The Retrograder
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About Me
Astrology in retrograde.
Here's the main website: The Retrograder.
I'm also on Twitter.
Blogs I follow:
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Full Moon in Aries – 10/11/11
I moved to New York City six years ago today. I am indeed one of the vilified Midwestern Transplants, having fled a flyover state to denser Eastern pastures. What was I looking for? It was quite simple, really. I wanted nothing more than to find a partner, be in a band, and work in publishing. And six years later, I find all three of those dreams have come true. I branded them personal dreams, but in truth, all three of them came out of a place of needing something to fulfill me that could only come from others.
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Sun in Virgo (8/23 – 9/22) – The Welcome Mix
Virgo 2011 - The Welcome Mix **click to listen, right click/control+click to download
Welcome to the Sun in Virgo. That just so happens to be my sign, and I just so happen to be a musician, so I’m particularly excited about this mix. We Virgos are often accused of being rather precise in our playing…not necessarily very creative, or at the very least, dependent upon the shine of others (a la Alice Coltrane, a regrettable omission — I couldn’t find a song short enough to include in this mix of “pop” songs). But if you listen closely, you notice a warm self deprecation in these songs. Yes, constantly working towards the labor and/or pleasure of others gets old. But that’s the stereotype of the Virgo coming through, and we Virgos are nothing if not perceptive of the world around us. In other words, it’s your fault we’re so maladjusted, not ours. :) Enjoy!
Elvis Costello - Welcome To the Working Week
Elastica - Connection
Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give You Up
Pulp - Babies
Michael Jackson - Human Nature
The Birthday Party - Mr. Clarinet
The Cardigans - Lovefool
Belle & Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
Cocteau Twins - Lorelei
Maureen Tucker - I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Dinah Washington - Send Me To The Lectric Chair
Hank Williams - Take These Chains From My Heart
Leonard Cohen - Stranger Song
Wilco - Ashes Of American Flags
Cass Elliot - Love Was Not a Word
Mirah - While We Have the Sun
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Arthur Rimbaud, Libra
“I is another. Too bad for the wood which finds itself a violin, and brush off the oblivious, who quibble over things they know nothing about!” – Arthur Rimbaud, Libra
(Source: theretrograder.com)
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Ted Hughes, Leo
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.
The convenience of the high trees!
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly -
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads -
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.
- “Hawk Roosting” by Ted Hughes
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Full Moon in Aquarius – 8/13/11
Saturday the 13th. That’s a bit what tonight’s Full moon in Aquarius might feel like. So what of that famed Aquarian eccentricity? And doesn’t its unique presence in the world contradict its humanitarian streak? Can you be both a humanitarian and a fierce individualist? Well, you probably already know that the modern ruler of Aquarius is Uranus, the first planet discovered through means of technological innovation (the telescope, that is!). What you may not realize is that Aquarius has another side to it, which can be explained by pointing to its esoteric ruler: Saturn. Saturn invites the individual to get in line with the others. A contradiction indeed.
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Mercury Retrograde – 8/2 – 8/26
Picture it: An astrologer consults his ephemeris and notices that Mercury is about to go retrograde. What does he do? In my case, I decided to play it safe. And no, I didn’t retreat back to my new home (although my Cancer Ascendent would have quite enjoyed that). I didn’t cancel any of my remaining summertime plans. I didn’t do anything of the sort. I decided to go to the DMV. You see, my driver’s license was about to expire, and while I never drive anymore (this is New York City…you don’t need a car!), I do live in fear of anything going awry with my daily matters. So I went and got in line, and everything ran smoothly. In fact, this Virgo arrived overly prepared. Apparently I didn’t need a passport, social security card, two pieces of mail proving my new address…
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“When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself ONLY, ‘What are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out?’[…] That is the intellectual thing that I wish to say. The moral thing I should wish to say is very simple. I should say: ‘Love is wise, hatred is foolish.’ […] If we are to live together and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.” – Philosopher (and Taurus) Bertrand Russell with a Venusian message of love and tolerance, aimed at us, the people of the future.
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New Moon in Leo – 7/30/11
Today at 2:16 AM, the Moon tumbled into the Sun in the sign under which it’s most comfortable: Leo. In their book The Luminaries, Liz Green and Howard Sasportas explain that during the second half of the lunation cycle (from full to new Moon), the Moon acts as if it’s a world-weary traveler, ready to return home. You know the feeling: After a long journey of sight-seeing, suitcase full of dirty laundry, camera filled to its digital capacity, body tired of all that walking, you’re ready to go home.
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(Source: escorkrist)
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Sun in Leo (7/22-8/22) – The Welcome Mix
Leo 2011 – The Welcome Mix **click to listen, right click/control+click to download
Welcome to the Sun in Leo. You can feel that sun right now, can’t you? It’s burning us from its very core. That’s the whole point, really. We’re meant to feel the radiance of the sun in all of its life-giving power. And the Leos represented on this mix should provide an adequate representation of that power: the power of the self, unedited, unbridled, and at center stage. And it should be noted how many of these songs show the Leo artist preoccupied by the very human, heroic experience of love. It’s the one remaining human function that even the Lion can’t fight its way out of. You’ll see how much the Leo finds this inspiring. Enjoy!
The Ronettes – Be My Baby
Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
Madonna – Burning Up
The Rolling Stones – Street Fighting Man
Isaac Hayes – Do Your Thing
The Crystals – He’s A Rebel
Felt – My Darkest Light Will Shine
Galaxie 500 – When Will You Come Home
Elliott Smith – Between The Bars
Kate Bush – Cloudbusting
Kristin Hersh – Your Ghost
Jim Reeves – I Can’t Stop Loving You
Edith Frost – Easy to Love
Connie Converse – Man in the Sky
Sonic Youth – Madonna, Sean, And Me
star-children
