Horoscopes for 5-13-2021

And, being a woman, I will not be slack
To play my part in Fortune’s pageant.

Henry VI, part 2. (1.2.66-7)

Strong women. Shakespeare always did write strong women.

Jupiter moves into the Tropical Zodiac Sign of Pisces May 13, 5:31 PM local time, approximately. That means?

Taurus

Best and worst, happy birthday and so forth. I dated this one woman, and she made the best brownies. I would trust her brownies because she never put anything “funny” in them. The secret to her success with those brownies? Two secrets, really, and they’re not so secret. One, she used cheap, off-brand, generic grocery-store brownie-mix. Nothing fancy, not the good stuff, the cheap crap. Then, instead of one egg? She used two, and finally, instead of lard, shortening, or whatever? She used a little extra-virgin coconut oil. In the winter, that would be hard, and she would melt it in the microwave, so it was liquid. Mixed better. Extra egg, and coconut oil. Simple switch, and for our years, her brownies were legend at the shop. Extra chewy, extra-rich tasting, extra good. Think butter was in there, too. At home, hot out of the oven, served with vanilla ice cream? Sinfully, delightfully, delicious. The secret was a simple substitution and mother’s hard-learned modification, the extra egg. Change the grease and add an extra egg? It’s that simple. Warm brownie, ala-mode? Sure, and happy birthday. Think about additions and substitutions to make this more chewy, help bring out the full flavor of the Taurus-mix.

Gemini

I heard the description, “idealistic,” like, an innovative and idealistic person, but maybe we should be a little more real. “Idealistic” implies that there might be a yearning for a perfection that just isn’t entirely realistic. Not that it would bother most of my Gemini friends, no, not a problem there.

The term is what this week is about, it’s about idealism. Saying yes to a number of possible outcomes that might be quite good, but the trick, for Gemini, don’t confuse the possible outcomes with what is really happening. Yes, you’re innovative, in thought, in action, and indeed. Yes, there’s pervasive sense of idealism that floats along, stronger than ever before, but that little cloud? Don’t get it confused with the real world.

Cancer

It was an online image of a desk. A simple laptop, a wireless mouse, and double-shot of espresso in a tiny demitasse resting on its saucer. My immediate response was to click through to see where I could buy that desk, and I paused before I clicked. For starters, I have a perfectly acceptable desk and I don’t want another laptop, nor any more coffee mugs. But further down that thought pattern? It was a sub-compact laptop, and it was just the right size for the diminutive desk-top, which, to me, looked like nothing more than a long, thin board over a couple of trestle-like legs. “Spindly” and “unstable” both came to mind, but the idea of such spartan-appearing desk, with nothing but work on it? Sure. It appeals on so many levels, hits all the right notes, and for brief moment, it was so encouraging. What happens is I take a watch off, or set a phone down beside the mouse. Then maybe a mousepad. A coaster, no, two coasters for the coffee and bowl of cereal. I’ve got some specialty tape I use in a notebook, and then, there’s the pens, a flash drive, a small knife for whittling, prying, and slicing open the mail. Lip balm, a desktop necessity. Spare iPad, older iPod, wires, cables, power cables, and connections. I haven’t even bought the little desk and suddenly the surface is covered with the digital and actual detritus of my work. So much for that. See where this goes? If you like, really like, the look of that spartan work surface? Try to emulate that before you buy anything new.

The Leo

One must never be afraid to learn from kids. “Kids” are the best teachers. In my example, I’m not thinking of someone under the age of 30, but it was a “kid” nonetheless, as she’s worked alongside me, off and on, for years. Darling lass, interesting psychic, but sharp business person. What she had, business proposition and one I’m not real interested in because of my age and experience, but I listened patiently, and then I looked up material on my own sites. Turns out, “best practices forward,” I had organically implemented most of what she was suggesting. “It’s best if you do X then Y then Z….” She explained, I looked, then a fiddled with one setting on the backend, corrected a typo, but in the mechanics of the material, I was already doing just exactly what she suggested. What that means for The Leo? Listen to the kids. Learn from the kids. Check your work. I’ll guess you already do what you’re supposed to do, but it never hurts to get a second opinion, and, like I suggested, we can never be afraid “to learn from kids.”

