August Daily Horoscopes: Direct and Roundabout Hits

Also: An announcement about paid subscriber goodies!

Another month of my horoscopes is done running! Although I write my Tarot.com Daily Horoscopes several weeks in advance, the month that they run is busy for me because I print them out, glue them in my diary, and analyze them for hits. During August 2023, I looked at both my Sun (Leo) and Rising (Libra) horoscopes.

One straightforward hit I experienced was on August 19, 2023. The Leo horoscope for that day noted, “Focusing on a minor detail risks leading you further and further away from the main point,” and it advised talking to someone else for advice.

That day, I attended a free online lecture through Kepler College by Carmen Turner-Schott about publishing astrology books. Some of her books are self-published, and some are traditionally published.

As I have talked about a couple of times on this blog, my efforts to put out paperback versions of my two self-published e-books have been blocked by confusion over whether they’re eligible for Library of Congress Preassigned Control Numbers. I’ve written to the Library of Congress about this twice, and they have not responded.

I therefore relayed my question to Carmen Turner-Schott, and she took my question at 1:30:33 in the video. She had never heard of Preassigned Control Numbers, and she advised me to move on without them. Now that I’m finishing up my month of analyzing horoscopes, I may look into that.

The horoscopes of August 17, 2023, fit my experiences less obviously. Each house of the astrological chart has a few different meanings. As the day played out, I could see the relevant houses but not in the way I’d written about them.

For Libra, the day’s main aspect, Moon in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces, landed in the 12th and 6th houses. The 6th house rules both work and health. I wrote about the 6th house in terms of work, but I wound up not doing much client work or housework that day. The weather was hot, and my house is not air-conditioned. When I tried to fill in one of my usual longhand worksheets for November’s horoscopes, my sweaty hands stuck to the paper. I therefore finally went to see the Barbie movie so I’d at least be in an air-conditioned theater.

Earlier that day, though, I had a routine appointment with my longtime acupuncturist. That makes sense for the health side of the 6th house.

Meanwhile, for Leo, the Moon-Saturn opposition landed in the 2nd and 8th houses. Of course, money is the most obvious topic for the 2nd and 8th houses, so that’s what I wrote about.

However, the 2nd house also has to do with self-worth and values. A major topic of my acupuncture appointment was stress regarding a relationship problem. The acupuncturist asked me questions about the relationship problem in a way that could be seen as Moon-Saturn. She wasn’t lacking in compassion, but instead of just dripping with sympathy, she challenged me on a few points. I could tell her goal was to find Saturnian clarity on what my specific emotional issue was.

In brief, a key part of the relationship problem was that I value empathy, and I felt like I had failed to live up to my own values by not being empathic enough toward the other person. It’s probably fair to say that living up to one’s values provides a feeling of self-worth. The opposite was therefore crushing.

The acupuncturist provided the contrasting perspective that people might use my empathy to gain power over me. She therefore worked to strengthen my boundaries. Some of the points she needled were on the inner sides of my feet. I looked that up later on Wikipedia’s chart of the acupuncture meridians, and the inner sides of the feet are part of the Spleen meridian.

Acupuncture uses a system of five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Each element has two meridians associated with it. The Spleen meridian is associated with the element of Earth, and Western Astrology & Chinese Medicine by Jonathan Clogstoun-Willmott identifies Chinese medicine’s Earth element as corresponding to Saturn. Astrologically, it makes sense that one would work with Saturn to address a boundary issue.

Astrological correspondences are everywhere — the hard part is finding the best way to sum them up in 85 words per sign each day!

Update regarding paid subscriber goodies

I intend to keep the posts on this Substack free to read, whether or not anyone pays to subscribe. What I’ll do with the paid subscription option instead is email exclusive goodies to paid subscribers — fun stuff like calendars, zines, and astrology trackers.

August’s exclusive item, a fun little graphic for Leo season, is a ticket to my midlife crisis. Going forward, I plan to release the subscriber exclusive goodie on the first of the month, but I will give people a few more days to claim the August exclusive this time.

Anyone who starts a paid subscription of any length before the September exclusive item is released on September 5 will receive the August exclusive item by email. September’s exclusive item, which will be emailed to anyone who has an active paid subscription at any point during September, will be more utilitarian, so keep that in mind!