Taurus 16° (May 6)

I do have to work into the evening tonight so I have to pace myself. I will go to the soft opening of Salty Market and by some (aptly) Maldon salt and olive oil and some breakfast tea which I desperately need. And I set back to work keeping my physical condition under wraps. Fat chance. One person says I look pale. Another says I look tired. Oops. My voice sounds terrible. A Virgo friend with a pharmaceutical purse feeds my Tylenol. Somehow moving around makes me feel a whole lot better. It is amazing what one tiny pill can do. Plus my whisky voice seems to be seductive. I’m working hard but not too; I’m in the flow. It is, as they say, all good. I like the vibe and I’m fine with just keeping getting my feet wet. In my fever-dream delirium last night I imagined the torment of this current process in my personal lives as being three separate whirlpools. I express that rather frankly and bluntly. I will get no word back of course but I think it’s clear that I’ve hit a wall. I know there is concern about an upcoming Zoom date; but I have to say that wee note from you know who, dispelling all and any illusion, has had a freeing effect of sorts. 

Scorpio Man

Scorpio’s path toward success and happiness is stealthy, biding his time, doing what is necessary, largely unseen, to bring about desired results. Ruled by Pluto, named for the god of the underworld and riches, Scorpio is likewise subversive, often gloomy, and suspicious, seeking to dig below the surface of people, places and things which he simply cannot accept on face value. The underworld symbolizes Scorpio’s own subconscious, in which he’s entrenched, wrestling with repressions, obsessions and a tendency toward possession. On the positive side, he is unswayed by distracting external climates; only the weather within determines his singular actions, not to mention his sting. He is most likely to be that proverbial mean kid and, all too often, the most vindictive of men, resulting from his own hurt and dejection. Success can be all too synonymous with revenge, a bad recipe in the end. He is loath to admit he is an egoist citing a string of insecurities to prove his point, still taking up a lot space and energy in so doing. His friendships tend to smack of hostage taking. A creature of subtext, he doles out backhanded compliments and takes jabs at those who populate his inner social circle, while being fiercely proprietary toward them. And should he sense someone slipping away, he will launch cloaked attacks, gaslight and spread narratives designed to discredit even once closest cronies, freezing them out. This fixed-watersign translates to ice, crystals and gems. He is the most paranoid of all the signs and not above such sabotage. The prime Pluto myth is that of his surprise abduction of the goddess Kore, who transform, 180°, into Persephone (Roman: Proserpina, prosperity, those riches). Scorpio man likewise takes a smash and snatch approach, lying in wait, until he can exact his agenda. His inferior interior voice tells him he’d be shot down were he to approach objective desires openly. Scorpio man will never risk rebuke. He will not venture that which he is uncertain to gain. He plots and makes every preparation to pull people and opportunities (too often one and the same) in. If friends are possessions, love objects are treasures, gems to be guarded. So clearly Scorpio has a lot of “relationship work” to do. Paranoia and fear of abandonment plague him, until he comes to realize they are self-fulfilling prophesy. This psychology is often rooted in his feeling unloved by his own mother, sadly, too frequent a fact of Scorpio man’s life. And so, he keeps most people at bay, picking and choosing those he’ll then put to the test with his subtextual slings and arrows. Only the few who can put up with his obsessive and possessive approach to life, and love him in spite of it, will actually pass through his fogged looking glass to find that he is really a benign and caring, profoundly devoted (though still dark-humored) prince among men who would lay down his life for those he loves. Drawing on the Pluto archetype, others include Orpheus, Dracula and The Beast of Beauty fame.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 15° (May 5)

