Planet Waves FM with Eric Francis

This edition of Planet Waves FM looks at the shooting of Trayvon Martin. It's a look at the situation from several angles — political, legal and astrological. I cover the concept of the Stand Your Ground law, which is based on an earlier idea, the Castle doctrine — the one that says "a man's home is his castle" — that is the basis of Stand Your Ground. However, it would seem that with everyone pretty much agreeing that the Stand Your Ground law does not apply in this case, from the lead investigator to the bill's sponsor to Jeb Bush himself, clearly something is wrong. There is one idea I left out of the discussion: the duty to retreat. That's the alternative to Stand Your Ground. In New York, for example, you have a duty to retreat from an attacker if you can. If you're cornered by someone who is going to do you harm, or someone you're protecting, your first job is to get to a safe place — then you can defend yourself if necessary. The purpose of this is so that people claiming self-defense don't automatically get a license to kill. You can read more about that at the Wikipedia page on the Castle doctrine.

Today I have a special edition of Planet Waves FM for you — an interview with Rob Fraboni. You may not have heard his name, but you've heard his work. It's an odd coincidence that Rob produced the Bob Dylan album Planet Waves. Rob and I talk about the history of some of this music, including never-before told stories about The Basement Tapes, The Red Room Tapes and most notably, The Last Waltz. We straighten out the rumor that the whole film was overdubbed. Rob would know — he mastered the soundtrack and solved a big problem with the transitions in the film. We also hear from Rob about his views on digital music, MP3s, and how to get the best sound with the simplest possible setup. If you know any fans of Dylan, The Band, the Rolling Stones or anyone who would aspire to either record, or be in the business, please send them this podcast.

Today is the Aries New Moon, at 10:37 am EDT. It's the first New Moon of the new astrological year, and coming two days after the Vernal Equinox, it's occurring in the third degree of Aries – essentially an Aries Point New Moon. One of the most striking features of this astrological 'restart button' is just how much Aries energy is in the sky right now. No fewer than seven major (and well-known minor) bodies are in this cardinal fire sign: retrograde Mercury, the Sun, the Moon, Uranus, Vesta Eris and Ceres. This much activity in Aries brings that sign's ruler into the forefront of this New Moon: Mars – a planet whose retrograde we have given much attention to.

This podcast covers the conjunction of Mercury and Uranus as a highlight of the current Mercury retrograde.

This is my reading of The Burning of Paper Instead of Children, by Adrienne Rich. The poem is a reference to an incident during the Vietnam War protests when nine Catholics were arrested for burning draft records in Cantonsville, Maryland. The group used homemade napalm, or jellied gasoline, to burn the files, which were made of paper. Napalm was being used at the time in Vietnam, dropped from airplanes to burn entire villages, including children.

Today is Monday, March 12. Mercury stations retrograde in fiery Aries at 3:48 am EDT (did the time change catch you off-guard this year, too?) The Sun is in late-Pisces for this event, which means we're nearing the end of the zodiacal year and about to begin a new season. The Moon in Scorpio is giving a deep, emotional tone to today's proceedings, so keep your finger on the pulse of those currents. There are a few planets giving us a little extra something to watch during this Mercury station, so your awareness of your emotions will serve you well. First, some general housekeeping regarding how to handle a Mercury retrograde to best effect. Even if you're familiar with the basics, a quick refresher can be just the thing to keep your day (or next few weeks) on an even keel. This is especially true because Mercury is stationing retrograde close to Uranus in early Aries, and will be passing by the Cosmic Light Socket again soon. This could take shape in your life (that is, your mind — Mercury is the planet of mind) as a distraction of some sort. In fact, if you find yourself coming up with some surprisingly brilliant idea in the next few days, consider tucking it away for a few weeks – or perhaps try a smaller-scale version of it if you just can't wait. The voltage could be a little high on the full-scale version now. If you read the Daily Astrology last week, you may recall the note that great ideas often come in layers with regard to Mercury conjunct Uranus, which will have three exact contacts by the end of the whole retrograde process. It's a great opportunity to build on or fine-tune what you've come up with. Beyond that, remember that communication – and your perception of communication – can be compromised in these weeks. Listen carefully; don't assume someone got your email or that you're interpreting the tone of another's email accurately; be mindful and check in rather than assume anything. Mercury also relates to travel. So, double-check your reservations, ticket dates and times, and your route before you leave the house. Give yourself a bigger cushion of time than usual to get anywhere, and be familiar with alternate routes before you actually need them. Chances are you won't, but the peace of mind it gives can allow you to focus on what's at hand. If something seems broken, especially if it's electronic, hold off on rushing out to fix or replace it. For one thing, it might not really be broken. For another, making large purchases, especially of the electronic variety, can often result in owning an object that doesn't work how you'd like it to, or that you don't really need or like, and subsequently never use. This is another area where the impulsiveness of Uranus in proximity to Mercury is something to keep an eye on: the impulse purchase. Mercury is also square an asteroid (Ophelia) and opposite another (Pandora) at the time of its station today. Ophelia's presence suggests being aware of overreaction; Pandora could mean unexpected consequences or getting 'more than you bargained for'. You can see how these ideas relate to the Mercury-Uranus energy with its impulsive ideas, as well as the purchasing advice. On a more fundamental and widely applicable level, the message is to remember that you always have the choice to size up a situation and respond in a way that's actually appropriate. It just means slowing your mind down enough to do the sizing up. Oh, and just because you can hear the radio through your phone, it doesn't mean the CIA is spying on you; or that you can only listen to the radio through your phone – or need to buy a new one. Just stay mindful of your reactions and ideas, and you'll be fine.

