"Why good ladies,
This is a service, whereto I am going,
Greater than any war; it more imports me
Than all the actions that I have foregone,
Or futurely can cope"
Shakespeare’s Thesus in Two Noble Kinsmen (I.i.170-4)
Virgo: Buddy of mine lives in a little town south and west of here. He makes custom furniture. After spending so much time in close proximity to the border, he finally decided to cross over and check it out for a vacation. Although he speaks very rudimentary Spanish, as carpenter, he’s used to communicating with pencil and paper, via diagrams and drawings. Part of his woodworking skill set.
So he found himself in a little resort. A rather attractive native sat down next to him. Unable to communicate, he drew a little picture of beer bottles. They had a drink. He drew a picture of plates. They dined together. She took his pencil and drew a picture of two figures dancing. They danced. At the end of the evening, she drew a little picture of a four-poster bed. He’s still trying to figure out how she knew he built custom furniture. There’s a clue in the punch line, and in case you don’t understand? It’s about confusing messages and sometimes, maybe, missing the point.
Libra: We’d been fishing, the other afternoon, and my partner at the time was making fun of the bait I was using. "That’ll never work," he teased me. And when I did catch a fish, not a really big fish, but some days, any fish is better than none, he was forced to shut up. At least, he was quiet for a little while. Some fish is better than no fish.
Laugh away at the bait I use, but if my bait works, perhaps, your Libra self will want to take a second look. Blue-fin trout killer doesn’t usually work on local bass, but then, the local fish population is tired of some local bait, and there’s nothing quite as good as shaking them up with a slightly different bait.
You’re going to be laughed at for something you’re doing. To the non-Libra people, it might seem a little funny. Or you might appear to be a little funny in the head. But like me, when you pull up a line with a fish on it? That’s hard evidence that the idea works. Don’t be afraid to prove us wrong.
Scorpio: The skyline, as I woke up, it was a dull gray. It was as if someone had drug a watercolor brush across the sky, but the pallet wasn’t a traditional set of pastel shades. It looked like a cold, gray dawn. The single wash of color wasn’t so much color as a single swath of a lighter shade of pale gray. The clouds ran down and they all looked like a cosmic painter had done this sky-scape with watercolor technique. In and of itself, it was eerily pretty. The dawn looked cold.
But this is Central Texas, and the early September dawn is more like, just a little on the cool side, not really cold. Didn’t matter much, as it was up to slow roast by mid-morning, and the image of the cold, gray dawn was long gone. A few clouds, but even those burned off long before noon.
Still, there was a haunting quality to the view from the window, they way the life imitated art. While that’s the opposite of the way it’s supposed to be, life imitating art, there’s a strong suggestion that something is not what it’s supposed to be, and the other side of the equal sign in that equation? That’s the Scorpio position.
Sagittarius: Due to the vagaries of my existence, I’ve had to be a little more than adaptable with some choices in fishing equipment. What I’ve had to do is move toward fishing poles that are portable in nature. Have to fit in a small space, from time to time. Poles that come apart. While I’d prefer a single piece seven or eight foot pole, those don’t always fit in the tight confines of trailers, boats and rent cars, hence the problem.
The action of a multi-piece pole isn’t nearly as good as a single-piece construction. But a single piece of equipment, say, eight feet long? That just isn’t portable. This is about performance versus the spirit of compromise. It’s not really about accepting what is second best, it’s about working with the narrow confines of certain limitations. How to balance, and it’s a delicate balance, like with the fishing poles, what’s going to be responsive, strong, lightweight, and yet, still have the sensitive feel necessary for hooking those big, yet subtle, fish. So look for some kind of middle ground. Remember, for a Sagittarius traveler, there’s always got to be a way to take it apart for journey. I’m not saying that everything should be able to break in two, but it’s not a bad idea.
