Mercury Retrograde: The Week From the Future Dear Friend and Reader: As Mercury stationed retrograde in Aquarius Tuesday, we had yet another week from science fiction. The 2012-era theme of ‘everything, all at once' seems to be persisting into the new phase of astrological history, as events this first week of the year have demonstrated.
My personal take on this retrograde, beginning in Aquarius and ending Jan. 25 in Capricorn, is that it's referring to the power of the group mind. We need to learn to solve problems together rather than laying them at the feet of heroes. Many issues -- spiritual, psychological and economic (i.e., ego trips and greed) -- tend to interfere with groups functioning. Plus, it's always easier to delegate to the nearest daddy figure. Especially for a society with some serious daddy issues. Yet if we want to survive our current phase of societal adolescence, we need to get over that little hump and learn to work together. I covered this theme (and others) in Monday's edition, where you can also find my weekly horoscope. I'll be covering the beginning of the week (publishing the weekly horoscope on Mondays) and Len Wallick will be taking up the end of the week (with horoscopes in each Thursday night issue). As for the news -- let's see, where to begin? How about: North Korea claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday. A tearful Pres. Obama used executive orders to increase enforcement of existing gun regulations. Gun nuts were all over TV claiming (among other things) that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to fight against the government -- not to fight for the government, as the "well-ordered militia" clause of the amendment seems to clearly imply. There was an excellent debate about gun rights on Democracy Now! this week, which you can listen to here. Note, we publish this program daily to our main website, as part of our new affiliation with the Pacifica Radio Network. It's an action-packed, commercial-free news hour that I just love. As American stock markets continued to be sluggish, stocks of gun manufacturers climbed to new highs, and media reports said that gun sales in recent weeks set all-time records.
The whole notion of Trump campaigning in Vermont, the home state of Bernie Sanders, Phish and Ben & Jerry's, has many observers giggling. The Trump campaign is an event in American politics rivaled only by the George Wallace campaign of 1968 (also a Year of the Monkey in Chinese astrology). Just about everything that happens has happened before. Wallace, the infamous Alabama segregationist, makes Trump seem like a nice guy. The Donald is the friendly kind of asshole, tempered by political correctness and the instantly responsive nature of the Internet, even if he thinks he's not. Trump, meanwhile, accused his main rival for the Republican nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz, the snake-oil salesman from Texas, of not being a natural-born citizen; thus, of being ineligible for the presidency. Cruz is Cuban, born in Canada to American parents. Funny that Cruz is all about building that wall that would keep those foreign weirdos out, just like Trump wants to do. But this week, Trump demanded credit for the concept of the wall. The Chinese chimed in, saying it was really their idea.
The irony is that McCain, often said to be born in the Panama Canal Zone, was really born in a hospital in Colon, Panama -- outside the U.S.-leased canal zone (which was not even a proper U.S. territory, more like a rental property). The Senate addressed this at the time with a resolution declaring McCain a natural-born citizen. They actually did that. Nimr al-Nimr, a famous Saudi Shi'ite cleric, was executed by the Saudi Arabian government on Saturday, Jan. 2, apparently against the urging of the U.S. government. Forty-six other prisoners were executed at the same time, all on charges of alleged terrorism. This is said to have been the biggest Saudi mass execution in decades. Usually this is done by public beheading. Note, the Saudis are our friends. I mean the U.S. government's friends. Saudi Arabia has a Sunni Muslim majority and a Shi'ite Muslim minority; Iran has a Shi'ite government. This has led to increased tensions between the Saudis and the Iranians, in a region where plenty is going wrong already. Notably, the Obama administration has entered a record $50 billion in new arms sales agreements with the Saudis, so they have plenty of weapons to fight the Iranians with. Meanwhile the Saudi government has recently implemented austerity measures, due to revenue shortfalls associated with the rapidly falling price of crude oil -- now down to about $40 a barrel.
