“All things are ready, if our minds be so.”

King Henry V in Shakespeare’s Henry V (IV.iii.71)

Horoscopes for 8-26-2025

9/1 3:07 AM Saturn RX into Pisces

Horoscopes for 8-26-2025

Virgo

We all have them. It’s the ubiquitous “bad hair day.” As a true lover of all things Virgo? This means I’m stuck with the bad news and on a birthday, too. But it’s not bad news. What’s a bad Virgo hair day for some? That looks like an OK day to me. To some of us, a bad day by your superior Virgo standards isn’t that bad to normal, non–Virgo people. So if complaining makes you happiest? And it’s your birthday? Then complain on ahead. But also keep in mind, it’s about perceptions, and frankly, you look really good to the rest of us.

“But my hair’s a mess!”

None of us noticed; we thought you looked good.

“You’re just saying that.”

The other eleven signs, along with me, we all sigh.

Libra

Mr. Mars (in Libra) and Jupiter (in Cancer) play a game of cosmic tag. Not quite aligned, not quite at odds, and roughly at a point wherein there might be some tension, as exacerbated by the rest of the planets these days. The light of the nominally Full Moon makes us wonder. Shouldn’t be too much tension, but for some, it’s a voice in the back of your head, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Yes and no, in traditional Libra manner, “yes, and no.” That tension, if played correctly, is wonderful. Played right? It’s just enough decorum to keep us from walking down the street naked. But played wrong? It keeps us from even going out of the house, frozen with fear. There’s some kind of middle ground in here, and who would better at negotiating a peace than Libra? With that in mind, then moving forward, it’s about understanding this next few days is nothing more than a negotiated peace between warring factions that are set on creating unnecessary tension, just to make matters worse.

Scorpio

While I refer to what I do with coffee as ritual? Technically, it’s not really ritual, just the morning motions to make a warm beverage that has caffeine to jump-start my brain. However, to me? It feels like ritual. Select beans from an airtight container, coarse-grind the beans, heat water to boiling then let it stop. Pour over the beans, now in a filter of some sort. There is prayer, meditation, invoking the odd kitchen gods, and other ministrations that attend such a ritual. Real ritual should be more like — shows my upbringing — bread, wine, anointing, prayers, and supplication. That’s me. What I was raised with, for good or for ill. Still, between the magic elixir of a morning caffeinated beverage, and ritual observed for communion, there’s a certain amount of ritual to be observed. To me, the ritual is more like a structure, and there’s ritual, in place, because it serves. What ritual would serve Scorpio best? One smart Scorpio will suggest human sacrifice.

Sagittarius

Couple of summers now, I’ve had good luck growing some kind of peppers in the backyard. More like a back patio, but whatever one wants to call it. To some, this is container farming, as in not in the ground itself, but in pots. The peppers are derived from a cayenne pepper, little dried-out looking red specks of spice. To exacerbate the heat in the spice, what I’ll do? I’ll “torture” those poor plants. In actuality, it’s not intentional, but the potting soil I used is fairly porous, or the plants require more water than similar growths in the garden, but the pepper plants look a little wilted, bereft of water. What this kind of benign neglect does? Makes the peppers themselves more angry; concentrates the heat. Makes for meaner peppers. It’s looking like a good harvest for Sagittarius peppers. What’s important, and pay attention to the details, those peppers, like mine? Our recent benign neglect might’ve left this material a little too hot for our tastes. I suggest sampling first, before jumping in and using everything.

Capricorn

The earliest versions of my horoscopes, started some years back, I would cast a chart for the beginning and the end of the period. Then? I would rotate the planets through, watching the jerky mechanical motions as the machine would advance and retrograde the various points around the wheel. The starting point, for each sign, then would be, as an example, to put Zero Capricorn as the ascendant, and then march forward with the planets for the rest of the data. Doing so this week leaves us with a heart-ache, head-ache, head-scratcher as the planet associated with Capricorn winds up traversing the lowest part of the solar Capricorn chart, and that makes us all sing the blues. I would tend to see Capricorn as mauve, taupe, muted marigold, or even just dun-colored. (I don’t really know what those first two are, but sounds good.) How to get to the blues, as a musical genre from this week’s horoscope planet motion? It’s Saturn, and where he falls in your individual chart. All bad? No. Just a little off-color.

Aquarius

I tried to trade in an older laptop. I had an Apple that was, I thought, maybe five or seven years old. Did the dance, got the shipping label and sent it off. Turns out, that laptop was more than a decade old. I’d loaned it out to a buddy, he gave it back some years later, and the laptop was still in relatively pristine condition. But when I got the notice back from the recycling affiliate? The laptop was an older model, still as fast, still running, more or less, and still operational with the advantage that the case was still in good shape. Screen was bright, no visible damage, and no burn-in. The let down, for me, was finding out that it was ten, maybe twelve years old, not five to seven years. The problem being that the age was way past service and recycle life. At first, my initial reaction was disappointment, but then that computer was over a decade old, and hoping that it retained any kind of value, other than as a museum piece? Realistic, rational expectations come to terms with what we hope for.

