Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer’d blows;
Strength match’d with strength, and power confronted power:
Both are alike, and both alike we like.

Hubert in Shakespeare’s King John 2.1.329-31

Sun enters Cancer — June 20, 2017 11:24 PM (Austin, San Antonio), but first? New Moon in Gemini.

Horoscopes for 6.15.2017

Gemini:

Much as I adore my little Gemini friends, always better looking and quicker-witted than other signs, but as much as I adore them all? We’re all headed towards a great big, “I told you so” situation, and as the Gemini, you can easily see this coming — coming right at you. I’m not one who can talk about denial as a valid escape mechanism. Denial has been a life-long companion and possibly an inherited family trait — a survival mechanism — a mental process. Nope, I’m not one who can complain or agitate about denial. However, the Gemini stuff in your chart, and the birthdays in the next few days? Careful with denying that there is a problem. The trick is, when you hear yourself saying, “No way!” That’s the first clue. Like this, “No way! I don’t have a problem with that!”

My guess is that there’s an element, a situation, an action, a forgotten deed left undone, and it’s back to haunt you unless, of course, you tackle the task.

“No way!”

Yeah, way.

Cancer:

Years ago, in various travels, I picked up a couple of books, novels, in the UK. Nice cover art, funny stories, and the problem? Those novels would never sell well in America. Either too esoteric, too dependent on local mythology, or overburdened with Northern European historical references. Greatly amusing, to me, and as I passed those books around to friends? “Yeah, I just didn’t get it.” In part, I first read the books while in the UK, and in part, I have an affinity for the material, plus a little better working knowledge of some local mythology, absent, perforce, from a typical American.

What this is about? Stuff that doesn’t translate well. Material that might be too localized to be transferred with any degree of success. While I thoroughly enjoyed the novels, the local references, and material that anyone living in, say, London, would know as if it were fact, that doesn’t always convey.

Cancer: Here’s the challenge to this week’s weirdo energies. I thought those novels were funny. They sold well in the UK. Begins, and ends, right there. Separated by a common language, the material does not convey. Understand that this week is like those novels, great stuff, we (you and me) get it, and maybe, maybe a whole bunch of your friends “back home” don’t understand. We’ll just have to enjoy it ourselves.

The Leo:

The beautiful aspect of the nature of electronic distribution of material? Whole seasons, whole series from the “Golden Age” of Television are available, online. As a historical artifact, some of this material is well-worth The Leo’s time to watch some. Look at the social mores, from that time. Words and situations that weren’t permitted on the screen, at the time? Much of that has changed. There were some series that pushed at the limits, but not much. Most of the material is just, like, totally wholesome, in a kind of white bread way. Online, in just the last few years, the medium has changed, the landscape is dramatically different. What was risqué, or questionable, before? Nowadays? Seems like that’s commonplace, even mundane. Some cry this is the end of civilization as we know it, as the fabric of society descends into anarchy. Others claim this is the democratization of the modern world, making everything free for all. Too many limits? No limits? Or, as I was just addressing, the way the fabric of society has changed. For good or for ill? We don’t have a ruling on that, not yet, whether it’s better — or not. But we do have some Leo directions: be aware that the social mores are constantly in flux. Check your Leo self and then adjust, as need be to the new standards.

“Ah crap, I didn’t know you could say that now,” which is why I suggested we adjust.

Those old TV shows give a good way to juxtapose current standards to what they were — back then.

Virgo:

While, I realize a few of you aren’t so tidy, still, there’s a perfect order to the Virgo mind. Me? I’ve always been a bit of a slob, but I tend to be tidy. This week’s planets carry a message for Virgo: get tidy. If you are a super clean-freak Virgo, then be your usual self. If you are, however a more human, possibly humane Virgo? Not quite that super freaky clean person? This is a good time to tidy up. There’s a difference, though, between a thorough cleaning and just “Tidying up.” Make a pass through whatever it is — the space that is most important right at this moment — pause, look around. Straighten the books on the shelves. Pick up that stack of papers and square the corners. Not big stuff. At home? I pull the covers up on the bed. In the summer, I Just keep a light cotton blanket on the bed, and all I do? Tidy, right? Just pull those covers up and smooth the surface. Not a big deal.

