Zodiac Signs

Madonna blue
This is a picture of Jyodo-daira, where, some say, stars are seen most clearly in Japan.
I have been there many times since I was a high school student.
Some years ago, when I was walking from Azuma-lodge to the astronomic observatory under the full moon, I happened to see a great many beautiful flowers of gentians in full bloom fantastically shining in the splendid moonlight.
I have never forgot the countless cups of madonna-blue, which I painted on the canvas of my memory.
Note by KAGAYA

Aries is the trail blazer and the pathfinder, they are great starters of things but they soon hand it over to someone else to finish while they search for new worlds to conquer! That is their role in life and the reason that the sun is exalted in the Aries sign as it is here the will is given free rein to express itself. Aries are born leaders and teachers, their teaching is felt more in the relationships they have with others, for example, getting people to see their own actions in a new way or a different light. Everyone benefits who has associations with the higher, more evolved type of Arian.

Force as being a part of the Arian nature, means that you should not be afraid of being forceful when circumstances dictate that you should be. If there have been circumstances in your life which made you a victim of force at an early age then you may see fear creeping in and, if you for this reason, do not allow yourself to exhibit your true nature it will lead to suppression and inner turmoil. Suppressing the natural urges, especially when needed to right a wrong to yourself or someone else can also lead to guilt and actual, bodily ailments.

You absolutely love a challenge that will stir you to action. The monetary rewards will not be as attractive as the inner satisfaction you get from meeting and overcoming these challenges and leaving your opponents in your heel dust. And, Aries, you were also that weird little kid in school that couldn't wait to take a test to prove you were more capable than your classmates. You always have to be the best at what you do, anything less just does not make any sense to you; you will not accept your own excuses even though you let the world believe them. Arians make very good friends and will be ready and able to help you solve your problems with the same zeal and conviction that he/she attacks his/her own.

Aries is an extremist, physical, mental, and most assuredly, emotional. But if you are not careful you could go too far and become a social outcast, in which case you would be extremely lonely. ; You are the champion of the underdog and are known to climb up on the soap box anytime or place. You inject new life into your surroundings as you are always emerging into life, spurring others on to come out of the darkness and into the light. Aries is a survivor and even during adversity or perhaps starvation you are apt to ask yourself, "It's not too bad yet, when will the bad times start?".

Taurus can be selfish and stubborn but with all that baggage the Taurean makes a good person to depend on, following through with any promises to help or, in matters of family responsibilities, seeing that their needs are met over and beyond what one would expect. While the Taurean is possessive and greedy it usually shows up in dietary habits if it is not readily apparent in human relationships. What a Taurean owns, belongs to Taurus and NO ONE ELSE! It is the sign that is closer to the earth than all the others and therefore the Taurus may have to battle the baser urges more than most.

The main possession of a Taurus is their sense of oneness and harmony with the earth. When Taurus has gotten in tune with this inner sense then he/she will no longer feel harassed into trying to gain all the money and possessions they feel they want just to supplement a feeling that Taurus was not quite able to comprehend. Taurus has a positive effect on other peoples lives due to their inner sense of calmness and peace that acts as an inspiration. Taurians have an earthly wisdom that is much sought after
which makes Taurus a popular person with his peers.

There is a darker side to his/her earthly wisdom and oneness which is the Taurians most dangerous side if not kept under control and mastered. These traits are , inertia, sluggishness and 'the beast'....grossness which comes about as a result of the fear of changes or of things that Taurians are afraid he/she cannot handle. When they are overtaken with these fears he/she will quickly attract those that will irritate him/her to the point of making the changes, fear or no fear and it is then that stability reasserts itself.

Ultimately you must decide on, lay claim on, and hold to the highest values, discarding all those things in your life that is of lesser importance. This way will Taurus be able to meet the challenges laid out for him/her by the stars on the day the Taurian was born. You must root out and overthrow the tendencies of greed and jealousy as vibrating to a higher level leaves no place in their life for such qualities.

