Pilot's Log

The coming weeks will be one of the best times ever for wrestling with God or tussling with Fate or grappling with karma. Why do I say that? Because you're likely to emerge triumphant! That's right, you lucky, plucky contender. More than I've seen in a long time, you have the potential to draw on the crafty power and unruly wisdom and resilient compassion you would need to be an unambiguous winner. A winner of what? You tell me. What dilemma would you most like to resolve? What test would you most like to ace? At what game would you most like to be victorious? Now is the time.

*

I caught my subconscious in a lie this morning when my sleep cycle was coming to a close.  Maybe I ought to trade it in on a new model.

Do you remember that turning point when you came to a fork in the road of your destiny at a moment when your personal power wasn't strong? And do you recall how you couldn't muster the potency to make the most courageous choice, but instead headed in the direction that seemed easier? Well, here's some intriguing news: Your journey has delivered you, via a convoluted route, to a place not too far from that original fork in the road. It's possible you could return there and revisit the options -- which are now more mature and meaningful -- with greater authority. Trust your exuberance.

I find that difficult to believe.  If I had been "courageous", I would have found a way to stay in Florida, where I would have had a better possibility of starting a career.  Granted, I'm only here in Tennessee because of my love for my parents and my hope to see them well.

Asking you Sagittarians to be patient may be akin to ordering a bonfire to burn more politely. But it's my duty to inform you of the cosmic tendencies, so I will request your forbearance for now. How about some nuances to make it more palatable? Here's a quote from author David G. Allen: "Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind." Novelist Gustave Flaubert: "Talent is a long patience." French playwright Moliere: "Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit." Writer Ann Lamott: "Hope is a revolutionary patience." I've saved the best for last, from Russian novelist Irene Nemirovsky: "Waiting is erotic."

Because Time won't give me Time...

A bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc wine from 1947 sold for $304,000. Three bottles of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1869 went for $233,000 apiece. The mystique about aged wine provokes crazy behavior like that. But here's a more mundane fact: Most wine deteriorates with age, and should be sold within a few years of being bottled. I'm thinking about these things as I meditate on your long-term future, Sagittarius. My guess is that your current labor of love will reach full maturity in the next 18 to 20 months. This will be a time to bring all your concentration and ingenuity to bear on making it as good as it can be. By September of 2017, you will have ripened it as much as it can be ripened.

My New Year's Resolution is to get some projects going on Amazon Studios.  More about that after I recover from my current case of head crud.

"If I seem free, it's because I'm always running." So said Sagittarian musician Jimi Hendrix, widely regarded as one of the most inventive and electrifying guitarists who ever lived. Does that prospect have any appeal to you, Sagittarius? I don't, of course, recommend that you keep running for the rest of your long life. After a while, it will be wise to rest and ruminate. But I do think it might be illuminating to try this brazen approach for a week or two. If it feels right, you might also want to mix in some dancing and skipping and leaping with your running.

While there is nothing wrong with running, and I'd do it more if I had a safe place to do it, I'm more inclined to see the wisdom of yet another Sagittarian rock guitarist--Keith Richards--who very famously said that he would walk before they made him run. :)

According to my reading of the astrological omens, you should draw inspiration from this Chinese proverb: "Never do anything standing that you can do sitting, or anything sitting that you can do lying down." In other words, Sagittarius, you need extra downtime. So please say NO to any influence that says, "Do it now! Be maniacally efficient! Multitask as if your life depended on it! The more active you are the more successful you will be!" Instead, give yourself ample opportunity to play and daydream and ruminate.

Overnight I had a dream I was in a shootout.  My opponent used a bolt-action hunting piece at me first, and when it jammed he pulled a revolver and blasted till he was out of ammo.  I had an automatic pistol and an extra clip, so when he saw me reload he knew it was over and gave up.

I don't know what this means in terms of my life.

The four elements that compose cocaine are the same as those that make up TNT, caffeine, and nylon: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The combinations and proportions of elements are different in each substance, of course. But the point, for our purposes, is that the same raw materials lead to different results. I foresee a similar drama unfolding in your own life, Sagittarius. How you assemble the ingredients you currently have at your disposal could produce either a rough and ragged high, a volatile risk, a pleasant stimulation, or a useful resource. Which will it be?

"All they had were Earth and Air, Fire and Water."