The game’s afoot!
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry, “God for Harry, England, and Saint George!”
Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off.
Shakespeare’s Henry V (III.i.32-4)
Horoscopes 12-17-2024
- Sun enters Capricorn 12/22
Sagittarius
It was bizarre, but I found an echo from the King James Bible to a certain anti-Christian New Age author. Words, phrasing, messaging, all the same. “That’s weird,” I thought. To me, it’s short example of how me, as a Sagittarius can easily over-think, over-analyze, and over-extend a concept. Instead of making this complicated, as we are wont to do? Instead of over-thinking, then adding needless complications, extended allegory, and metaphors that add a certain amount of subterfuge? Less complex wording helps too. What I’ve done is take an extensive amount of prayer, and that’s the “Pray for our souls, pray for peace, sue for good health,” all of that? In a typical a fashion, take the more complex set of Sagittarius desires, wishes, hopes, dream, fantasies, and let’s get this down to a simple expression. We got a world of pain loose in the world, and we can’t fix all of it, but we can add a simple version of a prayer, my favorite? “Thy will be done.”
As the holiday crush, end of silly Sagittarius season, and ramped up insanity approaches? A simple version of a prayer might be the best. Or whatever it is you believe in, but I’ve found a simple blessing moves me forward with a degree of hope.
Sagittarius: do not over-think this.
Capricorn
I can see for miles and miles. Looking into the distance? Clearly easy to see what’s ahead for individual Capricorn placements in an astrology chart. Easy-Peasy to see what’s down there, over yonder, and further along the road for all of ya’ll. However?
It’s the holiday interim that is tough. Not “bad” tough, just a few irritants and obstacles that seem to impede good, orderly workflow. Extra, last-minute, panic-stricken shoppers. More traffic than usual. Just people impeding your good Capricorn ingress and egress from normal places. None of this, in the next few days, is life-threatening, but some of it is problematic. Allow for extra time, and if it isn’t done by now? Maybe wait until next year — face it: you deserve a little holiday break. Take one. Or one will be provided.
Aquarius
There is a tiny subset of people who have both Mercury and Mars retrograde in their natal charts. Mercury itself is about 20% of the population and of that same population, maybe a little less than 10% will have Mars in apparent retrograde motion, and the two combined? Think that’s about 1% or 2%, if I recall, and I’m too lazy to look it up at the moment. Just doing this from memory rather than hard facts, and straight statistics. It’s not even a thing, right now, but I was looking at the idea of the statistical averages, and trying to get something that lands for the greater cross-section of “average Aquarius,” as if there was really such an animal. No, nothing is average, and this won’t hit everyone, but I’m guessing — educated guess — that there is some Mars, and Mercury, but mostly Mars-inspired frivolity ongoing. Using a term like “frivolity” implies merriment and merry-making, which is what we fervently wish this was, and there’s a chance at that. The other piece of this puzzle? Got something goofy that falls your Aquarius way? Don’t get attached to the outcome. Likewise, bad stuff happening? Again, don’t get attached to the outcome, not now. Numbers are in your favor, just not overwhelmingly so.
Pisces
Astrology, at best, is a pseudo-science. Part alchemical, part intuition, part scientific, part astrophysics, yes, all of that. But in its heart of hearts, it’s a pseudo-science. Where the planets and heavily bodies are? Science. Astrophysics. Astronomy. No room for doubt. What that means? Open to interpretation. That’s where the art lies. A good Pisces is adept at reading the signs, usually. A good Pisces understands that this is myth, metaphor, poetical allegory, or maybe just mundane imagery. But a good Pisces also understands that the signs are pointing one direction, and that it behooves us all to listen to that indication. How well you listen to the internal markers, indicator, and other nudges from the universe? that kind of depends on personal preference, and given that Saturn fits into this mix, “Yeah, I was waiting on a more clear sign.”
Aries
I started reading tarot cards at the dawn of this career because I needed an instant fix. Over the years, my love affair with the cards has waxed and waned, but I tended to always carry a deck with me, more as totemic element for myself rather than any kind of purported mystical magical power to prognosticate. The cards I tend to favor rely heavily on astrological symbolism hence my attachment to them. Early, I suggested that an individual build a singular, one-on-one relationship with their cards. At one point, I even believed in putting the cards under my pillow at night. These days, I think that’s more superstition than science, but I do believe in the one-to-one relationship with the inherent symbols, and what that means, individually. Now’s that we’ve established the understanding that I have and the meaning I derive from certain cards, not necessarily based upon book-learning, or rote memorization? Understand that we must be willing to go back and redefine a previously-agreed upon definition. Change, once new information is posited? Change. Be willing to at least accept the new information as a possibility, instead of just — out of habit — rejecting wholesale because “That’s not the way I learned it.” Maybe not, but we can learn new material, and that’s what this is about. At least be willing to review what you know.
Taurus
I never really understood what a scourge “social media” was until I was around a buddy’s teenage daughter. That kid grew up with me in her life, me and her dad fish — a lot. I’ve been a pinch-hit babysitter, and stand-in for grandpa, more than one occasion. I had her in the car on a family trip to Austin, and the whole way up there, and back, she endlessly scrolled social media. “What are you looking at?” “Mmm.” Asked if she wanted her playlist on the truck’s audio, “Mmm, no, I got my ear buds.” That was it. Gets excellent grades, well-behaved, and? A teenager with which I have nothing in common. There’s actually a lot that we have in common, parents who don’t understand us, mean friends, appalling working conditions, and angst. She’ll never know. Or, not this time. It was a Thanksgiving time trip, me for family, her for her family, and I was conventioneer until I tried, uselessly, to carry on conversation. We get there, ear buds pop out, and I get the biggest, cheeriest, “Thank you!” And a hug. Take the tiny, Taurus, take the win. I’m also grateful it’s not my kid.
