“Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented.”
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard the Second [V.v.33-4]
Venus turning retrograde in Scorpio. Generic call on this one? Bad time to select a color to paint the living room; however, it is a good time to paint the living room, if you’ve already got a color picked out.
Libra: Lot of my buddies have dogs. Dogs have this empirical method for testing to see if something is edible or not. Eat it. Throw it up? Not good, probably not food. Digest it? Then it’s food.
With Venus starting a backward pattern where she is? I was thinking about dog food that is not dog food. Reason I was thinking about this? Unless you’re shirt shopping for me, I’d be hesitant about aesthetic decisions in the next six, eight weeks.
Starts now. The example? I saw this lovely throw rug. My Libra friend, she thought the design and pattern looked like something the dog threw up. However, were we to revisit that throw rug that looks like, never mind, if we went back, I can’t even recall the store, but should we go back there, sometime in the next six, eight weeks? She’s think that rug was cool, and maybe buy it. Only to discover, a little later, that it looks like a piece of carpet that the dog did his testing on.
Questions of taste? For now? Skip it.
Scorpio: Real truth. Caller ID is either best or worst thing in the world. Best for avoiding certain unpleasantness, worse for revealing unlisted phone numbers. Neutral on this subject, though: my sister’s business line.
She has a stage name, a nickname derived from her Christian name, just shortening of a given name. On my cell phone, that nickname comes up. However, on my business line, she was calling for business, her proper name popped up on the caller ID. That was just strange. We don’t call each other by such names, but it illustrates the way this stuff works, my cell phone sees the number and looks it up in the phone’s internal rolodex.
The business line, caller ID was part of the package, that just reads data off the incoming call. The caller ID illustrates the way Scorpio should work. Don’t just rely on your own, internal rolodex. Don’t just work with your own, internal data points. Use all the available incoming information to tag, ingest and other wise identify sources. Can’t rely on just what you think something might be.
Sagittarius: My buddy’s doc visit? My buddy? He was stoned as hell; he definitely needed someone to walk, talk, drive, wheel the chair to the curb. Real friends come and drive you home from the colonoscopy. I have no idea, not an experience I’ve been through myself, so I have no idea what kind of pharmacological haze my buddy was in. I’m unsure if he remembers everything he said; he was babbling. I believe he assured me that he loved me like a brother, but I wouldn’t hold him up to that.
For people who aren’t really used to heavy narcotics, or folks who have no understanding or tolerance? Good dope like that is a truth serum.
Worse, he won’t remember anything he said. Venus turns backwards this week. In Scorpio. The sign in front of Sagittarius. It’s either like the colonoscopy, or it’s like the dope they used on my buddy. Truth will come out. You’ve been warned about babbling. Or hiding facts in hard to reach places. Either way. “Hey,” he slurred, “they gave me the DVD, you want to watch it?”
Capricorn: Issues aren’t going away. Me haranguing you about these issues? Probably not going away, either. You can, if you like just flip to another website and read some happy, hopeful stuff. But be realistic, there’s a single problem that’s eating your shorts.
There is an avenue you can doggedly pursue to fix this problem. I would point out, though, there are no quick solution to the issue. I’d love to say, “Yeah, there’s a shortcut, just do this…” and that would make everything better.
Not going to happen. At the super-big fishing store, they have a “reel winder” that loads a hundred yards of fishing line onto a new fishing reel. Does a quick spin, and the line is all loaded up, ready to fish. And then, first cast? Always gets tangled. For me, for my money, for my time? I’d rather wind that new fishing line on the reel myself. If it’s one kind of fishing reel, I have to wind the line one way, and another type? The line has to be fed off the spool just in the right direction or it gets twisted. Which is the problem with the mechanical winder.
The fix? The Capricorn solution? Do it yourself, do it by hand. Less problems further down the road, and you can say you fixed the issue.
Aquarius: I asked a cop, he was supervising some street repair, and it was a late summer’s evening, cool enough to be comfortable for a change, and I asked him what was the best excuse he ever heard. Not for credibility, just for entertainment factor. He talked about a “Lover’s Lane” spot, sort of out in the country, said he was a sheriff at the time.
Had a parked car, him and another unit approached, lights off, got out and walked up to the car, car was empty, but a few meters from the vehicle, there was a couple. Naked. When asked, they calmly explained that there were just looking at the stars.
“Yeah, naked,” he added, a second time, to emphasize his point. He rolled his eyes under the cop ball cap. Had to be one of the best excuses for adolescent behavior I’ve ever heard.
It was an inspired excuse, if you ask me. I’ve found, in my limited experience, that there’s a good way to make excuses. That’s just one example. When the cops arrived on the scene, the couple was looking at the heavens; therefore, we can surmise, there might be some truth in the excuse. That’s what’s important in Aquarius — build on a truth before you embark on flights of fancy.
Pisces: I’m not sure this can be done with binoculars, but even s small backyard telescope? Even in the city, with its light pollution, even there, just about any kind of viewing device, it’s possible to see the source of the Pisces ire.
Uranus. It’s right next to Jupiter. I think there’s an occultation, I should look that up on the astronomy sites, it’s like a Jupiter/Uranus eclipse, anyway, I think there’s one of those. Jupiter is the bright star on the eastern horizon, shortly after sunset, and climbs overhead through the evening. Point a viewing device at it, and the planet Uranus might be visible, next to Jupiter.
The two, they do, and don’t, work well together. The trick, and it’s even more important, now that Venus is officially starting a backwards pattern, it’s important to understand how to concentrate on just one task at a moment. Critical. Focus is that critical. One thing at a time. Two planets, intensity. One thing at time. Leave the multi-tasking to the other signs, like Gemini.