Trying to make the bunker less suicidal but it isn’t easy. I am going to check out the local market which turns out not to be opening until tomorrow and lo and behold English Billy and Raina are there. Fran is somewhere lurking in the back. I take the opportunity to go next door to check out the adjacent restaurant which looks decent actually. I think I’ll go there for early dinner. They open at three if you can believe it. I need to get my printer connected it is wearing on me; and then like magic EL phones to ask if my printer is working. Isn’t that weird? Spent the day texting back and forth (well back or forth anyway) with the one person in the world with hom I never in a million years would have expected to have this level of conversation. I am so ill. Too ill to cook. Not to ill to hop in car and be fed and still unaware of the full import of what I’m feeling. I keep hoping its very bad allergies and the bunker itself is one big sneeze fest so I figure the pain in my lungs upon breathing is due to dust and earth and mold and all of that. Ha ha jokes on me. Anyway I let EL come and program my printer because I’m not doing it and I take him for a burger and soft drink (it’s like babysitting a nephew or something) while I have a lovely crab stuffed shrimp which let’s face it I’m not making at home. In fact I don’t think I’m making anything at home in this place really. I have to think about how to keep things easy. Also this place is one huge ant farm—the tiniest sugar ants you ever did see, nearly invisible. They don’t gross me out although they have managed to get inside two ziplocks I put my honey bottle in. It is now in a glass cased forced tight with an elastic band and still I bet you if I were to open the cupboard they would manage to be in there. I had some ant traps from Wellfleet in the little storage so I am hopefully now murdering a colony or two. Watched a little Jimmy Yang and said good night and had a very fitful sleep, once again. 

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 14° (May 4)

Woke up feeling like I got myself way too worn down, not really understanding the severity. The message from J. has certainly shed light on a brilliant array of new colors, all of them black, grey and brown. Capricorn colors. Symptoms made it to causes. Tails wagging dogs. Crimes fitting punishments. The defenses are up and the means justify the ends. There was never going to be any hope of friendship. There was never going to be a friendly reaching-out after it’s all said and done. There are different strokes of narratives for different folks involved. What is being gotten away with could never be gotten away with, with those who really know me/us. But for the one who I have zero contact with but for when summoned—but whom is a weekly Zoom date now for over a year for another—of course a separate narrative could be trumped up and used to justify the ends. It is all so clear now and so utterly ironic that the one to spill the beans was the one one would never expect to utter. Seems my year-long unanswered messages were somehow being read without the tell-tale technological signs they were. More truth please! Let it all come out. Meanwhile I am full on ill and am going to see if I have you know what.

Libra Woman

Libra is the craftiest of the zodiacal characters, in all meanings of the word. An idiosyncratic individualist, she takes a rather DIY approach to life, keeping her interactions light, lively, and moving. She plays by her own rules, which usually necessitates working alone or in partnership, in an aesthetic field or one hinged on beautiful ideas. Ruled by Venus, named for the goddess of love and beaty, the air sign (ideology and social experience) of Libra is focused on conceptual splendor and principles that make the world a more beautiful place, at least as she sees it. Libra tends to live on a soapbox of sorts, just as others, admirers, put her on a pedestal.  She draws on archetypes of the high priestess like Phoebe (meaning: to shine) and enchantresses like Medea and Circe, and modern good witches like Oz’s Glinda and “Bewitched”’s Samantha. To shine a light on what needs addressing, and to wave a wand to ameliorate situations is Libra’s raison d’etre.  Her high principles are built on personal experience, symptomatic of her recovery therefrom. Libra tends to come from a “broken” home where she was made to feel divided, pulled in opposing directions; having play mediator and judge; like that high priestess, presiding and deciding fates.  For all her apparent goodness and light, her opinions can be fierce and final.

