Monday 10/4/2021 - Lunar 8/27

The tiger is full, and baby deer play nearby without incident. Still, anyone can recognize the inherent danger. Planning and tending to our security systems make good use of this auspice. Repair walls and roofs, take herbs, see the doctor. Regularly scrub your skin in the shower till it turns pink to activate your wei qi (or defense qi). This traditional hygiene method keeps us from catching colds all year round. We don’t have to be paranoid. Caution can be relaxed. I’m traveling today, which is contraindicated. Against all odds, I will go the speed limit.

Tuesday 10/5/2021 - Lunar 8/28

The living and the dead harmonize today. Joy comes easily when we connect with nature—human and environmental. (Tomato, tomato.) Today is less about what we do and more about how we feel while we’re doing it. All ancestor offerings today will be well-received. Pierogis will taste better because we’ll be feeding hundreds of Jewish ancestors with every bite. In turn, we will be well-compensated for our work. Life is reciprocity. The extent to which we can receive is the extent to which we can be human. Let it in.

Wednesday 10/6 - Lunar 9/1

Happy Dark Moon! Today kicks off a new hexagram. The next six days are excellent for getting real with ourselves. Ambition will cause our downfall, which is a good thing. No one at the top should be unacquainted with the bottom. Ideally, we maintain a worm’s eye view if we have to become leaders. People who lie to themselves and others have the opportunity to stop. Practice meditation, self-reflection, and exercise for natural confidence with none of the puffed-up douchebaggery. Tend the garden. It’s a good time of year to plant fritillaria. Happy birthday to four of my family members—Jake, Sam, Molly, and Tracy!

Thursday 10/7 - Lunar 9/2

Winter is coming. Why bang your best friend’s fiancé when you can crochet mittens and beef up the larder? Today is mixed. It’s about having protection, but needing it: an army with an arsenal, a really good team of doctors, a powerful amulet. All of this calls into question who needs protecting, and from what? But as my wizard-colleague Brandt once advised, don’t write checks for non-duality that you can’t cash.

Friday 10/8 - Lunar 9/3

Today is good for family gatherings. It’s better to emphasize other people. Consult the oracle for more information. (Consulting the oracle can be remembering the dream you had this morning, overhearing part of someone’s conversation on the sidewalk, reading tarot, being sprayed by a skunk, calling your psychic aunt, etc. Or just drop into your body and let it tell you everything you need to know.)

Saturday 10/9 - Lunar 9/4

Have you ever met someone who cannot be unhinged by danger, success, or failure? For me, it was a cartoon sheep I watched as a kid in the ‘80s. A high strung rooster unraveled all his wool, and the sheep just said, “No problem.” I wanted to be like that. Before one of Liu Ming’s long retreats, his teacher told him only: “When it’s going bad, don’t cry, and when it’s going good, don’t put on a party hat.” This isn’t a quest for perfection or total lack of personality. Just a little stability.

Regarding astrology in general, Ptolemy says, “We should consider that even with events that will necessarily take place, their unexpectedness is very apt to cause excessive panic and delirious joy, while foreknowledge accustoms and calms the soul by experience of distant events as though they were present, and prepares it to greet with calm and steadiness whatever comes.” For the record, dreams do the same thing.

Sunday 10/10 - Lunar 9/5

Abandon industry. It’s the Lord’s day, after all. Positive events today tend to have negative results: marriage ends in divorce, medical treatments complicate existing illness, buying an iPhone turns into a customer service nightmare after you find out it’s defective. Use these constraints for inner wonderment. Renounce guilt while you renounce activity. It’s ok to work around the house. You may find long-standing negotiations naturally conclude today. Sell the business, accept the severance package, sign the divorce papers.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone has a good week!