How I Lost my Sanity 2

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of understanding.” Hermes

This is a tale of how I tempted fate and lost my sanity. You may think you know your dark side, or you may know someone who has been devoured by theirs, but until you’ve been seduced into madness, breached your sacred boundaries, and tasted the forbidden fruit; you won’t experience the boundless breadths and desperate depths of darkness in your psyche along with the stark realization that you can’t turn back.

Black and white are metaphors for oppositions that fuel our awareness and allegories that guide us between our whitest whites and blackest blacks. Love and hate are extremes of the same basic substance. Like and dislike are varying degrees of gray between black and white. If insanity is black and sanity is white, where does happiness end and misery begin? When does pleasure stop and pain begin?

As a life-long student of craziness, I coveted the opportunity to serve criminally insane people. I might never get another chance. Back in college, I studied Industrial Design. I minored in bizarre psycho-ideologies and isms. As an active member of a twice weekly study group at a Gestalt psychology institute for two years, I whetted my appetite for more knowledge and understanding of human behavior. I finally had a real chance to explore authentic craziness incarnate.

Criminal minds fascinated me. I learned from my study of astrology that each of twelve sun signs has its own unique criminal style. Take this with a grain of salt, but here are a few gross generalizations. Gemini / Mercury rules con artists and pickpockets. Taurus / Venus commits sex crimes and breaches of trust from petty theft to grand larceny. Aries / Mars loves warfare and commit crimes of passion. Sagittarius / Jupiter wears white collars. Capricorn / Saturn rules master criminals. Aquarius / Uranus rules arsonists, terrorists, and unexpected bad shit happening. Pisces / Neptune rules drug dealers and users. Scorpio / Pluto rules seduction, rape, murder, and betrayal. Pluto lustily awaits you at your final destination.

Our outer planetary pictures provide a karmic backdrop for past and future generations of actors and actresses striving to learn their roles. Life is a play of plays. Unconscious creates drama. Subconscious directs plot. Consciousness is stage manager. Sun enlightens. Moon reflects. Mercury connects. Venus senses. Mars energizes. Jupiter expands. Saturn limits. Uranus disrupts, Neptune dissolves, and Pluto destroys. ‘God’ is Master Playwright.

Before proceeding with my vocational classes, I need to regress and provide background material for my year of preparation preceding my choice to teach classes. It may take a couple of posts, but I promise you’ll be glad I did.

I entered the hospital from my first day through guarded locked doors, metal detectors, a bag inspection station, faded institutional beige paint, and buzzing fluorescent lights like parasites that sucked my vital essences. Hospital staff appeared to be the dregs of humanity’s helpers. Most had physical handicaps like limping, scarring, splotching, or gazing in hopeless desperation with myopic eyes. I hoped it wasn’t contagious. I had easy access to patient records and treatment plans. I could attend treatment team meetings with psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists. It felt too good to be true and it was.

Forensic hospital life is about rules, regulations, and self-defense. There are many more don’ts than do’s. Employees are sworn to secrecy, fingerprinted, and instilled with awkward feelings of mistrust. Orientation had been designed to help new staff members understand the organizational goals, policies, and procedures affecting job safety, security, performance, and delivery of care. We filled out a lot of questionnaires, surveys, and evaluations. We were briefed on the nature, structure, and policies of the facility. We learned about patient rights and privileges, rights and privileges of staff, and hospital policy.

The largest portion of hospital staff were security called SHTA’s. They accompanied patients to every activity. I attended life safety training with them: CPR, First-Aid, and Management of Violent Patient Behavior (MVPB). A violent person could `go off’ and all we could do was to defend ourselves. We weren’t permitted to be aggressive. We were taught Judo style moves by serious martial artists and laughed heartily as we fell, flipped each other on gym mats, and got to know each other. We were encouraged to nickname one another to help us connect. Based on obvious personal peculiarities our nicknames stuck. There was `Skinny’, `Luscious Lips’, `Gigolo’, and `Tortoise’. I was `Smiley’. Forever after, we addressed each other by our nicknames.

Fighting with patients was a scary idea. Despite my comprehensive training in self-defense, I envisioned myself grabbing the nearest chair and clobbering a violent patient over the head in a crisis. I’d be instantly fired and then indicted on criminal charges. Fortunately for everyone, most of the furniture was anchored to the floor or walls with specially designed hardware to prevent that kind of violence.

When I wasn’t watching over my shoulder for violent patients, I was cautioned to be on the lookout for ‘bacterial pathogens’ which cause disease. A lot of patients have hygiene problems and are unhealthy. Samplings are taken regularly from surfaces around the hospital in order to monitor disease. There were patients with AIDS. In 1986, that was scary! What if a patient with AIDS bit a staff member? We were briefed extensively on care and prevention. This job began to seem more than a little risky.

When I first met the patients, they appeared to be the most motley crew nature had ever assembled. They looked like R. Crumb characters. Many had deranged eyes. They were so whacky that I felt like laughing. Some had been given massive doses of thorazine. I couldn’t wait to find out who had done what. I’d heard there were a few notorious celebrities in the mix.

I was given a photo I.D. (I had to wear it at all times) and keys for areas I had access to within the hospital. Keys were given upon entering the hospital and deposited before leaving. Patients observed me with random glimpses, furtive glances, and glaring gazes. They saw me as one more ‘keeper of the keys’ who was attempting to figure them out, discipline, rehabilitate, or fix them. One thing for sure, I wasn’t one of them (yet).

I was directed to sit in on patient activities, assist rehab staff, and familiarize myself with patients. The first few days were uneventful. Important goals were getting the patients to brush their teeth, comb their hair, and to try not to be generally disgusting. Another important goal was to get them to stay awake and participate in activities such as art, music, education classes, and exercise. There were no interesting conversations yet.

The rehab staff consisted of nine members. As Director of Rehab, Dolores was beaten down by too many years in state service. Her sad name complemented her careworn face. A telltale twitch made me wonder whether she was smiling or frowning. Her unhealthy-looking teeth were yellowed from too many cigarettes and too much coffee. A deep raspy voice coughed her words. I was concerned she was ineffective. I was right. Dolores was caring but couldn’t say ‘no’ to anyone. She promised me full health benefits and then let me serve my half-time position by working two ten-hour days while the hospital’s needs would have been better served if my time were spread over three days.

Respiratory, pulmonary, and circulatory health problems could be seen in her bulbous whitish nails. Her square palms and short square fingers revealed a practical nature, while her dry, reddish, dishpan skin had weathered many storms that seemed to endlessly arrive from every direction. Despite our differences, Dolores and I liked each other.

My `other half’ was a furniture maker and restorer named Billy (Skinny). Billy was tall, thin, and bony. He looked like a scruffy middle-aged Abraham Lincoln. Billy was one of the hardest working, enthusiastic, and idealistic persons I’d ever met. Like me, he’d never had ‘a job’. An eccentric renegade from societal rules and regulations, Billy maintained a furniture restoration and refinishing business on the side. Like me, Billy had a hidden agenda. His was unselfish and equally unrealistic. He believed that he could actually rehabilitate lunatics and transform them into functioning members of society.

Billy’s ‘feeling hands’ had rectangular palms and long fingers. A hardness and stiffness ruled his fingers, and knotty joints enhanced his compulsive need to control his physical and mental life. His especially long middle fingers bent towards the top of his ring fingers. Billy had an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, obligation, and guilt. An oversensitive perfectionist, Billy spent endless hours thinking about the best thing to do next.

Billy and I tried to set mutual goals, but my hidden agenda clashed with his righteous cause. Billy wanted to turn patients into furniture restorers. I wanted to help, but I wanted private time with them. Billy committed to creating a sheltered wood working shop. I chose to offer design classes to higher functioning patients. I’d also help Billy set up a workshop that would serve the entire patient population.

