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Horoscopes | Week of August 22-28, 2005

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here's the struggle as I see it (and with your ruler Mars in two different squares against Mercury and Neptune this week, there's definitely struggle involved… though it needn't externalize into an out-and-out conflict): It's (1) Who You Want to Be vs. (2) What They Want or Need You to Be. In Corner (1) anxiously sits your desire to present yourself to the world as you see fit, with little compromise, so you can feel completely and totally satisfied with the expression. In Corner (2) awaits a larger field of folks who consider you part of their team, watching the clock in anticipation that you'll eventually join them… on their terms, since they jointly consider that 'the right thing to do'. Being an Aries, you know you'll win if you opt to fight it through. But to what ends? Domination? Self-alienation? There's no reason both sides can't win, and I recommend aiming for that in the long term. In the short term, to secure the resources you'll need to get the selfish (1) victory (and there's nothing wrong with that!), use your energy now to show good faith with whichever key partners or collaborators feel most familiar to you, even if you're never met them (at least in 'this life') before.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): As long as Mars is in your sign, asserting yourself is nearly unavoidable. But you do yourself a favor and help to mute your own exceptionally strong projective energy—and reduce the risk of pissing others off, especially fixed-sign folks (Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and other Taureans), who are liable to (mistakenly?) regard you as bull-headed in the worst sense—by simplifying where you devote yourself, holding a tight focus on being pleasant and accommodating, and keeping away from complications. Take on a few extra solitary tasks at work, or commit to finally paying better attention to your own health habits… anything to minimize unnecessary interpersonal interactions with those whose behaviors you don't know well enough to predict. When loneliness creeps in, stick to the company of pets or those dutiful companions with whom you can feel 'alone while together'.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Last week, I told you to reask your questions calmly and without an agenda, to see if you like the answers better (or at least understand them more clearly) the second or third go-around. Now, this week, I encourage you to restate your own stances with a comparably chilled-out tone, since they are just as likely to have heard you wrong (or not have even listened at all) the first time. Then, once it's out there, listen (and I mean really listen) for the sound of any of your words hitting walls of resistance, bouncing your utterances back at you, returning them to sender without any clear instructions or explanations from the postmaster. Don't volley back, and don't assume your message hasn't been delivered or isn't ultimately generating some deliberation in the minds of those whose ears it hit. Let it sit, even if your request for a 'read receipt' goes unheeded. Trust that it's been read, and is currently in digestion phase.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your mind complains how sick it is of that shaky sensation, and counsels you to go for whatever will to stabilize the boat. Your heart pines for further involvement in the riskier ventures, which are only riskier insofar as certain other people's input is pivotal to whether you'll emerge feeling victorious and cleansed, or dirty and dissatisfied, covetous, empty or lost. It's a classic mental/emotional showdown, Cancer, but don't succumb to the imaginary pressure to commit yourself one way or the other. Seek additional inputs beyond those of the 'certain other people' whose opinions are too deeply tied to your heart's variable happiness or disappointment, to widen the field of possibilities and delay the eventual need for an ultimate determination. If, in the process, you annoy those who want to rush you, then that complication alone will give you enough of a pitstop pause… and you still won't have to resolve the big question yet.

LEO (July 23-August 22): I mean no disrespect, but here goes: Not everyone wants to hear it. That doesn't mean you can't still think about it, play with it, bounce it around, or entertain yourself with it. Feel free. In fact, I sincerely believe some people will truly love it… but others will not, and you won't be able to tell who is who. Meanwhile, making something of it will take much longer than originally anticipated, and if you try to push the timeline to speed up its enactment, the people in power will defiantly push back. Your priorities are not necessarily their priorities, and one of the Saturn-in-Leo lessons is to realize the limits of your importance amidst a multitude of other priorities unbeknownst to you. Still, don't let what at first sounds somewhat disheartening keep you from enjoying whatever 'it' is on your own time for now, biding your patience by slowly and steadily massaging the jewel-of-a-concept until it naturally and climactically erupts of its own accord.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): This is your formal invitation to attend a concert featuring the delicate and ethereal warblings of your Inner Higher Voice, a soloist who doesn't always sing her melodies according to the mainstream musical traditions and thus gets relatively little publicity in these parts. Her lyrics are a summons to you to take a more leisurely and inefficient, enjoying-the-scenery approach, and you'll do yourself a service to listen to her enchanting (though admittedly logicless) cooing. I know it's hard to consciously choose a more lackadaisical lifestyle, even for a passing instant, when you can't quite quantify why or how this might be helpful to you. So what if it goes against everything you believe in? Maybe you could believe in more things, different things, unusual and imperceptible things… and if you choose to do so over the next few months, you'll find the opportunity to build, one grain of sand at a time, a castle-tower high enough that you can climb it to the stars, where the Inner Higher Voice floats as she sings, and meet her face to face in deference and respect. Or you could keep doing what you're doing, and listening to the predictable tone of your voice speaking the 'shoulds' and 'musts' ad infinitum… and you'll be exactly where you've always been, hi-ho, ho-hum.