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Horoscopes | Week of May 23-29, 2011

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Shortly, even more people will be entering your picture… either showing back up after a while and/or making their debut appearance, as the events or interests in your life circumstantially overlap with the ones in theirs. This ought to feel quite different than your interpersonal experiences of a few months back, Aries, in which one or more steadfast individuals essentially stood in your path to fuller freedom. While these new or recurring faces may hold their own particular stake in the same zone you're currently operating in, you mustn't jump to the defensive conclusion that they've arrived to block you, compete with you, or otherwise cause problems. (That attitude will only create complications.) Instead, think of this approaching increase in interpersonal exchange and informational input as fertile raw material for further refinements in what you're doing—non-threatening and potentially quite helpful to you. In preparation, firm up the confidence you feel for having gotten yourself this far, while simultaneously loosening your need to possessively cling to certain notions. That way, you'll hopefully put up less ego-resistance once the influx of alternative ideas starts pouring in from any number of outside sources.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If you're still approaching anything in your current sphere of activity with meek tentativeness, Taurus, you're a bit behind the curve. Most of the major components of your life should presently demand a fairly cut-and-dry stance: In or out, left or right, cruising forward or screeching to a halt. Your presence on one side or another—a fully embodied endorsement of where you stand—should be unmistakable. Glaringly conspicuous. Flat-out. Fairly soon, circumstances will call you to make something of this stance, beyond mere expression: to launch endeavors that'll garner further support, to create tools that'll ground your efforts, to earn your due compensation so you're materially able to keep it up. To be clear, a lot of that stuff is still riddled with flashing neon question-marks. Not that it should be anything but, at this point. Therefore, please be open to trying a bunch of different tactics before determining which is best. As long as your strength of personality comes along for the ride, something or another is bound to work.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Dramatic developments, while still-in-development, are presently approaching the runway. This recent overhang of 'suspended animation' will soon pass on by, to be replaced by decisive action and/or climactic motion. Give life another month-and-a-half or so to proceed, Gemini, and I hardly imagine you'll be anyplace closely resembling where you are now. Whether the palpable change that's now blowing through the air towards your sign is carrying with it (a) promising seeds of future blossoming gardens or (b) dark omens of impending difficulty, I cannot say. In fact, no matter the narrative specifics in store during your next chapter, the significance attributed to 'em remains in the interpretative hands of the reader… who, in case you were unclear, is you. That said, please remember your first emotion-laden response to any shocking discontinuity is unlikely to prove to be your ultimate conclusion on the matter; beyond this point, the story will unfold still further, and what's about to happen is bound to make a lot more sense several steps ahead from here. For now, it's probably enough to know that nothing stays the same forever.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The ability to adeptly juggle all the balls at the same time is starting to slip through your fingertips, Cancer. But instead of using that oncoming reality as a reason to rail against yourself for being humbly human, please just bow in deference to it. Heck, you've had a pretty busy, productive few months, haven't you? You've made an outward gain or two, attracted and/or reaffirmed a few key alliances, and left behind good results that'll support future advancements, right? You can't expect this dynamic to continue forever onward as it has. Cycles of development always include both yang and yin phases—moments during which a lot of external progress is visible, then moments when receptivity reigns supreme, renewal incubates internally, and not a whole lot appears to happen. You're on the cusp of a shift back into yourself, a time for letting all that's recently transpired actually sink in to your consciousness. Be kind to yourself, wisely understanding that, though less may appear to happen, plenty in fact is happening… just not at an observable stage yet.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Whatever public triumphs (great or small) you're now greeting, Leo, should not be celebrated all by yourself. Whatever newfound tangibility is now cementing your particular place in the world into sturdier being mustn't be used to separate yourself from the other players. It's lonely at the top… or really anywhere that deems your specialness a justification for cordoning yourself away from the team at large. Though you're likely receiving some noteworthy recognition for a very personal accomplishment (meaning you pretty much did it yourself), I want you to already be considering how this milestone can serve as a springboard for fostering a heightened sense of camaraderie with your community of valued characters. Please perceive the presence of others as adding to the honor of this prized spot, rather than detracting in any way from what's recently made you successful. The synergistic experience of trusted comrades giving each other a boost-up (the support flows both ways, of course) only increases the sense of blessedness.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): For this pivotal moment, it's important for you to determine what matters most. You can always worry about which idea or action-plan will prove the most supportive to your objective later. But you can't fudge the fundamental question of which values you care most about upholding, Virgo, and which you'd prefer to let rot away in the gutter. At the core of this question reside some personal absolutes, which, if you seek to establish an honorable philosophic consistency within yourself, you mustn't allow to become watered down—yes, even in instances where your livelihood is at stake. Don't talk your way into the supposed safety-zone of grey areas, as if exploiting an unspoken loophole won't cast a long shadow over your goings-on. Black is black; white is white. Once you get all that squared away, the possibilities borne from this simplification will abound… and then you can more clearly analyze the specificities of each.