Belief Is Not Required

Major Planetary Note (MPN)

Since May 15, Venus (love and relationships) has been in retrograde. On June 27, this goddess of beauty, pleasure and friendship has begun to move again. If you haven’t looked within for love denied, deferred or derailed, then you’ve missed her salient point. You cannot even think to give something to someone else that you do not possess within yourself.

Basic Meaning of MPN

Saturn started moving this week. Imagine the beast (Saturn) and the beauty (Venus) have been in rapturous communication for the last six weeks. Your superego, looking down and exacting judgment, has been asking, “Should you be happy or sad?” Your ego has only wanted to be heard. All Venus has wanted to do is love from a human and divine place of integration and acceptance. So, is there more love in your life or less? Did you alter any mannerisms that you’ve not questioned for a long while?

Thought Food (Contemplate)

What if plants, aka Nature, had legal standing?
Standing is the legal right to initiate a lawsuit. To do so, a person (or for the purposes of this column, nature) must be sufficiently affected by the matter at hand, and there must be a case or controversy that can be resolved by legal action.

Questions

Earth signs (Virgo, Cap and Taurus): How can you get over your innate practicality to imagine what plants would say in their defense from rampant capitalism and expansionism?

Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces): How can you use you empathic abilities to construct logical conversations about what plants would actually say, if they could speak verbally?

Air signs (Libra, Aquarius and Gemini): How can you create the language that plants speak for us to hear as humans? (Of course, you’d have to suspend logical disbelief in this whole discussion.)

Fire signs (Leo, Sag and Aries): How can you slow down enough and see this discussion from outside yourself and your preconceived notions? Plants (and Gaia) need representation!

Hint: On a lighter note, read other signs to see whom Venus will aid in your planting heart to heart (as when small amounts of marijuana are at least decriminalized), and how Saturn will hinder your connections. Who makes your life needlessly and inexplicably challenging? Now, you can realize how Saturn can operate in your world (similar to Gov. Christie, who has vetoed a bill to decriminalize 15 grams of marijuana, hindering the process of progressive growth).

Water Element
Venus gives through mental stimulation and verbally lucid conversation until August 7. Saturn asks you to control your moods, realize how your nonverbal communication affects the atmosphere.

Cancer, June 21-July 22, initiating feeling (soul)

Sensual and earthy fairy folks born from late April to mid-May, aka Taurus, bring in the love, beauty and art that have been missing in your closest connections. Allow the practical to rule your conversations. Even if you feel as if you cannot live without another’s touch, how much of it can you realistically accept? Married, give space when space is needed. Otherwise, lordly Saturn will give you an onslaught of fears and anxieties. You’ll begin to worry about how your significant others have had conversations about your flaws and lack of approachability (this includes co-workers and those you see regularly). Other Cancer people can be some of your best sounding boards, once you’ve listened to them. A little tit-for-tat, aka quid pro quo, will give you a rousing start to letting go of what and who have not served you for far too long.

Scorpio, October 23-November 21, concentrating feeling (soul)

“It takes one to know one” is a saying that you can recognize yourself in another. So, it’s an intense, soulful and introspective Scorpio that can tell you all about plants and their powers. You read from the same script. They can challenge you through playing a much-needed devil’s advocate. Venus turnabout for the past six weeks centered upon fair play, giving as well as you are getting. Pisces people challenge you to stand up for your rights, usually through reminding you of past behaviors you’ve forgotten. The sign of the fishes can sometimes remember too much, that is, keeping score of who’s given what to whom. You must deal with the taint of unfinished business. Resist the temptation to look backward, fueling unnecessary regret. Instead, imagine that you are an attorney who is a member of NORML (a multidisciplinary group working to reform marijuana laws) arguing her case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for the legalization of marijuana. Know that you are difficult, if not impossible, to beat when you are passionate, self-actualized and fighting for what or in whom you believe.