The Rehab staff was a smorgasbord of affirmative action. Zandor was Estonian. He was a rehabilitation counselor and second in command. Zandor should have had Dolores’s job, but upper management didn’t want a person they couldn’t control in that position. Zandor’s ‘thinking hands’ correspond to his strong handshake, firm elastic skin, long straight fingers, square fingertips, and open and frank nails. Zandor had also been abused by too many years in state service, but it didn’t break him. He had grievances pending against the Public Employees Union for obvious discrimination against him. Despite unfavorable circumstances, Zandor always presented himself with pride, integrity, and dignity. We became comrades.

Bruce (Luscious Lips) arrived at the same time as Billy and me. His meaty practical hands had square palms and short square fingers that were soft and supple with dominant plump third phalanges. His head and lifelines were tied together at their beginnings. He was a Taurus and a huge procrastinator. Bruce was in charge of recreation. He’d served state social service agencies throughout his entire work experience. Sweet and mild mannered, his desire to make a real difference had dulled from too many years of compliance to authority, rules, and regulations. Bruce had gone as high as he could in institutional politics. He was caring and attentive with the patients but seemed depressed and resigned to mediocrity the rest of the time. The only times Bruce revealed real passion and genuine enthusiasm was when we talked about gourmet food or going fishing together.

Barbara was the schoolteacher on our team. Her goal was to help as many patients as possible reach high school equivalency. She was a large boned middle aged Afro-American woman and a very kind person. I don’t remember her hands except for her large broad nails and the sparse clear lines engraved in her palms. Barbara had spent many years in state service. She was one of a very few state employees who managed to maintain a sense of humor and a life outside of her work. She complained the least of any full-time staff member and always kept her cool. Once during English class, one of the male patients pulled out his huge erect penis and started jerking off. Barbara walked over, looked him straight in his eyes and without raising her voice calmly said, “please excuse yourself and go to the bathroom”. He did. I wished I could have read her report about the incident.

Bob was the librarian. He reminded me of a Spam and Velveeta Cheese on Wonder Bread sandwich. Bob was a real life Walter Mitty. He was helpful when asked, but most of the time, gazed into the distance under thick lens wire rimmed glasses. As I think of him, I can still feel his cool damp mashed potato hand shake that confirmed a total lack of will power, energy, and enthusiasm.

Andrew was art therapist when I arrived. His tenure was short. The only thing I recall about him is that he sent his estranged daughter a gross of condoms for her sixteenth birthday. He quipped in his southern drawl, “If she’s going to do it, might as well be safe.” The new art therapist was Janice. She was an unsuccessfully aging frustrated starving artist in need of a steady income. There was a frequent staff turnover for art therapists.

Maya was recreational therapist. She was young, very private, and a very athletic Afro-American woman. Maya managed sports activities and the patient newspaper, the Scene. All of the staff liked Maya. Patients loved her. Her powerful ‘intuitive hands‘ were well suited for sports like football, soccer, and wrestling. Everyone thought Maya was gay, but that was nobody’s business.

I was a card-carrying member of a band of misfits in search of a fit. On the whole, I liked the rehab staff and felt like I was becoming part of a team. I looked forward to our working together and began to imagine that we might actually make a real difference…

AQUARIUS & PSYCHE

Aquarius & Psyche

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Personal & Collective Psyche transform as Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto change Sun signs and personal relationships. Uranus transits each of twelve signs for seven years. It takes eighty-four years for Uranus to pass through twelve signs.

Uranus surprises, revises, and revolutionizes. Uranus entered Aquarius twice in the 20th Century. 1912 to 1919 brought sudden unexpected political and social upheaval, provocative philosophical & spiritual ideologies, loss of faith in humanity, and lack of trust in ourselves.

1912 ~ “The Unsinkable Titanic” sunk on its maiden voyage… karmic lesson in Hubris

1913 ~ Tornadoes & Floods devastated Middle America. 3,000 dead + $100,000,000 in damages… a painful and expensive lesson in preparedness

1914 ~ World War I ~ Greed, Hatred, Fear, and Terror levied a heavy toll on humanity

1915 ~ Jan. 25… Sun, Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Lunar North Node, energized by Uranus and powered by Aquarius. Alexander Graham Bell began international mass communications through the first transcontinental phone call made Jan 25th, 1915. A powerful concept’s time had come. The Dark Side: German submarine torpedoed the British Ocean Liner Lusitania

1916 ~ What kind of wall would have prevented Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary, from invading the USA? President Wilson retaliated by sending 6,000 troops into Mexico.

Official Gazette of London published the names of 80 United States firms suspected of trading with Germany. Prescott Bush (banker) was on the list.

1917 ~ USA declared war on Germany. Hitler’s enemies became our allies. Hatred & Bigotry was bountiful, catalyzing the worst race riot in American history in Illinois.

Congress amended laws that prohibited beer, wine, and liquor from being profitable

1918 ~ Spanish Flu was the worst pandemic since the Bubonic Plague that wiped out one quarter of Europe’s population in the 14th century. Daylight Savings Time was born.

1919 ~ Prohibition was ratified as the 18th amendment to our constitution. Congress failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. President Wilson disagreed and went on public tour to fight the decision. He died trying.

Uranus transited Aquarius again in 1996. The final leg of his journey marked the fall of the World Trade Centers. Had we chosen faith, love, and brotherhood over fear, selfishness, and convenience, we’d be building bridges instead of walls!

Neptune was in Aquarius from Nov 27, 1998, to Apr 4, 2011. Neptune eroticized and romanticized male vanity and virility. ‘Getting it up’ got popular when Pfizer introduced Viagra in 1998.

The stock market created a new form of gambling addiction called “internet day trading” where the present is more profitable than the future. DVDs were the fastest growing consumer electronics product in history. Bribes and drugs tarnished the Olympic Games. Innocence and civil liberties were transformed as our ideals, illusions, and delusions about private and social security and stability dissolved. What we think and how we feel about our past, present, and future is what matters most in the eternal here and now.

Neptune impelled illusion & fantasy to find reality when body piercing & tattoos became popular. President Clinton’s first political act of 1996 was to sign a welfare reform bill that made life harder for poor people. The downtrodden were deceived, divided, and demoralized by the powers that be. Madeline Albright became the first female Secretary of State. Ellen DeGeneres was the first gay star on an ABC sitcom. Taiwan’s first democratic election was held. Four major plane crashes happened.

Neptune rules vision, illusion, delusion, and confusion. In 1998, Neptune in Aquarius represented a House of Representatives who impeached Bill Clinton for giving “perjurious false and misleading” testimony in front of a grand jury. Bill’s Hands, Sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Pluto are ruled by LEO. Rest assured, Hillary mercilessly spanked Bill’s sorry butt after he got caught being careless and cocky. In Leo of 2005, the IRA announced an end to its armed campaign and committed to complete decommissioning of all its weapons. Catholic and Protestant believers, practitioners, and clergymen voted for peace in Ireland.

Outer planets rule the electronic (Uranus) ether (Neptune). The US government and twenty state attorney generals charged Microsoft with anti-trust practices for dominating the Internet access market. Bill Gates has a Scorpio Sun, Venus, and Saturn, with Leo hands. Bill fantasizes about being god, but has much to hide and too many secrets not to be humble. Bill is a god in the underworld.

Andrew Carnegie said, “He who dies rich, dies disgraced.” Imagine having enough power to make gigantic differences for all of humanity and our planet and not do anything of value? What’s the ethical, moral, and spiritual responsibility for knowing the difference? Many people give more time and money to charity than Bill Gates compared to their available time & money.

