Well thank you Mercury retrograde for making a full week’s writing on an upcoming show magically disappear from my computer. Now, before I shake my fists up at you, I want you to know that I fully entertain the idea that what I might have already written was crap and that you wanted me to start again to create something better; at the same time I am fully aware that you are a divine trickster and simply get off on this sort of thing, like when you stole Apollo’s entire herd of white cattle, tying brooms to their tales to erase their hoof prints. I know who you are. I am a Libra, my sun is in that sign, so archetypally I am a son, like Linus, the orator, of that golden god; and yet, I am a Virgo rising, so my entire chart is ruled by you until such time as they discover a planet called Vulcan or decide to give the sign’s rulership to that once-and-future planet Chiron; in the meantime, I’m caught in your grip. And seemingly happily so. As the eternal adolescent god, the messenger, the Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and even Batman’s eternally youthful Robin, I have always related to you; dating back to childhood superhero games I never wanted to be Batman (boring) I wanted to be Robin, as he was so shot through will possibility, potential, his future unwritten, and he looked fantastic doing the Watusi in board shorts in a televised nod to beach movies of the time—likewise I would happily play Will Robinson in a childhood reenactment of episodes of Lost In Space. Again I digress. But what else is new?

Today marks the first day of Gemini. So I’m half expecting an oracle of newness from this Sabian canon. You should also know that I’m a bit tired of tying the Blague to these oracles, just as I’ve become reliant upon them to motivate me in a writerly direction each day. Of late I have been saving my energy for writing a new show but as all that material has magically disappeared, as I say, I figure I have a choice, or am at a visceral crossroads, to either put pencils down and say ef it to one or other or both or all of the content on my daily list to create OR to blow it out and write like a maniac, even though I have full client days coming up and I’m actually moving house on Monday. If you know me you know I’ll choose the later. I’m that kind of self-flagellator.

Okay so get this: The symbol for today is A Glass-Bottomed Boat Reveals Undersea Wonders. Let’s set aside the fact that both Stella and I both had dreams of sharks and/or sea-monsters rearing their threatening, murderous heads last evening, I do declare that we might be looking at subterranean, Chtonian energies making their presence  known. If the sign of Taurus, fixed-earth, the Garden, leads to temptation in the form of that Chotonian character, the serpent, then Gemini, newly entered, embodies the duality—the Twins—of consciousness of naked or clothed, right or wrong, good or evil, having eaten from the tree of knowledge of which. I hope that was correct english. The point being that, for ill or nil, we are having our minds open to levels of consciousness previously unexposed or unexplored by us. What we say may be beautiful. It may be astonishing. It may be scary as hell. The point is we are thinking about it. Gemini’s motto is “I think “and the fact that this oracle hinges so much on a new awareness, an opening of consciousness, is pretty mind blowing. Duality is an awareness that we exist on (at least) two levels. Our conscious mind can often be the most unconscious part of ourselves, going about its quotidian business without check or balance; and then, boom some shift upward in consciousness, or some sense of the yearnings of the subconscious, create a divide; we all have divided minds—this is reality. If we didn’t we would likely be insane. The fact that we think about what we’re thinking or what motivates us, and that we question the workings of our mind, is likely the mark of sanity.

We all are gliding through life in a glass-bottom boat. We can choose to look down into the recesses of our minds and hearts to see what lies beneath. There is surely benefit in doing so and there may yet be danger. Right now, I’m keeping my head above board because if I look to delve too deep I might find myself caught. I will not let even the tricks of my conscious mind plunge me into the depths of negative emotion. Au contraire: my emotions are my guide—in the metaphor my emotional life is represented by the large body of water—I am the water—the glass bottom boat is only my mind that gets to glide through it with a window on its workings. My inner world is filled with shimmering and iridescent creatures, embodiments of my goodness and my imagination, and with sharks and probably krakens, emanations of my self-destruction. But, you see the mind, though a sometime trickster, is also clever and light and lively and doesn’t wish to become mired; instead it allows me the facility of safe flight or sailing over my unfathomable nature.

