ARIES
ROOM OF ONE’S OWN
I recently rediscovered a photo of myself from when I was 7 or 8. I’m sitting on this dark blue carpet in the middle of a giant mess. Papers and notebooks are busting out of shelves, baskets are overflowing with books, belts and ribbon are in knots on the floor. I’m sitting in the one patch of blank floor space looking rather triumphant. I actually think the picture was taken to show me the squalor I was living in, but based on my expression it probably didn’t make much of an impact. My room was my sanctuary and everything in it was symbolic of things I was investigating, learning, creating or teaching myself.
Aries, this week it might be a good idea to spend some time alone in your room or in a room of your own. There maybe things you are investigating, learning, creating or preparing to teach and it would be helpful to immerse yourself in the experience.
(IX Crone L/ Atlantis- Azealia Banks)
TAURUS
BATHTUB
I realize a bathtub isn’t a room, but it feels like a room when you are in it. There is something about the quiet and the way the water sounds echo off the tile that bring you back to yourself more easily than by other means. My favorite bathtub was in an apartment I lived in in Oakland, California years ago when I was still in college. I remember one day I had left class early because I was having horrible menstrual cramps. I climbed into the bathtub with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and within the hour made a full recovery.
Taurus, this week you may need to take frequent baths, or if you don’t have a bathtub, just the splash of water echoing in a quiet bathroom could be very therapeutic and help bring you back to yourself.
(4 of Cups/ Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair- Nina Simone)
GEMINI
GREENHOUSE
I used to have mostly bad associations with greenhouses because I was accidentally left at a botanical gardens when I was little. I also found them claustrophobic and the fake humidity always reminded me of hot bad breath. But when I moved to Minneapolis in my early twenties the greenhouse outside the Walker Art Center became part of my winter survival network. Almost all plants grow in the same direction, towards the sun. This was always a helpful reminder when sometimes the sun didn’t show itself for days on end and only the plants seemed to know which end was up.
Gemini, this week you may be growing towards the sun, or towards whatever photosynthesizes you and makes you feel bigger and brighter and encourages you to produce flowers and fruit.
(8 of Discs/ The Long and Winding Road- The Langley Schools Music Project)
CANCER
ATTIC
When my dad and his siblings were growing up they all agreed that their attic had “weird energy.” My uncle, who was very young at the time, called this energy, “The Buff.” The attic was to be avoided otherwise “The Buff” would get you. When I brought it up to my dad’s other brother recently he laughed, but then said soberly, “There was something weird going on up there for sure.” One of my favorite books when I was a kid was “A Light in the Attic” I used to stare at the cover and wonder if it was “The Buff” you could see in the attic window, which in the image is also the top of a person’s head.
Cancer, this week you may be sweeping out “weird energy” or ghosts which may have taken up residence in your literal or figurative attic. Perhaps Pluto’s station and retrograde motion will help clear some cobwebs or shed some light on a situation you may have previously avoided, allowing you to see it for what it is.
(XV Devil Rev/ Talk It- ESG)
LEO
COFFIN ROOM
I’d always heard that a caterpillar liquifies in the cocoon, but I recently read an article where they described it as an act of digesting itself. From birth it carries these things called “imaginal discs” which are like dreams of the caterpillars potential. Some of these discs never materialize. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but when I first moved into my current apartment there was this weird addendum on the room just big enough for a standard-size coffin. You could see it from the outside of the apartment too. Later I realized it was a space to roll a bed in and out. The street where I live is named after a plant with strong healing properties. It is said to help people who have a difficult time living in the physical body. I consider my street, my apartment is a good place to digest ones self.
Leo, this week you may need to find a good place to digest yourself. Think about what imaginal discs you might be carrying, what shape will they tell your soup self to become?
(XIII Death R/ El Condor Pasa- Simon and Garfunkel)
VIRGO
DARK ROOM
As a kid I was aware of my wild imagination, but it still sometimes got the better of me. In the dark, a folded sweater in the closet easily became a toothy devilish grin and an open window, at night, became the residence of all sorts of imagined evils. It wasn’t long however before I figured out how to tackle the wilds of my imagination, I simply got wilder. Beneath my bed a monster-eating monster lived and in the closet was a second folded sweater that kept the first under surveillance.
Virgo, this week, you may find creative ways of dealing with the fears and stress that may have previously run you ragged. It doesn’t matter how unusual or wild your methods are as long as they work for you.
(9 of Swords Rev/ Werewolf- The Frantics)
LIBRA
IMAGINED/ REMEMBERED ROOMS
My mother used to tell me a story about how when she was growing up my great-grandmother (her grandmother) would sometimes call out of the blue and before my grandmother (her mother) could even say hello, my great-grandmother would say, “Martha, what happened?” Not only did she know that something had happened, she was so certain of it that she didn’t even bother to preface the question. When my mother would tell me this story I would imagine my great-grandmother sitting in a room in North Carolina (where she lived) by an old clunky telephone because it was 50s or maybe the 60s. I would see her sitting there and suddenly she would sit up as though a voice had startled her out of a silence. In my imagination, as she called my grandmother she would be holding a vision of her in another room in Illinois (where she lived).
