✨Highlights and Bombshells💥

[Mei5ter]

It’s probably a surprise to no one who knows me well, but I put as much stock in astrology as I do fortune cookies and psychic readings. That doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s occasionally fun to read horoscopes, see what is said about my sign, and proclaim I’m going to be very lucky because my cookie said so

The only time it’s really a turn off to me is when people make decisions based on these things or talk about them constantly like it’s a super important part of their life. Or if someone is being taken advantage of (charging a lot for readings, promising things, exploiting people’s grief, etc.) Otherwise, to each their own.

I do wonder though if most people were given write ups without the label if they’d actually choose their correct sign, moon, rising, etc. I suspect most would find it difficult because they’d find things in many descriptions across all options that they both identify with and things that didn’t describe them.

I think that retaining a sense of the unexplained and inexplicable is fundamental to our humanity. It's how we can accept that Schrodinger's cat exists in a superposition of states, which is why the next generation of computers will make anything we use now look like a broken abacus. And it's how we as people aspire to be better than merely utilitarian objects driven by the pursuit of money.

Not that you're saying otherwise, I'm sure. But I think that astrology and Tarot readings have a role to play there, even if we think they have no scientific basis (which, cosmologically, they don't). But they invite us to think outside the normal parameters of who we are and the world as we experience it, and I do think we lose something of ourselves if we stop doing that.

If I were to do a Tarot reading for you, I'm sure you'd interpret the cards in the light of your own thoughts and preoccupations, which of course is how charlatans exploit the gullible. And the fact that charlatans can exploit the vulnerable is a sign (ho ho) that this does have some power, however much we are tempted to laugh at it. It's the equivalent of using a French press to filter the swirling coffee of our thoughts into something clear and usable.

Persiflage matters. And I'm putting that on a T shirt.

 

[birdy]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/JZjnqG4jCNjpG2HeC6/giphy.gif?cid=9b38fe91hx6unlryya5gkpqxw3xj453shgb6pkon40xzq1pr&ep=v1_gifs_related&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s
This is an interesting sidestep from personal development or growth. Looking at yourself through the lens of your zodiac sign can be an enlightening experience. Do you feel like the qualities of your sign fit your personality? Why or why not? If you’ve done your chart, you’ll know that everyone has a number of signs that reveal a lot about us. (There are a lot of sites that will calculate your chart; all you need is your birthdate, birth time, and birth place. If you don’t know the time, an approximation is usually ok.) It’s fun to hear what people’s Sun, Moon, Rising, Mercury, Venus and Mars are, and then a bonus for other planets. Then there are the houses… but anyway…that’s pretty personal. There are parts of my chart that I agree with and parts that I don’t see. I’d be curious to know who else has an interest in astrology.

Taking it too far or putting all of the blame for your problems on being a certain sign, etc. is unhealthy and not realistic, obviously. That sort of dependence on it is problematic to say the least.

Now, I know that this is a real turnoff, for lack of a better word, for some people, too. Sometimes when I discuss this with a mixed crowd of friends, I get some eye-rolling or scoffs. And that’s ok, too. But I love it and so I’m curious if others here do too and what your thoughts are.

I have a friend who is an astrologer and he put together this multi page report for me one year for my birthday. He asked me for my birthday, location, and time, and it was oddly accurate. He put together reports for my kids too, after they were born, and as they get older it is wild to see the traits present. I think it's fun. I don't base my life off of it, but it is a helpful guide on how to navigate life situations that coincide with predictions.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

 

[SimonSex]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/JZjnqG4jCNjpG2HeC6/giphy.gif?cid=9b38fe91hx6unlryya5gkpqxw3xj453shgb6pkon40xzq1pr&ep=v1_gifs_related&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s
This is an interesting sidestep from personal development or growth. Looking at yourself through the lens of your zodiac sign can be an enlightening experience. Do you feel like the qualities of your sign fit your personality? Why or why not? If you’ve done your chart, you’ll know that everyone has a number of signs that reveal a lot about us. (There are a lot of sites that will calculate your chart; all you need is your birthdate, birth time, and birth place. If you don’t know the time, an approximation is usually ok.) It’s fun to hear what people’s Sun, Moon, Rising, Mercury, Venus and Mars are, and then a bonus for other planets. Then there are the houses… but anyway…that’s pretty personal. There are parts of my chart that I agree with and parts that I don’t see. I’d be curious to know who else has an interest in astrology.