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A Peacock Parading On The Terrace Of An Old Castle is the image at 30° Taurus, as we bid adieu to that sign for the year. Dane Rudhyar says this oracle is about the personal display of inherited gifts and then he talks about the peacock being sacred to Venus and makes some connection to “Promethean Spirits” from (planet) Venus giving the divine gift of consciousness to “animal mankind.” That’s a lot to chew on frankly. Also I think of the peacock being sacred to Juno not Venus, although I think both goddesses have a stake in what would be Pisces-ruled symbol in a twelve-fold sequence. Venus (Aphrodite/Mari) is the goddess of Pisces in that the two fish of the sign are the animal totems of her and her son, Eros, to whom she would remain tied, in fish form, by an umbilical like cord. Planet Neptune, the sea, rules the sign and Venus emerged from the sea, goddess of love, sea of love. Eros is love. So is Christ, the Jesus fish; and Mary’s (Mari’s) blue gown fringed in white is the sea, she is Stella Marris, sea star. So what about the peacock and the castle?

Before the discovery of planet Neptune and its assignation as Pisces ruler, the sign was governed by Jupiter, named for the king god whose queen of heaven is Juno (Hera), goddess of power. Juno is associated with radiance and to look upon her is blinding. Her myth involves her many-eyed watchman, Argus, whom she, Hera, set to watch over the nymph Io who was messing around with Zeus (Jupiter) who turned her into a snow-white heifer to disguise her. Hermes/Mercury put the hundred-eyed Argus to sleep and murdered him, the first murder of the new-god order. Hera forever preserved his eyes in the peacock tail. Io was freed but Hera sent a stinging gadfly to chase her down, but when the silly cow arrived in Asia she turned back into nymph form and was recognized as a goddess there “returning” generations later as Europa, on the back of a white bull, now Zeus in disguise. Fun times. Needless to say the myth of Io and cow-eyed Hera is a Taurean one, the prototype of the Snow White fairytale. What does this all have to do with the peacock?

Well, the peacock, having inherited Argus’ eyes, symbolizes that which is all-seeing, omniscient, all powerfully divine. And we are at a castle after all, so we have indeed inherited this power and fortune. The display of the peacock’s tail is the consummation. All has come full circle. Io is the maidenform, no doubt, of Hera and their myth is one of exodus, deliverance and return. We have to make mistakes, be stung in the rear, before we can become more knowing and circumspect. We have been around (the world) and we’ve encountered some home truths and they have embolded and enobled us and thus we are free to roam around our experience with confidence on display. If the castle and peacock are symbols of inherited gifts, than our inheritance is nobility and power, which is knowledge, specifically, of the self-sort.

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It is one of those days you wake up thinking that a new approach to life is in order. And when I say you, I of course mean me. Without going into details, I think that sometimes paradigms that have worked in the past suddenly no longer do. And in cases where one is relying on charitable contributions to non-profit endeavors there is always that possibility that a great many of existing supporters suddenly, and all at once, declare they can’t be of support. The image for today at Taurus 29° is Two Cobblers Working At A Table. Perhaps because I knew today’s oracle is ruled by Aquarius in a twelve-fold sequence, before I actually knew what the symbol was, my mind immediately went to the two waves of the Aquarius sigil. People make the mistake thinking Aquarius is a water sign, but it is the Water Bearer and an air sign. The waves of the symbol are therefore more accurately perceived as wave lengths, whether one is speaking literally as in radio waves or, in our modern world, information traveling instantly through the air via satellites and such, or, more metaphorically speaking, being on a certain wave length mentally or ideologically. Maybe the cobblers are exactly in synch. Maybe one is an apprentice. Maybe they have two different styles. The point is they are at the table together. And when one is chaging the way they think and work, the old style exists while the new emerges. Uniquely, the sign of Aquarius has a primary ruler in Uranus, representing avant-garde experience, with Saturn, representing the old guard, as a secondary ruler. We must evolve and think out of a new mind, on a new wavelength, whilst we allow the existing one, not yet completely outmoded, support us.

