Horoscopes by the Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 1.2.2014

“So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.”
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark [IV.v.22-3]

By 1608, The King’s Men (Shakespeare’s acting company) would perform in Blackfriar’s Theatre during the winter.

Horoscopes by the Fishing Guide to the Stars

Saturn pops into Sagittarius, December 23, 2014.

Venus in apparent Retrograde December 21, 2013 to January 31, 2014 (Capricorn); cf., www.RetrogradeVenus.com

This most difficult part of this Retrograde Venus pattern is over, but the effects linger. Like a bad aroma, with a source that no one can seem to pinpoint, find the Virgo girl with the wrinkled nose, silently bemoaning her fate, that’s the first clue. This Retrograde Venus pattern is further enhanced, upset, and highlighted by the Sun, Moon, Mercury and so forth, right after the first. Takes a bad situation and makes it worse, or takes a good situation and sours the atmosphere for a few days. The stars don’t dictate so much as give symbolic indications where there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Venus is really like that at this moment, pushing for a point we all thought had been already made.

Mercury in apparent Retrograde — www.astrofish.net/mrx
2/6 to 2/28 Pisces/Aquarius
6/7 to 7/1 Cancer/Gemini
10/4 to 10/25 Scorpio/Libra

There’s a very clear theme to this year’s Mercury Retrograde patterns. Each retrograde starts at a few degrees of water, then slides backwards into air. If water is emotions, and this Mercurial Pattern indicates troubled waters, then, what’s left is the analysis, the air part of the equation. The biggest obstacle with these patterns? Don’t get in paralysis by analysis. Sometimes, action, even wrong action, is preferable to no action at all.

(and Jan. 21, 2015 to Feb. 11, 2015 Aquarius)

Capricorn: The beauty of online digital music purchases? The entrance is low. Not much of barrier for under a buck. For less than one dollar, I can get a song, and I was raised on Rock-N-Roll. Albums. Cassettes, then CDs, and later? Enhanced CDs. What shopping digitally has done? Yes, I can bemoan the loss of the “album cover” which was one square foot of magnificent art work, a canvas that was an art form unto itself, and these days? Some bands (artists, groups) are releasing some material on vinyl. Throwback to a day gone by. Which is why I was thinking about digital music purchases.

There’s an evocative album cover, I first saw it when I was kid, and the artwork, it might be a lurid, or might not be. (Montrose, Jump On It) Sexy and sexual without being sexy or overtly sexual. Perfect for puerile prurient minds. Suggestive in my mind, yet, not so much as to trip or trigger the right-wing, (neo) conservative Christian censors. Then look at the original release date, makes it even more interesting from a historical perspective.

Online, I flipped through the songs. Nice album cover. Not a song in the mix that was worth 99 cents, or 79 cents or $1.29, not to me.

Shop. Online, like I just did. Great way to use the Venus is Retrograde action, i.e., look and buy nothing.

Aquarius: I was looking at patterns for the coming year, and I was thinking about foundations. Sometimes, this can vary place-to-place, but I was thinking about an Aquarius foundation. The roots, the bedrock of the Aquarius existence. I used to fish every day. I lived on the lake in Austin, and it was easy. Still have lots of pictures left over from then. Big fish, little fish, a mythological five-pound bass. When I fished every day, the big deal was fishing line. I found that I would use line on one reel until the line itself got brittle, typically, after a few weeks of heavy use. Varied greatly, but as guideline, maybe every two weeks or so. Before big fishing trips, I’d wind up, spool up new line of the reels that were going with me. A little stronger line for inshore coastal fishing, a little lighter line for delicate bass in small lakes. All depends.

However, as a symbolic foundation element, perhaps the most important part of what connects me to the fish, there’s the fishing line. These days, I’m tending to use a medium monofilament line I buy in great spools. As a symbolic gesture, to get ready, I won’t get to fish for a few weeks yet, but as a symbolic, Aquarius gesture to the new year? This week? To start things out correctly? Get off on the right foot? Spool up some new line on the fishing reels. Symbolic, practical gesture, you know, since I might be fishing in the next month. Never hurts to be prepared. It’s how we start off our year, Aquarius. Symbolic new foundation. Or just making sure the existing foundation is sound. Put on some new fishing line.

Pisces: I was talking with a client, and I revealed that my father had a degree from prestigious engineering university. Further along, same conversation, I talked about my grandfather who had a degree from a prestigious engineering university. I also talked about the various schools where I was accepted (but opted not to go). Fairly impressive list, at the time. In high school, I scored higher in math than anything else. (98th percentile in one test.)

Technical stuff is fascinating. Numbers, theories, scientific process, all of that is of interest. However, I’ve also discovered that very hot chicks don’t like science. I didn’t say they all didn’t like it, but the numbers are better elsewhere. As a much younger man, that was more of a motivation. All that math and technical stuff is interesting to me, when it’s not required. I tend to do a lot of the computer work on my own site, first off because I find it interesting and secondly, because I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t fix something myself. I have, apparently, a genetic — as well academic — predisposition to this kind of technical stuff. As an astrologer, what I try to do is communicate what’s up ahead and translate the language of the planets into plain English.

