“Thy mother’s son! Like enough, and thy father’s shadow. So the son of the female is the shadow of the male.”

Falstaff in Shakespeare’s 2 Henry 4 (3.2.54)

Horoscopes for 9-23-2025

• New Moon 29°5’ Vir. Eclipse 9/21
• Mars into Scorpio 9/22
• Sun into Libra 9/22 1:20 PM (local)

Current events commentary.

Horoscopes for 9-23-2025

Libra

Landing in Austin, I thought I found a place that nurtured the true creative calling in my soul. Right before Austin exploded into that place it is now? It did, at one time nurture the creatives. Drifting further south and a little west? I thought San Antonio was the place to further that creative energy first awakened in the New Mexico and Arizona deserts, further bolstered in Austin, but what I found? It isn’t place. Place can help, but it’s more about what we’re born with then, how we put that to use. Waiting for inspiration is a long wait. Show up. Be amused. Wry humor, outlandish style, something, anything can trigger a response. A snippet of conversation, overheard, a walk through an old neighborhood. It’s less about place and more about attitude. Show up, and showing up is more than the start of the process.

Scorpio

I fished one spot, down a the Texas Coast, this one place, I was there a few weeks prior, and what worked, then? Shrimp. Live shrimp under a popping cork. Went back, a few weeks later, still in the right time-frame, so I thought? The only fish eating the shrimp, live, fresh dead, or otherwise? Tiny bait-stealers.

What worked before was no longer a viable option. What worked last week, last month, or even just days before? Scorpio: change is inevitable. Adjust. Adapt. Be aware that what worked before might no longer be as efficient as you would like. Change. Adapt. Explore options. I put a tiny hook on, caught a couple of the little bait-stealers, really just pin-fish, and sliced them up as bloody bait. “Fish or cut bait?” Both, but what I did? Change, and adapt to a new paradigm.

Sagittarius

Getting a crown replaced, the dentist had his thumb in my mouth. I wondered what fish felt like, as I would hold one up for a photo op. I spent a dozen years or more lifting bass out of the lake, holding them up with my thumb stuck down their collective throats, then usually, unceremoniously, letting the fish plop back in the water, “You’re free!” So, as that crown was getting replaced, the last stage before being set free by the dentist? I wondered, “This is what it feels like?” I was leaned back in the dentist chair, looking up, dentist was almost upside down from my perspective, and all I needed was to be set free, with a splash back into the lake. Sagittarius: this is what it feels like for others. There’s a bonus bit, don’t squirm, or fight it, and we’ll be back in water, faster. Don’t squirm, and it happens quicker.

Capricorn

One conservative pundit has absolutely ruined the game of asking questions. So that tack is out for conservative Capricorn. But it’s nice to think that asking questions rather than having answers all spooled up is a better way to approach what’s happening. There’s much that seems to spin out of control for cautious Capricorn, as well, and instead of hewing to just one way, just one route, prescribed steps that have to be taken in a certain order? Question the order, execution, and prescribed fundamental underpinnings for those actions. I didn’t say, “Don’t follow the instructions, precisely,” but I did suggest to ask some pointed questions, or, at the very least make causal observations as you go along, make notes, and think about a better way. Ask questions? Not sure that’s the right answer, but as the expression goes, “It’s in the ball park.”

Aquarius

We all have places we turn for solace, a gentle escape, and answers, when the events of the day prevent us from seeing issues clearly. I’ve long preferred books, myself. That’s what works for me. In times like, though, for Aquarius, I was thinking of one particular (Aquarius) author, and his escapist, manic, thriller, crime novels with the ultimate anti-hero. In his crime-spree laden novels, I always found little points of metaphysical, spiritual, and emotional well-being scattered amongst the plot elements. While not the place that everyone would look, knowing the author was an Aquarius helps. Instead looking in the traditional space, religion, philosophy, poetry, consider non-traditional space to find the metaphysical, moral, spiritual, and enlightened material that helps pave the way forward through this week’s confusing mess of astrological lore. Looking in non-traditional spaces to find traditional answers. “I saw billboard the other days, coolest message…”

See?

Pisces

The eclipses, riding on Saturn’s rings, and the Virgo Venus just add all kinds of extra and unwanted “frisson.” It can go either way, and it can either go away, and both ways, all at the same time. There’s a kind of pressure to perform, and question about whether it’s worth it or not, and then, there’s the ugly little reality check from Saturn (in Pisces), bouncing off the tail-end of the energies. Reality check. Or reality check-in, and then? Virgo Venus wants precision. Exactness. Measured to a 1/100th. The absolute best course, right now, let’s look at the players, and then think, “I need to double check that measurement.” Exactly. What’s more amusing, to me, and I’m not Pisces, but hear me out, what’s most amusing? Take two measurements, and they won’t be exactly the same. Take a third. Consider an average of the two that appear to be nearest to each other, realize that it’s not an exact science, and move ahead. Better yet? Keep measuring until you arrive at what is the right answer. What you’re measuring will vary from person to person, and the metric — the personal ruler — that you’re using is different. But the idea is measure until you’re sure, really sure, that you got it right.

