Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us;
Therefore I have entreated him along,
With us to watch the minutes of this night,
That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

Marcellus in Shakespeare’s Hamlet 1.1.23-9

For help with the devastating hurricane and flooding? Please give to the Houston Food Bank.

Horoscopes for 9.7.2017

Virgo:

Happy birthday, honey! Yeah, yeah, know all about that Virgo thing. Mercury — and Mars — are setting up a wild ride, for all. Going to be a fun one. Going to get weird. Going to need all the help you can muster from the likes of me to help you make it through. Why I’m here for you, Virgo baby. The Hamlet quote is from the opening scene, ghost, walls of the castle, all of that. I’ve seen this staged a number of ways, but it’s usually dark, and the ghost is ghostly. Occurs before the sunrise, and that’s when a good Virgo, and you’re a good Virgo, that’s when the good Virgo should be up.

Midnight thoughts, midnight madness, or maybe, just midnight movies. Part, some or all of that. Consider that Mars is agitating and aggravating, and pushing you higher, further, faster — better — and Mercury is just adding a little extra editorial advice. Make it good.

Make it Virgo goodness.

Libra:

Ever listen to any “Ambient?” I’m not even sure I have the right category for that kind of material, and I would call it music, because it is sold — packaged — like typical albums. But I’m not sure what the stuff really is, and while I’ve heard the term, “Industrial,” I’m not sure that’s it, either. For now, I’m sticking with the term, “Ambient.”

The reason I was think about a musical genre that defies any kind of typical classification? There’s this weird echo in Libra. One of those ambient pieces cycled up, and I was thinking, there was a low rumble, and not exactly music, but as the sounds got layered in, one on top of another, there seemed to be a coherent pattern I was seeking. I wasn’t getting it, but even the simple background noises started to assemble into a — not quite a beat — but a general description started to emerge. Rather interesting stuff. This week is about conducting an ambient orchestra in Libra.

Scorpio:

This is a time that’s all about what we chose to show. What we decide is OK to let other see? As a Scorpio-compliant person I understand this, and I get how this works. It’s about what to reveal. For more than a decade, I toyed with digital photography, more as a lightweight hobby rather than a profession, just as a way to sharpen some of my skills. One of the most powerful tools was merely cropping images. What to focus the attention on, where the eyes are drawn, how this goes. Originally, I was going to use an example of some graffiti, old, downtown graffiti, and what I chose to display in the image? It was more tightly focused than the sprawling scene of the whole image. Thus, tightly focused, it was art.

With the planets where they are? This week is like looking at one of those images, where to crop, what to reveal, and what can be left out. Careful selection of what we choose to show, that’s the secret to Scorpio success. In my example, the editing takes almost no time — I know, it shows — but that kind of cropping, that picking what to display? Most important. Editing the image, just so that Scorpio only reveals as much as necessary.

Sagittarius:

While I’ve “toured” nationwide, I cut way back to just markets that I found sustainable. East Coast to West Coast, in the last few decades, I’ve made it all. However, the parts I like are local. Not far, not extreme, mostly my backyard. I get invitations to scurry further afield from time to time, and as a Sagittarius, we must consider the options. We’re getting business-related invitations to expand our horizons, but pause, with me, for a second. Let’s examine some of the new, improved, wonderful incoming data that suggests we — our Sagittarius selves — consider branching out, and expanding passed our current limits. As the planets unravel a bit, or get wrapped tighter, it’s that Virgo thing, you know, as the planets get wrapped a little tighter, consider, look at the emotional questions facing Sagittarius and think about them in business terms. Profit and loss, or loss and gain, or potential long-term investments, all like that. Life can’t be reduced to a ledger sheet, but as a way to think about it? It’s not a bad way to approach this — kind of clinical — but that works for this week’s Sagittarius stuff.

Capricorn:

For many years, I had a fascination with dictionaries. Books filled with words about words. Definitions. I liked a particular British dictionary, not so much for its British spelling, but because the definitions sounded just a touch different, not always more elegant, just different. This falls as a part of a serendipitous and meandering route I use to help improve my diction. I’ll never be a better writer, but I can improve my craft, so, yeah, dictionaries are my friend. Just one of the tools, and nowadays? It’s all online. Even easier, right? There’s a certain precision, and then, there’s a certain adjunct, associated with, or standing just a little to one side, kind of energy, present in Capricorn. Once this full moon is over, as it is now, then there’s this need to be more precise than before, and the easiest way to insure you’re doing this correctly? Look it up in the dictionary. Or online. But the dictionary, like my British dictionary? It provides a valuable resource, as it’s the words, just, you know, with a British accent and all.

Aquarius:

Before there was “blogging,” there were “web journals” that’s were organized along a chronological nature, usually with the most recent at the top. That’s where I started. Over the years, the processes and software tools greatly improved. The theory is, I can log in from anywhere, and update — or correct — any entry that is posted, or that will post. Pretty cool. Practically, I rarely proofread, after I’ve posted it. I tend to glance through what I’ve spit up and sailed out there, and let it go at that. I do tend, on some occasions, to cycle back and check. My informal blogging style, “Spit and post,” though, has problems with grammar, cohesion, and spelling. There’s not a lot wrong with my spelling, more my typing that’s to blame. As I toyed with the Aquarius material, I thought about a post I’d put up a day or two prior to this horoscope. At the very end, there was a typo, pretty typical of me, and I corrected it. While, as I’ve stated, I tend to not go back and correct? I did that time. Nothing wrong with one, last polish to make sure everything is perfect. Virgo Perfect. Groan. Sun’s in Virgo at the moment. As an Aquarius, one last Virgo–like polish is helpful. Look for that last mistake, you know, it’s a typo, not your spelling, that’s the problem. Make one last, uncharacteristic pass through the stuff, even if you’ve posted it already.

