Pisces 28° (March 18)
Going to stick to the plan next two months and not say anything more than that. Right to work today after big clean up and prepping some egg drop soup for lunch and turkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (my e is still sticking) for dinner. Cancer man lives in his own world, both real and imaginary, avoiding conflict or often anything more than vague interaction unless he sees promise in it. He prefers solo work, which he can hopefully perform, set apart, ebbing and flowing to his own rhythm. He also takes other alone time, if only in stolen moments, to let his mind drift to imaginings of would-be scenarios he might ultimately realize. He will of course allow others to form a team to back his efforts, especially a mate who might pick up extra slack on the home and family front. The sign of Cancer is associated with hope, and the Moonchild is the personification thereof, drawing others to pin theirs on him. Perennially showing promise, he is forever inviting emotional investment. Never presenting as needy, however, in contrast to his female Cancer counterpart, it is ease in expertise that he exhibits, meanwhile he may be far more pouting and, even, self-pitying, in the strict privacy of his relationship with a partner or his semi-weekly shrink. We can’t overstate the fact that, the better the Cancer man is at pretending that all is right with his world, the more hurt he might be carting around. The more nonchalant the more he may feel crushed by such antonyms to hope as dread and despair. We don’t wish to get too dark too soon, but some of the more infamous final bows from this world have been taken by Cancer men—Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams, Freddie Prinze, Ian Curtis, Anthony Bourdain, Chris Cornell, Hunter S. Thompson, George Eastman, Tony Scott, too many others. On a far cheerier note, the intense level of sensitivity with which Cancer is endowed can make him the most sympathetic of individuals. It also necessitates his being the most trusting, using his signature superpower of outsized intuition to associate himself with in right people, places and things. Ruled by the Moon, considered a planet, and representing the mother principle, in astrology, Cancer has a highly attuned gut, the seat of their emotions and intuitions, and one of the body parts ruled by the sign; the other being the breasts, a symbol of both nurture and expression, for all the Moonchildren. Cancer is the sole cardinal-water sign in the zodiac, cardinal meaning initiatory, leading, directive, and so Cancer man leads with his emotions and intuition, symbolized by water. Thus, he comes at the rest of us from this level, impacting our own feelings. He might be a selective people pleaser, but, when he decides to get his Crab claws into someone, he will play mister feel good any which way, drawing out an individual, asking all the right questions, being the perfect listener, offering sage advice, sharing what may be personal stories and confidences, thereby building others’ confidence in him.
The following blocks of text are exceprts from my Blagues, nos. 1751-1755. 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.
Paris, Day Twenty Eight of Sixty. Today was meant to be my new starting date for Bikram, but happily it has been postponed until tomorrow when I will take the 11am morning class. This is a good thing actually because hopefully I will have less pain than what I’ve been experiencing. I’m going to ignore it even though it isn’t what one does. Still, we are in the sign of Pisces and I feel that I am better equipped to manipulate and affect outcomes during this time of year. I do need to bring up my own chart at some point. I wanted to get some things on paper. Some goals that have to do with publishing specifically. The first goal is obviously to sell this second book. The second goal is to heal the relationship with Harper and have a conversation to that end with whomever was responsible for thwarting the deal there. I also want to update Sextrology. Third I would like to have a chat with Sandy focused solely on the foreign landscape. Also I’d like to know who is in charge of Cosmic Coupling at Crown. I had some very odd dreams, none of which I can really remember at this point, although I know they were the source or the manifestation maybe of anxiety, as I awoke from them rather shaken. We have school today and I’m going to propose we take a long walk beforehand. I have to drink lots of water and work on making my body more alkaline and less acidic. I can literally feel the need for that I kid you not. I will spend the morning doing more nitty gritty work on the essay and send it to the instructor; likewise I will get more detailed on planet moves document and get three months under my belt. I will rejig the schedule to accommodate the fact that this process really can be time consuming. But I think I left more room than I need and I need to go slow. It’s best I haven’t started yoga until now because there is no way I could have juggled everything. I ended up working pretty much all day and then we talked with Alice and we were going to walk to class the long way but in the end we were running late, so we made a plan direct. Now I have no things to write: some kind of speak for the factory in Italy. It’s fine I will work on it Sunday afternoon. First I need to clear the decks of all other responsibilities.
