6.3.2009

“I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.”
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure [IV.iii.138]

Chiron/Neptune/Jupiter aligned perfectly.

Gemini: L-W-P: Loud White Person. Doesn’t take much of an imagination to fill in the blanks on this one. But the person who offered up the term, actually, she was Gemini and she was of obvious anglo heritage, but her observation, from a “person of color,” it was well-received. I’m afraid I’ve been a LWP from time to time. Not often, but I’m sure it could happen. Be easy enough to see.

The fact that other races have a category for this might be a bit disturbing. That a few letters can accurately and completely describe some of my friends, again, I should be disturbed, but I’m not. As the stars unwind a little and as the planets describe their arc and orbits, as they are all supposed to? My fine little Gemini friends are going to be motivated to talk. Talk a lot. Only, if you’re not careful? You’re going to wind up with a label like LWP. Again, in some settings, this isn’t so undesirable. However, in some settings, yes, it is a bad thing. Consider that term, the label, and think about that before you open your mouth.

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Cancer: I depend on my native environments to serve me up with a veritable plethora of good material. In that way, I tend to regard where I live as a significant other, so to speak. Or as a way of looking at a situation. There’s a sense of place and its concomitant sense of wonder and accompanying amazement that goes with living in a bizarre place. Keep Austin Weird, like that was some kind of challenge? Central Texas, then the gateway to South Texas, all just as bit as weird as Austin.

Most of Texas is odd, and that’s being politic.

So I depend on where I live for visual, aural, and sometimes gustatory clues in the weird. Like me, there’s a sense that the “weird side of life” in Cancer, it’s being served up by a unique person. Traditionally, this would be the old worn trope, “A tall dark handsome stranger,” but please, half of you are male, and you’re not looking for a guy. Handsome? Possibly. Dark? Debatable. Stranger? Open to interpretation. As a Cancer, though, this is the week to open to a different, outside influence. Strange? Probably. Good or bad? Sort of depends. But be open to the assistance that comes from a weirdly different person. Or place.

Leo: I had a painful lesson, last Xmas. I’d done a holiday album, actually, more like a visual celebration of the last year, and all the big events — big fish, little girlfriends, and so forth — from the last year. With the computer, I turned it into a video album and from there, I burned it as a DVD. I was thinking about this, I had a lot of fun making the video. I enjoyed the experience. My experience wasn’t well-received. It was, to a certain extent, but not that big of deal. It was about half an hour of a favorite Leo topic: Me! Well, except it was me and some fish and BBQ, and not a lot else. But if I were a Leo, it would’ve been a bigger hit.

My immediate family was marginally impressed. My Sister was intrigued by the details, and she was going to start burning some of her professional work in a similar way. But the content itself? After the first thirty seconds? Not of interest to a lot of people. Therein is the problem. Just because it amuses us? Which it will, that doesn’t mean everyone is in awe.

I’m not saying don’t do it, but I would suggest that you lower your expectations on how other audiences will receive whatever the Leo project is. I’m just trying to save you Leo pain. (Leo pain is greater than normal peoples’ pains, duh.)

Virgo: Focus. Focus is very important. Ever since I started to play with digital images, I learned way more than I ever wanted to learn about taking photographs. I learned about focal points, focus, and — the beauty of digital photography — I tossed a bunch of mistakes. Lots. Tons. Out of every hundred images, maybe two or three would be superlative, and those? Usually by mistake.

Composition, color, contrast, reflections, shadows, colors, always the best were mistakes. Not the “picture of my foot” mistakes, but not exactly planned and properly executed shots, those were the kinds that turned out best. Always have. I feel we should always respect the accidental nature of good art. Which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make efforts to learn, explore, plan and execute the more traditional routes.

Given where your planets are? I’d suggest that focus is important, only, it might not be the laser-like, microscopic, detail-oriented focus you’ve got on one item. It might be adjacent. It might be nearby, but it might not be the one item you’re so focused on. Just be willing to explore the accidents, when, if, they occur. A light adjustment to your focus point might result in better Virgo trajectory.

Libra: Cruise. This can mean a cruise on a cruise ship, although, unless they offered fishing , I don’t understand why anyone would go on a cruise ship. Or it could be a cruise in car, but with the price gas what it is, that’s not like a luxury option. What I was thinking of, more along my lines, I’ll cruise around in sandals and shorts, checking out various things.

