Horoscopes | Week of October 31-November 6, 2011

ARIES (March 21-April 19): By now, Aries, I think you probably understand why holding on too tightly to one or two sticking-points—to the detriment of your ability to release judgments you're harboring toward those who 'just don't seem to get it' (by your logic, that is)—is starting to suck up precious energy. One way or another, you're going to have make peace with the reality. Thankfully, I can see you doing some version of that over the course of the week ahead… with the dual-movement of Venus and Mercury out of your gummy 8th-house, and into the broad-minded perspective-setting 9th, where they receive a jolt from Uranus to assist the unsticking. Reestablishing a good momentum, at this point, is more useful than trying to force apples to equal oranges according to more than one person's systems of mathematics. A defiant-streak undercurrent to your forward thrusts might, incidentally, leave you a bit clueless as to how others perceive your nonconformity… but perhaps it's better that way?

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The maneuvering and positioning, one calculated chess move at a time, is opening up into more blunt and hasty intensifications. What has recently simmered on low, Taurus, is now likelier to boil over. Out with it, more into it, on with the show…! You won't touch the total experience by dancing around the perimeter, smiling shyly at the participants who dared expose their boogie-down more freely. Whether it's passion, anger, lust, or some other confession of brutal truth or transgressive fantasy, you're hitting a spot where the fuller disclosure is astrologically favored. One potential fear-factor I must validate: It's completely true that you don't know what will happen in the moments, days or weeks after—including the possibility of things changing rather dramatically. I urge you, however, not to fixate on the details of external circumstances that might change; what's really at stake is the change you'll effect on an unseen level of mystical destiny, triggering very positive ripples of consequence for yourself, though the initial transitional hiccups could (or could not) be unsettling.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Quit philosophizing about the grand narrative trajectory of your life's unfolding or other such uppity umbrella-topics. Let the 'Now' operate in something of a vacuum, Gemini, where a moment's pleasure can be fully reveled in (rather than, say, evaluated for its overarching significance). Good astro-things are starting to happen in your relationship house (the 7th)… and you can help them along, to your higher benefit, by taking zany leaps into some social participation that isn't of your standard everyday experience. Please, oh please, make the extra effort to actually go to that rock show, writing workshop, support group, cocktail party, Occupy event, or old-fashioned hoedown. Wear an attention-grabbing outfit. Say or do something a bit more outrageous than your typical fare. Other people won't be able to take their eyes off of you. They'll hang on your every controversial word. You'll make new friends… or maybe one certain special kind of friend, who you'll quickly get to know a whole lot better. The rest of Your Life (capitalized to satirize any attempts at philosophizing) needn't be taken so seriously into account, in deference to Now.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There's presently an advantage to speed over, say, dutifully checking with anyone who might be affected by how you choose to jump on a given task. Sure, Cancer, you might be somewhat increasing your chances of later having to edit out a minor misstep or add a piece you missed. But at this step in the process, a little bit of extra effort further down the road is small peanuts compared to the productivity opportunities you'd squander by occupying your time with too much cautious checking and re-checking, overconsidering and underdelivering. The fire burns too quickly down the fuse of this hot potato: Should you clutch it too long before tossing it over to the next checkpoint and freeing your hands up to receive another one headed your direction, you'll scorch yourself… and possibly end up altogether out of the game. Enjoy the fast-paced rhythm of this moment. Your blood will get pumpin', the adrenaline coursin' through your body—and one development leading quickly to another, and then another.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): That knock on your door, which gets louder as the week progresses, is the sound of the Travelin' Fun-Time-Party Jamboree and All-That-Jazz Band arriving in your town 'for a limited time only!' This is the kind of special show that only comes by every once in a while, Leo, so it'd be a shame if you didn't buy yourself a ticket. I can almost hear your giddy laughter now, a reassuring symbol that you've grabbed a ride on life's mechanical bull and you ain't lettin' go until it bucks you off. Raise your hand, then, and volunteer to be a central part of the spectacle. Smile, in the spirit of good sportsmanship, once you're presented a spot in the next big game… and, by golly, accept! Your dashing presence itself will have an energetic influence on those who'd otherwise remain shrinking violets, afraid they might make a fool of themselves by daring to be so outwardly silly. You'll inspire wholesome self-possessed audacity in them, through your own reflection of it—and maybe even a bucket of unadulterated admiration (of the amorous variety?), too.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): I would go ahead and write this week off if I were you, Virgo. That 12th-house Mars I was cautioning you about last week in his guise of 'little devil' is spending the days ahead approaching a Neptune opposition… which does no good in alleviating the potential self-delusions you may be temporarily under, leaving you to believe that a totally senseless approach is in fact quite rational. But not far beyond that influence, by the second part of next week, Mars will be out of your 12th and into your sign—where he will stay for the succeeding eight months. Considering he typically moves through a sign in about a month and a half, this is a big deal. The unusual length, incidentally, is a result of a 2-½-month retrograde in the first part of 2012. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, what you most need to know is that you'll soon have plenty of initiative, agility and moxie at your disposal (excess amounts, potentially)… and that for this last week before the mega Mars action ahead, you really ought not bother to do much of anything.