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Pisces, February 19-March 19, adapting and learning feeling (soul)

In order to feel rooted, you need to the sensitive and intimacy-driven sign of Cancer to go ahead and make your day. It is as if you’ve been on a desert where the cacti have taken over. You have been looking for an oasis, of the spiritual and emotional sort. The relationships that you want will not occur unless you make an effort. You must initiate the kind of rarefied connections you desire. Keeping you from your greenhouse are any recalcitrant Scorpios that you’ve managed to piss off along your journey. These straightforward people act as your guide, similar to your own personal bioethics professor. Misrepresent yourself at your own peril. This past Venus reversal (May 15-June 27) was set up to get you to go deeper into your soul to wrestle with any demons created from perpetual divine discontent. In essence, your life needs some well-placed soul fertilizer, so any “hothouse” flowers may grow into the rarities we all can enjoy. Do not believe your soul is beautiful; know that your soul is beautiful.

Fire Element

Your life must be an adventure.

Leo, July 23-August 22, concentrating spirituality (fire)

Leave your past behind you. It is a new day. See your opposite sign of Aquarius as more right than you. Huh? There is room for dissent. But you mustn’t give yourself over to tyranny and excessive subjectivity. You cannot shut down from a position of pride and stop talking. Disagreements mean you are hearing each other. Love, hate and thin lines, but indifference and fear kill love like a neglected plant. Healthy Aquarians remind you of your responsibility to your family and community. Gemini individuals will poke holes in dubious arguments. They will give you the drive to obtain the information to make your case from an intelligent and heartfelt perspective. Search out these bright folks to keep you from asserting your positions based on a feigned sense of indifference. Admit to just how much you care about what others think of your growth. You desire recognition for work well done, like an orchid that has taken seven years to bloom. Gemini can give you the hands-on care of when to be hands-off. No root rots for you. Through opening your mind for additional info, your roots deepen and grow within all of your balanced relationships.

Sagittarius, November 22-December 21, adapting and learning spirituality (fire)

It is those charming and attractive Librans who normalize and temper any extreme behaviors for you. You do realize that you can take too many risks, right? You can gamble with money, goodwill, time and info, correct? The October born give you another perspective just when you’ve bet the farm or invested in the wrong mate for far too long. However, it is the Aquarians who have your ticket to ride on a boat over troubled waters. The geniuslike individuals will break you out of conventional living for traditional people’s sake. You do realize that you can harbor a free spirit who wants to run naked through the woods, right? The February born can help you break with unnecessary rules that thwart your true spontaneous self.

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Aries, March 20-April 19, initiating spirituality (fire)

No one likes a know-it-all. Must you have an opinion on every subject floating your way? These last six weeks should have taught you to be where you are, not looking for greener grass. Gemini people are to inspire you like guardian angels, which are getting you to see the best in everyone where they are, not simply relating to their potential. Use your well-formed brain to see past the superficial, but know when to speak up about your insights. Playing your own devil’s advocate is your opposing sign of Libra. Sure, their indecisiveness can wear on your reserve nerves, but they are a sign of how consensus is recognized and built. Consensus and team building take time. Like anyone with any objective social consciousness knows: Marijuana and psychedelics will be legalized by the middle part of the 21st century. It will simply cost too much to continue our “war on drugs,” among other concerns. Not to be heartless, but some people must die off. (now, don’t be getting any ideas, OK?)

Earth Element
Look within to ascertain your heart’s desire.

Virgo, August 23-September 22, adapting and learning earth (physical)

Simply seeking perfection will be helped through relating to Capricorns. These early winter folks assist you to become more you. Self-improvement can come from your motivation to better serve your family, tribe and community. Capricorn and Taurus are members of your pragmatic tribe. Taurus will be increasingly critical of you if they feel uncomfortable or they think you have more stuff than you do. Sometimes they can beat you out with blowing petty concerns out of proportion. It’s the “mountains out of molehills” that Cap can keep from happening. Realize that Mercury is slowing down to go retrograde in your preceding sign of Leo (July 14-August 7). Listen to Taurus, but heed Capricorn.

