Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 2.10.2011

“To business that we love we rise betime
And go to it with delight.”
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra [IV.iv.20]

Great (literary) lovers, Antony and Cleopatra. Rock on, perfect for St. Valentine’s Day. “Wedding rings and shotguns on sale now” as the sign says.

Aquarius: As the Sun lines up with Neptune, as we start thinking about closing out Aquarius, we have to consider that Mars is still a player. I’ve always liked Mars, as an astrologer, as the symbolism is clear and plain. It’s an easy planet for me to interpret. “Oh yeah,” by Yellow. Made famous in “Ferris Bueller,” as a pop culture sideline. That music, that one song, it has a deceptively smooth bass line, and that’s what I like. There’s speed, anxiety, a velvet bass line that smooths everything over, but still, it maintains that strident beat. Pushing ever forward. There’s a slightly confused, almost directionless, yet ever relentless type of energy pulsing, pushing and propelling Aquarius forward. Oh yeah.

Valentine (Aquarius) Special:
Join now and get a free copy of the ebook, Fishing for Love, the Fishing Guide to the Stars guide to love (happiness and a better bass boat).

Pisces: Palpable anticipation, a full moon, and it’s a wild ride! Lot of data in a short space. Just about covers it all, too. You are in a good position to reap some results for some of your good works. One of the old fishing tricks, this isn’t new, but one of the oldest tricks in the book? Day-old bread. Stale, maybe with a little mold on it? Old bread. I would buy it at the bakery reject store, but that bread is still good. However, I did find a huge deal, perfect for this at the dollar store. Three loaves of bread for a buck. I think there might be mold on the bread. I don’t care.

I have, well, I have many, but this one spot is a great place to fish, but it’s slightly over fished. So what I’ll do, one afternoon, I’ll go out and throw those loaves of bread in the water. My deer hunting buddies use deer corn, same idea. Then, as we get closer to the holiday? I’ll got out again. The bread, stale, otherwise trash, that attracts little fish. Little fish attract big game fish. Everyone wins. Before the weekend? Stale bread. Deer corn. Or some type of attractant. Then? Starting next Monday? Happy hunting!

Dear [wlm_firstname],
Looks like your login e-mail address is: [wlm_email], and if that’s correct, fine. If it’s wrong, please let me know.

With the new year, there have been a lot of changes “under the hood,” and it’s been more than a year now we’ve been running on this system. As you’ve seen the scopes are formatted a little different. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Shoot me an e-mail now, or there might be no changes at all. I’d like to accommodate you as best I can.

You can always post a comment, too.

And a big thanks, without your support, I couldn’t do this.

Aries: As a Sagittarius, that’s me, what I found, when Jupiter is in a certain sign, like Jupiter is in Aries now, what happens is that I get more popular with Aries. What I’ve seen happen, is there is an influence — a huge Sagittarius influence — that happens with all the signs and Jupiter. For the foreseeable future, this is in Aries. You like us Sagittarius types. With the romantic holiday around the corner, maybe this isn’t so good. Sagittarius and its influences, we’re fine folks, excellent friends, amusing compatriots, but we’re not the best romantic liaison. Fair warning. That’s the problem associated with the good luck planet, in your sign (Jupiter in Aries), it brings that heady rush of promise, but lacks delivery. Aries can be a little short on follow-up energy, part of being a Cardinal Fire Sign, and with this Sagittarius/Jupiter drive-influence? Can make you more scattered. As the holiday weekend arrives? Watch, or watch out, for long promises with short delivery.

Taurus: I’ve got a couple of CDs by a local artist. He’s a Taurus, actually, and when I first saw him on stage, I loved his delivery. It was — he is — it’s an Austin music kind of thing. Event. Singer/songwriter. Couple of his CDs did well enough on a local level, but he’s just never been translated to major-label, major exposure. Then, one afternoon in Austin, I was eating in a little place I used to enjoy for its relaxed (Austin) ambience, and this guy walks in. He’s got a stringy young girl hanging off his arm, and she’s looking a little worse for the wear. She had that, “I haven’t been home in three days but I’ve been partying with a rockstar” look about her. Something about the clothes, something about the way she was hanging on his arm, and something, it was across the restaurant, so I couldn’t tell for sure, but she seemed to laugh at his every comment. He smiled a crooked-teeth smile. They sat in a booth, both on the same side. Now, digging into his online file, he’s married, was married, to her, at that time. However, that afternoon? I kept thinking he ought to lose the groupie, as that was what she appeared to be. The problem we’re all facing, here in Taurus land, is judgement from afar, and what we know is good. Judgmental astrologers? Don’t listen to them. If you’re happy? That’s all that matters. Last time I checked, they were still married.

