ARIES
The other night I ran into someone I’d met only once before. The first time we met we were on the beach, the sun was shining and we were in our bathing suits. She was holding a gurgling baby who did not seem at all displaced by the density of strangers or the wind and sand. He was very curious about everything and stuffed a few pages of a culinary magazine in his mouth. “Last time I saw you we were in bathing suits on the beach!” I exclaimed on our second meeting. “That’s right,” she replied. “Oh beach days! They will come again…Soon!” I added.
Aries, this week you may run into people you knew from warmer days or destinations and other signs of spring. Signs of spring are also signs that your birthday is fast approaching. By the time your birthday rolls around, I have a feeling that you will be feeling just as content as the baby I met on the beach. You may even have the same impulse to stuff everything in your mouth and taste the sweetness of life.
(XIX Sun L/ So Glad I’m Here- Bessie Jones)
TAURUS
It’s almost tax season again and this year I’m bracing myself for the strong possibility that my taxes will be excessively complicated. What I also know, is that when it is all over, when I’ve walked through that fire, some time in April, I will have a better understanding of how to approach my taxes in the future. On a similar note, I was recently dragging the garbages to the curb for collection and thinking to myself, “I hate this. This is gross. Also, I know for a fact that there are families of black widows tucked under the lip of these bins.” Then I took a step back. The sun was setting over the palm trees and across the street my favorite neighbors were having a barbecue and acoustic guitar jam session, which was actually the perfect accompaniment, both in smell and sound, to the setting sun. The situation was only gross because of the thread of words I’d weaved through it, I was “taking out the garbage.” But I was also outside in Los Angeles on a beautiful evening. And I was taking care of something for myself and my neighbors, I was doing the thing we all hated to do. It was a small fire to walk through, but when the last bin was in the street “taking out the garbage” felt good too.
Taurus, whatever “fires” you are walking through this week, know that there is another perspective to step back into or a future feeling of satisfaction at having tackled a difficulty and not let it get the better of you.
(9 of Wands/ Rock A Shacka- Hopeton Lewis)
GEMINI
The other day a friend was over and called from the bathroom, “You have such a beautiful collection of soaps!”, referring to the soap remnants that I have piled on my soap holder. Originally, I shared by friend’s opinion, they are a lovely collection of earth tones. But later, when I started to feel that my life was getting too disorganized and chaotic I found myself looking for things to streamline. “Maybe I can melt the soaps into one bar…” I thought. It didn’t take me long to realize this was an extreme waste of time and an elaborate distraction from the things that really needed my attention like my closet and taxes.
Gemini, this week you might experience quite the opposite conflict. It seems you are willing and eager to bravely confront the more pressing matters in your life, but you may also have far less patience for the little things. Consider that the little things will come to a natural end given time. Feel free instead to devote yourself to your more persistent concerns.
(XIII Death R/ Me Siento Loco (Quiero Volar y No Puedo Gritar)- Los Yetis)
CANCER
The other day I went to the farmer’s market on my way to the grocery store. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I would have to leave all the produce I’d collected at the market in the car while I was in the grocery store. But when I arrived at the store and all the shaded parking spots were taken, I had a moment of despair (that’s a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea). Then I notice I had a white umbrella on the floor in the passenger side of the car. I popped it open and it provided the perfect sunshade. Both my mom and my aunt have a heavy dose of Aquarius in their astrology charts. Aquarius is the sign of the inventor or innovator. When I told my aunt this over the holidays, she said, “I don’t think of myself that way.” “But what about creative problem solving?” I offered. This is a phrase my mother uses frequently to describe moments like the umbrella-vegetable-sunshade invention I described above. “Yeah, well I guess I do do that,” she conceded after a moment of reflection.
Cancer, this week you may encounter a moment of despair. Don’t make this feeling your home. All the situation may be calling for is a creative solution. Before I realized I had the umbrella in the car I was planning on rushing into the grocery store like I was on Supermarket Sweep, but a better solution presented itself. Consider the difficulty at hand from multiple angles, what haven’t you tried?