Pisces

“No, not that!”

Yes, that. Reality. Comes a a-knockin’ on your Pisces front door. Back door, one of them. Best not to ignore it.

(Advice freely given, but not always followed by moi, if you must know.)

Aries

As much for myself, and other purposes, I started to keep a record of events where I worked, over the years. More just dates and city location. There’s also material, this is deeper, where I’ve lost track of when I was where. I keep physical receipts for ten years, but after that? Not much exists. Not quite three decades back, I started a weblog, and that, in its various forms has references to where I was, when. So trying to piece together when I was at a certain place, in the last three decades or more? I rely on at least two sources of data, one the aforementioned receipts and secondarily, the weblog, in its various form. Eventually, as any good Aries understands, eventually, I got where I would just update as I went along, and I’ve been doing that for a number of years now, just for my own point of reference as any other reason. What was amusing, ploughing through old files, I found references to place I’d been, and that I’d forgotten about, and I was able to add those back into the record. It’s about multiple sources for data. Plus? Can’t really just trust “Way I remember it,” now can we? Written record helps. Corroborate data.

Taurus

Plot, plan then think about it. Pretty simple idea, I would expect. Three components to the Taurus worldview, as well, simple pieces, plot, then plan, then, cogitate. It’s that last element that seems to give some people a moment’s pause, the “think about it” part. Cogitate. Make a cogent decision. Given that the Saturn switches signs, and given that Saturn is a trans-generational planet in my own estimation? Not really an inner planet, but then, not really an outer planet, and at roughly thirty years to an orbit? Some of the inbetween here and there? Saturn affords gentle Taurus a chance to pause long enough to reconsider a decision that was previously rendered up as irrevocable. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe it was good. Maybe not? Second guessing one’s self is generally bad, but this is a moment when just turning over an idea, and looking at it a second — or third — time is good idea for Taurus.

Gemini

At some point, I recall working with web styling to get a “drop cap” at the beginning of the horoscopes. While I thought it looked stylish, eye-catching, and vaguely superior? The effort required to style that “drop cap” then leave it in place, over the years? More trouble than it was worth. Being able to “future proof” my own work has been a constant consideration. Towards that end, I navigate a line between this week’s latest trends, and a framework that supports a sound foundation that will easily translate to future installations with no mess and no fuss. Looks cool in the moment, but will it work next week? Think that’s the question every Gemini faces as the Venus effect starts to take over. There’s a desire to adorn, embellish, and beautify where it might not have the desired, long-term stability we’re all looking for. “Who cares about next week?” We all do. No, really, think longer-term. “But it looks good now.” See the problem?

Cancer

How long does some promotional material last? In one of my business briefcases? I’ve got a pen that’s marked “Holiday Inn.” It’s one of the front desk kind of pens, the cheap, throw-away promotional devices that are labeled with a brand’s name, and in that example, the brand’s name is iconic in its logo. While I’ve worked in the ballroom and showroom of number of hotel and motel chains across this career? Glancing backwards? It’s been more than a decade since that’s been a Holiday Inn. I started at a no-tell motels, and grew to the grand ballroom at a few flagship places, gradually going back to the roots of smaller, local venues. But where I sit to do readings and chart interpretations? That’s not what this is about. It’s about that long-lasting branded advertising, promotional material. I read that the average T-shirt lasts about 7 years, so that’s an expected length for a promotional item to work. However, more than a decade later? I’ve still got one of this giveaway pens from a Holiday Inn. The finicky, delicate, gentle Moon Children, the Cancer? How long will a temporary situation last? I’ve carried that pen, ten, maybe twelve years now, I think.

The Leo

I’ve been streaming music for years. I had a weird European “station” on, and the melodic tune was swelling in sound. I’ve heard this done, orchestrally, but not as often in “house” music. However, part of the effect? I had just restarted the Bluetooth/wireless thing, this is a cobbled mess of my own making, and the music started at the tinny speaker on the old tablet, then echoing eventually through the bookshelf speakers behind me. But the shift in location the shift in volume, and the gradually increasing volume, at first I was sure it was just the piece of music. In part, it was, but a coincidence of time, timing, and the shift in output? That made for a more dramatic entrance. If it happens, like it did with me, organically? Then this is good. However, trying to manufacture, arrange, or plot this to happen? Not happening, dear Leo, so now isn’t the time to try. But if you were to have some walk-on music, what would it be?

“Welcome to the jungle,” (Guns and Roses?)