#gold chart analysis

[contrarythinker]

Take four minutes to read this post, its timely and critical

[lifeprediction]

When investing money, the timing is just as important as the investment itself. On the special occasion of Dhanteras, the best time to make investments is during the “Shubh Muhurat,” which is a special time when the positions of the planets are favourable for financial success and always bring good luck.

[dragonflycap]

What to expect from the stock market this week

Last week, the review of the macro market indicators saw with the inflation reports behind us, equity markets showed strength with the SPY ending at an all-time high. Elsewhere looked for Gold ($GLD) to continue its uptrend while Crude Oil ($USO) consolidated in a broad range. The US Dollar Index ($DXY) continued to move to the upside while US Treasuries ($TLT) consolidated in their downtrend. The Shanghai Composite ($ASHR) looked to reverse lower while Emerging Markets ($EEM) consolidate the start of an uptrend.

The Volatility Index ($VXX) looked to remain low making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts looked strong, especially the $SPY and $QQQ on the longer timeframe. On the shorter timeframe both the QQQ and SPY were now ready to resume the move higher. The $IWM looked a bit less powerful but was holding near resistance, a good show of relative strength for the small caps.

The week played out with Gold chugging higher and ending at a new all-time high while Crude Oil fell back in the broad consolidation. The US Dollar met resistance at a lower high at the end of the week while Treasuries printed a Dead Cat Bounce after finding support Monday. The Shanghai Composite continued lower toward the September month end gap while Emerging Markets turned consolidation into a falling wedge.

Volatility drifted down to the lowest close of the month. This gave equities some breathing room and they rose to to start the week with the SPY printing a new all-time high Monday. All gave back some gains midweek before recovering to finish the week strong. This left the SPY back at the high, the QQQ near the October high and the IWM holding at nearly 3 year highs. What does this mean for the coming week? Let’s look at some charts.

SPY Daily, $SPY

The SPY came into the week at a new all-time high. It started off on the right foot making another one on Monday but ended out of the Bollinger Bands® on the daily chart. That led to a pullback on Tuesday and small reversal higher on Wednesday. Thursday broke higher as well with a gap up at the open, but it did not hold and then another gap up Friday held with the SPY ending at a new all-time high. The RSI is rising in the bullish zone with the MACD positive and climbing as those Bollinger Bands point higher.

The weekly chart shows a 6th consecutive move higher as it makes some separation from the 161.8% extension of the retracement of the 2022 drop. The RSI is making a higher high, negating a possible momentum divergence with the MACD crossed up and rising. There is resistance at 585 above. Support comes at 580 and 574.50 then 571.50 and 565.50 before 561.50 and 556.50. Uptrend.

SPY Weekly, $SPY

With the October Options Expiration in the books, equity markets showed some strength battling against a narrative of slower Fed cuts. Elsewhere look for Gold to continue its uptrend while Crude Oil drops in consolidation. The US Dollar Index may reverse the short term uptrend while US Treasuries pullback in consolidation. The Shanghai Composite looks to drop back from its spike while Emerging Markets stall in their move higher.

The Volatility Index looks to remain low making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts look strong, especially on the longer timeframe. On the shorter timeframe the SPY is leading the way higher with the QQQ slowly battling back to its high and the IWM poking its head up perhaps to make another attempt at a run higher. Use this information as you prepare for the coming week and trad’em well.

Join the Premium Users and you can view the Full Version with 20 detailed charts and analysis: Macro Week in Review/Preview October 18, 2024

[blueiscoool]

Carrot Harvest Helped Metal Detectorist FindA Ancient Coins Hoard

When Alan Baxter found a medieval ring in a farmer's field he knew there could be more ancient artefacts nearby - but the stubble from the thick oat crop made it difficult for his metal detector to get anywhere near the ground. So he waited.

Four years later the farmer had planted and harvested carrots.

"It must have had a deep plough when the carrots got lifted and I could get my detector right to the soil," the 44-year-old said.

"Every 3ft I was getting a signal. I couldn't move, there was stuff everywhere.

"I didn't want to go home."

The highlight of his haul in 2022 was a hoard of farthings from the reign of 15th Century Scottish King James III.

"I got my first one and I knew it was really rare because I know my coins," he said.

"After that it was just like a tap, it just kept on going, and over the course of a few weeks I pulled 52 of them."

The 500-year-old coins, which were made of copper and were worth a quarter of a penny, were in very good condition, Mr Baxter, from Falkirk, said.

The coins are irregular shapes. They have the Saltire - the cross of St Andrew - on one side and a crown on the other.

"To hold something that's hundreds of years old for the first time is extraordinary," he said.

"You get a real buzz going up and down your body which lasts all day and all night."

An expert at the National Museum of Scotland said it was the first hoard of James III farthings to be found since 1919.

Metal detectorists need to ask for permission from landowners to search on their land and anything they find must be handed into the Treasure Trove for analysis and recording.

Under Scottish law all finds of archaeological, historical or cultural significance must be reported and can be claimed by the Crown.

Neither detectorists nor landowners have ownership rights to any archaeological finds made in Scotland. Finds that are allocated to a museum through the Treasure Trove system are usually acknowledged by an award paid to the detectorist.

Detectorists generally split the money with the landowner.

Mr Baxter has detected at many sites, all of which he keeps a closely guarded secret. They include the 14-acre fields in Fife where he has now found more than 500 pieces ranging from the Bronze Age to the medieval period.

"I go along to farmers' doors with my portfolio of previous finds and show them what I do and ask them for permission to detect on their land," he said.

"You try to make yourself presentable, you put gel in your hair and wash your car and turn up in nice clothes.

"I hate getting permission because it's quite awkward speaking to the landowner. Farmers are busy and the last thing they want to do is speak to a wee guy asking for metal detecting permission."

The James III hoard has been put into the British numismatics journal, which charts the best finds in the country.

It also includes two Balliol coins which Mr Baxter discovered at the site in Fife. These farthings are extremely rare and are the only two to have ever been found in Scotland.

John Balliol reigned as king of Scotland from 1292 to 1296.

The find was allocated to the National Museums of Scotland and £5,000 was paid out.

Mr Baxter has also found 69 medieval coins from the reign of English King Edward I, whose armies invaded Scotland at the end of the 13th Century.

The medieval ring, which was his first find on the Fife site, dates between the 13th and 14th century.

"Initially I thought it was a bottle top because when it came out of the ground I could see the silver edges," Mr Baxter said.

"I saw the writing at the side and the big clasped hands at the front and I thought: 'That's a medieval ring'.

"It was just a great feeling to see it because it was a sunny day and it was twinkling away and it was in really good condition because it's been coated in gold, which has protected it from the soil."

Mr Baxter, who works as a lab technician, said he believed it was a betrothal ring.

"It would have been a higher status individual who owned it," he said.

"It weighs 9.5g, it's a heavy piece. A medieval penny would weigh about 1.2g, so that's about seven medieval pennies, so it wouldn't have been a peasant who owned that at the time."

The ring is silver but it has been coated in gold. It was eight inches down in the ground when his detector picked it up.

Mr Baxter, who has written a book entitled Making history: My Life As a Scottish Metal Detectorist, said it was hard for people to understand how difficult it was to find ancient artefacts.

He said: "In a general field 90% of the time there will be nothing in it.

"You could go in all the fields on the right and left along the M9 from Falkirk to Edinburgh and there would be nothing in them apart from modern Victorian stuff or Georgian stuff.

"It's hard to get stuff that's beyond 500 and 600 years old because the population was a lot lower."

Mr Baxter said a field could be full of medieval items, but detectors were not going to find them if the crops were too high.

"Then it comes down to knowledge and the best conditions," he said.

"You need to know that the crops need to be soft cut.

"Barley and wheat is softer than oats. When oats get cut the stubble is really hard.

"And obviously the carrot harvest was the best."

By Angie Brown.

[suffersinfandom]

A Summary of The OFMD Meta (Part II)

This is part two of an incomplete summary of A Meta-Discussion Of The Subtext by meratrishoslee (Mera) on AO3 (linked to, as the author requests). I’m trying to stay impartial and keep all of the important bits in.

This chunk includes chapters nine through fourteen, which is mostly an analysis of the entire show (stopping at the end of S2E7 because the chapters on the finale are massive, lol). The overarching thesis of this bit is this: “Ed’s the face, head/mind and body of Blackbeard, Izzy is Blackbeard’s heart/soul -- as well as the heart of the show itself.”

Other posts Part I

Chapter 9: Either Madness or Brilliance

This chapter is a screenshot-heavy analysis of OFMD season one “as seen through the lens of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,’ with specific emphasis on what this means for Izzy Hands and his character arc.”

Izzy is compared most directly to Captain Jack Sparrow. “He often tells the truth but no one listens or believes him, because at first he seems more than a bit ridiculous. [...] But he still saves people anyway, even people he doesn’t know; that’s part of how we know he’s a good guy deep down even when he seems like a bad guy at times.” He is “the Betrayed Pirate, because, as we find out later, his crew betrayed him because they wanted something gold and shiny more than they wanted him.”

