“Love no god, that would not extend his might only where qualities were level”

Rinaldo in Shakespeare’s Alls Well that Ends Well (I.iii.47)

Horoscopes for 1.30.2020

Aquarius

My preferred attire is simple. If I must, I’ll pull on a formal T-shirt, good jeans, and wrap a sport coat around that. Looks about as formal as I can get. Boots. Yes, I’ll wear boots. Otherwise? I tend towards comfort rather than fanciful appearance. I’ve always wanted, or, thought it would look good, to get a long wizard robe, a tall pointy hat, and make sure both were covered in gold lettering, showing signs, constellations, and stars. The archetype of a wizard-type? Yes? Now? Over the years, writing as “The Fishing Guide to the Stars,” I’ve received various gifts that reflect the title, or reflect the wizard approach I’m frequently envisioned as. While I patently deny it all? It’s like the guitar player image left over from old Austin. Doesn’t really matter that I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. No, images and appearances are still what are often the source of that first judgement. Happy Aquarius birthday. Thinking about that appearance? And more pointedly, me wrapped in a long robe festooned with symbols for planets and signs? Great idea, be useful once or twice, and then, no one cares. Stick with simple. Stick with comfortable. Strike a balance point as you sally forth into the new days, happy birthday and all, with a different attitude about appearance. Comfort, style, fit, and function. Those make up this week’s Aquarius goals. Style, comfort, fit, and function.

Pisces

Cold snap, few days ago. Really cold by my standards, kind of lame to my friends from the frozen north, but it was bitterly cold — to me. Here’s my little trick. I have a scarf, a long, I think it’s some kind of artificial lamb’s wool, fake silk stuff. Not entirely sure what it is made of, not entirely sure I want to know. It’s dark, almost black, but really a shimmery shade of blue, deep blue. Deep, dark, mysterious blue. Not quite black. Kind of a satin-like finish to it, as well as the wooly warmth it envelopes. What I did with this scarf, cold snap and all?

The scarf goes twice around my neck, loosely. Then, my usual heavy shirt? All it takes. I think that the scarf seals the outside cold, frosty weather from reaching my thin, delicate undergarments. I’d like to think a lot things about the style and the fashion of a simple piece of clothing like a scarf, but, not like I haven’t acknowledged this in the past, I tend towards poor fashion sensibilities. The color might not “go with” my outfit, my eyes, my shoes, whatever. The deal is, I’m comfortable on the inside. I might look a little silly with a heavy, to some, girly, scarf — but it works for me. This was only when it was so bitterly cold a few days back. While style advice from me is questionable, at best? For that matter, how to dress for cold weather, again, not something that I might be good at? Stop and consider the source of the data, but take this as a metaphor, about not worrying about what it looks like, and dressing for comfort. My scarf? It works really well in keeping me warm when it is all so bitterly cold outside.

Aries

This always looks so simple to me. Maybe it’s too easy? Is that really a legitimate challenge? Too easy? For some, it is. As an Aries, you have to ask yourself, when that little task gets accomplished in record time, super easy-like? “Was it too easy?” More important, as you look at the finished deal, “Did I miss something?” The deal is, with proper technique, proper technology, and proper tools? This goes super-easy. If this isn’t super-easy? What part are we complicating?

Taurus

With unpredictable weather, commercial air isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be. Still, every once in awhile, I happen across that (Texas) bizarre data point. The airport in San Antonio, as of late, has been plagued with jack rabbits. Might be domesticated bunnies that got loose, or were set free, and found a place where they could live, wide-open spaces, plenty of foraging, and not a lot of predators. There is the whine of the jets, the roar of the landing and take-off, but other than the noise? Relatively peaceful, inner-urban experience, mostly free of predators. As this week unfolds, in the land of the Taurus types? There’s a new place to hang out, a new place to live, a new place to peacefully coexist with a single annoying factor, like the sound of the jets taking off and landing, but that is easy to overlook when compared with no predators of any kind, and plenty of open space with mostly good greens for dining. Weigh the good with the less-desirable. At first, I thought this was a problem, but over time, as I understand it, the jack rabbits become inured to the sounds of the planes, and then? With a lack of natural — or unnatural — predation? It’s not so bad. Have to ask yourself, Taurus, what are you willing to put up with in order to get by with no fear of predators?

