Paris, March 7, 2005


Dear Eric:

Thank you for the information about "9 Songs" [article to be posted here shortly].  I keep up with movies, yet had not heard about this one.  
 
I thought I would e-mail to gently let you know that the main character, Carrie Bradshaw played by Sarah Jessica Parker, was not stated as having married Mr. Big.  In fact, she did finally end up with him, but only after she claimed herself.  Let me see if I can explain this.  
 
By the end of the TV series, Carrie had become a well-known writer.  She became involved with an extremely famous and rich painter, Aleksandr played by Mikhal Baryshnikov.  She gave up the life she knew in New York, her friends, her newspaper column, to go to live in Paris with Aleksandr.  So she was giving up her freedom, her boundaries, to have a life of security with a man she thought treated her very well.  While there she discovered he was extremely occupied with his art and not with her.  She attempted to be there for him but he was not there for her.  She realized she had lost what mattered to her, her writing, what made her an individual, so she left him.  
 
It was interesting to listen to the director's commentary for the last episode (I saw it on DVD).  He talks about how important it was to show that it was Carrie's choice to leave, and her choice to get a room on her own, to show that she was now strong enough to rely on herself.  He did have her run into Mr. Big, but only after it was shown that Carrie was in charge of her life.  At the end she is back with Big, not shown as being married, but on her own terms, as herself.  She keeps her own apartment, and returns to her own style, which had somewhat become muted during her relationship with Aleksandr.
 
I also wanted to mention that Sex and the City may have shown negative sides of relationships and sex, but often to point out what made the characters unhappy, that life is not perfect.  The show also had the character of Samantha, played by Kim Cattrell, a woman very much in charge of her sex life and enjoying it.  The show was revolutionary in that it focused on women having sex, as opposed to everything else that focuses on men having sex, if that makes sense.  I will agree the show had its flaws, such as an obsessive focus on fashion, shopping and that happiness only occurs when you find Mr. Right.  But they did show life from a different perspective, which may be why it was so popular.  It helped women become a bit more comfortable with discussing their lives and sexuality, and also helps point out cultural flaws and biases that our media is so steeped in.

The show did have an interesting take on things, and at times did comment on the same issues you brought up in the 3/4/05 horoscope.  I found your commentary especially interesting in reflection that US Senator Ted Stevens is trying to push regulations that would put cable under the same censorship as broadcast TV.  I have noticed a lot more attention lately to how sex is shown in the media and to women's rights.  I would like to think that it is a good thing, sort of a kick in the pants to get people aware how repressed society really is.  We have such a funny media double standard here; Janet's nipple is too bad to show on TV yet they cannot stop talking about it on the news.  Seems sex is only okay in the media when it is used to sell something.
 
Once again, thank you for all your good works and keeping it real,
 
Julie H.

Paris, March 5, 2005, about 9:30 pm

Is anyone else feeling like hamburger, or perhaps sushi? As in, you, personally? Or perhaps on top of the world, but hyper-emotional?

There is some intense astrology cooking tonight: the Moon is setting off a grand cross aspect in the cardinal signs. A grand cross is when planets gather at 90-degrees to one another, at four points of the sky.

Quite honestly with all the action in Pisces, this one kind of snuck up on me. I saw the parts -- not the whole thing. It consists of: Vesta on the Moon's North Node in Aries; this is opposite Jupiter in Libra on the Moon's South Node. Then there is the Mars-Saturn opposition that is nearly exact across Cancer-Capricorn. Those are the slow movers. Those make up the main structure of the cross, in the cardinal signs -- the action-oriented ones; the hot ones.

Tonight, the Moon is blowing through Capricorn setting the whole business off. If you are feeling something, this may be a picture of it. Moon-Mars conjunct is exact at 6:46 am GMT, or 1:46 am EST or Saturday night at 10:46 pm in California. If you live in Australia, this occurs at 5:46 pm Sunday. Yes we all live on one planet, just a different space-time everywhere.

To make matters more interesting, the aforementioned Moon is closing in on the New Moon on the 10th and is now well into last quarter phase. It will make a shit-ton of conjunctions during the next five days, approaching Thursday's New Moon in Pisces, and this promises to make life interesting and, unless extreme care is taken to keep emotional balance, a bit difficult. So the key is to keep emotional balance; to know the potential difficult points, and to leave a wide margin of safety around yourself and your state of mind.

I would say that one of the best things you can do (metaphorically speaking) is get a hold of the Jupiter-Saturn square for some stability. This square is NOT exact. It will not be exact while Jupiter and Saturn are in their respective signs. Due to the retrograde patterns of both, the exact square, which occurs once every 14 years, will be from Jupiter in Scorpio to Saturn in Leo on Dec. 17 of this year. So to get hold of it, I would say try this imagery. There may be something in your life that is well on the way to coming to development, and you can trust how far that something has come; and when it finally meets, it will be a different color, but essentially the same thing at the right time.

So while we have a ways to go on such major developments, the current setup represents a pattern of preparation for what finally comes to fruition at or near the time of the square. Of course, two large planets will be changing signs right before, which will change the backdrop to much of life...and then the exact contact point of the square engages. Chiron-Nessus (now conjunct in Aquarius) are involved in the sign changes of Jupiter and Saturn; Jupiter will square this conjunction, and Saturn will oppose it. This is not a year of la-di-da. But I don't remember the last one of those.

Right now, this square is in 'almost' mode -- but almost is quite a lot of power at the moment, and it's in full force this evening. However, the most important almost you can be watching is how you feel. There is an edgy quality, and a lot of potential. Some people will be feeling quite strong and positive; the more emotional types may be just feeling a whole lot of something intense. There are a load of Pisces planets taking off the pressure, absorbing the energy in the cosmic ocean. By Thursday at New Moon, the whole scenario will be clear.

So be nice to Fish, and be nice to you!

Blessings and warmth,

    e

Paris, March 2, 2005

Dear Friend and Reader:

A couple of times a week, I get a note from someone saying, "I know about your comp subscription policy, but I feel bad about taking advantage of it."

That policy is simple -- we run a business that does not discriminate for lack of funds. Since email takes no paper, postage or copying, the overhead for adding a new subscriber is pretty low, so it's not like it costs us much to do it; and we need to wake up in the morning and do the rest of what we do anyway.

However, that's not the heart of the business policy: the heart is that I do this work for the sake of doing it -- to learn and to share -- and not for the sake of making money.

I do happen to like money, and I need money to live and support the business. Many people who can subscribe do, and some give considerably more (our supporters and sustainers). However, my staff feel and I , unanimously, that it's a better way to live and do business if we make sure that everyone who wants to be included is. We feel more free and better about our work doing so. And it also recalls the days when every word of Planet Waves was free. We have left a door open to that original ideology of the site -- that we exclude no one.

Comps are the least we can offer in this nutty world. So if you get one, please feel good about it. And yes, we really think it would be a fine thing if more businesses operated this way. Gift economies really do work; they are an affirmation of life's actual abundance, which we generally don't discover till we share it.

And we find that people are responsible about the comp policy. Many of our comp subscribers one day sign up, because they can, and because they want to support the work they appreciate.

Regardless, if you feel like putting energy back into the Planet Waves project, there are many ways you can do that. It really helps when people spread the word about our work, or encourage their friends who like the site to subscribe. We do base about 90% of our revenue on subscriptions, and the way we get many of them is that people spread the word and share their enthusiasm.

There are other ways to help. You can send the horoscope to newspaper and magazine editors or Web sites for them to consider (very, very helpful, especially if you follow up with a call); you can talk us up on astrology discussion groups; you can contribute something to the site, such as an idea, a photograph, news articles you've read, or a piece of writing. You are always free to print our work and pass it on.

Many different kinds of energy make the Planet Waves world go round. And you get the benefits of all of it.

And if you're someone who benefits from our work and you happen to be in a position to subscribe, you will be doing a lot of good -- supporting astrology, helping out human-created, commercial-free media, and building a Web site that knows freedom begins with the freedom to think and feel what you truly need to.

If you already receive a comp and can afford to pay, and truly support, love and appreciate Planet Waves, please take a moment and subscribe. We have come a long way since we began offering paid subscriptions.

