We Got Twins!

June will soon be busting out all over and for my money it will be the summer’s summer. Here in the northeast of the United States it is the seasonal cycle during which the greens are at their verdant best. The air is warm, clear, light and sensual. Flowers and trees and even lawns are redolent with color and vibrancy. There is an eternal beautiful youth to the earth during this seasonal cycle and just as it is said that Taureans and Geminis are the most beautiful people of the zodiac, it is easy to see why this is true from simply observing the months of May and June during every blessed year we are allowed to experience them. True beauty seems to have an ageless freshness to it and though the human object of beauty may be seventy years old – if the septuagenarian is a Gemini then that sense of adolescent vitality will still flow from every pore of this human. My grandfather looked poised and kind throughout his golden years and I think as a Gemini he exemplified this sense of graceful aging perfectly. My new grandma through marriage is also a well-preserved Gemini and she works hard at remaining youthful.

As a double Libran, it is said that I am attracted to Gems and I would have to say that in my former musical projects I have worked well with male Gems and in my past romantic life there have been some female Gems. Ironically, my Cancerian wife is attracted to Gems as well, but from what I understand of astrology, Geminis slice and dice Cancerians with their sharp words and deeds, so I am not sure if this is a good thing for her. I think that the Libra-Gemini pull is very much about talking incessantly about all kinds of nonsense with the end result being a lot of nothing, in fact, I did this for an entire relationship some years ago. Nonetheless, I love to talk, so it is easy for me to hang out with a Gemini and to shoot the breeze endlessly in the early summer sun.

On the flipside of the ebullient and chirpy Gemini is their depressive alter ego that surfaces again and again and it is deep and penetrating and it will darken the world around them. How is it possible for a person to be able to fall from that energetic adolescence into a kind of blackness of late adulthood? Well, it is possible. The Geminian will become depressed like no other sign (OK – today we may call this bipolar disorder) and much mud must be swum through before the cheery and bright Gemini may emerge again into the sunlight. Sometimes this process may take a very long time indeed and I pity da fool who has to be supportive to the Gemini native during this process.

Much has been said about the Gemini being the sign of the twins and I would have to agree that this is so. I would add to the mix that one of the twins is always the darker half. When this figure emerges all other folks should run for cover for the Geminian black spector is no easy quick fix, and frankly, only the Gem can fix it if he or she cares to.

It seems necessary to mention Elliot Spitzer now, the former governor of New York. Yeah, he is a Gem. Without understanding anything about astrology the duality within his life is easily recognizable. Upstanding politician and family man by day; by night his alter ego took over and only expensive prostitution could relax his existential unease and the nervousness that is the Geminian experience. While this behavior has a Scorpio vibe to it … I get mostly that duplicitous Gem scent from it all. Though I feel sorry for his family, I am not a hundred percent sure that even a team of therapists could have healed his darker twin. Gemini is all about the duality – it can’t just be fixed – it is the very nature of the sign. Eliot Spitzer is more than one persona … probably he is more than four personas; maybe he is eight personas. To separate all of these identities is just not possible, nor is it desirable. Geminis make great politicians because of all those personas. Where was the astrologist when the Spitzer’s needed one?

Gemini rules things like butterflies, monkeys, the metal mercury and the nervous system. These kinds of phenomena are forever in panicky movement going to and fro and are not meant to keep still. Bob Dylan is a Gemini – has he ever stopped touring? Has he ever stopped exposing different selves to the record buying public? Miles Davis was a Gemini – again, showing side after different side to the public and never running out of sides to expose and explore.

This is a Gemini at their finest creating any number of connections at a frenetic pace. In this they excel far more than any other sign. Gemini is the ultimate tour guide.

