I wrote a personality test about three years ago, based on my considerable knowledge of astrology, and well, the long term results are a little surprising. Most of the people who took the test (594 of them) scored "Lives For Danger." Based on the archetype of the planet Uranus (what else?) this is the type that likes bad boys and bad girls. So the old saying, gals like bad boys, is true. But apparently guys like bad girls too. You naughty things.

The second most common result was "Lord (or Lady) of Discipline" the type that likes to control and get kicked in the teeth for your efforts. Here again, there are more ladies than men, but that may reflect a testing bias whereas women are more receptive to astrology in general so more of ladies may take the test. However, just as many men are a Lord of Discipline as a Live for Danger type, so the patriarchy isn't dead yet.

Very few people scored "The Ultimate Romantic" which explains why poetry books don't sell as well as a good murder mystery. Sorry Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

Most surprisingly, and agains the bulk of the mail I receive from my readers, there are very few Masters or Mistress' of Destiny, the type that is in sync with the story of Pluto and Persephone. He calls it love, his mother-in-law calls it an abduction, Persephone doesn't say. 

So if you're not faint of heart, and want to learn a little something about yourself, take the test. Let me know what you think of it.

 http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/which-outer-planet-rules-your-love-life-test

In three days I celebrate another birthday.

Yes, celebrate, because even though I grow closer to the old folks home, I am just plain glad to be here.

Ten years ago I almost died. OK, well technically I did die, but medical professionals made sure that I lived to tell the tale. 

So the prospect of growing older in a society that fails to respect women of age, grace and experience is not as daunting as it might be compared to not being here at all. 

And there is one thing that age and experience grants to a lady at my stage of life:

The lack of guilt over eating a brownie sundae made with my own homemade brownies.

Aaahhh . . . 

Far beyond "I'll call you," there are a whole host of dating lies that populate the minefield of online dating. I'm sure there are lies that women tell men, though I personally am not aware of any (looks innocently to the ceiling) but the lies men tell just make them look like jackolopes. 

The number one lie is "I'm not married." In fact on dating sites there appear to be more married men looking for some action than really single men. Oh, and the number one clue that you are married--you don't put up a picture of yourself. 

The number two lie is "My marriage has been over for a long time." Really. The marriage is not over until death, or the judge says so. 

The number three lie is . . . your age. For years we've heard about the vanity of women, but you guys take the cake. And while we're at it, put up a more recent picture of yourself, not one that is ten years younger than your present self. If you can't manage a good picture of yourself, go to JCPenny, or Walmart or whatever and get a half way decent shot. Some of the pictures I see are just plain frightening.

The number four lie is  . . . what you are looking for in a woman. If you want a stick figure of woman put down you prefer an "athletic" build. If you want a woman twenty, thirty years younger, make it known. I WANT you to put these things down. The further you stray to what is normally available to guys at your age and circumstance, the more unrealistic your expectations appear. If you can't be honest with yourself . . .

 

 

 

 

 

I've written lot on relationship astrology, but here is one post especially that demonstrates astrologically the dynamics of attraction:

The Astrology of Relationships: Taylor and Burton--A Plutonian Connection

Richard Burton wrote to Elizabeth Taylor:

“If you leave me I shall have to kill myself. There is no life without you.”

He also wrote:

But the fundamental and most vicious, swinish, murderous and unchangeable fact is that we totally misunderstand each other … we operate on alien wave lengths ..

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On my main astrology blog a reader pointed out OK Cupid's post about attraction and a section written on zodiac signs. 

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/how-races-and-religions-match-in-online-dating/

with the comment "It seems like astrological sign has no impact on personality."

And OK Cupid's official spokes people have a stronger message:

"Since he’s a Pisces and I’m a Virgo, Chris and I of course think the Zodiac is total bullshit, and it was very gratifying to have the data bear this out. Here are the grouped match percentages for a random pool of 500,000 users. Astrological sign has no effect whatsoever on how compatible two people are." 

Actually, the OK Cupid data set shows nothing of the kind.

Even with ignoring the obvious bias of the writers of the post, the OK Cupid conclusions are illustrative of examples of fallacious thinking about relationships in general and astrology in particular.

OK Cupid’s assumption that people are attracted to people who share likes and dislikes. This is one theory about attraction, but it is only a theory. Years of research have failed to cement this as the primary reason why people are attracted to each other. Research literature suggests that biological responses primarily fuels attraction, with cues such as smell and body features carrying the lead. As a relationship astrologer who has talked with hundreds of clients about the success or failure of their relationships I can tell you that similarities in personality fuel attraction far less than people generally assume. And as a more wiser astrologer than I pointed out, the general assumptions of people does not make for good evidence.  So the idea that certain zodiac sun signs get along better than others and thus fuels attraction is an example of the fallacious argument called Hasty Generalization.

Actually the assumption that certain Sun signs get along better with others is a misunderstanding of principles in astrology that illustrate why certain zodiac signs share or don’t share certain traits. In addition Sun signs alone do not compatibility make. All the other planets in the solar system have something to say about the complexity that makes up human relationships.

