“Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust,
Such is the lightness of you common men.”

King Henry the 6th in
Shakespeare’s Henry 6 pt. 3, 3.1.84-

Strange little passage, and seeing it in print does not do it justice.

Horoscopes for 8.20.2020

The Sun enters the tropical zodiac sign of Virgo on 8/22/2020 at 10:45 AM (Central, your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.)

Virgo

Happy birthday. No. While that seems to be me moving with an onerous weight of previous bad decisions that revolve around Virgo, that’s not really the case. The way these planets work? The first answer, that first question, the permission to do something you maybe ought not do? The first answer is “No.” I love my Virgo people. The energy, the quiet presence, the refined nature of the intellect, all of it. The hidden, sensual side? That too. But, no. “No? Really? Still stuck on that?” Yes, yes I am. There’s an impetuous flavor, a wild side, and if I were a much younger person, I would take advantage of that with Virgo, and have me some real fun. Alas, I’m too old, and I have the weight of numerous bad decisions about Virgos behind me, so, no, I can’t play. Won’t play. Plus as that aside, for this next few days, in Virgo-land? The best answer is one of two variations, either a straight-up “No,” with its friendly sidekick another possibility, “not yet.” Either one works. That first impulse?

“I just want to smack you, Kramer!”

Not yet?

Libra

The passage, I might have transcribed the attribution incorrectly, but the passage itself points out that the common folk — not royalty — tend to be indiscriminate with affections and directions for those affection. Whoever, and we’ve seen this recently, whoever is yelling the loudest seems to get the most attention. In other words, 400 years of political history, and nothing’s changed. With the advent of Virgo, though?

Consider that the simple choices for what’s right in front of your Libra self might not be that simple. The obvious choice might not be the most correct answer. Or is it? Like that king and his version of the commoners, the senses and sensibilities seem to be buffeted about by the slightest of breezes, a simple breathe of air can change the directions. With that in mind, dear Libra? Think upon the next decision, and the right answer might be the first answer, or, are you sure, and should we dig deeper for more corroborating data to support the Libra decision? I’d dig a little. Might still be correct, but never hurts to have secondary and even tertiary sources to back up that decision, the idea, the Libra plan.

Scorpio

I caught a video, just a short take on a phone’s camera, of a buddy’s very Scorpio daughter. Kid must’ve been all of about 5 or 6 years old. What I got her to do, and I thought this was perfect, “When I find something that I like, then they change it? I don’t like anymore.” There was that kind of kid brutal honesty, and the merry kid eyes, and the absolute certainty of the statement itself. Very Scorpio.

For this week’s look at Scorpio influence, planets, and upcoming changes? What Scorpio ever gracefully accepted change? However, there’s that nagging Virgo sense, and with that? There’s a new direction, and, loathe as I am to point this out — change. We’ve already established that this isn’t a favorite topic, nor is it favored action, but this is what’s billowing up on the winds of fate, and this is a steady new breeze of change, headed straight for Scorpio. So we have change blowing across the horizon and headed towards you. What are you going to do with that? The change itself isn’t too bad, just a matter of figuring out how to acquiesce to that change. I always like my line, “I meant to do that.” Doesn’t always work, but there are days we can get away with it. As a Scorpo, you might want to co-opt my line, “Yeah, I meant to do that.”

Sagittarius

There is an expectant glee I carry forward. There’s a rote familiarity I tend to favor. There’s a sense that everyone is a friend, and eventually, as it turns out, not everyone is my friend. This can come across as a manic type of behavior, and not everyone greets our Sagittarius zeal with an equal amount of effervescent and vivacious joy. The bog-standard response this next week? “What are you so happy about?” School supplies! Back-to-school sales! Holiday weekend? September fishing is around the corner? Any number of little joys, and here we are — Sagittarius — and everyone else is more in tune with the dour Virgo side of the events. The clue, and take my mistakes as a way to learn, our usually infectious zeal? Tone it down. Smile, maybe, or even better, practice the Mona Lisa smile, kind of “Cat ate the canary” look, like, we’ve been caught being happy, but no one needs to know why we’re happy. I’m happy because it’s a day that ends in Y, but that’s just me. Our excitement, I can hardly contain it, but our excitement? Let’s use our “indoor face” for that.