Ed is primarily compared to both Will Turner “the Tragic Young Man”)  and Captain Barbossa (“the Bearded Pirate”). Stede is, of course, Elizabeth Swan (“the fancy protagonist”). 

“...While our Tragic Young Man does have some (considers, then shrugs) chemistry with our fancy protagonist… the drift compatibility he has with the Betrayed Pirate is just off the charts. Sometimes they act like two parts of the same body... and the Tragic Young Man does have a habit on several occasions of throwing himself between a physical threat and a person he cares about.” 

Chapter 10: The Hidden Heart

“Ed’s the face, head/mind and body of Blackbeard, Izzy is Blackbeard’s heart/soul. How do we know? Because when Izzy moves, the plot moves. When Izzy leaves, the plot stagnates or outright stalls dead. And Edward makes a fair amount of effort to keep track of Izzy, both to keep him safe and under Edward’s control.”

The chapter is an episode-by-episode walkthrough of season one with proof of Izzy-as-the-heart. Basically: everything is horny, Izzy is emotion-driven (although he hides it well, as one must when living a life filled with so much violence and abuse), and OFMD is Izzy (the heart) becoming more emotionally intelligent. 

At the end of S1E4: “Ed’s just proven he doesn’t need Izzy – either to participate in his plans, or to love him. He could have let him go, right? He had Stede now. The mind has lied to its heart, convinced it to stay and keep loving and giving all this while – because it’s required to pump the blood of the myth called Blackbeard, and move the plot of the show called Our Flag Means Death.”

Ed opens his jacket for Stede (in a way he never does around Izzy) and tells him to stab him. Izzy thinks that Ed is betraying him by having sex with Stede (or by having subtextual sex with Stede). He’s wounded and angry, and that kickstarts the rest of the season. 

“Why can’t/don’t Izzy and Edward fuck, textually or subtextually? Why is all the tension and longing so one sided – and if Edward’s so bothered/disgusted by Izzy’s longing for him (as some other meta writers out there on the internet have attempted to suggest with varying degrees of success), why does he permit the relationship to continue at all -- and even work to keep Izzy near him despite his attempts to leave? Well, that’s coming up in a later meta. (Hint: it's HIV/AIDS related bed death.) But it’s certainly part of the unnatural, forceful separation between the head and the heart.”

In S1E6: As Blackbeard’s heart, Izzy can’t actually kill Stede in the duel. “But he’s not admitting that defeat to himself yet so he has to go through the entire pantomime of the fight.”

“On one level, the textual level, Izzy’s trying to drive Stede from the ship and out of Edward’s life. On another subtextual level, however: the heart’s moving through the return advances of the mutual seduction way faster than the head is ready to do.”

Izzy is banished from the boat. “...If Edward had just had the capability to be honest with Izzy from the very start, they might have avoided most of the tragedy. Because really? An overwhelming amount of the things Izzy says aloud to Edward can be subtextually read as: I am trying to get you dicked down how you need to be, even if I’m not the one who can do it for or to you.” 

We don’t move the plot along much in S1E7. Izzy’s gone, and the story can’t progress without him.

In S1E8, Calico Jack “is the thrown dagger that strikes the most true, and goes the farthest toward separating Ed and Stede. Forward momentum, healing, and growth all come to a dead stop here as Calico Jack does emotional manipulation on a level that Izzy could only aspire to at this stage in his evolution.” Izzy sends Jack as “a poisoned love letter” doing what it can to keep Ed safe.

On Ed and Stede’s kiss: “It’s an adolescent kiss, chaste and closed-mouthed and awkward – it’s not an erotic kiss in the slightest. Whereas everything (yearning glances, poses, swordplay, etc) with Izzy is frankly erotic as fuck and I don’t think we can blame that just on Con being Con…”

After his return to the ship, Ed doesn’t want to be Blackbeard anymore. Izzy is terrified, and he “[channels] all the fear into anger to use as a weapon to bring the mind back into compliance for the sake of their shared survival.” Getting Ed back to Blackbeard is a matter of keeping both of them AND the crew alive.

Ed doesn’t have his bare hands on Izzy when he’s choking him, but “Izzy does place his bare left hand onto Edward’s bare right as he’s being choked which, if I’m correct about the HIV/AIDS coding for him (and I’m confident in the evidence I’ll bring in the eventual extended meta conversation about it) is its own understated threat in return: what’s in me could kill you, too.”

“I’ll conclude for the moment with this: after so many rewatchings of the show, Edward flinging himself backward like a scalded cat feels excessive. It’s disgust at the mingled lust and joy and affection on Izzy’s face in the moment – and it’s so much more than that.”

More meta on Ed’s attitude towards Izzy in this scene:

Ed shifts back and forth on his feet, stepping in the tiniest little amount again. [...] why would Edward do that if he's actually afraid of Izzy?  Taika's a good enough actor to have chosen to flinch away instead, to reinforce the dialogue and textual energy of the scene. When the body language doesn't match the dialogue, it's a sign that the subtext is increasingly relevant. But Taika doesn't flinch away at all during the rest of this scene.  None of his body language serves up ‘terror’ to me -- all of it, when viewed with the knowledge of S2 and the lens of Izzy as HIV/AIDS-coded, serves up grief and loss.

Look at Edward's face. Look at the tears rising up in his own eyes. It’s not because precious little meow meow princess sweet as a peach Ed Teach is actually scared of Izzy, his own first mate for who knows how many years. We've seen Izzy angry at Ed in scenes before and if anything, Ed's been perplexed or even amused by it. 

(Total sidenote: there’s a difference between letting Edward get to be soft and gentle and vulnerable and display a range of emotions and enjoy fine things and feel tenderness and love… and completely woobifying/infantilizing a fully adult character capable of making his own choices, who happens to also be a man of color. Because frankly that second option comes across as more than a little gross to me. I hope that my writing always knows the difference and stays on the correct side, because I work to try to make sure that doesn’t happen.)

Continuing on: “We see Izzy as his “gaze travels all over Edward's face in a last caress of longing, back and forth between his lips and eyes at that close distance. Then Izzy leaves the scene immediately, before anything else can happen. Even the things he might want – especially the things he wants. Because he can’t ever let them happen, in order to keep Edward safe.”

The crew begins to chant (“it sounds almost like a heartbeat”). Ed reverting to the Kraken persona “is due to not one but two open romantic griefs and losses in close proximity,” and “the mind of Blackbeard moves on to protect itself, as it always has. Not from some fear of the crew now as I’ve seen in various lukewarm takes online… but from the possibility of ever being vulnerable again.”

Ed throws Lucius overboard. “Next he goes to hobble the dark heart, to maim and lame it, to keep it obedient and subservient again through terror and pain. He can’t kill or discard it entirely, because its emotions and bloodflow powers both Blackbeard himself and the plot of OFMD… but he can make it pay for its transgressions against him. And he certainly does… gloved in leather to protect himself from Izzy’s blood and flesh, in a scene that is overflowing with brutality couched in sexual framing.”

Jim (the killer) and Frenchie (the mender) are both mirrors of Izzy in some way.

Chapter 11: The Sacred Heart (Part 1)

“...In OFMD Season 2, Blackbeard’s heart is undergoing incredible growth and maturity through the application of terror and agonizing adversity – and by the end of it is bared and shining as the Sacred Heart of the show.”

When Izzy is the “hidden heart” in season one, he hides his pain (and a lot of people miss that said pain exists at all). “Only Izzy’s rage and jealousy is in the text; some emotional intelligence and/or sufficient media literacy to permit one to parse the show’s subtext on some level is required to understand the rest of his motivations. The lion’s share of this heart’s love that we can understand is on laser-beam narrow focus: Edward Teach, and the two-part entity of Blackbeard that this pair creates between them.”

In season two, “the Sacred Heart’s pain and fear are centered from nearly the first moment we see him in private; they overflow his previously immaculate control and are expressed almost entirely against his will. But because he’s expressing his emotions and more and more overtly protecting/shielding the crew from Blackbeard’s increasingly unhinged mind as well as all other lesser threats, his love for the crew is more obvious moment by moment also.”

Additionally, “Izzy’s rampant lust from the first season is dampened as well due to his wounds (loss of a foot/leg is often intended as symbolic loss of the genitals) so his expressions of affection to the crew are almost entirely platonic/agape love [...]. The final result is an opening of Blackbeard’s heart to the entire crew, where it accepts them all and is accepted by them in return.”

In Stede’s dream, Stede gives Izzy “a non-consensual stabbing.” He and Ed are reunited, but nothing too amorous can happen because “if the heart of the story is dead, there can be no blood pumping, no erections, and the head/mind itself will eventually die also. The bottom line is there’ll be no sexy stuff happening without it.”

In the wedding party fight, Izzy is shown placing himself between Jim and Frenchie and Ed -- protecting them from Ed. Izzy’s entire purpose without Blackbeard is protecting the crew.

