Okay so today’s image at Gemini 29° is The First Mockingbird Of Spring. This oracle refers to the ability of talented persons to take collective material and transform it through a genuine, if not biological, need, and with an instinctual love. Yesterday was about being released from the past, emotionally released, while today is about welling up and expressing emotion to the collective. It is ruled by Leo in a twelve-fold sequence. Whereas Cancer is about the flow of emotion, Leo is about honing that power into a passion. The mockingbird copies the sounds of other birds and then strings them all together into something unique. This is, in effect, what all artists do. Especially cabaret artists like ourselves who interpret songs and sew them, as we do, into snappy patter(ns) about metaphysics and the movement of the stars. We perform our show STARRING tomorrow at Joe’s Pub and I’m taking names.

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Forgive my not posting this yesterday. We were rear-ended on the highway. We were standing still in traffic, the last car to have stopped in our lane. And a young woman plowed into us. She had her iphone on her lap when i went to her car. There is no explanation for careening into stopped cars on a highway other than not looking at the road and presumably looking at your phone. The oracle associated with the day at 28° Gemini is: Through Bankruptcy, Society Gives To An Overburdened Individual The Opportunity to Begin Again. This is meant to signal a release from unbearable pressures, freeing one for new tasks. I’m going to relate this metaphorically to what happened to us yesterday, our car being totaled while we basically walked away with some contusions and sore bodies: I choose to look at yesterday as a second chance, a new lease on life, and of course, a new lease on a car.

I was planning to go see an art opening that included some people I like but curated by someone who used to be a friend but has, over the past couple of years, been a source of ill treatment. The first thing I thought after the accident was fuck that. I’m not going anywhere near people who don’t treat me like gold. I recalled being “past life regressed” when I was in my twenties whereby I remembered a life spent very well, where I was this individual who had many comforts, friends and respect, but also experienced a great deal of loss, through it all retaining utmost dignity. I quit my job waiting tables the next day, in real time, as a result of feeling what it felt like to have more a sense of self worth than I did up until then. After yesterday’s smash-up I feel similarly. I will only put myself in situations and in company where I am celebrated at the level I deserve to be. Otherwise I am bankrupt, in a sense, and spiritually so. Bad things happen. But we need never be victims. And if a bad thing happening can eradicate us of any existing victimhood then thank the stars for small blessings.

The sign of Cancer rules this oracle in a twelve-fold sequence and it is about release. Everyone knows Cancer is all about emotions. It is the cardinal-water sign, the flood, the purge to wipe all our cars away. Financially, declaring bankruptcy is how one is purged of debts. I can only hope, that if yesterday’s incident was karmic in any way, that I’m purged of any cosmic debts owed. Because I’d like to have that be the worst thing to happen to me for quite some time. Touch wood.

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Today we seek a new form of consciousness. The image for Gemini 27° is A Gypsy Emerging From The Forest Wherein Her Tribe Is Encamped. She wants out. As we all often do. Not of any place necessarily, but rather out of our own mind space. Yesterday we got essentialized, nature providing a door way to what lies beneath (it all); still it was a subjective experience, it happened to us. Today we are objectively seeking a new life. We want a new experience, even, of the same circumstance. Taurus ruled yesterday’s image; and I’ve always associated Taurus with a certain tribal quality, living close to nature, while Gemini, duality, brings us to the crossroads, the agora, the market place in real time (ruled by Mercury named for the god of the crossroads and merchants); we are emerging from a sort of tribal bliss and ignorance into one of interaction with the world.

At it’s core, this is about leaving behind a more earth-bound existence and seeking, as Dane Rudhyar puts it “the realm of mind and complex, tense interpersonal relationships.” So Gemini. We are moving from the instinctual to the conscious, the wild to the tame. This morning I was perusing a website dedicated to the Dinka of Southern Sudan and thought all the women looked like models and, sure enough, some have become them. It made my stomach sink a bit to think they lost their tribal connections and yet they looked quite happy living in the so-called civilized world. Any one of us who grew up in the wilds of suburbia know what the cities of the world offered us as they beckoned. I moved to Paris which remains my spiritual home and then to New York, where I lived for twenty years, feeling mostly alienated I will admit, though I lived there during one of its better phases. And it was indeed the agora where I was able to sell my wares, and still do.

