Tennessee’s first brick-and-mortar cannabis bar is slated to land in Memphis soon.
The former Bounty on Broad space will soon become a Buds & Brews location. No timeline for the opening was given in a news release.
Nashville-based Buds & Brews opened its first restaurant and bar in that city’s Germantown neighborhood in 2022. It will open a second location in East Nashville later this month.
The restaurant allows patrons to “enjoy cannabis in a safe, legal and fun environment,” the company said in a statement. It offers a unique menu of upscale bar fare like the Buds Burger, hot chicken tacos and a Wake and Bake Brunch.
Credit: Buds & Brews
“We are excited to bring the Buds & Brews experience to Memphis,” said Michael Solomon, owner and president of Craft Cannabis, the restaurant’s parent company. “This dynamic arts community is the perfect location for a new and innovative restaurant and bar concept.
“We are proud to collaborate with some of the best in the food and beverage industry in order to bring Tennesseans a truly unique culinary adventure.”
Craft Cannabis is an umbrella group for three brands. Craft Cannabis offers seed-to-shelf cannabis flower grown in Nashville. That brand also offers an array of edibles like cannabis cookies, gummies, and suckers. Tri-Star Medical offers cannabis tinctures, capsules, and topicals. Sticky Tomato has a full line of gummies.
At Buds & Brews, diners can choose their favorite condiment sauces infused with Tennessee-grown-and-extracted hemp-derived THC. The restaurant will also have a craft cocktail menu, cannabis-infused cocktails like the Smoky Margarita and Spliff Sangria, beers on tap, their own brand of THC-infused beers and New Highs seltzers, and dessert edibles.
Bar Leafy Green was slated to become Memphis’ first cannabis restaurant. Owners announced the plan on social media in 2022. It is unclear, however, whether the restaurant ever opened.
Summer solstice sunrise over Stonehenge (Photo: Andrew Dunn | Creative Commons | Wikimedia)
June 20th is the official start of summer, with the summer solstice happening at 3:50 p.m. that day. This solstice marks the longest day of the year — when the number of hours of daylight are at their maximum, and the number of hours of night are at their minimum.
The movement of celestial bodies has fascinated humans for millennia. Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments, such as the ones at Stonehenge in England and at Machu Picchu in Peru, to follow the sun’s yearly progress. Newgrange in Ireland was constructed to align with the winter solstice and Angkor Wat in Cambodia aligns with the sun on the spring equinox.
Many ancient cultures created holy days and festivals to mark the movement of the heavens. Our ancient ancestors often celebrated the solstices and equinoxes, honored them as holy days, and set them aside for religious observances.
Today, we know the solstice is caused by Earth’s tilted axis and by its orbital motion around the sun. The Earth doesn’t orbit upright with respect to the plane of our orbit around the sun. Instead, our world is tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees. Through the year, this tilt causes Earth’s Northern and Southern hemispheres to trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. It’s Earth’s tilt — not our distance from the sun — that causes winter and summer. In fact, our planet is closest to the sun in January and farthest from the sun in July, during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer.
But does understanding the science and reason behind the summer solstice (or any solstice or equinox) take away from the awe or reverence we have for these sacred times? For some people it may. Knowing the mechanics behind a phenomenon might make that occurrence less mystical for people. It may no longer seem special just because we understand what is happening and why.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There can be something powerful in taking part in the same celebrations that our ancestors took part in. It doesn’t mean we are doing the same things our ancestors may have done to honor the solstice. But just continuing the practice of recognizing the day, or the moment, helps create a tradition that will continue to live and evolve through you and after you.
It’s the 21st century. We know that the Earth rotates around the sun in our solar system. And our solar system is just one of millions in our galaxy of the Milky Way. But does this knowledge make phenomena such as the summer solstice any less magical? Not to me. In fact, sometimes it makes it more magical.