Added to which, yesterday, we experienced both a Taurus New Moon and Mercury entering retrograde. I like a Taurus New Moon for its simplicity. All New Moons signal new beginning but Taurus is all about our talents, values and assets—such intangibles that make our garden grown. It’s nice to get in touch with what we have in our arsenal, and to strive to build, to wax, from there. And this Mercury retrograde will also inspire some new thinking by asking us to review what in our experience did and didn’t work. I really welcome this particularly retrograde because I see it as removing last vestiges and residue from past situations that no longer serve, but to which one might still have emotional attachment. Those cobblers are hammering away, creating a new means of moving forward; shoes certainly symbolize the means and the facilitation of our journey. A funny, slight synchronicity: I have been wearing the same Dior boots for ten years and just noticed that the leather has finally been worn through and, though I have an unnatural emotional attachment to my trusty boots, I must let them go. Good thing I don’t have pets; I wouldn’t fare so well at passings and so forth. Anyway, those cobblers are illuminating a new path forward. And I for one am going to let them.

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So Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, called Cronus. Rhea-Cronus is his female counterpart. She is the Grand Mother of the Zodiac and she apparently rules this Sabian Symbol of Taurus 28° degrees: A Woman, Past Her “Change of Life,” Experiences A New Love. Sounds good to me. Who among us doesn’t feel past some monumental change, the metaphor not needing to be taken literally. We are meant, today, to stretch beyond our mortal limits, and fix our consciousness on the fact that there is eternity in a moment and we can change the course of our lives, our destiny, in an instant. Yesterday we had an old, probably sage, woman selling her wares on the side of the road. Today that woman is in the throes of love. Love is the renewing force and fact. Feeling love makes us feel new and, yes probably, young.

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An Old Indian Woman Selling The Artifacts of Her Tribe to Passers-By is the symbol for today. We are still expressing elements of the cultural collective, like yesterdays serenader; but there is nothing ardent or desperate in ones desire here. We’ve seen this old lady all our lives. She’s always there with her table of wares, maybe toothless and chewy, her arthritic hands moving things around with a careless ease. She might subsist this way, but she seems calm and like she’s figured it all out. At her age she is one with what she’s purveying, and she’s most likely proud of it. There is more than meets the eye perhaps. She might be a wise woman possessing some shamanistic power. The objects might be thus endowed. We would be under the rule of Sagittarius in a twelve-fold sequence here so it is likely that the woman’s focus is on her third-eye higher mind. The sign is ruled by Jupiter, named for the chief god, whose female archetype is Juno, who (as the prototype of Snow White’s jealous Queen), would take the form of a crone selling or giving away apples. Juno is goddess of power and the radiance of her true being is blinding. Similarly, the appearance of the old (American) Indian woman might bely her true nature. Let us not assume today that all is what it seems. The old beggar on the street corner might be a deity in disguise. I think that might be the message, in part, here in Taurus 27°.

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Seduction, desire. These can only be associated with one sign Scorpio. Dane Rudhyar sets the keynote of today’s symbol, A Spanish Gallant Serenades His Beloved as the ritualization of individual desires. Incidentally, the great astrologer Liz Greene writes that Spain’s national horoscope is Scorpio. Fun facts. I have a love/hate relationship with the sign, as Libras do; but that is neither here nor there. Like yesterday’s public park, music and courting rituals are culturally shared, but here they are in service to personal, if not selfish desire. Scorpio’s motto is I desire. It is a spontaneous impulse that is crystalized—the gallant is seeking control and possession of the beloved. Frankly I don’t know what the universal takeaway of this symbol is, except that we see certain conventions, like courtship, as having been cemented into the cultural fabric and refined from the dragging the desired off caveman style. But I’m not feeling anything further on this one. Maybe next year at Taurus 26°.

