Fishing Guide to the Stars
By Kramer Wetzel
(c) 2007-2008 Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
“There is no darkness but ignorance.”
Shakespeare’s 12th Night, or, What You Will [IV.ii.21]
Nothing says "Turkey–Time in Texas" better than a single image from the grocey store: corn husks, masa flour and lard.
Sagittarius: Pink Cake is a local delicacy. It’s basically white sheet cake with a pink frosting on top. Not terribly difficult to understand. There was one place, after sampling a lot of not outstanding sheet cake, this one bakery had delightful "pink cake," but it was due to twin influences. The sheet cake was really a higher quality angel food, more moist than usual "pink cake," and the frosting was really strawberry flavored. Not really strawberry, other than an artificial flavor, but it was stronger than the usual pink icing, which was nothing more than spun sugar.
Mars is in the middle of Sagittarius, and this is a good year, anyway, for those of us with birthdays this week. Pink Cake is my favorite kind of cake. But Pink Cake is rich in sugar. Sugar begats an energy "high." This is a problem. The energy, what with Mars, Mercury, Moon and all that? It’s like eating a whole sheet of pink cake. That energy is really fun, in a frenetic way, until the sugar crash. Happens, like, this weekend. Careful about how you spend your holiday, restraint might be in order to properly harness that Mars energy.
Capricorn: Last week, talked about quitting three things, end of this week, good to make it stick, just one, though. I’m going to lose weight, quit smoking, and stop drinking (alcohol). Noble sentiments. Sounds like a good wish list for New Year’s. And also sounds like a monumental task for a Capricorn. However, pick just one of those three items. One vice that you really think it would be a good idea to let go of? Just one, not all three.
Vices like that, hard-earned habits?
Maybe letting go of it all at once isn’t such a good idea? Maybe, though, as Pluto enters in earnest? Might be a good time to consider the most debilitating of the vices, the hardest habit to kick? Yeah, let’s not give that one up yet. There are three big changes I’ve suggested you look at. Out of those big changes, though, I still think that you should only work on one right now. No even the toughest one, just one.
Aquarius: Robert Earl Keen, Jr. (Capricorn, if you must know), he does an Xmas song that has got to be one of the best holiday songs ever. I’m unsure of the entomology or etymology of the song’s original source. I suspect, this has not been verified, that it was a song created as filler for a live a show, then filler for a live album, then the song spun off into its own world.
It’s a book, and seeing it live, it, well, it’s just a lot of fun. Not terribly politically correct, but then, I wouldn’t expect that. It’s not derisive, just not always in the best taste. The song also annoys certain people. Which, in my mind, makes it that much better of a tune.
Thanksgiving is either going on as you read this, or it’s now a distant memory. There are certain family traditions that need to be dragged out, examined, and then, in my case, I’ll be singing along to the that song. It’s time for the Xmas music. Anything before today was too early, but it’s official. The holiday season has started. Do something to mark that inception. Personally, the open refrain from that song is as good a place as any, at least to start.
Pisces: The holiday is always a little on the weird side. Not bad, not good, just off. It’s like the timing isn’t right, or, as I’ve observed, the oven temperature settings don’t always match up. I was with one set of girls, women, really, and they had the family recipe that worked at their respective homes just fine. It was a dessert deal. Except, when they all got to a new place, as guests, the oven at the new place? Must’ve been calibrated differently. Or something. Not quite the same. Close, but not quite.
The pie turned a little toasty, around the edges. The flaky crust was more like “carbon-infused” around the edges. It illustrates part of the problem. The other half of that problem? The matron in charge, whose kitchen we were all in? “I didn’t tell you? Yeah, that oven seems to run a little hot, like, adjust it by about 15 degrees down to get it right.”
Information that would’ve been a lot more valuable, earlier. I’m sure you’ll agree, and that’s part of the issue these days. Can’t fix that oven, which runs too hot, and can’t fix the way the information catches up too late. But you can learn to enjoy crispy “bbq” pie crusts. Or, like me, eat around the burned parts.