Regardless of your spiritual beliefs or tradition, it is possible to the look at this intricate system that is our world and be amazed. Whether you believe a higher power created it or the Earth and humans are an accident of science and evolution, it is still amazing how well-balanced and special our world is. And it is just a fragment of dust in comparison to what’s out there beyond the stars. How is that not awe-inspiring?
In spiritual traditions, the summer solstice is often referred to as Midsummer. Although it is officially the start of summer, for most of us summer began months ago. It is starting to get hot, the kids only have a couple of months left before school starts back for the fall, and we’re likely looking forward to cooler weather. But the summer solstice is also the end of the light half of the year. Since the previous winter solstice, the days have been getting longer and the nights shorter. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year but going forward now, the sun will set a little earlier each night. From the summer solstice until the winter solstice, we are in the dark half of the year. Enjoy your summer with intention.
Emily Guenther is a co-owner of The Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.
Chef Nate Henssler plans to use themes for each tasting menu. (Photos: Michael Donahue)
Here’s a way to jazz up your Thursday nights: Amelia Gene’s is offering a five-course tasting menu — for only $50 per person.
It’s the brainchild of Nate Henssler, executive chef at the restaurant at 255 South Front Street.
“I’ve been kind of tinkering with the idea for a couple of months,” Henssler says. “Guests come in and have a five-course dining experience. You can move as quickly or slowly as you want.”
For an additional $30, they’re served wine that pairs with each course.
The vegetarian tasting was designed to be something special. “I don’t want to have it on the menu five nights a week. It’s not that kind of a restaurant.”
And, he says, “Portions are small. I could share more and try to make more money, but I want to get people in the restaurant and get this ritual of going out on Thursdays.”
His tasting menu evolved. “People always ask, ‘Are you going to do a tasting menu?’ Most people don’t want that. But recreational diners, so to speak, ask that all the time.”
When people select the tasting menu, they’re saying, “I’m going to put myself in the chef’s hands.”
Henssler is going to use themes for each tasting menu. “Cheese” is the current theme. “I thought it would be fun to do a menu based on the cheeses we serve on the cart.”
He only serves domestic cheese on the cart. “I want to showcase American creameries, American dairies.”
An eclair with shallot jam and honey from Hive Bagel & Deli is the first course, or “proper bite.” “Just a small eclair. Instead of pastry cream or Bavarian, we take on a cheese called ‘Shabby Shoe.’”
The cheese, made by Blakesville Creamery in Port Washington, Wisconsin, is based on the French cheese chabichou du Poitou. “This is a goat cheese and the flavor is light and citrusy.”
He mixes the mild cheese with a little salt, pepper, and mascarpone and “puts it in an eclair with dark caramelized shallots. And we drizzle it with honey we get from Hive across the street.”
For the salad, Henssler uses milkweed cheese from Tulip Tree Creamery in Indianapolis, Indiana. “That’s cow’s milk. And that one is different. It has a flavor of hay. Slightly like a mild mushroom flavor.”
It’s a “straightforward dish.” “We just take tomatoes and season them with sea salt and black pepper and let the juices come out. All with different herbs — tarragon, mint, chervil, thyme, basil, dill. We get milk bread and slice it up and sauté it in a hot pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.”
He adds thinly-sliced tomatoes and lets everything slightly cool. “And finish it with the cheese and pine cone bud syrup.”
For the tempura zucchini blossom with ratatouille and lemon aioli, Henssler uses a hand-dipped ricotta. “This is sort of a dish that is something like I did back when I was working in San Francisco. My chef used to fill squash blossoms with crab meat or risotto and fry them.” Henssler fills the squash blossom with ricotta and a little bit of salt and pepper. He dips it in tempura and serves it on diced ratatouille flavored with rosemary and pink peppercorn-infused oil with house oven-dried tomato and lemon aioli.
“That ricotta tastes like really good milk. Almost grassy.”
Henssler uses a sheep’s milk cheese called piedras in his Arborio risotto with basil emulsion and sugar snap peas entree. Blakesville Creamery “only made about 15 of these and I have two of them.”
