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Horoscopes | Week of November 9-15, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The content of last week's horoscope mustn't be forgotten, Aries… particularly since your ability to climb toward the heights you passionately seek to hit is, on and off over these next several months, wholly dependent on how conscientiously you behave in one or more key relationships. Though you may be a pioneer, a renegade and/or an unapologetic individualist, you simply cannot get all the way to the top without putting in the interpersonal tenacity. Whatever it takes to solidify the collaborative support from your closest allies must be done—and if the support isn't clinched, you're either (1) not trying hard enough or (2) attempting to recruit the wrong people. Don't underestimate the potent message of the recently formed Saturn-Pluto square (in effect through next September): Your upward progress will be slowed by the need to build in the involvement of a certain individual (or individuals), and there is no way around that. (The typical Aries refrain of exasperatedly deciding, 'Oh, I'll just do it myself!' will not work out so well.) Honor the purpose behind such a slowdown, and willingly put emphasis on building your alliances. Over these next few years, they will make or break you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here's what's hard: Continuing to put in the same consistent day-in-day-out efforts on the now-so-very-familiar routine of tasks, all while you have a sneaking suspicion that your underlying impetus to keep on fightin' this fight is embroiled in a gradual, but profound, reorientation. Your philosophic core is indeed deeply transmuting, Taurus. Yet, like most important evolutionary processes, this one will take a long time… and you're currently closer to the beginning of it than any reassuring conclusion. At the same time, since the basic premises behind how you've organized your daily rituals haven't yet conclusively changed (i.e., you're not at a place to confidently define what exactly is different), you've got to maintain the existing momentum as it's been. Though you may rightfully foresee a time somewhere ahead in the future (whether nearer or farther) when what you're doing now will seem quaint, outdated or pointless—a moment which will make itself abundantly clear once it arrives—you don't yet know what it will be replaced with. Until then, you've got to honor the previous developments that got you this far in the first place… and hold it together, despite the unresolved questions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It would sure be nice if you could bask in certain uncomplicated pleasures you've thoroughly enjoyed in the past. And it's not that you can't still find such moments of satisfaction, Gemini… only, in case you haven't figured it out yet, they're not apt to be as 'uncomplicated' as they once were. Doing whatever you want, without concerning yourself too much with the inevitable consequences, won't be very easy over these next several months… though you won't be without plenty of tempting chances to 'forget about tomorrow' and divert yourself toward what immediately feels good. You are hooked into serious obligations to someone or something else (and they/it to you) that prevent you as full a range of independent motion as you might imagine you want… even factoring in that you likely chose to willingly enter the obliging situation. Ultimately, then, if your drive for personal freedom to entertain yourself as you like threatens to collide with weightier ramifications from an extenuating circumstance (e.g., interpersonal, financial, sexual), you'll want to choose very carefully whether such escapades are worth the knotty hassles. (Hint: They may or may not be.)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The relative extent to which you feel 'alone in the world', Cancer, has everything to do with how private you insist on keeping those most emotional parts of yourself. There's really no other way to look at that equation either: The more tightly you clutch your sensitivities to your chest (out of fear of rejection, of scaring away the other person with how 'needy' or 'messy' you imagine yourself to be), the more isolated you will feel from the important people in your life (or, for that matter, people altogether). On the other hand, you continue to face deeply profound opportunities to re-create the very manner in which you relate to others one-on-one … which basically boil down to you taking risks to disclose more of what goes on inside you, knowing you might indeed confront that very rejection you fear, though it's just as likely you'll develop richer intimacies than perhaps you've ever experienced. Go all in, and you could win really really big—or you could lose. But if you're already feeling 'alone in the world' because you're not even attempting to reach that most meaningful depth of interpersonal relating, what are you really 'losing' anyway?

