Note to Readers — The December 2023 monthly horoscope will be distributed to paying subscribers (both to this Substack and our Core, BSP and Galaxy members via the Planet Waves list), on Thursday. So I am distributing the November horoscope to everyone today, along with Planet Waves FM from right before last month’s lunar eclipse. Planet Waves FM is produced by Chiron Return and is part of Pacifica Radio, the first-ever public radio network in the United States and the world’s oldest listener-supported radio project. We were founded in 1946 by pacifists John Lewis and Lewis Hill. I have considered myself Quaker since age 14, so it’s a good place to be. Thank you for supporting the program. — efc
Dear Friend and Reader:
No proofreader has been near this letter, which I am adding to the horoscope last minute. So there will be some typos.
November continues the theme of planets facing off with one another (opposition aspects). This is exemplary in the chart for Saturday's Full Moon eclipse across Taurus and Scorpio. So far I have neglected to mention the concentration of physical and emotional energies contained in this sign pair, but most astrology fans already know.
When the Moon partially dims in Taurus Saturday (unfortunately, not visible from the United States — partial lunar eclipses are my favorite to see) — it’s joined by Jupiter, Uranus and a diversity of minor planets.
The Sun is conjunct an odd planet without a body — a hypothetical — called Apollon. I know this is a weird concept. I always want to say more about it. It’s from a system dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries called Uranian astrology. I have learned a lot from them.
At the time of the eclipse, the Scorpio Sun is conjunct Apollon, which takes 576 years to orbit the Sun. I once asked Rob Hand how they work (generally, he knows everything). All he could do was speculate.
The point “always enlarges, expands or indicates far off places,” wrote Michael Erlewine. “The multiplier: expansion and spreading; growth and increase. Science, commerce, trade, industry, peaceful efforts,” wrote Arlene Kramer. “Apollon is that which indicates ‘a lot of’ or ‘more than one’ of anything. It has close connections with the worlds of commerce, science, and education, and can also symbolize success, expansion, and foreign countries.”
The big big Apollon-Sun pairing is joined by Mercury, Mars and Ceres.
This is a LOT of energy. A lot of sexual strength, power, chi, jin, orgone and physical mojo happening in the psychological, emotional style of Scorpio. among other things email life is usually pretty saucy, but this week, I’ve been surpassing any prior peaks.
I’ve placed the full PWFM show into this post. The first 40 minutes has a close reading of the eclipse chart, which is added at the very very bottom of this page. Just keep scrolling…just keep rolling. And hang loose. I mean it. Life is too short to be uptight, though it continues to be a top seller.
Extended astrology readings follow for all the signs and rising signs.
By Eric Francis
ARIES — The matter of resources comes up in grand style this month, as many planets make fireworks across Taurus and Scorpio. That is the money axis of your chart, and it influences such questions as what you have, where you get it, and what you do with it. Yet all of these things are abstract issues, in contrast to who you are — and who you think you are. Once you have a sense of that, the financial issues are much simpler. You have information about how to align yourself with your community and your society in a way that is designed to connect you to resources. Yet I would note that with money, the question is more often how one gets it than it is about what one offers for that to happen. Unless you’re a fantastic ‘manifestor’ (or huckster), the question always comes back to what you provide to others that is potentially of value to them. And this, in turn, comes back to the value that you put upon yourself. Do you recognize your worth, not as some abstract concept, but rather in productivity, commitment, experience and wisdom? Are you willing to offer yourself totally, without hesitation? If you are considering “saving some of yourself for later,” you will miss out on the benefits of your gifts today.
TAURUS — Your world is reverberating from the Oct. 28 lunar eclipse in your sign, and may be for many months. Eclipses of any kind are about deep shifts in one’s orientation, whether cosmic or worldly. On the surface, Taurus seems to be about stability. Yet that is a wrapper around a ball of raw energy that is always looking for a way to burst out — and that ongoing potential has a way of threatening your sense of self. Going beyond this sense is the theme of your current astrology, and has been for a while; the eclipse just made the idea more obvious. Any stability to which you might cling is not only false, it has a way of choking your energy. You know that your strength and power must move and flow — and that is the nature of the bubble that always seems to be about to burst, threatening to take you with it. Yet the astrology of the next few weeks comes on like thunder and rain. The key to maintaining your sanity is not looking outside yourself for your value, your sense of belonging, or the deeper stability that you are reaching for with every facet of your soul. Your motto for this month might be, “It’s not about him/her/them. It’s about me.” There may be a fantastic movie running, and it surely could distract you. But it will not, if you remember that your core relationship is with yourself and not about anyone or anything else. The lesson may seem hard at first, though it will be much easier when you see that your freedom can be found right there.
