Poetic License Horoscopes for July 13-19 (Made Up and Always Taking Requests)

Cancer: “When I talk about owning eloquent rage as your superpower, it comes with a clear caveat that not everyone is worth your time or your rage.” --Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage (https://bookshop.org/books/eloquent-rage-a-black-feminist-discovers-her-superpower-9781250112880/9781250112880) If you’ve already tried and tried, turn away from your sheltered and unwilling cousins, your lost-to-Russian-interference mom and give your ears to people who might actually listen. Or even better, turn to yourself, see what you can learn!

Leo: You’re already doing the best first step: See what you can grow. Admire the emphatic voices of the echinacea and bee balm, who put roots down in every single available sunny place. They’re reaching up, just like you. Taste the sweet savory of your own tomatoes and breathe in the spicy scent of the little marigolds whose roots are standing guard. Cultivate your team, tap deep into the soil, and grow wildly.

Virgo: When the time comes, you’ll remember how to person, I promise. Your fears and resentment won’t leave, don’t worry, but they will agree to pipe down for a few days. Then, there’ll be nothing but birdwatching, careful hugs, and precious confiding. You’ll leave with your inheritance of silk flowers ready for laundering, honey from your bee siblings, and the spoils of a Thrifty Shopper splurge. You didn’t forget how to accept love. You’ll never forget.

Libra: It’s there waiting for you, the farm in the hills. The peacocks stroll the grounds singing disco jams instead of screams. The strawberries grow as big as your head. The ground is gently watered by the healing tears of non-problematic Rose Quartzes. Assemble your plant march. Gather all the loud and loving seeds. Reuse everything you can and turn the rest into worms and butterflies. You’re already living according to the weather, so you’re doing just great.

Scorpio: The stars found an envelope of photos at the bottom of a pile of inherited silk flowers. There were pictures of two different exes at Grandmom’s house. (The stars have exes, obvs.) Miss your past characters but savor the connections, the warmth, the copious food they were fed. It’s amazing the number of friends, family, and loves who could inhabit one couch in a lifetime. They all came and went and you’re still here, even though that couch is gone. All the loves are still in your bloodstream, still with you, and they will never leave.

Sagittarius: The kids are doing ziplining for their birthdays because it’s possible to social distance while thrillingly distancing oneself from the ground. Find a similarly invigorating safe risk and put it on the calendar, just maybe not for today. You still need some kind of modified leaping, some bright-sky way to raise your pulse, but please, please, please make sure you land in pillows and safe hugs.

Capricorn: “Take a break! Get away with us for the summer, let’s go Upstate!” –from Hamilton. John Adams may not have a real job anyway, but you do! You’ve been doing so, so much! Maybe not fifty-one essays (Or maybe! The stars don’t know everything about your life!) but still, you’re so prolific in love, beauty, and forbearance. Count up all the ways you’ve sacrificed and then find a way to clock out. Your heart and sleep will thank you.

Aquarius: This week, the stars bought Aldi-roses that match my niece’s first set of D&D dice: the color of sunset. You too can build order out of beauty and random connections. Build serendipitous chimes of love and fate in the wilderness. Shae will dice with her friends and make stories that didn’t exist before and the roses will sit quietly on the home altar, telling me the world still sort of makes some kind of  sense.

Pisces: Writer, teacher, and certified non-humbug Shannon Maney asks: “Hey! What’s working really well for your survival right now? Businesses that are crushing contactless service? Humans that are linking you to great resources for concrete anti-racist work? Favorite mask patterns? I’ve been bringing the humbug on here lately, but there is so much good! What’s good?” Leave your answers in the comments here and everywhere. Good is real.

Aries: Watch the first season of the anthology series Cake and think about any of the following things: The varying textures of cake and frosting, as well as how those would feel if used as a pillow. The place of a sensitive person in the world. The wistfulness inherent in dating-app swiping. The motivational nature of dinosaurs. Binge if you can, then maybe write!

Taurus: “Part of my anger is always libation for my fallen sisters. Anger is an appropriate reaction to racist attitudes, as is fury when the actions arising from those attitudes do not change.”-- Audre Lorde. The stars are always telling you, but it bears repeating: Your anger is sacred and worthy. It is yours to offer up to Sandra Bland and every other bright spirit we don’t get to share the planet with. Make it loud, make it bright, and broadcast it in every beautiful way. The stars promise, we’re practicing our listening.

Gemini:  Until she was murdered by police in her home, Corryn Gaines was a revolutionary artist-treasure. She rewrote the license plates on her car because she felt beautifully and rightly entitled to drive and speak. The front plate said “Free traveler” and the back said “Any government official who compromises this pursuit of happiness will be held criminally responsible and fined, as this is a natural right and freedom.” (Read more in Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper: (https://bookshop.org/books/eloquent-rage-a-black-feminist-discovers-her-superpower-9781250112880/9781250112880) Honor Corryn by doing something 1/10 that courageous. (Paging Lin-Manuel Miranda! Corryn Gaines musical please!)