Horoscopes | Week of July 27-August 2, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I am still vibrating on your behalf, following the eclipse-inspired horoscope I wrote you last week: a powerful one (if I do say so myself) that encapsulates the very sort of message, Aries, I expect to repeatedly deliver you over the coming months and years. It is a call-to-arms for you, our brave warrior-figure, to roar your fire-breath outward on behalf of the collective bottleneck… to burn what needs burning, to rescue the rest of us, and to leave the past defiantly behind, leaping into that 'Future' we all dreamt as kids would look more like The Jetsons (complete with flying cars!) than Blade Runner. (And some say you Aries are purely self-involved. Bah!) Now I know I'm sort of laying a heavy trip on you, as if those four minutes to save the world are resting purely on your shoulders. But you do play a crucial role in what'll happen next. And when opportunities like this one come around—in which you begin to crave a few simple moments away from the fray, at home by your lonesome, nothing to do but silently dissolve into the couch cushions—I urge you to take advantage of 'em, as they're becoming fewer and more far between. That said, you must never forget that such windows of respite are mere temporary pauses in a much more dramatic story… refresher gasps of quiet oxygenation, necessary to sustain you, before you're catapulted back into the inescapable role of hero in this epoch-defining epic.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): There's a smidgeon (or a smidgeon more than a smidgeon) of tension between (1) the desire to keep your exchanges light and breezy and (2) the drive to correct any facts or details others may've sloppily expressed with imprecision. Do you want to sustain an ease in the relationship, no matter how casual the circumstance or shallow the acquaintance, so you don't have to waste your energy dealing with unnecessary prickliness? Or do you need to ensure that not a millimeter of misrepresentation is permitted to hover out in the social ethers, lest it come back to bite you later? The answer, Taurus, depends on the content of the topic that's potentially requiring revisal. If we're talking about whether they've got your tastes in food or entertainment wrong, or if they've misquoted a few non-essential words in their hearsay retelling of something you said earlier, I'd let it go—especially if it merely reflects their lack of real intimacy with you and/or has no bearing on anything too meaningful. However, if actions or opinions are being outright misattributed to you, and/or if your ethical reputation vis-à-vis an important issue is at stake, you'd be short-sighted to let such things slide. While you don't have to do it in a snitty way, you really ought to set the story straight… knowing that the person being 'set straight' may not like it too much. (Oh, well.)

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): What is currently most fortunate in your life, sadly and/or excitedly, is not exactly what would qualify as terribly stable. In fact, to take the juiciest bite out of the goodies on the plate in front of you (which is obviously yours or it wouldn't be right in front of you, correct?) could also involve dealing with the impolite, inconvenient and untidy reactions of someone else who (obviously mistakenly?!?) is under the (false?) impression that what's right in front of you somehow belongs to them. I know, Gemini… it's almost laughable, isn't it? Well, do your best not to actually laugh in their face, even as you're wiping the juices off your mouth following that first sampling. It's not proper to gloat. Nor is it especially wise to pretend you are completely blameless in this certain someone getting the idea that you two are 'in this together' more than perhaps you actually are. Own your part in this, though not necessarily by signing away one-half of your current and future earnings and expecting not to regret (and resent) it later. Part of being healthily wealthy (no matter how relative that term may be) is in knowing the proper balance between generously sharing what you've got (so long as your heart is truly in it) and knowing when to hold back (since you oughtn't give too much away, merely to assuage your guilt). I don't think it's fair to hog all the spoils for yourself, if in fact another person was genuinely involved in your success. (Again, own your part in their involvement, please.) Yet, don't go overboard. A taste or two is probably enough… unless you know something I don't.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I get, Cancer, that last week's solar eclipse in your sign may've worked a number on you, so to speak… shaking things up, pulling rugs out from under, scrambling the letters, and what not. And still, I have complete confidence that, though these recent and/or upcoming weeks may be chock full of climactic developments, you will be able to ride them into success. In the short term, in fact, you'll benefit from two planets, Mercury and Venus, changing signs so that they'll become more directly-useful tools to help you through the turbulence. Mercury will soon land in your 3rd, a zone where his communicative skills are super-handy in providing whatever words and ideas are required to keep the social gears greased. Before then, though, as he opposes the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron complex in your 8th, you ought to be careful not to overpromise yourself into any cooperative ventures, when it's far smarter simply to say whatever's necessary to maintain what's independently yours as yours. (Not the clearest time, therefore, to sign away rights or agree to financial partnerships.) Venus, meanwhile, is headed into your sign by week's end… an influence (lasting through Aug 26) that usually bestows greater favor, charisma and interrelational appeal to its recipient, making it easier to get what you want out of any given situation. But again, there's an opposition she must make it past before the sailing becomes smooth: a faceoff against 7th-house Pluto, representing uncomfortable relationship issues that may stand in your way of reaping Venus's full benefit. To contend with that may necessitate not playing into a potential saboteur's power games (even if that person supposedly 'loves you and wants what's best for you', ahem)… or, as the case may be, not playing into your own games of too desperately wanting to please someone else (real or imagined) by downplaying your independent streak.