Neptune entered Pisces in 2012. 1/10 of 1% afflicted and infected the other 99.9% with physical, mental, emotional, ideological, psychological, philosophical, and spiritual pathogens and disease. Our illusions, delusions, and deceptions of becoming old, poor, sick, disabled, and/or unable to afford bad shit happening were dissolving. Individual and collective hatred, fear, and terror prevent us from transmuting our inequities into equities. We must learn to see clearly and take full responsibility for our behavior, values, thinking, feelings, health, relationships, creativity, philosophy, purpose, hopes, desires, fears, and spirituality.

Whether

Look / See ~ Listen / Hear

Haves rule. Neptune in Pisces symbolizes billions of individuals around the world seeking security, stability, and spiritual answers. Neptune is also revealing despair, fear, and terror. Historians will describe the 21st Century as an era of false prophets and false profits. Indentured folks are at the bottom of the barrel scraping for pennies. Plutocrats skim the cream as they bribe and extort the partisan help who permit them to deplete, pollute, and poison our planet, manage our healthcare, regulate our welfare, gamble with our social security, control our pensions, and manage our pretensions. The middle and lower classes are pawns, collateral damage, in a crooked game of chess. If freedom and slavery are white and black, what shades of gray are you?

Pluto enters Aquarius on March 23, 2023, and leaves in 2044. Pluto will expose our dirty little secret agendas and realign humanity’s ideals, hopes, and dreams. Pluto could also hammer the last rusty nail in the impatiently awaiting coffin of humanity’s sanity. It’s up to us…

The human race has become a race against bad shit happening. Never have so few been permitted to influence, manipulate, and control so many.

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of understanding.”

Hermes

All is in THE ALL” “THE ALL is in All”

To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge.

Hermes was the father of the ‘Cell Phone’. Everything is made of cells. Hermes taught that the brain is our hardware whose function is to connect inner with outer cells and fine tune our links.

In ancient Egypt, Hermes was the mystic teacher of Abraham. Hermes reputedly lived to be 350 years old in the flesh as a real person. @ 75, I’m ready to upgrade my operating system from Peter Pan (adolescence) to Hermes (adulthood). Joanna, my ‘Wendy’ (‘Artemis’), calls me “a piece of work in progress”. She says I’m still in my first childhood. Joanna has an Aries Sun with Taurus rising. I call her “RamBull”. Our friends remind us that “We deserve each other!”

“As Above, So Below” Hermes

SAGITTARIAN HANDS

You don’t need a Sagittarius Sun, Moon, houses, aspects, planets, or planetary placements in your natal astrology to be Sagittarian. Sagittarian hands are healthy looking with mildly flexible wrist joints, pink firm elastic skin, and a confident hand shake. Elastic hands with rectangular palms and short flexible fingers reflect Intuitive  and  mutable personalities. Pure types tend to have long straight  index fingers that stand away from the hand. No matter what your basic type, strong index fingers point to ambition, leadership abilities, self-pride, confidence, spiritual affinities, religious affiliations, idealism, truthfulness, and generosity. Pink color under index fingers adds energy and enthusiasm and reveals a desire to make a difference.

I’m generalizing from my personal experience when I tell you that I see a lot of smooth finger joints, round and conical fingertips, and loop and whorl fingerprints on Sagittarians. I’ve read many tens of thousands of hands over forty years, but I haven’t documented enough statistically to call my experience scientific. One thing I can say for sure is that healthy Sagittarians are idealists, enthusiastic, and self-assured. They’re eternal optimists, honest, and sincere, with friendly charismatic voices designed to persuade. Good luck and positive thinking support them in achieving their goals.

Sagittarians are philosophical, expansive, generous, passionate, principled, proud, truthful, and spiritual. They’re irresistible when they truly believe in themselves. Sagittarians are often accused of seeing life through rose colored glasses because they tend to see people and circumstances as they want them to be instead of how they really are. They love travel and take time to explore and seek food and adventure when they arrive at a new destination. Inherently nature lovers, they’re also naturally healthy types.

Jupiter’s dominant physical sense is taste. Sagittarians love exotic foods, luxurious desserts, and fine wine. Many of the world’s finest and worst chefs have dominant index fingers. Depending on the length and thickness of the bottom phalange, temptation is a force that emerges from deep within the psyche. Loving rich food and fine wine is a potent temptation that can lead them down that dark path of excess that leads to the palace of wisdom. Most of their physical problems result from overindulging in food, drink, and other temptations. Gluttony makes them prone to blood disorders, liver disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and troubles with throat, thighs, and hips. Vanity is tactless, insincere, judgmental, opinionated, hypercritical, hypocritical, impractical, grandiose, arrogant, dictatorial, vain, gluttonous, and philandering. Many dominant index fingered people are of medium height with generously proportioned bodies. More than a few have wide chests, high foreheads, and widely spaced kindly eyes on roundish faces with wavy hair.

When a dominant hand’s index finger is long, (past midway to tip of top phalanx of middle finger), projects forward, has a pinkish color beneath (all races), that person loves being boss and hates being criticized. As planners, setters of goals, and natural leaders, they’re attracted to other ambitious career minded professionals, and go-getters (like themselves). They must steer far from strays and fixer-uppers who are attracted to them. Anyone needing a free ride or unable to carry their own weight quickly loses credibility and respect.

Healthy Sagittarians enjoy being married. They need a partner as much as a lover. Setting goals, planning, and dreaming about the future together is essential to having a loving relationship. Their personal problems often result from practicing obsessive and controlling behavioral patterns, and expressing judgmental and critical attitudes. False pride, gluttony, vanity, and bossiness are weaknesses these individuals must overcome by practicing moderation and steadily earning self-esteem and success. Sagittarians must choose a philosophy that helps them be an integral part of a working society instead of tilting at windmills like Don Quixote or being someone who always has everyone else’s answers.

A short index finger is less than half way to the middle of the top phalange of the middle finger. A person with a short index finger must work harder to achieve the same results as a long index fingered person. Many short index fingered people don’t value themselves enough because they were not valued during their formative years. Where was support and encouragement when they needed it? Their challenge is to learn to ask enough for themselves. Plenty of very successful individuals have had to contend with very short index fingers. They earned every drop of whatever they were able to achieve. Nothing came easily, but it was well worth the risk and work.

Scientific studies relate short index fingers to homosexuality. Click if you’re curious about my take on the subject.  Click on this minute long YouTube video if you want to see how understanding index fingers altered our child’s destiny. Basic hand shape reveals whether a person is more intuitivepracticalthinking, or feeling. Whoever cultivates and nourishes a dominant index finger is honest and direct, shows pride in their work, and takes calculated risks. Many strong index fingered people are successful managers, journalists, judges, lawyers, politicians, singers (musical instrument is voice), producers, promoters, priests, chefs, speakers, and salespeople.

Every finger and fingerprint needs to be considered when examining a person’s character. Proportions of individual phalanges, knots, and nails are important. For instance, spatula shaped fingertips with whorl fingerprints embody philosophical, unconventional, and original thinking. Square tips with arch prints are practical, responsible, reliable, and dependable. Round and conical tips with loop prints are adaptable and communicative. Skin ridge patterns rarely change, except under sudden  extreme circumstances. Depending on your basic type, normal and peripheral lines change gradually as thinking and circumstances change. Careful examination of dermatoglyphics requires a quality set of hand-prints and/or hi-res digital photos, a powerful magnifying glass, and precise measuring tools. You can still give a great reading without peripheral details once you know the gestalt of a person. Additional detail affirms and confirms the basic character and behavior of a person and provides valuable information as to current events and timing.

Skin ridge patterns are beyond the scope of this post. Richard Unger has devoted his career to the subject. Richard is a practicing hand reader, palmistry teacher, and finger print expert on the west coast. We’ve stayed in touch and shared our  work and palmistry experiences for many years. If you want to learn more about fingerprints, I recommend Richard’s book LIFEPRINTS as valuable reading for any student of palmistry, metaphysics, and human destiny. 

