Good Lord, what madness rules in brain-sick men,
When for so slight and frivolous a cause
Such factious emulations shall arise!

King Henry VI, in Shakespeare’s Henry 6 pt. 1 (IV.i.112-4)

Questions are always free, some answers require a cash deposit. E-mail is always “on.”

Horoscopes for 8.2.2018

The Leo

Not long ago, I had a wish sandwich. That’s two pieces of bread, and I wished I had some meat. Honestly, I wasn’t really wishing for the meat, or the meat by-product that is used in most packaged luncheon meat (like) slices. The other afternoon, hungry after working and drinking coffee all morning on an empty stomach, I rummaged around the ice box and came up with BBQ Chili, cheese (like) slices, and some leftover hot dog buns. I fixed a chili cheese dog only there was no hot dog. Just chili and some cheese (like) substance on top. I’m unsure of the cheese-like substance, unsure of its real provenance. These are two examples of making do with a little less. To an average person, it would seem that I was making something and missed out on getting everything. In both examples, though, that was exactly like I intended it to come out. Just sliced bread, spread, and nothing else. Or the hot dog bun, with chili and cheese on top. No hot dog.

Consider the plans for the day, for the week, for The Leo, what’s ahead. Consider, too, some combination — I used my lunch at home as an example — consider a plate like that. Some, but not all, of the ingredients. To an outside observer, it looks like you forgot something. To me, with a knowing nod to The Leo, we both acknowledge that you intended it this way.

It’s a Mercury is Retrograde thing.

Virgo

I rarely wear cowboy boots except on the coldest of days and “State Occasions,” which — to me — are defined as “marrying and burying.” South Texas is warm most of the time, makes it easier. So when I slip into cowboy boots, it’s always a bit of transition. Think I’m down to only one or two pair of boots, too. Like it like that, less is more. One for dress up and one for work. My cowboy boots tend to have all-leather soles. Slippery when wet. Or slippery on certain floor surfaces like the polished marble in that one lawyer’s office.

Balancing on the balls of my feet, I was able to slide across that polished marble floor. Looked great, a glissade, perfect delivery.

Me, being Sagittarius, your Virgo self just knows that this will end with a pratfall. Comic to some, kind of hurt as I didn’t land gracefully on my hip, and the lawyer? He smirked, then pointed out he was the wrong kind of lawyer to represent me in a slip and fall case. Besides, honestly? I launched my self into that slide. The glide was graceful. The abrupt end wasn’t.

“It’s not the falling that gets you; it’s the sudden stop at the bottom,” to paraphrase another, similar ideal.

However, me, the boots, trying to slide along the marble floor, and unceremoniously winding up on my butt? There is a caution for this week’s Virgo stuff: the glissade, the glide, the slide? Looks good. Careful about your Virgo dismount, or you will join me as a crumpled heap on the floor.

“I’m ok, just my pride.”

Libra

The way I heard the story, the example was drawn from a typical breakfast platter. Bacon and eggs, nominally something everyone is familiar with. The definitions were about “committed” and “involved.” For Libra, this about relationships and the terms are worth paying close attention to, as the breakfast example?

Bacon and eggs. With that as a breakfast, the pig is committed, whereas the chicken is merely involved. With Mercury in its pattern and Mars, doing its thing, sure there are questions. The littlest of details are good to work with. The question, moving through this week’s Libra charts? The question is about relationships — and where we all stand. Committed or just involved? To a human form, this doesn’t mean too much, as there are shades of differences, but to the breakfast platter, as the example, there is a big difference.

There is emotional shading and coloring to this week, and there is a strong possibility that something gets confused, and there is a huge hint that this is in the Libra relationship arena. Individually, it might vary, but the question remains, “committed,” or merely “involved?”

Scorpio

Since I work on these scopes a little in advance, it was the middle of June, and I was looking at a fishing buddy’s daughter. “Make sure you tell your daddy how happy I am he helped make you.” I got that five-year old, or six, I don’t know, some age, she gave me a look. Kids say the strangest things, weirdest observation, and that one kid, I tend to rely on her for the best stories. She’s really a good source of data. “I think my mommy did all the work.” I did not post that comment along to her daddy, as we do fish, and I’d like to keep it that way. However, as a child’s observation, looking at what is happening, even now, in respect to Scorpio planets?