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): The audience's response to your words is unusually difficult to read. No news is not necessarily good news… nor bad news, for that matter. It is just that: No news. This odd circumstance is not, incidentally, an indication of you having said something cryptic or controversial… nor of whether they like or don't like you, for that matter. It is just that: An odd circumstance. And circumstances being what they are—that is, temporary—you needn't take what you're apt to witness this week, Leo, as any broader statement on the health, or lack thereof, of the relationship between you and the person you're attempting to communicate with. Things between you two could be much better off than they appear… or, alternately, much fuller of friction than their non-committal ums and uh-huhs would suggest. In other words, to be safer rather than sorrier, you mustn't assume anything about where they're coming from. That needn't stop you, however, from continuing to say what you need to say. After all, whether or not there's a week-or-so-long glitch in the two-way transmissions between you, it's still relevant for them to hear what's on your mind. See, I'm not saying that they won't understand what you're telling 'em… merely that you won't understand what they're not telling you.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): When your ruler Mercury returns to your sign on Sunday (Aug 2), it will feel as if your earthly sanity has not only returned but is at last providing you full access to its unrivalled analytical skills. What's not to like about that, Virgo? Well, one possible answer to that question might revolve around the desire (yours or someone else's) to have your mind functioning at full blast right away… as in, sometime this week, when there may appear to be some sense of urgency related to a work problem that demands a solution ASAP. Barring the possibility of you telling the key players that your astrologer thinks the timing for workable answers is far better next week (which would probably sound pretty shocking, especially coming from a Virgo type like yourself), you may have to find another way to bide your time. Try going on about 'creative incubation' or 'ample space for visualization' or some other catchy phrase that describes the experience of Mercury's present placement (up until Sunday, that is) in your 12th, in opposition to Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron in your 6th, making it likely that much effort spent this week could still end up reaping no clear results. Naturally, there's a possibility that doing the right thing for the work—which, again, namely involves putting off decision-making until next week—will have a natural (and not necessarily pleasant) side-effect for a certain professional relationship. But if you want to work smart (and I know you Virgos generally do), you'll need to not worry about who you might piss off by delaying the progress to ensure it legitimately progresses.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): I seriously wasn't kidding last week, Libra, when I was talking up all the 10th-house business about becoming more publicly seen as a 'main course' in the story of your own professional (or other public-world) achievements. Your lovely leading lass Venus hits your 10th on Friday (Jul 31), kicking off a good few months of career action ahead. (Mars enters your 10th just as Venus leaves, during the last week of August.) If all goes well, Venus will start it off by doing her part: kissing your outwardly expressed self with recognition, opportunity and interpersonal support. Then, about a month from now, Mars will get the real work going, injecting the oom-pa-pa required to manifest opportunity into actuality. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. For now, the short-term challenge is pulling you out of your safety zone, where you probably wouldn't mind curling up for another length of private time, hitting the snooze-button on life's alarm clock a couple more rounds, and letting things cruise along on autopilot. I get that you're fairly happy (at least on one level) not trying so hard to spin straw into gold, especially when you know (because I told you) that 2009 also has plenty of fun to dress you up in. Begin, then, fairly modestly. Show up to the public proceedings with a quiet well-polished poise, the sort with which esteemed dignitaries innately carry themselves… and, with very few words and a lot of gracious thank-yous, let them shower you with kind appreciation for a couple weeks. Don't, however, deflect their compliments or otherwise refuse their other offerings. Such closing-off gestures will send the wrong message.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Disrupt the proceedings, if that's what you've got to do… but only after you've taken a few minutes to heed last week's recommendation to consider the principles behind such a disruption. Your words, whatever you choose them to be, will become part of the permanent public record—and factoring in both a 10th-house Mercury's opposition to the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron complex stirring up hyper-subjective reactions from your 4th and Venus's opposition to the intense-tongued Pluto in your 3rd, those words are primed for maximum impact. To be clear, though, Scorpio, I am not advising you either toward or away from the disruption… just giving you the insight to make an informed decision. I can completely understand why you might want to throw your arms out, to create a buffer of personal space for yourself, while shouting, 'Enough of this!' Venus and Mars in your 8th will do that to a person, even a Scorpionic one. But by the very tail end of the week, both Mercury and Venus will make sign-shifts, flipping the astro-dynamic to something of a different flavor… and once that happens, you may or may not continue to feel the same way about the situation. Is this the circumstance that warrants your public outcry, or might you want to save the scene-stealing scene-making for a spicier one? It's your call. Make it with full awareness of the surrounding eyes and ears.