All delights are vain, but that most vain
Which, with pain purchas’d, doth inherit pain:
As, painfully to pore upon a book
To seek the light of truth, while truth the while
Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look.

Berowne in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (1.i.72-6)

Horoscopes for 2.7.2022

Mars as “punctuation” to Venus as the two head for a biennial alignment, this time in Capricorn — which adds a little extra zing to the recent Venus pattern.

Aquarius

Happy birthday. It’s uncomfortable but not untenable. Mostly this is Saturn, and Saturn’s favorite sign? Capricorn. In Capricorn, there’s Mars and Venus. So as the high holy romantic holiday approaches, there’s some thought about an endearing gesture to the right person. Given the nature and notion of the times? What counts as an endearing gesture according to Aquarius might not convey the proper, or intended, message to a non–Aquarius recipient. Kind of the clue, no? Aquarius to Aquarius, the ability to communicate is just fine, but to any other zodiacal element? Therein is the problem. Any of the other 11 signs might not understand the deep meaning, the poetry, the pageantry, or what was involved, in making the gesture. That’s what makes this uncomfortable but not untenable. I get it. You get it. No one else gets it. Save it for a later date when the inscrutable Aquarius mind can convey data in a way that more people will understand.

Still, I found it thoughtful.

Pisces

I got to meet the new neighbors. I wanted to make sure I had contact info because — well, aging parent? Sure. I introduced myself, and swapped digits. The meet and greet, funny, “Your mother talks about you a lot, I just thought, you know, you’d be more buttoned down.”

I was wearing shorts, sandals, a fishing shirt that read, “fresh water is for sissies,” and a Red Sox ball cap. I’m aggressively casual. I explained that I only wear sandals or cowboy boots, as seasonal attire dictates. All I got. I’m primarily a writer, an occupation that precludes contact with clientele. The lady, a new neighbor of my mother? I want to make sure I can contact in the event of emergency, but the question, and incredulity, that was priceless. I don’t live up to my billing? Not sure. I was very amused. For Pisces, this is about previous billing, consider the source, my mother, and the image she painted. Consider source, the data supplied, and then, what your own eyes, what tangible evidence, suggests.

Aries

I’ve worked, freelance, at the rock shop in Austin going on 6 or 7 years. The location is on the frontage road under the freeway — I-35 — and just behind a large grocery store that is called Fiesta. As its name implies, when I was in Austin, the store served a predominately LatinX population. I am unsure of the correct demographic, but Spanish, or more correctly, Mexican, was the most common tongue. And products. These days, it’s more diverse and the neighborhood gentrified. However, for me, it’s still a good source of candles. The location is convenient if I’m headed to work, and it takes less than five minutes to dash in to get some candles. The warning for Aries arrives when I priced the candles on the shelves — they have a whole row dedicated to the religious iconography — and when I checked out with a case of the candles. I thought they were marked 97 cents apiece, and apparently, the box I grabbed, it was, like a $1.37 per candle. I mean, I still paid because I didn’t want to argue, and compared to prices in San Antonio, it was cheaper. With a case of the candles, I’m also prepared for the next retrograde and untimely machinations of the planets. There will be a small error or problem understanding, or, in my example? I read the wrong price off the shelf. Two ways forward, Aries, two possible avenues: 1. Bitch and look like a fool, or 2. Admit the mistake, pay and get on to work. (There are days when I heed my own advice.)

Taurus

Simple phone calls, sometimes, it’s just a simple phone call. Drives me a bit crazy, and that’s why I was thinking about how this impacts Taurus at the moment. It’s just a simple phone call. One service I unsubscribed to? The last step was a simple phone call. Just dialed up the number, punched in a few digits, and I was unsubscribed. Now, what I have to warn you about, looking at the way the stars are playing with each other, so close on the heels of Venus in Retrograde and Mars compounding the issue? I watched my next credit card statement to make sure that the service I unsubscribed from didn’t try and bill me again. It’s happened before. I’m ready, this time, had the cancellation order number, and all that. The way to end the problem, it was simple, just a phone call. Short, sweet, maybe not “sweet,” but not bitter, and case closed. Matter handled. Another item checked off the endless list of things that must get done today. Same applies to Taurus, don’t be afraid to just call the number on the back of the card, the number on the front, or the customer service number. Sometimes, a quick call is all it takes.

Gemini

I managed to avoid most of the ads, but eventually, they found me. I keep a low profile online, so that the trackers don’t track me too much. But eventually, they all found me. So it was certain brand of candy bar, available in the “fun size,” and I wonder, how many of the fun size do I have to eat until I’m a fun size, too? I tired several, and after about three, I’m starting to get a little sugared up and not interested in too much besides running around outside to burn off the sugar high. Maybe that kind of advertising doesn’t really apply to me. Perhaps eating a candy bar doesn’t alleviate my taciturn, angry demeanor. Can’t say for sure. The notion that just gobbling down a particular brand of candy bar, the idea that it will change my outlook, and thereby, also change my ability to perform? I find that suspect data, but digging around, there was this bag of leftover Halloween candy and since I liken Halloween to Valentine’s Day, the jump isn’t too far off. However, as I just proved, even the fun size packages don’t really change anything. You can try, but if you want real, and lasting change? Going to take something more than a candy bar.