The cheese has “some earthiness. It has a dry rind, so it has a dusty flavor to it.”
To make the basil emulsion, Henssler purees basil, green garlic, lemon zest, and cultured butter. “You puree that together and get this really bright green bright finish on the risotto. It tastes very fresh and has that bright green color.”
The dessert course is “Blue Cheesecake” made with poached Bosc pears, frisée, and port wine. Bosc is a brown pear that’s firmer than other pears. Henssler poached the pears in port wine last fall. They’ve “been sitting in port wine for five months now.”
Along with the frisée, a type of lettuce, Henssler uses bleu cheese from Moo & Blue Firefly Farms in Indian Mound, Tennessee. “This is more of a soft, sweet, tangy bleu cheese. Not super stinky.”
The port wine reduction and pear adds a sweetness to the bleu cheese in the dessert, which is “more like a quiche.”
Henssler is already thinking about future Thursday night tastings. “Into fall I might want to do some different types of game meat — wild rabbit, wild boar, venison. That type of thing. Maybe you could do five different courses incorporating different shellfish. Or when the cod is in season.”
A five-course menu is “a lot of fun. And that’s why the staff really likes it. It gives us a chance to be creative for a little bit.”
The staff gets to “learn and taste different foods and sell different foods.”
And “guests also get something different.”
Speaking of guests, Henssler recently got a call from his boss asking, “Can you take a party of 20 in an hour and a half?”
The group, which arrived at Amelia Gene’s about 9:15 p.m., included Elon Musk, who ordered a steak and salad, Henssler says. “I’ve been told he had a really good dinner. And that the level of civility, hospitality, the sophistication of the restaurant, and how we were able to accommodate them quickly made him feel it was the right decision to come to Memphis.
“Indirectly, we can take credit for xAI coming to Memphis,” Henssler jokes.
Annabeth Parker and Kelly English (Photos: Michael Donahue)
This year’s Le Bon Appetit fundraiser was better than “bon.” It was “fabuleuse.”
More than 1,000 people attended the sold out Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital fundraiser, which was held June 8th at The Kent. About 33 chefs participated in the event, which featured tastings from local and out-of-town restaurants.
IMAKEMADBEATSLiz Nguyễn and Michael GulottaSarah Cai and Arturo Leighton
“The year was fantastic,” says Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital president Dr. Trey Eubanks. “I’ve been to most of these — I may have missed one year — and this was the best one yet.”
Chef Kelly English, whose restaurants include Restaurant Iris, and Le Bonheur Club hosted the event, which included a new addition, “Le Bon Appetit Late Night,” hosted by English and chef Phillip Dewayne of Park & Cherry.
Rebecca and Jason SeversVictoria and Gene Robinson
Music was by members of Unapologetic and Frances Berry Moreno.
English, a founder of the event, has “just been fabulous. And he’s always tweaking and thinking about what we need to do next time.”
Co-chair Phillip Dewayne “was also incredible in putting his spin on new changes,” Eubanks says, adding “to keep it new and fresh and fun.”
On display at Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library (Photos: Abigail Morici)
In 2012, Mark Loughney committed a crime in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, and went to prison for 10 years for it. He hurt people, he knows and regrets as he looks back, but during his time, he rediscovered his humanity and that of the men incarcerated with him through drawing their portraits by the hundreds. To see those portraits side by side, even just 20 of them, “was really overwhelming to me. And I realized that people need to see that we are people still in prison. And that even though we’re somewhat voiceless, that we can still have a bit of a voice in a way,” Loughney said in an interview with Just City’s Permanent Record podcast.
Those portraits went on to be featured in galleries across the country, including MoMA, and in publications like The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Some of the portraits are on permanent display in Just City’s office here in Memphis.
“He uses his art to deliver the same kind of message that we are trying to deliver at Just City,” says Josh Spickler, Just City’s executive director. That message is one of accountability and one of reforming the justice system to be based in fairness. Since hearing Loughney’s story, Just City has kept in touch with the artist, who has been released and still works on justice-inspired art.