Izzy is upset when Ed threatens to fire Izzy: “Izzy knows that his current position to Edward is one of scapegoat and punching bag. He’s blamed for anything that goes wrong, whether or not it’s truly in his power to prevent or fix it – and the price for every failure is another body part removed and most likely force-fed to him. If he’s not there to take that abuse… someone else will just have to take it instead.” Again, he’s protecting the crew.

Jim tells Izzy that his relationship with Ed is toxic, “and they’re right on a textual level (he’s abusing you) as well as a subtextual level: it’s often not healthy for two people to remain bound so closely into one entity (a two-part creature known as Blackbeard) but especially when one side of it has become entirely toxic and is regularly maiming the other.”

When the crew comfort Izzy, no one touches his bare skin.

Izzy returns to Ed, delivers the crew’s response, and asks Ed what Izzy is to him. “Almost every single line Izzy has in Season 2 is overflowing with subtext and this one is no different.The surface meaning is: what are we? What is our relationship? What do you truly want from me? The subtextual meaning is: have you forgotten I'm Blackbeard's heart? Have you forgotten that to kill me is to kill yourself? Don’t you understand that you do to me what you don’t have the courage to do to yourself: you kill me one inch at a time? You’re trying to make me stop loving you [...] and I can’t, because it’s a heart’s purpose to love.”

Izzy is afflicted with love. He is “quiet and sincere and utterly chaste,” until accidentally invoking Stede. Ed storms above deck and Izzy tries to rein him in.

Before he mentions Stede, Izzy is certain he’s going to die for speaking the truth, “because Blackbeard’s heart has always been the first to admit out loud what Blackbeard is feeling, long before his head will actually be brave enough to speak it.”

With Izzy out of commission, Frenchie is Ed’s next “victim.”

Jim gives Izzy one of his few skin-to-skin touches, and it’s to silence him when he’s screaming at them to kill him. Very tragic. It’s also Jim who tells Archie that Izzy is “their dick” (or their heart, since a functional heart is required for a functional dick). 

Importantly, “Jim’s also an Izzy mirror, may I remind you: Jim initially didn’t want to truly join the crew either, and had something of a minor battle to be accepted for who they were.”

Ed discovers Izzy: “He strolls in slowly, standing over an unconscious and completely vulnerable Izzy Hands – and gazes down at him for a moment before the scene ends. OOooh that had my heart pounding in terror and fury on first watch!” 

When Ed talks to Izzy, he’s looking directly at him (as he so rarely does). He tells Izzy that he dreamed he killed him “(When we talk about death, it’s sex. When we talk about sex, it’s death)”. Ed gives Izzy the gun.

“Parse Izzy’s expression here: that’s longing. That’s a man on his death bed looking at the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen in his life, that he thought he’d never get see again. So much so that, just before the shot cuts away, his eyes light up and he begins to smile sweetly. What is Izzy seeing? [...] Full on direct eye-contact with a fuck-me stare and the muzzle of the pistol hovering at lip level.”

In short, it’s a very horny scene.

“If Izzy’s not willing to let him die by giving a subtextual blowjob… Ed’s going to offer something else. He’s gonna let Izzy take him from behind.” But Izzy ultimately refuses after struggling with the power he has been granted over Ed.

Izzy tells Ed that he’s tired of cleaning up after him. “Side-note: I’ve seen some lukewarm takes in various spots on the internet that mean old Izzy was overstating his labor on Ed’s behalf, and I just want to remind everyone that at this point we have seen precious doe-eyed meow meow princess Edward only make even the most token of efforts to clean up his own mess exactly twice…”

Ed leaves Izzy with the pistol and the understanding that Izzy (the heart) will kill himself. Ed hears the gun fire and, thinking his heart is dead, he can admit the truth: that he loved Izzy the best he could. “Body language on the second half of that statement [best I could] suggests to me he knows he’s lying or minimizing, although I can’t pinpoint enough of the ‘why’ consciously to screencap it. He tosses it off as if it doesn’t matter, and that I can understand – in this moment, he’s only lying to himself.”

On to Ed’s final suicide attempt. Why does he tell Jim and Archie to fight to the death if he plans on killing them all anyway? “I think he is impelled to, by his current personal fixation. I think right now the mind of Blackbeard can’t see love without obsessing about destroying it. He carved off bits of his own loving heart one chunk at a time, because of it. Now that he’s been shown Jim and Archie have developing feelings for each other on his ship of death, he has to take the moment to destroy them first… Even when it gives his heart the chance to drag itself out of the pit of the grave and finish its sacrifice to stop him.”

Izzy returns during the reprise of Run From Me, “specifically the soaring siren vocals and bolero heartbeat pulse of its bridge and outro: the loyal heart is still pounding, still pumping blood to the rest of Blackbeard and the plot.”

The crew take Ed down “and Izzy, knowing what must be done to save the crew, making this final personal sacrifice on their behalf, stands by and lets them kill Blackbeard’s brain.”

Stede finds and boards the Revenge to find the crew eating a dead bird and “better than they had been under Ed’s reign of terror, but not anything close to their best.”

And then soup. “Now on the deck of the Red Flag, Izzy’s crew gets to have their soup. Notably, neither Izzy nor Lucius have any soup – yet everyone else did, even eventually Ed while down in the gravy basket, served up to him by his own former captain. So, subtextually, the bright heart and the dark heart of the show have not allowed themselves to be fed and warmed and comforted.”

When Stede starts to ask questions, Izzy responds with hostility in a bid to get Stede to focus his ire on him, once again protecting the crew. 

Stede asks who stabbed up his portrait and Izzy lies. Why? Because “the tender heart protects the head too, even though it’s currently beyond being hurt. Izzy’s protecting Edward’s legacy and the memories he leaves behind in Stede: this is Izzy as Ed’s scapegoat/Sin Eater, taking Edward’s sins on his own back to leave Ed utterly blameless in Stede’s mind as much as possible.”

Izzy continues to antagonize Stede to keep Stede focused on him. He’s eventually reduced to honesty and tells Stede that Ed tortured the crew (“the pain and suffering of the crew is the highest crime in Izzy’s mind”).

With the “doggy heaven” line, Stede reveals how close he was to Ed, and “that Stede heard every bit of this betrayal and forgave it, and continued on with love for Edward – to the point of dueling Izzy, to the point of fighting to stay with him despite Calico Jack’s manipulations, and everything that arrived afterward.” He realizes Stede might love Ed as much as Izzy does.

Izzy said he could never do that. “Con chooses to shut his eyes during this terribly tender, utterly vulnerable admission. Izzy can’t bring himself look at Stede, even merely the side of Stede’s face that is currently presented most toward him, while he bares so much of his soul.”

Why does he lie? Izzy won’t betray the crew by confessing, and he wants to buy them time to get away from Zheng Yi Sao. “There’s a third possible purpose: that it’s soothing to Stede. It’s a sweet little lie, and it lets him have a little hope for a while. In fact, if Izzy can be clever and discreet while dealing with Edward’s burial, Stede might get to spend the rest of his life chasing the fantasy that Ed’s still out there somewhere… and it’s possible to live your whole life loving a dream you will never touch again.”

When the crew is imprisoned after Ed’s body is discovered, Frenchie sits on Izzy’s left (the side of the hand with no glove). “In a more general way, Izzy’s positioned himself to block the cell door. Anything that tries to come through it will have to come through him first. Additionally, he’s switched the side his crutch is on; it’s not at his left hand to be used to support himself but at his right hand to be a bludgeoning weapon.”

Stede comes down and Izzy immediately speaks, “establishing himself as the target of blame.” Izzy insists that he is the one who’s responsible for Ed’s death, and he’s willing to be Stede’s scapegoat as well.

“And last… on some intrinsic level, Izzy Hands feels like all of this horror and pain is exactly what he deserves, from start to finish – the lack of love and affectionate touch, the physical and pseudosexual abuse, the agony on all levels of existence, even a final ignominious death itself as a traitor: give me your worst.”

Stede leaves. “We get a shot of Izzy shaking his head just the tiniest amount, and tears standing unshed in his eyes. He still doesn’t have Bonnet engaging how Izzy thinks he’s should – or rather, has been primed by months of enduring abuse to expect. Without a focus to Stede’s grief and anger firmly on himself, how can Izzy ensure he can adequately protect the rest of his family?”

“To stare deeply into Izzy’s gloriously beautiful pyrrhic self-sacrifice is to be able to look fully and directly at my own, reflected.”

After the escape attempt, Stede denies Izzy any gratitude for his apology. 

Chapter 12: The Sacred Heart (Part 2)

Izzy as heart continues and the analysis moves on S2E4. He is isolated and drinking, undoubtedly trying to numb the agonizing pain from his recently-amputated leg, ill-fitting prosthetic, and all of the additional bodily pain that would create. Mera suggests that, “if [they’re] right about Izzy being HIV/AIDS coded, [...] there’s every possibility that the extensive stress on his body from everything he’s endured lately (culminating in an amputated limb and a suicide attempt that at least rattled his cranium) has him experiencing an overall nerve pain called neuropathy.”