(5 of Cups/ Mon Amie La Rose- Francoise Hardy)
LEO
Lately, I’ve been feeling time moving faster than my feet. In my attempts to catch up, I fell out of step with my own rhythm as well. In order to synch back up with my natural pace I decided it would be a good idea to reconnect with my kid-self. I re-watched the only video I have of myself as a kid, which is a commercial for a brand of peanuts I did in China when I was ten or eleven. I had to search for myself in the video because not only am I acting, but the commercial is dubbed in Chinese. The only thing that felt familiar was that I had clearly cut my own bangs. Adults often comment that kids are so “in the moment.” Asking a kid what they want to be when they grow up is a very adult question. The reply does not necessarily come from the kid imagining themselves as an adult, or projecting themselves into the future, the answer, as I remember it, usually came from what I was feeling in that moment. Because as adults we feel responsible for the future and for the creation of our future it is easy to get away from the present moment and from yourself in present tense. This is the importance of re-connecting with your kid-self.
Leo, this week, go cut your own bangs or do something else impulsive because your adult self demands it. Leo is the sign of children and play. If you are not giving yourself adequate time to play or you are not allowing yourself to approach your work or your life playfully, then you may have also fallen out of step with yourself. Take this last week of Mercury Retrograde to remember yourself as you once were, are and will be, joyfully in the moment.
(Shaman of Wands L/ Eyes- Clio)
VIRGO
Not long ago, when I was at dinner with a couple of my friends who are in the process of moving to Austrailia, I asked them about the flight. “It’s the longest flight in the world,” my friend said. “That sounds terrifying,” I said dramatically. “Does it make you nervous to be up so high for so long?” “No,” he replied, casually. “I love it up there. It’s a rare perspective to have on the world.”
Virgo, your sign is known for an attention to detail, you are used to seeing things up close. This week, however, you may get quite a different perspective. You may not be seeing your world from a plane, but the feeling is something similar.
(XX Judgement/ Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh- Ofra Haza)
LIBRA
Recently, I was introduced to a man who was in his late 80s. He had long droopy earlobes, which my friend later told me is “the sign of a Buddha.” He said, “We own nothing. We are given stewardship of things, but when we die we don’t get to take any of it with us.” As I was thinking about your card for the week, Libra, and the things in life a person can and can’t control I had the realization that every object in my apartment I have control over. I could throw my dishes on the floor or put all my clothes in the bathtub. This realization was actually a sort of epiphany. I was surprised by my own surprise. I knew that the objects belonged to me, but I have a tendency treat everything in my apartment as if we were roommates, like my dishes are subletting the cupboard and my clothes rent out the closet. It was helpful to observe my personification of things and also to note, that we are stewards of the things in our life, we are responsible for them and it is for this reason that I do not intentionally break my dishes or wad up my clothes in the bathtub.
Libra, this week the balance you may be striking is a deeper understanding of what you can and can’t control. This may also include noticing to which things you are a steward.
(XV Devil Rev/ Wave of Mutilation- Kristin Hersh)
SCORPIO
The other night I was turning on my lamp when the words “There’s a trick to it,” popped into my head. This is true of my lamp. It was probably made in the 60s and the electrical mechanism is just as old. You have to turn the switch two or three times before the lamp will stay on and even then you have to be careful not to bump the cord because it causes the light to flicker. I’ve come to take these idiosyncrasies for granted, in fact I kind of like knowing its secret. When something has “a trick to it” it just means it doesn’t work the way other things of a similar description work. It has its own unique pathway to illumination or designated result.
Scorpio, consider that your path may also stray from the directions. Your method of doing things might have “a trick to it.” This week you could feel pressured to call a lamp a lamp, even when you know that it functions slightly differently. The “trick” of how something operates, doesn’t have to mean that it doesn’t work properly, only that you are in the unique position of knowing its secret.
(V Hierophant/ Girlie Girlie- Sophia George)
SAGITTARIUS
A few weeks ago I was showing my drippy bathroom faucet to the handy man our landlord typically works with to resolve any maintenance issues in the building. “So that’s it? No more leaks?” He laughed pointing to the ceiling on his way out where he’d repaired a leak above my bed a few weeks before. I laughed too, but our laughter was cut short when our eyes fell on a rust colored stain emerging in a corner and occupying two walls and a portion of the ceiling. “Oh, okay,” he said solemnly. The previous leak stain I’d found an appreciation for because it was shaped like a goose or swan in flight. I felt it was always gently urging me to action, pushing me to get out of bed and meet the next challenge. The new leak stain I haven’t yet found an appreciation for and so I feel more persistent about making sure that it gets fixed, which I guess is what you are supposed to do when you discover water damage.
