Planet Waves Monthly for November by Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) — The Sun’s annual transit through Scorpio is a time when you experience a different side of your nature. It is equally valid, though a whole other shade of psyche. In lived reality, there is a self who you think of as you, and there is a self who you think of as the you in relationships. You may have some idea that these are the same person, and ultimately they are. Yet they are different faces that you present to existence, and they each have their own properties. Each has its own inner experience. Ultimately, one must emerge as dominant. It’s easy to play a shell game with yourself, and shift into an alternate reality when the pressure gets high. And as you may know, the intensity building in your sign (spanning from the April 2024 total solar eclipse into many other planetary events in 2025 and 2026) is putting the pressure on you to emerge, grow and become in ways that may feel exceedingly challenging. Certain relationships in your life will provide you with a place of refuge, and you may be experiencing that now. Yet your connections to other people must always support your deeper growth, your foundational drive to actualize your true self (and relationships do not always support this, unfortunately). Who you are and who you are becoming are out of the control of others. Yet a true partner will be there for the things about you that are not about them.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The Sun’s movement through your opposite sign Scorpio is making you conscious of your most intimate partnerships. Yet one thing you may not be aware of is a power struggle that is brewing just off-stage. Like a lot of things, it may tug on your sleeve or at other times feel like a stone in your shoe. You may feel like you want to challenge someone but you don’t know exactly why that is. And your potentially obsessive emphasis on one particular partner may be making it difficult to figure out what you’re really feeling. That emphasis may be positive, or it may be negative. You may feel they can do no wrong; you may feel they cannot ever get it right. All of that is the distraction. There is something deeper going on, and its roots go much further back in time than any present relationship. Let’s imagine we’re doing a hypnotherapy session. We’re going to regress you back to when you were around two years old, when you were at times crawling around on the floor. There were people in that environment who seemed extremely powerful. Sure, all the adults did, but there was someone who stood out: someone you were afraid of. Who was that person? Can you see their face, and hear their voice? How do you feel in their presence? Did they express that anger at you? And did you take on some of that as guilt or resentment? This may provide the context you need.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The coming weeks are an important turning point in your ability to take care of yourself, and to resolve matters associated with a personal healing project. Yet this is more than about any one issue; your chart describes deepening your commitment to wellness as the most important thing in your life. You are made of strong material. You can endure a lot. The goal now is to endure less, and to be at peace with yourself. You’ve been through many twists and turns, and you need some ease and peace of mind. This is more likely to come from a spiritual place as it is from elements of physical care or lifestyle. Spiritual is not about prayers, pujas, rituals or offerings. It’s about your relationship to existence, through which you can tap energies that have the power to resolve problems on a diversity of levels. Yet you must be a willing participant for this to work; and allow the healing to come to you, as a conscious choice. Your decision does not need to be perfect. All you need is what A Course in Miracles calls the “small willingness,” which includes asking for help and being open to it when it arrives. Most of the problems of humanity involve pushing help away or not seeing it when it comes. Take it easy on yourself and do not expect perfection. Rather, keep choosing what helps you and returning to the universe what does not. The difference becomes easier to see as you progress.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You are a passionate person, and you must live passionately. Yet the world has become so cool and detached this may seem impossible, or extremely dangerous. And please, let’s be real. Passion implies sexual feelings, and that, in turn, implies your feelings for others, and what you want to share with them. This is not a moral issue. There are those who would try to convince us that sex is inherently wrong, when it’s likely to be the only human activity that is inherently right, because without it, there would be no more other humans. So let’s not lose any sleep over that. However, there are two matters that must intervene. One is the creative use of sex rather than its abuse as a source of power or influence. In our world where every last thing we do can result in a transition that alters the blockchain, or create 100 security photos and a transcript, sex must exist for its own purpose. You and your feelings must be free to exist on your own terms. The second matter is about commitments. If you are in a situation that does not facilitate your desires, then it’s time to rethink that. Right versus wrong are not issues so much as honest versus dishonest; sincere versus faking it. So be mindful of your agreements, and ask yourself if one of them is to be honest. That, ultimately, is your passport to freedom. Be real about who you are at all times — there is little that other people can do except for have an opinion.