We can also infer that Izzy has “a lot of complex emotions about Edward’s return, no matter how necessary it is to the shared being of Blackbeard. If love could bring him back from the dead… why didn’t Izzy’s love manage it? Now that he’s returned from the dead… will the horrors resume? Stede and Edward have each other again… and Izzy’s on the outside once more, but now permanently damaged. Who would want him now?”

Stede comes by and does his best to be kind to Izzy, and “Izzy – suffering, isolated, terrified for a number of reasons once more, and drunk as a skunk… is asked to provide the deadlock-breaking vote on whether or not Ed should be banished.”

Izzy remains physically closed off to Stede. He’s vulnerable, and he associates captains with pain. When Stede says, “You’ve already murdered him once, seems like a pretty good payback,” Izzy visibly flinches. He’s glad that the blame is still entirely on him, but he’s still hurt. Izzy says that the rotten leg must come off, because:

Everything for Izzy right now is related to his maiming… and Edward’s toxicity was the rot that was eating the crew before Stede returned. 

If Ed can be removed from the ship, a few of the worst fears in Izzy’s life will be remedied: Stede most likely won’t hurt the crew the way Edward did; Stede most likely won’t hurt Izzy the way Edward did; Edward won’t be there to hurt the crew or Izzy; and, last but not least, Izzy won’t have to watch Stede and Edward fall in love all over again – this time as a changed, maimed, damaged, and (in his own mind, at least) defective man who is now unable to leave under his own power…

Izzy is offscreen for a bit, but it’s important to note that Lucius gets hit in the head with a sandwich, much like Izzy did in season one.

“The very first time we see Izzy after Edward’s banishment… and now it’s HIS vest that’s fully undone, his collar that’s unbuttoned, and his cravat and ring loosened from its usual high, tight position on his throat. Both of these men have been armoring against each other.”

Izzy saws the legs off of the headless unicorn. “Hurting people often hurt other people… and yet, our Sacred Heart has only taken out his pain on the unfeeling, inanimate object of the figurehead.” Truly a selfless hero. “Again, everything right now is reflecting back in Izzy’s mind to his own maiming: a figurehead is supposed to protect the crew. It failed to protect the crew, therefore it didn’t do its job. The price of not doing one’s job is the loss of limbs.”

Izzy’s prosthetic fails and the rest of the crew watch him with “horror and concern,” and “they move as one unit at last, immediately to try to surround Izzy and help him back up,” but he resists and crawls away. “This is disturbing, and it’s meant to be. This is heart-wrenching, and it’s meant to be. It’s the lowest point of the Sacred Heart – to be alone in all it suffers – and the blatant evidence of that pain and sacrifice is what draws the crew together in union again.”

In the next Izzy scene, he’s drinking alone in his bed. “Now that the unicorn figurehead shares his maiming and has been ‘punished’ for not doing its job, there’s only one entity left on board that he can still permit himself to harm, to vent the poison and rot festering inside his soul.” That person? Izzy’s reflection. 

“While Edward took his own pain out on anything that’d hold still long enough (mostly Izzy)… the karmic buck stops with Izzy Hands. He knows he’s wounded and toxic; he’s isolating to keep that toxicity from harming his family. [...] Izzy has seen the process of other people distributing their own damage to innocent new victims, just passing it on down the line; he has experienced it directly. He has decided he will have none of it himself. Izzy is resolved that it ends with him.”

The crew leave their gift at Izzy’s door and the attached note makes him weep. “His sobs are powerful enough that they continue to shake his whole body even as he draws himself upright again.” He calls them “cocksuckers, but “this response is intended to be subtextually read as a positive thing, indicating how touched Izzy truly is by the gesture.”

In Izzy’s next scene, he’s at the foredeck alone with his new leg. He pulls out the note and “the soundtrack sings: this world isn’t big enough to keep me away from you… from you… The song is right on two levels; even now, Blackbeard’s mind is returning to Blackbeard’s heart, courtesy of Stede… and Izzy will not ever be parted from the love of the crew.” Izzy allows himself a smile and a seagull (Buttons) goes by.

Buttons is a mirror to both Ed and Izzy. He’s weird, he has long hair, Ed wears his birdshit-covered jacket, the full moon is important to him, he’s a skilled first mate, “his mouth can be pretty poisonous, and his bites will leave permanent wounds,” and he changes a lot during the show. “Bottom line: if Ed and Izzy are two bodies that comprise one entity (Blackbeard)… Then Buttons is two entities (the Moon and the Sea)... that are united to some extent in one body.”

The Moon and the Sea change in regular and predictable ways; the Moon affects the Sea (tides), but the Sea doesn’t have the same power over the Moon. “The Sea is also the original source of all life here on Earth. The Moon is bright and remote and beautiful and sterile. It has a light side that’s always turned toward Earth due to its rotation and revolution matching up, and a dark side that we don’t often get to see (without some serious effort).” The Sea is barely explored (subtext) and the Moon is known (text). 

Before Buttons turns into a bird, he tells Ed, To love the sea as she must be loved… requires change. “To love Izzy in the way that Izzy must be loved… Edward will also have to change. He’s been given his directive. We don’t see it completed during Season 2, nor will I speculate how this will manifest in Season 3. What I will say is that this show has been and remains fantastic about showing the many different and equally valid forms that love can take, and I am excited for anything that results in Izzy Hands being truly loved.”

The next episode opens on Ed’s apology. His victims are there, and Izzy? “He is off to the side and not having to deal with Edward face-on. His bare and deadly left hand is toward the captains, with its threat that continues subtextually but has never yet textually been explained.” He’s ready to defend the crew from Ed if needed. 

Ed delivers his “weasel-word non-apology.” It’s no good, but “the queer writers room as well as Taika himself with his specific cultural heritage are absolutely aware of how this comes off – superficial, insincere, and absolutely infuriating – and it’s intended to come off that way. It’s fucky on purpose, and not ‘bAd wRiTiNg.’”

Izzy seems calm, but he’s clearly not buying Ed’s apology. The blocking puts Olu in a protective position in front of Izzy, and “Frenchie and Lucius [are] getting to carry a lot of Izzy’s emotions here: Frenchie [by] being entirely unconvinced/checked out and Lucius [by] being overtly acrimonious by giving the finger.”

Lucius asks Izzy if he’s fine with it (the apology); this is the first time anyone has ever asked Izzy how he feels about something. There’s some ridiculous sexual tension and Izzy, “relaxed, open and almost entirely at ease,” graces Lucius with a nickname. “In the universe of OFMD this [the cigarette thing] is definitely an oral exchange. It’s at the very least a kiss by proxy but an argument could even be made that it's even something subtextually as significant as a blowjob…”

In the next Izzy scene, he’s shirtless and training with Stede’s good candles. His breathing is labored. Why? “Previous exertion, dealing with residual pain from his new and improved prosthetic, psyching himself up and/or oxygenating his blood for the strike he’s about to make, possibly a level of arousal from the pseudosexual nature of ‘swordplay’ in this universe – subtextually, he’s half-undressed and dancing with his own ‘saber’ in the dark with some candles around for some nice ambiance…”

A behind-the-scenes still shows Izzy’s back covered in scars. (“A few people elsewhere on the internets have mentioned how Izzy’s back looks like that… and yet Edward’s back is clean enough for a full back-tat and… I’ve got feelings about that also. Gotta wonder how that happened. Gotta wonder why.”) Mera says it’s a subtextual allusion to Jesus -- Jesus who was flogged, as opposed to Judas, who was hanged.

Stede enters and cleverly addresses Ed as “Blackbeard,” in keeping with Izzy’s preferences. Stede tells Izzy that Ed claims Izzy taught him everything he knows, which Mera is “about 75-80% sure” is a lie. Stede is trying to be encouraging and provide positive feedback. 

We move on to the training montage. “Izzy’s sardonic and still a bit brutal while attempting to teach fighting, rope-swinging, and target shooting… but never is he directly insulting or says anything like ‘you’ll never get it.’ He’s letting pain be a teacher to Stede also: don’t stop and ask questions, just hit. When you try to swing on a rope the wrong way, it’ll burn your hands. And when Stede’s missed shot brings a sail down, there’s no screaming insults, no degradation. Izzy’s being remarkably patient here.”

The training turns into discussion, with “Blackbeard’s Sacred Heart really starting to open up to Stede, both textually and subtextually: it’s quite a romantic heart, underneath all the leather and scars. The will to be contrary about this whole weird tangled emotional mess is starting to subside.” 

The crew lines up at the rail to inspect the ship they’ve sighted. The blocking is, as ever, important; Izzy stays “as close as possible to the least experienced member of the raid: Stede Bonnet.” He “also put himself between Frenchie and whatever might be aboard waiting to meet them.”

