Horoscopes for 7-22-2021

Disgrace not so your king,
That he should be so abject, base, and poor,
To choose for wealth and not for perfect love.
Henry is able to enrich his queen,
And not to seek a queen to make him rich:
So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
As market men for oxen, sheep, or horse.

Earl of Suffolk in Shakespeare’s Henry 6 pt. 1 5.5.48-55

Sun enters the best fixed fire sign of all, The Leo on Jul 22, 2021 at 9:26 PM, local time. Full Moon in Leo/Aquarius, July 23, 2021 9:31 PM – local. Your mileage may vary.

Leo

With the longer-lasting plague and pandemic problems, I kept thinking about the term, “The canary in the coal mine.” Or parakeet, not sure which one they used. In days of yore, the olden times, the deeper mines used a parakeet, or a canary, in a gilded cage, as a way to determine if the air was safe to breath. Odorless, toxic fumes would escape the coal seams, and the natural gas, besides being highly flammable, could also be deadly via suffocation. Drowning and not knowing it? Maybe it was CO2, I’m not sure, I’m weak in the area of mining toxicity, preferring to stay above the ground, myself. As The Leo, except for one intrepid adventuresome soul, yeah, above ground, am I right? Stay up here in the warm summer sun. I also hardly think of The Leo as a frail, little songbird, but as an early warning device, remember for the little bird? This was a fatal situation, if I understand it correctly. You really don’t want to be the leader, not in this situation, where the leader is like that “Canary in a coal mine.” Not a leadership position The Leo aspires to, and not this week. Gentle shifts suggest that birthday stuff, might have someone try and play out like that. Yeah, no, I’ll stay here, safe, above ground.

Virgo

Kind of cartoon-like delivery, but that’s the way this works, you know? It was a figure, and he was looking at the mail, “Look, I might be a big winner, the envelopes says so!” His buddy?

Armed with an air horn, delivers a loud punctuation at ear-splitting decibels. “It’s a scam, you know that!” So the first figure, again looking at the mail, “Look, it’s a free gift, all I have to pay is shipping and handling.” Airhorn from the second one again. “It’s a trick, you know that!” Virgo, looking at a piece of electronic correspondence, “Wow, this guy is stuck in Africa, and he says he’ll send me money if I wire him some cash.” Love me some Virgo, but I will use an airhorn, too, if need be. Don’t make me. Venus and Mars are all right, but the rest of the mess?

Libra

Great ideas are wonderful, but a failure to implement in a timely fashion? Therein is the classic conundrum, starts with the childish rhyme, “shoulda, coulda, woulda…” I always liked my version, “If I knew then, what I know now, I would’ve been a very dangerous person.” Punctuate that with an evil grin. Alas, even I can’t do the evil grin anymore. To be fair, I didn’t know about it then, so I couldn’t have done anything about then, and it was until I was much older that I realized what I could’ve done. This gets into a slippery, downhill spiral that has no upside, and no way to find a purchase to drag yourself back up to the present. Therefore? As the Moon waxes and wanes, fills out then gets smaller? Mars and Venus, especially Venus, but the phase of the moon, position of the sun, it all adds up. Adds up to that slippery slope of “If only.” But you didn’t, because you didn’t know, and maybe, that’s a blessing. Move forward. You know now.

Scorpio

Didn’t take long, only a few years. What I was thinking about, I was of the mind I would never get hip-deep in Shakespeare’s “History Plays,” especially the questionable Henry 6 trilogy. But then over time, I found a fascination with the language, some of the plot elements, the way the history was presented, and the whole, “Made for TV” compared with sprawling saga knights, all that is holy, and mystical beings. Some history, some “adapted for the stage” history, and some fabrications. Which part is which? Kind of hard to tell without delving into dry, boring history books that track the actual lineage and have the proper context for the material. Yeah, never thought I was going to do that. Started with just a single play, and suddenly, there’s three plays in order, and then there’s the question of the order of the three plays, apparently, Part 2 was first, then came the first, then the third, and, the way I see it, it was like a movie franchise, the first was successful, so there’s a prequel and a sequel. Not the entire set of plays, but parts of them have passages that are obviously Shakespeare’s handiwork, and that language, even then, is quite fetching. Alluring, even, to me. Then, these three plays are the set-up for one of the best villains in historical fiction, Shakespeare’s Richard III. He’s a surly bastard. For Scorpio, I’m not recommending the early Shakespeare triad of Henry 6 plays, but I am suggesting, there’s a thread, a simple yearning, and one must explore wherever that takes us.