Sagittarius, this year, more than one astrologer predicted you might be confronted with similar problems to the ones detailed above- literally leaky pipes and water damage. The challenges presenting themselves this week may or may not have to do with water. Whatever the difficulty, it seems you are more determined to find a solution. This is perhaps in part because you’ve run out of any fantastical temporary fixes and your attention has likely, somewhat organically, turned to more viable long term remedies.
(Ace of Swords/ Just My Imagination- The Temptations)
CAPRICORN
I was looking back at a journal entry I wrote from the airport in December. I described seeing a younger woman pass me on the way to her gate wearing what was unmistakably a bright red terry cloth bathrobe. “The holidaze,” I wrote, “like Halloween, seem to give people license to do unusual or atypical things. I’m wearing a dress over jeans.” The airport is the epitome of the Hanged One, the card I pulled for you this week, Capricorn. Between getting to the airport and arriving at your final destination, there isn’t much to be done. You simply have to hang out and wait to board your plane and once on the plane you have to wait to deplane. Waiting is the same as breathing at the airport and there is a multitude of suggestions for passing the time. Watching is my favorite airport pastime.
Capricorn, this week, just like the airport, you may feel that waiting and breathing are one in the same. You may not know exactly what you are waiting for, but you also may be aware that there is nothing to be done. Allow yourself to enjoy the freedom of this moment. Wear a bathrobe in public or a dress over your pants, get comfortable. Your plane might take off tomorrow, so let yourself enjoy the privileges of being somewhere between here and there, now.
(XII Hanged One/ L.A. Woman- Imaad Wasif)
AQUARIUS
The other day I was exiting the farmer’s market when I literally almost ran into a little girl and her father. The girl was wearing a green and white girl scout uniform and her dad was holding a clipboard. “Do you want to buy some cookies?” The girl asked squinting up at me through the sun. Her sash was falling off her shoulder and her hair was slightly messy. I felt something shoot through me and I said, to my own surprise, “Have you got any of those Samoas?” I walked away with a box in hand only later realizing that I couldn’t eat the cookies because of my wheat allergy. “This is how they get you,” I thought to myself, “Nostalgia.” For me the feelings of nostalgia were double-sided, I had been both a seller and consumer of the Girl Scout Cookies. I ended up attaching my rent to the box and when I handed the package to my landlord she just stood there looking at me for a moment in surprise, “Those are for you too,” I explained. She looked down at the box and the corner of her mouth sort of cracked which is more than she usually offers in terms of a smile and I wondered if she felt nostalgic about the cookies too.
Aquarius, this week you may be more led by your emotions than you normally allow yourself to be. Aquarius’ are known for looking at things from a distance, but this week that could prove difficult. You might find yourself responding instinctually to situations. Given time I think you will find that this is a good thing, even if it causes you to buy cookies you can’t eat.
(6 of Cups/ Saints- The Breeders)
PISCES
A few weeks ago I had a burst of energy. I accomplished more in one week than perhaps at any other time in my entire life. Despite the feeling of achievement and my expanding horizons, I found myself slightly disappointed that there weren’t more gaps between activities in which to contemplate the events of the day. Usually my bed is a good time and place for contemplation, but I was doing so much during the day that by the time my head hit the pillow I was already out for the count. Towards the end of the second week I started to feel robotic. I was reminded of a ride I went on in Disney World as kid where you sat in a boat that sailed through a fake cave and mechanical pirates would pop out at you from behind rocks. Except, in this case, I felt more like the pirates were real and I was running on a mechanism.
Pisces, four planets are still crowded in your sign which could contribute to an impulse to over do or over commit yourself to things. You will succeed at what you are trying to accomplish even if you allow more holes to occupy your schedule. Take time for yourself so you can see where you are going and enjoy the ride.
(VII Chariot R/ Congratulations (to me)- The Trashmen)