What’s up for Pisces? There’s a body of knowledge that you’re conversant with, perhaps a field that you excel in like no one else. Your special, Pisces niche. It could be like me, part technical, part mathematical, part psychological. The Pisces psyche knows a lot of stuff. The point to this year is to create a working body of Pisces knowledge. Add a little structure to what you know. Maybe an appendix, or even better yet? An index to what you’ve got. Like, you know, a table of contents.

Aries: I worked a lot of Metaphysical Expos, frequently called “Psychic Fairs.” I was at one, late last fall, and there’s slightly provincial feel to this one event. Lady had her two kids with her. One of them? Young kid, missing his front teeth, sandy shock of unruly hair, he was trying to help out. He went around to all the tables and asked, politely, if we wanted coffee. I said, “Yes, black please.”

“It’s not black, it’s brown,” he stated matter-of-fact-like, then turned heel.

Hey, have to give him that one. He ferried a little styrofoam cup of coffee back and forth, serving me a total of three times. By about the fourth time, I realized he had no ‘off’ switch. He would keep feeding me — and everyone else who said “yes” to him — cups of coffee until something ran out. Or I floated away. Part of the scene was really cute, young kid, I’d guess five or six years old, but could be anything from three to ten. I asked his momma, he’s an Aries.

“No ‘off’ switch, yes, that’s right,” she affirmed then rolled her eyes.

When do you say, “Stop!” For me, it was that third cup of coffee. But I’m not an Aries. Unfailingly polite, giving, kind, and reading matters just exactly as they were.

Feeding us coffee.

When do you say, “Stop?”

Aries. Does it show?

Taurus: Some years ago, I was out right after Xmas with my mother and sister. Family, Xmas time, you get an image of that? I wandered into a cigar shop, to see if I could find a decent $2 cigar. The world would be a much nicer place if there were more two dollar cigars. Used to be a nickel. My sister and mother made faces, followed me in while covering their noses, making a bit of a spectacle. I dismissed their behavior and looked through the humidor.

Years later, I was with my mother and sister, after Xmas, shopping in a mall. We wandered into a “bath and boudoir” type of store, lotions, soaps, candles. Oh so many obnoxious candles. Apple-Old Spice-Peppermint/Vanilla/Wet Dog. It was an assault on my olfactory senses. A cacophonous display of all that is bad and should never mingle with one another.

Unlike before, in the cigar shop, I didn’t make an issue. I merely breathed through my mouth, making an effort not to sneeze or otherwise make a spectacle.

“Here, do you like the way this one smells?” (She popped open a candle and stuck it right under my nostrils.)

“Not really,” I replied, wrinkling my nose. Unlike my family members, I didn’t create a spectacle. I’m unsure what’s more harmful, too, the first-hand scents or the second-hand tobacco. This year, starting this week, but as a reminder, this year? Don’t make a spectacle. Leave the theatrical dramatic interludes to some other sign (Gemini and Scorpio come to mind) who are better able to deal with it.

Gemini: In Austin, I was in a busy chain restaurant. Waiter was a Gemini. I know, because I asked. I’m not shy about that. It wasn’t a busy supper hour, but it wasn’t slow, either. He was stacking empty plates from a recently vacated table, and he looked over. His one arm had a stack that was improbably tall and looked out of balance — about to crash. I signaled we were ready to order. He looked at me, my friends, and he said, “Let me just set these down.” One of the women with me suggested he could come back, but the little Gemini guy, he just unlimbered the stack of dirty dishes and pulled up to the table, fishing a pen out of his pocket, taking the order on his hand. He shrugged, “I keep stacking up the dirty plates until one of them falls, that’s the sign I’ve got too many,” and he rolled a shoulder at the dirty table behind him. Smiled.

While I applaud, and frequently use, a similar way to determine what the upward limits are? As a Gemini, for this year? This isn’t the most useful route to take.

“Stack them up until one of them falls,” isn’t that like, “keep pushing until something breaks?”

I do approve of this in some areas of my own life, keep smacking that offending part until it works correctly, this week, in Gemini, and as a tone for the rest of the year? You lack that touch to keep all the material juggled. If it looks close to a breaking point? Stop.

Cancer: At the back of the discount store, there’s a rack of clothes that are further discounted. I poke through there in hopes of finding useable (loud) print shirts. Example? I found a gorgeous emerald green, all silk, extra-large floral print shirt with hideous bright orange flowers on that dark green jungle-like motif. $3. Less than a monthly subscription to my site. With tax, it was still very cheap. I peeled out four singles and paid for the shirt, with some change left over.

I got to wear that shirt, maybe a half-dozen times before the buttons popped off, and the pocket drooped, and the size, there was something wrong with the size. Still, 6 times for three dollars. It’s a bargain.