Sagittarius

Because I was raised in Texas, there’s a certain nationalistic pride I have. There’s also an independent spirit, born either of pioneer stock, or a need for autonomous relief. “I got this,” is the familiar expression. Weighing several astrological factors — remember I am Sagittarius myself — I was looking for clues. The biggest factor? Take that independence spirt, the “I can do this myself” attitude, take all of that, and wrap it up tightly. It’s summer time, it’s hot. It’s humid. Some days, on certain lakes, I can’t buy a bite. Way it goes. My knowledge, my cunning, my craft, my very wiles? None of that works. We need help. Good week to pause, watch the other guy catch a big old lunker of a fish, and ask that other guy, “What bait were you using?” Some days, a little outside help goes a lot further towards easing us down whatever trail we’re currently trying to to pursue.

Capricorn

Got this one fishing buddy, you try and sit in a boat with him for a few hours. Anyway, he’s got this deal, his paycheck will only go so far. Always seems to be a little short on cash, like, “You get lunch this time, I’ll catch you next time, I’m a little short…” I listen to him explain how he will parcel out his paycheck, “Then, I’ll pay for the payday loan with some of it, then go to the pawn shop and get that deer rifle back, and then…” He spends an inordinate amount of his time balancing lenders. Which I’m not. I take him fishing for the fun. Usually costs me a lunch, too. So, anyway, what happens, he gets to where he’s promised his future paycheck three different times over, to at least as many different creditors. Suffice it to say, he’s not a good credit risk. Amusing, yes, funny and witty, just not real good with long-term memory when it comes to paying back. Hint: maybe don’t loan him money this week?

Aquarius

There’s a big difference between “fan,” the term “aficionado,” and “professional.” I am, or have been, a professional astrologer. At the time, there was no licensing body, no state exam, just pay taxes. Still, while I’m a casual student of Shakespeare, I have, at best, an undergraduate degree in the stuff, so I’m not that well-versed. Fan-boy is a better term rather than true scholar. I picked up one of my several scholarly Shakespeare treatises, and flipped to notes about a play that will be in an upcoming production. Hope to see it, and the notes, these are for me, more than anything else, just a chance to pick through some of the more delicate, less questioned ideas in a particular production. For me? This is totally casual. I flipped through, and this one author, love her work, but it is dense. Packed with ideas, references, looping back to a previous declarative statement, then gradually unfolding hidden gems in the story. It’s an academic stab at “fun” writing, trying to make the obtuse more bearable, perhaps offering clarity. Maybe not. I read one paragraph three times, didn’t grasp the meaning, and stuck the book back on the shelf. I’m a fan-boy, not a scholar. For me, understanding what that one professor was saying about the play wasn’t Kramer Mission Critical. Here’s the hard part, unlike me, your Aquarius self needs to delve a little deeper into that topic, like maybe, you don’t have the luxury of my fan-boy fascination, and you have to read it four times. Dig in, Aquarius, it’s worth it.

Pisces

One my problems is I’ll remember a trivial bit of lore, and then, even with the inter-webs, wiki, and all? I can’t seem to locate a source for the information. I think it was one of the jays, blue-jay, or some like-minded bird. What I recall, the women birds would fly into the nest of another species of bird, lay an egg, and then take off. Think of a cardinal mom, looking at her splotched eggs, and there’s one blue egg, and then when the eggs hatch? Three or four red chicks, and one blue bird chick. Might make the daddy cardinal question a few things. Then again, this is the course of nature, and who knows what goes on in their bird minds other than, “That car was just washed.” I was thinking about this because last spring, I had bird nest outside my kitchen window, and I watched a similar scene unfold, one egg was quite different than the rest. Opportunistic birds? Who knew? I can’t find, despite several cursory searches, any data about what kind of bird is was, and why the one egg was a different, probably, a different, opportunistic species. As Leo gets underway? There is one problem, and the idea that we don’t have the correct search term sort of explains it all. It’s looking for the data, can drive us crazy. It’s not a cardinal, but it’s not a wren. I kept looking, and I couldn’t figure out what kind of bird it was, and why the other one left the egg behind. Robins? Blue-Jays?