Aries: “Hot chicks and cold beer.” Something something something. “Country Music and Cool Hard Rock,” dum-dum-dum, strum, refrain. Something something something. This song writing isn’t working out so well. But to be honest, I know my own chart, and I’m not really working at a strength when I’m trying to act all musical and stuff. I’m not going to make it as a songwriter, but then, as I’ve noted, that was never a goal.
I have to stick to what I do know how to do, and that’s less musical and far more practical, even if I do get a long winded at times.
Go with what works. While I like the idea of being a songwriter, certainly a lot less work, I’m not sure I can fulfill all the parts that the job requires. It’s that musical part. I can get the poetry to work okay, but part of the job requires I fill in the music. At least fake a tune. I’m not any good at that. Not going to happen; therefore, I’d suggest that I skip trying to write songs. Just like I’m skipping the part of what I know I can’t do? Think about that, for Aries, what are limits that you know exist? Is there anything to gain by proving you can’t do something again?
Taurus: I’d just slow it all down.
No, don’t argue. Just easier, think about this for a second. Just stop rushing in one direction. Or rather, stop rushing all over the place. Just stop rushing.
All I’m trying to get you to do is pause long enough for you to catch your breath.
It’s just a simple matter, really, just a point where you’ve got to pause long enough for everyone else to catch up with you. Or slow down enough so some of us can — at least — gain a little bit of distance that you’ve separated.
Gemini: On the Interstate, a huge juggernaut that runs from (old) Mexico to Canada, there’s a section that has three northbound lanes, with four little green arrows, each indicating that the lanes are open and flowing. I liked that one image, since there were three lanes. Highway construction. Three lanes, but arrows indicating that four lanes are open? Can be a little confusing, except, of course, to a Gemini, who will assume that four lanes being open means it’s all good, and all speed forward with typical Gemini haste.
Which is where the problems occur. All Gemini haste, typical Gemini speed, that’s like trying to funnel four lanes of fast traffic, into three lanes. While the strictest mathematical interpretation just means it’s reduction of one-quarter, or 25%, there’s another way to realize that, though the lanes have been marked like that for the last month or two, there’s still only three lanes. Never mind the signage says one thing, the lanes are still bottlenecked. You’re going to hit this thin section of the freeway. This week. Just plan in going slower.
The quickest way around is to go slower.
Cancer: Mythology deals with more truth than non-fiction. In part, myths deal with larger issues, and in part, myths allow us a way to express energies that can’t be expressed in strict, literal terms. Myth, mystery and metaphor are useful like that. However, the myth is that Pluto married Persephone and by the terms of the arranged marriage, Persephone had to spend six months underground with her husband. We call it Winter, and she pops back up in the spring.
It’s getting late in the season, and it’s time for Pluto to make an appearance. He’s going to cause a lot of consternation over the coming years
Bad or good? Up to you. Choices. I tend to see this entrance as harbinger of what it’s going to be like for the long haul, a little taste of the upcoming flavor. To me, I’ve been through Pluto experiences before, I tend to see this as a potentially fertile time. Pluto is good for hot experiences. As the winter heats up? You heard about it here first.
Leo: Holidays bring out the best and — more important — the worst in people. Perhaps the most drama is found in the otherwise apparently functional families, under holiday pressure. Here’s a hint: step away from the drama. Especially if this is Leo hot-button issue. You’re really in a good position at this point. Not great, not absolutely wonderful, but good. Solid. Stable. No pressure. Or not too much pressure, and certainly not more pressure than you can stand.
But with all that mutable energy in Sagittarius, there’s going to be a couple of Leo shots in the next few days. Big shots, little shots, medium shots? Whatever. Normally, this would be “no big deal,” and I wonder if I can trademark that expression, since I’ve used it so often? Never mind. But I doubt I can trademark that expression, and I doubt you’ll duck the hot-button shells that are lobbed your way. The Leo Way. What is most important is perspective, realizing that those hot shots, the little — or big — deals? That this is going to pass.