Anyway, in that particular family unit, other than odd weekends with me, and even then, not too often, my buddy is very hands-on Dad. I get a little weird about it because my buddy seems to be more emotionally present for his kids than what I’m used to seeing. Totally good, just different. So despite what the kid says, about mommy doing all the work? There is parity. However, for this week’s Scorpio? Realize that some little voices might dispute that claim. Nothing to worry about.

Sagittarius

Heirlooms and mementos, what has value? What carries deep, Sagittarius-specific, value? This is a time to question what our Sagittarius selves value. What surfaced were some material, family crap that’s been passed, generation to generation, and I have to question the value of what’s there. Is the item in question imbued with magical, spiritual powers, passed down from generation to generation? I tend to think — on a grand scale — that families are all tied together with karma, past lives, ex-wives, and cosmic experiences.

What holds value, be that sentimental, material, perhaps a cash value, or just memories that might otherwise be forgotten? Because I prefer a slightly more ascetic lifestyle to some of my friends — and clients — not to eschew comfort, but to be more minimalist than most? I have one, now two plastic bins with old photographs. There are a few books of dubious value but the careworn exterior suggests much reading and handling. That’s about it. No jewelry of note, I’ve even lost or tossed most of my own fishing lure earrings, and there’s not much that matters. A few books, and some tattered photographs, the real, printed kind, safely stored in plastic. Even then, some of those photos have been digitized and posted on the web, to live — forever.

Rather than pick a specific direction for this week’s errant energies, there is a question, instead, slightly philosophical to some, annoying to others, but the question for the week? “What has value?” And by extension?

“What has value in our Sagittarius lives?”

Capricorn

One of my favorite “Mercury is Retrograde” options is to reevaluate a situation.

Pretty simple, as an idea, and really, not too difficult as proposition for my little Capricorn friends. This week’s favorite expression?

“Give it a pause.”

I am totally unsure of how this will come out. I’m unsure of the individual Capricorn goals. I am very sure that taking time to reevaluate a position, a situation, a stance, a particular project? Taking time to reevaluate where you stand, in respect towards the successful completion of the goal, getting it across the line, scoring, winning, whatever the matter is, the one that bears up under scrutiny? Close Capricorn inspection? Reevaluating the target, next couple of days, taking time to pause and look at the direction, goal, means to accomplish the stated goal, how this all works together, the steps you want to follow and then, what is practically possible? There is no time better than the ,momentary planetary pause you’ve just got, no better time to stop and figure out what you’ve got, how much you need, what tools are required, do you have enough fuel? Stop for food? Would a beverage be appropriate?

astrofish.net/mrx

Capricorn: One of my favorite “Mercury is Retrograde” options is to reevaluate a situation.

Capricorn: Stop long enough to reevaluate a situation.

Aquarius

Victory, but at what cost? I was figuring this was a term, I encountered it a number of times in a book I was reading, “Pyrrhic victory,” and that sent me to a dictionary. Or, rather, I clicked on the word and looked it up that way.

I’m — essentially — very lazy.

The term was “Pyrrhic victory,” and I was thinking about how I lazily looked it up, I mean, I knew the word’s definition already, but there was something buried in the word’s history and I wondered if that added a shading and flavor, perhaps unrequited imagery was associated with the phrase.

After doing the online look-up thing, I learned more than I wanted about history’s wins and losses, and win, but at what cost?

This week’s Aquarius energy is a win, but is it worth the cost?

Pisces

“You said I was made of Teflon and this crap would slide right off! You lied to me!” No, no I didn’t, dear Pisces. I what I said, in the book, I think, was that Pisces tend to be like Teflon, and normal problems don’t stick.

These are not normal times.

Really that simple Pisces dear, really that simple. These are not normal times, and seriously, if you look at the underpinning to current dismay? I’m pretty sure what you’ll find is that there is someone else who is part, possibly complicit, and certainly contributing to the problem. The obstacle. The issue.

