TERRESTRIAL ZODIAC

 

The UK has Glastonbury Tor

The US has Mount Trashmore

I have been a Flatlander

Here in the Florida peninsula

But my backyard converts

To whatever I wish

And like conjurers of old

I see a Terrestrial Zodiac

On a two-lot land

An as below, so above plan

True, copying the stellar heavens

Is almost impossible to do

Yet I have special corridors of power

To do my bidding

Scaled down to twelve sections

 

Aries, my own, begins the wheel

Lies in the North

Red and green cayennes

Like the finest quartz Bloodstone

Soaking up the Sun

Clockwise to Taurus

Partially shaded by

Banana tree fronds

A solid, fighting weed

Inflorescence fruit womb

Gemini up against the back fence

Pure shade to hide the glow of

Duality and intelligence

Live Oaks dripping

Spanish Moss

With Air plants of Red Tillansia

Cancer conserving the foresty ponds of

Aquaplants like duckweed and algae

While Leo, basking in sunlight

Shows off the finest, most colorful

Swamp flowers

Haven for bees and hummingbirds

Now the serious vegetables take root

As Virgo’s analytical, critical

Earthy nature dominates under the palm tree

Libra has a patch of harmony

Growing this and that

But intense Scorpio

Hides the roots

Of onions, garlic and ginger

Under the water-based ground

And vibrant, reckless Sagittarius

Generously shines on Greens of every hue

As ambitious Capricorn

Close to the back of the house

Self-importantly impels the

Growing of corn and sunflowers

Sowed by birds and squirrels

Circle almost complete

As Aquarius

Not caring a bit

Who thinks what

Grows whatever blows its way

And inching closer to the beginning

Sensitive Pisces

Lets loose with exotic tropical flowers

Often not based in daily reality

But there, nevertheless

 

And so, I may never go

To see and feel the breathlessly beautiful

Tors and mounds sublime

But it is always

As above, so below

And I believe

In the great mystery

That if even one person

Out of one hundred

Lives life magically

It is a life worth living…

© 2017 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGES: Night Sky (Sky & Telescope), Glastonbury Tor (Wikipedia) and Mt. Trashmore, Virginia Beach (The Daily Runner)

LIBRA VS SCORPIO

 

Okay, sorry, I love my Scorpio friends

But as an astrological dilettante

I discovered that an election date in November

Was convenient

Because the crops would be harvested

And winter storms would be mild

So Congress instituted the uniform date

In 1845

 

No offense to Scorpios

Those wonderfully mysterious

Water signs

But you know you can be

Stinging Scorpions or

Soaring Eagles

Quite a dual sign and time

To entrust the astrological vibrations

To an iffy pantomime of promises

 

Would the Founding Fathers

Have approved of the month?

It is said those wily Masons

Chose July 4^th, under the sign of Cancer,

As the ideal day for the

Birth of the Nation

Computing positions of

Planets and stars

For maximum success

Another Water sign

Water, mutable

 

I, personally, would choose Libra

For an election month

An Air sign of logic

Seeking balance

Wouldn’t want to

Interfere with the harvesting

But does it really matter in modernity?

 

Hey, let’s add a new amendment

To the Constitution:

Change elections to be held

Between September 21 and October 21

The only ones harvesting are Big Farm

(Maybe Big Pharm is raking in the money, too, at that time)

Most of us are trying to stretch a dollar and

Find some fun in life

But I’d be willing to vote then

 

While we’re amending,

Let’s change the name of

CAMPAIGN contributions to

FOOD BANK AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE contributions

Yeah, okay, do I get three wishes?

Let’s also outlaw war…

 

© 2016 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE:  EarthSky

THE MUTABILITY OF WATER

 

(Scroll down for Jimi Hendrix’s May This Be Love YouTube video)

 

You said we are two water spirits

Children of the sunlit sea

You, merely a reflection of the

Air temperature

But me, a hot and healing bubbling spring

And so, my sunlight is perfectly right

For the cool chasm of your soul

The one submerged

Beneath the water line

Seeking solace from the ice floes

You said, age is no consequence

To the dawn’s pink and purple light

Because, despite our chronology

You are truly the waning year

Fighting the rain in your heart

While I reach out

To life in full joy

Expecting a special gift each day

I, a wondrous child

You, aged in experience

You said, as the Knight of Cups

You will lovingly protect me,

Your Queen of Wands

Throughout time and beyond

But you, meaning you, not I

Have the water sign’s cursed mutability

While I blazed, you cooled

And then you were gone…

 

© 2016 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE: Fanning Springs, FL

YOUTUBE VIDEO: May This Be Love, Jimi Hendrix

https://youtu.be/a1NU4z5JnRU

 

INTROVERSION

 

Claims of being a lone practitioner

Yet the magnetic pull to be around society

Cannot be denied

A safe haven

In the past

Was to fake being

Extrovertica falsitus

(Damn! Forgot my Latin declensions!)

This time I mean it

No more people

Just me

Practitioning alone

Sure enough

Degree 248 arose randomly

In some arcane book

Associated with Sagittarius

And the number 8

But do not care to read the reasons why

Practicing sortilege and

Observing the sky

Is enough for me

Deep down in the earthy depths

New elements are being created

Likened to inner changes

Occurring in my awareness

Will I finally mature

Grow a tougher skin

Understand that life

Is never fair yet

Always precious

Even to us non-conformists

Who so want to be accepted

But not at the price of our souls…

 

© 2016 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

 

LIBRA DEGREE 192 #12

 

Poem based on the book The Sabian Symbols as an Oracle

by Lynda Hill & Richard Hill © 1995*

 

“Miners are emerging from a deep coal mine”

 

Today, randomly generated the number 192

Wandered the cold, dripping mines

Wondering what to do

At still another life cusp

Menacing stalactites creeping down

Snaring stalagmites tripping the unwary

Wandered twelve days in the darkness

When the answer came, so obvious,

Wondered why I didn’t believe what was already known

Gems pick-axed from the walls

Must be brought up to the light

As a reminder

To never again lack self-faith

And to remember that

Coming into the light reveals

Rewards gained by

Releasing a belabored point…

 

© 2016 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

 

*Thanks to Hunter S. Jones (http://huntersjones.com/ )   for reminding me about the Sabian Symbols that are used to describe astrological degrees in a horoscope. It is often helpful to consult the ancient practice of sortilege–sometimes called Bibliomancy–for guidance.