“Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but thou hast hazel eyes.”

Mercutio to Benvolio in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet [III.i.18-20]

Horoscopes by the Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 9.3.2015

Virgo:

Early in my career, I paid attention to what writers wrote about writing, which, if one isn’t careful, becomes a lot like self-indulgent mental-gloss. Not to be confused with mental-floss, a different concept, entirely. While I’ve only seen one or two of his movies, and never really consumed any of his books, Stephen King’s essays on writing, on the art — and craft — of writing, those have had a big impact on me. I’m not much interested in the genre of “horror,” getting enough of that in the real world from listening to clients talk about their lives, epic and otherwise. What the estimable Mr. King did was turn a psychosis, a nightmare, a real and palpable fear into a career. As Virgo, happy birthday, thought I forgot? As Virgo, there’s a very real fear you’ve got, and now, with Jupiter’s assistance, we can turn that fear into a marketable product. Is it a real fear? Is it a nightmare or a waking dream that’s dark fantasy? Is it something else? As Virgo, there’s very real feeling, and as Virgo, there’s ways to harness that energy, for good. Use it.

Libra:

I was digitally editing a short video, think home movies, and I was fast-forwarding through a clip. All the action was speeded up. Moved quickly, hyper-speed. I was just looking for a spot to stop the action of the video, wasn’t that exciting, as most of my home video isn’t going to be exciting for anyone but me. Boats, fishing, family images, nope, not really exciting stuff. As I was scrubbing through the video, though, I was thinking about Libra.

That “fast-forward” motion is what this week is like. As an airy (eery to some) Libra, there’s that sense of hurried expectancy, and the problem you’ll encounter is no one else shares that heightened sense of hurry. “We don’t get it.” There’s an urgency. There’s a need to get this done, like, now. There’s a sense that this is a goal that needs to be accomplished before this weekend, and no one else is sharing in your, very real, Libra sense of urgency.

That’s the problem. The way I see it? You’re like me, watching that video speed ahead at two, three times the normal rate. It’s the influence of Mercury, and now that you know? It’s OK if the rest of fail to understand the urgency — doesn’t make your Libra self any less correct.

Scorpio:

We’re fixin’ to say “Good Bye” to Saturn and his direct influence on Scorpio for a while. (11/11/2041) Saturn’s indirect influence will be there for a while. It’s all about what your Scorpio self does with this in the next week, two weeks or so. The Moon, Mars and Retrograde Venus add a punctuation to Saturn’s message for Scorpio.

“Deal with it.”

There’s one, last uncomfortable issue that needs your attention.

“Deal with it.”

The opposite side of the equation, the other side of the coin, the problem with not dealing with “it,” whatever that “it” is? It will be back to haunt us, our Scorpio selves, again and again, over and over, unless this is addressed and a solution is in place, in the next few days.

“Deal with it.”

Otherwise, let me know how that’s working, next time around with Mr. Saturn, 11/11/2041.

Sagittarius:

There’s a chain of used bookstores that I favor. I tend to think of the chain as a series of local establishments, but as a business, it’s great for me. Perusing the stacks is always fun, and then there are deals. I stumbled across a Latin textbook, and I didn’t need it. At the time, I pointed out I was buying something that was not needed and might never be used, but as a cool reference tome, it would look so good on my shelf. As it turns out, I’ve really accessed that book a number of times. Increasingly, it’s hard to find a reference that is out of touch with the web as it seems like the world’s libraries are available online. Which, to some extent, they are. However, as a Sagittarius, there are questions that the almighty Google can’t translate. So, the used textbook, it was a new/used book, a basic text for teaching the ancient tongue of Latin, that text has really proved to be useful for my trivial pursuits. To a non-Sagittarius, it looks like we’re meandering. However, as a Sagittarius, it’s not about meandering, but with the impending doom of Saturn looking at our immediate future? It’s about arcane and weird paths that lead us to valid discoveries. That Latin has actually helped my English grammar. Weird how this works, I started in a used book store.

Capricorn:

I asked the guy if he accepted cash, and he gave me a wan smile. “Here? We always take cash. Way this works, here? ‘Yes,’ to cash. At home? ‘No’ to cash.”

As a Capricorn, the logic might seem a little twisted, but it works out like this, if you’re at work, you accept cash, but if you’re at home? You don’t pay out cash.

Simple, binary way to work though this week’s energies. At work, we accept cash, but at home? We pay in karma points only, much safer, cleaner, and less troublesome that way.

“Here? We still take cash. At home? No, only credit.”

My question and subsequent comments started as a joke. Still, it managed to elicit a good way to deal with this week.

“Here? Cash is always welcome. At home? No, we just pay by check.”

Aquarius:

The “Trial Offer,” the Beta Copy, the “rough draft” version, all of these come into play with the Aquarius chart. Next few days are about rough, unfinished projects, ideas, concepts that are, as of yet, not fully fleshed out.

Haven’t sorted out the details. Not sure of the exact location of the new furniture. Not sure what color we’re going to paint the living room. Not sure what the new car will be, just some ideas.

I used to use a mechanical pencil for sketching out these ideas. It could be erased, the lines moved around, the stuff changed. As it happened, though, my sketched ideas? Instead of ever erasing that pencil line, I’d merely turn the page and sketch a new idea, a different wire framework, with the edits employed. I have several notebooks I can’t seem to throw away with those sketches of designs and stuff. Notes, spurious and important. Curious, more than anything.

As an Aquarius, this is a time to sketch the ideas. Broad strokes, big picture, blue sky, rough draft, first spin through. This next few days, these are about first efforts, not about finished plans. See what parts work. Throw a lot of material at the wall, see what sticks.

