thunders or thinks its way or whatever it does, into Gemini. The Mars cycle is an interesting one; our nearest planetary neighbor, probable home of a civilization at one time, spends about six months in one sign for each time around the Sun, then 18 months in the other 11 signs.

This has the feeling of a slingshot; it builds up momentum, gets charged up with energy, then blazes around the zodiac. You can look a the qualities of orbits and get images for how the astrologers and lore masters of old came up with their descriptions of the energy.

I have not been keeping a Mars in Taurus news timeline. The chaos factor is so high that most people would think it was just another normal six months of scandals, wars and planetary psychosis, coupled with a few new CDs I haven't heard of. But in reality it's been anything but, and I think it would be pretty interesting to see the events played by in quick motion. But there has been a definite change in the atmosphere; I think we are taking less for granted, be it lovely or evil.

Off the top of my head, here is what we learned:

-- Scotter Libby, assistant to George W. Bush and chief of staff of Dick Cheney, was indicted for lying to FBI agents and obstructing justice in association with the Valerie Plame spy outing incident.

-- The US government has had a massive spy program going back five years, tapping the calls and collecting the private email of the American public. This was justified because we are in "wartime" and the president can do anything he wants. Nobody seems pissed off.

-- The federal government of the US cannot deal with an emergency, such as a hurricane. Hundreds of millions of dollars in relief funds are missing and New Orleans is still in serious trouble.

-- Halliburton (Dick Cheney's company) got a nearly $400 million contract to enhance "detention centers" in the United States. These centers currently exist in all states. I've been discussing with Jude whether we want to be talking about this. I have read there is a facility for 2 million up in Alaska. Are you interested?

Did we learn anything positive? Personally, I learned a lot and got a lot done. In fact it was one of the most productive phases of my astrology career. On the world scene, however, I'm having some difficulty discerning signs of progress, and while I get a lot of email from people feeling a lot of things, I don't get much from people who are feeling any anger at these situations. I would really like to hear from you on that one -- what have you learned between late July and today? Are you pissed off? Why or why not? Please drop me a note at francis@planetwaves.net .

What I learned at the acupuncturis a little while ago is that my deep pulse is getting stronger, and that meridians are not actually named for the organs they are connected to; they are named for other organs. This is why it's important to use the Chinese names, so you don't get confusing images in your head.

Here is Arwynne O'Neill's article on previous Mars retrogrades in Taurus, called Whole Mars Review.

http://planetwaves.net/contents/whole_mars_review.html

We'll also have some more Political Waves for you. Honest, I'm not holding out -- it's been a pretty busy week. Note above, we've got a link to Astrology Secrets Revealed -- "Shot in the Foot," above. But to see the latest Political Waves, click that link on the Planet Waves main page.

-- Eric Francis
Paris