Fishing Guide to the Stars
By Kramer Wetzel
(c) 2008-2009 Kramer Wetzel for astrofish.net
For the week starting: 5.7.2009
"Smatter with your gossips, go."
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet [III.v.171]
Mercury is retrograde, starting its pattern in Gemini but slipping backwards into Taurus before the end of the week.
Taurus: As Mercury moves in its retrograde pattern, it’s happening right on top of your Taurus self. This means? This means you’re going to get a good dose of the usual "Mercury is retrograde" mayhem going on. Swirling around you. A veritable feeding frenzy of activity, all occurring in — right on top of your Taurus head. Maybe not literally on top of your head, but close enough.
Okay, this horoscope is like the sign, "Low Bridge Ahead," and the top of your Taurus head is like my head, we share a unique way of finding the low beam. The "watch your head" comment couldn’t be more appropriate. That’s the warning.
Got it? Whether you choose to observe this warning, whether you select the warning from the plethora of choices you’re getting these days? Up to you. I’m not saying you have to stop. I’m not saying you have to slow down. I’m not giving you that guidance. With Mercury in apparent backwards spin, though? Think about the sign, the "Low Clearance," the "low beam ahead," the "duck your head, fool," comment from me. I can see comedy here, as you listen to me, turn around and run smack into the lower object, the low beam, the low bridge, just as you turn around and laugh at my advice. Me? I can blame Mercury.
ASTROFISH.NET: Texas gold in every one!
Gemini: "This is bad, very, very-very bad," my little Gemini intoned, all serious and not up in my face. The relative paucity of embellished responses from that Gemini was more frightening than any previous histrionics. Worrisome, too, and not in a fun way. The Gemini Sign is affected in the — relatively speaking — 12th House manner with this planet’s influence, the whole Mercury thing. As such, there are memories, dreams and reflections that will crawl up from a deep well within the Gemini psyche.
Nightmares, worst-case scenarios, best-case gone bad, and similar "creatures of the shadow side" will begin to emerge. How do you deal with this? Me? I’m amused. I’ll listen while tales of woe and pain, trouble and strife, thwarted love, and hopeless situations, which, in the back of the Gemini brain, go from bad to worst. Nothing’s so bad, that a little obsessing about the worst-case scenario can’t make it a little worse, huh? That’s the problem with the Gemini 12th House. And Mercury. "When (Gemini) brains attack"?
Cancer: Mercury is retrograde, basically, for the duration, in your 11th solar House. But what does that mean? It would indicate, to me, that this is a time when you’re forced into a role that you’re not exactly comfortable with. Like public speaking. Me? I like public speaking, I have a couple of jokes, not good jokes, just bad jokes, but that warms the crowd up. Then it’s into the material.
If I had to tell the truth, I’d admit that I’m a little nervous when I get up to speak. But I’m also pretty much over it. I can’t afford to use any of the tricks that I’ve read so often, "Imagine your audience is naked." Oh please, we’d get nowhere really fast. So I can’t say that advice works. But there is a trick or two, I tend to pick out a person, usually a Scorpio, in the rear of the audience, and I tend to pick on that one person.
First off, Scorpio’s appreciate the wit, and secondly, the Scorpio’s can take a little heat. Unlike a Cancer, who, at this time, can’t take a little heat, or even, if I catch this wrong, you Cancer folks can’t even take a joke.
What’s worse, this Mercury Retrograde pattern focuses its attention on you, like, when you’re doing something like giving a little presentation. Do not hesitate to ask, "Is there some spinach stuck in my teeth?" Do so before you go on stage. Which you will. With the spinach, no doubt. Or something.
Leo: Mercury "backs" itself into Taurus, and that’s your 10th House. More or less. Less, really since, unless you’re a Leo Ascendant, and even then, have to be a early degree and depends on which house system you use, but anyway, this is about your Leo self and dealing with Mercury backing up in a fixed sign.
Nominally, there should be a career setback at this time. I look at one of my Leo friends, and it’s not so much as a career setback, as that Leo is pretty much freelance, and as such, there’s a slow decline in freelance work. Which means that it’s time to tend to other matters. Freelance is mostly about hustling and marketing one’s self. And that’s what this time is about, maybe get back and look at some of the marketing ideas.