Some beautiful female Gems come to mind and first on the list we should put Marilyn Monroe. So much has been written about her. Hers was the nervous and comical sexuality – she was the smart flirt. Three marriage partners were had by her until her untimely death at 36. Hers was a young spirit, though. Should she have reached seventy or eighty or ninety? My sense is that her freshness was great indeed and Hollywood exacted its toll – perhaps 36 years was just the right amount for her. It is worth watching her films – there is a wit and wisdom about her if not a true warmth. Air signs don’t really do the warmth thing that well anyway -- it takes one to know one.
Finally, if you have a friend or relative who moves around a lot … please inquire as to whether or not they are a Gemini for it is the Gemini who really enjoys a change in scenery, partners, jobs and religions. Just because so-and-so isn’t Siamese doesn’t mean that there isn’t a whole other brother or sister right underneath their raincoat.

Additional Taurus Entry

When I think of a single recording that I have played over and over again, I think of the Robert Johnson collection. I tried to learn several of his songs over the years, but of course I could never learn to really play them. At the time I was living for playing the guitar and I was a young man still thinking that I was going to be something on the instrument. Strangely, I didn't really know anything about astrology at the time and I was intrigued to learn just today that Johnson was a Taurean. With those spidery fingers and wolfish throat shoutin' and moanin' the blues, I can't think of anyone who created more of a path to follow in blues, rock and folk styles than did Johnson. In a prior post I discussed Aries men as seemingly yielding a tremendous crop of famous lead guitarists. I am not sure how Johnson fits into this, then, as a Taurus. Perhaps it was his connection with the land and dirt of the Mississippi delta that was his fuel for creating his musical fire. Time spent walking down dusty roads at the crossroads is a basic physically grounding act that no doubt resonated in his short 27 years engaged in the creative process. He did really create an encyclopedia of emotional "country" music and it would be a crime not to have him stand as one of the most notable Taureans ... ever. RIP Restin' in the blues.

No one would call Uma's neck thick and heavy!

If we are to believe in modern psychology and ascribe to the idea of object relations, then truly we can never fully escape our childhoods nor our parents. In essence, our parents taught us how to view the world and they installed “the default drive” of how we were to understand the universe and the game of life. I credit my former therapist with this most excellent concept of a default drive existing inside each of us and essentially directing our actions, emotions, desires, etc. on a kind of autopilot. It is how we know about life. Perhaps after decades of analysis, we can transcend in part our humble beginnings, but we can never have a different default drive put into us. All we can do is learn more about this internal default drive along with its strengths and limitations. Just as the last line of the movie in “Citizen Cane” points directly back to the tycoon’s childhood with the dying utterance of “Rosebud” – so, too, do we all gauge today through some kind of a lens that harkens back to early childhood.

I raise this issue because this month’s column is about the sign of Taurus. My mother is a Taurus and my first long-term partner was a Taurus. Please allow me to skip the Freudian idea here and instead get into discussing the bull, or the second sign of the astrological series arriving after explosive Aries ushers in the spring.

Many of us astrology fanciers probably realize that Taurus is the earth sign’s earth sign. The fixed sign Taurean is heavy, steady and traditional. It is a sign that is rooted in nature and the image of a crazing cow or bull in the month of May as the earth is returning to life is an apt mental picture for the sign. The grazing cow or bull moves exceedingly slowly, which seems weird because there is so much eating of grass to do -- not to mention all that mastication in order to get the required nutritional hit. It would seem logical that any bovine should move extremely fast and get on with eating and digesting. Strangely, though, this is not the case. Instead, the cow or bull will do its slow methodical work and move little in the field while chewing. Slowly it will walk and slowly it will chew ad infinitum.

As far as acting and reacting go, bulls aren’t necessarily that aggressive, but watch out after you have annoyed one because then they can and will charge ahead and with full force. There will be no holding back that solid and massive girth as it lunges forward in order to head butt you via impaling out of their serene pastoral picture frame forever.