ME TOO

I was the hand reader at Harvey Weinstein’s and Georgina Chapman’s wedding celebration. It felt ironic to watch an old stale bagel (Pluto) with a fresh young pastry (Persephone). Harvey produced an unforgettable extravaganza, gilded with flowers, dazzling with fireworks, and flooded with incredible food, fantastic entertainment, and myriad ‘ME TOO’ movie stars. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement saying I’d never say anything about anyone to anyone. I’ve read many famous people over many years, but none that day. I wish I’d strolled around and spoken with guests instead of parking my butt at a café’ table. Celebrities often avoid me when I’m seated because it’s not private enough and they fear I might see what they don’t want anyone to see. For quickie readings, celebrities are best captured on the hoof where I can charm and disarm them before grabbing their hands. Many missed opportunities strolled by me that day as I read the hands of friends and families who lined up for miles to hear the good things I had to say about them. Every person walked away with something of value.

Harvey is a Pisces with Taurus hands. Broad square palms, short plump fingers, and large pink fleshy balls of thumb reveal an acquisitive pleasure loving nature. I’ll bet the widely spread freedom loving thumb in Harvey’s dominant hand is stiff. His date of birth (3/19/52) puts natal Mars in Scorpio square Pluto in Leo. One interpretation of this combo is ‘Sexual Predator’. Harvey’s time of birth is unknown. When he was arrested on May 25, 2018, transiting Jupiter (philanderer) in Scorpio was conjunct Harvey’s natal Mars square Pluto. Transiting Pluto (loss) was square Harvey’s natal Jupiter. Pluto is final resting place for secrets, deceptions, and betrayals.

Harvey isn’t looking too good these days. His greedy pussy grabbing era began to end as his hands got caught in the honey pot. I wonder how many ME TOO’s he’s grabbed. Only Pluto knows for sure. Many favorite actors and actresses passed by me that day. I wanted to reach out and grab their hands. Most stars are hyper-aware of being observed, watched, and temporarily held captive.

 

 

As an entertainer, my mission is to be caring, constructive, and leave people feeling hopeful. Each person is the most important person in the world for five-minutes. Once you understand the basic gestalt of a person, there’s always something that stands out in a person’s hands. Small anomalies in the morphology and topography of hands embody huge changes in a life. I can instantly know what a person needs to hear in the moment because I know how to look and can choose what to say. When I’m holding a person’s hands in mine and looking into their eyes, I try to be as frank, direct, and compassionate as possible. Reading many people has taught me that it’s not what you see, but what you say and how you say it that matters in the final analysis. No one escapes human frailty no matter how famous, wealthy, or what they say.

 Click photos to view my favorite moments with Martha Stewart and Star Jones

LIBRA & HANDS

You don’t need a Libra sun, moon, planets, aspects, or houses to be Libran. As Thinking Types, Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius hands have square palms and long fingers. Libran hands frequently have long clear downwardly curving unobstructed headlines that fork at the end. Librans can see every side of an idea or situation. That’s one reason they’re notorious for resisting making up their minds. Anyone who has long straight strong dominant pinkie fingers and large broad nails communicates clearly, frankly, and effectively. Strong index fingers are common on ambitious hardworking managers, directors, and leaders. Dominant bottom and middle phalanges are well designed for banking, real estate, and food businesses. Dominant top phalanges make great public speakers, lawyers, directors, journalists, educators, and religious leaders. Librans tend to be idealistic, romantic, aesthetic, and refined. Thinking types in general dominate PR, political, publishing, marketing, sales, and entertainment fields.

Wielding logic, tact, and diplomacy like Samurai swordsmen, Librans compartmentalize, analyze, and rationalize their thoughts and feelings until they achieve their desires. Having wide spacing between head and life lines reveals spontaneity, love of freedom, and a desire to initiate. The wider the space, the less the person cares what others think. Changing a Libran’s mind is like mental monopoly. Be direct and make good sense. Don’t get emotional. You’ll regret it.

Healthy Librans have firm sincere handshakes. Pink elastic skin with long graceful heart lines flow from the pinkie to the base of the index finger and embody a romantic and sentimental nature. A branch at the end of the heart line that reaches down to touch the head line means that the person may rationalize, analyze, and compartmentalize their feelings. Black and white and love and hate are cut from the same cloth, opposite only by degree. Librans with gently curving vertical lines within their life lines are lucky in love. Anyone with long vertical lines parallel to their life lines has intimate family ties and friendships. They’re wealthy in relationships.

Athena is a strong Libran archetype with powerful Aquarius and Gemini backup. She’s the Greek archetype for Wisdom and Justice. Clasping the ‘Scales of justice’ in one hand and the sword of thinking in the other, she balances ethics with action. Athena rules the strategic thinking required to win in war. Great warriors like Odysseus (Libra), Achilles (Aries), and Theseus (Gemini) worshiped Athena. Often pictured as a handsome Goddess in battle armor, she sports the shield of Intuition and supports the owl of Wisdom on her shoulder. Athena’s mighty sword is applied with icy detachment. She discards emotion for clarity of thought and cuts to the quick.

 

Libra is the Autumn Equinox, 7th sign of the zodiac, 7th house of marriage, a time for partnership, sharing, and giving. Librans strive for balance, idolize harmony, dislike discord, and despise unnecessary confrontation. As negotiators, they’re very decisive when it really matters. They’re notoriously indecisive when it doesn’t matter… where to eat, what to wear, and when to go… Librans can be annoyingly aggressive and vague at the same time. Most Librans prefer being frank and direct, but then they can’t figure out why some people don’t like them. ‘Nice’ is easy, but safe is not satisfying. It isn’t easy to be honest, but honesty is what makes good sense in the final analysis.

All of us have Libra, Venus, and 7th houses in our symbolism. Deep down, we know what’s true and fair. We must set ethical and moral values and boundaries in order to know right from wrong and see truth. It’s too easy to compartmentalize, rationalize, and analyze our feelings, thoughts, and actions. Some Libran aphorisms are: “Laws keep honest people honest.” “Locks keep honest people out” “Contracts are as good as the people who sign them”.  Why must we lose what we value to not take it for granted?

“Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.” Truman Capote understood the truth behind the folly. It’s ironic that Libra rules our Laws and their execution. Legal power enables rich players to shirk social responsibility, manipulate laws, and justify personal and social behaviors and actions. Haves are innocent until proven guilty. Have nots are guilty until proven innocent. The American Dream is a birthright only for folk who can afford it. Poor folk will forever be scraping for pennies at the bottom of the barrel.

Librans must find a balance between ethics and honesty. Maybe a Libran knows something that would change an outcome, but fails to mention it. Philip Morris always knew cigarette smoking was unhealthy. Monsanto knows that ‘Roundup’ causes cancer. Bayer knows they’re killing butterflies. The powers-that-be in Flint knew they were poisoning the people who depend on their protection. Short-sighted Republicans care more for themselves than democracy. Our self-appointed Emperor has deceived, exploited, and manipulated the huddled masses with mountains of alternative facts, hordes of toxic pussy grabbers, and a limitless supply of poisonous propaganda.

Libras with square palms, long fingers, strong pinkies and well-balanced phalanges are well-suited for commerce. You’ll see them in chic designer clothing taking clients to trendy restaurants. Long unobstructed straight headlines are innately practical, honest, and dependable. Strong index fingers embody an ambitious strategic hardworking nature. Strong stiff thumbs along with a firm percussion under the pinkie finger reveal strong will power, dogged determination, and relentless persistence. A wide gap between head and life lines at their beginnings exposes an impatient, independent, freedom loving individual with plenty of initiative and corresponding need to take action.