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Just because there's a substantial degree of smooth sailing on seas soothed by Venus and Jupiter making their happy home in your sign, that doesn't mean you should overlook snafus smoldering under the surface. Actually, it's a great opportunity to begin to deal—in advance of events actually activating the crisis point—and consequently improve your chance of things eventually working out with relatively less discomfort. Leverage the current cosmic concord shining from overhead, and tackle a full-on new way of accomplishing the task, therefore dashing everybody's expectations of the dilemma to come… heading off the building frustrations at the pass. Choose to break the inertia yourself, rather than defaulting to Venus/Jupiter's less opportune actualization and gliding along on looking pretty and talking nice. And the good news is, nothing need be settled all at once. A little directness will stretch a healthy distance.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Unlike those of your zodiacal cousins, your message is liable to come through loud and clear. Maybe even louder than you intended and clearer than you usually prefer, with the potential of blowing your usually-undercover cover and sacrificing some of the self-protection that gives you your customary advantage. Because of this, the balance of power evens out. You have a formidable opponent (or ally-turned-temporary-opponent) on your hands, should you choose to let this other strong person become an 'opponent'… and thus the terms on which the battle is to be fought—or, more optimistically, the negotiation to be forged—are unfamiliar. Emotionally unsettling, to be sure. As they say, this is how 'the other half' lives. The possibilities for deep healing through mutually meeting your match—or for pure destruction through truly ugly tactics—are high. And the race is too close to call.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21):Those who share your same opinions (or, if you insist on splitting hairs, possess opinions close enough to yours for government work) should be directly encouraged by you to share the microphone. It minimizes the perception, justified or not, that you're dictatorially speaking for others and/or are the only person who feels as passionately. The mutual responsibility for disseminating the message will strengthen the case, and alleviate some of the risks to your physical well-being (e.g., stress, hoarse throat, malnutrition, lack of exercise) that come from taking on too much. Yes, you've got a lot of energy to burn off… but even Jerry Lewis lets others take over the stage for spells during his annual twenty-plus hour telethon. You can't fulfill your mission if you drain yourself in the process.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): The drive to press ahead in support of your favorite little bundle(s) of creative joy—be it the book you're writing, the film you're making, the celebration of life you're eagerly producing, at work or in your spare time, or the actual flesh-and-blood, kicking-and-screaming kids you've been cosmically called on to care for—appears thwarted, at least temporarily, by the view that you don't have enough of the right supplies (money being a big one, as it's key to acquiring the others) to keep going. Notice I said 'appears thwarted'... and not 'forget about it you're screwed.' Instead, the rate of progress may simply have switched or dropped to indiscernible levels. Someone's help is eagerly waiting for you to request it, happy to yank you from the invisible quicksand. Or you're just not seeing the reality of the material situation in quite the clearest light. Everything's not how it seems… which is great news for the bundle's bigger-picture well-being, but not so ideal if you want to figure it all out right now and without others' assistance.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): A main reason why the possibility of outwardly verbalized clashes is likelier this week, Aquarius, involves your peculiar ability to appear as other than who you truly are. Of course, we all have the beautiful masks we wear and the far far messier 'real' selves underneath. But, as I've mentioned before, the long-term transit of Neptune through your 1st keep plenty of people (including, annoyingly, yourself) guessing about what's really going on. This week, when Mercury and Mars form a tricky T-square to Neptune, the consequences of your outer-layer opacity will crunch into conflict. A certain someone: caught off guard by how stubbornly you grip to a rather conservative need, not believing it of such a wild-child as you. You: wanting to be seen but somehow still fading in and out, thinking you'd made everything perfectly clear when you hadn't. Both of you: trying to explain, but only catching each other's more inflammatory or irrelevant bits; still going unheard. Especially watch for it in your living situation, and with members of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and other Aquarians). It can be successfully navigated by (1) stating, as many times as necessary, what you think is obvious, without resenting the need to state the obvious, (2) displaying empathy for his/her surprise at what could be deemed your personality 'inconsistencies', and (3) treading lightly, at least this week.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): A quick scan of some other signs' horoscopes should reveal a week ripe for the picking of fights and exacerbating of misunderstandings. The culprit is the Mercury-Mars-Neptune T-square in fixed signs, and the net result combines flaring tempers with latent confusion about why the tempers are flaring. Naturally, many folks will try to 'resolve problems', only to create far hairier conflicts by misreading the situation and/or seemingly showing disrespect to each other. You, Pisces, are luckily not one of the worst potential instigators… but, psychically spongy as you are, can easily become embroiled in others' tantrums, in the name of issues you actually care quite little about. Instead, I suggest conjuring a bit of Pisces magic and consciously reversing the flow of psychic energy, such that you masterfully engage your compassion and goodwill to silently soothe the spirits of possible arguers. (Think snake charmer or horse whisperer.) With the planets as they are, you'll have great success when projecting the intention to instill tranquility into their otherwise unconscious interactions… and they don't even need to know you're doing it.