“I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror
Of good and bad, that makes and unfolds error,
Now take upon me, in the name of Time,
To use my wings.”

Chorus in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (IV.i.1-4)

Horoscopes for 6-27-2023

6/30/23 Neptune goes retrograde at 27° Pisces

Cancer

Used it before, but watering a potted plant in my backyard? I got it again: Lizard side-eye. There’s a group of Carolina Anoles in this backyard. One or two of the males got to be a decent size, no doubt for feasting on bugs in the yard. But this isn’t about their diet or ecological benefits, it’s about the lizard side-eye. There’s a term, I can’t get to that term fast enough, about how each eye operates independent as visual receptors in their wee-little lizard brains. The way the reptiles are constructed, they are amusing as backyard neighbors. The males have a ruby throat-sac, and I always figure it’s a certain amount of chest-thumping, on the tiniest of scales. Still, it’s that apparent lizard side-eye that I was thinking about, especially with gentle Cancer, the Moon Children. The lizard looks at me, and I think I’m getting cast in a negative light. It’s just the way those reptiles are formed. It’s not a condemning, judgmental, hateful look, it’s just the lizard’s face: all looks are lizard side-eye.

The Leo

I’m unsure of the location of the impetus. I’m unsure of where the drive comes from, in me. But with this kind of arrangement, Venus squares off against Uranus, and then aligns with Mars? Mars and Venus making a nice coupling in the evening sky? It’s about that unbidden, frequently unanswered push to do something. There’s a hidden kind of drive to this, and I’m unsure of the source. Retail is the easiest example, for me. From me? Yes, from me, for The Leo. Determine if this is a valid requirement. Differentiate between desire and validity,

To be honest, more than one Leo will insist that the desire is a valid pursuit, and then, only to find out, that no, you didn’t really need another one of those. “But I didn’t have a purple one, yet.” But you had pink, mauve, taupe, and fuchsia, so, no, I’m not sure “need” is the correct word. Want? Sure. Looks cute? Oh yes. But did you need another one? I am less than sure of that. Here’s what it is: Venus. Venus, Mars , and the Taurus Uranus, that created some tension, but that’s gradually slipping away, and despite the July 4th Sale? Is it really a good price, or are you merely being manipulated by outward desires? No good Leo likes to be manipulated.

Virgo

What to watch out for? When the Virgo starts the “conversation” with “first of all,” and I run. There will be facts, figures, supporting documentation, charts, graphs, and more. Much more. This is a warning, and this is situation that applies across the board, and what we can watch for, be on guard against, in Virgo-land? There’s a smug, self-righteous attitude marked by that kind of commentary. “OK, Kramer,” the Virgo starts, “first of all…” and we get a long litany of proofs, some almost mathematical in their accuracy and presentation, proving, beyond reasonable doubt that the non–Virgo is, indeed, incorrect. Look: holiday weekend, maybe take some time off from proving how wrong we might be? Hint: not always a good look for Virgo. “First of all, Mr. Kramer…” Well, crap, that didn’t work.

Libra

Pull out you wallet. Or purse, whatever it is that you carry with you, each day for handling cash, credit cards, and ID. That sort of thing. Pull that out, and sort through it. We got a short break as the holiday weekend starts to unfold, and I think it’s more like a train wreck, and in light of recent events, maybe that’s not the best analogy, but it’s what I got. So pull out that Libra wallet. Flip through the cards, bits of paper, the business cards, the credit cards, and there’s one, I used to carry an “emergency” credit card, but I won’t carry one of those anymore, since I tended to have a certain amount of “retail emergencies,” which, let’s be honest, weren’t really emergency situations, but more of a strong desire, and that desire might’ve been influenced by lust, love, marketing, or advertising. Never can tell. Whatever the driving forces, it’s not really a “need,” and more like a “desire.” Urged and pushed by some action, but still, having that extra credit, that extra cash, or unused “emergency” plastic at the ready? Did you need to do that? No. Do you want to do that? Yes. Helps if you just recently cleaned out your wallet and don’t have access to that surplus “emergency” resource, whatever it is.

Scorpio

I tend to work in a pattern when I’m working my way through a weekly horoscope. I’ll start at one end and then follow the planets around, the Sun and the Moon, but mostly just planets, or astrological objects, whatever we want to call them? Anyway, I tend to follow them all around in a pattern, starting at one end, and then finishing at the other. Can take days — or even weeks — to bang out a good horoscope. It isn’t fast, despite the way it looks. Each one is handcrafted.

This week in Scorpio is different because I started at one end, got to Scorpio, skipped Scorpio, and kept going. Scorpio was last because I wasn’t sure how to encapsulate the weirdness against the flash of Mars and Venus, mostly Venus, now, but trying to soothe what doesn’t want to be soothed. There’s a certain kind of prickly approach, and I think about the little greenbriers that grow wild around here. More a weed than a useable plant, the sharp thorns are like barbed mini-spears, only there are no flowers. Valid for protection, but not always a pleasant experience. That’s how good Scorpio will appear, valid as a prickly protection, but not someone we want to hug, just now. Consider the vibe, and consider a pleasant distance is a good thing. Nod “hello,” no hugs. We don’t all like those thorns.