The most challenging task in reading hands is learning to judge hands. One person’s long is another’s short. Your firm may be my soft, depending on the particular person. Rigorous practice (reading thousands of hands) and asking the right questions is essential to observing and interpreting human character as reflected in the topographical maps of our hands. The counseling part is another story.

Many of us behave contrary to our sun signs. Few of us are pure types. My brother, Gary is a Pisces, a mutable feeling type. Neptunian on the inside, Gary’s hands reveal a Libran character. His behavior is rooted in cardinal thinking.

Gary is a psychiatrist who specializes in geriatric clients. He’s a practical philosopher with an adventurous spirit. I used to threaten that I’d go completely nuts with age, but then (luckily for both of us), as a Gemini, I decided not to get old. Gary’s analytical and logical thinking graciously and gracefully merges with his intuition and compassion, enabling him to nourish and heal the most stressful of clients and situations. Pisces gives Gary a natural empathy that many Librans lack. They’re too busy analyzing, rationalizing, and compartmentalizing their feelings to trust them. Gary is a devoted husband, father, son, brother, friend, human being, and an awesome psychiatrist.

The first two hand illustrations in this post belong to Gary’s daughter, Andrea, my niece, a healthy Libra and person. When the sun sign and hands match, that can be very good or very bad or both depending on what the person chooses to do with their choices and free will.

MY CANCER BEST FRIEND

LLOYD WILSON

Cancer is a feeling type… instinctual, empathic, emotionally complex, and hard to comprehend. Pry into their private lives and watch them retreat into their shells. Cancers hide their most vulnerable selves beneath a facade of nurturing actions. Cautious and vulnerable, Cancers avoid emotional confrontation wherever and whenever possible, although, they prefer being frank and direct over tactful and diplomatic. Their feelings can swing from loving, devoted, and nurturing, to secretive, obsessive, and fearful of the future. Their smartest option is always choosing satisfying over safe. Cancers can become dark and moody when they feel controlled or confined. They must feel protected and secure before they can fully trust. Once trust is earned, loyalties run deep. Cancer needs to cultivate intimacy wherever and whenever they can. Healthy families, close friendships, and satisfying work nourish and support them. Creating structure, organization, and detail also helps them feel stable and secure.

Healthy Cancers are loving, compassionate, and devoted. They’re compatible with other feeling types (Scorpio & Pisces). They feel safe with practical types (Taurus ~ Virgo ~ Capricorn) who are reliable, responsible, and dependable. They’re challenged by thinking types (Gemini ~ Libra ~ Aquarius) who compartmentalize, rationalize, and analyze their feelings. They’re cautious around intuitive types (Aries ~ Leo ~ Sagittarius) who are passionate, spontaneous, and impatient, and afraid they’ll be left holding the psychic garbage bag (they are) and scared of dealing with the collateral damage when idealism, optimism, enthusiasm, and logic wane (and they do). Cancers are acutely consciousness of everyone else’s emotional needs. When they feel insecure, they can become internally secretive and externally aggressive at the same time. Cancer works hardest when income matches output. Motivated by good food, emotional security, and cozy surroundings, their mission is to nurture family, home, and creative imagination.

The impudent young guy on the left in this picture is me, captured forty-four years ago in a photo booth at Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburgh, Pa. Lloyd and I met while working part time at a model making shop where we fabricated preschool children’s learning devices for the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning, Research, and Development Center. We made toys for ourselves and our loved ones on our own time. About to graduate from different colleges, I was to become an industrial designer. Lloyd would continue being an artist. We were a couple of Peter Pans on our way to Neverland.

Lloyd didn’t get much nurturing as a child. He developed his quick wit and sense of humor while trying to avoid extreme physical abuse. When his mother was happy, Lloyd was safe. When she was unhappy, she’d incite Lloyd’s rage filled father to beat him up. Lloyd tried hard to fix his broken parents, but they were too sick to support his efforts. Instead, they judged, criticized, and abused him. Lloyd’s mother finally abandoned him by killing herself; his father was committed to a mental institution, and years later, his lovely sister who I had met in Florida (two beautiful children, great husband, and an apparently idyllic life), suddenly and unexpectedly blew her head off with a shotgun.

Lloyd’s slender rectangular palms and long fingers embody his Cancer sun, which is conjunct my Mercury. His Gemini ascendant and my Gemini sun harmonize with one another. Lloyd’s head and life lines tightly intertwine at their beginnings. That reveals his need to feel appreciated and his tendency to take things too personally, even when they aren’t. A sensitive child, Lloyd desperately craved love and support, but didn’t get any.

Lloyd survived childhood without much approval. Meanwhile, he thrives on love and appreciation. Lloyd will give you the shirt off his back if you need it, but you had better never take him for granted. I know because Lloyd has literally given me the shirt off his back in my moment of need. I was on my way to an important meeting and got a nasty stain on the front of my shirt. Before I could blink, Lloyd took off his shirt and traded with me. What I love about him is that it never occurred to him not to do that.

Cancers are collectors. Some stockpile food in case of shortage or emergency. Lloyd collects art books, literature (most well-read person I know), religious art, art supplies, tools, raw materials, and clothing. When wealthy people die, their families donate their wardrobe to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Lloyd has a keen eye for the finest designer clothing. He skillfully sorts through the merchandise for great finds. I call him my personal dresser. We wear the same sizes. Lloyd chooses suits, coats, and jackets with me in mind and has gifted me with outfits worth thousands of dollars that he paid ten or fifteen dollars for. Many had never been worn. He’s a master bargain hunter.

Lloyd’s very flexible thumbs symbolize his ability to adapt to the most horrible of circumstances. They also embody his frequent generosity of heart and spirit. It’s very hard for Lloyd to say “NO”. The gold ring on the bottom phalange of his middle (Saturn) finger on his unconscious hand symbolizes his need to have clear boundaries, be frugal, and learn how to be less available so that he won’t be taken for granted. Of course, Lloyd knows that, but it’s still fun to see his character, motivations, and challenges embodied in the morphology and topography of his hands.

Lloyd would say to me, “People who tell the truth don’t need to have good memories”. I’d reply, “We may be bastards, but at least we’re honest”. Over fifty years of friendship have witnessed many challenging lessons in humility for us. We delayed finding balance between our outer and inner worlds by always choosing to learn the hard way. We had to let go of our need to be more than we were. We learned there are no shortcuts.

Lloyd Wilson is Pittsburgh’s best kept secret because he loves his anonymity. His artwork reveals a magical spirit, but few will truly get to know it. Lloyd personifies Cancer’s best qualities. He’s supportive, sympathetic, receptive, reflective, intuitive, imaginative, extremely devoted to friends and family, and my best friend (male).

MOTHER OF GEMINI

There are lots of Geminis out there, but few are aware of their potentials. My mom and I were born under the sign of Gemini, ruled by Hermes. Mom was a cultivated Gemini and poster child for the geriatric crowd at seventy-seven. I remember mom saying she had “healthy neuroses”. Being her healthiest and happiest self was the only thing that made sense to her. She maximized her best qualities and minimized her worst.

The luckiest thing mom ever did was to marry my dad. They met at a bus stop. He had just returned from WW2 as a hero. It was love at first sight. She was a twenty-one year old virgin princess. He was a twenty-five year old former bad boy turning good. She played Eurydice to his Orpheus and Persephone to his Pluto. I was conceived on their wedding night and born nine months and one day later. Mom wanted to have a natural childbirth, but after thirty-six hours in labor, I was cut out. She came within inches of dying and spent weeks convalescing. When I first discovered astrology, I sought an eminent astrologer for my first reading. “This is a death chart” she told me. “Your life is about transformation.” A person’s horoscope is also their mother’s transits at birth.

