Love, Luck. Loss.

I loved my job, posing as a journeyman astrologer, reading the night sky through astrology charts, and sometimes, the fabulist use of cards, that, too.

Looking at, doing some digital housekeeping, I saw a post from 2009. Rarely does someone get to spend as much time on the road, doing something he likes — this doesn’t happen that often.

I was well on my way by 1993, living in old Austin, eventually settling in old South Austin, living the good life. Weekends on the road, touring mostly West Texas. Think, Amarillo, Abeline, Lubbock, westward as far as the hard New Mexico line, then back east to Dallas and Ft. Worth, and personal favorites, the middle of the Permian Basin. Odd jaunts included Houston, Gulf Coast, and a few trips behind the Pine Curtain in East Texas, sure, that too.

It wasn’t a stated goal, but I got to see much of Texas, I mean, other places, too, sure, but Texas is where I live and where my interests are.

Along the way, for example, a couple of my favorites? Besides the obvious love of location, living in Austin at the tale end of its pre-recovery renaissance, oft alluded to as “the good olde days,” hint: hippies and cowboys, all in one place, happy.

“He’s from Austin.” It was carte blanche to appear as strange as locals could stand, and not worry about ramification, the term, “He’s from Austin,” often punctuated with a roll of the eyes?

By the middle of the 90’s, I was able to move about the state with relative ease, and there were enough events to make it worthwhile, almost a full-time job. Between that, and eventually, a column that was one of the first weeklies on the web, then syndicated? That was the start.

What made my “day job” so interesting wasn’t just the places, as I got to cover the vast expanses of Texas itself, but getting to meet and know individual people, along the way, that was the difference.

Love, Luck. Loss.

Those were the good years, and such a wonderful time for me, at the right age, still inspired by wonder, in love, often, with people, places. Boom. Bust. Boom.

Memories, some faded, some as resilient as ever, crashing into the present. The prolonged “shelter in place” order, gives time to think back, recall, and take that deep dive into mental memorabilia.

My original idea was to recall specifics points, like that time funeral in West Texas, the tale about delicate, or more than a dozen years later, the little garter snake wrapped around the bill of a heron, alongside San Antonio storied Riverwalk. Those were sort of bookends.

Current conditions, and general entropy on my own part, discord and discarded?

Love, Luck. Loss.

Previously, I’ve noted that the most successful personality types are people who have “pivoted” during the current conditions. For me, there was less of a pivot, and more of falling back to a simple pace.

My last conversation, through masks with no real hugs, was that Austin’s rock shop was gradually working their readers back into position, but subsequent discussion, mostly with other practitioners, there was a consensus that not many wanted to participate, many of us falling on the edge of the bell curve for health reasons (age).

Due to her wondrous nature, the San Antonio promoter is a joy, and joyful, plus, she provided really decent tablet-top screens for the readers. I liked the set-up.

Love, Luck. Loss.

I didn’t design this career. I didn’t “pick” being an itinerant and oftentimes uprooted astrologer as a day job, I fell into it, I backed into it.

I did — I do — love it. Been in love numerous times. Been with the love of my life, for a while now. Lived in Austin when it was at its ripest. Found a gentle, slightly more bucolic and yet wonderfully inviting for the creative spirt, nurturing environment — where I live now.

Love, Luck. That’s about stumbling into a career path that let me explore what I wanted, as I wanted. I could follow my own desires, see what was what, and I got a chance to tour Texas, well, mostly Texas. Other places, too, but mostly the huge assortment of vast terrains that are defined by a well-known shape, the State of Texas. That’s love and luck.

Loss is my simple regret that I’m not “on the road” as much, not anymore. Travel is finally at a sustainable pace, and frankly, I can’t be bothered. It’s not worth my while to load up and go to those distant destinations. While I miss my friends in real time, I don’t miss couch-surfing, departure lounges, crowded conditions, and now, fear of the plague.

the Portable Mercury Retrograde

Portable Mercury Retrograde – Kramer Wetzel