The pressure is holiday pressure. Don’t confuse this with astrological pressure. When you look at it like that? The family? The advertising? The unavoidable little picks and points that are hitting you? You don’t have to let this exacerbate your situation.
Virgo: I don’t know how people have time to watch daytime TV. I’ve got one buddy, works the graveyard shift, and, in theory, he can find time to watch TV in the daytime. Sometime in the afternoon, again, this is largely theoretical, there’s some time to watch awful TV. I was stuck in the waiting room at a car dealership, and I was exposed to daytime TV. The term “exposed,” not so much it’s denotative meaning, but its implied connotation? What was paraded across the screen scared me.
It’s like a train wreck, I didn’t want to look, but I was drawn to that small TV screen, over and over again. It was a “judge” show, wherein a judge renders a decision about a problem, Never mind it’s all scripted, and the cases might not even be real, no matter what they say. And I might be wrong, but I could detect a sensational drama and showmanship, the fine hand of a hack director and a script writer, working at building tension, which attracts viewers, which sells advertising.
I think it’s the train wreck scenario that makes this format work. It was terrible, there was this one case, love gone awry, and another one, with broken promises. I tried not to watch. I was glad that it was quick service on my friend’s car. That stuff is bad. Daytime TV like probably rots your teeth, cause liver damage, and might be a cause of global warming. I’m sure it’s that bad. The daytime TV reminded me that Saturn is in Virgo. How you treat Saturn, I’d hope that you learn from my mistake. It was that first few minutes of that show. I couldn’t be torn away, not once it started. I watched, and you’re going to watch. But you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Libra: There is change drifting in the air, now isn’t there? You can catch a whiff, a hint of a scent, just trace amount of a tell-tale olfactory clue, the barest, minimalist, tiniest, just a smidgen of a hint, and I’m sure yo get the picture. The smell is like this one spot on the trail, sidewalk alongside the river? Place with a bridge over the river and then, there’s some bush that blooms only in the fall and winter? And that bush’s flowering scent, it’s faint, but detectable, over the usual aroma of dead leaves and the winter decay, such as there is a winter’s decay in South Texas, and that’s what this week is like.
You can see that there is a break. You can tell that there is a change happening. You can see that something will be different. You can get a clue, a hint presents itself, there’s hope. This change, I like that plant, I’m not sure what it is, that keeps flowering even though the weather has turned cold, warmed up and turned cold again. Then we had a hot day, not untypical around here. So I’m unsure of what it is that survives all those changes and keeps putting out a sweet scent. I’d call it Libra, though, because yes, the temperature is going to vacillate a lot. Doesn’t mean that there’s not a happy spot on the far side of this, though.
Scorpio: I had to pause before I could properly attend to the Scorpio Scope. It’s moment to refresh our long Scorpio memories about past deeds, ground that has been covered, and what we’ve got up ahead. Think about the last dozen years, maybe more. Think about what you’re looking at, coming up. Think about the material in between. Pause and reflect.
Okay, done with the “pause and reflect” suggestion? Good.
There is much transpiring these days. None of it is on your little Scorpio head. Life is good. The biggest problem facing my little Scorpio friends is an intense need to meddle. Here’s the big hint: don’t. If someone says “You don’t need to do anything,” then that translates to your Scorpio self as, “I don’t need to do anything.” It’s like the wet paint sign, you don’t have to touch the wet paint to figure out that the paint might leave a mark, or, your touch might mar the finish. “Don’t touch,” means just that.
I’ll promise, if you leave it alone right now? You can thank me next week. Pause and reflect, or better yet, don’t do a thing. Anything, don’t do anything. Let all this holiday madness go swirling right past you. No need to get yourself involved.
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copyright (c) 2007, 2008 Kramer Wetzel, for astrofish.net
