Fishing Guide to the Stars
By Kramer Wetzel
(c) 2007-2008 Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
For the week starting: 9.11.2008
"Now is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide."
Shakespeare’s a Midsummer-Night’s Dream (V.ii.10-13)
Virgo: "There’s a place in San Antonio with the best homemade salsa and handmade tortillas. I was trying to remember the name of the place," was my introduction. My Virgo friend rolled her eyes in apparent exasperation. Which place? That description could fit just about every Mexican, Tex-Mex, Tacqueria or even a local burger place in the area. Think there’s even an Italian place that could fit that description.
Which is why I used that as a lead-in. General enough to be safe, yet, it also shows that I was attempting to connect on a local level. It’s also a cheap shot. Just about every place has homemade salsa and tortillas. It’s like a little test, are you really local or not? True natives get the test, and they will answer appropriately. Suppose you get tested, too. How are you going to answer? This is one of those questions that begs, I mean it just begs for an exasperated Virgo answer, "Which one?"
Libra: "I partied with girls from Ft. Worth." Line from a song. Or stage banter from a local musician. I know the girls from Ft. Worth. Probably not the same as the musician, but the inherent feeling is the same. Wild women. Or used to be. I’m over that now.
Ft. Worth is just another whistle stop on this train of life, another layover in the airport of life, just another pause in the play. Still, there’s something about it. Ft. Worth is distant enough to be exotic, foreign enough to be strange and yet familiar. I’d toss one more element on top that equation, Ft. Worth, locally, represents the change from civilized Dallas to the wild and wooly West. Cross the line and between the two and that’s the exact moment where the "West" begins.
Those are real bad girls, or real good girls — or strong-willed and independent women. Call it how you like. They are fun. Libra needs a little fun injected into their life. And Libra can quit taking some statements so serious. Quit worrying about little details. Like, that one singer, he was hoping the girls from Ft. Worth would chase him down again. Probably not going to happen. Be a little more like them "girls from Ft. Worth," however your Libra self like to define the term.
Scorpio: Straight up, strict, structuralist astrology? I got nothing for Scorpio. Full Moon, fifth solar house, no, got nothing. Little tweaks to the basic nothing, though? There’s a lot of little matters that could use some Scorpio attention. Little matters that do not involve taste. Like building a house, or better yet, a Scorpio mansion. A Scorpio castle. Not a castle in the air, not a sandcastle that crumbles with the next tide, no, that’s not it. Building a real structure, a Scorpio special something.
This is a good time, well nigh on excellent time, to be pulling together that foundation. The material that you will conceive, collect, collate, and correlate into the bigger (Scorpio) picture. Consider this a Scorpio construction project, and this week, it’s all about laying a solid foundation. Gathering material. Leveling the ground. Getting the tiny parts and pieces pulled together. It’s not about making aesthetic decisions about what color to paint the bathroom. Straight up, none-beautifying points.
Sagittarius: My favorite little Sagittarius brothers-in-arms, really, more sisters than brothers, but who’s counting? Anyway, my little brothers and sisters, all of the Sagittarius clan? The Sagittarius Army? We’re facing some daunting odds here. Not really, but it sure feels that way.
I’m guessing, I’m not sure, but I’m willing to jump out on a limb here, and that limb has to do with career advancement. Yeah. Stop thinking about yourself all the time and consider your position, the Sagittarius Army position, in the grander order of life. We’re just a piece of the cosmic wheel, not any better (although I’d like to think so) than the rest of the signs. Which is where the influences fall — consider ourselves as pieces in the greater puzzle.
Capricorn: I got a weird e-mail from a client, just some pictures of foreign travel, along with a short note. The note explained that there was a picture of this client on top of an elephant, and that the elephant had kicked my buddy off, four times. In a row. Landing my buddy in the water.
Must’ve been a terrible experience. Could required years of therapy for Elephant Aversion Syndrome. Or something. Or, we can just look at the planets. Mars/Venus/Mercury in Libra, makes a tough angle to Capricorn.
It’s like that elephant, probably not a Capricorn-friendly animal, and how to to deal with its problem? Like my buddy did. Apparently, the fifth time? Managed to get a good ride out of that critter. Get back up on whatever just kicked you off. Might take a try or two, but it will be good. Four times. Fifth was a charm.
Aquarius: The place offered "croquet chicken." All I could figure was it was chicken that was killed with a croquet mallet. Nothing else made any sense to me. Judging by the comments, though, that wasn’t the case. I’m not in favor of killing chickens with croquet mallets, in fact, I prefer free range chickens, and I much prefer all-natural, free-range chicken eggs. Which, if you’ve ever chased chickens around the yard, you’d understand why I thought whacking them with a croquet mallet might be a better idea.
I was also thinking about this in terms of all the little air material lighting up your chart. Then I thought about a certain Aquarius, riding, I don’t know, maybe an ostrich — or emu — and herding chickens in the yard, like a cowboy, only with chickens. What does this have to do with air? Everything. From the thinnest of comments, I’ve managed to spin up a whole image, even a collection, of images of saddling up big birds and playing polo with smaller birds.
All because I didn’t understand what a term meant. While my illusions might be amusing, and pretty much harmless, I’d be a little more circumspect with your own, Aquarius illusions and delusions. Unless, of course, you’re going to be riding herd on free range chicken.
Pisces: I was wearing one of my bolo ties. The artist who designed the sculpture — I’ve got several — one is a longhorn and the one I was wearing? It’s a wolf. Could be a dog, could be a wolf, cuold be a coyote, which, at the time I got it, was what I wanted it to be. Not what it is, though.
