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By Eric Francis | May 30, 2002 Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index June Monthly | Daily Edition Left, the Temple of the Virgin, Vesta, is the oldest marble building existing in Rome, from late 2nd century BCE. It may have actually been devoted to Hercules in his role as patron saint of... well, olive oil merchants. Go figure. | | I am very interested in hearing from you about the events of the past weekend: whether revelations, experiences, changes in relationships, discoveries or significant meetings, or plain old ordinary reality. We have lived through the third exact meeting of Saturn and Pluto, as well as stage one of the three-eclipse cycle, and are now in that mysterious "time between eclipses." In such astrological phases, small moves mean a lot. We need to work with the energy of unpredictability rather than work against it, and that means maintaining a high level of attention, as aware as reasonably possible. You could say that we are being taken through the Saturn-Pluto historical vortex with these eclipses. One way to view eclipses astrologically is like canal locks. They take us from one level of personal reality to another, much as Saturn-Pluto takes us from one major historical phase to another. For those wondering about the Temple of the Virgin references in this week's column, Mars has joined minor planet #4, Vesta, in the sign Cancer, and the two hold a long, slow, delicious conjunction all month, which perfects June 23, right at the summer solstice. | | Sign dates below are approximate. They now overlap by one day. The date and time of the Sun's ingress to the new sign changes a little each year, so please check with an astrologer if you want the exact position of your Sun, and while you're at it, your rising sign -- this horoscope is written for both your Sun and rising signs. If you find that some other sign's interpretations work for you, then go for it. | | Aries (March 20-April 21) | | The mythology of the Temple of the Virgin is quite alive in your life and in your home. Hmmmm. Imagine... if you will... the heat, the fire and the passion of a fully mature virgin. Imagine her heart's longing, the deep self-awareness and the cry of her cells. And then, imagine the dilemma if all that fire were not her's to celebrate, but rather, if it were "devoted to a higher purpose." Imagine if there were grave consequences for surrendering to that deep, passionate and natural yearning. And then, imagine if there were not. | | Taurus (April 21-May 20) | | The past year or so of your life has been dominated by the theme of exchange, and there will be moments when this subject reaches a crisis-level, if it hasn't already. Now, how would the crisis of giving and receiving be alleviated if you recognized that you have more than enough to give? And what if, unless you became very generous, you would have no idea how much you actually had to share, and had to enjoy of your own? There is a second part of this situation, which is about receiving. Have I written this 29 times? Receiving love is harder than giving it. Receiving love puts us in touch with the real wound we suffer, and it also is the best way to heal, to be sane, and to be free. | | Gemini (May 20-June 21) | | Serious days, kid. Serious time in your life. Saturn is all upon your solar chart, or rather, your solar chart is all upon Saturn. This is the age of reckoning for you. This is the turning point you knew would some day arrive, perhaps wondering when and how. This is the cusp of true maturity: I don't care if you're 14 or 44 or 58. There is this urgent necessity to go deep into yourself, to move past your inner limits, and to honor the clarity that will carry you forward in life from this point and beyond. An image comes to mind, as I listen to a Grateful Dead show recorded 12-29-77 (there are no words to describe that show, but fortunately there is a recording), sung with authority and blazing clarity by Garcia, one of the patron saints of Saturn in Gemini: Wish I was a headlight on a northbound train
Wish I was a headlight on a northbound train
I'd shine my light through that cool Colorado rain. | | Cancer (June 21-July 22) | | Desire the elusive, desire, the complicated, desire the fierce, consuming, destroying, creating force that drives the universe forward. (Pluto is over-rated in this regard: Mars does much of his actual work, and now Mars is with you.) How would it feel if you took up your desire as strength? How would it feel if you exonerated yourself of all the misgivings surrounding this most necessary and urgent expression of humanity? As it turns out, you don't have much of a choice in the matter. | | Leo (July 22-Aug. 22) | | All through these weeks I have tracking developments in your public life. There is really no way to overdo or overstate the issue, since Mercury is retrograde in your 11th solar house of your friends and colleagues, and the rewards of your work. That demands attention. Saturn is there, leading you to confront your fears of taking a step into the larger world, and your fears of being compensated fairly for this action. And there is an eclipse brewing in that house, a total solar eclipse of the first order. This is as Get Real as astrology comes served. | | Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22) | | As opposed to your public life (see Leo) for Virgo, the action has been centered one house earlier, the 10th, what William Lilly described as the house of "honors and dignities of the native." There is so much happening in this house, including your 'ruling' planet, Mercury, in his other