Capricorn 7° (December 28)

Feeling unwell today.

The following blocks of text are exceprts from my first year of  Blagues, nos. 1356-1360. I am reading through all of my Blagues, five per day, and posting some samples here. Now, in my sixth year of writing this Blague, by the time I get to my seventh, I will have journeyed through all the daily Blagues of my first five years. If that’s confusing I apologize. Year seven, I’ll only have to read through year six, once a day.

Today has a consolidating feeling. We are getting ready for a quick trip to Boston and New York and will mainly be focusing on art and letting the inspiration begin. I have been giving myelf a good talking to about art and commerce and how the ‘twain shall meet. I am very much looking forward to righting every wrong I possibly can, career-wise; and now that I know that, if I am clever and priming the pump and making sure that there are some key items which might already generate a little action, I’m convinced that continued support will come to us. There are no free rides that is for sure; and I don’t know if I’d even know how to take one given the opportunity. We have an agent friend visiting tonight and that should make for interesting conversation. I have been staying up too late these past few nights binge-watching stuff, episode after episode, and I”m not exactly sure why. C’est comme ca I suppose.

It wouldn’t or shouldn’t be unusual for me to fall asnoozed for a little bit today. I’ve precooked in the cosmic kitchen all I can possibly do in preparation. The house has been cleaned from top to bottom and all the errands needing running have been run. I woke up feeling really chilled and coldy today so I have got to take care that I don’t get too runned down before I even embark. There was a post from Scooter today about Walt on social media. I’m thinking this must be an anniversary of his dealth. Walt and I made for uneasy bedfellows when we worked together in magazines. He had been a wunderkind, both of us now in our mid twenties—I was twenty-five when I married—and he felt threatened, which he shouldn’t have done, because magazines were not my jam; I was saving all my love for acting at that time.

Walter, as I always (and everyone then) called him, was a tough-as-nails narcissist and a style genius, sincerely. He was raised in the clubs and as a teen knew more than is reasonable, and wrote, about fashion; while putting together photoshoots where he was also the man behind the camera, styling his subjects, doing self-portraits, typically, in tandem with his friend Simone whom we all called Fondu. Walter and I worked together, first, at The New York Social Calendar which was a cool thin mag available in slick new hotels opening, like the Paramount and the Royalton, in New York, becoming the Where magazine of that brand of chic, quaisi-boutiquey hotels. I was officially, as Managing Editor, Walter’s boss; but he couldn’t conceivably cope with that dyamic; particularly because I was brought in to replace Lisa Kennedy and Donald Suggs, combined, who both worked at the Village Voice and were considerably more “correct” than I was. Correct was Walt’s favorite word for describing both pinacle expression and experience.

In the end Walter and I came to highly respect, and more importantly, trust each other. I recognized his talents from the start and he ultimately came to see me in the most favorable lights. I really felt appreciated by Walter and the feeling was mutual. I loved Walter though we lost touch as he apparently lost his way. Is Capricorn, the goat, about finding your footing? I feel this time of year, with which the sign corresponds, is very much about that. We all want to get the new year off on the right foot, for one, and it’s also a very dreary time of year, perhaps for many, when the past, in particular (associated with the sign with its emphasis on traditions with its ruler Saturn, named for the god of the former, golden age, with his scythe or sickle, the prototype of old-father Time, may give us pause if not come back to haunt us. The goat god Pan, giving rise to panic and signature melancholy, to which we might succomb, sometimes completely. Not finding ones footing, this time of year notoriously sees a spike in suicides, whether suddenly intentional, or ultimately inevitable, slipping sadly into finality.

Drove to Boston today as an artist performs my series at the American Repertory Theater. They gave me a little conference room to sit in while I awaited our room to be readied, which it readily was. Stella had appointments out and I brought lefties from last eve’s dinner, so I had a few bites and tried to get some ideas down and also fit in a little Glow work. We had an afternoon client and then hopped a cab to Waypoint for din din. Had a lovely Georgian red, salad and pasta, keeping it super simple. Then on to Dan’s show which was exactly the one he did this past Afterglow Festival in Provincetown. He had been given an alternate dressing, which was more like a green, room. It was actually a performance space. Then my colleague Sophie came back to say someone was requesting me. I knew who that was.

The someone is a supportive character in terms of the non-profit; and we met, seemingly, through some form of cosmic connection. In the end he will have inpsired extreme and unique behavior on my party—he was so loud and so filibustering that I found myself putting my hand over his mouth. And this is someone whom I am meeting for the first time in the flesh. That is to say that I was immediately moved to dysfunction in relationship. This, though, after said someone shouted out to the stage during the artists performance, not once, but a few times. I had a message, that I didn’t get until the next day, that the artists sent me immediately after the show saying he wanted an exit strategy from the theater without encounter our supporter, who was seated with a group of friends and with whom, all together, including the artists, we were going out with afterward.