Lucius approaches Izzy while he’s whittling on the deck. Throughout the conversation, “Izzy’s so gentle in tone and expression, as calm as a bodhisattva; he never looks away from Lucius during any difficult moment. There's no flinch to tell us that he's still in any emotional pain.” 

Izzy claims that a shark took his leg; Ed has a shark tattoo on one arm. He smiles and says, “Served me right, too.” “This is Izzy again as Edward’s Sin Eater: he can put that pain and blame somewhere else, somewhere that it won’t weigh on Ed’s soul, and he does. It’s in the carving. (Its also a silent expression of his pain to match the prophecy referenced during the same relative timing beat/scene in The Last Temptation: ‘He has borne our faults; he was wounded for our transgressions -- yet he opened not his mouth.’)”

Izzy gives Lucius the shark he has been carving. “Izzy put his pain and trauma into the chunk of wood and worked at it for the entire duration of the episode when, for comparison, we don’t see Black Pete in S1 spend any time carving Lucius’s new finger. We’re given the visual textual signs that Izzy’s putting a lot of care and effort into this creation.”

During the red suit fiasco, Izzy is seen hanging out in Stede’s quarters. He’s relaxed and casual; he’s at ease with Stede. 

Stede gathers the crew to put an end to the red suit situation. Izzy is behind, watching; “he feels absolutely no need whatsoever to be close to the front to interpose his body between the captain and the crew protectively. He knows that Stede won’t be violent with them at all.” Izzy is also in Stede’s eyeline so he can offer guidance.

Chapter 13: The Sacred Heart (Part 3)

The next episode is Calypso’s Birthday. “This episode has been called Izzy's swan song, and respectfully I'd like to disagree.  This is when we see the Sacred Heart of OFMD most triumphant, most open, most freed, and most overtly/directly loving and loved in return.”

Ed is seen scanning the horizon and thinking about all of the awful things he’s done, beginning with his father’s death. (“Wow. Izzy shows up in there a lot. Like, disproportionately much.”) Izzy approaches, bottle in hand, immaculately dressed and styled but clearly a little drunk. Ed keeps his back to Izzy. “I think he’s staying turned away partially out of shame but also in an attempt to help Izzy feel safer during this interaction.”

Izzy absolutely didn’t mistake Ed for Roach; he’s not that drunk. He’s holding the bottle in his gloved right hand with his left closer to Ed. This is important because “as much as possible Izzy will keep his right side toward whoever he’s speaking with: it’s safer for them and also lets him access his sword easiest. So [...] right now Izzy’s walked up and chosen where to stand for this interaction: with his death-marked left hand toward Edward, empty of the bottle he’s carrying and still dangerous.” Ed trusts Izzy not to kill him; Izzy is still uneasy.

A new angle. Ed and Izzy, “the estranged partners,” are closer than they’ve been in five episodes. When Izzy calls Ed a “mopey twat,” his tone holds “mild animosity.” This is the closest he’s gotten to provoking Ed since season one.

Ed takes the bottle from Izzy (with his ungloved right hand) and drinks. Izzy is out of frame. “...For me, subtextually, it feels as if that removal of the conversational partner is intended to entirely visually replace Izzy Hands with his proxy. He’s no longer a person, for the duration of these frames: he’s the bottle itself, held in Edward’s bare grip.” It’s significant that Ed’s lips touch a place Izzy’s just were without disgust or hesitation. It’s sensual: “Ed’s taken a kiss for himself from Izzy’s bottle – and Izzy, his eyes shining with tears, fully knows it.”

Ed is yearning. Izzy is yearning, but “then does what he does with all big emotions: covers them up and vents them safely with an expletive. [...] But he carries Edward’s return kiss to his own mouth nonetheless: love you, too.” “Why is Edward willing to do something (trade saliva, even by proxy) with Izzy that Lucius reacted so strongly and negatively about, less than a full episode ago?” There was a point where we didn’t really know how HIV/AIDS spread. “Edward knows the rules about Izzy’s disease/curse. Edward knows how to stay safe; they’ve gone however long this separation has lasted without Ed ever catching it or dying from it.”

We next see Izzy when he approaches Wee John, applying makeup for his Calypso look. Izzy gives the makeup setup a “hungry,” longing look. 

Izzy sings at the party. When it starts he’s not entirely at ease, as evidenced by “the stiff body language and uncomfortable rigor of Izzy’s arms out from his sides, the shy and downcast gaze trying not to look at anyone just in case someone’s laughing at him.” His look included red, gold, and wavy lines, all evoking Sacred Heart imagery. 

“When he finally looks up, Izzy glances over at Edward, who does not look at all surprised to hear Izzy’s marvelous voice – and, if you want to hurt yourself today as some of us sometimes do, you can wonder how many years it's been since Edward heard it last.”

Izzy snuggles up to Wee John at the party. “Izzy’s got his right gloved hand under his left palm; he’s pressing both hands into John’s wrist but the glove’s between the naked left hand and John’s skin, keeping them separate. I think the depth of shadow under his fingers indicates they’re not making contact either.”

At the song’s climax, Izzy is off-centered in frame. Why, Mera asks, “would you put one of your three main characters so fucking off-center?” Look for the subtext. “We see Izzy’s deadly, death-marked ungloved left hand leave the shot early on… and stays out as he holds the rest of the note, as if it doesn’t belong in the same visual realm as the rest of Izzy's entire body and the concept of ‘love’. As of these last few paragraphs, I’m no longer questioning myself on the concept that Izzy's HIV-coding was completely intentional. I know for sure I’m crazy… but now I'm also 100% certain I’m not wrong.”

A cannon goes off. There’s been meta written about how “Ed always jumps in front of Stede during physical threats and Stede always destroys people who hurt Edward emotionally, which reminded me that Izzy has always been the third and quieter option: ‘figure out where the threat's going to be, put my body between it and the people I love, and always be ready to kill it -- no matter who or what the threat is.’”

After Lowe is dealt with, we see the whole crew, with “the Sacred Heart front and center, right hand toward his captains, death-marked left hand toward the threat [Ed], Frenchie and (further back) Lucius tucked safely behind him.” This pose is also very Last Supper. 

Izzy sings a reprise in French. “He’s singing to the people he loves in French, which for cinema’s purposes is the language of love. I know that we have the Doylist reason for two versions of this song because Con was originally concerned he wouldn’t be able to learn the French version well enough to do it justice… but I also think it added something from the Watsonian side: this is a deeper expression of the love he displayed before.”

Elsewhere, “with his heart returned, emotionally reunited with him, and vigorously expressing the love inside it at last… Blackbeard’s head finally finds the rest of its two-part body willing and able to accommodate his new lover.” Stede and Ed kiss directly -- a mirror of Ed’s indirect kiss with Izzy earlier in the episode.

“...It’s Izzy and his singing that takes us through the credits and claims the episode almost entirely for the Sacred Heart – and at the end his family joins in with him, raucous but affectionate and wholly good-natured. Then after they’ve cheered and applauded, midway through the credits [...] the crew chants “One more song! One more song!” Izzy cheerfully answers “I’ve got one more song!” to general acclaim. … But we haven’t yet heard it during Season 2. Food for thought.”

Chapter 14: The Sacred Heart (Part 4)

“In this episode [S2E7], we will get to see Izzy as the show's Sacred Heart evince a personal yet non-sexual love to both of the show's other main characters, answering each of their needs.  We also do get to see one of Izzy's flaws repeatedly reinforced: that he tends to project his emotions, self-expectations, and personal traits on other people, for better or for ill. This serves to try to prepare us for his deepest example of projection in the final episode... that is also his last act of love to Edward.”

Ed sends his Blackbeard getup to the bottom of the sea, weighed down by a cannonball (the second time a cannonball has been used to kill Blackbeard). 

Back in the captain’s cabin, Izzy throws back the curtain to expose Stede and Ed. (Once again, someone says “Jesus” in response to Izzy doing something.) Izzy isn’t bitter, he’s merely reporting to his captain. He acknowledges Ed for the first time with his “well and truly docked” line. Izzy leaves.

“Couple of notes here. While yes, Izzy’s just needled both these men with his observation of their intimacy – it’s also some of the most good-natured jealousy I’ve seen him display [...]. There was no rage in his presentation as we’ve watched him evince before, not even repressed down so tightly that he would otherwise vibrate with it. But also… I think this is another of Edward’s fuckboi moments, being a bit shitty about his ex/estranged partner in an attempt to ingratiate himself more with his new one. (And it puts my hackles up that Ed treats Izzy's inability to have safe intimacy so cavalierly, but what else is new?)”

In his next scene, Izzy approaches Ed as he’s observing the fishermen. “Izzy’s returned to standing with his gloved right hand toward Edward; his bare left hand is angled to be on his sword hilt just below frame. The blocking and his posture says he’s feeling safe once more, and has forgiven Edward as much as he could be expected to.”