LEO (July 23-August 22): The time's now approaching for you to make the transition from talking to doing, Leo… which, even as it write it, sounds like funny advice in light of Mars having pitched a seemingly semi-permanent shelter in your backyard and bestowed upon you a whole lot of 'doing' energy (so much so that I've recently warned you not to overdo). Therefore, let me fine-tune my words beyond the cliché and get a little more specific: Because you Leos are such an interactive, socially expressive bunch, your instinctual notion of 'doing' probably involves a good amount of sharing your vision, building up the popular excitement, getting people on board as supporters, and generally putting forth the proud public face for your endeavors. Important work, to be sure. But at certain key junctures in the process, you have to ignore the calls and texts, postpone the leisurely business lunches, and refuse to spend valuable hours behind closed doors in meetings. That's because what you really ought to be doing, in order to move your project along, doesn't involve negotiations or presentations at all—instead, it requires long solitary hours in front of documents or spreadsheets, budgeting, writing, planning, organizing, laying bricks one atop the other to construct something sturdy. You don't have to make this radical jump overnight. Yet, there's not much more 'people work' left on your plate before those efforts will no longer do you much good.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): There come certain pivotal moments in which we hit a limit to how well 'playing it safe' serves us… and hopefully realize that, unless we throw ourselves fully behind something (or someone) we love, our days will be spent 'safe' but deeply dreary. It is, after all, passion, not mere self-preservation, that inspires all that great art and literature, the epic affairs and the romantic gestures. As the difficult economic judgment-calls so many of us face in these exceptional times weigh down on you, Virgo, I urge you not to immediately default to the unabashedly 'rational' decision to freeze out all extraneous expenditures (of not only money, but also intention) on pleasure, merely to scrimp for the rainy days ahead. Of course, you being the zodiac's foremost pragmatist, I expect you to make fairly practical budgetary choices… and there's surely a lot to be said for that, don't get me wrong. But erring too far on the side of restraint, at the cost of even moderate amounts of pleasure-seeking possibilities, leaves a long expanse of waiting to live your life until one far-in-the-future day when logic finally permits a moment's joy—a day which may never come.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Though so many of us are bound to spend the many Saturn-in-Libra months ahead working on our interpersonal considerateness, I don't suspect that's apt to be your challenge. You've already got that down in full force. Perhaps too forcefully for your own good at times, Libra. And as Saturn (the new long-term resident in your zodiac zone) pulls into his first of three squares to Pluto (in your solar 4th) this week, you may have to contend with an intensification of deeply personal meditations (on your ancestral legacies? your inner emotional landscape? the quality of your private life?) that infringes upon your typical ability to put on a cheerful face (a convincing one, that is) and ask them how they're doing (sincerely engaging rather than glazing over while continuing to chew on your stuff). From that context, your challenge is more about not plastering on a façade of superficial niceties when you're not authentically feeling 'nice'. It dares you to substitute niceness with the discomfort of a more earnest public affect… and to include some details about how you're really doing in your friend interactions. Maybe for you, working on 'interpersonal considerateness' is considering that those who care about you actually want a chance to support the whole you.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): While it may seem more desirable (to a certain Greta-Garbo-ish part of your psyche at least) to sequester thyself indoors and spare your tender innards the indignity of putting on a personality suitable for public view, let me suggest such a hiding-out would be a waste of your temporarily heightened power to influence. Fight off the inner voice of least resistance, Scorpio, who might argue that, to truly suit your personal cravings of the moments, you should fasten the shutters tight and cocoon into the protective casing of home. Isn't that a little short-sighted, especially once your astrologer points out you've still got the Sun, Mercury and Venus on your side? With your planetarily-glorified mix of startlingly crisp communications and almost uncanny allure, you presently possess the chops to convince nearly anyone of anything—that is, if you sincerely buy into it. (Disclaimer: Beware of manipulating.) Knowing that, use what you've momentarily got to think a few steps ahead… rather than, say, merely excusing yourself from all such forethought so you can take it easy another few days. 'Easy' may indeed be easy, but also somewhat wasteful of opportunity.