Regret

I've been walking around for the last 4 weeks with a book I pulled off the library shelf that's called Regret: The Persistence of the Possible written by Janet Landman. I thought it would be an interesting study to understand how to tell the difference between a person who feels regret and one who doesn't feel regret.

According to Rex Bills "Regret" is ruled by Saturn. That makes sense as Saturn rules Guilt and Loss and Sorrow. Capricorn also tends toward Blame so may not own this side of itself. Sun in Cancer, being the sign opposite Capricorn and also a sensitive water sign, might be more prone to expressing Regret. It's a sign which doesn't easily let go of the past. This is also known as the Cancer Whine.

Thing is, the Sun is in Sagittarius right now and it is my experience that Sagg's don't feel Regret. And I don't feel like talking about this subject while the Sun is in Sagittarius. When the Fire Signs rule you don't want to dwell on anything that gums up the works or catches too much moss. And this book is due at the library and I haven't even begun to try to read it. One interesting section talks about different literary approaches to Regret. Here they are. I'll put them on my reading list and then feel lots of regret that I'll never read them:

Romantic Regret: Dickens: Great Expectations
Comedic Regret: Henry James: The Ambassadors
Tragic Regret: Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground
Ironic Regret: Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway

Meanwhile, my head is humming with songs that have to do with not feeling regret. By Fancy coincidence, they just happen to have become signature songs for Sagittarius Singers.

The first song is "Non, Je ne regrette rien" which translates into "No! I don't feel sorry about anything." It was sung by the French Chanteuse, Edith Piaf, a Sagittarius. She sings the song from the pit of her stomach saying that she has no regrets. (French lyrics along with English translation at http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/lyrics-translation/21791-je-ne-regrette-rien-edith-piaf.html).

The second song is "I Did it My Way" sung by Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, also a Sagittarius Sun. Here are the lyrics; you can see that good old positive Sagittarius Wisdom. Enjoy:

"And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain.
My friends, I'll say it clear;
I'll state my case of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full -
I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets? I've had a few,
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course -
Each careful step along the byway,
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off more than I could chew,
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill - my share of losing.
But now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that,
And may I say, not in a shy way -
Oh no. Oh no, not me.
I did it my way.

For what is a man? What has he got?
If not himself - Then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way.

Yes, it was my way."