Taurus versus Sagittarius: The Domestic Life of the Bull and Archer

Sometimes, as unlikely a pairing as it may seem from the astrological point of view, Taurus and Sagittarius decide to get married.

I have observed this scenario for most of my life at close quarters, so this evening I bring you a little scene of domesticity between the bull and the archer, inspired somewhat by real events.

*******

TAURUS

(calling from the kitchen

to SAGITTARIUS):

I know your tendency to waste

time - start wrapping up whatever

you're doing because we're eating at eight.

SAGITTARIUS

(Arranging the 300+ photos from her last trip

while comparing hotel prices online)

What d'you mean? We only just had lunch!

TAURUS

We had lunch a full four hours ago

and I'm hungry. Anyway, don't argue,

we're eating at eight and that's final.

Where'd we keep the cumin?

SAGITTARIUS

Cumin? Don't tell me you're cooking?

TAURUS

Of course I'm cooking, we're having

dinner aren't we? Left to you we'd be

eating bread and cheese again.

SAGITTARIUS

(miffed)

What d'you mean again, I

made pasta for lunch didn't I?

TAURUS

You boiled the water you mean.

I made the sauce, added fresh

herbs and made sure we had extra

grated cheese. Speaking of, if we eat

any more bread and cheese we'll

turn into bloody bread and cheese!

SAGITTARIUS

(Grumbling under her breath)

What's wrong with bread and cheese

anyway? How many meals am I

expected to come up with every day?

(Calling to Taurus)

What are you making?

TAURUS

The chicken breasts in a yoghurt sauce.

Where'd'you keep the cumin?

SAGITTARIUS

Third shelf on the left.

Hang on... I was saving that

chicken for Thursday's lunch!

TAURUS

So, we'll cook something else.

Anyway, Thursday I thought

we'd entertain at home.

SAGITTARIUS

You're kidding! Thursday night

I'm going to that lecture on

comparative literature...

TAURUS

What the hell for? You keep saying

you're tired all the time and then

you rush off to these stupid things -

SAGITTARIUS

Well entertaining at home is not

my idea of relaxation. That's

far more tiring than any lecture.

TAURUS

(Bitterly)

We never do anything. We never

have anybody over. We never

entertain at home because

you can never be bothered to!

SAGITTARIUS

What are you talking about?

We go out all the time!

TAURUS

I'm talking about entertaining

at home. Cooking for friends!

When I was a child, my mother

was always making something

delicious and our friends

and family came over for

meals all the time.

SAGITTARIUS

(Shuddering involuntarily)

Well, you definitely married

the wrong gal if that's

what you wanted -

TAURUS

- look you've got half-an-hour,

then we're eating, okay?

SAGITTARIUS

Why don't you have the

same urgency about calling

the dentist, huh? Mister

Ants-in-his-pants?

Why don't you call him already?

TAURUS

Dentist, schmentist. I'll call

him next week. Anyway,

what the hell's the rush?

*******

Jack Nicholson, Taurus Par Excellence

Jack Nicholson is much on my mind these days, given how this Taurean native is the epitome of the unhurried, earthy, macho type who won't surrender his pleasures, even when the price to be paid is higher than he can afford.

Allow me to explain.

Since my breakup with my ex (see my earlier post on this here), I've been focused on pouring myself into my filmmaking career. Indeed, the better part of the past six months I spent in New York (a city I intend to make my home some day) was spent re-connecting with my fellow film alums from Columbia University's graduate film programme.

My aim is to write a feature script - a film noir - set in Cyprus, to launch my career as a writer/director. I figure the island of my birth might just be the happy hunting ground I need for a first full-length film, and hopefully the relatively good impression which was left by the short I wrote and directed last year will help things happen for me.

Given my interest in the noir form, I keep coming back to two films for inspiration: Chinatown and The Crying Game, though of course, neither film is a true example of the genre. However, Chinatown has been particularly informative, not only for its dazzling direction and glamorous production design, but the charismatic performances by Faye Dunaway and, in particular, Taurean man's man, Jack Nicholson.

