Pisces 14° (March 4)

Make It Snappy. I need to go back and employ shorter sentences. Thinking more about my meditation and I’m super way into it. It is steeped in the belief that the body can heal itself and that, like so many other things, astrology can be a practical source for meditation and wellness. That’s where I’m going with this. I really feel that I can create a workshop along these lines. I need to catch some lightning in a bottle now and that is exactly what I am to do. The moment I decided to do a nice long clear out what do you think happens? Two cases of wine show up at the same exact moment Tim drives up with a dozen mugs. It will be fun to write some snappy copy for that and put on something groovy for filming. I don’t look my absolute best but I am jonesing a bit to have some fun and make some funny videos. We had a meeting on the ancillary book matter and I think it’s a good idea to get some things moving in the publisher’s direct. Then we can be left alone for a good long time. I keep getting flashes of Ireland which is strange because it so isn’t on my radar.

I tried watching Stanley Tucci host his new Italy show on CNN and, sorry, but he seems so entitled, vain and vapid with nothing but movie star connections—zero charisma nor point of view. You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the title “Searching For Italy” but it is a food show; and yet despite repeating over and over that he’s a “foodie” that worn expression doesn’t even seem true. All he does is stut around in tiny jackets, cropped pants with no socks, taste food and say “oh my God.” Seriously, if there was a drinking game where you had to take a shot every time he said “oh my God,” you would die of alcohol poisoning. His few attempts at Anthony Bourdain philsophy are nonsensical misses, and he actually takes swipes at his guests. (You know how people who aren’t funny try to be funny and just end up being sarcastic and insulting?) There was one take away, however: If you close your eyes, you would swear his whiny affected posh delivery was being voiced by Jack Benny. Hey CNN here’s a suggestion: Replace Tucci with Susan Lucci in Gucci. Even with her years of face work, she can register infinitely more varied and vivid expression than the Mr. Magoo in Thom Browne silhouettes you currently have prancing le strade d’Italia. (Sorry I didn’t get much sleep last night.)

So once again awoke at three and stayed awake only to find that S. was also up reading. We surfaced a couple hours later and managed to score some vaccination appointments so that feels great but somehow odd. Which is how I feel in any case, but I’m getting acclimated to this new era. Got my budgets squared away and have gone through some more notes and then I’m just going to write for a couple of hours today and get to bed on the early. I have pre-preparted a lovely chowder and we had lefties from last couple of meals—last night I marinated salmon in miso and molasses and serves with crispy scallion and ginger, spicy green beans and some potato chips left over from my flounder fish &, plus quinoa tabbouleh I made the other day. All yumster. I’m going to be regaling you in the next few days with more astrology so stayed tuned for that!

The following blocks of text are exceprts from my first year of  Blagues, nos. 1681-1685. 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.

Ah, Solstice. With the start of Capricorn, the days start getting longer, and, as we slowly celebrate the return of light, we make our new year’s resolutions. Capricorn advocates for keeping it real and doing what we can do in the present to have lasting effects. It is the sign of endurance, posterity and a certain slice of eternity. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, “Old Father Time”, named for the Titan god of the mythic Golden Age, the “grandfather” of the gods who, with his wife, Rhea (her name means “ease”), are endlessly retiring. The sign and it’s timely resolutions are about retiring certain aspects of self which no longer serve as we mature and grow. On that magical old TV show “Bewitched” Samantha’s parents personify Saturn and Rhea. Even her mother’s name, Endora, portrays the enduring nature of this cosmic archetype. And just as you wouldn’t mess with her, or her errant hubby, you should think twice before crossing a mighty Capricorn witch or warlock.

In ancient times, this week was celebrated as Saturnalia, festival of the god Saturn whose namesake planet rules this sign of Capricorn. Coincidence? We think not. The Saturs (English Satyrs) were goat gods and insatiable in their appetites; and Saturnalia was all about indulgence, feasting, intoxication and orgies. Some unlucky candidate was force fed then sacrificed in a ghastly scapegoat ritual, the ancients believing they were destroying the forces of darkness in killing off some innocent person. Thus the bonfires, the Yule log, and decorating with candles and with wreaths and boughs of holly, garlands and, of course, trees—bringing the outside inside was a topsy turvy way to recognize the the life force in the deadest, darkest time of year. Masters would wait on servants during festival, an aristocratic tradition in Britain and elsewhere that exists to this day. Reversal was seen as a necessary element to enact in celebration at this time of year. So you might ask yourself what needs switching up. And how, at this darkest time of year, you can spark new signs of liveliness in yourself that can manifest with the new year. And what can you rid yourself of and mindfully sacrifice without making any ritual killings that is.

Ring-ring-a-ling. We’d like to propose a toast: Here’s to the lads and ladies who do unto others as they would have…well you get the idea. The Golden Rule is the simplest to live by, but it isn’t the easiest. Look to yourself this holiday season, check your intentions, and take responsibility for your actions and try to keep your side of the sidewalk shoveled. This most magical time of the year allows you to work some real sorcery all your own. Capricorn restraint (and whatever resolution you have planned) doesn’t mean denying yourself anything; it’s about freeing yourself from the unseen forces (a/k/a our conditioning) that make us do and think and say things that aren’t true expressions of who we are. This only makes us feel in conflict and divided. When in doubt, evoke that Rule, and ritualize the Yuletide as a time of certain atonement, that is to say at-one-ment.