In fact, some of his work is now on display at Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in his “Prison Buddies” exhibition. Unlike the realistic drawings that drew attention to him initially, most of these works are cartoonish portraits of those incarcerated, with a dark sense of humor. “They’re kind of like caricatures of people’s personalities,” Loughney said to Just City. “It kind of spread to people that I was in prison with, who saw them and asked me to do a version of them. And that’s how it all started. And I started to see this real value in them, that there’s such a relatability because they’re very childlike, but they hold such content that is otherwise hard to bridge with people, to talk about these issues like mass incarceration.”
“[Mark] is not alone,” Spickler adds, “in that there are people who are in prisons and they have talent and they have other people who love them. That’s the main reason why we wanted to bring his artwork here — because it helps us think more deeply about what we do as a community when one of us harms another. Mark harmed people, and he was held accountable for it. But he was able to maintain some of his humanity for his art. And we need to work really hard to make sure that that is possible way more often.”
You can listen to Spickler interview Loughney on the Permanent Record wherever you get your podcasts. Check out episodes 45 and 58.
“Prison Buddies,” Goodwyn Gallery at Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar, on display through June 30.
Memphis Reddit users tried to figure out exactly why Kroger seems to only use half of its self-checkout machines, leaving long lines snaking down the aisles. The company wants to pay fewer employees, one said. The move deters shoplifting, said another. Cash-using customers will use a card-only machine and create a headache, one suggested. Many agreed, though, that they hate self-checkout.
Big Boogie
Posted to YouTube by No Jumper
Former Memphis rapper Big Boogie gave an expansive interview on the No Jumper podcast. He talked about why he doesn’t beef or pose with his car, why he left Memphis, and his philosophy on hard work.
“Life ain’t whopping my ass,” he said. “I’m whopping life’s ass.”
Daniel Parker, Jonathan White, Justin White, and Victoria Johnson (Photos: Michael Donhue)
Strangewaze Wednesdaze was held each Wednesday in May. But the final one was held June 5th because it was the rain date for the May 8th event. “There was a chance for tornadoes,” says event co-founder Emily Todd. “And, of course, that didn’t happen.”
Alex Turley and Jamie Harmonharnae Lee and Hasani MadlockZach El-Oglah and Magda Sakaan
Attendance reached 725. Guests dined on free food, listened to music from Yesse Yavis and Tennessee Screamers, and sipped Memphis Made Brewing Company’s Srangewaze pale ale.
Emily and her dad, Mike Todd, began the event, originally known as “Hump Day Happy Hour,” in 2021 as a way to revitalize The Edge and Medical District. “The Edge had a lot of development momentum and interest in the neighborhood prior to Covid. When Covid hit, it slowed down a lot of that momentum.”
Emily ToddMorgan Erdman and Chris Liberto
May events are geared toward people with money, Emily says. “Nothing is really accessible that is free and fun for the majority of residents of Memphis to do. We wanted an equitable, fun, community-activated experience. And we wanted to continue to grow in The Edge and the Medical District because of all the important growth that is happening there.”
Sen. Taylor and Rep. Gillespie on Monday (Photo: Jackson Baker)
District Attorney Steve Mulroy, a Democrat, announced on Monday that he was dropping plans to create a diversion program for previous nonviolent offenders accused of illegal possession of firearms.
But that didn’t stop Republican state Senator Brent Taylor from following through with detailing his previously indicated plan to seek Mulroy’s ouster through legislative means.
“He didn’t pull it because he didn’t think it would have the effect he wanted. He pulled it because I’m on his ass,” Taylor proclaimed bluntly.
There was a significant irony at the heart of Monday’s press conference, which Taylor conducted before a full battery of media at the Jefferson Avenue headquarters of the Memphis Police Association.
And that was that Senator Taylor had characterized the putative diversion program for gun-wielding felons as “the last straw” making his ouster resolution necessary but now insisted his demand for Mulroy’s ouster “was never about the diversion program but … about the DA’s attempt to redefine what crime-and-punishment is in this state.”