We won’t see the visitors at all today. They will probably spend their time shopping. Certainly everything will be will be dictated by his moods, I’m sure. We had a client recently who was describing how her sister0in-law was nasty and withholding to her family but then really phoney/friendly to the parents of her own, the client’s, in-laws. Treating the practical strangers more kindly then she does the immediate family. I was like she must be a Gemini which she was. I know this trait by way of my own evil sister and to a much lesser degree to Çoise. Really it is such a Gemini woman trait and not a great one. Anyway I digress. We got to class and it was an exercise in subjonctif and we also split up into groups playing tourists and travel agents. As fun as the class can be I’m also getting a bit sick of it; and as sad as I’ll be not to have it any more, it will be quite nice to have a solid three weeks in Paris without this responsibility. It is sucking up a lot of time. I’m happy for the chance to get some of the more chunky bits of language under my belt, but I know, once I start yoga tomorrow, especially that it might feel like something of a life suck to have all that to do. I really haven’t done any sight seeing in Paris.
We got to the Café d.l. Nouvelle Mairie about fifteen minutes in advance of Anna who arrived with a tiny longhaired dachsand named for the fifteenth century scientist who placed the Sun at the center of our universe. His birthday was yesterday. Anyway we learned so much about her and her history, coming to Paris, and were reminded of the fact she has three daughters, one of whom would only have been seven years old when we first bet back in the day. This one is a horse artist and a dancer and is part of a class equestrian circus; her middle daughter works for the EU in Brussels; and her eldest runs the Warsaw office of her agency. It’s incredible, really. Anyway we have such fun and I had poireux and veal and the ladies each had two appetizers. We had a lovely Gaillac. Nobody wanted dessert. On the business end of things we discovered that we really do all want to work together. And this would provide us a direct foothold in Europe where we will be, increasingly. The foreign agent that is in place in New York has really expressed very little interest in our existing titles; and in this day and age we feel that we can really make some serious inroads selling the book to other foreign publishers, as our star continues to rise and the appeal of the subject continues to spread. There is also the notion of doing things more media centric in any case. As with most things that have been happening here, all signs are leading to a more permanent presence in gay Paris.
Paris, Day Twenty Nine of Sixty. Started Bikram today after breakfast with the Dobens. There are thinking of staying but they won’t in the end. They want to do two photo shoots and have S. call one of them to arrange in French. Bikram class wasn’t as terribly frightening as I imagined it might be. I did all the postures but only did one of the triangle and camel each. I didn’t die…yet I had a note from a client and I thought: Wow that was a lot of internal experience surfacing from that one event. It all makes sense. As we are now in Pisces time, it’s good to embrace the fog (mutable water) and the mists of imagination and not judge between what is real and mere mirage because right now there need not be any difference. Sometime this month maybe, those earthworms will appear on the sidewalk and the crocuses will pop up there heads and we can focus on what specific new realities we want to enact. But for now let us stay in the vapor and let all the tension dissolve and allow it to leave a “solution”. Come Aries time we can put on our warrior garb and spearhead what needs to happen.Today will be a slow day due to the fog I will be in myself. We spent way too much time trying to find flip-flops and still we have come up short. I think we need to go to a large Monoprix. I’m going to try and figure that all out in the next coming days. We have D + N coming for dinner tonight. They had written yesterday to ask if we were still on and to say that E. was free and should we move the whole thing to their place. No. We have a client tonight until eight o’clock and we will spend the day getting some stuff done. We come back after yoga and have a little soup and then go back out on our failed flip flop mission and then at least get some wine and water, which I will drop upstairs, and then back out to do the major food shop on Rambuteau. I will make salmon and we’ll have a salad but the rest of the meal will consist of goodies from the Greeks and some bakery and cheese items. We are getting to be so Fwench. Çoise writes to say that they did in the end do two photoshoots and weren’t getting on the road for Amsterdam until four o’clock. That is late. We have our appointment and D + N are on time which is rather unusual; it seemed slightly weird in the first moments but then totally like our old selves again and we had plenty of wine with which to ply ourselves and dinner was long and delicious and drawn out. And we even had to go back down to get more wine. And we stayed up until at least three o’clock and I’m wondering what is going to happen to me day two of yoga. Here is some Virgo stuff I’m working on.