Capricorn

As a Capricorn, you can worry about whatever it is that other people think about your Capricorn self, or? Get stuff done. Basic, binary decision. Worry about what other people — or might not — be thinking about your Capricorn self, or? Or you can get on with the task at hand.

The deal with the task at hand? You’ve built this up into a giant problem, in your head, and then, that giant problem, before you even get started, there’s the notion that you might be worried about what someone else thinks about the way your Capricorn self is approaching the problem. Speculating about what’s going on in other people’s heads is a luxury that Capricorn doesn’t have time for, not now. We can wonder, later. For now? There’s a task and in order to get that sorted out? Get after it. Fix, attack, or at the very least, get started on that project that needs your attention. We’re not listening to what other people are saying, not now. What somebody else thinks is none of your business, at the moment.

Aquarius

Ever get that sense that you’re making up for lost ground? The planets are conspiring to make it so you can catch up. Mostly, I was looking at Mercury, making fast tracks in Virgo, but that adds a degree of clarity, focus, and the usual — attention to detail. Yes, acute attention to detail. What it takes. It’s a special flavor, a sense of the planets, and their driving energies.

I can “cook.” I’m a good cook. I can’t bake to save a life. In my cooking, a dollop, a smidgen, just half a shake, or even, threw the whole thing in? I can do that. Baking? Way too exact. Like a chemistry experiment, exactly how many milliliters was that? Apparently, with baking, just eyeballing it doesn’t work. So this is the time for Aquarius to be baking. Exact details. Not about my broad, brush strokes that sort of cover up some ills. No, this is a week for exact details. You’re making up for lost ground, exactly.

Pisces

Ever feel like you’re watching your own life unfold on a movie screen? Ever feel like you’re outside, looking in, maybe stuck at window, peering inside, trying to read what some of the people are saying? It’s like life is unfolding, across the room, and your Pisces self might feel like there is no interaction either required or afforded in any capacity, and that leaves us all a little undone. How long has this pandemic thing gone on? Instead of getting worked up, like, yelling at the movie screen — “This is your life,” only you have not a lot of control?

Sit back. Make some popcorn, grab a favorite beverage. Instead of getting worked up, excited, or outraged at some aspect of life that it feels like you have no direct Pisces control? Instead of letting this become a reactive situation, like I suggested, the image I get is one of someone yelling at the screen, “No, don’t go into that abandoned cabin by the lake!” Whatever the trope looks like to you? I still like the idea of your life being played out on the big screen, and still, not having any control. Yelling at the characters on the screen? Doesn’t you any good. Set back. Enjoy a show. You’re one of the stars. One of my favorite replies, when people ask? “Yeah, I meant to do that.” No one is ever sure if it is an ironic, a sarcastic, or a straight answer. (I might not know, either.)

Aries

We’re all looking for the clavis aureum. Know what that is? The Golden Key, that simple key, maybe just a bit of pressed metal, that unlocks the mysteries of the universe, solves the energy problems, protects against the corona, and promotes well-being in both individuals and society as a whole.

Therein is the secret,
the very key that unlocks it all.

Does one really exist? Depends on whom one addresses. According to myth and lore, yes, there really is a clavis aureum, in most mystic traditions. One religion, I’m passing conversant with, suggests that the key is in The Bible. Since I tend to prefer a King James version, yeah, probably not there. I might be wrong, but I’ve not looked hard enough. Still, that’s what this week is about, in the world according to Aries, that search for the golden key, clavis aureum.

Does one really exist? I can’t answer that question because I’m not privy to insider info. However, I’d suggest, for Aries, a decent search pattern with an eye towards finding that way to unlock some of the mysteries, if not all of them, a decent search effort will be well-rewarded in the next few days. This next week. Sun shifts in Virgo, and that makes it easier to seek — and find.