In a short time, a special daily area will be added for subscribers, giving you the astrological news of the day EVERY day, and we've got quite a few other excellent plans in the works. But you already knew that about us -- we're an industrious little crew, plotting and scheming to do better work, and keep the good vibes spreading.

Please pass it on.

Yours truly,

ERIC FRANCIS


PS, I want to make sure everyone knows about my page on Jonathan Cainer's excellent daily Web site. It's an in-depth weekly astrology Q & A page, now in its 40th edition, that you're welcome to explore, or to submit questions to. This is a free service that is made possible by subscriptions to Planet Waves Weekly. While you're there, have a look around the rest of the Web page -- it's an impressive site that takes an open-minded and compassionate view on astrology that I support whole-heartedly.

That link is here:
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

And the subscription link is here. It's friendly and easy, and there are lots of discount categories. Have a look!
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Paris, March 1, 2005

Hello World,

Apologies for being out of touch for a few days. I got a bit lost in the adventure of running Planet Waves and have neglected the blog.

Local news for the day is that the monthly horoscopes for March have gone up - both Planet Waves and Inner Space. Here is the direct link.

http://planetwaves.net/astrology/horoscopes/

Also, the new Parent Waves has been updated at:

http://PlanetWavesParenting.net/

There is a new horoscope column there called Cosmic Child. Ignore the "subscriber area" stuff and just click on "Horoscope" and you're there. This is a monthly column that will be updated on the new site.

Also, you'll notice above that parts One and Two of the "astrology and career" series are now posted for everyone. So please dip in.

Back to you soon,

    e

Paris, Feb. 25, 2005

The world may be going mad, but Planet Waves has had a banner week. We have posted a full update to the new Parent Waves site at http://planetwavesparenting.com, done part two of the 'Book of Jobs' essay series (on finding the right livelihood) begun in December (called 'Love & Work'), which be published to the site shortly (check the excellent artwork), posted a new update to the Q&A site at http://cainer.com and issued several new horoscopes.

My friends, we are on top of shit. And we do it all for you, to paraphrase Burger King or Delta Airlines or whoever did it all for you first. Why? Because we like you (m-o-u-s-e).*

Much of this is material available to everyone, some only to subscribers. We do provide our subscribers with a rich deal, offering the most comprehensive, intuitive and downright lavish astrological services on the Internet. I'd like to invite you to subscribe -- particularly if you've been a regular Planet Waves reader for a while -- and even if not. Our services are fully guaranteed, so you have nothing to worry about -- if you don't love our work, you'll get a refund of your remaining issues.

To subscribe, please go to this link, and take satisfaction in helping commercial free, idiotic stuff free, generally free media:

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We are offering a combined subscription to Parenting and Planet Waves Weekly that's a great deal. And remember, we turn nobody away for lack of funds. If you would like a comp subscription, no questions asked, just write to me at francis@planetwaves.net and I'll take care of it personally.

Have a great weekend.

Yours,

ERIC FRANCIS

While you're here, check out our excellent new contents page, in the "Art of Web Design" tradition, at: http://planetwaves.net/WhatsNew/

*If you don't understand this joke, you must ask three people what it means.

Paris, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005, updated the 25th

CNN and other media have reported that the a tracheotomy has been performed on the Pope, who was taken to the hospital today. That occurred a little before 8 pm GMT. A tracheotomy is an operation that creates an airway that bypasses the mouth, penetrating the soft spot on the neck. This will open the airway in any case, it can be used by doctors to clean and suction fluid from the lungs, and can be used for a respirator is inserted directly into the neck.

In a statement yesterday, the Vatican said: "The flu syndrome which this morning made it necessary to hospitalize the Holy Father at the Polyclinic Gemelli became complicated over the past few days by the return of episodes of acute difficulty in breathing, caused by a pre-existing functional stenosis of the larynx.

"Such a clinical presentation called for an elective tracheotomy to assure adequate ventilation of the patient and to help resolve the pathology of the larynx."

The daily Vatican briefing is scheduled for noon CET Friday.

We will have the charts available soon. However, they point to a complicated situation that will likely develop quickly. Two aspects in particular stand out. The first is in the Holy Father's secondary progressed chart. The progressed Moon is the thing to watch, and it is currently making a close, applying conjunction to his progressed Pluto. This is a progressed event that happens just once every 27 years or so, and the fact that it's occurring now is not particularly encouraging. It suggests a major change, and when you are 84, sick with Parkinson's and beginning to come down with serious infections, there are not many changes available.

The second is that he is at the age when it's possible to have a Uranus return. Uranus has an 84 year orbit, and the Pope is in the middle of this transit right now. What is occurring, however, is that the Sun is in a direct conjunction to that aspect. In other words, there is a conjunction of the Sun and Uranus on his natal Uranus. This, too, is an aspect that points to imminent change -- Uranus is always about change and it tends to move quickly.

This transiting conjunction, which to some extent effects everyone, involves the asteroid (minor planet) Juno, the 'divine consort'. Juno represents that to which we are betrothed, and conjunct the Sun and Uranus, what is changing is the relationship. The Pope is literally married to God; priests wear a wedding band (though he wears the Papal ring).

We will continue to watch this story and the astrology, and invite anyone in the reading audience who follows Vatican history to please get in touch. You may drop me an email at francis@planetwaves.net. Thanks.

    e

Coming Soon: Virgo Full Moon - CORRECTED!

I made an AM/PM error in my timing of the Full Moon. Please disregard the times I posted yesterday. They are all off by 12 hours. The Moon is at the exact full Wednesday night in the States and Thursday morning in the UK and Europe. Thursday afternoon in Oz. Here is the correct version:

Luna, Diana, the beloved Moon goddess, will be full in the earthy, mutable sign Virgo on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 4:53 am GMT (London time). That's 11:53 pm Wednesday night in New York, 8:53 pm in California and 3:53 pm on Thursday afternoon in Sydney. The next few days are the direct approach to the Full Moon with the Sun and Moon in ever-increasing polarity till the time above. This is an extraordinary and highly-charged moment, with the Virgo Moon sweeping past a fresh grouping of planets in Pisces, just after it's spent most of the week aspecting a series of planets in Aquarius: in other words, lots of oppositions from the Moon to planets occurs this week, which is likely to stir the pot of all things associated with oppositions -- specifically, relationships.

Sorry for the inconvenience! And thanks Nirvesha for pointing out the error!

The Full Moon has a way of breaking deadlocks and releasing tension, but until we get there, these things can seem to deepen. The idea is to do the least likely thing under Full Moon energy, which is be patient.

Full Moon is an exact opposition between the two lights, the Sun and Moon. If the Sun is in Pisces, the Moon is full in the opposite sign Virgo, which works for any sign the Sun is in. An opposition is a 180 degree aspect. In the chart for the exact moment of the opposition, the Sun is in a close conjunction to Juno and Uranus, another symbol of a shakeup in relationships -- but expressly for the purpose of independence, freedom and making room for actual love and compassion. Too often, our relationship patterns squeeze out our ability to actually relate, and leave little room for ourselves. And they can do an odd thing to our sense of individuality -- a human quality we truly need at this point in galactic history, and that most of us would hold precious in our personal lives, if we could access it in a dependable way.

To my thinking, the way this chart works, we get to reinvent ourselves; and then this is reflected in our partnerships -- the Moon being such a good reflector of light. More often than not, we attempt to change our relationships first and ourselves second; this chart says in pretty clear terms, work from the inner sense of self outward and see what happens. I say this because the Sun usually represents the individual at the center of the astrology, i.e., me when I'm wondering about me, you when you're wondering about you, and you when I'm wondering about you. It is generally the 'significator for the querrant' -- for example, the person reading the horoscope or essay.

This significator is conjunct Juno, a minor planet associated with marital relationships and relationships styled after marriage. Juno has a lot to do with clinging to past ideas about relating, the ideas about our primary partner that we picked up from parents and caregivers in childhood, and various other early influences. She is loyal, but it's an oppressive kind of loyalty; she is a scorekeeper; she does not (usually) forget. This could be any of us; Sun-Juno-Uranus in Pisces translates approximately to hang loose and use your imagination.

