RETROGRADE 2026

In 2026, PLUTO is finally done being grim-hooved and bro-goateed – takes a bath on the wild side, courtesy of Aquarius. Keeping pace across time and space is NEPTUNE, taking leave of Pisces to climb over the fence and into the hooligan hot-tub of neighbor Aries – wearing a bathrobe of spiritual pride and carrying a stack of scientific towels.

allegorical portrait of Urania by Louis Tocqué (1696-1772)

Retrograde 2026 sweeps up squeamish-faced egos, parrots issuing horizontal edicts, and dullards of duality.

Astronomy was conceived in an era when Gaea was still flat, and Uranus was seen every night descending to couple w/ her. Sky watchers made use of this dark passage of time to study the stars, and paid attention to the nearest seven. Using Gaea as the measure of all things, these seven stars were pinned to a slice of space at latitude twenty degrees – known to astronomers as the 'ecliptic' and to astrologers as the 'celestial belt'. primordial couple Earth and Sky pose beore the Abyss at the dawn of Time

primordial couple Earth and Sky pose beore the Abyss at the dawn of Time

Ancients, in their belief that Gaea was flat, had front-row seats every night as Uranus seeped down to couple w/ her; these two then experimented on foundational gods: brutes w/ super strength, w/ lizard-brains, w/ the first intelligences, there were three one-eyed mistakes, and a demon able to sculpt moving air.

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• 2026 is a red.flag year for red.planet MARS 'god of roman war' [no.rx] – there's booty in spring; summer spent kneeling; then a bronco fall of after-dinner mints. composite: head of Mars / moon Phobos

•❚-❚• Landing in the clink for conduct unbecoming to group cohesion: roman.asteroid bellona 'warfare' [rx.sag apr.10 >7.21.26 sin-eater].

•❚-❚• Post-performance buzz shifts to chrysalis mode for amazon.asteroid penthesilea 'queen' [rx.sco mar.19 >7.4.26 that rank feeling].
•❚-❚• Revisions to two campaigns delay tno.warrior eris 'contention' – compass fail [rx1.ari jan.1-12.26 pitchfork panic]; delayed dawn [rx2.ari jul.23 >12.31.26 pinprick protection]; Eris patrols the Scattered disc w/ daughter.moon dysnomia 'lawless', trapped inside her primary's horoscope.

•❚-❚• The daughter to Venus and Mars is a born diplomat and runs her father's house, a defacto theater of war, she moves chairs around, smooths down carpeting, presides over tea service, etc. In 2016, greek.asteroid harmonia 'hostess' refuses a cordial of what looks like enlightened blood, and the cause for domestic despair [rx.can jan.1 >2.16.26 shaky handshakes]; more concerning is her cornered carbon, exuding 3D tears during a rusty autumn: roman.asteroid concordia 'harmony' [rx.ari aug.19 >11.26.26 no avenue to vent].

•❚-❚• Getting a phantom black eye is the least of worries for complicated.asteroid apollo 'ancestor' [rx.leo-can jan.1 >3.27.26 braveheart, not].

•❚-❚• Anonymity feels wrong for roman.asteroid justitia 'law-&-order' [rx.sco apr.5 >6.25.26 cotton crown]; she has a carbon, greek.asteroid themis 'justice', omen hunter during a spritualized spring [rx.sag apr.9 >7.22.26 everywhere a chessboard].

statue of blindfolded Themis casts a shadow

•❚-❚• Homing pigeon instincts fail roman.asteroid fortuna 'lady luck' [rx. lib-vir jan.27 >5.2.26 pin cushion]; the 'veiled goddess' has a carbon, who role-plays and now is mighty presumptuous: chance.asteroid tyche 'good fortune' [rx.sag apr.18 >7.26.26 unforeseen pile-up].

•❚-❚• Invited by a fashion-forward from delulu-land for a spin on the dancefloor: esteemed.asteroid nike 'victory' [rx.sco mar.19 >7.6.26 lifeline or not?];

. . . The 'winged goddess' has a carbon, roman.asteroid victoria 'flourished', mixing watercolor and tears to paint reality[rx.leo 12.18-31.26 a yippy hippie].
•❚-❚• Stepping on stale glue might upset some, but not retribution.asteroid nemesis 'representative' [rx.cap may.21 >8.26.26 angel on a stick].
•❚-❚• Hovering over a bad habit w/ a swiss-army knife: valkyrie.asteroid freia 'love+war' [rx.can nov.17 >12.31.26 rock of ages].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• On a rumpled bed of tossed pillows, a couple looks like they are in a caress, it also looks like a chokehold, applied by love.planet VENUS 'beautiful' [rx.sco-lib oct.3 >11.14.26 purple reign]; the 'ancestor to the roman race' has a carbon, who is a recluse w/out a cause: love.asteroid' aphrodite 'lovely' [rx.gem jan.1 >2.11.26 unborn feet].
•❚-❚• Threading a needle, reciting 'chastise, divest, repeat': divine.asteroid psyche 'soul' [rx.gem jan.1-25.26 medieval archer].
•❚-❚• Weeks of not heeding advice adds up for maiden.asteroid nymph 'greek virgin' [rx.leo-can jan.1 >3.10.26 clingy].

composite: c.180-bc head of Eros / 2019 asteroid

•❚-❚• Three days before the year ends, a cup of coffee says hello to hellenic.asteroid HEBE 'girl' [rx.vir dec.29-31.26 mumble stumble].
•❚-❚• Falling leaf drops into the clean hands of model.asteroid adonis 'handsome one' [rx.lib-vir︎ jan.23 >5.21.26 germ-phobic]; a potentially hazardous asteroid, lovers also claim that Adonis is an extinct comet and a source of meteor showers.
•❚-❚• 'Hail-fellow-well-met' steps roughshod on besotted anti-social.asteroid narcissus 'me me me' [rx.sag-sco︎ mar.5 >8.3.26 lovely are the brave].

heart-shaped meteorite landed in 1947 Siberia

•❚-❚• First being to step out of the 'abyss' was inventor of the 'baby step', w/ a name written differently by different hands; returned now w/ a lump on his head, looking battered as he has battered hearts, sex.asteroid eros 'fairest of the deathless gods' moves unimpeded through 2026 [no.rx]: potent to seedy spring, stylish during show-off summer, sighing into woo-woo fall.
•❚-❚• Confounded by a joyful noise: arrow.asteroid anteros 'love avenger' [rx.vir-leo jan.27 >3.31.26 no green shoots].

