by Eric Francis
ARIES — Recent developments in your chart are supporting your ability to discover a solution to a healing-related matter. The chart image looks like you’re able to enter a space of twilight sleep and peek between the worlds, and glimpse at exactly what you need. Yet this will depend on your receptivity above all else, and your choosing not to jam your frequencies with false solutions. Pay particular attention to early morning dreams, the kind you wake up from in the 4 am range, when the world and the psychic fields are quieter. The information you need is right in your mind. You may get it in a series of small “transmissions” that contain one or two items per visit. In this zone, you also have the ability to shape who you want to be. You may notice that you can tap into a kind of pre-existing archetype of yourself, one you aspire to but rarely see.
TAURUS — Notice what it’s easier to say when you’ve had a glass of wine. There’s an old (as in very old) expression, “In vino veritas,” which means that people are more likely to speak the truth under the influence of alcohol. Assuming you’re not in recovery, I suggest you do this as an experiment, if you happen to like the stuff. But not, however, with any subject matter that’s particularly important. The idea, wine or not, is to consider your inhibitions, and how you manage them. There would seem to be something you want to express or reveal to an intimate partner. This may be an entirely affirmative admission, of a desire, a feeling, a need, or a loving thought you want to share. It’s the type of thing requiring some vulnerability on your part, and here is where in vino veritas might come in. It would be better if you do this in a clear state of mind. Take it slowly, and don’t be attached to the outcome, as much as humanly possible.
GEMINI — Juno, one of the original four asteroids, is making an interesting maneuver in your sign. It reached Gemini on Sept. 29, and stations retrograde on Oct. 12, in the first degree. This is an invitation to unravel your ideas about monogamy, jealousy and attachment. You won’t get to the bottom of the matter, though you peer down, as if you’re in a glass-bottomed boat. What’s down there, under the surface? What expectations, what unresolved experiences, and what hopes for the future? The question would seem to be, how much of your impulse to be monogamous is driven by a desire to be with one partner, and how much is influenced by jealousy? That could be your own jealousy, or your fear of a partner’s jealousy if you spend time with someone you want to get to know (whether sex is involved or not). The point here is not to “get over” your jealousy or feelings about it. The idea, in the worlds of Dane Rudhyar, is “the revelation of unconscious energies and submerged psychic structures.”
CANCER — Do what you can to bring people together, even if in modest ways. Contemporary American culture is about driving people apart. It is considered open season on whatever people deem bad, with little thought or consideration. This is not going to serve the world, and it’s not serving you. Start, if you like, with even a small group of three or four people. Do that Cancerian thing you do so well, which is to put on the Ritz — just make sure that everyone has to contribute something, for their own good. The shift I’m talking about here is from “service economy” to
“community,” which means having life be a bit communal. We all have plenty to share, and the gift economy must reach out in all directions and touch all walks of life. So, be generous, and be welcoming, and also be open to receiving any assistance that you need, and that others are willing to offer.
LEO — The Libra Sun is making a trine aspect to Mars in Aquarius. The image is one of you being in the position of negotiating your way through any potentially thorny situation. You will, of course, need to keep a positive attitude, the better to tiptoe through the briar patch of society’s current obsession with being cranky, judgmental and negative. This is a good job for you, and it’s a good time for you to be doing it — though remember, this may be on your own behalf. Take care of that first, and make sure you’re on solid ground and in good standing with those you will reach out to on other topics, potentially a community issue that dearly needs attention. You may be wondering what, exactly, people are so worked up about. Gaze on that with some amazement, as if it’s a strange marvel of nature, and don’t let anyone wear you down. The fact is, most people have little clue how good they have it.
VIRGO — It is worth devoting yourself to what you love even when it does not seem to give you much back. Studying music, you might have to practice scales for hundreds of hours before your melodies sound like much. You might need to write and rewrite every day for years before your point comes across, and the words don’t feel like bricks. You might need to fill many sketchpads before you get an idea for a piece you want to make life-size. And it could take years of gradual softening and introspection and experimentation before you start to access your deeper erotic feelings. All of this is worth doing, and focusing on, with gentle discipline, love and ever-increasing awareness. Don’t worry if you don’t seem to get a result. That is not the point, certainly not under the influence of Vesta and Saturn. Rather, it’s far more worthwhile that you make space and time for what you want and then fill that space with your love and attention.
