- “He has been yonder I’ the sun practising behaviour to his own shadow.”
- Shakespeare’s 12th Night [II.v.16-7]
Horoscopes by the Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 1.22.2015
Aquarius: Happy Aquarius, Happy Mercury in Retrograde, happy — insert something that makes sense to you. There’s some interesting material floating around, not always “bad,” as some would have you believe, but needs some kind of attention. This week is a renewal process. It’s about looking over something you thought you covered, but it needs more help. A fresh way of looking at what was once perceived as an old problem.
The last few days of this January are all about figuring out what “new year’s resolution” wasn’t such a good idea, after all, and then, the next great idea? Figure out how to adjust this over the next month so it serves our happy little (Mercury Retrograde) Aquarius selves fine. Adjust and then, maybe, adjust again.
Pisces: The playoffs were fresh in my mind when I was working on this horoscope for my dear Pisces friends. Exciting race, good competition, “Did you see the one,” and so forth. Got the right idea, now? Mars, and by the end of this week? Along with Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius? Venus will be in Pisces. What that’s going to do?
Playoff quote. “How’d we win? We scored more points than the other team.”
In itself, that’s circular and pointless; kind of of obvious, too. However, with the planets where they are, the way they are? Consider that the way to get ahead is to “Score more points than the other team.” It’s that simple. That’s the little secret to success in these next few days, want to win? We all want Team Pisces to win, so if you want to win? Score more points than the other team. How? Depends on how you play the game, but looking at the bold statement, first? Whatever it takes. Mars, and eventually, Venus will be on your side. Score more points in order to win.
Aries: Mark Twain is credited with suggesting that nothing is louder than a well-timed pause. As a Sagittarius, myself, I can’t comment on the well-timed pause because I’m not good at shutting up. Been around me, and you’ll notice that. I do tend to be loquacious. I tend to get along with my Aries friends rather well. I just adore Aries females. That’s a different story best left to other venues, I’m sure. However, that doesn’t stop me from liking Aries, and trying to come up with a good way to say this, “A well-timed pause is louder than anything else.” With the planets thusly arrayed, Mars in Pisces, Mercury retrograde in Aquarius and Uranus in Aries? Jupiter in Leo? All of that adds up to a pause. A well-timed pause. As an Aries, maybe if I convert this to an action item, the pause? Hold up a single finger, to signal you’re about to say something.
Pause.
Just give that a few extra beats before you speak, if you speak at all. Might let the other person interrupt your pause. Makes you look good. Better, even. Pause and then let someone interrupt you. Recall that Mercury is, indeed, retrograde.
Pause.
Taurus: Saw a sticker not long ago, wrote it down as it was funny, and perfect, for a time like this.
“Mercury Pro Team.”
Consider the places I frequent and consider that this probably has to do with a “Mercury” brand of boat motor. Still, I like the idea, and I liked the idea that there was a “pro team” for times like these. As a Taurus influenced person, times like these are all about get the professional assistance that you want and need to move you forward.
To move us all forward, but especially with Taurus and Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius? The most expedient route is to enlist the whole team. Friends, enemies, cohorts, compadres, the usual lists of suspects, right? You’re going to need your “Mercury Pro Team” to make it work. So, to make it work? Gather the forces, get the team together.
“We’re putting the band back together.”
Gemini: Mark Twain had a novel way of dealing with a habit of smoking too many cigars. He limited himself to just one cigar a day, at bedtime. According to his written notes, though, that one cigar grew larger and larger until it was the size of a crutch. Twain then claimed he quit trying to quit.
Limits. This is about limits, and trying to stick to Gemini limits, perhaps self-imposed limits will probably not bear fruit.
You know the drill, right?
Cancer: Think about cheap ways to decorate. One place I lived, old East Austin, in that place, I took a piece of a tablecloth, tacked it up over the wall, cheesy look, pinkish tablecloth, probably not even real “cloth” but combined polymer/plastic threads, and I used that swatch of pink material to serve as a decoration. Enhanced the look of the place. Made everything seem better. Cheap, did I mention it was the price of three thumbtacks?
Low-cost, easy way to adorn, or brighten, or make the colors pop, or whatever it is that the designers are now calling it, just a cheap shot at making everything look a little better. Reused material. Nothing new, just recycled. At that place, it was a quick, simple solution that made the old barrio home look slightly better — this was when “East Austin” was a “bad neighborhood.” It’s all upscale, now. That apartment building was plowed under to make room for fancy, expensive high-rise developments. However, in my time, that was the best example I could think of for the Moon Child and dealing with the Mercury (backwards in Aquarius) and the incipient onset of Mars and Venus collusion in Pisces. Cheap, easy, no-cost (temporary) decorations. And adornments.
The (mighty) Leo: In films, on TV? There’s the “Establishing shot.” I was thinking about this while watching a TV serial that was set on an airplane, but the cabin layout of the plane was one model and the plane in the picture? Different model. Nitpicking details, sure, but that also meant that the establishing shot wasn’t good enough, and that the continuity suffered. Or someone didn’t care enough for details. The “establishing shot” is a technique for quickly setting the stage. Image of an airplane, jetting forward, high over the clouds. Next image? A row of passenger seats. See how that establishing shot works? As a Leo, I imagine you with a grand entrance, a mane of hair, flowing backlit and with the wind in your face, as the Leo establishing shot.
