“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
Ophelia in Hamlet, 4.5.42

Happy Birthday!

Horoscopes for 1.10.2019

Capricorn

Stuck in traffic, behind a typical urban beater, I noticed a single bumper sticker, “This is the back of my car.” To be fair, I am a huge fan of “Urban beaters” as undercover transportation. No one looks twice. No one breaks in. Everyone stays out of the way, and tend to not want to park next to an urban beater because it can inflict more damage than can be done to it. In most cities, this is best categorized as a four-door sedan-like mid-range model with lots of inner-city miles.

Bumper sticker read, “This the back of my car.” Bumper itself was dinged in places, but essentially intact, missing a little paint, maybe. At least one lopsided headrest was visible in the back, indicating a child’s seat.

While stating the blistering honest truth, “This is the back of my car,” it also carries a warning. If one were to drive too fast, and collide with the back of that car? Doubt it would fare well for the person who hits the urban beater. Watch for warnings that are obvious. Or, better yet, do you need a similar warning on the back of your Capricorn ride?

Aquarius

Every horoscope I write has three different time zones. Maybe four zones, depends. The first is the time when I’m actually writing the horoscopes, projecting ahead, looking where we’ve been, and doing what I do. That’s the first zone, where — when — I’m writing. The second zone is when the scope is set for, like this is set for the second week of January, 2019. The official start date is January 10 through 16, 2019. The third zone?

That’s when Aquarius — or Aquarius curious — people read this. That’s three different times, one is when I’m working on it, one is when I set it for, and one is when the reader consumes it. At least three different zones. Aquarius is nothing if not adaptable to this understanding of the fluid nature of time, and how this can exist in three different places at once. Past, present, and future — three different locations, all at the same time.

Pisces

Why is my favorite beverage, coffee, called “A cup of Joe?” There are a couple of different theories, and the idea is worth quick glance at the inter-webs — more for curiosity than anything else. Why are we worried about the term, “A cup of joe?” Because there’s a need for useful distraction of Pisces.

Trivial pursuit, and that’s an easy one, but the idea is to dig down, maybe a little deeper and insure that you really have the correct answer for the name, the term. Where is it from, and is that for real? Or is that one of those made-up internet stories, just sounds good, plausible, but lacking real verification?

Aries

Mars excites.

Mars imparts energy.

Mars is drive.

Aries has drive.

Aries has energy.

Aries is ready to go!

“Herein is our problem,” the rest of the world isn’t up to Aries approved speed. It’s that simple. As the Capricorn stuff makes a tough angle, it’s learning that Aries isn’t the one who is slow, but the rest of the world might not move at that frantic, frenetic, fascinating Aries speed. Be warned.

Taurus

The expression I heard? “If you’re going to be stupid then you have to be really tough.” I think I hear an audible Taurus groan. Important Taurus note here: keep it to yourself. I suggest in the next couple of days, you’re going to encounter that tough, rough exterior of some other signs being stupid. “Doesn’t that hurt?” Yes, but you get used to the pain, kind of a typical response. Now, you realize that there are those people out and about in the world. You also realize that they all seem to breed, and make more stupid offspring. The problem with being a self-aware Taurus? You have little patience with “stupid.” My recommendation as we approach a full moon? Realize what’s going on, and realize that the stupid ones all seem to have a tougher hide. There is more than one astrologer who would suggest that Taurus has a tough exterior. I’m not of that ilk; I wouldn’t say that. Still, there’s a certain amount of resilience and give required to navigate with the other folks this next few days.

“Looks like that hurts, does it?”

Gemini

As the moon fills out? There’s a cyclic energy and expectancy in Gemini, and the biggest issue? The problem facing Gemini, even now? No one gets it. I do, but then, I’m a Gemini-compliant person. Sign. I like Gemini, so I understand this unbridled enthusiasm. Hope for the future. Hope that this next year brings the full weight of a whole year’s worth of expectations to fruition, like, much sooner than expected. Cool! I want to make a whole number of events conspire to shower your Gemini selves with goodness, but that’s not how this works. Meeting this week’s challenges, in no way do I want to lessen the Gemini enthusiasm — and in no way do I want to suggest that there is no hope. Or that those expectations will not be met, no, none of that. However, I must suggest that other signs — think non-Gemini-compliant signs — will fail to see the source, or understand the reasoning behind the Gemini hopes and dreams. Your expectations might not be met (soon). No reason to give up, just be warned.

Cancer

Persistence of an illusion, one of the themes I teased out of this week’s planets? One of the reasons I picked that quote from Hamlet, “Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.” Spoiler alert — they all wind up dead; it is called The Tragedy of Hamlet; however, that doesn’t denigrate the quote, just frames it better.

There is a persistent illusion this week, as defined by your stars.

