This Is Creepy, Insight Timer!

In June of 2020 and beyond, I changed most of my online usernames to Defund the Police. I like that little extra way to nag people for justice. It’s still my Design Home handle and the name of my home Wifi—I never think about it. At the time that I was making this silly little stand, not only was the nation rising up against the killings of George Floyd and Brionna Taylor, but Philadelphia was slashing the budget of city arts programs to give MORE money to the police. (One of whom, two years ago yesterday, aimed their car at two of my friends while they were crossing the street during a protest. AIMED A POLICE CAR AT THEM.)

Lots of people, even on the left, are now saying that “defund the police” is an unhelpful phrase we should distance ourselves from, but I disagree. What if, when there’s a problem, we called someone who could actually fix it, instead of someone(s) trained to respond with dominance and force.

My artsy brain pictures a rainbow of cars, not just police cars, gently caring for our city and helping those in need. A soothing light blue car for a therapist, soft pink for social workers, green for wildlife and parks. To care for LGBTQ citizens’ needs, a progress-flag emblazoned fleet. Need to safeguard a particularly nasty pothole or a construction site? No need to bring a gun, just an expert in a cheerful orange car. Purple for clergy-of-choice. Delicious strawberry red for nutrition care. Inviting peach for housing. Silver for elder services.

This is an idealistic picture, but defaulting to calling the police in every urgent situation isn’t working and it is causing lots of harm, including to police. Granted, not everybody (Really nobody besides my BFF and my liberal family members) knows about my rainbow-of-cars idea, but it really bothers me that the phrase “defund the police” feels so threatening to people.

I was so creeped out when I got this message from Insight Timer, where I’d named myself Defund Police (With the tagline of Abolish ICE, plus a bunch of festive emojis) that my tummy did a flip and I started to think about how to restructure my whole meditation routine.

The idea that redistributing TAXPAYER MONEY to less murdery organizations would be seen as “offensive or profane” filled me with facing-the-void type dread. Not really conductive to a nice Yoga Nidra at bedtime.

I think this message from Viv means that some fellow human, in the course of logging on to meditate, was so jarred by the phrase that they decided to report it to Insight Timer. And the app, or at least this one particular person, took this petty, small-minded, fragile, repressive person’s side.

Admittedly, I have plenty of unethical apps. Somehow all my music ended up living on Joe Rogan-infested Spotify. As long as there are nieces and nephews, I will have Bannon-collaborating facebook in my life. But a meditation app somehow seems like it should know better, like it should have access to the better angels of our nature instead of feeling virtuous while propping up a violent system.

Meditation is such an intimate act. I love falling asleep to kind words or a chakra clearing at the end of a long day—it’s one of the deepest and most intimate parts of my relationship to myself. Just as I wouldn’t date someone who is apolitical or a Trump supporter, I’m not going to meditate with “someone” who feels offended and threatened at the tiniest suggestion, the tiniest little two-word nudge at structural change.

2020 In Protest Art! (Most Mine, Some the Neighborhood's)

 

"Go change your skin color, then." Open Letter to Flourtown Country Club

 

Dear Flourtown Country Club Management,

I am a pool member and a (white) Black Lives Matter activist. I want to report an upsetting interaction with the woman who seems to manage the pool. She is a white woman of medium build, fit, with short sandy-blond hair. Today when I was entering the pool area I was upset to see this person standing proudly in front of a “blue lives matter” flag. I hoped there was a misunderstanding, I know that not everyone knows this flag is often used as fascist/white supremacist iconography.

 

Her response to my alarm made it clear that she did, in fact, hang the flag for violent, racist reasons. When I told her that the flag might make Black members and guests feel unsafe, she told me to “Get lost.” When I told her that police had aimed their cars at my friends during the Uprising, she said “Well, were they in the road?” This implies that protesters deserve to be killed or injured simply for crossing the street. When I asserted that everyone who stands for white supremacy is a bad person, she then said “Go change your skin color, then!” But I don’t need to be Black to be against murderous police, to be against the white supremacy this woman clearly espouses.

 

I am horrified by both the display of white supremacist iconography and the rude, aggressive way I was treated. I think that this woman needs to be fired and that the pool staff needs a serious structural overhaul to subvert the current near-segregation of the membership and staff. Black members and anti-racist members should be welcomed, not implicitly threatened.