RETOX 2026

composite: head of winged Mercury / 1919 color plate of eye

•❚-❚-❚• Retrograding in all three water signs ensures trickster.planet MERCURY is "inconstant, vivacious and curious", spending setbacks in spas: for an end of winter exfoliation [rx1.pis feb.26 >3.20.26 lego my ego]; during a sunglass-free summer [rx2.can jun.30 >7.24.26 manicured bookworm]; when about to halloween a-go-go [rx3.sco oct.24 >11.14.26 stirring hormones w/ a wall-flower].

today's one euro coin from Greece depicting 2400 year old greek coin of owl

•❚-❚-❚• Putting away sharp objects w/ a knowing heart, before mind games tie up the harvest: wise.asteroid PALLAS 'indicator' [rx.ari aug.15 >12.1.26 pent up]. . . . A view in a collapsible mirror shows a flexibility alien to commerce.asteroid minerva 'initiator' [rx.sco-lib mar.7 >6.8.26 tightrope walker]. . . . Putting on an obligatory nightgown is offensive for arts-&-crafts.asteroid athene 'intellect' [rx.lib feb.17 >5.29.26 what sleep? i don't need sleep].

first-century roman cameo showing Minerva wearing a corinthian helmet

•❚-❚• Wearing tinted shades during the first of two retrogrades steers bottoms-up benefits to origins.moon arche 'muse' [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 glitz instead of glare]; during the second, wearing a homeless look backfires [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 deadline blues].
•❚-❚• Any scapegoat will do, concludes remembrance.moon mnemosyne 'patron muse to the Three Fates' [rx.cap may15 >8.29.26 somber hive-mind].
•❚-❚• The library was founded in 1865 by history.asteroid klio 'muse', ears tingling after xmas supper [rx.vir 12.30-31.26 disciplined diet? what, me?].
•❚-❚• Stepping forth from embers of the 20th century, an amorphous CRADLE COURT showed up and was given a forgotten nook, stacked to the ceiling w/ old globes; 'compliance adverse' says the t-shirt on hittite.asteroid tigris 'river.god' [rx.gem oct.21 >12.31.26 social blackeye];

third-century bc greek gold ring showing head of Athena

while eye-candy-itis foreshortens spring for assyrian.asteroid euphrates 'river.god' [rx.sco-lib feb.25 >6.21.26 no nonsense bully].
•❚-❚• Thought dead when sent to the morgue in 1852, an autopsy under the mantle revealed a preserved city; requisioned and revived, this lazarus now performs as a wall-to-wall carpet in the library: asteroid.map lutetia 'primordial paris' [rx.sag apr.17 >7.16.26 marinating in tomorrows].
•❚-❚• Doing research amongst august company is a monk w/out a cell: ibis.asteroid thoth 'wisdom' [rx.ari-pis aug.5 >11.22.26 faith falters].

red-figure art showing Ulysses tied to the mast and visited by the sirens

•❚-❚• Crowded locker room turns athlete.asteroid atalante 'runner' into a sourpuss [rx.lib feb.8 >6.2.2026 conga-line oohs].
•❚-❚• Money mishaps result in four months of belt-tightening for epic.asteroid ulysses 'sailor' [rx.lib-vir jan.16 >5.17.26 carrying a liturgical cloak].
•❚-❚• Hero.asteroid heracles 'glory of hera' [no.rx] is seen at every springtime literary event – if not-well aspected, out of his depths; mister muscle is a cock-tease in summer – if well-aspected, malice is in wonderland.

•❚-❚• Hamlet-cursed roadblock is a good enough reason for titan.asteroid atlas 'astronomy' to let off steam [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 concrete crown].
•❚-❚• Reluctant xmas for astronomy.asteroid urania 'roman muse' [rx.leo dec.12-31.26 rsvp hell]; her carbon has two retrogrades: astronomy.moon eukelade 'greek muse' is quite lazy, following the tried and true: chocolate-ices [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 family favs]; stuffed stocking [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 eye candy redux].

•❚-❚• Helping to solve cases is long-timer afterthought.moon epimetheus 'titan', rehearsing 2026 rhetoric in a vertical world [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 word search].
•❚-❚• jenny blue [awol] has a day job as gazetteer certifying names of celestial bodies at the International Astronomical Union (1919); as 'patron goddess of nomenclature' she came in 1982 to set up the missing planet bureau.

gold medallion showing head of Epimetheus

•❚-❚• Hosting the Olympia Academy has allowed herald.asteroid hermes 'fluid god' [rx.pis-aqu jun.19 >10.13.26 walks on water] to go roam and see every one, meet every thing; the 'keeper of boundaries' is nowadays seldom at his own home.

RETOX 2026

carmine cameo of Eos on a horse-drawn chariot

•❚-❚-❚• From fool-me June to tip-toe September, dishing gossip chaps and cracks the maligning lips of queen.asteroid JUNO 'roman wife' [rx.aqu-cap jun.6 >9.17.26 lipstick ghetto]; her other half is only 64 asteroids away, where queen.asteroid hera 'hellenic lady' goes abroad unwashed and wearing unfortunate outfits [rx.vir-leo jan.1 >4.15.26 quiet as a louse].
•❚-❚• Cloudy.asteroid nephele 'juno cosplay' sifts courage through a sieve [rx.can jan.1 >3.6.26 waiting for the man].

composite: head of Jupiter / 2020 planet Jupiter

•❚-❚-❚• By-the-book domestic dustup, and understandable (for him) holiday behavior, await classical.planet JUPITER 'king of roman olympus', who undergoes two retrogrades: while entering 2026, unzipped and unbuttoned [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 discarding possessions left and right – if not-well aspected, artificial and ambitious]; the second time while pacing backwards into an xmas zoo [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 caged willfulness – if well-aspected, a fig-leaf will do, if not, wearing yesterday's undies].

roman coin showing queen Juno 'juno regina'

•❚-❚• No shiny knight on the horizon for herald.asteroid eos 'greek dawn' [rx.tau sep.13 >12.18.26 fishbone soup]; she has a carbon: herald.asteroid aurora 'roman dawn', tangled up in a blue dawn [rx.gem jan.1-28.26 too too nice].
•❚-❚• Bringing tempest to a teacup, as is his wont: wind.asteroid boreas 'north' [rx.leo dec.2-31.26 tousled tiara for christmas].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• One of nine foundational mountain nymphs, she is a hybrid made of earth and fire w/a bubbling body molten to mortals and demi-gods alike, and whose home is Mount Aetna; undergoing two 2026 retrogrades sounds like bliss to fiery.moon aitne 'lava' – first as a shopaholic [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 wind-chime kicks]; then during a no-chair xmas [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 forked mind].
•❚-❚• What a piece of time, saddled w/ three retrogrades, forge.asteroid hephaistos 'smith god' ends up four signs back, and upends each one:

composite: head of Hephaistos / 2020 'ring of fire' solar eclipse

the first one is to trim away illusions [rx1.gem jan.1 >3.4.26 firm handshake]; second occurs in muddy waters [rx2.gem-tau apr.12 <5.20.26 crabby hermit]; the third during fall is spent around mental midgets [rx3.tau-ari aug.12 >12.15.26 genius w/ a penis].
•❚-❚• Shyness can take no more, stumbles, says goodbye to forethought.asteroid prometheus 'titan' [rx.can nov.4 >12.31.26 unpolished]; he has a twin, inner-shepherd.moon prometheus 'fire thief', now an on-the-nose conformist [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 crown of horns].

•❚-❚• Being hoity-toity during high summer doesn't wear well on norse.moon surtur 'jötunn' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 livid phrasings]; the wielder of fire sword showed up in 2006 at the forge, he studied notebooks in the workshop nd, using legacy tools, re-fashioned destroyed heirlooms.
•❚-❚• It/she/he/them is an amalgam of ten siblings, adept in metallurgy (boys) and magick (girls), then a a pardon for past excuses rumbles up to digit.moon dactyl 'who/what/why' [rx.can-gem jan.1 >2.11.26 tongue-tied and maiden-shy].

