"How use doth breed a habit of man!"
Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona [V.iv.3]
Mars — in Leo — opposes Neptune — in Aquarius.
Cancer: Little dog, big fight. I kept thinking about this one, see, when I walk in the afternoon, especially if it’s late afternoon, really, early evening to some, I pass through this one neighborhood, and there’s this little dog. He doesn’t rush out to see me, as I’m not that interesting, However, I’ve seen this little dog, maybe he’s a rat terrier or some kind miniature mix, I’ve watched as he’s chased and barked at dogs approximately ten times his size.
What was funny to me, the other evening, that little dog was chasing a big dog. The big dog, must’ve outweighed that little one by a factor of ten or more, The little one was a few pounds, maybe five, and the big one was a lab mix, maybe 50 or 70 pounds. And the big one was scared of the little one. That little guy was just yipping away, nipping a the big dog’s heels.
That’s the problem, see, that was a dog, and in dog logic, it makes sense. The little dog wasn’t much more than a bite, not even a full meal to that big guy. Why he was scared, might’ve been its upbringing, or the master who gets mad when you bite little dogs, or maybe, that little dog just didn’t understand his size. It’s not about the size of the dog, now is it?
Leo: Mars is about to exit Leo. Mars will not gracefully leave you alone, now will he? I’ve hammered on and on about Mars, and to a lesser extent, about Mercury, for the last few weeks. Feels like a month. To some, it will feel like a month of Sundays. That’s a quaint Southern expression, means a long time. But now that we’ve cleared the air, now that we’ve got our little Mercury troubles behind us, I want to examine a longer-lasting effect. Has to do with Mars.
There’s one last lesson from Mr.Mars, before he leaves, and that lesson will be re-learned by Leo, this week. Next 5 to 10 days, I’m pretty sure. Instead of "re-learning" though, why don’t we call this one final test from the planets? Mars weighs in to see just how well you’ve adapted to the new situation. Issue was brought up. Issue was agonized over by Leo. Issue was resolved. Or the issue will be resolved here shortly. Now stop. Quite agonizing. Dwelling in the past is a luxury you can ill-afford at this time. So stop it. Issue is there. Issue is dealt with. Move on. Now.
Virgo: Lonely Planet, Not For Tourist, Underground, Off The Beaten Path, all of these are titles to tourist literature. Guides for the clueless on where to eat, what to see, and how to be an off the beaten path kind of a tourist. There’s a number of such titles dedicated to just Texas. The problem is, all of these people use the same source for material. The rough guides aren’t really that rough. Not anymore. The best places that truly are off the beaten path are usually local knowledge. Means one has to get out of the car, get the nose out of guide book, and ask local populations.
I tend to take one tip and sort of run with it, but that’s my nature. Your Virgo nature is a little different, less of run with one local tip and more like, "Collect a consensus." My method works well for me. I’ve wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had it work out to my advantage. I’d also suggest that that this doesn’t work for your Virgo self, not with Mars frying in Leo, and Saturn shaking your bones.
No need to just follow one hot lead. Gather a sampling of opinions. You’ll find what you’re looking for, after a little bit of digging.
Libra: Shakespeare wrote, "How use doth breed a habit of man!" (The Two Gentlemen of Verona V.iv.3) This is the idea, now is a good time to establish that habit. From the amateur psychology I’ve been exposed to, as I understand it, the concept, an action repeated daily for 30 days becomes a habit. Good or bad? Rewarded or not, it can breed a habit.
So why not take a good look at what just happened, decide that it’s time to set a new standard. Ingrain that standard in daily existence. Do it every day for 30 days. Could be something simple like a walk around the block, or whatever passes for a similar kind of arrangement for yourself. I’m suggesting, though, that you think about it before you jump off and just try something new. Daily. 30 days. That’s a big commitment. Think about that new habit, maybe just give this idea a test spin for a few days, see if you like it. I think you will.