Gemini
I suppose this goes a long way back, and the holidays tend to make me a little more reflective. What I recall was a kitchen table, and a number of students, plus the teacher, sitting around that table, pot of coffee, tobacco smoke curling up towards a ceiling fan, and into an oven exhaust fan, but still, the blue haze of smoke over the table, and lively discussions ranging from current events, politics, religion, and war, towards literature, words, writing, and the nature of life, with every topic being fair game for lampooning satire. Questions, more than answers, but questions in an intellectual forum, a salon, like the days of old, fueled, at that time by cheap cigarettes and bad grocery store coffee. Tobacco is off my list these days, has been for a number of years, and my tastes in coffee has changed from bulk bad stuff to good stuff, in smaller quantities. However, the free-ranging intellectual questioning is still on my list of favorite pursuits — and this is best with a Gemini in the mix. Doesn’t have to be all-Gemini, but at least one helps. It’s the connections, questions, then the ability to see connections where no one else sees them? And then? Moving on, from the profound to the profane, as quick as can be.
Cancer
Even before I stated to earnestly write horoscopes, I was prone to cutting pieces out of a Shakespeare play, and quoting them chapter and verse. Really, play’s title, act number, scene number, and line number. Quoting Shakespeare spooked one journalism editor, and thrilled a lawyer. Kind of stuck with it, and rolled that over to my work. So that’s where it came from, and it was further down the road, another Cancer Moon Child pointed out that quoting Shakespeare was the safest because no religious group could get upset. While no ground is totally safe, finding an intellectual playground that is relatively hallowed and yet harmless? Good place to start. Likewise, for Christmas — holiday — Crab Time? Pick a middle ground that is safe. Me, I tend to favor the worst of Shakespeare as the best outlet and example, but that’s me. Cancer Moon Children can pick something else, but similar in vein, in that it offends the least number of people.
The Leo
One certain Leo will remember this, going into a show in the morning, I start reciting the first part of the speech, “Once more into the breach dear friends, once more,” and I lift up a flyer, or a cup of stale gas station-station coffee, “once more!” One buddy never really understood, and I wasn’t about to go into a long-winded explanation. For me, this was a mockery, as it wasn’t a war we were going into. However, there is one other Leo, and while not really a battle, feels like it. Cry, “God for Harry, England, and Saint George!” Wave that allegorical broadsword over your head, and charge forward. It has to be done, and even though it seems like there are insurmountable obstacles? It works out, as this can be a turning point. Now, the through the end of this year, go on, get.
Virgo
Pretty sure I’ve used that quote, over and over. It’s the rallying cry from the end of the “Once more intro the breach”, the battle scene from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Henry the Fifth, the one that starts with “Once more into the breach,” and I’ve got a measured sonnet in my head to do the first 14 lines. I like invoking the gods, the saints, and the totality, all in single phrase. A bit of nationalistic pride, and point around which all the worn out warriors in the field can agree. Important, too, Harry (King Henry the 5th) is depicted as leading the way, not in the back, urging his followers forward. Leading the way. Virgo, in uncertain times, lead the way. You can cry a similar rallying chant, “God for Virgo, England, and the saints below!”
Libra
Kyle Pie Company is in Kyle, Texas. More of modern suburb, a bedroom community south of Austin, the town’s proximity, and location insured its inevitable growth. The Kyle Pie Company is as much myth and legend as it is product. I’ve had their pies on numerous occasions, most recently in the last month. One of my favorites is Pecan Pie, and I finally met a pie which was too sweet, too rich, and essentially too much for me. The secret was in the pie’s crust. The sugary, gooey mess soaked into the crust, and the crust itself became part of the pie’s internal structure, not just a container. I figured that was the secret. Might be. Might’ve just been various sugar solids that caramelized in the crust during the baking process. It was good, and it stood up to repeated heating. There was one other piece of the Kyle Pie Company that comes up, over the front door, there’s a large, looks like a sculpture of a cherry pie. Interesting signage, to just a sign, but something that giant could reach up and touch. As holidays encroach on Libra fun time, think about that pie’s crust, the liquid solution got baked into a hard crust that was as much a part of the pie as the filling. What Libra needs? Fully baked, not half-baked.
Scorpio
There’s a danger, at this time, as I go looking for one particular item. This is danger that nominally gentle Scorpio suffers with as well, and not one that you think. It’s the ultimate danger of distraction. Easily led astray. One false click, and suddenly, there’s a rabbit’s warren of information that looks true. One false click, one misstep, the wrong piece of stray data lands in front of you? We’re gone. Down that hole, into the rabbit’s den, only to discover that there are branches, side-routes, detours, and alternative “facts” that might, or might not, be factual. Problem: Scorpio. You like to dig in. Bigger problem, like a dog with a bone, just not giving up as the hole gets deeper and you wander further from reality? Just for looking for one thing. To avoid the distraction, I use a simple post-it style of note, or scrape of paper with a destination, purported target, listed. Keeps it simple enough. “That’s what I’m looking for, but I’ll just look at this, first.” That leads to, “Wow, did you see this?”
- Aperture: ƒ/1.8
- Camera: iPad Pro (11-inch)
- Flash fired: no
- Focal length: 3mm
- ISO: 64
- Shutter speed: 1/60s