Izzy’s expression is somber when Ed says he feels “fucking great” about putting Blackbeard to rest. Ed fully meets Izzy’s eyes, and Izzy smiles. “This is the Sacred Heart giving such an intimate, incredible gift: loving in a way that can also let go. [...] Izzy at this time, his emotional development completed at last, can truly love Edward no matter what they are or become to each other – without requirements or demands.”

Ed pulls away and Izzy’s expression settles into grief. “The union of ‘Blackbeard’ will, Izzy thinks, dissolve and fade away. And they’ll have to find a new, healthier way to relate to each other – or maybe even leave each other completely behind, once and for all.”

Ed and Stede reunite and it quickly turn to fighting. “Astoundingly quickly, for someone who got such good dicking down just last night and was feeling strongly enough about it this morning to throw away his old life in favor of it. Or at least… he appeared to throw it away. Textually, he threw it away. And Blackbeard’s Sacred Heart, in an act of loving sacrifice, told him to listen to his feelings – no matter where they might lead.” But with Ed “disconnected from Blackbeard’s (now) more emotionally intelligent heart [...], he has only his own internal immature heart and its adolescent feelings to guide him – and he’s terrified about it.”

Stede doesn’t listen. “I’ll be 100% that bitch right here: Izzy would be fully listening, fully focused and engaged. Both of these men spin up too far in their own heads; they’ve never had to ignore their first adrenaline-soaked knee-jerk reflexive thoughts in order to coherently receive and respond to what someone else is saying/doing in an emotionally challenging moment.” Ed and Stede unconsciously use all kinds of “underhanded psychological tricks” on each other during the argument. 

Izzy and Stede talk (mirroring Izzy’s talk with Ed earlier), but only after Izzy uses his own formidable (not related to Blackbeard at all) power to order Stede’s companions away. Izzy is compassionate. He tells Stede that he balances Ed out, which may be some projection on Izzy’s part. 

“The sincerity here is killing me in the best possible way. Where Izzy’s previous conversation with Ed was almost sparse – they know each other so well and they’ve thrown so many words at each other across the years, they’re now down to the only ones that still matter – this one is verbose and more actively encouraging. And even here in this noisy bar that he doesn’t particularly like, he’s leaning forward to be sure he’s heard. His expression is open and caring, without a trace of sarcasm or insincerity. He remains kind on every single textual and subtextual level.” A feat, considering how tired and in pain Izzy must be by now.

Izzy tells Stede he was shot for saying he loves Ed, which is, of course, not true. “On one level it reads to me as a conflation of the idea of Stede Bonnet and love, in the mind of Blackbeard's heart. On another level it was a statement of love for Edward in the moment that was even weightier (and therefore unfortunately had more consequences) than his own love confession: you love him and I know it, so let's talk about it; let's find a healthy way to deal with it together and move forward. That's what got him shot -- the fact that Blackbeard's heart was willing (as it always has been) to admit to love far, far sooner than Blackbeard's mind was.”

Izzy puts his bare hand on Stede’s thigh (it’s fine, Stede is protected by leather pants). Izzy is seated between Stede at the direction from which any possible threat might come, right hand free to draw his sword. It’s not a perfectly defensible position.

Izzy tells Stede to get back to the ship. This is one of “many times Izzy’s been right and just… no one fucking bothered to listen to him or take him seriously.”

Stede confronts Zheng Yi Sao before Izzy can position himself to stop him. Izzy must decide to trust Stede in this; he’s smiling by the time he takes his spot at Stede’s back. Izzy realizes that Zheng Yi Sao is winding Stede up, and he’s not convinced that Stede, even with his remarkable luck, can win against her in a fight.

When Yi Sao drops Steak Knife, Izzy knows it’s best to make a run for it, “and if he wasn’t exhausted and in a fair amount of pain, he perhaps could have interceded in time and tried to broker peace. But Stede’s healthy, non-disabled, and full of vigorous venom; on this occasion he beats Izzy to the punch.” 

They’re all kicked outside to brawl. Izzy is positioned between Jim and Lucius, with Frenchie on Lucius’ other side. He’s clearly exhausted and in pain. This is interesting because, “after the end of S1, Con says [Izzy[ is ‘a little bit frightened’ of Jim, and ‘confused as fuck’ about Lucius – and here, in the penultimate episode of S2, he’s being supported and upheld by both of them in an affectionate fashion.”

Zheng Yi Sao’s ships explode. “Then a cannon ball comes arching out of the night, filling the frame headed toward the left -- therefore toward Stede, Zheng, or (less likely) Roach.”

On to the next!

[astro-royale]

「Elvis Presley: Moon+Venus sign analysis

Hello my Royalties (followers of my blog will now be referred to as Royalties) because you’re a one of a kind STAR (Astro means star) ;))

Have you guessed I have a Leo in Venus placement…

I will be starting a series where I will be analysing the moon + venus signs of male celebrities and their dating track record..

I believe by doing so we can truly understand certain placements and we can learn how to now interpret them not just metaphorically but quite literally in our personal lives.. we can learn what to stay away from, potentially save our lives. Or we can find our best match

And what better way to start than with the King of Rock n Roll… Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was a Pisces Moon with A Capricorn Venus…

Now the moon sign in a man’s chart tells us what kind of personality a man is typically drawn to

And the venus sign informs us on preferences in regards to appearance…

His Pisces moon in 2 degrees of Taurus indicates he had a preference for mysterious, withdrawn and shy women, women which seem to be in need of protection.

The 2 degrees in taurus also points to women who can easily be possessed as well as women who he could easily secure and guide, women that he could invest in.

Which is definitely very true as he is known for his questionable relationship to Priscilla Presley. He pretty much guided her into being his “perfect girl” , shaping her personal style, taste in music, what she wore.. and she was pretty much hidden in his home for a big part of their relationship until they got married.

Even with his other girlfriends, they were all very easily influenced and able to manipulated and shaped due to their young age, which goes back to that 2* degrees Taurus of stability and investing into something so it grows over time… a little creepy but yeah I’m pretty much just quoting history.

I was inspired to write this post because I have recently watched a series on Prime with his ex girlfriends talking about their experience of him which made me want to ,,, look at his chart.

The 2* in taurus also points to women from the countryside or women with very simple backgrounds which again is very true in his case… and for his girlfriends which had a bit more status, well they were usually involved in some kind of art but SPECIFICALLY singing with that Taurus because Taurus rules the throat. And that was again true.

Now his capricorn venus shows us that he would prefer a mature look on a woman in terms of her style, women wearing leather and dressed in darker shades, also somewhat traditional, also preference for a darker hair colour.

Example: He made Priscilla dye her hair so it was darker

With this placement being in 29 degrees in Leo it does have a grandiosity to it, okay, so this could mean women with grande hairstyles (Priscilla was really known for that beehive). And the 29 degrees in Leo also points to colours that really stand out even if they were in darker shades, it could just be colours with depths to them like purple, blues etc and it could also mean mixing shiny details with darker colours, like gold on black and so on. Which ya know, Elvis was quite notorious for his flashy outfits,,

Priscilla did state that despite her being underage, Elvis would make her wear mature and sexy clothes. Well.. that goes back to that 29 degrees in Leo. There’s a big contrast between that Capricorn venus and Leo degree because it denotes that he likes a woman who embodies traditional values but still appears flashy and is in the spotlight.

Hey guys! Please keep in mind a lot of time and energy goes into this research :) I love being able to share it with everyone and I want to keep sharing my knowledge unconditionally which is why I haven’t created a Tumblr+.

Consider supporting me by booking a Tarot Reading or leaving a tip by clicking the Tip Button

IG: astr0royale

I also do pick a card readings on YouTube and it would mean the world if you checked that out

Thank you and much love to you all.

[wigilham]

XAUUSD Bullish Today | October 4, 2024

Timeframe: M30

>> Our bias is strongly bullish because the market is perfectly respecting structure. Today's NFP might push gold more to the upside.

XAUUSD Analysis: Click Here

Chart & Analysis Sureshot FX

[fixedfour]

hey love.

I LOVE your readings soo much. I’ve never read an interpreter pay so much attention to detail and I admire that.

I’m not sure if you do personal readings, but I was hoping you could do mine.

My name is Lee (Lihle) from South Africa. Born May 15 2008, 15:10 in Pretoria

If you don’t, that’s also perfectly fine, I’ve just been so into astrology for years now, and wanted to know more on the Vedic system.

You are so sweet, thank you! that is very a lovely compliment 🤧

atm, i'm not offering full readings but!

i am very curious about all the charts of those who are curious to know, so! this is a mini analysis with some of my vedic observations 😌🤍

in your vedic chart, you are a Virgo rising (in Hasta) , Taurus Sun (in Krittika), and a Virgo moon (in Hasta).

immediately, to me your big 3 looks like this:

.

.

thank you for letting me read for you @leeeonlean! Your moon + mercury energy is soo !! with that being said, here is your vedic chart 💚

My immediate first impression, your chart suggests a deep interest in the occult, especially in the realm of divination. Tarot reading, palmistry, pendulums, reading tea leaves, and other divination techniques may have always intrigued you. And astrology of course! so you're in the right place 🤍

You have Venus in the 8th house, which supports your interest in the occult even more. You may enjoy dissecting even the smallest things, if it intrigues you.