Taurus

When I lived in Arizona, the Phoenix area, I developed a habit of thinking that all weather was like that. Back in Texas, we get certain summer days that make me think of that Arizona weather. High, clear days when there is no respite from the searing summer sun. Not a cloud in the sky. It seems like the plants are parched and panting, too.

It’s too bad because it will be another month before we get “New Mexico Nights” to match those “Arizona Days.” That’s when, from time spent in Northern New Mexico, I got used to cold weather at night. Cooling off, and at the upper altitudes, the clear Southwestern skies provide little heat sink, so the temperatures drop. Quite nice, actually. So this next week is full of Arizona Days and maybe, no, I doubt we’ll have any New Mexico Nights. The oppressive summer heat is merely baking a way for the future in Taurus. While I get along fine in the heat, not everyone I know does. Then, too, there’s the personal monikers that I handed out to describe the weather patterns. It fit with what I know, and that’s what’s important. For Taurus, as the Sun sails on into Virgo, that means we’re fitting our experiences to name what’s happening. In my simple example, it’s based up on places I’ve lived and what my world-view is, based upon those locations. For Taurus, your naming conventions might vary, but let’s call it what it is.

Gemini

The question as the Sun is set to move into Virgo, the question for Gemini?

“Is it worth the investment?”

There needs to be a weighing of consequences of actions, choices, decisions, and the results, and then outcome stemming from the results. It’s a relatively simple process, usually a mental process, but when I get in a quandary, or worried, concerned, possibly unsure? I scratch a note out on real paper, just a scrap of something, in the old days, “Just a piece of foolscap,” and that gives me a chance to see what the decision process is all about.

Weighting two choices, not quite binary to you or me, but possibly binary to some outside person, “Just yes or no, right?” Not really. There are extenuating circumstances, ramifications, and hitherto unseen, but the prescient Gemini mind can see this, with there being even further possible problems with either decisions. “It’s not binary!” I know. The caution is not pausing long enough to weigh those possible outcomes. Then, we’re back to the question for the Gemini week, right?

“Is it worth the investment?”

Cancer

Buddy of mine, he’s a retired guy, he’s been sort of seeing this one woman for a while. Been three, four years now? I don’t keep track. They get along, compatible signs. Every year, he claims he’s going to “marry that girl,” and yes, let’s avoid the frankly sexist nature of his statement, for his generation, it is a term of endearment, although, yes, we can see the problem there.

So this is close to five years, he keeps telling me he’s going to finally tie the knot this year. I lost track, fourth, fifth wife? I don’t pay attention. What I liked? She is “age appropriate” for him. Good combination. But I have to wonder, the threat of marriage instead of marriage itself, I wonder if that is what drives this relationship.

“One of these days, I’m going to marry that (guy/gal — whatever.) Is the Moon Children’s drive related to a threat or promise that may never be fulfilled? Been over five years now, “Yes, we’re definitely getting married, next year.”

The Leo

I’ve heard this called a “gimme cap,” most frequently. Overseas, once it was referred to as a “Bubba cap,” but most often, it’s called a “ball cap,” or a “baseball hat.” Titles vary. Recently, I saw a place that called it a “Six-panel hat,” and charged for the expensive-sounding name. Seemed a bit excessive for that type of headwear, typically lasts me about two seasons, at best, and then the bill comes off, or the hatband fails, usually something. Lost more than one to high wind and rough seas.

Thinking about the “Six-Panel Hat,” complete with a brand-name emblazoned across the front and back? I wondered about paying a premium for one those. Shows that I once paid too much for a promotional item? Prove that I was cooler than other people? I’m unsure of the message, myself. Maybe a Leo can explain it. The exclusivity factor might explain some of it, but I don’t buy a brand just for the sake of the brand itself. I tend to favor experience and tactile feelings to assure me I’m getting something of good quality, justified by the price. Before you pony up any cash, does the name alone justify the cost to The Leo? Is it a “six-Panel Hat,” or just a gimme hat that should be free with every order?

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