Bodies of 35 mammalian individuals — 14 proto-human adults, 11 children, six canines, and three presumed felines – as well as two long-extinct forms of parrot and a tortoise were perfectly preserved in lead-lined canisters equipped with multiple valves of uncertain function. “They’re in perfect shape, nothing wrong except they’re all dead,” said Inspector-Professor Jules Dacques of the Island Constabulary.

Marcella G. Bender of the Lobachevsky Foundation was effusive after a preliminary examination established that the remains were of a primitive proto-human genus in which the sexes were distinctly separate. “These are the best-preserved bodies from this genus we’ve ever seen,” Dr. Bender exclaimed, using diagrams and primitive visual materials found at the site to explain the function of what appeared to be add-on protuberances.

Documents and other evidence retrieved from the deep-sea operation identify the site as the wreckage of a cryogenic facility similar to other archeological relics of the notorious Age of Denial (roughly corresponding to the great fossil fuel folly of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries BCE).

“These are poignant relics of an era of mass delusion,” said Dr. Kroitzer Szcizcewicz of the Pangaeia Institute in Faux Warsaw, “in particular its final century when mass marketing techniques convinced global societies to invest heavily in their own destruction.” Dr. Szcizcewicz’s popular monograph on this era detailed how cryogenic entrepreneurs exploited the resulting doctrines of fear, offering guaranteed preservation and revival after impending global annihilation.

“Only the wealthy could afford cryo-preservation, of course,” said Dr. Szcizcewicz, “and the irony here is that these insanely expensive hedges against mortality were as fraudulent as stock in god particles.”

Moss on the west side of the waterfall, the Grandmother Land, in Ulster County, New York. Photo by Eric Francis for Book of Blue.

Eric’s series on compersion continues in the Book of Blue.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Lately I’ve been working through some rage at the guys on Harleys who roar past my studio without any tailpipes. Harleys, due to the way the engine cycles, have that distinctive slap and are loud enough with tailpipes; but I guess not loud enough for some. Between fantasies of taking matters into my own hands, I’ve been trying to figure out just why exactly someone would need to rumble down the street at 150 dB.

Harley-Davidson Deluxe Hog. Do loud pipes save lives, or announce one's arrival? Photo John Cachero.

On one level, it’s what you might call pure testosterone. I was sitting with a client recently and she said she was turned on by the roaring bikes going by. She kept getting up to see what they looked like. I found this interesting; more interesting than wanting to take pot shots at them. It was a clue to what was going on. How we handle anger has a lot to do with our Mars placement, and how we integrate Mars. (Mine is in Pisces, conjunct Chiron.)

That sound certainly gets you to look, whether you’re turned on or you want to see what jerk could possibly be that rude; that engine blasting is a form of publicity and it’s designed to be sexual. It’s the vehicular equivalent of squawking and parading around with one’s plumage out, doing the eternal dance. There is a lot of Biker Guy seeks Biker Girl in those loud engines; sooner or later some chick is gonna think it’s too hot to resist. So what if she has stainless steel teeth.

But this can’t be all. It’s more transgressive than a bird dancing around the backyard; there are lots of ways to get the attention of women. Everyone knows we don’t have earlids, at least not in this dimension, so with all that sound there’s an invasion involved. It’s aggressive. The message that “you are powerless to stop me from doing this” took a while to sink in intellectually; I experienced it as rage. But I knew the anger was telling me something; it usually is.

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By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

I once had a fascinating conversation with a family member who was retiring from the Navy, hanging up that spiffy white uniform with the scrambled eggs on the shoulders and entering private life. He had served as personal attaché for Governor Ronald Reagan in California and in the Pentagon when Ron was in the White House. Over dinner, we discussed his career and I tried plumbing his depths; he’s a Scorpio, so I knew I couldn’t count on his sharing secrets but maybe I could close in on a few with careful maneuvering. “Can you imagine,” I asked, sipping my wine and lowering my voice, “a scenario in which all of the nations of the world come together to fight a common threat?” His answer was quick, measured and not nearly as militarily obfuscated as I’d anticipated. “Yes,” he replied. “I can.”

