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Horoscopes | Week of June 6-12, 2005

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Hallelujah! Let me dispense with a lengthy horoscope for you, Aries, because there's really only one piece of news you need from me—Mars has finally moved out of pesky Pisces and back home to your sign. This means, at last, more energy, more clarity, more instinct, more focus, more pioneering passion… more, more, more of everything you like best about yourself, and goodbye to the murky magical mystery and mystical mayhem. Just your trademark easy ability to connect A to B, quickly and effectively. Watch that you don't get so zealous with your rediscovered self-force that you act too hastily, and in contradiction to your quieter and slower-moving emotional intuition, which might crave something other than what your first instinct would have us believe. Beyond that, you're back in the saddle again! So stop sitting still, and start doing…

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I want to challenge you to stay both (1) emotionally involved and (2) in continual movement—which also challenges the Taurean m.o. of feeling something and holding onto it as if it were a form of currency you might need to spend later. A-ha, the great spiritual teachers on material abundance teach us to let the money flow so that it will come back to us, rather than to clutch too tightly out of fears of scarcity… a mindset that runs somewhat counter to the naturally acquisitive, preservative Taurus talents, and thus may not always speak to your smartest interest. But emotionally speaking, I say follow the wise ones and expect your cup to continue to be full of love and contentment and happiness and magic, even though hurt and anger and anxiety and sadness also sometimes show up and appear to block the arrival of the 'good stuff'. The way to do that is to let go of the fear of losing what joy and peace you already have… and also of the permission to be right that you grant yourself by holding on to the hurt and anger and anxiety and sadness… and just move from one feeling to another without resistance. Practically speaking, the advice is: Don't let being sad or mad keep you from going out to have fun, and don't let being in a good mood keep you from delving into the serious concern and strife. You can live in it all during the course of a single day, or even an hour.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): 'It's been nice spending this time talking and cavorting with you, but you'll have to excuse me as I take my leave and return to the necessary material and professional concerns, and the relatively serious relative quiet that accompanies my nose when it is grindstone-bound. I'd rather you not argue with me or ask for more than I can offer, especially since I've done such a stellar job of articulating the fact that this transformation of tone is less about you and the reality of you who are than it is about me (and yes, I'm well aware that nobody likes to hear the phrase 'it's not you, it's me', even when, as in this case, it's true), and just grant me the leverage to pursue a less psychologically intimate exchange, so that I'll feel (sorry if this sounds harsh) less "pinned down" like a butterfly in a display case at a natural-history museum and more free to flit from flower to flower, unencumbered. Not that you've done anything to encumber me—I told you, it's not about you—but I have stuff I need to get done and long-neglected acquaintances and ideals to reconnect with, and I'm sure you'll understand that it's a gift I'm even able to tell you what I'm thinking, rather than running away or subtly sabotaging. So there you have it, and I'll see you later, if not sooner.'

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take a zodiac sign of understated emotional strength and psychic wisdom (that is, yours), add a couple cups of the lovely lady of peace and beauty (Venus), and then generously pepper with intellectual clarity and mental mischief (Mercury)… it's a recipe for one of the most beautifully fortuitous periods of the year for you, my precious prized Cancer. Between you and me, politely accept that the rest of June is yours to own and do with as you wish. Your ideas and insights will flow gracefully out your brain and off the tongue, while your fuller-knowing straight-on looks will make us feel heard without our having to say a thing. When you combine the Mercury-Venus impact with Mars's fiery entrance into your 10th house of professional standing, there couldn't be a better time to pitch your highest intent to those who can help make it happen for you… you'll come off with a mix of gracious go-getter and imaginative intellect. The only potential pitfall here is squandering this window of opportunity.