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Wherever the exchanges have recently grown chilly or ice-cold, Libra, I recommend letting bygones be gone (but not forgotten)… and taking the lead on reinjecting warmth into the dynamic. Willingly initiating this fresh start is for your own good, to keep your social energies circulating, and not an implicit statement of siding with anyone else, mind you. Part of 'moving on' is about accepting the areas where we diverge, in attitude or method or belief, from somebody, but not letting that stop us from continuing to interact with them. Maybe you now know better which topics, contexts or settings to avoid when dealing with a certain someone. Yet, you can still enjoy their company (at least on a perfunctory level) as long as you're aware of the limitations. You have far more to gain by defrosting the situation than leaving it to freeze. And while you may end up retaining this limiting estimation of their character for the foreseeable future (with subtle decorum, I hope), they might see you in a better light once you reach out and reestablish a casually friendly rapport.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Attention: Now entering a pocket of enhanced profitability, Scorpio. Don't, alas, expect to line your pockets with bucks upon bucks if you're more interested in ego or emotion. Who wants to pay additional income to the moody self-saboteur, the needy drama-queen, or the annoying know-it-all? Refrain from oozing any sad-sap tendencies; feel how you're going to feel, but do it discreetly. Suck up the indignant impulses; you don't have to prove your righteousness to anybody. Just throw yourself into the not-especially-complicated duties at hand, and flaunt your impeccable leadership capabilities. By the way, if you think you can adeptly 'multi-task' by alternating between (1) diligent attention to the business at hand and (2) emotionally ensnaring chats, texts and emails from maybe-lovers or confused family-members who want to continue with a certain conversation that's going nowhere new, you are mistaken. You'll need better boundaries with your workday hours—ones that keep all personally turbulent matters out of the work-space.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Your long-awaited—and much-desired, whether you know it or not—sea-change is due midweek (Wed Nov 2), when both Mercury and Venus enter your sign, Sagittarius, and bestow upon you a far sturdier grip on your words, concepts, and interpersonal relations than you've had in recent weeks. All that I've tried to hold you off from launching into is now ready for lift-off, finally, so bring on those enthusiastic aspirations and assertive self-expressions with all the bombast they warrant. Your approach may still be lacking firm acquaintance with some of the subtler fine-points, of course… though this broad view is less likely to trip you up than it would've been, say, a few weeks ago, when proceeding by indistinct feel could've gotten you into deep water. These new astro-influences will make your impassioned rhetoric so much more appealing to others' ears. And because of your added appeal, it'll be that much easier to recruit allies who can help you work out the details of your vision. It'll be your vision, however, that presently drives this thing forward towards the future.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Reacting hastily, especially to apparent instigation from family-members or housemates or other emotionally-triggering characters, is liable to spin you much further off-track than continuing to stoically bear it, Capricorn. The heightened pace at which folks will be responding to one another, with Venus and Mercury now adding more fire to the mix, puts you at an unfortunate disadvantage… for the time being, that is. In the very short term, simply be hyperconscious of exactly which of their remarks or actions serves to get you hottest under the collar. This information you're gathering will help you identify the most basic strain of emotional discontent they're activating in you… and, once you've been able to simplify your understanding of your feelings to its easiest-to-directly-articulate, broadest strokes, you'll be far better situated to do something to address the situation. Then, a few weeks from now, you can begin to carefully, incrementally, strategically act to protect your own emotional best-interests—with a far lower threat of behaving badly.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Say what you've got to say, but do it in a tone that plays to your audience (as opposed to merely gratifies your ego). While you're in a lovely spot for spreading your message farther and wider, Aquarius, there remains a potentially irritating 7th-house Mars influence in your relationship zone, tempting others to become irritated with you (for good reason or no reason at all) if you don't explicitly acknowledge them in the process. I do believe, though, that you can hijack this effect for your own purposes… simply by heading them off at the point of their possible offense before they get there, going far out of your way to address your consideration of their interests up front. In all fairness, this method can feel a bit over-the-top in its conscious pandering—which could, of course, itself become the irritant, if you're emitting a disingenuousness (because, for instance, you actually don't care about their interests but are pretending otherwise). Still, the odds are more in your favor when you're on the accommodating offensive, instead of forgetting to work their possible perceptions into your presentation… and accidentally stomping on some toes.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Why whisper your great suggestion so nobody can really hear it? Shout it from the rooftops, Pisces, not just because you might want to get noticed for your creative take on the situation… but in an effort to actually help move things along, in the manner you personally believe will be most constructive. Opinions, personal investments, bothering to care about how it all goes: these demonstrations of your individual agency ought to be proudly made, if the vibrational power innate to them is to amount to something. You're headed into a few weeks of professional/public advantage, during which your expressions of pure-hearted idealism will be deeply appreciated by those who have been too close to the entrenched problems to see clearly. You can sum up the actual circumstances in a few short sentences… and then go on to articulate the most principled calls-to-action with such simplicity, it'll seem so incredibly obvious, and folks will wonder how they didn't understand it like this sooner.