The first and last Sabian symbols of a sign tell us something about that sign. For Leo, the first is, “Blood rushes to a man’s head as his vital energies are mobilized under the spur of ambition.” The last is, “An unsealed letter.” We move from an image of raw vital force, to the image of a deep inner secret being revealed.

Anyway, the days surrounding a major planetary station like this one can be weird, and carry a kind of uncertainty that we’re not used to. Imagine how it feels to be a ball thrown in the air; you’re going up, and you’re going to come down, and then three is that moment between where you just seem to stop in mid air, nothing holding you there except for inertia.

With Mars, think of this as relating to desire.

Chat Roulette

You probably heard it here first.

Chat Roulette made the big time; after being kicked around the blogs and networks, it got into the hands of Jon Stewart. The video you’re about to watch no doubt took a week or more to put together; you don’t put that much talent in one place without a lot of brainstorming, scripting and business: my personal favorite of JS ever, and I am a fan.

Here you go, from The Daily Show.

Aries Rising

It takes awareness to focus one’s mind in the midst of this, and what is coming through is not going to be of the rational bent: it’s Pisces stuff, which humanity often experiences as more than it can understand. Take the ocean, for example. You have some people who are careless and jump in not knowing how to swim, or the direction of the current.

Some go for the speedboat. There are others for whom the ocean means the Filet-o-Fish sandwich, some who attempt to conquer with the ocean liner, others who dump garbage and sewage in, others for whom it’s about sushi and oysters. Relatively few approach the ocean with actual respect; with the knowledge that when your feet are in the sea, you’re one breath from the edge, in practice and not in theory. We lack the knowledge that the ocean is the immune system of the planet, and when it is healthy, we are healthy.

Pisces is the cosmic source, the most watery water sign, the sign that embraces all, contains every trace element, swallows all differentiation, and provides a great deal in the way of direct knowledge and nourishment and much that seems like mist and taken for granted rainwater.

Pisces to human consciousness represents the headwaters of creation; the mouth of the river of creation; the River of Night and the ocean on which creation floats and into which it will someday dissolve. Pisces is too complex and too multifaceted to grasp in one thought, so it has to be taken in facets, and often appears in the mind of the beholder as what is already there. In other words, what Pisces presents is particularly the mystery itself — the mystery of perception and that which lurks right behind the drama of creation.

It is where seawater meets blood; when healthy, both have a similar pH range.

Pisces is “the sign before the first sign.” In the most microscopic terms, it is the ocean of amniotic fluid in which the protozoa – fish – proto-human – human is gestated. It is the consciousness before one’s name is known. It represents (what from our perspective is) the mystery of the creation and the desire that leads to creation: the desire to create. Pisces includes and embraces every creative, sexual and spiritual impulse, as humanity surfs down the generations and the aeons on these waves of impulse — this, however roughly or passionately, however consciously or not.

And as you can see from this chart and from what you are feeling, we have plenty of Pisces going energy right now. At the same time, Mars is stationing direct. This is exact Wednesday, but we are well into the process on an emotional and intuitive level, as well as every other. This is Mars in Leo, among the most fiery placements of the zodiac. Both Mars and Leo are the impulse to create: to actualize and manifest the potential of Pisces. The long retrograde of Mars is presenting all kinds of challenges with desire. One’s own inner enemies of desire, who are the inner enemies of life, may be acting up.

We are often unwilling to admit the extent we struggle with the unfreedom of creation and desire in our experience of life and Mars retrograde is making this fact plain to many. There is a frozen quality to Mars retrograde in a fire sign; it is an image of “the opposite of heat,” and this has certainly played out in the weather this winter.

I have news for everyone: a lot of heat is on the way — emotional, mental, erotic, creative, if you think there is a difference, all of it at once. Mars is about to station direct and in about three months cover the entire distance of Leo, from the first degree to the last degree and then move over the Sphinx point into the body of Virgo, the Virgin — this, as the planets gather in Aries, pouring in fire from the sign of I Am

This is adding an emotional quality to the air, but it’s energy that’s moving: trines open the gates, and what this is opening the gate to is quite a bit of Pisces energy pouring through the Scorpio Moon — thankfully Scorpio is a fixed sign and can handle the somewhat unstable, unpredictable energy of Pisces. We are still feeling the vibes of yesterday’s Venus conjunct Uranus, which brought all kinds of fun surprises in the door; you may have even surprised yourself a few times. However, clearly the necessity of the moment is focusing and grounding this emotional energy. Pluto in Capricorn is the constant reminder of this.