Gemini: I looked up a particular “one hit wonder” band. Stuck the name in a search engine and I found that the band had a deep catalog of music. Alternative New-Wave Synth-Pop. Three word definition that covers two hyphenated terms, maybe five words. I could add Euro, Disco, and Trash, in some combination or just as additional modifiers. So here’s a band that has more labels than hits. More descriptive terms than actual music. I was impressed by the deep list of material released later, however, after the one hit? Never charted again, not in the US, the UK, or anywhere. More monikers than music. More terms to describe the material — and less material to be described. This sort of fragmentation has happened elsewhere, too. I just see it in the music business. There are more subculture genres of music than bands. More ways to describe and stratify the music than extant tracks to be categorized. Being able to infinitely define something, label, name it, stick in its appropriate location under a title, subtitle, genus, species, phylum? All very good. As a Gemini, though, don’t get caught spending too much time over-thinking the issue. Like more ways to describe the band, the music, than the amount of music produced.

Cancer: One of my older promotional stickers had a quote, “The biggest problem with astrology is astrologers.” Which, as I found out, is too true. Why I’ve opted for a slightly different title, as a “Fishing Guide to the Stars.” While I was looking at the Cancer’s chart wheel, I noticed, Pluto/Venus opposite you and Jupiter/Saturn square you. Tension angles. Not the best of times, but there’s a way around this energy. Steal a line from me. “The biggest problem with (astrology) is (astrologers).” Take that and insert your own problem area and then, practitioners who seem to be making the situation worse instead of better. Like this, “The biggest problem with getting your car fixed is mechanics.” So that example didn’t flow well. You get the idea, right? The problem isn’t astrology, or astrologers, or even decent shady-tree truck mechanics, I know a few of them, no, the problem with Cancer’s chart is going it alone. Experts are nice. Experts, especially like myself, we’re good at some things. Experts are not what you need. This is time, with all that planet energy kind of “leaning” on you, this is a time to go it alone. Limp on down the road, face the starry night bereft of my guidance, make do with what you’ve got. Alone. Here’s the deal, I’m saving you a costly mistake.

Leo: A the end of this scope, Neptune and the Sun will align, almost perfectly. Can’t see it, daytime thing. This creates illusion. This is compounded by Mars, opposite you. Mercury, too, just to make the mix a little more, ahem, interesting. With all this stuff cooking along in Aquarius, what’s a good Leo to do? What Would The Leo Do? I should patent that. Put that on one of those rubber band bracelets. Huh. Anyway, the trick with Neptune and the Sun? As this energy intensifies? That idea, some idea, it’s a great idea. However, I have to ask, did you follow through with all the details? What would be worse, you get a box with about ten thousand of those little bracelets, and you forgot to figure a distribution channel. The most common comment? “I’ll just figure it out later.” I’ll be as gentle as I can, but that won’t work. What? Being gentle won’t work, so I’ll be more plain. Putting it off until later won’t work. Have to think it through, the whole way through. Can’t just hit the parts you like, it’s a whole package. Otherwise, like me, you wind up with a box of useless rubber bands. “Oh, I’ll figure that part out later,” that’s the part that doesn’t work. Instead, start figuring before you order.

Virgo: Chocolate, coffee and cocaine. The three words, really, I was thinking about the chemical compounds, the active ingredients, and where those three organic compounds originated, all from South America. In varying degrees, the compounds are useful medically, scientifically and socially. There’s also a healthy dose of escapism in each of those compounds. I don’t know, other than academically, the appeal of chocolate or cocaine, but coffee? My coffee proclivities are well-known. From what I’ve read, and overheard, as I understand it, all three are highly addictive. I don’t know about two of them, but coffee? I can quit anytime I want. Just not now. Maybe I’ll just cut back, a little. Although, I’ve already done that. Look: it’s the big, romantic holiday. Everyone is all hearts and flowers and chocolate, and little plump children sprouting wings and armed with tiny bows and arrows. I’m not sure what the connection is, or what the message is. For me, true love is coffee. Varies from person to person, but I’m sure one of the compounds listed will work to help ease your way through the next few days. I’m just suggesting, though, that the least harmful is what’s best.

