Why, these balls bound, there’s noise in it. ’Tis hard!
A young man married is a man that’s marr’d;

• Paroles in All’s Well That Ends Well 2.3.223-4

Can’t say Paroles didn’t try and warn us all.

The Sun moves into the tropical zodiac sign of Pisces on Feb. 18, 2020, around 10:46 PM. Your mileage may vary.

Horoscopes for 2.13.2020

Aquarius

Every year I bemoan the notion that the romance holiday was dumped into Aquarius. Have to admit, it is kind of amusing, in a darkly comic way. Who puts romance, cherubs, little heart-shaped arrows, who would put that in the wonderfully arcane, eccentric, and obviously brilliant but odd Aquarius? Why? Makes no rational sense to me. On some level, I would suppose, like a greeting card company, sure it would make sense to them. Far enough from Xmas and New Year, and not yet Spring Festival time, sure, I guess I can see the rationale when the data is thusly structured. But as an emotional question, why? Makes no sense, at least, not to me. However, it does depend on the way the data is sculpted. What the Aquarius birthday season is about, this week, is about how that data is supplied, shaped, and delivered. Sources? That helps. Multiple sources? Good idea, but not part of my narrative. For Aquarius, I echo back to one of the reasons why I like Shakespeare’s works so much: there’s always a good quote and using Shakespeare instead of a holy text is far less likely to offend anyone. Just makes it better. It’s a week for shaping the Aquarius news narrative to fit what you want it to fit — romantic or otherwise.

Pisces

On a purely intellectual level, I can understand some Latin. What I started out to suggest for Pisces, was the only good language was a dead language, then I went looking for where I had that written down. Like here — really old blog. But reading that particular entry, down below, with some older Marcus Aurelius meditations, I realized that I had inadvertent caught the real crux of the Pisces issue with a single notation from Marcus Aurelius, you know, “Let others’ problems rest with the others,” in so many worlds. What I was going to suggest, I can, on a purely intellectual level, understand and grasp the basics of Latin. Not well, and not always correct, but I can guess, recall some grammar structure, and pretend I understand it pretty well. I have, over the years collected several quotes, in both the original Latin, and then in translation. I really do have to have the translated works, as I’m too old and too tired to really translate the material. Intellectually, I can fake it pretty well. But in that Pisces heart of hearts?

In that Pisces heart, there’s that sense that knowing and feeling is more important. But like that last line from the Marcus Aurelius quote? In hammered, Victorian English?

20.Leave other people’s mistakes where they lie.

So we can dress this up and overthink the issue for Pisces, here on the most romantic day of the year (gag), or we can be a little more realistic. After the Friday night thing? Leave others’ problems where they lie.

Pisces hint: no need to pick up what isn’t yours in the first place.

Aries

What would really work? How about note from your spiritual advisor suggesting that work doesn’t work this week?

“I am unable to work this week because there is hole in my aura and it needs to be repaired. I have an appointment with my astrologer, as he has determined that holistic healing and internal wellness is in order, so I need to get a couple of Reiki Treatments, and I will have to place a number of Amethyst Crystals at work, in addition to — for balancing purposes — some Selenite Shards. I’ll be wearing extra essential oils, mostly Lavender, but there’s a new mix of others, and don’t be offended by my aroma. The diffuser at work should be set for some special blends that include a Cedar-X base for allergies. Also, I’ll need to bring about special aural healing with a series of chants, to make sure the throat chakra stays open, with hour-long meditations scheduled each day after lunch. Thanks for your assistance. Together we can fix my soul and help heal the planet. Holistic Healing and Wellness depends on your understanding. Thanks in advance.”

Aries: copy and paste as needed.

Taurus

I am a big fan off-brand materials. Generic, unknown, weird, any of those terms can be applied to some of the stuff I’ll pick up at the grocery store. One item was a strange — looked Mexican — little known brand of coffee with cinnamon. Packaging was all in Spanish. Address for the company headquarters? USA. Manufacturing plant? USA. So that was an example of something that was off-brand, a tad weird, and made to look like it was imported when, in fact, the company, the roasting facilities, and the packaging, all right here in the USA. Off-brand, what made it fun. While cinnamon infused coffee is nothing new, the unknown and willingness to experiment along that kind of a line? That works well for Taurus with these planetary conditions. Wasn’t bad coffee at all, and I was having some the other morning. It was cheaper than most, and the bag itself had that heady aroma of cinnamon, so it was more attractive. Think this was cheap stuff left over from Xmas, so there is that, might be a tad stale, but on sale. This is a simple example of how I bought some coffee, a daily necessity, and how my willingness to expand along cheap, off-brand lines paid a big dividend, in both flavor and savings. Two areas Taurus like to excel, am I right? Flavor and savings, look for the off-brand or just plain weird to satisfy those needs. Cheap, too.