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Reading from the current chapter of your story, entitled 'Being Judged by the Company You Keep', you must remind yourself that a necessary element of coming more fully into your power (and especially your earning power) is surrounding yourself with those folks who help empower you… as opposed to those who, with their wry undermining comments or envious glances or wholly unrelatable perspectives for looking at the world, do little to pump up your confidence. With friends or teammates who are more concerned with promoting themselves or covering their own asses, Sagittarius, who needs any more competition? Over these coming months, you'll do better to pare down the cast of characters crowding up your energy field, if any of them don't immediately leave you feeling better understood or supported than before your interactions with 'em… and maximize your time and energy spent with those who you're damn sure are unambiguously on your side. 'On your side' doesn't always mean 'in perfect agreement with you at all times', however. True allies who have your best interests in mind won't hesitate to call you on your shit, if they believe you're undermining your likeliest successes through unwise strategies or uncouth attitudes. (And we all know a Sagittarian thrives in an environment of loving dissent and debate.) In fact, it's the ultra-super-sweet, whatever-you-say-dear, yes-men-and-women with a glint of something else in their eyes I'd be much more wary of.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): We as individuals are not merely the sum-totals of that which we've achieved in our lives for all the world to see. There is always an intrinsic core of being that comprises 'me', whether or not a person actually does anything to merit it. And while I don't fall victim to the common astrological mistake of reductively labeling Capricorns as the ultra-driven businesspeople and corporate ladder-climbers of the zodiac (though some indeed are), I will affirm the tendency of you Cappies to lay heavy expectations on how you publicly hold yourself (whether or not specifically career-related). So what happens, then, when the 'you' that's broader and deeper than just your deeds begins to diverge from the goals you previously set out to attain or the reputation you've been devoted to earning? There is no easy answer, simply more questions that open from here—big ones, in fact, that aren't going away anytime soon. It shouldn't surprise you either if, over the months ahead, you attract experiences in your professional or community life that leave you wondering if maybe you have already hit the proverbial big-time, whether there's any further to go on this certain path… or if the heading-toward-revamped you can no longer be contained by your present situation (as attested to by the clear hints you get from a client or supervisor who refuses to grant you a single inch more).

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): To all you members of the sign often summarized in astrology books as the tribe of 'I know', I suggest you think twice about what you're really and truly convinced you do know—before you take off on some dramatic public spiel about it. And with that opening sentence alone, Aquarius, I hope I've tapped into the vague shadow of undefined doubt you've already been silently entertaining in some obscure back reach of your psyche. If you indeed stop to think more deeply about this certain belief (which, merely a year or so ago, was unquestionably true for you), I believe you will detect a fledgling part of yourself (so delicate in its new growth, perhaps, that it's barely identifiable) harbors some inconvenient thirst or suspicion that threatens to disturb this realization you thought you'd already come to. What if you don't know what you were so sure you knew? Let's cross that bridge when we come to it… though I promise you, you will make it past there, should you determine you need to drastically rethink a fundamental premise. It's also possible that you'll eventually reaffirm that what you did know remains in effect. Regardless, please don't be afraid to ask those potentially life-rearranging questions—and to include this developing uncertainty in whatever statements you make on this issue, so as to reduce the amount of public backsliding you might have to endure later.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): We've only got so much to go around. We are all beings with finite energy, Pisces… even those of us (hint hint) who have trouble resisting the fantasy that if only we could find a smidgeon more loving-kindness to bring to a situation (more! more!), we can finally save the day. Because of this built-in limit to what you have to offer, then, you'll surely want to make sure your goodness is being astutely directed in the most worthwhile directions. And from what the planets are telling me, you're due to take on a more commanding role on behalf of your collective—maybe as a leader in your team or organization, an activist on behalf of a cause or issue you deeply care about, or the instigator of more functions within your friend group. But you might not have your full power to give… if you remain bound into a certain situation that, unless you commit to whatever properly boundarying practices will curtail its entanglements, will continue to steal so much of your attention. In other words, as you step toward a more fully realized position among your gaggle of peeps, you'll need to simultaneous cut back your self-imposed single-minded engagement with one particular you-hogging peep.