Fishing Guide to the Stars
For the week starting: 12.3.2009
Weekly video, or as an audio file.
"I think thou never wast where grace was said."
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure [I.ii.18-9]
Lucio to a gentleman — speaking on the subject of saying grace.
Kramus Day, either Dec 5 or 6, depends on tradition, a day when the devil (Krampus) roams the streets, punishing evil-doers. Or so goes my version of the Austrian myth. Barefoot Astrology instructional video is here.
Sagittarius: I was standing in a long line, waiting on some morning coffee. Ahead of me, at least ten minutes’ worth of patrons. I mumbled something about tourists. That coffee shop, they should have two lines. One should be labelled "Local," or "R" for Regular. The second line? "FT," for "French Tourists."
I don’t know if they were all French. I don’t care, I just think, in the spirit of cooperation, that there should be a line for those of us who frequent the store on a regular basis, perhaps account for more revenue than any amount of those darn French Tourists. I’d like to think that me, us regulars, we should be cut out from the herd and we should be treated with a special kind of respect.
Birthday time in Sagittarius., We shouldn’t be lumped with the "French Tourists." However, there will be days in the next week when we are shuffled into a line with all the rest of humanity instead of some regal status. Deal with it.
I still like my idea of two lines better.
Capricorn: I know you’ve seen this image, a moving montage, in countless films and TV shows. It’s the full moon, with clouds either covering up the moon, or the reverse, clouds blown away to reveal the full moon. Insert some creepy music, and we’re good to go, the stage is set.
I’ve tried, for years, to catch that same image, the moon, the clouds, and the limits of my technology, i.e., cheap camera equipment, has made it hard. Then, too, when the moon is in this phase, like, this week? I’m more interested in fishing local lakes, which means, I’ll be rolling out early, which means, I won’t get time to stay up late and wait for the clouds to move in and out of the moon’s light.
Balance is what this is about. How bad do I want that image of the moon? Not so bad that I’m willing to forgo getting up early for fishing, although, some mornings, this week, moon’s still up. Not quite the same. No, it’s about balance, and as a Capricorn, you have to realize that some things, like video footage of the moon and clouds, some things in life just aren’t going to happen this week.
Weekly video, or as an audio file.
Aquarius: I was just wondering, if you don’t have it done by now? Then give it up, probably not going to happen. Or maybe it will. All depends.
But as I was looking at Jupiter, Mars, and the relative position of the Lunar phases? I was wondering what I could do that would help you along. It’s matter of figuring gains and losses, and where you stand. And what seems to be most important? When to stop. If it doesn’t work? I can save you a lot of pain in the future. I can save you from banging your head against a fixed, immoveable object. This is three month-long cycle that is approaching. You’ve had all the good stuff.
Now it’s time for the hard work. Or cut your losses. Personally, if I find that one bait isn’t working, I switch to another approach. Last time I was out on a bass boat, a few weeks ago, I had four poles rigged with different arrangements. Covered every conceivable situation. And when one didn’t get any attention? Switch. Stop fishing that way. Try something different.
Pisces: December in South Texas rolls in some weird weather. One Thanksgiving, I mean, the day before Thanksgiving, I was swimming in Austin’s Barton Springs — it was that warm in the late fall. Another time? I’ve got a picture on a boat with ice crystals forming around me while I’m holding up a small fish. Frozen fish. Well, frozen fisherman, anyway. Which is what this about. Can’t ever tell.
Last couple of days were either clear and slightly cool, and I was in typical beach attire. Or they might’ve been cold. Long pants, boots, coats, all of that. Kind of depends. You’re Pisces. The fickle nature of the weather? The fickle nature of the Pisces planets? About the same. In either scenario, though, I like the extremes. We had snow one Thanksgiving. I was shirtless and shoeless fishing on a different T-Day.
We’re getting ready for a weird as can be holiday season. Instead of preparing you for either hot or cold? I can’t do that with aplomb. However, it will be good, if you’re willing to adjust and adapt. Just do like I do and marvel at it — don’t complain.
Weekly video, or as an audio file.