Gemini

There’ a passage, and when I was first in school, it was used as a short story. Must’ve been early in my education, but it is from Tom Sawyer, as he’s faced with an onerous task in which he takes no delight, so he winds up charging his friends so they can have the honor of “co-creating” the paint on the fence, together. For a fee. Perhaps his is the original “white wash job,” a term referring to the kind of paint used. Shorthand, amongst my peers, I tend to use the expression, “Not anyone can paint this fence.” It refers to the art of convincing someone else to pay for the privilege of doing one’s own work. Good sales people are adept, and to some, this comes as second nature. Come on, look at the position of the planets, compared to the Gemini slice of the heavens, this is about getting someone else to do your Gemini bidding, and then, if we follow the lead from literature — Mark Twain is literature — then the real goal for Gemini? Getting someone else to do the work and paying our Gemini selves for the privilege to do that task. Look: not anyone can paint this fence.

Cancer

The first chart I cast for this week’s look at the Moon Children’s heavens? Starts on Thursday the 13th. I wonder if that is unlucky because that means that Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday. Great pressure. As this next few days unfold, Mars rolls on into the sign opposite from Cancer, Capricorn. What that’s going to do is ramp up the extant energies and exigencies already attendant to that kind of event. There are a few people who will feel badly over this weekend, that overweening sense of loneliness, and the thought that they are bereft of the brand of affection posited by the onerous marketing that makes this all so annoying?

Advertising makes us feel lousy.

Two quick solutions? Burrow into thy Cancer, crab-like shell and ignore it all, or? Reach a better understanding about what is pushing, and pulling, on the Moon Children’s souls that leaves us all feeling a little more empty than usual. Hint: Mars just makes this more. Not better or worse, just “more.”

The Leo

“Yeah, yeah, romance, blah-blah, blah.” Most romantic day of the year, and I’m sure you can think of a suitable gesture for this. This is a pure manufactured holiday, what, they didn’t have anything else, and they wanted to sell greeting cards and lame chocolate-like substance? So that’s this week’s missive, from me. Sounds a little over-wrought? Sure, there is that. As the majestic Leo, you too, are overwrought with this holiday crap. None of this is of our own making, and therefore? Rise up, rise above, and when all else fails? Ignore the crap out of it. Just ignore it all. Don’t care. Can’t be bothered. There’s a subtle art to not caring about certain events, and this might be one of them. I know, secretly, you have a crush or lover or something, but now, despite the hype? Now’s the time to look the other way, if only for the next couple of days.

Virgo

Hang around enough places that dispense coffee? I get to hear it all. What I wrote down? “Spit in the coffee with three pumps vanilla.” I heard it incorrectly, but I liked the attitude that the one drink had, “spit in the coffee with three pumps of vanilla.” No, that’s not what they did, at least, not at any store I would frequent. I just liked the sound of that as a drink, because, let’s face it, this week? The way the planets are stacking up? Doesn’t sound all bad, now does it? Just a slight slip of the tongue, and it shows a certain kind of attitude. We all have those days, don’t we? I misrepresented the actual event, but I liked the sound of it, but imagine that, not from the customer side, but from the employee side. Which is what this week’s energy is about. It’s not about how Virgo feels about a situation, but what Virgo understands that the other person might feel. You might want to spit in their coffee, too. With three pumps of vanilla.