Underground — cheap, no thrills marketing is a good idea at this time. However, there’s a big warning, too: no astro-turfing. Look up the definition of that term and then be careful about doing just that. Looks bad when you praise yourself. With Mercury in its present position? I’d go really easy on the marketing efforts.
Virgo: Mercury is — basically — retrograde in your 9th House. More or less. And as a Virgo, you’d like a certain amount of precision, which I can’t offer at this time, due to Mercury’s unstable location. It’s backwards in place where I would urge review and reassessment. I’d spend time going over material that you previously covered. I’d look at material that you think you know by heart, only to discover, if you do review that stuff, you’ll find someone snuck in and put extra words in there. Extra meaning. Stuff you don’t recall from the last time.
There’s almost a sense of wonder and merriment that comes from accidental discovery like this, as there’s a strong academic kind of flavor to this. Not that it’s bad, it’s just that Mercury will confuse certain issues, and I’d think about going back and looking at all that material you covered before.
Look: I have this happen all the time, horoscopes go to an editor, then fact-checking, then a final edit. Then, there’s always one or two mistakes that I have to correct — after the scopes have rolled over. A philosophical attitude helps. Go over material you previously covered.
Libra: While the Mercury Retrograde pattern commenced in Gemini, for the bulk of this planet pattern? It’s going to be in your 8th (solar) House. Means that your earning potential takes a hit. Or that your stock portfolio sees a (temporary) decline in value. Or whatever it is. I didn’t have a portfolio, other than an old briefcase with a few pieces of paper in it. Not exactly a well-stocked portfolio bursting at the seams with blue chip stocks.
Only chips I’ve seen? Cow chips. So I can’t exactly say that this is going to hit our Libra selves just like that. But there is a monetary issue that’s burning its way through the Libra symbolism at this point. What you do, how you react? I’d suggest caution.
That which begins at this time tends to not work out, or just takes longer to work out, fraught with mistakes and miscues. Let me help a little, let me suggest you slow it down some. I’d suggest that this is just temporary earning setback, too. Not like a long-term problem, so be patient, see if there isn’t a core course correction for the good ship Libra in a few weeks. About four.
Scorpio: I’ve used this tale before, but it so fits with Scorpio, and Mercury being retrograde in the sign that is on the opposite side of the wheel from you — Taurus. Mercury is retrograde in your 7th House, more or less. I’m inclined for less rather than more, but that’s the way the number crunchers would like this to stack up. What this is like, it’s like a certain fish I used to catch. Same damn fish. It was a little earlier in the spring, a bass, a girl bass, and she was bedding at one spot, and I used to annoy her — or tempt her — I was never sure which one, and I caught that same fish a couple of times.
Not exactly a quick a study. What that fish lacked in mental agility, she made up for in "Bass Attitude." Which is why that’s a favorite fish, but don’t get sidetracked. Same bait, a Power Worm with a Tail, same time, over and over. When your significant — or insignificant other — baits you with the same bait, and your Scorpio self keeps biting on the bait? Can’t say I didn’t try and warn you, first. With that one kind of bait? I think it’s the action of the tail that always gets my attention.
Sagittarius: Mercury is backwards in our collective (solar) 6th House. Means what? Means there’s trouble with work. Problems, maybe not big problems, but stupid little problems with whatever employment we have going on. I set a meeting for a client, agreed on a time and place and the client didn’t show. It happens. But it was a thin week, and while I have plenty I’d like to be doing, I’d also like to be earning some income.
In my example, I had a chance to talk with a certain lady friend I’d been meaning to have a long conversation with, and that was nice, so I didn’t mind the client ditching me. Too much. But then, I was a little more circumspect before setting up another meeting with that client. She showed the second time, punctual, and I even got a tip. Which didn’t really cover my lost time, but I tend to make sure no time gets wasted. In two hours, I made a little more than what I would normally make in an hour. I know it’s boring to talk about dollars and billings and so forth, but this is a good example of doing what it takes. Might not be making our full measure of dollars, but somehow, it all works out.
