Fishing Guide to the Stars
By Kramer Wetzel
(c) 2008-2009 Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
For the week starting: 3/5/2009
"When thou art old and rich
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleasant."
The Duke in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (III.i.36-8)
Exerise time, for Venus, moving in apparent retorgrde fashion. Pop your name into a search engine of choice, like this.
SXSW extended dance mix notes.
Pisces: "Beware of the Ides of March." I, seriously now, shouldn’t use that line, each and every year. However, this year, in Pisces, that line has a certain amount of resonance. It’s less about a big problem that one needs to be wary of, and more like a little problem. I doubt the Senate will appear or that civil war will erupt, or armies will go marching back and forth across the stage in a mock battle.
What I remember from that play, where the "Beware of the Ides of March" line comes from? Anyway, I doubt that it’s any one, big hairy thing. I suspect, though, that this month is a turning point of sorts, and by the time you read this, in the first week of March, you’ll realize a little about what is going on — namely, Venus is backwards. That’s part of it.
The message from Venus to your sweet Pisces self ought to be one of watching out, looking out, and being a little more circumspect at this time. Get a good offer? Maybe an offer too good to be true? While I’ve seen wonderful things happen to and for Pisces, yeah, I’d be little careful with that, just yet. And happy birthday, that’s going okay. Just worry about large groups of men wearing toga-party attire.
ASTROFISH.NET: Just Add Water!
Aries: I stopped, if you have to know, I was on the way back from the lake, fishing, and anyway, I stopped at a Wal-Mart on the south side of town. Needed a grocery item or two, and I wanted to see if they had any (inexpensive) fishing weights, as I’d just left a few behind.
Never having been in a Wal-Mart Superstore on the south side of town, on a Sunday afternoon, it was a shock. There’s a certain "fear factor" shopping at wal-mart, on a laconic weekend afternoon. Outright frightening, in a sense. The people, might be me, but the customers seemed, to me, other worldly. Spooky space aliens? Maybe. Maybe something else, too.
Size and fashion, and while stereotypes play a part in this? Those stereotypes are in place because of my afternoon experience that bares out those very examples. I grabbed the meager grocery items and I skipped the fishing aisle, as I was unnerved. Not yet, but almost, Venus is going backwards in your sign. Relatively speaking, this is a short retrograde pattern. Still, Venus, backwards? Fear factor. Figure it out.
Taurus: "Are you a musician?" I looked up at the woman asking the question. "No, I mean, I’ve seen you in here with all these skinny girls, I just figured you were some kind of musician." Yeah, go with that. I’m not a musician, and the "skinny girls" were clients, in varying stages of astrological triage. It’s the incipient onset of Venus going backwards, and yes, I realize that this looks like something else, but it’s not.
The parade of distraught and disheveled females, that’s not so unusual in my line of work. The love planet, Venus, starts a backwards pattern. The bigger problem — for Taurus — is this backwards pattern commences in the middle of the sign preceding you, and basically stays in that sign for the next few weeks, sort of like a stalled car. Which might explain a lot. It’s not that you don’t want to move, it’s not that you can’t move, it’s not that there isn’t some movement going on, it’s just that Taurus, for the time being, is stuck in a lane of traffic wherein the car in front of you is stalled. Hence the problem.
There isn’t really a good solution. I’d just slow down, and realize that if you shift lanes? The lane you were in that was stopped? It will start inching forward while the lane you just jumped to? It will grind to a halt.
Gemini: I was on a commuter flight, probably heading towards West Texas, and probably for work. Rough "winter" weather. Not exactly winter to some, but by my provincial standards, winter-like enough. That’s not the question. It’s a commuter airline, at least, to me it is. And what was supposedly a routine landing was fairly routine. I doubt it was due to an inexperienced pilot, I think it was just more a combination of a strong side-gust of wind, and the loaded plane, and anyway, the aircraft made an "assertive" contact with the landing strip. The runway and the jet’s wheels got to know each other in a forcible situation. Jarring.