Libra

A buddy was doing some handyman work on my place. I’m handy, but what takes me three days — or more — he can do inside an hour. He’s good, brilliant (Virgo) and easy to be around. He does have a hard time keeping good help, but they roll in and roll out as need be. I was talking while he was doing something out front, and he smirked, as he pointed out how much I was like an iconic boss figure in certain (Austin) movie (Office Space.) As I was walking back from the kitchen to my cubby hole where I write, he would look up and make one snarky comment after another. This is, in part, all quite true. I was the boss, and I was asking him to do something that I couldn’t — or wouldn’t — ever do. I know my skill set. My skill set doesn’t include his manual skills. If it doesn’t have a keyboard and a screen, or look like a fishing pole, I’m probably not much use. He has the tools, the ladder, ropes, duct tape, hammer, nails, saws, all of that. I’m not much use. The idea that I was acting out a role in a movie, an iconic role, at that, and he observed this, made it more fun for both of us. Take the comparison, that’s part of the message, take the comparison and roll with it, lean into it, do whatever. It fits, and in my case, it’s funny. Then, there’s the other part of this: don’t be afraid to call on someone else for assistance. If it is something I can do, I will do it. But he can do in 15 minutes what would take me at least three days, and we all hope I don’t fall off the ladder, first. Be the role that you are, and call the guy. Two notes for happy and successful Libra Valentine’s Day — and beyond.

Scorpio

In old-fashioned astrology, Mars was the planet for Scorpio. As Mars shifts from Sagittarius into Capricorn, the Scorpio feels this shift. It’s an energy that has been building for days, weeks, months, even, and now is the time when it can’t be avoided, yeah, not so much. There’s really an essence, and what this is, the cacophony of planets in Capricorn get extra emphasis, due to Mars. It’s like a condiment, just a sprinkle of salt enhances the flavor of the meat, or a slight amount of black pepper in a BBQ rub, nothing fancy, really, in essence, simple. More than anything else, that’s what this is about. The bulk of the material is already there, but the entrance of Mars is the touch of zest that the dish needed. Always do like that little dash of Scorpio in anything. So this means that which our Scorpio selves have been kind of avoiding? Procrastinating? Putting off for a rainy day? It’s here, now, and Mars helps provide the drive to finish it up. Not sure what needs to be finished, but there’s always a chance that you know, but are just kind of avoiding it. Mars, baby, Mars says, “Let’s get after this — once and for all!”

Sagittarius

As a Sagittarius myself, I found this interesting exercise that I wanted to try: remove all labels and brands. In everyday life, just for an hour, or for a day, or, really, try it for a week, nothing with a label or company brand on it. With one example, this is easy enough, as I have a number of t-shirts with collars and sleeves hacked off, which means, there are no brands or labels visible on those t-shirts. Plain pocket, just a piece of universal wear of mine, developed over the years. Good, so I have one example where there is no label or brand in the clothing. This is a strictly Sagittarius exercise, and what it is designed to do? Raise awareness about how labels and brands effect our Sagittarius selves. My boots — it’s a gray area — as they are labeled, but it’s inside the boot, and the shape plus outer scrolls give away the fact that they are a certain brand, even if the name and tag isn’t visible. I have one pair of generic jeans, no label. Most of my shorts are labeled, and don’t get started on underwear, with all the garish graphics. As a holiday — it is a holiday, right? As a holiday, thinking way far outside of the branded and labeled box helps. I seriously doubt I could go a whole week unbranded and unlabeled, but as a target worth shooting for? Yeah, that’s the Sagittarius goal.

Capricorn

Typically, I don’t struggle with technology. Typically, electronic gadgets don’t befuddle me, or leave me with great despair. Very early in my career I suffered a catastrophic failure of systems, and the back-ups were all destroyed. Toasted. Ever since then? I back-up religiously, and make sure that there are back-ups of back-ups. Having to go through and reconstruct accounting data — this was when I did it all on a single spreadsheet — having to go back rebuild the data set taught me a valuable lesson about back-ups, and being prepared for catastrophic hardware/software failures. Dozens of years back, I automated much of the process, so I just worry when hardware starts to age. I even name my various back-up drives with the year of purchase, and when they seem to slow down demonstrably? Get a new one, and save the old. Old drives are far easier to store than paper files. Just making life easier, and safer, in a digital way, at least, for myself. In the filing cabinet, the top three drawers are spurious tax documents and documentation, with the bottom drawer full of almost dead data drives of various ilks. At some point, I can go through and toss the old drives, but for now? They take up far less room than the actual paper files. Technology is here to help us, and how we treat it — how Capricorn treats his or her technology? That’s what the week is about, well, once we get past this silly romance stuff.

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“Nothing runs on automatic.” – L.W. “Bud” Shipley, Jr.