“But I got it right on the first try!”

Hand me the tape and see if we agree.

Aries

One of my own, biggest challenges? I get an inside joke going between me and a few friends? A knowing chuckle, or even a guffaw, from a giggle to a deep belly laugh? Usually, this is humor that is off-color, inappropriate, offensive to some group, and borders on bad taste. Funny to us, but then, my little circle of jokesters don’t expect much, and with lowered expectations, it’s easy for me to scoot in under those. The bigger problem I face, and this is lesson for Aries — this week. The biggest problem? Those inside jokes don’t translate well to a broader audience. The shorthand among my familiars, I don’t need the whole explanation, I can use one word or phrase from the punchline, and it will get a knowing nod, laughs, giggles, or at least a bemused smirk. One buddy nods, then pretends to be serious, “You are so sick.” Then he grins. See? Inside jokes. Part of this is locker room style camaraderie, although it does stretch across genders, but part of this is just familiarity. The problem, and why this is important to Aries? It’s about when to use this kind of material. More important? When this kind of inside jokes just doesn’t translate to a broader audience?

Taurus

I’ve got quite a large library. It’s expanded, and contracted, over the years. There was one move, think: trailer parks, but there was one move, and I tried to trim down my library to just a few very important novels, and shelf full of reference books. The AP Style Book, a Handbook to Literature, maybe a couple of astrological reference tomes that I found useful, and then? Fiction that mattered. While that idea worked for a little while, an ever curious mind needs more books to feed itself. I’m not overflowing, but I tend to rely on the public library most of the time, and browsing bookstores is still a favorite. It’s gotten weird, I tend to look for titles in bookstores to check out of the library, and I find titles in the library, I want to buy in bookstores. Symbiotic relationship. My backwards way of moving forward while acquiring, or onboarding, new information? There’s a potent idea for gentle Taurus in that trope.

Gemini

Wins and losses? Failures and defeats? I’ve been hammering online for years. Decades. I spent a lot time — age, energy, resources — attempting to find that silver bullet, the golden ring, the pieces that work. In one way of seeing, I have a long list of failures behind me. Underneath my belt, so to speak. I was thinking about the long list of domain names I’ve tried, used, launched, lost, and moved on from. In one way of thinking, each one of those domain names would be a separate business entity. The numbers aren’t on my side, and looking at it strictly as a numbers game, though, the subsequent data points suggest that overall — not individually — but overall? There are some it wins. Can’t have a big win without a little loss on the way. Retail used to call it “shrinkage,” although, I think “theft” is a better term. There’s a natural kind of entropy, and one that even gentle Gemini must observe. What works. What doesn’t work. Where are our Gemini selves on that learning curve?

Cancer

The challenges foisted upon dear Crab People, the watery sign of the Moon Children? What Cancer is facing, there’s two ways to see this: now and later. Jupiter gives us a shot at some short-term pleasure, or it should, in the next few days, a quick hit of happiness. However, that same opening, that same “shot,” that same sense of immediate gratification, if you look at the long-term answers, maybe put it off. Delay that gratification. Put it off to a later date. There’s a reason, solid astrological reasoning behind this suggestion, and one that even you can see. Kick the idea further down that Cancer road, get the crab people to take the big picture, look, or just let the Moon Children simmer with that the idea of latter is better than now.

The Leo

“How many Hawaiian shirts do you have?” Incredulous Leo, questioning my attire. I think I’ve got about 30 of them all in a single rotation. Some are nice, like this one, linen-like cloth, and tasteful, artful printing, with muted and subdued colors with a pocket that matches. Means it was probably an expensive one. Next day? Garish colors, poly-blend cloth, no pocket, forever wrinkled, and a button hole that doesn’t quite line up correctly. My methodology is simple, I have all the shirts hanging in a closet and then, as I get dressed, I just pull out and wear the next shirt in the line. Clean goes at one end, and what I wear comes off the other end, an ever-changing, colorful rotation with no rhyme, reason, or order. Also: requires absolutely no thought on my part. Less time spent worrying about what I’m wearing? More time spent worrying about how I can best serve The Leo. My carefully planned lack-of-planning is an idea for The Leo, as in, what’s the easiest, simplest way to get this accomplished? Next in line?

Virgo

Helps to have one problem to dig into, and that is not typically a Virgo strength, either. No, I mean, yes, having a single problem, yes, that is a Virgo strength, but only turning copious Virgo attention to that one problem? That’s what makes this an unusual time, from that perspective. Single focus. Single item. Single problem. Single solution. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m not saying for sure, but perhaps there is more than one way to tackle that issue, that singular problem that is rapidly becoming a central focus point. More than one way? Sure. This week’s Virgo success is cleverly hidden beneath what appears to be a couple of failures. Just might try another route, all I’m saying, more than one way to get there from here.