Sagittarius

At the risk of invoking yet another Shakespeare play, the Scottish one, I was having trouble with valued kitchen appliance. “It should’ve died hereafter,” to mangle that allusion. What’s a Sagittarius malaprop among friends? I’ve burned through another coffee grinder. Think this one only lasted about a dozen years, so there is that to be said. Used almost daily, for that length of time? It gets some credit. Industrial brand-name, I suppose that adds to longevity, and it was some exotic beans from some artisanal, one-off, no-name roaster that finally did it in. The coffee was excellent, if a lighter roast than I prefer, but the beans, for some reason, killed the grinder. After a dozen years, it was already on its way out, maybe the extra-killer beans just did it in. Made it give up the ghost? Looking at what’s really happening? Small, minor adjustments are needed in Sagittarius-land. Something as simple as reaching into the cupboard and bringing out the older grinder to replace broken one while I start shopping for a new one? I have a manual one and a spare, here, so there’s no real rush. Sagittarius: no real rush.

Capricorn

One of my (previously) favorite terms was “exotic.” Turns out, the phrase, the adjective “exotic” can have some fairly detrimental and almost divisive inflection interpreted by others. In my own mind, I’m pretty sure I never meant any harm, but that doesn’t mitigate the word’s emotional baggage for causing some distance when used. Heady stuff, a single phrase, just a word, an adjective at that, which can come loaded with double meanings, and be harmful in its odd usage. This is a perfect example of me, making a mistake, sometime repeatedly, and warning Capricorn not follow my errant ways. I’ve made this very mistake, over and over, you don’t need to step where I’ve recently stepped. Look, listen, learn. Right before July 4th? A goodly Capricorn will be tempted to open his or her mouth, and be alarmingly rude like I was. Don’t follow me.

Aquarius

One of my fishing buddies, an Aquarius, lives in an unincorporated section of the county. Fireworks are legal, or legal-ish. Visiting him the first time this week? There will be a few fireworks, and I’ll jump when they go off. By the second or third time, it’s just low-level annoyance, and his son loves the noise, the bang, and the seemingly dangerous excitement of the fire crackers. I get over it, and that made me think of Aquarius as you’ll be jumping like me, and after the first rush, and understanding that there is an adolescent male pyrotechnics event occurring? Get over the first fright? It evens out. The week will even out, despite the raucous behavior in and around Aquarius.

Pisces

Economics are not my strength. I can’t predict market directions, nor can I predict futures within macroeconomic systems. I can look at microeconomics for Pisces, though, and this is about having already established a safe cushion, and now? Adding to that cushion. Or, in one form or another? Not taking away from the existing safe padding that you have. In the old trailer park? It was simple: I had a cash stash tucked away in the dirty laundry. It was as safe a place as any; who would look for cash sums in the dirty laundry? It was the safest place, at the time. Old set of survival skills, updated for a more modern era, and where will you leave your Pisces emergency monies? As noted, economics are not my strength, so don’t ask me about markets, and safe havens. This is about adding to your already safe stash of cash — whatever that looks like.

Aries

It’s up to you, and this is strictly an “Aries on Aries” situation. For about — lots of y’all — this is an internal debate. There’s a problem, a situation, an issue, and this problem? Not of your own Aries making, and therefore? Not yours to fix. That being noted? How many of you are going to try and fix that? When an expression, a replay, when the answer starts with “But I can…” that’s an Aries butting in where assistance might not be welcome. As soon as you hear yourself start with “But I can…” that means you’re inserting an Aries nose where it might not be welcome. The way I hear it most frequently? “No, I got this,” when, clearly, they don’t “got this,” and the clue? Let them fail. Let them don’t “got this” with your unasked, and un-offered Aries assistance. Just because you can rescue them? Doesn’t mean you should rescue them.

“I don’t need your help, not now.”

The correct Aries answer?

“OK,” and back away.

Taurus

Digging through my own archives, I was searching for a certain turn of the phrase I used some decades ago. I recall the setting, and I knew about when I used that term, as I liked it. I started digging into the archives to find it, and build a link to it, and what I happened upon? Bad typing and worse formatting — the worst (OK) boomer mistake? Double space after a period. Double space between sentences. While that did look good in its era, now it looks like a classic boomer mistake. Worse, in the archive’s backend? The mistake looks even more jarring. I was taught to keyboard by boomers so that’s where I picked it up, the bad habit of double-space-bar after a sentence. I corrected the one entry I was originally looking for, then groaned, as I have no desire to paw and page through thousands of entries to correct previous mistakes. It speaks to an age, and it speaks to habit I no longer use. Don’t do it anymore. The modern text handlers, word processors, and web things, they look to take care of this typography. But for me, the mistakes linger. For Taurus, careful about thinking we can go back, and wholesale correct previous mistakes. I mean, I fixed the one, but there are early years of that typing that I don’t feel I need to fix. Looks a little weird, but it’s just the archives, right? Archaic should stay archived?

Gemini

“How beautiful it is to rest, and do nothing afterwards.” That’s my simple suggestion, for Gemini. Practice relaxation, in whatever form that takes. There’s an insistent energy quite prevalent, and instead of getting into it? Practice whatever form of relaxation comes to mind. The crush from Uranus, against the Venus/Mars thing? Too much pressure, and not enough outlets. My suggestion in the Gemini land? Take a nap. Rest. Meditate. “How beautiful it is to rest, and do nothing afterwards.” Take the hint, Gemini, take the hint.