Now that the Friday edition of Planet Waves is on its way to subscribers, I can get back to audio coverage of the NCGR conference. (This will update about four times a day, so check back regularly.) NCGR stands for National Council for Geocosmic Research; that’s a fancy way of saying a bunch of astrologers get together every couple of years and share notes, teach classes and workshops, and several hundred punters come from around the country and listen to what we have to say.

This is one of the main ways people learn astrology — at these hotel conferences put on by different organizations. It’s one of the pre-internet methods, another being reading books, classes in the dining room, and mail correspondence courses. So this kind of event is a bit of a throwback to the days before the iPhone.

(more…)

Kids, I will be taking a few days off from this diary to catch up on some rest and non-astrological writing. I’ll be back Monday. — Eric Francis

It’s not a secret or anything, but I don’t mention it often: there exist a number of planets that don’t have bodies. They are like the souls of planets, with known orbits, used by a very few astrologers. No astronomer would agree that they exist. They all come from Germany and are products of the 20th century. One of them is called Transpluto.

I didn’t use Transpluto until a software update came out, introducing it to my charts. I had heard of it years ago, but never tuned in: Chiron and the new discoveries of ‘real’ planets were enough. But over the past 14 months I have been working with Transpluto, I’ve noticed that it’s an interesting, useful entity to include in charts. Its theme: narrow focus; specificity; sometimes to a fault.

All planets and points behave or perform differently depending on what other points they align with. Transpluto aligned with Mercury is going to be one thing, with Venus another and with the Sun yet another. Today, the Sun in the last degree of Aquarius is precisely opposite Transpluto in the last degree of Leo. So we get a kind of laser focus of the Sun; of the creative impulse.

Transpluto moves slowly, taking hundreds of years to ‘orbit’ the Sun. It is parked for a while in the last degree of Leo, which has an interesting degree symbol — An Unsealed Letter. This is the idea that eventually, everything about us will be known and is subject to being known; there are no secrets. Transpluto is taking about something highly specific that we consider a secret, which is destined for all to know.

Today the Sun opposite this point is shining some light on what that might be.

The Moon is in Aries all day, making relatively few aspects. That could mean passion with no place to direct it. For most, passion translates to high vibes, optimism and a touch of aggression.

All wonderful, though to keep things moving in a positive direction, that is, relatively free from conflict, you will need to direct your energy consciously; the ‘passion’ level needs to be tempered by an intellectual level. That should be pretty easy, given that the one aspect the Moon makes is to Mercury in Aquarius at 5:23 pm EST / 10:23 pm GMT. Work with a conscious, mentally-approved plan. Direct your thoughts and ideas consciously, set goals and make your decisions based on moving in that direction.

Remember: one good idea can save a lot of work. Write this on a sticky and put it on your monitor. Tell me the story if it turns out to give you something brilliant. (Send to dreams at planetwaves.net and I’ll post it here.)

As of this writing on Wednesday morning, the Sun is in Aquarius for about 36 hours more. Sol enters Pisces, the last sign, on Thursday, Feb. 18 at about 1:36 pm EST / 6:36 pm GMT. There is something of an adventure in the Pisces ingress chart: an adventure of identity. We don’t like this situation of waking up every day a different person, but that’s what the Pisces chart reminds us that we do. The idea is not to search for the truth of who we are, but rather to observe the process of change and evolution as it happens.

Catch you tomorrow here at the Confidential Diary. More astrology and adventure at Planet Waves.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today I want to tell you a little about what I do a few times a year when I’m not writing for Planet Waves, which is offer talks and workshops. I have two coming up over the next two weekends, and I’m including the descriptions below so you can get a sense of what they’re about.

In-person presenting is a truly refreshing alternative to spending 15 hours a day online, and I do it whenever I can. I work in lecture format, and workshop-intensive format, presenting on a wide variety of topics (for example, investigative reporting for activists and bloggers).

We don’t learn enough in school and we need to get together and form our own personal universities. Plus, the best way to learn is to teach, if you have the patience. I am lucky; I have the patience, and I love the rewards of integrating my personal knowledge and passing along some of what I’ve learned to the next generations on the planet (and as is often the case, to my elders).

You will see the title of the first conference presentation as the lead article in Planet Waves Astrology News, which will be cross posted to Cosmic Confidential as well.
(more…)

Hello and happy Valentine’s Day and unofficial Chinese New Year. As of a couple of hours ago the Moon is now in Pisces, conjunct Venus and Jupiter, and we are on the first day of the lunar cycle.

Yesterday was the Aquarius New Moon. Finally I don’t have to use the word ‘survived’ when describing an aspect: this one had a more gentle action, though I’m sure there were some moments of awakening that might have felt a bit edgy — no matter what you do to Chiron it can have that feeling. Today is also the peak of the Chiron-Neptune conjunction that has been developing for the past nine months; true, along with much other astrology that has set the tone: but Chiron-Neptune is a window, a passage way to another world of consciousness.

I’m having a really interesting Chiron-Neptune experience right now. Someone sent me a link to ChatRoullette.com. This is a rapid speed service that pairs you with a random stranger around the world. You might want to read this first, so you have a clue what to expect: nothing too intellectually sophisticated, more like an experience of the fast-moving random anonymity of the ‘Net 15 years ago: but very, very Chiron-Neptune.

I suggest your settings to Cam Required and Auto Reconnect so that you get visuals with each person you contact. You will be taken through a series of instant connects into a stream of faces around the world, many from Asia, Europe and a few from the United States. It is, so far as I can reckon, totally anonymous. If you end up with anything too pervy for you, just click NEXT and move on fast.

You will see a little of everything, and get to feel that sense of instantaneous contact with soul after soul. After an hour, I am left with some haunting images in my mind…mainly of eyes.