PLANET WAVES for Feb 5, 1999
By ERIC FRANCIS

Copyright ©1999, all rights reserved.

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ARIES (March 21-April 19)
I suggest that you use the strange winds and weather patterns of the coming weeks to do some financial reorganizing. With Saturn getting involved in your finances in the spring, the theme of the next couple of years is clearly going to be long-term planning, and now is the time to sketch out the grand design. I am talking about your big plans, your third home rather than your first, what your business will look like in 2002, and how you're going to get free of anything you currently do that you won't want to be doing as time progresses. By now you've grown accustomed to Saturn's energy dominating the entirety of your life; using his structuring power in this one particular area ought to be a breeze.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
This most recent era of your life has had a certain thunder to it regarding your life's work, but as I write these words, I am reminded that the story is told in what astrologers call "outer" planets. These are the far-away worlds Uranus and Neptune, the energy of which is highly elusive to most humans, whose psychic radar is tuned to things like Mars and the Moon. But it's important, very important, for you to notice the subtle ideas, the quiet innovations, the brainstorms happening in the back-studio of your mind where you don't usually hang out. Great achievements are possible right now. Genuinely amazing potentials are opening up wide, though if you want the goodies, you'll have to hear the calling, and you'll have to answer.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
This week I continue my vigil on the theme of your close personal relationships. New possibilities should be showing up right around now, and it's likely to be a refreshing relief from what may have been serious drudgery of recent years. But in these months, you are not likely to attract dull or lifeless people to you; on the contrary, they are likely to be about as much as you can handle, which is just about the right amount. If you're looking, look for people who are very, very different; who either stand out from the crowd, or stand way back; and, in particular, who seem to know quite a bit about the things you're the most interested in. If they seem far older or wiser, remember that in truth, everyone is your equal, and they may look up to you as well.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Recent developments or changes in the financial aspects of your life still require careful monitoring. You are at a point where you can begin to cross some of the more basic life needs off of your list of things to worry about, but I suggest you expand that list to include all the basic necessities of modern existence, and don't stop till you every one of them is no longer a matter of concern. You have better things to do with your time and energy than worry, and once your mind is tuned to the more creative wavelengths, you'll see just how obvious a waste fear and anguish are, and you'll notice how much help is available to you. The point being, it's time to do your thing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
Traditional astrology holds that the Sun, your ruling planet, is not so well placed in Aquarius, its current home, and further, that a solar eclipse in your opposite sign might give you reason to be sitting on the edge of your bench regarding close partnerships. But fortune truly favors the bold, and strong crosswinds like the ones that are now stirring up in your life provide the best opportunities to make authentic changes. The deep significance of the coming eclipse is its marking a new stage in your ability to open up to people and the world around you. It's as if you are looking straight into a huge opening that could be a mirror, a cosmic gateway, or a person whose frame of reference can lead you to many different places than you're currently accustomed to being.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
This is likely to have been a time of very fast changes for you, and I suggest you stop for about 15 minutes and make a little log of all that's happened in the past three weeks, just to maintain a sense of perspective. Current trends will continue through around March 10th, when Mercury changes directions, so I suggest you plan on this approximately five-week time-frame as your basic structure of operation. A lot is happening right now; you're in a storm of ideas; but are the things you want to be happening really happening, and further, are you having the kinds of creative visions you really desire? There's still plenty of time to correct your course, and even some recent digressions or tangents may prove to have been very useful.

LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22)
Dr. Wilhelm Reich wrote that, "Love, work and knowledge are the wellsprings of our life. They should also govern it." If your solar chart is any indication of anything, you are standing in a kind of miracle vortex, rapidly moving toward a space of unusual ease, pleasure and what may feel like sudden cosmic windfalls when love, work and knowledge show up all at the same time. And while you are indeed well-placed for good things to develop, make no mistake: You worked for this privilege. You actually earned it, and by all rights, life will be all the sweeter for the memory of your toil and frustration, memories which, by all indications should be fairly close at hand.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
I have it on excellent advice that more of you Scorpios go looking for your horoscopes than any other sign. The Mountain Astrologer recently devoted an entire rather thick issue (still on the newsstands or at http://www.TheMountainAstrologer.com/) to Scorpio. And, for what it's worth, most of my readers who have an opinion think I'm a Scorpio, and quite honestly, I'm flattered. But you and I both know that it's not always such an easy trip living this life of constant transformation, of awesome, irrational passion, and of your highly refined sense of power and its effects. The good news is that for the coming weeks, you have a rare opportunity to drain off negativity, old karma and stale emotions like somebody pulled out a plug at the bottom of your psychic septic tank. This is good. I not only predict that you'll be far more clear, but that you'll allow yourself to use this emotional clarity to say and do the things you really love to and with the people you love even more.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21)
I couldn't help but notice that one of my most travel-obsessed Sagittarian friends was pretty much stuck at home taking care of business in the US for the entire duration of Jupiter's 12-month trip through Pisces; Pisces is the fourth solar house of Sagittarius ­ the house of hearth and home ­ and it was a year of more than a few miracles for her, but she was pretty much grounded for the duration. But now Jupiter, the god of joviality, sharing and wisdom, is heading for your solar fifth house, the house of fun, risks, lovemaking, art, and sunshine. And there are other extremely positive planetary factors shaping up as well. So I suggest you take the next couple of weeks and tie up the loose ends at home, recruit somebody highly qualified to feed and cuddle your cat, and get ready. Get ready for what? Get ready to do anything you feel like. Because you are very likely to be feeling like something exciting.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Saturn, your ruling planet, has a reputation for being somewhat resistant to change. That is pretty much its job. But the best description I've ever heard of how this works went like so ­ though I'm not sure of the origins of this beautiful little parable. God has two hands, Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is the expansion principle, so when God is working on a pottery wheel, Jupiter is the hand on the inside that pushes the pot out. Saturn is the stability principle, so it's the hand outside the pot making just enough resistance ­ flexible resistance, by the way ­ to maintain the structure of the clay. Both are necessary to shape the clay. Right now, Saturn, Jupiter and several other important factors are extremely well-placed to create the perfect balance of expansion and compression, of freedom and control, of ease and difficulty. It's a good time to make things, pottery or otherwise.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 19-Feb. 18)
Much of what we do in life focuses on the idea of becoming. We become the masters of our careers and become brilliant people and we become great lovers, artists and writers. For Water Bearers, the theme of this particular passage of your life involves unbecoming. That is, it's a time of unlearning what is false, making a note of what no longer works, and what no longer serves your values, and getting rid of it. It's a time of dismantling, so that you can make room for what is right and true for you at this important stage of your reality. Some of this unbecoming is going to happen whether you want to it or not; I suggest you remain very conscious of the process for about three weeks, and use this awesome power wisely and very deliberately.

PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)
Have you ever pondered what makes intelligence? For instance, have you noticed that some really "smart" people are actually rather stupid, while some people who are theoretically quite dumb and ignorant are really very brilliant, even though they can't do calculus in the dark or recite the names of the US presidents? After years of studying the ways of enlightenment, I have determined that just two things contribute to authentic intelligence. One is sensitivity to beauty. The other is sensitivity to intuition. With both of these factors running near their peak in your life these days, no matter what your IQ happens to be, I have no doubt that you'll be able to make the best use of the opportunities that come your way, especially if they're in the form of anything exquisitely aesthetic.

THE THIRTEENTH SIGN (For the Faithful)
This week, we are standing between two eclipses ­ the Leo lunar eclipse that happened Jan. 31, and the solar eclipse due to occur in Aquarius Feb. 16. I've been watching eclipses with excruciating care since I started studying astrology; they are always important, and following them is an easy way into the planetary-psychic matrix. Eclipse weeks are intense times, worthy of the right mixture of caution, consciousness, and calculated risk. The formula: Do what you really want, because the eclipse will amplify its effects. It is worth mentioning that in August, the next time eclipses come around, we will experience The Big One, a total solar eclipse in Leo that some astrologers have been watching approach for decades. This is your six-month notice of life becoming a very different kind of adventure. More here in the coming weeks.
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Eric Francis is a professional astrologer. For information about private readings, see http://www.PlanetWaves.net/personal.html, or contact Eric at eric@PlanetWaves.net or call the office at (914) 339-3339.

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