Keyword for your week? Tidy. Not super-clean, unless, you know, it’s surgical. Not metaphorically surgical, for real kind of situation that should be sterile and clean. Otherwise? Just tidy.

Libra:

Discussing the plot of one book, with a Libra, we realized that we want characters like that in real life. In the thriller novel, the protagonist, the main dude, he always had something prepared. Like, in a situation he needs a back-up firearm? It’s there, right where he stashed it, unbeknownst to either character who gets shot, or reader. See this in movies, too, as there’s usually a back-up plan in place, just we don’t know about until later. As a Libra reader, as some who is watching the show, reading the book? We’re pulled right along. In the real world, though, very few people have such a back–up plan in place.

The “preppers” do, but the rest of us? Maybe not not so much.

Now, if you really do have “Deus Ex Machina” in place, sure, that’s great? Otherwise? Be a little prepared to have to backtrack in order to escape the situation. Or go over previously covered material because someone else, a non-Libra character, just isn’t getting it. Unless, of course, you knew about that about three years back and prepared.

Scorpio:

There’s this one Scorpio girl I know, all Goth, all the time. I don’t know for fact that her underwear is all black, with skulls and daggers, read thread for blood, but it’s a good guess. Her nail polish is black. Her nails are filed to a point. Skull rings, only silver jewelry, and only blood–red rubies or black diamonds. She’s really kind of sweet, but don’t tell her I said so. For her, shopping and buying appropriate attire is easy, all comes in one color: black.

For her? This is a great week. Only one color choice: black. However, for the rest of the Scorpio population, for the folks who have more than one color choice? With Venus, governs beauty, tastes and so forth? With Venus in Taurus? This next couple of days are not a good time to buy apparel. Or make any kind of a decisions based upon style and color considerations.

Unless you’re like the one Scorpio, who, as far as we all know, she only picks one color: black. That’s easy. Midnight black, bottom of the ocean black, deepest throes of space black, inky darkness of Kramer’s soul black, all of that works. But that’s about it. Anything else? Delay that decision process.

Sagittarius:

Great big, “I told you so,” just up ahead, this next couple of days. Want to circumvent that problem? Stay late. Put in an extra half-hour, just ironing out details that are usually left to a Virgo or someone. Managers and their ilk? Sure. Details that are best left for other people? Best if we tend to it ourselves. Hardly ever hear about a Sagittarius being accused of being micro-manager, I tend to think, “We’re ‘big picture’ people, am I right?” Or what? I didn’t suggest we lose focus on the big picture, like always, our idealism and internal moral code drives us ever forward. However, there are some details which we cannot, under any circumstances, assume that someone else will take care of, not this next few days. Especially not these next few days.

Failure to heed my warning?

“I told you so.”

Capricorn:

I will, on certain occasions, hire a fishing guide. I was fishing with a new guy, highly recommended, but he didn’t know me. We were bay fishing, and he starts out with the drill, “Life jackets are there, poles with ‘fish on’ take precedent, and have you ever bay fished before?” I didn’t say anything, just shrugged my shoulders. I mentioned bass fishing in Austin, suggesting that was about it. The guide, not knowing who I was, started out with basics and proceeded to be impressed that I was such a quick learner with a fishing pole in hand. Pictures, I’m sure, are on the web someplace, me with a few fish, the bay in the background. Which, at the end of the trip was funny, to me, as he takes credit cards, like all of us do now, and when I handed him my debit card, there’s a picture of me, with a great big Redfish, and the Texas Gulf in the background.

I hired that fishing guide because I’m willing to learn new tricks and techniques. I fished with him to help make me a better fisherman. That goal? Accomplished. I never said I didn’t know what I was doing, I just let him infer that I was a rank amateur — better that way, if I can play it right. From a solid grounding in basics to a few advanced ideas, plus, a special way to bounce bait on the bottom? Pictures — me with fish — speak for themselves. That new technique, and new locations, and maybe,a new way to find more fish? All I did was listen.

Capricorn: How much of a student can you play? I didn’t say to lie, but maybe don’t reveal your hand too quickly and learn some new tricks.

