Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 7.14.2011

“I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and check’d e’en by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory.”
Shakespeare’s Sonnet XV 5-8

Cancer: Johnson City — in Central Texas — passing through — I know good BBQ that way — in Johnson City, TX, there was roadside sign tickled me. Sign said, “RV Park, Full Bath, Full Hook-ups.” My big-city brain was wandering where it ought not wander with “Full Hook-ups.” I think what was being marketed was entirely different from what I was envisioning. Point to either my brain being a scary place, or big-city boys like me are scary in the rural countryside, or maybe, I shouldn’t be reading, at least not too literally, the signs along the way. What signs are along your way? Misdirection, misguidance, and the typically good Cancer internal organization and sense of propriety? All gone. You’re going to follow in my footsteps and completely mis-configure a simple piece of symbolism. You’re going to twist it all around. You’re going find prurient content where, quite frankly, there is none. There’s at least one Cancer who will read this and snicker. She’ll read this and think all sorts of twisted and evil little thoughts. Stop. That’s not what this is about. This is about not listening to the very first item that pops into your head. Sometimes, oftentimes, your intuition is good. It’s your birthday time. Sit back and be pleasantly surprised at how, well, pleasant, other people will be. Don’t read too much into it.

The Leo: There’s a Rock/Blues musician, locally famous guy in Austin, and one his songs spells this out for Leo. It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other because that’s how it’s done. Simple advice. Put one foot in front of another. The image came to me when I was looking at your chart, and I could see the usual dance, three steps forward, two steps back then three steps forward, again, then a single step backwards, then again, three steps forward and two steps back. Total that up, though and there’s a net gain for Leo.

You’re coming out ahead. You’re winning. With Mercury in Leo, even now, this doesn’t always feel like you’re winning, but you are. I’d suggest you do the math on the this one — we use math every day — but you’re going to find tedious calculations loathsome. Three steps forward; one step backwards. Three steps forward, two steps back. Three steps forward, pause. No slippage. “Wait, I know, Mr. ‘smart-fishing-guide-guy,’ I know I’ll step back on that last one. Maybe. Maybe not. Allow for me to be correct, which then supposes that you’re incorrect about being incorrect, and we’re good. Step forward. There will be some back-pedaling, and there will be a little Leo back-stepping. To me? Graceful as you are, looks like dance.

Virgo: “Hold on, I got something!” I was fishing, buddy’s boat, and he stopped. “You’re hooked on the bottom,” he drily observed. “No, it was pulling back, watch,” and I showed him as the boat gently drifted away from the spot where my lure was buried in some submerged obstacle. To me, it looked like there was something exerting pressure to move in the other direction. There was. The boat was caught in a slight eddy, being gently pulled downstream. Looked like, and for a minute, it felt like I had a fish. I was just snagged on something. Hung, as it were. It’s a relative thing, the physics, not really rocket science, as soon as the boat quit moving the “fish” was no longer a catch, just equipment hung up on an obstruction. You’re going to want to be like my buddy, driving the boat, not like me, acting like, “Hey, I got a fish! Hey, I got really big fish!” (Hey, I got stump!) We’re weeks away from the start of Virgo, less by the end of this horoscope. It’s at that end, therein where it gets good. But we’re not there yet. Hold on, sit tight, wait this one out, and if you think you have a fish, if you think you caught something? Hold on before making a big deal out of it. Next time I hooked a fish, it was a good one, but I almost lost it because my buddy didn’t believe I had a real fish; he thought I was hung again.

Libra: Handy phrase that will serve your Libra self well in the next couple of days. Might happen more than once, given the planetary influences.

“I’m not speechless; I have nothing to say.”

Because you’re Libra, I try to be sweet and gentle. However, Saturn and his “difficult times” scenario make it a little harder for me to be diplomatic and politic. Shut up. Open mouth gathers no flying debris. The way that comment was originally punctuated without punctuation?

“I’m not speechless I have nothing to say.”

There might be a clue in the grammatically incorrect but perfectly plausible version I was shooting out. The phrase taken directly from my notes along with a Saturn symbol and a question mark. Perhaps the little Libra emblem as well. Over the course of the full moon, the fall out from that moon, and the placement of everything else in the heavens?

