For the Week starting: 11.1.2007
"That Neptune’s arms, who clippeth thee about,
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself"
Shakespeare’s Life and Death of King John [V.ii.44-5]
Scorpio: Happiest of birthdays to the Scorpio fiends out there. Life just got a lot better, and you’re going to have to agree, I was right. I was right in that it was, note: past tense, was a heinous Mercury Retrograde. But it’s over, or almost over, or over enough that we can call it over and move on with some big Scorpio fun.
Spell the fun anyway you want, but for the next seven days, you are set to enjoy yourself. It’s supposed to be good and here’s your chance. In fact, I’m kind of tired of certain Scorpio folks complaining, and therefore, I’ll just not be taking those calls. No more "It’s bad and you didn’t warn me" calls. Because, if you’d listened, you’ll note that I was trying to tell you it was going to be this bad.
But hey, it’s over, and what’s a little disaster between friends, anyway? Mars is cooking in Cancer, a compatible sign. Lends strength and energy. Saturn bulks you up a little and even fickle Mr. Jupiter is helping in his own way. I’d just get ready for some (non-Mercury Retrograde) good times.
Sagittarius: Name a town, at least, a town that’s on my circuit, and I can name coffee shops, truck stops, and various other diversion in the area. Not always high-brow, and not always the best, but I can usually name a place or two of note. One way, or another. I’ve spent a long time, on the road, getting from one point to another, and I’ve learned how to ask locals for assistance.
Then, too, there’s the observation, and following a beaten path to whatever kind of watering spot it is that the local population prefers. It’s a matter of observation and elucidation. Listening, and making sure there’s not that double-meaning I’ve had a tendency to employ. I’ve been known to give tourists directions that are little off. Watching tourists take off in the wrong way, based on some nebulous question and answer from me? I’d call it dyslexia, or just my natural, confused state, but I have learned to watch out for well-meaning, misinformed individuals like myself. The message, it’s about making educated, well-informed decisions for our Sagittarius selves. It’s like me, giving directions when I’m a bit confused. Pointing at the setting sun, "Yeah, to the east over there…"
Capricorn: A buddy of mine — his name is not Bubba — sent me a link to a curiously titled website. No big deal, I get folks sending in obscure links and facts all the time. I’m used to it. The problems arose when I tried to click through to the website. Computer didn’t want to respond to my click. So I copied the address and pasted it into the web browser. The little icon churned away, waiting for the website to pop up on the screen. And it churned, and I could, I’m sure, hear the little electrons chugging back and forth while the information tried to connect, one computer to another. Eventually, I got bored, and I gave up. Not one to be daunted, though, I tried the web address a little later in the day.
The usual, "This account has exceeded its bandwidth — check back later. System Administration please contact…." Yeah, whatever. Must’ve been something good, too, as it got real popular, rather quickly. Or maybe it was bootleg, and it violated the terms of service? I might never know. I got bored with looking for it, it didn’t pop up fast enough, and now the address the question, the answer and the results? All gone.
While it would be easy to suggest this is just some aberration of Adult Attention Disorder, more realistically, this is the way of the web. To make it more tightly focused, though, this is also the way of the Capricorn. Not fast enough? Move on the next item. Don’t look back.
Aquarius: "People who can, do. People who can’t, teach." Old, tired expression, rehashed a little, shortened, I hope, and maybe a little more palatable for my Aquarius friends, since, us Aquarius? We’re all about getting it done. Not teachers, doers. Kind of an important point, too.
I was responding to some fairly damning criticism, and I wasn’t about to stoop the level of flinging mud and turds, although, the thought did cross my mind. What I finally responded with was a request for copies of the critic’s work, preferably archives online, so I could see that the critic was knowledgeable about astrology, and had some kind of clue as to human behavior, especially in these difficult times. Shut that person up good, let me say.
It’s put up or shut up, there isn’t a lot of ground in between, in as much as we would all like to find some happy medium point? Some days, it just ain’t there. I was responding to a vocal and harsh critic, and you’re going to have a vocal and harsh critic to deal with, in the next few days. Same deal, same answer as I used, "Where can I see your stuff, since you’re obviously better than me?"