Asked by a reporter to detail what some of those other attempts in that regard by Mulroy might have been, Taylor declined, saying, “I’m not going to follow you into that rabbit hole.”
Taylor characterized his ouster effort as being the consequence of numerous conversations he’d had, not only with ordinary citizens and businesspeople but with such legislative eminences as state House Speaker Cameron Sexton and state Senate Speaker/Lt. Governor Randy McNally.
“I believe it’s a conversation, quite frankly, that people have been having in their own homes for a long time,” Taylor said. He described having brought down several legislative colleagues for a look-see, “and every one of them, without fail, have said that Memphis’ crime challenge is much greater than [I] said it was.”
Taylor’s ouster plan, which he vowed to introduce in the next regular session of the General Assembly in January, would require a two-thirds majority in both the state House and the state Senate to succeed. Mulroy, he said, would have full due process by way of defending himself.
Republican state Rep. John Gillespie, who is second only to Senator Taylor, perhaps, in the amount of legislation he has sponsored to impose state authority over law enforcement in Memphis, briefly addressed the press contingent at Taylor’s suggestion, saying the ouster process would be “a drastic measure, but the state has to step in.” He maintained that “until Memphis is safer, I’m going to continue to do everything I can legislatively and through avenues such as this [one] that Senator Taylor has proposed.”
(Though stopping short of endorsing outright Taylor’s ouster proposal, Police Association head Matt Cunningham said he was in general agreement with Senator Taylor’s sentiments on crime control and seemed to suggest that the MPA’s provision of a venue for Taylor on Monday spoke for itself.)
Mulroy would issue a statement later Monday that said of Taylor’s plan, “This is politics, pure and simple. We were No. 1 in the country for violent crime for years before I took office … Rather than disrespecting Shelby County voters by trying to overturn a local election, Sen. Taylor should focus on getting state funding for a local crime lab, raising penalties on ‘Glock switches,’ and letting Shelby County pass sensible gun regulations to stop the flood of guns threatening our safety.”
• After the press conference, Gillespie was asked about his motives in having acquiesced in his GOP colleagues’ carrying out a reapportionment process that many observers, including Jesse Huseth, a Democratic candidate this year for his seat, saw as making District 97 marginally more favorable to Democrats.
Gillespie, who acknowledged that he is considered by some to be a relative political moderate, said he felt comfortable with the district’s demographics. He noted that he has had a Republican primary opponent (the presumably more conservative Christina Oppenhuizen), but, as the year’s politics have developed, he is now more concerned about the threat from the more visibly active Huseth.
So, I go on vacation for two weeks and Memphis lands a deal with Elon Musk — “the world’s richest man” — to build the largest supercomputer in the world in the former Electrolux plant. What?
From a BnB in upstate New York last week, I read a well-reported (if slightly breathless) story in the Daily Memphian, wherein reporter Sophia Surrett told the behind-the-scenes chronicle of how the Greater Memphis Chamber, led by CEO Ted Townsend, managed to convince Musk to bring his multi-billion-dollar project to the Bluff City. Selling points included our city’s ample water supply, cheap land costs, and the chamber’s willingness to work fast. Memphis was pitched in a zoom meeting with Musk and his associates in March, while Townsend was in Austin for SXSW. Musk apparently liked what he heard and over the next three months, the deal was consummated.
If things go according to plan, the former Electrolux facility will soon house a tech startup called xAI and will, according to an unnamed source in the Daily Memphian story, create “less than 200 jobs.” It will use approximately 1 million gallons of water per day, about 1 percent of the city’s current daily use. In addition, xAI will need up to 150 megawatts of electricity to run the facility — enough energy to power 100,000 homes.