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): If I report to you (as I have at various other times in the past) that you are indeed in possession of a more comprehensive grip on the present circumstance than a certain someone (who may mistakenly believe they are the one with all the right answers), will it be incentive enough to remind yourself about the content of the eclipse's message (as written in last week's horoscope) regarding right behavior in interpersonal situations? If I validate your insightfulness, Sagittarius, can I convince you not to lord it over that poor soul who, simply put, is just not currently capable of seeing the fuller picture? At the same time you may be at odds in your respective views, you're also in a fairly fortuitous relationship moment (believe it or not)… which could easily be explained by your generosity in looking past this particular difference (hint hint) and, instead, to focus (yet again) on the nature of relationships themselves. Dare I risk this entire passage being nothing more than a rehash of things I've already written to you recently, I can't see any other way around. Once Mercury moves out of its opposition to Jupiter-and-friends and into your 10th house by week's end, your mind will hopefully shift away from its attention to this one matter of seemingly unflinching import (or is it really that major?)… and toward other concerns more relevant to the real-world goals you're working to achieve. If you hold off on 'letting 'em have it' (because they 'deserve' it, right?) just one more week, the temptation may actually begin to subside.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): If you'll just calm down for a spell, and stop to think about what really matters in life, you'll discover it's the people. And lo and behold, right in front of your damn face—look up from the book, the computer screen, the TV, the incessant self-examination—is somebody right now who cares greatly for you. How lucky you are, Capricorn, not to be spending your decades of existence on this rocky planet all by your lonesome! Before you launch into any existential bullshit about how 'we're all alone', and in advance of you lamenting your 'single' or 'dissatisfied' relationship status, and instead of you writing off this horoscope as another one of those love-and/or-romance ones… please just stop. Listen to me: You are not alone. I do not care to hear the specifics of your particular brand of loneliness 'cuz we've all got one (and lord knows how you Capricorns have a particular fetish for the hermit archetype). It is not that I'm insensitive to your so-called plight, as much as I'm refusing to kowtow to that particular reading of your situation (no matter what it is). Yes, it's all in the reading. Instead I choose to have faith that each and every one of you has at least one person on this vast earth—if not many many more than that—whose company or companionship you enjoy. With Venus moving into your 7th by week's end, I simply advise you to take full advantage of the blessing of that person's presence in your life. Easy as pie.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): While I generally try to interpret the ongoing Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron triple-conjunction in your sign in positive terms, it's not all 'hope and inspiration and connection' all the time, is it? It also holds the power to confuse you, Aquarius… particularly when you're faced with a super-enthusiastic partner, pal or colleague who is so totally into their Thing (whatever it may be), due to their persuasive zeal, you get completely swept up into it, too, only to discover later that you don't share their interest or belief in it quite the same way you initially imagined you did. It's not the worst possible side-effect of your presently enhanced interpersonal sympathy, I suppose, to momentarily lapse into drinking their Kool-Aid and hopping on board their train to Whoknowswhereville. Except for the fact that, once you come to your senses (presumably after you've parted company and are away from their immediate influence), you may discover you don't want to end up in someone else's strange land, stalking someone else's magical dream, when you have strange magic of your own to chase down. And herein lies the caution. The further along on their ride you go, when it's not legitimately a ride you desire to take, the more unpleasant The Talk will be once you finally choose to have it. With Mercury to be in your solar 8th from Sunday onward, some clarifying—though perhaps challenging—words may soon need to be exchanged.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Three weeks ago, I extended the astro-scene's invitation to you to disappear from view and 'nest for a spell'. Does my opening with that sentence, then, indicate you must now emerge from the cocoon and face the harsh elements of the outside world once again? Not quite, Pisces. It does, however, point to a similar concept in a much different tone… which is that you may soon want to step back out again, not because there's some essential duty necessitating your attention but because there's fun to be had. Along those same lines, the present conditions of the outside world seem more akin to 'pleasurable and exciting' than anything particularly harsh. On Friday (Jul 31), Venus enters your 5th house, where she's likeliest to draw joyful experiences and encounters into your immediate scope, and where she'll stay through the end of August. 'Hip, hip, hooray!' to that, right? At the same time, your ability to more precisely communicate interpersonally (as compared to how it was, say, two weeks ago) should begin to improve by next week, making it much more appealing to surround yourself with other people than perhaps it's been lately. The only thing to watch out for this week is whether the sort of 'fun' that's seemingly calling your name will work against any commitments you've made to folks who are counting on you to come through. And in that case, it begs the question: Which was truly misguided in the first place, today's fun or yesterday's commitment?