VIRGO Woman
Virgo with a V: In our book Sextrologythe she-Virgo chapter begins “And God created woman.” Drawing on her mutable-earthy Pandora archetype, Virgo woman seems designed to the specifications of someone seeking a lady stacked with feminine assets. In mythology, the cuckolded potter-god Hephaestus/Vulcan (married to Aphrodite/Venus who was getting busy with Ares/Mars while carrying a torch for Adonis) bakes up his own little sex-dolly out of clay, Pandora, with her infamous box. (It was actually a jar, a vessel). And we titled the Virgo woman chapter The Vesselbecause, like the sign’s Virgin holding that sheaf of grain, intent on separating the wheat (virtue) from chaff (vice), Pandora’s jar was filled with an equal mix of the same stuff. From a patriarchal standpoint, and a misogynist one, woman has been viewed as both a source of pleasure to be penetrated and one of the worlds ills. Mary Magdalene is sinner and saint. She too is the vessel. Especially if one thinks on her as the literal wife of Jesus and potential mother to his children. Blasphemy. She was a sacred harlot, like the Vestal virgins, sex and spirituality going hand in hand (or something in something) as it should. And so, without getting too into it, the Virgo woman personifies the feminine as such: An undulating object of lust who could be ones undoing. The Virgo motto is “I serve” which is misread as submissive or subservient (she can be ifit serves her). But like any good master-slave inversion, one typically finds oneself so dependent on the Virgo woman, whether for her love, devotion or mad skills in the sack, that she typically ends up holding all the power. Makes you rethink the image of the Virgin clutching that phallic sheaf in her tight, tender grip. And, blow me down, just look at these brick houses. Claudia Schiffer, Raquel Welch, Naomie Harris, Jaqueline Bisset, Pink, Beyoncé Knowles, Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Whitney Cummings, Joey Heatherton, Jennifer Hudson, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Yvonne DeCarlo, Padma Lakshmi, Peggy Lipton, Rachel Ward, Jennifer Tilly, Foxy Brown, Rebecca DeMornay, Jennifer Coolidge, Tuesday Weld, Shannon Elizabeth, Lea Michele, Cameron Diaz, Barbara Bach, Cassandra Peterson, Valerie Perrine, Fay Wray, Frances Farmer, Alotta Fagina (We imagine).
The virgin of Virgo is Kore, the maiden form of Earth mother-goddess Demeter, from whose name the word core is derived, a nod to the planet’s molten, shifting center, its fiery furnace. While Virgo man draws on the archetype of Hephaestus, god of that sizzling forge, Virgo woman personifies, yes, his little dolly, Pandora, meaning “all given”, whom the god gave the best features of all the goddesses, baking her out of clay in his divine kiln—Virgo is themutable-earth sign, highlighting tangible change. But Demeter herself was also called Pandora, here meaning “all giver.” Virgo woman acts as caretaker, little sister, especially to objects of her desire, playing den mother, a Wendy, to any number of lost, Peter Pan-complexed boys or domineering Peppermint Patties. She leans, learns and models herself on significant others, having her fun, and ultimately forging her own future. On the shadow side, she borrows too directly from others, appropriating their moves to the point of inappropriateness. She tends to secure a mature mate who’ll cherish her and to whose power and protection she is drawn, and from whom she pulls strength to grow and develop her own unique talents, skills and character, which she often then focuses on helping others in turn. Enter Peggy Guggenheim, Mary Shelley, Kitty Carlisle, Agatha Christie, Mother Theresa, Mother Seton, Cass Eliot, Margaret Sanger, Sylvia Fine, Geraldine Ferraro, Nan Goldin, Salma Hayek, Emmy Rossum, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Blake Lively, Rosie Perez, Queen Noor, Queen Rania, Sonia Sanchez, Paula Jones, Ségolène Royal, Lea Michele, Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde, Fionna Apple, Pink.
