“Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search.” (I.i.115)

— Bassanio in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice

Horoscopes for 6-17-2025

• Mars into Vir. 6/17
• Sun into Cancer 11:42 PM 6/20
• New Moon 4° Can. 6/25

Horoscopes for 6-17-2025

Cancer

It’s not a tarot deck that I use, at this point, ever. But in my early work with symbols, archetypes, and astrology, it helped me form ideas around the images. The single image that comes to mind? It’s the Ace of Disks, a heavenly hand emerging from a light and fluffy cloud, with that hand’s palm holding a single disk. In some symbology, the suit of disks is called “coins.” I imagine — in this imagery for the week ahead in the Moon children’s sign, the sign of the crab, Cancer — the week ahead offers just such an image, a single hand offering a new start, a real-world start, a new job, a new side-hustle, new opportunity that leads to more income, and it’s less about the Universe, a disembodied palm handing your Cancer self some silver and gold, and more about an opportunity to advance yourself, even in the face of weird odds.

The Leo

I warned you, and did you listen? It wasn’t without a bump. Wasn’t without a small bump, was it? “That wasn’t a small ‘boo-boo,’ it was a major ordeal! You should’ve warned me!” I did. Look: I love The Leo as the very best Fixed Fire Sign — of all time. It’s just that unsettling news is just, discomfiting, but not threatening in a severe way. “Well, it was.” Was not.

In the grander scheme, pause, take a big-picture over-view, and see what I see? It was a course correction. It was a change. It was new information. It was old information in new light. It wasn’t the end of the world for magnificent Leo. There is one, and she’ll walk behind me, reminding me at every step, that I didn’t perform due-diligence on the last week horoscope and that my failure created a problem for her. The real problem? Holding onto past hurts, and sleights leftover from previous injuries, and constantly bringing up the old mistakes. Move on, Leo, move on. You’re better than this.

Virgo

This digs deep. The original location — the old Austin airport — it was called Mueller Airport. The fun point, for me, I used to say, “Mew-ler.” That was my understanding and my grasp of the Central Texas dialect. An older, German-lineage woman kept correcting me, “Miller.” I can find no definitive pronunciation guide, and my old lament about Central Texas diction, the confluence of language and cultures, all in one place? Makes for an interesting linguistic backdrop. That background, though, it makes for a way to interpret what is happening, even now. We can dive down the hole about how to say the name of the old airport, now a mid-town development, shopping, residence, park spaces, and a few fish in a pond. We can argue who’s correct, with the way to say it, as I’ve heard both, used both, and refer to it both ways, but which way is —ultimately — correct? I’ve heard both. Now, the question, to help navigate what’s going on with Mars and everything else in the heavens? “Mueller, Miller, the old airport?” That’s how I would say it, double-down.

Libra

I have a number of tricks I use, to keep me on task and keep me focused. One of them is my old standing desk. While the desk itself is over thirty years old, I didn’t use it much during the interim. I used it when I first had it built, a rare custom piece that fit me perfectly, and for my style of working, just about ideal. It was set-up, originally, just for my height. But in the intervening years, I used a variety of other arrangements and I didn’t get back to the standing desk until they fell back into vogue. “Sitting is the new smoking,” what I heard. I still sit when I’m at work in some settings. But to help keep me on track? As a nod to gentle Libra? The standing desk, a pretty minimalist arrangement, at that, it works well. We need to focus on just one thing, one goal, one task at a time. I’m as guilty as the next, “Oh, look, over here…” and there goes the concentration. But focus, a signal task at a time, one goal, one simple task and if the overall goal is too big? Break it down to more manageable steps. Smaller steps. But focus, one task at a time. “But I can do this, and that at the same time!”

Can you?

Scorpio

What’s always intrigued me, and I didn’t get this at first, but the point where it becomes interesting, for me? It’s not the information that is displayed, but how that information is displayed. Less about the content and more about the visual delivery of that content. There was one author, and really admired his style, which, to me, was a total lack of style. The prose never got in the way of the ripping good yarn. The story carried the weight, and I could forgive gaudy covers, over-sized gold-embossed lettering, and the rest of the advertising tricks because the content carried the message. I’ve played with web-styles for so many years, what I want is something super-simple where the message itself doesn’t get covered up with the fancy trappings and window dressings, the way the information is displayed becomes more important than the data’s contained therein. Whether this is a Scorpio novel, a story, website wonder, or whatever? An e-mail to me, even? How is the information displayed? What does that convey?

