"The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer; it's that there are so many answers," said folklorist Ruth Benedict. That's always true, of course, but it's especially apropos for you right now, Virgo. You're teeming with viable possibilities. There are so many decent ideas eddying in your vicinity that you may be hard-pressed to pick out just a couple to give your power to. My advice: Let them all swarm and swirl for a few more days, then go with the ones that you feel will last the longest.

for Rozina

Social relationships and partnerships come into strong focus this year. Venus conjunct Mars in your Solar Return chart this year points to creative energy, romantic excitement, and playful competitiveness in relationships. Romance is in the air, as this aspect increases your sensuality, sex appeal, and animal magnetism. . . . Certainly, something big is in the works regarding your love life. You'll have a chance to heal old wounds with regards to love this year. You're also bound to find new ways of making money. You are more imaginative and attuned to the world of beauty and romance. Gentleness with others is the best way to harness this energy and to attract what you want into your life. There could be truly "magical" times on a romantic and social level. You are especially romantic this year, and you are likely to idealize and expand a relationship through sensitive interactions and a more giving approach. Benefits come through paying attention to your dreams and intuitions, as well as through creativity.

etc.

Virgos born on August 31 have a showy yet tasteful personality and bask in the loving approval of others. Original and intelligent, they are often impractical. August 31 people often find themselves in unusual circumstances. [lol] This suits their love of adventure and also gives them the opportunity to try out some of their latent talents. [lol]

Friends and Lovers

August 31 natives show their unique nature through the friends they make. Even in choosing lovers, they are likely to select someone unusual. They are much more unconventional than most Virgos and are romantically attracted to individuals who share this characteristic.

Children and Family

August 31 men and women have a mildly rebellious attitude toward family life. Once they become parents they remember these attitudes and accept the rebellion of their children. As parents, they combine compassion and love with common sense.

Health

People born today revel in unusual health practices, which may include anything from chakra adjustments and aura cleansing to colonic washes and hands-on healing. It's rare for someone born on this day to take a conventional approach to anything.

Career

The individuals born on this day are bright iconoclasts who can also use their facility with words to become writers, teachers, lawyers, and ministers. They can make great personal and professional strides, due mainly to their ability to see things from a wide perspective.

Maria Montessori was born on this day.

Excitement is in the wind this birthday year, so why not push things to the limit? If you're an adventure lover, this is the perfect time to go for it. Try to throw off any hesitation you may feel and put your best foot forward. Although you might run into some challenges along the way, things will turn out in your favor if you persevere. You may see particular growth occur in your business or financial realm, so stay alert to any new opportunities that come your way. By the end of the holiday season, you'll have made many positive changes in your life.

You'll quickly get where you want to go because you see the world in crystal clarity -- no veils or illusions. You'll be praised and awarded in September. Finances improve in November. There's a fortuitous change in your transportation. Loved ones reunite in March. There's a career breakthrough in May. Cancer and Taurus people adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 6, 25, 1, 22 and 18.

not every guy can pull off a sweater vest

Mondays involve a lot of reading dumb news for me. I'm not too sure about that "grandma rock". Why would you name a big asscrack "grandma"? (shrug)

FORECAST FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: Currently, Venus is in Libra, the sign of relationships. And since Libra is the sign of the scales, forever weighing the evidence to determine the ultimate fairness of each situation, this aspect can at times be tedious. In an effort to equalize relationships, we may inadvertently make them more complicated. Imbalances that we didn't mind too much before now seem completely unfair. And with Mercury traveling retrograde in Virgo, we could get mired in petty, nit-picking details that really, in the big scheme of things, don't matter one bit. That's why this week's sweet alignment of Venus and Neptune is so welcome. The entire week is touched by the lucky angle of these two lovers of the zodiac, and they will sing out from this harmonious trine, providing just the right atmosphere for euphoric connections. And if you, like me, are too practical to think in terms of euphoria, then try to at least buy into the idea that life can be less of a struggle, and that most people are willing to connect and work together if only they can figure out how best to do this.

("nit picky"? hrmmph)

weekend love report: the lawn chair scenes spread in front of the main stages along center street are heaven to my visiting mother.