Libra: It’s the weirdest items that carry huge emotional attachments. As we get closer to the romantic holiday, it’s that weird time, and you’re feeling weirder than usual. In part this is lineup of planets parading through Aquarius. In part, though, this is also a function of Saturn’s reign in your sign. Backwards Saturn, in your sign. Poor Libra! The big gifts, the two-carat rock I saw on one Libra’s finger, that’s a big item with, relatively speaking, little sentimental attachment. The lover who was attached to that rock is long gone by the wayside, but the rock remains. No emotional attachment. Flip that around, there’s an almost silly gift, it was a little iPod Shuffle, not much more than a matchbook, not very expensive and, at best a mere bauble. However, that mere bauble carries more memories and the fact that it can be used to listen to music, over and over again? Much more emotional attachment in the simplest of gifts. On-off button, and a volume control (it’s one of the old ones), cost? I daresay it as less than $50. Less than a reading with me, for sure. Just for a comparison. So it’s not about the cost, the size, of the gift, it’s about what emotions, fond and loving emotions are packed into the item. With Saturn, and that Aquarius influence, it’s not about stuff. It’s about feelings.

Scorpio: Included somewhere in my fine print (terms of service, End User License Agreement, privacy policy), there’s a “No Star Trek re-enactments.” I think that’s the rule. Might be something else. However, and my Science Fiction buddies will be upset, it could also be a reference to Star Wars (the epic saga), which, if you listen to the two, their worlds never cross paths and they are very different. Only, at one point, I begin to see common ground. Not in the worlds in which the stories are told, but in the grander thematic elements. I’m about common elements, and one point, this type of fiction is myth-making. It’s also all about Outer Space. Which is what’s going on. There’s a curious feeling that pervades as the Sun and Neptune get closer to lining up with each other. That sense is that there’s an element from Outer Space making its way into the Scorpio life. Cue up whichever you prefer, Star Wars or Star Trek. Fish a little symbolism out of that milieu. I’d be careful though, as I don’t want you take this too far. Please, there’s a message in the media, but no Star Wars re-enactments. Please. Think of the children.

Sagittarius: There’s a drop off, an underwater drop, in this one lake, a place where an old creek cut a deep ravine. Fishing the face of that drop off, just one time, I caught a couple of fish, right there, at the edge. I’d drop a weighted line down along the face of that ravine. Boom! However, that was just once. Because I caught fish there once, I keep going back and I keep hoping that I’ll repeat the process. I was highly successful once, reading the water, the water temperature, the little depth finder in the boat, just once did theory, study, applied fish knowledge, just once did it all come together. Pictures are on the website, someplace. I kept going back to that place for several years, kept trying to repeat the luck. That’s the tricky thing about luck, can’t always make the magic happen more than once. Which is why it’s called “magic” and not skill. Luck’s a funny thing, like that. With Jupiter making a strong, good angle to us Sagittarius types, there’s a warning and a wish. The wish is for more luck like that one time. The warning is not spend too much time drifting back over something that worked one time, but in ten more tries, hasn’t worked again. Doesn’t mean when I’m on that lake next month? Doesn’t mean I won’t stop there and fish for a little while. Against my own advice.

Capricorn: I was sipping on some coffee, it was an Xmas gift, a two-pound bag of Texas Coffee Traders Italian Roast. Love that stuff. The beans are oily, and the coffee, when prepared the way I like it? That oil gets transferred into the coffee. Essential coffee oils and the flavor characteristics and it’s just very good. I’m guessing, from a Capricorn, that the beans were roasted right before Xmas and as of now, they are at the end of their truly useful life-cycle. However, those beans were good. Not just good, but excellent. It’s like falling in love, all over again, as the sweet, slightly bitter and acrid coffee rolls around the palate. The coffee itself, I usually prepare it in a “French Press,” and although glass is better, I like the insulating qualities of a metal (insulated) pot. The oil seems to slid off the tongue and coat it with the thinnest covering of flavor. The coffee evokes images of rich, dark chocolate, as there’s a hint of that in the flavor. Not really chocolate, but I lack the words to come up with a different analogy. So I use the concept of rich, dark chocolate as the imagery. Chemically, the two are quite similar, the active ingredients in chocolate (cacao) and coffee (coffee beans). That’s exactly what this is about. Not quite as good as chocolate, but close. Stop. Need to relax for a little while. Stop. Have a cup of coffee. Make some fresh coffee so it’s good. Stop.