Happy Birthday month Libra’s!

Jim Henson, a Libra, born September 24 1936. was my one of my muses and a magician. He was amazing innovator in puppetry. He created puppets combining the characteristics of a marionette, moving mouth and hands, with the traditional one handed static puppet. Jim started in television with Sammy and Friends and a variety of commercials and appearances in the early 60’s. By 1969 he and his company, Muppets Inc., were asked to join Sesame Street. He created the Land of Gorch – Dregs and Vestiges – the first year of SNL, 75-76, Muppet Show, 1976-1981, Fraggle Rock, and one of my favorite movies, The Dark Crystal. He raised puppetry into a magical art form.

As a child, his presence or really absence helped me out. When I was little, I would put on puppet shows with socks. Puppetry was the perfect outlet for me because I am very shy and an introvert. I made a French puppet with a felt beret and mustache and a girl puppet with yarn for hair. By second grade, I had added the characters of Punch and Judy which my Mom bought me after a lot of begging. When we had to do “show and tell” or reports at my new school, I could do it behind a cardboard box and make people laugh. Puppetry gave me the confidence and success in situations where I did not feel comfortable. And as some of you know I still make creatures out of socks and wool.

But here is where Jim Henson is the Magician. He created something that suspended our belief – where we see something that is not real as real. Unlike the marionette where I look for the strings. Or the ventriloquist where I look to see if I can catch the ventriloquist talking. When I watch the Muppets, still to this day, I do not think of the person standing under and moving the pile of fur. I see the silly bear, the vain pig, the crazy drummer, the courageous chicken loving showman, and the sensitive caring frog. That my friends is magic.

P.S. Remember, when signs have * it’s a big week for you. For fun I have attached Muppets that go with your tarotcast.

*Aries – Magician –  Wow!   This is fifth week with you all getting big cards. So let me just step back with you all for a second. When this happens this means it is big work time. There is opportunity for you to expand.  I hope if you all haven’t taking this seriously go back and do this work. The past five weeks you have been trying out new experiences, making small changes, having some amazing epiphanies, Creating, and now with the Magician you need to Conjure. Now how is conjuring different then creating. Creating is getting your hands dirty with a goal in mind. Conjuring is still creation but it is also experimentation. The Magician challenges you to tweak and play with your work. This is where the magic lies- in play. Play/experimentation frees up the mind to discover insight and the New.

Taurus – Knight of Pentacles – The Knight of Pentacles means you are on the right track at work and to keep on keeping on. This Knight represents the work horse. Slow and steady wins the race this week. The only challenge around the Knight of Pentacles is to balance your work with time off. Here is the key to that: Your time off isn’t about quantity it’s about quality.   So an hour sitting on the porch having a beer with friends, an hour of reading a good book, or actually consciously sitting down for dinner with your family can rejuvenate more than a couple of hours in front of the TV. (Don’t get me wrong I’m not anti-TV. It is great to numb you out, but just for this week be careful, TV or something like it can take down your energy so low that you can’t get back to work.)

Gemini – Queen of Swords – Okay you all got Seven of Wands for the past two weeks. Which with this past retrograde- Aug 20-Sept 22 – has made things more rough on you than normal. This week you have the Queen of Swords. Her lessons are strategizing by using the big picture perspective. Your challenge this week is to step back and re-evaluate your game plan. Simply this can look like stepping back from an Ikea project and see you are missing some screws or as complex as stepping back and see you are missing passion/drive/love in your life.

*Cancer – Star – The Star card’s lessons are around peace, healing, harmony, and trust. So your challenge this week is to create spaces/time for this to happen without guilt or pessimism. The deal is really looking into your heart/soul/body and ask what can you do for it. This can look like a day at the spa, spending an afternoon in silence, playing with your tarot deck, mending a broken relationship, cuddling with your lover/child/pet. Whatever you pick, you have to be sure that it replenish you. If you find that your choice depletes you, you will need to pull back as softly as you can and gently figure out why you picked it.