Gemini

Young client shows up, “Teach me everything you know!” I’d be happy to, but first, there are some basics to cover. Might try my BareFoot Astrology, for starters. That — even with all its faults — is as good a place as any, to start. “But I want to go past that, deeper, what can you tell me about Gemini?” Lots. My baby sister is a Gemini; I’ve been around them all my life. Observations, profound, profane, got them all, from the sublime to the screwy. It’s also not a subject than can be covered in a manner of minutes. Not even hours; consider, my sister, all my life. That’s a lifetime of learning and it cannot be compressed into a short course. There’s an inherent Gemini need for information, yes. That desire for data. Useful, incoming material that helps navigate a way forward. Need and want all of that, true. As an exhortation, sure, “Teach me everything you know” is good. However, given the planets and their scattering of diffuse energies? Expecting to learn it all, overnight? Probably not going to happen. Doesn’t mean the command, “Teach me everything you know,” doesn’t mean that’s not a good place to start.

Cancer

Always interesting to hear different takes on Shakespeare’s Canon. Over the years, I’ve amassed a great deal of spurious scholarship. Not really full-on university level material, but certainly more in-depth than just a casual hobbyist. This is about learning something new, and my silliness to admit, even after I listened to the same lecture more than once, that there was something new that I didn’t know. Just a small observation, but as a canon of work, authorship, and sundry intrigues aside, just a small observation that suddenly brought part of the publishing history, part of the way the plays were produced, and my own world-view, into new light and new focus. Interesting Shakespeare tidbit — all the “History” plays were written before the Queen’s passing. Just a historical footnote of no import, and yet, it plays to the politics of the times. By extension, this plays to current politics, to bring it into better light for the Moon Children. It also shows that it is never too late to keep learning new stuff. Both are important considerations, but I think, for the rest of the duration of this horoscope? Be willing to listen to some lecture, or read a text, something that is old material, and see if there isn’t a new light to shine in an otherwise dark Moon Child time.

The Leo

There was a series, on Amazon, and a couple of points seem to help explain the way The Leo feels at the moment. First off, it was an hour-long show, which used to mean 42 minutes, but in this example, the episodes were running right at 55 minutes, at least in Season One. An hour-long show episode that ran close to an hour in length. Weird. Nice, but weird. But there was a single scene where a character was having problems staying in the spotlight. There is that. As the week unfolds, seems like the majestic Leo is out of tune, out of step, and out of the spotlight’s glare. Typically, this makes for an unhappy Leo, but as this week marches along, bereft of good, Leo direction? Give it a moment. Let the light shine elsewhere. Maybe, looking at events right now, maybe you don’t want to be in that spotlight’s glare, at the moment. Plan to play a supporting role.

Virgo

At the end of this horoscope, Mercury, Neptune, and Venus will be opposite from Virgo. “That’s bad, right?” Wrong. Discomfiting? Sure. Bad? Hardly. It’s not a bad astrological progression of the planets, it’s a logical one for this time. That extra Neptune flavor confuses it a little, and there’s some jiggly weird stuff already occurring, so, yeah, this will feel bad to one individual Virgo, but the rest might just feel a fleeting suspicion of fear. Unanchored in reality. Therein is the problem, too, the suspicion, fear, loathing, sense of unworthiness? All anchored in non-reality. Real sense of worth? Honest appraisal of the situation? “Things” aren’t that bad. But the fleeting emotional background noise, based on the locations of those planets (and the Sun in Aquarius, that, too?) It leaves an unsettled feeling of unworthiness in Virgo land. I can’t fix that. I can warn, cajole, joke, coerce, and otherwise try to sarcastically let you know it’s not really that bad, but then I’m not Virgo so I might not have enough juice to convince you that it is, and will, work out correctly. So there is that. There is a confusing array of questions facing you at 3 AM. All depends on how you look at this set of conditions.