Sagittarius

It’s the trolls. Originally, the trolls were grotesquely shaped beings who lived under the bridges and in the deep forest, the stuff of nightmares, destined to scare little children, and a few easily-influenced adults. The trolls became a dietary staple in most literature, notably fairy tales, but finding their way in speculative fiction and fantasy, as well. Eventually, back in the good old days, the sword and sorcery, science fiction crowd found a home and community on the internet, and that led to the “internet trolls.” While probably mostly human in form, the internet trolls are just as scary as their original namesake, the grotesques who lived under the bridges, and possibly frightened small children. What our Sagittarius selves must be on guard against? The trolls. They can be furtive critters living under bridges to scare our primordial, medieval selves, or they can appear as anonymous strangers on the internet. Or the location can fall someplace in between, and the trick? No arguing with the trolls.

Capricorn

One of the greatest bits of learning I’ve picked up? The ability to listen. Sometimes, the other person talking is really just blabbering on and on about nothing in particular, but sometimes, and this is the tricky Capricorn piece? Sometimes, the other person is teaching a great lesson, only, we don’t all realize it at the time. In the moment, the lesson isn’t clear, but the greatest gift is listening. In the moment, the person might sound like a ranting, raving, or just lunatic, but give it time and space, and while both time and space are in short Capricorn supply? Listen instead of talking. There is much to be learned, and there is much to be gained, and there is much Capricorn goodness that we all receive by the simple act of listening.

Aquarius

Sleight of hand is all about a visual misdirection. Likewise, this week’s Aquarius Astrology is all about that kind of sleight of hand, a little bit of “look-y here,” and then? While our attention is drawn to one apparent goal, the real magic occurs. It’s a trick. Not really a trap, but a little bit of the patter then some flourish, and look —

“Nothing up my sleeve, right?”

I have never mastered verbal misdirection, but I do get lost along the way. While not usually common in Aquarius? That happens with an alarming frequency over the next few days, week, maybe. It’s not really “lost,” but more a form of subtle misdirection, that kind of verbal, or other, “sleight of hand.”

“Noting to see here, move along.”

See how that works, both for — and against — Aquarius? It’s “an infinite deal of nothing.”

Pisces

For many long years, I claimed to have a hook-up for tattoos in Austin. The immediate assumption was that I knew someone who did the actual tattoo work itself. I mean, I do know some tattoo artists, but that’s not my suggestion. My connection is an old buddy, who, after many misadventures in the work place, he finally fell into a perfect gig. He didn’t manage the stores, but he did. He didn’t just work the counter, he was also the traffic director. Add to that social media manager, and probably responsible for a more cohesive design element through all the stores, although, again, no one would give him credit. Jack of all trades and appearing to be master of none. There’s a dawning, a learning, and the world, in places, might seem rosy at times. There is no definition, like my buddy at the tattoo place, there is no definition to what is happening, but it is easier, now. If you’re in Austin and want ink? I can point you to him.

Aries

I warned Aries, a maybe a week ago? Maybe further back? I warned about getting into a brawl that has — literally — nothing to do with your own Aries well-being, other than, to some of you, “the principle!” Look: this isn’t your fight. I understand, when one encounters the downtrodden, the marginalized, the forces of ancient prejudice, or similar ills? I grasp the concept that it is our human duty to fight the wrong, take arms against the evil, and to slay the dragons. Aries? Simply put? This isn’t your dragon. If you take enough time to examine the situation closely? You’ll find you’re not even dragon-adjacent, and therefore? This isn’t your brawl. As soon as you hear, “But it’s the principle?” As soon as you hear that statement, you know I’m correct, and this isn’t a fight you can win, so leave the dragon alone.

Taurus

A lot of this has to do with where I lived at various times in my life. In Arizona, I was exposed to one way of seeing the world, and while I’ve visited, I haven’t spent enough time to recapture that desert essence. Likewise, some of my most formative material was in the creative cauldron of Old Austin, when the marginal artists and general deadbeats, we could all survive just fine in trailer parks. The rents hadn’t gone sky-high (nor the buildings). The march of Taurus progress can be marked by similar, if not identical markers, like locations. For me, the easiest measuring stick is location. For Taurus? This varies, but there are some rather consistent, external markers that you can use to judge, this is for where you’ve come as a person, as a soul, and as member of society, such as that might be. External markers you use to judge how your internal self is doing. Once we’re past the Mars/Uranus conflagration? The internal/external markers are more clear.

Gemini

I was thinking, a reminiscence really, but a certain recollection? I’ve heard this a number of times, and in a variety of locations, but the simplest example? It was an old buddy talking about his High School Football experience, and that one big play, and how, after that, he was scouted by colleges and universities, and he could’ve gone pro. Hint: he didn’t. “But I could’ve…” as the conversation drifts off. With a head nod to an old song, he’s thinking about his glory days. Gemini? Mistakes, miscues, the road not taken, and other rambling thoughts? “If only?” That’s the conversation starter in your head we should avoid. “If only I had done this instead of that,” and then where would we all be? The current outcome doesn’t change, and second-guessing previous decisions, especially one that are in the distant past? That gets good Gemini nowhere in a hurry.