When we mix the with the Sun and then with the revolutionary properties of Uranus, we get a fine moment to reinvent who we are within our relationships -- that is, to redefine the partner we see ourselves as being, as well as our expectations for who we want others to be.

That process is, in turn, is reflected in the Moon, significator in this chart for the 'other', partner -- relying on the fairly well-established idea that relationships have a tendency to present us with our own inner conditions. Because Pisces has a quality of being a hall of mirrors of its own (but those mirrors look more like a movie projector beaming its light into a kind of fog), we need to be careful about projections, and call them back when we can. Is what I'm saying about you true for me? Awareness is usually enough. The symbolic and literal heat of these planets can burn through and lift that fog, and Mercury's suggestion is that slow, careful and thematically-centered communication and documentation will probably help. Mercury is also a caution to watch for the veracity of all things that are said, and to allow for changes in the story.

In any event, this is a wildly creative chart, full of both surprises and resources, and suggests we're walking through a fertile field of imagination.


Planet Waves by Eric Francis
for Flaunt magazine, February 2005. This is an alternative monthly horoscope.

Aries (March 20-April 19)
You're under no pressure to accept what you don't believe. But unless you let go of your preconceived ideas about life, you are basically kidding yourself. You may find yourself swimming in some rather interesting possibilities, and you may feel overwhelmed by pressure to live up to something you just don't have the words to describe. Chaos is a sign that your doors are shut. Dreaming of the world you want -- for yourself and for everyone else -- will ease the tension and help you turn the key.
 
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Nobody gives us power. Neither is it necessary to take or seize. Yet it is necessary to acknowledge that where you see a need for authority, leadership or group awareness, you may be looking directly at your highest calling. While Taurus is known to be one of the more reclusive signs, the condition of the world now calls on all of us -- and particularly you -- to join the power of our souls and combine our resources. Then we can develop solutions to the problems that we all face together.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
You're finally figuring out the danger of routines. That may be strong language, given how important it is to brush and floss. But the choice to do so can be a decision you make each night rather than something that was preordained ages ago, ordered by your mother. So it is with all of your beliefs. Why these patterns are about to change so radically is a matter of speculation; the fact that they will is not. In the days to come, you'll be taking very little for granted -- a very refreshing development.
 
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Apply creativity to everything you touch, thought you think and person you know. That's how to access the miracle no matter what situation you find yourself in. Living is an art; loving is a science; emotion is a craft in which we sail the waters of feeling and passion. You can afford to take absolutely any chance you want, as long as you keep your mind in the most alert state available. This may seem like a great responsibility, but the alternative is far too dull to seriously consider.
 
Leo (July 22-Aug 23)
Rarely have you been able to avoid the emotional aspect of sex and I don't suggest you try now. But the necessity to relate exclusively to others who can dive into your passion with their hearts open has never been more urgent, or more beautiful. The dual potential for relationships to either hurt you or to utterly transform your life is now soaring. So, too, is your ability to relate to others in their own language. Use this skill; it is a rare and precious form of intelligence.
 
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Most people strolling past you in the mall are hardly living what you'd call a bold adventure. Few bother to turn their heads one inch to the left or the right. Eye contact is a shocking revelation. Walking home a different way is akin to the voyages of Magellan. It's not just that you can't afford to live this way; rather, current developments are conspiring to summon you to a new world. Responding may seem radical approach to existence, but not if you remember life is a strange journey on the brink of the unknown.
 
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Summon your passions and you'll discover the willingness to take chances logic has long dictated were impractical or impossible. You now possess both the wits and the luck to instigate major changes at work -- developments designed to make your daily life feel a lot more like play. Far from being a luxury, you know that living in a high-stimulation, imaginative and basically liberated environment are essential to your wellbeing. Write it on the bathroom wall. There is no substitute for freedom.
 
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You may say that recent developments are conspiring to cut you off from your security. Or you could take the perspective that they are going to teach you where your real foundations are. Scorpios have a tendency to cling to how they felt yesterday, which is just a revolt against the fact that you essentially wake up a different person every day. Take the prerogative to feel what you feel; trust your fears long enough to get the message; and you will have a new license to live your life your way.
 
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
You may be getting the signal that this is your last chance to accomplish something significant with your life. But if so, you're pushing yourself a little too hard. You merely need to define an agenda, not actually carry out every step in the process. In truth, most of your fears surround the fact that you have not adequately defined success. Once you do, how to get there will be obvious.
 
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You are, unfortunately, no stranger to crises of self-esteem. The strange part is that you've rarely thought of it in those terms. If you had, you would have taken your usual pragmatic approach to the issue. Unusual developments this month promise to show you just where your sense of worth has been lacking, and what you need to change to feel that your deed to existence is worth the paper it's printed on. In fact, it's worth a lot more than that, if you'll only remember your ideas are more valuable than your labor.
 
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
There's a reason people choose to take every possible measure to shut down their awareness, and it's that we're ultimately responsible for what we know. Refuse to play games with your perceptions, such as denial, and hold the line on assigning your own motives to others. And stop telling yourself you're too weird for this extremely weird planet. You're too intelligent and have too much personal potential to let yourself succumb to the temptations of inferiority and fear. Sure, life is scary, but not for the bold.
 
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You have every reason to trust that your words, actions and choices are having a positive impact on the people around you. Certain individuals may struggle to see things the way you do, until they give it a little thought. Offer them time to catch up with what you've been saying along, and resolve to make this year the one in which you'll throw off the dark cloak of Pisces and show your true colors. If you can do that, living in the future will not be as lonely as you feared.

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Big wheel turns by the grace of God
Every time that wheel goes round
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.
  -- The Grateful Dead

Thursday night 9:00 pm, Paris

The Sun goes into Pisces in about 18 hours - therefore is now void of course. Be cool, take it easy, pay attention.

New update on Jonathan's page, extensive Q & A column on Chiron in Aquarius and Chiron in general. Chiron changes signs just after the weekend, an event that will come with a little storm of change and/or progress. Speaking as a canary in a coal mine, I think the planet feels a little tense at the moment. Is something up? Who is keeping an eye on the Pope? Might be a good time to take a look at his chart.

Here is the Cainer page link:

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

Please let me know how you're feeling and what you're dreaming.

Try me at chiron@planetwaves.net.

    e

Planet Waves Company News | Paris, Feb. 15, 2005

Hi everyone, I'm here with an update on what we've got going on at Planet Waves. The new edition of Planet Waves Parenting [http://PlanetWavesParenting.net] will be ready Monday. This will be our Pisces edition, featuring an excellent lead article interviewing parents around the planet on what it's like to be raising children in today's world. There's the Pisces edition of the Cosmic Child horoscope, as well as articles on Chiron and your child's chart, and comparing the charts of parents and children. And there is much more -- some excellent essays and columns as well, plus weekly updates to the site. In all, it will be an exciting second edition.

Each Thursday, my page on Jonathan Cainer's site http://cainer.com is updated. This is a question and answer page, which you're invited to participate in. This week's edition will be devoted to Chiron; on Chiron entering Aquarius, which happens Monday, and then a series of reader questions on Chiron in personal charts. This is a site well worth visiting -- there are nearly 40 weeks of Q&A format covering almost every popularly inquired-of topic in astrology -- so keep your questions coming!

A regular edition of Planet Waves Weekly will appear Friday, emailed directly to subscribers. For more information about Planet Waves Weekly, see http://PlanetWavesWeekly.com/.

Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy your stay, and love from the Planet Waves network from Seattle to Florida, England to the Ukraine.

--  ERIC FRANCIS
Paris, France

Paris, Feb. 14, 2005

It is Valentine's Day, the dumbest holiday of the lot. I mean, it's fine if you have someone who brings you candy or at least to send candy to, or whatever. If you don't, you have my empathy, my unconditional love and some honorary roses.

That being said, I'm going to post a special edition Planet Waves horoscope that looks at the 7th house -- relationship questions.

Full text of today's edition follows.