Just Chills You
Ever So Slightly

I’ve been city shopping for sometime, now. There are pros and cons to living in any one of them. I suppose I do think in terms of how a city will make me feel, but also how it might make me think, what untapped realms of my mind might be opened. I suppose we are, all of us gypsies, and the people I know who do best in cities, particularly in New York, have recreated a sort of tribal existence therein which seems as wroughtly knit and insular as any gypsy camp or Dinka community. The comfortability of being part of the tribe, especially if one has the role of chief or witch doctor, is very difficult to transcend. In the modern urban examples I can cite, they always seem self-serving in their provision of validation and worship inside the bubble.

Belonging is a Venus-powered Taurean need. Wheeling and dealing “on the streets” making a way for oneself is a Mercury-fueled Geminian experience. They both appeal and they both limit. In the former energy field, individualist thinking isn’t so much a requirement as is knowing how to appeal and gain favor—to please, a Venus infinitive if there ever was one. In the Gemini model, a certain scrappiness is required, being clever and living by ones wits, perhaps even selling the skills that were absorbed while living within the tribal or family culture of origin; in a sense taking to market the essentials of self that one has glimpsed if not fully cultivated. When we strike out on our own in the proverbial big city we put ourselves in the care of that trickster god Mercury who lords over all manner of street people like us, including displaced gypsies, tramps and thieves.

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Frost-Covered Trees Against Winter Skies is today’s symbol. Given the weather here in North East, it’s barely a stretch, despite it being June. Apparently this oracle is about “the revelation of archetypal form and essential rhythm of existence”. Strangely enough, that is the very theme of our live show we’re now preparing for the Solstice on Sunday—only, you know, funnier. As if archetypes weren’t already hysterical. We have moved beyond the pruning of yesterday and what did we find? Essential energy. That which can not be created nor destroyed. We can personify archetypes as gods or saints or fairytale characters or those in literature, while we find ourselves taking on said roles in our lives all the time. That is what is immutable. What lies beneath, whether from a scientific perspective or a metaphysical one, physics or philosophy, I’m inclined to called isness. That’s right, my righteous brothers and sisters: At the essential level of existence, that which transcends time and space, everything that is always was and shall ever be—it may or may not be expanding—but it is not subject to the cycles of creation and destruction which are largely an illusion when viewed from this essential, eternal, energetic, truly existential perspective. No alarms and no surprises. Just Om.

Starsky + Cox
Entertaining Enlightenment™

The cycles of nature, seeming creation and destruction, only ironically help us to get beyond this cyclical roll of the cosmic wheel, yin and yang, from solstice to solstice, pole to pole. For even they are like Salome’s rainbow colored seven veils being dropped to reveal the true non-material reality. Dane Rudyar says: “It is not that we experience the Buddhist’s void (sunya), but rather that we reach the essence of our individual being, the form of pure selfhood which is the structuring power underneath all external features – all that belong to the “leaf” realm. The “leaf realm”? That’s a new one on me. Allow me to Google—brb: Okay I’m back and that yielded nothing; so I’m going to take a leap and assume dear Dane is referring, simply, to the natural world. Which works for me in light of today’s oracle being ruled by pastoral Taurus in a twelve-fold sequence. Taken together I think what is being said here today is that: Communing with Nature, the natural state with its natural laws, is the best way for we humans to get near the essence of existence, eliminating all “externals”; however, what we ultimately learn is that Nature is simply a doorway, a bridge, from the external to the essential world. Enter the intersecting plotlines of humans and nature spirits in Shakespeare’s (a Taurus) A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a favorite piece of literature that Stella and I are going to have more than a little fun with this coming Sunday on the Solstice. Get your tickets to see us: STARRING at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, Sunday, Solstice at Seven PM.