Another quick entry today. A simple image: A Vast Public Park is the Sabian Symbol at Taurus 25° which, following my divined twelve-fold sequence, is under the rule of Libra. Makes sense. Libra is the sign of democracy and other harmonious social and ideological principles of living in order with others. John Lennon said power to the people; along with Gandi, Lech Welesa, Jimmy Carter, he embodied Libran ideals. We have held up natural excellence, and we’ve defended it against foes these last two days; now we share and enjoy it with others. On of Libra’s mottos is We Are. We, the people. We are the world. We have worked in harmony to create a social order and the park represents the peace of that experience and the joy that can stem from a well balanced collective wherein we all share power equally. Civilization affords us use and recreation along with a sense of belonging to a well-organized and peaceful whole.

The Boston Public Library

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It has always struck me that the armed forces were ruled by the sign of Virgo. One associates this mutable-earth sign with the molding of clay and thus the potter god Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan) and indeed the sign begins on August 23 which is the Festival of Vulcanalia, sacred to that diabled tinker god. In mythology, Hephaestus did indeed create all the god’s special tools and magical weaponry. And so we see the sign of Virgo’s motto’s I work and I serve as relating to putting ones skills and talents to work in service of a greater cause or devotion, despite any disability we might have suffered—Hephaestus was lame—or indeed fueled by it. Well we do refer to being in the armed forces as being in the service, do we not? And so we can see the connection, in a twelve-fold sequence of the sign of Virgo to today’s fairly gruesome image at Taurus 24°: An Indian Warrior Riding Fiercely, Human Scalps Hanging From His Belt.

Now, if yesterday was ruled by Leo, the natural monarch of the zodiac which sets up its station and declares their divine right and rulership, adorning their crowns with natural gems to symoblize their superiority, then today is about defending that natural estate. The so-called Indian is a so-called savage, that is to say man in a more natural state, no match for the tide of so-called civilized men from whom the warrior has managed to swipe of few scalps. We know how this story ends. And yet the warrior rides forth. He is a brave.

I know I’m a narcissist, but I hope I’m a benign one. Still I must bring this back to me (and you should do the same) in thinking where am I the warrior bent on protecting the natural state of things from the destructive tide of civilization. Maybe you’re an environmentalist. Perhaps you are seeking to preserve native cultures.We do not have to reach back to find examples of actual genocide happening in the world. And metaphorically, there are those of us who fight to save forgotten, institutionalized children, or fight for civil rights, or senior citizens or for the disabled or for LGBTQ causes or for women’s rights or maybe for education or against disease or any form of discrimination. I am humbled by those who do. Yet my cause is native in effect. As a warrior brave from the Provincetown tribe of thespians I’m trying to save my village from pillage of a different sort: the destruction of its historical theatrical heritage. And so the concept of what is native is that which is germane to my own being, culture and history.

Dane Rudhyar takes this symbol too litereally I feel. He would benefit from my notion of a twelve-fold sequence and the gentle-giant energy that the sign of Virgo might convey. In the Hindu pantheon, Hephaestus’ equivalent would be Ganesh whose own festival is celebrated at the start of Virgo. Ganesh is the remover of obstacles. And that is exactly what the Indian brave is doing. He didn’t start this fight. He is trying to remove the obstacles, the human ones, to his own divine right to freedom, happiness and way of life. We know he is fighting a losing battle but that is neither here nor there. He must fight. This is a spiritual war, a holy war. This day reminds us that we are always engaged in spiritual warfare, seeking to remove the obstacles, those people and situations, that seem so bent on our spiritual death. If Provincetown loses its theatrical heritage to greed and gentrification, that is a spiritual death. It might not be one you will mourn, but I would. Modern American theater was born in Provincetown, just as America was (those crazy pilgrims landed their first not at Plymouth). Weird that the seeds of the Indian’s destruction can be linked so readily to my own cause of Provincetown’s theatrical birthright and legacy but there you have it. Oh right, I was talking about Dane Rudhyar, who labels the theme of today as Violence for Survival. I don’t quite subscribe to that. I don’t think our defenses need be violent, just as our attitude needn’t be victimization.