By  ERIC FRANCIS

NOTE: This was written as a Valentine's Day edition for a magazine in the States, and seemed to contain an idea or two, so I'm passing it along. It's written with those who don't currently have a partner / main squeeze in their lives in mind. I put the question to the 7th house of today's chart, and this is what I got back, in most instances fast as a photograph.

Aries (March 20-April 19)
What you need to do is turn promise into reality. There is plenty of the first; how you manifest that into tangible human form is a question of whether you are able to see and feel yourself as one who stands out from the crowd. Look for a special someone in public, that is to say, stop writing personal ads and walk out the front door. Group environments will be supportive. You're looking for someone both spiritual and intelligent -- a bit like yourself.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
It's not like you to take a detached attitude toward relationships, but it's the one that will probably work the best. You may still be experiencing the effects of past hurts that are leaving you feeling less than yourself. The only cure will be the new experiences that are guaranteed to come your way. Relationships begin spontaneously, with people much unlike you would ever expect to know. Just remember these words: "The past is gone. It cannot touch me."

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
There are times when love is of the body, and times when it's a matter of the soul. In the coming weeks and indeed for the foreseeable future, love and passion are experiences that will take you to a new place spiritually, and you need to be on the lookout for people who share your cosmology. You have a strong desire to go 'beyond yourself' -- for that is where love awaits you. Remember, 'lover' and 'friend' are two ideas that are a lot closer than most people think; the soul does not care what title people have.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
You may have a reputation for being low-key. But you're about to take a step much closer to the edge. Boring and mundane are not going to do it for you; the calling you're feeling is to radically change yourself in the process of relating to another person. This will take some guts, but you've got the courage that you need. Leave your expectations behind and your agenda clear, and the right person will enter your life.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
The stars are emphasizing the diversity of relationships. There is not just one kind of love affair, despite what we were taught as kids. Each person loves in his or her own way. Some people love more than one person. Within an experience of romance or love, freedom is the emphasis, including the gift of speaking your mind. We often forget the beautiful feeling of freedom that comes with love, and the initial choice of a lover; your job is to remember, and to remind us all.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
There has been no end to the surprises of the past year or so; nobody turns out to be who you expect. You have to work with this rather than against it. Give people time to show their true colors, and go into situations expecting surprises. Most challenging of all, allow people to change you. What else are relationships really for? You could say it's all to have fun, which is true; but there's more fun to have when you dive into life letting go of who you were yesterday.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Since luck is on your side, play it for all it's worth. You can afford to take somewhat larger than normal chances. You can afford to think in rather different than normal ways. In fact, nothing at all should be normal, and if it is, I suggest you wander as far away from familiar territory as possible. The people around you will support you; they are waiting for you to lead the way. And that is very attractive.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Nobody would accuse you of being insecure -- except for you. And it's amazing what a toll that feeling can take. Your mission in love is to act as if you are perfectly confident. Give yourself any length of time, a day or a week or an hour, to feel what it would feel like to have no questions about whether you're a stable, solid and authentic person. Then take that into the world and see what happens.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
Your true lover is someone who sees you as the true friend that you are. I don't mean to bring tears to your eyes, but you know you are above all else an honest and true friend. It's strange that not everyone sees you that way. The people who doubt you are the ones you seem to need to prove something to. Forget that, please! Spend your time with the people who recognize your integrity and loyalty, whether you've known them for a year or a day.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You really have to keep an eye on your self-esteem. This word is rather overused; I prefer self-respect. If you don't look up to yourself, who can possibly look up to you, except for someone morally dicey? Exactly. For the foreseeable future, you will become increasingly aware of the doubts you have about yourself. One by one, you need to address them, and remember that all love starts with selflove -- and remember that this is an irresistible force.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You are likely to be glowing like hot metal these days, but people are drawn to the heat. Count on this; you don't have to go anywhere or do anything if you want more love in your life. Simply be yourself, with passion and commitment. People will notice. You represent an important symbol for the people around you; but the reality of who you are, and your dedication to life, will attract those who love you the most. Then, you get to choose.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You may not know what it is about you that people appreciate most. Call it the X factor. That, at least, will give it an identity, and as time goes on, you will learn what that factor is. In time, you'll learn how to use it more effectively to both attract the kind of people you need, and to relate to them directly. In relationships, directly is the word. You need a clear, assertive lover who, above all else, is not afraid of him or herself.

---------------------------

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Paris, Feb. 14, 2005

Dear Visitor:

If you're new to Planet Waves, welcome. We have a lot to offer everyone -- from articles on politics to astrology to mysticism to sexuality. Have a look around our current issue and our archives, and please let me know what you think.

If you'd like a sample edition of Planet Waves Weekly, our premium service, just sign up on the mailing list below (on the main home page) and we'll get you the next edition.

Catch you later Monday with an update in this space. Thanks for visiting, welcome and we hope to see you again soon!

yours,

Eric Francis

Aquarius is Rising | Paris, Feb. 11, 2005

Opening up my first chart of the day sent a little shock through my system. I had awakened from a dream that came with the message: you have to be who you are. Then typing 'any key' and waiting a moment for my friend Planet iMac to wake up, I had a look at the astrology. Aquarius rising, followed by a stream of planets in Aquarius and Pisces stuffed into the 1st house. Part of Fortune conjunct Uranus. North Node in the 2nd house.

Be myself, indeed.

Put on your sunglasses and take a look at the chart. You don't need to be an astrologer to get it. The rising bit is all the stuff on the left, just below the horizon or horizontal line. See above, or:

http://planetwaves.net/astrology/aquariusrising.html

This is Aquarius turned up to the level of the Jet Stream. The exact degree of the forthcoming Chiron-Nessus conjunction (in effect from Feb. 21 or so clear through the next couple of seasons) is in the ascendant, three and a half Aquarius (Sabian Symbol: A Hindu yogi demonstrates his healing powers). This is a conjunction, long in the development as Chiron approached Nessus in Capricorn, that looks to me like it's going to shake a little reality loose from the cosmic tree, and fortunately up in the north, it happens when the weather is getting warm and people are getting restless and curious.

In the current chart, Chiron (little green key) is floating above the horizon, currently in the last arc minutes of Capricorn, about to burst into the next dimension. The Moon in the late degrees of Pisces is making a sextile to Chiron -- balancing the emotions with the transforming force of awareness, but balancing on the very edge -- a position that will be in effect part of the day. Then in a little while, the Moon blazes into Aries for much of Friday and the weekend, running all that emotional energy through FIRE instead of water. Now that should be interesting.

Aquarius involves a great many commitments and social patterns, but ultimately the message of this sign is distinguish yourself from the great mass of humanity as the individual you were born to be. Distinguish yourself from your peers. This is not hippy talk. This is not groovy therapy talk. This is what I understand as the evolutionary imperative of Aquarius, as ordained by the cosmic architects. Right now, every single natal horoscope on the planet, no matter when or where you were born, is getting its Aquarius angle pushed past the speed of sound.

How are you feeling? In what particular way are you feeling restless? In what particular way are you seeking contact with a group that allows you to be your actual real self? This is the message of the Aquarius Jet Stream.

There what seems to be a necessary process with Aquarius: some kind of pattern or system must break before the new one can take over. Imagine this happening most distinctly on the level of personality.

Individuation: if Aquarius on the most spiritual or esoteric level has a tradition that must be honored, this is it. Yet this tradition requires us to take a series of deeply personal steps and leave behind who and what we were before. Growing this way can be challenging, especially if you see your only choices as being McDonald's and Burger King. If there is a trick, it's usually some form of giving yourself additional options. This is easily done, if you want. Usually the choices are right there, you just have to see them. If they're not there, you need to get creative; remember, you are creative.

I've noticed from long observation that the group in which it's often most difficult to be an individual is the group of two. In these groups of two, we can live with all kinds of spoken and unspoken expectations and arrangements that seem to trap us into being someone other than who we are now. Often the deals we live with were made back when we were different people, in truth bearing little resemblance to who we are now. I see this every day, I feel it every day, and I feel the strength that it takes to assert myself as the person I am that particular hour of my life. It takes strength just to remember! And to remember that the biggest barrier is my own fear.