Local environmental groups, including Protect Our Aquifer, issued a cautionary statement: “Before we welcome xAI with open arms, we must consider how an industry using such a tremendous amount of electricity will further impact communities already overwhelmed with pollution and a high energy burden, such as those around the xAI facility in Southwest Memphis. … Will xAI bear the cost of TVA’s fuel adjustment fee in times of high energy demand? … With our recent history of severe weather events and rolling blackouts, TVA and Memphis Light, Gas & Water must work closely with this facility to keep energy use off peak-demand hours. … During times of emergency, our utility providers must have a plan to ensure that residents receive the power and water they need ahead of corporate demand.”
Good points, all. There is some talk that xAI will get involved in building a system that will use wastewater or river water to handle its cooling needs, but it’s just talk at this point. However it goes, this appears to be a big deal. And Musk is a big deal, a guy who sends Space X rockets and Starlink satellites into space, builds futuristic Tesla cars (and goofy trucks), and owns X (formerly Twitter), the world’s largest news and social-messaging platform.
But that raises — or should — another concern: Musk, who says that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, has configured X’s algorithm to ensure that his voice is the most prominent on the platform, meaning he has 187 million followers who can see his posts. He is a mega-influencer.
He’s also an anti-vaxxer who recently posted a photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci under the caption: “You’re all beagles to me. Crimes Against Humanity.” Additionally, Musk is anti-trans, anti-DEI, pro-Trump, pro-Tucker Carlson, anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia, and has retweeted the “scientific” graphs of @eyeslasho, which claim to prove that “Black people in the US are overwhelmingly more criminally violent than whites.” Not a great look for a CEO looking to set up in a majority Black city. Musk has also retweeted some blatantly anti-semitic X posts. A real peach, this guy.
To put this in some sort of context, however strained, there is little doubt that other business and corporate leaders — in Memphis and elsewhere — share some of Musk’s beliefs and politics. The general attitude of those looking to expand their city’s economic base, i.e. political leaders and business types like those in the Greater Chamber, is to downplay (or ignore) such things as long as the greater good — jobs, investment, and a bump for the city’s reputation — is achieved. CEOs gonna CEO, the thinking goes.
By that measure, it appears that Memphis has landed a big fish, one that will maybe bring a few more fish in its wake and provide more good-paying jobs than the 200 initially surmised. But the bottom line on the xAI deal is yet to be determined. And how — or if — this transaction will benefit the Memphis economy or the average Memphian is unknown. Musk is a wild card, given to mercurial, offensive, and impulsive moves. Call him the X factor.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I love being logical and reasonable! The scientific method is one of my favorite ways to understand how the world works. I am a big fan of trying to ascertain the objective facts about any situation I am in. However, I also love being intuitive and open to mystical perceptions. I don’t trust every one of my feelings as an infallible source of truth, but I rely on them a lot to guide my decisions. And I also believe that it’s sometimes impossible to figure out the objective facts. In the coming weeks, Aries, I suggest you give more weight than usual to the second set of perspectives I described. Don’t be crazily illogical, but proceed as if logic alone won’t provide the insights you need most.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In their book Your Symphony of Selves, Jordan Gruber and James Fadiman propose a refreshing theory about human nature. They say that each of us is a community of multiple selves. It’s perfectly natural and healthy for us to be an amalgam of various voices, each with distinctive needs and forms of expression. We should celebrate our multifaceted identity and honor the richness it affords us. According to my analysis of astrological omens, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to exult in your own symphony of selves and make it a central feature of your self-understanding.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, you launched a journey that will finally culminate soon. What a long, strange, and interesting trip it has been! The innovations you activated during that time have mostly ripened, though not entirely. The hopes that arose in you have brought mixed results, but the predominant themes have been entertaining lessons and soulful success. I hope you will give yourself a congratulatory gift, dear Gemini. I hope you will luxuriate in a ritual celebration to commemorate your epic journey. The process hasn’t been perfect, but even the imperfections have been magical additions to your life story.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I suspect you may have metaphorical resemblances to a lightning rod in the coming weeks. Just in case I’m right, I urge you not to stroll across open fields during thunderstorms. On the other hand, I recommend that you be fully available to receive bolts of inspiration and insight. Put yourself in the presence of fascinating events, intriguing people, and stirring art. Make yourself ready and eager for the marvelous.