It’s been a very 2013ish start to 2014, baby!

There is no spoon.

So many of you — of us — a little tense, perhaps tired of the astrology thus far, and rightly so. We’ve lived what is honestly more like a very long 2013 up to this point. It’s like 2014 has not started and I’m going to offer you this: 2014 kind of hasn’t really started yet, true. But it is soon! So just tie up the loose ends from 2013 and get those ends that keep fraying under control  Let the problems that surface not be problems at all — let them be your guideposts to help you detect unfinished business — then finish as best you can. If you can’t do the best job wrapping things up, if things still seem unsettled, all you can do is your best, okay — right? There’s nothing more you can do. If you have a particularly troublesome situation, talk to someone you trust for some feedback. Be careful who you talk to, okay, because there is the element — especially today — that if you talk to the wrong person (say a coworker, someone you’re working with who may…carry what you say forward) and what you say could be used to color you at some point in the near future. Men shouldn’t talk to women at work about marriage  or relationship problems, especially, and neither should women talk to men. If you don’t know why, it would take an hour to explain unless I say, “DUH!” It opens the door to love triangles.

Get things handled. There are lessons to be learned and we’re getting the benefit of some final teachings and admonitions before we’re tested next month. We’ll get a glimpse of that and know where we stand by next Sunday. Remember that we are all different so no two lessons will be identical. What will be will be, pass or fail. I can’t say I know who will pass and who will fail and I can only opine about those close to me in my world. My son, Monty, is working through the last stages of challenges and changes that will become the foundation for the next 12 years of his life — all I can do is give feedback and advise, easy enough because I’m his mother. I used to liaison between Monty and someone close to him, but it is clear this is now the time for me to disengage and let that person learn from life, too. I’ve had to deal with revelations about this person and the circumstances of their relationship and I just realized last night, that holy shit, I didn’t want to deal with this kind of crap so I chose not to have a relationship of my own. And wouldn’t you know it, I can’t escape that person’s relationship lessons — I can’t get away — unless I totally remove myself and my counseling from the whole damn thing. I won’t just drop my son when he needs me. But holy shit, counseling someone — and watching them not listen — of the same sun sign as mine just proves to me that no two Scorpio natives are alike because no two natal charts are!  I’ll be to old to even care about — if I even recognize — the next Saturn in Scorpio transit about 29 or 30 years from now so whatever. I help those who wish to help themselves. I also see my two youngest, 16 and almost 14 years, preparing for their next pole position — and it’s amazing and frightening for me. It’s amazing because watching my kids grow up is, and frightening because I know they are in a metamorphosis that involves puberty and setting the stage for their next version of autonomy. All I can do is the same as with my 20-year-old Monty but with the added benefit that they are minors.

Bottom line is everyone has stuff to handle and handled it will be, one way or another, so be the one to control as much as possible without exerting control over what must just be. It’s not the easiest way to do things — to just go with the flow — but there are many situations that require just that and nothing more. It’s like gearing up, getting on that horse, settling yourself, grabbing the reins…and then closing your eyes and letting them go knowing you prepared for this moment, for better or for worse. And this is that moment now.

Love affairs…oh my. I wish I could sit with each of you and help you at every juncture. And you know what? That wouldn’t be good. You’d learn less if I were sitting in your corner telling you, “Left! Uppercut! Bob and weave! Bob and weave!” And you’d learn nothing at all if I threw your towel in for you. Do the best you can. Don’t hold on too tightly. Don’t try to force the outcome. No, you don’t know where you’ll be 30 years from now. If you tell me you will be at a certain place in your life I will laugh — probably out loud. No one knows where they will be in 30 years. We can each say we hope for health, happiness, and peace, and that’s just about all we should ask for. Okay, ask for world peace if you like. But it’s your ballgame and you’re both pitcher and batter up if you choose to play the game at all. And don’t forget that you may play catcher, too, and sometimes that means a good fast ball pitch to the face. My suggestion is either play or don’t, but if you do, at least make the game fun. Don’t turn it into a hunger game. Enjoy the process, passion and tears all the same. If you choose to sit love out — like I am right now — just know that no matter where you are or where you go, you can’t hide: love will find you.

Now, we’ve discussed enough, haven’t we? We can’t sit here all day and ruminate about what’s going on in our worlds as if it were a game of chess being played by mysterious floating hands. This isn’t virtual reality: there is no red pill, there is no blue pill, and there is no easy way out of life. We can’t go upstairs and shoot at the planets to try to change their course, either. Get out there and live your life to whatever end. Win or lose, it’s how you play the game. But don’t forget you’re the game piece. Don’t let some invisible hands make your moves for you. And don’t just sit there: that’s boring!

FYI: there may be no red or blue pill, but there’s no spoon, either.

All my love,

Rita