“Then, Clifford, were thy heart as hard as steel,
As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds,
I come to pierce it, or to give thee mine.”

Richard in Shakespeare’s
Henry 6th Part III (II.i.201-3)

Horoscopes for 8-15-2023

• 7/23/23 Venus goes retrograde at 28° Leo
• 8/4/23 Mercury at 8° Virgo
• 8/23/23 Mercury goes retrograde at 21° Virgo

It is the days, most near a week, before Mercury goes retrograde. In Virgo, close to Venus, currently retrograde in nominally magnificent Leo.

The Leo

There’s always one, isn’t there? I have one client, to this day, asks about my monthly horoscopes. I’ve been doing weekly for 28 years now, horoscopes themselves for over 30 but the weekly just passed the 28 year mark. Still, that shows how ingrained an idea can get. Means I’ve had that client for more than 28 years, still asking for the way I used to do it. To be honest, I changed formats around, played with publishing dates, and I tried, unsuccessfully, for years to get a publishing date that coincided with the planets’ movements, and follow the direction of the sun, going for the signs instead of months. Some habits are too ingrained, know what I mean? What works? What doesn’t work? Where we are headed, last week or so, of Leo? No where. Old habits refuse to be changed. Since they refuse change? Easiest way to work this? Work around those who don’t want to change. No point in arguing with what people believe, for good or otherwise, and not this week, but next? Yeah, Mercury starts a retrograde patterns so that applies, as well. Careful, at the close of the month of Leo, don’t spend too much time dwelling in the past.

Virgo

I was marginally fascinated with a shop out of Austin, selling vintage T-shirts. The big obstacle, in my mind? Virgo mind, as well? How vintage are the shirts, really? Made me wonder, and I’ve got no way to corroborate authenticity, I’ve got a plastic bin with a half-dozen concert Ts, for the last 20 years or so, and I know they are authentic, since, in a scrapbook, I’ve got corresponding ticket stubs. One Virgo fishing buddy just had a baby. (His wife had the baby, not to listen to him.) Running through a big box store, I found a cute baby outfit with an AC/DC band tour logo. Kind of ruins the image of rock’n’roll outlaws, don’t it? But it fit the kid for a few week.

How to tell what’s authentic vintage, and what is merely a marketing-licensed product? I would guess, first blush, first Virgo blush, that feel would be the ultimate taste test. Thin poly-cotton, faded tag at the back of the neck, shredding holes, sure, that would be the easiest way. But it involves Virgo actually touching the product. Even though I live online? Maybe not the best place to buy, not now. Touch, taste, test.

Libra

Doesn’t take much to set off that hair-trigger temper. A favorite image? A little Libra stamping her wee feet, “I am not angry!” Yeah, I could tell by the volume and the exclamation point following the statement. The problem with a generic horoscope like mine? I can’t tell if the gentle Libra is the one getting pissed off, or if the delicate Libra is the one who is the cause of the ire. One or another, kind of depends, but I would suspect, looking at Mars and Mercury in Virgo that one who is getting shorted? Probably, not always, and I am so willing to be wrong, but probably the Libra. Before you let loose with that well-directed anger, though? Follow Mark Twain’s advice, and count to four. I’m just suggesting, the placement of the planets, you have a right to be angry, but the target of that anger? Might have it misjudged. Just my casual, weekly warning. Doesn’t take much to set off that temper tantrum, either.

“You are so wrong, I’m going to get you!”

Scorpio

I listened to another astrologer expound on a theory, with charts and graphs, detailed notes, about certain, previously undefined astrological energies. I should note, these were previously undefined in his world view. I spent enough time seeing clients face-to-face to recognize the same patterns. Or, at the very least, similar patterns. I’m watching one unfold, even now, and this hits Scorpio, like a tap on the shoulder. It’s the universal energies, just trying to get your Scorpio attention. This is not new stuff. This is a review period. This is time to pause and assess where you’ve been, and look backwards before taking any kind of a leap forward. This is a weird kind of energy with both little, inner planets retrograde, and it’s not unheard of, or, for that matter, is it “bad.” Pause. Reflect. Adjust. Since this is retrograde? Pause. Reflect. Adjust.

Sagittarius

A resume-building site came through the feeds. Odd, it was about what doesn’t belong on a modern resume. For me, one item caught my Sagittarius attention. “No work experience older than 15 years.” With more than 30 years of horoscopes up on this site, I let that stand as its own body of work, and while it won’t fit on a single page, that plus the books in print work for me. Over the years, I’ve toyed with the bio bits, as there was one piece stuck in there by a former editor, and that never died, despite my best efforts to kill it off. At some point, we just have to let what is there, be there. I guess I should get rid of the archives, but I like them, and this is as much for me as it is for you. The question, looking at this week, when do we let stand what is already there?