I would not be surprised if I was the taunting farmhand falling victim to the above dynamic with my Taurean mother. She had and has a habit of talking at people instead of listening and responding. She will also read whole sections of books or newspapers to you regardless of your interest in the topic. She will lead into this with a Victorian-age tone: “One should know and study these things.” This does not make for fun conversation; much of the discussion time is spent waiting for a pause from the Taurus. And this drives me, the double Libran son absolutely crazy. To me this habit seems akin to the bull’s charge. Action has been initiated and it is a one-sided action that must move into completion and the lancing of the enemy. The bull begins its merciless charge and it will not change direction until its mission is complete. When my mother goes off on one of her morality or societal dysfunction criticisms, no one will deter her from delivering the entire speech. Do you think that anyone could have stopped Taurean Hitler in the middle of his master race and eugenics oratories? I think not. And as we know, Hitler was an Aries / Taurus cusp – truly a driven boorish archetype with the square moustache and all. As the world knows, Hitler was not silenced until he was cornered in his bunker and he supposedly destroyed himself. This is the point at which his Taurean charge was silenced hopefully forever.

I think of a Gemini as having improved on this sort of behavior. The Gemini changes direction a hundredfold within the course of any action or reaction and is rarely goaded into any kind of a charge. There is movement within micro movement all with any number of changes in direction of the Geminian side stepper.

What to make of this? Well, though there is that difficult obstinacy to the Taurean, there is also an enjoyable steadiness to the bull. Just as May flowers begin to emerge from the ground, so too, can the Taurus be counted on to slowly bloom to action or to thought process completion. The keyword here is slowly bloom. The one clear astrological rule in my eyes is that you can never rush a Taurus – it is just not done. Eventually there will be a noisy and toxic outburst that will measure high on the Richter scale, which may result in that full out emotional charge.

The companion of the Taurus needs to be able not to race ahead, but to simply hang along with Taurus and to notice the beautiful scenery.

Taureans have natural beauty that helps them with the above because the rest of us can sometimes simply gaze into the earthy beauty of an Uma Thurman or a George Clooney and forget about having them take some course of action that we wanted them to take. This doesn’t work all the time, but much of the time it does work quite well. And what does it matter anyway? You can’t get a Taurean to move if they don’t want to, so it is best policy to just give up on the whole venture. It makes no sense pushing forward when a Taurus is standing in the way of a particular action’s completion. If they are allowed to think about it some, maybe some movement will then be possible.

How to recognize the Taurean? Well, there is solidness in the neck to be sure. This doesn’t mean that the Taurus neck can’t be thin, graceful, etc. but there is sturdiness there. A Taurean also feels somehow grounded and generally there is a lack of any frenetic activity in their demeanor. Generally Taurus people enjoy nature in some capacity and it is not impossible to see the bull alone in its pasture taking its sweet time gazing at the flowering meadow. This very act can be an apt metaphor for beauty itself – the beauty of settled inaction.

Spring has arrived!

For this month’s astrology blog entry, I believe that I will have to go extremely subjective in my writing because now it is time to discuss this double Libra’s opposite sign, none other than the fiery Aries – the beginner of all things and a sign made out of highly combustible rocket fuel. This is one sign that I have to discuss with feeling! And plenty of it…

As I look back at my life, I can see the most dynamic male friendships of mine being with Aries. Going back to around 1979 as I began my interest in playing in bands as an early teen, I always found a coconspirator in another Aries male. He would initiate and then I would reflect and some kind of music would inevitably be born. Sometimes it would be painful for me – I’m not sure if it is ever painful for the Aries! I can still remember my friend Pat, a bass player, from New Jersey who yelled at me “to play it right!” as I was messing up the riff to Rock’n’Roll by Led Zeppelin in an early high school band. He said it with such force and anger (and I was just a kid) that I nearly jumped out of my skin. After finishing the song correctly he grinned from ear to ear and said something extremely funny, which I can’t remember today and all was fine again between us once more. Pat was great like that. There is no doubt that he inspired me way into the future in my songwriting and guitar and bass playing.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in Helsinki, Finland I found another male Aries who created another band with me in the mid eighties. We also wrote some plays with an emphasis on humor. In the “orchestra pit” we played Stones covers for the “score” of our play and we smoked many cigarettes. This particular Aries played saxophone, bass, and drums and could sing like a demon on acid with all the musicality delivered up with power and finesse. Carefully Petri and I would plan whatever musical project we were doing and then joyfully rehearse it in his room that boasted its own terrace. And his parents were cool.