I think the scalping is metaphoric. That we are trying to remove the mindset of people who oppose us. This is the true obstacle: Ideology. Of course I know scalping was real, but did you know the European cultures did it too? As late as the 17th century the British would scalp the Irish in their violent land grab as trophies to their subjugation of those, my people. Anyway, back to fundraising for the Afterglow Festival in Provincetown.

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The theme of today’s Sabian symbol A Jewelry Shop Filled With Valuable Gems is the social confirmation of natural excellence, which befits the sign of Leo’s rule of this oracle at Taurus 23° in a twelve-fold sequence. Leo is all about being the best, the king, but a natural born ruler, by divine right. In Sextrology, the Leo Man chapter is actually titled The Natural. And how do we adorn a monarch but for placing jewels in his or her crown. Leo rules the fifth astrological house, that of “co-creation with god”. God or Nature produces the gems, a symbol of natural excellence, but then the Artist refines them into finished product in a clear example of co-creation. Arthur is a Leo archetype as is Artemis, “a lion among women” (Homer). I’ve always thought it interesting that their names begin with Art, which I think is also the name of a god, though it’s impossible to confirm that fact via a Google search. Artistry and Authorship, along with Authority, are both hallmarks of the creative fifth house. Gems of course are certification of personal value and worth. Our creative achievements can also be jewels in our crown.

I think it’s important to remember that all creative acts are co-creation. I try to tell myself that each time I set about writing a show or an article or a some gem of a Blague entry. What provides us more a sense of self-worth than creating something fabulous? Stella often quotes Louise Bourgeois in saying “Art is a guarantee of sanity.” I tend to agree although I don’t know if these words would have helped a Van Gogh any.

I do know that creativity isn’t easy though it should be simple. And I’m going to really focus on letting my acts of creativity be acts of co-creativity and see what gems might emerge naturally, which I can then refine and polish with what skills I’ve acquired.

It reminds me very much of a conversation I had just last night—synchronicity abounds—with Stella and her childhood friend, the talented director Maria Silvaggi.

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I have to remind you that when Elsie Wheeler “divined” these symbols they were written on index cards that were numbered 1-360 and then shuffled out of order. I also remind you that I have assumed a twelve-fold sequence, whereby I am assigning the Zodiac sign’s rulership over these symbols in turn. So when I say that the sign of Cancer, which I’ve mentioned is associated with the Flood myth, rules today’s oracle, a White Dove Flying Over Troubled Water, then we might come to believe there was indeed some providence in Elsie’s divinitaion. To boot, this image is all about providence, “the protective care of god(s) or nature as a spiritual power. The dove is that symbol of deliverance and peace, achieved through (Noah’s) obedience to spiritual promptings.

Yesterday, we talked about stringing so-called signs into a sustainable belief system. Today is about putting our hope into the system we espouse. In Judeo-Christian tradition, the dove represents the holy spirit; in the Greek flood myth it is the symbol of the goddess. Of course in Gnostic Christianity, it remained that goddess!

Troubled waters. That’s all that needs to be said about the Flood myth being an emotional allegory. Or one of recovery from emotional problems or addictions. And of course, yesterday, I went on and on about addiction. I think the notion of addiction being expressed by the sign of Gemini, duality run amok, is right. We are divided when we are in the throws of addiction—there is a split in us. Here see how recovery is possible when we embrace our personal crises in the right spirit. Then we can find peace—that dove can reveal herself. This is another form of receiving a sign, which has been a theme these past few days. Only, here, it is a sign of reward not of guidance. Commitment (promise, ark) to the belief system has paid off with peace of mind, if not body and spirit.

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