Capricorn: The stuff of legends, or so I hoped. It’s a cheap fishing pole. Bought on sale, actually, it was gift, bought on sale, price tag was left affixed to the butt of the pole for almost a year, marked down from twelve dollars to five dollars, and finally, the clearance price of $2.95. I strapped on a cheap reel, less than ten dollars for that one, so the pole and reel cost less than 15 bucks. Then, onto that it, I reeled on some extra strong, extra limp, super-fine, miracle titanium fishing line. Expensive stuff. The fishing line was close to $20 in price, for one little spool. So here’s an anomaly of fishing set-up, the pole and reel cost less than the fishing line.
However, this little arrangement has proven to be remarkably versatile. Besides, at that price? I’m not afraid it will break, or get lost, or suffer any serious damage. It’s a cheap pole, who cares? Sometimes, the simplest — and most cost effective solutions — those are the most fun. Don’t have to worry about anything breaking, don’t have to worry about loss, exposure, or wear and tear. Which just goes to show, sometimes, the cheap stuff? Like cheap sunglasses? Isn’t that the song? Sometimes a cheap fishing pole is far superior.
Aquarius: During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, one out of every four girls born, they were named Elizabeth. 25% of the population. Or, to be more accurate, 25% of the females born during that era. Just a little side note from Shakespeare’s era.
No Aquarius likes to fit a predictable pattern, and 25% is a fairly easy pattern to discern. But that was then, and this is now. I’m not saying that 25% of the Aquarius will follow any kind of particular naming convention, but there’s a suggestion that an overlying pattern is at work. In part, it could be the zeitgeist of our modern times.
I’m not saying that it’s necessary to bow to convention, but think about everyone naming their baby girls after their Queen. Think about, in some obtuse Aquarian way, following a similar ideal.
Pisces: Pretty Hispanic woman, long eyelashes, the rest of her voluptuously filling out a track suit quite well. Ahead of me in line, on a Saturday night. South San Antonio (Wal-Mart). She had a quart of skim milk, a large package of oatmeal cookies, and an equally large package of chocolate cookies. I could tell she was heading for an exciting night of dairy products and sugar with a sprinkling of chocolate.
I would’ve said something, but I was just picking up a single bag of plastic worms, and I knew that I had a date the next morning with fish in the lake. And I didn’t know, for sure, that the woman ahead of me in line didn’t have a date, but around ten PM? Guessing from what she unloaded at the checkout counter? One can make as easy inference.
Why didn’t I say something? Not my place. Besides, some of those items might have been caused by a guy like me, and therein is the problem, the approach. I just remained a tacit observer. I can’t condone cookies and milk as a medicinal remedy for some matters, but apparently, for some Pisces, it works. For others? Perhaps something stronger. Pick your escape. Choose carefully, too.
Aries: I lost a lure the other day. It was either taken by fish, or I snagged the lure in the water weeds, or, who knows? I’d like think a fish took a bite, and then buried himself and the lure deep. We trolled back over to where the lure was buried, but no luck. I was gently pulling on the line, trying to free the lure and the line broke off. No big loss, it was cheap piece of plastic with a couple of treble hooks, and while it has served me well, there’s only about a two-dollar loss. Not worth crying or going for a swim to try and recover the missing equipment.
I just reached into the tackle box, affixed a similar-acting lure, and went back to fishing. What was fun, though, the following weekend, I had to make a trip to the big sporting goods store to replace the lost item. What started a simple search and replace mission became an adventure unto itself. Which is what made me think about Thesus in Shakespeare’s version of Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale. What seems like a simple undertaking can become a fun-filled adventure, now that Venus is no longer problematical. Consider trying to replace missing or damaged equipment, getting ready for the next big adventure.
Taurus: I walked into a favored BBQ palace. Okay, dive might be a more appropriate word, and anyway, the waitress saunters over with a requisite bucket of ice tea. "Two meat platter. Right? Two-meat Tuesday?" I nodded in affirmation, opened up a Houston newspaper and started to read the news.
