Horoscopes | Week of November 1-7, 2010

ARIES (March 21-April 19): It's natural, at different points in the ongoing negotiations that comprise our most intricate relationships, to revisit topics already discussed and supposedly put to bed. As time moves on, our opinions change. Our feelings soften or grow more intense. We unpeel another layer of the onion, uncovering our less obvious motivations, and must readjust our now-outdated attitudes accordingly. Consider this, Aries, as you find an unresolved conversation circling back around to territory you thought you'd covered. (No, it's not resolved, silly.) Sometimes, only time itself can produce the next leap in mutual understanding, having given each party opportunity for contemplation (conscious or not) and the quiet evolution that occurs when we're left to our own devices. Now, with certain uglinesses already aired and argued with and hopefully accepted at last, a different version of the same dialogue can go down—minus the over-the-top emotional charge it previously held, before the crude unadorned truth came out. This reprise is not like beating a dead horse; it's more a return to the unfinished business of younger days, but from an older and wiser perspective.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): This week's lunar waning toward Friday night's (Nov 5-6) new moon in your relationship house signals a transition between (1) your full immersion in the interpersonal hullaballoo you've recently been swept into and (2) a self-inflicted wake-up-call pinch to your arm, reminding you of the other concerns being temporarily neglected by too all-encompassing a relationship involvement. In other words, Taurus, if you feel you haven't been able to get anything else done (other than, of course, lobbing the ball over the net again each time it lands back in your court), that is indeed a problem. No single individual, circle of individuals, or interlocking drama of personality ought to be sucking such a large amount of energy out of you. In fact, excessively concentrating on this proverbial ping-pong game could distract you from important work that, though it will significantly improve in quality as a result of your attention, won't come knocking on your door demanding you immediately attend to it. Are you overlooking longer-term goals you cherish—and the necessary moral commitments required to attain 'em—by entangling yourself too intricately in this other-people business?