Jumping ahead again by a decade and into Massachusetts and Vermont, I met another male Aries who has been the big brother that I never had. Together we play music, explore topics in anthropology and psychology and religion. On a good day together we burn through hundreds of ideas and activities. Air and Fire make a great big bonfire … and afterwards I believe we are both kind of tired and wondering about the state of the universe.

After a lifetime of experiencing this dynamic between a Libran and an Aries, I would chalk it all up to acting versus reacting. The Aries is the ultimate initiator whereas the Libran is the most versatile reactor. There is no doubt that we compliment each other. And there is no doubt that our energies are very different.

It is said that Aries is the baby of the zodiac and who but a baby would leave the house and run and jump and touch and butt heads with the entire world stopping only to sleep, eat, and go to the bathroom? The Aries will enjoy this whole process and all with a big burning grin that lights up everything in his or her path. If he or she stubs her toe – there will also be plenty of howling! But look, there comes the smile again and a fierce determination to explore and conquer the world once again! Aries is the ultimate Energizer Bunny. Look out!

Where do I stand in all of this? As the Libran, I believe that my archetype is to quietly wait, observe, be unsure and then finally react at the last possible second. Just as the autumnal equinox balances day and night, so does Libra wrestle with taking any action whatsoever. Librans are not very ambitious; an object at rest tends to stay at rest, right? I believe that Librans can be somewhat intellectually depressed and have this thought lodged into their brains: why take action? See how it all plays out … Wait and see.

Not so with the character of the vernal equinox – the heralding of the sign of Aries. Spring is going to bang out and there will be no stopping of the process once the sun begins to burn like a super nova. The plants will sprout out of the snow if necessary and their buds will “greenify” no matter what through the effects of the Arian sun’s beams of light. The noon sun will be hot even if there is frost on the ground in the morning. Though the whole Christian thing seems to be Piscean in nature… I tend to view it as an Aries event … especially when you investigate the western calendar. For it is Aries that is the sign of the forever regeneration.

Let me say that Aries and its connection with spring hurts, too. If nothing else the beginning of the Aries cycle is quite abrupt. After all, you can’t return to the cocoon of winter. Now is the time where brisk and painful new modes of thought and action must be undertaken. There can be no turning back. Change and new initiation is inevitable.

As an educator at several local colleges, I have had the pleasure of having 2 young confirmed female Aries students in my classes this past semester (Don’t worry – they discussed their birthdays suddenly in class – it wasn’t like I was asking). As I monitor my teaching in class with that unattached part of me, I love what these Aries students do. They challenge me in front of the class and sometimes almost to the point of embarrassment on my part, but there it is again. These “kids” are making me grow because they do have that Aries fire even at their young ages and they know it too. Both of these students are the alphas in the class and the rest of the class seems to know this as well. The Libran in me feels badly about this unbalanced situation, but what can I do? Aries is the warm blooded baby discovering the world with an honesty that is truly sincere – it is one of the only beliefs that I still have in this difficult world.

As a guitarist and bassist I love music and this month’s column picture will feature 2 guitar players: Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore. Yup – both are Aries. There has to be something to this duo. Is it about ego? Sure it is! But it is also about tremendous drive, fire, talent and emotional catharsis burning into the hearts of guitar lovers everywhere. Each of them plays licks that are double dipped in pain and passion; in discovery, fire, and catharsis. I challenge anyone to NOT HEAR some similarities between the souls and playing of Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore. Yeah, OK – they all have done many drugs and survived, but that is not the point! Happy Spring!

A Tale of Two Fishes

Finally, soooo finally (!) we have arrived at the end of the 11-sign zodiacal cycle of the seasons / months and now to some degree we in the northern climates will become surrounded by water in all of its incarnations as we arrive at the 12th and final sign of the zodiac. There will be ice, snow, rain, runoffs, hail, sleet, flooding and cute little trickles. March certainly heralds in the time of Pisces in Vermont! During this mystical, mutable and emotional time winter will come and go and so will spring-like days often in the span of only hours. The weather will be shifting from one wet and wild extreme to the next in the blink of an eye. There will be a sense of lovely rejuvenation only to be bogged down again by powerful rains and mildew washing over the streets with a steady clanging. Sidewalks will reappear and then there will be lots of mud dripping everywhere. The sun will shine and then disappear again behind explosive clouds. The flow of Pisces is no light day at a water theme park – at times it will be like the monsoon season in Vietnam. To quote Bob Dylan: “A hard rain is gonna fall.” He may well have been singing about the feelings associated with the sign of Pisces.

