Horoscopes | Week of August 2-8, 2010

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You're presently engaged—or at least you ought to be—in one of the most thoroughly destiny-shaping sales pitches of your life. What's that you say, Aries? You aren't even in sales? Let me tell you: This is no time to rebel against the certain need for winning key individuals over to your side, convincing 'em to 'buy' whatever you're offering, and inking an official deal. Please rally your very best interpersonal persuasion techniques, but don't go so far as to put 'em off with an overly cocky, uncomfortably slick and/or blatantly disingenuous spiel. It's about genuine appreciation of what you and they can legitimately do for each other. Trust me, you'll have a really hard time ascending to that all-important power position (and we both know you're a natural-born leader) without carefully crafting yourself an outward carriage that appropriately balances (1) your self-possessed drive to create and innovate with (2) authentic interest in cementing mutually beneficial partnerships. If you were them (and not you), would you buy what you're selling? Could you discern a good (i.e., self-serving) enough reason to support you?

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If you promise to continue treating these next few weeks like a wonderful chance to make huge strides in your work, while simultaneously evening out your physical energies with plenty of sleep and a consistently healthy diet and regular exercise, the magical duo of Jupiter-and-Uranus-in-your-12th will continue doing their behind-the-scenes spellwork on behalf of your Higher Self, creating room for you to more smoothly step into major life-changes that'll externally express themselves starting about a year from now. That's a pretty fair deal, wouldn't you say, Taurus? It's not essential for you to wrap your head around the specifics of these 'major life-changes'—in fact, should you get caught up in trying to anticipate what they'll be, your Taurean fixedness may indeed block you from the unadulterated wide-openness required in order for you to receive the best of the goodies. So shelve the existential need to know if you're headed toward heaven or hell, and simply attend to the day-in-day-out productivity that's presently so favorably favored. Psychic efforts spent on indulgent escapes from the day-to-day, on the other hand, are just the sort of aura-scrambling pandemonium likeliest to detract from the necessary backstage space-clearing.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I wonder if some of you twin-souls might not believe me if I reported there's presently a lineup of planets building momentum in your solar 5th... the house that rules love, pleasure, play and creative self-expression. I know, right? It sure hasn't felt like much fun in these parts lately. And despite Venus now joining Mars in your fun-zone, Gemini, there's no guarantee you will be fully immersed in happy-happy-joy-joy. That's because their other partner is workhorse Saturn, whose presence indicates that you must take your playtime seriously—meaning: treating your need for some basic, uncomplicated, self-satisfying amusement as a responsibility just as important as all the others—if you want to make the most of this influence. Pluto's continued heaviness, as he squares off against so many other bodies from your 8th, is not going to pass away anytime soon. Therefore, it's perhaps even more crucial for you to take advantage of every opportunity to bask in a few simple moments of pleasure, to participate in those activities you enjoy the most. Dare I say, considering the contrast of this heavier backdrop, you're liable to find deeper joy than usual by consciously tending to it.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Thank your mom and dad (or whoever served as your primary parenting figures) for the emotional support they gave you as a child… while simultaneously separating yourself enough from who they shaped you to be (since how could they possibly have foreseen the unusual directions your life would take, once you took charge of it?) so you may continue mustering the bravery for more experimental risk-taking in the public arena. Yes, Cancer, the methods you were raised with to ensure your 'safety' also hold the potential to 'protect' you too completely from the very 'threats' that, from a different perspective, are also super-exciting opportunities to productively push the envelope. However, I'm not suggesting such child-rearing methods were necessarily bad or wrong… merely, that you may've grown past the point where such protective safety measures serve you, which is why I recommend being appreciative at the same time you step out from behind the guard-walls. Such gratitude, likewise, is what you might show an excessively domineering partner or colleague as you also let them know you won't be kept from chasing your latest dream, just because they might seek to control your actions or undermine your confidence. Chances are, they're at least partly unconscious of their power-tripping… and probably (hopefully) only have your well-being in mind. By now, though, nobody can 'take care' of your needs better than you can.