Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 7.5.2012

“My life hath in this line some interest,
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.”
Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIV 3-4

Cancer: Day after July 4th, making this July 5. Didn’t happen yet, but I can well imagine this happening, even to me. One of my neighbors, perhaps he imbibes a bit much on his days off? The first part of the brain that gets numb is the frontal lobes, seat of reason and logic. Easiest way to explain his poor judgement. Poor judgement with females, choices, and now, look, it’s a Cancer birthday time, right? So here’s my buddy, with some illegal fireworks, having himself a good time. I can’t, in conscience, turn him into the police; although, it is very illegal, and possibly dangerous, to be setting off firecrackers within the city limits. Still is annoying. To make this worse, he’ll set it off some afternoon when I’m walking home from the Post Office, or similar venue. He’ll cause me to jump. Good thing it’s me, with other friends they might return fire. Some person, possibly a person close to you, is going to pull an equivalent, if not equal, stunt. How rattled are you going to get, especially after I warned you?

The Leo: There are a total of nine different step that we have to take in order to get the mighty Leo from where we are today to where we want to be next week. Nine steps. Total. Want to know what they are?

That was a teaser, really, there’s only one. As Mr. Mars moves forward in Libra, and Venus continues to March forward in Gemini, and the Moon gets less and less? All nine of those steps are just variations on a theme, not dissimilar to what was in the first sign’s message (that would be Cancer, precedes you). The trick, maybe nine different way to not kill your lover, co-worker, boss, client, underling. One of those. Trust me, I don’t think a Leo like you would do well in a confined environment, like prison. Start thinking of nine different ways to not get mad. Don’t get mad at me, I’m not the one doing it, or not doing it, whatever it is that surely, at this moment does require, you think a judge would really understand if you say, “But they needed killin’.”

Virgo: There’s a highly scattered energy that results from having Jupiter joined by Venus in Gemini. The sign of the Twins. The sign of the psycho. More than one Virgo will agree that the Gemini stuff in a chart will create and mark an apparently “psycho” personality disorder.

I’m not a trained psychologist, and I don’t have a degree that lets me make a diagnostic proclamation; however, I do know crazy. Dated it, been it, been accused of it, even to this day. This isn’t about me. This is about what happens as that Gemini energy infects and leans on your gentle Virgo self. It’s not pretty.

What you can do: acknowledge the insane behavior and brush it off, as it will change. The Gemini-caused insanity will be gone before you can shoot me an e-mail to complain about it.

Libra: Mars makes an entrance. Grand entrance? Sure. There’s other influences, as well, but the big one is still Mars. The problem with Mr. Mars is he can be good — useful, productive energy — or he can be anxious. As a delicate Libra, it looks like something is bothering you. Just let it go. Easy for me to say, and I don’t have an easier way to deal with this. Anxious or active, pick one way. While anxious works for some events, I’d think, what with this being a Mars kind of feeling, I’d think picking active would be better.

Scorpio:My mother (Scorpio) no longer drinks coffee. She prefers various forms of tea. However, when I’m around, she still pulls out the coffee grinder and makes the stuff the way she thinks I like it. There’s a sensory appeal to good coffee beans, fresh ground. There’s an aromatic trigger, of sorts, well, for me, anyway, and sitting in her kitchen, late one evening, watching — smelling — the beans being ground for the next morning’s coffee?

Triggers something. Earthy, rich blend, I’m guessing a French Roast, good (whole) beans, and the way the aroma pervades the kitchen? It’s — to me — it’s the smell of good coffee. Not dried, desiccated beans, not ground at the store, but that good stuff, fresh ground. Earth tones, subtle yet strongly indicative that there the beans were good. Arabica, probably not Robusta, but with my mom, who can tell? Probably not from a well-known chain, either. There’s a subtle trigger kicking in, in Scorpio. Stop and smell the coffee, even before it gets brewed.

Sagittarius: Pick one book. Pick just one book to finish reading. All the way through. I got stuck trying to work my way through some epic business tomes, and frankly, I got mired in the wordiness, repetition and boring subject matter. It’s not my area of interest. It’s not a topic that captivates and holds my attention.

To be honest, I have one Sagittarius client, she recommended the book to me, about business, and for that client? The business material is taught and gripping material. Not for me. However, pursuant to last week’s directions, I picked one book. About two-thirds of the way through that boring business book, the little light bulb (eco-friendly, low-wattage bulb) went off in my head. Sparked one idea. All that work, tedium, relentless pursuit through the badly mangled business verse, all of that gave me one idea. One item to tinker with on the website. One change. Still, as Sagittarius? It’s worth it. Assiduously stick to one goal. One book.