To begin from my personal experiences with Pisceans, it is interesting to note that I have had two Piscean mother-in-laws and one Piscean father-in-law. One could argue that this is coincidence, but I like to think that it is to teach me something. The first father-in-law of sorts was an older Finnish guy and he and I did plenty of fishing together. Clichéd as this may be – the man loved the water and fishing. We labored many years together to catch that perfect bass and after it was finally caught, his health began to fail and he soon passed away.

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to meet my other father-in-law because he passed before my time, although I have seen video footage of him.

OK, so these moms-in-law both have dead husbands, yet they go on in life with happy vitality albeit their lonely moments. Women usually outlive men, which should render the whole grieving thing about the inevitable nonsensical (or “illogical” as Mr. Spock would say), but alas wives will of course grieve for that which has passed away. My sense of these Piscean widows is that they are able to grieve heavily and then to move on. Deaths of loved ones to them are painful, but I am inclined to think that in their final Piscean incarnation of the zodiacal cycle it is less of a big deal. Pisces instinctively knows that this earthly realm is very, very unstable and over in the blink of an eye.

Out of all the zodiacal signs, it is generally believed that Pisceans are the most psychic. In their watery psyches, I believe that they can sense the endless tentacle of beginnings and ends and perhaps the next reincarnation or galaxy or underworld is right around the corner. Often they believe in parallel universes, strange religious orthodoxies, magic and the like.

Pisces is intuitive, no doubt just like Cancer and Scorpio, and these signs can be healers because somehow they can feel things that the rest of the signs simply can’t. I might say that the mutable Piscean, though, really tends to rely on other worldly associations in order to understand the here and the now of this earthly existence. They are compassion personified. As a double Libra myself, I always try to figure things out logically without the use of messy emotions; I am reluctant not only to have feelings, but also to trust them! Not so with a Piscean. They simply ooze feelings and fancies building faerie castles in the air or future retirement cottages on Floridian beaches. The scenarios depend a bit on gender and family background, but nevertheless, both genders dream and dream and dream! And then they have those emotions rushing through their systems. Some of them can manage to make quite a living through this skill of dreaming. Here is the juncture at which I will name drop.

One of my wife’s friends is dating the artist and cartoonist Harry Bliss of, among other, New Yorker fame. I have had the opportunity on numerous occasions to observe his sketch pads that are left around. There is no doubt that this Pisces man is brilliant. He is able to dream up incredibly original humor ideas and his sketches support his work wonderfully. The beauty or curse perhaps is that I have heard from my wife’s friend that he is always working, yet his work involves plenty of time spent on thinking and dreaming, channeling, imagining …you name it. Here we have an incredibly talented and successful male Piscean who seems to be the work ethic personified. His actual work, though, consists of dreaming and conjuring things up!

My current mother-in-law is “into real estate” and the network marketing company “Market America”. She is a sales dynamo and is constantly pushing forward toward new ventures. In addition to being a compassionate person, what seems so Piscean about her is her belief in her belief. She continues to grow her business and in return continues to believe in growing her business and in return continues to believe in growing her business through growing her business ad infinitum. I am sure that you get the point. Pisceans generally believe in many things and focus upon going in the directions of these beliefs. Pisceans need to believe in something and to feel their beliefs taking form no matter how otherworldly these beliefs may be. Pisceans absolutely need to dream and to believe in these dreams. These imaginative pathways can take the form of religion, art, music, poetry, the occult – you name it!

