Horoscopes | Week of December 12-18, 2011

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Committing to 'on with the show' is a refusal to get bogged down by the details, even as you and I both know that's where the devil resides… though if you want to retain ownership over your soul, you have to fight Ahim off on the battleground of his home turf. A few polite yes-ma'ams and no-sirs, thank-you notes and second-notice requests are likely part of these devilish details demanding your concentration, Aries, in order to reaffirm to the key parties that you (1) haven't forgotten about them and (2) still value the role they play in these proceedings. But along with the politeness, there's nothing wrong with injecting a renewed sense of timing urgency… not because you still don't have a thousand hoops left to jump through, but so that everyone else's assumption of you still being a thousand steps away doesn't invite them to stall their piece of the process. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Aries? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Immersion in the everythingness, while horribly untidy, is obviously what's called for… or else it would be far easier to just grab your toys, run back to your safe haven, and confidently know that today's play-session was over. But could you even identify which 'toys' are yours, and which had been borrowed (with or without asking) from your playmate(s), Taurus? Could you be certain you hadn't 'unknowingly' crammed a certain something extra in your bag or 'accidentally' left your sweater at their house, for an excuse to return? The greater wisdom with which you acknowledge it isn't over-and-done-with (perhaps can't be so, regardless of your wishes), the more productive the necessary continuance will become. Accepting the situation for what it is this week actually sets you up for a fortunate turn-of-events next week and beyond. Refusing the acceptance, meanwhile, will just exaggerate the perception you're a bully. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Taurus? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Another vital piece of 'cleaning up' your feelings on certain interpersonal matters is to let all parties have their uninterrupted say. While you've received a couple recent horoscopes (this one and this one) that were about you speaking your unfiltered truth, Gemini, I want to be clear about the necessity of granting the other person this same courtesy—without rushing to deconstruct their argument, to reposition your stance or jump to any conclusions. Please listen without prejudice, not merely as a token of conciliatory respect (though that's not a bad reason) but, from a more selfish perspective, to really absorb the profundity of this seemingly irreconcilable difference. When you take that awareness into your soul, after all, there isn't actually anything to argue about or respond to; it's just about hearing Reality describe its stark contrasts to you, in deeply personal terms. But wait, what's that, you say? Maybe it isn't an 'irreconcilable difference' you're contending with? That's for you to discern. To do so, you must first consider that it could be… and should you determine it's not, then you can go back to the negotiation table. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Gemini? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cap your availability to others, cordially but firmly. There are things to be done, Cancer, which have needed to be done and which you have been working on doing… and yet which only now are actually starting to get done in reliably enough a fashion that it behooves you not to pause, really, for any reason. No playing emotional games with yourself either, please, about what being 'helpful to others' is supposed to entail… as if you aren't permitted to have more and less convenient moments to dispense your helpfulness. You can go ahead and give 'em the ten minutes you're able to spare—since everyone needs a periodic coffee break, no matter how tight the deadline or transcendent the flow—but really no more. Beyond that, tabling what ought to be a productive breakthrough for something personally insignificant to you (aside from, of course, your care for the person whose 'significance' you're catering to) is only going to cause you greater internal anxiety, once your moment of helpfulness passes. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Cancer? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Though asking 'why's everybody being so serious?' is a question that totally makes sense, Leo, I urge you not to pose this to those likely to feel accused by it. Focus on the sentiment that rests beneath the question… which is your desire for those around you to appreciate their lives, in all their splendor and glory, rather than moping about things that have already happened and/or can't be changed. Your heart is in the right place, after all. Your reception, therefore, wholly hinges on whether you put others on the defensive—or whether you just step in and actively make 'em lighten up, without confessing to what you're doing or implicitly criticizing them for their initial moodiness (which is probably nothing more than a natural reaction). Your observance of how they aren't handling their challenges as productively as they might, in those terms, should probably be withheld. Why talk about it, when instead you can do something about it? What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Leo? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): What's funny is, no matter what I'm writing for any of the other signs over the next many months, I'm still going to be urging you, Virgo, to continue moving ahead. That's what having Mars in your sign for what seems like an eternity (but is really only through July) is: a constant state of needing to take Fate into your own hands, or else daring yourself to develop angers and resentments along the way. Right around now, you'll be just about at that point where your inner emotional management-team is beginning to acclimate to this concept—that you really can't risk a standstill at this critical juncture—and to revise its restrictive statutes. Actually, to be more proper, revision is a word that implies too drawn-out a process. I think, over the course of the week ahead, it ought to be more dramatic and quick than that. A release of some self-inflicted tether or two is demanded. Let thyself loose already, so you can get on with this. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Virgo? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Your version of a low-profile week, Libra, seems to involve a dutiful checking-in with pals and other relations about the recent twists and turns in their crazy lives… which, truth be told, may require little more than you making the contact, then sitting calmly and compassionately while they unload. And I can't imagine this being especially unpleasant or unwelcome either, considering your own situation is still being handled in a more, um, discreet fashion. Offering yourself up, almost sacrificially, in this context where you are a star-achiever—the supportive friend, the active-but-unobtrusive listener, the diplomat—also seems to have its own self-serving side-benefit, too. You won't be losing yourself down the labyrinthine rabbit-hole of private imaginings (which is really just a funhouse of distortions carrying you away from the shared reality) that doesn't make you feel any better anyhow. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Libra? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Ever aware of the rhythms by which the various other players are ricocheting off each, Scorpio, you must take each of your moves—in response to the sum of this roster's matrix of behaviors—with meticulous care. Only take sides if you are overwhelmingly certain that, twelve steps ahead, this will still suit your personal interests most profitably. Your loyalty, an incredibly admirable trait, needn't be flaunted like a new piece of garish jewelry, needlessly attracting the attention of wannabe thieves or envious Joneses from down the street. Those who are indeed on your team will have to understand that a visible bit of distance could benefit you all… though, in the short-term, it also appears (accurately so, I might add) to cover your ass more thoroughly than anyone else's. Securing your place really needs to come first. Once there, you can come back around to scoop up others' stray concerns. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Scorpio? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Worries about how any attempt to 'clear things up' only tempts fate to make matters worse are squandered energy, Sagittarius. If, as Mercury stations direct in your sign, you revisit an issue or exchange and again put in your best effort to clarify your intentions and again receive an unfavorable response… well, it seems as though perhaps you never stood a chance. We can only do so much to express our genuine motivations, no matter how klutzy or inelegant our methods may be, before realizing that a repeated rebuffing is meant to symbolize some sort of mismatch. You shouldn't continue cramming your square peg into some round hole that believes all sharp angles are inherently flawed; a square is what it is. Yet, if this really has all just been a case of awkward miscommunication or poor timing, this clarifying effort really ought to do the trick quite nicely. Open hearts, given their space to move through initially-snippy reactions, usually come around to meet other open hearts. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Sagittarius? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): The phrase 'the calm before the storm' won't leave my head in reference to you this week… even though, Capricorn, (1) I can't say 'the calm' is the most precise description of your current spot and (2) we mustn't assume a full-on 'storm' is actually a-brewin'. Therefore, I'm merely left to assume, then, the aptness of this phrase has more to do with a before-ness quality, coupled with a palpable thickening in the air, that leaves your wisest approach to be an on-the-toes, wait-and-see stillness. Nobody who's properly attuned to the meteorological elements sets off on any significant quest during a moment of humid anticipation; they stay near to home, resources close at hand, until the release shows itself. This conservationist tactic is hardly the same as 'doing nothing at all', let me clarify. Much positioning and preparation is, in fact, going on inside you (though I'm sure I don't need to tell you that). While you remain directly under Venus's pink glow for this one last week, her square to 10th-house Saturn says the 'good luck' is reliant on your restraint.What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Capricorn? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Ride the currents of everybody else's explanations, agreeing with them just enough so that you're being honest but still somewhat non-committal. There is no harm in allowing items you suspect are incorrect to remain unremarked-upon, Aquarius. You are still gathering information. The precision required in asserting your decisive shot cannot presently be mastered, not as the situation continues to develop… and reveals further excesses beyond your grasp that aren't yet ready for your help in reeling 'em back in. Other folks, meanwhile, may well prove themselves wrong without you having to do much to push the discovery process along. In your case, for the moment: nothing ventured, nothing lost. Holding steady for the week ahead shouldn't cause you much trouble, particularly once you take into account that Venus hits your sign next week. Her arrival always increases the chances that things will go your way. And society itself, in fact, may be about to yank the curtain on something it's been patterning for a bit of time—with a strangely personal effect on your life. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Aquarius? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): 'Green light, go' signals you to step on the gas. It does not announce an arrival at the destination. And having not been there before, Pisces, you couldn't possibly know how much farther ahead it is. Surely you've noticed that the distance between wherever you are and a point somewhere down the road never traveled always seems longer than retreading that distance later, once you've already made the trip, yes? As you go, then, acknowledge your sense of time is necessarily skewed… and instead of nervously counting the minutes, pay attention to the markers along the path. You'll pass by here again, and it will be helpful to have taken descriptive note of qualitative landmarks (i.e., not 'street names' so much as 'the light was dim and the wind blew ravenously at the second turn') for future reference. If anybody along for the ride is making too much of a ruckus, your observational abilities will be impaired. Shush 'em up, or drop 'em at the next crossroads and continue alone. What personal revolution is being asked of you in 2012, Pisces? Find out the details in ASTROBARRY'S 2012...