Aquarius:

One “summer vacation,” I took a spin at week-long seminar that was supposed to help a number of areas of my business. A week of vacation, spent in workshops and lectures, absorbing material, listening, thinking, taking notes, and trying to learn some new tricks. Was it successful? Partially. Did I benefit from the experience? In a rather grand way, although, I was out for both the cost of tuition and the time spent at the seminar. Plus food, lodging, and so forth. Back to the question, was it worth it? I have to give a very positive review. Well–worth my investment, both monetary and time–wise. Well worth the time and energy. There was less material that I had never been exposed to, solidifying the notion that there is nothing new under the summer sun, and the real experience came from putting all that I do know together in a heap. “There’s this technique for this…” Already know it. “There’s this skill set which fits with that technique, like this…” I never saw it like that. Some of that I knew, but I never put the two together. Which is why it was a good experience for me.

So this is about review, revision, and repurposing some of what you already know. This is not new stuff to the Aquarius, but this kind of review, right now, it helps your Aquarius self to realize just how much you already do know. As summer starts to unfold, don’t be afraid of seminars, workshops, and conventions that help prove to you what you already know.

Pisces:

There is a rigid dichotomy in the current Pisces planets. On the one side is good. On the other side is bad. There’s a way to work through this, as — I can cite several sources — there is neither “good” nor “bad,” but how the nature of the situation is approached.

Other terms, besides the frankly subjective terminology of “good” and “bad?” Challenging, and possibly disconcerting, but no, not really “bad.” Like, in fiction, I expect the bad guy to do bad things because that is true to his nature, and he’s moving the plot forward by doing bad things. Likewise, the good guy rides in and fixes stuff, correcting the bad things. True to his nature, that good guy. This week in Pisces, though? There’s split between “good” and “bad,” and there needs to be some care taken, a little caution exercised before pronouncing some action, some person, some situation, before calling it either “good” or “bad.” That’s the dichotomy, and that’s the split to this week’s weirdness stuff.

Pisces? Maybe hold off on that judgement call, the split energies will resolve next week, and the anti-hero will emerge, victorious. Then. Not yet.

Aries:

It was one of the freezing-cold hotel/motel ballrooms, where, come to think of it, I’ve spent way too much of my adult life. Professionally. So I had two kids sitting in front of me, little boy was an Aries, 8-10 years old, at the time, and this was recent. His lean sister just hit a growth spurt and she’s a few years older. Boy–child, Aries, he was rowdy, and he kept coming at his sister, while she chatted with me. He would come up behind her, and try to wrestle her out of the chair, and she would calmly reach up or reach backwards, pull him into a headlock of sorts, and calmly, keep conversing with me. The Aries would eventually squirm free, and then double-back with renewed sense of purpose: take down the sister. She would calmly, without so much as giving it a second thought, feel along with her hands until she struck head, ear, body parts, and just as calmly as before, wrestle him into a locked position, effectively rendering her baby brother motionless. The little Aries child would squirm, eventually giving up, surrender completely, and then, she’d let him go. Only to repeat the interaction, the perceived war and wrestling match, again. I wasn’t thinking of Aries as Aries, but the older sister. Calmly, patiently, effectively, disarming her baby brother an rendering him motionless, eventually. Every time. That little Aries boy came at his sister three times while she was sitting there, chatting with me. Fight, struggle, wrestle — and lose? Three times over? With one would you rather be? Imitate the actions, the solidly amused defensive actions, of that older sister. Much better than fighting battles that, seriously, no amount stealth, can win.

Taurus:

Funny mix-up, to me. I forwarded a joke, a list of jokes, to a buddy who maintains an email joke list. Only joke list I want to belong to as he moderates it pretty well. Plenty off-color, culturally insensitive material, but like I suggested, the list is heavily moderated. Not exactly bi-partisan, but close enough. The humor is not all one–sided, either. One of my family members forwarded me a list of political quotes, ostensibly made by Texas politicians, including the famous, “I say that with all humidity,” a famous remark by a certain speaker. One of the quotes had a misattribution. Buddy shoots me back a quick note, “Amazed that you missed this one — he’s from Texas” commentary.

Quick possible responses that run through my head? One, it’s a joke list, I don’t clean it up, just forward. Two, I tend to fact–check material I’m held responsible for, nothing else.

Or, three? It’s a humor list. Some stuff is made up and not worth getting my knickers all knitted up in a bunch.

Taurus? Number three.