Slowly I'm learning not to feel bad for pushing everyone around me so diligently to accept me for who I am today. Gradually, I'm even learning to feel good about it. The more of us who do that, the more the world will start to make sense. If the past is what we must let go of, can you think of a more efficient way? If you can, I would love to hear about it. I have noticed that when I make authentic decisions that reflect who I am now, the cosmos responds. I have learned to trust my motives. I've learned that I love people without trying.

Then there's the office. What would it feel like to stop making compromises there? Who, me? I would probably write a lot more science fiction stories in this space, or somewhere nearby. Essays would be a heck of a lot sexier, and more veils would fall away. I would stop worrying about what you think, with perfect faith; please, fill up my reader comment folder. I would take a chance and explore some wild possibilities we've both never heard of, and some extremely sensible ones. I don't know about you, but I need some of that in my life.

And, truth be told, I would stop giving a rats ass about the latest bunch of morons who think they're going to take over the planet, and find a lot more fun things to write about.

Some of my readers [rereading this, I saw the word 'teachers'!] have been extraordinarily articulate in explaining to me that if I'm going to cover the news, I must focus on what's going right in the world. It's true -- the problems are finally getting a lot of attention now. When I've paused to look back, I've always considered myself a fairly bold writer. But I think the calling today is to be bold in an entirely different way: with what is possible. The world needs new possibilities, I need new possibilities, and I feel them inside me, and I feel them inside everyone I know. That sounds like a hot story.

So, brothers, sisters, cousins, colleagues, lovers, friends and Papa, Aquarius is rising. Let's get ourselves someplace new, and let's take ourselves along.

Paris, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005

I've been busy behind the scenes creating new content for Planet Waves, so I've been neglecting the blog for a few days. We posted a site update tonight -- a long awaited piece by Planet Waves slacker oops civil rights attorney Steve Bergstein, as well as a new update to my page at http://cainer.com/

I'll have some new material tomorrow in this space, and subscribers can look for their weekly horoscope as well.

Please tune in!

While I've got your attention, I suggest you check out the Red State Road Trip film project at truthout.org -- it is brilliant.

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

Aquarius New Moon | Paris, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005

We are in the doorway of the Aquarius New Moon. Aquarius is the sign of inventions, and of designing our world. Creating reality as we go is the most effective way to get from the past to the present -- and thus to a different future than we might ordinarily have, had we not re-thought our conditions and needs. There is so much going on in Aquarius right now -- the presence of Venus, Neptune, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon, as well as the the asteroid Juno and the centaur planet Nessus -- that you may be feeling some unusual tension, pressure, or need for change. In about two weeks, Chiron also makes its first entrance to Aquarius in several decades, which represents a moment when history not only turns a page, it opens a new volume.

Too much Aquarius often makes it difficult to feel, and so much going on in this sign can create a state of feeing cut-off from oneself and come with a significant lack of compassion for others. There can be an obsession with 'feeling accepted'. Ask any Aquarian about their life lessons in this respect and maybe they will tell you what it's like to have to constantly remind yourself to feel the feelings of others. With such overwhelming energy coming through this sign now, we all need to remember that. Life is not just something we live in theory. It is a process we experience in physical, flesh and blood reality. So check in on whether you're feeling lost in your head, and if you are, come back into your body and see what that's like.

New Moons set the agenda for the month ahead. They also clear the agenda from the prior lunation. And because it's not that simple, they can set the agenda for many months ahead, as the decisions we make now form patterns. This is an excellent time to make improvements, particularly in the matters that Aquarius reigns over mightily: friendship, community and compensation for a job well done.

The Moon is new today in California at 2:28 pm, in New York at 5:28 pm, in London at 10:28 pm and in Paris at 11:28 pm. It is new tomorrow morning (Wednesday) in New Delhi at 3:58 am, and in Sydney at 9:58 am.

Paris, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005.

Bridge to the Core is written, designed and posted. I am reluctant to say it's done, because there is more to say on the subjects that the web page raises -- which I will be developing in this space, and in Planet Waves Weekly. Bridge to the Core deals with two subjects, primarily -- individual sign forecasts for 2005; and the issue of getting to 2012 in good shape. The sign forecasts are the most in-depth I've written. We've posted nearly 40 astrological charts, with captions, and many excellent features -- such as inner planet retrograde finders for 2005, an astrological calendar, a second list of events for the year, and a bunch more.

Here is a sample from the lead article, "2012 Is Up for Grabs."

"Twenty-twelve is what we make it, one day at a time, one outer-planet sign change at a time, one breath at a time. Twenty-twelve is what we envision it to be. We, that is, you and me. Not those cool groovy people somewhere else. Not the really enlightened ones who know how to have a good time and manifest new cars with their minds. Not the ones who really know what they're talking about, or who have been meditating 15 years longer than you. You and me. You and your friends. You and your kids. You and your mom and dad. You and your boss. You, me, and your mom and dad. You and your co-workers. You and your best friend. You and your lover. You and your clients. You and your therapist. You and the people you go dancing with. You and the people you get drunk with or do X with or go hunting with. Whatever. What do all these have in common? You.

 "This is different than thinking you have to personally take the whole thing on your shoulders. To the contrary: it's only necessary to do your little part, to be aware, to cooperate, and to maintain some sense of awareness of an integrated process going on, within you and without you. This is not merely intellectual abstraction. It is a way of looking at the world, of perceiving evolutionary change, and of adjusting your beliefs to adapt to reality. Too often, we attempt to adapt reality to our beliefs, and it works, sort of, for a while, at a great cost -- mostly pain and boredom."

--

This is a big week coming up: the Bush inauguration.

As you will read in Bridge to the Core, centaur planets begin changing signs shortly after the "president" is sworn in; first comes Nessus (into Aquarius), then Chiron (into Aquarius) and Pholus (into Sagittarius). This is big astrological news, and while I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, I think we're going to be getting a blast of righteous energy, with a touch of Return of the Jedi to it. I'll be keeping you posted here, and in Planet Waves Weekly.

To sign up for Planet Waves Weekly, which includes free access to Bridge to the Core, go to this link:

http://planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Note, this is a PAY service but if you can't afford it, it's FREE. There are also quite a few discount categories, such as for students and the under-employed. To take advantage of our special offers, just call (206) 567-4455 or toll free (877) 453-8265. Or email orders@planetwaves.net.

ANNUAL HOROSCOPE UPDATE !!!

Paris, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005, 7:41 am

Dear Readers:

Bridge to the Core, the Planet Waves 2005 annual horoscope site, is about done. We're about a day behind, but barring anything too interesting happening, we'll be able to go live with the site by mid-day in the eastern U.S.

There is a lot of astrology in this project: up to 1,400 words per sign in the annual forecast area; a number of articles addressing Chiron in Aquarius, Saturn in Leo, and sign changes by two other centaur planets (Pholus and Nessus); an astrological calendar for 2005; and a massive charts resource area for students of astrology or those who are just curious. I've done my most in-depth writing ever on 2012 and the astrology between now and then. There are dozens of magnificent bridge images sent in by our readers. There is writing by Jeanne Treadway and a Mayan astrology report through July by Carol Burkhart, of the Galactic Alchemy web site. Two more by me are pending: a more detailed look at the psychology of Chiron in Aquarius, and reader comments on 2012. These, I'm holding till next week.

If you'd like to inquire about subscribing and thus getting access to this entire resource -- which you can do as little as $8.95, or free if you need a fee waiver and are willing to call our (877) number and request it -- check out this page:

http://planetwaves.net/2005horoscope.html

I have suspended my normal publishing schedule this week, though there will be a regular Planet Waves edition emailed Friday (most of that is written in advance). On Jonathan's page tonight, I'm taking the lead of The Onion and posting a best-of column for the 34th edition, featuring the 'How to Learn Astrology' series from October. Check it out -- it's a lot of fun, and the basis of the short introductory astrology book that I'm pulling together from that series.

For those inquiring about Planet Waves Parenting, we plan to go live by Saturday, and we'll have the first edition emailed out by late Friday. Parenting is an activist e-journal that combines astrology with essays and advice from parents, a resources guide, a bit of investigative reporting, and a horoscope for parents about their kids.

