Quick note for the eternal optimists - if you want to skip the heartache or at least save it for later, just go to Star*Watch for the steamy Venus Mars action this week!

Now on to part II of the Aquarius chapter. After Odysseus gets his answer on how to make it home from the prophet in the Aquarius chapter (read part I here) he talks to his mother. She tells him that she died not from an illness or enemy, but from grief for her lost son. Homer has already pointed to grief and heartache in the very first few lines of the chapter: "Then we ourselves embarked, streaming tears, our hearts weighed down with anguish."

If Leo is the sign of the glory of the heart, might Aquarius as the sign opposite be related to the pain of the heart? Another interesting tidbit for those who don't mind a bit of gore: the ghosts of the dead can only talk to Odysseus after they've drunk the blood of the sacrifice he made earlier. See the connection? There may be something to the Aquarian experience that distresses the heart.

After talking to his mother and getting news about his wife and son, Odysseus talks to several other women famous from Greek myths. These stories make up the bulk of the chapter. True to Aquarian style, Homer takes the spotlight off Odysseus and puts it on a collection of others!

Odysseus has enthralled his audience with his story (he is telling all this as a tale to the Phaeacians at a banquet) but it is getting late. After a brief pause in the action they urge him on, saying they are happy to stay up until daylight to hear more. The Aquarians I know are night owls - how about you? Then Odysseus starts in with tales of the ghosts of men.

Another interesting point: in the Aquarius chapter, Homer has clearly separated the women from the men. Homer might even be hinting at a gay sexuality here. After all the prophet Tiresias is one of the only mortals who had spent time both as a woman and as a man, and he knew the pleasures of both.

As Odysseus continues he describes three images of endless torment: Tityus' liver is constantly being pecked out by vultures; Tantalus is parched and famished but drink and food vanish as soon as he reaches for them; and Sisyphus endlessly heaves a boulder uphill.

Homer started the chapter by telling us that the deepest wisdom comes in Aquarius, but if we aren't careful or do not listen, there is also the possibility of repeating suffering.

In my view as a practicing astrologer, this is correct. Aquarius is a very wise sign, but at the same time can get trapped in cycles of difficulty that just do not relent. No offense to all the Sun sign Aquarians out there! This applies to all of us whenever planets move through the sign of Aquarius, just like the Sun has been the past few weeks and the Moon will do in a few days.

If we are trapped in a wheel of suffering and always seeming to be rolling a boulder uphill, does Homer give us a hint on the way out? The prophet Tiresias instructed Odysseus: "One rule there is, and simple for me to say and you to learn. Any one of the ghosts you let approach the blood will speak the truth to you." This means when the ghosts drink the blood they were able to speak. How do we redden our own blood every moment of every day?

Breathe, breathe deep and lift the burden from the heart.

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