WEEKEND LOVE FORECAST: ARIES: Worriers see relationship problems that don't exist. You will do the opposite -- see relationship solutions that don't exist and, in believing in them, make them come to life. TAURUS: Someone will commit to you, and you will show your deep appreciation. GEMINI: You are different from the rest and will stand out in a good way in the social scene. CANCER: You give out good vibes and don't expect a thing in return -- so attractive. LEO: Someone special finds you irresistible because you know who you are. VIRGO: Your intelligence is highly attractive, especially when you don't share all you know. There's a secret in your eyes. LIBRA: Someone has burned you before, and you won't let it happen again. SCORPIO: Without realizing it, you will cultivate a distinctive atmosphere around yourself. SAGITTARIUS: While exploring other cultures or traditions, you'll find love or deepen the love you have. CAPRICORN: This time, you'll accomplish your goal faster when you do it alone. AQUARIUS: You instinctively know what feels right, so don't stress over the options. Just choose. PISCES: You are capable of amazing feats, especially when it comes to helping your loved ones.

via DmS:



It's funny, but I dunno about the sentiment actually. I'd go crazy if I didn't work, first of all. And when it comes right down to the clincher, mostly I fold and/or opt for a plate of french fries to make out with. I really gotta stop ordering food then standing up and walking out on the bill abruptly under flirt pressure, that's a bad habit <:/ In my defense, I tried being normal and tipsy texting someone appropriate but . . . well, my idea of appropriate might also be a bit skewed, as is my aim. I feel like, romance-wise, if I had a cupid-gun, I'd point it at what looks good to me, which would turn out to be a gay extraterrestrial, but it wouldn't matter anyway because my aim would be so off that I'd shoot some poor fucker standing behind me.

"What is the source of our first suffering?" wrote philosopher Gaston Bachelard. "It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moment when we accumulated silent things within us."

The moon is full in Pisces today, first full day of the sun in Virgo - that's me, 100% diametrically opposed to myself in full. To be born under a Pisces moon is like being born under a caul, but it comes and goes. Today, it potentially comes and comes and comes. I won't be able to help myself hear what people are thinkfeeling, and Virgo-style I won't wanna leave it alone. Often (usually), that's IFFY, hahahaah people turn out to be notmarried, or gay, or aliens from another planet, all kinds of strangely aligned feelings to circumstances. Their undercurrents of anger, that's what always grips me, makes me shake in my boots and I'm not even kidding. But it can be good too, sudden little intuition tidbits, like I suddenly wondered "I wonder what Sam is doing these days?" and looked it up and lo TODAY is the presale deadline for the only American show of their new touring schedule. In Milwaukee. Anyone within the sound of my voice reading from WI should, RIGHT NOW, go online and get tickets and go. It'll be at the Pabst on October 13. The precode is IAW. Iron & Wine is the soundtrack for Moon in Pisces, fyi.

FORECAST FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: The Virgo identity has been claimed by many cultures. She is Ishtar to the Babylonians; to the Greeks she is Zeus' daughter, Justice; and to the Indians she is Kauni, the mother of Krishna -- and the list goes on. Maybe her universal appeal has something to do with the fact that we all come from mothers and continue to be shaped in some way by the feminine forces of the universe. Those forces are encouraging our growth big-time this week, as events conspire to remind us that nobody's perfect. Furthermore, the ones who profess to "have it all going on" are the first to suspect of being seriously troubled. And though it's not usually a good idea to dwell on our various problems, it wouldn't hurt to take a personal inventory of our top issues of concern for the purpose of addressing a few of them. There's no time like the present -- the sun will be on your side! Yes, the annual solar transit through Virgo begins this week. The Virgo sun marches into our world like a benevolent but bossy mother, prompting us to straighten up, figure it out and generally get our acts together.

I told the Piano Man off, which I'm feeling bad about, knotted up, cz they've all been sooo great to me, to us. But I figured it was better to be cruel to be kind. There's nothing wrong with the woman he has, so he shouldn't be barking up my tree with how I'm torteously wonderful (= mere fantasy). Although I feel kinda lousy, I don't want him repeatedly kickstarting my bitchyfrigid reflex, and for no good reason besides god damn it. . . . Meanwhile, while we were clearing the air outside the bar, Sunnie was inside getting in poor LMG's face over it, over me, that he should ask me out (bla bla). He told her that he "prides himself" on the fact that he's never hit on me. (Like the way FPH has never smoked a joint, only different.) "That would ruin everything."

I feel a little prideful that he's singled me out for special (non)treatment. He doesn't know, since he doesn't remember, what I know about him and me: we've already gone there without incident because when his Closed sign faltered the once, mine came on like a back up generator. We've been sharing the same point of pride. I can't tell if that's very smart of us or literally retarded. It'll be both/either, depending on if the card comes up reversed:

Represented by Virgo, the Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and virginity. The card indicates a need for peace and solitude to think, organize, ruminate, and take stock. The Hermit is the restless mind of the Virgo, always gathering information, analyzing, making connections. Virgos are skeptics, and if anyone is going to stick a lantern into a dark place and take a good look at what's going on, it is a Virgo.

The Hermit is a card of connections and enlightenment. Combined with a desire to just "be left alone," the Querent who gets this card is probably feeling impatient with people, grumpy and anti-social in typical Virgo fashion. Like an artist who hides for days then emerges to paint a masterpiece.

If reversed, the Querent is living in fear of connections with others, of being known, of interpersonal feelings both good and bad. The need for solitude can become an addiction, an endless excuse to withdraw as if to "work", when in fact literally nothing is being accomplished. Do not cling to nothing as if it is something valuable in itself.

jj cale - clyde

ooo my head hurts :(

WEEKEND LOVE FORECAST: ARIES: You radiate unconditional love, which requires that you be forgiving and nonjudgmental. TAURUS: Someone has stolen your heart, and it pleases you greatly just to look at this person. GEMINI: You will be confident in your abilities, but a loved one is even more so, talking you up behind your back. CANCER: What matters to you will matter to those who love you. If it doesn't seem that way, examine why this is so. LEO: You will strictly adhere to your own moral code in all matters of the heart. VIRGO: Be careful not to fall in love with someone's potential. LIBRA: A challenging relationship will help to build your self-discipline and character. SCORPIO: Someone wants to sail with you, though you must never forget that, ultimately, the commander of this ship is you. SAGITTARIUS: You are fascinating to someone. CAPRICORN: The influence of a special person will help you balance your needs and the needs of those around you. AQUARIUS: Tension energizes a relationship. PISCES: You listen carefully to what your love has to say, and he or she values your confidence.

There's also a remix version, fyi.

VIRGO You'll continue to school yourself in the affairs of the heart and also about human nature. You're getting quite wise and realistic in these regards. No one can shatter your illusions if you don't have them to begin with.

"A man coins himself into his labor; turns his day, his strength, his thoughts, his affection into some product which remains a visible sign of his power." Emerson

The Fool represents the "everyperson" - the essence of us all embarking on the journey of life, self-discovery and mastery. He is the innocent, the whimsical, the "inner child" mixed with the "inner sage" that lives down deep inside of us all. He faces life and his journey unafraid, trusting, the perfect example of total and utter faith that all will be well, that every experience has a deep essential meaning. Usually represented by a young man stepping near a cliff, The Fool trapses into life, regardless of any hidden peril or disappointment, his eyes are turned to the heavens. Key words associated with The Fool are new beginnings, important decisions and optimism.

Lesson of The Fool: If you are afraid of feeling foolish, nothing (of any interest) can happen to you.

The connection of sex and death is what The Death Card is all about. We westerners see "Death" as a frightening card because we often see Death as an end, and we hate for things to come to an end. However, in other traditions, Death is just a natural and important, if sad part of an on-going cycle. In a karmic sense, you die so that you may be reborn. Winter comes so that there can be a spring, and we can only appreciate what we have when we know that there is loss. The Death card signals such things. This is a time of change. Time for something to end; but time also for something new to begin.

Another movie memory, "Ode to Billy Joe", the film poster is the background for the card. I was older, maybe 10-12ish?, old enough to understand the film by a bit more than half. The movie seemed like a love story about kids too young to be thinking about love, which I could get into and understand. The boy in the film was Robbie Benson, and I remember being very taken with his dark hair and blue eyes. The setting was rural, girls seething beneath modest cotton dresses, trapped in harsh lives . . . It right up my alley. My dad was zonked out behind me on the couch, which is usually how I got to watch late-night movies over my head, I'd sneak in and change the channel, hunker down in front of the screen, my mom always a bit too afraid of my dad to enter rooms he'd be in thus she'd not catch me.

At a certain point in the film, something happens. My mind groped to understand it, out on a limb. My mom was an artist who was always taking classes and for models she used Playboy mags, which were readily laying around the house through my entire early childhood. She assumed, I guess, that I'd not be interested in what I was too young for - like leaving loaded guns aroud, hahahaha, my mother's parental instincts were akimbo to say the least. And I'd played plenty of "doctor" with that Eric kid across the street up in his willow tree so I had all the basic anatomic principles, suffice to say. But watching this movie was my first exposure to the thoughts "boys doing stuff . . . with other boys? and paid women? or?". I remember a shot of fear right under my ribcage, and I twisted around an odd sad fierce protective jealousy, identifying with girl in the film, who wanted to touch that boy, but someone else got to touch him instead, and it hurt him somehow. She should have touched him first, so maybe he wouldn't have been drunk and some kind of lonely ("horny" was the word I didn't have yet) that night, but she wasn't up to it (yet). She tried to touch him afterwards, but it was too late. Too late for him, he killed himself. But she just walked right out of town and out of her crappy life then, freedom just another word for nothing left to lose.

Collaged in is corpse of smitten kitten, who had to die (cz who ever heard of a cat wearing sexy spankin underwear?). And the ghost word "Joe", for the boy I knew who killed himself when we were 16. He was very beautiful, and a gentle shy that was odd in a footballing teen. I remember my first thought when I heard of his death was, Maybe I should have touched him first. First before what though? I couldn't guess; Too late anyway. So for his dead self I wrote my first prize-winning essay, the piece of writing that would get me to college and thus save my life just in the nick of time.

Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe. The song came first, a folk ballad that was popular in the late 60's, and was subsequently covered half to death, oddly by jazz musicians mostly, like Oscar Peterson and Louis Prima, and by Ike & Tina Turner. The movie screenplay was basically another cover of the song. I love the part where the mother asks Why aren't you eating?, that always slays me for some reason.




VIRGO There's something marvelous forming in your life -- a realization that you are an integral part of the flow. If you take action, everyone will adjust. If you don't take action, nothing will change.

Perhaps the most misunderstood card, the Devil is not "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or the Greek god Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon. With Capricorn as its ruling sign, this is also a card about ambitions. It may indicate addiction and/or enslavement to habit. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This too, is a form of enslavement. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you wish to be.

I was four years old, almost five, when I saw "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'hara. I remember my mom was expecting my sister, it was summer and she was fat with baby, the movie was on PBS, it was afternoon so no cartoons were on. It was hot, my mother was cranky, I was running around in my underwear like a heathen as per usual. I was supposed to be napping but I wouldn't, I wouldn't settle long on the movie either . . . then that spanking scene came on, and I watched that part, with keen interest I can still recall, a proto-naughty lightbulb switching on above my curly little head, noting that when a grown up girl got a spanking it didn't seem at all the same . . . noting that fancy frilly underwear she had on in that cowboy bar, so armscrossy that she couldn't bother getting dressed before she chased him in there . . . "huh", I thought.

Your whole world could change
If only you just broke through

Keep your head up, your mind open
You'll always come through
'cause living it up, it's a big deal
It's good for you la la laaaa (scene at apx 3:30, though the whole thing is good, the drumming betty boop butt, the elvis pelvis clips, etc.)

VIRGO If only your relationships would run more like a business -- all the terms would be spelled out in the contract that you both signed. Instead, there's a lot of gray area to sort through. At least you're a good sorter!

In other words: Home sweet home.

WEEKEND LOVE FORECAST: ARIES: A proper introduction from a friend will help you get noticed. TAURUS: Your teamwork is stellar. What a loved one wants for you is exactly what you want for yourself. GEMINI: Volunteering brings you together with new friends and potential loves. CANCER: You'll reel in the admirers with your sassy timing. LEO: You'll dive into a new situation -- your courage impresses a very attractive someone. VIRGO: A first impression will tip you off about what to expect from someone in the future. LIBRA: Better to have numerous friends than to depend on one person for affection. SCORPIO: You'll be the star tonight. Dress the part. SAGITTARIUS: A friend has expertise that can help you with your love. Extend a social invitation and let the conversation fly loose and lively. CAPRICORN: You're not sure what someone wants from you, but you know there's something. Just ask and you'll find out. AQUARIUS: You have a charming way of getting the attention you need. PISCES: Though you are far from someone you love, you are closer than ever.

about the size of the top of an end table

I'm in the middle of NOWHERE. If I won the lottery, I'd buy a place here in the Adirondacks to live in during summer and rent during ski season. I'd have built for me a green'd house, modest and spartan kind of charming, a cathedral ceiling. Not that I'd need to win the lottery, strictly speaking. I'd lie on my back underneath as someone drywalled it and I'd watch. There's no cell phone here, but at night sometimes I pick up someone's wireless card who is picking up someone's wireless card, etc, like jump stations of people out here thinking the same thing: I wish you were here, to smell this air for instance. I kayak'd all day, came face to face with two blue herron (they are BIG, fyi), a green billed black duck, a frog the size of a quart of milk, tons of painted turtles sunning their legs held out to the heat like turtle yoga poses, and an otter with his little ears just above the water line. This Thursday is a meteor shower but here where there is no haze, I saw a preview, a shooting star that spanned the whole damn sky. Wherever you are, look up.

I'm loving the way these are turning out - thanks to Sunnie for the tool belt idea, which pulled the other scrap images I had into a unified whole. This card is supposed to be about having all the tools you need to create and/or get what you want, metaphorically speaking. Using what you already have, knowing how and being willing to, that's "the rub" as DmS put it.

VIRGO When pushed to commit, you may become downright rebellious. It's not that you are irresponsible -- the opposite is true. You are so responsible that you don't dare promise what you might not feel like delivering on later.

WEEKEND LOVE FORECAST: ARIES: You truly do not care whether others like the way you look. That's the kind of confidence that will attract people to you like mad. TAURUS: You'll present an opportunity to someone who will be grateful for the offer. GEMINI: You know what you're looking for in a mate, but what you find that you were not looking for may please you even more. CANCER: A date who is kind to your family members will completely win over your heart. LEO: Be daring in social situations, but note: Boldness is not the same thing as loudness. VIRGO: A loved one will be your hero. LIBRA: With a few minor attitude adjustments, you'll get back into the groove of romance. SCORPIO: You'll really love how you look, and so will someone else. SAGITTARIUS: You once tried to minimize the differences between you and a loved one, but now you benefit by advertising them instead. CAPRICORN: You're so attracted to a certain someone that you could lose track of time just looking at him or her. AQUARIUS: Instead of seeking the perfect match, seek a good conversation and a few laughs. PISCES: Avoid the tiresome habit of scanning everyone around you to see how you measure up. You are your own person.

New Age author Bob Frissell wrote a book called _Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are_. It contains a host of seemingly far-fetched theories about UFOs, crop circles, ascended masters, earth changes, and monuments on Mars, all of which adds up to a beguiling Theory of Everything about the hidden nature of reality. I see your life right now as having resemblances to this curious tome. If I had to give a title to the next chapter of your story, Virgo, it might be "Nothing That's Happening Will Make Much Sense Until It Has Finished Happening, Whereupon It Will Yield a Burst of Insight about the Big Picture of Your Destiny."

Welp. That sounds a little ominous. Anytime anyone says "Everything happens for a reason" they usually mean "That sucked!" And all I feel at the moment is my feathers ruffled. I guess, lo and behold, after all my bitching about it, I got used to Saturn in my sign (review: cosmically imposed solitary confinement) . . . there is a lot that I like about the way of being that I've developed, especially in the last year, which involves lots of productivity and a small-circle social life that is maintained by nearly daily offerings of helpfulness. A pie, a note, a favor, a small present like a Magic Hat bottle cap that reads "be in peace, not in pieces", a saying that I like even better on a beer cap. I realize: my ideal patter of days is a kind of busy monastic one. I want a man to enter into that as a person might jump into a game of double dutch. Can you jump in and out without tangling my shit to a dead stop? What is the trade-off risk, between having someone to be/play with (somewhat/times) and having you fall all over me? In most cases, mmmm, too high methinks. Today was music lesson day, can you tell? All the attention this week, it's literally given me a nervous stomach ache now. Enough already.

Meanwhile, aside from the ongoing re-fi and whatnot projects, I've started making a series of 78 collages, playing card size. For obvious purposes. And sole ownership of those purposes. One per day.

I took the boyz to see 'Dinner With Schmucks' tonight. It was rated only pg13, no violence some adult content - but whatever, Sponge Bob has adult content for christ sake. So at one point the dufus character admits his wife left him bc he lost her clitoris. He couldn't find it, he told her to look in her purse, he looked under the couch, on and on etc etc. TJ finally turns to me and asks, "What the hell is a clitoris?" I reply, "Don't say hell !"

VIRGO What you need to do is not difficult. Making it a priority in your life and actually doing it every day is the hardest part. Look for an inspiring person to help you make the shift.

I am, I have . . . shifting out of worn patterns, ruts, isn't easy, but I'm trying, I'm trying to follow rather than lead to find my way out.

Hummingbirds supposedly mark food sources just as the last frosts recede. If you don't have your feeder out early, then you miss it, and you'll never see one. Supposedly. If all of a sudden, though, they're all over your yard one morning, then the next, that's "hummingbird medicine". And so I asked Sunnie for her medicine cards, but instead of looking it up in the book, I spread the cards out in front of me first face down and chose one. And sure enough, Hummingbird, no lie.

And now that I have them in the yard, I can tell you that although they are tiny, they are like busy little B52's, busy buzzBUZZ loud, getoutamyway busy and then woop getoffame backwards flying. I like that, that they can stop on a dime and fly backwards as well as forwards, and can wait, between forwards/backwards, at a dead stop mid-air, they are the only bird that can hold still while moving simultaneously like that.

no song, my music tank is low

CAPRICORN Unconditional love is the deepest kind. Offer this powerful energy to yourself. Forgive yourself for your mistakes. If you can't or won't, it will be impossible for you to offer it to anyone else.

VIRGO The environment gets stuffy, and this is not about the air quality. Stodgy attitudes require a shake up, and you're just the one to do it. Loosen up your body language. That might be enough to change the mood. .


Welp, very recently the Capricorn rising-sign scopes seem as much or more applicable than the Virgo scopes, which makes sense cz I have been intensely interacting with others more than usual. And honestly, I think I'm doing well overall, no careening around in my mind, a lot of "yup" and "nope" and "this is what I'm thinking" served straight up.

For instance, the money-custody process, lord I hate conflict and judges and money . . . lions and tigers and bears, o my. X hates my guts so bad, my being soberly demanding and unruffled is making him just bonkerinos mad, I'm surprised he can get his fingers to unfist long long enough to write those emails hahahahah eeek. I don't even feel angry back though. When he rages on about every bad thing I ever did, mostly "withholding" in one form or another, I think yeah dude sorry about those things, I wasn't a strong person then it's true I was just faking it, sorry and bygones and now we're talking about child support though so let's get back on subject.

"Yup" and "nope" and "this is it", straight up.

Today is Lammas, the first harvest (ie fall is coming), and I'm representing the Goddess energy (winter, basically). It's an old timey prayer meeting and picnic. I'll say the prayer of thanks for winter, for redemption and renewal and rebirth and all the things that 'downtime' of winter makes possible, without which there would not be perennial life. If it were always summer, we'd be happy until we died of it. You need to go away in order to come back. And as hard as it is, things need to die. People and parts of ourselves. Mistakes need to be forgiven and let go. You need to have faith that other things are coming to fill those spaces and you need to accept those things when they arrive. When you say this prayer, you are thankful for the winter phases in all things, for the strength to bare them, for getting from your faith and your inner resources what you need to survive until the sun shines again.

Of course, they give me this role for the Lammas not for all the lovely metaphorical reasons I just conjured, but because I'm best at saving money lately hahahahahah, the Squirrel Queen.