Libra tends to be too many things to too many people, losing sight of herself and her needs in the process. Typically agreeable, when she does take a strong stand, she can be accused of being contrary for its own sake, just one of the levels on which Libra can be misunderstood. (The oracular high priestess spoke in gibberish, which others had to interpret. Likewise, Libra can keep people guessing by offering a plethora of possible answers to any one question and a salad of would-be solutions to any single problem. Glinda, didn’t just say “click your heels” as an instant remedy; rather she pointed out a path with multiple offshoots. Though she is rarely indecisive like her Libra brother, she can inspire a kind of vacillation in others, making folks second guess themselves. She herself jumps around, taking paths in life, personally and professionally, reinventing constantly, committing utterly for a time to the one path she’s currently set upon. Loved ones learn to be unsurprised when, next they speak, she’s on a completely different trip. Taste and style are Libra superpowers and her personal aesthetic is inimitable. Say, if strolling through a crowded flea market, she will spot hidden, often quirky treasures, that otherwise go unnoticed. She likewise assembles a wardrobe, that will empower her to dress-to-kill. Seemingly superficial, these talents add up to something resonant: She is forever in the process of endowing herself and her environment with talismans of her surpassing taste, which has a potent effect on her psyche, confidence, sense of identity and well-being. It is a spiritual expression of self-value and validation. Libra is all about charm, casting her spells as she weaves her way through life; the flipside is that others, admirers, may look upon her as a lucky charm, a trophy, an ornament to plop on that pedestal. She must teach them to knock it off.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 13° (May 3)

Crunch day doesn’t quite cover it. I do feel as if I’m going to collapse. I stop by Day’s for lunch of ciabatta with bufalla mozzarella and basil and tomato and otherwise keep moving. The floor is still wet from mopping when Richard arrives. Somehow I’ve pulled it off. He gives me a few bits of furniture. EL wants to help out a bit trying to get the cable going etc which is truly helpful so we manage to make some inroads on that score. Otherwise, at least to get the Sonos cooking. It is stop start but we figure something out. He is being so handy and helpful it would cost a fortune to hire someone with his skills. I take him out for a thank-you dinner at C-Shore which is one of the only things open on a Tuesday. I get to see his place which is cool. Reminds me of owning something at that same age. And then back to sleep in the suicide bunker for the first time. Oh dear.

Libra Man

One of the more misunderstood signs, Libra man can read as a lightweight who nonetheless asserts a heavy agenda. The truth is Libra has a great many talents; however, it is challenging for him to go deep into any one of them. This contributes to his being labeled indecisive, but the Scales man is born to weigh his options and to explore many creative avenues. Others mightn’t always take him seriously, but Libra looks on the bright side, making light of things. Libra tries to keep dark thoughts and moods to himself because they seem to him a private affair with which others shouldn’t be troubled. It’s thus only fair that he doesn’t wish to be burdened with other people’s problems which he can find boring and irrelevant. He must increasingly learn that certain facts of life need addressing and to manage his great expectations. As the cardinal-air sign, Libra energy translates to light. The main archetype is Apollo, the god of light and a slew of abstracts—reason, order, music, harmony, law, poetry, art, prophesy. The Scales is the only inanimate zodiac symbol, and Libra is conceptual with arguably the least animal magnetism of all men. Apollo is no rough and tumble god. We see him cloaked in white, fair haired, strolling ordered, columned halls. Vanilla is likely his favorite flavor. And yet his myths all hinge on rejection, most notably, his love for the nymph Daphne, who fled from his affections—or over-expectation—choosing to be turned into a laurel tree than couple with him. Thus, Apollo wears a laurel crown, his godhead symbolized by his being shot down, ennobled by rejection. Even the other gods find him too precious, perfectionistic, too cerebral, challenging and unchill. This all sounds familiar to the Libra man who must work through these life themes. 

            The paradox of Libra is he tends only to realize his full self and potential, in one-on-one bonds. The seventh astrological house that falls under Libran rule is that of relationships, pacts, marriage, deals and contracts, abstracts all: Libra likes to marry in the conventional sense, but he is a master of matching others as well as his own creative ideas with universal demand, filling voids and bringing certain enlightenment.  Opposite Aries, ruled by macho war god Mars, (spearheading solo goals), Libra, alternatively, though also a masculine (air) sign, is ruled by Venus, (the power of union) frontloading shared experience, and peaceful co-existence. Libra’s mottos are I balance and We are. Ironically, he is something of a lone(ly) wolf (Apollo’s animal totem). He isn’t readily embraced by male peers and is no chip off the old block. He can live too much in his head and reality often falls short of his idealized vision. He fights for fairness and struggles to live life on life’s terms. His rosy outlook is his greatest superpower and most fatal flaw. He must come to understand that things (and people) may never live up to his standards, but he should hold to them all the same. The world may not sing in perfect harmony, but he must keep teaching it to do so. Other sign archetypes include Dicken’s Pip and the Peanut’s Linus.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 12° (May 2)