In this edition of Planet Waves FM, I look at the Virgo Full Moon, and some of the material that might be associated with this event in your life. I relate it to Mars retrograde in Virgo, which to me is about the healing of desire. One thing we're getting with this Mars retrograde is plenty of opportunity to do just that — particularly as sex keeps getting run up the flagpole day after day in the midst of the Republican primary race. I propose, however, that having the discussion of sex in congressional hearing rooms, the news and the Supreme Court is a huge distraction, and I recommend ways we can get the conversation into more intimate settings. At the end of the program I announce an essay contest that anyone can win — check for details. The prize is a copy of Betty Dodson's new DVD. I mention a sex education website — SoloTouch.com — where you can read 50,000 stories that prove that you're not weird. I recommend a book, Eros Denied by Wayland Young, and I suggest you peruse Betty Dodson's site, not for the end of the sex conversation but rather for an excellent point of beginning.

Sunday I spent the day in Connecticut, interviewing four graduates of SUNY New Paltz who lived in the dioxin dorms between 1992 and 1994. This is a one hour program that includes an introduction to the issue in the first few minutes, before the interviews begin. The story relates to some college dormitories that were contaminated by PCBs and dioxins in 1991, and which were reoccupied without proper testing or cleanup. While on one level this is a story about one incident on one campus, in truth New Paltz is everywhere. If you know people in the media, such as editors to radio hosts to bloggers, please send them this podcast. Thank you.

In this edition of Planet Waves FM was recorded Tuesday right before the Pisces New Moon, by your host, the Fire Breathing Fish. It morphs from a reading of the New Moon chart into a rant on women's autonomy and what used to be called reproductive rights. Casting the issue as total sovereignty is more accurate. But it lacks a certain appeal — where there are rights, there are responsibilities. Privilege without a corresponding sense of duty is inherently toxic — and even well-bred royalty know this. If we're wondering why any woman is willing to give up her rights, her autonomy or her sovereignty, the answer may be found in her relationship to being a steward of her own body and the power that it contains. At a certain point in the podcast I launch into a tirade on the religious 'right' doing its takedown of women, and then describe a new video by my mentor and friend Betty Dodson. She's recently come out with a new video in her series on women's sexuality, a documentary of one of her bodysex workshops. I highly recommend this video and I will be reviewing it more thoroughly soon. I recognize that it's $40 so I suggest you go in with a few friends and make an evening or two of it. What this DVD offers is a model for a sane conversation about sex and sexuality. If nothing else, we get a model for how to think and how to speak — in an original way, but within a framework that includes boundaries, a sense of purpose and most important, a sense of humor. It includes discussion of body image, sexual evolution, making choices, the struggle with sex within relationships and many other topics. Part of the problem we face is that we don't know how to talk about sex, we're embarrassed to do so, it rarely happens so we don't get any practice, and we're afraid that Western civilization (or at least our relationship) will collapse if we even try. I guess we will have to see. It's twenty-sodding-twelve and we're really discussing whether people have a right to use birth control? Or rather a bunch of men who want to take public office and be commander-in-chief are discussing whether they think women have a right to use birth control? Most of the time I look at this and I cannot believe it's even happening. I recommend all of Betty's videos but my personal favorite is Her Life of Sex and Art, a frank (and frankly hilarious) talk given by Betty in good old politically correct, may I please glance at you Seattle. This is Betty at her most authentic and spontaneous — an off the cuff description of her life, that is, her life of art and sex. This DVD is $10 and it's nothing but fun.