 

As you know, both country clubs and pools have a violent white supremacist history in America. It’s within your power to change that, to work towards inclusion and healing. Firing this racist staff member would be a great start.

 

Best,

Sharon Wiedmann

Pool Member

 

 

 

 

 

Poetic License Horoscopes for Aug 3-? (Last Ones for a While, the Stars Have a New Old Project)

Leo: The mayor’s office is negotiating with our homeless settlements, that’s good. Our city has enough, has MORE than enough (#defundthepolice) to give rooms and doors and beds and windows and Covid-19 testing and dignity and love. We should be a city (a nation, a world) that keeps all of our citizens sheltered and loved. Do what you can to provide shelter and care, both within yourself and without. Stay inside if you’re able, stay close, and care for everything living within and around you. Water the plants. Pet the cats. You’re always within our care.

Virgo: Your word for the coming birthday year is windfall. You wanted abundance but it’s been destroyed by every evil“law of attraction” charlatan. Still, please accept the richness already washing over you, already filling your bookshelves and paint pots and fridge. Your refrain, which you’ll find in almost any given moment is true: I have everything I need. Accept every gift: A stack of graduated-from second-grade games, a smile from the driver next to you at the light, the sunset over your blessed evening swim. The windfall may not be what you’ve expected, but it’s already here.

Libra: There are always houses you’ll want to go back to, more projects to complete, more streets you might someday park in again. It’s okay to let mourning and gratitude wash over you like gently disagreeing waves. The stars can feel the cool wash and magnetism of the paragraphs and paragraphs you’re ready to make, natural and sympathetic as breath. You’re the gentle clockwork of the tides, the moon that hides the brief comet. What you’re building is a telescope that will help us discover, cry, and change. Set a timer for twenty minutes and start your pen moving—we know it will work.

Scorpio: Imagine November! Better yet, join https://postcardstovoters.org/  and practice sharing hope and determination with strangers. You’ve got a built-in excuse to skip Thanksgiving if you need it, but hopefully you won’t need it. Your mantra is peaceful transfer of power. Your mantra is Vice President Harris. Voter suppression is a monument build on blood and fists and billy clubs and centuries; drag it from its pedestal and sink it in a lake. May Fannie Lou Hamer visit you in dreams and teach you how to textbank. May a million righteous angels guard your ballot and the ballots of all the future children. Also, here’s a really cute podcast: https://www.vote.org/podcast/

Sagittarius: When the weekly grocery store roses start to wilt or I just get tired of the cats trying to eat them, the stars like to gently take apart the petals and strew them outside the front door. It’s good to give a welcome even if only neighborhood cats are coming to visit. Give bright welcome to essential workers and their gifts, welcome neighbors with everyday questions, welcome even the landlord, unless that’s not your thing. Sometimes you can’t even help but to welcome the unwelcome lanternflies. See who and what else you can beautifully, delicately, and wholeheartedly welcome this week. Masked and six-feet-apart, of course!

Capricorn: Whatever projects you’ve started (painting a flowered fence, turning vines into blank-limbed sculpture, choosing new carpet, somehow surviving the Zoom age with (mostly) humor and grace, reading a serious book for ten minutes a day, actually getting up when the alarm goes off, weeding the garden, printing out your newest batch of Postcards to Voters addresses, filling out tedious and fruitful forms, reaching the elusive Laundry Zero, writing a poem just for you or for everyone, etc.) will flourish and grow every day, even when it doesn’t seem so. What you’re making, what you’re living, is beautiful and lasting, delicate and precious. Keep going and remember! The stars love you.

Aquarius: The stars are with you in feeling the scramble of September, the seismic Zoom-shudder of “What even IS school anyway?” We will be jangled-ly delighting in college bookstore chitchat soon enough, stacking books, remembering the radio, filling envelopes. It’s tempting to push ourselves for growth, but please be gentle: This is still survival mode. Let your work just keep you alive, occasionally giving you faces to see and tasks to complete. But! Until it’s time for vaccine days and predictable hours, set yourself a timer for 20 minutes. Draw something little, write a verse or two, sing in the car, call Congress, call a friend. Take good care with sleep, except staying up for meteors. We promise, you will have your ease.