Given the current state of Venus, and looking ahead, I’d suggest cheap. Cheap out. $3 shirts are good deals, even if the material doesn’t last that long. Still got my money’s worth. While the eye for soothing colors is on vacation? That doesn’t mean you can’t shop for cheap stuff that is tacky yet thoroughly useful.

The (mighty) Leo: One of my friends is a special Leo, well, aren’t Leo’s special? Anyway, she gets a triple-tall, skinny Vanilla mocha latte frappe, non-fat, with whip and two sweet-n-low, almost every time. Here, in the winter, it’s delivered hot. Depends, I suppose, but with the add-ons in that drink and against the chemical sweeteners, I have to doubt the efficacy of the solution.

The other side of the situation, though, she likes the drink, and it keeps her going. I can’t really say much, not hiding behind my dark and bitter “truck stop (esque)” coffee.

With Venus backwards, it’s about that works, what used to work, and what we can look forward to, as well. It’s about managing your resources effectively. Give it a pause before we jump into the new year. Give it a moment’s rest and notice. Think about that Frankenstein of a drink, so many weird parts. How about something simpler to start the new year?

“Coffee, black please.”

Virgo: I’ve tried a variety of color schemes, and I’ve tracked some of the results. In other examples, I’ve opted for what is easiest for me. I have a deplorable lack of good taste, but I know that. I’m well aware of my inept ability to pick and choose colors that go well together.

At one time, I even employed a color wheel color-picker. It was a tiny piece of software, really, based on an earlier mechanical device, that associated certain colors with typical customer responses, and the wheel also picked colors that go well together. Great idea. I’ve made two distinct changes, and I’m sticking with these plans for the foreseeable future: black and white. Instead of white text on a black page, which I used for the first decade, I swung around to black text, white page, simple type face, not too many bells and whistles. If any. Not too many moving parts.

I understand that this lack of style is just that, a certain lack of stylistic interpretations with no emphasis on design. Herein is the clue for my Virgo friends, or the Virgo part of any chart, this isn’t a year to make large, sweeping changes that include color. Fashion, design, all of that? Less is more. Simple is best, and completely unadorned? That’s where the real Virgo strengths shine through. Like just plain black text on a white page.

Libra: Not much of a problem for me, but this did happen, once. I left town and apparently I left some very ripe material in the trash can. Came home and the place smelled badly. Like something died. Which, think about it, might’ve been the case as there was partially rotting animal remains int he trash. Just glad it wasn’t fish, as that’s a smell I can do without on some days. Like just getting home from being gone for a week or more and realizing, I should’ve taken the trash out before I left. Add to this smelly equation the comment a buddy of mine made about her aging parents.

“My mom freezes the trash, no kidding,” she explained.

I thought about the comment, and then, the way my last place smelled after I rolled in from a week at the coast. I could see the value in taking a double-wrapped trash bag and tossing it in the copious yet strangely empty freezer. I mean, I’d do it if there was no food stuffs in there. Maybe. Part of this is about odd solutions and part of this is about doing something extra.

“Freezing the trash,” she said.

My other solution? With Venus backwards in Capricorn for the start of this year? Just take the trash out before you leave.

Scorpio: Late in the fall, here in South Texas, I was wandering, my pedestrian ways, I and saw something I don’t recall ever seeing before: a black butterfly. I mean, I’ve seen animations of black butterflies, and I’ve seen images, but I’ve never seen one up close and real. I tried to grab a photo, but I was fumbling with the camera, and not really getting what I wanted, and then the little critter flitted away. Might’ve been a moth, for all I know.

The black, mid-winter butterfly is the perfect analogy for Scorpio, for the year. Delicate, with a fragile beauty, and probably only observable at certain times, like Scorpio. Like this year for Scorpio. Like this week and then, as a tone for the year ahead. It’s a rare creature, and one that you have to be wary, and best bet? Probably won’t catch its beauty in the hazy shades of winter. Still, it’s there.

Took a great deal of luck, pure happenstance, and small amount of being in the right place at the right time. Then, too, it took me being observant. Saturn’s been riding Scorpio pretty hard. Can’t change that. But a little more observation, a little less judgement, and you’ll find a rare beauty like the Black Butterfly. Starts this week.

Sagittarius: Late this year, Saturn bumps into the first few degrees of Sagittarius. Like, December, more than 11 months away. Means we’ve got 11 months to clean “Our side of the street.” means we’re attempting to make sure that we’re not carrying a karmic mess into the next year. Means we’ve got a little less than a year to make sure our side is clean. I can’t clean up everyone’s mess, but I can insure that I don’t lie, cheat or steal, or get caught, for the next 11 months. New year, new start, clean break, fresh set of (something goes here) to start on, correct?

YES!

That means, as this week starts out, and as I was figuring out what meant what, I kept thinking about what I didn’t want to do. There’s a little bit of emotional housecleaning, like either an early spring cleaning, or a late start to get the new year oriented correctly? One of those. Call it what you want. Find that one emotional block and find a place to store it.