EL gets word from Christina about Twinkie. [whatever that means]. I will start making a few trips from town to storage to town in an effort to get ahead of things. Have Raina and Tony coming for tea. And then Richard calls to say he is arriving a day early oh no. That’s tomorrow. Oh help. Okay well no time for the weary. There is leftover chicken parm in Truro which is fine for lunch although the breading does chafe on its way down. I will work so late and teatime gets switched to five o’clock. All I can do is walk down the road, as I did my first night here, now, on my last, and pop in on the local pubs—it’s not bad and it’s not far—and have a bit of shepherd’s pie. The race, as they say, is on. I swear to god a prostitute from the upper Cape tried to pick me up tonight. She even apologized and moved to the other end of the bar when she sensed she wasn’t getting anywhere. Putetown.

Virgo Woman

She is not what she appears to be and in oh, so many ways. Seemingly unassuming, she presents as an affable creature, laughing readily, and appearing game to realize fun plans and notions. She exudes a childlike aura, yet one suspects she is tender and vulnerable beneath it all. As inviting as she can be, she should make clear that she’s not to be toyed with (well maybe just a little).

Virgo must address being something of a people pleaser but that’s just half that story. She’s always also exacting an agenda all her own—in a nod to her sign’s mottoes, I work and I serve, she knows how to work others so to serve her own purposes. She can consider herself a collagist,

putting together the pieces of her own successes. A lender she may never be, but a borrower she is for certain. She takes whole pages from the books of those to whom she attaches. She draws on the mythic Pandora, made from clay by the potter god, Hephaestus, whose physical feature were borrowed, modeled on the best attributes of all the other goddesses. Pandora means “all-given.” It is one thing to be an amalgam of all our experiences and influences, it’s quite another to mold it all into something unique in personality and style, which can be her great superpower. 

            Virgo is the mama’s girl. It is indeed coded into her astrological DNA. The virgin of the Virgo is Kore, the maiden-form “daughter” of the mother earth goddess of the harvest Demeter, who was also called Pandora, here, “all-giver.” Kore was abducted by Hades (Pluto) and, in despair Demeter imposed a scorched-earth policy. Virgo’s bond with her own mom is typically loaded, while her emotional struggles tend to hinge on loss and disenfranchisement. There is value in mining this bond for meaning. Self-diagnosis and -healing are other Virgo superpowers, while, on the shadow side, she must beware of arrested development and a surplus of self-help. She is prone to a “Wendy complex,” playing den mother, being too much in service to others, lost boys, in particular; ultimately, she can turn this into playing patroness in positive ways.

            Virgo is a facilitator. As the mutable-earth sign, she can mold situations to her own specifications and in such a subtle, steady fashion that others scarcely notice. She must learn to consider all angles of a situation, consulting many others in signature fashion, before making final moves. She can suffer from a victim mentality, especially in familial settings where she can feel slighted or put upon by a sibling. The opposite sex can seem very much so; and it can be difficult for the straight Virgo to negotiate the world of would-be coupling. She often gets stuck in a sisterly role and her perspective on relationships can be overblown; meaning she might believe she’s in one when she’s not. Regardless of her own sexual identity, she tends to forge bonds with gay men. Positively channeling that Wendy energy, she makes an indispensable major domo, or any such role as “the soul of the operation” Virgo must temper a tendency to live vicariously through others, typically artists and other creatives. It won’t happen overnight, nothing does for Virgo, but, though she bides her time,  she must ultimately step out of the shadows of her associations, allowing them to be launching pads for her own creative efforts, working the many connections she will have made in her extraordinary efforts on others’ behalf.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 11° (May 1)

Was prime rib night. I had some on salad. I’m bloody well exhausted. Will watch Working Girl again from the beginning since I crashed. I decided to take a break from moving things today since Richard returns the 4^th and anyway I will work until around ten in the evening. Then will stay up way too late. Around now I may be getting the dreaded without knowing it. Really aren’t eating dinner.