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “It’s hard to get lost if you don’t know where you’re going,” said experimental filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. He’s implying that there’s potential value in getting lost. Unexpected discoveries might arrive that contribute to the creative process. But that will only happen if you first have a clear vision of where you’re headed. Jarmusch’s movies benefit from this approach. They’re fun for me to watch because he knows exactly what he wants to create but is also willing to get lost and wander around in search of serendipitous inspirations. This is the approach I recommend for you in the coming weeks, dear Leo.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Does any person or institution own a part of you? Has anyone stolen some of your power? Does anyone insist that only they can give you what you need? If there are people who fit those descriptions, Virgo, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to fix the problems. According to my understanding of life’s rhythms, you can summon the ingenuity and strength to reclaim what rightfully belongs to you. You can recover any sovereignty and authority you may have surrendered or lost.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In ancient Greek myth, Sisyphus was a forlorn character punished by the gods. He was required to push a boulder from the bottom to the top of a hill. But each time he neared the peak, the big rock, which had been enchanted by the crabby god Zeus, slipped away and rolled back down the hill. The story says that Sisyphus had to do this for all eternity. If there have been even minor similarities between you and him, Libra, that will change in the coming months. I predict you will finally succeed — is this your fifth attempt? — in finishing a task or project that has, up until now, been frustrating.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Is it possible to reap spiritual epiphanies while having sex? Can intense physical pleasure be a meditation that provokes enlightened awareness? Can joy and bliss bring learning experiences as valuable as teachings that arise from suffering? Here are my answers to those three questions, Scorpio, especially for you during the next four weeks: yes, yes, and yes. My astrological ruminations tell me that you are primed to harvest divine favors as you quest for delight.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your animal magnetism and charisma could be wildly potent in the coming weeks. I’m worried that as a result, you may be susceptible to narcissistic feelings of entitlement. You will be extra attractive, maybe even irresistible! But now that you have received my little warning, I hope you will avoid that fate. Instead, you will harness your personal charm to spread blessings everywhere you go. You will activate a generosity of spirit in yourself that awakens and inspires others. Do not underestimate the electrifying energy pouring out of you, Sagittarius. Vow to make it a healing medicine and not a chaotic disruptor.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’ve had thousands of crucial teachers. There would be no such thing as me without their life-changing influences. Among that vast array have been 28 teachers whose wisdom has been especially riveting. I feel gratitude for them every day. And among those 28 have been five geniuses who taught me so much so fast in a short period of time that I am still integrating their lessons. One of those is Capricorn storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade. I offer you these thoughts because I suspect you are close to getting a major download from a guide who can be for you what Meade has been for me. At the very least, you will engage with an educational source akin to my top 28.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In one of my previous lifetimes, I was a bricoleur — a collector and seller of junk who reused the castaway stuff in new ways. That’s one reason why, during my current destiny, I am a passionate advocate for recycling, renewal, and redemption — both in the literal and metaphorical senses. I am tuned in to splendor that might be hidden within decay, treasures that are embedded in trash, and bliss that can be retrieved from pain. So I’m excited about your prospects in the coming weeks, Aquarius. If you so desire, you can specialize in my specialties.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Some people imagine that being creative means having nonstop spontaneous fun. They think it’s primarily exuberant, adventurous, and liberating. As a person who prizes imaginative artistry, I can testify that this description is accurate some of the time. But more often, the creative process involves meticulous organization and discipline, periods of trial-and-error experimentation, and plenty of doubt and uncertainty. It’s hard work that requires persistence and faith. Having said that, Pisces, I am happy to say you are now in a phase when the freewheeling aspects of creativity will be extra available. You’re more likely than usual to enjoy spontaneous fun while dreaming up novel ideas and fresh approaches. Channel this energy into an art form or simply into the way you live your life.