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To assist you in accomplishing a shit-ton of stuff before the holiday season fully kicks in, Gemini, I urge you not to get caught in worries, fantasies or other occupying thought-processes about what might or might not happen in 2011. You have plenty of loose-ends and dangling-threads right here in front of you that require your focus … and they must get taken care of regardless of what your next chapter of future may bring. While only last week I warned against oversimplifying your present situation based on the hasty generalizing suggestions of others, I do see the advice I'm now presenting as another form of simplification—only, instead of coming from somebody else's short-sighted desire to see you less 'burdened' (though your reality simply is what it is, including certain inescapable stressors), this straightening-out must arise from your own self-imposed task-mastering discipline. Don't think about it as yet another call to impeccable diligence, which only adds more pressure atop the load. This is instead an opportunity, over these coming few weeks, to clear the deck of various small-fry annoyances… to buy yourself the future freedom to more fully deal with what might or might not happen next, once it's actually happening.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Continue to invest your daring in suggestions, insinuations and deliveries that shirk the surface blandness of 'playing it safe'. You presently hold a remarkable potential to capture the attentions of a type of playmate who's way different from your typical pal or partner-in-crime… somebody who's a lot less inhibited, narrow-minded, or stuck in a certain niche than the undesirables from your past. But you've got to show 'em that similar side to your personality, Cancer, a part of you that's only recently inching outward into public view but is nonetheless super-eager for 'more' (whatever that means) than you're accustomed to allowing yourself. In this context, like draws like. That said, however, I don't want you to jump too many steps ahead in this fresh flirtation or fledgling friendship. Though you two will attract each other based upon your mutual willingness to 'try something new' from an audacious 'you only live once' mindset, you are indeed different in some fundamental areas. This is not a red flag. It's these very differences that provide us a chance to grow through getting to know people more deeply. I simply want you to be aware, as you're connecting with each other so easily over certain similarities, this is not the full story. Enjoy this stage of the unfolding, without making undue presumptions (either way) about the next stage.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): In the tradeoff between (1) valuing your private knowledge of how you really feel about what you want and (2) accommodating what you sense a very important person in your life wants from you, please beware of erring too far on the side of 'whatever will keep 'em happy (and quiet)'. In fact, Leo, I wouldn't recommend this week for engineering interpersonal agreements that purportedly protect both your interests. The square between a 4th-house Mercury and a particularly slippery Neptune in your 7th makes it too damn easy to align yourself with unbridled compassion for their point-of-view (or at least what you imagine it to be)—at the expense of your ability to forthrightly express that thing which weighs on your mind, something liable to create waves between the two of you. Eventually, if you want to lighten your internal load, it is necessary for you to share that truth with them. But I'm not sure this is quite the right time, because you're still struggling to string together just the right words to precisely represent your experience and are presently too vulnerable to the interpersonal need-to-please to adequately trust your self-assertiveness. If you want to talk it out, do so with somebody else entirely… as a means to further your figuring-it-out, not to prematurely lay down a law.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Distraction, diversion, diversity of activities and engagements… all are good foils for your typical state of affairs, and have hopefully been employed to stimulating use as of late, Virgo. And now I return your attention to the checkbook, the bank balance, the holiday preparations and shopping-lists and other practical considerations you're counting on yourself to delicately manage, in order to create what you want over the coming couple months. It wouldn't hurt to reexamine your budgetary requirements and constraints… and don't neglect to keep an eye out for the surprising deals and odd discounts filling your local neighborhood advertisements because, if you use Venus's present retrograde to your advantage, you just might find a way to get more by spending less. Meanwhile, any expenditure or income stream you'd ordinarily expect to happen automatically ought to be double-checked, to ensure it's happening as it should. Deadlines could slip past you, if you're not being careful. Don't take anybody else's offhand word about such matters; only the actual facts, official statements and calendars are reliably reliable.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): With Venus, your retrograde Duchess of Finesse, slipping back into your sign at the very end of this week ahead, you're about to enter a special window of strategic sociability during which you'll have the opportunity to return to situations from August or September that didn't quite work out as you'd hoped. And even if you can't change the final outcome, you certainly can improve the taste that's left in everybody's mouth after all is said and done. In quintessential Libran style, these revisions or reparations ought to be made in gentle inconspicuous moves… clarifying what you meant (while actually altering the message in subtle but significant ways), apologizing for what you did (as a means of reopening the conversation, in hopes of achieving a different ending), asking for them to repeat their prior explanation (knowing more of the back-story than you did back then, which enables you to pose more pointed questions this time around), offering more than you previously offered (because you're surer of your standing in the situation than you were before). Begin any such machinations over the coming weekend, planning on very gradual progress over the course of a month, for desired enhancements to reveal their successes in early December.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): By the upcoming weekend and its new moon in your sign, Scorpio, I want you to have planted the seed(s). Your kernel of intention should be refined to its most basic, inserted deftly into the consciousness of the wider world (and/or specifically in the mind(s) of whoever ought to know), and left to germinate. (That implies a reaffirmation of last week's horoscope: Have you explicitly stated what needs stating?) From there, the elements must be allowed to contribute their part too, unfettered by too obtrusive a drive on your part to check and recheck the progress, control-freak-style. With retrograde Venus returning to her secret laboratory of magic (your solar 12th) for a few weeks of conspiratorial string-pulling and button-pushing, you must wait out the appearance of fresh green shoots from the cold soil. You cannot rush the process. Too much unnecessary poking and prodding only inhibits nature from her work. As long as you have put forth a firm statement of desire, along with demonstrating the willingness to dutifully follow up on any signals of outgrowth once the time comes, you've done all that you can (and should) for now. Don't start getting antsy, temperamental or broodingly doubtful. If left to their own devices, your impatient emotions could start to unravel the edges of your recent advances.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Even if you're damn sure you know what you're doing, you may have little clue as to what exactly is pouring out your mouth. While your instincts are strong, your knack for intelligibly articulating why you're moved in this certain direction just isn't there. And though you may hold a gut-level feeling about a certain person's stance or where their loyalties lie, you shouldn't expect to be able to control the full brunt of your remarks, once a passionate or contentious back-and-forth with them gets underway. Therefore, Sagittarius, if you're not monitoring yourself closely (and saying as little as possible in justifying your reasoning or egging the other person on), you mustn't act surprised when you unconsciously channel a peculiarly potent cut-down that knocks the other party to their knees or blurt out a revelatory confession about selfish motives you probably should've kept to yourself. Your mind is presently in sync with an accidental shortcut to wisdoms it has no rational right to possess. If unchecked, it could inadvertently 'read' the private emotions of others, or your own, in a carelessly obtrusively penetrating manner. And as any ethical intuitive will tell you, it's just not right to 'read' someone aloud without their full conscious permission.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): While it makes sense to retain a strong group-mindedness (as your 11th house is still being powerfully activated), please don't go so far as to undermine your own interests, sincerely forgetting, in a moment of collectivizing zeal, that you've also got to look out for yourself. There is no shame in protecting your personal stake in the matter, Capricorn, as you simultaneously work together with others toward a common goal. In fact, neglecting to include self-serving considerations is merely a surefire recipe for resentments cropping up later. Contrary to what they would report, martyrs actually make terrible team-players: Their willingness to give and give and give, without ensuring they'll receive what they want in return, is usually accompanied by an inner dissatisfaction that often makes its way back out through side complaints or behaviors suggestive of drudgery, which undermine the whole group's morale. Steer clear of signing off on any agreements that specifically deal with compensation in supposedly 'fair' (read: impersonal) ways. (Venus is still retrograde, after all.) Though we may all be equal as humans, we are decidedly not equal when it comes to what each party is willing and able to contribute—and what it's ultimately worth.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Should you face career-related questions that don't immediately point to clear answers or solutions, don't compound the problem by trying to guess. Nor does it make much sense to surrender to the colleague with the loudest voice or most cocksure attitude. Tacitly handing over the reins to them just because they are acting less confused than you are (keyword: 'acting') won't excuse you from responsibility for the later consequences. That's why, Aquarius, it's far smarter to take a step back from the perplexing situation and reacquaint yourself with the underlying principles upon which this particular detail is resting. If you get back in touch with why this question has presented itself—and why you are even involved in this process in the first place—you'll be able to quickly remove a few layers of irrelevant noise from the debate. When you return to the ultimate purpose of your work, you'll even find the question reframes itself from a much simpler vantage-point. You may also discover, much to your surprise, that one of the parties (perhaps you, perhaps someone else) has become too attached to one of the less appropriate options, for reasons more defined by ego than by earnest problem-solving. What's the main goal again?

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): If a hangover boomerang of dicey drama from Back Then threatens to derail your recent gains in philosophic sensibility, Pisces, it's your responsibility to send it back to the past where it belongs. As I mentioned last week, you're straddling the fence between where you were and where you could be going next… if, that is, you don't succumb to the lure of that comfortable role, within a familiar dynamic, from yesterday. You will likely confront a situation where you must reiterate a previous declaration, perhaps under direct pressure (of the emotionally-persuasive persuasion) to cave. And while the emotion you're getting off them is potentially flattering (if they evidently 'care' enough to bother vying for your favor), it also works against the cooler intellectual clarity that undergirds your impetus to move forward. What's at stake for you isn't merely about this particular person or specific situation and whether you're still somehow 'in' or forever 'out'. It has to do with your relative ability to make self-supportive choices divorced from your intrinsic susceptibility to others' influences, which is a quality that both makes you so great and impedes your independent decision-making.