Horoscopes | Week of April 30-May 6, 2012

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you aren't sure what to say to a certain someone, or just quite how to say it, you might want to consider first talking it out with other non-involved individuals. But let's be clear, Aries, that 'talking it out' with others is not the same thing as the sort of behind-the-back shit-talking I warned against last week. The implication in my advice for the week ahead is that you will be saying what you need to say, directly to the person who needs to hear it—and before that person has to catch wind of your sentiments from somebody else, or pretty much figures it out on their own and has to confront you about it. (Bad form.) You probably just need a bit of moral support, helpful suggestions on which communicative approach to take, and/or a practice run. You should not, however, seek to avoid this essential one-on-one exchange, nor should you prolong this awkward anticipatory period past a point where your fishy silence becomes glaringly apparent (a point which you may already be reaching). Relationships of any kind, even those we do not choose, require an open dialogue.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If you feel like articulating a plan, expressing your opinion, confronting a certain someone, and/or shooting off a written response, I recommend waiting for next week… after Mercury has (1) cleared his opposition to Saturn and (2) left your blurrying 12th house for the clearer pastures of your 1st. Because of the coming weekend's full moon, alas, you could witness a provoking behavior from a partner, collaborator or close comrade, and/or experience an intense emotional reaction to something they've already done. Observe what's happening. Take note of the main items or issues that have affected or concerned you. Maybe even do a bit of private journaling or thought-organizing. But please hold off on the actual outward articulation until Mercury's in a better position. In fact, if there's nothing urgent or unbearable to communicate or confront, try biding your time until the tail end of next week… once we enter the orb of a grand earth trine between Mercury, Mars and Pluto, an influence that will virtually guarantee your point will be conveyed loud and clear, with quite an oomph. To make the most of that, though, it would behoove you to distill, refine, and maybe even rehearse.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For the most part, towing the party line is the most appropriate and personally beneficial approach to any instances where you're put on the spot to comment. This isn't really much of a departure from last week's advice, Gemini, insofar as you still possess the right to refrain from full disclosure. Let me remind you that Venus remains in your sign… and though she's already been there a full month, she's still got another three to go, prolonging your spot as the one who's got the lovely lady of relational privilege on your side. Why mess with a good thing? The skill of articulately diplomatic, non-confrontational, chameleon-like blending is one to embrace, rather than push away—it will buy you entry into a myriad of venues, vernaculars and vista-points. The only slight warning I want to offer would probably serve you well any old time, but is especially important to heed this week, under the influence of Mercury's opposition to Saturn: Please stay on the correct side of that fine-line between (1) nonchalant ambiguity and (2) slightly deceitful suppression of important information, whenever you are posed a direct question that will obviously affect someone's perception of you. You cannot fib or suppress the truth if asked outright, as it'll likely come back to bite you.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): No shrinking back inside your shell, my little Cancer crab. You can't let your inherent tenderness be cause for retreating from the public participatory duties you know you've been charged with… though there's no question that your sensitivities hold the potential to fuck with your outward confidence. Instead of trying to sideways-crawl out of the limelight and to a back corner where nobody can see or hear, consider striking a bargain with yourself: If you push through the discomfort (and all the nagging questions it generates about whether you are knowledgeable, worthy, or professional enough in appearance) and persevere in this conspicuousness you're now occupying, you will reward yourself with some private nurturing indulgence that demonstrates you truly care for your own well-being. Maybe a massage? A new item of home furnishing? A delicious comfort-food meal? Whatever it is, you must also agree that you won't feel guilty about it afterward (or else you'll ruin the whole damn thing). Why feel guilty, anyhow, if indeed you have earned this ultra-personal carrot?