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William Faulkner, giving advice on writing, first coined the phrase “kill your darlings”, referring to bits of his or her own work with which a writer may be in love, but that no longer serve the story. I feel that is the message of 25° Gemini, A Gardener Trimming Large Palm Trees. It is natural to expand, especially via our own minds, but there is power in pruning, as it allows vitality to go where its needed, without wasting it on that which is no longer necessary. It requires strict objectivity, the power of the Mars-ruled sign of Aries which governs this symbol in a twelve-fold sequence.

We must remove the distractions to that which is vital, reverting increased energy to the root level. This can extend to leading a more Spartan existence, pruning away decadent behavior, just as one might clip away decaying leaves. The warrior energy of Aries, of course, appreciates a more ascetic outlook, lifestyle, if not an asthetic. Finely pruned trees—I think of Paris—portray care and order and a planned design. We are removing excess so to be more honed and efficient. The suggestion is we are in it for the long haul. Pruning away habits that siphon off energy does literally extend our own lives. Taken metaphorically, it can extend the life of the artist from and in whom an audience needn’t see anything superfluous.

Writing a book or designing a line of clothing or producing a record or doing anything creative is all in the editing. First you put it all out there, expanding into the process, but ninety percent of the actual work goes in to trimming “the work” into a streamlined design. In preparation of our show STARRING at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater this coming Sunday (Summer Solstice), I am in the process of doing just that. Come and see us or you just might find yourselves pruned, darlings.

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Today’s image is ruled by Pisces and the transcendent astrological twelfth house: Children Skating Over A Frozen Village Pond portrays our ability to overcome natural limits that might paralyze us—symbolized by the ice—and get our skates on. Inhibiting circumstance is the catalyst for the development of character and the transcendence of environmental restraints. It’s the ultimate “if life hands you lemons…” energy. So today let’s not only overcome but let us glide and do pirouettes.

The wintery image portrays darkness and potential hibernation, giving up and going in. Opportunities may have turned cold. Relationships might have become frosty. Are we going to be victimized by such obstacles or are we going to let them make our objectives, especially for fun and pleasure and freedom, that much stronger! Obstacles might force us to grow and to hone abilities that easeful situations don’t necessarily nurture. We will not be stopped. We will sharpen the blades of our abilities and exercise them. They say all is entropy, but not when it comes to the human spirit, which evolves through duress and hardship. We shall overcome.

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The sign of Aquarius would lord over 23° Gemini in a twelve-fold sequence, the Sabian symbol for today being Three Fledglings In A Nest High In A Tree. Birds are associated with the sign of Gemini whose ruler Mercury is named for the winged god, as is Eris the goddess of discord who also plays a part of Gemini’s metaphorical and metpahysical saga. She lobbed an apple into divine party to which she wasn’t invited with the words “for the fairest among you” upon it. Athena, Aphrodite and Hera all lay claim to the apple and the dispute was settled by the Judgment of Paris, a Trojan shepherd. Hera promised power, Athena wisdom if he were to choose them. Aphrodite promised the most beautiful woman in the world who was already married to the Greek Menelaus. This was the start of the Trojan War. Helen and her twin Pollux were hatched from one egg, their quadruplets Castor and Clytemnestra from another. More bird imagery. Zeus disguised as a swan, seduced their mother Leda. One bad apple: In the bible biting into the apple brought dulaity, a Gemininan notion, into the world. Consciousness was a gift or a curse or both. Birds are symbolic of the divine or spritual essence inherent in humans. Our ability to soar, with our minds, Gemini being the premier air sign of the zodiac, the so-called (not really) twins Castor and Pollux expressing our dual nature as mortal and divine. The fledglings, here will have to experience a fall from the nest in order to fly. They must risk death to achieve the most soaring experience of life.