LEO (July 23-August 22): The week's planetary movements set the stage for you to enter a phase of contemplation, as you search the universe in your heart for a sense of meaning to the madness. You have nothing to accomplish, no three-act tragedy or comedy to perform, and nobody to impress but yourself. Literal quiet time, or uncomplicated relaxing fun, and you as just another speck of infinite insignificance in an interdimensional quilt of many textures and tones. Why has everything happened as it has? How have you changed, and what are you supposed to do with these changes, in order to make it worth the hassles and the hysteria? You don't have to say anything about it to anyone, just nudge the atmosphere toward its highest goodness with gentle psychic insistence. Strip off the costume, and release expectations. Simply be, and don't worry if it's you you're being as you Sit. 'Sit', with a capital 'S'—spiritually motivated stillness, as the world continues to revolve and rotate, and you smile and nod, knowingly but without an ounce of ego effort.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Things only get more complicated from here, in the sense that more and more different folks are involved in bringing the different pieces of the puzzle together in a team-enacted realization of a shared dream. Considering how I've dwelled for several weeks on your needing-to-be-resolved and/or in-midst-of-being-resolved relationship issues with specific individuals, the swelling inclusion of greater numbers of interpersonal influences—and, consequently, less sustained interaction with any single person—can actually alleviate some of the tension, giving you more emotional space as a seemingly incongruent result of being around more people. But you're likely to experience this as an energetic respite only if you've already made genuine attempts to work through the challenges, and plan to readdress the complexities after a bit of a well-earned break. However, if you've chosen to turn a blind eye (against the better judgment and persistent warnings of this astrologer) and let resentment build up, then the greater space won't feel relieving at all. Instead, it only deepens the alienation and increases the chances that mean-and-nastiness will be part of the eventual confrontation. Every day that passes without clearing the air, the more toxic the psychological smog will get. Don't let social distractions keep you from doing your personal work… for everybody's health and well-being.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): More than two months ago, Libra, I counseled you on developing greater relational satisfaction by specifically detailing the qualities of your ideal relationship… but not necessarily of the ideal person with whom this relationship might/should/could be. This exercise coincided with April's solar eclipse in Aries, the sign on your 7th house. Well, starting this week, expresser-of-will-and-want Mars shuffles into this same house of one-on-one relationships and ignites a firestorm of personal power in your partnerish behavior. It's the perfect time to revisit this list of desired relationship qualities (or to finally write it, if you didn't do so back in April) and check what you've done to work toward its progress. That's right, you can work to achieve this type of relationship, even as (I repeat this again) you shouldn't necessarily look for the certain special someone. How? Simple. By treating all those with whom you currently have relationships—friends, peers, associates, strangers—according to the same qualities you'd like to manifest more of in the future. That is: Lead by example. While Mars travels through Aries in your 7th, you cannot go wrong by doing what you'd like done to, for and with you.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): As the zodiac member who lives your life according to a strict code of interpersonal passion and its fullest concomitant psychological process, it may be hard for you to stomach my advice… which is, Get a little healthy distance. Your thinking may innately drift to consideration of you and him/her, the intense hodgepodge of emotion between you, and the way you imagine one of you is powerless except to zig when the other zags. But though you share so much with this principal person or persons of your most intimate relation, you cannot possibly share everything. Divorced from any other individual, you have your own physical needs, artistic urges, moral beliefs, account numbers, and varieties of fun and fear and God. No matter how hard you try to submit or defend or convince or proselytize, you are alone in these unique versions of self. Furthermore, you have your own work to do, those very special duties you've been called to this planet to fulfill… and which require an especially self-centered burst of your highest service, starting this week and continuing for the next several. Instead of fishing for this other's dinner every damn night, spend a couple hours teaching him/her to fish for him/herself and then return to cooking for one… for now at least.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Before you can break on through to the other side and join us in a renewal of unspeakable intimate bliss, there's some overt conversational venting that's got to take place. With a verbally intense Mercury-Pluto opposition falling across your 1st/7th axis, I'm quite sure there are some brutal truths begging to be spoken between you and at least one significant someone-else. The burning question, I suppose, is: Are you the one with something to say, or are you the intended audience of another's intense admissions? Well, if it's you that needs to talk, then you know what you need to do. I advise you to consciously choose the serious 'we need to talk' mode, rather than forestalling the inevitable until some mouthy explosion erupts unpredictably. But if you believe you harbor no silent feelings impatiently awaiting expression, then I suggest deploying intuition to sniff out others' discomforts or displeasures with you and inviting them to disclose. That way, you're actively courting the catharsis, instead of circumventing psychological reality. While none such dialogues are necessarily pleasant to undertake, the resulting relief is apt to be even more pleasurable and relieving than usual, per the astro-environment.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Joy and pleasure continue to hold sway in your one-on-one relationships, now that both Venus and Mercury are lovingly loitering in your 7th house. This relaxed ability to know what your partners and peers are thinking and feeling without their saying it, and the delight you take in honoring these intuitive connections, can rouse your social confidence into wanting more, varied and odder contacts with a broader range of humanity. This goodwill towards men and women could even extend into your professional life, so that you see your clients and co-workers and bosses more as ordinary people—though I caution you, in light of this charmed compassion, not to forget the real roles they necessarily serve in aiding (or undermining) your achievements (i.e., they're still your clients and co-workers and bosses). The greatest thrill this passing people-pleasing influence can serve you, Cap, would be in inspiring you to get your needs met—the emotional ones that you prefer not to acknowledge, rather than those other more 'practical' ones you're more comfortable pursuing. Dispensing with the standard 'don't worry about me, I'll be fine' line and displaying your own most perfectly imperfect human feathers is the best frosting for topping this otherwise moist and tasty cake of relational contentment.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): For you, my Aquarians, one of the more advantageous side-effects of the week's shifting astro-climate is a renewed level of access to the uncanny people-skills that distinguish you from the other signs. Over these past weeks, a sort of misty moodiness washed across us all, resulting in everybody turning his or her energetic focus inward and obscuring our ability to easily connect with one another. This included you, who are usually rather immune to such ethereal emotional influences. Or. Perhaps everybody wasn't moody and inwardly focused as I reported… and maybe it was just you. Like everything else of this recent period, it's difficult to accurately determine. But even it was simply your own murky opacity projected outward and blocking your ability to see (and read) others as you like, the point is: As of this week, the period has passed. You're back to your old… actually, your new-and-improved old self… and the best way to celebrate is with lots and lots of social contact, with oodles of the freest self-expression you know, sprinkled with plenty of your characteristic comments that smilingly shit-stir for good measure. And no traces of that former fleeting pessimism must be allowed to remain, though its shadow still threatens to linger like the ghost of a dead person one more week.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): I feel like I've given enough gentle and less-than-gentle nudges toward the edge of the cliff and cheered you on to jump. You either listened and obeyed, or you didn't. Which means your current situation holds either (1) a startlingly brand-spankin'-new life circumstance in which you find yourself, with head still spinning, or (2) a frustratingly same-ol'-same-ol' life circumstance in which you're stuck, driving you friggin' mad with boredom and inhibition. In either case, your next step—whether it be transforming the new circumstance into a full-on new life, or cracking open the hard outer coating of stagnancy to let in at least a smidge of life-affirming light and air—requires you to exercise some creativity. And by its very nature, creativity stirs you to bring forth something that has never existed before, so I can't really offer much more guidance about where to go with it, only that you have the magic wand. I know you must use creative thinking-and-doing to both conceptualize and then make an actual thing or experience that either further solidifies your latest risk-taking or moves to resolve a long-existing problem… and that, with both Venus and Mercury in your 5th house, you possess all the emotional passion behind your vision to manifest such an expression, and enjoy yourself in the process.