“I’m not speechless, I just have nothing to say.”

You can quote me.

Scorpio: In South Central Texas, other parts, too, but mostly here, in my back yard, there’s a local grocery chain that’s grown in size. The call letters are HEB, stood, at one time, as the initials to the first owner’s name: Henry E. Butts. Advertising has subverted the name, as has the vernacular. The HEB grocery chain started a spin-off, a direct, targeted approach at the organic, upscale grocer from Austin: Whole Foods. Or, as my Austin friends often call it, “Whole Paycheck.” The HEB replacement, competition, direct competition, is called Central Market. Same stuff as Whole Foods, usually a little less expensive. One of my friends calls it, “The Gucci Bee,” as a little play on words. With its spartan fittings and hand-lettered (looking) signs, the Gucci Bee is popular. Organic, free samples, all the usual stuff plus the Pink Cake preferred by some local folks. Buddy of mine was looking for a date, Scorpio buddy. If it was a she, looking for a he, I’d suggested something like Home Depot. However, my Scorpio buddy was a guy, in this case. “Try the Gucci Bee, it’s like a Home Depot for chicks.” Wrap your Scorpio mind around this, it isn’t about the hook-up or pick-up, it’s about putting your Scorpio self into the target area. Where you’ll find suitable targets. Like attracts like.

Sagittarius: Mars is opposite Sagittarius, and Mars is creeping through Gemini. Makes it doubly tough on us Sagittarius types. First, it Mars opposite us, then it’s Mars in Gemini, two for the price of one, free admission for kids under 18, etc. Mars in Gemini means twice as much fun, being the sign of the twins and all, and then, this compounded by opposite the Sagittarius. In this position, irritability, irrational irritability. Irrational irritability (something). I couldn’t come up with the right word as fast as I was typing. Maybe, as a brother or sister Sagittarius, you’ll hit the button and let me know what that word was. While, in general, we’re not known for hasty and what turns out to be, stupid, decisions, I’d be careful. With Mars, thusly placed in Gemini, we’re going to be a little more on edge, a little more quick to jump to a hasty conclusion, a little too fast on the draw, and little easily provoked. I have at least one immediate member of my family who will take advantage of this, and do her best to engage me in a pointless argument that I have no hope of winning. As a matter of principle, that’s okay, because we can assiduously stick our beloved principles when we’re sure we’re right. The side of right has to be on our side, right? Wrong. Gemini/Mars, that can confuse the issue. Realize where Mars is, and realize that he’s pushing our irrational irritability (something). Understand the locus for the problem. Doesn’t solve it, but it could help prevent s stupid, hasty, quick, ill-conceived action. Or word. Words.

Capricorn: I was talking with a buddy about a coast fishing trip. Six (eight) weeks from now, maybe late August, better yet, early September, after Labor Day when the summer prices go down and the weather cools off. “Have to be before that, you know, September First, the Redneck Xmas.” Never heard it put that way before, but the real outdoorsmen, the guys who hunt in the winter and fish in the summer, those guys are headed to the deer lease in September. I’m not looking quite that far down the road for Capricorn, but I’m getting to the point where we need to warm you up to a new idea, and get ready for it now. I realize, in the middle of the South Texas Summer, it’s a little difficult to discuss long underwear, and sighting in a deer rifle for the “opener” (Nov. 1). This isn’t about deer hunting, or duck hunting or dove hunting, or any of that. It’s not even about fishing. It’s about planning and forethought. There’s a big event headed your way — next month. Think about preparing, now.

Aquarius: Make do with more for less. Make less go further. Farther. Make less last longer than before. I think that’s the message I’m attempting to get across to my fine little Aquarius brethren (sistren.) A single roll of film would have 12, 18, 24, maybe 36 images available. Especially later on, the standard roll of 35mm film would have space for 36 images. What I’ve heard, I never used such a camera, but what I’ve heard is that the process always involved “burning” the first shot, either luck or hardware, but the first image wasn’t ever a keeper. So we’re down to 35. The last couple of shots on a roll of film were also considered unlucky. I never really shot with film. I’ve been digital from the beginning, the very first inception. What I’ve discovered is that the first shot with my point-and-click camera, I’ll typically take at least three picture, but the first one is the best. It’s all digital. Doesn’t matter, there’s plenty of space. The last time I looked, a camera chip held over 1,000 pictures. I can take three pictures. What I’ve discovered, frequently, it’s that first picture, that image, that first impression that is the best. Off guard, not staged, no pretense and artifice. The choice is to take one picture or three. Make more with less is this week’s suggestion. Maybe just take one, or maybe, throw out the subsequent images that don’t work.