Gemini, the third sign of the zodiac, rules the third astrolgoical house of, among other attributes, siblings and boon companions, those with whom we share a nest. The sign is associated with the ages of fourteen through twenty-one, when we reach maturity and as young people leave the next of our parents. We create one for ourselves. We keep creating nests, in fact, and we keep fledging out of them, or we should do. We should always be challenging ourselves and risking a fall in order to rise up and soar to new heights of achievement or creativity. Yes we might fall flat on our beaks but that’s no reason not to take leaps that might feel as if we are hurtling from some high tree top. As humans our divine nature is expressed by the reaching beyond of limits. This is where the sign of Aquarius steps into the conversation. Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, whose symbol, if you’ll remember, is the exact shape of the starship Enterprise, is all about boldly going further than we’ve gone before. Gemini and Aquarius are both air signs and their rulers of Mercury and Uranus are both hinged on communication. The Mercury symbol, like a little insect, as that weeked cap akin to antennae, while Aquarius is symbolized by air waves, that which might be reaching said feelers. We must all take to the air waves in a sense, putting ourselves out there into the ether, making some kind of mark for ourselves, securing som semblance of immortality, as was gifted mortal Castor by his brother Pollux who struck a deal to share his immortality, thus, in the form of the constellation of the Gemini. To become a star.

In the Tarot, The Star card is associated with Aquarius, a waterbearer being depicted. Aquarius is the opposite sign of Leo, ruled by the Sun, a star. We cannot achieve stardom without flying the coop of our comfort zone. We continue to spread our wings; our flights are not those of fancy, but a furthering of our evolution, honoring the divinity within ourselves. We will not shy away from fulfilling our soaring, stellar birthright.

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Dancing Couples In A Harvest Festival: Now you’re speaking my language. It’s June 11 and this is 22 ° Gemini and the cherries are barely ripening on the trees outside and yet the usually elusive Cedar Wax Wing is out in abundance, unabashedly eating the fruit, before it’s truly ripe, leaving just pits on the vine. Pits hanging from tree twigs—it’s pretty comical. Have you ever seen a Cedar Wax Wing? I hadn’t for years. It was the one bird I wanted most to see but it eluded me. Now they are everywhere. At least until the fruit is gone. The males squeal as if the fan in your window is squeaking. He has a brighter yellow belly and a sort of a tuft that he thrusts from his head and bolts of red hidden beneath his wings; but even he, the male of the species, is sleek and tawny and under the radar.

Blackpool Ballroom

I awoke to Rick Steves this morning on PBS. Don’t get me started. You know his company is called Back Door Productions, right? Enough said. I love the way his “guides” are always some guileless young guy with a peach-fuzz moustache. Whatever. Point being: Rick and Steve are already the gayest names in the Universe. But to put them together? Where am I going with this. Oh yes: The episode to which I awoke was an oldie. He was in Northern England and he brought his (then?) wife and kids. They went to Blackpool where there was a ballroom with elderly people busting choreographed moves that would make your head spin. I love places like Blackpool. Asbury Park and Belmar, New Jersey, of my youth, were like that once, and they weren’t copies. They were built, architectually, around the same time. And their look is similar to Blackpool. There were “pavillions” on the boardwalk where old couples used to dance. Okay fine I’ll deal with today’s oracle:

We are seeing common wo/man enjoying the bounty of civilization. Remember the middle class? I’m old enough to have grown up in it. I look at the young people around me and they closely resemble the Europeans my age, at the time, I’d encounter traveling around, back during the Reagan era; when, for instance, it was nine francs to the dollar. I don’t like the euro. I miss francs and lire. I miss pre-globalization. I’m so, so glad I lived it. My youth strikes me as so post-war now. I’m glad, too, that I lived in New York in the late 80s and 90s.  I’m happy to have sat front row at fashion shows before fashion was “a thing” and could take in the beauty of Linda, Naomi, Helena, Tatjana, Cindy, Kristy, Claudia (and, okay, Stephanie) and later Kate, all at once—all at once. Breath-taking. I would plop myself down front row and wait for someone to move me. They never did. I actually belonged there, probably more than most. But I did get the fish eye from Anna on more than one occasion. I suppose I took a Vogue seat. Oh well, too bad.