Pisces: I was fishing off a dock. Offshore breeze quartered the dock pretty well. I had options, as to which end of the dock I wanted to fish. I worked my way around the dock, starting leeward and finally facing into the breeze, and that’s where I discovered the fish were most active. The breeze was blowing the bait fish up against the dock, and that’s where I needed to be, in position where I was casting straight out, into that wind. But it worked, that’s where the fish were.
I had to fine-tune my weight-to-bait ratio, in order to get the right combination of something heavy enough to fly out there a ways, and yet, light enough so I could detect a fish’s nibble. All a matter of balance, poise, luck, and there’s a healthy dose of trial and error. With me, when I’m faced with a headwind, I know my arm and my tackle, so I’m at a good starting point. Settled, eventually, on a tungsten (not lead) sinker, and about a foot of leader. Worked well enough. But I knew where to start. For Pisces, the starting point might be less clear, but make an educated guess, and be prepared to make adjustments as you go. You will be surprised at how luck plays a part in this balancing act.
Aries: I was standing on one corner of a dock, wind at my back, and I kept tossing bait out into the water. Dragging it back, varying my approach. I tried bouncing off the bottom, no interest. I tried swimming it a good clip, making it dance from left to right, that "walking the dog" action. No interest. I tried floating it like a wounded fish, letting it flitter to the bottom, then using short, sharp retrieving action. No interest. I didn’t give up, I kept pitching that bait out there, and I kept wiggling back in. I got to the point where I was adding my own body action, softly imploring somebody, anybody, to bite. Any kind of action would’ve been a relief. No luck.
You’d think, I mean, as much time as I’ve spent with these fish, one or more would’ve shown demonstrated — at the very least — some kind of interest. Maybe just a short chase, maybe just a nibble. No luck. The afternoon set early, and as soon as it set, the wind made it feel really cold. I packed it in, with no kind words towards the fish. In my defense, I did get a chance to hone my techniques. There are some days, like right now, when, no matter what you try, top, middle, bottom, wiggle, weave, or whatever enticing moves you got? None of that seems to work. Look at it like I do, practice.
Taurus: Frankly, Taurus dear, I don’t know what you’re bitching about. There are couple of places where you seem to be clueless, but that "not having a clue" behavior, it’s not, like, really our fault. You are clueless. But the complaints I’ve heard, or that I have been hearing? Oh, please. Imagine that I’m rolling my eyes, too. There’s really not a basis for the complaints, nothing you were warned about and nothing that I can do anything about, either.
By the time this week’s up, too, Mr. Mercury won’t be backwards. The problem is, we can’t all blame Mercury for the ills of the world. Or the ills of the Taurus world, in as much as such planetary blame would be nice. Can’t do it. First off, the single problem that’s really valid? The bitching point I can be paid to listen to? That’s about something you left undone from way back when and it’s back to haunt you. Your problem, unplugged. What you can do, though, is stop long enough to figure out how to address the problem. Instead of complaining. As the planets straighten up and fly right? Good time to get all the pieces back together. The fact that no one understands your pain and frustration? That I can’t help you with.
Gemini: Coffee spills are endemic in my line of work. Accidents will occur, and usually not at a good time. However, after doing this for so many years, I’ve got a couple of built-in safeguards. The computer is on a raised (and waterproof) dias, the keyboard is backed by sealed plastic and the coffee mug sits close to the desk, but not on the desk.
Doesn’t mean that accidents won’t happen, which they will, but it lessens the impact of a disaster. Before the disaster occurs in Gemini land? Make some suitable preparations. Could be simple, too. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. All I did, as the first step, was the locate my morning coffee on separate spot from the computer.
Coffee and computers, so linked and yet, in the wrong application, so bad for each other. Might not be coffee, could be any one of a number concoctions, be it food, beverage, tobacco, whatever your Gemini self really likes. But I am warning that there’s an accident about to happen, and make its impact less harmful. You do have a backup, don’t you?