Pisces: There’s a quote from American Modernist Georgia O’Keefe (Scorpio), a one line tag for a painting of hers. That I am fan, no secret. She — in my mind — single-handedly opened up new vistas through her vision which came to embrace the American Southwest, a real kickstart to the New Mexico Vision, the New Mexico School, and all that crap it entails. “The drawing is of something I never saw except in the drawing.” While working both as a realist and an abstract artist, the way the two forms collided in her work, this is about some of her earlier work, it evokes that kind of response. In respect to Pisces, this is an important statement, about seeing something where no one else sees a shape. A form, a figure, a figurine. Pisces vision, possibly artistic vision, where no one else can perceive a shape, or a form. With Neptune at the inception point for Pisces, while technically, Neptune is retrograde, still… It’s about what you see. Might be something that only you see, too.

Aries: I’ve been through several books about the taxonomy of wildflowers — wildlife in general — in my native Texas. Bird books, flower books, biology, botany, all manner of stuff. The big issue, for me, and what I have to do from time to time, is go through, sort through, look through, all of those books and see which ones I’ve really used. I’ve got one bird book that’s actually been useful. The rest of them, while pretty to look at, or with authoritative sounding names, they don’t work for me. I’ve given up. I’m down to just two books, and those are well-thumbed. I’ll leaf through the book, trying to figure out what it was, I know it was a hawk family, but it wasn’t the ever-present Red-Tail Hawk, so what other bird of prey would it be? After years of searching for a good, usable reference manual, I got one. The rest of them, gifts, sentimental and attractive on a bookshelf? Useless for me. I took them all to the library and donated them to annual fund-raising book sale thing they do. It’s about cutting loose with items, functions, processes that bring no value to the Aries life. Let go. Doesn’t work? Or rather, doesn’t work for you? Ditch it.

Taurus: I’ve had a chance to stand off to one side and observe. To me, it looked like harmless flirtation. What was missing, though, it wasn’t exactly harmless. I recognize, in a male, a certain sense of urgency. A need, a desire, a longing. I watched as this one guy kept flirting with this one barmaid. She’s married. Not always happily married, but married, nonetheless. She’s not interested in another mate. The guy earnestly perusing and pursuing her, he doesn’t get it. He’s chasing after a relationship, a love affair, a hopeful encounter that will lead nowhere. No where fast. I’ve seen the guy, asking about her welfare, when she’ll be on duty next, several times, and there’s a sad longing in his eyes. Been there, done that (ibam ibi, feci id). Jupiter is the lucky star. Jupiter is the fulfiller of wishes. Jupiter is in Taurus. Wish for that, which can be obtained. Longing for something — someone — that is clearly not available? Horrible waste of time, and that guy’s going to ruin his liver and maybe go broke, trying to prove his unrequited love. Taurus: it can be fulfilled. Make sure you’re really clear about what you’re looking for, that which you seek.

Gemini: I’ve got a couple of clients, and I’ve been doing readings for these people long enough that I’m onto their tricks. At the beginning of the consultation, there will be statements and recitations. Going over material I’ve previously covered and touching on the general comments and the usual, “I love Gemini because they are SO…” material. Then there’s the client’s agenda, fishing for a very specific answer. The questions will drive around and since I tend towards a client-directed methodology, I’ll listen as the same question pops up in various guises. Still pushing, hoping that perceptions drive reality. Sometimes they do, but in my case, I tend to stick to what the chart suggests. Mr. Mars suggests you’re trying to push, hammer, advance and/or get across a particular point. The full moon suggests you feel like you’re not getting your point across. Not everyone can be perspicacious astrology consultant who is onto your tricks. You might be able to fool some of them. The real problem, though is realizing that Mars is pushing further, farther, faster, and some people might just nod and pretend to keep up. Stop and check on us. Like I do. Stop and check to make sure you really are advancing that Gemini agenda.