Leo – Three of Cups – Last week, The High Priestess’s lesson was around honing your intuition. This week you get to have some fun, or that is really your challenge coming off of the High Priestess. This week the Three of Cups reminds you that a “Jack/Jill all work and no play” attitude will make you crazy. (Yes, that was a Shining reference. So that means, pay attention that your play should be with others and not too much of the solo time.)

Virgo – Page of Wands – Time to turn on your create juices. This week the Page of Wands is begging you to do something creative – preferably with no goal in mind. This is a great week to sketch, color, play Pictionary or charades, play with clay, strum your guitar, hum silly tunes, write a poem, anything that is fun and has to do with any of the arts or free form creativity. If you can’t figure out what to do, hang with some kids under the age of 6. They will give you lots of ideas. (PS. Remember for some of you, you all didn’t get to have a great birthday.  This is a week to re-celebrate it.)

Libra – Two of Cups – The last two weeks the Empress and The Hierophant had you do some heavy lifting in generating a vision and a game plan on what you want in your new year. This week you all get some time off to party. Remember Libra it is one of your challenges in life to maintain balance so all work and no play makes Jack/Jill a dull person. So put your vision board and “to do” list down this week and find some time to have fun with your loved ones. PS. Your one challenge with this is you need to put your needs first. You will find that people want to please you as much as you want to please them. Let them pamper and love you – you deserve it, and it will help balance your “scales.”

Scorpio – Six of Wands – Last week The Lovers questioned you – what can you create that exceeds the collaboration of you and the people around you. This week the Six of Wands continues that inquire but in a more light vein. The Six of Wands is all about looking to where you are victorious. So hopefully your inquire from last week has weeded out some of the “mirrors” that are not helpful. Now, you should have a great idea who is on your cheerleading squad. Now is time to rejoice in the people that support you.

*Sagittarius – The World – Last week you got the Ace of Cups, challenging you to get you and your heart on the same page. If you did your work last week, your heart is now align with your desires. And The World card is here to say “Alright let’s get to work”. The World card brings cohesion to all that you do. Because your mind and your heart are in agreement with what you want, the “knots” in your life will start to unravel. However, The World’s challenge is, if you did not get truthful with your heart’s desires, it will be harder to see the open doors that are awaiting you.

*Capricorn – Lovers – The Lovers lessons are around cooperation and the mirrors/people in your life. The Lovers ask -what can you create that exceeds both you and that person? This week is opportunistic towards projects that embody cooperation and/or collaboration. The challenge around the Lovers is to feed the projects and situations that create things that are more than there parts. So that means you must also put aside the projects that are around self or ego this week. This can look as simple as making a meal with your family or as complex as collaborating on your next big project. The lesson around doing this work is to perceive and hone your ability to create that unique feeling/energy that cooperation brings.

Aquarius – Knight of Cups/Eight of Wands – Last week you all got The Devil’s card about misdirection and challenging you to the see the humor in situations while still walking towards your goals. This week you got two cards which are challenging you to continue looking on the bright side. The Knight of Cups’ lesson is to be open and to be aware of how doing that pushes your vulnerability button.   His challenge is learning to be open without wearing your heart on your sleeve. The Eight of Wands continues the “bright sides” theme by sending you good messages. Your challenge with that is hearing them.

Pisces – King of Pentacles – The King of Pentacles lessons are all around ruling your wealth. This is a good week for work and money matters.   So balance your check book, update your resume, work on your website etc… The King of Pentacles’ challenge is if you find yourself slacking off then you need to reexamine what you are doing. Either figure out “I hate doing this but it needs to get done” and do it- it really isn’t that bad. Or you need to make more money at what you like to do and hire someone else to do what you don’t want to. This can look as simple as you hiring someone else to mow the lawn and working an extra hour at work. Or as complex as you stop working that extra hour at work and fire the baby-sitter.

May light be on you, light around you, and light within you,

Nina