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Horoscopes | Week of May 10-16, 2010

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Imagine you're in the final days before some huge life-changing trip (e.g., a year studying abroad or volunteering in a developing country), and you're taking care of all the important preparations. This proverbial journey is not akin to a long weekend in the mountains, for which you might wait until the last second, then throw whatever you can grab into the car, all spontaneous-Aries-like… and if you forget something, it's no big whoop since you'll be home by Monday evening. This is more the type of open-ended departure that requires in-depth arrangements (like forwarding postal delivery, enlisting friends to care for pets, and/or subletting your flat) and ultra-organized packing of all official documents, emergency contact info, and sufficient cash (hidden slyly, in multiple locations, to avoid total calamity in the event of loss or theft). Treat your version of these metaphoric preparations with utmost care, Aries. You'll thank yourself later. And in the meantime, look lovingly around this place: When (or if) you return, so much will be different.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Mercury returns to direct motion in your sign early this week (Tue May 11), Taurus… granting you the days ahead to start cleaning up any messes and attending to any important matters or conversations that had been postponed. Be slow and gradual with your progress, however, since next week's astro-climate looks even better for your ability to smooth things over. And in fact, it's often these days right near Mercury's station that bring new understandings to light—in the process creating a bumpy re-entry to 'normal' (non-Mercury-retrograde) life—which could mean another quick turn in this still-developing story. Stay aware of the possibility that some tentative arrangement or unstable situation will change again, right as you were about ready to respond to the last change. Therefore, expect to have little ability to plan out how exactly your week will go. Next week, the shift in astrological weather puts someone else in the hot seat… and gives you the chance to blend back into the crowd.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Be on the eagle-eyed lookout for one of those 'silver linings' I previously mentioned were possible, as Venus spends her last full week in your sign. You've really got to look, though, Gemini. Otherwise, a fledgling opportunity to make a lot of lemonade from an admittedly large pile of sour lemons is liable to go unrecognized… mainly because you're still too occupied with lamenting whatever state of affairs has stuck you with these lemons to begin with. To adopt the right perspective, however, you must accept that which you have no power to change. Once you stop wasting energy on fruitless attempts to transform an unbending reality, you'll free yourself up to look elsewhere. Yes, you've had quite a bit of difficult stuff to chew on in recent months. We all have these periods. They come, then they do go. And for many of us, these darkest moments also force major life developments that ultimately yield unforeseen benefits, a few steps further down the road.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Lay low. Let your pals dominate the scene. You don't need to cause any sort of ruckus whatsoever, even if bait is placed alluringly at your feet. For all you care, they can wait for your reaction 'til the cows come home. More than anything, Cancer, you mustn't occupy yourself with overly curious (read: envious) wonderings about what's going on with them, whether other folks are getting more than their fair share or stealing your thunder or what-not. Truth be told, what they've got going has little relevance to your present spot… especially when you've got enough of your own just-barely-showing-themselves potentials for massive life change, in at least one if not multiple zone of life, about ready to hatch. To imagine others are having dynamic developments in their narratives, while you are hopelessly stuck in the same ol' place for what's seeming like forever, is both a short-sighted delusion and a careful-what-you-wish-for tempting of the fates. Your June-through-August should have enough dynamism to suit anybody's tastes—and then some.

LEO (July 23-August 22): In case you're still feeling misunderstood, misrepresented, unfairly demonized or written off, this really is your best week to reclaim some authority over your image. Following last week's installment, Leo, I continue to like your chances for 'do-overs' in career settings or other public contexts… particular if you allow the influence of friends or colleagues to 'soften' your single-minded messaging. But don't feign innocent unawareness of a key player's prior undesirable reactions to you. Go right to the awkward center of the perceived misperception, and explain exactly why you think they've got you wrong. Frankly, this is a daring, all-in gamble: The odds wholly hinge on whether you genuinely have been misread, or if they may be closer to your mark than you'd care to admit. If you know they're wrong, then you'll likely be able to turn this thing around. However, if you're merely displeased that they don't seem to like you, that's not enough on which to wager an attempt to change their minds.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): During the four weeks beginning now, it will feel as if you are perched at the starting-gate, waiting for the gun to go off so you can finally begin running the course. Your view of the terrain in front of you gets both broader and more detailed as each week bleeds into the next so that, by the time the action kicks off, you'll have a pretty damn good idea of what the first-ring radius of your surroundings look like (though, of course, once you really get going, you'll be in virgin territory). And as you continue standing there, Virgo, while the much-anticipated starting shot draws ever closer, bit by torturous bit, your energy will be accumulating inside… building toward that eventual release you've awaited for months, the pivotal initiatory moment where you dash ahead at last, all that strategizing and training and conquering of fears ultimately proving to indeed have led to something. This 'something' is approaching, around the next bend. Thankfully, you've had ample time to prepare.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Your prolonged moment to dawdle without consequences has reached its far limit, Libra. It's 'shit or get off the pot' time. Over the next few weeks, you'll have either (1) decisively freed yourself from a sense of indebtedness to, or indivisibility from, a certain relationship or involvement that has long inhibited your fuller independence or (2) decided not to 'free' yourself (hopefully because you've realized you like this entwining association, despite its tangles) and willingly accepted your situation as inseparably tied to this relationship or involvement. Whichever direction you head with this will bring its side-effects… though I can't say, with any confidence, that one way is preferable to the other. It's all about what you want and, most significantly, acknowledging that you are making a decision. (Should you try and shirk ownership of this decisiveness, by playing namby-pamby non-committal, you're still deciding… only, in a very indirect way, that you want someone else to take control, which has its own ramifications.)