LIBRA — Venus, your ruling planet, turns to retrograde motion this week. The image in your solar chart is one of deep personal reevaluation. Most of the lives we live are designed as a kind of wallpaper glued over our real questions about ourselves and existence. You’ve reached a turning point, and your new direction is deeper within yourself. Why are you on this planet? What do you feel that you have to share? What is your mission, and when will you take yourself seriously enough to act on it with the total commitment necessary to bring it into fruition? These are the questions of Venus retrograde, which lasts between Oct. 5 and Nov. 15. Fortunately, at the end of this particular phase of searching, there would seem to be a fairly simple resolution. You are holding the answers you need, right within yourself. All of your searching and preparation will point you toward one deep resolution and then making a few decisions that you’ve long known you had to make.
SCORPIO — Many struggles in our lives are associated with not being able to see and feel life from the perspective of others. As I write, I am looking for words that describe “viewpoint” that don’t imply vision. (The word “perspective” comes from a Latin root that means looked at closely.) What you need is not going to be provided by the cool, detached visual sense. Rather, it will be about taking in and actually feeling where someone you care about is coming from, in the emotional sense. You need to understand how they experience their total human condition. This will require, at first, a degree of embrace and acceptance of another that may be unusual to you. All matters of power must be set aside, because that will only serve to corrode delicate trust. It does not matter how you actually feel about this person, whether they are the love of your life or your worst enemy; your business partner or some kind of competitor. This astrology applies to everyone in your environment.
SAGITTARIUS — You have protection from everything except your own intentions. Therefore, you must always strive to do the right thing, even more than usual. That is the part that you alone must handle, and handle with the utmost awareness of your influence over your own life. The imagery in your astrology is about being conservative with your values and your choices. That means acting with discretion. It means setting aside any notion that all is fair in love and war. It means refusing to tolerate any form of cruelty, no matter how subtle. This is a time in your life when you are establishing a tangible moral code that you will live by for the rest of your life. This is rarely enough done, and it’s also never done merely from theory, and it cannot be a precept. True morality is learned from hard experience. Yours must be flexible enough to handle the complicated lives that we are soaked in at the moment, and be wise enough to penetrate the ambiguity that is currently fogging over our minds and our society.
CAPRICORN — You will need to live with certain mysteries for a while, particularly regarding how your relationships seem to turn out different from how you plan them. What you must remember at this time in your life is that Saturn in your sign — and the fast-approaching Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 2020 — will be holding you to a hard line. Saturn raises the karmic stakes for everyone involved. Matters of ethics, of truth and of impartiality must be handled with the utmost awareness. It is likely that, during this time, you will need the guidance of those older and certainly wiser than yourself. All important decisions must be made on a delayed basis. There will be no bending your interpretation of events to suit your purposes. You will need documentation of everything you state as a belief. And when you don’t understand something, hold your mind open, and be observant. Do not make up a story.
AQUARIUS — Make sure you take good care of yourself this week, and persist in doing so. Get things started right: emphasize self-care as much as you are inclined to emphasize work. This simply must become a way of life for you, and this does present certain challenges that you’ll need to meet head-on. Food, rest, getting outside and, most of all, making sure you have and indulge whatever special thing makes you feel the most human. Also, with Saturn and Pluto in your solar 12th house, you will need to be aware of your anxiety level. This is off the charts in society as a whole, as we live our lives as if perched on the roof of a fireworks shed and have noticed a little smoke coming out of the corner. Much of your anxiety will relate to what you feel you do not know. Therefore, one result will be awareness, beginning with self-awareness. Meanwhile, keep learning and observing and connect the dots in pencil, not in Sharpie.
PISCES — Take a scientific approach to all things. I say that knowing that a man regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century, our fellow fish Albert Einstein, got his best idea intuitively, while walking on a flight of stairs. But then he had to follow up with the mathematics, and the experiments, and peer review by other scientists. By scientific approach, I mean knowing what can and cannot be proven; what can and cannot be established in facts; knowing what you know and do not know; and being willing to be proven wrong, in the interest of establishing the greater truth. Science always involves a delicate balance between intuition and firm knowledge. The two must support one another. What cannot be proven must be honestly recognized as such, though held open for potential validation. The truth itself does not change, though the road to it can indeed be winding, and long.