Closer to home, the Texas state trooper who pulled a woman from her car for smoking, then arrested her, has been charged with perjury. The woman, Sandra Bland, was later found dead in her jail cell, which state officials claim was suicide. Bland did not have a history of mental health issues, and her friends and family say that that she had no reason to kill herself. The same grand jury that did not prosecute prison officials for Bland's death chose to indict the arresting officer, Brian Encinia, for lying about why he removed her from her car. The state has initiated procedures to fire the officer. While we try to straighten this out as a society, remember: never argue with a cop on the side of the road. You never know who wouldn't pass a basic psych evaluation. Speaking of, a makeshift militia has seized a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. This may be the first-ever takeover of a bird sanctuary. The leader of the group, Ammon Bundy, is the son of the guy who the feds came after last year for failing to pay his grazing fees for his cattle munching on federal prairie grass. The armed group of ranchers say their purpose is to help local residents regain their rights from the federal government, lately a decidedly right-wing rallying cry.
The local sheriff yesterday was seen on network and cable television at a local meeting, politely pleading with the protesters to do just that. The federal government has not blockaded the seized buildings and is apparently not interfering with supplies being brought in. On Wednesday the group tweeted out a request for energy drinks, according to news reports. Here's to hoping Obama handles this better than Clinton handled the 1993 incident at Waco. And, finally, let's take a look at the chart for North Korea claiming to have detonated a hydrogen bomb. But first, let's remember what an H-bomb is -- think of it as a second-generation nuclear device, potentially thousands of times more powerful and much smaller than one of the old-style bombs that the United States used on Japan in 1945. In other words, they do a lot of damage and can be loaded onto the top of a missile. With North Korea in the hands of Kim Jong Un, the world's youngest head of state and the one who allegedly fed his uncle to hungry dogs, that would not be good. North Korea has indeed been testing the old-fashioned kind of atomic bombs for a few years. Then Wednesday morning, a seismic blast was detected, and North Korea claimed that it was from a hydrogen bomb. That would be scary. Fortunately, it's probably not true. There is a lot we could say about this chart. For example, the Sun is conjunct Pluto, namesake of plutonium, an element that was specifically developed for the H bomb. Mercury is stationary retrograde, which is usually a message from the universe to bring in extra fact-checkers.
The long square to Saturn adds emphasis, in this case. As I describe in the current Planet Waves FM, there is a lot in this aspect about belief and religiosity. Plenty of that is political. "They really, really want their ‘friends' to think they have the H-bomb. Do they though?" asked Ursula Fugger, a Canadian classical astrologer who has taught me a lot about mundane astrology. On a similar theme, Donalda McCutcheon noted that Sun-Pluto was in the house of hopes and dreams (the 11th), implying, along with Neptune rising, that this was wishful thinking on North Korea's part. Nuclear experts seem to agree. The blast was not nearly big enough for an H-bomb; it was half the size of the explosion at Hiroshima, which was not a particularly large blast, as these things come. In fact it was really, really little compared to what a hydrogen bomb can do, even when it does not function properly. And there you have it. Here in 2016, we are happy when an isolated, too-young psychotic dictator probably only has a garden variety nuke or two. There are no small blessings, only real ones. Lovingly,  Additional research: Michael Elia, Amy Elliott, Amanda Painter, Cindy Ragusa, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick, Lizanne Webb. Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Designer: Lizanne Webb. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Eric's Assistant: Whitney Beecroft. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick.
 The Vision Quest Continues Dear Friend and Reader: We completed phase one of Vision Quest one week ago on New Year's Eve, when we published the written sign readings. They are each the equivalent of about 22 book pages; each took about two days to write, based on many months of research.
As for the details, I cover Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune, the conjunction of Uranus and Eris, Jupiter in Virgo, the Pisces alignment, Pluto in Capricorn and many other aspects. Really, I am writing about life. I've made some adjustments to how I do the annual this year, in part addressing the Mercury retrograde that started Tuesday, Jan. 5. Usually we publish the first week of January, but being an astrologer, I thought the better of it. So, I rearranged the schedule, divided up the written and the audio schedule, and thought, let's see what happens. This turned out to have a huge advantage: more time to work on the written readings -- about 28 working days in all -- and then publishing them prior to New Year's. This is an absolute first in Planet Waves history. Read more...  Part 2 of Vision Quest includes audio astrology readings -- and also rune and artifact readings. Each will come with a printable file of the image used, for use as an altar piece. We've also added printable PDFs and additional music, and many fun enhancements are coming soon.  Capricorn New Moon: Set Your Agenda By Amanda Painter Here we are in a new year, with our intentions, resolutions and reflections gathered and declared in hopes of guiding the next 12 months. Or perhaps you’ve been too busy this holiday season to do much reflecting, intention setting and resolution declaring. That’s okay; if you follow the rhythms of astrology, you know that they only occasionally match up with the civil calendar.
