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Horoscopes | Week of January 24-30, 2005

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Surrender the need to prove yourself correct, to convince the bearers of barefaced ignorance of your brilliance, to fan the fire or to win the game-set-and-match. Oh, the passions provoked in you by the righteousness of your moral strictures (which you might not even conceptualize as 'moral', though they govern your judgments of right and wrong) cut to the bone of your being… but they needn't cut into the bones of others, sharp as swords and wielded as ferociously. It may even be to your ultimate self-nourishing advantage to exercise restraint in the realm of didactic disclosure. Spend the energy on yourself, toward further exploration and expansion of what's already in progress, rather than on trying to snuff out someone else's flame because you don't like the color of his candle and desperately yearn to declare victory on your own terms.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Many Christians consider the question 'What would Jesus do?' as a preemptive ethical exercise for inspiring conduct in themselves that corresponds with their highest beliefs. This moment or two spent in reflection goes far in thwarting the uncensored expulsion of unmitigated passion that might otherwise mar one's behavioral record. Whether it's Jesus or another symbol of similar purity, look to your model of best intention as an antidote for this week's increased 8th-house urge to act out in envy, malice, lust or deception. Don't pretend the feelings aren't there, for even the saintliest among us commit unrighteous deeds in our hearts. But when it comes to externalization, defer to your best practices. If the passions are too much to withstand on your own, go ahead and share them… but only in genuine love.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You love her. You hate her. You wish him well. You wish him dead. You feel all these things at once. Or you feel one of them, overpoweringly. Gemini, the only thing we can be sure of, when it comes to your current orientation in one or more significant pairings or partnerships, is the absence of devil-may-care indifference. You cannot help but care. I'd venture so far as to use the word 'compulsion' to describe how your impassioned attitude toward him or her (whatever it may be) is operating the vehicles, spurring near-unconscious accelerations and turns-of-corners, while you play at riding leisurely along in the passenger's seat. As if you're not the one in control of what's happening. As if you cannot own your complicity in the stormy interactions, even when it seems like he or she is the one acting crazy and you're just the unlucky target. The strength of the feelings is real and non-negotiable. But navigating the feelings successfully—ensuring your self-contained stability goes unruffled in the process—is truly a matter of firm constructive negotiations, involving all the necessary parties. Anything less is unfair.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Watch physical exhaustion levels carefully, for the week's Mars-Pluto conjunction contains what you might experience as excessive amounts of direct, no-holds-barred exhibitions of extreme will. As these bolts of determination are zapped to and fro by individuals unaccustomed to feeling so powerful, you are apt to get caught in the psychic crossfire, inadvertently absorbing these vibes of extra-much-ness and unconsciously processing them through your physical body. Or your involvement will be more conscious than that, as you pick up the energy for your own uses—which would likely entail trying to squeeze more work out of a given day than usual, forgetting to pause and rest in the process. Either way, the cosmic environment is testing your skills at staying strong in the face of such intensity. 'Strong', in this case, is not stubborn nor immovable, as much as aware of the need for regular relaxation and a tempered temperament, no matter the amplitude of the energy waves bearing their influence.

LEO (July 23-August 22): The best metaphor I can find to explain what I see for your week ahead, Leo, casts you in the role of a creatively gifted, though somewhat hyperactive and unfocused, child. You've been giving a box of crayons and a stack of important coloring-book pages to be completed efficiently and with the greatest possible neatness, to test your ability to follow instructions while working. But you're just a kid, and a host of fantastic fidget-worthy distractions dare to tempt your attention away from the task at hand. Meanwhile, the more intently you concentrate on staying inside the lines, the greater your flair for bold, bright, gesturally messy strokes crops up and lures you to scribble all over the place. The solution to this creative conundrum? Find some extra scratch paper, and get the wild scribbling out of your system, aside from the examiners' judging glare and apart from this assignment. Release the creative juices, then return with renewed patience and attentive accuracy to the coloring book… so you can stay inside the lines.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Emotions could unexpectedly swell beyond the proportions you'd normally expect… particularly under circumstances in which someone or something appears to be blocking your ability to carry out whatever supports your personal comfort. Your patience toward group concerns and the 'impersonal' attitude they presume you'll take (in everyone else's best interests, no doubt) is low. Try not to bite any heads off in the panic of realizing nobody is instinctively considering your emotional reactions in these proceedings. Don't repress your lust for self-satisfaction, out of false decency—just make sure you remain decent in the act of excusing yourself from the protracted team sessions and seeing straight to your own needs.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Though you are one of the least likely zodiac signs to fall victim to this label, I keep visualizing the word 'braggadocio' when I consider your planetary profile for the week. Because it is 3rd-house action (thank you, Mars and Pluto!) behind this tendency to talk big, I doubt the boasting will arise in relation to actual identity concerns—no, you're more likely to be extra-bold about a casual or silly topic than your position in the world. Of course, if decorum prevents you from even the occasional bragging, then you might attract such braggardly behavior to you from somebody else… in so blatant an amount and so blaring a tone that you cannot help but make direct overtures to end the interaction or suffer the bloat ad infinitum. In either case, your characteristic modesty would serve you well, even when it would seem not to matter much… while, at the same time, it's only available in limited quantities.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): The most auspicious way to spend your week, Scorpio, is in laboring toward quantifiable results. If you give yourself a specific sales or production goal, some clear-cut measure of success requiring no value judgment, then you'll essentially resolve any evaluative tensions obstructing your satisfaction and shift full-steam-ahead into procurement mode. (Trust me, I wouldn't want to get in your way…) If, however, you get yourself caught up in questions that complicate the simplest cause-effect/action-reaction paths, then don't expect as smooth a sailing. Talk will appear as cheap as it is. Its best use is for defusing greed, in yourself and others, considering how effective take-no-prisoners ballsiness appears to be. Take care not to let yourself become reduced to 'predator' status, though your potential success as one may entice you.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): I wouldn't want to be the person charged with roping you in or regulating your affairs this week, Sag, because the Mars-Pluto conjunction in your sign magically transforms you into a power-tool of immense force that cannot be contained. This is the time to bust through two-by-fours with your bare hands, lift a car off the ground with a single finger or jog across the heartland, barefoot in the snow. Mind you, just because Mars and Pluto are in your sign, Sagittarius, that doesn't mean others don't have the similar potential to model feats of strength, power and endurance. You may possess the mightiest doozey of a dose of it, but that also makes you a lightning rod for attracting their reactionary wraths. Retain compassion for those who would face off against you… you are an almost-unbeatable adversary in this astrological atmosphere, which could lead them to fight harder and meaner against you. Since you can grab nearly anything you want under this influence, take care not to grab stuff away from other people—or expect to hear further from them.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): The more you can rely on cool logic and calm contemplation this week, the better, Capricorn. And luckily, you've still got Mercury and Venus to lean on in these matters. Any added effort to insert an extra couple deescalating breaths into your chief communications will go a long way toward maintaining maximal respect from others, exemplifying your continuing maturation in the emotional management of one-on-one interactions. Alas, there is a competing vein of irrational and potentially dark shadow stuff—real, though so hard to encapsulate it almost seems unreal or surreal—lurking in the corner, threatening to take over and compel you toward behaviors seemingly out of your control. Don't succumb; default back to consideration and care. Keep your self-righteousness, self-loathing and self-escapism in check. If intuition warns you of approaching danger, step back, though there is no reason to be fearful—as with any thread of thought or spirit that shows up in a meditation, acknowledge its presence then invite it on its way, returning your mind to centeredness and clarity.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): I want to tell you to mobilize the forces behind your kind impersonal leadership, but I can't quite figure out how to turn this loftily abstract-sounding advice into something concrete to do. Maybe you will read these words and automatically know how you can best 'mobilize'—who are you bringing together? behind what purpose? to what ends?—with the boost of Mars and Pluto lighting up your 11th. Or maybe the most useful point you can glean is the motivation not to bully the collective, disrupt its unity or demand it reach ever higher toward unreasonable ideals when its humble efforts are good enough for now. You can get a little extreme, gambling your ego detachment on too dogmatic a rallying cry. As before, I urge you to stay centered among the people you claim to advocate for while simultaneously scorning or snubbing. Underneath their inhibitions, each is as fascinatingly multi-faceted as you are… and could benefit from your brave example, should you choose to draw them out rather than shut them down.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): This week, you can battle quite effectively for the ascendancy of your own authority. You can also battle against the authority of others. Victory in the first battle may or may not necessitate simultaneous engagement in the second, but fighting the second will always have ramifications for the first… and they may not be fortuitous ones. The most surefire success will come from a cheery, enthusiastic push into the type of authority you can embody without someone else (with more or greater authority) having to give it to you. If another's consent is required, then temper the enthusiasm with a genuine display of serious interest in the greatest well-being of the whole group, not just you. To get what you want, you must be secure in your qualities and qualifications, without being too unbridled with your ego. Stay in that right balance, and you hold the keys to the kingdom.