“Be collected
Tell your piteous heart
There’s no harm done”

Shakespeare’s The Tempest (I.ii.14-16)

• New Moon 12/30 4:27 PM 9°43’ Cap.
• Moon into Aquarius. 1/1/25 4:50 AM
• Moon Pluto conjunct 1/1/25 6:44 AM 1°4’ Aqu.

Capricorn

My favorite excuse? “I didn’t mean to.” Or, as Shakespeare suggests, “Tell your piteous heart/There’s no harm done.” Same message, different delivery, and Shakespeare usually does it better, but I might be biased. The usual, “I mean no disrespect,” or “it wasn’t meant to hurt,” or any other combination of similar excuse for a hurtful comment, a gesture, some kind of off-color remark that is construed as vindictive and vicious? I understand that it was intended as a kind of art form, sarcasm with a degree of intellectual humor layered across the top, but not everyone gets that. Most won’t, matter of fact. To many of the recipients? Looks like a hurtful, mean-spirited comment. Give it a rest. Have a happy birthday, and think, this is like a Xmas gift and birthday gift at the same time.

(Talk about mean-spirited. Huh.)

Aquarius

It’s been a long, very weird year, and this one isn’t even close to over, not yet. What we got, on fast approach? I’ve learned about this, but it’s a little bit of a kicker. When I make chili, I learned, from a vindictive and cruel Scorpio, a secret trick with hot foods: sugar. In my example, it was a tablespoon of brown sugar in large vat of chili, mostly meats and peppers, and its purpose, that spoonful of sugar?

That sugar would hide the habanero’s white-hot heat until it was too late. Depends on what’s available, but a single Scotch Bonnet, or a certain amount of cayenne, all depends on what looks good at the time. I used to have a bag of some kind of chili powder I picked up in the market in New Mexico, no idea, but it was hot. Hide that initial burn with the lightest touch of sugar and then it hits. Which is what this year starts with, so you’ve been warned. Somebody, not me this time, but somebody is playing hide and seek, then burn your tongue with Aquarius, and in a manner, not unlike my sugar in the chili.

Pisces

Behind some of the books in my nominal office? I have a few sacred items. A single cross, allegedly blessed by the pope. A couple of crystals that are supposed to protect, purify, and energize my work. A couple of my old business cards, I can’t seem to let go of, yet serve very little purpose other than bookmarks. Yeah, just stuff that means something to me, but not everybody. Right after the holiday and before the next big event? Between Xmas and New Year? Quick-like, with alacrity, Pisces can take stock of those items, the scared pieces we keep. Dust them off, clean the shelf, put them all back? This is about a tiny bit of ceremonial Pisces housecleaning. Spiritual housecleaning. Maybe smudge, maybe incense, maybe whatever it is that you do. Do that thing you do. Simple, easy, and looks like housecleaning to me.

Aries

If one were to stop struggling, and just surrender to the process? This would be a lot easier. “But I can fix this my way, I know it!” I think going with the flow, even if it is counter-intuitive for the current Aries conditions? Stop fighting and let the process work. Makes for a much more enjoyable holiday. The less Aries struggles, the easier it gets. Or? The less Aries struggles, the quicker the resolution.

Taurus

One of the absolute joys of the inter-webs is the ability to cross-reference material, I’ll make a note, or write about something in-depth, and then, mention it in a passing horoscope. Like a footnote, only just as a hot link. Definitions, translation, and the various takes from the works of great philosophers to tawdry and off-color humor, I’ve found that a little link is amusing. At least this is amusing for me. I have managed to offend a large number of people, over the years, “What does that mean, that link to (some arcane topic here)?” Or, “Why did you link to that? It’s tasteless and tone-deaf.” Kind of explains me, doesn’t it? From the profound to the profane, in the blink of an eye, and maybe even quicker than that. Goes against the normal Taurus temperament. These are holiday times, filled with love, light, and some shady family crap. A little inappropriate humor — just between ourselves — that helps. However, with the way things are going at the moment? Maybe keep to ourselves, and not post, or link to a post, or text, or e-mail, or whatever. Yeah, let’s keep to ourselves, even though, it is funny.

“It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt: then it’s hilarious.”

Gemini

The first software tool I loved, for graphic design? It was a design tool for graphics. I used it for typesetting, which I did for a spell, not really my thing, but I was handy enough to get the job done. What I enjoyed about that one software tool was the way I could stretch the typography. I could take a single letter, and I could elongated it, or compress it, and fatten it up, or thin it out, and various levels of black & white shading, almost as good as a decent artist’s cross-hatching. Like all good software in its era, the company was sold off, the features were rolled into a more expensive, competing brands’s latest version, and all was lost. I stumbled into my current career, and I never looked again for a something like that. My work, at that time, was defined by the limits, and the abilities, of the tools I had. I’m not a painter. I’m not a poet. I write, but just barely. However, tools, tool-sets, hardware, and software? There needs to be a period of play, for gentle Gemini, worked into this holiday season.

Cancer

I’ve been exploring where analog meets digital. Interesting intersection and I’ve built a career out of toying, and explaining a certain portion of this intersection: analog and digital. Computers and humans? As an example, where the stars are, and the exact location in a natal birth chart, then, again, in the sky right now? That is best as a digitally derived product. Science. Exact science with calculations to the minute and tenth of a degree — quite easy.