A conjunction of the Sun and Moon, this is one of astrology’s very regular (approximately monthly) moments that correlates with inward reflection, bringing projects to completion, perhaps a sense of lower or slower energy, and then beginning a new phase. What’s striking about this New Moon is the way three other planetary objects are clustered around the Sun and Moon in Capricorn. Just a little earlier in the sign is Pluto; a little later in Cap are the asteroid Pallas and retrograde Mercury. They’re spread out a little too far to properly call this a five-way conjunction, yet they’re still clustered just enough to evoke an image with a message. Capricorn is the sign of business, ambition and leadership. Despite the ambition/leadership qualities, it also has strong associations with tradition, the past and established structures. One thought that crossed my mind as I looked at the configuration was the image of a business meeting: board members or executives gathered to review and assess the state of the company’s foundation, and strategize what needs to change as they lead it forward. That might not be an image you feel like you can relate to, but let’s try putting it in more personal terms. Another way to phrase it might be that you can use the inward, intellectual focus of Mercury retrograde and this New Moon to plan how to best evolve your leadership abilities in some facet of your everyday life. Perhaps, in the process, you may even reinvent the structures or institutions in which you take the lead. Read more...   Sargy Mann in his studio in a 2007 portrait by his son. Photo by Peter Mann.
The Quest to Invent Your Vision
By Amanda PainterRespected British painter Sargy Mann was given only weeks to live by his doctors shortly after receiving an invitation to give a TED Talk on his thoughts on painting and visual perception. The highly trained Mann had spent a significant part of his painting career with diminishing eyesight, and then completely blind. As a profile in The Guardian describes, he never got to give his TED Talk; but his son, Peter, gathered Mann's thoughts into a book, titled Perceptual Systems: Notes Towards a Talk. Peter also filmed his father working out some of his thoughts in a quietly profound short titled Sargy Mann: More. Different. Better. Thoughts towards a talk. Mann's beautiful and often surprising insights about seeing "better" and learning to see "more" because rather than in spite of his blindness feel almost revolutionary. In surrendering "macular sight" to look at something and paint it, he finally discovered his true personal vision. Mann asserts at one point, "The idea, I suppose, which is the most exciting to me is that you have to invent to see more of the truth and tell it." He discusses the inventions of Newton and Galileo and what those inventions allowed them to see, and continues: "That, to me, is such an exciting idea. And you see, I want to extend that into the other arts. I want to say that Bach and Miles Davis, by inventing new structures of expressive sound, actually experienced depths and subtleties of emotion which possibly had ever been experienced on the planet before. I mean, it's an extraordinary idea, but I think it's perfectly possible. And I think it's true of Shakespeare." Could it be true of you, too?  Planet Waves FM 2016 Premier What We Mean When We Say Astrology Dear Friend and Reader: What do we mean when we say astrology? This topic came up during my appearance early Tuesday morning on Richard C. Hoagland's program, "The Other Side of Midnight." I'll have that audio for you later in the week in case you want to listen.
I then look at astrology that is weaving together Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces -- mainly through the Saturn-Neptune square. My take is that this astrology is about how our relationship to our beliefs is changing, as it must if we want to survive. My musical guest is (once again) the Grateful Dead, from performances in three distinct eras of the band's history -- here are the lyrics: Saint Stephen, Franklin's Tower and Throwing Stones. During the program I offer several resources. One is the Expert's Guide to Mercury Retrograde. Another is my old article on the Thema Mundi, or the chart of the world. Another is a piece called The One and the Many, an essay about how all relationships are fundamentally both monogamous and polyamorous. The seeming conflict is a ruse. Below this post on the Planet Waves website, we have some customer responses to Vision Quest, which published late last week. The response has been phenomenal. For those of you who are always asking for my written readings, I have some juicy ones for you here, on printable PDFs with original music...and much more to come. Thanks for tuning in. w/love  Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes We published your extended monthly horoscopes for January on Wednesday, Dec. 23. Your extended monthly horoscopes for December were published Wednesday, Nov. 25. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Cancer Full Moon were published Tuesday, Dec. 22. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.  Planet Waves Weekly Horoscope -- Jan. 7, 2016, #1082 | By Len Wallick
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
 We have just published our 2016 annual, Vision Quest. Here are content lists and excerpts from each of the 12 signs.
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