For the Week of: 5/29-6/4/2003
“There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it.”
Shakespeare’s Hamlet [IV.vii.114]
Sun’s in Gemini, the Moon is doing a little dance, and the days are balmy in Austin. Coming up soon: a quick trip to El Paso.
Gemini: Birthdays are supposed to be loads of fun. After the last couple of weeks, you could sure use some good news, and I’m here to tell you that life is getting a whole lot easier in Gemini Land. No, really, I promise.
There’s one caution, one little thing you’ve got to look out for, and it’s not really a big deal. Don’t let your highly excitable emotional state over run your good sense. It’s like this: I picked up some really nice looking “Tiger Lilly” lures. There are, to my eyes, really attractive, yellow, lime green, black spots, maybe a splash of orange, something not unlike some of my favorite shirts. That’s the good news. Tiger Lilly lures don’t work on the local lakes.
I know this. Didn’t stop me from buying and trying the lures. I mean, the lures worked, in a sense, as they lured me into buying them. The problems? No matter what I think about those lures, no matter what kind of feelings of great lust and desire those things inspire in me, those Tiger Lillies don’t do a thing for the local fish. Careful with inspired actions that really don’t yield results.
Cancer: You’re going to get a taste of Saturn. It’s not a real influence, except for a hint of flavor. Owing to Austin’s heritage as a counter-culture Mecca during certain eras, there’s a prevailing sentiment wherein just about every restaurant has at least one or two “vegetarian friendly” dishes on the menu. Most places offer at least one tasty item that’s completely vegan, too.
It’s an important distinction in places like Austin, have to make sure we can serve just about anyone. At one local sandwich place, I discovered that the vegetarian entrée was a wonderful blend of Hummus and other spices, light, delicate, not too filling, and lacking just one thing. That’s the sort of flavor I’m talking about here. Saturn’s influence is light and delicate, in that you know it tastes okay, and it’s good for you, but there’s something lacking. I get a couple of strips of bacon on that sandwich. Upsets the vegan crowd, but really adds that little dose of flavor needed to accentuate the Hummus. Chick Peas are okay, but do what you need to do to make Saturn more palatable. Bacon usually works for me.
Leo: I was listening to a local singer/songwriter, one of those lonely souls who gets on stage with just himself and guitar, his song was about greed. Poignant, funny, wry and witty, of course, what do you expect from a local performer? The problem in this town? You can’t swing a dead cat with hitting one or more of these guys. My buddies in East Austin, several luminary stars live in their ‘hood. Down here in south Austin, I was chatting up one of my neighborhood friends, “Yeah, Jimmy lives next door, and across the street is Michael….”
It’s no big deal, around here, to have these crushingly funny, droll individuals around. The biggest problem is sorting them all out from the rest of the crowd. That’s your problem, too. You’re funny, cute, wonderful. You’re Leo; you’re the very best.
I’ll promise there is no better “Fixed Fire Sign” than Leo. But it’s like listening to that one singer singing his song about greed, while you may be very, very good, there’s a lot of folks around here that are equally good. Makes for a little bit of a problem. These days, you don’t stand out like you should. Don’t let it escape your attention, that I noticed, though. You stand out to me. I’m appreciating what you do, even if no one else seems to be paying attention to you and your songs. [Or art work, or whatever it is that you’re doing that deserves singular recognition.]
Virgo: When I wear boots, judging by the way the soles’ wear, I’m a “toe dragger.” However, when I wear sandals, it’s the heels that wear out first. I would, in my ignorance, assume that this has something to do with the fact that the boots have pointy toes, whereas the sandals tend to conform to my barefoot imprint.
The less there is to a sandal, the happier I am. The deal with the way I wear sandals, though, brought up an interesting case study as it’s a real scenario for me. On the local hike and bike trail, my second home, I tend to get little pebbles stuck under my heel, between the sandal’s sole and my not so tender foot. It’s a minor, annoying characteristic of sandals. Or, at least the models I prefer, those sport sandals. I have to stop, periodically, and pull the sole away from my foot so I can let those pebbles fall out. It doesn’t much matter if you’re heel dragger or a toe dragger, you’re going to be just like me, and get a few pebbles stuck under your heel. Being Virgo, you’re more delicate than I am; therefore, stop long enough to let the minor irritant fall free. It’s all mostly good. Minor stuff problem, like those pebbles, need not impede your basic, good, forward motion.
Libra: I’m sure I’ve used it before in my copious disclaimers, but I just noticed this one, the other night at the Broken Spoke: No smoking food drinks on dance floor. An image came to mind, a “smoking food drink.” Which, if you think about it, isn’t such a far-fetched idea, not in Texas, as a smoked food could be like barbecue, then blend it up in nutritious drink of some kind? Think about a smoked brisket malt? Or a smoked sausage smoothie? Maybe not. I should think these things through a little bit better. Lest we forget, there’s more than one place in Texas where there’s “batter-dipped” French fries [with cream gravy.] So some of my personal culinary ideas aren’t so hot.
Still, kick around some combinations that seem improbable. Kick around a few ideas, look at the ingredients, and think to your Libra self, “What items here don’t go together? One of these doesn’t belong here….” Then give it a spin. It’s time to think about improbable combinations, and explore some weird options. It’s the influence of the Gemini stuff in your chart that’s making you think about improbable pairs. Give it a try.
Scorpio: My fine Scorpio friends sometimes lack my own, Sagittarius ability to see the much heralded, sometimes grandiose “big picture.” This is important, though. You see, there’s a bunch of minor stuff still kicking around, little problems from various corners of the sky [more precisely, leftovers in Taurus], or it could be that pesky Mars thing going on, at one time or another.
Still, these irritations, put in perspective, are relatively minor. One of my Scorpio buddies, named Bubba oddly enough, called me to vent for 45 minutes about a flat tire on his truck. After he got done telling me what a huge inconvenience this was, it took him, at the very most, 15 minutes, to change the tire. So that’s an hour, total time, 45 minutes to complain, 15 minutes to fix.
Trucks, for all their troubles, are easy to work on. He hates it that I noted the time on the phone call, but when he gets his cell bill, he’ll see that I’m close, if not a little under, on the time on that one call. What’s worse, he’s going to hate to see this story retold, at his expense, in a public forum like this. But that’s the point: careful with the complaints. The ratio of complaining to the problem itself tends get a little out of balance. Some of this stuff can be fixed quite easily; although, that does reduce the need for artful Scorpio oration.
Sagittarius: I sometimes wonder if I spend all my life doing laundry. The deal is, I mean, where I live, it’s not a large space. Not a lot of room for anything. Storage isn’t much. Folks kept giving me coffee mugs until I was reduced to using the special gift mugs for skeet practice. The rest of them are stored in the oven. Like I suggested, there’s not a lot of storage space. I suppose that’s why I do laundry so frequently, as the little hamper just fills up in a hurry. I’m not sure I like the trot over to the laundry room, but on warm summer evenings, with tons of little gnat like critters, plus the odd bat or two, it has a some kind of perfect symmetry to it all.
Simplicity has its own merits. Think about trying to simplify some aspect of your life. At one point, I was over run with “special, anniversary, limited edition” coffee mugs. Once one of my friends discovered that I was willing to donate the bulk of the collection to target practice, the world became a simpler, easier place to live. I just wish I could store my dirty laundry in the oven, too, but I think there’s a risk associated with that.
Capricorn: I was listening to some sweet, gentle strains of some sort of classical music, when the next CD cycled up. It was older, one might call it vintage, rock and roll. Pretty nasty stuff for the time, although, by more modern standards, it’s relatively tame. The lyrics aren’t that explicit, the music is really the basic guitar driven, bass and drums, I think most of that era’s music was really based on a 4-4 beat. Nothing that exciting.
However, the way it followed the sweet and gentle strains of some classic music, it was a like a rude shock to the system, something a little raw, almost invigorating, the long guitar solo searing through the speakers. Oh yeah, that’s why this stuff was hot at one time. You’re hitting this, in the next ferw days, a time when you’re moving from a sedate pace, that sweet and gentle strains of classical music, to some hard-hitting backbeat. I like the idea that “classical music” is done with a symphony whereas “classic” is anything more than 5 or 6 years old. Or, in the case of the stuff I was listening to, more than 20 years old. Get ready to shift gears. Something new, something old, is about to cycle up in the Capricorn CD player.