I'll catch you soon; I'm going to take a nap and get to the end of these projects.

Thinking of you,

Eric Francis

Hello all,

Just checking in with an annual horoscope update. The sign reports are done! The charts and annual calendar are nearly done! The website structure is up to page test. I am currently working with Carol Burkhart, our resident Mayan astrologer, on the Bridge to the Core materials. Progress is in progress.

Good morning from Paris.

Eric Francis

Annual Horoscope Information!
http://planetwaves.net/2005horoscope.html

A reader wrote into Jonathan Cainer's office with high praises for both of us, adding, "Great to read your yearly forecasts. Have a word with Eric and push him a little in that department will you...!"

Ah, but I don't need a push -- I am a taskmaster with myself. I'm working on it, amidst much else, but it looks like I'm clear for the next few days to wrap the project up. It's always challenging to integrate a big project into the regular schedule, which itself has picked up pace due to news events. I plan to post the annual horoscope shortly after the Capricorn New Moon next Wednesday -- New Moons being a good time to commence new ventures, particularly in Capricorn.

The horoscope is a complete web page, with articles and sign write-ups, that will be available to subscribers. So please take a moment to subscribe. Remember, there are a number of discount categories, including free for those who happen to have no funds at the moment. To subscribe, call (206) 567-4455 during Eastern business hours or (877) 453-8265 toll free, or go to this link:

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

See you soon.

aquasphere

For those eagerly awaiting the 2005 annual horoscope, and especially for those considering subscribing to get access to the annual, I suggest spending a little time with aquaphere, the 2004 annual horoscope package.

From there, you will also find links to five years of Planet Waves annual horoscopes.

Here's the link into aquasphere. Ether the keywords 'moon jump' just as written with no quotes.

http://planetwaves.net/aquasphere/

e

Site Update Info - Annual Horoscope - Earthquake Report

Dear Readers:

I'm checking in with a site update. A second major analysis of the Great Flood chart is in progress, and will be posted as my Q & A column to http://Cainer.com later this week. Regular reader questions will continue there on Jan. 14.

Bridge to the Core, the annual horoscope package, is progressing. Today, 27 charts for 2005 were scanned in and will be available to all subscribers. These include detailed charts of the Aries equinox, as well as all four eclipses; and charts of all six Mercury stations, the Venus station, the Mars stations, Chiron charts and the Saturn ingress to Leo. Each chart will have a caption explaining the chart in a couple of sentences.

As with aquasphere, the 2004 annual, each sign will get its own page, and there will be a variety of articles to help round out our understanding of the astrology during the next four seasons. These will include "How to Build a Bridge" by Eric Francis and "How To Build a Wall" by Jeanne Treadway.

We'll have news about the astrology's viewpoint on a military draft, and many other ideas about what the next four seasons are likely to present.

Planet Waves subscribers have contributed the magnificent artwork.

This annual horoscope package, which has taken hundreds of hours of preparation, will be available to Planet Waves subscribers. We are delaying posting any additional free horoscopes to the site (though not to our lists) until Bridge to the Core is completed. Then, the shorter version of the 2005 annual will be posted to the free side of the site.

To subscribe, please see this link:

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Aussie and Canadian dollars are accepted at par. Student discounts.

Thanks for checking in.

Stay tuned for more info.

Yours,

ERIC FRANCIS

Hi there, Eric Francis checking in with a 2005 annual horoscope update. The annual this year is called Bridge to the Core.

Due to a week's delay involving covering the terrible disaster in Asia, I've got the coming week scheduled for completing the first stage of the 2005 annual horoscope: the sign write ups and several of the articles. The theme will involve Chiron changing signs from Capricorn to Aquarius, as will centaur Nessus at the same time. In addition, Saturn moves from Cancer to Leo in July -- which I suspect will come as a great relief. These planetary shifts set the stage for what we will experience personally and collectively in 2005.

As I have mentioned, there will be no free version of the 2005 annual horoscope posted until our subscribers have received their extended version. This will be posted by direct email and in a keyword area on http://PlanetWavesWeekly.com. This should be in a little over one week, psychic weather, world news, creative discipline and my own energy level permitting. I am likely to time it to post right at the Capricorn New Moon -- a strong and meaningful point of manifestation.

While a free annual horoscope will be posted, it will be the considerably shorter 'magazine version'. In truth -- yes -- this is to encourage people to subscribe and support our devoted, tireless and excellent work, and to reward those who have already done so. Our company runs mostly on love, supported by many volunteer staff members and by substantial help from our subscribers: ideas, articles and so on.

But in actual fact, we pay the bills with money, and our service is priced quite reasonably at about a dollar a week. In fact, if you can't afford it, it's free. And if you can afford more, we have 'sustainer' and 'supporter' options you can click on as well, and a limited number of subscriptions available at the million dollar level as well. But for most people, it's a buck a week. And hey, a buck is cheaper every day that goes by.

So, all the choices are yours, and there's nothing stopping you from becoming a subscriber. You can get Planet Waves Weekly and the Bridge to the Core annual horoscope for the cost of whistling a tune on Main Street, for the price of a nice pair of shoes, or for anything in between.

Here's the link.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

 While the sand slipped through the opening
 And their hands reached for the golden ring
 With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
 In the troubled years that came before the deluge.

                -- Jackson Browne

Paris, Dec. 31, 2004


Dear Readers:

My new article, "The Great Wave," has been posted to my Q & A page at cainer.com. The URL is:

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/eric.html

As for the January horoscopes and the year-ahead predictions: here's the drill. The entire project has been delayed by coverage of the disaster in Asia this week. That's the way journalism goes. Obviously that comes first.

There will be a short version and a long version of the 2005 annual. The long version will be emailed directly to subscribers, and appear in a keyword area; the short one will be posted to the free site. However, the subscribers will get theirs first, which will delay the short edition being posted by about a week.

The articles in the keyword area will be sent first to subscribers over the next two or three weeks.

If you are a regular reader of Planet Waves, I suggest you subscribe. Our work is actually supported by about 2% of the total people who reach this site. Many of you come daily; the entire Planet Waves project is supported by a tiny fraction of its readers.

Imagine what we could do with 4% or 5% of you subscribing. Please consider doing so, and remember, we turn no one away for lack of funds. And we have lots of discount categories, and very economical monthly payments via Paypal as well.

Here is the subscription link.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Thank you for your continued readership. I wish you a safe and sane new year.

e

       

Dear Readers:

I have been busy preparing a more detailed analysis of the Great Wave chart, which will appear both in Planet Waves Weekly and on Cainer.com late tonight. With the help of the amazing team at Planet Waves, I've dug out a lot of new information about this chart, including the potential for corporate responsibility for the earthquake. Generally, completely different material runs on both of these sites, but this week I am keeping a focus on the tsunami. Subscribers, I plan to have the edition out early tomorrow, with the Capricorn birthday report and the weekly horoscope. Blogging will be slow over the next few days to a week, as I take care of other writing. Thanks for understanding. And hey, please subscribe to Planet Waves! Old readers, haven't you missed the horoscope for long enough? It's never been better.

http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html

Monday, 27 December

As the death and damage from yesterday's great wave becomes obvious, I am wondering whether the message is getting across that we in the Western world have much more important things to do with our resources than bomb people.

Nature has come along and dealt a devastating blow to a massive population. And in the past 18 months, the United States and England have deployed hundreds of thousands of troops and nearly a quarter billion dollars making a fraudulent war. Imagine what we could do with all those resources and troops in terms of providing relief to the countries devastated in this disaster.

Imagine what we could do with all the helicopters and ships, medical doctors and nurses, engineers, soldiers and administrators who could be deployed to the devastated region.

This should also be a wakeup call on global warming. We have seen the kind of devastation that can be created in coastal regions by a small, temporary increase in sea level. Multiply that by every coastal region in the world; how, then, would we do with that? How would we deal with that?