Cancer

I’m not a huge believer in “fate.” Or luck. As I’ve often intoned, borrowing from sage masters, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” (It’s not an original, I don’t think. Pretty sure, anyway.) The stars are dealing you an opportunity but to make this work? Concentration. Direction, concentration, and an effort that leads in a single direction. Doesn’t matter what the goal is, but with Mars and Venus playing a game of tag in the night sky (happens every other year, don’t freak out), but with those two close, and in Capricorn — opposite from the Moon Children energies? Means this is a time to take action. Pursue. Hunt. Go out and grab what you want. Shake the trees, see what fruit falls at your feet. Do something. Probably fail on the first try; try again you must. It works in your favor, keep hacking away at that goal.

The Leo

Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is a strange collection of verse and set in a wonderland setting, the first idea where we will learn and grow as intellectual giants, the life of the mind. Hint: it’s a comedy, love goes awry, and much mayhem ensues. The odd bit to a traditional staging on the play, it doesn’t end in marriage. The potential is there, but no, the happy couple doesn’t unite and live happily ever after. Adds a certain unknown element, right at the end. Guess I should add, “spoiler alert,” but then, the play’s been around 400+ years, yeah not like it’s not a surprise. This week holds no surprises for the majestic Leo, either. Can’t say any of this crept up on you, it wasn’t an unknown quantity, or there was that strange twist at the end. Like that play’s ending, though, there is a strange little twist, and perhaps, not for sure, but perhaps a delay. Like that play. Not over, just “Not yet.”

Virgo

Chocolate icing on broccoli? I watched in abject horror as my sister dipped broccoli florets? Is that what they are called? Little tops of broccoli? She had some of those, and she had some leftover cream chocolate icing. Most of it was used on a cake, but some was left over as a snack, and I could see dipping a finger in, and licking the icing off, but to put rich, butter-cream chocolate icing on the broccoli itself? She was following the almost post-Mercury Retrograde guidelines, but that combination? I am unsure of it. Strikes me as impolitic to make suggestions, but I do like the idea of combining disparate elements in a new concoction. To me? That registered as a failure, but I’m not Virgo, and I don’t know what tastes good to you. Still, chocolate icing on broccoli? Doesn’t sound appetizing — to me.

Libra

There’s a gentle, graceful motion I’ve seen one particular Libra employ. It’s simple enough, it’s a sort of passing-scooping motion. Picking up loose ends that need to straightened, put away, and sometimes, just moved around. The notion is cleaning, but the sum total outcome is more the effect of just transporting old into new places. Rearranging? Sure, that’s what it is. There’s actually a benefit to this action, though, as there is always material that falls through the cracks, as apt a metaphor as any. Here’s the way this works, that stuff that gets missed in the gentle scooping, and cleaning g mode? Might let it slide.

Scorpio

“Always trust your gut,” instinctively true advice. However, with the preponderance of Aquarius type of influence? The tension that floats freely? The subterfuge, misdirection, and just bad intelligence? That usually good Scorpio gut-feeling is reacting to adverse astrological conditions, but might not be the best leading indicator at this time. Normally, I would trust your gut more than my own evidence. I am Scorpio-compliant, normally. Has then been a normal time? So the suggestion is simple, for Scorpio: ask an expert. Ask someone who knows something. I’m not talking about a website, or one of my friends who just got his data from a questionable source, no, the usual Scorpio hunch doesn’t work. So the adage, “Always trust your gut”? Might not be the best advice at this time.

Sagittarius

You can have one or the other. Can’t have both. Can’t have your cake and eat it, too. Or can’t be on and off at the same time. This is a very un-Sagittarius situation. Can’t have both.

On or Off.

Binary in nature, and I don’t make the rules, I just make an effort to elucidate the easiest way around. Which, for now, is either-slash-or. Can’t have both. There is — there are — several who will argue. My simple suggestion? Mount a feeble response. I’ve assured you that it is binary, and as such, no right way, so at the last minute, make a few lame suggestions as to possible alternatives, and then capitulate. It’s easier, but you pretend to have mounted a redoubtable affront to the obstacle.

Capricorn

I don’t own a meat tenderizer. If that was a function in my kitchen, I would use a plain fork, maybe even just a salad fork, since the tines are shorter. Old trick I learned at the foot of family, and cooking tips. However, the idea of a meat tenderizer, the ones I’ve seen are wooden mallets with a textured face for an uneven, but uniform approach to softening, breaking down the muscle? It’s simple, just break the surface tension, the long strands of protein, and just shatter enough of it to release flavor, makes the meat a lot less tough, and prepares us for a more palatable meal. What’s facing Capricorn at the moment is a sense that you’ve been beaten with that wooden-mallet meat-tenderizer. As we established at the beginning, it wasn’t mine since I don’t own one. Can’t blame me. But there is hope. You should be ready to be served up, now.

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