So here we all trundled along to the restaurant and Stella situated herself between the aritst and the sponsor, who was quite aggressively physical, and the companion with him was also proving to be caustic, although I was unaware of the fact at the time as I was seated, across from the artist, next to Brian. I was have a fun and lively conversation, all the while keeping my eye on the someone who was spouting Shakespeare or his own poetry. These sorts of experiences which only happen with certain people and in certain places, like Paris, and not typically anywhere in America, never seem sinister in any sense to observers when they’re happening so I really didn’t glean how much influence was currently being running; and the flirtatious companion came over to chat (mainly about how he had to get himself and this certain someone to another party) and ended up planting a kiss on me which, I’ll admit, in the moment, wasn’t totally unwelcome if not unsolicited. Again that kind of Paris in the eighties kind of feeling; although I don’t think it went down to well on the other side of the table where more of a battle was being waged than I wagered.

All said, people, particularly the apologetic, should always get the benefit of the doubt, which is surely something I shall provide while being ever the more mindful of boundaries. Despite indulgences, the evening felt freeing and it ended on a mindful note with the artist walking him back to his hotel before we got a car back to ours. We changed our plan and decided not to drive to New York tomorrow given the ensuing weather patterns. I know Stella is sad not to go and to miss the museum plans she made, and me too; still I feel we are dodging a bullet and we will spend the day, tomorrow, at the M.F.A. here instead, after some delicious breakfast brew of coffee and a healthful muffin, up and at ’em.

Woke up to a pointed friend request which is fine. Had some solo time in the hotel this morning before meeting for what we determined would be a small but flavorful lunch as the plan at this point was to return to Cambridge for the soft opening of Longfelllow’s. So I had a chowder at Sonsie and we strolled to the museum. The jewelry exhitit was small but surely meaningful—we already owned the book. And we saw the Ansel Adams exhibit too which, maybe it was my mood, left me cold. We did bump into Sarah Peake and her wife Lynn, however, so that was a fun synchronicity. We walked back through Kenmore instead of the way we came, behind Symphone, etc. And it was getting fairly cold at this point. Upon our return Stella suggested just going downstairs to Uni and calling it an early night and that’s what we did in the end. Harrison was working so we felt very well taken care of. And we ended up brining our bottle of wine upstairs to watch Ru Paul and then fall asleep. That rhymed sort of.

Meanwhile: Yesterday on our drive into town we had an amazing discussion, Stella and I, drawing on our meeting the other night with Tim B. (there is also a Tim C. in our life but there is no Tim A.). For the love of multipurpose I might recount this as if I’m recounting the meeting as a whole to those who were there: Again it was wonderful spending time, having dinner and catching up on all the terrificness that has transpired in the in-between years since book club. Alot happens in a decade. Or maybe this isn’t the way to go. Perhaps it’s just a matter of me speaking on certain subjects. Like authorship. We never undertook the notion of writing a new book under our real names, but it is an interesting concept because it is meta in the sense that we are bringing the readers behind the veil and, in that vein, I think it could be a wonderful project and tack to take. The question remains what to do with our original directional plan when it comes to publishing. I suppose that shall remain to be seen. I will reach out and determine next steps.

The idea that Tim proposed is an idea we already had, and which has been on our would be book-publishing to-do list, now for over a decade. And it was always linked to a certain broadcast-program concept, so it is something we really do want to do. We have been thinking that we have other projects, first to roll out, but we are interested in changing that roll out if we think it makes the most sense. I don’t think it should slow the roll of other Starsky + Cox projects however but that our roll-out should now be double pronged. Doing one project under our own names does allow for certain objectivity, on ourselves included, as Starsky + Cox are part and parcel of the history of astrology, being one of the most successful brands to publish on the subject. Anyway I don’t think the pursuit of this idea vis a vis the pursuit of getting the next Starsky + Cox project going should be in conflict or mutually exclusive; rather we believe they can, should and must run in parallel to one another. I think that is the main takeaway in regard to where we are in this process.

Also, a couple of days ago, I heard back from our friend and colleague Diane who is now involved in a new media and broadcasting venture. She reached out before the new year to ask if we wanted to develop something. After a break in fielding many a producer’s inquiry into our brand, plus doing lots of filming on that front, I am keen to do something. So yesterday, also, in our brief car ride to the New England capital. It is a very simple idea. In fact it couldn’t be easier or more perfect and it recalls a familiar form while allowing for a total refreshening of the usual guest-driven concepted in a talk format. I need to find and update our bio a bit to send Diane’s way early next week.

