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Horoscopes | Week of March 27-April 2, 2006

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The eclipse energy is yours to do with as you will, Aries. A solar eclipse falling in your sign is an enchanted invitation to spring ahead in a quintessentially Arien fashion—bravely, by the seat of your pants, because your body knows exactly where to lead you, without too much agonizingly irrelevant forethought, and no reason to look back. Risks taken now will prove to pay off for months to come. Resistance to the natural unfolding of change, alas, could exacerbate the level of any ouchiness you might suffer… since that would amount to fighting against the tides. The trap will stop cutting into your hand as soon as you release your grip on yesterday. There was another solar eclipse in Aries last April, so compare your statuses now and then. Anything initiated at that time will have certainly blossomed or faltered by this point, as appropriate to how clear your intention was and how obediently you followed the signs revealed along the way. Now, affirm yourself for what you have manifested this past year… and make steering corrections as needed. Don't forget to ask yourself what you learned about what really matters in life—and answer it, too.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When a solar eclipse falls in the impalpable, unintelligible, ethereal world of the 12th house, as it does this week, the best objective you can set for yourself is to give up the futile attempts to control. Of course, there's a fine line between (1) healthfully relinquishing the illusion of control and (2) self-indulgently escaping reality through whatever feels or tastes good in the moment. You'll still want to keep tight reins over your emotions—not forcing them into a box, but staying diligent about understanding what you're feeling in a given instant, and what triggered it. Beyond knowing your emotional truth and sticking close to it, what more can you do? Your professional success is subject to the collective will of other people, who'll decide how and where your talents will be best spent. And your intimate relationships are undergoing a slow transformational process of either deepening, falling away, or shapeshifting to the point of unrecognizability… as a reasonable side-effect of standing up for yourself. Have complete faith in faith itself. If you're persistently aware of how you're feeling, everything else will fall into place—not necessarily as you'd thought it would, but definitely as it should be.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): This week's solar eclipse in your 11th signifies much excitement and evolution to be gained through enlistment in the unified front. What you would struggle to stimulate on your own becomes wildly energized and electrifying when tackled with teamwork. Plus, it's more fun that way. You've got an instinct for finding the right people from various walks of your life and bringing them together into community, friendship, and/or an organized body for change-making. With Saturn continuing its journey through your 3rd, you'll succeed best by practicing precision in how you communicate your vision. How can you expect folks to contribute their best, if you can't clearly articulate what you expect from them? Outside the group environment, one specific relationship may persist in gnawing away at your insides, its power strangely gripping your attention. You've been brought together with this person to work through some old family crap. That's why you love 'em, hate 'em, and/or can't stop obsessing about 'em.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Last year around this time, I spurred you on to grow in terms of how you relate to your career… to promote dynamic activity, without disturbing the fundamental sense of who you are. The occasion in mention was a solar eclipse in your 10th, and another such occasion presents itself this week, Cancer. Declare plainly, aloud, and with full conviction what you intend to accomplish—and phrase it in terms of things you can do or make yourself, rather than on hopes for opportunities dependent on someone else to give 'em to you. Even if you don't have a lot to work with, you've unquestionably got enough to achieve incremental progress over these next six months. It's all about spending smart, making your money and your skills do a lot for you. Sure, in order to create something new and meaningful out of your spare change and pocket lint, you must be willing to destroy the comfortable patterns in your day-to-day life… to free up more time and energy for these aspiring efforts. But shaking up the routine is probably what's best for your health, anyhow. And maybe you won't be able to stay as casual about those 'little distractions' as you've been—when you frame it this way, they suddenly don't seem so little.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Is your life leading somewhere, Leo? I don't mean to some sort of external accomplishment ('I'd like to thank the Academy for bestowing this great honor upon me…') or ultimate attainment of true love ('… 'til death do us part, I do. Amen.'). But to a lesson. A purpose. A higher meaning. It's okay if you have no answer to this question, and maybe there isn't one. You'll never know, though, if you never ask yourself the big 'why?' or look out there for signs of existential significance. This week's solar eclipse in your 9th house is a massive inspiration for actually pursuing such ponderings and undertaking whichever adventures—through philosophic texts or faraway lands, via additional mind-expanding schooling or religious devotion—will push you to grow. To know who you are is also to know what you stand for, and what you don't. And believing by default, without exploration or devil's-advocate questioning, is akin to saying rice is your favorite food because it's the only thing you've ever eaten. Now's your prime chance to order something different from the menu… to see if a better-fitting favorite reality is out there somewhere, waiting for you to discover its tastiness.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): All the other horoscopes I've written are about the sizzlin' hot possibilities surrounding this week's solar eclipse… but for you, Virgo, I'm still stuck on the lunar eclipse from two weeks back, illumining the dark shadows of your old emotional crap. I'm not merely overstating the importance of the cathartic promise in this particular moment—to finally let go of the past, let dead dogs lie, and let your guilty-as-charged parental figures off the hook. In fact, at the same time, I'm also describing the impact of this week's solar eclipse in your 8th, which reiterates that your most sizzlin' something-new will be intensely psychological in nature. If you've been postponing the inevitable trip to the therapist or the admission of deep shameful secrets, or if you've delayed the necessary insistence on radically claiming your own power and separating from others' undue influence… this is the time to take the scary step and do it. Your ability to reinvent yourself, so that you can live an entirely different existence for the rest of your days (yes, the one you've dreamt about!) depends on it. Your relationships will morph as a direct result, without having to stress about them. All you've got to do is admit the truth, and commit to working through the dense feelings inextricably linked to it.