The middle class. Remember us? Now we have to be/pretend to be upper or lower. I’m bored. I’m bored with seeing my East Village New York friends style themselves like Upper Eastsiders from the late 70s. Really? You’re working a Nan Kempner look? How did we get here? Just as I’m tired of people grasping at some rent-stabilized life raft that no longer exists. You know what: it’s over. Get a livelihood. I sound horrible. I am horrible. I am sometimes horrible. You better know that about me. I despise artists, especially, who are in love with poverty and lament, lament, lament a changing landscape. Hello? That’s life. Change is the only constant—remember? Put that in your performance art piece. Psychosis is not performance art, by the way. Just like eighty year olds in Blackpool still trying to do some version of the Lindy Hop every weekend is a form of OCD. For real. We need to move on. I’m sorry the East Village is too expensive. Move. And maybe not to Brooklyn which is just as expensive. Move to Camden, New Jersey; or Blackpool or Asbury Park or, well not Tivoli. But move places. That’s what the American middle class did. They left the city and moved to new places, outside. They created new environments. They didn’t sit around bemoaning the fact that some dive bar or noodle joint or some barely great (to begin with) pirogi emporium suddenly lost its lease. They weren’t sinisterly-sentimentally attached to their past. I saw supermodels all at once and I’m over it.

Of course today’s image is ruled by Capricorn, associated with tradition, the tried and true and old age. Harvest. We reap what we sow, so get reaping people, get reaping. Stop living in the bygone. “Stand in the place where you live,” or move the ef on. We are all going to die. Good news: it happens to all of us. So think on your good deeds and think on your sins and laud yourself for the former and forgive yourself for the latter. The abundance of harvest is the byproduct of your generosity of spirit. If you’re a stingey lady/man than you can expect dearth as you approach death. But if you are a kind and giving piece of work then there will be bounty for you at the end of the line and beyond. And you can change your past history by busting a major move in the present. Like those bumper stickers say, and I’m sure I’m paraphrasing: Do Kind Things…? no that’s not a bumper sticker slogan…what is it?…oh, something about performing random acts of kindness….is that it?…anyway you get the drift. Sow what you reap.

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Today’s image is A Tumultuous Labour Demonstration. It is ruled by Sagittarius in a twelve-fold sequence. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter the planet of abundance. This image is hinged on the fact that the collective wants what the 1% has: all the bounty. Do you know how much banks made last year on overdraft penalty fees alone? It’s enough to make you stage your own revolution, trust me. We are dealing today with emotional outburst. I’m dealing today with a party which I feel will be poorly attended and pages of a script that have yet to be written. Oh and the worst allergies I’ve ever had. I am close to my own emotional outburst but I’ll keep it to myself. This is all I’m giving you today folks. If you’re in NYC come see Starsky + Cox live on stage STARRING at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater. Otherwise, we’re done here.

A Modern Cafeteria Displays An Abundance Of Food, Products Of Various Regions is the symbol at 20° Gemini, ruled by Scorpio in a twelve-fold sequence. We can look at this literally: The modern world allows us to sample and assemble all the goodies of the planet right onto our orange plastic tray. Global trade began as a result of ones pursuit for spices and now we have everything on offer and it might just be too much. There is glut which leads to potential waste.

Metaphorically, this image is about being nurtured from different influences. Being in the sign of Gemini whose motto is “I think” we are likely dealing on the mental plane here. We can assimilate all such influences and information into our own happy meal of a belief system, making it not just a collection of parts but a real fusion cuisine of individual ideology. But here too there may be glut—TMI—and waste—TMZ, petty gossip being the shadow side of Gemini’s pure power of information leading to knowledge.

That was short and sweet I know but I think that about covers it. If you are in New York City on June 21 for the Summer Solstice, Starsky + Cox are performing live onstage at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in STARRING with special guest Phoebe Legere. You can hear more of my metaphysical musings then and there!

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