Normally I hate to end on a somewhat tragic note, but two Pisceans who had difficult journeys come to mind immediately: Kurt Cobain and Elizabeth Taylor. As most of us know, Cobain single-handedly created a small encyclopedia of songs that would forever describe grunge and “the Seattle sound”. Nirvana’s first release “Bleach” was famously recorded on low-end recording gear – yet the sound was revolutionary enough to create an entire cycle of back to basics music making in the early nineties! Teens and 20-somethings around the world, regardless of age loved the raw emotionalism of Cobain’s dissonant guitar and screeching lyrical delivery. This was that ethereal pure Piscean emotionalism sung over David Grohl’s demonical drumming. This emotional avalanche crossed all cultural boundaries and provided Cobain with international stardom.

In one of the first astrology courses I ever took one of the mystery charts we examined was his and it was all full of water signs! There was hardly an earthly body to Cobain – he was simply flooded in emotions 24/7 365. If anyone has heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – it is apparent how powerful and innovative were the soul springs of Kurt Cobain. His music simply oozed despair and rage … and obviously heroin made it easier for him to continue to exist with all that feeling – not so when the withdrawal pains were to be endured and as we all know, he ended up taking his own life.

Kurt Cobain goes down in history as, I think, a truly Piscean figure – there is creativity, fame, music, pain, and a steady stream of emotion that created the phenomenon that was Nirvana. As a strange poetic twist to the saga of this band – its existence in time is easily summed up in its name “Nirvana”. Certainly an ultimate transcendence was achieved through the band’s music, but there can be no doubt that a true nirvana might have contained some elements of peace and tranquility.

Liz Taylor seems another apt Piscean worthy of study. Her beauty and allure are perhaps not necessary to go into – those big liquid fish eyes are legendary as is her supple figure; the more interesting fact to go into might be the fact that she has been married seven times. This is perhaps typical Piscean behavior – the double fish wants to believe that a perfect thing is possible and desired even after all experience seems to show otherwise. I believe that Ms. Taylor married Richard Burton twice (at least), but always the marriage would end. Throughout these relationships always Liz wanted to believe in that undying love, yet, there was very little staying formed; instead, the marriages dissolved like road side puddles that eventually dry up in the light of the visible daytime sun that inevitably the coming of spring produces. Watery love affairs look very different in the clear light of a hot day.

I would be remiss not to mention that Mardi Gras will take place during the time of Pisces. And please consider the connections in New Orleans towards this sign: the flooding of New Orleans, the abundance of music, alcohol, sex, and religion in New Orleans. Though New York might boast these same things (with the exemption of the flooding), something as unique as voodoo culture surely is only typical of New Orleans and not so much part of any other American city.

So here I end with a challenge to all you Pisceans or Pisces aficionados. In this month’s picture we see my wife and two of her sexy friends – the three women are all water signs and represent the three signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, so here is my challenge to you – can you pick out the Piscean?

The Far Away Eyes of the Aquarian

This month’s photo features Aquarian author Anton Chekhov. Most people would agree that he is one of the best short story writers of all time and that he really knew what lurks in the soul of humanity!

This month we can all easily enter into a debate as to whether or not we as a civilization (particularly those of us living in “modernity”) have arrived in the golden age of Aquarius or not. And why not get involved within this kind of astrological speculation? Have we not entered into that month of February that spells a glimmer of something more interesting and profound on the horizon? Perhaps something beyond out wildest dreams will indeed be possible after the frozen winter has passed! My favorite astrology site, none other than Jonathan Cainer’s, recently featured a letter & commentary exchange on the question as to whether we are all already living in the age of Aquarius or not. Some respondents believed that we have been in the Aquarian age for already one thousand years. Others believed that we have yet to enter into this particular time of enlightenment.

This issue of enlightenment is of course very important to all of us humans because the age of Aquarius is supposed to be a powerful time for all of humanity when the global village becomes a flashpoint for growth and a movement towards kindness to all of its members. All of this humanitarian betterment will be aided by new inventions and discoveries with perhaps some weird eccentric behaviors thrown in. This “humanitarianism” should of course extend to our animal cousins as well as all plant life (yeah, I know this sounds idealistic, but the double Libra in me can’t help it!). It remains to be seen, though, how good times get for all living things. The Aquarian age may already be upon us because of electricity, nuclear power, microwave cooking, etc. Don’t make me talk about whether or not this has made life better for all of us, most of us, or any of us.