Capricorn: This is easy for me, as I draw upon my Sister’s wealth of creative endeavors to find out how to deal with Capricorn and Mercury Retrograde in the Capricorn’s 5th House. Sister, what she does? What I do, actually, is I send her, for birthdays, Xmas, and the like? I’ll have some blank "journals" or sketch books that I found on sale. I stockpile them. I’ll hand her one of those. She, like the Gemini that she is? She’ll record every blessed detail about what happens when Mercury is backwards. In verse, story, myth and picture. Mostly images that, to my untrained eye, looks like scribblings and undecipherable code.
To me, last time I looked, it was eerily reminiscent of cave markings, the stuff left behind by the earliest settlers. Again, it doesn’t make sense to me, and while I don’t really care — I do but I don’t — it works for her. What happens, at least 80% of that recorded material is crap. Call it what it is. However, in that dross? There will be a few gold nuggets, truly worth the effort. It’s matter of saving it all, then, in about three weeks? Then you can go back over the material and decide what’s junk. And what’s not, after all, as an Earth Sign, you should be able to mine this one for gold. Or silver, platinum, whatever precious metal you’re looking for.
Aquarius: An Aquarius friend was trying to sell her place. We picked a good time to list the place so it would get the optimal exposure, and to stack the astrological cards in her favor. (Usual rates apply.) She then went about "staging" the house. There was a fresh floral bouquet in the living room, along with a small whiteboard, "Welcome to YOUR new home!" Cleaned, pressed, bed made, sheets folded, towels hung with care, &c. Then, at the last minute, before the buyers would show up? My Aquarius friend, Mercury is backwards in your 4th House, would be lounged, splayed out, sprawled across the couch, in front of the TV, with a bag of a certain kind of chocolate cookie (with a creamy center).
No water and the bouquet sagging, the little whiteboard rent asunder. From immaculate to slob in less time than it should take. Problems? Not really, just hustle around and pull it all together, in haste. Close but not quite. As long she kept the place clean, no callers, but when she let it go, they would show up. It’s a matter of getting caught — at home — and not the way you’d like to get caught, a little cookie crumb at the corner of your mouth, "Huh? Show it? Now!" Get the idea? Doesn’t matter what you do, you’re timing is off. I can blame Mercury, can you? Better consult me before you sell or stage.
Pisces: Mercury is heading backwards into your 3rd House. More or less. Actually, I wouldn’t care about the house placement for Mercury and your Pisces self, as I tend to figure this is one you’re all but immune to. The only problem, see, the 3rd House is about communication, I don’t mean, like, long-distance telephone, no I was thinking more like the guy you sit next to at work? The person who sells me a coke in the afternoons? The guy who nods to you as you enter the building?
The (Pisces) girl who makes good iced espresso? All of these are normal, daily interactions that involve some communication. And all of these daily interactions are subject to mistakes, misunderstanding, and — what did you expect — miscommunications. Last time, for me, what happened? "You want a triple, right?" No, I prefer a double, just enough to get through, but I wound up with a, like a double-double espresso, on ice. No wonder my hair is curly. Bad mistake? Not really, sleep is way over-rated.
Aries: As Mercury moves into a retrograde pattern, in your second house, it would suggest there’s a review process approaching. I was tying to combine a bunch of my fishing gear. To that end, I had the tackle spread all across the living room. I had saltwater swimmers mixed in with freshwater sinkers, and the lures weren’t happy.
I kept thinking I was going to take some extra bait to the ocean, or bay, next time I went, and what I had in mind was the straighten out a big mess of fishing tackle. I got all the stuff spread out, then separated, then all stacked up nice. Then I forgot what I was doing, wandered off to the post office, came home, slipped out of my sandals and nearly punctured a toe on the fishing gear I’d left out. It’s matter of starting — and finishing — one project at a time. What I wound up doing was just scooping up the gear, and dumping it all back into a gear bag. Which means I’ll have to sort through the mess again before I can go fishing.