One of the overhead bins? Door fell open. There was some joke the flight attendant made. Me, I wasn’t bothered. See, after flying around West Texas a lot, I’m used to that kind of landing — the desert southwest — the American southwest, it’s rough like that. Usually at sun up and sundown. This is about assertive contact. Not so much that the contact damages you, but this impending Venus RX? It’s like that landing. Can’t say you haven’t been warned now. Make sure tray tables are in an upright and locked position for the duration. Or is that seat backs?
Cancer: One of the potentially most damaging phrases to come out of the last decade of self-help? "I need to do this for me." Yeah, like I needed to buy a new fishing pole that cost several hundred dollars — for my mental health. I’m sure that will work with the tax guy, the accountant, or even the IRS.
I would like to suggest, at times when we want to pamper our Cancer selves, we don’t need to hide behind self-help crap talk in order to be honest about what is really going on. I wanted this — whatever it is — because I wanted it. Not because I needed to do this for me. That’s just so much male bovine byproduct. It’s justification for an action that, in reality, might not be that good for ourselves.
There’s a 2-month window wherein you’re tempted to use just such an excuse. I want to be brutally honest, call it what it is. Not what you want to hear. I got that new fishing pole because I wanted one that was just like it. Not because I deserved for my mental health. Same thing applies to Cancer. Couple of months of this stuff, too, so watch the justification. Not that I don’t do well with denial myself, but really.
Leo: Anger and depression, both are results of Mars and its pressure. I was looking at the pop-psychology crap, and I found out that anger is depression that is outwardly expressed. Flip that around, and I’ve always thought that depression was anger that was repressed, turned inward. Same crap, and gets a little elliptical, now doesn’t it? Oh that pisses me off.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this sense of frustration. It’s a case where you — The Leo — and me — the astrofish.net guy — we can both see the clear solution here. You’re right. Simple, straight-up answer. However, there’s a problem, too. Mars is going to confound that answer. You may be, indeed, correct, but no one seems to understand. Me. I do. Hence the anger. Or depression, because, basically, it’s the same thing.
And it’s caused by Mars. And letting this crap get to you? Waste of good, Leo-like energy. Mars wants you change something. Turn the fancy tables on Mars, now, and change how you choose to react. Anger? Depression? Why waste a perfectly good rant on that? Save your ire, for a later date, and save it for a more deserving target.
Virgo: Buddy of mine, Virgo, bought a new truck. Under a certain astrological influence, I suggested that it wasn’t a good time to purchase a new vehicle, but hey, it was made in Texas, and he doesn’t believe all this astrology stuff anyway. Three months into the new truck’s life, it needed a warranty job on some undercarriage part. Buddy was without a truck to tow a boat for a few days — we didn’t fish.
Six months later, truck had another three-day trip to the dealership, another warranty recall. Minor, but not a problem. This went on for the life of the truck, every three to six months, it would spend a few days at the dealership, having some minor part replaced. Free of charge, but still, a few days with no vehicle. Inconvenient, at best.
Between Venus backwards, and basically the Sun/Uranus stuff up and coming, then too, Saturn in your sign, it all points to slowing down. Some of the plans won’t come to fruition as fast as your Virgo self would like. It’s like that truck, every few months, back to the dealership and us, left waiting.
Libra: There’s a point with Libra, and what I tend to look for, in a Libra? Peace, harmony and beauty. Not wishing to sound like the sullen, shallow lout that I am, I’ve found that Libra (sun sign people) tend to be better appointed than the rest. There’s an inherent flair and eye for beauty. Pretty things.
The packages wrapped by a Libra, just as a casual example, are nicely done, perhaps a little better than anyone else. The bow on the top is crisper, the wrapping paper is seasonal correct, and card is held in place with a tiny piece of double-sided tape. It’s a little Libra touch. Doesn’t matter if this is Pisces birthday gift, the previous holiday (Valentine’s), upcoming Aries birthdays, or what, the Libra package is generally wrapped nicer, a little prettier than anyone else’s. I’ve come to expect that from a Libra.