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): You ain't gonna hang out in this same spot for the rest of your days, I'm pretty sure about that. You've already had one foot out this door for a while now. And now, you're at that illustrious point of becoming unable to ignore the writing on the wall. Your several months of struggle to 'get somewhere' have now gotten you somewhere… or given you ample reason to conclude that 'somewhere' is probably somewhere else. In either event, Scorpio, you've got to get yourself excited about whatever's next—whether that's made itself clear to you yet, and even if you only have a vague sense of the first step involved. But whatever the case may be in that zone of your life, you also have a responsibility to summarize your findings in one-on-one conversation(s) with the person(s) likeliest to have their life impacted by the specifics of the 'somewhere' you're headed. There's no better method for putting the plan into action than telling somebody else. A discussion makes it real.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): You can't really 'hold on' much longer… nor would I ask you to, Sagittarius. I'm talking about those incessant reiterations to 'get back to work' I've repeatedly lobbed at you, and whether anybody (least of all, some online astrologer) could demand you keep on as that 'good little boy/girl' indefinitely. The obvious answer is a defiantly rip-roaring 'hell no!' Pretty soon, you'll find your fiery drive for full-stimulation, all-cylinders-go adventure can't be politely held in place one more cotton-pickin' minute—at which point, I totally expect you to dunk yourself, head-to-toe, in the wild opportunity or crazy romance or irresistible excuse to go for it that's liable to present itself. Is this news to you? I've seen it coming all along. Perhaps you thought I wanted to cram nonstop 'responsibility' down your throat because I get off on it? Hardly. I simply thought it wise for you to bank a good chunk of diligent duty-fulfillment in advance of this oncoming 'go-for-it' moment. With that in mind: Better finish up soon.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Those who feverishly chase goals, without sufficiently contemplating the many personal sacrifices made along the climb, perhaps aren't so concerned with the intangible notion of who they become in the process. In their eyes, they're simply the type of person who accomplishes this certain goal, everything else falling secondary to that self-identification. Of course, I've described a behavioral path that can lead folks to become 'high achievers' with 'heartless ambition' who care more about clinching the coveted spot than maintaining personal integrity all along the way. This 'ends justifying the means' thinking is also often attributed, imprecisely if not altogether unjustly, to Capricorns… mainly because you, among all the signs, really do possess the vision, persistence and agility to hit such high goals. But at what cost? Here's an alternative behavioral path: Insist on being who you authentically are, adamantly refusing to surrender your ethical self-satisfaction, and, with little attachment, invite the goals to organically rearrange themselves based upon the pure you and any given endeavor's relative appropriateness.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): This is the last week for licking your wounds, obsessively rerunning recent dramas over in your head, hiding from the world beneath cuddly blankets and other cozy cover-ups, or otherwise refusing to move on from the changes of these past few months. You're ready to reemerge, Aquarius, with much of your inner conflict having been resolved, at least in terms of understanding all that happened (if not yet at full peace about it). What you most need to know, in order to truly take a big step forward, is what you could've done differently… and what is ultimately out of your hands, due to somebody else having taken their stand or played out their issues, impacting your life in the process. You can't really let yourself off the hook until you accept your lack of full control in relationship developments. Only once you do that can you redirect all that energy away from wound-licking and head-hiding—and toward some glisteningly fresh types of interactions, uncomplicated and easy to enjoy.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): 'Taking the world by storm' isn't something people usually fall into by accident. They must sign themselves up for making a noteworthy splash. Otherwise, plenty of other attention-seekers and noise-makers will move in for their close-ups… and freeze everyone else right out of the frame. I'm not necessarily encouraging you to hustle into the heart of the hubbub and elbow any eager starlets into submission, Pisces—though, if that's what you're in the mood for, the astro-climate will be just right starting mid-next-week, once Venus hits your 5th. Yet, on a more subtle note, it does behoove you to pretty yourself (whether on the actual physical level or by sprucing up your public-face attitude), in preparation for garnering an increase in notice come next week. And a slightly (or significantly) gutsier outward persona won't merely garner you winks and come-ons. The bigger-picture purpose behind your bolder emergence is not just about showing 'em what you've got but, over coming months and years, using it to get what you want.