I was doing a reading and the person I was reading for — Pisces — looked curiously at the bolo. "That your totem animal?" No, not really Why I liked the coyote as a totem animal, but no, that’s not mine. The coyote is a survivor, nominally a carnivore, but carrion, animal, vegetable, or even mineral will do. And white man’s trash is some of the tastiest pickings for a coyote.
That’s one adaptable critter. Which, given where the planets are? That’s the right mode for a Pisces. I’m not saying that you’re going to spend the rest of your life looking like a mangy, run-down, bottom-feeding carnivore that will take advantage of whatever food stuff happens to fall in its path. Wrong idea. But being adaptable, lithe and quick on your feet? That’s a good totem for the moment. Remember, as a Pisces? Next week you can choose a different animal.
Aries: We were in some mighty "skinny water," fishing. Boat was anchored, albeit, more for show than as a real need to keep us from drifting, and I was cutting bait. My buddy hooked a nice-sized Black Drum, and this fish — smart fish — had (obviously) been hooked before. As he got the fish closer to the boat, that fish dashed under the anchor line. My buddy wrestled him out. The fish did it again, back under the anchor line, and finally, on the third pass, the fish came unzipped.
That had been some mighty tasty cut bait, too, as I was chopping up dead fish. Like sushi, only, without the rice. My buddy was about to get all upset. I just calmly pointed out that sometimes, the fish have to win. He lowered the fish pole in his hand, he was less philosophical than I, but he was getting to where he could see my point. More of my fresh cut-bait, and there was another hook-up. All but forgotten. Except by me, and only as an example of the three planets in Libra, and what they can do to you. How you can get all worked up over an issue and how you can easily forget a recent loss, and how, someone like me, can remind you. Or gently chide you about the loss. It’s reminder, though, that sometimes, a loss is really a win.
Taurus: While, with Aries (see above) I was actively cutting bait, that points to a question. And possibly an answer, when the expression, "Fish or cut bait" is bantered around. In the Taurus slice of the heavens? Cut bait.
Fishing isn’t so hot, although, right after the full moon, there’s about a two-day window that’s kind of good, but as a rule? This is a time that is all about cutting bait. Not about fishing. Fishing implies speculative action whereas cutting bait is less about speculation and more about preparing for action. That’s the simple message, get the Taurus (something) in order because you are soon going to be doing (something).
I left the spot blank since I’m not sure what’s going to fill in the blanks. That’s unknown as to how it plays out in everyone’s chart. So back to the example, "Fish or cut bait?" Clear answer, for Taurus: cut bait.
Gemini: I ran into a client in the mall. I was at an Apple store, not like I hang out in malls, cruising around, looking for babes. Not me. Not my style. As I walked out, I encountered a client, who is also a fan. Hi Gemini!
She wanted my opinion on something that was, as near as I could tell, not really astrological. More like a "guy" opinion. Of which? I’ve got plenty. So it was into a big department store and over to the shoe section to look at some strappy things. Her and the sales guy got into an animated discussion, the he showed her a red pump with a stiletto heel. "Here, just try it on, you know," sales guy nodded at me, "for him."
I should try poker. I kept a straight face. If I could wiggle me eyebrows, I would’ve. I think she did try them on, but she’s not a person in heels much, if at all. Practical Gemini, practical footwear. It was a moment of fun for us. Not serious. And it was fun to see the salesman read the situation completely wrong. Not an item, not going to be, just a casual observer. In his shoes, though, I would probably say the same thing. Don’t rush into assumptions. The relative position of Mars/Venus/Mercury in Libra versus Neptune in Aquarius makes you able to intuit a lot of facts correctly. Or wrongly. Like that salesman.
Cancer: I was reeling in a fishing line that felt like it had a little something on the end. As I pulled the weight and hook closer, I could see that telltale blue of a crab. A plain, sky-blue crab had a single claw wrapped around some old, dead bait. I pulled it into the boat, the crab. It was funny, to me, to see this guy — its carapace was about a half-foot across — once that crab dropped to the bottom of the boat, it raised its wee pincers and clacked them at me, in a menacing manner.
I poked at the crab with my foot, in a sport sandal. "You won’t tease the crab if he gets you toe," my buddy admonished me. I wasn’t too scared. That crab was a science project for a few moments. The way it was shaking its pincers at me, opening and closing them, little beady eyes on stalks, blinking in the sun’s glare at the bottom of the boat.
We got back to fishing and that crab became bait soon enough. Those menacing pincers, the tiny little claws clacking at me? Bait. Caught a Drum on it. It’s like this: you can be the fisherman or the bait, but I’ll warn you, no one ever feels sorry for the bait. Menacing or amused? Cancer? It’s your call on how to act and react.
Leo: I was looking at a catalog. In it, there was an image of female wrist, palm up, with what looked like a small alligator clip on the end of a small rod. It was advertised, I had to read the material, as a device to assist in the putting on of bracelets that usually required a second hand.
An alligator clip on the end of the telescoping pole? It shows my age and orientation, since I took one glimpse at that picture and immediately thought, "Roach Clip." Which, if it was sold as such, might be illegal. And it also might show something about my background, nefarious as it might be. Which is why I tend to live like a monk these days, but that’s a different issue. The roach clip was an idea, and maybe some marketer got it worked out, or maybe, somebody’s mother was using a roach clip to fasten her bracelets. I don’t know. I’m never sure which idea comes first. This isn’t about too much time in Austin, either.
For the Leo, it’s about how you can adapt and get something done, all by yourself. There are days when if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me. And this what this about. Like using a roach clip to fasten a piece of jewelry, all by yourself. Yes, we all agree you should have minions, but they’re in short supply (this week).
Copyright © 2007-08, Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
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