This Hasty Generalization then feeds into another type of fallacious argument that because the first theory is proved “wrong” then astrology has no impact on personality. This fallacious argument is called the Straw Man argument.

People are absolutely entitled to their opinion. However if someone is going to make a definitive statement about astrology, especially if it is tied to a data set, they should understand what it is they are trying to argue.

 

When I saw it, I just had to have it. The Sebring is by far the coolest car I ever owned. Leather seats, alloy wheels and the smoothest ride you ever had, it, not the driver behind the wheel turned heads. Now ten years later its time to pass it along. After a year of traumatic changes, the death of a beloved pet, the death of my ex-husband, the loss of my job, this last change is just almost too much to bear.

Its not that I haven't driven the car, literally to death. She has nearly a quarter of million miles on it. I wasn't surprised when the head gasket went, but I was surprised at the repair estimate. Not doable, not while I'm living on unemployment. 

So I found a replacement on Craigslist. She's reliable but not flashy. It will get me where I need to go until circumstances improve.

Up on Craigslist is the Sebring. Wish me luck. 

 

The daughter wakes me out of deep sleep via cell phone. It is 11 PM. Car broken. Drive out to daughters location, at end of dirt road. The left front tire is sticking out sickly from the wheel well. Controller arm broken. I swear. Call AAA. They send a flat bed. If the car is pulled up flat bed, the wheel will snap off. I watch as he attempts this. I ask for a wrecker. Another hour wait if he calls for wrecker. I swear again. It is late, it is cold, and I want to go back to bed. Tell the AAA guy to call for wrecker. He doesn't want to. He wants to drag broken car up flat bed. He insists there is going to be damage either way.  I say "no". I then find out he locked the keys of the running car inside the car. I swear again.

 

"Don't worry ma'am", he says. "I break into cars for a living."

 

You can't make this shit up.

 

Apparently this astrologer has failed to schedule in an important event in my daytimer. According to minister Harold Camping judgement day is arriving this coming Saturday. Here is the pitch:

On Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011, this 5-month period of horrible torment will begin for all the inhabitants of the earth. It will be on May 21st that God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its dead (Isaiah 26:21). People who died as saved individuals will experience the resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world to forever be with the Lord. Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere.

October 21 is touted as the end of the actual world.

Wow. That’s enough to take the taste out of your morning mojito. 

( read more )

Mercury goes to retrograde motion on August 20. Here is a piece from my print column on my Mercury in Retrograde experience last year. 

Mercury appears in it orbit to going backwards in is orbit, an optical illusion created by Earth shooting temporarily past Mercury’s position. This condition lasts about three weeks, until Mercury can claim a post position next to the Sun. During this time, when Mercury is all wonky in its orbit we are warned that all sorts of things happen in regards to communications, transportation delays and problems with agreements. 

There are scofflaws, of course, people who think that this all bunk. They will say there is no more of these types of occurrences during the Mercury in Retrograde period than any other time.

They should get acquainted with my automobile dealership

Now I won’t name names, because that would only lead to trouble and I’m enough trouble as it is.

On the eve of Mercury turning backwards in its orbit, my car suddenly stopped in the parking lot as I was on my home from work. It made a terrible noise and it wasn’t going anywhere. The upshot was that the ball joint snapped, and the front passenger tire hung impotently from whatever support was left. I was a lucky woman, because had this happened on the highway, things would be much worse.

After an unusual amount of back and forth, and two different tow trucks, I am hauled back to my town twenty six miles by the good folks of AAA. What to do now? Go to the dealership. Nope, someone I knew had a good friend that could fix it, no problem. I am a lucky woman indeed.

Yeah, except after I bought a new ball joint, we found out that on my car, the ball joint was part of an arm assembly that was a factory sealed piece. “Enough”, I said, to the dealership we go. 

Except they couldn’t get the car done on the date agreed (I am renting a car in the meantime). For this they said, we’ll fix your window, (which sadly went down one day and didn’t go back up again), no problem, we’ll make you a deal. Except the bill was double what was agreed, and the window still wasn’t fixed. And on the bill are written these words “Front end still has issues.” What? Does my front-end need psychotherapy to straighten it out? With the cost and the uncertainty of the repairs, I am feeling not so lucky. I speak with the General Manager, who I could tell was going to have a few words with the Service Manager in the morning. But don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll give you a call in the morning and let you know about the car. And I did get a call. They lost my car keys.

Only when Mercury is in retrograde motion . . .

Update:

Just to prove a point, here in Mercury Rx's shadow period, as I was making dinner, the pot of water I was boiling blew up! There was this horrible humming noise and fire underneath the burner. I went to move the pot of water, when I noticed in my stainless steel pot a hole burned through. The water rushed out and put out the fire, but now my stove is quite dead. 

Apparently the burner element shorted out. There is this huge gaping hole in the element now.  I guess I am lucky there was a pot of water to blow up, because otherwise that would have been one heck of an electrical fire.