Capricorn: I was in a store, a tourist-type kind of Western Wear place. One corner rack, consider this is the middle of a long, hot summer, one rack was full of Pendelton Blanket winter jackets. I briefly succumbed to the allure of the jacket, fine, wool, western styling, heavy and warm for cold winter nights, and then, the whole rack, including my size, on sale! Cheap, even. Cheap for a jacket like that, anyway. I live in South Texas. We get snow every other year. I wear shorts most of the winter. I need no more heavy jackets, on sale, or not. I need no heavy outerwear, although, I do own several winter coats. On sale, not on sale, cool-looking, but ultimately useless? That’s what that jacket was. I thought about that. While I’m in weather, two, maybe three days a year that might warrant such a jacket, I tend, whenever possible, to avoid that kind of weather. Pause, think, stop. Are you really sure, or is it just the fact that there’s a sale sticker on it?

Aquarius: Buddy of mine, runs a small construction company, incidentally, his name is not really “Bubba,” but many refer to him thusly, anyway, my buddy drinks a lot of Mountain Dew, the high-caffeine coke. We were messing around one day, stopped for cigars and then the grocery store, beer for him, and then a coffee shop for iced espresso for me. I couldn’t understand his tastes when he extolled the virtues of Mountain Dew, the weird color, the weird taste, the high caffeine, and he couldn’t understand my refined palate and choice for iced espresso, which, as the day wears on, becomes an iced Americano, as the ice and espresso meld. Bitter and cold, refreshing. Two shots of espresso typically have less than 200 milligrams of caffeine, certainly less than that coke he was having. With Jupiter and Venus in Gemini and then Mercury in Leo, opposite from Aquarius? The deal is perspective. My iced espresso makes perfect sense to me and to me it even tastes good. My buddy turns his nose up at my drink and similarly, I look askance at his choice in beverage. Perspective.

Pisces: Cheap sunglasses are part of my trademark. I can easily trace the influence to an album (back when albums were really albums) by the venerable ZZ Top. I’m sure the song and its roots are clear. The cheap sunglasses are good because I’m notoriously hard on equipment, glasses go overboard, glasses get squashed in the truck, glasses get left behind at some diner. Normal wear and tear. I found a new pair of aviator-styled shades; however, instead of dark green lenses, that pair had the light tan colored tint. All good, just makes a drought stricken area look slightly more green. Accentuated the green in the surf, too. The cheap sunglasses changed my outlook, completely. Wasn’t much of a difference, not from the outside, looking in, looks like me in sunglasses. However, the change in tint, from green to brown, that changed everything about my perceptions. This wasn’t a costly item, not much more than month-long subscription here. I have a cheap side, and I think sunglasses should never cost more than 5 dollars. I’m not saying that a big change is necessary but instead of big-ticket item, something as simple as a cheap sunglasses goes a long way to improving the way Pisces see the world.

Aries: I love Texas in the summer time. Open the front door, be it a trailer in Austin, or a warehouse in San Antonio, the backyard in El Paso, doesn’t much matter open that door? It’s like opening the oven when the settings are on bake. Open that door to the outside, non-AC world? It’s like the recipe that calls for, “Pre-Heat oven to 350.” The Aries oven, like my summer, is hot. I won’t touch the other areas, I’ve lived through the American Southwest, so I know hot. I’m used to it. As an Aries, though, even though, hey, Mars is your planet, even though you think you know hot, there’s a fresh blast coming. It’s like me, opening up that door and feeling the wave of heat roll over me. It’s like we forgot. What I do to cooperate with the the heat, since it isn’t changing? I sweat. Drink lots of water, ice tea and sweat. A lot. Works here. Should work for Aries, too.

Taurus: Here’s the tip: if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. I was looking at my calendar, and thinking about that. I make plans. I live by the appointment book. I do this all electronically these days, but when I started out, I used a real paper and pencil appointment book. Pencil because stuff needs to be changed from time to time. Not often, but I can change stuff. These days, it’s all electronic, and I can swap stuff around with a mouse and click point thing. Still, when I’m responding to a client, my usual answer is, “I’ll pencil it in the book.” Figurative but gets the point across, time is reserved for a certain action, but I’m flexible, at least some times. I added the “missed appointments are still liable for cost of the consultation” to the fine print, but I’ve never invoked that clause. It was more a scare tactic rather than a hard rule. Which is what this is about. Plan. Plan well in advance. Foresee possibilities. Then make room in that planning for changes, as need be. “We’ll pencil it in,” is the best Taurus response this week.

Gemini: “What I do, every time, wait until the sun goes down, that’s west, work from there.”

Yes, and “We’re not lost,” the familiar refrain? As a Gemini, you’re not lost. You might not know your exact location, but I leave the exactitudes to other signs. Virgo comes to mind. Exact location and general direction, and as long as both Venus and Jupiter are in your sign? Consider the idea of a general direction to be good enough. Close counts, in this situation. This week, this next two weeks, three weeks, even, close is good. Wait until the sun goes down, point at the sunset, “That’s west, let’s go,” and hitch up your pack. You’re not lost, and just general direction, like following the setting sun, that’s a general enough direction.

“What I do, every time, wait until the sun goes down, that’s west, work from there.”