Prepare to Meet Your Agoraphobic Neighbor

Jupiter into Gemini and a new Rage of Astrology podcast. ALSO: smart tips for getting offline and reentering the world, and a reading-induced MDMA-like reverie.

May 16, 2024

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THIS MONTH’S BIG ASTROLOGICAL blowout is, of course, Jupiter, moving into Gemini on May 25th. Here’s a fantastic poem, Ansel Elkins’ Self-Portrait of the US as Conjoined Twins, that captures the upcoming perspective shift wonderfully. If you're on a mobile phone, you must turn your screen to landscape mode to read it properly. It’s arranged on the page in a Dada-like fashion.

What Taurus condenses and fortifies, Gemini takes apart and reconstitutes. This untangles what Taurus might have inadvertently turned into a Gordian knot. If you’re waiting until the summer to launch a new idea or pastime, adjust your schedule. Jupiter's exuberance shoves fledglings out of the nest a bit too early, which reminds me of the way my Sadge mom taught me and my brothers how to swim. As infants, she threw us into the pool and let our innate ability to float and dog paddle save our asses. True story.

Final pointer: even agoraphobes will be stepping outside to see what in the hell is going on in their communities, so be prepared to meet the neighbor you thought might have died several months ago.

In our new Rage of Aquarius: The Outsider Astrology podcast, Rachel, Andrei, and I delve into the long-term beats of Jupiter’s new transit. It's not a stretch to predict that ideological divisions, particularly during a US Election year, will intensify. However, we also anticipate a surge of curiosity and open-mindedness, leading to a synthesis of diverse perspectives and nuanced worldviews. This is what happens when the air element becomes elevated. (I hope).

And next month on Rage, our roundtable with Elsa Panizzon from ElsaElsa.com (truly, the very first astrology blog that existed on Earth — uhm, before blogs existed.)

Kulture Klatch

WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK: Science writer Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Almost Everything. This book’s take apart of the Earth’s geological history had a profound effect on my relationship with the environment, something akin to a mild but protracted MDMA trip. As I live above the water in the middle of a forested area of Vashon, each morning that I’d survey the view from my deck, I’d have the eerie sense that I was in a condition beyond time—when the Earth was unpopulated and raggedly gorgeously raw. When time invaded my reverie, there was the awareness that the Earth is billions of years old and that the continent I reside on was once covered by ice two miles deep. This puts the pinprick of one’s life in stark contrast to the magnanimity of nature. Donald who?

WHAT I’M SUBSTACKING THIS WEEK:

Seth Werkheiser

’s Social Media Escape Club. Unlike thousands of other newsletters that kvetch about the dreadfulness of SM, Seth’s is the only one that puts skin in the game. He’ll get you away from your computer and back into the flow of humanity with simple, real-time solutions. And, unlike the countless ‘wellness’ gurus, he does all of this without a bunch of upsells for shitty energy drinks or Bitcoin.

SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE CLUB

Spend time on good things and good people

I ran 1,105 miles in 2020, which took me around 200 hours. Scrolling 33 minutes daily on your phone adds up to about 200 hours a year, too. A friend told me recently that they want to start a newsletter, but they don’t want it to become a large time investment…

6 months ago · 20 likes · 18 comments · Seth Werkheiser

WHAT I’M WATCHING THIS WEEK: The other night, in a stupor, I spent over 48 minutes scrolling through all the streaming services I subscribe to, and there was nothing to watch. Remember that Bruce Springsteen song, 57 Channels (And Nothin' On)…. Well, that. This provoked a depression that was just shy of flipping into an existential crisis. Melodramatic, much? There is so much swill churned out today (80% of all cinema releases are schlocky horror films, the latest being an outlandish tale of a demon-possessed Tarot deck). Anyway, when this happens to me, I end up rewatching films that I’ve enjoyed in the past. And I was lucky to find The Insider on the Criterion Channel. Al Pacino and Russel Crowe are in their prime. The Criterion Channel is the smartest addition I made to my smart 😆 TV at the end of last year.

YESTERDAY’S WALK:

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THIS WEEK: I’ve added about 21 new tracks to my 2024 Spotify playlist Titanica. Follow along here and set playback to ‘shuffle.’

Love,

Prepare to Meet Your Agoraphobic Neighbor

Jupiter into Gemini and a new Rage of Astrology podcast. ALSO: smart tips for getting offline and reentering the world, and a reading-induced MDMA-like reverie.

Kulture Klatch

Opening graphic: Untitled, by Leonora Carrington, 1956. Photo: Cello at Sunset, by FW, © 2024 Nightcharm, Inc.

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