Capricorn

There always is something oddly appealing about long odds. Every other sign? Caution. Capricorn? Forget it, throw caution to the wind. Abandon conventional guidelines, and run with it. Go for it. Jump. Take that leap of faith. More than one Capricorn will moan, roll his eyes, and suggest that “No good will come of this, not now, not with the really pejorative influences at play.” In all probability, for all but 1% of any given population, especially now? That’s true. Doom, gloom, and ultimately, failure. Nothing good will come of it, but there’s that one percent (1%) who succeeds where everyone else fails. In strict, scientific terms? A “hypothesis” is a question, a theory, and until it is proven, through empirical evidence, one way, or another? It remains a question, a hypothesis. Which is why, as a test? Think about going forward despite the overwhelming odds that seem against dear Capricorn.

Aquarius

I got stuck on the notion of a honey-bee, and I kept trying to figure out how to wrap a metaphor around that. If you’re gentle with the bees, they are kind, and they produce honey. However, so it seems, every beekeeper has experienced a situation where the bee-keeper became a target of the angry horde of bees. The netting and the smoke, sometimes that works, to a certain extent, but always comes a time, no matter what one does, the bees are angry, downright vengeful, so it would seem. I’m not saying that this is what is going to happen, but there is an inherent beauty, and delicious taste, plus a host of metaphysical and wellness protocols involved, and the local honey, not purified, it can work wonders. Still there’s always the risk of a bee sting. To me, a bee sting is painful but not fatal, as I don’t carry that allergy. However, for some, it can be more than painful, it can cause a kind of shock, a bodily reaction that can have serious consequences. That’s a problem. So my analogy falls apart, but there is a message, about being gentle with a potentially painful situation, up and coming. For me, and maybe Aquarius? I leave the bee-keeping to the bee-keeprs as they understand the job better than I do.

Pisces

I’ve carried tarot cards with since before this career started. As a formative piece of my education, a particular bookstore used an image from a standard tarot card as a symbol on a bookmark. Digging deep, on this one. To me, the cards carry archetypes and universal imagery that can be applied across the vast expanse of the human experience. However, expecting a symbol printed on a piece of cardboard to be imbued with magical properties of prophecy is a little unreasonable. I maintain, like so many events in the Life of Pisces, the skill lies in the hands of the operator. That’s what is more important, and sets Pisces on a quest at the moment, looking for someone who can assist with defining and delving into divinations, in order to make sense of the current conditions. “What do the cards say?” If you look closely, you’ll realize the cards don’t say a damn thing, but the question is, how does this speak to your Pisces self?

Aries

I tend to equate Aries with a warrior archetype energy. Going with that idea? Typical Aries energy is currently waving a sword overhead, saddled up with all the accoutrements of war, ready for battle. While there are times to stand and fight? Where there are situations that beg for justice served at the end of that sword, metaphorically speaking, or for real? Acknowledge there are places where violent ends are the required outcome, but this isn’t an Aries battle. In the background, I can always hears that one Aries, “Oh but this is our fight, it’s the principle!” I value and prize those same principles, but I’m not willing to get embroiled in a fight that has no way to win, and then, having to fall on a sword, either my own, or the purported enemy’s. That Aries looks at me, askance, “So I should stand by and do nothing?” Really is better when you arrive at that conclusion for yourself, isn’t it?

Taurus

I told you it was going to get weird, and did you listen? No. So when it does get stranger than strange, like, “No one would ever believe this is happening to me…” That kind of strange? I was the voice of reason and logic, and did you listen? Apparently not, judging by the responses, but be that as it may? It’s about strange and stranger, with weird being the operative word, and then? Try my way of acting none-too-surprised as the strangeness unfolds. Which it will. I’ve read enough fiction and fantasy so that weird is a relative term. Lived formative years in Austin. But there is a rewind effect, caused by the relative retrogrades, and this is stuff, in one capacity or another, we’ve all seen before. Just seems to hit the staid and complacent Taurus the hardest. “Just how weird will it be?” Good question. Think about doubling and tripling the weirdness quotient. That, and the more than usual Mercury Retrograde type of warnings apply. But you knew that, right?

Gemini

I’m just old school enough to remember wired telephones, and always sleeping with one bedside — in case of emergency. There were listed and unlisted numbers. My old school suggestion was simple — I would turn the ringer off. Having been around too many moms, though, I understand the urgency to be able to connect. I have another, old school Gemini suggestion. Leave the phone in the other room. I’ve found that not sleeping with a phone has increased my own productivity, improved my well-being, and assisted in bettering my dubious mental conditions. It’s an incomplete answer, but with what is happening, there is very little that can’t be put off until later. Try it, one night, see what happens. Try just leaving the phone in the other room, if only for one night. Might become a new Gemini habit.

Cancer

My process is simple. I sit down, or stand around, and look at a series of charts for the days in question. I get an idea. I’ll tease out the fundamentals, then I look for an adequate metaphor, allusion, or allegory, and then I start typing. This is where it goes wrong. I have a destination in mind, but the details, supporting facts, the narrative I’m aiming towards? That gets lost, subsumed into a new direction, and more often than not, the new is just as good as the material I was working with, at the start. I’m aware that my stated direction, and actual route might vary. As we course our way along, with everything happening like this? So close and yet, not quite “there?” Remove that stated directions, goal, destination you had in mind? Might wind up someplace different, and that’s not too bad. Right?