Asteroid Astrology: Page 6

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2023 Grim Reaper Wrap-Up

What with one thing and another, quite a few celebrity deaths in 2023 slipped through AAA’s bony fingers, unremarked and unmourned.  As the last dregs of the old year are drained from the cup, let’s pause to remember those we’ve lost.  The list below is of necessity incomplete, and for the sake of brevity, we’ll not be doing any full-on Aster-Obits or birth charts, just taking a look at how asteroids representing the dear departed interacted with celestial death indicators on the dates of their passing.

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House Diary: Flip Your Lid for Yule!

Hello, my name is Alex, and I’m a tchotchkaholic. 

I’ve been collecting seasonal décor for thirty years, since becoming involved in paganism.  It was a way of celebrating the turning wheel of the year, though ironically, not with natural elements.  I incorporate those as well, of course, but it’s expensive and ultimately wasteful, and sometimes there are supply issues.  Much more satisfying to have it all at your fingertips upon a whim, under my control, says my Scorpio Ascendant, stowed and boxed or binned with Virgo Moon precision and attention to detail.  True, the ofttimes lazy Leo Sun balks at the effort, but does enjoy the applause when I do it up big.

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Aster-Obits: Henry Kissinger & Sandra Day O’Connor

Two conservative icons recently passed within days of each other, as November rolled over to December 2023.  On November 29th, Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, propelled from academia into international prominence by Richard Nixon, instrumental in ending the Vietnam War and reestablishing diplomatic relations with Communist China, died at the age of 100.  Two days later, on December 1st, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Reagan appointee and the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court, passed at age 93.  While neither would recognize today’s Republican Party, so focused on grievance and retribution instead of policy, and both have serious blots on their legacies, each reminds us that there were once two viable political philosophies vying for control of the country, in a comparatively congenial and collegial atmosphere.

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House Diary: Lost Autumn

Fall 2023 has been a fairly dismal one for me, with total knee replacement surgery impairing my movements and limiting my decorating capability.  A month housebound in recovery isn’t conducive to getting out to see the sights, smell the aromas, taste the cider or pick the pumpkins of a Pennsylvania autumn in the foothills of the Poconos, and a Halloween shorn of all but the most recently-acquired decorations is certainly a huge step down from the norm at this time of year.  I haven’t even been able to carve a jack-o-lantern, for the first time in … well, forever.

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Out With the Old (Knee), In With the New

On 26 September 2023, I underwent total knee replacement surgery for my right knee.  Both joints have been bone-on-bone for years, and while I have not experienced much pain from the situation, it has severely restricted my mobility.  This, in turn, had negatively impacted my weight and overall health, as someone who always used walking as a means of weight loss and control.

I’ve been told repeatedly from anyone with a mouth that I will be so very happy with this decision, once the dust clears on my recuperative period.  Let’s just say that at this point, I remain in the “I’ll believe that when I see it!” camp.

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House Diary: Rodent Wars

I like to think of myself as a fairly tolerant person.  At least when it comes to other species (with humans, I’m not always that patient).  I far prefer a policy of “live and let live.”  There are exceptions.  I will not suffer a mosquito to live in my presence (buy, hey!  they started it!).  And an ant discovered in the kitchen has a very short shelf life, though I often turn a blind eye to scouts I find elsewhere in the house.  Silverfish and my library don’t mix, and thousand leggers skeeve me out, to the point of hysterics, so I am usually unable to take direct action against them.  I positively cosset spiders of all kinds, which help me deal with other unwanted insects (sorry, spiders, I know you’re actually not insects, but arachnids; it’s just easier to phrase it that way).

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