Mom once said to me, “Most parents make most of their mistakes on their first child”. That certainly was true in my case. It wasn’t easy being her son. If the definition of a genius is an average kid with a Jewish mother, ours was father, but that’s this story. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel loved by my mother, but I felt more loved when I was making her look good. Being my freedom loving mischievous self, interfered with mom being her very carefully cultivated self. My brother, Gary (four years younger), and sister, Jennifer (seven years younger), were spared mom’s inexperience and impatience. They don’t believe me when I tell them tales of my childhood trials and tribulations with their mom.

Mom considered raising her children one of her greatest accomplishments in life. I certainly did my best as a young child to make her proud of me. When I turned twenty, I confronted mom to tell her that we weren’t perfect and that she had made plenty of mistakes during my formative years. She replied, “Well son, I’m sorry for anything I did which caused you any harm. My mistakes were not intentional. I tried my best to be a good parent. You’ll understand when you’re a parent. You’re an adult now. You must grow up. Let go of what holds you back. You need to be as healthy as you can be.”

What could I say? She was right. Apology accepted. In the final analysis, my siblings and I turned out well in ways that matter most. Mom’s optimism and idealism, relentless frankness, and loving encouragement compelled all of us to be true to ourselves.

Although mom stayed at home during my childhood, she also stayed busy. Mom supplemented dad’s income by writing from home. One year, she won twenty-five contests by saying something in fifty words or less, finishing a sentence, writing jingles, or winning crossword puzzles. She published articles in consumer magazines like Redbook and Ladies Home Journal. Mom was a ghost writer for syndicated cartoons. The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, and Family Circus were clients who frequently purchased her gags. She worked with a local artist. Our family was the source of her materials. That’s me below and this actually happened…

One of Gemini’s notable qualities is true friendship. Mom attributed her ability to make friends quickly to moving frequently in her childhood. With so many changes involving multiple schools, mom learned to adapt and develop social skills to make new friends. If you examine the balls of thumb on her very Thinking hands (square palms with long fingers), you’ll see many long lines parallel to her lifeline. Mom maintained lifelong bonds from early childhood. She and her friends loved each other through Heart Attacks, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Cancer, and other diseases of old age. Mom’s friends were her riches. I too, cherish my friendships.

Gemini remains forever young. Hermes reputedly lived over three hundred years in the flesh. That means I’m an adolescent at 71. I do feel like it. Mom stopped aging at 39. Everyone joked, but no one questioned her decision to remain young until she was on her deathbed. In her last few days of life, mom’s intensive care doctor told us that in all his years, he’d never had a patient who was so sick and so determined not to look sick. Wheeling mom around the hospital, people thought I was her husband. She’d say “Thanks for the compliment, but he’s my father”. “Pleased to meet you”, they’d say. Even then, I was a potential embarrassment to mom. Some things never change.

Geminis are thinkers and communicators. Mom was one of the most well-read people I ever knew. She was interested in psychology. When I was ten years old, mom read Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. It reinforced what she already knew and confirmed her most significant value in her life, which was the knowledge and understanding that while you can’t always control what happens to you, you have the power to choose what you think, feel, and do about what happens to you. When I went to Carnegie Mellon University to study industrial design, mom went to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh to get a master’s degree and become a psychiatric social worker at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. She was an innovator who was famous for her crystal clear case notes, ultimately becoming a matriarch in the hospital system.

Geminis have a unique sense of humor. While mom was lying in her hospital bed with tubes going in and out of her, she said to me, “What worries me is how nice everyone is to me. Do they know something I don’t?” Jennifer warned, “You’re not allowed to die until you finish raising my (teenage) kids”. She joked about buying mom’s casket at Costco. Mom loved the idea. Gary told her, “I’ll start worrying when you stop putting on your makeup”. He believes he prolonged her life by threatening to taxidermy her and display her in a corner of his living room. If you want a real taste for mom’s humor, you’ve got to check out this exercise ball video she made in response to my extremely health conscious sister giving her the ball. For whatever it lacks in quality, it makes up for in laughter.

When mom turned 80, she wrote, “Eighty years of age does not seem old to me. Old is when one is again dependent as we were in infancy – needing help as a constant to feed and care for oneself. I may die from an illness before I ever get old, then on to the next adventure.”  I wholeheartedly concur. Mom was eighty-three when she passed. She continued to maintain her humor and to ponder the meaning of life until her final moments as she battled metastasized breast cancer. I promised her I’d ‘pull the plug’ if necessary. She let go on her own. I’m honoring our birthdays this year by asking anyone to contribute to her favorite charity ~ Southern Poverty Law Center

GEMINI & HANDS

It’s virtually impossible to accurately foretell from a natal astrology chart how a person will embrace their symbolism and manifest their free will. Astrology reveals a person’s potentials. A Gemini sun, moon, stellium of planets, dominant signs, house placements, or powerful aspects between certain planets or points in a horoscope may or may not reflect what a person chooses to integrate into their character and behavior.

Meanwhile, hands are topographical maps that actually disclose a person’s character in past, present, and future. As we embrace our strengths and weaknesses and exercise our thinking and free will, our evolving characters, stories, and changing circumstances are reflected in the morphology and topography of our hands over time.

You don’t need a Gemini sun, moon, ascendant, planets, or house placements to be Gemini. No matter what your astrology says, pure type Gemini hands have widely spread long fingers, flexible tips, and supple thumbs. All thinking types have square palms with long fingers. As a mutable modality, Gemini is more mentally adaptable than (fixedAquarians and (cardinalLibrans. Geminis and Librans are dual air signs that frequently have split head lines resulting from always having too many choices and needing to make decisions. Cancer and Pisces are dual water signs whose ambiguous feelings are often embodied in split heart lines. Anyone can have any split line for many reasons.

Healthy Geminis have long straight strong pinkie fingers that symbolize logical thinking, honest communication, and good sense. Gemini hands feature firm pink elastic skin and long straight widely spread fingers with dominant first phalanges and loop prints. Long ring fingers with whorl prints add talent, attractiveness, irresistibility, salesmanship, and luck. Strong middle fingers with square tips and developed first knots add technical and scientific attributes. Powerful index fingers dramatically increase writing, oratory, and other professional skills. Geminis make great lawyers, bankers, doctors, orators, writers, engineers, teachers, salesmen, accountants, and shopkeepers. I work at special events with amazing magicians who have dominant pinkie fingers. They surprise and astound audiences by deceiving the eye and mind of the beholder. Dominant pinkie people prefer small musical instruments that require a lot of dexterity. Music makes sense because hearing is Gemini’s physical sense.

The pinkie is the shortest finger. If the tip is longer than the crease between the first and second phalange of the ring finger, it’s long. If shorter, it’s short. Hermes (Mercury) was the shortest god. A dominant pinkie fingered person is often short in stature (Ed Harris) with a slender body and face. Pure types have animated hands, dark hair, and penetrating eyes with crow’s feet in the corners. Gemini is the most youthful of all types. They’re eternally childlike and love children. Men often have thin beards like Johnny Depp (Gemini). Michael Jackson, a Virgo (ruled by Mercury), and a genuine Peter Pan, actually lived in ‘Neverland’. In real life, Peter marries Wendy or a parental type. Someone’s got to be practical and responsible.

Our pinkie finger shows our ability to communicate. It also indicates truthfulness. Our early family dynamic may be observed in the way the pinkie is set on the hands. If it is very short or low set, trust is a major issue. Some women who have very low set pinkies have told me that they have trouble having orgasms. Their real challenge is in trusting someone enough to have real intimacy. The length and proportions of our pinkie finger symbolizes technical, language, family, and sexual potentials.

Gemini rules hands and governs our nervous and respiratory systems. Gemini health issues revolve around the nervous and bronchial systems. Geminis have potential problems with headaches, thyroid glands, memory loss, and speech impediments. I’m very Gemini and have been coping with Tinnitus (ringing in my ears) for several years.