Good Tidings! The annular solar eclipse happened overnight, and it is all about fresh starts and putting new plans in motion for the future. And here we are setting off on a new journey of our own. Good Tithings! It is Boxing Day and we have just landed in London where this holiday means something. It’s origin is hinged on putting together “Christmas boxes” for servants and vendors and other such workers on whom more posh folks habitually rely. So it is about expressing appreciation and giving back, things we can do today whereever we might be. Every year, S+C do a ritual tithe, where we provide our private-consultancy services to a few folks for free. To be honest it feels like the most selfish thing to do, because it inspires such a sense of warmth and well-being. So here we are: Taking appointments for the next month in London before settling into Paris, our European HQ, to see even more clients, so many of whom work in fashion and design.

Stella Starsky was born on this date, same birthday as Marlene Dietrich—no big stretch there. Capricorn women, more than any others, deserve the status designation: Iconic. Towering figures, even when tiny (Stella is quite tall), they embody the attributes of their Capricorn-ruled tenth house, that of respect, honor, authority, veneration and influence. Stella has a way of lifting up others, of empowering them, and expecting them to ascend to their best selves. As a Capricorn she embodies the power of Faith, in herself, those she loves, and in humanity as a whole. Like another famous Capricorn woman, when others go low, she goes higher and higher. Drawing on the archetype of the “ascending goddess”, the gorgeous Sea Goat is designed for the slow and steady climb toward self-realization. So Happy Birthday Stella Starsky! Other Capricorn beauties born this day: Lily Cole and Timothée Chalamet.

As mentioned in a previous post, in antiquity this time of year was celebrated with the festival of Saturnalia. The planet ruler of Capricorn was named for Saturn (Greek: Cronus) the deposed chief god of the Golden Age (a paradise of time/space when there were no rules, no lies or crime, no disease and mortals, who lived for hundreds of years, mingled with the gods who then inhabited the earth). Capricorn men draw on the archetype of Saturn, being throwbacks to a more glittering time, encyclopedic in their knowledge of the past, often at a very young age, seeming worldly wise beyond their years. They also have a retiring, laid-back approach to life, being old-souls with a faded-glory aesthetic (not to mention some decadent proclivities); they can rock a cardigan, ascot, pair of loafers, vintage watch and signet pinky ring better than any ol’ boy on the planet. They are rather Saturnine (somber if not melancholic) and Saturnian (sardonic, slow to change, if not effete); and, as the old goat of the Zodiac, may be prone to certain satyriasis, named for the randy mythological satyrs who were forever chasing young nymphs. Hello J.D. Salinger, ef you R. Kelly—even Elvis had a child bride. Whatever savage beastliness lurks beneath the surface of the Capricorn man, to all appearances he is an elegant, soave and debonair fellow, as evidenced by the likes of Cary Grant, Denzel Washington, Jude Law, Morris Chestnut, David Bowie, Orlando Bloom, James Earl Jones, Kit Harrington, John Legend, Zayn Malik, Bradley Cooper and Eddie Redmayne.

The classic Capricorn archetype is Rhea, the sister-wife of Cronus, (Roman: Saturn), namesake of the planet ruler of the sign. Rhea is an anagram of her “daughter” Hera, (Roman: Juno), who with her brother-husband, Zeus, (Greek: Jupiter), inherits the kingdom of heaven (Olympus) and the chiefdom of the gods. Fearing a prophecy he’d be overthrown, Cronus gobbled up five of his six kids, but when Rhea delivered her youngest, Zeus, she hid him away and swaddled up some stone for Saturn to swallow. In the form of a She-Goat (Amaltheia) Rhea nursed her child who grew up to fulfill the prophecy, with his newly regurgitated siblings by his side. And just as Capricorn man and women differently manifest the energy of their sign, if not being diametrically opposed, Cronus-Saturn is struck down, deposed and dissident, while Rhea rises up. Capricorn is the cardinal-earth sign, which translates to a mountain, and Rhea is an “ascending goddess” who takes to her mountain fortress (Mount Ida), her crown being turretted in shape to reflect the elevated spiritual stronghold she occupies. She is the mountain mother, the Matterhorn, the Grand (read: Great) Mother of the gods; but no shrinking violet is she. Sometimes called Cybele, from whom we get the term cymbals, (Roman: Ops, meaning plenty—optimism, optimal, opportunity, options), Rhea may have retired, but she created her own swinging retreat with rhythmic and rather loud revelry. When her grandson, the orgiastic Bacchus-Dionysus, youngest of the gods, comes on the scene, she bequeaths her entire estate to him, including her leapard-drawn chariot, and her entire retinue of party-goers (in leopard print), mainly women, who literally slay men, in ritual killings. There was always human and other sacrifices going on during this time of year. Rhea’s passing the torch to Dionysus is a mythic allegory of renunciation. Called Rhea-Cronus, it is where we get the word crone. Making peace with life’s ephemeral nature ironically allows Capricorn women to glimpse eternity and foster an enduring legacy.

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 2021 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2021 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox.