“Praising what is lost
Makes the remembrance dead.”
Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well [V.iii.19]
“No more Venus backwards?” Therein, gentle reader, is the good news. The problem? Problems? (Plural?) Ms. Venus? She’s not up to speed yet. It’s like a friend of mine’s dog, one last good roll in that dead carcass/mud before trying to head into the house.
Aries: Computers are finicky and problematic, to say the least. I was dealing with an “issue,” with a part of the web site, and this issue wasn’t resolving itself in a satisfactory manner. Part A wasn’t conversing with Pat B in a timely fashion. Further investigation revealed that the problem wasn’t with Part A, or, for that matter, with Part B. The problem was with the stuff in between, the pieces that were supposed to communicate. Somehow, the little software switch that was supposed to be set to “0” had gotten itself turned around and set to “1”. Simple enough problem, and the once I ferreted out the source of the trouble, it was all better. Life was back to normal again. It was that process of determining just which Zero had become a One. Took several days to figure out what the real problem was. Then, and only then, it was just a very simple matter of erasing a zero and typing a 1. While not every problem encountered can be reduced to a basic binary 1 or 0, in the next few days, thanks to the Sun, Mercury and Saturn, there’s a decision, and a problem, and better yet, a resolution that can be reached. Break it down and figure out where the real problem is. Someplace, buried underneath that user interface, there’s a simple solution.
Taurus: I got on a kick and was reading a lot of history books. World, US, Texas, it all tied together, somehow. The problem being, the bulk of an in-depth history text has to include a lot of political maneuvering material, whether it’s material about indigenous tribes and one particular enigmatic leader, or the political system of appropriations, who was representing what county and when. Plus there’re the various political party affiliations. One book was particularly interesting, after I waded through about half of the text, because it skipped from talking about politics to actually covering some exciting and revolutionary events. Great forward strides were made. Daring leaders, excitement, adventure. The problem is, to get to the good part of the text, there’s that first half of necessary background material. Each of the points made early in the book all relate to events that occur later in the historical timeline. Just snapping out of Venus is like that book. Lots of boring words, and suddenly, turn the page and it all starts to make better sense. Although, given this week, it might feel you’re still stuck in that boring background material. Persevere; it will all pay off pretty soon.
Gemini: Maybe this has happened before and I’ve been blind to it. What I was noticing, while I cavorting in a swimming pool, it’s what we do in Texas in the summer time, was that a friend’s daughter was looking at me with those extra large eyes, and frank, open admiration. I’m trying to remember, the kid is between 12 and 15 years old, if I recall correctly. Went from being a pipsqueak to ranging up towards my six feet, like, just overnight. Damn child shot up like a weed. Summertime towhead, almost filling out a bathing suit, too embarrassed to wear a “two piece” suit in the pool, and not someone I would give much more than fleet attention to. It wasn’t until I saw her eyes, wide open, along with her mouth, wide open, that I realized what was going on. Little girl had a crush on me. Like me, you’re starting to realize that you’re one of the two players in this scenario. Either you’re like that little girl. With a huge crush on someone who is pretty much oblivious to your feelings, or you can be like me, you suddenly realize what the wide eyes and mouth hung half open means. It’s like seeing it all for the first time.
Cancer: Some summer days, I can get by without having to wear a shirt. Or shoes. All day long. I consider this the pinnacle of success. In fact, just a few weeks ago, I managed to get by without having to wear a shirt for three days running. My all time high, I think was close to a week, but I had to detour into a restaurant to meet a client, and that brought an end to the string. How do you measure success? Is it the clothes you wear? Is that what is really important? Working on a computer, and with a phone in hand, the big deals aren’t really such big deals, not when you want to think about comfort, too. My buddy Bubba was over, and he was sweating profusely from the top of his shaved head. “Why don’t you keep it cooler in here? Dude, I know you’ve got an AC in this trailer.” But I was in my (cheap) comfort zone. Besides, I wasn’t wearing much more than shorts. No shirt. No shoes. The slightly warmer ambient trailer temperature didn’t bother me a bit. It’s all about what you do to keep in the comfort zone. The Cancer comfort zone. My standards for attire, my standards for a living arrangement, and the way I keep my personal thermostat set is probably a lot different from yours. But take a look at your standards and consider shifting them around a little. Look for that Cancer comfort zone.