Pisces:

“No, just hear me out, I’ve got a good story….” Usually, yes, yes you do. Usually, there’s extenuating circumstances, evidence that clearly exonerates you, and a funny tale. Usually. Not so much, not this week. Probably not next week, either. Usually, you can worm, inch, connive, or otherwise wiggle out of this. See? Full Moon, then the tiny planets, Mars and Mercury, in Virgo?

That funny story, the anecdote, the little song and verbal dance that usually works? Not so good, not this week.

So instead of concocting an improbable tale that might not conform to all the facts? Instead of the excuses, normally have valid? As a lover of Pisces? Let me suggest you show up and take it like a person. Don’t try and duck out, and don’t try one of those takes that might, or might not be, aligned with reality as the rest of us know it. The tall tales and entertaining circumstances, the anecdotes? Might not be the best way to avoid those unpleasant outcomes, not this week. Show up and take your lumps?

Aries:

I love it when this happens, as you’re on the other side of this one. I had one Aries, and she argued with me about every prediction I made for her. Which was funny, to me, as watching her on Social Media, I discovered that most of the predictions came through, after a fashion, or after my style, anyway. So this week, it’s not my predictions, but an Aries drive in one direction and no one seems to be following you, arguing at each step and turn. Questioning, pointing out flaws in the usually unmistakeable Aries logic. Usually, you’re unassailable — usually.

“No, that’s not how this is going to go!”

My frequent comment? I’m willing to be wrong, but secretly, in this situation, this week? You got a Virgo, or Virgo–like energy questioning your every move. If you wait this out, you’ll find that you are correct. But you’re going to have to wait this one out.

Taurus:

Made famous by a movie, I still am vastly amused by the difference between “rules,” and “guidelines.” To me, rules are etched in stone, like laws, while guidelines are amorphous and subject to broader interpretations.

Rules are big this week. Listen to the rules. There’s one legal aide who will argue that all man made rules, like man made laws, those are all subject to interpretation, ask any lawyer.

Pay attention to the rules as this week holds a few surprises, and trying to creatively interpret the rules, that doesn’t work. These aren’t guidelines. Rules. Follow the rules.

Gemini:

A fishing buddy’s kid is — I don’t know — 2? 3 years old? The kid’s response to everything at this juncture in its wee life?

“No.”

Doesn’t matter the question, the request, or the command, the response, the first response is, “No.”

I can access the kid’s chart, and looks and see what the source is, but I usually just write it off as “Kid testing limits.” As a Gemini, though, I kept thinking of that little kid telling me “No” at every turn. Reminds me of the Gemini experience at this moment.

“No.”

Yes, is rather a better answer, but that, as soon as the Full Moon is over, which is now, then there’s a sense that everything is “No.”

My trick, and I’m suggesting that Gemini think about this one, what would be a question that the kid can’t say, “No,” to?

Hint: want some candy? Or some similar, impossible to resist enticement.

Cancer:

Looking out the window, it looked nice enough outside. I figure, a quick spin to fetch up some coffee would be a great idea. Not a lot, just a little iced afternoon beverage. Looked like it was partly cloudy, not much breeze, and the closest place is what, a mile a way or so? Easy, afternoon chance to stretch my legs between appointments.

No sooner do I set than the clouds scoot off one direction, and that old Texas sun, it’s still rather warm out, that Sun just fries me. What I fell for? The looking out the window part of the equation, looked cool enough. What didn’t work? The real part of stepping out and hiking off for a break.

Perception: it’s “Fall,” so it will be cool, looked cool outside, when I checked. School’s started so, it has to be cooler outside, right?

I live in South Texas. It is cooler by only by a few degrees. Not so much that I would notice, and that’s the lesson — again — for the Moon Children. Looks cooler outside, but until you’ve walked out there, there is no way to know. Looks can be deceiving, especially now the full moon is over.

The Leo:

All good relationships have certain elements at their foundations. For some, it’s shared memories, or shared obligations. Gifts, mementos, or experiences — sometimes, usually, it’s some combination of all of that. There are foundation elements. This week emphasizes those foundation elements. One buddy tried my trick of a card. Didn’t work because it was plainly a contrived element. He does flowers, at regular intervals. Not really good with the concept, though, he does have it worked out. I used to text him, every February 13. I used also drop him an email before his wife’s birthday, reminding him. These are pieces of foundations that make good relationships last. I have a vendor who sends me an e-mail with notes and ideas, each week. Just filler material, really, but a welcome break, and the weekly e-mail extends our relationship.

So the idea tends towards romantic relationships, but it can be any type of relationship, and those foundation elements. As Venus makes a slight but foundation-type angle to some other stuff? Think about those little things that speak volumes. Take some action. Take some gentle, probably noticed at the moment, action.

Me? I’ll buy flowers.