Editor's Note: It is our custom here at Planet Waves to commemorate the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima every year, and today is the 65th anniversary of that global turning point. The astrology of the event holds some interesting psychology, explored with Eric's signature touch in the lead article. The issue is not entirely somber, however, since we've had some good news this week -- really good news. It also includes the fire sign Inner Space horoscopes and a quick primer on working with the energy of tonight's arrival of Venus and the Moon into the cardinal T-square (completing the grand cross). You'll have to read to the end to find it; as always, that's available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News, along with the full text of Judith Gayle's article. To read it all and more in the coming weeks, try out Astrology News with a free one-month trial offer or a discounted six-month subscription. And yes, the Midyear Audio Report and six Birthday Audio Reports are still available here, with Leo and Capricorn coming out soon.

Back From the Edge

Dear Fellow Traveler:

Today is the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I do have some good news to report in today's short edition (which does not include a horoscope), but first I suggest we pause in remembrance of the people who unexpectedly met their end as the American B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb over them on a warm, cloudless morning. Three days later, in a move that made no sense for strategic purposes, the American military dropped another bomb on the city of Nagasaki.

Born in Quincy, IL, in February 1915, then-Col. Tibbets (center) was one of the pilots who tested the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the world's first atomic bomber. He was the commander of the mission that dropped the first atomic bomb on a population. Photo retrieved from BBC obituary of Paul Tibbets. See gallery here.

To glimpse the mentality behind the use of the atomic bomb, let's consider that Col. Paul Tibbets, the commander of the mission, named the B-29 after his mother -- her name was Enola Gay. As if to emphasize the point, the ship was codenamed Mother. The bomb was codenamed Little Boy. And 65 years later we are still killing mothers and fathers and small children, and it is rare that I hear a word of dissent. So while we're asking how this could have possibly happened, we need to ask how the same thing is happening today.

I have covered the astrology of Hiroshima previously, on the Planet Waves blog. That entry includes the chart. I did the astrology of Paul Tibbets for Jonathan Cainer's site several years ago -- here is a link.

The Hiroshima chart has an image of mother and little boy -- an exact Moon-Saturn conjunction: exact as if someone had planned the chart (I'm sure nobody did). Saturn, ruler of the feminine sign Capricorn, is often an image of mother and matriarchy. The Moon is an image of mother, or of child. The implicit message is sick: blame mom for this ethical and technological disaster. And it has the signature of craving an emotional high, one that is typically expressed sexually: a Venus-Chiron square. Most significantly, the chart picks up something called the Nuclear Axis -- the defining moment of the nuclear age, when an atomic reaction first took hold -- from every corner. Currently there are two potent, slow-moving minor planets dancing around the Nuclear Axis, which forms a cross through the early-to-middle mutable signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.

They are the centaur Pholus (small cause, big effect) and Ixion (anyone is capable of anything). Isn't that charming? So we -- whoever 'we' is -- need to be careful. And they form a conjunction from March 2011 through September 2014. This happens near the Great Attractor, which is like a giant energy magnifier in the middle of (go figure) Sagittarius. So we have another image of what 2012 is about, and that sounds like sorting out this nuclear issue both politically and spiritually.

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Eyes Wide Shut
By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Sometimes it feels like we, the people, are just spitting into the wind. For reasons I cannot fathom, there are those who think that the way things are is the way things are supposed to be. They think out-of-control Wall Street is a necessary evil, that adventure capitalism is the only way to keep the boat afloat. They believe insurance companies are a necessary middleman dedicated to our wellbeing, leaving us to fight for our right to be victimized. They think militarism is still a way forward toward stability and power even as we borrow to invest in unnecessary wars. Maybe they aren't thinking at all, and that's the problem: they just don't want to know the reality of our situation.

An article in The Wall Street Journal this week floated the notion that the rich no longer need the working class to sustain them, because thanks to NAFTA, their money is invested and yielding profit overseas. This outsourced economy is the logical consequence of decades of stagnant wage growth -- essentially flat-lined since 1973 -- and constant erosion of the middle-class for more than a generation. Remember failed Democratic candidate John Edwards, who was wrong on so many levels? He was right on the one that counted: we live in two Americas, but few are willing to admit it. The rest are not only in a state of denial, but use every possible pretense to keep from recognizing the ugly truth about our political, military, financial and social systems.

For instance, documents examined recently by The Washington Post reveal a shadow government of more than 850,000 employees with top secret clearance overseeing our national interests. With neither public oversight nor fiscal accountability, homeland security has metastasized into a huge, unwieldy, ever-expanding secret government. The Washington Post tallied up "more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in some 10,000 locations across the U.S." Given this level of overkill, I'd have expected someone to sound the alarm on this as either blatantly un-American or overblown bureaucracy run amok. I didn't hear a peep.

In addition, Wikileaks has provided an unwholesome picture -- in 76,000 leaked documents -- of Afghani and American incompetence and cultural limitation during many years of war. The reports, which mainstream media and government dismiss as neither news nor secret, reveal American attempts to prop up an illusionary Afghani government to be as effective as herding cats. The record shows that our intention to root out Taliban and al Qaeda quickly dissolved into supporting thugs and coddling traffickers, giving us little to celebrate ethically or militarily. What is most disturbing about the Wikileaks revelation is that the flap about leaked state secrets didn't even phase us: we're so used to being lied to that we fully expect a truthful version of events to surface eventually, and we're so apathetic we can't even rouse ourselves to defend the whistleblower.

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Aries Confidential	We take gender roles entirely too seriously in our society, and I'm here to let you know that you have options. You will see these expressed in the people and opportunities you encounter the next few weeks, and these experiences may come with a sense of needing to make a decision. You don't have to decide anything, and any decision you make can be unmade; what you can do is explore your feelings and experiences honestly and vividly: really get into what you're experiencing. Notice if you feel a sense of vertigo if you unhook some of your false allegiances to the Blue Team and the Pink Team. Notice if the uber-macho men and the beyond-femme women start to seem like cartoons. Look for the wide area where the two are seeking a sacred marriage in your body and soul.
Aries Birthday Audio by Eric Francis is available. Check this link for more information.
Leo Confidential	Take money matters in stride. Yes, conserve your cash and make purchases wisely; most of what you think you need you really don't need. You may not believe that, but I could tell you some funny stories about Mercury retrograde. What the forthcoming Mercury retrograde in Virgo is about, though, is understanding how you evaluate yourself: your successes and failures; your value to the people around you; and whether anyone notices how generous you are. The next two months are a reminder to go easier on yourself, and to listen the most carefully to the people who express their faith and gratitude to you. At the moment the world is an unusual kind of mirror and you may be doing some sorting out of mixed signals. Just be sure you know which is which, and take a day to decide.
Sagittarius Confidential	You can finally get some work done. There is nothing like having to obsess over details to slow down a Sagittarian mind. There is nothing like the Sun in Leo to speed up your quest for adventure. And, as Saturn in Libra would have it, you are about to make a good bit of progress on putting your talent to use in the world -- and I say that no matter how specific and focused your talent may be. Remember that every worldly success is built on relationships, and this counts even for those who have no interest in other people: those people take an interest in them, and there must be some form of reciprocity. You are offering yourself to the world, and you do have plenty going for you. Notice who is interested and focus on them.