Virgo Man

Virgo man enters doubting—people, places and things must be proven viable to him before he can invest in them. More than defense, it is a default expectation of dis-appoint-ment. It speaks to the shift from the sign of Leo (divine King) to Virgo (the Everyman). He is of the mind that life is what you make of it; that none of us are singled out for any predestined purpose; rather that you create your own existence, and any import thereof, every day, block by block, over time. Nothing is ever quite a done deal for him; life is one great work in progress, and he must learn to seek progress over perfection. Virgo is especially dubious of others’ enthusiasm, and those who take too optimistic a view of life. Healthy skepticism is his superpower, allowing him to critique and diagnose situations, circumstances, environments, and other people. He is the alchemist of the zodiac, seeking to root out the baser elements he encounters and to transmute that which he perceives as flawed or lacking into a more purified state. He cannot abide dysfunction (as he perceives it), the irony of course being that he has his own fair share of defects, chief among them, an inability to be called out for them. Ultimately, he can learn to own that. Nothing and nobody are perfect, he will concede; but there must be a concerted effort toward betterment, amelioration, and human functionality. Virgo operates on humility, not to say he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder which he must learn to let fall. He supplements any lack he perceives in himself by cultivating expertise in this area or that, which can lend him an erudite air, a sophisticated superiority. He is the zodiac’s original culture vulture.

            While some say the sign is ruled by Chiron, once a planet that was pummeled by asteroids, or the as yet undiscovered Vulcan, the traditional ruler is Mercury. But it is this uncertainty that is most telling. Nothing for him is ever written in stone. He is infamously noncommittal, keeping options open and others guessing. He seeks a solo niche where he needn’t compete, invite comparison or censure; and he can perform disappearance acts, for long stretches or permanently. He believes the human condition is hinged on solitude. Archetypally, he draws on Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan) the tinker, smith god of the forge, who was disabled, lame, correlating to Ganesh the Hindu god “remover of obstacles.” Virgo’s sixth astrological house is that of function, duty, habits and routine, which the Virgo can elevate to empowering ritual. The sign’s mottos are I work and I serve. Life for him should be a dedicated one devoid of distraction. He is designed to be fully functional human whose ironic goal is to contribute to a common good, all by his lonesome. Other archetypes include Job, Dr. Faustus and Batman.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 10° (April 30)

Double day. Chaffing madly by the end. Had chicken parm and steak tips and visited the new place. The day event was a funeral and Joann and John were there. Will see EL post work and rent a movie which we I will be too tired to watch. Sigourney Weaver’s character in Working Girl is reminding me of someone, given the revisionist way she has of putting herself forward as the one with the big ideas. 

Leo Woman

If for Leo man life is a game, for Leo woman it is a hunt. She is the most ferociously ambitious of all signs. Wearing her signature predator’s smile, she prowls this life, on the scent of successes for which she hungers. Leo is the mythical Artemis, whom Homer tagged “Lioness amongst women,” a feral, untamable female like Shakespeare’s feline Kit, labeled a shrew, as if that’s a bad thing. Typically left to fend for herself from childhood, Leo doesn’t have much of one. She tends to align herself, hanging out, with adults, be they teachers, mentors, or the school janitor. An A-one overachiever; she is cosmically disinclined to failure in the pursuit of creative goals, leading roles or positions, or awards. All for her is a contest and Leo recognizes little to no competition. Should she fall short of her high self-expectations she can be as self-condemning as she is -aggrandizing. She likewise expects much from others, and those who cut her mustard will reap some reward. She takes pride in contributing to others’ good fortune; indebting them in the process, consciously or not, providing her a power position. She is canny and cunning, and she will definitely cut a….well, think of Artemis, giving chase, flanked by her faithful maids and hounds (both her bitches). In some cases, that’s as much status as Leo’s associates might be afforded. It’s mainly a good thing: For when Leo woman calls you friend, she means it, never one to use the term lightly. She requires the same solid loyalty from others as she bestows; and should you cross her, you will find yourself on the outs without a moments’ notice. Still, when Leo truly loves you, she can never stop doing so—not to say she can’t live without you—as her fiercely doting lion’s heart will forever feel the pain of any kind of love lost. Your fault not hers.