One of the biggest problems for a you as a person born in Gemini to overcome is the dual mindedness given by the sign which encourages the changing of the mind, or decisions, large or small, with no apparent reason, either to themselves or to others, and thereby irritating, more than harming, other people. A Gemini will sometimes give you the shirt right off the back and, perhaps the next day, for no reason at all, will refuse to give you the time of day; this is how you got the reputation of being contentous and hard to get along with. Some of you Geminians love to stir up trouble and then go away and laugh about it.

With all this odd behavior you will find as a Gemini you are loving and caring, almost maternal in your actions toward those who are down or in need. Geminians are very versatile. Mythologically, the heavenly twins known as Castor and Pollux divided their time between living on Earth and living in Heaven; this is indicative of a certain quality in you,the Geminian, the quality of being able to live in a pure abstract, or fantasy world and at the same time you will turn your hand to any task no matter how simple or hard.

You collect wit and knowledge where ever you find it, although it could be only surface knowledge or short lived. You are forever young with a playful and endearing personality; not wanting to spend much time alone, you will hunt up your fun and companions. You have a lively imagination and you are therefore one of the most creative of all the signs, be it in entertaining yourself or actually inventing something.

You are a great juggler of people and/or situations and can keep a tricky issue up in the air until it looks like you will lose it all, then you appear in another place, still juggling. You have a great gift of gab and can talk your way out of almost everything, even to the point of making others doubt their very eyes. You may be prone to a touch of paranoia, looking over your shoulder and feeling that the world will find you out. Some of you should guard against being a chatterbox or telling other peoples secrets; learn to respect your own goals and dreams and realize that they are worth every minute spent to obtain them.

The essence of the Cancerian personality can be boiled down to one word, sensitivity, when examined is a maze of winding roads that can lead anywhere and everywhere. These winding roads actually start at birth with the inborn instinct for survival and his or her utter dependence on the world, and the fear born of this dependency. While you have the innate desire to succeed gloriously in the world, you also have a resentment that grows with each instance of facing the harsh realities in living. Cancer will do well to learn to seek to protect rather than to seek protection as this will help you change your negative leanings into a positive attitude that will guide you through adversity.

Cancer will find their greatest security within the structure of a family setting due to the maternal side and the need to protect those in his or her charge. There is a homey feel about Cancer that draws the other signs; You have the ability to attune to the moods of others quickly or to change their moods to suit yours; you should not underestimate your effect on people and you should learn to use this ability wisely and not just for personal gain.

When Cancer does not attempt to control the personality
then everyone around is in trouble as the negative Cancer is not a pleasant person to know. Negative Cancer becomes sulky when the desires are not met; the tendency is that the world owes them something and they will collect from everyone around, if this Cancer is denied, then that person will be dropped from his or her life, even if it is close family members. Negative Cancer finds it hard to hold a job and will quit at even imaginary slights. The negative Cancer will not take orders and is the most likely to wind up in the guardhouse if in the services.

You have a very sentimental nature, an incurable romantic, and you love nice things around you. You have a good memory, of both slights and favors done for you, you must learn to forgive and forget in order to ward off the dark depressions you find yourself falling into. In any case, you are the most emotional of all the signs and must learn to deal with them, but when you do, look out world--here comes positive Cancer to conquer and reap all they survey!

Leo has a great deal of self confidence but they also have a great fear of being ridiculed and made to feel disgraced. While Leo is very affectionate there is a tendency to have things their way and may rapidly lose interest if they are challenged too often for the leading role. They will have to learn to discipline themselves against their overall enthusiasm for living life to the fullest, which is to say, dangerously on the edge. The creative urge in Leos should never be stifled as to do so a good deal of potential will be wasted.

Leos are found as painters, actors, or sculptors; but not all Leos are in the public arts, no, rather they can be found in the throes of creation doing their projects on the kitchen table. They have an infectious vitality that lights up their lives like an inner sun and illuminates not only their lives, but the lives of those around them. Lack of fulfillment in life, professionally or personally, can destroy these bright and shinning people and cloud their personalities.Leos need control in their lives to be really satisfied so organization is absolutely essential to their peace of mind.

A leo should cultivate a flexible mind as they do not always 'know best'.
Only when this trait is cultivated can the characteristic Leonine warmth, generosity, and desire to really understand others be fully indulged.