With Mercury Retrograde opposite you? Disheveled, with the wind at your back and the sun in your face, the opposite of what makes for a good shot, and then, the camera doesn’t take off any weight, it seems to add it. Doesn’t stop this from being a grand, Leo the Magnificent Entrance, just means you don’t feel good about that establishing shot. Wouldn’t be too worried, it’s staged, anyway.
Virgo: I was at a business meeting, luncheon kind of event. I needed to make a few notes, more about what I was thinking and less about rubber chicken plus boring speakers. I did have a few ideas. I flipped over the page, and I jotted down some disconnected thoughts. I worried that the woman seated next to me might watch and be curious, but I couldn’t be too worried.
Besides, few people can really read my handwriting, sometimes, that includes me. Those notes, this is a Mercury is still retrograde in Aquarius exercise, those hand-scratched words are the basis for this week’s material. As a Virgo, or addressing Virgo, there are a ton of good ideas that come from rubber chicken and boring speakers. Stale coffee, and the lingering aroma of cigarette smoke. Jittery nerves, and an over-active imagination. All of this plays into the Virgo hand. Hand-scratched notes, scraps of paper, real, or illusionary, but still, the idea is the concepts are there, the collations and ways to work around this are currently present. The goal? Jotting this down so you don’t forget about it in the future.
Libra: One of my short Libra friends was bemoaning the effects of the Saturn in Sagittarius balanced against Mercury in Retrograde. “Cowboy hat. I always get stuck behind some guy wearing a cowboy hat.” Which would make for an awkward situation, as the gentle Libra doesn’t really want to say something like, “Hey, take yer hat off, you big doofus.”
The cowboy hat is fairly common in my world, not a big issue, to see one, but the common decency, especially when there is a short Libra standing behind you? The common decency would be to take the hat off. Regrettably, this should be highly allegorical, but regrettably, this week’s planets suggest there will be a person in front of you with a big cowboy hat on. All of my redneck friends would have the common decency to take the hat off for the little Libra. Again, given where the planets are? You’re probably not going to be behind on of my decent friends. Inconvenient? Yes. Deal-Breaker? No.
Scorpio: One of the internet memes I picked up not long ago? “We have to label what goes in our mattress, why don’t we have to label what goes in our food?” I’m not prepared for the non-GMO debate, but I do tend to buy local and organic as much as possible. I’m a big fan of locally-sourced food, but that’s not what this is about. This is different, for Scorpio. The tag line I was thinking of, and every time I saw that meme come around, all I could think of was this one Scorpio, “If we have to label what goes in our mattress, shouldn’t we have to label what goes on our mattress?” I guess that my simple substitution says more about me than it does about Scorpio, but think a little deeper.
This is about contents. This is about what is in the products you’re using. What is in, maybe on, but mostly, what’s the list of ingredients, and from whence did they originate? Me? I’m Hundred percent Texan, all organic, non-alien life form, despite what some folks will say, and I’m pure native. Not always of this world, but that’s different question. Many years ago, I delineated the source of my material, my roots, and my prejudices. No hiding, that’s me, fully transparent. As a Scorpio, this isn;t about you being transparent, this is about you reading the label and looking at the contents, and then, the ingredients that make up the contents. Not just the contents, but where did those ingredients come from? This isn’t a whole different from the mattress label, ever read one of those? Not unlike my own fine print
Sagittarius: There’s a little diner-esque restaurant* I tend to favor in Corpus Christi (TX). It’s definitely a “home-style,” redneck joint. Roughnecks, retirees and coastal refugees seem to be the customers. There’s a model train track that runs around the top of the dining area, with the model rail cars carrying ads. The things that I notice? There was an ad for a church, then a hospice organization, then the next car in the row? Funeral parlor. Church, hospice, funeral. Three toy train cars in a row, and it just made me wonder a little bit, about the placement. Was that intentional? Like me, I am Sagittarius, but like me, I tend to only “advertise” for products and services that I like. Stuff I use and love. “I approve,” should be the note. That made me wonder about the placements of the signage along the toy railway line. Church, hospital, grief counselor, funeral place, all in one line. Part of this could be my bleak sense of humor these days, but I think, as we get comfortable with Saturn’s presence, we have to found the obtuse amusement where we can. Like the ads next to each other.
- *Andy’s
Capricorn: Spend enough time “On The Road,” as it were, and I develop an eye for the obscure. It was an empty 18-wheeler, painted bright “pepto-pink.” Going the other way, down an isolated stretch of highway. Flatbed, empty behind the big cabin and commanding view of the road. I never saw the writing on the side, the lettering saying who — or what — was inside. I just leapt to a conclusion that a pink cab-over would be a female driver, and my experience with female drivers, while limited at best, is sort of narrowly defined in broad terms because, on the road, as it were, seems to be a last bastion of manliness. So it’s a strong-willed woman of a certain demeanor and behavior, with a particular skill set.
My assumptions got me thinking about this problem in Capricorn, with Mercury in its errant behavior where he is. From a quick glance at a truck, heading the other direction, I spun a whole tale of a driver, gender, hair color, clothing she wore, all out of nothing. No substance to my supposition, at all. Herein is the problem: spinning something out of nothing.
It was a very pink truck.