Homecoming. Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters.

It was an ‘ET phone home’ enquiry, and my military-minded, squared-away and no-nonsense loved one had crossed into the dimensional hinterland with nary a quiver. I came away from that encounter quoting Hamlet, regarding his father’s ghost: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” And clearly, I think it’s past time we began to dream them. Quantum physics offers us other ways to think of things; and coming off of years when science and religion were pitted against one another as natural enemies, instead of alienating them further perhaps it would be refreshing to allow them to wed, as they eventually must. The big picture is bigger than we know.

With all the talk of national safety, personal safety, financial safety, it appears to me that what we don’t know about the future is the larger of the fears driving us these days. We like to know exactly what we’re facing, it comforts us; but clearly, we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. We’ve lost control of these events, as uncomfortable as that seems. Even more impressive, there are ghosts walking among us, energy signals that are creating our 3D landscape as just a bit more hazy, reality winking in and out, and definitely not as solid as we suppose it to be.

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Coming Up in Daily Astrology and Adventure

Astronomer Phil Plait over at Discovery magazine’s Bad Astronomy website isn’t afraid to light out after folks who push, well, bad astronomy. And with the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing nearly upon us, he is revisiting one of the most enduring conspiracy theories around: The Alleged Moon Landing Hoax.

One of the first images produced by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Photo: NASA.

Plait starts out by speculating whether the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is taking high-quality images of the Moon’s surface — including the original Apollo Moon landing sites — will quell any of those doubters. His answer? Nope.

“That would be nice, but obviously it won’t,” says Plait. “If they don’t believe the thousands of pictures and video taken from the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts themselves, why would they believe further NASA evidence?”

For good measure, though, Plait linked to his 2001 review of a Fox TV program about the supposed Moon Hoax, “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?” In it, Plait goes through and provides point-by-point refutation of the conspiracy theorists’ claims, from why the photos taken on the Moon don’t show stars to the “deadly radiation of space.”

The Apollo 11 lunar module touched down in Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility) on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon (it was not Neil Young, as previously reported in Planet Waves), uttered the familiar phrase, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” while his fellow moon walker, Buzz Aldrin, described the view as “magnificent desolation.” Armstrong’s quote was supposed to be, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” but understandably enough, he was a little nervous at the time.

Part of the evidence validating the landing on the Moon is astrological. The same astrology that brought us the Woodstock festival just three weeks later brought us the success of the Apollo program: a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Libra, opposite Chiron in Aries; all aligned with the Aries Point. We will have more about this in next week’s edition.

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Weekly Horoscope for Friday, July 10, 2009, #774 – BY ERIC FRANCIS

Cancer (June 21- July 22)
Look carefully and you will see that you’re in entirely new relationship territory than you were in just one season ago. Something old has been removed or is losing its power; something new is gradually taking its place. This is not an easy transition, and it involves developing the ability to make agreements, and for everyone involved to honor those agreements. Our civilization has yet to figure out that most of its woes are encrypted directly into the most personal modes of relationship, and the most intimate. As a culture we have yet to figure out that what made our parents miserable will probably make us miserable, but as an individual you are finally coming around to this revelation. Just remember, their fears are not your fears. More to the point, they did generally not see their fears for what they were; you cannot afford that particular delusion.

The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.

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Scorpio (Oct. 23- Nov. 22)
What has a back has a front — in this dimension. If you expand your awareness to include a wider array of possibilities, everything can change. True, it’s simpler to think in binary terms; in linear concepts; but you would be missing most of the story if you do. You are about to enter a world of possibilities, and that world may seem like a hall of mirrors, where it’s unclear whose feelings belong to whom and what results will come from certain actions. It would help to remember that many more possibilities exist than you can currently observe, both personal and professional. You may not be able to see them right away, but you will be able to feel them: in the form of tension with people you encounter. If you notice any form of polarity, or a pull toward someone, or even a negative sentiment like resentment or jealousy, explore it; look right at it, and speak to it clearly.

The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.