VIRGO Man
The move from Leo to Virgo is like a shift in historical consciousness from the divine right of kings to the empowerment of serfs. Virgo’s motto is I serve. In the annals, we saw the absolute power of (Leo) nobility give way to that of the indentured (Virgo), Pride being trumped by Humility—this is mirrored in the rise of allegorical pieces of literature like Everyman, which tackled the dichotomy of virtue and vice, and Dr. Faustus, caught in that same balance between good and evil. The temporal takeaway is that power shifts from crowns to individual human conscience. Take that monarchists.As personifications of these signs, Leo man embodies the golden-boy Sun-king archetype, while Virgo man is a walking-talking morality play, munching on experience and humble pie, embodying that human conscience, whose nature it is to grapple; but, in so doing, to eradicate pride along with every other human vice, digesting experience to extract its every virtue. You won’t see a Virgo man bound into a room unapologetically. He doesn’t have that golden glow of Leo. The sign color of Virgo is silvery grey (Gandalf grey) the result of negotiating a world that can be so black-and-white. He is thoughtful, to a fault, self-effacing, self-examining and often hyper critical. He negotiates his way in the world carefully, and yes, skeptically, but he thereby aims to leave it a better place than he found it. Virgo begins on August 23rd, the festival of Vulcanalia. Vulcan (Greek: Hephaestus, from whose name Faustus might derive) was a disenfranchised “lame” god who channeled the lemons he was given into making lemonade. A smith, a potter, a tinker, an inventor, artisan, artist and, like Faust, an alchemist in all respects. Hephaestus hid himself away, something of a hermit (with that Gandalf wardrobe). Virgo is traditionally ruled by planet Mercury (Greek: Hermes, from whence the term derives)—focus on the work and service at hand, typically making tools and weaponry that would empower the other gods. He forged Zeus’s lightning bolts, for instance, the true power behind the throne. Virgo man, the zodiac’s is likewise a lover of privacy, a symptom, first, of feeling dejected on some level, but ultimately the crucible via which he forges his own path toward success and fulfillment. He will wrestle with his conscience, the true philosopher’s stone, to alchemically transmute his disappointments into opportunities, his wounds into sources of healing and his accumulated woes, source- material, into masterful works of art. Behold the Virgo Everyman of conscience who has sought his separate peace and serenity in his solitude; or as an actor (our best living archetypes!) plays that part to the hilt: Bill Murray, Jimmy Fallon, Luke Wilson, Martin Freeman, Jack Black, Chris Pine, Rupert Grint, Colin Firth, Leonard Cohen, Josh Charles, Armie Hammer, Jason Sudeikis, Adam Sandler, Stephen Fry, Roald Dahl, Louis C.K., Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves, Warren Buffet, Aaron Paul, Alexander Skarsgärd, Richard Gere, Wes Bentley, Oliver Stone, Stephen King, David Copperfield, Moby, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, John Locke, John Cage.
Virgo’s planetary ruler is in dispute. It’s traditional planet is Mercury, which also governs the mutable-air sign of Gemini, the god Mercury (Greek: Hermes) being patron of all sorts of street folk from merchants to thieves, jugglers to magicians, which brings us to the mutable-earth (read: clay) sign of Virgo where it rules alchemists and all the “hermetic” and healing arts. Mercury’s staff, called the Caduceus, is the emblem of the medical profession to this day. Virgo and the 6th astrological house are associated with health, habits and hygiene. But there are those who don’t believe that Mercury actually rules Virgo. Some feel that rulership belongs to Chiron, a minor planet-ette orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. The notion is that Chiron, discovered in 1977, was once a major planet that got pummeled by asteroids. It thus draws on the archetype of the “wounded healer” in mythology. Chiron was a centaur who wasn’t savage like his fellows, but the opposite, a savior, and he is the father of doctors which were one and the same as magicians, under the grand heading of alchemists. Another theory is that Virgo is ruled by the as yet undiscovered planet Vulcan, which is debatably orbiting between Mercury and the Sun.. Virgo men are menschs but they do tinker—if not nipping and tucking themselves, they may Svengali others, women especially, whom they treat as Pandoras, the first sex doll molded by Hephaestus out of clay. Voila: Alchemical some more Virgo men-schs: Hugh Grant, Elvis Costello, Chris Tucker, Peter Sellers, Tommy Lee Jones, Paolo Coelho, Peter Falk, Bob Newhart, Ben Falcone, Daniel Stern, Adam Sandler, Sam Neill, David Arquette, Mark Harmon, and those who couldn’t leave themselves, let alone others, well, alone: Mickey Rourke, Michael Keaton, Barry Gibb, Billy Ray Cyrus, Eddie Fisher, Michael Jackson, Gene Simmons, Kenny Rogers, Steve Guttenberg, Harry Connick, Jr., Paul Reubens.