Leo: Hello Leo, how’s that Mars thing treating you? Mr. Mars means activity. Mr. Mars means you’re little more on edge, too. That’s something to watch out for. He brings activity; unfortunately, he also means confrontation. Not that you’re afraid of confrontation, but I’d suggest you be a little more careful. We were all cruising along the Texas Riviera, and I kept trying to explain to the driver, especially in certain portions of that summer paradise on the Gulf of Mexico, that “island attitude” is important. Posted speed limit was 35 MPH. Most the residents were driving along at 20 MPH. The fine Leo driver was getting a little upset, “Can’t these people move any faster?” Man, it’s like being on the beach, it’s like being on vacation, it’s like being stuck in a Jimmy Buffett song, you know? There is no hurry. Besides that, the local population isn’t going to be moving very fast, as they all have the correct “island attitude;” therefore, why fight it? Slow it all down. You can run your Leo bumper right up against that car in front of you, but that’s not going to get you anyplace faster. Realize that it’s Mars, and realize that Mr. Mars is just moving you faster than the rest of the slugs on the road. You’re going to run into to the rest of us moving at a snail’s pace, get used to it.
Virgo: We were passing through a little town, just south of here, and the bridge had the nicest name, owing to the local Spanish heritage, “Arroyo Seco.” It’s that term which is bantered about, particularly in caricature old Westerns, “Dry Gulch.” I wondered if that was the name of the river, the bridge, or the township. Not sure. The local weather patterns, unpredictable as usual, had just let loose with a summer torrent. While it was nice that it rained, making everything green, the problem was that the dry gulch was anything but dry. Misnomer? Or just a fluke of the weather? It was, in my estimation, a localized weather pattern trick. As your days begin to unfold, you’re going to stumble across something that just doesn’t make any sense to your finely-tuned Virgo mind. That’s a problem. Or, it can be amusing. Depends on how you choose to look at it. The folks I was traveling with didn’t get the reference in the Spanish namesake, for dry gulch, so when it was rushing torrent, they just considered it a river.
Libra: I wonder why I haven’t seen this sort of advertising before, I stepped into a nice, new clean “service station” to relieve myself while the truck was guzzling gas. When I swung the door open to the restroom, I was briefly surprised by a larger-than-life poster-board cutout of a certain brand of beer’s “poster girls.” Or poster girl. Nice idea, too. Plus, as my friend emerged from the other restroom, she suggested that there was a certain, rather attractive Nashville star, plugging a similar brand of beer in the females’ restroom. Even better, I suppose. If that one Nashville star had been in the boys’ restroom, I don’t doubt that the urinal would’ve gone unused. See what I mean about clever marketing? Certain distinctions are rather important. Make sure that your Libra self gets the right stand-up cut-out image in the right restroom. If there’s a mix-up about the right destinations for certain items in Libra-land? I don’t want you winding up like the Nashville guy in a Texas guys’ room.
Scorpio: I was trying to describe one my favorite heroes from literature, and I realized, after a lengthy explanation, that I wasn’t really describing a hero so much as I was talking about an anti-hero. Then I spun your planets around for the next few days, and I thought about that term as it applied to Scorpio. It’s not so much about being the hero these days. It’s not so much about riding in to save the day. Or appearing at the last minute to save some other sign from a cliffhanger ending. It’s more about the bad guy, hanging on by a single branch, and your Scorpio self sees this as a chance to send a villain plummeting to his doom. Only, as you and I well know, taking the law into your own hands isn’t always the right way to handle certain situations. Makes you into an anti-hero. Well, Scorpio’s are always heroes in my eyes, but not everyone shares my skewed sense of right and wrong. Or the Scorpio view. Careful before you take action. Are you a hero and an anti-hero?