Aries: I was looking for a little perk for my sister for Xmas. Not a big deal, I just know she likes art supplies and hand toys. To me, a hand toy is something like a pen or pencil. So I saw this ad, a mention in an arts magazine, about a kind of pencil, mechanical pencil, but with the look and feel of charcoal. Or real wood. Or whatever. I’ve used mechanical pencils for years, usually for rough-draft notes and calendar events.
So I looked at this pencil I was thinking about getting for my sister? I found it online in a catalog. That super-cool pencil was over three hundred dollars. Work of art, for works of art, I’m sure. But as a gag gift? Yeah, way out of my price range. However, it’s a good example of a train of thought, derailed at the end.
Happens in Aries. Soon. Good idea, possibly more ideas stem from that one idea, but the original thought? Way too much. Way too expensive, way too difficult, way too something. Don’t let that stop you, but don’t carry it to an extreme. Just a caution, not a mandate. No, I’m not buying that pencil. I’d suggest you not make a purchase like that, as well.
Taurus: This is the beginning of the long, slow, backward crawl. It’s not all bad, nor is it "the end," but as the approaching holiday season looks a little bleak for Taurus? Relax. I’m here for you. Sort of. A little.
Eventually, we’re going to hear a giant, rewinding sound. It’s like a cosmic video tape is being rewound, or spun backwards, while the audio track is still tracking. Backwards. What’s going to happen is Mars is going to take a backward swing from late December until early March (2010) — all in the sign of Leo.
So what I’m looking at, as this is a tension angle for Taurus? I’m looking at you getting ready for this, a little ahead of time. You’ve been feeling the effects of Mar in Leo for a while, but this is the point when it starts to slow down, in relative terms. No, Mars is still orbiting the Sun at its predictable rate, it’s just that it looks like it’s starting to go slower than usual. Has been for a little while, but now it’s worse. Or better.
See: you can use this to your advantage. Pre-plan. Stop now and make a hasty "emergency" plan for matters. Then, unlike the usual Taurus Way? Allow some fluidity in that emergency plan.
Weekly video, or as an audio file.
Gemini: Here’s the secret: make a list. Make a list of lists that you need to make, if need be. Gets a little reductive, I know, but hey, we’re working with the planets and their energies. And you are a Gemini, and there is a lot of material just kicking and the holiday madness is taking its toll. Already.
I hate it when that happens, but at least one local retailer was starting Xmas crap last summer. Worse, you and me, Gemini and its influences, we’ve studiously avoided al of this holiday merry-making. So far. Now that it’s December? Denial is over. Need to make a list of everything you want to accomplish, Or gifts, cards, whatever it is that you send out? Give away, whatever? However you choose to celebrate that it’s the end of yet another year? Looking forward to next year?
My great secret, before you forget, about the lists and all? Write it down. Write it down on a piece of paper. Very analog. Pencil and paper. Or, like me, I prefer a sticky note. Just a quick note about that one great idea to make all of this work better. Sticky note, paper, pencil. Fastest solution to the holiday (Gemini) problems.
Cancer: I’ve been on the electronic inter-web thing since its inception. Or very close to the beginning, anyway. So I’ve learned a few tricks. Pitfalls (and pratfalls). What to avoid. What’s really free and what’s got a price, and what might be legal, and what probably isn’t legal but I can get away with, anyway.
There can a be lack of enforcement with certain standards. Then, too, there is artwork that the artist clearly states is not copy-protected. Meant to be disseminated across the viral landscape of the web. What it amounts to? I have, on occasion, grabbed various forms of digital media and used it myself. Can’t copyright ideas, and for that matter, some material is advertised as freely available for download and repackaging.
The reason I’m going on and on about digital rights, artists’ rights and the slice of Cancer sky? It’s a matter of repackaging something that, quite possibly, is in front of you. I was thinking about this as the Xmas season rolls around and I was thinking of doing an Xmas CD again. Just scrape a few songs off the inter-web, drop them onto a CD burner. Easy. Cancer solution to a problem? Now fixed.
Leo: Mars is your friend. Make nice with Mr. Mars. Mars is not so much burning through Leo as he’s more like roasting along. The comfort level is labelled as "various," in the Leo side. Mars makes you a little itchy. You can scratch the itch, or, you can find some astrological balm to help ease that painful burning and itchy sensation.
Personally? I’d suggest the astrology balm — non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and not habit forming. What Mars wants you to do is cut back on rest an relaxation. Towards that end, I know it’s a "bad thing" to say to a Leo, never mind, the Leo, but figure that you’re just not going to need quite as much sleep as you usually get. Not that it’s bad, just the way it is.
There are other activities that are similar to sleep and equally restful. Late on a winter’s night? I like reading. Way into the wee hours of the morning. Staying awake with one or more of the books that I wanted to finish before the ned of this year? Perfect activity for Leo. That’s just one example of astrology balm for that persistent Mars rash.
Weekly video, or as an audio file.
Virgo: Fishing at this time of the year is just strange. Not this weekend, but shortly thereafter? Be a good Lunar Phase for winter fishing. Here’s the tip: local lakes? Water "turns."
What happens is the water column gets reversed. Fish who were feeding in the shallows move out to the deep water. The deep-water fish move up the column to the shallow water. It’s all upside down. There’s no pattern to it, either. Which is the problem. Unless, of course, you’re a resourceful Virgo fisher-person. You’re reading this, guess that answers that question. About you being a resourceful Virgo fisher-person.
As the lakes "turn," the fastest way to fish is to try everything. There’s not going to be a pattern. There’s not going to a predictable bait, which will work for sure. In fact, last week, week before? We were all over that one lake, and we caught them in deep water, shallow water, wet water, dry water, and no two fish were caught the same way. Best chance? Fish next week. And as soon as one bait works? Change.
Libra: for xmas, two, maybe three years ago? Someone was kind and thoughtful, that person gave me a can of illy Espresso Coffee. Fine Ground. Italian Espresso Coffee. From coffee’s motherland. Well, sort, in a manner of speaking. Home to the original Espresso Generation, if you believe all that coffee mythology.
Except, see, this isn’t my coffee. Besides, it’s been sitting in my cupboard for years. Literally. Two, maybe three years? Thoughtful gift. Anyway, I was desperate, broke and it looked like a viable option. It was, sort of. I mean, it’s good coffee, and it’s been vacuum-packed, so it’s fresh. Would’ve been a lot better if I used a filter coffee maker or if I really had an espresso machine. But I don’t. And I don’t want one, that would take the myth and mystery — the real-time magic — out of going to a coffee shop.
However, for a morning cup of coffee, out of a French Press, it was good. I’d like to suggest, for Libra, like me, there’s something that’s been hanging around. You can use that item. Might turn out better than you think. That coffee itself was good, and now? The old tin can is an even better souvenir-type of adornment.
Scorpio: Because of the combination of my last name and my first name, I’ve met with — all my life — the assumption that I’m of Jewish extraction. While I admire that faith, no, I’m from a long line of High Lutheran Germans on one side and Scottish Presbyterians on the other. I was raised Methodist, but my current faith is largely Neo-Pagan. And, for that matter, the last church service I attended was Lutheran, but the last church I prayed in? Catholic. Old-school Catholic. Really old school.
Mission Concepcion is the oldest un-restored church in America, the current structure, if I read it right, dates back to 1720, or 1755. It’s a good afternoon stop on my sight-seeing tours in San Antonio. The mission itself is photogenic, and then, the added bonus, it’s been holy ground for a long time. Good place to stop and pray. In my case, I think I was praying to a number of gods, but according to the local faith, I was probably praying to their saints. Not that any of it matters.
Comes a time and place where the only answer is prayer. While I prefer a setting like a centuries-old cathedral, just about any setting will work. For me, it’s like a small pilgrimage, not a big, but a short haul to the Missions, and a time to stop and pray. I’m not saying that you have to go to church, or make a grand pilgrimage, but a little homage to your own, internal Scorpio belief system will work wonders.