•❚-❚• Walking into January when her heart's still in November splits in two demi-solar.asteroid circe 'sorceress' [rx.can jan.1 >2.13.26 virgin vessel, maybe].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Atavistic.tno altjira 'australian dreamtime' has two retrogrades: during winter [rx1.gem jan.1 >3.3.26 good loser]; during fall [rx2.gem sep.24 >12.31.26 pitch-black opponent].

wire-and-feathers sculpture of Altjira by 'metalpug on DeviantArt'

•❚-❚-❚• Galloping emotions whip the hands that hold the reins of frightened chthon.asteroid GAEA 'roman earth' [rx.pis-aqu jul.10 >10.10.26 tuned to wrong channel]; the 'first goddess' has a carbon w/ an opposite outcome: frozen.asteroid erda 'norse earth goddess', who is seen walking down a primrose path together w/ mister solitaire, only to reach the corner and have him say bye-bye [rx.can jan.1 >3.4.26 heavy toll].

depiction of mother Earth 'vox clamantis' by John Gower (1330-1408)

•❚-❚• A chameleon changeover glitches, because self-betrayal, for multi.asteroid sibylla 'roman riddles' [rx.gem oct.23 >2.2.27 cocky].
•❚-❚• A darkening game of 'snakes and ladders' alarms asteroid.mouthpiece pythia 'high priestess of Apollo' [rx.can jan.1 >3.3.26 rudderless].

•❚-❚-❚• High summer through all souls season, sometimes as a chorus and sometimes an audience, inner voices flick the red-hot ears of sickle.planet SATURN 'king of the Titans' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 yesterday's crown – if well-aspected, he can try taking the first step again; if not, tossing off horizontal edicts flat as a frisbee].

composite: statue of winged Saturn / 2009 planet Saturn

•❚-❚-❚• The inaugural goddess from the Asteroid Belt had stepped into the limelight on the first day of 1801, spherical and wearing a pockmarked swimsuit studded w/ saline pearls, slathered in organic building blocks, she is doing laps in an ocean world covered by tarp;

so why, just before thanksgiving, should roman.asteroid CERES 'corn' have any doubts as to her rudeness [rx.can nov.23 >12.31.26 bone-dry interchange]; the 'high priestess of the eleusinian mysteries' has a carbon, greek.asteroid demeter 'barley', who forfeits when losing sight of a winter-time goal [rx.leo-can jan.1 >3.16.26 rusty skills]; they share a daughter: having few options in a black-&-white world, twice-imperiled, is orchard.moon kore 'fruit-seed': in winter [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 wilting mathilda]; last two weeks [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 woke mathilda].

south american mountain lake in the shape of left eye

•❚-❚• Plastic smile says it all about colombian.tno huya 'rain god' [rx.sag apr.2 >9.5.26 gargoyle mouth].
•❚-❚• Treated as a sex tourist by an uncomfortable autumn: titanid.asteroid rhea 'elder earth goddess' [rx.ari aug.12 >11.17.26 poked and prodded], whose name is so old that the way it is pronounced may have been the birth-name given to baby Gaea; this exalted 'goddess of fertility' has a carbon, who spoils summer and forgets fall: titanid.moon rhea 'mountain mother' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 argumentative]; they have a cousin counterpart,

roman coin depicting Ops, seated and holding two grain stalks

reckless and seen tumbling dice as the year begins: roman.asteroid ops 'terra' [rx.can jan.1 >2.22.26 valentine wished].
•❚-❚• Wind-bag for brains siddles up to myopic voice.asteroid echo 'voice' [rx.cap may.21 >9.3.26 fifty-fifty chance].
•❚-❚• Holiday game of tossing darts gets ruined by virgin.asteroid artemis 'she of the wild' [rx.gem oct.18 >12.31.26 carefree therefore harm magnet].

crimean (tauric chersonesos) coin depicting Artemis tying up deer

•❚-❚• A November of regret turns into a headache for asteroid.goat pan 'hybrid' [rx.leo dec.8-31.26 woke]; his doppelganger, though, has no regrets: bossy lunar.goat pan 'shepherd moon' is bi-curious [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 plagued by an indoor voice].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• A summer w/ no knight in shining armor grounds roman.asteroid FLORA 'flower' [rx.cap may.26 >8.26.26 fortuitous]; the 'most ephemeral of goddesses' has a twin, grecian.asteroid chloris 'bouquet', who is thirsty twice: while paying w/ sticky $$ [rx1.gem jan.1-30.26 salvation to go]; after a detox in a box [rx2.leo dec.14-31.26 gummy bear].
•❚-❚• Prodded into a 'jollification' jacket, just three days before the year is over: grape.god dionysus 'greek vine' [rx.vir-leo dec.27 >4.15.27 dunce's cap]; not so for his carbon: grape.god bacchus 'roman fruit' [no.rx], seen out and about placing bets on this and that.
•❚-❚• Grovelling for sweets leads to an unrefined winter for unkempt wind.asteroid zephyr 'west' [rx.leo-vir jan.1 >4.23.26 bubble-tea brain].

•❚-❚• The 'first hellenic woman' is returned now as twins: asteroid.pandora 'all gifts' gets nudged by angel wings [rx.lib feb.18 >6.5.26 nods head]; and moon.pandora 'all blames', unmoored by amor [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 crown missing a head].
•❚-❚• A helmet paddles up to and flirts w/ water.moon naiad 'freshwater' [rx.ari jul.7 >12.12.26 showboat soul].

•❚-❚• A shapeless spine visits calendar.moon TITAN 'week' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 dog-collared] – he is patron god of the garden of Apollon, which is connected to the Infirmary; star-fat now and nova lazy, this slovenness vanishes when his secret name is uttered – and Titan sits upright to resume again his role as fork-tailed monster third-class.

RETOX 2026

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The geomachia of 1807 had casualties, but the high priestess of 'first flame' was not one of them; gingerly picking up her charge, Vesta slipped into sensible shoes and stepped off the submerged face of Gaea, landing in a nearby cemetery where she built shelter and rekindled a fire;

fire was transported by carrying charcoal in tightly-packed ash; for ease of handling, ash was shaped into an anicone

then her greek carbon was recovered, and when Hygiea showed up, in 1849, the three made use of their convergence to establish an infirmary; the first patients were mostly misshapened comets, flattened meteors, and spent asteroids.

•❚-❚-❚• 'First flame' now sits on the hearth throne in an unroofed kitchen, positioned so as to cast no shadow at high noon on the first day of summer; its resultant glow reveals venerable.asteroid VESTA 'roman hearth' [rx.27ari12 aug.26 >11.28.26 detox best served cold]

to be bean-shaped, wearing a smooth basalt cloak buttoned w/ achondrites and cratered w/ meteorites made of diogenite, eucrite, and howardite. . . . She has a hellenic half, who undergoes, during autumn, a comedy of errors: having many options bewitches hearth.asteroid hestia 'hellenic fire' [rx.tau-ari sep.12 >12.2.26 klutz on a mission].
•❚-❚-❚• Reading and understanding labels until mid-winter is over proves a must for medicine.asteroid HYGIEA 'wholesome' [rx.gem jan.1 >2.14.26 dosage darling];

composite: head of Hygiea / chinese herbal chart

she has a roman carbon juggling two retrogrades: first, medicine.moon valetudo 'vigor' ignores personal space [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 ignorance is strength]; later, she is a fish out of water [rx2.can nov.12 >12.31.25 eyes wide shut].

•❚-❚• Bureaucratic redtape has an after-meal tryst w/ roman.asteroid aesculapia 'medicine god' [rx.leo dec.18.25 >3.21.26 tail wags the cat].

ancient roman votive terracotta torso dissected to show internal organs

•❚-❚• Setting up the nurses station in 2017 and now dating lady luck is nurse.asteroid florence 'nightingale' [rx.sco-lib feb.24 >6.9.26 rust-proof skills].
•❚-❚• Age does not go before beauty in the estimation of suddenly charmless medicine.asteroid panacea 'tonic' [rx.lib-vir jan.27 bitter root].
•❚-❚-❚• Dosed by phantom LSD, injury-law.asteroid METIS 'counsel' walks on the god side [rx.pis-aqu jul.14 >10.14.26 bison blues]; the 'titanid of deep thought' has a twin, who acts as her own defense during two retrogrades: first, criminal-law.moon metis 'common sense' faces a cemetery [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 philosophical skeleton]; the second happens under a mistletoe [rx2.leo dec.13-31.26 blames butler].