What you need to be aware of? For the next ten weeks or so? Venus has a pattern. And you’re not going to like this pattern, not at first. Your usual good Libra decisions are going to suffer. Not quite as well-appointed. Not quite dressed right. The labels on the packages don’t line up quite right, out of the right colored ribbons. Or no two-sided tape. Something doesn’t stick.
Scorpio: Ease on down. Try it, for a change. You’ve been banging away at a certain problem, throwing a lot of time, money, energy, precious few resources left in your Scorpio arsenal of tricks, and whatever it is? That project, that problem, that persistent issue that won’t seem to budge? Instead of charging at it, trying to force the issue? Ease on down. Approach it sideways. Sneak up the left side. Or the right side, doesn’t much matter.
It’s a simpler, easier way to approach finding a solution. And let’s talk about finding a solution instead of beating it into submission. Subdue with brute force? My fine Scorpio friend, that’s just not working, now is it? Not going to be working for at least another week, so instead of wasting any more of your precious time with this problem, instead of getting a bigger hammer, which won’t work this time, try my idea. Just give it a spin.
Come up beside the problem, put an arm around the problem, and whisper something in the problem’s ear. So to speak.
Sagittarius: There’s a great rush and torrent of words that comes spilling out of my mouth. Like, I want to say this about that, and that about this, and you don’t understand, and yes, I do understand, and this huge gush of verbiage? Sometimes I can’t find the right word for the correct expression. Hence the problem, and me, being who I am, I try and make up for effective communication with volumes.
Can’t say the exactly right thing? Try a bunch of things that are nearly right. Or sort of close. Or kind of in the same area as the right word, but might not be quite right. Or might be wrong. Perish the idea that I would ever deliberately say the wrong thing; however, I have been known to say the best possible thing at the worst possible time.
Look at where Venus and Mars are: Venus, backwards, in Aries (compatible fire sign), and Mars, almost out of Aquarius (compatible air sign). But Venus is moving into a retrograde pattern, and there’s no reason to keep trying to appeasing people who really don’t want to listen to our voluminous quantity of words that are close to accurate, close to right, close to the correct answer, but not quite. Close works in certain situations. But heaping near miss upon near miss? Not a good idea. I’m just saying….
Capricorn: A buddy of mine works at a large, well-known corporation. I’m unsure of his current job-title, unless I’m being paid, I don’t pay much attention to position and economic woes associated with someone else’s work. Since it’s a large, well-known company, with thousands upon thousands of employees, the offices have network firewalls. Sites like my websites, astrofish.net, are banned.
Apparently, I’m less about productive company output and more about wasting time. Which might be true, but I’d like to think otherwise. However, I’m not bothered that certain sites are blocked. A large number of the sites that I’ve linked to, in the past, those are blocked from the big corporate sites as well.
Time wasting, useless and frivolous, or, at the very least, nothing to do with big business and earning income, that’s true, nothing directly applicable on the website, here. But follow my thought, here, put off the mind tingling, acerbic, acetic games we like to play in Capricorn — like reading my stuff, put that off until you’ve got some free time. Priorities. Got to work with the priorities.
Aquarius: In the 1968 classic movie, "Bullit," Steve McQueen drives a GT 390 Mustang. I might have the designation wrong on the car, but I’m pretty sure it was a ’68 390 Mustang. Probably a Shelby, too, but don’t hold me to my car trivia that might be older than me. The really bad guys were driving a Dodge Charger, probably a 440. The Mustang out-handles the Charger, winning the race, as it were. 9 minutes and 21 seconds of ground-breaking car-chase cinematography.
The lighter, leaner machine, driven by a driven character who bets on integrity instead of office politics, wins. Sort of, anyway. The role paved the way for other loner-cops (who adhere to strict, internal ethics) to help keep our world safe from crime. And then, there’s the streets of San Francisco, always a popular image as cars go flying through the air. The leaner, more adroit machine wins the day.
Think about that symbolism, not to mention it probably sold a few cars. Smaller, lighter, not as a big a motor, but better handling? More skillfully driven? Think about that as we try to negotiate the last part of this Mars stuff with the onset of Venus problems. Big charger? More nimble mustang? Who wins? Which car will you emulate?