Go the bank the post office, pass a restaurant, maybe a coffee shop or two. When I was much younger, my pedestrian ways would include a large drink, icy cold coke in a small bucket: brown, fizzy, artificially sweet liquid. In fact, I would sometimes go out, just for the purported purpose of fetching up just such a beverage. I’m not saying that you should be headed out, intent on getting a large diet coke, nor, for that matter, an iced shot of espresso, another one of my current favorite flavors. But cruising, in some capacity. That’s what this is about. You’re in cruising mode these days. Single, alone, with company, with a whole crew, an entire Libra entourage?

Or just by yourself, like me, just a quick walk, to get something to drink, ostensibly. However you package it, it’s a good time for you to be cruising. Keep your eyes open, too.

Scorpio: I was meeting with a professional for the first time. Another professional, I should say. After all, I am a professional astrologer. Anyway, on the intake form, I listed my occupation as “Writer.” The guy asked, “So what do you write?” I answered, “Horoscopes.” Like, “In the paper?” In so many words, yeah, like that, only, not in the newspaper, just online.

And his wife? “She’s a, what-do-you-call-it, early November.” I call it Scorpio, you can call it what you want, but don’t forget the birthday. And the November Scorpio folks can look to the October Scorpio folks and figure out how this will play out in the coming weeks. What’s happening with the early — like October — Scorpio folks, what with Mars and Venus opposite them?

It’s the trigger point, not always good, but there’s some good that can be teased out. It’s matter of understanding that the symbols of Mars and Venus, active and passive love, those symbols are exerting influence on the Scorpio psyche. Choose and choose carefully. The early Scorpio folks have this now, and the rest of Scorpio? This whole Mars/Venus thing is just heightened and intensified by the Sun in Gemini. Two of everything. Means it will be twice as interesting. Choose and choose carefully. Wisely.

Sagittarius: A friend, another “psychic reader,” was asking me some questions. While the Sun is in Gemini, it’s opposite from Sagittarius. What this creates is a frantic sense that there’s something we should be doing — RIGHT NOW! And along with this frantic energy, there’s substantial lack of focus. I’ll be scattered.

Fortunately, I spend a lot of my working time with a computer screen in front of me, and as such, oh what did ever do before the world wide web when we needed to kill time? Which was the answer to the question, oddly enough. Or the question was the answer. It’s matter of understanding that all of Sagittarius types might come a little unglued in the next few days.

More a function of the Sun in Gemini than anything else. And being a little unglued, is that really so bad? So the question was how to work with this energy, and what I found, was a way to to use all the weird little things that I link to and click on? That was one example of a productive, work-related use for the web. It’s entertainment. Now what was the question?

Capricorn: I was reading a review of a recent comedy film, and to paraphrase the reviewer? “If you want to shut off your brain and have some fun, then this is brilliant farce.” What it amounted, that review, was it claimed that the film in question wasn’t highbrow with deep meaning and metaphors for modern life, no, none of that.

The movie was slapstick and low comedy. Some scatological humor, visual gags, pratfalls, and the like. Not really intelligent humor, not mind candy to tickle the brain, just funny stuff. Not over-the-top funny, just dependable, shut-your-brain-off material. In other words, don’t worry about the details.

That’s the kind of escape you’re looking for, too. You want to get away and instead of some deep-rooted message, look for something light. Spend two hours away from the drudgery of your brain. Something like that would go a lot further towards your mental health than just about anything else. And after all, isn’t that what this is really about?

Aquarius: Behind the post office in San Antonio, I use that PO because of ease of highway access, anyway, behind the post office is an old warehouse district. Behind, maybe between the post office and the warehouse area, there’s a creek. Or native aquaduct, or acequia. It’s part drainage ditch, part active creek, part 400 year-old engineering project. Might be older than that, as the ditches were originally laid out by the first native settlers, the indigenous populations. Anyway, the SARA truck was there, San Antonio River Authority.

