Horoscopes for 6.10.2010

“Happy are they that hear their detractors, and can put them to mending.”
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing [II.iii.90]

Horoscopes for 6.10.2010

Gemini: Which influence is it? I can’t say. Exactly. I can guess a little, but I’m admitting that it is, at best a guess. What I was working through was an influence in a piece of art I was working on, a banner ad for a website.

Wasn’t big, and the image itself, it’s changed a little over the years, but it’s all pretty minimalistic. A few shapes, a splash of color, that’s about it. The original impetus, as far as I could recall? It was a building that obviously was a certain brand of coffee shop, a national chain, at one time.

Over the years, the deco, or nouveau, or modernist material has changed, as has the ownership. It was a pawn shop for years. The building’s most recent incarnation? Spanish-language church, some kind of Apostle of Juan the Baptista. Or something. There’s also a six-sided star associated with the evangelical nature of this church. One of its symbols.

So I can’t say which influence it is, the coffee shop, the pawn shop, the evangelical Mexican church? Or, as far as I’m concerned, it’s really the underpinning, the architecture that influenced me. Buried under layers of paint and various ownerships, there’s still the original design and its influence. Which iteration affected me? Which one is in Gemini? Nouveau, Deco, Modern, post-modern?

Does it matter what the impetus is? Not really. Use the influence as Gemini inspiration — and happy birthday to that one, special Gemini!

Cancer: I was reading a magazine article about a certain poet. He was, that magazine claimed, “A poet of the street.” Supposedly, the poet would listen to the vernacular and transcribe all the stories, the prose, the idiom of the local city streets, catch the dialect and so forth. Could also be random thoughts. Then, over time, these bits and pieces were assembled into larger, epic in scope, poems.

Some would suggest that’s what my horoscopes are, but this isn’t about me, it’s about poetry of the street, the rhythm and spark that’s underfoot in Cancer. It’s a matter of listening, watching, and catching the fragments of conversation, the hints, the overheard, and — my favorite — what the signs say. I’m not talking about zodiac signs, I’m suggesting the hand-lettered images, sometimes a small business, or place that sells fresh lemonade on a hot summer’s eve.

It’s not the big indication, it’s the little ones.

It’s not a single individual shouting a message in your face. No, that’s certainly not it. It’s like that poet, the article was about, about listening to the murmur and the subtext, the eddies and hand-lettered images, all of that points in a different direction. Which is good for you. If you listen.

Leo: There are a couple of figurines arrayed on my desk, sort of that random crap people accumulate over the years. I’ve got a “Laughing Buddha” with a small rucksack suspended from a staff. The traveling, happy (fat) Buddha. It’s a good luck token, and it’s reminder that there is joy in life, no matter where we seek it.

That one Buddha, though, he’s small, not too tall, he’s been dropped in a move, or cleaning, or, probably, I turned around too fast with a fishing pole in hand, sweeping him off the desk. So there’s a chip missing from his figure. It’s imperfect. Which catches my mood and good luck perfectly.

A single chip, a piece of plastic from a cheesy figurine, that’s not, like a big deal. I consider it a way to personalize the ornament. Venus will make a very complimentary angle to the rolling Uranus/Jupiter conjunction. Use it. Use it wisely. Tons of good energy there. Find a good way to use that. Is the figurine marred because of the chip? Or is it a cool, personal touch? Or, could it be a reminder to be a little more careful when I spin around with a fishing pole in hand?

Virgo: “My son got into the LTD, first time, he looked at the 8-Track, ‘Cool Dad, you got a Nintendo in the car.’ My son? He’s, like, 22.” Kind of a scary point of reference, either that a buddy of mine has a 22-year old son, or that other point, about the 8-Track tape.

I was going to make a Virgo point about the 8-track format, sort of the earlier portable music format. Archaic. Antiquated. Old. Out-of-date. Or is it? There’s a persuasive “retro” sense to that 8-track. A historical value. Some meaning, and the marketing? Probably what pushed the 8-track’s success further along than anything else. Portable music.

We’ve come a long way in a few years. How do you stack up and how far have you come along, too?

Libra: One of my neighbors is military. Fly-boy. Flies the big, lumbering Galaxy — at least, I think that’s the name. Anyway, he’s got two daughters, the kids don’t live with him, but they were here for the start of summer break. One of the girls, seventeen trying to be 24. And attitude? All attitude. Us adults? We know NOTHING. Obviously clueless.

Then, too, I know that child’s age. Just turned seventeen, and looking like that? I’ve got one buddy, about twice her age, and I’d love to introduce those two. He’s bluster and she’s just spiteful enough, and never mind, it’s illegal. Not to mention the morality at stake therein. I was thinking, though, about what’s shaking in Libra and I was thinking about that daughter.

No matter how well-intentioned we are, as adults, we just don’t understand. We don’t get fashion, language, or, most important? We don’t understand what’s important. My buddy, every contact point with his daughter? Seemed to be a test of wills. Despite a military bearing, he kept losing. There is a way to win.

First, any good Libra knows this one, acknowledge the opponent. Win that opponent over with a trust and trinkets. Small gestures pave the way for larger actions. Just yelling at each other? That’s just proving that the kid is right. I still want to introduce one of my friends to that daughter. I have a malicious side. It would be like watching a dog chase a car that suddenly stops.

Scorpio: I’m pretty sure I don’t know how I got lucky and stumbled upon this scene: it was — apparently — a former TV repair shop. Piled outside on a spring afternoon, there were dozens of old console TV sets in various stage of disrepair. Rotting carcasses thrown into the street. I’m completely unsure of any of the details, although, stay tuned, I’m sure I can conjure up some facts. Or fact-like tales.

As a visual image, it was striking, the old consoles were piled three and four deep and up to five feet tall, by the curb. I’ve always wanted an old console TV with its oblong tube, the odd-shaped older ones. The fine craftsmanship on the old cases, that, in and of itself, is worth something. I don’t think I’d really like a black and white cathode ray tube, the concept would be to stick a newer monitor in the case. Maybe a flat screen would slip right in. Only, that would lose the effect of the rounded tube screen. It’s an intriguing idea. Nice concept.

The images, one of them is now the cover of the book about Mercury Retrograde, just seemed, somehow, appropriate.

Coincidence or not? Look for the divine in the mundane.

Sagittarius: On the north side of town, just past the first loop? Big office building. Most big cities now have a loop or two around town. This isn’t new. There will be a shotgun blast pattern of business buildings around the concrete cloverleaves. And here, there, on the north side? There’s one building that has a sign, “Catholic Life Insurance.”

Two points come up, one, isn’t that a misnomer, because, the way it works, it pays when you’re dead. So it’s not life insurance, it’s death insurance. Just gamble on how long you’ll last, I suspect. The other point, that name, itself? Catholic Life Insurance? Isn’t that what the whole Catholic Church is about? Eternal Life Insurance? Granted I’ve got an oblique sense of humor, perfectly perpendicular to good taste and good manners, and I’m well outside the established “norm.”

Still, I was tickled by that name. I couldn’t shake its name from my mind when I was looking at the Sagittarius charts. We’ve got a tenacity that isn’t normally in our make-up. Arguably, it’s Mars, but could be a whole host of factors.

The problem? We can get preachy. Wrong time to preach. Have to watch out for that point where we’re brow-beating and haranguing an audience instead of being our usual uplifting selves. Pick. Choose. Can’t say I didn’t warn you about sounding too preachy, though.

Capricorn: Hang around enough “want to be” movie stars, hang around enough TV folks, listen to enough “actors,” an there’s a common thread. The wise ones, some of whom are actually working? The smart ones? Before they agree to anything? “Let me see a script.”

Simple, straightforward. Not research. It’s a simple and direct request for further information.

You’re like that. You hear a pitch. You get an offer, a solicitation, someone wants you to do something. For pay? Maybe. For a piece of the action? Possibly. Lucrative? Maybe. Standard response? “Let me see a script.”

While I doubt that the actor/actress sits through a whole a 120 page script, reading and figuring all the nuances, I’m sure that there’s a point that does need to be made. As a Capricorn, hammered from several angles with astrology “stuff,” there’s a simple answer to some of the offers, “Let me see the script.”

It’s that easy. It’s a very polite way of telling a person, a salesman, a person pitching, it’s an easy way to say “Put up or shut up.” However, in keeping with my attitude of trying to make this easy? “Let me see the script” is a far more direct and yet, less offensive than any other way of saying that.

Aquarius: I’ve got a friend, her parents knew each other for two weeks before they married. 52 years later? Still married. Two weeks! Knew each other two friggin’ weeks, and they are still married? Defies logic. Speaks to a tenacity and backbone not found in subsequent generations, too.

That example of a hasty decision, the “love at first sight” kind of energy? While this isn’t an isolated case, in the more modern times, check out the divorce rate, securely at 55%, it’s a fairly uncommon.

I’m all for long-lasting relationships. Just, in my personal experience, it’s better to take a little time and try to figure out some of the details before jumping into a presumably permanent arrangement like marriage. The odds of a “love at first sight” lasting for five decades is increasingly rare. Not unheard of, just more and more rare.

As an Aquarius, I suggest, within the bounds of the current planetary influences, not making such a leap. I didn’t say you wouldn’t be affected with that “love at first sight” type of feeling, I’m just not sure if it’s love, or just one of love’s siblings — lust and desire spring to mind….

Pisces: I started out taking apart your astrology chart for this next week, and my first reaction? Relief, pure and simple. Then I dug a little deeper and I found less good news and few more problem areas. So it depends on how you want to read this, but there’s both good and bad, and it’s up to your Pisces self to deal with the tough stuff.

That problematic energy is mostly Mars — opposite you — in Virgo. There’s the incipient stages of Chiron oppose Saturn. Neither one of these oppositions is overall problematic, but add to the fray the recent exit of Jupiter, and you’ll start to wonder. First blush? Week looks good. After a cursory examination? Have to think twice about that “first blush” statement.

Which is the idea on how to deal with all this energy, good and bad. First glance might not be the best answer. Be willing to dig a little, and then, that’s where the good stuff hides.

Aries: There’s a restaurant chain, just saw an ad — it showed shrimp being tossed with what looked like chili flakes. Ancho Chili was the visual suggestion. What it really was? Probably a type of makeup.

Most shrimp, when cooked, is either naked, in the shell, or battered. Here’s my idea: shrimp in a blanket. Like pigs in a blanket, but instead of using little sausages? Use shrimp. Another form, same dish, exactly, really? Shrimp Kolaches. Kolaches were imported by Czech immigrants, if my local history is right, although, I’d suggest any of the Germanic tribes might’ve brought the idea over.

Kolaches, with cheese and peppers, I’m sure that’s a little bit of local fusion cuisine. I’m just trying to push this idea little further along. Shrimp kolaches. Shrimp in a blanket. It could work. With the twin influences of Uranus and Jupiter, and the Venus kicker this week? Some kind of weird combination. Shrimp in a blanket, I’m telling you, it could work.

Taurus: For the last dozen years or so, the United States has produced more Frisbees than footballs, basketballs and baseballs, combined. Frisbee, the circular spinning disc, more of those than anything else. What an impact. Disc Golf was, at one time, the highlight of living in Austin (TX).

Might still be, for some of the residents. I’m unclear on the concept. But I never got along with regular golf too well, much less Frisbee golf. I grasp the concept, I’d just rather fish. That’s the way I’m wired. What this is all about. How you’re wired.

What are you wired for? What is the turn-on for a Taurus? Presumably, it’s food and music, but then, that’s like judging a sports popularity by the number of units sold. Just because more frisbees are sold each year, does that automatically mean it’s a more popular sport than baseball, basketball and football? I left gold out. Not sure how that compares. The question, and the what the Taurus stars are all about? What is it that you like? No, what’s the favorite pleasure? What do you like the most?