•❚-❚• Two hexed retrogrades confront doctor.centaur chiron 'surgeon' – while standing in raging waters [rx1.ari jan.1-2.26 picked on]; while in strut-mode [rx2.tau-ari aug.4 >12.31.26 mad-hatter]. He has a centaur wife, who is entangled w/ mortals dense as bricks: chariklo 'common sense' [rx.aqu may.31 >11.1.26 flayed].

greek plate showing centaur, black figure on red ground

•❚-❚• Titan.moon iapetus 'mortality' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 doggie-bag crown] had followed the fate of 'first flame' from afar,

and today he leads the morgue, tinkering w/ the corpse of faded.sky theia [rip], dead for a long time, bits of Gaea still imbedded in her.
•❚-❚• A helle-elemental god lies on a slab, donating root matter for building parts: hangry marine.moon proteus 'old man of the sea', even though he has parchment skin pockmarked w/ polyhedron-shaped ices and pinkish-red boils [rx.ari jul.7 >12.12.26 toasted crown].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• Two retrogrades showcase the cool and the cruel in peculiar.planet URANUS 'eunuch god' – first in the form of a shockwave at the bank-teller's window [rx1.tau jan.1 >2.3.26 exuberant remorse]; then while sipping a social-media beverage [rx2.5gem2 sep.11 >12.31.26 dead pride – if well-aspected, effusive agent provocateur, if not, commission agent].

'Magnum Chaos', wood-inlay by Giovan Francesco Capoferri (1487–1534) at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo

•❚-❚• The first baby steps into Cancer faltered twice last year, and will falter twice in 2026; it is an ongoing battle, inside four walls, to wetnurse oblivion.tno chaos 'abyss' – the first time will be by giving the 'shapeless, unwrought mass of disconnected elements all heaped together in anarchic disarray' a sweet tooth [rx1.can jan.1 >3.15.26 sticky fingers]; then by serving the 'vast, immeasurable abyss, outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild' an under-the-counter holiday treat [rx2.can oct.9 >12.31.26 empty obligation].

•❚-❚• Persuaded back down from a winter ledge, drying out by the hearth, wrapped in the holy cloak of 'meat is murder': zoroastrian.asteroid mithra 'all-seeing'[rx.can jan.1 >3.11.26 sitting on a porous rug].
•❚-❚• With two retrogrades, this is a year of duty for vedic.tno varuna 'cosmic law', taut as a stretched rubber band – in the first one, that bird in hand might be fool's gold [rx1.leo jan.1 >4.21.26 raindrop crown];

in the second, spending the holidays inside a compostable personality [rx2.leo ︎nov.13 >12.31.26 dish-rag blues].
•❚-❚• Garbage babbles on and animals talk back to roman.moon janus 'two-faced' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 virtual equality] .

•❚-❚• Aiming at a fly w/ an elephant gun is over-the-top for composite.asteroid moira 'the fates' [rx.tau-ari aug.30 >12.14.26 punishment park].

illustration of the Three Fates by 'historycooperative'

Spooked by bright lights blinds spindle.asteroid klotho 'fate' [rx.sag-sco apr.2 >7.23.26 tugging heart]. Dropping a finished jigsaw puzzle on the floor sends giggles through ruler.asteroid lachesis 'fate' [rx.lib-vir jan.25 >5.5.26 heaven on earth]. Acting as her own counsel gums-up the gears for scissors.asteroid atropos 'fate' [rx.aqu jun.19 >9.10.26 misplaced reality].

•❚-❚-❚• Loosening her belt twice tells a lot about empty-calorie diet of force.moon ananke 'queen serpent from the cradle of necessity'; first time during target winter [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 bullet stomach]; while enduring xmas dinner [rx2.leo ︎dec.13-31.26 molting at the table].

coiled white snake w/ red eyes; Nuwa is credited with creating humanity and repairing the pillar of sino heaven

•❚-❚• Hybrid w/ a lego mind : white-snake.asteroid nuwa 'mother sky' [rx.gem jan.1 >2.3.26 chipped tongue]; Nuwa took her time fashioning mortals, using leftover clay to first bake wuxia wardens, one each for wind 'air', thunder 'earth', rain 'water', and lightning 'fire'.

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Paying heed to time and the zodiac wheel, the old throne belongs for now antiquated double.moon phoebe 'prophecy' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 new look leads to bad luck].

color illustration of constellation Virgo aka Astraea

•❚-❚• Poster-child for an ice cube sits on the full throne: lunatic.asteroid selene 'visible' [rx.tau-ari aug.29 >12.6.26 docile drip].
•❚-❚• The new throne is now hers, but arrives at an inopportune time for hunter.asteroid diana 'rebel' [rx.pis-aqu jul.5 >10.20.26 reek of the chase], because the 'protector of roman children' has a small problem, currently locked in time, she is a 'phased phantom' – a sliver of light just below vision.

roman head of 'Diana Nemorensis', Pennsylvania University Museum

•❚-❚• Into the breach has come the ideal candidate, who ascended to the vacant throne on four legs, he is bull.moon tarvos 'divine' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 intangible fears] – sole male-carbon to the triple-mooon goddess, among other eyebrow-raisers – this latest balancing act vexxing the house of Luna has now been restored.
•❚-❚• A summer storm advisory for nocturnal.asteroid asteria 'star' [rx.aqu jun.16 >9.23.26 fun now sucks].

composite: 1894 model of Moon / undated blue-and-white illustration of the Moon

•❚-❚• Drawing her mantle over Gaea at the end of each day, infernal.moon nix 'darkness' gets a spritzing of early hay fever [rx.aqu may.7 >10.15.26 wheezing wordsmith]; meanwhile, it boggles to find out that the 'sole daughter to Chaos' has a doppelganger: night.asteroid nyx 'darkness' [no.rx] is dressed in grandma chic for 2026, but her star-spangled mantle cannot hide the fact that something is very wrong w/ the 'primeval goddess', sickened by alien gravity, tottering while wrapped in bandages stained w/ yesterday's reds, and flinging backwards once every 45 minutes.

•❚-❚-❚• Translucent, hard to detect, in a reflective bodysuit featuring a magnesium zipper, ribbed in nickel and iron silicates, and a viscous veil descends on virgo.asteroid ASTRAEA 'purity' [rx.pis-aqu jul.6 >10.21.26 vampire pecks]; the 'star maiden' was the last immortal to abandon Gaea, distraught by devolutionary trends; by joining her kind in heaven, Astraea ended the 'golden age' and was the last mythological link to a greco-roman world.

RETOX 2026

firstgen titaness of fresh water & consort to Oceanos ‘first sea’; together, they produced all the watery wonders & mistakes of greco-roman mythology

•❚-❚• Daughter to Gaea alone, freshwater.moon tethys 'water.eve' bakes under a summer sun [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 wields egyptian cobra as an umbrella]; her mate is oceanus 'sea.adam' [mia]: self-created and the third element after earth and air; together, Tethys and Oceanus are 'sovereigns of the seas'.

•❚-❚• A dandy trapped in aspic perfectly describes trans-neptune.moon phorcys 'oldest man of the sea' [rx.sag mar.1 >8.15.25 painting white waves]; as the 'son to Tethys and Oceanus' he was born grey-haired, pug-nosed, and fish-tailed, and recognized by his cape of crab claws.