Libra

The way I’ve always seen this, a resolute will, an innate sense of justice, and irrevocably sticking with a single stance or position? I admire that. Usually, a Libra can be quite fluid and dynamic, seeing both sides of the problem, and understanding both side of the issue. Or three sides, even, or? At the last minute, “Can we look at this from slightly different perspective?” Sure, all of that typically fits the Libra world-view. In general. Normally. However, this week introduces a kind of resolute stubbornness that ill-becomes the gentle Libra. It’s one thing to assiduously stick to a point, but it’s not becoming to stick to that point in the face of evidence quite to the contrary. All sounds like I’m treading precious close to bumper stickers and clichés. I am. There’s a certain kind of stubborn that most of us, non-Libra, most of us haven’t seen from your Libra self. A certain resolute, destination be damned, full-speed ahead, into the face of certain defeat, yeah, that kind of energy. I would try and stop the Libra — but I know better. Mind’s made up? You sure? Evidence would suggest otherwise, you know? Just trying to keep you from being too stubborn about an issue that really might not deserve your attention, not this kind of Libra bandwidth.

Scorpio

More than one person will intone, “No one saw this coming.” As a good Scorpio, way back, I’m reaching back for several weeks, maybe even a month or more, there’s at least one of you, smirking, “See? I told you so.” While that smirk is ever so satisfying? Doesn’t look good on you. Might be my own bitterness, for failing to heed the Scorpio warning, and yes, as it turns out, yes, you’re right.

“You’re right;
I’m wrong;
I’m sorry.
I love you.”

Sorry, knee-jerk reaction out of me, when faced with the “Oh woe is me, I severely underestimated this one.” Honestly? I didn’t. I saw this coming, too. But as we know, some folks don’t like to listen to the bad news before it arrives. Caught by surprise, did we? Ah, Scorpio, this is what as known as the Cassandra Complex — where you were 100% right, well in-advance, and no one listened. This next couple of days is about not rubbing our collective faces in the fact that you were right and we were wrong. Simply put? Don’t gloat. Does not become you. Not a good look for this kind of energy, although, it is sorely sought after. Don’t gloat.

Sagittarius

Certain days, you just gots to throw “rational thought” out the window. Any notion of logical, persistent, some pattern that makes sense? Yeah, too, that, for now. “But, no, wait, there’s a perfectly logical explanation!” There might very well be a perfectly sane, logical understanding at work — somewhere. And by “somewhere?” I mean someplace other than Sagittarius. We’re short on rational thought processes at the tail end of Venus and Mars making tension angles, and that means? Like I suggested we are just so not a well-spring of logic at the moment. This will pass, eventually, and it’s just a flying moment, or fly-by, or as one buddy used to call them, a “Drive By.” I think that should’ve been “a drive bye,” but I can never tell. As a Sagittarius myself, I might not be the most reliable narrator for this week’s crap-fest of planets and stuff. It’s weird, you know? I do understand, though, that we just need to throw out the notion that “rational thought” will prevail. Just hang on as best we can.

Capricorn

There’s always one, and I’m thinking about that one Capricorn fishing buddy right now. The Latin expression I like? Nunquam Securas Via. I still figure it ought to be engraved in stone. The original suggestion was to use that as a certain family’s motto, like a crest. While the term would apply to me, years ago, I’ve gotten lazier as I’ve aged. Besides, I am an inherently lazy person and that balances out against the arduous, more painful, exceedingly difficult route my fishing buddy takes. Capricorn buddy, you know? This week, I am a paragon of love and light for Capricorn, but before you start on that new project, or take a swing at finishing up some leftover business? Think about that Latin expression, and my understanding of its translation. If there is an easier way to do this, this week, shouldn’t you try that, first?

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