Sagittarius: I never came up with a good name for the little intersections in life, those times, when, looking back, I dodged left instead of right. Or you went right instead of left. The path of least resistance, or choosing to follow the more arduous route, the greater the challenges, the greater reward…. Spinning the Sagittarius chart wheel around and around, I kept coming back to these little interstices, the points in a life-line wherein a person makes a seemingly innocuous decision and the long-term ramifications unfold along an entirely different direction. I was wandering back from the Gulf Coast, and one route takes a small detour in a town, the highway jogs right then left, and missing that turn means an extra thirty miles through the countryside, on a hot summer’s day, with no AC, and yet, as the panoramic vistas start to appear, and as each little town with its HS Team name emblazoned on the water tower, there’s a sense of harmony. It might not be a big detour for yourself, but you’re facing a decision these next few days. Jog left, turn right, miss the turnoff. Whatever it is, there’s an idea waiting, something new to develop, and all you have to do is be aware of it. It’s the littlest of turning points, and yet, I’ll promise, it can have some big results.
Capricorn: There’s an action: it’s a shrug, a non-noise sigh, a slumped-shoulder look, and it usually comes from 13-14 year-old adolescents. Not being a parent myself, I’ve just had a chance to observe this, as frequently the adolescent turns to me for support. It’s that shrug, that “Mom you just don’t know anything at all, do you” look, and then the feigned affect of the weight of the world on those troubled teenage shoulders. This has to be universal look, crossing cultural, social and geographic boundaries. I’m fairly sure that an adolescent halfway around the world is just as exasperated with their parents as are the local variations. What was so funny, though, with my friend’s daughter? Watching my friend, when faced with a question, act exactly the same way. Being the soulful person that I am, I pointed this out. Didn’t get me very far, although, my adolescent popularity rating started to soar. What was so funny — to me — was that the mom was looking just like the daughter with that “I don’t know” look and answer. That characteristic, adolescent shrug? Careful with deploying that move on the rest of us. Even if you don’t know. Or even if you’re exasperated.
Aquarius: Owls, badgers beavers, ducks, matadors. Srappin’, fightin’, strikin’. These are just a few names I picked up along the road in rural Texas. According to some folks, most, if not all, of Texas is rural. Backward even. Politics notwithstanding, either. This is about HS Football. Or some local, amateur sporting event. Team. Spirit. Along the roadways in Texas, I’ve also noticed that there will almost always be a sign, proudly proclaiming that the local HS Team won State in such and such a year. Or maybe for two years. “Proud home of the 1983-1984 Double A champions!” Usually it’s the smaller towns, and in one case, the slightly faded billboard dates back to an era almost thirty years ago. Pretty weird. Or maybe it’s not so strange. Careful, that ability to live in the glory years is a strong sentiment in the Aquarius corner. It’s a pervasive influence wherein you’re sorely tempted to point to that roadside marker, and say, “Yeah, that was the best.” Then there’s the whole point of this exercise, too, and I got off on this thinking about all the names. With the descriptions like “fightin’, scrappin’, strikin’.” Strong words. Rural Texas and the perverse names of teams aside, think about what those words really mean. You’re facing some long odds, and if you plot carefully, you can win this fight. Don’t get lost in the past while you’re engaging in this new endeavor, either.
Pisces: Ever encounter one of those situations where all you wanted was a “yes” or “no” for an answer? And the person who was answering just had a mountain of extenuating, exacerbating hyperbole? Never felt like you could get a simple answer to the question? In your razor sharp Pisces mind, you can see this situation as a simple problem. A direct yes or no, day or night, not dusk. Regrettably, you’re going to run into a long-winded compatriot, a business associate, a friend in need, one or more of those types, and when you need a simple answer, you’re not going to get one. That’s going to leave you severely irritated. Nothing’s worse, I know, trust me, I’ve been there, when you look someone in the eye, and ask your question. I’ve learned to preface such questions with a gentle reminder that it’s a “yes or no question.” While that works in paid consultation with me, I’m not sure it’s going to work as well for my gentle Pisces. See: this is a change. Usually, it’s the Pisces with all the extenuating circumstances. Usually, you’ve got all the answers because this factor mitigates against that factor, which then implies that this answer might, or might not be, the correct way of dealing with this particular set of circumstances. Now, when you’re facing this long-winded answer, it’s okay to roll your eyes. It’s okay to tap your pencil on the countertop to hurry along the litany of excuses. But your Pisces Patience is pretty threadbare, and I’m just warning you, this is a time when a little more understanding would be helpful. Reminds me of time when a buddy of mine was pulled over for speeding, “Here, officer, hold my beer while I get the truck’s registration out….”