•❚-❚• Glimmering in the 1949 night, a drop clad in a one-piece swimsuit of silicates and neutral-ices: sea.satellite nereid 'daughter to Nereus' is marooned at a sun-drenched curb [rx.ari jul.7 >12.12.26 dressed for success]. •❚-❚• It did not matter whose turn it was at telling the Flood myth that menaced Gaea, antique.asteroid nereus 'the Mediterranean' stayed placid; the 'eldest son to Pontos' would watch over injured Gaea, splashing his waters over her exposed wounds, initiating another tidal rite to soothe his beloved, his mother, his only home [rx.aqu-cap may.26 >9.2.26 revisits oath to self].

head of Salacia, c.325 roman mosaic from Cirta, 'Triumph of Neptune and Salacia', Louvre

•❚-❚• This is her house, Neptune sits next to her, so why did the new outfit backfire for trans-neptune.queen salacia 'roman sea'? [rx.ari jul.15 >12.26.26 fast fashion].
•❚-❚-❚• Delayed due to a standing obligation, satiated summer to fall's last-call, humor lubricates the tongue of ocean.planet NEPTUNE 'king of the roman sea' [rx.ari jul.7 >12.12.26 harrumphed by pride] – if well aspected, snobbishness evaporates; if not, a neurotic pariah. composite: head of Neptune / 2017 planet Neptune

composite: head of Neptune / 2017 planet Neptune

•❚-❚• Conked on head for being messenger of bad news: herald.moon triton 'merman' [rx.ari jul.7 >12.12.26 chasing wigs].
•❚-❚• A pair of royal carbons mirror the house of Salacia. poseidon 'god of greek earthquakes' spins castles in monopoly air [rx.ari-pis-aqu-cap-sag-sco sep.1 >12.15.26 elbows-out]. Thinking "what carbon footprint!", til one helps her cross the street, chastens queen.asteroid amphitrite 'the third one who encircles' [rx.sag apr.10 >7.19.26 pained brain].

RETOX 2026

composite: roman clay-bust of Proserpina, National Museum of Rome / pomegranate

•❚-❚• Ignoring cracked pavements refereshes death.asteroid proserpina 'roman queen of shades' [rx.lib feb.20 >5.22.26 figurative trip and fall]; 'she who destroys the light' then found her carbon in 1895, underworld.asteroid persephone 'greek queen of the damned', seen chasing the wrong pot of gold in 2026: [rx.tau sep.13 >12.26.26 rainbow warrior].

composite: head of Pluto / 2015 planet Pluto

composite: head of Pluto / 2015 planet Pluto

•❚-❚-❚• Praying through a backwards summer, mindful of landscapes w/ familiar detritus is tombstone.planet PLUTO 'rich' [rx.5aqu3 may.7 >10.15.26 fear of fear]; the 'king of the roman underworld' has been inching into, then out of, Aquarius for a while now; starting in 2026, Pluto will to stay put in the water-everlasting sign until 2274, giving 'people power' a new patron saint.
•❚• Three-headed.asteroid cerberus, 'hound of hell', knows where skeletons are buried [rx.tau-ari-pis sep.19 >12.31.26 torpor in a deja-vu vortex]. The 'death demon of the dark' has a carbon, obedient-for-now monster.moon kerberos 'spawn of Echidna' [rx.aqu may.7 >10.15.26 soul-scratcher].

•❚• Asleep at the oar and hearing voices from the past is enough to confound coffin.moon CHARON 'ferryman to hell' [rx.aqu may.7 >10.15.26 the dream is real].
•❚• Woe is she, stepping on a snake, dying, and passing on to the underworld; now, trusting.asteroid eurydike, 'wife to Orpheus', believes she is too sober [rx.vir-leo dec.24.25 >4.16.26 times up for a contrite flight]. "Fangs for the memory," whoops lyre'n'roll.asteroid orpheus the 'bob dylan of ancient greece' [rx.aqu-cap-sag may.15 >8.13.26 mystified juggler].

•❚• Ignoring illusions can trigger a cagefight for jealous.asteroid magaira 'fury' [rx.tau sep.22 >12.15.26 marathon martyr]. Having porridge for brains could well be a blessing to anger.asteroid alekto 'fury' [rx.can jan.1 >3.21.26 hands solo].

the Furies are guardians of 'first flame'

Losing steam in the midst of delivering an idol, an onset of the heebie-jeebies can tingle avenge.asteroid tisiphone 'fury' [rx.sag-sco apr.5 >7.17.26 wielder of the scorpion whip has disquieting hands].
•❚• The Three Furies also performed an acretion rite to cast forth their embodiment, spitfire.asteroid erynia 'personification of the furies', who is stalked by walking agendas, whilst standing before a doorbell to a noisy party [rx.sag-sco mar.23 >7.7.26 playground honesty].

Back to RETROGRADE 2026

Holiday Card for De Vera
Die-punched rubber leaf

-| March 2026 |-

WILD WILD WEST pan for panning gold showing a few nuggets

Illustrated w/ collages, drawings, maps, paintings, photographs, prints and quotes

| ⁋ | 1848 was 28 days old when gold was discovered in California. James Marshall, manager at a sawmill in Coloma Valley, on the South Fork of the American River, was making a routine inspection when he came across odd-looking ore: "... bright, yet malleable. I then tried it between two rocks, and found that it could be beaten into a diffferent shape, but not broken." A headline on March 15 read: "Gold Mine Found"; on June 14 1848 the California Star ceased publication because its staff too had rushed there.

1848 advertisement: Eureka! Welcome Nugget !! An illustrated description of the gold regions. Popular routes to get there. Useful information about the natives. Interviews w/ gold miners & sailors. Bonus: How to test precious metals.

| ⁋ | Nine days after gold was found, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848 ) ended the Mexican-American War, and transferred land belonging to Mexico - Alta California "above Baja California" - to the United States. | ⁋ | These concurrent events would trigger the California Gold Rush (1848 ), which lasted about six years. People came dreaming and praying to the god of wealth for a show of "colour". The first came from Monterey, San Jose, Sonoma, San Francisco. New York, New Orleans. They were clerks, doctors, laborers, laywers, mechanics, rancheros, who all left their jobs. Sailors deserted their ships and soldiers deserted the Mexican-American War. They came from Hawaii, Oregon and Mexico. Chile, Peru, France. England.

	Crossing the isthmus of Panama was a shortcut to the gold fields. Gold seekers hired natives to pole and row the dangerous Chagres River, the 'river of gold', in boats called bongos, from Atlantic to Pacific. On the left is a wrecked bongo. On the right a loaded bongo watches as a crewman falls overboard.

