Backbone > Planet Waves

Horoscopes 1-04
by Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19)
As you’ve just learned, a political solution is much easier than one involving conflict or force, particularly if you’re fighting yourself. The thing with political means is that they often involve compromise, and that which you’re most likely to compromise on at the moment is something that’s quite essential to whom you are. I suggest you set the terms of your negotiation in advance, with yourself, so you’ve got a short list of the issues you’re willing to trade and exchange. Meanwhile, there’s another factor involved of which no party to the discussion is likely to be aware at the moment, but you’re going to be the first to notice. It falls under the general heading of “why this discussion is so important,” and I trust you’ll recognize it when you see it.
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Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Gradually, there are fewer external factors influencing your relationships. For a while there, it seemed like you could do nothing, say nothing, choose nothing that does not directly involve checking in with the reality of another person, even to the point of getting their permission. Now the question has shifted to the elusive idea of freedom, and discerning the illusion from the reality of freedom. Some would say that freedom comes from no commitments; others would say that it emerges from clear commitments. I take the second view. There’s no need to be hot and heavy about this. Strive for understanding, agreement in principle, and a sense of what serves the larger whole, and you’ve got your solution set.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Please pause and take in the vista of your life. Make a point of it; perhaps devote an entire day to the purpose, traveling far enough from your usual routine to be able to see and feel your experience of being consciously alive. You have a rare perspective right now, one unlike any you’ve experienced in this lifetime. I propose that it offers several beautiful opportunities. One is being able to see the world from the viewpoint of others. Another is being able to experience yourself as others experience you. There is a miracle involved, and perspective is the word that keeps coming to mind. Perception is a box and if you look, you’ll see that the universe is decidedly not a box.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
This is your year to learn about children, and taking care of them. Children are in one respect the forgotten people of the world, and in another, they are the pawns of the political system. Many people claim to have their best interests in mind, but instead are driven by precisely the opposite agenda. Parenting, or any contact with children, must invoke in the adult the experience of being a child: the vulnerability, curiosity, fear, and yearning for attention. This and only this is what can break the spiral of abuse in which Western culture is spinning so wildly. Given the world condition, we’re all in the position of needing to be that much more loving, protective, and aware. You’ve not only got something to learn about all of this, you’ve got a few things to teach.

Leo (July 22-August 23)
There are all kinds of wealth and riches lurking in the midst of the current darkness. This season (speaking to those in the Northern Hemisphere) is so contrary to the nature of your sign. Yet you carry the light within you, and as a result can illuminate spaces in the world that few others can see. Be on the lookout for opportunity. It may not appear as an enormous, overwhelming offer, but rather as a method of assembling many smaller resources into something significant. Developing your work and working patterns continues to be an increasingly important aspect of your growth process. So much of life is work, and while a decent employment situation doesn’t by itself give you a good life, it certainly helps, and help is certainly on the way.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)
There are many ways to handle—or not handle—the question of relationship, and it would appear these days that quite a few people attempt to cloister themselves away and cut off all contact with the world. There are many reasons for this, and most of them come back to fear: fear of being known, of being acknowledged, of being seen, and most of all, fear of changing. You can expect many knocks on the door as these weeks and months unfold. These will be visits from people announcing that it’s time to come out, to experience life in very different ways than you’re accustomed to, and most of all, to let your human encounters shake up your entire previously known reality. Imagine this: they have no other purpose, and it’s a good purpose, so you might as well have fun.

Libra (September 22-October 23)
Many people are waking up to the reality of sexual healing. Spiritual, psychological, and emotional methods of self-help are important, but for quite a few people the sexual realm is one that needs special attention. I want to point out that in present times, the concept of “healing” has entirely replaced “growth” and “awareness”, and I’m not so sure this is a good idea. This is because healing automatically implies a process that is devoted to addressing a lack of wellness rather than a natural process of becoming. Getting in tune with and expressing one’s sexuality implies all of the above. And the easiest and most obvious place to start is by tuning into your immediate awareness of what you see, feel, and think. Watch out, though: it’s a potent cosmic force.

Scorpio (October 23-November 22)
There would appear to be something about yourself that you’re in the process of shedding or rejecting. The energy of starting anew is being shouted from the rooftops of your life, and you’ve embarked on a mystical journey with incredible determination. Like all true journeys, this one started within you, and in many respects continues that way, under which plan you are presently the most important player on the stage. This works for long enough to get a whole new sense of your purpose. Then all of a sudden there’s a shift. You go public. You encounter The Other full on. Really, you encounter yourself, and the question is whether you’ve actually given up what you’re wanting so earnestly to leave behind today.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 22)
I don’t suggest you pursue a relationship situation; let it find you. This may take an extraordinary act of faith on your part—and it’s not the act of faith you think it is. While you’re the one doing the seeking, you can convince yourself that you really want things to be a certain way. You are likely to be distracted from your deeper feelings. If you pause and allow the situation to develop, you’ll have to really ask yourself the question of what you want, and then, if the opportunity actually presents itself, make a choice. For you, the decision appears to be about whether you can fully accept the extent to which you may be appreciated for who you are at your very best, and not for who you fear you may never be.

Capricorn (December 22-January 20)
Identity is not a fixed entity. We live as though it were. It’s based on many factors, most particularly choice. But it rarely seems that way; we get up and we are who we were yesterday, except that we’re not. Our feelings, thoughts, cellular structure, and body chemistry are all a little different. So, too, is the I we call me. Perhaps it would help if you could see the possibilities from which you may choose. At present, there is the politician. There is the wounded child. There is the servant. There is the wise communicator. And there is the healer. These personas will respond quite differently when they feel powerful or like victims, which is the first and most important choice you can make along the way to deciding who you are.

Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
Freedom is the freedom to feel. We may do what we wish, move about the face of the planet, say what we want, and refuse to do what we think is immoral. But none of these actions comes close to the freedom to feel. If you tune into this you may quickly recognize just how much you suppress your feelings; that’s the way of the world, particularly the way of the Western world, and heck, much of the Eastern world. When in doubt, we shut down. That forces us into the little boxes that our lives become. There is a revolution happening in your life. Some changes will happen slowly; others are happening with surprising speed. Feel your way to the truth of who you are, and call nothing less being alive.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)
Ever-sensitive Pisces is often given to regrets. Today you have no room for wondering what might have been, and can indulge the enormous blessing of wondering what will come. Embrace the changes that are arriving in your life; they are long overdue. Some may say you have no way to be so sure of what you know, and no business taking the risks that you are considering. But this is very much an “if not now, then when?” kind of moment. Pisces is the sign of hidden and invisible things, qualities and forces of nature. But there are rare times in history when those once-unseen and unnoticed influences rise to the surface of life and make themselves known in rather bright colors.

You can read the Eric Francis horoscope, essay, and birthday report every week at PlanetWavesWeekly.com. Look there for information about Aquasphere, Eric’s 2004 annual gift CD. The CD comes with online access to annual horoscopes (three different ones—Sun sign, Moon sign, and the Year in Sex) as well as essays on the transits of 2004 and much about the condition of water on World Earth. Aquasphere is the ultimate Astrology meets Ecology art and music project. You can also contact Eric for information about personal sessions or holiday gift readings by calling (877) 453-8265 or checking PlanetWaves.net.