Venus in the 8th also suggests that you may even be comfortable or familiar with dealing with sudden, big events in your life.

Do you feel like you have to hide your relationships as well? Venus in the 8th suggests that you may be someone who dives into relationships with some sort of 'hidden' aspect. Either you find yourself having to keep them a secret, or simply you may enjoy intense relationships. (eighth house is a watery house, naturally ruled by Scorpio. But you have Aries in this house, a fire sign. But aries is ruled by Mars, so in this house, it's almost comfortable).

Venus in your chart rules the second and ninth house-- you have potential to even make money from your divination/occult interest! Second house is naturally ruled by Venus, the planet of comfort, beauty-- and money!

Your ninth house is ruled by Venus, which is the house of publishing, higher learning, and long distance/foreign travel. You may find success from outside of the place you were born!

in fact, your chart is suggesting you may have moved far from your birth place, perhaps because of the father. (Sun is in your 9th house, in Taurus.)

Your chart ruler, Mercury is also here in the 9th!

Do you write? there are a few indicators that you may!

First, your Virgo ascendant. Virgo's are typically described as clean, meticulous, and shrewd. but these qualities are imperative to combat the effect of the 12th house. If there is no upkeep and maintenance (Virgo) then there is death and dissolution (Pisces).

Your ascendant is in Hasta! GORGEOUS placement. Hasta is ruled by Savitur, and he is described as 'gold-handed'. One of the main symbols for hasta is hands! with this moon+mercury energy, it is great for writing! Not just writing, but things like scrapbooking, creating collages, sewing-- these are hobbies that may yield your most creative results.

Hasta moons are the BEST placements for people with interest in tarot, divination in general, so again, even more clues to your rich inner world.

You have your moon in your First house, the house of self! this is also what I like to call a 'mild' fame placement, a lot of creators online who are loved by the masses have this particular placement.

With this, you have a bit of lunar energy influencing your chart, especially since you have Hasta as your ascendant as well. Hasta is not only ruled by Savitur, but also the moon!

Hasta placements are also really good with doing impressions, whether that's singing, voice mimicking, etc., all due to the reflective nature of the moon. this may or may not resonate, but just an observation.

Sun in Taurus also suggests a love for art in general, love for beauty! Your sun being in Krittika even highlights your creativity as sun also rules Krittika-- sun rules Leo who naturally rules the fifth house.

One downside I have observed with other charts though, is when Sun is in an enemy sign (yours being in Taurus), it could create possible strain or distance from the father, so I hope that that is not the case with yours 🤍

but having both mercury and sun in the house of publishing and higher learning, you have great prospects of publishing something beloved by the masses (moon being in 1H)

these were just a few things that jumped out to me, but I hope this helped! 💛

[rockislandadultreads]

Nonfiction Picks: Trending Memoirs

Check out these hot and trending memoirs at your local library!

The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris

In this memoir, Vice President and Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris documents her upbringing as the daughter of immigrants in Oakland, California. Like her parents, Harris never hid her passion for justice, becoming a prosecutor out of law school and quickly establishing herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. Guided by the mantra that truths can make communities better and stronger, Harris details her career path before becoming the first woman, Black American, and South Asian American to be vice president. 

Just Add Water by Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history - she is a gold medalist, world champion, and one of the best swimmers ever to compete. In this memoir, Ledecky shares for the first time what it takes to compete at such an elite level, charting her life in swimming from her start in Bethesda, Maryland; to her early foray into the Olympics at the age of fifteen; to her education at Stanford University; to the bright lights of Olympic pools. 

Loud by Drew Afualo

Drew Afualo is best known as the internet’s 'Crusader for Women' and is at the head of a new generation of entertainment’s rising stars, with more than nine million followers across her social platforms. Afualo acts as an unofficial watchdog for misogyny on social media, and her signature laugh is now recognized as a feminist call to arms. Part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir, this volume is a summoning cry to create a space to fight outdated patriarchal ideals. 

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

This volume is a personal analysis of a culture in crisis - that of white working-class Americans. From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Vance offers an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class.

[roselamoure]

Elvis Presley Zodiac Chart Analysis ♐︎ ♑︎ ♓︎

I here all the time from fans that Elvis Presley is a complicated man but I don’t really think so. He had many sides and facets about him that many people can‘t understand or find complicated. He is a very unique, outstanding and beautiful individual and as someone who is highly spiritual herself and a Capricorn herself, had many Capricorn men in her life, I want to explain and tell you everything you need to know about Elvis Presley and you will understand and see how much his Zodiac chart explains him and what a big role it plays in his persona and being. This is gonna be a very detailed and long analysis about Elvis so please be prepared and bare with me, it is for sure worth it, though. I want to bring Elvis Presley fans closer to him and bring all of you a better understanding to Elvis and who he was deep in his heart and soul. So let‘s start,shall we?

As you all may know, Elvis Presley was born on the 8th of January 1935 which makes him a sun Capricorn. Capricorn people are known to be the most feminine of all the sign. They love the color pink but also love black. They love art, poetry, music, fashion and history. They are old souls deep down. I have met many Capricorn men in my life and they all were dresses as if they were going to fashion week. Elvis loved fashion and he was probably the best dressed and had immaculate taste in everything, cars, clothing, interior. Elvis is known to have a flashy, yet extravagant style. He loved luxury and expensive things. Gold, pink, black, Smaragd green, ruby red. It‘s comparable with the elegant „old money“ aesthetic that we know now. Italian fashion is a big part of that. He could easily have been a fashion designer and his passion for fashion really shows from his early days on. Capricorn men also tend to be big mama boys. They LOVE their mothers. Of course everyone loves their mothers, but for Elvis, his mother was his number 1 and he would have done everything for her. All the other Capricorn men I met where exactly like that. Capricorn men will always love their mother’s more than their girlfriend or wife. And from my observation I will give you the ranking of their priority list now.

Their Mother

Their job

Family/friends

Romantic relationship

We all know that Priscilla was not on Elvis‘s priority. His job always came first. He was married to his job and he would have done everything for his job. It was his identity. Priscilla therefore always came last. He never wanted to change for anyone and would never give up his career for anyone. Capricorn‘s are also very stubborn which is represented by the goat. They are extremely stubborn and hate when people tell them what to do. They are also perfectionists and can slip that in in relationships as well, therefore they have very high standards and a distorted image of romance almost. They expect a lot from their partners especially when it comes to looks. Capricorn tend to be superficial and they care a lot about physical appearance. They want their partners to find in their standards and always look perfect. Which we all know resulted in Elvis „controlling“ Priscilla‘s looks and the way she acts, thinks and behaves. They don’t have bad intentions with it. They just like the idea of „showing off“ their „perfect“ partners and how pretty or good they look. This is especially common for Capricorn men compared to the women. Capricorn men are extremely hard working and their careers are their everything. They get charged and nurtured through their job and it makes them happy to work. Without work, they would feel very empty inside and would feel like they have no purpose or meaning in life and would feel lost. It would be very draining. Therefore, Capricorn men find most happiness in their work and they love to work a lot and hard. It‘s in their nature. They always give their best and find life and happiness by working hard and giving back to others. Capricorns are also pretty controlling and they can get stressed out or feel uneasy if they have no control over anything. Capricorns are also very loyal but they often times can be in denial about bad traits they have. For a Capricorn it‘s always „my way or the highway“. Capricorn people love to be right, love compliments and love to have a successful career. They love looking good as well. They want to look „perfect“, which is due to their perfectionism. They are not well with criticism and they have a hard time accepting it. A result of that would be to get mad, aggressive and cut the person of eventually when want to boss a Capricorn around or tell them what they are doing is wrong and that they should change it. Capricorns biggest pet peeve is when people boss them around or tell them what to do. They despise it. Which is what we learned about Elvis as well, he would cut people off his life when they told him to stop taking pills or to do something. He absolutely hated it and would throw things at people and get super mad. Capricorns think they know it all, they have a complex and want to achieve perfection in everything they do and are. Capricorns also tend to be more on the traditional side. They have traditional values and likes in life and don‘t prefer modernity, yet are open individuals for everything. Since Capricorns are very hardworking, they even spend their free time trying to better themselves by reading plenty of books, broadening their perspective, better themselves and gain more knowledge in the world. They are very curious individuals and always want to learn new things and study. Capricorns are hungry for knowledge and they could easily spend hours locked in their room studying and researching about many different subjects in life. They want to know everything their is about the world and never feel like they have researched enough, which is totally what Elvis would do in his free time. He would read medical books as well to learn more about medicine. Capricorns are loyal, dependable and devoted being. They may appear cold at first, but are very warm hearted and generous and kind on the inside. Capricorns don’t open up easily and build high walls around them, they have a hard time trusting people. Capricorn‘s also are incredibly close with their families and value traditions.