The santa fe trail (1822), a name used by travelers to get to the Pacific seaboard, and is the northeastern-most segment of a much older trail system, trodden and patched together by First Peoples, then by French and Spanish explorers. The Santa Fe trail began in Missouri and rolled across Kansas and a corner of Colorado. Crossing the Arkansas River the route drops down to New Mexico. In Santa Fe, the route morphs and is braided to the much older trail system, a 500-year-old desert high-road, bringing commerce in - and travelers out - to the port of San Diego. A revered route delineated by many feet and blessed by many names. The Butterfield stagecoach used the Santa Fe Trail - first high-way navigable on wheels - to deliver mail from coast to coast. The most treacherous stretch of the Santa Fe Trail is in Anza-Borrego Desert, part of the Colorado Desert in Southern California, a zigzag rock route between two valleys known as BOX CANYON, dangerous to horse and man.	Travellers wishing to go overland consulted maps and found an rudimentary California Trail (1845) - and this became the final leg - before that the California Trail was following existing routes, where people went to Illinois or Iowa and showed up along the Missouri River, wagons hitched and ready. They crossed landscapes of grasslands and prairies and in Wyoming they stop at the way station of fort laramie (1816), a way station for trails named Oregon, Mormon and California. Fort Laramie Wyoming marks the end of the Great Plains, pointing to the passage across the Sierra Nevadas and the true west. After Fort Laramie the Rocky Mountains begin, and the safest passage was South Pass, level and broad, to get to the other side, where California waits. South Pass lies in a broad high region of south-west Wyoming, and part of the Sierra Nevadas. The passage is 35 miles wide, w/ a mountain-river range on one side and baby buttes on the other, and the safest route to cross into Utah territory. (Fort Laramie is located middle-far right.)	Travelers overland chose their starting points from the east - and final destination in the west - based on condition of their wagons, livestock, and availability of water From Fort Laramie follow the river, passing Independence Rock to reach South Pass in the Rocky Mountains; here the route forks right for the Oregon Trail, or left for the Mormon and California Trails. Exiting South Pass, the braided-together routes start to diverge and become their proper selves. The Oregon Trail shakes off its passengers and continue to the right. Turning left is the braided-still Mormon and California Trails. Wagons and livestock get lashed to rafts for last stages of the Oregon Trail. Illustration by A. Burr.

In the early 1850s, small-scale gold minining operations - using tools like the long tom (center) and gold pan and rocker (lower right) - were the norm. Hydraulic mining (upper right), in which hoses were used to wash away large quantities of gold-bearing sand and gravel, was to become more common as big business moved in and harnessed mountain streams.

A gold prospector owns a pickaxe, shovel and gold pan. Must carry provisions: frying pan, salt, pork, brandy (or other sanctifying spirit), pair of blankets. The lucky ones own a mule. Each seeker of gold locates and then declares a section of the landscape as their territory. A landscape were placer-gold can be found imbedded in clay, sand, gravel. The claim could be a tunnel or a sluice; there are bench, bar, gulch and ancient river-bed claims. 'Pay-dirt' claims can be shallow, near surface; or deep, 20 feet beneath surface. Shallow mines: sand bars in rivers; beds of gulches or ravines. Deep mines: deep flats, hills. A knife claim was gold dug from crevices w/ a knife or spoon. Miners dressed in their best clothes for a group photo cannot stop larking about.	Rich Bar, the mining town where Dame Shirley lived and wrote letters. Shallow iron pan, perforated, 12-inches in diameter, used for rinsing gravel, sand and soil w/ water to locate gold. A one-man enterprise. Even after the invention of far better equipment, the lone prospector still worked streams and rivers w/ his GOLD PAN. An earth-washing one-man machine: rectangular wooden box mounted on a ROCKER (as in rocking chair) and set on a downward angle. A wooden box w/ two drawers, set at an angle and, placed on top of a rocker, becomes a HOPPER. The top drawer is lined w/ a sheet of perforated iron to trap larger objects and allow sand, soil and gold to fall to the bottom drawer: the 'riddle box'. An upgrade of the cumbersome rocker.	Steamship Direct to California Advertisement. Just days to gold regions. Leaving on Friday March 23 1849. Other gold seekers from the east preferred to brave the waves and board a ship. The longest sea-route to the gold fields, lasting 8 months, entailed a fraught rounding of Cape Horn at the bottom of South America, crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A few preferred to disembark in the Caribbean, cross the Panama isthmus, reach the Pacific Coast faster. Clipper “Comet”, from New York and SF, encounters a storm off Bermuda. An improved hopper, lengthened to 20 feet or more, w/ long sheet of perforated iron over riddle boxes; ability to process hundreds of buckets of gold-bearing gravel and sand daily. A LONG TOM is a three-man enterprise - two to shovel earth into it, a third to throw out bigger rocks.

Women came, first from nearby, then from around the world. They were wives, bookkeepers, shop-keepers, cooks (most in-demand), laundresses, maids; some were not. When mountain roads improved and made travel feasible, a few became entertainers, touring mining towns w/ vaudeville acts.

Mrs Louise Fayette Clappe (b.1819) and her physician husband came to SF and soon moved to Rich Bar, a mining town on the Feather River. Louise composed, under the pen-name ' dame shirley', letters (turned into an opera in 2017) to her sister, living in 'the States': “Imagine a tiny valley, about 800 yards in length and perhaps 30 in width - it was measured for my especial information - among which figure round tents, square tents, plan hovels, log cabins, etc. hemmed in by lofty hills, almost perpendicular, draperied to their very summits w/ beautiful fir trees; the blue-bosomed 'Plumas' or Feather River I suppose I must call it undulating along their base, and you have as good an idea as I can give you of the locale of 'Barra Rica' as the Spaniards so prettily term it.” Louise meets a town pioneer: “During my call at the office I was introduced to one of the finders of Rich Bar, a young Georgian, who afterwards gave me a full description of all the facts connected with its discovery. This unfortunate had not spoken to a woman for two years, and, in the elation of his heart at the joyful event, he rushed out and invested capital in some excellent champagne, which I, on Willie’s principle of 'doing in Turkey as the Turkeys do', assisted the company in drinking, to the honor of my own arrival.”	Emma Johnson (left), daughter of a prosperous 49er, poses for a 1850 portrait in her best Sunday bonnet. Mining was dangerous, as the woman on the right found out. Gold miners congregate along mountain roads, carrying gold dust or better, and wait for supply wagons passing through, bringing food and tools in, and carrying gold out. Saturday nights are for salooning and carousing. Sundays are off: doing laundry, repairing tools, swapping tales, writing letters, napping. Plucky Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1904) made money in the volatile real estate market of gold-rush SF. She also found time to join the Underground Railroad (1855-65), oggrtinh safe haven by the Pacific seaboard.	Marie Suize (1824-92) grew up in Europe and schooled in winemaking. Arriving in SF and keeping up w/ the fashion, she was arrested everal times for wearing trousers - solid miners' pants. California law at that time prohibited cross-dressing, unlike in France where it had been legal for a woman to dress like a man since 1800. She persevered, managed a mining concession, and wanted freedom of movement to handle a shovel and pick-ax.

July 11 1851 was Hanging Day for "English Jim" Stuart, a member of the Sydney Ducks gang, convicted for robbery and murder by outraged citizens.