Set the ports page aside, folded up the classifieds, and I flipped to the metro section, since that’s always the got the juicy stuff. Something about the Houston paper, just does it right. Perfect combination of regional, state and national news, and the waitress interrupted my thoughts. "Uh, Kramer, it’s Wednesday." I protested, since I thought I could get away with it, and I pawed at the newspaper, only to have its headlines assure me it was a Wednesday.
She added another item to my selections, and since the three-meat platter was the special, same price as the two-meat, I sort of came out ahead in the deal. Only, both of us, me and the waitress (Taurus) thought it was a Tuesday. That’s a simple mistake and the problem can easily be remedied by adding another item to the Taurus plate, and thusly heaped with that one extra item, everything runs smooth again.
Gemini: I ran into a Gemini buddy the other afternoon, he was hobbling along in one of those new-fangled casts. His right ankle, from toes to knee, was encased in hi-tech plastic protection. "I’ll tell you what happened, Mr. New Age Smart Guy, your ‘leap and the net will appear’ sage advice? Doesn’t work."
He emphasized the point by tapping the cast. There was a hollow sound. First off, there is some confusion. I’m not always a proponent of the "Leap and the net will appear" school of thought. While that’s an admirable philosophy, in the practical world, I’m less sure of its efficacy. Although I do rely on luck and the kindness of strangers from time to time, I’ve also learned that careful planning and proper execution — instead of blind luck — are far more efficient.
Besides, Mars is the root of the problem. Mars can take a perfectly normal Gemini sidetrack exploration and turn it into a an adventure. Or, in the case of my buddy, a misstep and misadventure. The sad truth of his tale? He really wasn’t looking and it was his own damn fault. However, knowing an astrologer, like me, makes it easy to blame someone — or something — else. Like Mars. Don’t follow in my buddy’s footsteps, literally, as Mars wraps up his Gemini visit.
Cancer: I’m a great lover of books. I’ve carted an epic library around with me for years and years. The library gets thinned and then it grows again, and then I’ll thin it out and then I’ll see it grow as I acquire new books that I absolutely must have.
I was looking at a particular text, and I was wondering when I’d gotten that book. I opened it up, and inside the cover, there was an article I’d torn out of a newspaper. And the date on the faded newsprint? Almost 20 years old. So this book has been with me for nearly 20 years. Been around the block a time or two. Been shuffled from one location to the next, time and gain, over and over. Never read the book. I pulled the article out, stuck it in another book, and put the book itself in my "donation" stack. Needs to be added back to the literary food chain, as, obviously, I’m not going to read it any time too soon.
Maybe it was a gift, but judging from academic tone of the tome, I’m figuring it was a field of research that I was, at one time, interested in. Alas, it no longer piques my interests, and it looks like I never touched the book. Other than to store a news clipping? My donation stack of books has grown recently. Your Cancer Donation Stack should be growing, too. I’m not sure where the donation will be made, but put an item in the stack. I tend to resell my old books, although, I’m only getting pennies on the dollars, there’s still a financial reward that I like. I’m sure you could use a little financial reward, as well. There’s always the sense of satisfaction that an interested party ends of with discarded material. Sort of like a karma thing.
Leo: This is an example, nothing more. I am NOT speaking from personal experience, but as suggestion? Even though Venus is starting to make life a little better?
Here’s a hint, before backing the fishing boat into the water? Make sure the rear drain plug is installed.
It’s a simple matter, yet, it certainly is worthy of consideration. How one, little plug could mean the difference between a successful launch and series of comic adventures that are rather disappointing.
We can all laugh at the guy who had this happen, first-hand experience. Boat slides off the trailer, into the lake, and just keeps on going — down. It’s funny, in a slightly sick way, especially if we’re not involved. But that’s the point, too, to make sure our fine Leo selves are not the ones involved. Make sure you’ve installed all the correct parts to all the correct places. Install the rear drain plug before launching the boat.