domain, Gemini, retrograde, and Saturn, and that eclipse: both mercury retrograde and the eclipse are about the timing of events. And that timing says that things really start to pick up around the 8th of the month (when Mercury stations direct) and gather momentum from that point forward. I would suggest this: be patient, and begin internalizing your new role. Because this is clearly about leadership, and that comes from deep within. | | Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) | | As so often happens, charts follow themes. There is a lot of action in the sign Cancer right now, including recently-arrived Mars (who showed up this past weekend), as well as Venus, Jupiter and Vesta. And as it turns out, Cancer is the 10th solar house of Libra, the peak of the chart (see above), and Mars going across the angle, that sensitive, responsive 10th house cusp, adds energy, passion and the quest for freedom to your professional life. This requires a light touch. I trust that you are either a balanced person or capable of getting your head together when you need to. Now is such a time. There is a "can do no wrong" energy to your chart right now, which is a really good time to be careful, and do what is not just right, but perfectly right. | | Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) | | Are you grieving the loss of the original woman you once were, who you may have sacrificed to goals you did not really want, or were forced to give up in order to survive in the world? The fact that you can feel at all is evidence that she is still alive within you, for she is the part of you who feels. Yet for her to find full expression in your life, you must not be afraid to become her entirely, and surrender to her necessities and desires. This holds true particularly among your friends, who are the people who often limit who we are the most. Her primal wound is really about judgment and the fear of judgment, and yet she is, in all truth, blameless. For the men: can you stand a real woman in your life? Can you give her the room and the freedom to BE? | | Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) | | I remember one time, years ago, my father was commenting on what his friend Stan said about his son Damon. Damon, who is a few years younger than me, was seeking enlightenment. My father (as I remember the story) said he had no clue what that was, and Stan (a brain surgeon) was perplexed as well that his son would seek experiences that were not material, but in their essence, spiritual and fully intangible. There is a book about this kind of quest by an infinitely promising young man, actually, called The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maughm. And this is very much the story of your life. No one understands your quest but you. But, however, the sky is one huge setup for just about everyone getting the heck out of your way and letting you be whoever you need to be. But it's worth remembering, as is written in the Katha Upanishad, and so often quoted: The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard. | | Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) | | People have a way of generalizing from bad experiences, even one bad experience. These generalizations are called prejudices, and they suck the life out of us by denying the perception of new experiences in new ways. But really, they deny us the experience of ourselves in new ways, and this is the biggest ripoff of all. Somewhere, you may be harboring the notion or the intuition that the world is conspiring against you. But what if the opposite were true? What if this life were one huge conspiracy for your benefit? And what if all that stood between one "reality" and the other was your idea of which was true? You are very, very close to that right now. Close enough to take the step. | | Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) | | As I write this horoscope Thursday morning in the local café, the moon has recently entered your sign, where it will move for the next 60 or so hours. This has to feel good. During the past few days, particularly last weekend, it's as if you picked up a static charge and have been a walking ball of energy. The Aquarius moon is here to give you points of release and expression, a chance to move and move through all your bright green voltage. Be selective where you make your connections and you'll get some really nice results. | | Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) | | You know, or rather you have learned the hard way, or maybe you are just learning now, that sex is a time for you to relax, surrender and bliss out. But if only... if only the world felt the same way. Just a purple reminder: there are many people for whom erotic pleasure, and the larger experience of giving into our feelings that makes erotic pleasure possible, are big issues. I mean sin. I mean a cause for major anxiety, mistrust and nameless, voiceless suspicion. these are not the people you need to be among right now. There is no reason whatsoever. You can't really help them, anyway. Fortunately, there are a lot of fish in the sea.
PS, for everyone, with love from San Francisco: Right outside this lazy summer home
you don't have time to call your soul a critic, no
Right outside the lazy gate of winter's summer home
wondering where the nuthatch winters
Wings a mile long just carried the bird away Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own... | Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index | Consultations  Space graphic above from the Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur.
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