Aquarius: It’s not secret, that, from to time, I’ve dated women with daughters old enough for me to date. I discovered that I preferred the older, more mature and sensible females [the moms] as they, as a group, are far more inclined to be amused by my antics. As an added bonus, their kids are usually a good source for whatever currents are flowing in the juvenile streams of life.
This, on occasion, leads to a funny situation, as [this was some time back], I looked at the date’s two daughters, and I asked, “So, what time do I have to have your mother home?” The oldest, still grounded for life, took one look at me, and deadpanned, “Better not be any later than midnight, or there will be hell to pay for.” She then flipped her golden locks at me, and turned her head. Bright kid, she played along.
So with all the Gemini stuff, the Taurus stuff, and Mars, plus Saturn moving along, you’ve got situation that you’re going to find humorous. I thought it was funny. I giggled. Just be aware that not everyone shares our twisted sense of humor. That kid looked back at me, daggers in her eyes, “I’m not joking, bucko.”
Pisces: Austin is a couple of hundred miles inland from the Gulf [of Mexico]. Still, sitting on the Eastern Shoulder of the Hill Country, we’ve got rolling coastal prairie stretching to the east, and the legendary Hill Country to the West. The damp winds pick up moisture, billowing over the coast and then reaches us, eventually. We get dead days at the beginning of June, times when the air feels like it’s a kind of heavy cream, still warm, moist, and probably not all that good, not if believe what the medical journals say about that sort of thing.
Rare evenings, it cools off enough to enjoy this thick, damp air. It’s almost really pleasant. Okay, to me, it’s very pleasant, but not everyone enjoys air that’s so thick. Some would say I’m thick, too, but never mind that now. The point is to enjoy what’s right there, all around you. The days are getting warm. Looks like it might be a hot summer, yet. In the meantime, before the July Heat starts to soak us through, enjoy what’s floating around. It’s not so bad, not if stop long enough to see what’s going on, stop and feel that damp air. Really, it’s kind of pleasant, I mean, it’s not like being in a desert environment where it feels like the dry atmosphere leaches the moisture from your skin. Quite the opposite. See what I means about enjoying where you are?
Aries: We get these breezes here, something like a warm, wet wind blowing up from the south. I always feel like I can detect the faintest hint of salt air on the breeze, although, such a presumption is patently false. It’s a trick of the senses. When I’m on the trail, or even standing in the parking lot of the grocery store, I still almost feel like the ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, is just right over there.
There’s some moisture in the breeze. There’s some moisture, as we’re fond of pointing out around here, “Yes, it’s hot, but it’s a wet heat.” The gulf coast is a good 200 miles south of here, more or less. The very idea that I can detect is any sense of “ocean air” on the breeze is purely a construct of my imagination. Could be hopes and desires, too.
Doesn’t much matter, though, hope and a trick of the Aries imagination can be inspiring. I seriously doubt that you’re going to wander to grocery store to pick up something to barbecue this weekend, like I just did, and I seriously doubt that you’re going to be standing there in the parking lot, sensing the salt air on breezes. But your imagination and senses, while they may trick you a little, they do offer something very important these days: hope. Stop long enough to be hopeful, dare to dream a little.
Taurus: For the longest time, I had a set route around the lake, a measured distance I would aim for as my daily form of exercise. There will always be little detours, when the weather’s really warm, and I work up a good sweat, a cool beverage is appropriate. Or, if I need to stop by the bank, or stop off and pick up a loaf of bread, these are normal detours, worked into my usual route.
I pulled some changes though, and these changes were, ostensibly, just for the sake of change. I went the other way, one day, counter to the direction I normally go. Then, at one point, when I usually duck under the bridge, I opted to climb the stairs, instead. Little changes to the routine way of doing things brings new ways of looking at things.
Now see here, I didn’t change drastically, I means I still worked in my average distance, and the time was right, and the various errands along the way were all there, it just did me some good to shift the whole process. Break out of the rut. I wasn’t in a rut, but still. A little change to the Taurus routine, a shift in the way you do things, something to break up the tedium, this is what you need. You can do it yourself, or you can let it happen against your wishes. From what I know about Taurus, it’s a lot better if you make the changes yourself. Doesn’t have to be big, just a little different.
(c) 2002, 2003 by Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
