Friday October 4th 2002 - edited by Bernard Fitzwalter This week in Astro News: ~ Planets ~ In a daily horoscope the astrologer takes his cue from whatever is happening in the skies on that particular day. There are usually about a dozen planetary contacts taking place in the heavens on any one day; some of them last only for a few hours, and some for weeks at a time. The long ones tend to be overlooked, because their influence is in the background of your life rather than right there in your face, but they are still powerful for all that, and worth looking at. At the moment those deeper rhythms are unusually well aligned. Jupiter is in a nice arrangement with Pluto, and will stay that way for several months. Saturn is similarly cosy with Uranus, and that, too, will hold for some time. And this week the Sun makes a good aspect to Neptune, which means that all five of the outer planets are in sweet and co-operative aspects, mostly with each other. This doesn't happen very often; in fact, the last time we had something like this it was early in 1997, which now seems a very long time ago indeed. John Major was still prime minister, the stock market was still climbing, and the events of September 11 were still four years in the future. Makes you think, doesn't it? What this unusually harmonious set of alignments shows is that we are under less stress than we imagine, and that this is the time for us all to be thinking about new things for the future. In other words, it's okay to have hopes and ambitions again. These aspects will not give such spectacular highs and lows as the last few years have done, but is that so bad? Right now, gentle progress sounds good; I could cope with that. These 'outer planet happy hours' don't come up at regular intervals. So going from 1997 to 2002 and assuming the next one will be in 2007 won't work. The next really good one is in the summer of 2013, though there's also a nearly-but-not-quite in 2006. Long-term investors take note! Research into Astrology and Infertility by Pat Harris, MSc., D.F.Astrol.S. I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my earlier notices on Jonathan's website and who volunteered to take part in the research that I am conducting as part of my PhD in astrology and health psychology at Southampton University, UK. I now have quite a number of people taking part which will help me in conducting my study into factors that may or may not correlate with fertility treatment outcome. I should have a progress report out soon. However, I am still looking for women who are currently pregnant - not necessarily as a result of fertility treatment - and who would like to contact me about details of my research to see if they would like to take part. My email address is: [email protected] New Service is Top for the Charts The Astrological Association of Great Britain is proud to announce that you can now speak LIVE to an expert astrologer. For an instant in-depth telephone consultation about your full horoscope call 0845 120 1416 or +44 207 436 9101 (a confidential 30-minute reading costs �29.50, payable by credit card. Or cheque/postal order from UK.) Lines are open 9am-9pm GMT, Monday to Friday. A few weeks ago, the Astrological Association of Great Britain launched this new, live fixed-fee, telephone chart reading service. It has since proved big hit with callers from all over the world. AA President Roy Gillett told Astro News: "I am delighted with the warm response that we have had. Once, if you wanted a reading of your full birth chart, you would have to struggle to find a genuine, reputable astrologer. Then, you would have had to make an appointment and travel miles. Now, at last, there's a quick and easy way to get your questions answered by a real expert - from the comfort of your own home." Mirror reader Julie Roberts from Rochester was equally enthusiastic. "I rang last Tuesday and spoke to an astrologer called Maria. Within moments, she was telling me details about my childhood that she could not possibly have known... then she said some fascinating things about my future. If you missed any of Friday's Astronews articles, click here for Astronews Archives