All things considered, thoughts of his performance are quite fitting given the sun is now in Taurus, and I wonder whether I'll end up modelling my story's anti-hero on Nicholson, or on Scorpio sun (and zodiacal opposite to Taurus) Stephen Rea, who is the protagonist of The Crying Game.

Fascinating actors both. Tough, tough choice. Stay tuned.






This still from Chinatown was taking from this site.

Taurus New Moon - Welcome Abundance

So, it's the Taurus new moon, and I figured I should post something to kick off my return to this blog.

It's been ages since I've posted anything here and, frankly, it takes a lot to be back. The last six months have been fairly taxing emotionally and mentally - even physically, given some needful surgery I underwent this past February.

I'm now back in Nicosia, Cyprus after having flown out from New York City this Monday and having ended my first major relationship - my American ex-girlfriend's decision, not mine. To be honest, I can't get my head, heart and mind round the situation. But perhaps it's for the best. Her reasons for deciding on the break-up were based on our different cultures and paths in life, and our lack of mutual interests. Hearing that you'd think splitting up would be obvious. But we lasted a month shy of six years because of the love and tenderness we had for each other. There was a lot of that, the first three years. And it was wonderful. Certainly the best three years of my life and a level of happiness I never thought I'd enjoy.

If I'm honest with myself, though, I'll admit that we were always different, which was probably always going to be problematic in the long-run. And the kind of affection I mention above had been one-sided (ie from me alone) for a while now - particularly after the half-way point during my forced return to Cyprus from August 2006-October 2008 (due to my scholarship's strict home requirements following my graduation), and the obstacles to her joining me on the island. While we were living apart, her own hopes and dreams surged forth (unsurprising, as Saturn crossed her ascendant just days before I left the USA for my two years of 'exile' in Cyprus) and she began to focus unrelentingly towards realising her dream. She wants to found a charter school where she will be the principal and, in this way, shape children's education. To achieve this, she began collecting all the needful credentials - MBA, MEd, three years of teaching, PhD - while holding down a full-time job, as of March of 2007, leaving her little time for me, but also eventually granting her the insight that we were never going to bond over her passion for education, or over mine for filmmaking and all things spiritual.

So again, I guess she might have done us a huge favour by calling it off. But I'm still in mourning for a shared life I thought would be ours.

Just what has this to do with today's Taurus new moon?

Well, Taurus is a symbol of fertility and abundance, and my ex always symbolised 'plenty' to me. She was the embodiment of the Empress of the Tarot and the cornucopia of all good things; a happy, joyous home where there was always something playful happening, good food being prepared, and much love available to be shared. It might sound unrealistically idealised, but I guess that's part of the meaning of my family-oriented, Saturn in Cancer and Venus trine Neptune (the latter found in my fourth house). In other words, she was the manifestation of all that home and love mean to me.

But now that she is no longer mine in that way, I find I'm more and more open to finding abundance in my own heart and soul. Finding self-sufficiency and plenty inside me. And with Taurus in most of my ninth house, I am focusing on tapping into the abundance and creativity of my 'higher mind' and my higher education. I'm looking toward generating my most mature creative writing, after a wealth of tertiary education, and for it to steer me toward creative plenty and - why be coy about it? - money.

I've always had a troubled relationship with money; when I was growing up, there never seemed to be enough - even though I lacked for nothing and enjoyed a pretty high standard of living - and there was tremendous anxiety about it. Until recently, I was either uninterested in making or having it, or believed I had no aptitude to earn any significant amount. Now I see it as energy, and I'm sending out my gratitude in advance for the plenty in terms of income that is about to open to me. (This is a big issue of trust in the provision of the universe/God, so it's part of my healing process - being fairly left-brained, I tend to doubt the so-called 'law of attraction' without applying myself in a more practical, mundane way to 'getting what I want').

Of course, money can't take the place of the joys of the senses. And it can't buy you love. But perhaps the joy of abundance that is Taurus, whether its a plenty of lucre, literary output or love, will carry me forward toward finding that 'plenty' in a new love again.

Peace, joy, creativity and plenty to all on this Taurus new moon.

Meanwhile, thumbs up to the lovely article on this lunation by Beth Owl's Daughter. You can read it here.






The image above is from the mythic Tarot deck and was taken from this site