Dear friends,

On the island of Yerba Buena, northwest of the Farallons, messenger Mercury was passing out tickets. They were oval on translucent shimmery paper, decorated with gold sparkles, stamped with the seal of the King. Written in a fine cursive hand: "To Cloudland ~ 14 February 2005 ~ Round Trip." What's this? everyone exclaimed. Where are we going, and how? "To Cloudland, like it says on the ticket." Mercury replied. "In a great balloon. Chocolate truffles and champagne will be served. We return Tuesday morning."

On Monday we have the most Valentine of aspects in all of astrology - Venus conjunct Neptune. Venus, goddess of love, meets Neptune, Queen of dreams. When they get together we float to misty reverie. Our fantasies are the best ever. Our dreams seem more real than real life.

Not following? That's OK, Neptune is infamous for creating confusion. What is this Venus conjunct Neptune, really? We have a pretty good idea about Venus - love, desire, pleasure, beauty, art and all that is involved in negotiating our desires with people in the world. Venus is affinity. Affinity doesn't necessarily mean similarity - we attract what we need to complete ourselves. I like this, not that. I love you, not him. Let's meet.

What is Neptune? Neptune is the insubstantial mythology that lies beneath our 'solid' reality. The archetypal world where everything is symbolically connected, like a dream. Music, art, movies - all Neptune. (See last week's column for Neptune's role in charts of musicians from Mozart to Bono.) Alcohol and other reality altering substances - most definitely Neptune. Dreams and psychic awareness are Neptune too.

So on V-day with all its own hype and glitz we have a Hollywood style aspect courtesy of the Goddesses in the sky. This is a Valentine's Day of epic romance. Take advantage! This aspect will soften even the cynics.

But the scribe would like to add a bit on what Neptune is not. Neptune is not, repeat NOT, the "higher octave of Venus." This is one of the biggest laughs in modern astrology. If you read any current astrology books, even bestsellers that otherwise have many insights, you will read things like this. They have repeated it so long because they are trying, really trying, to believe it. Anyone who has tracked a major Neptune transit in hindsight will know what I'm talking about here. We might *think* we're in love - until the transit is over. Neptune is like looking at the world after two glasses of champagne. Everyone in our fantasy looks good. I want to go home with her, yes, she is my type. Uh huh. I am in love with him, really I am. Right. Yet when the transit is over and the buzz wears off, the response is just like Sunday morning with a slight headache and the empty bottle of champagne by the bed. "What *was* I thinking?

Only in a culture where a hair dyed, plastic faced, silicon enhanced and marketed up the wazoo woman is the embodiment of beauty could we say Neptune is the 'higher octave' of Venus. Neptune is fantasy. Everything not in accord with our little dream world gets blurred over by our giddy high. Venus is beauty, staring us in the face - made up last night like the cat's meow, but this morning with crusty eyes & mussy hair - and we love them even more. Neptune is infamous for making people see others NOT as they are. With Venus we can get bitten with the rush of falling in love, hence the connections between Venus and Neptune for those not thinking them through, but real love is about accepting others and ourselves JUST as they are.

And here is the inevitable side of Neptune - when the high fades, the experience will dissolve like San Francisco fog on a sunny day. Vanish, disappear, fade away, like last year's beauty queen. Case in point, the scribe has overheard in the hippest astro circles the use of Neptune as a verb: "Oh what happened to that person you were seeing, have you heard from him?" "No, he *Neptuned,*" meaning disappeared without a trace, just when you thought things were getting good.

Just so you know, I'm not being cynical here. I'm all for Neptune. I love wine (& other mind altering substances) movies, and music. Going to cloudland every once in a while is wonderful. The trick with Neptune is knowing that it will be over and we will return to real life. The experience doesn't last. This is why the ticket says "Round Trip." As long as we know we are coming back to reality, we can enjoy our balloon ride for as much as its worth. We may even be inspired by beauty and touch a softer part of ourselves, and see that so much poetry and art and music is about moving between these spaces, cloudland and our lives. Accepting the landing is tough at times. When we come down from our champagne Neptune buzz, we inevitably want to go back up again. This is why Neptune transits to birth charts (for example transiting Neptune aspecting your natal Ascendant, Moon, Mercury, or Venus) often involve addiction of one kind or another.

