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Horoscopes 4-04
by Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19)
Extraordinarily promising events may seem to be failing to work out as planned. Or they may seem to be running their course too soon for your pleasure. Yet a deeper cosmic enterprise is at work; the stars have an agenda for you, and you cannot judge it from the outside. You simply must have faith, and do everything in your power to avoid the battles of words or unnecessary conflicts that only waste your energy. Words do, however, have their use. If you can put your energy into learning how to get along with women, for which words are extremely useful, you will cultivate a life skill that you’ll benefit from for the rest of your days. You may have tried and failed many times; you may have given up. Don’t blame your sisters. Don’t blame yourself. Just get it. Women are worth the effort.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Most people will tell you that commitment is a decision, which seems convenient enough. I am not so sure. When it works, commitment seems more honestly to be a form of alchemy, and this happens in its own way and time, and it happens outside the normal realm of choice. We’ve all experienced this, and it doesn’t always make sense at the time, though in retrospect it can seem perfectly logical. What you do possess is the power to consciously observe, and to respond to what you notice at all times. During the next two seasons, you’re going to see what has hurt you in the past, and rid yourself of those aspects of your life. These may not be pleasant confrontations, but they will be highly effective ones.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
In the click-and-buy-it world, it’s easy to think you should go for what you want and get it. Then there is the reality of six billion humans coexisting in the dimension of free will. How about this for a guiding principle: see whom and what you draw to you, and choose from among your options. Relationships that are not held together by the power of attraction are supported by something much more sinister. But you have yet to discover the real power of your heart and mind to magnetize community and unite the support you need in the world. You have come to live in a universe that’s all too narrow and predictable, and that is about to change in ways that, I assure you, you could have never foreseen.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Career developments proceeding on that annoying start-stop-and-renegotiate basis are actually the most promising, though time will tell. It would seem there’s so much momentum to these developments that nobody can stop them, not even you. You are noticeable, and people have taken notice. You have succeeded in reaching people—more people than you think. And you’ve done the most vital thing anyone can do in their professional life, which is set clear goals and take solid initiative. You have removed a few annoying obstacles to your success as well, and become a star on your own team. Now you get to do what you do second best: persist. And what you do very best: offer your love of the world to the world.

Leo (July 22-August 23)
It may be taking longer than planned to work out long-distance arrangements, but you’re in a fine position to tap into your inventiveness and experience with true determination. If you pay attention, you will notice that everything comes back to communication. But you could also say that, on the most personal level, the past few weeks have been little other than an exercise in developing your creative prowess and cultivating your initiative. Or is it your faith? Given the rather unpredictable nature of the world, meeting your long-term plans and objectives is very much a matter of keeping your heart and soul open to the best possibilities. It may be encouraging to hear that your most promising achievements follow the days on which your worst fears seem the most real. .

Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Your intelligence is not failing you; rather, you seem to be the one who is not quite taking notice of the excellent information readily available now. I tell you, economically feasible solutions to all the problems in the world are sitting in file drawers somewhere. And your life is not any different. It would also seem you’ve been here before. The biggest mistake you can make is to compensate for your perceived limitations with some form of aggression, such as the motivation to conquer or win the day by dividing anyone or anything. I recommend precisely the opposite approach: act in ways that hold the world together. Start with yourself. You need a unified set of objectives, ones that take into account the considerable inner divisions you may currently feel. From there, the way to peace and harmony will be obvious.

Libra (September 22-October 23)
Relationships have a beginning, middle, and end, and the stages of relationship do as well. It would appear that you are shifting stages now, rather than ending a relationship. Live the changes as consciously as you can. Most people are in near-total denial of this process and strive to preserve a perpetual state of romantic passion long after its time has passed. What you’re now experiencing in a close personal affair is like a lifetime within a hidden valley. Live it for all you’ve got, and let it change when that time arrives, with all faith that something daring, beautiful, or at least truly meaningful awaits you on the other side. To get there, you need to cross the distance: live, to surrender and be willing to move past your temporarily limited understanding of life.

Scorpio (October 23-November 22)
The sooner you can get clear that you cannot and will not change for someone else’s benefit, the sooner you’re going to seize the rare and awesome moment that’s fast approaching. This is likely to involve a joint financial matter, and one that is not necessarily so promising. It seems that someone who knows better is not getting the message, despite all your efforts to make the point. All talk and no action, all mind and too little heart, and, well, a bit lacking in the groin. Setting aside money matters for the moment, you would do well to practice scrupulous honesty and spoken, clear intention around any and all sexual matters, and insist that others do the same. There is a lot of common ground between sex and money, and that is power.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 22)
May all the people who lack confidence in themselves push you into having that confidence yourself. They have to have a use, after all, besides wasting food and air. You cannot compensate for them. It’s not your job to make sure that their work gets done. But you can get over your own petty insecurities and recognize that the world is very much your creative workshop right now. To get there from here, you need to do what Sagittarians do best, but which for too long has been something of a struggle for you: see the big picture. Not the medium-sized picture, or the shapes suggested in the half-assembled puzzle, but the very largest picture. That will tell you want you want, which is all you need to know.

Capricorn (December 22-January 20)
Embrace the reality that we all make our own decisions. This is true no matter what the outer appearance may be, or what various shades of petty tyrant try to get us to believe. Everyone chooses, and chooses all the time; most of what we choose is how we feel. That, in turn, is often the choice between truth and lie, because most self-deception occurs on the level of emotion. There’s a word for lying to ourselves about our feelings, and that word is denial. I know this can seem like a perfectly logical way to live in a world where we seem to have neither power nor control. But both of those factors are exercised by one action: choice. If you want to regain your freedom, look around and find the moment of choosing, or better still, know when you are there.

Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
Life is not a theoretical experience. The world is a sad place for those who think it is. Living in theory involves a separation of mind and body, and this never happens without a deep cause, usually in childhood. To live and live truly, you must encounter the fundamental psychic wound that binds you to abstraction, defeatism, and loss of faith. To embrace these conditions consciously is one of the most brave and human things you can do. You will learn, and you are learning. If you’re making certain mistakes again, trust that you’re making them for the last time. Just meet yourself halfway and allow yourself to be one whose primary mission is to learn well enough to be a happy learner—no more and no less.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)
Though it’s annoying being light years ahead of everyone, particularly those who offer themselves as visionaries and are little other than warmed-over intellectuals or fear mongers, get used to it. You are being hurled ahead of yourself and your peers, and that’s not an experience you can share with too many people in its pure form. At times, you will need to apply your magnificent Piscean adaptability to reach back in time to those who are still struggling with ideas that you gave up as obviously pointless or outmoded five or ten years ago. There is an art to this, and much of it involves understanding that people living in the past need to see a way to a future that does not frighten them. The rest involves teaching yourself, once again, that fear holds no real value.

Planet Waves is published twice weekly as a subscriber service. For more information, check out www.PlanetWavesWeekly.com, or call (877) 453-8265. Planet Waves Weekly includes a horoscope, an essay, and a birthday report each week as well as aquasphere, the 2004 annual horoscope homepage.

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.