In this spectacular Welcome Back edition of Planet Waves FM, Rick Santorum appears to explain himself. Rick is a product of the centaur planets Chiron and Nessus, which you can see in the chart below are conjunct his Moon and Sun respectively. Before I get into that, however, I describe the current Pisces sky with the Sun in late Aquarius. Charts are posted in the few blog posts below; not only are there currently many planets in Pisces, there is also a spectacular alignment today that I describe. That's Mercury conjunct Chiron and sextile Jupiter — which bridges Pisces to Taurus and is just about as perfect of an expression as you can get of blending these energies — earth and water, mind and knowledge, the misty light of Pisces with the focusing agent of Chiron. I won't say much more here — the audio tells you most of what you'll want to know.

This is this year's last (regular) edition of Planet Waves FM. Here I recap some of what happened in 2011 and how far we've come in a year from the Tucson shootings to Fukushima to Occupy and how this is just a warmup for 2012. You'll get some hints about 2012 astrology, deepening the discussion of Uranus square Pluto. This is the 2012 aspect, part of the epochs of revolution that we've been describing for so long. For the song break, I reprise the song Fingers by Roxy Rawson, and take a look at her natal chart. Then I look at the super interesting current astrology, including Sun conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, and Mercury conjunct Pholus. All in all, this podcast might be a pleasant way to spend an hour, worth it entirely for Roxy. I've just looked at her website she's raising money to mix and master her first CD. If you're someone in a position to help out I am sure she would be most grateful for that.

Yes, it's just one year till the winter solstice of 2012 that is, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. The Sun enters Capricorn tonight (Dec. 22) at 12:30 am EST. Yes, it is winter where I sit if you live in the Southern Hemisphere please don't be the Grinch Who Stole Winter Solstice. It's a big turning point in the year for us. If you would like to share your culture and open up your beautiful hemisphere to us Yankees up here in the north, send photos, your stories and tales of how you handle the opposition of the seasons in the context of so much astrological folklore being centered on places like England and Europe. We're curious what it's like down by you, and send some warmth to those of us who not only have short days but who also would freeze if we stood still for 20 minutes. As for what I get into it looks like the euro got bailed out today, to the tune of half a trillion in cool cash (or about $670 billion), despite the Sun entering Capricorn square Uranus. This may seem trivial but it's a big deal because if the euro, or one too many countries in the Eurozone, or one too many banks there, goes belly-up, we've all got a big problem on our hands. I cover the New Moon on Saturday as well as give an overview of what I am up to with Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. the 2012 annual edition of Planet Waves.

Here is the latest recording in the "Top 5″ series on Planet Waves FM. It covers planets entering the water signs: Chiron in Pisces, Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio. This is an unusual amount of energy in the water signs, which is first calling attention to water. The process actually began last year. Chiron initiated this by arriving in Pisces within 24 hours of the BP oil spill in April of 2010. Neptune visited Pisces briefly in 2011, and will return to stay for more than 12 years in February 2012. Then Saturn arrives in Scorpio in Oct. 2012. The themes center around emotional awareness, healing and maturity, something that we tend to resist here in the land of Starbucks and Prozac. And we're going to need to take care of the water on the planet: protecting the oceans, banning fracking and making sure we drink enough water.

In the first half, I read and consider the chart of Saturday's total eclipse of the Moon in Gemini. This eclipse happens across Gemini/Sagittarius while both Mercury and Jupiter are in the process of stationing direct. I take a close look at the conjunction of Psyche and Apollo that is square the eclipse (prominently aspected, which brings out the message of these two asteroids). Then we take a song break, featuring the musical ensemble Girlyman. I am looking enviously at their tour schedule they're playing Nashville tonight, then Decatur, then Durham, Asheville, Birmingham, McCook, NE and Looomis, NE. I don't see a NY or MA or PA on the list. Come north, Girlyman! We will feed you and read your charts and donate publicity photos if you want, and I have a fantastic luthier if you need your guitars adjusted. In the second half of the program I talk about what Robert Bly called "the sibling society" that is, a society of non-adults who refuse to take responsibility for their lives and the culture around them. This is in the context of the Occupy movement. I read from a PBS interview with Bly from about 15 years ago. Here is the thing Bly took some shit for what he said when the book came out, but his perspective has only been supported or even proven. If you're looking for the book, you can get it for less than a buck from Half.com. At the end of the podcast I mention a paper called Are Student Governments Obsolete? by Ray Glass, one the founders of SASU the now-defunct Student Association of the State University of New York. Ray is a friend in spirit. He died when I was 11 years old but his work and his ideas have influenced my thinking, and I am happy to share a PDF of his paper on the Internet for the first time.

In the first half of the podcast, I cover the current astrology: Mercury retrograde, the approaching lunar eclipse, and Venus conjunct Pluto the aspect of lust. In the second half of the program, I discuss some issues involving the Occupy movement, relaying some information I received from C.T. Butler, a previous guest on Planet Waves.