So enjoy the ride. May you fly high and land soft. After we come back, we have one of the most purely positive aspects in all of astrology - Venus trines Jupiter early Thursday morning. Jupiter may be retrograde, but this is still fantastic energy: the love of Venus is in perfect friendship with the abundance of Jupiter. All of life is blessed this week, especially our positive and growing relationships (Jupiter in Libra) and desires for wisdom (Venus in Aquarius). The scribe is a fan of Neptune, but he'll take Venus trine Jupiter over Venus conjunct Neptune any day!

Next week: Why Neptune does NOT rule Pisces, the other of the biggest fallacies of modern astrology.

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Star*Watch
All times PDT. See below for comments on other visible planets.

Sun * in Aquarius, entering Pisces. Aquarius is the energy of the collective. We put the spotlight on others. Aquarius is also about knowledge. Learn something new - and read up on astrology. Pisces is the water sign where we feel expansion within and connection to all. More on Pisces next week.

Moon * days 7 - 13 (new Moon is day 1). First quarter Moon on Tuesday, after that the energy builds towards Full next week.

Monday 2/14 * Moon in Taurus, Mercury conjunct Sun, Venus conjunct Neptune. Moon in Taurus means pleasures in the body - especially smells & touch. Sun conjunct Mercury means our minds are lit up by truth at the same time our desires are fantasizing ourselves to cloudland. We can be very clear on who we're falling for today. We plan our V-day exhilaration with exquisite attention to detail. Make that *French* champagne. And the organic chocolate.

Tuesday 2/15 * Moon in Taurus, into Gemini at night. First quarter Moon very near the fixed star of Algol on Tuesday afternoon. This is not good for people in explosive situations, but for those blessed with peaceful circumstances, it is time for wine (Algol equals alcohol, etymologically speaking.) Though Monday is lovey-dovey, Tuesday's Sun/Moon square means a certain amount of friction between the sexes.

Wednesday 2/16 * Moon in Gemini, Mercury into Pisces. Mercury the messenger is quite good at collecting and transmitting bits of information. Now he is floating in the ocean of Pisces, the domain of Jupiter. Mercury is a little lost here. Allow time for your mind to space out these 3 weeks. If you lose a detail or two, forgive yourself and say "Mercury in Pisces." Venus trine Jupiter early Thursday - so that means celebrate tonight! Whatever is your ideal connection between Love and the Good, make that happen this week. Dream up your ultimate job and make it happen. Start a new project that thrills you, is good for the planet, and makes piles of money. Take friends out to dinner. Donate money. Fill your heart with devotion to teachers. This aspect is the best of life!

Thursday 2/17 * Moon in Gemini, Venus trine Jupiter. This is the double, triple, quadruple YAY. But it's early, 2 am CA time. So we're grooving Wednesday night, but good news, Moon aspects continue the positive energy into Thursday morning. Joy ~ Happy ~ Abundance ~ Blessings !!!!

Friday 2/18 * Sun into Pisces, Moon into Cancer. Big shift - both lights go from intellectual Air to feeling Water. Given the positive energy of this week, we easily have emotional breakthroughs today.

Saturday 2/19 * Moon in Cancer, Mercury conjunct Uranus. Another double Water day. We may have an urge for hot springs. At least take a bath, take care of yourself, take care of special others in your life. At the same time Mercury joins Uranus in Pisces, which means fresh insights into our dreams, new twists to our art, fresh learning in our spiritual life.

Sunday 2/20 * Moon in Cancer, into Leo late night. We sleep through the monthly Moon-Saturn conjunction and awake to a day to lounge. With a lack of Moon aspects driving us forward, we have time to slow down and turn within. This is one the best weekends of the year for trips to water (ocean cottage, hot springs) and the most fruitful for meditation. With Sun in Pisces our natural orientation is inner expansion of spirit, and Moon in Cancer knows how to take care of our soul.

Have a stellar week!

Peace and love,
Jonathan Pearl