StarIQ.com's Cosmic Correspondent Kim Rogers-Gallagher has been invited to the planets' secret hangout. She's the first astrologer to enter this starry domain, and reports regularly on her findings there.

Cosmic Café 31:
Neptune and Jupiter, "At Home" Together in Amsterdam

We walked through the front door of the huge green building, and I immediately smelled marijuana. I recognized it for only one reason, of course. See, I went to high school from 1971–1975, so all my friends used to smoke it. That was it. Really.

At any rate, once I smelled that seductive odor, I looked back over my shoulder at Jupiter, who grinned wickedly as he pointed down the stairs. "That's the ticket, babe," he said, and suddenly I knew I had a decision to make. I'm a Sag, and not good at “Just Saying No” to anything. Okay, so it smelled familiar. There was more to it than just that. I knew I was in Amsterdam, first of all, where anything and everything is legal. That made my Saturn happy—and I was born with Saturn on the Midheaven, a very powerful, very responsibility-oriented influence that has a heavy distaste for anything that smacks of illegality.Needless to say, those of us with this placement are good at getting caught, and better at feeling guilty, even if we don't get caught.

Of course, even more alluring than guilt—the headiest of drugs for those of us born with Saturn in this potent place—was the fact that I was traveling with Jupiter. He's hands-down the luckiest and most generous of the gods. In fact, he's the kind of guy that you'd just love to have as a teacher in high school, because he'd just laugh, no matter what you did, and let you get away with anything. And speaking of heady drugs, let's not forget that I knew woozy Neptune would be joining us shortly, the kind of lady who just loved close encounters of any kind—no matter who, or what, was responsible.

Since Jupiter was wearing his Gemini outfit, however, he was in a hurry—a great, big hurry. He just about tripped down the stairs, in fact, in his haste to get to that delicious smell. Having dealt with my Saturn, I was eager to go, too, but I was concerned about Neptune's feelings. She is, after all, one of the most sensitive planets in the heavens, and she might feel slighted if she thought we were in too much of a hurry to wait for her. I had to ask. "Should we wait for Neptune?"

Jupiter winked at me, as he gestured impatiently for me to come downstairs. "Oh, honey, be real. She's already here. She's always here."

He was right. At the bottom of the stairs was a menu I'd never seen before, a coffee-bar that obviously was serving more than coffee, and a lovely woman in the middle of a crowd of admirers. She wasn't speaking much, but as Jupiter approached the menu, I noticed that she was smiling—a most hypnotic smile. She was smoking a cigarette that was definitely hand-rolled, and had a veritable pile of tiny plastic bags in front of her, all of which seemed to full of herbs. Or herb.

Her hair was a light pastel shade of purple—perfect for this woozy goddess in unconventional Aquarius. I noticed that she also had some very interesting little silver rings on her body—one through each eyebrow, one through her bottom lip, and another poking out from beneath the short, tie-dyed midriff blouse she wore.

Although she wasn't wearing the pink gown I'd seen her in last, I knew it was Neptune. Had to be.

As Jupiter ordered from the menu and pushed his money through the tray, much like you and I do at the theater, Neptune turned, saw us, and extended her hand to me. "Come here, darling, and have a toke." She handed me her "cigarette," and without even a second thought about Saturn, I took it.

Jupiter returned just then, and hugged Neptune hard. "Hey, gorgeous—whassup?" She smiled and allowed him to lift her just about out of her seat, then reached over to me without even a glance in my direction. I handed her the "cigarette," and began to survey the scene. I was absolutely amazed—or maybe it was that my Saturn on the Midheaven was absolutely amazed—at what was going on in this public place. Couples and small groups sat huddled around tiny tables, laughing and talking quietly together. Smoke was everywhere—and everyone was smiling. I began to smile myself, and then I noticed that Jupiter and Neptune were staring into each other's eyes. I watched for a moment, and then, apparently since Neptune is right on my Moon at the moment, I felt my eyes beginning to tear up. I was actually feeling sentimental—an odd notion for the supposedly unemotional Moon in Aquarius.

Neptune noticed immediately. She reached over and pulled me close to her, smiling. "Oh, I just love it when you guys get woozy," she said. Jupiter blew a huge cloud of smoke in my direction, and smiled broadly. "Yeah, she's not near as tough as she seems to be."

I hugged her, realized I was actually crying, and for the first time in years, was happy about that fact. Although Aquarius Moons are known for being "cold," I was certainly loosening up. I was also thinking about home, about my dog and my cat and my house-slippers. I resolved to ask Jupiter to please take me home after Amsterdam—forget Paris. I was homesick, a typical reaction to Neptune's transit to the Moon in our charts.

I couldn't mention that right away, of course, because Neptune and Jupiter were obviously enjoying themselves. That, too, made sense. Put the two of them together, and you've got what I like to call "Las Vegas Syndrome," that condition we've all experienced at one time or another, a combination of being extremely optimistic, extremely hopeful and extremely out of touch with reality at the same time. It's the stuff that life-long gamblers are made of, and if you've ever been to Vegas or Atlantic City, you've seen it in action in someone's eyes. And what better place for Jupiter and Neptune to meet up than Vegas—unless, of course, it was Amsterdam, where gambling, prostitution and "light" drugs were all legal. It was obvious this was their town, and they were infatuated.

Still, I do have Saturn on my Midheaven, and I'd seen enough. I was impatient to get home, but who could interrupt this pair, especially when they were so much in their element? I negotiated an internal compromise without saying a word. I resolved to enjoy myself for tonight, no matter how long "tonight" lasted, and to ask Jupiter to bring me home, or send me home, in the morning.

That done, I decided in the meantime to relax and enjoy myself. I stifled Saturn's powerful voice, and slid into a barstool between Jupiter and Neptune.

What a place to be! Even if you, of course, would never, ever, actually inhale…

Next Week: Back to the Café and a Strict "Talking-To" from Saturn.