Virgo

One book I’ve read and re-read a number of times, I handed off a copy to a friend. She read it, then made comments about some of the material that frankly, I never saw that way. Guess I’ve read that book three or four times, at least, maybe more. Each rereading gets different interpretations from some of the story and its elements, and whether the author intended that layer of goodness in there? I don’t know. Frankly from some online comments about the novel, I don’t think the author intended that material to be like that, it was just a happy coincidence. I know how that goes. But this isn’t about literature, or rereading old books, looking for new clues. This is about layers and layers of possible meaning, and in my example, I merely handed over a copy of a book, a reprinted paperback copy, not my precious first edition. Doing so — then interacting about the novel? That was the secret, and that unlocked new meaning for me. Not really new for me, just points I hadn’t yet considered. This is about integration, and listening to the other person. Now that Jupiter is in Pisces, that listening to the other person becomes even more important.

Libra

Some years ago, I would get up in the morning, in the cool, pre-dawn Texas morning, and I would walk. Was about a three-mile loop to coffee and back. Along one urban side street, one of the places that wasn’t then fully gentrified yet, for several weeks, every morning around the same time, passing this one block, probably a specific house, but I can’t be sure, I could hear the lone, angry whistle of a tea kettle at full boil. As I was in transit, I didn’t pay it much heed, but over time, that angry whistle of a tea kettle on full boil takes me back to hot summer mornings, cruising along the city streets, on foot. When my whistling tea kettle is on full boil, that sound is clear, and there’s no way I could let that go without ripping it up and pouring the water into what ever I was boiling the water for, coffee, tea, &c. The warm summer mornings traversing the sidewalks while the city slept, that was what this was about, along with that, apparently at about the same time, every morning that unattended whistle of a pot boiling over on a stove. While there are variations and striations within the variations, the idea is that steam, that kettle’s whistling noise, the angry sound that demands attention? That’s this week’s halcyon call. It directs that Libra attention to what is most pressing at the moment, like, in my thinking, making coffee.

Scorpio

One branch of philosophy suggests that “The teacher appears when the student is ready.” In the Scorpio mind, that would suggest that an obvious choice appears when there is no other option. Problem with our modern worlds, such as it is? There is always a confusing array of potential symbols, metaphysics, and metaphorical makers that clearly indicating confusing pointers. “This way,” or “that way,” and “wait! Over hear, this is the best answer!”

Best answer, best route, best alternative, best Scorpio combination, or whatever. Despite the gentle motion of Jupiter, into that compatible water sign, Pisces, the trend is still one where you’re learning how to appease, ameliorate, but not excoriate a boss. Boss, supervisor, customer, client, someone you need to kowtow towards. My favorite way to display this energy, I put my palms together like a dolly llama, then nod my head down briefly with those palms, pressed together, in front of me, near eye level. I acknowledge the presence, but my hands are still in position where I can, if need be protect myself — subservient but ready for defensive action, if need be. Probably won’t need to do that, but, you know, always be ready.

Sagittarius

Ceiling fan had been on the night before, and the fan was set to “high.” I’m guessing, middle of the night, I pulled an extra blanket up over me because of that fan’s draft. Getting toward summer, the cool spring nights are all but gone, and yet that one night, not much after Cinco de Mayo, my little Sagittarius self felt that chill. Might be refrigerated air, might be rain, I wasn’t sure, but in an hour or two, I woke up with a cold sweat. Blanket was too much, ceiling fan was too much, temperature, refrigerated air, maybe all of that wasn’t set right.

This is about minor adjustments.

