VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): By volume, the Amazon is the largest river in the world. But where does it originate? Scientists have squabbled about that issue for over 300 years. Let’s use this question as a poetic subtext as we wonder and meditate about the origin of your life force, Virgo. As is the case for the Amazon, your source has long been mysterious. But I suspect that’s going to change during the next 14 months. And the clarification process begins soon.
[…]
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant,” wrote French author Honoré de Balzac. I think that’s an exaggeration, but it does trigger a worthwhile meditation. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re in a phase of your cycle when you have maximum power to raise your appreciation of elegance, understand how it could beautify your soul and add more of it to your repertoire. […]
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there’s no room for the present at all.” A character named Julia says that in Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited. I bring it to your attention as an inspiring irritant, as a prod to get you […]
CANCER (June 21-July 22): An open letter to Cancerians from Rob Brezsny’s mother, Felice: I want you to know that I played a big role in helping my Cancerian son become the empathetic, creative, thoughtful, crazy character he is today. I nurtured his idiosyncrasies. I made him feel secure and well-loved. My care freed him to develop his unusual ideas and life. […]
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I suggest you ignore the temptation to shop around for new heroes and champions. It would only distract you from your main assignment in the coming weeks, which is to be more of a hero and champion yourself. Here are some tips to guide you as you slip beyond your overly […]
GEMINI (June 21-July 22): Between 1967 and 1973, NASA used a series of Saturn V rockets to deliver six groups of American astronauts to the moon. Each massive vehicle weighed about 6.5 million pounds. The initial thrust required to launch it was tremendous. Gas mileage was seven inches per gallon. Only later, after the […]
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A chemist named Marcellus Gilmore Edson got a patent on peanut butter in 1884. A businessperson named George Bayle started selling peanut butter as a snack in 1894. In 1901, a genius named Julia Davis Chandler published the first recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In 1922, another pioneer came up with a new process for producing peanut butter that made it taste better and last longer. […]
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): These days you have an enhanced ability to arouse the appreciation and generosity of your allies, friends and loved ones. The magnetic influence you’re emanating could even start to evoke the interest and inquiries of mere acquaintances and random strangers. Be discerning about how you wield that potent stuff! On the other hand, don’t be shy about using it to attract all the benefits it can bring you. It’s OK to be a bit greedier for goodies than usual as long as you’re also a bit more compassionate than usual. […]
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The Chesapeake Bay is a fertile estuary that teems with life. It’s 200 miles long and holds 18 trillion gallons of water. More than 150 streams and rivers course into its drainage basin. And yet it’s relatively shallow. If you’re six feet tall, you could wade through over a thousand square miles of its mix of fresh and salt water without getting your hat wet. I see this place as an apt metaphor for your life in the coming weeks: an expanse of flowing fecundity that is vast but not so deep that you’ll get overwhelmed. […]
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Eighty-three-year-old author Harlan Ellison has had a long and successful career. In the course of publishing hundreds of literary works in seven different genres, he has won numerous awards. But when he was in his 30s, there was an interruption in the upward arc of his career. The film production company Walt Disney Studios hired him as a writer. During his first day on the job, Roy Disney overheard Ellison joking with a coworker about using Disney characters in an animated pornographic movie. […]
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The School of Hard Knocks is an old-fashioned idiom referring to the unofficial and accidental course of study available via life’s tough experiences. The wisdom one gains through this alternate approach to education may be equal or even superior to the knowledge that comes from a formal university or training program. I mention this, Aries, because in accordance with astrological omens, I want to confer upon you a diploma for your new advanced degree from the School of Hard Knocks. (P.S.: When Ph.D. students get their degrees from Finland’s University of Helsinki, they are given top hats and swords as well as diplomas. I suggest you reward yourself with exotic props, too.) […]
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): According to my assessment of the astrological omens, you’re in a favorable phase to gain more power over your fears. You can reduce your susceptibility to chronic anxieties. You can draw on the help and insight necessary to dissipate insidious doubts that are rooted in habit but not based on objective evidence. I don’t want to sound too melodramatic, my dear Pisces, but *this is an amazing opportunity! You are potentially on the verge of an unprecedented breakthrough!* In my opinion, nothing is more important for you to accomplish in the coming weeks than this inner conquest. […]
Issue 273
Issue 272
Issue 271
Issue 270
Issue 269
Issue 268