Scorpio: My Scorpio therapist, if I really had a therapist, she would say, at this point, "Don’t we just want to let this go and move forward?" Sounds just like a therapist, doesn’t it? Well, my fine little Scorpio friends, if you are a therapist, then you know you’ll be using that very line in the next couple of days. Maybe for the likes of me, too, but I kind of doubt that that.
However, there’s still the idea, that concept, and here we are, back again, with the hint that you can practice what you preach. Put words into actions. Do the deed. Walk the walk — don’t just talk the talk. So, let’s put the Mercury Mayhem behind us and let’s move forward.
Mercury brought up issues of insecurity, fear, uncertainty, doubt. Now there’s a chance to put all of that behind you. Blame me, blame the planets, you can, even in a moment of deep introspection, blame your Scorpio self, but who or what is getting the blame? Let’s just let that issue go. It’s time to move forward, not backwards. And no dwelling in the past.
Sagittarius: It started to rain, then stopped. I was driving a rent car, and I blipped the windshield wipers. Dust, dead bugs and accumulated road dirt smeared in front of me. Not enough rain to wash the mud from the window. That’s a case where I would’ve been better off if I’d just left it all alone. Made me think of Sagittarius. Made me think of the mess we’re in. Made me think about that windscreen I can’t see out of now. Made me wonder about driving when I can’t see.
Never bothered me before, I can drive with the braille method. Rent cars are good for that. And it really doesn’t work. Astrology, horoscopes, they are all about helping us navigate the murky waters. These days, though, it’s like that rain that really didn’t wash away the dirt. Not even enough rain to rinse off that rent car. It’s not like I’m going to wash it or anything. Too much trouble. Yet, how are we going to navigate the next week? Like me, in that rent car? Yeah, a little by the bump and feel method, since Mercury is still left us with a windscreen that is more dirt than glass.
Capricorn: Cute sign the other day, "Pizzeria – Taqueria – Burgeria." It was painted on the side of place, and I’d like to not give away all my sources. Judging solely on the sign, though, I’d guess the place was good, as long "good" means plentiful and hot. I’d suggested there was — just a guess here — a strong Mexican influence. With names like that? Sure, good bet.
In a landscape that’s full of good little taco joints, maybe finding a really good one is more difficult. Or making an average place stand out a little brighter? Good marketing. Which that sign was. Good marketing. It made the place stand out just a little bit more. Not so much that I’d stop there, but the sign did pique my curiosity. Which is what this all about, doing something just slightly out of the ordinary, or maybe bending the rules a little to match what you’ve got going on.
In this example, the rules were strict spelling rules, maybe just bend those rules a little for some poetic license. Or with your Capricorn poetic license. Something like that. Bend, maybe not break, the rules. See if that doesn’t raise you up a little higher than the others. Just trying to help the Capricorn landscape.
Aquarius: I retrieved a phone message, and it was a lady at an insurance agency, so I returned the call. "You’re that psychic, aren’t you," she started a sales pitch. I hung up. Someone not familiar with me may, sometimes, call me a psychic. Personally, I detest the term, as I prefer astrology consultant, or just a consultant. On the voice mail the outgoing message I’ve got identifies me as "Kramer, author of the website astrofish.net" and I would expect, a sales person, in order to gain my good graces, that person would have the intuitive ability to at least check the website and find out what I do.
Just a hint, a little background sales idea. I’m not telling them how to run their businesses, but I do a quick search to find out information. I’d figure that they could do the same thing.
Apparently not. The call ended with me hanging up. Not in disgust, not slamming the phone down, just not interested in whatever the sales pitch was. I kind of knew, when the phone was answered from by a receptionist at an agency, I sort of figured it was a cold-call sales pitch. And I’m not interested. However, I didn’t get rude, I didn’t get uppity, I don’t revert to any type of energy that I could, righteous indignation and all, nope, none of that. I just ended the call. Ended most of my aggravation. When the annoying sales call comes, when there’s a problem, sometimes, there’s an easy answer. Click. All I did. Wasn’t a big deal. Actions that bring succor to the Aquarius mind and incur no further debt?