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Pisces (Feb. 19- March 20)
The intangible may be so real you can hold it in your hands; give it a chance to become so. Seek with the faith that you will find, and feel with the faith that you will experience fulfillment as a result. Remember that the richest territory for you is interior, regardless of how expressive or interesting your life is now. What you are firming up is your ability to be a container, and therefore to feel full. You cannot hold energy if you don’t have the ability for some kind of psychic containment; you cannot share if you don’t have enough for yourself. These are old problems that you’re finally able to remedy. That planets at times may seem to be playing a game of paradox with you, and at at times you may be feeling deeply mixed emotions. Stick with your feelings and discover the win-win: the more you have, the more you can give; the more you have, the more people give to you. Try to get this one down; it’s a keeper.

The Planet Waves Midyear Horoscope Edition by Eric Francis is ready. Here is product and signup information. And we’ve reduced the price of Next World Stories, now just $24.95 for all 12 signs.

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I am about to dive into tomorrow’s Planet Waves, still figuring if I want to write it in Taco Juan’s over in Woodstock. My current concept is to sum up some of the conversations I’m having about the nature and the purpose of astrology. This feels a bit like pearl diving, so let’s see what I come back with.

Valencia, Spain. Photo by Eric.

Today the Moon is in Aquarius, where it will stay until Friday just before noon Eastern Time. The Moon will make a conjunction to retrograde Nessus today. Recall that it was at exact opposition to Nessus at the time of Michael Jackson’s passing, so it’s been two weeks or half a lunar cycle since that happened. Before going into Pisces the Moon will make conjunctions to three additional planets in Aquarius — in order, Chiron, Neptune and Jupiter. All three are retrograde, due to the position of the Earth relative to them.

Mars ingresses Gemini late Saturday night Eastern Time, and for now will be dangling at the edge of Taurus, gradually working toward its new sign and new cycle. This to me is an illustration of integrating male energy, as is often the case when Mars is on the edge of a sign; in this case a sign traditionally ruled by Venus.

We live in an era where both sexes struggle to integrate male energy. Very few girls or women spend enough time around men who have integrated their Mars to have any clue what it feels like; the same can be said for men, who at least are handed the circumstance of being male and have no choice but to have at least some few experiences; but we see a lot of men who polarize either macho or feminized without actually consciously taking over the functions of Mars, one by one. I would just remind us again that we face a special challenge because there are so few examples how to do this in a healthy way.

And there are so many misunderstandings about sex. For example, consider how the thing we rely on the most dependably for sex or reproduction to happen at all, male erotic desire, is one of the most maligned emotions in the universe; it currently verges on a crime. I believe that our society (meaning Western society, the only one I have a clue about) runs in cycles, where one sex or the other is blamed for sex. At different points — we can name a few — sex was the ‘fault’ of women and men were expected to be victims. In other times sex is the ‘fault’ of men and women are the presumed victims, such as currently.

To me this is about the alternation of attempts to integrate Venus or Mars. I know that woman, as a collective entity, are struggling for their sexual identity — though there are many venues for women to make discoveries about being female, from the birthing process (which pretty much guarantees certain discoveries) to a gradually evolving notion of female equality, many new opportunities to participate in the world that were unheard of within our culture 50 years ago, to neo-Pagan movements that worship and honor the Goddess and connect femininity to nature.

Mars void of course in Taurus reminds me that we live in a time when, many places and in many ways, maleness is disconnected from reality; it is considered a crime; the vast majority of people paraded before TV and newspaper cameras are men; and an erect penis is often considered a weapon. It would be a grand idea to consider the adverse effects of this fact on both women and men; and to consider what we might do about it here and now.

The first thing as astrologers would be to remember that we both possess Venus and Mars in our charts, and we need to take full ownership of both.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
With success comes responsibility — and that responsibility can far exceed the apparent rewards, and even what you have the power to control. But you do have your influence, and it’s running pretty high right now. While you have a platform, make sure you state in clear terms what you think is right. As someone whose conscience bears far too many burdens, you’re someone in a position to spread the load of life to people who are far less obsessed with ethics, but who will respond if they hear something sensible. In other words, relax, and let others help you get the work done. Let this be your formula for success.