Paris, Day Thirty of Sixty. And Day Two of Bikram. This is not going to be easy. I am on just a few hours of sleep and I might still be drunk from the seven bottles of champagne and wine we drank between the four of us. Oh gods. Stella is not going to yoga. I cannot let myself down just day two into the process. So off I go. I get on the nerves of one of the Bikram people because I’ve put my towel down before they can pretend to clean the room. One single mop is not going to clean the whole entire room. That’s fine. I go to the front this time. Yesterday I was in the back behind the most annoying person I’ve ever encountered in a Bikram class—blague on me—who is big (that’s ok) but doesn’t do the postures when everyone else does and falls out ever single time and is really fucking distracting I will be avoiding her like the plague from this moment forward. Anyway today I go to the front and that has it’s own worries. The teacher comes in and actually says—I know she’s directing this at me—if anybody is a beginner in the front row please leave. There are only one other type of male body type in the room, now, two days running other than my own: perfect. My stomach is huger than it has ever been in my life and it is hanging over my shorts. Ugh. Not my shiningest moment but that’s okay because I am dedicating this thirty day stint to the losing of this stomach. I do all the postures but skip triangle. I know my pacing this is right on point. People are perfect in the locker room I am hiding myself as best I can. I took my time in savasana and I’m home by one. We decide as it is nearly sixty degrees out to go for a nice walk in the Marais which really is too crowded. But we stuple on Cire Trudon and decide to buy ourselves and others prezzies. I thought we were buying things for the colors of the packaging but I will learn that is not the case. Whatever. We have a tiny bit of leftovers—some baba and some stuffed pepper remnants and some cheese—for lunch; and then I try to take a nap. Maybe I fell asleep for five minutes while watching Sabrina but maybe not. I suggest we take ourselves to a café and work by hand for a couple of hours so we head to Barav our favorite place in the third across rue Bretagne. We pass that expo space and realize that is where they are having the Vintage show. There is a huge line and all the cafes in the area are packed as is Barav and say they don’t have a table but they do. There is one ratty looking barman there I do not like but all the rest of the staff are wonderful. S. has crudites and dried carpaccio (the fresh sort is out) and I get a planchet of meat and chesses. We share a white Beaujolais that has the consistency of a light syrup; and then a Peyriac that wracks our world. Now this:
LIBRA Woman
The female archetype of the Libran woman is no cinch to pin down. Not just because this is an etheric sign—the symbol Scales being the only inanimate one in the zodiac—there’s just something esoteric about Libra. The male archetype is embodied in the god Apollo, a famous deity but an abstract one. He rules an inanimate estate that includes light, order, reason, music, prophecy and other intangibles. The female archetype of Libra points to the paradox particular to this abstract sign, which is that of an unseen, intangible but nonetheless animatingforce. Let’s call it en-light-enment, for lack of a better term. For, we are not looking at the initial divine spark of life that animates the body, associated with Libra’s so-called opposite (cardinal-fire) sign of Aries and the advent of birth, but rather the cardinal-air force that animates the soul, quickening its karmic evolution. Esoteric, see. In Sextrologywe speak of the Libra woman as being typified by the oracular High Priestess (counterpart to Apollo) and etheric goddesses like Sophia, emblemized by a dove, and other astral Venuses like Astraea or Psyche all of whom are seen as the holy-spirited feminine agent of the universe with whom one becomes suffused, characterizing their individual (re-)connection with the divine. Little wonder that Libran women seem to personify all goodness and light with high expectations that are not always so easy to meet. She is the white goddess of daylight, not a dark femme fatale. She seeks to elevate people, not drag them down. A bevy of Libran belles du jourincludes: Catherine Deneuve, Kate Winslet, Julie Andrews, Olivia Newton John, Kelly Ripa, Angela Lansbury, Glynnis Johns, Susan Sarandon, Hillary Duff, Kelly Preston, Gwen Stefani, Naomi Watts, Avril Lavigne, Heather Locklear, Carol Lombard, Joan Fontaine, June Allyson, Deborah Kerr, Helen Hayes, Lilian Gish, Neve Campbell, Maria Osmond, Nancy Kerrigan, Pam Dawber, Gwyneth Paltrow. Goop indeed.
Whereas Libra man, regardless of sexual preference, tends to place women on pedestals, tending to play the role of Pip, in his heterosexual bonds, to any number of unattainable Estelles—the god Apollo chasing Daphne into a petrified personification of perfect laurels—the Libra woman can’t help plopping herself onto that pedestal, podium, pulpit or portable soap box, providing herself a platform, playing her own archetypal role of High Priestess, offering up her edicts, advice, decrees and, yes, judgments lest we forget she is the lady of The Scales, dame Justice incarnate. High and mighty, her principles will be known. Beyond being all goopy goodness and light, Libra women can righteously activist with decided ideas on how society, if only their intimate variety, should operate. (Tap, tap…)Is this thing on? Let’s hear it for the outspoken, decorous, exacting and emotionally judicious, if not detachedly judgy, democratically loving Libra woman: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mira Sorvino, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Nana Mouskouri, Ani DiFranco, PJ Harvey, Alicia Silverstone, Judge Judy, Kate Walsh, Barbara Walters, Linda McCartney, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Emily Post, Margaret Thatcher, Mata Amritanandamayi, Sharon Osborne, Toni Braxton, Cherie Blair, Michelle Bachelet, Joy Behar, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Catharine MacKinnon, Jody Williams.