Aries: Problems and solutions. I’m all about the solutions. All about the easiest way to get from here to there. The problem, I heard this one time when I was out with a buddy. I can’t say for sure it’s true.
According to him, though, he’s one of those married men who cooks? Probably a better cook than her. Don’t get me wrong, nice couple, lovely lady, just not always a cook.
“We were having TexMex one night. I didn’t have any avocados,” he was explaining, “so I mashed up the peas. Threw them in the blender and after I added the other stuff (onions, peppers tomatoes, salt and spices)? No one could tell.”
Artful substitution. Makes me look twice at Guacamole Dip, now. Made me think, too, about Aries and a solution to a problem. Artful substitution. All it takes. Substitute something green for something green.
Taurus: A traditional approach to this is one that suggests it’s not a good time for my little Taurus friends. Life sucks, I believe, would be the short version of a traditional astrological interpretation of Venus (your planet) backwards (retrograde) in Scorpio (opposite you). Not good.
The impact of the Venus position is further heightened? Lessened? Compounded, be my guess, by Mars. See, Mars just takes all that energy and doubles it. So it’s confusing, at first, and then that confusion is doubled by Mars, and consider, too, that Venus is your planet, which is only going to make this feel worse.
Good taste, pleasures of the flesh, sentimental attachments, all of that is impacted, and mostly, not n a good way. Unless you’re into that sort of thing. I’m not. I doubt you are, either.
So dealing with the impact means the usual, calm, very-Taurus-like approach doesn’t work. A more direct, less pretty way of dealing with matters is called for. Direct. Do not mince words. Be brutally honest. Call it the way it seems to be. While this won’t win any friends in the next five weeks, it will eventually serve you in good stead. Eventually. Just be frank, short, concise, direct.
Gemini: Late September, early October, the Reds are usually running. “Reds” are Spot-tail Bass, spotted sea-bass, red drums, or Redfish. Noted for their color, and the single evolutionary spot on the tail. Supposedly, that dot is supposed to resemble an eye, and it gives the birds a good, false target when the Redfish are foraging along the tidal flats. Good eating, big fun to catch, a hearty and worthy opponent.
Fun as both sport and food. The only problem is the big ones have all been caught, or worse, they’ve all migrated back out to deeper water. I spent one October afternoon, fishing my little heart out, content as could be, but we never boated a full-sized (keeper) Red. All the fish were between 15 and 18 inches in length. Short by two inches. I think, personally, I caught close to two dozen. Would’ve been some kind of record, only, it’s not. It’s just frustrating. Or not.
I was using light gear having switched when I could see how this was working out. My ultralight equipment. More fun. More fish, few frustrations. It’s not about size, sometimes. Of course it is about size, but when I could see how this was working out? I switched techniques, switched gear, and had me a blast. Just wasn’t a lot to take home at the end of the day. Have fun. Adjust your expectations. Change the gear and it’s a blast. I told the fish to “grow up,” and then set them free.
Cancer: Fishing buddy was telling me about an early morning run. Or run-in, might be more apt. “We were using a spotlight, and it was early, and we hit this sandbar. Hard-packed sand under water. Boat weighs more than a ton, so we just got out and waded. Had to wait for high tide to float her free.”
It’s variations on one of my favorite tales, the end result is, “Shut up and fish.” This was a tale, my buddy’s story, from inshore (coastal) fishing, But it could be anyplace. Your fine, Cancer boat runs aground. If you wait long enough, high tide will free you up.
No amount of energy is required. My buddy was wade fishing, so, I’d suggest, we all follow his advice.
“Can’t do nothing about the boat being stuck,” so?
So shut up and fish.
That’s what you came out for, the first time, isn’t it?
Leo: There’s a processional-like, march-like section of Beethoven’s 5th (Allegro-Pesto), which, if you ask me, sounds like something from a fancy Italian restaurant. But what do I know? This isn’t about my mix of language and general lack of language skills, it’s about the way the planets are arrayed, and what impact that has on your fine Leo self.
The march, or procession, or whatever that mode of music is called? It moves forward, loops back on itself, then moves forward again, and there’s, to my unlettered and untutored ear? To me, there’s an almost martial beat to that portion of the symphony. Well, almost. It’s not a disco rhythm that will have everyone up and dancing, but there seems to be a steady backbeat.
Pauses, theme and musical motif loops back, then moves forward again. All in symphonic, harmonic orchestrated glory. I just think, as The Leo, you’re at the front of that orchestra, directing. As Venus slips backwards some times, there will be setbacks. Just keep waving the (Leo) conductor’s baton around and keep the beat moving forward. Might seem (symphonically) sluggish at times, but you will move forward.
Virgo: My goal is simple, inward satisfaction. I’m not talking about some untenable goal, some dream that can be devoutly wished for, yet always appears to escape our grasp. Not what this is about at all.
Simple satisfaction from one task accomplished. One goal.
Some simple, inward gratification. Maybe it’s just a mile marker you make it past. Could be any number of little measuring sticks we all have, and this isn’t about outward displays, it’s all about the inward, or, as most of the Virgo folks do? It’s the “internal critic.”
Look, listen, watch, measure and see if you don’t hit some point that, for the briefest of moments, that inward, internal voice, wouldn’t it be great? “Wow. That’s good. You did a good job. Mission accomplished.”
I suppose, as Venus starts sliding backwards, you’re worried about that. Consider the summit that you mount, the minor — this is wholly internal — goal you reach? Remember to acknowledge that (minor) victory. You do win, and for that shining moment? Get the Virgo-like internal monologue to be quiet.