Aquarius as a sign concentrates on moving forward and into the future towards new and unique interests, solutions, ideas, inventions, and friendships. Aquarius concentrates on the promotion of a steady concern for “the human community” and for the future. Aquarius is all about new innovations and fresh social directions and causes of all sorts. Aquarius is the expansively thinking non-profit fundraising expert continuing to work after hours on that global warming campaign that others have already deemed an impossible goal. Here, then, is the two-sidedness of Aquarius. Though the Aquarian human will work innovatively and tirelessly towards a specific goal to help the far reaches of humanity, he or she may indeed work on this goal “alone in the cubicle” late at night when there is no flesh and blood human community to speak of around. He or she will be working under solitary conditions. This is part of the enigma that is the Aquarian native. The human community would seem to be some outside thing that is “out there” somewhere else. It is out there somewhere and it needs to be supported and improved … but where exactly is that cause celebre that needs all the muscle that the human community can muster? It is elsewhere and the Aquarian native continues to toil away quietly in a dimly lit cubicle towards that goal that influences that “else where”.

The Aquarian will indeed support that humane vision, but generally, the Aquarian will be on a search for that vision and for other visions as well. The Aquarian will not grab a hold of any one issue like a Cancer might and hold on to it come Hell or high water. Instead, the Aquarian will continue pursuing the cause and vision like any fixed sign will, but perhaps it will be put on the back burner for a while. In the meantime there is plenty to do and the gaze of the Aquarian will suddenly move towards another distant light.

If you don’t believe me, one of the ways to test this viewpoint is by photographing as many Aquarians as possible within the company of other astrological signs. Generally, they will not be staring directly into the camera; instead, they will be gazing away towards some distant object outside of the normal field of vision. The question becomes: do they want to avoid the direct contact with the here and the now and of all of the people present? Or is it not about avoidance at all, but about an inner mechanism that has them keying into the future ideal as opposed to the fleshy and tangible here and now? To be sure, the Aquarian is not a bear hugger who will wrestle you to the ground with warmth. Their approach involves more of a cool detachment. Generally they won’t be overly emotional with you either. As an air sign, of course there will be that buoyant lightness to them and they will have many friends from many walks of life.

In the end we all die alone and perhaps Aquarians really, really know this. It seems that Chekhov knew this – just read his biography.

Capricorn, My Capricorn

(image courtesy of www. globalsecurity.org)

On a single day this past September of 2007 I had the pleasure of spending time with 3 Capricorn friends – count ‘em 3 – and all in one day! Much as I hope that I was present for my friends, I could not help but also observe them in my double Libran detachment as I knew that my whole day was to be spent exclusively with Capricorn natives. Perhaps you are wondering if I observed any specific traits. Well, sure, and since the winter solstice of 2007 has now come and gone, I thought to share some of these observations with you now that we have entered the deepest winter territory and the time of the Sea Goat.

To begin with, during that fall day in September I observed first a young 20-something Capricorn who is quite tall and beautiful. She is a gifted juggler, balance artist and fire twirler and she also speaks with a strong British accent although she has lived in many exotic locations thanks to her globe trotting mother. Clearly this world- aware young Cappie is an interesting and erudite person. I will call her Alice. Alice is indeed a world citizen and it is enjoyable to converse with her.

