The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I have hope to live, and am prepar’d to die.

Claudio in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure 3.i.2-4

Happy Birthday!

Horoscopes for 10.11.2018

Libra

So a buddy of mine is a cop. I mean, he is a duly sworn officer of the law. I have several friends who are cops, really, but this one comes to mind. He stopped off after work one day; he had on regulation shorts, regulation T-Shirt with his affiliations, badges, and so forth. Then he had on a gun belt with handcuffs, weapon, mace, flashlight, and spare magazines. I think that’s what he wears. He was just coming in from a traffic detail, ball cap, read, “Police.” Shorts because it was still summer. He is a handgun trainer, a reiki master, cop, and officer of the law. All of that. Really a nice guy, too, but not important, right? Eventually, a number of my associates were uncomfortable because he had a weapon on his hip. Really? Him? He’s totally harmless. I wouldn’t like to meet him in professional capacity, but there was a moment of hilarity, “Wonder who he is here to see?” I turn around and smile, “Dude!” Give him quick bro hug. Several associates snickered, “Figured he was here for Kramer…” What? Anyway, this is about birthday and appearance. Libra birthdays and Libra appearances. “I knew I shouldn’t wear my work uniform here,” he said. Eventually one promoter asked my buddy to leave, worried that his presence offend some of the patrons. Weird, I know.

Scorpio

One simple trick to make this work, especially given where Venus is, and her relative Scorpio influence. I got a couple of dollar store get-well cards. I keep then out at home, on a shelf near the front door. Folks always act more contrite.

“That’s it?” Yes, pretty simple trick. First off, the cards are useful if I need a quick get-well card to send. Also, they are cheap. Second, the cards set up a tone where the person who sees them — immediately — starts to act contrite. Usually, gushing effusive “I’m so sorry” type of comments. That sets the tone. What’s wrong? Nothing. Or nothing current medicine can fix, and frankly, I’m OK. But for a Scorpio? Think about that. A simple trick, one simple trick to help move this forward. Put a card on your desk, in the house entrance way, the foyer, maybe just a bathroom mirror — someplace on display. The fun part of this, I never said I was ill, and as a Scorpio, you follow me on this tact, we never willing mislead, but seeing the get-well card, or the birthday card, or whatever message we’re fishing for? Seeing that, folks naturally draw conclusions. Let them jump to their conclusions; we’re just providing the bait.

Sagittarius

I studied Shakespeare in schools. While I feel sorry for the poor professor, my first exposure to Hamlet was a dismal affair, reading it aloud in a class over a period of days. Loved some of the words, and I knew then, this was an avenue, although, that one teacher, he did his very best to ruin Shakespeare for me. A little further along, I encountered a professor who I understood the majesty of the words, and he was — obviously — secretly longing to be an actor. His booming voice was good for long passages while he caught the essence of the language, the rhythm and meter, in a way that made it all work correctly. It wasn’t until I saw a couple of movie productions that the material truly made sense. Even then, the movie version of a play isn’t nearly as good — in my experience — as a stage version. When I finally saw some stage versions, a long summer weekend in London, I was totally, completely, and thoroughly hooked. Shakespeare’s works is best live; it is meant to be performed. From uneven summer stock to thoroughly amateur troupes of small number but great spirit, to Shakespeare’s Globe, the RSC, and any number of university productions? Sure. In performance, and each performance is an act of interpretation of the play’s meaning. Nuance, delivery, pacing, all plays a part. But most important, Shakespeare’s work is meant to be performed. It’s not just words on a page. My background is textual, so there will always be that in my approach, and that’s just how I am. This week is a rehearsal. This week is a rough draft. This week is a read-through of the script. This week is the first time we’re looking at this weird script and we’re still trying to make sense of out of who says what and who does what to whom. First draft, first read-though, first chance to see how we might interpret this bizarre set of conditions.

Capricorn

Spanish and its blend of cultural artifacts is part of my landscape. Always has been, but I’ve been less willing to acknowledge that little observation until more recent years. Perhaps it was moving to San Antonio, TX that made this an inescapable fact. Maybe it was lurking in the back of my mind, but I failed to acknowledge it. I can’t be sure of the real source. I do recall living in Austin and taking a deep dive into Texas History, and that led understanding that Spanish flavor so prevalent in my world.