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Keep it light, Leo. Concentrate on making the people around you smile… and when they do, it'll make you smile even more broadly… and the contagion of innocent-and-easy good vibes will bump everyone up a notch in happy-go-lucky contentment. There are trillions of justifiable excuses to get worked up into frenzies, both hyperspazzily exuberant and paranoiacally panic-stricken, if you or anyone else around you focuses too intently on the future (even the nearer one just a couple weeks down the pipeline). And yet, grounding yourself in the here and now by actively halting obsessive forward-thinking and simply enjoying the company of whoever's momentarily in front of you is what'll bring the most inner peace. Even if your particular brand of frenzy-inspiring anticipation is something good you're looking forward to, you still mustn't fixate all your attention there. They'll be plenty of time to immerse yourself in that experience once you're actually experiencing it. In the meantime, your warmth of spirit can spread much outgrowth of positivity, right here right now, without you really needing to try. Love the little uneventful details of your daily passages.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): This week, you must serve as your own 'get real / make it real / prove you're being real' police. For your personal security and material satisfaction, Virgo, you'll want to keep a tight fist over your income and your expenditures… both on the purely financial level and when it comes to doing the proper cost-benefit analyses on all your involvements. There is presently much to be gained, in modest amounts carefully earned and accumulated over time (as opposed to dazzling but unstable booms and busts)… as long as you appropriately negotiate reasonable agreements with other participating parties. A colleague, investor, or ultra-enthusiastic pal or family-member may be ready to dive head-first into a more speculative prospect—and to pull you in with 'em. Kick the tires on their test-model sufficiently so that no economic or logistical questions go unanswered before you even consider hitching yourself to it/them… even if their exasperated responses tug at your guilt (for being 'too exacting'?). Likewise, don't resist attaching to someone else's potentially lucrative genius out of spoilt-sport pride that you didn't come up with the idea yourself. Be real about what's likeliest to solidify your standing in the world.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Potent precedent-setting is the name of your game, Libra. With Venus, Mars and Saturn all presently aligned in your sign, you'll set yourself up to receive gobs of personal affirmation by firmly doing the right thing for you… as opposed to, say, resisting the decisive move or continuing along with devil-may-care indifference to the direction life's headed (because it's easier not to draw lines, make waves, or potentially displease someone else?). Of course, in order to proceed with unflinching respect to your truest self, you might have to forcefully silence that internal Miss Manners voice who tells you not to dare cause any kind of fuss, that it's better to appear easy and accommodating than too opinionated in any arena at all. There is no better time than right now to orchestrate this overthrow of self-imposed repression tendencies. What's ultimately at stake is how fully and accurately those you're in relationship with—not just romantically speaking, but also with friends and family members, co-workers and casual acquaintances—are able to see and interact with you. Do you want increasingly genuine connections? Then, be increasingly genuine. Otherwise, the real you will keep on getting smaller and smaller inside those well-put-together costumes you don.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): When I envision 'this is not my shit' to be your organizing mantra for the week, that's not an invitation to be snide with folks who'd like you to engage with them about this, that or the other topic of great interest to them but conspicuously less interest to you. This isn't a sentiment I expect you to express aloud, Scorpio. Rather, in a continuation of last week's endorsement of dedicating yourself to 'psychic housecleaning', this is a private exercise in not allowing your emotional being to become sucked into pointless worry or stress about stuff that's (1) already happened and can't be undone, (2) isn't properly about you, though it's tempting to try to insert yourself, (3) totally out of your control, (4) confusing the living daylights out of you, with no answers in sight, and/or (5) causing chaos or upset all around you, but without actually causing those things to happen directly to you. Can you leave well enough alone, concerning yourself more with the preservation of regularity in your own work and health habits than chasing the salacious appeal of whirling psycho-storms? Before you succumb to a tempestuous mood for no good reason, stir up extra controversy, or bang your head against the wall in hopes of triggering an epiphany, ask yourself earnestly, 'Is this really my shit?' Remind yourself the answer is likeliest to be no.