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): The standard interpretation of this week's solar eclipse in your 7th house would portend some dramatic development in your relationship life… which could mean that your romantic mate, best friend or business partner could be expected to abruptly arrive, depart, act out, or do something profoundly different… if not this week, then sometime during this roughly-four-week eclipse period. But that's 'old school' astrology which puts your fate in others' hands, rather than reserving you the free will to decide your own destiny. So instead, let's spin it as an occasion for taking control of your relationship life… to make sure you get what you need from those you share your life with. Perhaps you'll recall having been here before, when last April's solar eclipse raised the same issues. Are you further along, or further entrenched? Now's your chance to improve upon what you began last year, or to take a risk and speak out where you were previously too scared. And if the other person makes one of those abrupt arrivals, departures, actings-out or profoundly different doings, don't fret that they seem to have all the power. Rather, assume your soul chose this to set you on a better course. Seriously.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): This week's solar eclipse is all about work for you, Scorpio—that which supports your professional and financial success, of course, but also whatever efforts serve to maintain the smooth running of your household, your pets' well-being, and your own physical wellness. A lot of duties fall under this heading, some more personally important to you than others… and some, well, are merely habits, out of obligation or from someone else having dumped the burden onto you. Quite likely, something's got to give, in order to buy yourself the room to grow your business, improve your health, and/or create a cleaner, more nourishing home life. (The pets might want more attention, too!) This eclipse is a magnificent excuse to readjust the flow of work, or to outright drop a habit or two that doesn't serve you well. It's perfectly okay to act in a self-serving way when it comes to this 6th-house realignment. After all, if you don't organize your own physical faculties into their most efficient form, you're simply not as well-positioned to help others improve their lives, too. Overexhaustion, poor nutrition, a slovenly house, an out-of-shape or hungover body, and/or neglected pets all take their toll on the quality of work you can produce. Health, however, is its own reward… and leads flowingly to other rewards.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): The solar eclipse energy this week stirs up your 5th house, which revolves around your drive to express yourself creatively… a much different vibe than, say, trying to prove something about yourself to someone else. It's not about insistence or convincing anyone of anything, but about the pure joy of living life in the zone of authentic selfhood. Why else would you be here? Expression implies, by definition, that you put it out there… getting outside the insularity of your private thoughts and feelings, blatantly showing all the cards in your hand. And not because you want approval or respect (though those sure help!), but just to be seen in your fullest splendor. Whether they like you or not is beside the point (the right ones will, in fact, adore you), and therefore you needn't be attached to that, whether through overeagerness or deliberate reactionary aloofness. Use this occasion to jump-start those projects and activities you want to do (not what you think you should do), because as long as you're alive and you have the chance, life is supposed to be fun. And if having children is one of those projects, now's the time to pledge to a successful conception during these upcoming six months.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): When I think of your 4th house being activated by this week's solar eclipse, I hear Virginia Woolf's title-phrase 'a room of one's own' as the perfect inspiration for where to focus your energies. On the literal level, finding or finessing a domestic space where you feel totally, unabashedly comfortable is a concern that, if satisfactorily attained, will improve your quality of life in immeasurable ways. You can only be your best in that big, cold, demanding, competitive, frenzied world out there if you have somewhere soft and warm and mellow and relaxing where you can return at day's end, peel off your shoes and forget the drive to be your best. And on a deeper level, this 'room of one's own' is a metaphoric cocoon… a quantum energy field of protection that enables you to safely drill down into your most tender spots with honesty and self-caring, to explore what makes you tick as a direct consequence of how you were raised. Such an environment invites a more profound communion with your roots, so you can continue to get to know yourself better—not to better yourself, as much as to accept yourself as is, more fully and lovingly. Wherever and however you can, treat yourself to such a room… and soothe your ornery, self-effacing nerves within its hospitable walls.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): The main encouragement to offer yourself in alignment with this week's solar eclipse in your 3rd is to talk up all your incredible insights and tantalizing tangents with the widest variety of people possible… and to do so with a certain humble acknowledgment that you're in no better or worse position than anyone else, but are merely someone willing to stand singin' in the rain without an umbrella—and get soaked if you have to—just to show confidence you've done your best to connect. You needn't be sheepish nor condescending, but somewhere in that middle ground, where it's okay to assert yourself and let others take you or leave you as it suits their fancy. The secret truth is, the better you're prepared to be 'left' and still keep mingling in the world with a corresponding openness to all outcomes, the greater the number of folks who'll 'take' you. You won't even have to try… and that's exactly how it should be. It's part of the Aquarian charm, after all, to come off with uncompromising independence. Just don't be overly defiant for the sake of pleasing your own rebellious ego—you won't get too far without some consideration for the appropriate allies. A few extra words, to show 'em you've thought about their perspective, make all the difference.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): All the ducks are lining up with this week's solar eclipse in your 2nd to promote your fieriest commitment to earning yourself an increased amount of moolah over these coming months. But you've got to be willing to actually receive the greater wealth. And you may think I'm being ridiculous because, you might say, 'Of course I'll be happy to take home more money, thank you very much.' Yet your hands must be free and unfettered, not holding on to outdated opportunities (e.g., the job that just isn't panning out) or mixed messages (e.g., embracing poverty buys me cred or solidarity with 'the cool people'), in order for the influx of cash to land somewhere you can catch it. Yes, of course, this is another instance of having to take a leap of faith, investing your future financial success in something that hasn't yet materialized. But how's your current situation treating you? Are you in a position to make more and more, the harder and harder you work? If not, something's gone awry. Because, the thing is, though I'm telling you the key to growing your wealth is believing in the way-out-there precepts of magical thinking, the actual work still must be done completely by you. This combination of sweat and vision that I'm describing, however, is a winner every time.