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Leo is the sign of the Sun and the source of all light in our solar system. People know you as outwardly directed, and bold about taking leadership when that’s necessary. Yet this is the time of year when you tend to recall yourself into a deep inner space. Your introverted and emotional nature reveals itself to you. I encourage you to follow your desire to have more solitude, and to offer no explanations about why you feel the way you do. This movement is as natural as breathing, and the seasons, and equally as necessary. This is a time of profound catharsis, regeneration, and healing. It does not need to go on for months. In fact, several days of actual solitude, and even a weekend away from your friends and family, can have a profound effect on your self-awareness. And that is the whole idea. It’s essential that, whatever else you may do, you maintain your inner awareness and remember that you live from the inside out. You spend so much of your life holding other people and situations in their orbits that you simply must stay close to the core of your existence. It’s the source of your knowledge and your wisdom, and an inner wellspring of nourishment and rare elements that are not available outside of you. You don’t need to talk about your understanding of what existence — and your existence — are about. Yet you need to stay connected to these things, so that you make the right decisions from moment to moment.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The intensity of Virgo is drawn from a deep, underground ocean in Scorpio. While you would rather think things through and document your thought process with impeccable logic, there is a side of you that is thrown by your emotions like a bubble of seaweed in the crashing surf. Yet once you know about this aspect of your nature and how it tends to work — the tides, while imperfect, are predictable — you will be much more at peace with yourself. It helps to ride out any turbulence without trying to go into mental override mode and create the illusion of control by making arbitrary decisions. That’s just more emotional churning. Instead, try swimming to the bottom of your inner pool, and you will come out in a much more peaceful place — someplace natural to you, which comes with the understanding of why you’re alive on the planet. This implies not just a sense of purpose but also one of belonging in this strange environment, where everyone struggles at least a little to be at home. If someone close to you is going through a power struggle of some kind, stand back a little and let them work it out. And if you’re in a tight spot of some kind, study the whole environment rather than just focusing on the specific people or circumstances that seem to be involved. The figure always conceals the ground, and as a Virgo, the ground you stand on is your best friend.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Your financial superpower is understanding people. It’s been said that the Earth is the source of all wealth, and I would say that it’s understanding people’s motives. They are more often driven by their emotional desires than by their physical necessities. And once you know that, you will find it much easier to offer them what you have. To do this, you have to be curious and you need self-confidence; and you need to trust yourself. That’s another way of saying being honest all around, and never taking unfair advantage of someone. Yet it’s pretty basic that there are people who want what you have to offer, if you can connect to their motives. Now, what might stand in the way also blocks many other good things from coming into your life. There is still static coming from deep in the family-of-origin angle of your chart, and you’re starting to see that it’s about more than your mother. She had her role, though you will benefit from looking at the line of your grandfathers on both sides of the family and getting a read on what was really troubling them. You may have learned a lot over the past six months but may not have assembled the pieces. You will know you’re making progress when you feel more secure and also when you feel liberated of the kinds of fears that do not reflect who you are. You need a family, but it must be one of your own creation.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — What does it mean to ‘get a new start’? It’s about making a decision followed by changing your approach to your existence. This includes how you see yourself and see the world. Learning is the discovery that something is possible, which means possible for you. Then you would live that way. You seem be at a crux point, where you’ve had enough of something — in yourself. There’s an emotional approach that’s easy for you to slip into that leaves no room for love, for self-respect, or for something to be possible that wasn’t possible yesterday. This has something to do with resentment. Now, you might think that doesn’t apply to you. The most dependable metric here is guilt, which is resentment turned on itself. If you want to make a choice, and you feel guilty about it, that’s about resentment. You have a diversity of options for how to work this out, but you would have to want to — and you would have to choose. You’d need to not be attached to your own bitterness, or your own expectations of others. One possibility is to take a more spiritual approach, which actually means putting things in God’s hands. Another is to recognize the conditioning of your family to be, well, just like them, and in effect, not be yourself. You could also express yourself. You could say what you mean, and mean what you say at all times. You can refuse to stuff your feelings back into your body. You actually can.