There’s also a good, healthier direction unfolding for my little Cancer friends, but we ain’t there yet, and therein is the challenge. One of the lakes I fish at? It’s really just a large cooling pond for a power plant, and that means on cold winter days, the water temp is way above the air temp and that makes for fog. Just means, navigating in a boat, just means, we go a lot slower. The illusion is persistent, and the way to — effectively — deal with such an illusion? Like that artificial fog, just slow down. “But I’m in a hurry!” So are we, but it helps to arrive intact.

The Leo

Listening, someone was trying to make a point about a parental unit that was out-of-touch. “My mom kept texting me, and kept texting MOG, MOG,” with the implication that this was an incorrect, or possibly an auto-correct mistake. However, when quizzed about the abbreviation, the parent was explaining, “MOG? Mother Of God, did I get that right?” In some cultures, this might have a different meaning, as I’ve heard it as a slight epithet, “Ay, Madre Dios!” Meanings vary. Mistakes are amusing. Auto-correct is the enema. Pick one, or several, definitions and explanations. I have one mighty Leo who assumes that the original intent behind the text, MOG, as Mother Of God, my buddy is pretty sure it applies to her, and her child. Many of us kind of doubt that, but better to let the illusion remain in place for all concerned — it’s easier that way — just simpler for all concerned. As The Leo, the persistence of an illusion is part of what this is about. Not all bad, either, as that — perchance misguided — illusion makes it a better world for all involved.

Virgo

Comes a time when there is no correct answer. For a decent Virgo, “no correct answer” is a nihilistic approach, and one fraught with peril. But there are questions, problems, and certain situation, where there is no right answer. No way to make it easier. No way to make it better. No way to lessen the pain. My immediate solution? Rip the band-aid right off. This is a week wherein there seems to be no correct answer to the pressing Virgo question. My simple solution, not exactly Virgo compliant, but good enough?

Since there are no easy ways to handle this situation?

Rip that sucker off. Yes, it will sting for a moment, and that hurts. But it only hurts for a moment, and the sting is replaced by healing. Still, the problem seems to be, “No right answers,” and, as such? The best answer is to face the situation and take the licks. No, seriously, ripping that band-aid off really does the trick. No right answers? Sure, there are some more correct ways to approach the week. Rip that sucker right off, quick and relatively speaking, painless. Less pain, maybe not painless.

Libra

Looking at buying some new fishing fear, I had to stop myself. This process goes back to computer consulting, and then, later, web pages and stuff. Before picking up that first new purchase, instead, of, “Look, it’s a great pole and it’s on sale!” Before that, determine what the task is that the pole is supposed to fulfill.

What the tool is for, determine the job before grabbing a tool. I have a garage full of bass fishing poles. I doubt I can use a new one. Just because it was on sale, that doesn’t mean I need to the latest, greatest, piece of equipment. Determine what the function is, then fit the tool to that function. Instead of getting a tool, then trying to find something to fit the tool; makes more sense this way. With the cacophony of planets concentrated in Capricorn, there’s a very Libra sense that, “Look! It’s On Sale! I need this!” I can only, realistically, use one fishing pole at a time. I don’t need another bass pole, even if it the latest technology. I need to get time with bait in the water, not shopping for gear I won’t use.

Scorpio

Procrastination: it teaches how to do 8 hours worth of work in less than an hour. No good Scorpio would ever procrastinate. Much. However, this week leaves us with a sense that there’s a task that we’ve either been avoiding, or forgotten, or maybe, if it were me, I would forget then and avoid remembering, but I’m not Scorpio so my methodology might not work. “And anyway, over there….” See how there’s this instant energy that really wants to encourage the Scorpio procrastination, and maybe that’s not such a good idea. Ask any Scorpio I know, the idea of putting it off just becomes a longer wait for what is inevitable.

“You can run, but you can’t hide from me.”

I can, but I’m a slippery Sagittarius — the correct use of the Scorpio procrastination — thorough preparation — so it only looks like you were avoiding the work.

Sagittarius

Listening Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 1, at the end, there’s a battle scene. In the scene, a number of noble warriors are dressed like the king, with those imposters wind up getting killed and/or maimed. Captured. Battle scene, swords and stuff. Turns out, this was a precedent in the play’s era, with nobles pretending to be the king to help rally troops and to have the king appear — like magic — all over the battlefield. The trick is to get a number of the nobles, the purported generals, to dress like king himself, and that would perpetuate the illusion.

In Sagittarius with Venus, Venus and Jupiter on our side? As the Moon begins to grow larger and larger in the evening sky, the best use of this is to find a way to appear to be all over the place, at the same time. As if by magic. With the Shakespeare allusion, it was done with various members of the nobles, paying homage to their leader. Under all that armor, who could tell? With the more modern way of looking at this? I tend to use technology to help me work better. It can be done; now is a time to do it, for Sagittarius.