These are not normal times.

So yes, I still maintain that your Pisces self is basically covered with a non-stick surface, but these days, the troubles are little more resilient. Best course of action? Figure out what part of the problem, the issue, the obstacle, figure out what part of that belongs to Pisces, and then let the other people deal with their own problems. My problem isn’t your problem, too. I mean, you can have empathy, but, it’s not up to you to fix something that you didn’t break. That being noted? Liked the sign says?

You break it —
you bought it.

Aries

There is a weird kind of yearning, “Dominance and Submission.” There is a desire to be on top of a situation, the natural Aries leader that you. Then, there is a desire to let someone else take control, and just sit back, let the other person do the driving.

Dominance and Submission?

As a theme, it does hold up well under examination, and that’s the suggestion for the moment, Aries examination. But which one will it be? Given that Mercury (and Mars) is retrograde? Consider, too, that Mars is the main Aries planet, then think about which one it is that you really want. Be the driver? Be the passenger? Whichever position has been the most prevalent in the last few days? Consider doing the opposite thing, and trying the other version. Because I haven written about BBQ so much, folks naturally assume — rightfully so — that I am basically a carnivore. However, for the health benefits, I’ve adopted a more plant-based diet. How it helps? It is like looking at this from the other side. Like Aries?

Dominance and Submission?

Taurus

One of the more eloquent pieces of “Writerly” advice I received?

“Write the first draft with a pen.”

Excellent advice. Doesn’t work for me on so may levels, I can’t even begin to explain. I tend to write with my right hand, and after a few hundred words, I would be tired and cramped. My handwriting itself deteriorated to the point nearly illegible Rune-like scratches on paper, again, near useless. The first time I used a word processor, I was hooked and I never looked back. Towards that end, in my good, old days (remember: Mercury is retrograde), I would write up a piece at home, print it out, walk it over to the office, and then I would re-type the whole thing into their system. There would be a certain amount of editorial license involved, as I re-keyed the story. I would fix danglers, orphans, objective flaw, and subjective material that lacked substance. So I never did “write the first draft with a pen,” and I feel sorry for anyone who tries to make sense of my hieroglyphic handwriting. Looking at the planets and how those planets will affect Taurus? This week?

“Write the first draft with a pen.”

Gemini

Mercury Retrograde is always tough, and for Gemini, in this place, it feels much worse. It’s due to more than one influence, and this is just taking a bad situation and heaping more trouble on the problem.

“what madness rules in brain-sick men,”

That’s perfect point for this week’s Gemini energy. Either you’ve gone mad, or your world has gone mad, in the original understanding — taken in context — of the term “gone mad.”

There is a very stubborn flavor to this week’s oddly shaped desire, flavor, if you will, and that stubbornness is born out of Mars, retrograde in Aquarius opposite Mercury retrograde in Leo.

Instead of adding fuel to the fire, consider that the two elements, Fixed Air (Aquarius) and Fixed Fire (Leo), consider how well those two combust. Best advice? Don’t add unnecessary fuel to the situation. If there is nothing to gain, don’t do it just to prove a point. Might not go as planned, remember, Mercury?

Cancer

The slightly archaic and totally maudlin notion of the tragedies, foibles, and ultimately, the current fault of behavior, blaming it all on a misspent youth? Good idea. Works. Doesn’t exactly work well, but it does pass the sniff test. What I was thinking about, around that term, is that I used that term to address undesirable behaviors from the last decade or two. Errors, fun mistakes, but mistakes, nonetheless, for which I must atone. Errors, or, my favorite? A lapse in judgement. Temporary insanity? Doubt that last one would really work, but the idea is sound. As an example? That’s the catch phrase for the next few days, and what to watch for? As soon as your Cancer Moon Child self gets to the point where the obvious error, the simplest way out? “I blame it all on a misspent youth.” That’s the clue that this is an issue — and an excuse — that is no longer valid. Just because I can get away with that as an explanation, that doesn’t suggest that the same — convenient — glib way way out works best for Cancer. There are some days when it is far better to admit that mistake is of our own making rather than trying to find something to blame.

Me? I blame it on my misspent youth.