But what that means?
Subject to human interpretation.

In the sign of the crab, the Cancer Moon Children — this holiday break is marked with analog and digital, on a collision course. What that means, individually, kind of depends on place, position in life, and attitude towards the digital divide. However, as an intrepid nomad myself, I’ve spent years, decades, crisscrossing these lines between analog and digital, and one bit of advice? Explore. The Cancer Moon Children should explore a little, take a nudge at the boundaries between these worlds. Note: this is not a full-scale assault, just a gentle, crab-like nudge. See if those lines can be blurred a bit.

The Leo

Last time I counted, I had maybe five or six e-readers on my tablet. Kindle, Apple Books, two local library apps, and then, buried, a Barnes & Noble reader, and something else. Then there’s the proliferation of other formats, derivatives of the PDF standards. I also have my own manuscripts, obviously in word processing format. All of that, and I still rely on the original, printed-page format. Real books, dead trees, whatever one wants to call them? For much of my reading, the tablet is preferred, but for certain times, for specific material, and as a well-thumbed version? Nothing beats paper. As much as I’ve grown to love, adore, and usually prefer the tablet readers? Library books without a physical trip to the library? Books that I can mark up, swipe notes from, and otherwise use, without a physical item? Sure, that’s great. However, dear Leo, still the best fixed fire sign, sometimes nothing beats pen and paper, or, in this week’s holiday example? A real book. I have a copy of a spiritual text, and I can always go back to it, as need be, without worrying about the batteries going dead. Perfect example, for The Leo.

Virgo

Having a semi-permanent house-cleaner is a special luxury and a deal I couldn’t pass up. The problem being, some things gets moved around, settings changed, and light switches get turned off and on, in the most inconvenient manner. One ceiling fan at the old place was temperamental, at best, just kind of finicky and after getting the place cleaned, the fan was always switched off. That one service, I think they actually dusted the fan blades, a nice touch, but problematic for me because I wouldn’t remember, until it was either too hot or too cold, that the fan was switched off and I had to dig for the fan’s remote, then figure out if the wall switch was on, and then adjust the speed to a lazy, comfortable breeze. In the nominal winter, the fan’s direction tends to be reversed. As the holiday week arrives in full-swing, there’s a minor inconvenience, but that’s weighed against the larger issue of having the convenience in the first place. A good Virgo will complain, muttering sotto voce. A great Virgo will give a knowing holiday smile, glad that the fan blades — or whatever — got cleaned.

Libra

Remember when those outdoor “laser Xmas lights” were all the rage? I have a pair of those, left over, and I finally set them up inside the house, as a semi-permanent Xmas lights installation. What I do, leave them off until Xmas time, traditionally after Thanksgiving, and then just turn them on. Little red and green laser light dots dance about. Satisfies on so many levels, and one of them is going to be annoying for this week’s Xmas, pre-Xmas, post-Xmas Libra. The lights flash throughout the room, and some leak into the kitchen, and one looks like a spot of dirt. Continuous scrubbing doesn’t make the spot go away, and I suppose a Lady MacBeth allusion fits here. But no Scottish play, just realizing that the annoying spot is merely a bit of Kramer’s Xmas decorations, and an almost permanent installation, at that? Understanding the source makes it amusing. Enjoy the season even though there are all kinds of seemingly fresh bit of hell dancing about.

Scorpio

Happy holidays and whatever. Welcome to the precursor of the precursor of what has happened so we get to see it again. This “dead zone,” between Xmas and New Years, for this year-end Scorpio, feels fraught with tension, anxiety, possible problems, and more, much more, all getting worse by the moment. Not much of a holiday missive, but I’m trying to capture the timbre of the times, and that’s a sincerely Scorpio sentiment. It gets worse or gets better, depends on how you approach this, and depends, back when this was happening a few weeks ago? Depends on what you did then, as that gets reflected, now. My suggestion is simple, about a making a list, then checking back to see if you accomplished what you wanted on that list. As a further bit of unrelated list advice? While revenge is sweet, it’s even sweeter if you let “karma” take care of it. “Time wounds all heels.”

Sagittarius

Since I’m aware of what’s up and around the corner? What I’ve decided to do? In the best, enlightened self-interest for Sagittarius? Nothing. Just do nothing. Do nothing and avoid criticism. Do nothing and avoid complaints. Do nothing and avoid people. I think that last one is the best bit, “Do nothing and avoid people.” In my less than humble experience, people are basically no damn good. Not a little, not lot. I know holidays, Merry (something) Xmas, and so forth, but really? This brings out both the best and the worst in people. Nothing like watching adults fight like children over the last and latest version of child’s toy that is supposed to be a gift of love. “You know how hard I had to fight for that?” Not sure how that spells out “love.” Not my world, I’m not in charge and I’m not engaged in this kind of sport. Does nothing for me, and for Sagittarius in general? Do nothing is the path to enlightenment and inner peace for Sagittarius in the remaining holiday season. Merry Xmas, &c.

• Aperture: ƒ/1.8
• Camera: iPad Pro (11-inch)
• Taken: 29 November, 2022
• Flash fired: no
• Focal length: 3mm
• ISO: 64
• Shutter speed: 1/60s