Libra, all this is to say that your intuition is very strong this week. Venus, your ruling planet is very active right now. Listen for messages. Allow yourself to feel confident in what you are perceiving.
(II High Priestess/ Taki Rari- Yma Sumac)
SCORPIO
FAKE ROOM
I’ve had the surreal experience of being at more than one silent party. This happened because I was cast as a “party-goer” for friends films or TV shows. Either you weren’t allowed to make any sound, or you had to have a certain kind of forced, intimate, whisper-conversation with a perfect stranger. It had every appearance of a real party, but then a wall would end abruptly or there was some sort of unnatural lighting. Conversely, I’ve also been at real parties and felt like I was in a movie. Sometimes the imagined intimacies on set felt more real or more intimate than the presumed organic conversations that happen at an actual party.
Scorpio, this week you may find yourself navigating intimacies in your own own life and feeling at times strangely intimate with people you don’t know and perhaps somewhat distant from people you know quite well. This may be more reflective of an internal shift. Like a camera, you may find people coming in and out of focus in an effort to find what fits with your larger vision.
(10 of Cups Rev/ Gossip Folks- Missy Elliot)
SAGITTARIUS
LIVING ROOM
According to Wikipedia, historically, a living room was called a “parlor” and it was not just for living, but was also where bodies were laid out for visitation following a death in the family. The term “living room” appeared in reference to parlors which side-stepped the Victorian conventions of the late 1800s and instead reflected the designers own aesthetic. Recently, I was sitting in my living room (which is also the bedroom, the drawing room and the conservatory) on my couch with my back against the wall, when I heard the window start to rattle behind me. The vibration seemed to ripple out from there and through the wall I heard my neighbor’s girlfriend shout, “Earthquake!” By the time she got to “quake” it had already subsided, but I continued to feel the memory rattling my bones.
This week, Sagittarius, you may find yourself sitting in a room or a place you often occupy and feeling quite different. Whether or not you experience a literal earthquake here, you may feel a sort of rattling in your bones which could, in turn, become a compelling incentive for change. As these changes sweep through, you may find that, temporarily, what is living is also sharing space with the dead.
(XVI Tower R/ Get Up Offa That Thing- James Brown)
CAPRICORN
EMPTY ROOM
I moved into my current apartment gradually because I could. There was a two week overlap between when my previous apartment expired and when the current one became available. I had painted my entire apartment (the new one), including the floor, white. The only furniture for a while was an inflatable mattress. The kitchen table, a built in, I used as a desk. I overly romanticize those two weeks still, because it was a rare moment when I felt completely unburdened by distraction. My life felt simple and monk-like.
Capricorn, several planets are in earth signs this week. This often has the effect of making many people feel focused and goal-oriented. Because you are one of these earth signs, you may feel the weight of this shift more directly. This time may be best used to determine what is of most importance to you currently and in terms of your larger life goals.
(Son of Discs/ Pressure Drop- The Clash)
AQUARIUS
WAITING ROOM
I’ve probably already mentioned this before but some of my favorite rooms are waiting rooms. I often feel like life moves on a conveyer belt or maybe a treadmill and a waiting room is a welcome reprieve. As a shy kid with older parents (even my brother and cousins were teenagers by the time I rolled into the picture) I found myself frequently waiting and watching from the sidelines of conversations and I felt quite comfortable there. It was jarring when adults spoke to me directly, especially since they often used a different voice than the one I was used to hearing them use with other adults. Similarly, it is also jarring to sit in a waiting room and without warning hear your name called, to suddenly have to step into action when you’ve been on the sidelines or in your observation booth for so long.
This week, Aquarius you may hear your name get called or maybe someone is suddenly speaking directly to you. Either way you are likely being asked to make the move from waiting and observation to action. This may be a slightly jarring transition, but it is also an opportunity to apply new knowledge and skills and to learn through your participation.
(Daughter of Discs/ It’s You- Jonathan Richman)
PISCES
MPR
The MPR, when I was in middle school, was the “multi-purpose room.” It was actually a large window-less cement box with extremely high ceilings that was designated as an extra gym, a lunchroom and for school dances. The first time I walked into the MPR for lunch, I witnessed some of the popular kids ruthlessly bullying a kid from my elementary school. Another time my friend convinced me to attend a school dance and a scary kid with a crew cut who always had scabs on his face from getting into fights asked me to dance. I politely turned him down and made a hasty exit. I began to notice that nothing good seemed to come from the multi-purpose room and yet it was the most popular room in school. It was where the party was, but it was never my kind of party. Eventually, I told my friend who was always pressuring me to eat lunch there that I thought the room looked like a prison and it was the last place I wanted to be. This was incredibly liberating though it abruptly separated me from the herd.
Pisces, this week you seem to find your way out of any “window-less boxes” by acknowledging how you really feel. Be willing to say no, in order to say yes to something that is truly supportive of you, your needs and who you are.
(5 of Swords Rev/ One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show- Big Maybelle)