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The tendency of Sagittarius to conceal its true sexual nature would seem, on the surface, to be about maintaining the appearance of integrity. You really don’t want to be known as a saucy or promiscuous person with relentless curiosity about many people. Yet the location of Scorpio in your solar chart — right before your sign — is saying that concealing yourself will not work. This is the 12th house, the place where, for everyone, their desires are swept, usually never to see the light of day (or of the night). However, having Scorpio here is just too much to contain: your passion and emotions, your drive to connect, and wanting to go deep into experimental places. You know you’re a visitor here, and showed up to have the experiences available only on Earth. Exploring your full erotic spectrum is one of them. Yet it’s difficult to get past the moralism, religiosity and BS traditionalism that have been flogged into us since childhood. But sex is not a moral issue. Controls imposed by various power authorities, from parents to the government, are not about right or wrong but rather their convenience. If you’re connected to your feelings, your curiosity and your passion, you are more difficult for people like teachers to manage. Those who live full-spectrum won’t be content with littleness, or with people telling them what to do. If you want to live boldly, let yourself out — all of you. Love yourself for doing it. Honesty is the only requirement.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Beware of those who thrive on chaos. There are plenty of them, and lots of opportunity here in the disembodied digital age to stir the pot. The thing being churned up is your insecurities. Everyone has a few of those, and yours center on one primary theme: will the people who surround you accept you for who you are? Or must you be some kind of politician (which started around the age of three) who convinces people that they have won you over? As time has moved on, the fundamental tension of your life is between your need to be absolutely who you are, and your fear that you will be rejected for doing so. While it’s true that everyone has at least a little of this, you have a lot — especially now. And it would seem that for the foreseeable future, well into 2026, your challenge is standing fully in who you are, and learning how not to play along with the threat of rejection, real or imagined. In times when people think that cancel culture is a good idea, there’s not much left to the imagination. Still, you have no choice but to be yourself, regardless of what others think — or what you think they think. I would, however, fill you in on one fact that you may have missed: nobody cares that much who you are or what you do. They only pretend, till that gets boring. You have far more freedom to exist than you think.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — What do you want to accomplish? I suggest that rather than considering your concept of what this is, reflect on your actions as the most reliable indication of your intentions. You may love what you discover, which is an invitation to do more of the same. You may wonder why the heck you spend so much time worrying or puttering or getting involved in sidetracks that burn your most precious resource. Once you have this awareness, your choice of what to do is more potent. Draw yourself closer to the fulcrum, where small decisions get greater results. Such decisions always involve the action that you take, in the moment. This is a common dilemma when it comes to the expression of art, music, writing and other activities that are thought to be about passions. Often there seems to not be enough time to do these things, while there is plenty of time to do less meaningful things. I would propose that the real issue, therefore, is not about time but rather about emphasis, life patterns, past conditioning and how you think others will perceive you. Choosing to act on what you say you want is an experiment. It’s also a challenge to yourself, and that involves the daring step of declaring your life to be your own by acting on your needs and desires. Be patient with yourself, and look for the sources of internal resistance. Claiming your existence is a bold gesture. And what others may think — or what you think they may think — is boldly irrelevant.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The Sun has finally entered your fellow water sign Scorpio, and what’s good for one water sign is good for the rest. Scorpio is your spiritual side, an idea that contains some astrological humor: the deep emotions and sexual nature of the sign of the scorpion would not pass muster with any priest, rabbi, pastor or imam. But you know that sex is the source of life, and that sexual feelings inspire the things we do. So I would encourage you to actually feel what you are feeling, and to make the space to freely want what you want. And then — within the terms of your own ethics — you are free to do what you want. The important thing is that you conduct yourself in a way that is appropriate for you. That specifically excludes the rules and morals that others would place on you, and living life on your own terms. However, it’s not easy for you to see when others are setting your rules for you, because you are so easily influenced by group dynamics, and by the memories and remnants of your family of origin. Just because other people think something is right or wrong does not make it so. It is essential that you do your own inquiry. Ask your questions, of yourself and of others, and do not stop asking until you’re satisfied that the answers are correct. If something seems “to make no sense,” that’s probably true — so you can save a lot of energy by not rationalizing what is plainly ridiculous.