LIBRA Man
If you’re a reader of our work, you’ve no doubt heard us make mention that Apollo, god of light, is the main male Libra archetype. The Scales is the only inanimate symbol in the zodiac and the sole cardinal-airsign, which translates to light. Apollo isn’t the warmest, fuzziest god—though he tries to be. The thing is, he rules the etheric realm, that of abstracts and intangibles—order, music, poetry, prophecy, oracles, oration, reason, truth, all things which characterize the uplifting of conscious minds and spirits. Gnostic Lucifer, meaning “light bringer”, often conflated with the devil, Satan, was cast out of heaven because he sought to bring said enlightenment to man. Just as Apollo, who tried to overthrow Zeus, was, for a time, cast from Olympus. Likewise, Luke Skywalker with his light saber is cast down by his father who is ultimately raised high by him. (Apollo has a twin sister, Artemis, so does Luke have Leia—Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are, incidentally, both Libras. Artemis, whom Homer calls “a lioness amongst women”, archetypally rules the female sign of Leo, not Libra—but that’s another story.) No lion of a god, Apollo’s prime animal totem is the wolf, related, no surprise, to his rule of light. A wolf sees in the dark, his vision actually illuminates. And there is an etymological link here: He is Apollo Lyceus and Apollo Lycegenes, respectively, from the Greek, Lukeios(light) and Lukegenes(wolf-born). Some wolfy looking Libra guys, often with signature Siberian husky eyes are Wolverines Hugh Jackman and Liev Shreiber, Matt Damon, Sting, Viggo Mortensen, Will Smith, Seann William Scott, Guy Pearce, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Matt Bomer, Ryan Reynolds, Christopher Waltz, Charlton Heston, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jim Caviezel, Stephen Moyer, Ben Whishaw, Dan Stevens, Luke Perry, Steve Coogan, Tate Donovan, Eric Stoltz, Jeremy Davies and Peter Coyote, but of course.
The Scales, being the only inanimate sign, Libra men, personifying that abstract cosmic Libra energy, create characters for themselves, often changing their names: Sting, Meatloaf, Eminem, Usher, Le Corbusier, e.e. cummings, Flea et al. Another symptom of this inanimate assignation is: Libra man not seeming “real” to other people, which is compounded by the fact that Libra is a renaissance man, like his archetypal Apollo, who can read as a dilettante. Ruled by Venus on the astral plane (it rules Taurus on the earth plane), Libra experiences Venus’s pleasure principles of beauty, love and grace not as physical but as ideological attributes. It’s seventh-house mottos are: “I balance” and “We are”, which both point to that house’s rule of relationships, especially a karmic one, between individuals. Little wonder that the sign of the Scales—Justice for all—is one that espouses beautiful ideas of democracy, equality, as well as aesthetics and certain enlightenment. Old Father Saturn is exalted in Libra; and, indeed, over time, Libra man’s tendency to seem all over the place, with hands in many pots, coalesces into a number of solid talents, typically, in creative pursuits as well as socially active ones. And one added thing: The original meaning of the word oaf, deriving from pagan Nordic belief, is that of an imposter child put in the place of a real one stolen by elves, witches or fairies. And as any Libra man will tell you, he feels he must have been switched at birth, not belonging to his family of origin nor identifying with his birth-self (Aries’ first house) thus developing his character and personality (Libra’s seventh house) becomingthe person he was born to be through careful cultivation. Some creative, socially active and rather oafish looking Libra men: Tim Robbins, Chris O’Dowd, John Lithgow, Michael McKean, Will Smith, Andrew Dice Clay, Zach Galifianakis, Sacha Baron Cohen, Simon Cowell, Clive Owen, Jon Favreau, David Morse, Michael Gambon, Chevy Chase, Roger Moore, Randy Quaid, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, Jeffery Jones, Walter Matthau, Bernie Mac, Phil Hartman, Kevin Sorbo, Jeff Goldblum.
Paris, Day Thirty One of Sixty. And Day Three of Bikram. I have to say it is taking it’s toll already. I’ve been home from yoga for two hours and I haven’t been able to get any real work accomplished. I hoping I will snap out of it in the next several hours. I have so much work to do I can’t allow myself to be derailed by a new hot yoga ritual. That would be really stupid. But I’m not giving up. I wrote again to Joe’s and also to JCM in hopes of putting together some kind of variety show in the spirit of how we used to do things. I have to push forward. So much to do and so little time to do it in. Today I managed to do all the postures—only did one of triangle though because I have to continue to pace myself. My mantra with all this is to go slower and want to have more hours in the room. The corona virus is ramping up in Italy and there are two cancelled fashion shows. It’s quite alarming. Then all the fashion folks come here tomorrow. Yay. Oh well, what can you do but try to stay healthy and keep washing your hands. S. had bought some chicken already for tomorrow’s dinner with Griet from Dries. I had her get some caviar as well and we had caviar omelets for lunch today. I really have to get my brain in gear here. I will now do that by saying that I have to write the following so I’m going to just make this a little draft and I’m going to write it by four o’clock because that’s what needs to happen:
Astercast is a fine jewelry company created by Stella Starsky and Quinn Cox, “the favored astrologers of fashion insiders” (Elle), and “the duo behind Sextrology, a wildly popular astrology tome whose straight-forward attitude has been embraced by the chic set” (Vogue). The Astercast collection features 18 carat gold pendants, chains and customizable “Stellium” necklaces, with a variety of meaningful symbolic, celestial and organic charms and precious stones, allowing the wearer to “cast” her own powerful and personal arrangement to suit her mood, intention, aesthetic and whim. Astercast will be marketed through its own online retail presence, which be specialized to guide customers through their purchases, and carefully placed and sold at select retailers in the U.S. and abroad, where Starsky + Cox will conduct in-store trunk show events where the customer’s astrological information will be consulted in their personalized purchases.
Originally launched in 2006 as a limited-edition capsule collection with a New York based jewelry manufacturer, Astercast instantly, and rather unexpectedly, captured the attention of dozens of high-end retailers in the United States, garnering glowing press coverage, including a full-page feature in Vogue, a two-page spread in InStyle,and the cover of The New York Times “T” Magazine, worn by Robin Wright. Scarlett Johannson, J.K. Rowling, Kate Capshaw, Conseulo Catiglioni and Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen were among the many fashion and entertainment figures who purchased pieces from the original Astercast capsule collection.
Starsky + Cox (the author/astrologer names of real-life married couple Lynne Corbett and William Leone) decided to fully launch their Astercast collection over a year ago, securing requisite capital and engaging the celebrated London-based jewelry maker Alice Cicolini as the company’s Design Director. Lynne Corbett is a veteran of the fashion industry, having been a buyer at Bergdorf Goodman before launching her own sportswear collection in the early 1990s. She went on to work/consult for other companies including Manolo, Kashiyama, Artsuro Tayama, Lanvin and, most notably, for years, for Dries Van Noten. William Leone worked as a fashion and entertainment journalist for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The South China Morning Post, Detour, Paper, Instyle and as a producer for City TV in Toronto (Fashion Television). Together Corbett and Leone were Executive Editors of Wallpaper* magazine in London and they have together contributed to many publications including Vogue Paris, Elle, Marie Claire and Allure.
Since 2005, the couple have been professionally known, exclusively, as Starsky + Cox and have ran a private consultancy, the majority of their international clients hailing from fashion and design. They have written two best-selling books, Sextrology(Harper Collins) and Cosmic Coupling (Crown/Random House), and several book series. Sextrologyalone has been published in a dozen countries, and they have sold upwards of a half a million books world-wide.. Starsky + Cox have been featured in innumerable publications including Time, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Times (London0, and on radio and television in the U.S., France and U.K. Starsky + Cox have partnered on projects and events with fashion stores such as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Barneys New York, Colette, Marc Jacobs and other entities including Sephora, MAC Cosmetics, Chandelier and Kylie Minogue.
