In extraordinary times, we see extraordinary acts of courage that break the spell of powerlessness. These acts show a different kind of power. It's the fierce and righteous power of life itself. And it shines so gloriously in women, being the ones that are intimate with the power to create life.

With the full Moon in Capricorn approaching, the theme of personal authority is heightened. Its opposition to the sign of the Mother, Cancer, asks us to buck up, take charge of our lives, and summon a life-sustaining kind of power, and align with the Earth herself. This is our world, and we are responsible for it. What kind of power will stop this madness? This is a question I literally ask myself (and Spirit) every day.

The final stages of this centuries-long top down wealth and resource grab is proving to be brutal, ruthless, and let's face it, is endangering life on our planet. Two brave women are showing great courage, especially since most acts of defiance against injustice these days are of the David and Goliath variety. Sagittarian actress Darryl Hannah was arrested in West Virginia for protesting against "the dirty dinosaur of Mountain Top Removal coal mining." She has connected the dots of this tragic story that could rightly be called a crime against Nature. But true to the visionary and sunny style of Sadge, she ends with a call for the use of wind power, technology already available. Go Darryl!

But the bravest woman on the planet has to be former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, from my state of Georgia. Her boat, Spirit of Humanity, carrying aid to the Palestinians was stopped by Israel in international waters and she's been taken into custody. With her is Mairead Maguire, the 1977 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for co-founding a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. I've heard McKinney called disparaging Moon (women)-themed names like looney and hysterical for questioning the official story about Sept 11th, and for following her conscience -- and risking her life -- to bring aid to Gaza. The Red Cross reports that the Palestinians there, half of which are children, are trapped in despair, which has only grown worse since the December attack.

The coming full Moon/eclipse is followed by yet another new Moon in Cancer with a solar eclipse. There's the potential here for a re-alignment to the heart, and eclipses bring turning point events. We come from a place of power when we're in synch with our emotions. It's emotional intelligence of knowing that all acts -- both of people and nations -- have repercussions that linger in the heart and soul. And at some point, the truth of that finds its way out. This series of eclipses along the Capricorn/Cancer axis can balance authority with emotional integrity, and evoke some real healing. And we can tap into the awesome power that comes when our heart is in it.

• In other news that brings Capricorn and Cancer together, U.S. Scientists Reveal NASA Secrets About "Cities" on the Moon

Uranus joins three other planets already in retrograde (Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto) today. Get ready for shocks, surprises and surreality. Watch for unexpected breakthroughs that seem divinely inspired -- Uranus is in Pisces -- and heighten the creative imagination. This especially flings open doors for the house or planet it is transiting in your birth chart. For nearly Wordless Wednesday.

Since the shocking death of Michael Jackson, I've been looking at old videos and been in awe of the global reaction. It's odd how the finality of death makes you step back and see the whole lifetime, and the poignancy of the journey. As a child star, his innocence softened many hearts to see beyond race. As David Wilcock writes, he bust through race barriers in the music industry, and paved the way for others to follow. Some of his later work, like Earth Song and They Don't Care About Us had a decidedly Us Vs. Them theme, and he stood defiantly with the people.

His passing has sadly hit some of his fans really hard, with suicides reported; like drugs, a way to check out of this harsh reality (associated with Neptune). MJ's death nearly took the Internet with him, and some souls in his fan network (both the 'net and networks associated with Aquarius). The Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke the language of Neptune when he said, "This is a time when hearts are heavy. There is great pain but great cause to celebrate Michael’s life. It made Michael happy saying 'We Are The World.' Don’t self destruct.” It's clear that his death has been a global event, with a unifying thread being the themes of his music. I asked Jessica Murray for her take on this coming under the triple conjunction (Neptune, Chiron, Jupiter) in revolutionary Aquarius. Was he some kind of unlikely Awakener?

From Jessica Murray, "Interesting point about the revolutionary currents (Uranus conjunct Venus in his natal chart; which also explains his genre-crossing and gender-blending) you hear in MJ's music. It does seem he battled against some 'Them' -- the shrinks would probably say this was his authoritative father -- while condemning himself for his own differentness. Eccentrics don't fare well in this country."

Jessica continues, " In the end I think his story can teach us that in order to stay whole with an outer-planet-driven chart -- to value the true Uranian genius MJ personified musically; and to self-transform (Pluto) in healthy ways -- one's self-cohesion needs to be solid as rock. Instead, to plead his case for individuality MJ fashioned his tragic face into a mask, destroying it (Pluto conjunct Sun) in a perverse effort to perfect it (Sun in Virgo). He made it clear he never wanted to grow up; and the 'children of the world' he said he wanted to save were clearly himself."

Another serendipity with the timing is the great purging of the recent New Moon in Cancer, which is inviting us to heal old wounds and learn to love our vulnerabilities. There's another chance to let go with the Full Moon in Capricorn and lunar eclipse on July 7th. It almost seems like we're due for a public keening, as the true hidden depths of the heart start to surface. And this early death of someone many of us knew since he and we were children, reminds us how old hurts can keep us from being all we can be....sometimes it can even cut our lives short. Writes Murray, Perhaps the best way to honor his life is by nurturing the vulnerable kid within each of us, the way his inner child was not nurtured; and by guiding it into a wholesome adulthood, where the little boy that was Michael Jackson never arrived. "

It's a half Moon today in Libra, favoring the weighing of the Scales, to see where to add or subtract to find balance. This air sign helps us negotiate our way out of off-kilter situations. The tension of the Sun-Moon square shows us where somethings got to give, in order to find a new equilibrium. Libra's light of clarity drops fresh ideas about how to set things right.

For some, the recent new Moon in Cancer has pried open the secret doors of the heart. The opposition to Pluto provokes a purge, and when you're in it, it can be disturbing. What you've kept controlled rushes up in waves and overtakes you. Maybe it's something you've been afraid to bring up, fearing that it'll ruin your relationship. But this is how hard-core Pluto heals, as it brings you back to the deeper truth of your experience. In her AstroFlash report, Barbara Hand Clow writes of this challenge, saying, "You may experience a cathartic emotional crisis that presents you with a newly truthful sense of who you really are."

Hand-Clow describes the paradox that we've been sinking into the dregs of our personal swamps, while opening to the higher energies of the triple conjunction (Neptune-Chiron-Jupiter) in Aquarius. She writes, "We've been driven into old pain, and many can see that these wounds are what have been limiting the expansion of feelings and knowledge. Each time we've allowed the process to run its course, we've been rewarded with stunning spiritual insight and exquisite ecstasies."

While considering this today, I thought of a quote that's always haunted me, "The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” (Horace Walpole) We deal with heavy stuff in what's called karmageddon and tragedy is at times enveloping. There is so much suffering in the world that it breaks our hearts. But at the same time, we're seeing with new eyes, as Aquarian planets grace us with the detachment of a cosmic mariner, riding the waves with humor, curious about what's happening.

We discover that the world is full of tragedy and comedy, and that we can both feel (water signs) life, and use our minds (air signs) in a balanced way. It's a step on the path of cultivating the "observer" who is in the world, but not of the world. With the chaos of change liable to become overwhelming, this kind of detachment keeps us from going under.

A well-known astrologer is in jail after predicting the ouster of Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. With a popular TV show and politically oriented column in a major opposition party paper, Chandrasiri Bandara has a national following. The Telegraph-UK reports that Sri Lankan police are investigating the basis behind his predictions. Bandara spoke at a meeting of the United National Party (the opposition), and that's where he said Rajapaksa's fortunes will change on September 9th. He said the current Prime Minister will become President, and the opposition leader will become the new PM.

You could say Bandara's been Dixie Chicked since his prediction comes at a time when the President is riding high. He's seen as a hero to many for putting down the rebellion of the Tamil Tigers, and ending the civil war there. But the victory for the military has led to a tightening of press freedoms; since 2006, more than a dozen journalists have been killed there. As Bandara's arrest is made public, Mercury (press, media, communication) is in a tense square to Saturn (authority, restriction).

This kind of clampdown intimidates and sends a warning to the messenger (Mercury). Since astrologers hold so much sway, it's also an attempt to keep the opposition from influencing the people. The predictions are taken seriously, and the President himself gets regular astrological advice. When someone of influence, like Bandara, makes predictions about the political fate of the nation, these have the power to become waves that inspire movements. The stars set the atmosphere, but a political astrologer like Bandara is seen as having the power to focus the will of the people. That's why he's so dangerous to the powers that be, and why astrologers in Sri Lanka are deciding it's too life-threatening to read the horoscopes of high government officials. It's reported that some will have to travel to Kerala, India to see the astrologers there.

There's a long history of killing the messenger when astrologers dare to decipher the fate of those with worldly power. That phrase came out of Roman times, when emperors like Tiberias were known to throw astrologers off a cliff for delivering a bad prophecy. In Bandara's case, it's a deadly serious matter of shaping perception of future events in a climate of strongarm-style governance. I'll be following this story and hope to be able to report back on his release.

What comes to mind when I think of the three stars lost is human vulnerability out there for all the world to see. Last year, Ed McMahon told of feeling optimistic, but also embarrassed that his home was in foreclosure, and he reached out in heartfelt solidarity with the millions also facing this trauma. In her NBC documentary, Farrah Fawcett shared her agonizing ordeal with anal cancer (how humbling is that). After reflecting on her success, she poignantly said she felt like a blond nothingness. And then there's Michael Jackson, with his huge talent and physical-psychic fragility.

All were just a little wacky, vulnerable and had an endearing kindness that shined through. Astrologer Eileen Grimes sees their passing through the veil now as a collectively experienced event courtesy of the Chiron-Neptune-Jupiter alignment in Aquarius. Says Eileen, "As these three energies combined, all being extremely transcendent - we lose three people that were perhaps, larger than life and mythologized."

She continues, "And the Aquarian/Uranian energy was there in each; Uranus was within a few degrees of Jackson's midheaven; Fawcett was an Aquarian, and McMahon had Uranus/Sun conjunction in Pisces. We can certainly say that Chiron’s energy of the wounded healer would apply to Michael Jackson; his energy and talent developed in spite of the woundedness in his soul. His story was almost a Chiron story that went off the deep end - his obsession with the perfection of his life and his person, the antiseptic approach to life he took - trying to keep it all so clean, and perfect. Michael’s 6th house south node, and being a Virgo certainly points towards the Chiron energy. And most recently, he did have his Chiron return. Michael also had Neptune and Jupiter conjoining the north node!

Farrah Fawcett was the embodiment of the all-American Jupiterian woman with a grin as big as that planet. Clearly she’s the Jupiter factor in this trio - positive, agile, sexy. She became the epitomy of the 70’s version of the Ultimate Woman. Her chart shows a significant influence of Jupiter - the south node in Sagittarius. Although other forces were present in her life that were pretty daunting - she kept a positive outlook on life, and kept going, even in the face of terminal cancer.

Finally, Ed McMahon, who, having south node and Sun in Pisces - was the Neptune representative. He sacrificed being the First Banana to Johnny Carson; he had issues with addiction throughout his life."

When celebrities that have been part of our lives for decades pass away, that loss is like a wave through the collective. Particularly, Michael Jackson's passing was a Uranian shockwave that came out of the blue. They each showed us that behind the Hollywood smile is a human struggling to heal and learn from mistakes. That money and fame doesn't mean you don't suffer from illness, neurosis, bad judgement and conflict in relationships. The wave of collective healing (Chiron) brings faith in life (Jupiter) when we honor the journey of trying to transcend life challenges (Neptune). They have all given us the gift of witnessing their messy, unresolved, indebted (both Jackson and McMahon), perfectly imperfect and very human lives.

I've been on a mini-break, traveling with my Mom to some coastal islands along Georgia. One night, we got caught in a perigean spring tide and were driving back to the mainland on a thin road overtaken on both sides by the marsh waters. We were praying that her big Buick didn't stall or get swept away! The Moon at its closest point (perigee), added to the heightened gravitational pull of both the Sun and Moon. The theme of deluge continued as we visited Sapelo Island (population 47) and learned of two times during the 1800s when the sea surged up and overtook the land. In a book I'm reading on the island, the author wrote of that time, "The ocean, beautiful, is a troubling power."

Lately, water and the great oceans of the world are coming into the foreground. The webbots of halfpasthuman predict a global coastal event and there are rumors that "future wars" (heaven forbid) will be fought over water. It's so precious, NASA has announced plans to bomb the Moon in search of it. What could be more as above, so below of a new Moon in Cancer, opposing Pluto than news of the lunar bombing by the mad scientists of a not so super power.

On a personal level, the tidal waters of the Cancer nature are stirred when Pluto is in opposition. My Mom is an early Cancer (June 23rd), and now experiencing the Pluto opposition. Pluto's lessons sometimes come through loss, and she did in fact lose her best friend this birthday. With a Pluto transit, there's no going back to who we were before...there is only being transformed into something new. It rearranges the landscape of the psyche and soul, just as a big enough wave swallows an island or city.

Are we in control of our lives, or is it a fated path? In an interview on Conscious Media Network, astrologer Rick Levine gets into the age-old question of fate vs free will. He says that just as certs is both a mint and a candy, the universe allows for both. "It's two universes in one!"

Stuff happens and we react (fate). Astrology gives us a heads up about cosmic weather, so we can prepare, and even use the energies to alter the course (free will). So the nature of the universe makes the whole business of predictions using astrology sketchy. Levine gets into quantum physics, and the idea that we exist in a quantum wave field of possibility. There's an infinite number of possibilities and "stories" that can be told about the future. But when one plot line for what's happening in our lives is voiced, says Levine, "we've popped the quantum wave field into a particle." Using our perception, we've come up with a story, and sometimes it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When a possibility for the future is created as a thought-form, it's out there! This goes for both us on an individual level, and for the whole of humanity. These possibilities floating around in our heads are sending wave currents, and play a role in the unfolding. That's why your story is too important to leave in the hands of just anyone....

• Read more on Predictions and Astrology

New Moons take us into the dark, where we meet with the riches we hold inside...the hidden treasure. The New Moon today in Cancer makes us more receptive to messages coming from the soul or imagination. Make time to daydream, if you can, or spend time being artful in your own unique way. This is no time to hold back....all hands on deck! It's a powerful moment to bring empathy, art, tenderness, love, heartfelt acts and words into the world.

There's paradox at this solstice and lunation, since they mark the longest solar light (in the northern hemisphere), at a time of darkness (moon). With Pluto in opposition, the reality of the times is in our face, even as the oceanic heart waters surge up, to create something new. There's a lot of heart ache and fear as we try to find our way in the dark. The old structures that seemed so solid are collapsing (Pluto in Capricorn), making room for a sea change in values.

At the New Moon, we can open to that transformation in many ways. Yesterday, I did a purge of my closet, getting rid of clothes I might fit into some day, or that I don't even like. Today, I'll do some repotting of seedlings. Following lunar gardening, it's a fertile Moon (Cancer), and a good time to plant seeds. The New Moon is a time to let go of what we don't want, and cultivate what we do want.

At this particular lunation, we are in touch with how unique we are, where we come from, our dreams, longings..and the mystery of what that story means as part of our destiny. As artists, the Cancer New Moon shows us the personal, as a path to the universal. We are not our credit score or statistic in a collapsing economy; we are not robotic automatons with hardened hearts. All New Moons are new beginnings, and this month heralds the de-icing of the heart, and return to the values of family...the human family.