While Leo Man hates phonies, Leo woman is known to “take on” a major persona or many over her lifetime. She is a born believer, especially, that she belongs to some elite echelon, prone to greatness. More superstars are born under this sign than any other, and Leo woman strives to be queen of (fill in the blank): She feels herself endowed greatness and she possesses the tenacity and voracity to be all she can be. She wastes no time and suffers no fools in her quest to be the best version of herself. Even when living the humblest of existences far from any spotlights, she will call the shots and positions herself as indispensable heart and hearth center of her familial universe. Along with Artemis, goddess of the hunt, her main archetype is Hestia, goddess of home and hearth, the most beloved deity around whom all daily, domestic rituals revolved.  And indeed, Leo is most on the hunt in life to create a loving home for herself. Other Leo figures include Bathsheba, Cleopatra, Wonderland’s Red Queen and Oz’s Dorothy. While cardinal signs are the initiators of the Zodiac, the fixed signs that follow them are imitators, and, in Leo woman’s case, honing and perfecting as well as popularizing the genres in which she works and expresses herself. She must beware of becoming increasingly isolated as life goes on.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 9° (April 29)

The pressure of leaving is ramping up. I’m just going to eat soup and rest for much of the day after making a few trips back and forth to the space. I’ve become very attached to the flat. I will send a note to Raina and Tony and see if that want to have tea on Monday which they do. Today begins a four-day back to back sort of work experience and the distraction will be good. It was a very slow night really but it’s probably good that it was. I’ll speak to EL by phone about his mom being in the hospital suddenly. People have real struggles and one shouldn’t add to other’s heartache. I suppose I am guilty of having done so but it feels like a complete and utter alternate reality looking back. I’m not sure who I was when I reflect. The election, the pandemic, it really took its toll and we went in completely different directions which was very stressful. Sometimes I get glimpses of my future but most times I live in abject fear. 

Leo Man

Leo man is potentially the best at playing the game of life. He loves a good gamble but that’s another story. Leo is authority, license and free will incarnate. And as creative and productive as he can be, Leo takes a leisurely approach to life. Fun, play, for him should be front-loaded, as success and fulfillment can be more easefully had as compared to the rest of us. He must hold that thought. The sign’s motto is I will and he silently wields his strong intentions without pushing it. Excess ambition is in fact anathema to him, and he finds it vulgar in others. Leo has nothing to prove. He is the king of the zodiacal jungle after all. He doesn’t bestow praise, easily, either, for better or worse.  His is a world unto his own. Leo sticks to a small circle and social circuit, around which he makes the requisite rounds of dates for sports, meals, and such. Though he despises show-offs, he is a bit of one himself (he would never admit it), holding forth with endless tales. He thinks it’s unanimous that all eyes should be on him, and he sticks to a loyal audience of acolytes. Fealty is all. And he wonders why he can rub folks the wrong way. He sees it as spreading sincere warmth, He is drawn to goodness and guilelessness in others. Authenticity is his watchword, and he must make his own his superpower. The Sun is his ruler, and he is likewise meant to be a star, at the center. But he needs to understand the power and responsibility in that and guard against tyrannical urges. 