GEMINI — A discovery about yourself that you make early in the month will give you plenty to consider, and reveal several options you hadn’t seen before. Yet the reminder that comes along with them is a bold one: you cannot live with anything but your truth. Fortunately, your truth is the most accessible thing in the whole wide universe. Or is it? People tend to pack their deepest beauty under many layers of what we might call socialization and civilization. That can make it difficult to find, and even more difficult to express — after all, it so often seems that reality is not socially acceptable. Yet if we are in the golden age of anything right now, that would be social anarchy where “acceptable” or “unacceptable” is not really a thing. There is so much chaos that it’s difficult to stand out at all; therefore you can afford to experiment. By that I mean push limits and test boundaries in the ways that you express yourself. I don’t mean no boundaries but I do mean going far enough beyond your comfort zone that you feel uncertain and insecure in doing so. This has nothing to do with how others respond to you. It’s about you being adventurous and learning to be more daring, and then learning something along the way. By learning, I mean discovering that something is possible.
CANCER — You are working with tremendous creative potential right now, though creativity requires a fertilizing force. You may find that in a shock from your environment, which will help get a chain reaction going within you. Yet tapping into this force is largely a matter of your shifting point of view. Gradually you are figuring out how insane and unstable our society is right now. You are aligning with your ability to respond in a way that is productive. Yet here is the distinction between what usually happens and what you need for yourself. Most of what we call “response” is fundamentally dishonest. This can include over-reaction, or unfairly capitalizing on confusion and disorder, which in turn plays into a wider deception. The challenge you face is to be entirely honest in the face of this struggle. That begins with honesty in your own mind, and a sincere assessment of both your situation and that of the world. You will gain strength through this commitment. You will conserve energy and have more for priorities that are valid right now. Part of this process involves a clearing out of goals that may have meant something in the past, but no longer does. You do not need those attachments. Be sensitive to any situation that seems deadlocked; those are the very places where your energy is trapped and needs to be set free. A policy of waiting for something to move is not a good idea. It will be much preferred if you are the one who initiates the action.
LEO — Despite the seeming complexity of your situation, and a diversity of factors you don’t really understand, you can avoid making the same mistakes again. That’s the essence of your whole situation: at this particular turning point, you have the option to set yourself free from a habit that has had you running in circles. It’s fair to ask what is driving that situation, and it would seem to be your false lack of confidence. By that I mean that given your experience and knowledge, you could proceed with assurance in yourself. It’s difficult to get this right, I know; at times you plunge ahead in certain situations with more gusto than you should have, though this may be about an underlying insecurity. Underneath all this may be not knowing what you want. You remain at the mercy of your emotional tides. Many of those are driven by various family influences that you have yet to resolve or work through despite being an adult. This creates a situation of competing loyalties, where to do something in support of your own personal objectives, you feel like you must betray someone else. Those who would wrap you in strings in order to avoid their own insecurity may say they love you, but they don’t act like it. There’s a way through this maze, though the most important element will be understanding that your sincere loyalty to yourself is the basis of every other commitment.
VIRGO — You have spent many years living with a haze of uncertainty around some of the most important facets of your existence — especially knowing where you stand with people. It’s not just your intimate relationships; the fog has made it difficult to perceive anyone accurately, or to locate yourself accurately within your world. This year, however, you may have noticed a change in this condition. A bold realness has begun to show its influence. This is coming at the cost of your fantasies, and that’s a positive development. With astrology like you’re under now, there is no room for hope. There is no room for even the least sly deception. Yet to correct that may take some work: personal work, cleanup work, truth-telling work, and admitting where you may have exceeded the bounds of the trust granted to you. Saturn can seem like a harsh mistress, though her role is to enforce your growth and development — in all matters of human interrelationships. Under the influence of Neptune, you have had a very wide berth. Under the influence of Chiron (approximately 2011-2018) you developed a concept of what you needed to heal, and I suggest you review your notes from that era. What was the status of your most important relationships at that time? What were the main properties of the social world in which you lived? A lot has happened since then. Saturn is here to help you finish what you began under the guidance of Chiron. This will call for scrupulous honesty with yourself.
LIBRA — Having a conscious plan and logical framework for your actions is the essence of your chart, now and for the foreseeable future. This is not about binding yourself into structures, but rather having a set of principles that can guide you through a wide diversity of if/then situations. You tend to overthink things as it is; you don’t need to take that approach at the moment. Rather, I’m talking about having a sense of what matters to you the most; knowing what you’re willing to compromise and what you are not; and being open to discussion at all times. Do not let your fears sweep you away, especially if you are over-focused on details, and thinking one bad thing might lead to another. Yes, the recent solar eclipse in your sign arrived with the reminder that all things must pass. Yet as long as we are living in time, all things may be reborn and transform — especially and including you. This will be more apparent when Venus returns to your sign on Nov. 8, and you’re reminded of who you are, and of your ability to make whatever changes are necessary. The one thing you don’t want is to have decisions made for you. Rather, stay a step ahead of yourself — one step, not five — and make your choices as the need or opportunity arises. You will be doing this in accord with your previously understood values and guiding principles, so this will be easier than usual.