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Don't concede to terms you know aren't in your best interests, simply to make the whole 'headache' go away. Trust me on this one, Libra: The 'headache' quality will only return later, in a crueler form, if you opt not to stand up for what you know to be right. If it's important enough to you, you should exercise a sort of stubbornness not generally associated with your ilk, who are better known for diplomacy than dogged demands. I do understand it seems like, if nobody yields to the other, this lack of resolution could linger indefinitely… and continue creating all sorts of discomfort on every end. But that is a fear more than a likely reality. Within a few weeks, there will be movement, in some direction or another. Regardless of which way it goes, though, I deeply want you to feel confident: You stood, unwavering, on behalf of a certain foundational precept that underscores so much of what you believe. The positive charge of that will impact the contested situation in startling ways; after all, it's an empowering place from which to deal.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): When I ponder the horoscope I want to write you, Scorpio, the visual that pops into my head is a super-jumbled-looking electrical control-panel, jam-packed with a tangle of different colored wires. (We already know you're a rather intricate, complex person, so this image shouldn't be too surprising.) Each wire represents a psychological response connected to some outside trigger that sets it off when activated. What I think you're supposed to do with this control-panel, over the coming several weeks, is to snip a few of those wires—the ones that run to outlets no longer being actively utilized, and/or those that probably should be put out of service—in order to simplify the whole matrix. Speaking as a complete nincompoop as far as all things mechanical are concerned, I admit I don't exactly know what this would literally require. Metaphorically, however, the concept is all about cutting off connections (e.g., to the past, to outdated scripts in your head, to your imprecise concept of a certain someone) that are siphoning your valuable emotional energy away from more productive forward-facing investments. Root out buggy links that are slowing your processes down. Update the grid. And while you're at it, please remember to rest on your most solid friendships for clarifying support during this bumpy upgrade.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Whatever you're working on now, I'd suggest you spend the days ahead working it to some state of total or relative completion. Pretty soon, whether due to their needs or your desires, your attentions will soon be pulled toward a particular individual… and when that happens, Sagittarius, I think you'll be glad if you can just go ahead and give in to that pull, without having to worry about loose ends you haven't yet tied up. If you can put in that much more extra effort this week, you could even get yourself far enough ahead so that, a couple weeks down the line, you'll be able to slack a bit—right when you most crave a release from the grind. That's why you mustn't fool yourself into thinking now is the appropriate time to ease up. Any restlessness beginning to stir inside you is nothing compared to what's on the horizon. So, please be a very good boy or girl. Pushing into overdrive in the very short term, to gain yourself a cushion of advance progress, would be a great gift to your future self. What's one week of overdrive, anyway?

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Before you slip unaware into a rather industrious June, take a minute to reconnect to the life-affirming joys that provide the ultimate payoff for all your work in the world. If you lose sight of what you like about your uniquely 'me' existence in this consciousness-drama, Capricorn, then your fulfillment of duty becomes a dissociated end in itself… and who could eagerly look forward to a dreary expanse of such pressing duties, with no pleasurable purpose to substantiate the effort? From where you stand right now, you should be able to admire at least one proud legacy of your special contribution to our galaxy—your creative expressions, the fruits of your entrepreneurial zeal, your lovely children, the gleeful glint of spunk in your eyes. Sit with that pride for a sustained moment, rather than glossing over it with an involuntary humility that inhibits you from fully taking in the positive feelings of accomplishment. Look and point and acknowledge: 'I did that because I am that.' That's why you bother.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): I cannot strongly enough reemphasize the theme of last week's horoscope—the current pressure on you, Aquarius, to recover a solid emotional core for yourself. Admittedly, I can't claim to know the exact steps each individual Aquarian requires to reaffirm the sense that you're taking good care of yourself, regardless of any latest outbreak of craziness the world has dealt your immediate vicinity. But I am pretty sure that gentle self-acceptance, listening to what your moods (not your mind) are telling you about when to push ahead and when to back off, and a firm (but not angry) refusal to play into others' unconsciously manipulative dynamics are good key components. The backdrop to this self-nurturing duty, if you need further motivation, is the anticipatory foreknowledge that something fun is soon to arrive… and you won't want to miss any of it, due to your being preoccupied with un-nursed wounds or having insufficiently relaxed during these recent weeks. Take a quiet moment, and tend to your most tender inner regions.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Immediate relief will come in the form of only partial investments in interpersonal activities. Like I told you last week, Pisces, you don't owe anybody a commitment beyond where your interest-level ends. For that matter, simply recognizing when a situation has become so convoluting, disruptive and/or all-consuming that its hassles outweigh the benefits you reap from it is indeed a sufficient reason to step at least one foot back out. This is no time for allowing yourself to get swallowed up in one gargantuan gulp—even if an especially thirsty part of you is quenched by the deluge. The key phrase in that last bit: 'part of you'. Which does not mean the same thing as all of you. Presently, the multiple angles of your personality each seek their own occupying participations. No single one should be given total sovereignty over the others, forcing them to surrender, against their will, to its wave. Strictly partial investments on your part prevent that from happening.