Hey all,

We’re holding Friday’s Planet Waves two hours to include some coverage of the Democratic National Convention. We plan to have it inbox by 11 am Eastern Time.

– Eric Francs

Dear Friend and Reader:

Bill Clinton, the unexpected loose cannon of the democratic primaries, gave his speech at the DNC last night to a hysterically applauding crowd, showing that the well-worn saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is only magnified after eight years on the dark side, with the Bush administration.

And it wasn’t the fact that his speech was more of a mouthful than it should have been, particularly when Barack is trying to court Hillary’s blue-collar supporters (can most of you say, honestly, that you’d cheer naturally after someone says, “Our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation?” Be honest, now…)

It wasn’t the natural fallout after Hillary’s clear humility and well-presented speech the night before, making it a difficult speaking engagement to follow, even for a former-president.

And, to be fair, it wasn’t even his blatant frustration trying to get the cheering crowd to shut up so he could do his speech.

It was the fact that this campaign is riding on a concept that Nancy Pelosi so blandly presented as “a vision of the future that is free of the constraints of the past.”

Yes, the past. We’re to wave bye-bye to the floating garbage dump of history, and hello to our Obama-driven, Captain Planet-type future. So why, exactly, did the crowd go so wild for Bill, our specter of the past? Did they know why they were cheering, or were they just wrapped up in the mob mentality? If the following quote is any indication, I’m going to suggest the latter:

Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn’t work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won’t work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

His life is a 21st Century incarnation of the American Dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the “more perfect union” of our founders’ dreams. The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world.

Hmmm…everyone will have the “chance to build a decent life.” This is coming from the Defense of Marriage Act guy, right? Mr. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

The comparison Bill Clinton made between himself and Barack Obama can be agonizing to listen to when you have this in mind. He actually set up barriers against equality for same-sex couples during his terms as president. But, at the same time, we should recognize (and I’m going to try and row in here too) that pre-2000 was a different time: a time before countries truly starting legislating in favor of gay partnerships, before 9/11, before ipods, for godssake. And that was the time for NAFTA, for restricting the purchases of handguns (where the Supreme Court has just ruled in the opposite direction), for guaranteeing the right to medical leave for pregnant women — and that’s just from 1993.

So, perhaps we’re all products of our times: in a world I like to think of as becoming increasingly more liberal, there is more room for an open, equality-seeking presidential candidate like Barack Obama. Maybe the crowd was cheering for Bill Clinton last night as a recognition of our past, of the foundation that we built in 1992, and of the bits of steel, brick and glass that we’ll use to build our future, a 21st century future with the Clintons, respectfully, in the shadows and a new era in the spotlight.

Technorati Tags: Astrology, Bill Clinton, DNC, Eric Francis, planetwaves

Dear Friend and Reader:

Quite a few times this election campaign season I’ve had to explain to people why I think that hope is not enough. I can make it really simple: does hope motivate you to do anything? Or does it motivate you to, well, hope some more?

Hillary Clinton’s speech last night, though widely revered as being the reprise of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, to me seemed more like a high school political campaign presentation calling for school unity. Meanwhile, the principal and the school board do whatever they want.

It would be nice if we had a different political system, one slightly less prone to being totally sold out. But paraphrasing Donald Rumsfeld, as I am fond of doing lately, you don’t go into an election with the political system you want, you go in with the one you have. And the one we have reduces the game to this apparent battle of the Dems versus the Pubs. There are significant differences (particularly where Supreme Court nominees are concerned), but they don’t surpass the limits set on the evolutionary stage of humanity. Given the choice, most people will opt for something they perceive is in their self-interest rather than in the collective interest.

“I want you to ask yourselves: were you in this campaign just for me?” Clinton said. “Or were you in it for that young marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?”

Yes, this sounds good. But she’s still personalizing the issue, to herself. It is not big of her to support Obama and it would not be big of her husband to drop his apparently sizable chip on the shoulder and do the same. It is common sense; that is what we need to do. If we really believe that the survival of our species is at stake on some level — and I don’t think we really believe it, we just wish we did — the issues would be a lot bigger than this.

Where, for example, is the rage at the Bush administration getting the country not into one Vietnam, but rather two of them? Well, to admit that, the Dems would have to take some responsibility for not having done anything to stop them. Where is the rage at not one but two stolen presidential elections? To express that, the Dems would have to buck up a little adult awareness and admit that they didn’t fight the complete subverting of even the illusion of our electoral process.

And what guarantee do we have that it’s not going to happen again? Hope? Who exactly are we hoping is going to do what?

I think we have to work to get the most possible votes for Barack Obama. Elections are easier to steal when they are close. They are theoretically nearly impossible to steal when it’s a landslide, but hey Nixon proved that point wrong in 1972, the most impressive stolen election of them all (that was Watergate). Yet we need to work for a lot more than that.

The most difficult thing to do in politics is to see yourself as a meaningful part of the process. Voting, which is emotionally driven and being sold to us as such, is satisfying like a pacifier. Justice, externally dramatized, is a never-ending struggle against an adversary that is merely self-interested. You can appease yourself by “caring” but that does not give you a sense of justice in your heart, or even the authentic thirst for it.

Yours & truly,

Technorati Tags: democratic natinoal convention, Eric Francis, hillary clinton, hope, obama, Planet Waves

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Dear Eric:

I have an unusual situation as far as my horoscope is concerned, and I would appreciate your input.