He is drawn to people, places and things with a primal throb, the heart being the body part ruled by his sign which, like the Sun, is the central life-giving force. The heart is the rhythm of life. The 5th astrological house of Leo is that of “co-creation with god;” so Leo mainly finds it his divine right and duty to be as good a sun king as he can; his archetypes thus include Helios and kings David, Solomon and Arthur, as well as their picaresque manifestation in Tom Sawyer and Archie Andrews—his shadow figures include Archie Bunker and Garfield, comic incarnations of  Leo despots like Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini et al. The cosmic noble, Leo takes personally every lousy move others make. If one is to cross his clearly drawn moral boundaries, you directly insult his majesty. And when you’ve been cast out of his realm, you remain so. Something he needs to look at. He is generally a golden boy in his youth, around whom much revolves, typically an athletic class clown who charms with panache. He can at once be emotionally distant and hostile, especially, to other males he finds sneaky or conniving. As he matures, his world can get smaller, his fan base limited to family and a handful of friends. He must resist nostalgia, getting lost in his glory days; taking pains to focus on the future without tripping on it. Many twentysomething wunderkinds are born under the sign; and they risk equating inexorable aging with a weakening of their power. Leo must resist seeing himself as over-the-hill at 35, which falls into the age group ruled by the sign; and consciously, consistently reinvent himself—his biggest challenge. 

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 8° (April 28)

Though I don’t yet know it I’m becoming quite run down. Dave and Alison are coming to dinner on the late side as he has a conference call until seven o’clock. Meanwhile the queen on her throne has deigned to write me back after nearly eleven months, maybe more. And what a snoot full she delivered. I had said when AG declared that she was only S’s friend that ah-ha that makes it easier; only to illicit a response asking if that was meant to be a threat and if it was, lawyers are already watching me. Good lord. What is wrong with people? The world has gone crazy. You wouldn’t believe the vile things that were said but the truth always comes out. I have tried and tried to broker peace with the main would-be proponent and the poisoned friends, but to no avail. I am deeply, deeply wounded. At least I get to share this fresh development with D+A who also bring a friend, Victoria, with them. I took the to S+S and, as suspected, was treated to hummus and octopus and a pasta D can’t eat and a fig pizza he could and a lovely salad. They didn’t stay very long after but I think they finally have an appreciation for where I’ve been living and all of that.

Cancer Woman

Cancer woman is the personification of hope and longing. Being female, thus aligned with this uber feminine sign, ruled by the Moon, representing the mother principle, she embodies the cardinal-water (directive emotion) assignation of the sign, that to say she is a well-spring, a source of a mighty river of feeling, in contrast to the male Cancer who elicits such emotion in others. Longing is in fact her superpower tantamount to putting out feelers that signal to the universe, if you will, that which she wishes to attract in life. Call it wishcraft. She is a loaded character whose entire existence is characterized as a journey from chaos to order, that is, cultivating a natural rhythm. She typically spends her early years feeling very much at sea, and she can be something of a wild child if only ironically as a result of having tight restrictions placed on her, mostly by her own mother. This can cause her to act out in self-destructive ways until she comes to harness the power of her feelings, even of anger, resentment and despair, and channel them into singular purposes, pouring herself into long-term plans for self-determination. Overcoming feelings that life, and she herself, is something of a mess requires a brand of objectivity that can take years to cultivate. The energy of the Moon isn’t passive, say, like the other feminine planet Venus; rather it is receptive, but also bidirectional; that is to say, she must let her emotions move in on her, inspiring her to emote, express herself. Along with the gut, the sign rules the breasts, symbolizing literal expression of nurture and nourishment, of herself foremost. Cancer also rules the ages 21-28, that of coming of age, maturity which shares an etymology with mater, mother.