Taking it too far or putting all of the blame for your problems on being a certain sign, etc. is unhealthy and not realistic, obviously. That sort of dependence on it is problematic to say the least.

Now, I know that this is a real turnoff, for lack of a better word, for some people, too. Sometimes when I discuss this with a mixed crowd of friends, I get some eye-rolling or scoffs. And that’s ok, too. But I love it and so I’m curious if others here do too and what your thoughts are.

Growing up, there was a radio station (WBCN) in Boston which aired an astrological forecast for the day each morning. The reported always signed off with:
“It is a wise person who rules the stars. It is a fool who is ruled by them.”

Personally, I too take interest in my chart. It’s not a daily thing, but if I have a decision to ponder I often find myself consulting my horoscope for the day. While it’s seldom a game changer, it does give me more information than I had before and I like that it comes from the cosmic realm. Woowoo alert!

Charts are very specific. Horoscopes are not. I have to laugh sometimes at the commonality of each sign’s horoscope on any given day. This is why I will read several different daily horoscopes to arrive at a consensus. Takes maybe 1 minute if your thumbs are dexterous on a smart phone.

Me: Libra. Artsy and fair/balanced but I do not have the indecisive trait usually associated with my sign.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

Me: Libra. Artsy and fair/balanced but I do not have the indecisive trait usually associated with my sign.

My daughter is a libra and she’s the most decisive person I know and she’s always very happy with her decision. It goes to show that you can’t go just by some of the stereotypes. It’s not like that.

 

[AngelicaS1780]

@Love_Is_Blonde, you inspired me to google recommendations for free online charts. I learned that I'm a Scorpio sun with Capricorn rising. My moon is in Cancer and my Venus is in Scorpio. It was really interesting reading up on these. It feels like the Capricorn and Cancer influences add more dimension to some of the Scorpio traits that I didn't really see in myself and make them more similar to me. The Scorpio in Venus intensifies some of them, for better or for worse, and I do see those in myself. I'm not someone who checks my horoscope, but I do feel like reading about one's chart can help a person get some insights into their personality.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

Ooh a Scorpio Venus You sexy thang @AngelicaS1780

No wonder

ETA: yes I do think it can get some insight into your or your loved one’s personalities. Some of it can be really spot on.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

​

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

​

Favorite classes were German and history. I don't remember many specific lessons... except for a college class on Germanic Chivalric Culture (intersection of interests!) where we took a field trip to a smithy and got to try our hand at making chain mail. I also remember the song we learned in high school German class to teach us the prepositions that always take the dative case. (Aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu) sung to "The Beautiful Blue Danube). Gegenüber also takes the dative, but it doesn't fit into the tune.

 

[cheekygirl75]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

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School was difficult for me… I had undiagnosed ADHD and never “lived up to my potential”. With that, I was also severely shy and probably severely depressed by high school. So no classes were really favorites… they were all ok. I liked Chem class in high school because I had two friends in the class that helped me stay on track and it could be fun.

Edited to add - I also had a field biology class that was great. We got to go wander around the woods during school time and sometimes had snowball fights!

 

[Lmizzler]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

​

I won’t lie, I was a PE junky. I wanted to play and compete. I did fine in school but gym was when my heart came alive.

 

[jason28053]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

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Mine was music. In the orchestra and Band

 

[cheekygirl75]

Mine was music. In the orchestra and Band

You were a band geek? They always seemed to have the most fun.

 

[LadyLascivious1]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

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I particularly liked my high school science classes especially AP Chemistry. AP Bio was great except for the teacher.

