Horoscopes | Week of Week of September 16-22, 2002

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Though you may clearly observe the duties and tasks that require tinkering with, your mood is a bit dreamier and less action-oriented than you're accustomed to, so don't push yourself right now. And in lieu of going out and doing, I don't think you should try to describe or dictate others' actions at this time—because they won't be sure why you want it your way, and you won't be so great at explaining yourself. However, when it comes to non-obligatory, pleasure-filled activity, your romantic meandering feelings certainly favor that. A picnic, a surprise getaway, or even a different way of using your space (eating in the dining room, using the special quilt, etc.) all favor a more relaxed mood that still channels the Aries fire, without attempting to direct it anywhere other than intense enjoyment of the moment.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Yes, you like observable earthly phenomena. And yet someone or something peaks your interest with what isn't obviously apparent but rather seems to be lingering under the surface. Mysterious, though appealing. What better way to resolve the tension you've been feeling about where best to direct your energies, toward the continuing comfort of your inner world or newly stimulated expressions of your outward goals? A third point, to distract you from both. In reaction, you're prepared to mete out your affections bit by bit, ready to show love, but emotionally unsure as to where or how you'll end up putting it. Unsettling, but occasionally good to live in the grey.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It's no shock that you are of two mindsets. Thus, this week, I have advice for each one of you. Mindset #1: You can alter your mental sanity level for the better by taking the opportunity to groom, neaten, organize and simplify. Rather than turning those tidying urges against another person, whose foibles drive you crazy, I recommend looking inward. There are certainly some spiritually flabby pieces of you that require getting into shape, so a few cosmic crunches or energetic calisthenics might do you some good. Mindset #2: While your other half is cleaning cosmic house, which takes a lot of focus and effort, you can relax your frenetic mentality and simply follow the leader in your outer life. On the job or at a party, let yourself come second. It'll help in allowing your first half to come first.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): They say that Mercury retrograde makes communication work in strange ways. Well, for you, Cancer, who usually finds it challenging or unpleasant or impossible to speak your truths aloud with precision or grace, this could be a blessing. Now you'll enjoy a passing penchant for poetic proclamation. With your heart in a more philosophical place, and a bit less immediately or instinctively needy, you might try to give form to your most esoteric feelings rather than letting them drive you crazy or make you sad or withdrawn. And greater confidence in how you speak your heart will have those around you wanting more, desiring to explore your depths intensely with you. It's an enticing and rewarding experience, so long as you remember that you've been gifted as the "practical" one, as odd as that may sound.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Occasionally, there are prices to be paid for such tremendous talent and luck as that with which you've been blessed. Spending all your time and energy following your dreams (and giving the crowds of abstract nameless "fans" what they want), and suddenly you wake up one morning with a free day off (that is, time with no responsibility attached), and you realize you've sort of lost your place. All those groups and friends that stimulate your sense of just being one of the gang, but you're not sure who to call first, and what to expect from them (you're a little out of touch), and not everyone will want to listen to your stream of self-esteem (especially those who aren't currently hitting the jackpot themselves). Go toward those that, like a good mother-figure, softly humble you and remind you, without judgment, how to receive and give love.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): As you forge ahead with learning how to feel comfortable and uncritical in being yourself, you will start letting down the walls you've built to keep the tender parts in proper order. There is tremendous unpredictability, spiritual and ethereal pleasures, and great compassion flowing both ways, from people to you and back out. Just be prepared, parts of your "perfect" image are necessarily jeopardized. A positive outcome. Limits exist to how flawlessly perceived you can be, the ideal worker and servant in every situation. Have faith in other people as you allow and enjoy less guarded words to escape your mouth and return to your ears. You may not be sure how best to take care of yourself, but you do know that the safe-house in which you've been hiding is no longer so isolatingly safe.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): The natural Libran grace and charm are an expansive control mechanism that allows you to maintain pleasantries due to their manageability. I'm not criticizing this, just describing it. So when moments like this come, where the unexpected is apt to occur and/or you just can't orchestrate the situation to meet your needs, you'll naturally feel uneasy. You might even imagine yourself to be some defunct superhero who tries to fly around the world and ends up clunking into walls. If you ease up a bit on the control and realize that, for the next chunk of time, casual encounters will instead give way to more challenging though meaningful interludes, you'll be more in line with what's going to happen anyway. Then, with an altered consciousness, you can return later to being the refined host(ess) with the most(ess).

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): In the eyes of your admirers, you can do no wrong right now. But that doesn't mean you are incapable of doing wrong. For the next four months, Venus will be traveling through your sign, an exceptionally long transit for this quick-moving planet. The power to draw people to you, and to sway them your way, is in your court. This, of course, is a great responsibility. Your potential for using this energy to truly show your loving capacity, helping others feel an increased sense of self-worth, is higher than ever. Scorpios are healers, and at this point in time, those who crave transformation via your mysterious gifts will flock to you. On the other hand, don't go enforcing the stereotype of Scorpios as manipulative by using others to selfishly increase your own standing. There are cosmic laws that ensure you'll get what you deserve, one way or another.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): You're not the person I'm usually most likely to deem introspective. Particularly as this ongoing transformation of who you are continues at the deepest and most subtle levels, you're more likely to bounce new versions of yourself off the people around you, rather than hide away and quietly ponder stuff. Still, I wouldn't recommend using this time to spout your opinions on all the wrong things you notice about your boss, your friends, your parents, your landlord, or (heaven knows) your partner—unless you're prepared to realize how seriously people can take your offhand comments. You might be ready for expansion of your value system, but it doesn't mean that everyone else is. Introspection might suit you, after all.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Loosen up and feel free to open your mouth, letting the uncharacteristically boundary-less emotion in your words carry you. Now is a wonderful time for you to reconnect with the healing power inside, which tingles and twirls most triumphantly when activated by mergings in sexual or other psychologically intimate realms. While engaged in this quest to figure out a little better what it is you believe, it might feel like you're sacrificing safety and practicality. Well, good. It's okay. Part of the realization is making peace with the intense reactions you elicit in groups, whether you intimidate, anticipate or precipitate. You give up the power, and people give it back to you in deference and respect.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): In true visionary manner, you continue to know so much about so much, society and the universe and what-not. But you still struggle with crude elementary confusion about what you're personally supposed to do and how you can do it, so that you can provide yourself some decent semblance of a living, in one way or another. Try breaking through by actively soliciting advice or even collaborative effort from trustworthy folks who possess what you lack. Then let the criticisms come. Welcome them. Invite the demons in for lunch, and serve them one of your most hospitable recipes. Feedback about methodologies doesn't jeopardize your radical forms of knowledge and expression, just helps you understand how best to go about pursuing them. Otherwise, what a waste of your talents if you cannot actually achieve those transformational goals that make your mouth water.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): When you're feeling it, you're really feeling it. Like now. And I don't necessarily mean depressed or furious or ecstatic, just emotional. (In fact, trying to classify it is a fairly futile venture.) But when you're feeling it, you must set some boundaries in your personal space. Don't let it get to the point, in typical Piscean fashion, where you feel cramped and resentful and end up freaking out. You must feel comfortable to ask for what you need and make adjustments accordingly. Setting up a new routine that fulfills your basic needs in a predictable fashion can be helpful. Then your energies aren't absorbed by these basic tasks, and you have mental space to explore your recent interest in figuring out what matters most to you, and how this current wave of feeling fits into it.