Aries

Summer days when there’s a torpid, languid heat with nary a cloud in the sky? Makes me think about fishing, but in the local lakes? Days like that are less than fulfilling. The barometric pressure — like the recent “dome” in the Northwest — induces a kind of “lockjaw” in certain species of fish. Not impossible, but not probable. It’s not impossible to catch fish, but it is improbable. So the middle the summer, which would be idyllic and wonderful, filled with summer-time activities, like fishing? Yeah, great activity, but as far as results are concerned? Not nearly as good. The stillness and apparent calm of the lake’s surface indicates the fish are sleeping, too. The simplest trick? Get out before dawn, like, be on the water by 5 AM. The rosy fingers of dawn are just clawing at the eastern horizon, and the fish aren’t aware yet that it’s another miserable day above the lake’s surface, hot, humid, hotter yet. But other than those 5 AM starts, right before the sun comes up? That’s the only sweet spot for either fishing or Aries. Aim to be off the water by 9 or 10 in the morning.

Taurus

Part of my family is of “southern extraction,” way it is said. Raised in deep East Texas and then, in Austin? I have that colloquial “southern” understanding of propriety. I don’t always use it, but I was certainly raised with it, and it infuses my every action — and my every interaction. Works for, and against, me on numerous occasions. In one example, my overtly politic politeness was confused with an advance. No, I was just being nice. Same juice, different person? I took a bad situation and made it palatable. Doesn’t matter what you’re facing, in the week ahead, the Taurus cure-all, such as it is, and subject to the terms of service, is that deeply southern social grease. The little, colloquial expressions and endearments, the subtle niceties of language. To me, this is as simple as sprinkling a conversation with “darlin’,” “sweetie,” and other, similar phrases. Helps, to my ear, to hear it done with a bit of a drawl, but that could be me. Still, the little niceties of language goes a long way in making this better for Taurus.

Gemini

This is a time that’s a “might bit” troubling, but not really “bad.” I tend to dredge out Hamlet for that one, nothing’s good or bad, and I let it run itself out. Venus — in Virgo — squares the first of the Gemini planets and that creates discontent. Discord, disharmony, or, as alluded to, discontent. As long as we trap the symbolic nature of the root cause of the upset? It helps to forge a way forward. What is usually pretty, tidy, and neat? Problems. The priority, next few days, get away from the idea that it has to be “pretty,” and that’s a different subject altogether, the definition of pretty, but get away from the sense that the answer has to be attractive. The packaging for that answer might be plain, might be a little beat-up, possibly it’s all distressed as an appearance because the material has all been roughly handled, and does this paint an image? Answers, in true Gemini fashion, answers will be fast, efficient, but not pretty. Not bad, just not as nice-looking as we would like. It works; it just offends your delicate aesthetics. Move on.

Cancer

I’ve done this a time or two, usually borne out a sense desperation, rather than some kind of technological prowess. I’ve heard, think I’ve seen a time or two, when a laptop can be linked through a cell phone, as well. I did it with just an i-tablet and a compatible phone, simple enough, “Share internet connection,” and it worked. Well, sort of worked. One time, I set out to work all day with that kind of a link, and it was problematic, at best. What I was saving in cord-cutting? I lost in having to keep everything charged up, and then, jiggling the machines to keep the connection, think this was over bluetooth, tapping the screen on each one every few minutes to keep the connection alive. So, to surmise: it can be done, it is technically feasible. Practical? Depends. Can this work for a full day of toil and travail? Probably not the best idea. It’s a great “work around,” but as solutions go? Not the greatest way to work. Or play, even. Might depend on the devices, the set-up, and whatever, but then, there’s always that battery issue, as well. All depends. A temporary fix is best if it is just a temporary fix. Just because you can? Does that mean you have to?

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