Full Moon Earthquake in Southeast Asia, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004, 6:OO pm CET

By Eric Francis
with BBC reports and reader contributions

Charts at: http://planetwaves.net/astrology/sumatra.html
Data from: US Geological Service http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

Just before 7 this morning local time, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit the west coast of northern Sumatra, an Indonesian island. Coastal regions of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, the Andaman Islands and the low-lying Maldives Islands were devastated by tsunamis, or powerful waves -- more like walls of water -- generated when earthquakes occur under the ocean floor. Thousands are dead or missing and millions affected. By current reports, the death toll is likely to exceed 10,000. Communication to many areas, particularly the Maldives, is cut off.

The quake was followed by as many as nine aftershocks. Witnesses said the sea receded by a kilometer from the normal coastline before a series of tsunamis, some as high as 10 meters, struck.

A reader just wrote in, quoting Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute, speaking on on SKY TG 24 TV. "All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Boschi, who added that the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

Simply put, the world is a different place after this event.

It is true that we tend to think of events such as earthquakes as local incidents, even though they may affect a wide area. Yet thinking of the world holistically, as one physical object or one living system, it is easy to consider how the whole structure of the planet could be affected -- a condition well portrayed in the nearly exact opposition of Saturn and Chiron that was angular at the moment of the quake (across the 1st and 7th houses, very close to the horizon, please see chart, as well as further discussion below).

Earthquakes are massive releases of energy and tension, often on the scale of thousands of nuclear bombs. They build for years or decades. Given that we are living in extremely tense times on the planet with little relief in sight, and for the most part in ignorance of the fact that we are on a planet that supports us with its own life, both the release of tension and the call to awareness can be put to work for global healing. However, given the scenes of devastation and human suffering throughout what is truly an impoverished region of the world, this is hardly consoling.

Tourist resort areas in high season were among the worst hit. A crowded marketplace, fishing areas, homes, vehicles, cottages, hotels and beaches were washed out to sea with no warning. Most places that were affected had no way of knowing that the waves would hit, because they were too far from the epicenter of the earthquake to even feel it. Musson said that tsunamis can travel five hundred kilometers per hour, so some affected areas were hit by waves hours after the actual quake. This occurred during daylight hours, when many people had flocked to the shore. Many of the worst affected places are extremely isolated and difficult to reach with relief or rescue aid.

In the Maldives, the capital city, Mali, was reported to be two-thirds under water. The Maldives are about one meter above sea level. In Sri Lanka, one of the most devastated areas, BBC is reporting that land mines planted during that country's civil war have been washed out of the ground and are floating on the ocean.

In truth, today's was one of the most massive earthquakes ever recorded, and the second most powerful ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the worst hit areas had never experienced anything vaguely resembling this kind of disaster -- or at least not since 1833.

The tsunamis are believed to have been created by a 1,000 kilometer long rupture in the floor of the Indian Ocean. Roger Musson, a British seismologist interviewed by BBC, said that the displacement, or height difference, between two colliding geological plates beneath the Indian Ocean was as many as 10 to 30 meters. This shift, in turn, displaced vast amounts of water, which in turn created the waves that spread throughout the entire basin as far as 2,000 kilometers across. As these waves reached the shallower water near the shore, the distance between the waves shortened and the height increased as they crashed into the coast.

Today's is being reported as the worst earthquake since the 9.2 magnitude quake that struck Alaska in 1964, and the 5th most powerful since 1900. Musson said that a comparable quake hit the region just south of the current one in 1833, but commented that that nobody remembers it except for a few historians. The Alaskan quake that devastated Anchorage, and was felt as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah, picked up rail cars and threw them hundreds of feet. People were killed by tsunamis as far away as the Oregon coast, where there are still prominent signs warning beachgoers to evacuate the area in the event of a tremor.

The Richter scale, developed in the 1930s, measures the energy of earthquakes. Each whole number value on the scale represents an increase of 31 times the value of the previous whole number increase. The increases are exponential.

Looking at today's chart, one physical factor stands out before any of the symbolic ones: this occurred with the Sun and Moon at nearly full opposition, that is, just before the Full Moon. The Moon's position at the time of the quake was 28 degrees of Gemini and 11 minutes. The Sun's position was 4 degrees of Capricorn and 35 minutes. This is just several hours short of the exact Full Moon. In essence, the Earth was suspended between the Sun and the Moon, creating an intense gravitational pull in either direction.

During the Alaska quake of 1964, there was also a Full Moon, though that quake happened the day after the exact opposition. The Alaska and Sumatra charts are strikingly similar in a number of ways. The Full Moon today occurred exactly -- just over one degree -- on the lunar nodal axis of the Anchorage chart, making the two events virtually inseparable.

However, earthquakes can happen at any time. The infamous May 22, 1960 Chilean earthquake, measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale, occurred just before the New Moon.

In the Sumatra chart, notice as well that the Saturn-Chiron opposition across Cancer and Capricorn is close to the ascendant and the descendent, the two most sensitive angles in a chart; that is, it is looming on the horizon. Saturn in Cancer on the 7th house cusp has the image of a 'wall of water'.

Chiron in aspect to Saturn, particularly on the 90-degree harmonic (square or opposition) presents the energy of Chiron penetrating, unlocking or shifting the nature of the seemintly unmovable structure of Saturn.

In addition, Varuna, a newly discovered planet who is the 'lord of waters', is also in Cancer, and the Part of Fortune is conjunct this planet -- suggesting to me that the loss of life could have been much greater.

The Moon was void of course in the exact degree of the Sept. 11 attacks, in late Gemini. The Moon in the Sept. 11 chart and the Moon in today's earthquake chart were aligned to within five minutes of arc, or less than one-tenth of a degree. This deeply symbolic synchronicity is enough to rate the region of late Gemini as a potential danger zone for major world changes.

This being said, earthquakes are extremely difficult to predict astrologically -- a problem that geologists also face. One of the most reliable factors are the Uranian points, Witte points or Uranians -- hypothetical planets with no physical existence, but whose cycles are nonetheless influential. The most prominent aspect today was a close trine between the Full Moon in Cancer, developing at the time of the earthquake, and the Uranian point Poseidon, another aspect in the chart that says 'great wave'. In addition, the Sun was conjunct the Uranian point Kronos to within about four degrees.

Neither of these would have been reasonable grounds for a prediction of the earthquake or floods. But the exact opposition of Chiron in Capricorn and Saturn in Cancer, which perfects on Dec. 28 could qualify. This opposition moves next to the Leo-Aquarius axis and will again be exact on July 21, 2005.

Later this week, there is an conjunction of Mercury and Venus exactly on the Great Attractor, the same day as the Saturn-Chiron opposition is exact, which involves a direct conjunction with the Moon in Capricorn.

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Reader contributions to updates are welcome. Updates to follow in the blog on http://planetwaves.net/ including information about minor planets as this becomes available, in part based on discussion on the Centaur discussion group.

A Religious Experience -- Early morning, December 25, 2004

Just past midnight on Christmas, I dragged myself out of the house into the wet night and walked over to Notre Dame Cathedral to see what was happening. I walked up Boulevard St. Germain, and then turned up a side street toward the Seine. The cathedral was fully illuminated against the foggy sky. No matter how beautiful it may be, it's still a strange sight to see something that vast and that old standing there in the midst of the modern world. Few buildings I've seen give the impression that they just descended from the sky and landed there; Notre Dame is one.

I remember seeing the thing for the first time, in July, from about a kilometer away on a bridge between Ile St. Louis and the left bank. I had no idea what it was. I just looked at it and thought, man, that's one heavy duty Gothic cathedral. Then some time later it occurred to me what I was looking at.

Tonight, I had no such confusion. I crossed the footbridge to Ile de la Cité, the island where the cathedral is placed, noticing that there were quite a few cops around, though not the antiterrorism brigades armed with machine guns that patrol near the Eiffel Tower. The footbridge leads right to the front of the cathedral, but the entrances were blocked off with metal gates. I asked a young cop on the other side how you get in, and whether you need a ticket. No ticket needed; enter from the far end of the plaza, where I found a metal detector and two guys sort of checking people for guns, acting very leisurely about it. I walked through dangling a large set of keys and a cell phone in my hands; the thing didn't buzz. Yet another security checkpoint that did not exactly inspire confidence. However, I feel more consoled by the fact that France is kind to Muslims than I do by rent-a-cops with metal detectors set too high to detect anything.

