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The Blue Angels

Where I live, in San Francisco, the sky is roaring with war planes.

Fleet Week is upon us. Every year, tourists come into town to watch the magnificent men in their lethal flying machines. An air force tradition from the days when American superpowerdom was undisputed, the show seems to recall a simpler time, when war was — I don’t know — fun?

Maybe military recruiters pass out little American flags for people to wave, like the ones that unaccountably appeared in the hands of bystanders when the Saddam Hussein statue was pulled down.… click here to continue reading.

Oct 2022
Shifts in the Wind

Are you ready to change direction? From the beginning of the month to the end, October is a month of pivots.

Four planets will be changing directions: three go direct (SD) and one goes retrograde (SR). If you are attuned to subtle shifts in the energy field, you will feel them on Oct 2 (Mercury SD), Oct 8th (Pluto SD), Oct 22 (Saturn SD) and Oct 30 (Mars SR).

Backwards and forwards

When a planet is moving backwards from Earth’s point of view, we’re given a chance to dig a little deeper into its symbolism, to absorb its meaning.… click here to continue reading.

Sep 2022
Hunger for Meaning

Traditional astrology credited us humans with having two minds.

Mercury, the “lower mind,” is the kind of intelligence that governs automatic thinking. We use it to do rote tasks, collect and disseminate data. It asks the who/what/where/how questions of life.

Jupiter, the “higher mind,” governs philosophical ideation. More abstract and wide-ranging, this part of the mind asks Why?

Most of us have charts that favor one over the other. Either our Mercury reigns supreme, ideally conferring quick-mindedness and erudition, or our Jupiter dominates, ideally conferring the kind of perspective that perceives broad patterns and seeks broad answers.… click here to continue reading.

Aug 2022
Call of the Wild

Uranus has a star turn this month, giving us a chance to consider how much we value freedom. Not just our own; other people’s, too. This is the planet of revolution. It’s about how whole societies handle, and resist, the need to change.

There’s no better time to ponder the layers of meaning of a planet than when it’s hovering, apparently motionless, overhead. When Uranus stations retrograde on Aug 24th, ask yourself how gracefully you tolerate change.… click here to continue reading.

God on Their Side

So they finally got their way. The dogged little cadre of religious fascists who vowed fifty years ago to re-outlaw abortion played the long game, and finally scored. (1They were the tortoise and everybody else was the hare.

These guys know full well that the American public is overwhelmingly in favor of legal abortion. But this wasn’t ever about the will of the majority. The Christian cabal and their black-caped crusaders have never been much interested in democracy.… click here to continue reading.

Jul 2022
The God of Secrets

Kicking off the month is a square between Mars and Pluto (peaking 7/1-2), fire vs. earth. The warrior planet is maximally bellicose in Aries, where it’s been for more than a month.

Mundane astrologers will be watching the headlines for inflammatory discord. Those who track their personal transits will be watching their compulsions.

Mars in Aries can be rash but courageous. Under ordinary circumstances, its aggression is like a brush fire: flaring up fast and fading out just as fast.… click here to continue reading.

Jun 2022
Buzzing with Gemini

As June begins the Sun is in a flurry of Gemini, a sign made for the digital age. The world is full of information, and this restless sign wants to know it all.

On the 13th, Mercury, the messenger, joins the Sun in Gemini. It’s in this placement that Mercury (locomotion, mental processes) is most at home: sampling and experimenting among a wide array of interests.

Venus enters on the 22nd, adding an aesthetic dimension to the mix.… click here to continue reading.

The First Casualty

In the world’s most enduring stories, moral certainty is the secret sauce. We take comfort in a nice, clear dividing line between Right & Wrong.

David vs. Goliath, white hats vs. black hats, Ivan Drago vs. Rocky Balboa. And the God-vs.-Satan story, which has kept Big Religion afloat for millennia.

It’s especially gratifying to root for our team together with our fellows, which is why spectator sports are so cathartic. As a plus, we get to indulge in forgetting.… click here to continue reading.

Mar 2022
Ready or Not

This calendar month begins a day before the start of the lunar cycle. Here comes March, ready or not.

If you use the lunar cycle to navigate the unfolding of time, as the ancients did, you’ll appreciate the shape of March. One New Moon (March 2nd) launches the month, and another closes it (March 31st).

In between them, just before the Equinox, the Moon is Full (March 18th): two New Moons serving as bookends to support a big popping climax imid-month.… click here to continue reading.