Pisces: I looked at the guy in the coffee shop. He was new. There was air of familiarity about him, like I know I’d seen him before, I just couldn’t figure out where. I asked his birthday, he’s Sagittarius. Which doesn’t have lot to do with this horoscope. Or does it? We chatted, and he’s not really just coffee shop employee, he’s also a sound engineer. I knew I’d seen him before, probably running the sound board at a concert. Show, anyway. That’s what this is about, not the unfamiliar, but the familiar.
I was busy, at first, scanning his sleeve-length tattoos, looking for a clue. Art like that usually has astrology glyphs worked in, and I can appear to be amazing, "You’re a (insert sign here)…" I couldn’t get a clue from that Sagittarius, though, so I had to ask. I was also looking for whatever it was that made him seem familiar, besides the artwork and coffee shop deal. It’s about looking for clues, asking questions and seeking what are the points wherein there is a commonality. Between him and me, or, better yet, between your Pisces self and the rest of us. There are common points. I still couldn’t figure out what show I saw the guy at, but I’m sure I did.
Aries: The Ramones did a song, "I wanna be sedated!" I’m unsure of the punctuation, but I think the title should be thusly marked. A couple of years ago, a local band — sort of that Austin/Central Texas ‘country’ sound, they recorded the same song on their CD. The band’s name is "Two Tons of Steel," the album and its hit single is "Vegas." But that’s not what this is about.
There’s a lyrical country version of the song by local luminaries, and there’s the original hard-punk version. Take your pick. You get a choice. You can have either one. The lyrics? The song remains the same. The sentiments remain the same, too, and this would be a nice time to be sedated. Are you going to get sedated? I doubt it. Do you wish you could be? Probably. Mars, in Leo, and Mercury, no longer backwards? The question is, how to deal with energy in an appropriate fashion. Pick one version of the song. I don’t want to influence you, but there’s a hint, lyrical or hardcore?
Taurus: There’s a famous Mexican restaurant near me. Legendary hot sauce, legendary culinary fare. Tacos, especially the fish tacos? Grilled white fish with cilantro, Mexican cole slaw, avocados, and some piquant hot sauce? Rolled in homemade corn tortillas, hot off the comal? Really tasty material, and relatively speaking, fresh food and all, healthy, as well as delicious. So the other evening, as is my style, while having the aforementioned healthy tacos, I perused the dessert menu.
"Cajeta," praline, vanilla ice cream, sort of thing. Looked like it would be really, really good. It wasn’t. It was a big let down. Oh no, don’t get me wrong, it was exactly like the menu described it, the ingredients were all there, artful arranged on a large dinner plate, but somehow, the promise and the delivery — someplace in between — the whole dessert fell apart. Looked like the picture on the menu, and the dessert had all the parts, it just wasn’t as tasty as the rest of the meal, or, for that matter, the dessert didn’t really taste as good as it looked and sounded from the menu.
Which kind of is the point, about picking something from catalog, or getting your hopes up, or exceeding your expectations? It’s matter of marketing versus delivery. The pictures of that dessert made it worth ordering, once. The actual flavor, or lack thereof? Made it not worth ordering a second time. Careful about what is promised as opposed to what arrives at the supper table.
Gemini: I can’t wave a magic wand and make everything instantly better. At some point in my life, I’m sure I believed that it could be done, and at another point, in my own life, I’m sure I’ve been credited with just such powers. Alas, this is mere myth, the part about making everything in the Gemini life better with a mere wave of magic wand. Ain’t going to happen.
Mercury is corrected in its errant path and therefore, little happenstances are going to start to occur that will restore your faith in either humanity, me, or the natural order of things. Or some combination of all of those items in the list. Won’t happen in the blink of an eye. Won’t happen overnight, and it might just take a little while to get all of this sorted out. I can’t make anything happen fast enough for your Gemini self.
I was at the coast a month back, buying bait from lady from whom I’ve purchased shrimp on numerous occasions. She’s of Asian decent, I’m not sure of the details. I can make out about every third word she says. She was quite talkative the other morning. I could string the comments together and make out the basics of her conversation. Like me, like Gemini now, it’s about every third word.