Evening walk along a Trouville beach. Normandy, France. Photo by Danielle Voirin.

I was born via C-section three months prematurely because of severe birth defects, which led to cerebral palsy.

I am a Sagittarius, born December 15, 1986, intended to be born March 15, 1987. I am curious as to how that affects me, astrology-wise. I have always felt an incredibly strong influence from the water sign I was supposed to be born under: Pisces.

For instance, when I am on a boat or smell the ocean, something very strong and spiritual comes over me. That may be superficial, but it is just an example.

More importantly, my spirit animal is the seal, for reasons too deep to really go into. I just am.

I am a Sun-sign Sag with a moon in Gemini, Sag ascendant, born 6:32 am. There is no research on extremely premature births, or the change in astrological sign and the effects thereof.

Please let me know what you make of this.

Thank you.

Jessica

===

Dear Jessica,

C-sections present one of the most challenging questions for astrology, and for life. Yours was one of the rare few that seems to have been medically necessary. Nearly all c-sections could be classed as premature births; the same would hold true for forceps births, which are even more common than surgical births.

I am something of a purist in that I use the stated time of a birth rather than the anticipated time, or probable time had things gone “normally.” Looking at your chart, we find a profound horoscope with many unusual features. But skipping right to the Pisces part, as I am sure you noticed, you have Mars conjunct Jupiter in Pisces. Those looking can find those two planets in red/orange at the bottom of the chart — in the 3rd house.

Not only do you have planets in Pisces, they are strong on three different accounts. First is they square your ascendant; second is they square Saturn; and third is they are trine Venus, Pluto and Pallas Athene. So they are stand-out planets. They may evoke some powerful childhood memory of when you traveled to the sea, probably between the ages of 1 and 4 years.

They also speak to your physical environment; an environment you might appreciate being in. And with Pisces so strong in the 3rd house, that would be a pull toward the water. Just checking the major points, you have five elements in water signs. It matters little that your Sun is not in a water sign; it has another job to do, and that is to give you the energy to survive and indeed thrive in this world despite your disabilities.

The challenges you face are described in a T-square, involving the Moon and Chiron in Gemini; Saturn, the ascendant, Uranus and the Sun in Sagittarius; and Mars and Jupiter in Pisces.

It is often said that when you see a T-square in a chart, look for the things that complete the aspect in the 4th point of the cross, thus forming a grand cross. You have no major points in Virgo, but you do have an impressive collection of minor planets. Space does not permit a full reading of them, but the most interesting of them is Psyche conjunct Apollo in Virgo, which is precisely aligned with the T-square.

This tells me a few things. One is to be aware of the danger of repeated injuries to the head. Protect your head as best you can. There is also the prospect of making some error in what you believe about the condition of your soul. The thing to remember is that it’s not your soul that’s having the problem — it’s the beliefs you have, which were probably given to you by others.

Your chart reveals the lifepath of a blazing innovator. Your are not someone who was sent here with only with problems; rather, you have enormous fortitude, and you are one who came here with solutions that will benefit many, many people, if you allow yourself to accept your role. The first and most vital way to do that is to accept that you are different to the point of being a visitor from another world; that your energy could power a city; that your mind stands high above what most of the people around you think is possible for themselves, or for you.

No matter. Carry on.

Yours & truly,

Technorati Tags: Astrology, c-cection, cerebral palsy, Pisces

Dear Friend and Reader:

Last week I predicted that Hillary would make a move on the convention. Tonight, she did. Not quite the way I was expecting, but finally a move befitting the actual political skill of the Clintons. In case you mised it, here is the New York Times write-up of the event.

One of our worldwatchers, Lloyd, sent this in late Tuesday night.

Hillary Clinton gave a big, big speech. She essentially was attempting to unite the party and have her supporters elect Obama. She electrified the audience. She touched all the hot topics, Healthcare, Ecology, oil prices, Education etc. She even mentioned gay rights. She killed the Republicans and McCain. She quoted Harriet Tubman who started the underground railroad. “When you hear the dogs keep going. When you see the fires keep going. When you hear the shouts keep going.”

We have yet to see the effect that this will have on the nominating process or the Democratic party. I think that the sentiments are extremely strong at the moment, positive like the Democrats just have in recent years had nary a clue how to muster. One reader wrote in and said everything’s gonna be fine. I will allow myself a modicum of optimism, but only because the astrology checks out.

This is actually an interesting chart, the sky tonight — Earth signs are strong, with a grand trine between and among Vesta in Taurus, Sun, Saturn, Venus and Mercury in Virgo and Jupiter in Capricorn. Earth energy is grounded, it tends toward intelligent and the Moon in Cancer gives a soft feeling. I did not hear Hillary speak but rumor has it that she felt human.

The chart for the convention’s opening yesterday afternoon gave me more angst than any chart I’ve seen in quite a decade. That was the Moon in 9/11/tsunami position (28+ Gemini) opposite Pluto (28+ Sagittarius) chart…and my ultimate decision on how to interpret was as realism. Realism on account of the danger and potential of our times; and a sober attitude on how divided the public is. We are talking Gemini’s dualism met by Pluto, though on reciting the words, it could be the image of a uniting force; some cause we deem worth taking up on some collective level: for example, what we’re gonna do about climate change and a general thirst for justice.

Wouldn’t it be about time? Aren’t so many million of us pulling in the same direction, only separately, not together?

Yours & truly,

Technorati Tags: Astrology, democratic national congention, Eric Francis, hillary clinton, planewaves