Cancer: I stood up. I stretched. I swung my arms over my head. I hit the roof with one, outstretched hand. It’s a small place, you know? I try to keep from running into stuff, but I get a little exuberant at times. I’m sure you understand that, too. The upper limit of what I was doing was defined by the roof of the tin can I was standing in. Got a firm image of that? Upper limits are defined. Upper limits are also reached, and if you’re not careful exceeded.
In my situation, all that happened is I scratched the wood panel that curves up towards the ceiling and since it was a ring finger, the big ring I was wearing left a tiny scratch mark. If I’d been in another location, I would’ve violently encountered a ceiling fan. Again, this about a stretching move in the middle of the afternoon, and reaching those upward limits. In my case, I was running into fixed limits. Nothing I can do about the ceiling on the trailer. But in the Cancer case? Sort of depends. See, the limits are there, but you can work around them. Or, you can, if so desired, get out a skill-saw and make a hole, so you don’t have those normal limits. Your call.
Leo: The guy, I knew him when he was a little younger, he’s Leo and all, and he’s a musical genius. Plays, like six or seven instruments. Can bang on drums, can play guitar, piano, or, what he prefers? Jazz bass. Pretty cool, too. But not the best source of income. Local jazz musicians, not really noted for big deals and big bucks.
This one guy? He’s also a waiter. He lucked into one of those jobs where he works lunch rush, usually Monday through Friday, and he’s got weekends and nights to be a musician. Good job, if you can get it. I was asking him about his jobs, and it seems that the guy who runs the restaurant where the Leo musician fellow was working? That guy employed nothing but flaky musicians. It was, in a weird way, good for business despite the musicians’ inability to meet certain deadlines. It probably worked because there are enough hungry musicians in town.
I was thinking about that guy because his band had a good spot in the local showcase. Finally. Overnight success after years of hard work. Doubt he remembers I predicted that, too. I was wondering if he was still also working the lunch shift. See? For my Leo friends? If you’ve got a steady job, might not be glamorous, but steady? Might want to hold onto that income, just yet.
Virgo: It’s not like it’s hard to find a musician, not in this town. I was passing one car, and there was a drum set in car, bass drum had a sticker that read: "oh no not again." Fits with the Virgo sentiments these days. There’s some noise, and seems like a lot of racket. Yet there was another scenario I was going to try and tease out of the image. It wasn’t a big car, it was small, two-door, what at one time would’ve been called a "compact," although, by modern standards, it was certainly more roomy than today’s sub-compact compacts.
Now, imagine that drum kit stuffed inside. Kick-pads, top-hats, pedals, bass, snares, tom-toms, and, well, I don’t know what it’s all called. All that hardware to hold up the skins? Do they tune drums? I don’t know. Drummers are useful to keep the stage level, but that’s another musician joke.
I imagine that the Virgo life is like the inside of that drummer’s car. If it was the drummer. A smaller car packed with all the instruments needed for work. Important gig. Kind of tight, too, barely enough room for the driver and the drummer, which might both be the same. Sounds kind of like the Virgo life, these days? A little cramped, just yet, cramped by Mercury — or is it Saturn? Either way, make it to the gig on time, do your best. I know it’s not the best of accommodations at this moment, but the savings will pay off, on down the road.
Libra: With the wave of magic wand, I’ve suddenly made everything all better. I would hope so, anyway. And I really didn’t make anything better, but the littlest of planets changed its apparent direction and with that, we all get to breath a tad bit less frustration.
For all the dire consequences and pernicious prognostications, it really hasn’t been that bad. Nothing that a large dose of patience and preparedness can’t cure. Being both you’ve managed to make it though, and from this point, onward, it’s going be a lot easier. Much better now. Which is even better because this is the beginning of a new cycle, And I’m telling you, in about ten days, you’re going to want to embrace some change.
Change for the better. Change that helps. Moving it all along, moving it up, making life better. The tricky point is position. Position yourself, so that, in ten days? You’re ready for the big, forward change. Make sure you’re ready, never can tell.
