My mom, a robustly optimistic Sun in Taurus person, was fond of saying that it’s the bad times in life that make us appreciate the good ones. That’s a fine theory; but a certain amount of Moon/Pluto, Neptune in Scorpio skepticism persuaded me early on that bad times can, in fact, taint the good ones – by making us distrustful, jaded, and regretful. Consider Adam and … [Read more...]

My friend Alice called me late one Friday afternoon. "I thought you'd be on your way to happy hour," I said; it was her usual Friday post-work ritual to go for drinks with her co-workers. "Nah," she said. "Ramona will be there." Alice and Ramona had once been close friends, but the relationship soured when they became rivals for a coveted sales position in their company. In a … [Read more...]

It's been 25 years since I had a living parent, and I'll admit, there are still days that I miss being someone’s child. However much one is loved by a spouse, friends, or children, there’s something about having a loving parent that makes you feel you’ve always got a soft place to fall. When I see friends my age coping with their ailing parents, though, part of me is … [Read more...]

When my mother's only sister passed away in 2000, right around the Cancer Solstice, she took with her an entire era of my family’s history. Hers was a generation which seemed to produce more than its share of great ladies, my aunt and my mother among them. You can judge the success of a person’s life, I think, by how many phone calls must be made to notify people of their … [Read more...]

With Sagittarius rising in my birthchart, Mercury opposed Jupiter, and lots of planets in the 9th house, I can seem like a natural born centaur.  This is especially true on the occasions when I jump on my high horse (so to speak) and start delivering sermons like a self-styled Joan of Arc. I’m most apt to get Sag-ey when I sense someone else is being bullied or treated … [Read more...]