Capricorn, December 22-January 20, initiating earth (physical)

Read Virgo first please. These humble individuals have much to teach you. July is a “whistling while you work” time. Instead of plying your ambitions like overwatering your garden, take a step back and recall why you work as hard as you do. Virgos remind you of the joy that ought to come from service, from a job well done. It has been said that “to rule is to serve.” Why is it so important that all bucks stop with you? Have a serious talk with other Caps to get to know your real motives behind the need to be in control all the time. Too many judgments keep life’s joy at bay. Realize how common sense may not be so common, and prepare yourself for that.

Taurus, April 20-May 20, concentrating earth (physical)

Maybe there is nothing new under the sun. Maybe there are no new creations. And maybe you’ve begun to believe any ol’ bullshit that comes out of your mouth. Yes, plants need fertilizer, but let’s not overdo it, OK? These last six weeks, Venus’ turnabout occurred to get you to see what truly matters in your life. Not what others want to have matter for you, but what you want to have matter for you. Taurus, Cancer and Scorpio natives conspire to help you stay on path, an inside-out path. Virgos will nitpick. However, if their heart comes out of love, drop your defenses. Not only listen to the September born but also put their advice into action. A Taurus who actively listens … so there are some new things under the sun, huh?

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Air Element
This column and planetary lineup I’ve chosen to focus upon is really about you. Mr. Planter Saturn’s in Libra until October 5. Ms. Artistic Venus is in Gemini until August 7. The whole concept of legal standing for plants has a PETA feel about it. We need what discoveries can still come out of the Amazon jungle. It will take your objectively leaning mind to find and nurture ideas to heal us as a planet.

Libra, September 23-October 22, initiating intellectual, starting relationships

Since the fall of 2009, you have been called on to mature. “Grow up!” is what the planetary matrix has been screaming in your ear. How would you break with stale routines if money were no object? It is time to behave like a nomad. Gather with Sagittarians. A quixotic vision quest, psilocybin (mushrooms), marijuana or even intense meditation, do anything to alter your mind. Leave those messages of “gateway drugs” or “you have too many responsibilities” behind you. The only one judging is you. Sure, you can easily turn into the major flaming or bitchy hypocrite if you’ve excessively judged people for pleasurable behaviors you don’t engage in. Think of your imprisoned soul, but now it’s on furlough. You get to enjoy the fruits of the earth. You’ve heard the old saw about all work, dull boys and girls, right? C’mon, break a personal taboo (or two).

Aquarius, January 20-February 18, concentrating mind

Fantasies come, fantasies go, it’s important to know. Sometimes your fantasies increase in physical intensity to get you out of your always thinking mind. Since May 15, the goddess of love, pleasure, beauty and friendship has been sitting very pretty in your fifth house of joy and self-expression. Love denied on the outside creates an excellent opportunity to look within. Your indifferent ways can be extremely attractive, drawing others to give or lavish their love onto you. But how do you give love? And, more importantly, how do you give love from an open heart with less or no thought? Offering love to others cannot come from a place of mental calculation, which feels more like a commercial bargain. Leos can demonstrate how to open your heart; Sagittarians can show you when you have overutilized your mind, therefore blocking the love you want to give freely.

Gemini, May 21-June 20, adapting intellectual, the changing mind

Like we need oxygen for fire, you need fire for an individual center. Look to your own sign to see where you’ve gotten caught up in too many rationalizations. These last three months have been constructed for you to learn how to communicate what you value. To act upon what you value. Along with yourself, Aries folks are instrumental in your evolution. You can use Librans as sounding boards, but you must act. Acting from an examined motivation makes you appear wise and grounded even when you possess anxieties. If you have Leos around you, only listen to those who have taken risks of self-expression against conventions. This is not the time to “go along to get along.” Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” is playing on your life’s soundtrack. As he sang, now you see the light/get up/stand up/stand up for your rights/don’t give up the fight … in order to stand up, you must plant (pun intended) your feet and think you are worth fighting for …

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The Rising Sign, aka Ascendant, represents your approach to life and the mask you wear. Read that sign as well to get additional information on what is in store this week.

Text or call Quan at 816-931-0010 or check out his website at beliefisnotrequired.com.