I need my light, “summer with the AC on” blanket. I’m unsure how I wound up with the heavier blanket still on the bed, but it is past the time when I should have lighter bedding out, summer and all. The sweats then the freezing cold, then the hot flashes — this is not chemical, this is seasonal — it can be fixed. As a Sagittarius, this is the time to start making our seasonal adjustments, and getting ready for the hotter seasons ahead. “Seasonal Sagittarius settings, soon.” Not too much alliteration, but that sums up the days we’re facing. And, I hope, provides clues about how to face them — what to do.

Adjust.

“Some seasonal Sagittarius settings soon?”

Capricorn

One of the most instructive forms of communication that I’ve listened to? What co-workers say about other co-workers. Peers, cohorts, “work friends,” especially are part of this group, and the way that the others are addressed, in absentia is what’s so telling, to me. Pause, long enough, and see where I’m leading this merry little idea, listen to what the others are saying, behind each others’ backs. This is less about what people say directly to your face and lot more about what people say behind your back. I got a couple of fishing buddies, to their faces? “Ya’ll are ugly, loutish, uncouth, ragged, not fit for human interactions. Next weekend look good for the lake?” Behind their backs? I’ll tell how one saved me from nasty situation with a woman, how another loaned me a truck at just the perfect time, and a certain (non-monetary) generosity from a third one was the best in the world. Look at what people say, to your Capricorn face and then, behind you back. Listen to how your friends discuss peers who might not be present.

Aquarius

Looks like shortly after midnight May 13-14, Jupiter slides on out of Aquarius and Jupiter slides on into Pisces. Big deal to some, not a big deal to others. There should be a collective sigh of relief, because, yes, Jupiter is a good luck and good fortune, but there’s more to it than that. When the planets shift signs, there’s a change underfoot. This is going to move interest, desires, and essentially the entire Aqurius outlook , moves in a different direction. There’s a process of winnowing that starts, that is, separating wheat from the chaff. Old farming terms, almost archaic, but as an idea, sure. Think like this, two piles: good stuff, here. Stuff that is no of use to Aquarius? In that second pile. Personally, and I’m not Aquarian, but I do three piles, one to toss, one to save, and one that’s a “maybe” stack. Might toss it; might save it. Not sure, yet, let’s see what happens.

Pisces

That typical phrasing, “Pisces is an old soul,” that just takes a toil on you, doesn’t it? We know you’re an old soul: part of that is wrapped into being a Pisces, essentially the last sign in the tropical zodiac. You can give us a world-weary sigh, a roll of the eyes, arms crossed across your chest indicating that you’re impatient, all of those visual clues work — to some extent. But is that impatience really about the other signs or are you being a little too hard on yourself? Expecting mere mortals to understand and see, expecting other signs to be able to keep up with that innate intuition and broader metaphysical understanding? That might be a little unrealistic. Therein is a problem. When I looked, I also guessed that was the source of the consternation and the potential source of a permanent scowl, at least for the time being. Rather than fall into that, though, there is another way: smugly keep to yourself. Really simple. I know you understand and see far beyond the normal parameters of whatever it is that confines us. You know, that I know, that you know, and we know. Good? Leave it at that. Since you would like to broadcast that information? Yeah, not now.

Aries

Learning to say “No,” when you want to say, “yes,” and not-so-paradoxically, learning to say “yes” when you really want to say, “no?” Simplified lesson for the next couple of days. Part of this is because the Sun is now in Taurus, but part of this is because there’s a strange twist to the way events unfurl, even now. “Weird” doesn’t really do it justice, but part of the best way for an Aries to work within the framework being structured, even now? This isn’t about either letting someone walk all over you, or letting you just have whatever it is that you want. This more about exploring the edges of the Aries comfort zone, and that’s why “Yes,” instead of “no,” and likewise, “no” instead of “yes” is a novel approach. Try for a few days; see what happens.

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