Gold and diamond rings are often found on the pinkie finger of acquisitive people. Pinkie rings can symbolize the sublimation of sexual energies in order to accomplish something requiring a lot of libido. I once examined a group of fifty young men and women who were born into very wealthy families in the 80’s. Considering the prosperity of the period, it seemed paradoxical that every one of them had an obviously short phalange on the bottom segment of the little finger of his or her dominant hand.  Money will never be a motivation for their career choices. Family and personal values will drive these individuals.

Would you buy a used car from this Gemini? I wouldn’t.  Gemini’s liabilities are deceitfulness, trickiness, fickleness, nervousness, restlessness, and shallowness. People preaching on soapboxes, pickpockets, and most con artists have dominant pinkies (most inwardly curving). When there’s a telltale yellow coloration in the palms, there’s nastiness somewhere. The trickster is a master at hiding his dark side. There are many wonderful people with curved pinkies who learned as children to ‘act nice’ and are still doing their best to avoid confrontation.

Cultivated Geminis are consummate communicators, social and intuitive geniuses, and great judges of character. Most social of all types, they’re frequently accused of being impractical dreamers because they love ideas so much. They can detach themselves from mundane realities and be objective about anything. They overvalue their intellect and undervalue emotion (everyone’s). They’re threatened when their opinions are ignored. They accept your viewpoint, even when they disagree with you. They get mad when their ideas are challenged without good reason. They’re easily distracted and don’t like being responsible for their decisions. They resist focus, discipline, and structure. They long for freedom and love to be unrestricted.

Geminis are androgynous. In Greek mythology, Hermes and Aphrodite had a fling that resulted in Hermaphrodite. Dominant Hermes (whether he or she knows or admits it) is often bi-sexual. David Bowie was a Capricorn with powerful Hermes. Mick Jagger is a very Mercurial Leo. Kate Blanchett is a Mercurial Taurus. Boy George is a Gemini. At 70, Grace Jones is still an exotic Taurus with her Mercury conjunct Uranus in Gemini.

TAURUS HANDS

You don’t need a Taurus sun, moon, ascendant, aspects, or house placements to be a Taurus. ‘Pure types’ have firm, pink, elastic skin, a dense consistency of the hands, and bulging percussions under the pinkie finger. Large stiff thumbs and stiff fingers embody stubbornness, determination, and tenacity. A full rosy ball of thumb symbolizes love of family, nature, children, comfort, luxury, art, music, and all things beautiful. When the ball of thumb is surrounded by a long clear deep life line, the person is blessed with inherently good health. With a long clear deep fate line there’s strong purpose.

Deep lines and skin ridge patterns are maps that can be navigated by anyone who learns how. Pure Taurus types have few peripheral lines. Taurus loves security and stability. They think and feel in uncomplicated practical ways. A long graceful heart line ending under the index finger is romantic and sentimental. Being ‘old fashioned’ is natural for them. People with long graceful heart lines tend to see others as they want them to be, instead of how they really are. A head line closely intertwined with a life line needs to be appreciated and never taken for granted. Loop and arch fingerprints add adaptability and practicality. Square finger tips reinforce a need for order and stability. Depending on size, second knots are more or less obsessed with having everything organized and in its place. Dominant middle and bottom phalanges confirm a practical and sensual person. The hand pictured above belongs to a Pisces with dominant Taurus character.

Taurus is driven by physical senses. As responsible, practical, pragmatic, objective, dependable, and reliable individuals, they understand how the material world works. They only trust what they can see and feel, not ideas, intuitions, or inspirations. As creatures of habit, they can get addicted to routine and order. They get bogged down with practical and mundane matters that limit their abstract abilities and imagination. They procrastinate at beginnings and endings because they get stuck in their habits and patterns and care too much what other people think.

Taurus is a feminine archetype. Aphrodite’s need for comfort and beauty are powerful. She gives form to visions of wealth and power. She loves her family, friendships, home, food, nature, art, and music. Her need for physical security drives her practical attitudes. Honest, dependable, and trustworthy, she’s valued for her natural warmth and good sense. She won’t bend the truth or perform a song and dance act for anyone. She’s loyal, affectionate, and charming, but can also be controlling, jealous, and possessive. She thrives in real estate, banking, food, and fashion businesses. She’s not the best salesman as she takes rejection personally. Her greatest challenges are to trust her gut, give up control, and let go when it no longer makes sense to hold on. Taurus can be the best bull or the worst Minotaur.

Pope John Paul ll embodied many fine qualities of Taurus. He tried to get the rich to share their wealth with the poor. He was the first Pope to visit a synagogue. He encouraged Catholics and Jews to love one another. He survived one assassination attempt that nearly killed him and still rose to address countless chaotic messes and reforms in the church.

J. Krishnamurti, a spiritual guide, shared good sense with whoever would listen

Leonardo da Vinci was the original hipster and a great artist and inventor

Sigmund Freud was father of modern psychoanalysis

Karl Marx developed the theory of socialism

Martha Graham was mother of modern dance

Katherine Hepburn was Grande Dame of American stage and movies

Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair are anchors for Great Britain

“The great mass of people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one”. The darkest depths of Taurus manifested a monster from 1933 to 1945. Responsible for over thirty million deaths, Adolph Hitler transformed our world by channeling anger, fear, and terror and blending it with the magic of imagery to control and manipulate the masses.

 

Jim Jones, fanatic cult figure, led 1,000 followers to mass suicide in 1978

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh showed no remorse for his evil

Saddam Hussein (Iraqi President 79~06) was slain and shamed by US

William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles (both bulls) battled obstinately over the making and release of ‘Citizen Kane’. Kane was a Midas. Welles immodestly modeled him after Hearst. Despite his natural charisma and brilliant acting and directing, Welles was no match for Hearst’s fortune and resultant ability to influence the masses. Welles was determined and persistent in his righteous defiance of Hearst. Stubborn, acquisitive, possessive, and controlling, Hearst relentlessly tortured Welles with legalities and bludgeoned him with bad publicity until Welles could no longer afford his principles. He became unable to rise to his challenges or control his self-indulgences (perils for Taurus).

‘Values’ are the esoteric correspondence for Taurus. Everything and nothing are of equal value; identical in nature, but different by degree. A billionaire dying of cancer would gladly trade his money for youth and good health. A glamorous celebrity with a brain damaged child will graciously scrub toilets in Grand Central Station for a cure. People often ask, “How long is my life?” It’s about quality, not quantity. Everyone dies.

‘Less is more’ learned King Midas as he yearned for the touch of gold, got it, and turned his beloved daughter and their magical relationship into a hunk of metal. His food transformed to gold as it touched his lips. Midas is a lesson in values. How can we be stable, secure, and happy while letting go of wanting more than we need? Too little or too much of anything raises our awareness of what matters. Aphrodite (Greek) rules Taurus. Venus (Roman) loves and values stability, security, sensuality, and splendor.

Alchemy isn’t about turning lead into gold. It’s the art of transforming Saturn into the Sun. We can all be our own best friends and bull shit detectors. Virtue, honesty, integrity, dignity, nobility, responsibility, discipline, structure, focus, determination, and persistence molds heroes. By cultivating healthy attitudes, thinking constructively, setting realistic goals, and taking action, we can positively transform our inner and outer worlds. Everyone has Taurus in their symbolism. Embrace your best qualities, master your darkness, and manage your life.

The human race has become a race against bad shit happening. Common sense is not necessarily good sense. Unhealthy values point to unwholesome societies that follow unnatural paths of self-destruction. Our major problems are not physical. They’re philosophical, ideological, and spiritual. People apply formulas for success, yet few are truly successful. Success is a state of mind, heart, and spirit. Our health and the health of our world is a reflection of our thoughts and feelings. Why must we be habitually and eternally challenged to learn to value what we have by losing it?