Pisces: Holy Jeepers! The Initial Friend! The stars have thought for all these years that Take Offs and Landings aas Rilo Kiley’s first album but no! Guess what!!! There’s a whole other debut! So, like, the stars’ favorite band, long-broken-up, has a whole record I didn’t know about and it’s coming out later this year?! https://nerdist.com/article/rilo-kiley-rereleasing-rare-1999-first-album/ Whaaaaaaaat?!?! Expect more of these kinds of weird windfall miracles! In the coming months, you’ll find long-lost diamonds under the couch cushions. Your garden will overflow with volunteer flowers. And maybe, maybe, MAYBE, our bodies will welcome the glittering magic of a new vaccine, so Jenny and Blake can tour again.

Aries: Miracle of miracles, the stars returned our library books yesterday afternoon! The drop box was right there, unlocked! There’s even, in some places, curbside pickup for reserves! Make your library list long and thorough, everything you’re even flirted with reading. If you can’t library yet, remember it’s still a public service to support your local independent bookstores! (Libro.fm for audiobooks, Bookshop.org for paper books!!!) Now is your time to collect without guilt, even Marie Kondo will bless and approve your shelves.

Taurus: Turn up the sir conditioners and pretend it’s spring cleaning! Change the bedding. Vacuum and mop. Empty the wastebaskets and cross your fingers that the recycling truck will come. (That we’ll treat our essential workers fairly and safely!) Upend the bins that have gotten out of control and sort them meticulously, see what you can reclaim and what you can leave behind. Thank hole-y things for their help and send them on their way. Mend what you can. Glue gems back onto necklaces, ship stray beads away to whoever can use them anew. Save all the glass jars as vases—You’ll never not want to hand out flowers! Make room for the comfort and safety that is surely coming your way some day.

Gemini: Oh, the PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, not Pick-Up Artist) Stimulus, oh, sweet, sweet Nancy Pelosi money! The stars are grieving it with you. Whether you’ve used it to hang on by a thread or weave an unlikely and precious cushion, we praise it with you. The stars can certainly promise you more stimulae, more soft places, more gently tended paths for what comes next. This isn’t about resumes, not really. For now, sleep is free, peaches are cheap in some places, and evening walks are (sometimes sweatily) possible. The moon is in line with Saturn and Jupiter, and we promise you will always have friends who are just as astronomical.

Cancer: At a certain point, the herb garden just became a flower garden. The stars should really cook something. Look at what you already made that’s free and delicious and not TOO gnawed by baby caterpillars. Pick and smell the sage-y goodness. Chop it up into whatever mix. It’s a fantastic time to make Mojitos with all this mint!

Poetic License Horoscopes for July 27-Aug 3 (How About We Don’t Name Things After Grand Wizards Edition)

Cancer: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Leo: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Virgo: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Libra: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Scorpio: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Sagittarius: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Capricorn: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Aquarius: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

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Pisces: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Aries: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Taurus: The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

Gemini:  The stars really miss sharing the world with John Lewis. Not only was he a Civil Rights leader who sacrificed his safety in service of voting rights and other racial justice goals, he also cared for us as a nation by serving as a congressman for thirty-three years! AND he helped keep the Movement alive by authoring the March Trilogy graphic novels https://bookshop.org/books/march-trilogy-slipcase-set/9781603093958 which serve to bring the civil rights struggle vividly to life for the next generations of activists. For these reasons and so, so many others, the stars feel that the Edmund Pettus Bridge should be renamed after Representative John Lewis. Kindly sign the petition if you haven’t already: https://www.change.org/p/public-renaming-the-edmund-pettus-bridge?use_react=false

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!)

Poetic License Horoscopes for July 6-12

Cancer: Get all of your advice this week from Carly Rae Jepsen! Cut through the clouds, break the ceiling! Wake up in tangles, oh! You don’t have to avoid dizzy love or a hope-comedown, Cancer, just get some pretty craft scissors, the kind with fancy scalloped edges, and cut to the feeling.