banner for Gold City w/ candle-chandelier

Cholera arrived in 1855 when a ship originating in the Far East docked in SF. Gold fever having long overwhelmed the city's infrastructure, a health epidemic broke out. [img g r fardon uc berkeley bancroft library] When the price of gold dust hit $16 an ounce back in 1848, the Federal government established a branch mint (1854) at Mission and Fifth streets. The original St Francis Hotel, built in 1849 at Clay and Dupont streets, burnt to the ground on October 22 1853. [watercolor by harrison eastman 1849] Gold exports for the year 1852 amounted to $45,587,803. John Bruce tells (1948) the story of a crime wave [by the Sydney Ducks gang], and the response by citizens: “[June of 1851] and the formation of the strangest organization of its kind, the committee of vigilance . Here were banded several hundred of the most prominent men of the city in a secret society for the sole purpose of taking the law from the hands of those legally authorized to administer it.”	The third conflagration to consume the heart of the city happened again on June 14 1850 - damages totaled $5 million. Tent city mushrooms on Telegraph Hill as arrivals hunker down, buy supplies, head out for the gold fields. Between January 1848 and December 1849, the population in SF rose from 1,000 to 25,000. California officially became American in 1848 when the mexican-american war ended (1848). A sum of $15 million was part of the treaty, and land ceded included, besides California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Together w/ news of finding gold, SF would mushroom from a maritime trading post to a destination port of 800 to 1,000 residents. Pen-&-ink drawing by artist William Rich Hutton (1826-1901): Yerba Buena Cove and shoreline shwoing a rudimentary settlement of adobes, shanties, frame buildings, September 1847. [courtesy huntington library san marino california] Standing on 1846 Rincon Hill and looking across water channel to the Marin headlands, painting by unknown artist	English convicts from a continent-sized colonial prison. Shipped out to SF, in continuance of their sentence to now be indentured laborers in gold fields: the sydney ducks (1849). Upon arrival, these convicts deserted en masse and banded together. They didn't blend in, as each bore the mark of branded iron on cheek or thumb, plus scars of the lash across their backs. Together w/ the 200 convicts on board were some 20 women, transported from England to Australia for prostitution. By late 1849, one in every five men in SF was from Australia. The Ducks (because the marshy waterfront was a magnet for seabirds) carved out a hood (1850) where Broadway meets the waterfront, and took to crime by preying on people and property, and willing to commit murder to survive - as well as occasionally setting the city on fire. Hollywood brought out cowboy in spiffy attire escapism and supplies the reason why Edward G. Robinson prospers during "Barbary Coast" (1935) and James Cagney as the "Frisco Kid" (1935) is just another naive sailor trying to survive.

	The first gold seekers heading straight to the river at Sutter's Mill soon found other tributary rivers in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. The largest was the Sacramento River, from the north, together w/ the San Joaquin River - to the east in the central valley - define rough boundaries to the gold fields.

(above) Sutter's Mill, the "gold discovery site", is in Coloma Valley, on the South Fork of the American River. (below) Sawmill manager James Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, poses in front of Sutter's Mil. On January 24 1848, james wilson marshall (1810-85 ), manager of a saw-mill owned by John Sutter, found gold in the South Fork of the American River in Coloma Valley, El Dorado County, California. When word got out, a settlement sprouted on the other side of the river from Sutter' Mill and became Coloma (1848), the first gold-mining town. When a post office and jail were added in 1852, they both proved popular. Today Coloma is a ghost town. (above) During Coloma’s mining heydays, the Sierra Nevada Hotel was a way station for miners and tradesman (below) Sutter's Saw Mill 1849 by William R. Hutton, watercolor and pencil on paper, 6x9 inches [courtesy huntington library san marino california]	miwoks , from the Sierra Nevada Foothills down to the seaboard - sharing culture and linguistics from the Utian family - knew about their mountain's treasure, they gathered gold w/ a water-tight basket and a crevice tool. Their lives were overturned when others found too found the gold; an incident in 1849 in the Middle Fork of the American River turned fatal. An uneasy truce obtained when Native Americans were hired as laborers; from that time on though, their population declined. (detail) 'California Gold Diggers, Mining Operations on the Western Shore of the Sacramento River', watercolor by unknown artist James Marshall tests his discovery’s quality in Mrs Jennie Wimmer’s kettle of boiling soap. Collection of David Burkhart.	Seeking a better tomorrow, the Chinese came to the gold fields. In 1848 two Chinese arrived in California; by 1850 there were 500. Attracted to Coloma Valley, others would followed, and together they cobbled a fledgling Chinatown (1848) - in the very first gold mining town. Working in teams, they sought out spent claims so as to sift through tailings> 'gravel and sand previously examined and since abandoned'. During the California Gold Rush, more than 80,000 jeans made by Levi Strauss & Co. (1853) were sold.

Back to WILD WILD WEST

RETROGRADE 2026

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Landing in the clink for conduct unbecoming to group cohesion: roman.asteroid bellona 'warfare' [rx.sag apr.10 >7.21.26 sin-eater].

•❚-❚• The daughter to Venus and Mars is a born diplomat and runs her father's house, a defacto theater of war, she moves chairs around, smooths down carpeting, presides over tea service, etc. In 2016, agreeable.asteroid harmonia 'hostess' refuses a cordial of what looks like enlightened blood, and the cause for domestic despair [rx.can jan.1 >2.16.26 shaky handshakes]; more concerning is her cornered carbon, exuding 3D tears during a rusty autumn: roman.asteroid concordia 'harmony' [rx.ari aug.19 >11.26.26 no avenue to vent].

•❚-❚• Getting a phantom black eye is the least of worries for complicated.asteroid apollo 'ancestor' [rx.leo-can jan.1 >3.27.26 braveheart, not].

•❚-❚• Invited by a fashion-forward from delulu-land for a spin on the dancefloor: esteemed.asteroid nike 'victory' [rx.sco mar.19 >7.6.26 lifeline or not?];

the 'winged goddess' has a carbon, roman.asteroid victoria 'flourished', mixing watercolor and tears to paint reality[rx.leo 12.18-31.26 a yippy hippie].
•❚-❚• Stepping on stale glue might upset some, but not retribution.asteroid nemesis 'representative' [rx.cap may.21 >8.26.26 angel on a stick].
•❚-❚• Hovering over a bad habit w/ a swiss-army knife: valkyrie.asteroid freia 'love+war' [rx.can nov.17 >12.31.26 rock of ages].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• On a rumpled bed of tossed pillows, a couple looks like they are in a caress, it also looks like a chokehold, applied by love.planet VENUS 'beautiful' [rx.sco-lib oct.3 >11.14.26 purple reign]; the 'ancestor to the roman race' has a carbon, who is a recluse w/out a cause: love.asteroid' aphrodite 'lovely' [rx.gem jan.1 >2.11.26 unborn feet].
•❚-❚• Threading a needle, reciting 'chastise, divest, repeat': beauty.asteroid psyche 'soul' [rx.gem jan.1-25.26 medieval archer].
•❚-❚• Weeks of not heeding advice adds up for maiden.asteroid nymph 'greek virgin' [rx.leo-can jan.1 >3.10.26 clingy].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚-❚• Putting away sharp objects w/ a knowing heart, before mind games tie up the harvest: wise.asteroid PALLAS 'indicator' [rx.ari aug.15 >12.1.26 pent up]. A view in a collapsible mirror shows a flexibility alien to commerce.asteroid minerva 'initiator' [rx.sco-lib mar.7 >6.8.26 tightrope walker]. Putting on an obligatory nightgown is offensive for arts-&-crafts.asteroid athene 'intellect' [rx.lib feb.17 >5.29.26 what sleep? i don't need sleep].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Walking into January when her heart's still in November splits in two demi-solar.asteroid circe 'sorceress' [rx.can jan.1 >2.13.26 virgin vessel, maybe].

RETOX 2026

+
+
+

. . . She has a roman carbon juggling two retrogrades: first, medicine.moon valetudo 'vigor' ignores personal space [rx1.can jan.1 >3.10.26 ignorance is strength]; later, she is a fish out of water [rx2.can nov.12 >12.31.25 eyes wide shut].

•❚-❚• Bureaucratic redtape has an after-meal tryst w/ roman.asteroid aesculapia 'medicine god' [rx.leo dec.18.25 >3.21.26 tail wags the cat].

•❚-❚• Titan.moon iapetus 'mortality' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 doggie-bag crown] had followed the fate of 'first flame' from afar,

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Aiming at a fly w/ an elephant gun is over-the-top for composite.asteroid moira 'the fates' [rx.tau-ari aug.30 >12.14.26 punishment park].

RETOX 2026

•❚-❚• Paying heed to time and the zodiac wheel, the old throne belongs for now antiquated double.moon phoebe 'prophecy' [rx.ari jul.27 >12.10.26 new look leads to bad luck].