The lions love and adore children as they bring out the inner child. Leos are surprisingly sensitive and easily hurt, but they do have a tendency to dominate and this should never be underestimated. It is always meant well as they only want to bring out the best in the people they care about, or work with. They also tend toward impatience and they should make curbing these traits a lifelong objective. Born leaders, they can take command of a situation in any emergency and see it through to its completion. The enthusiams they acquired in childhood will generally last a lifetime and may even dictate the career one would choose.

They can be too status conscious, causing themselves much anguish when, or if, they cannot keep up with others in their immediate circle. They can also be quite overbearing and vain when they feel they are being challenged. On the other hand, the lions make great lovers and parents, giving more to a relationship than most of the other signs. They are good honorable persons and good providers.

By Mercury being placed in Virgo you have an unusual ability to reason that is lacking in other signs. Not that you are more intelligent but rather that you lean towards the logical in all you think, and sometimes this may not be the best thing as there has to be some of the odd, unusual things in life that you will have to learn to accept that does not seem to have any order, logic, or reason. You do find it easier to think than to do anything else, better than most other people for that matter. You must guard against living in your head and not in the world.

You have a computer like memory that allows you to be able to assimilate a large amount of information and then present it to the masses in a more understandable manner. You are very good at expressing this type of thing but when it comes to something close to your heart, such as love or compassion, you find it hard to let the other person know and can thus appear to be aloof and cold. You have a tendency to get out of sorts and become 'picky' with those around you which makes for some unforgiven hard feelings in the future.

You can be argumentative, critical, nervous and tense and if you do not make a special effort to overcome these you will lose many friends and loved ones throughout your lifetime without a clue as to why. Virgoans are the critics of the Zodiac which I feel is an offshoot of their lack of self-confidence. A big job ahead for all Virgoans is to build up self-confidence and their acceptance of the fact that everyone cannot be the same as he or she is; learn to live and let live.

As Virgo is the sign of the harvest you spend most of your time separating the wheat from the chaff and most of your life trying to take away the useless from the useful, thus working your way to a state of subconscious purity, (the principle of the Vestal Virgin). Are you the purist or the puritan? The purist trusts his or her inherent goodness to keep them separate from any unwholesome involvement with potentially corrupting elements in our society. The puritan is the picky, squeaky clean type who will never be pure in self and who searchs for it but cannot find it in others: therefore, the criticisms.

When you are expressing the positive qualities in your life you are mainly concerned with art and creativity and maintaining a good set of values that you use as you try to relate to those around you in peace and justice. The sun being in its fall within your sign means that most of your actions are dictated by others but in order to be balanced you must learn to offset your obliging nature with an iron clad will that you will have to work hard at acquiring so that you will learn to make hard and fast decisions and not be swayed from them when push comes to shove.

Your sign is the only one where your symbol is an object and not a human being or an animal. This shows that you may be living your life as an immaculate concept rather than as a living, breathing, fallible, creature. You must allow yourself to make mistakes (and take full responsibility for them) just like the rest of the world; in this way, balancing your life, you will find your greatest happiness. After you have established that you have a good set of values you can rely on your natural charm to keep your romantic relationships on an even keel.

Your sense of harmony attracts many relationships, personal one on one or in business, either way you must depend on your inner sense to balance these and create harmony in your life and surroundings. Libra is the sign of the peacemaker and a cardinal sign which means that you are supposed to be an initiator of social activities, not simply a response to them. Being the peacemaker you can solve conflicts and disagreements using your art of dealing with others rather than ignoring the problems that have shown themselves to you.

You must guard against letting the negative steal into your life which will definitely make you very unhappy. You could become superficial and lazy, self-indulgent and greedy, demanding and underhanded, or an insincere yes person. You have the tendency to become vain and class conscious and if you are not diligent in rooting these tendencies out early in life you could become a complaining, easily upset person who thinks he or she knows it all thus driving away the very people who are important to your happiness. You have the potential to be a wonderful, likable, and kind human being. Endeavor to live up to it.