The New York Stock Exchange and Federal Reserve are bulls. Uranus transited Taurus from 1935 to 1942. The USA went off the gold standard. People began focusing on their values and questioning materialism. President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Labor organized, forming unions that went on strike and engaged in sit-downs across the nation. President Roosevelt defended the Four Essential Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

People born between 1935 and 1942 have Uranus in Taurus. Many have experienced sudden and unexpected gains and reversals. After transiting the cosmos for 84 years, in 2019, Uranus returns to Taurus for seven years. While polluted partisan politics prevent and pervert our progress (social and national), expect extreme financial fluctuations.

I hate predicting, but am concerned that if our philosophical and spiritual paradigms don’t shift dramatically by mid-2019, we’ll have another Black Tuesday like Oct. 29, 1929, as Saturn opposes the Stock Exchange’s natal Chiron and squares its natal Moon, Pluto squares natal Jupiter, Uranus conjuncts natal Venus, and Neptune opposes natal Mars! Prepare for Trumpaggedon!

Aries and Hands

You don’t need an Aries sun, moon, ascendant, planets, aspects, or houses to be Arian. Aries, Sagittarius, and Leo, are Intuitive types with rectangular palms and short fingers. If you have an Aries sun and Aries hands, you’re Super Aries. Aries hands differ from Leo and Sag hands. Leo hands tend to be harder and stiffer while Sagittarian hands tend to be softer and more flexible than Aries hands. Aries percussions (passive Mars under pinkie) are fullest and firmest. Resilient elastic skin quickly springs back to normal when poked, pushed, or pulled.

 

Pink color energizes. Red pressurizes, especially when plump red puffy bumps bulge (aggressive Mars) where the thumb meets the hand. Red hands embody too much energy, anger, and passion. Aries normally has a rosy full ball of thumb (Venus).The quarterback (Mars) and the cheerleader (Venus) are always hot for each other.

Head and life lines separated on pure types reveal initiative and a need to be oneself. Wider gaps symbolize more independence, freedom, and rebellion. Head and life lines that intertwine at their beginnings reveal inertia. That person needs to be appreciated and must never be taken for granted. Strong Leo types have entwined head and life lines. They often procrastinate and take everything personally, even when it’s not.

As the most courageous and adventurous of all twelve types, Aries is a natural hero and inspired risk taker. His passion is contagious and optimism eternal. She never runs out of doors to knock on because (unlike Leo) she doesn’t take rejection personally. He’s ready and willing to compete with anyone at any time and place. An autonomous freedom lover, she hates criticism and abhors bureaucrats.

Pure Aries types tend to have low set thumbs. No matter what your type, low set thumbs were designed to quest for Holy Grails and for helping underdogs. Aries crusades relentlessly and persists untiringly until their objectives are realized. Worthy causes bring deep satisfaction and fulfillment.

 

Aries is not detail oriented. When they’re bogged down with paperwork or bookkeeping, they quickly become bored, restless, and frustrated. It’s best to stay out of their way if you can’t help them. In intimate relationships, physical chemistry is very important, but freedom is essential. Aries must stay far away from controlling, possessive, and jealous types. They must take care not to be too impulsive or in a hurry to ‘fall in love’ as an unhappy marriage often follows accidental pregnancy. Aries most important challenges are being patient, trusting their intuition, setting sensible goals, and building sound structures on solid foundations. Aries enjoys working with sharp tools. They’re unafraid of blood and make great butchers, surgeons, and soldiers. Mars also rules executives, military leaders, policemen, firemen, salesmen, barbers, sports, and everything fiery.

Aries rules War. Ancient warrior cultures practiced their lustiest mating rituals from late June to late July to seed future generations of Aries warriors. Aries rules Germany, England, and Japan. Hitler manufactured an Aryan race. The British barbarized and then colonized the globe. Japan was atom bombed in World War II. Modern Japanese warriors wage wars of commerce, communications, transportation, and electronics.

Aries is Greek. Mars is Roman. Everyone has Aries and Mars in his or her symbolism. Aries rises at the Spring Equinox. An invincible warrior and lusty lover, the god of war is symbolized by an erect penis. Built physically to match with a strong athletic body, dominant chest, and rock hard head, he’s not called ‘Ram’ for nothing.  My life partner, Joanna, is Aries with Venus in Taurus rising. I call her ‘Rambull’. Believe me, she can be obstinate and that’s grounding for me. I’m Gemini with Scorpio rising. You can believe her when she calls me a ‘piece of work in progress’.

Aries are amazingly resilient. They innately bounce back, always landing on their feet. Their strong sense of inner strength, courage, and persistence make them formidable foes. Aries conquers procrastination, overcomes inertia, takes action, and rules physical energy. Health issues are inflammations, fevers, headaches, and high blood pressure.

Our Aries ancestors are heroes like King Theseus of Athens, Jason and his Argonauts, Joan of Arc, Xena, Mulan, Robin Hood, and his popular eastern cousin, Aladdin, orphaned son of the king of thieves, handsome adolescent street rat, and diamond in the rough, destined to become a prince. The hand above belongs to a real life Aladdin. Click here for his story.

Al Gore’s rectangular palms and short fingers reveal a link between his intuitive personality and his Aries Sun. Al’s Mars, Saturn, and Pluto are in Leo and his Jupiter is in Sagittarius. That’s a lot of fire. Inspiration motivated Al as he passionately informed the masses of environmental truths. Al and his Argonauts bagged the coveted Nobel Peace Prize while opening masses of minds to the hazards of Global Warming.

 

As a conceptual thinker, Al loves the idea part of his process. Al’s greatest asset is his ability to see the big picture. With no time and little aptitude or patience for details, Al is a salesman who can sell anything he truly believes in. Al’s long index finger enhances his egocentricity and ambition. Al knows what he wants and gets the facts he needs to make the case for his cause. Armed with a lightning bolt from Zeus, Al is a human of great influence, privilege, and wealth. It’s vital that Al remain vigilant of the size and quality of his personal footprint and practice what he preaches.

U.S. ex-Secretary of State, ex-General Colin Powell is an Aries with Sun and Mercury in Aries (April 5, 1937). Rectangular palms, short fingers, and widely separated life and headline are the embodiment of King Theseus of Athens. Theseus escorted Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. He defeated the dreaded Minotaur (Saddam Hussein, a Taurus) and united the warring Greek factions under his rule.

Secretary Powell’s powerful practical personality persuaded Americans to keep the faith while we invaded Iraq. He believed he would make a difference, but ended up being goldenly fleeced by the Bush administration. Our Emperor pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes as he proudly wore Powell’s noble charisma, flawless credibility, and ethical principles on the front lines of international diplomacy. Colin’s greatest battles are yet to come as he approaches the end of his life and wages war with his personal loyalties, honesty, integrity, dignity, and truth. An evil empire that can take revenge on Powell’s family keeps his truths secret. If Colin Powell is a true hero, he must cleanse his karma by shining the light of absolute truth on the many shades of gray in his life.

Largest of energy giants, XX is an Aries with first trade March 25 1920. This predatory power broker must shift its greedy paradigms to embrace philosophical and spiritual laws of nature and humanity. Our mother’s creative juices were created equal to be shared by all. XX pumps mom’s blood from natural reservoirs into pipelines, artificial tanks, and finally to our personal storage tanks through our umbilical cords. Our planetary good health is at risk. X-Secretary of State and X-CEO of XX, Rex Tillerson, could have made a positive difference, but didn’t. XX must be a guardian for, not a Seller of our Souls. XX has become XXX by choosing $$$ over us. ‘Haves’ need not be Emperors. ‘Have nots’ need not be servants and slaves of haves.