Pisces:

Got this one Pisces client, you can guess the birthday, and poor dear, in exquisite pain. Emotional pain, caused by a significant other. Or insignificant other, whatever wording seems to fit. Relationship issue kind of a thing, and that one Pisces? Stuck in a relationship that has a tawdry past, uncomfortable present, and realistically? No future.

However, of note, take heed, the present? Although there appears to be no clear future with this current situation, as I’m loathe to refer to it as a “relationship,” except, in all honesty, it is a relationship, however, in the present? The “Devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.”

If I can ease the Pisces pain, I would. What I can suggest is that this next week isn’t a time for great changes. “I was so sick of the other person, I am really better off alone.” Maybe. Maybe not.

Maybe don’t say “Goodbye,” unless you’re absolutely sure, beyond any kind of doubt, that it’s got to go.

Aries:

How good are you with details? I mean the nit-picking, minutest of fine-print, possibly microscopic in in size, sub-atomic particle sized details. How good are you with those?

“I’m good with details, well, broadly speaking.”

Therein is the problem and therein is also the answer. As Venus unwinds a little, and as we get started on new directions, and Mr. Mars? Your planet? He lends strength in the next few days, all of this? Sun’s in Virgo, recall? The typical Aries weakness, if there is such a thing, the typical Aries energy isn’t too interested in the finer points, the stupid, little niggling details. Just because you’re to usually interested? That doesn’t mean that the details are where it’s at for you, in the next few days. This next week, the weakness is details, and the strength, that comes from a willingness to go back over the finer points, the fine print, the point-by-point checks and see. Even a stupid typo can cause big problems.

“Let’s eat, Grandma.”

“Let’s eat Grandma.”

Details, “God is in the details,” and best the Aries go over those details about three times.

Taurus:

“Sit this one out.” It’s that simple? Yes, easy as can be.

“Sit this one out.” There’s an ongoing issue that isn’t working for you. There’s an ongoing issue wherein you can’t seem to win. There’s an ongoing issue where, despite your Herculean efforts, the best that a Taurus can put forward with brawn and strength combined, despite the best efforts? Nothing seems to work?

Here’s the solution: “Sit this one out.”

The pressure is from the Moon, Mars and Retrograde Venus, then, there’s a subtle push forward from both the Sun and Jupiter in Virgo. Good, bad, indifferent. Not all lefts fail, but there are days, weeks even, when sitting this one out? It gives you time to reflect, repair, and reiterate what needs to happen to get from here to there. There’s an opening coming, only, if you jump too soon? You’ll miss the opportunity. Easiest way to keep that from happening?

“Sit this one out.”

Gemini:

The ad was for “In-Ear Head Phones,” which, to me, looked just like earbuds. Fancy words, same item, looked like, exact same item. “In Ear Head-phones,” as near as I can tell from the images, are identical to ubiquitous earbuds. Same thing, same item, identical function, different name. The “In Ear Head Phones” cost much more than the earbuds. I’ve paid as little as 99 cents for a pair of earbuds. Weren’t very good, and I doubt I ever used those cheap earbuds as anything more than prop, like, it looked like I was listening to something to keep other people from approaching me. (Old ‘bus stop’ trick.)

Be willing to dig, then, for a Gemini, dig deeper. Have to see beyond the surface of the object. Dig below the veneer of the question. Are “In Ear Head Phones” really better than plain earbuds? Sounds pretty much the same to me, and that’s where we have to be extra Gemini careful in the next week, that fancy talk. Look at the picture and then get back to me if there really is a difference.

Cancer:

I started one project because it was an exercise to learn about a skill set I didn’t have. That was the “side project,” a photoblog from San Antonio, named BexarCountyLine.com. The original premise was just cheap, throw-away cameras and no digital manipulation. Over the years, I got to where I would use some filters and frames, just cheap phone camera stuff, and I wasn’t toying with the images more than an idle click and filter. No big deal.

It started when I would find one image I was in love with then I had to write out the story behind the image, where I was, what I was thinking, what my mind’s eye saw as I was taking the picture. Not a big deal, just observations. This week? In the Moon-Child’s sector of the sky? Tell us about the picture you were taking. Communicate about the image. It’s about what you were thinking as you were executing an image. What you saw in your mind’s eye is far more interesting than what you captured with that cell phone camera. With Venus in her apparent backwards motion? A picture may be worth a thousand words, but we need a thousand words — or more from Cancer to tell us what is was that you thought you were seeing.

The (mighty) Leo:

As I’ve toyed with several aspects of Zen, especially kind of a secular zen approach, there were three types of meditations. One, of course, is that traditional form, sitting zazen, in quiet contemplation, still, unmoving. Another is called “wall staring,” which, as the name implies, is about staring at a wall for an hour or three. One mediation retreat had everyone face the wall for about four hours. I don’t know if I could do that. Not four hours’ worth. Finally, the last one is called “walking mediation.” That’s a walk, in silence, preferably on a prescribed oval, but the act involves activity. Action, motion, not sitting still. With Mars where he is? And that pesky Retrograde Venus? The last kind of mediation is what is best. Some kind of activity, action, motion, direction, even if the direction appears to be circular. There’s an internal Leo voice that needs to be listened to, I’d like to think it’s the quietest of sound of a Leo kitten, to rely on the Leo imagery of cats. Little kitten voice, trying to speak to you. Try the walking meditation or some variation on the theme, see if that doesn’t work for making yourself heard.