SCORPIO — If it seems like you can never get a handle on your relationships, you’re invited to ask yourself what that is telling you. One implied message is to work with change rather than against it. This change is likely to include the growth that others experience that you can neither control nor influence. Such might defy the notion of a “relationship” as something that is about both people all the time. Yet we are all individuals. Not only are there spaces between people, we must often stand as beings who possess individual destinies. This includes you. The changes that have come into your life in recent years have surely presented challenges, and one of them has been understanding your need to stand on your own. This has mostly been about your partnerships. However, as Pluto makes its way into Aquarius, the next stage will be moving toward independence from the influences of your family. Whether or not you still spend time with them is irrelevant; either way, it’s their impact and imprinting that you will be working through and gradually severing yourself from. This is all in the spirit of your emerging fully mature identity, that stands apart from your past, and also your need for approval from your family of origin. The kind of leadership you are taking on requires you to stand strong in your own emotional grounding, as a person of influence in your tribe rather than one who is influenced or controlled. This will be the product of many seemingly small revelations and decisions.
SAGITTARIUS — You may not like the feeling of being constrained and limited, both in your home environment and in the need for discipline in your emotional inner space. Yet working within a structure and boundary will serve you in many ways. The growth lesson here seems to be about having negotiable, movable dividers rather than fixed and inflexible ones. The idea is to divert your energy and attention rather than to bind it up. You need reminders of the places where you begin and where other people end. At the moment you have so much energy welling up inside that it needs somewhere to go. Generally when the psyche is overloaded, a typical response is projection: give it to someone else; assign it to someone close to you. Yet this is the problem that I suggest you fully commit yourself to working out. You may have feelings that are difficult to express to an intimate partner. You might begin by expressing them to someone who will not be threatened by an honest recounting of your fears, needs and desires. It will be easy enough to deny these things, and pretend they have no real influence on you. Yet tuning them out will not help anyone. You don’t need to be under this kind of pressure. If anything is taking a toll on your body or your creative expression, you must vent some of these feelings and concerns. Doing so in a controlled environment such as with a massage therapist who is a good listener would make a fine start.
CAPRICORN — Now that Pluto has stationed direct in your sign, you may feel that it will be worth the effort to tackle certain projects that seemed futile before. Your ruling planet also stations direct on the 4th, which will relieve additional pressure and resolve some extra complications in matters that don’t need any more than they initially came with. Regarding any projects, your working theme is “disciplined intuition.” That would be mostly discipline, guided by your sense of what you know is true. You are probably right, though let your work process (which seems to involve formulating words) involve plenty of reflection and revision, such that anything you are creating is alive and flexible. You may feel like whatever you’ve been working toward has no end. Yet I would encourage you to persist, not on the basis of hope, with the understanding that there are a series of breakthrough points that will arrive over the next few months. Your progress may not be measurable in tangible experience. If you are present with your work that will be its own reward, and you may proceed with daily focus as your motivation. Part of the larger lesson here is learning to be precise and solid with your words, whether spoken or written, including when you are reading or listening. Steer away from anything that wastes your time; there is a lot of garbage content going around that deserves none of your attention. Only you can evaluate your own fears, and only you can determine what to do about them.
AQUARIUS — Current aspects are reminding you that it’s time to make a few career moves, and update your activities to match your current interests. There are some things you do that are no longer interesting or necessary. And at the same time, you have an opening to do something entirely new. This may be about choosing what you do the best and love the most (they are probably the same thing) and expanding them. You may have what you consider a hobby that has commercial potential. A good rule for one’s career is to only do professionally what you would do for free. I agree; that would imply self-motivation, which is essential. And if you succeed, you’ll be doing a lot of it. And sometimes it takes a warmup period to get something going before it’s profitable; love and motivation count for a lot then. However long you’ve delayed a certain idea, I suggest you get yourself in motion because the time is ripe not just to make moves in the world, but to let go of emotional attachments that have been holding you back. Firing up your professional life in a new way will make it easier to see the changes that you need to make at home and potentially with certain family bonds. The central question is about values. It’s difficult to find people who share those, though it’s easier when you know pretty much what they are and what you want your life to be about. Lighten your emotional load and focus yourself on feeding the tree of your life and — for now — not the whole forest.
PISCES — Your job is not to be the flavor of the month, or to earn an employee parking spot. Your job is to be real with yourself and with others, and that may be about standing true in your own values even if that conflicts with the notions of others. This takes courage in a world where we’re told over and over that popularity is everything. Yet in truth, what passes for popularity is usually vapid, meaning it’s like steam, and often it’s toxic. What you want is loyalty. And that does not just mean you being faithful to others — which is more complicated than it seems — but at this time, paying attention to who is faithful to you. That is where to invest your energy. Your usual MO is to extend everyone a line of credit and see how they do. Most people default. You have an opportunity to re-train yourself to withdraw time, energy and resources from those who fail to come through even once, and shift your investments in the direction of those who stand up when needed, and show up on time. Notice who you don’t have to ask for help. Notice the situations where there is a net gain for everyone and nobody has to sacrifice. Yet a true friend is someone who shares what they might need themselves — and you won’t have many of those in the course of a lifetime. But you may discover over the next few weeks that you have one or two of them, and you are invited to treat them well. And if you lose a friend, they were probably just an acquaintance.
Open Access Planet Waves Monthly for November 2023