THE DAILY TRAVESTY | March Monthly Horoscope & More Rambling
THE DAILY TRAVESTY for March 7, 2000
    Volume 1, Issue 44
 
I totally forget what I was planning on printing today, so here is Eric's brilliant monthly astrological forecast.  (I say brilliant because, for whatever reason, he is hitting closer to home with this one than I believe he ever has before.  My, Eric, have you happened upon a new lover??  Or is it just the time off?)
 
Astrology is a very interesting thing if you study it.  (yes, I am going to ramble some more about this subject!  Pay attention!!  Or don't.)  I don't totally buy into it-- I don't totally by into anything-- and neither does Eric or Rob Brezsney or any of the really good astrologers, frankly, and that's part of what makes them good: their openness, their inquisitiveness, their faith that there is no "One Way" or belief system so much as there is just an infinitely large universe composed of an infinite number of neat things, incapable of being fully mapped and explained by the human intellect, but very fun to play around with.
 
However-- and I know this from experience-- if you take a closer look your own astrological "birth chart," and you do it seriously and with an open mind, you will almost certainly find it rewarding to the point of being life-altering.  It won't be easy.  It often forces you to confront things about yourself you have been trying to ignore into nonexistence (fat chance!).  And, yes, it forces you to take the principles of astrology on faith.  But for those of us who sincerely try not to subscribe to confining morals or dogma, for those of us who are explorers and like a good adventure, and certainly for those of us who are dedicated to getting to know ourselves better, it is a damn cool thing that-- really-- will almost magically dissolve all those blocks within you, the ones you're always hitting your head against and cursing the existence of.  "Why am I like this?  Why can't I stop acting this way, feeling this way?  Why I am relentlessly unhappy, stressed out, unfulfilled?  What I am so afraid of?  How can I find peace and security?  What is the deepest part of me?  What is my direction, my contribution, my path?"  You get the idea.
 
In light of all this, and better understanding, preceding Eric's horoscope I would like to offer the following short thoughts of Jonathan Cainer (more information about exploring your birth chart is to be found at the bottom of the page):

How typical of your sign are you?  No matter who you are and what you are like, there is only one 'correct' answer to this question.  "Typical in some ways... but not at all, in others."  Everyone has a unique personal birth chart.  Within each chart, ALL TWELVE signs of the zodiac are to be found.  It is rather as if we are all artists with a palette of 12 colors to play with.  Some palettes contain extra red.  Others contain extra blue - and so on.  We tend to use our dominant color more freely.  We can relate well to others who also employ that color.  We are especially interested in daily news of how our color is faring in the fashion stakes.  But we all have the ability to paint with the other eleven.
 
 
By Eric Francis | for March 2000

ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Anything you do that reminds you how much you already have will serve to enhance your sense of prosperity and good fortune.  So the idea is to keep reminding yourself, indulging or experiencing those areas of your life in which you have plenty.  If you do, I suggest that lack of any kind will prove to be some form of an illusion, which means a misperception or an easily-remedied situation.  By "easily" I don't mean to imply effortless, but rather involving effort in which your movements are not frustrated by pointless setbacks.  And it's all for a very good cause.  You are well-poised to enter an unprecedented phase of earning your living by doing what you truly believe in -- so, consider once again what that might be.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Nobody is expecting you to be yourself right now, especially if "yourself" is the person who could never get anything truly important (or rather, important to you) done, or who lived surrounded by lists of un-reached-for aspirations, or if you were previously someone whose happiness was underscored by some version of doubt in yourself.  There exists a peculiar barrier to fulfillment which shows up as other people expecting us to be the struggling person we were, or our expecting people to expect us to be the struggling person we were. But this is no way to live, no way to guide the future to unfold.  This is no time for insecurity in inferiority.  Your world is about to come alive before your eyes.  Please keep them wide open.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
"Almas gemanas" is Spanish for the phenomenon of "twin-souls."  Now, personally, my sense is that souls move through the fabric of space-time in groups rather than in pairs -- but who knows, there are probably a few pairs roaming around -- and that when we find one of our group, we get can experience a tremendous rush of twinning energy.  Relationships and the idea of relationships have never been more important to you.  Your human encounters are changing fast, as is your whole orientation on the idea of a human encounter.  But underneath this is a total renovation of who you are, and who this person is who enters relationship.  In short, the change means connecting with others from a place of individuality and power.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Much of what we call the spiritual path involves a process of "finding oneself," which is another way of saying being secure in who you are, or more accurately, who you are becoming.  While unexpected or sudden change is not your favorite experience, these years have seen you accumulate so much sameness, so much predictability and, though it may not have felt that way, stability, that you seem to have forgotten how to change.  Now, for an extended period, you will be reminded.  But it's worth mentioning just how stable you truly are, deep within, through any process of change that shakes your foundations.  Much of that stability rests on what great friends you have, and how much they have to offer you, and how much you love them.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
I want to acknowledge that you have endured several unusually intense, long years of enforced movement, compelled growth and personal reinvention, marked astrologically by two years of relatively rare solar eclipses in your sign. While this process is not quite over, its flavor is likely to change distinctly in the coming weeks, as the emphasis comes off of "you personally" and shifts to ideas and experiences of a larger nature.  Leo's great asset and great liability is that it sees things in terms of itself.  While this is arguably the most honest way to look at reality, it all comes down to your idea of what a self is, how much a self embraces, and how flexible a self is.  Now, all of these ideas begin to encompass a lot more.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
The rational mind makes a great slave, and a terrible master.  If we become too attached to it, concepts which go beyond its bounds can seem to threaten is very life and really freak us out.  As T.S. Eliot said in the poem Burnt Norton, "Human kind cannot bear very much reality." Yet it's reality that's calling you now.  Gazing both into your life and out into the world, you seem to be met by a wide variety of ultimate: endings, sweeping progressions, recreations, and the mystery of birth and death.  The rational mind attempts to give "reasons" for all of this. But there are not such good reasons as the mind perceives them, and it would be kind of you to stand back and take it all in with the grace and appreciation of a poet rather than a scientist.  Let your mind be blown, and it will be blown wide open.

LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22)
The more you are willing to dare, the more brilliant your life will become as this new season begins.  I don't think it will be too difficult for you.  Spring is a delightfully sexual season, and the feeling, the very essence of this daring is that of seduction by sense and color to which you succumb with a distinctly erotic charge, and which light your mind and emotions with a bright, vivid and delicately scented tour of reality.  I guess you could call it inspiration.  And we all have those moments.  But the inspirations of which I speak may translate into a kind of voluntary revolution, be it intellectual, creative, amorous or some combination of all three. It is indeed a sweet season coming your way, and by all accounts, it doesn't need to end any time soon, and not only that, all these worlds of visions, thoughts and dreams lead anywhere and everywhere.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Emphasis now shifts from the structure of relationships to the content of relationships.  I gather you've done quite a bit in the way of structural adjustment in recent years, in recognition of so much that was so out of control for so freaking long.  So now that the dust of construction, destruction and deconstruction is settling, and we'll just have to have confidence that your new shapes and forms are sound, and will support all the influxes of energy, people, activity and communication that are coming your way -- the first signs of which are likely to be fairly obvious now, or at the latest, in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, there are a number of people with whom communication can be improved and in situations in which you can now resolve a variety of hidden contradictions.  The sooner the better.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21)
Ever hear somebody say, "Why do you think they call it work?"  Well, we are figuring out, like the intellectual giants we are, that work need not be a boring, meaningless, exhausting, even destructive task.  But for most people this exists on the level of the Greek myths or religious teachings; it's true, but it would be nice if it were real.  Listen to me, kiddo, you gotta make it real. Even if you want a job arranging volleyball tournaments in the Bahamas, you're going to have to find it, and send in your resume.  And before that, you're going to need to have the idea, "Hmm.  Why am I sitting in this office stapling accident reports/selling spoons/driving around on icy roads convincing people they need casualty insurance/etc. when I could be down in Freeport..."  And that's a really deep question, too.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
The foundation you have built in recent years is now ready for the first layer of above-the-ground construction.  Foundations are pretty boring, gray, angular slabs of concrete and steel. But what goes on top of them need not be boring; in fact, it can be as interesting, as exciting and as functional as your creative imagination and practical sensibilities want to make it.  I am reminded of the invention of a coffee shop and Laundromat in one business; but for you, it would more like an art studio combined with an accounting office, or a print shop built into a computer lab/library, or a big house with an oversized kitchen including a comfy living room.  Please trust me -- take the time to plan, sketch, plot and scheme.  Your ideas are very, very life-giving right now; they can really come to life.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 19-Feb. 18)
Whatever it would take to help you feel safe on the planet, you have a lot of it right now.  We all live in a kind of crisis of security, everyone from a drug dealer afraid his operation will get raided, to a billionaire packing away extra millions "just in case," to a working mom afraid she will get fired from the job that is supposedly her lifeline.  An Aquarian view of security, in my sense of things, is more of an intellectual abstraction: for example, can I feel safe within this idea about life, or within this definition of my relationships? Sure, most people would say you are nuts, that you would take solace in an intellectual construct rather than from the fact that your belly or refrigerator is full.  But whatever that abstract concept of safety is, whatever that construct may be, you can learn right now what makes you feel protected on the planet, now and forever.

PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)
Perhaps you liked it better in the dark, though by now, with your eyes adjusted and the landscape of life making an impression on your brain, you're probably not complaining so much any more.   Shifts ranging from the subtle to the not-so-subtle have occurred on all levels and in all directions of your life.  Your task now is reorientation, and this means reassessment of purpose and redistribution of time.  The phase of fertilization and seeding is now complete, though if you create an atmosphere conducive to growth, you will be quite surprised the gusto with which your creations go from sprout to bloom to fruit.  What would be conducive to such growth?  Devote your life to working-out, to human contact, and mainly to simplicity -- then watch those flowers grow. ++


More information...
(for interested parties)
 
If you go to www.astro.com/atlas/atlquest-eng.html you can get a birth chart which may be interesting to look at, but which will most likely be completely indecipherable. 
 
Consultations with a practiced astrologers are easily available-- Eric does them-- but they cost lots of money and for most people that's not good.
 
You could, if you wanted to, go to bookstore or a library and teach the whole thing to yourself.  But there are a lot of shitty books out there and you can be easily misguided.
 
If you are really interested but don't want to pay the money or do the work, I enjoy going over charts with people on a casual basis.  The downside to this is that I don't have much practice, but I'm friendly, I know a lot, and I'm quite capable of initiating you in the mysteries.  I'm not professional enough to charge anything, either.  How lucky for you!  But please, only do this if you are really interested and willing to commit to study with an open mind.
 
Alternatively, to get more out of your weekly and monthly horoscopes it might be a good idea to find out precisely which sign has the most power in your chart.  Take note: this isn't necessarily your sun, and if you are one of those people who always complains that the horoscopes don't fit, that's probably why.  Yes, you can look at sun, moon and ascendant and get a clearer picture.  But to really square things away, email me and ask me to advise you, based on your chart, which sign(s) to read. bcphillips@chesapeake.net