RETOX 2026

Back to RETROGRADE 2026

█ | TOP OF THE COLUMN |

-| March 2026 |-

BIRTH OF THE CLOUD KISSER

prototype of the final design for San Francisco's cable car

How San Francisco's cable car was invented will require more than one transit stop in its telling, wending this way and that, and passing landmarks of wealth and waste. Getting to Nob Hill was once assigned to a horse-drawn cab or carriage. In 1869, this necessary yet wanton civic cruelty changed for the good. An item on the death of two horses appeared in the newspaper: They had slipped and, throttled by bridles, were dragged to their deaths.	As Andrew Smith Hallidie (1837-1900) read about this, he paused and paced in his inner office, reflecting on what if anything he could learn from this. Already prosperous, though not yet famous, he had inherited a company from his father, an inventor for a patented 'steel cable': strands of wire lined up and braided. This uber-strong rope was adopted by the mining industry and made Hallidie, whose father returned to Europe and left him in charge, a rich man. Hallidie proved a saviour to SF's horses, but first he had to test his idea by buying a failed concern, the Clay Street Hill Railway Company, in 1872. By the following May he had laid down tracks, w/ a cable assembly, which was hidden under the street and parallel to the tracks, from Clay St at Kearney up to Nob Hill, a climb of seven blocks.	Very early on August 2 1873, a prototype was brought and placed on the tracks. Lantern-lit, Hallidie stepped on board. Activating a grip lever onto the moving cable, the grip grabbed onto the cable and ascended on a peril-prone maiden voyage. Few were awake to witness this feat, yet by opening day on September 1, the service was in demand. In 1880 alone over one million tickets were sold.

The first cable cars were tiny trams powered by a patented grip that alternately holds, and releases, a continuously moving steel cable running under the street. Clay Street Hill Railroad Co., showing full complement of dummy, trailer, two operators and passengers, Clay St at Van Ness Ave, c.October 1877. Standing in the open-air dummy is tram operator Andrew Hallidie. [x7307 sfmta photo archive collection of roy d. graves] . Each cable car was manned by two employees. One is the gripman. He operates two long levers held in position by ratchets. One lever grips the moving cable which runs in a slot between the tracks. The other lever is a hand brake. The gripman also steps down on a foot brake when going downhill. He is aided by the conductor, who stands out on the backporch and winds another handbrake on the steeper grades. When the grip is released from the moving cables, the tram becomes stationery, even if on a hill - using a patented gear that prevents slippage.	Lower terminus of the Clay St Hill line, at Kearney, looking up to Nob Hill. On the right is Portsmouth Square, in front is a horse-drawn wagon. 'Etna' is one of two funiculars taking visitors to the top of an active volcano; her partner is 'Vesuvio'. The cable car was traveled worldwide. It took passengers to the top of Mt Vesuvius in 1900 Naples, which crowned the opening by commissioning a song and the day given to civic celebration; the only service to operate on an active volcano, the Mt Vesuvius funicular was closed permanently in 1944.	The concept of a space elevator is from 'The Fountains of Paradise' (1979) by futurist Arthur C. Clark (1917-2008). Cable technology entered new frontiers when one was proposed to be strung from Earth up to a 'stationary communications satellite'. A feasibility study suggests adding nanotechnology into the cable-braided mix, and nudged imagination awake again. Writer Meghan Neal noticed and made coffee for everyone: “ …In the 1990s, NASA took a fresh look at the steel cable in light of a super material, carbon nanotube. This new field of nanotechnology promises a material that is uber-strong, light and flexible. ... this new science, to erect a track running on cables, from here to the Moon, a journey of some 62,000 miles.”

News of the discovery of gold in 1848 California brought the brains and brawn of a young nation out west, where frontier freedom waltzed hand-in-glove w/ greed and glory and be present at the first cloud kisser. All gold miners totes his personal gear: a pair of blankets, frying-pan, some flour, salt pork, brandy; some procure a mule. His field gear must-haves are a pickaxe, shovel and pan. These ruddy ones w/ no financial backing whatsover would leave work to congregate along mountain roads and catch supply wagons passing through, bringing food and tools, carrying out gold dust. Saturday nights were set aside for salooning and carousing, while Sundays were a holiday, although spent doing laundry, writing letters, etc.	The ingenious “square set” method of mining, using wooden beams to build rooms underground, was created by German engineer Philipp Deidesheimer (1832-1916). Grey Brechin examines the umbilical cord (p.44): "... system of heavy timber cubes enabled skilled miners to open three-dimensional cavities of any size underground." Among other adaptations, the square set allowed a new method of constructing buildings, a grid system of steel beams and columns to allow for strength - and support for height. Buildings in the late 19th centuries reached ten storeys. When the square-set model surfaced from underground and reached the sky, elevators came along. They were now powered by electricity and not by steam, which used to be the case in mining operations. Folks at first were hesitant to step into a steel cage and be hoisted to a higher floor; some genius wired a soundbox to the elevator and piped in soothing sounds - and trust in the fledgling 'vertical-transit industry' returned.	Andrew Hallidie brought innovation save labor and automate mining by his 'endless ropeway' system of conveyance, yet it was Philip Deidesheimer, drawn also by the California Gold Rush, who would make mining a safer environment for manual work. Their stories are intertwined in downtown San Francisco, where the Hallidie Building, an 8-storey steel-frame w/ a facade of glass, built in 1918 and restored in 2010, gleams again in blue and gold. Andrew Smith Hallidie was born in London on March 17 1837, to Andrew Smith (b.1798, Dumfrieshire Scotland) and Julia Johnstone (born in Lockerbie Scotland). Young Andrew Smith adopted the surname Hallidie to his godfather and uncle, Sir Andrew Hallidie, physician to King William IV and Queen Victoria. He died in San Francisco on April 24 1900; six years later, his cable car system, though damaged, would survive the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

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-| March 2026 |-

✦ | Harvey’s Place

✦ | Forest Hill Steps

✦ | Harvey’s Place

✦ | St Boniface

✦ | S.F. Fire Station #1

✦ | Museum of
Modern Art

-| March 2026 |-

-| March 2026 |-

How San Francisco's cable car was invented will require more than one transit stop in its telling, wending this way and that, and passing landmarks of wealth and waste.

The first cable cars were tiny trams powered by a patented grip that alternately holds, and releases, a continuously moving steel cable running under the street.

News of the discovery of gold in 1848 California brought the brains and brawn of a young nation out west, where frontier freedom waltzed hand-in-glove w/ greed and glory and be present at the first cloud kisser.

✦ | Harvey’s Place

✦ | Forest Hill Steps

✦ | Harvey’s Place

✦ | St Boniface

✦ | S.F. Fire Station #1

✦ | Museum of Modern Art

-| March 2026 |-

-| March 2026 |-

How San Francisco's cable car was invented will require more than one transit stop in its telling, wending this way and that, and passing landmarks of wealth and waste.

The first cable cars were tiny trams pow­ered by a patented grip that alternately holds, and releases, a continuously moving steel cable running under the street.

News of the discovery of gold in 1848 Cali­for­nia brought the brains and brawn of a young nation out west, where frontier freedom waltzed hand-in-glove w/ greed and glory and be present at the first cloud kisser.

✦ | Museum of
Modern Art

The first cable cars were tiny trams powered by a patented grip that alternately holds, and releases, a continuously moving steel cable running under the street.

News of the discovery of gold in 1848 California brought the brains and brawn of a young nation out west, where frontier freedom waltzed hand-in-glove w/ greed and glory and be present at the first cloud kisser.