It was the wildlife sampling team, as they had a bucket of minnows. They also had a water snake, poor creature was caught up in some trash of some kind, looked like 15-pound test Big Game fishing line. To me, anyway. I’m unsure of how that fishing line, if that’s what it was, made its way to the creek. I’m also unsure of how the snake caught itself in the mess. But watching the rescue workers, animal wildlife experts, work? That was nice. I stood off to one side and offered unsolicited, friendly, time-worn advice about dealing with water snakes. Most water snakes are harmless. No pits, not a triangular head, when its mouth was open to strike, there were no fangs and the inside of its wee water snake mouth was pink. Not poisonous. They knew that, the rescue handlers.

I was just an annoying passer-by. I’ll see that water snake, or its family, from time to time when I pass through to collect my mail. I hope the wildlife survey went well. Those rescue, wildlife survey, or whatever SARA workers? That’s an Aquarius model to follow for the coming days. Rescue, and don’t worry about the person — like me — or people, audience or whatever, off to the side, offering commentary. Just keep doing what you know how to do.

Pisces: I was in a name brand coffee shop, one of those chains that’s become so universal, and anyway… I was in one of those, and there was the nicest Pisces girl waiting on me. Woman. Whatever. I never claimed to be politically correct, and besides, at some point, women like being referred to as girls, however, at that juncture in the Life of Pisces (TM applied for), I doubt that she wanted to be known as a girl.

Anyway. I made polite conversation and mentioned that I liked Pisces just fine, and she tidies up the cashier stand, and said, “Yeah, one of these days, I’m going to come to your house and I’m going to just crumble up a muffin on your floor, see what they say to that.” Made me think about Pisces and your planets. Given the Moon and the Mars/Venus situation? As it all unfolds? There’s a situation like this, and you can easily appropriate that one Pisces line, “One of these mornings, I’ll just come over to your house a crumple a muffin on the floor, see how they like that.”

Notice that it’s not exactly grammatically correct, like the direction of the sentence changed halfway through. First it was “I’ll come to your house,” then, watching as I carefully scooped up the change and flopped a dollar in the tip jar, “and how THEY like it.” Change direction. As befitting a Pisces. However, there’s another side to this as well, at the work place. How are you going to deal with that? I’d use an approximation of her line, see if that doesn’t help.

Aries: There comes a point when you stop freaking out about things. What things? Could be any number of problems, or sources of ire, or areas that cause a warp in the “Aries Time/Space Continuum.” There comes point when the pressure isn’t so much. There’s a time and place, and what I’m looking at, see, Mars is moved on. Venus moves on, too. Mercury is gone. Sun’s in Gemini now. All adds up to a place where you can relax.

At least one frantic, much put-upon Aries will point out that there “oh so many” different issues that are popping up and not getting put in their places. All I’d point out, and this is a general (and gentle) admonition, “Slow down.” Some of these so-called “issues” just really aren’t that big of a deal.

Then I hear an Aries with a rejoinder, “But….”

But nothing. Stop. No more pressure. And some of this material, if it doesn’t get covered right-freaking-now? Does it matter that much? “But I need it resolved, like, right now!” Does the matter really need to be resolved, or can you wait a day or three?

Taurus: I was walking, busy city street, and a female friend was with me. “I wish you’d quit hitting me,” she said, in a plaintive tone. I’m substantially taller than the girl I was with, and she would then veer into my shoulder, “Stop that,” she’d playfully say. I was the butt of the joke, here, and I had no recourse. Such is the sad state of affairs for males, in this day and age.

No way to get back, no way to prevent the attack, and not much I could do. “Ow, you’re hurting me,” she playfully tagged me again with her shoulder, causing me to stumble. What can I do? Grin? Looks kind of silly to say that a woman close to a foot shorter than me, a Taurus, was hitting me. Who would believe me? She was playing some kind of a game, I think it was like touch football, only, the rules were a little different. She could all-but-tackle me, but I couldn’t tag her in any way. Doesn’t sound terribly fair, now does it? It’s not. However, let’s point out, I am nearly a foot taller. So I’m not at a physical disadvantage, other than I’m not nearly as attractive as this one girl is.

This is a case, though, where size doesn’t win, at least not in the short run. For our afternoon walk, while she was hitting me, veering into me, and otherwise being the aggressor? Consider I was like the Taurus in this scenario. I’m just going to take the slight bumps and jabs because, in the overall view? There’s no need to strike back. Take the little shoves and figure where this can lead.