Scorpios inspired can exceed all limits in almost all endeavors. Yet Scorpios are often filled with envy, an attack of the green eyed monster, so jealousy may be one of your worst traits. This emotion will not only touch on your personal relationships but it extends outward to take in the whole scope of your acquaintances from colleagues to other peoples possessions or accomplishments. You can use this emotion and let it act as an incentive to spur you on to your own great achievements amd success.

The part of the body ruled by Pluto in Scorpio is the privates and this is possibly where the sign gets its reputation for being more passionate than the other signs but this is not the case although they need just as much fulfilment as everyone else and they may suffer more if they don't achieve it. Not every Scorpio is so inclined using their energy to channel these drives in a number of diverse ways; the males through sports or a highly competitive outlook in business, and the female may throw most of her energies into becoming the perfect housewife, fashion model, CEO, etc.
A Scorpio should become emotionally involved in his or her work. The emotional security is needed after becoming financially secure and will throw all they have into seeing their efforts pay off in a successful endeavor, and are willing to work hard to achieve this and raise their standard of living. Their energy may sometime seem to be devoted only to making money. Others will find they have to strive a little harder to find ways of directing this energy and reaching their potential heights.

Moderation is not an easy task for these folks but they should keep on a healthy diet with a small amount of exercise each day, not becoming a fanatic on the subject of health at all costs. An avid interest in any kind of sport or exercise regimen could result in strain unless moderation is practiced and a tight self discipline employed. Scorpios relationships are stormy but intensely interesting as long as the spouse is an emotional type also.

The combination of horse and man shows a combination of a powerful intellect teamed with physical strength and energy. In this, the second of the 'dual' signs, changes will be seen while mind and body act as one. Sagittarians will always excel when faced with a challenge as they have this need of challenge inherit within them. The children of Sagittarius can be very foolhardy and risk takers; it is for this reason that they should develop their intellectual powers to avoid taking these risks.

Cultivating a more philosophical outlook in order to curb the normally boisterous exuberance that leads many down the wrong path in life will be a hard undertaking. This sign conveys a great range of vision and the ability to assess a complex situation quickly and gain control; however, coping with details is boring to them and for this reason they should always read the entire document before signing on the dotted line. You have a charming sense of humor but you can let it get out of hand; practical jokes are never funny to the victims.

No true Sagittarian can
cope with a jealous, possessive spouse and this partner will not last long in their affections. Being an independent spirit they will not tolerate any restrictions of personal freedoms. Younger ones will look first at the physical attraction of their intended but the older, wiser, one will look for someone with at least the intellect to match their own and with whom they can be friends. Enthusiasm in a child of Sagittarius is so wonderfully apparent it should be channeled and not frittered away. The children are often boisterous and will need to be calmed down; their area of interests should be examined and encouraged.

Sagittarians make good parents but must be careful to reserve time for themselves and not give everything, sacrificing their own interests to those of the child. A sagittarian must have challenge in his or her work. Acquiring money is not a burning issue for them but they can usually find it when needed. You can be a spendthrift or even a selfish person when it comes to buying what you want first and buying for everyone else later.

The outgoing, positive polarity of Capricorn is applied on a practical basis to his or her everyday life. The negativity of this sign gives the children of Capricorn the ability to withdraw from a situation and wait for the right opportunity to further their ambitions. One type of this sign is like the sure footed mountain goat, that is forever climbing and attaining greater heights. The other type is the domesticated goat that is kept on a lead and is forever striving to do something but can never quite make it. Positive Capricorns are reliable and along with other good attributes, they have a dry but good sense of humor.

Their positive traits are being practical, ambitious, prudent efficient, persistent and patient. They are ruled by the concentrated energy of Saturn. They can be very cold and distant, pessimistic, almost intolerably conventional. Time is always of the utmost importance to them due to Saturns influence. They are slow to develop, requiring more time than others but at middle age they seem to reach a point where it seems they will never age; not changing for decades. The worst problem that Capricorn seems to have is psychological in nature.