However, part of my heritage is Northern European Pioneer (old-world, new-world) stock. My name is obviously of Germanic origin. That culture clash is laid over the somewhat somnolent presence of indigenous trends and tribes. Interesting blend of flavors, easiest way to put it. I always admire the brazen, Spanish culture for its sense of style. That’s part of the artifacts left over. There are two part of this message, and one is to admit, acknowledge, and embrace the inherent cultural artifacts wherever our Capricorn selves might be. Part of the emotional landscape, best to learn to enjoy. The other part, shorter-term goal? Standing off to one side and pretending to be an observer. While not totally objective, and not totally uninvolved, still, off to the side, observant, but maybe not too involved. Look. Don’t touch. Look, and don’t judge, merely observe.

Aquarius

Please, step away from the letterhead. As an Aquarius-compliant person, I understand. There is always temptation. This isn’t the time to give into that temptation. In the example I was thinking of, all I needed was letter from an attorney, on their letterhead, impressive titles and offices all over the state, so it looked menacing enough, right? All I wanted was a brief notice, then a lawyer’s name — named partner with their names emblazoned across the top of the letterhead — just a note from an impressive source so it looked like I had really expensive counsel and this was going to cost the source of my aggrieved injury a pile of cash to litigate and resolve.

In fact, I wanted a quick, short, simple settlement. It’s just, using the big guns like that? It works. Works well, most of the time. This isn’t most of the time. There is a pernicious and unavoidable problem, and the big guns, the guys with impressive letterhead, that is not the Aquarius answer. Borrowing from another set of circumstances, I discovered that asking three times — the same request repeated at least three (3) different occasions is liable to get a positive response. Might be out of annoyance, might be from repetition, might be from a ploy, but asking three times? That proves to be more effective than hauling out the big guns, or, in my Aquarius starting place? Step away from the letterhead.

Pisces

Buddy of mine was reducing the size of his library. He was, or so he fashioned himself, a wise guru — at one time. No more, nope, not him. Not me, either, but that’s not part of this question. He gave me a stack of books, out of his car’s trunk. As I went through the titles, some good, a few great, one or two that were just not worth it, and out of just about every book? There would be a bookmark or receipt, various New Age book peddlers, and then, the books themselves would be near pristine.

While that was cool, what always intrigued me, at what point did he stop reading? While the bookmarks themselves are not absolute clues, often times, the spine would be creased, or one page dog-eared, some indication, and that’s where the lesson stopped. Couple of the books? No indication the book itself was ever read. Not that it matters, we were exchanging texts. Still, the question about what point does it stop, or does just having the book but never reading it, does that indicate a certain spiritual mastery? I’m funny like that, I tend to make sure my books are read, sometimes over and over, which means I feel like I get my money’s worth. That’s me. As a Pisces this week, just having the text but never referencing it? Does that count? “I spent all night with that book; it was under the bed.”

Aries

Next few days is about Aries Rut Busting. Soon as a I pulled that idea out of the air, I got an immediate image of an obscene Monster Truck sailing through the air, the motor’s cacophonous racket making the earth quake. That’s what I get for the term, “Aries Rut Busting!” Yes, and for most Aries, every action should be concluded with an exclamation point! So the idea is Aries Rut Busting, but the manner to approach this action?

Softly, gently, and the total opposite of that image of a Monster Truck with some kind of blown engine, super-turbo-charged-nitro-burning-rocket-fuel. The challenge is that Aries feels anything but like a “Rut Busting” hard-charging, ramped-up, ready-to-roll monster (truck). No, mostly feel a little off, a little melancholy, perhaps a bit down, and that’s why we all need a giant, monster Aries Rut Busting drive. Just need to crawl out of the same ditch we’ve been in for so long. Just swap this rut for another one, even that would be a step forward. The planets are conspiring to give Aries a chance out breaking from an existing source of drudgery. Be prepared, realize the apparent backward motion of Venus is about making it so you can see the Aries rut, and then? Break free.

Taurus

I have notes, notations, and diary entries about the last time this happened. Wasn’t bad, not for me. I’m not a Taurus. The Venus effect is not always good, and there is tiny percentage of the Taurus that I know who will thrive in the next few weeks. By and large, though, a number of you will push back against this Venus thing, and that results in confusion, despair, and failure.