It was about 100 meters from there to the entrances; the ushers at the door told me to take off my hat, which I pulled through the hammer loop in my jeans. And I slipped into the huge structure through one of the 25-foot high entrances that were standing wide open, melting into one of those scenes that could have been in any century. The crowd was manageable, busy but not oppressive. Much eye contact all around, intense curious gazes, the lovely, deep eyes of France -- nothing stiff or religious, just purely social. As each pair of eyes met mine, there was a slow-motion feeling as we drew one another out, which felt for a moment like moving through liquid.

Throughout the building there were now flat-screen TV monitors on which the face of the monsignor delivering the mass was visible, a guy giving the impression that he would benefit greatly from resurrection. He seemed older than the Pope. He was in the middle of his sermon, which was scratchy and which I could not comprehend, but I asked someone near me if he had mentioned Iraq. Not that he had heard. (Neither did the Pope, actually; he chose to talk about the need for peace, rather than the problem of war.)

I worked my way around the back, past a sign that said, "No visitors, Service only," and toward the front. I found a good vantage point and at this point, took off my heavy leather jacket and began taking notes. I noticed: wow, I'm inside. I wasn't actually sure I would make it here. This is one way that Paris is different than my home city of New York. In New York City there is no way you're getting into midnight mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral without having a connection to the mayor or bishop personally, or knowing somebody with season tickets -- or that's the impression you get. In Paris, you just walk in the door and there you are.

The sermon ended, and next a cloud of frankincense rose from the altar. Suddenly there were six or eight priests in long white robes gathered around the altar, arms extended, consecrating the host. The scene could have fit a Druid gathering at Stonehenge, and in this setting it seemed no less mystical; that the priests were performing the White Mass was never more apparent. This particular site, long before a church was built there, was an ancient Roman temple to the god Jupiter, whereas Stonehenge is a temple to Mars; it was used, in its day, as a war council chamber. This is built on the scene of some kind of temple to justice and abundance, and then a huge temple to the Virgin followed centuries later.

While this consecration ritual was going on, the organist played something sing-song that could have come from a haunted game show, genuinely strange. I looked around the audience and one woman was conducting with her fingers, with a mocking face. Nobody else seemed to notice. Numerous ushers then appeared with baskets, and I found a 5 euro note in my black reporter's notebook and dropped it in; I've read in the Ninety Five Theses that this is actually a very good idea.

Then out of nowhere came the "Hallelujah Chorus," with the organ ringing at full blast and the choir rising up like angelic thunder. On the TV monitors, you could see the conductor pouring her energy into the minds and eyes of the singers, intense and unselfconscious like an athlete, obviously drawing the best possible performance out of them; but the choir itself, in blue robes, was difficult to see back behind the altar. All combined, it was a moment comparable to my greatest experiences in rock concerts, where my mind could barely take in that I was there or that it was real.

More frankincense -- they love this stuff as much as I do -- this time with the sweet, soft scent of myrrh, the two resins brought by the wise men, along with gold, to the baby Jesus. The wise men, of course, were Zoroastrian priests, 'Magi', that is, astrologers and lore-masters following the omen of a star in the East. If you recall, they returned by a different route, and did not reveal to Herod the location of the Christ child, showing where their true loyalty resided.

I looked around the room, at the vaulted ceilings a full 120 feet above the main aisle. I had no idea but learned later that this church was begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, particularly the nave or center aisle -- the part I was standing in. The choir's voices filled up the ancient stone halls, thousands of people in the space listening, and then turning toward the back I could see all the high doors standing wide open into the Paris night, and the big (but really, not so big) Christmas tree outside: a moment of high glory in a place where the Catholic mass has been celebrated for more than 800 years.

Then, "Come All Ye Faithful," which somehow was deeply moving when performed in this setting, at this intensity.

Quietly, ushers with Secret Service-styled walkie-talkies with discreet headsets moved around the room. Then, the alter boys fanned out throughout the cathedral with silver bowls of communion wafers. As the women received the body of Christ from these sweet young virgins, some looked at them with intense, knowing passion; the boys seemed oblivious to their gazes, and they went about their work, placing a small wafer in each of the hands of the faithful. I was not aware that anyone other than a priest could handle the hosts, but I also just saw on BBC an hour earlier that there is an extremely severe shortage of priests in France -- so problematic that the French diocese is importing priests from Africa to help on an emergency basis, and considering allowing its own priests to marry, as was done in centuries past, and has been secret practice in Germany in modern times.

I slipped closer to the front, getting as close as I could get. I found a seat in about the 20th row, on the aisle. The choir was now singing Les Anges dans nos campagnes, a traditional French Christmas carol which was long ago translated into English as "Angels We Have Heard On High." I truly wished my Aunt Josie could have been there.

The mass was about to end.

From outside, as if far in the distance but really high in the two east-facing towers, one could hear the sounds of the ancient bells clanging low and dissonant, announcing the birth of Christ. I pictured Quasimodo up there, personally ringing them.

Now ushers and security guys moved efficiently through the main aisle, clearing the way and scooting people back into their rows. Then the procession began: first with half a dozen altar boys carrying candles on long poles, with one, a solemn looking black boy at the center, holding the crucifix; then the priests; and then the elderly monsignor who was offering the mass. He seemed like a happy guy, accepting greetings from the crowd and looking back from deep within himself through his humorous, attentive eyes. On his head, he was wearing a small, Madonna-like microphone and headset device. I flashed him a peace sign.

Then came the choir members, in their blue robes: at first it seemed to be a children's choir, there were about 30 or more people considerably younger than 18 -- they have those high, energized voices -- then they were followed by the taller ones, about as many adults. This was not a professional choir of any kind, but rather an extremely dedicated group of volunteers who obviously practiced quite a bit.

As they passed, the crowd streamed into the aisle and followed, and I moved with them for a while, then at the first opportunity cut to the right and wormed my way along the north side of the cathedral, toward the great doors, replacing my jacket and hat, and streaming out and into the soft Paris mist.

I walked home along the river, looking across the river at the ancient high-Gothic structure with its massive flying buttresses spread out around the building supporting those 10-story high walls, and its great black lead spire reaching high into the night.


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Notes

Notre Dame Cathedral is the geographic center of Paris. Just outside its doors is a brass plaque embedded in the concrete which is the beginning of 'kilometer zero'. It is on Ile de la Cite, which is the first place that a civilization emerged in the city of Paris thousands of years ago. An archeological crypt below the the main courtyard contains ruins that date from between the 2nd century CE (AD) and the 19th century CE (AD).

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles05/cathedral8.shtml writes:

"Begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1182, the church has undergone many vicissitudes, changes, and restorations. It has fared ill on many occasions; perhaps the greatest defilement being that which befell it during the Revolution, when it was not only foully desecrated, its statues and other imagery despoiled, but the edifice was actually doomed to destruction."

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Cathedrals/Paris/Notre-Dame.shtml writes:

"The Gothic loftiness of Notre-Dame dominates the Seine and the Ile-de-la-Cité as well as the history of Paris. On the spot where this majestic cathedral now stands, the Romans had built a temple to Jupiter, which was followed by a Christian basilica and then a Romanesque church (the Cathedral of St. Etienne, founded by Childebert in 528).

"Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, decided to build a new cathedral for the expanding population, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Although construction started in 1163, it was not completed until roughly 180 years later in about 1345. Built in an age of illiteracy, the cathedral retells the stories of the Bible in its portals, paintings, and stained glass.

"On completion of the choir in 1183, work was begun on the nave and completed c.1208, followed by the west front and towers c.1225-1250. A series of chapels were added to the nave during the period 1235-50, and to the apse during 1296-1330 (Pierre de Chelles and Jean Ravy). Transept crossings were built in 1250-67 by Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil (also the architect of the Sainte-Chapelle). The six-part rib vaults and the thin elements articulating the wall are typically Early Gothic."

http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/orion/eng/hst/gothic/bourges.html
Nave is 15m width and 37m height

Small wheel turns by the fire and rod
Big wheel turns by the grace of God
Every time that wheel goes round
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

-- The Grateful Dead