            The sign of Cancer is a snapshot of the universe as a feminine source, and the evolved Moonchild will prove that model true. She must let go and flow with the current, i.e. the present, albeit finding fixed objectives to hang onto along the way. The Crab has a reputation for being clingy, a result of outsourcing stability to others, especially romantic partners, as she may do from a young age. Many famous actresses are emotive Moonchildren, while all Cancer women possess the latent power “to be in the moment,” but it doesn’t come easy, as Cancer feels she comes with a lot of baggage, flotsam she must turn into turn to jetsam. Archetypes of the sign include Isis and Nemisis, sister goddesses representing the shining and dark sides of the moon, as well as wishful Cinderella who employs nocturnal magic, and Pinocchio’s Blue Fairy, an emanation of Themis, goddess of divine order who established the Oracle of Delphi on a mighty spring. Working with these archetypes, Cancer woman can divine her own order and become a self-fulfilling prophesy for happiness and love—someday her prince/ss will come. Being one with her longing, Cancer thus vibrates with needful intention, attracting destiny by certain desire. Hope floats, and the universe provides, providence, promise, deliverance being her sign’s watchwords. The secret ingredient is time, what it takes for an oyster to bear a pearl, created by the ebbs and flows of the tide, directed by, and in the very image of, mother Moon. So too does Cancer’s raw longing morph into trusted intuition, the power of clearly seeing her own future.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taurus 7° (April 27)

Went to change the cable over to Richard’s name. Packing and back and forth to the cottage again. EL came to check it out and tried to get my router going. We made a list of things that need doing which I will itemize but we finally settled on a great idea which is to make the entire front room a kitchen. I think it makes great sense. We went our separate ways and I continued to do what needed doing and had some anchovy pasta and chats with Kip and Nats, who, it turns out loves Belfast. Maybe I should buy a house and rent out rooms to other lonely divorcees LOL.

Cancer Man

Cancer man is self-protective, which, paradoxically, allows him to live more safely on a purely emotional level. Despite a signature insouciance (that shell) he is most sensitive and can easily be crushed by chaotic feelings. Not to be morbid but many a famed Cancer man has offed himself. Still, his sensitivity makes him the most caring of men. And it necessitates his being the most trusting, using his superpower of intuition to invest in the right people, places, and things. The sole cardinal-water sign (think well-springs and rivers of feeling), Cancer is carried along on the emotions he inspires in others. He keeps his own locked up, meanwhile, until he establishes a safe means for their expression. Irony is another Cancer strong suit, presenting his often pointy point of view, in a softened, even satirical way. These little jabs, in creative work or social banter, provide an escape valve for what can otherwise become a deluge of bottled-up opinion. Cancer is about passage, recovery, promise and deliverance, and men of the sign see life as a journey aimed at landing them on a more desirable shore than that of their origin. Cancer man lives in a private word, both real and imaginary, avoiding conflict and sticking to vague interaction unless he sees promise in it. He thus prefers solo work, where he can ebb and flow to his own rhythm, his mind drifting to imaginings of would-be scenarios he can ultimately realize. He personifies hope, promise and ease, attracting others on this score. He seems so completely unneedy, requiring no more than a soupcon of support. Still, he tugs at heartstrings, tickling funny bones, sensitivity and humor being hallmarks of his charm. But despite appearing unassuming he is one of the most calculated of characters. He aims to realize his potential, getting his claws into nurturing environments and people, particularly mother figures. He draws on such archetypes as young Moses, flowing on river of feeling from one mother to another; also Noah, Prince Charming, Walter Mitty and Pinocchio, for varying but related promising reasons.

Cancer is practiced in social repartee, losing track of who has or hasn’t heard his anecdotes before. He struggles to be present-minded, a result, perhaps of being cosmically designed to look, with hope, toward the future. This can result in anxiety and a challenge to find comfort in uncertainty. He is one of the zodiac’s existentialists, not given to opiates of religion or set belief systems. He sees no success as coming easy, despite making it appear otherwise. He is covetous of time he can call his own, because he does sacrifice himself more than most men to the responsibility and care of others. Family is paramount, and he has born to play househusband and rearer of children should his partner be more professionally engaged or absent. Still, he must create a path for career fulfillment, biding his time in the process of that ultimate inevitability.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2022 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.