Now, let’s pause for a moment to make this work better for the perspicacious Taurus currently paying attention. The source of the Taurus ire comes from “pushing back” against that obstacle, person, problem, or some kind of situation that appears to be a problem at the time. The easiest, quickest, simplest way to keep this problem from being a problem? Stop pushing back. The Venus-inspired Taurus push-back doesn’t seem to work. Pushing back against whatever it is only generates pain, confusion, then follows fear and anxiety.

Want to skip all that negative emotional crap? Don’t push back.

Gemini

Need honesty. As a Gemini, we are perfectly capable of lying to ourselves. Too fat, too thin, too tall, too short. Too much of something, too little of something else, does it matter? As a Gemini, we are perfectly capable of telling ourselves lies. We don’t need any help. However, what this week requires? An honest, outside opinion. Part of this is the fleeting Mercury oppose Uranus, part of this is Saturn moving forward in Capricorn, and part of this is the waxing moon, starting her journey in Scorpio, but ending up in Aquarius, and all of that adds to honesty that is required. Just easier. The problem is finding the person who will be honest. This isn’t about Gemini honesty, but rather, an impartial, outside source. As that multi-faceted Gemini, we are perfectly capable of coming up a plausible tale that covers our Gemini tail long enough to justify whatever it was we wanted to do, or didn’t want to do. What we need is someone — outside of our Gemini selves — to let us know. A second opinion. Or a third. Look for the friends who tell the truth.

Cancer

“Blowing out someone else’s candle doesn’t make your candle burn any brighter, you know?” Kind of a snarky bumper-sticker-ish message, but one that is highly suggestive for a Cancer Moon Child in the next couple of days. The temptation is to do just that, reach over, huff and puff, then blow out someone else’s candle. As a reminder, my sensitive Moon Children, that doesn’t always make you the bigger person. The better person. Doing so might temporarily assert your Cancer authority over the situation, but a few minutes afterwards? Seems a bit petty, doesn’t it? Cancer, ever observe a good Scorpio — they can plot revenge for years. So maybe plot some revenge, if need be, but take action on it? Not now. Seriously, don’t be mean to other people.

The Leo

Growing up where and when I did? I got to see houses with a one-car garage. Single auto in the garages, being the idea. As in, one car per family — goes with a certain age, and suburban location, for domiciles, and is still quite evident in many of the older, inner-city neighborhoods. One car garage. Get further out, and that changes. As the populations moved from the closer-in neighborhoods to more commutable suburbs, that construction model shifted from one-car garage to a two-car garage. Maybe this is only seen in the East Texas and Central Texas towns where I was raised. I don’t know. However, it does point to structural, architectural, simple planning information that deals with our home. Homes. The House of Leo, simple enough. One car or two car garage, right now? Or carport, covered parking, or just street parking, or, for some who live in big cities, no car. Still, this allows the dating, as in setting a historical time frame, for when some structures where first built. All about the automobile access points. There is an older home, last neighborhood I lived in, and it has that one car garage. The rest of the homes are commuter special, and at least one has a half-dozen cars parked there, most days. Car-dependent. Best use of this week’s energies, for The Leo? Excavating historical references to move you forward at a later date.

Virgo

Classically, I’m an Apple Fan Boy, but realistically, I’m unsure I can be pleased with the current trend in technology. The screen real estate got huge then started to shrink. The amount of viewable space, and at some point, there will be the ideal size. For me, that has to include a page of text. Like a page from a book. While I can read that on a phone, practically, it is still laborious, at best. I need something larger. With these very horoscopes, I found a medium that is fluid and dynamic, yet structured enough to serve me well.

The length can run from a few words, to a typical long screed and rants about whatever it is the planets are doing. In Virgo, this matters because, well, ask any fisherman, size matters. However that’s less what this is about, given where the planets are, and what is going on with the Virgo psyche, the best course of action is longer, more detailed reports. If you can’t get the point across in a succinct manner — and you probably can’t right now — then use as many words as possible. In that mess will be nuggets of Virgo Gold, but getting to it might be, ahem, problematic, at best.