In the background, Mars is in the last week of retrograde motion. The station direct is March 10, after a tense, 12-week retrograde. This began Dec. 20 and ends next week, but the real effects spread from mid-autumn 2009 to late spring 2010. Mars is connected to the sign Aries, and in June the sky moves into some spectacular astrology in that particular sign — the rare conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus. Stay tuned for more details — and there are lots in the sign reports of Cosmic Confidential.

In other sky news, Mercury has joined an a gathering of planets in Pisces: Jupiter, Sun, Venus and Uranus.

Mars is taking its time drawing its 11-week retrograde to an end; this began around the winter solstice and ends on March 10.

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.

NCGR has been around for 39 years and has about 20 chapters in the United States and abroad — from New Jersey to Turkey to Mexico to New York City. I’m not sure what karmic connection I have to this bunch, but it’s friendly and useful; it started with one of my best early (and current) astrology mentors, David H. Arner. He has been involved with NCGR for decades.

The conference has been kind enough to invite me onto the faculty; I am the only person presenting on the newly discovered planets. Tomorrow I will teach my class, using Chiron, Nessus and Eris as examples. My only regret is that I don’t get to teach all day, every day (nobody does).

Last night at the faculty cocktail party, I slipped into the table where Rob Hand was sitting. I am an unabashed groupie; as a benefit, I ended up with about an hour of tutoring on questions I’d been saving up for a couple of years. Mostly it was a Sagittarius-styled conversation of philosophy. Rob basically proved that science as we know it would not have been possible without monotheistic religion. In effect, he said, science is monotheism, without God. After years of covering dioxin scandals, I would agree.

I will be back in a little while with more audio coverage on PlanetWaves.FM.

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.

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.

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.

You may have heard a version of the NCGR presentation a few months ago on Daily Astrology & Adventure, our main blog — I developed and rehearsed the presentation at a meeting of our local NCGR chapter, and posted the audio. With any luck at all, I’ll be posting the audio to both of these on Planet Waves, as well as blogging on both conferences as they happen.

See you kids in your inbox on Friday.

Peace & passion,

Updates daily at Planet Waves and Cosmic Confidential Diary.

Presentation at Poly Living 2010 on Feb. 20, by Eric Francis (in Philadelphia)

Our current definitions of relationship models — monogamy and polyamory — supposedly distinguish between whether a person has one partner or more than one. Yet about half of all ‘monogamous’ people have, or have had, sex outside a monogamous commitment; and all polyamorous people are involved in one-on-one relationships. Maybe they have more in common than we thought.

In truth, every relationship is based on each partner’s inner relationship to self, and this is the most significant factor to consider in how they relate to others. Further, all relationships with others are one-on-one bonds, no matter what their apparent style. These one-on-one relationships, whether sexual or not, whether ‘monogamous’ or ‘polyamorous’, each exist as part of much wider and far-reaching social networks.

Interpersonal relationships can support or hinder one’s relationship with oneself to varying degrees. Relationships are either supported by communities where they exist, or not; relationships support community, or not. Our prior dichotomy between relational styles, i.e., ‘monogamous versus polyamorous’, is neither descriptive nor useful at describing how real-life relationships work, since in effect, all relationships have important elements of both concepts. This presentation explores these real-life factors in our contacts with others, and how they relate to our wider social experiences.

Eric has presented for Loving More and other relationship-oriented events since 1997.

Presentation at the NCGR Planetary Revolution: Geocosmic Alchemy II conference on Feb. 27, by Eric Francis (in Cambridge, MA)

Since the 1977 discovery of Chiron, astronomers have discovered thousands of new planets and established several important new classes of planets orbiting our Sun. The most recent include Eris, the planet that compelled scientists to define the word ‘planet’ and reorganize their notion of the solar system. Yet astrology gives these discoveries only minimal attention.

Perhaps this is because they open up challenging areas of psychology rarely considered by astrologers. Maybe established astrologers don’t want to think they don’t really understand their own natal chart — a normal response to having five or 10 or 100 new points dropped in.

Using Eris, Chiron and Nessus as examples, Eric Francis will establish a foundation for using these planets in your counseling practice and written forecasts. You’ll learn the difference between an asteroid, a Centaur and a TNO (the three main classes of new discoveries).

Author of Small World Stories, Next World Stories and Cosmic Confidential, Eric has been researching the new discoveries since 1994 and teaching about them in the United States and Europe since 1998.