Their wavering self confidence can greatly disturb them as one minute they could rule a nation and the next, self doubt sets in and they feel inadequate for the most minor jobs; they are comfortable in some spheres of activity and not so in others. They may feel sure they can manage and cope with their job but have not the confidence to think they can establish and maintain a personal relationship. This is a direct cause of not being able to see themselves as clearly as others see them so they underestimate their own abilities. They should accept compliments from others and learn to believe them.

Problems may cause some digestive difficulties which can lead to ulcers or skin disorders. Setting a stress alleviating regimen will go far to preventing these disorders and make you more efficient in your endeavors, thus building your own self image up to where it should be. You can be too easily depressed, even by minor setbacks and annoyances. You should get more exercise to reduce the tension as well as making music a part of your life, either playing or listening. Use your inherent rational qualities and make room in your life for the spiritual as well as the material.

Your need for independence should not be neglected as it is essential that you develop and sustain the right lifestyle. In many ways you are the quiet, retiring person who prefers his or her privacy even though you have a reputation for being friendly, this is linked mainly to the fact that you always want to be helpful so anyone that needs it will be able to look to you. You will approach other peoples problems as you do your own, without emotion, logically and detached. As long as your views and privacy are respected you make a wonderful friend.

Your positive traits are originality, idealism, plus you are independent and honest. The more often you allow yourself to express the positive side of your nature that is how often you will feel fulfilled and you will see your life as a wonderful adventure. You have the power to help people to overcome their problems and you are seen as a bright spot in many lives. When young you are usually leaders of your generation but you should try not to cling to youthful opinions and lose that forward looking nature to ultra-conservatism. Awareness of the problem will go far to combat it.


You rarely lose hope due to your positive and optimistic outlook on life even when life gets difficult. Aquarius is an air sign and you must realize that aquarians need air, both physically and metaphorical. You must also realize just how stubborn you can be and should try to counter the tendency. You must not let your originality become too perverse as then others will be embarrassed or seriously annoyed. The Aquarian independence can also make themselves very remote from others thereby causing the Aquarian some emotional problems.

They often find it hard to let anyone into their lives; close emotional relationships for Aquarians are much more difficult than for any other sign. They find it hard to settle into and sustain one due to their powerful need for independence. Closeness for them means modifying their lifestyle and tolerating an invasion of their privacy, both material and psychological but when and if they do allow this to happen,(they do have a strong romantic streak), they will be very committed and true. Aquarian originality and the need to be different shows up early in childhood.

The upstream of the two fish show that you fight against the 'currents'; that you make an effort to overcome the negative aspects and happenings in your life by looking for inspiration, while at the same time you are willing to share those inspirations with others. Perhaps pushing yourself and others too hard.

The fish in the opposite direction suggest exactly what you would think; you feel, sometimes, as though everyone will eventually get to the point they are aiming for so why put forth the effort. The downstream fish does not have a goal or very much ambition but, Basically, the upstream one has a point to its life but can push so hard that it completely misses the mark.

The contradictions in your nature show that you are plotting a course to your objectives while the other side of you says, "why bother"?, This type of inner turmoil can cause you to give people all manner of impressions about you, such as: A genuine altruist to a subtle manipulator, or from the mystic to the misfit. The cause of these misleading impressions are your inner sense of feeling that all is one and one is all; you can do anything, or be anyone. In other words, you can be all things to all people.

You are a caring and sympathetic human being but rather than let the world know just how soft hearted you are you have found many ways to camouflage your immense sensitivity. This is also the trait that lets you present one thing as being another, done so that you can enlighten those who listen to you and look to you for help.
You make good, loving parents and your sensitivity allows you to understand the emotional needs of your children. Some Pisceans do not make good wives or husbands as they find it hard to give up their favorite game of flirting and the ego boost of getting a response from the opposite sex. It is hard to respond to a partner, on any level, when you are caught in a net of the fear of being found out.

You are good at understanding others and yourself, more so than any other sign. This is also the sign of the true, and gifted, mystic.You are appreciative of people in all walks of life although you occasionally complain about their ways you usually go back into your usual mode of acceptance, giving everyone the right to act for themselves. You root for the underdog and champion lost causes but they only serve to remind you that joy and sorrow are one and sensitivity is synonymous with suffering.