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): While last week's edition approached the question of your social allegiances from the angle of potentially paring down your connections to only those folks who are authentically in sync with you, this week's horoscope addresses the same issue from a different perspective: Assuming you do know who your trustiest and most enjoyable friends, colleagues and compadres are, I would now make this knowledge abundantly clear to those cherished allies. In other words, it's not enough to rest on unspoken, inferred appreciation. If you've got it in you, I'd go so far as to organize events, celebrations or other occasions for showing those who matter most just how important their presence in your life really is. Furthermore, if you'd like to see further development of the combined capacity you and your people may have to enhance your unity, produce better group results and/or push your shared agenda to new heights of efficacy, then it's on you to take the lead. As I've told you recently, you're arguably one of the best-prepared signs to successfully weather these crazy astro-times. Please bring your valued teammates with you to higher ground.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Graciousness is the attitude to model publicly, Capricorn, toward any- and everybody who has the potential to judge you based upon how cordially and respectfully you handle your business. Now, don't mistake 'graciousness' for suppressing your true opinions, swallowing others' unreasonable demands or unpleasant behaviors without remark or response, or performing how 'fine' you are with whatever happens. It is possible to simultaneously impress your authority and be kind-mannered while doing it. If you've been striving to reach specific goals, you're at a fantastic moment for securing the necessary good favor from important players… so long as you can rein in a burgeoning emotional contrariness on your part, which could have you fantasizing about flipping the trusty fuck-off to the whole damn Game (and all its players) right as you're about to score a pivotal Game-point. Please refrain from being difficult just to prove a point or make an unnecessarily strict ethical stance that doesn't have as much relevance to your specific goals as you imagine. Even when handling difficult points or touchy ethical conundrums, you should still retain a gracious interpersonal likability. Yes, likability counts.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): It is terribly unwise to table your ideological values, in order to be temporarily 'pragmatic' (for a day or a decade), until some later point at which you'll be better able to live in accordance with them. The temporary phase of moral compromise will bleed from one day into the next before you can fully notice, Aquarius… until you're left to your sunset years, aged and with less biting fervor for upholding justice, wondering why you didn't assume more responsibility for espousing your deepest beliefs while still in your prime. Too often, we assuage our driving passions with self-supporting practicalities (i.e., the need to make money, serve familial needs, impress certain individuals, etc.), coming to understand way too late in the game that we squandered a lot of energy on merely keeping our heads above water… all while a decaying collective has desperately needed our helping hands and incisive comments to 'make the world a better place' for all of us. These current few weeks are an outstanding occasion for realigning with the guiding message(s) you'd like to promote, as part of your overall lifelong purpose here on Earth. Of course, once you do that, you may discover you need to disengage with particular commitments, relationships or time-sucks that collide with said purpose. Now's the time to sort out such contradictions.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Here is where you demonstrate your unflinching readiness to stand your ground, right where you are… no matter the scary intensifications, looming threats to your self-determined boundaries, potentially unwieldy byproducts of your efforts to 'clean up' your life, and/or other complications you're willing to confront (rather than hide from). As you continue to redefine the form and function your independent streak will take in your life, Pisces, you can't avoid the need to responsibly determine how much 'we're-in-this-together'-ness is too much to contain your selfish desires (and there isn't anything wrong with wanting what you want)… and/or too little to feed your hunger for one-on-one connection. Keep a particularly protective eye out for any interpersonal commitments that monopolize your time and attention—and place a moderating cap on them, to reserve your goodness for all the other folks who want a piece (yourself included, naturally). If we're talking about a relationship you want to preserve, make your point sweetly and clearly: A broader circle of social interactivity serves both of you, while an all-encompassing 'bubble for two' is ultimately unsustainable.