I didn’t enjoy my Speech class, but think I learned very valuable skills. I successfully avoided all high school PE through a mix of honors classes, working, and playing a varsity sport. I think I would have hated getting sweaty or swimming and then having to get ready for class in a few minutes

I think my most valuable lessons weren’t specific to subjects, but more what the college prep, Catholic school excelled at:

• Responsibility and accountability - You don’t get credit for showing up or doing the minimum. Excuses are not accepted. Help is available, but you are responsible for asking for it and obtaining it. You will be assessed on the quality and timeliness of your work. Meaning, attendance and homework are table stakes, use your resources if you need them, your parents are not responsible nor able to make excuses for you, and you will be graded on your outcomes only (major tests, mid-terms, finals, assigned major projects/papers.) It sounds both harsh and like common sense? I really didn’t know any different of an experience, but it became obvious in college. My transition to university was a breeze as it was the same level of responsibility as high school, but with less classes
• Adaptability - There was a lot of crazy, goofy shit that happened especially since it was an all boys school that was just turning co-ed. And because it had the full confidence and support of the parents, there wasn’t really any semblance of complain at home and have parents or the PTA come white knight anything. In hindsight, this setup could have gone horribly wrong, but luckily that’s not how it played out while I was there. It was more a hands on lesson that life can be unpredictable, weird, interesting, and challenging and you decide how you want to react to it. It also created an environment where learning, growth, and stepping outside of your comfort zone was expected.

 

[jason28053]

I particularly liked my high school science classes especially AP Chemistry. AP Bio was great except for the teacher.

I didn’t enjoy my Speech class, but think I learned very valuable skills. I successfully avoided all high school PE through a mix of honors classes, working, and playing a varsity sport. I think I would have hated getting sweaty or swimming and then having to get ready for class in a few minutes

I think my most valuable lessons weren’t specific to subjects, but more what the college prep, Catholic school excelled at:

• Responsibility and accountability - You don’t get credit for showing up or doing the minimum. Excuses are not accepted. Help is available, but you are responsible for asking for it and obtaining it. You will be assessed on the quality and timeliness of your work. Meaning, attendance and homework are table stakes, use your resources if you need them, your parents are not responsible nor able to make excuses for you, and you will be graded on your outcomes only (major tests, mid-terms, finals, assigned major projects/papers.) It sounds both harsh and like common sense? I really didn’t know any different of an experience, but it became obvious in college. My transition to university was a breeze as it was the same level of responsibility as high school, but with less classes
• Adaptability - There was a lot of crazy, goofy shit that happened especially since it was an all boys school that was just turning co-ed. And because it had the full confidence and support of the parents, there wasn’t really any semblance of complain at home and have parents or the PTA come white knight anything. In hindsight, this setup could have gone horribly wrong, but luckily that’s not how it played out while I was there. It was more a hands on lesson that life can be unpredictable, weird, interesting, and challenging and you decide how you want to react to it. It also created an environment where learning, growth, and stepping outside of your comfort zone was expected.

Apparently you loved writing as well.

 

[LadyLascivious1]

Apparently you loved writing as well.

I hate writing formally, but I have lots of thoughts and opinions. I try to rein them in. Mostly

 

[jason28053]

I hate writing formally, but I have lots of thoughts and opinions. I try to rein them in. Mostly

I’m aware

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I also remember the song we learned in high school German class to teach us the prepositions that always take the dative case. (Aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu) sung to "The Beautiful Blue Danube). Gegenüber also takes the dative, but it doesn't fit into the tune.

You realize that I kind of need to hear this now, right? I tell you what, you sing this for me, and I’ll sing the Helping Verbs song set to the tune of Jingle Bells that I learned in 6th Grade. Deal?

School was difficult for me… I had undiagnosed ADHD and never “lived up to my potential”. With that, I was also severely shy and probably severely depressed by high school. So no classes were really favorites… they were all ok. I liked Chem class in high school because I had two friends in the class that helped me stay on track and it could be fun.

Edited to add - I also had a field biology class that was great. We got to go wander around the woods during school time and sometimes had snowball fights!

The real life experiences sure do help make some classes meaningful. That’s great that you got to have that time in the woods to bring Bio to life.

I had crazy friends in my chem classes. They always set things on fire. It was exciting to say the least!

I won’t lie, I was a PE junky. I wanted to play and compete. I did fine in school but gym was when my heart came alive.

I liked some PE. NOT BASKETBALL! There’s so much running in. Basketball. Constant. No resting. I hated it. Plus I’m super short which didn’t help matters.

Mine was music. In the orchestra and Band

Nice! I’m assuming guitar?

I didn’t enjoy my Speech class, but think I learned very valuable skills. I successfully avoided all high school PE through a mix of honors classes, working, and playing a varsity sport. I think I would have hated getting sweaty or swimming and then having to get ready for class in a few minutes

I think my most valuable lessons weren’t specific to subjects, but more what the college prep, Catholic school excelled at:

• Adaptability - There was a lot of crazy, goofy shit that happened especially since it was an all boys school that was just turning co-ed.