Capricorns keep themselves closed off from most of the world, so if they let you inside, they value you immensely. They spend a lot of time bettering themselves and strive for success constantly. Capricorns can be very unforgiving when you betray them or do them wrong. They will immediately cut you off from their lives. Capricorns hold not only high standards to their partners or friends, but also themselves. They are never satisfied with themselves and are their biggest critics. They can as a result of hard work neglect their needs and health and be their own worst enemy. Capricorns men would rather give more gifts to their partners rather than talk about their feelings. They can be somewhat materialistic. They are also very supportive and always willing to help others. They mostly show their love and gratitude through gifts or acts of service. In love, a Capricorn man would rather take it slowly to make sure they made the right decision and feel secure in their connection with the person. Capricorn men can also have a macho side to them and want to be seen as „cool“ and have a hard time talking about their feelings. Being vulnerable can be hard for them as they don’t want to let their guard as the „cool macho“ guy down. They are introverted beings. Image is very important to them.

Like for part 2 for the moon and rising sign analysis🤍

[crudeinourtrading]

Why You Should Prepare For The Coming Collapse Now

James Connor of Bloor Street Capital and Chris have a great discussion about the precipice the stock market and economy seem to be clinging to. “It’s all good until the music stops. And then it isn’t.”

What James and I talked about included:

The continual highs of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Trading on opinions vs technical analysis price action.

The surge in Apple after their AI announcement.

The surge in Tesla since their Q2 deliveries report.

NVDA, is there any weakness forming, or will it keep going?

The technical indicators I use to gauge how much upside momentum is left in the markets.

If the S&P goes to 5800 and then has a pullback, where would it go on the downside?

Big Cap banks vs smaller regional banks.

Thoughts on gold chart patterns.

Silver and gold miners and holding physical metals.

Bitcoin: what I see when I look at the chart.

Looking at the TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange), what are my views on its upward momentum?

Are there indications on the RBC chart (RY-TC) that show where the Canadian banking system may be headed?

The incoming future for Canadian real estate.

Comparing the chart of Scotia Bank (BNS-TC) to RBC.

The chart pattern for Telecom (BCE-TC) and Telus (T-TC).

As a Canadian investor, how should we prepare for the imminent future?

Watch The Interview Here

[autumnbrambleagain]

you ever have that moment where you realize you are fundamentally not the same species lol

person asked if we were having friends over for 4th of july and i saw a flowchart appear before us immediately

>issue: unknown human is requesting information with no immediate reason. interaction with the human is not desired but it is not socially acceptable to disregard question because of context of interaction >>analysis: question likely asked as default human social bond exchange. generate a response that fulfills the question without leaving space for further conversation. >option 1: say you already did a bonfire celebration a week ago. >>problem: requires too much explanation >>>problem: random human is not entitled to this information >>>>goto 2 >option 2: say yes >>problem: requires follow up questions, no lies pre-generated for this >>>goto 3 >option 3: say no >>problem: will also require follow up questions >>>solution: say we don't have many nearby friends to warrant one >>>>problem: this is technically a lie, but not one that can be contradicted >>>>>ideal choice, generate output >generated output: no, we don't have enough people nearby, we moved in from out of state

so that just all happened in like a span of a second and when i was out of the situation i felt like i had just sprinted 100 meters like i had just performed some great unwanted exhaustion

and i imagine like normal people don't. see this stupid fucking logic chart of "how to generate desired response for the human so the human goes away" when a human talks to you huh

because if it's this fundamentally exhausting to interact with other people for everyone, why do you all insist on living like this

i deserve to live in a cave on the side of a mountain on a hoard of gold sleeping for 100 years at a time

[dragonflycap]

5 Trade Ideas for Monday: Alkermes, Citigroup, Caterpillar, Neogen and EchoStar

5 Trade ideas excerpted from the detailed analysis and plan for premium subscribers:

Alkermes, Ticker: $ALKS

Alkermes, $ALKS, comes into the week testing resistance. It has a RSI rising in the bullish zone with the MACD positive. Look for a solid break of resistance to participate…..

Citigroup, Ticker: $C

Citigroup, $C, comes into the week approaching resistance. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD rising near zero. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

Caterpillar, Ticker: $CAT

Caterpillar, $CAT, comes into the week approaching the all-time high. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD rising. Look for a new high to participate…..

Neogen, Ticker: $NEOG

Neogen, $NEOG, comes into the week testing resistance. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with the MACD positive. Look for a push over resistance to participate…..

EchoStar, Ticker: $SATS

EchoStar, $SATS, comes into the week in consolidation. It has a RSI in the bullish zone with a MACD positive. Look for a break up from consolidation to participate…..

If you like what you see sign up for more ideas and deeper analysis using this Get Premium link.  

After reviewing over 1,000 charts, I have found some good setups for the week. These were selected and should be viewed in the context of the broad Market Macro picture reviewed Friday which heading into the September FOMC meeting and Options Expiration, saw heading into the last full week of September, equity markets showed strength following the FOMC’s first rate cut in 4 years.

Elsewhere look for Gold to continue its uptrend while Crude Oil bounces in its downtrend. The US Dollar Index continues to hold lower in consolidation while US Treasuries are failing at levels that could reverse to an uptrend. The Shanghai Composite looks to continue the bounce in  the downtrend while Emerging Markets rise in consolidation.

The Volatility Index looks to remain low and stabilizing making the path easier for equity markets to the upside. Their charts look strong, especially on the longer timeframe with the SPY making a new all-time high Thursday, breaking a range.  The IWM and QQQ are holding up on the edge of a range break to the upside. On the shorter timeframe the SPY is also strong with the IWM and QQQ building momentum as price reaches the August highs. Use this information as you prepare for the coming week and trad’em well.

[anishmary]

From Zero to Hero: Mastering Data Analytics for Transformation

The concept of "data" has enormous significance in the modern digital world. The enormous amount of information produced every day has revolutionized the way we view the world and move through it. The data analytics industry is one of the major players in this revolution. Let's set out on an adventure to discover the fundamentals of data analytics, consider their importance, and understand how they affect different facets of our lives.

Understanding Data Analytics Analyzing massive data sets to find hidden patterns, correlations, trends, and insights is at the heart of data analytics. It's like sorting through a gold mine of knowledge to find the gold nuggets that will help you make decisions and solve problems. Data analytics isn't just about statistics and figures; it's about turning raw data into compelling narratives that encourage informed decisions.

Why Data Analysis Is Important

The capacity to make sense of all the data in the globe has changed the game. Data analytics enables companies, groups, and people to comprehend their operations, clients, and environments more thoroughly. Here are a few main arguments in favor of data analytics:

Making Informed Decisions: Data-driven insights allow for more precise and knowledgeable decision-making. Companies might modify their tactics in light of current developments and customer preferences.

Enhanced Efficiency: Data analytics uncovers bottlenecks and inefficiencies in processes and operations, allowing for focused changes.

Predictive Skills: By analyzing past data, predictive models can predict future patterns and aid organizations in becoming ready for the future.

Customer insights: Data analytics reveals the preferences and habits of customers, enabling more individualized interactions and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Risk Management: Identifying potential risks and fraud patterns is made easier with data analytics, reducing vulnerabilities and losses.

Scientific Discoveries: In fields like healthcare and research, data analytics aids in uncovering groundbreaking insights and advancements.

The Data Analytics Process

Data analytics involves a systematic approach that follows several key steps:

Defining Objectives: Clearly state the objectives and issues you hope to resolve through data analysis.

Data Collection: Collect pertinent data from a variety of sources, making sure it is reliable and representative. Data Cleaning: Involves altering it to ensure accurate analysis.

Exploratory Analysis: Investigate the data in depth to find patterns, trends, and early insights.

Modeling: Building statistical models or algorithms to forecast outcomes or comprehend correlations in the data is known as modeling.

Interpretation: Draw conclusions from your analysis's findings and connect them to your original goals.

Visualization: To make your findings easier to understand, present them using visual tools like charts, graphs, and dashboards.

Action: Implement the learnings from data analysis to inspire positive changes and actions.

Data analytics has become an effective means for turning data into useful insights. By bridging the gap between information overload and useful knowledge, it facilitates decision-making, ignites innovation, and opens doors. A fascinating and fruitful trip may be had by anyone interested in learning more about data analytics, whether they are a business owner, researcher, or just curious. So, take part in uncovering the secrets of the data and grasp the power of data analytics to transform. If you need help implementing data analytics in your organization or if you want to learn more, you should consult professionals or sign up for specialized courses. For instance, the ACTE Institute offers comprehensive data analytics training courses that can provide you the knowledge and skills you need.

[forexindicatorcashpowerdownload]

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[wigilham]

XAUUSD (GOLD) Market Analysis Today | 23 September, 2024

Timeframe: M30

>> Market is too much expanded & there's nothing to the left to react from. So, it's better to wait for a retracement before buying.

Watch Live Trading Session: Click Here

Chart & Analysis Sureshot FX