Having met as teens in Boston, marrying in their early twenties, Stella Starsky and Quinn Cox have gone on to become two of the most successful astrology authors to hit print. Their seminal book Sextrology (Harper Collins 2004) subtitled The Astrology of Sex and the Sexes has sold upwards of half a million copies in dozens of languages around the globe. Hailed as “eerily accurate,” their work dragged the subject out from the occult aisle and placed it smack dab in the center of the modern zeitgeist. Cosmic Coupling (Crown 2010) followed suit; and Starsky + Cox publish a yearly Haute Astrology series of twelve horoscope books; and have contributed to numerous publications and websites.

Starsky + Cox have appeared on a number of podcasts, radio and TV programs, in the U.S. as well as the UK and Europe; most notably as regular guests on “Chelsea Lately” on E!. “Live!” host Kelly Ripa is also a famously outspoken fan. Starsky + Cox were hosts of their own public radio show “The Cosmic Connection” which gave a glimpse into their private consultancy. Drawing on psychology, astrology, metaphysics and a little “something extra”, Starsky + Cox are counselors to an international clientele whom they help achieve self-actualization. Starsky + Cox also conduct their starry, entertaining, on-the-spot “Cosmic Clinics” at charity and private events around the country and abroad. Starsky + Cox have collaborated with artists and numerous music, fashion, beauty, media, advertising, entertainment, product and events companies like Bryan Rafanelli, MAC cosmetics, Sephora, Chandelier, Kylie Minogue, Marc Jacobs and TK

Starsky + Cox regularly perform their double-act of song, wit and wisdom at places like Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York City and at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Recently, Starsky + Cox presented an original motivational lecture entitled “Unlocking the Zodiac Code” in Boston, Massachusetts.

Starsky + Cox are serious consultants with an encyclopedic knowledge of myth, mysticism and archetype. They are certified by The London Faculty of Astrological Studies with degrees from both Boston University and L’Université de Grenoble. Starsky has an additional degree from La Sorbonne, Paris and holds a masters degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of East London. She is also a CMA-certified meditation instructor. Cox is a scholar of metaphysics with quantifiable psychic abilities.

I didn’t binge-watch Grace and Frankie, that didn’t happen. It wasn’t my whole day. That’s ridiculous. (I really wasn’t even very good but anytime either or both of the stars are on screen they make even the crappy script somehow magical). Anyway it’s fun to stretch out into a day and it’s good for the creative juices and goals. I have been watching a lot of royal themed shows for which I am an absolute sucker. I don’t have a proletariat soul I’ve learned. Anyway, I really want to keep my ideas flowing here today and “aim for four hours” each time I sit down to write. (I watched the Colette film and really loved it.) I need to get out of the house more for sure, in any case; taking some drives when I can in the old cream Mercedes that otherwise just goes to the dump in winter. But sooner than soon we will be walking in the beach on our daily constitutionals and everything will feel as it once did around here.

One of my goals for the coming weeks is to actually slot items on my to-do list into actual days on my calendar. Funnily enough my calendar has just stopped synching. I think it’s a result of not having the Cloud thing happening. I actually hate the whole concept of the Cloud. I feel like I’m spending money for people to steal from me, whether it’s Facebook or whatever other seeming involuntary system I’m locked into. It’s so gross and scary and dehumanizing—I miss the anonymity of a less technically advanced society. All of this only trips to the growing sense of inauthenticity that experience has slowly and insidiously taken on. But no matter. I am undaunted. I am just going to go down the list and start knocking things off of it. I am fortunate to have afforded myself the luxury of working on what I want to next, getting projects out there and spinning.

Taking a bit of a break, these next two weeks, on any ingestible that transmutes to sugar—it’s something I’ve been meaning to do these last twenty days, something of a soft resolution. This can be a very productive time of year for the body and for jumpstarting healthful and, almost more importantly, meditative practices (tho ere the twine shall meet). I found time for such things in my youth, even as I had to go to an evening job at the end of most days. It is possible, I’m confident, to get back into that kind of a head again. Saturdays shall be my major reading day. Thursday is design day, it seems. Friday will always be a good day to shop and clean and all that jazz—a good day to take myself to lunch as well. Four hours of “ridding” on Sundays also leaves room for reading and the minimal of writing, which is what I’m going to be doing this year in any case. I think Mondays will be my hard and fast, shall we say, nugget days, working on anything to do with books and the like. I don’t need to start that process, really, until March for next year; and I won’t do any other major writing until I get a hefty advance. And, when I do, I shall only write at four hour intervals, mostly, in the morning.

On the subject of the Zodiac, it does seem to me to have an inherent logic. There are so many different ways, of course, to slice and dice it. A crime novelist I know says may be using an astrological theme in an upcoming book. I actually forget I was told this, basically, until now. I may have blocked it out. Anyway there is one book that may be referenced in so doing—one which I myself haven’t read but wouldn’t mind doing.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree point of the Sabian Symbol may at times be one degree higher than the one listed here. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365/6 days per year—so they nearly, but not exactly, correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go! Copyright 2020 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2020 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox.