Horoscopes | Week of February 7-13, 2005
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It could just as easily have been someone else instead of you. Remind yourself of this cosmic reality, so you not only appreciate that it did end up being you, but that you also marvel at the magic of having met certain special oddballs along the way. Every human contact is an opportunity for you to listen to the 'life story' afresh, to determine another uncanny commonality between your undisclosed emotional attitudes and something someone else is able to admit aloud for themselves… and to decide to convert that relative 'stranger' to 'significant individual' status in your coterie of experiential gift-givers. What's most lucky for you this week, Aries, is in noting the spiritual fortune of knowing who you do… and, as an inescapable corollary result to this awareness, you automatically belong to something great than yourself.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Whether you are heartily celebrated for your success-supportive contributions or heartlessly overlooked in the distracting happenings of others' makings, you cannot avoid feeling that the resultant hullabaloo doesn't match up with what's warranted… too much or not enough, but definitely not quite right. Which may be why you're hesitant to let these external opinions count too much in altering your internal attitudes about what you've achieved. While your skepticism is astute (i.e., there likely is some important chunk they're missing), it's also okay to allow the praise to sink in and/or to bemoan the unjustified snub. But don't take it on because of its supposed relevance to your reputation—only let it matter as it inspires your inner foreman to work you harder, stronger, longer and with greater enjoyment of the 'burn to earn and learn' mindset.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The better you can connect with the Geminese gift of not needing to be right, the more fun you'll have this week, Gemini, in tentatively trying out your favorite new recitations of earned truths. Blow 'em up with steady streams of your hot breath, then float 'em out there and see where they end up. Step back a bit, and watch the crowd's momentum carry the ideas to their logical extreme. Like an index-card greeting attached to a helium balloon, your propositions are as light as air (in a good way), when you bother to care more about philosophic growth than credit for being smart. (We know, we know… you're smart!) The 'free exchange of ideas' has never been more primed for actualization than now, if you're willing to let your ideas go, expressed, with pride and detachment from the outcome. And don't neglect to include the playful aspects, for a more entertaining edification process.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): It's up to you, whether to bring the weird submerged interpersonal vibrations into being by attempting to speak their name. Where you wonder if something you're sensing is really there or if your neurotic worries have invented a dynamic that doesn't exist… oh, it's really there. Well, something is. But you've got to ask yourself if it's worth trying to explain what you're observing, to fish for admissions of involvement or pre-knowledge from folks more oblivious to what's going on than you think. Calling conscious, indiscreet, verbalized attention to the matter might make it less real—instead of trusting what you intuitively understand, you expose yourself to multiple possible interpretations (and no ultimate reassuring confirmation). A wiser mode of response could be managed from a wholly inner perspective, deciding how next to proceed by drawing from the same source of unspeakable, non-verbal wisdom that first clued you in about something being there.
LEO (July 23-August 22): This is a life of other people, everywhere you look, but don't take Sartre's pessimistic take that this deems it Hell, which would speak greater volumes about you mistrusting your own aptitude for altruism than about which people suck, even those that resist visualizing whirled peas, that you're more ready to be pushed down the staircase than helped up off the floor and to the throne, that the new girl is more a perceived threat than a future best friend, and the propensity to speak first, to head off the looming slight at the pass, because you're so worthy of notice, so why not notice the kindness in his eyes, the complete openness before deciding to like or dislike, which proves to be based on passing resemblance to past dislikes or likes, and show up with the same absence of proud expectation, say hello and make talk, as if for the first time, for with this person, at this moment, it is the first time.
VIRGO (August 23-September 22): I want you to spend the week doing what you do best. It's not one of those many times when I try to convince you to grow beyond your instinctive nature and not seek excellence in matters of practical importance. This is indeed an advantageous moment to draw on your existing resources, to make more from what you already have, luxuriating in the invigorating buzz of efficient exertion. And beyond the mere self-serving fruits you'll reap, you can also advance the progress on the project's own terms a giant step or two, simply from training your extra-energized efforts toward the fulfillment of welcomed responsibility. You're functioning near the maximum of potential. The only advice I give is to be soft enough with yourself to give in, when impeccable standards begin to verge on merciless self-demand. No need to push past decency, since, from a reasonable outside perspective, you're already operating at model levels.
LIBRA (September 23-October 22): My first thought was to instruct you to refuse to do anything this week, Libra, that doesn't qualify as fun, but then realized that advice might make me an enemy to your employer, your partner and/or whomever else expects more of you. Perhaps tweaking it so as to advise you against any behavior that feels at all inhibiting of your freest urges and sensibilities will go far enough, without encouraging an all-out abandonment of urgent duty, to get you kicking up your heels. The 5th-house lineup of Aquarius planets trines Jupiter in your sign, making it one of those love-affair-with-life moments… wherever the love is, find it and amplify its presence in bold sing-songy strokes. Decorum, at least for right now, is a waste of time. It cuts into the allocated merriment, and we simply can't have that. Do only what you must do, and everything else qualifies for the gentle always-a-day-away excuse. Fun must be had.
SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Home is only where the heart is, if you make the commitment to arrange your life's circumstances around the defining core your heart reports is most homey-feeling… and then invest your most heartfelt heart-energy in building yourself a shelter there. Any trouble you've had in finding enough emotional centeredness wherever you chose to halt the exploratory advance and pitch camp is a direct result of being self-persuaded to 'make do' instead of seeking real comfort. Maybe you didn't ask the right questions first, or maybe professional or romantic ambitions kept you from listening carefully to the answers. When you rank your own settledness near the bottom of the list, you can expect to feel as an exile, disconnected from the lay of the land and unaware of the climate changes. If that's the case in your life, you may want to address these concerns before moving ahead with any big changes. Plan to have some sort of comfortable nest along on the ride with you, so you'll be able to lay your eggs when you're ready, wherever you go and whatever you'll be doing.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): I don't know what, if anything, is ailing you, Sag, but I highly recommend 'the talking cure' as a miraculous cure-all for all rips and ruptures to the spirit. Talking, in this context, should lack all didacticism. It exists for mulling things over, tossing them around so that all faces are evenly coated and browned, and no one side gets burnt or crusty. I prescribe consultations with multiple experts, for multiple opinions and diagnoses. This treatment is not for the weak, as our studies show the best results come from at least two weeks of consistent exposure to friends and random associates, for spontaneous generation of insights in modest encapsulated doses. You may not know you've made improvement until after the fact, so don't be so greedy in the hunt for signs of intelligent healing. Just talk, listen, share stories, appeal for counsel, tinker over wording, ponder the other meanings, and clarify by trial and error. Later, it'll fit together.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): The distance traveled so far in '05 should serve as enough impetus to become more deliberate over these coming months, doing your part in advance to claim the various material components necessary for blossoming in the world professionally. A plan will go miles. A combination of real accrued capital and a pre-established, self-acknowledged set of most revered skills is required for climbing to the next-highest plateau. The energy to strategize is well spent this week and next, as (hopefully) a certain outer-achievement optimism helps you filter out the illusory limitations and creatively visualize an abundance of personal resources to work with. Assume 'yes' over 'no', and the worst they can call you is a little naïve… which is a lot less constrictive than poo-pooing possibilities before they can prove possible. Foster faith that the boat will float, and soon you'll recall what a competent captain you've always been.
AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): With five planets lining up in your sign on account of Tuesday's New Moon, this week, the world is wearing Aquarian glasses. Each pair magically showcases the pearl that's always there in every oyster, if anyone other than you ever were to bother to look twice. Though you're used to the view, this wacky gaze is a little dizzying to those 'normals' unaccustomed to automatically reading against the grain. They may not like what they see. They might be unable to process it or comment on it. They could go into raving denial or quiet withdrawal. Or maybe they'll actually appreciate alternatives to their same old boring modes of understanding what goes on around them. Maybe they'll see the cleavages in the supposedly tight system and call the usually-agreed-upon authority into question. Maybe they'll see the ridiculousness in others' aggressions and politely giggle instead of fighting. Maybe they'll see the ridiculousness in their own ways and humbly delight in radical meaninglessness. All of that is them doing a thing which is more typical of your thing than theirs. Show compassion accordingly, and, when applicable, lend a helping hand to assist Aquarian oddness in taking root among these hinterlands and nether regions otherwise dominated by conventionality.
PISCES (February 19-March 20): Chalk this week's probable lack of focus up to another bout of hyper-Piscean thirst of an unquenchable nature, and at least go into it knowing what to expect. Then, perhaps, you'll be less likely to give away some important piece of dignity or selfhood, in futile hopes that Satisfaction (on the grand scale) will be offered to you in exchange. Too big, too much… and, alas, not enough. In lieu of perfect spiritual completion, why not settle for a more limited—though potentially satisfying, if only for a fleeting time—intimate connection with someone who understands. Yes, there are those who understand the rising sense of needing to give and get more, without any trace of what could or should be done about it. Instead of suiting up to the call of 'the Big Pull', follow the vibe to an earthly companion, then share mutual commiseration for open-ended sensitivity… and mutual appreciation of the gift of believing in beyond. Just don't give each other too much or too big in ignorance of that very unquenchable temptation being the foundation of the initial unquenchable concern.