Often she comes into our living room for a chat. She and her husband share the same wedding date as my wife and I, so we often talk about our past weddings. Alice, to me, exhibits a solid sense of herself in this weird world and reflects a kind of responsibility that this double Libran never possessed at her age. In true Capricornian spirit, she takes everything quite seriously and there is a kind of formality to her speaking, which is perhaps partly from her British affect, but to me – it just exaggerates her Capricornian sun even more. Alice will be very polite and talk seriously for a long time. Sometimes I feel a bit railroaded by her (perhaps I feel that I should be consulted before she goes on to deliver a lecture upon her intriguing personal history or her views on the world) but I realize that this is just the Libran thinking that in my quietness people should ask for my permission to continue further with their personal monologues. I realize that this is a distortion …

In any event, Alice exhibits the very best Capricornian characteristics. She is gracious and personable and somehow aware of the seriousness of life at an early age. It is remarkable really that she appears so much older than her years. Of course here is where we get to see the very touchstone of Capricorn: spiritually old when young and eventually young when old. This to me seems very much part of astrological lore that always seems to have some truth in it about Capricorns. I have recently taken stock of how many Cappies I know and it is many indeed. They do seem to find themselves later in life and many healthier vistas open up for them at that point. It is almost as if Capricorn is born in order to get old because then things will be better for them. This is almost a paradoxical life direction for many reasons – youth should be fulfilling and fun, right? On the other hand, I believe that Cappies are so powerful because youth combined with seriousness is inevitably going to create near miracles in human development! Now I am not talking about happiness here necessarily; instead, I am suggesting that Capricorn will accomplish lots in their life times.

Female Capricorns also tend to lose their fathers at young ages, or simply having missing fatherly influences resulting in even more of a need for external and forceful masculine energy. This force can easily be seen in Alice whose father seemed to have been involved only in her very early life.

The Capricorn native also seems to be quite a loner. Doing work at a furious pace is paramount to them. It is almost as though they were engaging in a consuming love affair with their steady professional “obligations” – the question is, of course, whether these are all obligations per se. Couldn’t the Cappie just blow off a few duties and chores? I think not.

Let’s move on to my friend Ted who is also a Cappie and a master tennis player. As a player he is cautious and continually focused on mastering the basics. He hits with a steady power that is quite devastating. He continues to refine and hone and master the forehand and the backhand. He asks questions about his swing and works on perfecting it and he does this through being dedicated to his footwork and through the precise observation of the pros at both local and international tournaments.

Just as I seem to take life quite seriously, so does Ted. He gives me solid advice and it is a unique opportunity when he speaks about his own family obligations to me. He speaks sternly, yet fondly about family roles and of their primacy in life. This is not unlike Alice, who although half Ted’s age, is still able to talk a blue streak about her family lineage back in England with both reverence and a critical eye. Capricorn is indeed concerned with bloodlines and the stories of ancestral significance. When I am talking with either Ted or Alice, it seems strange that so quickly both of us go into talking about the past and its interpretation. Where did we come from? And how?

My great friend Jeannie is an author, an astrology master, a psychologist, an educator, a massage therapist and a sailing expert. I am still trying to figure out the exact Cappie influence in all of this and I think it exemplifies the following theme: mastery.

The Capricorn native wants to master people, places, events, skills, social events, social empowerment movements, you name it! Whether they are off to the mountains or to the oceans – it is onward and upward. They work hard for it and are extremely diligent. They understand how to get the sea of humanity moving. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasizes this fact perfectly. So did Joan of Arc.

On the dark side, however, there is Mao Tse-Tung, another Capricorn native. I have been reading an excellent book by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (publisher; Alfred A. Knopf) on the real Mao who essentially gained control of all of China and initiated the Cultural Revolution. He achieved this through lying, neglect, murder, infanticide; double crossing … the list goes on and on… The statement on the book jacket reads: “In chasing the dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule – in peacetime.”

Here, then, is the very phenomenology of the Capricorn. “I use” is their statement of purpose. They can choose to accomplish amazing feats for good, or they can build evil empires just as easily. Think Dick Nixon – Never mind Watergate – he started the institution of HMOs.

My friend, Jeannie, then does good. She throws fantastic parties at which people find one another and make lifelong relationships. I found my wife at one of these events. Her parties also create small-scale economies in which people barter or exchange information about jobs and career changes. Through these parties new societies and alliances emerge that are quite unique in their complexity and magnitude. This should be the true mission of the Sea Goat. It is to master and refine and all that goes with that. My Captain, my Captain – this is what the Cappie wants to hear and for the most part, they deserve it!