Starsky + Cox are 100% owners of Astercast with their own line of credit and have no other partners. The brand has been deliberately conceived as a timeless collection, not one that is trend driven, and so adhering to its own schedule and agenda. The business is being built organically, methodically, consciously and with care. When the collection launches this year, it will be extensive enough to be promoted as a complete collection of classic styles, to which we will add new elements as we feel ready to do so. So the initial work that Astercast undertakes with a manufacturer will be work that produces forever product designed to last for the longterm, not for a season or a year, but for the life of the brand. New elements—charms, chains and other styles—will be added slowly over time, as demand for new collectible pieces and elements grows.
Paris, Day Thirty Two of Sixty. And Day Four of Bikram. I’m feeling a bit squidgy today. We went to Goguette last night where we had a great meal a few weeks ago and it was completely disgusting—to the point that I had to tell the owners it was one of the worst meals of my life. I ordered lamb and there was literally no meat on it, just fat. Horrid. Anyway I’m up and trying to get some work done before going back to the gas chamber. I’m feeling a little worried about my ability to perform in class today but I will just hydrate for the next couple of hours and push through. Today is focused on school work and if I just make that the goal I should be in good shape. I still can’t believe I’m in school but whatever—I’m doing what I can! Marine was our teacher today and I did as much as I could, really. S. bought me some yoga wear which I will never (wear that is). So that will go back tomorrow. We were going to do a full sweep up to the third and get some organic wine at Barav, but it is proving to be a bit short on time. So after a lunch of gravlax and mache we just do a little tour of Rambuteau. There is a new sommelier at the local wine shop and we did fine just sticking close. We bought some lovely baguette and then some incredible tarts from Pain e Sucre. It is an amazing neighborhood in which to live, but apparently we wouldn’t want to be on Archives in the summer because it is really out of control. I bought a scarf and a belt yesterday. I hope to buy more things once this tummy comes off. We have a long chat with A today and I met Marianna. We are chewing on a bunch of things.
Griet showed up for dinner wearing a mask and carrying hand sanitizer and wipes. Apparently anyone who was working in Milan for Dries now has to wear a mask for the entire time they are here. I would quit. It seems to me that, in case any customers get ill, they can always say well it wasn’t from our showroom. Still it just seems so extreme. There are cases of this virus in Italy I realize and in Milan specifically and I suppose there should be measures taken but they should just send everyone to a doctor to get them checked out. Their job is hard enough without having to walk around in apocalyptic garb. Anyway we told her to take her mask off that we weren’t concnered. And she did. So if she has it we have it. We had a very late night and easily blew through all the wine. She brought us a block of parmesan. We sang songs, we reminisced. She looked at our new logo and said the two things I said about it. It’s very 1920s and old Hollywood. I have to write an essay today which I will so first in English and then in French. Ready?
I ran into Johanna at the pool and she mentioned that you were going to Ireland this month. I told her that you and I planned to go together and she intimated that you decided you didn’t want to travel with me. Johanna thinks that I should try to convince you to let me join you, but that is not my goal and I absolutely refuse to beg you. However my goal is to understand why it is you have decided to cut me out of the plan. My aim is to get to the truth of the situation and that is all. Obviously there is some kind of misunderstanding here, or I’ve done something to hurt or annoy you which would never be my intention. The goal in writing you is to give you the opportunity to speak your mind freely. And my goal is also to have the opportunity to respond and hopefully clear the air. I cannot for the life of me think what I could have done to offend you. Please write me back and let’s set up a time to talk.
Je suis tombé sur Johanna à la piscine et elle m’a dit que tu iras en Irlande ce mois-ci. Je lui ai dit que toi et moi avions prévu d’aller ensemble; et elle a laissé entendre que tu as décidé que tu ne voulais pas voyager avec moi. Johanna pense qu’il faut que j’essaie (j’essaye) de te convaincre de me laisser te rejoindre, mais ce n’est pas mon objectif et je refuse absolument de te supplier. Cependent, j’ai pour but de comprendre pourquoi to m’as coupé du plan. Je me donne pour but de décourvrir la verité de la situation et c’est tout. Évidemment, il y a une sort de malentendu ici, ou j’ai fait quelque chose pour te blesser ou t’ennuyer. Cela ne serait jamais mon intention. Je t’ecrit afin que tu aies le possibilité de t’exprimer librement et, également, pour avoir la possibilité de réagir, moi-même. Je te propose une rencontre pour discuter de tout ça afin de mettre les choses bien au clair. Je ne peux pas penser à ce que j’aurais pu faire pour t’offenser. Veuilles m’ecrire de nouveau et fixons un moment pour parler.
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.
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