Leo: “That strange feeling of being there and not being there came back. One line led to another and a story slowly formed under my hands.”—Lynda Barry in the amazing magical creativity book What It Is. Set a timer for 20 minutes and do the thing. Let the interruptions of your inner censors fall to the ground like seeds. Disregard their voices until the vines grow up though your feet, grow up your arms, and move whatever you make to (your) nature’s own whims.

Virgo:  Get you somebody who looks at you the way Christian Cooper listens to birds. Take everything else you need, heart, soul, and song, from this best piece of video ever recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qd2XyGFTzk

Libra: You’ve dedicated your art to helping repair the world, good! As you go into new clarity and purpose, take care of your best resource: you! What new flair can you bring to sleep? A couch nap for no reason? A dadlike snooze in the chair with the TV on? You must be able to get the sound of baseball somewhere! Practice hearing the thrum of the fan, the conversations of the birds, the dispatches from your very own overflowing heart. (See also: Leo)

Scorpio: Undistracted by footprints, the waves leave a beautiful, studied, regular pattern on the sand. With prisms in all the windows, the order of all things becomes clear: the rainbows swim and dance all around like a cosmic clock. (Because that’s what they are.) The angle of the sun is dependable. So are the tides! And so are you.

Sagittarius:  The stars chose “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo as our handwashing song and we sincerely regret it—it’s sad that such a good song just reminds us of soap! But on the other hand, let’s consider the MIRACLE of soap! What a gift that 20 seconds is! To have warm running water and a clean towel. Even in this new wave of pandemic, there are new ways to find the luxury! Unless today’s just not that kind of day for you, then fuck it!

Capricorn:  Remember your breath and praise it! Give it every reward for continuing to keep you alive. Guided meditations about rainbow chakras! (Trigger warning for pseudoscience though!) Smell the sweet smells of strawberries, lake water, green grass, and wine. Breathe the rhythm of the waves, the angle of the sun, the sound of your feet on the pavement and your fast songs turned all the way up and the sweat pouring down—your breath deserves every gift and luxury, every pretty, embroidered mask.

Aquarius:  After you’re done helping the stars throw all of the confederate statues in the river, let’s get the founding fathers next! One of the reasons the colonies declared independence was that they felt like England was getting too abolotiony! Be VERY abolitiony this week, Aquarius, both within and without. What symbols of terrifying old structures can you dismantle? Who is the real protagonist in the story? Not George Washington! Not Benjamin Franklin! Not even Alexander Hamilton! But probably Lin Manuel Miranda.

Pisces: Today is a good day to arrest the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor. Today’s a good day to say all the names. Write them on every light post, every dusty window, ever breath of condensation, ever sparkler trail, on every chalk-decorated sidewalk, across your own face. It won’t bring them back but it will honor them. Today’s a good day to honor them.

Aries: Duolingo, if you get behind on your language practice, will change all of your Level Five badges into golden little broken mirrors. It’s very sad. You have to fix them by practicing, but you don’t have to start all the way over, so that’s good! Take your time, Aries, but start repairing gently whatever it is you let fall away. A little green owl in a yellow tracksuit will praise you for your effort, and so will the stars.

Taurus: It’s a good week for mending. If you can’t figure out how to patch a given tear, sew on a little silk flower. Stitch the petals as much as you need and save a few extra, the way you might save the extra buttons that came with your favorite clothes. Give them their own little box marked “Special little things for mending.” Thread your needle, join an enriching Zoom, and get to work.

Gemini: “Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.” sings George Washington as he gets ready to resign in Hamilton. Give it a listen and think about saying goodbye, about peaceful transfer of power, and about what you can do today to teach the current monster-in-chief to say goodbye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEqnXNsAFL8

Poetic License Horoscope for June 22-29

Gemini: There were so, so many options for how to celebrate Juneteenth this year! The stars hope it’ll be like this every year, but with slightly less Zoom! By next year, it’ll be a national holiday, and we’ll all be dancing maskless in the park or street or backyard or museum. Till then, treat yourself or teach yourself, or both, and rise up all you can. Celebrate all of your freedom and your friends.