I learned so much in speech too. One of the most valuable classes ever.

And my Catholic school was just going coed too! It was like raging hormones X 10. Good times.

 

[jason28053]

You realize that I kind of need to hear this now, right? I tell you what, you sing this for me, and I’ll sing the Helping Verbs song set to the tune of Jingle Bells that I learned in 6th Grade. Deal?

The real life experiences sure do help make some classes meaningful. That’s great that you got to have that time in the woods to bring Bio to life.

I had crazy friends in my chem classes. They always set things on fire. It was exciting to say the least!

I liked some PE. NOT BASKETBALL! There’s so much running in. Basketball. Constant. No resting. I hated it. Plus I’m super short which didn’t help matters.

Nice! I’m assuming guitar?

I learned so much in speech too. One of the most valuable classes ever.

And my Catholic school was just going coed too! It was like raging hormones X 10. Good times.

Actually percussion, I picked up the guitar later in life

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I hate writing formally, but I have lots of thoughts and opinions. I try to rein them in. Mostly

No don’t rein them in! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions.

*gives Jason the teacher stare-*. Naughty chair?

 

[jason28053]

No don’t rein them in! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions.

*gives Jason the teacher stare-*. Naughty chair?

What? Me? I was being genuine … but what’s the deal with a naughty chair ?

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

What? Me? I was being genuine … but what’s the deal with a naughty chair ?

Aw I’m sorry- I was pulling your leg. I was teasing about the comment about LL being verbose … I guess it was lost in translation.

 

[jason28053]

Aw I’m sorry- I was pulling your leg. I was teasing about the comment about LL being verbose … I guess it was lost in translation.

I know you were and nothing was lost in translation on your end

 

[NeonSubtlety]

I was pushed towards math; that’s what I was good at. But it wasn’t what I was drawn to. Words made me feel things. My parents weren’t happy that I set aside calculus for poetry.

But when I was really figuring out how to deal with emotions at a formative age, my had a series of English teachers who just did everything right. I can’t say that I’ve done them justice with how I’ve dealt with my emotions since then. But they did everything right.

The reason there’s poetry connected to my name…the reason I still love words…it’s them. I trusted my educators with my emotions more than my parents and they delivered.

I’m a single guy in his early 40’s. Never married, no kids. But my teaches planted a seed about helping those in those same formative years. Big brother. Volunteer tutor. Proud uncle. I’m doing my best to pass it along.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I’m curious.​

what was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? Why? Did you have something that came naturally to you? Teachers that stood out? Lessons that were particularly meaningful or especially ridiculous?

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I was that kid in school who had a trail of papers flying out of her backpack as she walked down the hallway. I was so disorganized. I was a mess. I didn’t care about school. I got terrible grades. I didn’t really have supervision or structure at home to provide that example on how to be a good student so I wasn’t one. I look back on how long it took before I had a teacher who really took the time to help me- or maybe they did try but I wasn’t able to receive it yet.

I have blips of memories from school- some good, some bad. I went from a really rough school (I remember getting my butt handed to me by a couple of girls until my friend intervened), to a really swanky school when my mom got remarried. What a culture shock. Anyway at that fancy school, I learned organization. An invaluable skill. Organizing my desk. My calendar. My homewark assignment book. Even organizing the equations on my math work. I hadn’t even been lining them up correctly when adding or subtracting.

I learned that I was an above average reader. Not everyone was able to read like I could, or wanted to. and that was the first time I realized that I was maybe halfway intelligent.

As I moved up in school, I loved Art. My only AP courses I ever took were in Art. Painting and drawing. But I was told I wasn’t allowed to get a job in art so I didn’t pursue that skill.

As far as PE went, I played a lot of sports so that got me out of PE for the most part. I swam before school for practice, played field hockey and lacrosse.

We had religion class in Catholic school. I wasn’t Catholic so it always felt like I was out of place so I just sort of sat there and zoned out a bit.

But the time I made it to college, I’d matured into a fairly good student but it took me a long time to learn how to be a self sufficient student. I think that helped me to understand and to be come a better teacher now.