Cancer: The morning glories are starting to bloom, just slowly, just the purple ones so far. Tend every spindly shoot, give them sticks or baskets or chairs to climb on. Trim a few back so the rest can grow unabashed, unruly, tall and grabby as can be. By fall, you’ll be surrounded by blue determination, breathing hope into you every time you walk out the door, petals and vines of your own resilience.

Leo: OMG!!! All of the local fancy gardens have opened, plus the pool and the beach. It feels so overwhelming, and the stars mostly still need to commune with the flowers of Instagram. Follow them all and take it slow, scrolling past one petal, one leaf, one sustaining burst of purple at a time. At home, the streets are full of rose-scent, even if you venture a block! Wherever and whenever you emerge, there’s every treasure waiting for you. Even under quarantine, you’re a flower millionaire.

Virgo: James Baldwin said “I can’t be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that life is an academic matter, so I’m forced to be an optimist. I’m forced to believe that we can survive whatever we must survive.” You might not be James Baldwin though, so it’s okay sometimes to quiet your optimism and just listen to whatever hurt is kind enough to be shared with you. Take it in your hand like diamonds.

Libra: It’s pride, and the stars are so glad that the rainbows are expanding, keep adding new angles and intersections! Or, more accurately, those other stripes have always been there, we’re just getting better at loving them, we hope! Wear all of your stripes like wizard’s robes and write your own Mirror of Erised. Better yet, smash the whole mirror and write what’s perfect, now, and real. In June and always you’re in charge of writing yourself—keep writing!

Scorpio:  Spritzers are our Sundays this summer, and White Claws are our weekday religion. Dedicate entire labyrinths of brainspace to which seltzer goes with which pink wine, which flavor would go best with illicit neighborhood fireworks and a Wet Hot American Summer rewatch. For goodness sake, don’t try the coconut!

Sagittarius: “Blammo!” says Liz Lemon after she gets in an argument through a window with a bookstore clerk, “Another successful interaction with a man!” The thing is, though, maybe it WAS successful! Don’t be afraid to be a pain in the ass, for maybe better reasons than Liz had though. High five a million angels, as Liz would also say, for every snip at a ‘splaining stranger, every strongly worded letter, every time you go after the mayor in his or her or their own comments section. (Jeez, just get rid of Columbus already! I want us to be on Rebecca Solnit’s tally!) Bug them all until the patriarchy is toppled, the police are defunded, the prisons are abolished, and so on. Never stop not stopping!

Capricorn: The stars saw you doing your poetry on the steps of the art museum the other day, vulnerably implacable against the coming and going storms. What you may not have noticed was the sparkling shaft of rainbow light shining down through the rare clouds, bundling you up in protection and peace like spiritual bubble wrap, or better yet, like a million real hugs. You are the steps and sky and universe’s treasure, and you shall have every single important thing.

Aquarius: The stars are a little upset that people are getting too casual about masks, so we’re sending caution and bedazzled bandannas to everyone you know and love. We’re sending blankets, and tea, and pink wine spritzers, and 30 Rock episodes, and romcoms to read. Horror stories only if they need a safe thrill. Sometimes, our first names are Chicken And, so we know about soup, we know about pillows, and so do you. Bring everyone you know flowers, especially you. If you run out of generosity, we will shine you down some more.

Pisces: Study unusual animal friendships like it’s your job! The pangolin who bonds with the bat over their unfair vilification.  The cat who befriends a baby duck then wakes up one day with a grown duck on her head. Listen as the birds of all shapes and kinds weave themselves into an undistanced flock to sing “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Follow their advice and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Aries: All hail the KPop fans and Tik Tok teens who banded together to sabotage Agent Orange’s vile, slap-in-the-face, murder-by-breath trip to Tulsa. Every context is political, every platform is a valuable shout, and every person is responsible for fighting fascism in their own way. There are as many ways to resist as there are stars in the sky. Get in where you fit in, Aries!

Taurus: The stars spend a good chunk of time wondering if Ventiko, the artist responsible for Dexter the Emotional Support Peacock, was part of the same artists’ collective that trained Pizza Rat and Selfie Rat. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42880690 Whether she brought Dexter to the airport sincerely or as performance art, think of Dexter every day. What wild, extravagant, proud, so-decadent-as-to-be-absurd care can you give yourself. Do it all.