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Please don't be so threatened by the questions posed to you by acquaintances who are genuinely curious about your thinking, Leo. It's not so much that you have to 'answer to them', but that you simply ought to expect other people to want to discuss your plans or intentions for the future. That makes sense, right? In fact, we'd all be a bit suspicious if you didn't want to freely discuss whatever ideals have recently captured your imagination sufficiently to spur a potential directional change (or at least a lively detour), since you typically tend to enjoy talking about yourself. (And I don't say that to be bitchy. The Leo tendency toward free self-expression is something many of us could take inspiration from.) Do what you can to head off any short, snippy replies to others' open-ended inquiries before they shoot out of you. You just might be surprised who proves to be an engaging ally… somebody you could actually gain valuable perspective from, as you together bat around the different angles of what you've been looking at. Any hesitancy on your part to discuss is probably, unfortunately, a symptom of mistrust in yourself and/or your motivations.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): You're still wielding that Mars-generated pointiness to your personality, Virgo, which means your presence continues to bear the potential to poke certain people funny, even if you don't intend to… and particularly so, whenever you must confer with others about how best to split, share or barter over the joint pot. 'Who's entitled to what?' is not the easiest question for multiple parties to address with a response everybody likes. This is probably not the ideal moment, therefore, to push for 'double or nothing'. You are in no position to risk ending up with 'nothing' (or, more precisely, less than you had before). So, in a certain sense, your negotiatory hands are somewhat tied with regards to how fiercely you ought to fight for that one extra advantage. It may be smarter to preserve what you can already confidently bank. In terms of career-related dealings, however, your greatest success may indeed play out as this ability to hold your ground—instead of, say, folding over and bending on that 'one extra advantage' the other party is seeking. In such a scenario, you might want to suggest an alternative that may feel like a similar advantage to them, but which doesn't actually require you to give much of anything more.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Watch out for circumstances where you're being asked to agree to something you don't want and/or doesn't feel right to you. It would be too easy to give the pat 'sure, whatever' routine when that'll set you up for a slow increase of dissatisfaction or, worse, repressed hostility. And why? Just to get 'em to back off? You have to bear in mind what's the principle behind your instinct and/or desire to disagree, Libra, so you cannot as conveniently abandon your stake in the matter. We both know you're likelier to advocate for a particular outcome, despite the obvious displeasure that accompanies having to hold a boundary which aggravates another person, when it's an issue of fairness and/or 'simply what's right'… though if it's merely a question of you as an individual wanting it, you're more tempted to just give in (and shut 'em up). This distinction I've just detailed, by the way, isn't quite so firm as the rhetoric makes it sound. Is it really 'fair' to yourself to ignore your instincts because the other person is louder, pushier, or prone to tantrums? Is it 'right' to put your desires on the back-burner to please someone else? We've covered this ground before, but perhaps not specifically as it relates to principle.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): The annual full-moon in your sign and any fleeting madness it may inspire, Scorpio, is likeliest to play out as the emergence of sudden—and, dare I say, irrational—doubts about your methods for fulfilling your day-to-day earthly responsibilities. In other words, right as you are really making some exceptional strides in having 'gotten this down to a system', in walks an inner saboteur who starts launching into a hypercritical monologue about how ridiculous everything you're trying to do actually is, and how useless it is for you to believe you could ever lift yourself out of this hole and/or up to new heights. This demon is a mirage, you must know. It possesses no power unless you hand yours over to it. Your best antidote to this mood-destroying, energy-depleting, time-wasting faceoff with the devil? Daring to get an outside party involved in the internal conflict. There's at least one individual in your life with an intensely grounding presence who would be more than willing and eager to provide the necessary reality check. But to solicit their assistance, of course, will involve exposing this demon to the light. Will you be brave enough to do so… and save yourself the fruitless self-torture?

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): On the one hand, Venus's gentle support of your need to express your unfiltered truth, occurring from your relationship house (the 7th), indicates that the particular individual(s) to whom you aim your words is likelier to receive them in a positive light. On the other hand, Saturn's oppositional impact from your 11th—which represents the flat fact that not all people are authentically 'your people'—also seems to suggest that certain other people (who might be collaterally affected, or maybe just like to gossip and shit-stir) may not receive your words in quite the same way. Be conscious, then, of the subtle filtering you will be engaging in, Sagittarius, by inviting this cast of characters to demonstrate where they legitimately land on the spectrum between 'ally' or 'adversary' of yours, in response to you just being you. (Of course, there are those whose lukewarm ambivalence may represent a third pole, though not necessarily 'in the middle' of the reductive dichotomy I've outlined.) As far as the 'adversaries' are concerned, however, there's no need to purposely fuel their irkedness or ire by playing to what you already know they won't like. That's not exactly the point.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Still under the effect of emotion. Again, as I said, not a bad thing. Perhaps it will motivate you to stay busy, Capricorn? How better to ride a wave of emotion, without necessarily shutting it down, than to at least remain in productive motion? Beats sitting around brooding; deems you less apt to hold onto things instead of letting 'em pass through. Movement of the body encourages movement of the feelings: indivisibility between the integrated soul. Should someone inquire into what's up with you—particularly a professional colleague, parent or authority-figure—just let them know how busy you are. (Another reason to stay busy… so you can use this excuse and have it be true.) Then, get back to 'em next week. You'll not only have accomplished something, which you can then report on, but you'll be in a more prime position to recognize what's more persistently real for you, rather than what's floated in on a passing iceberg and soon will float back out. Far easier (and less potentially deceptive) to 'maintain appearances' by occupying yourself with stuff to do, and thusly being mostly physical absent, than to plaster on a fakey-fake smile and feign objectivity.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Quit looking so far out. There's much to relish right here right now, Aquarius. While it's noble of you to keep one eye on the future's far horizon, so as to head off any possible disasters before they can actualize (or at least to provide the dutiful warnings), you are sure to miss out on a whole bunch of easy uncomplicated pleasure sitting smack in front of your face. What I'm telling you now, in fact, is horoscope advice that will serve you for many weeks ahead… though during this particular week, you may actually squander one or more opportunities for immediately rewarding social connection (and who ever knows where that might eventually lead you?), if you exude a palpable discomfort with 'taking too long' with this or that exchange, in your mad rush to get somewhere you suppose is 'more important' (though who's to say?). If not much else (on the grand scale of Life's Big Achievements) developed beyond what already has, you would still have so much goodness to envelope yourself in… it's almost a shame to keep striving. Luckily for you, alas, more will develop. So appreciate this right-here-right-now before it becomes engulfed by the next thing.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Stick to your guns, Pisces… with full awareness that, if somebody is trying to convince you to give more than you're comfortable giving, this person will probably be quite adept at playing to your soft-spots. It's because they know you pretty darn well, and are counting on the intimacy you share as the clinching device in their arsenal. This goes far in explaining why they will benefit more from keeping the conversation between the two of you, so they can pull on your heartstrings and finger you like a fiddle. (And just to be fair, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't genuinely care for you. Loving someone and wanting something specific from them are obviously not motives at odds with one another.) Yet, I believe you'll likely see things quite differently if you step away from the situation, to quietly think about it on your own and/or to ask a trusted pal or two how they perceive it. In the short-term at least (that is, during the week ahead), the best 'argument' you may be able to present would be a calm repetition of the statements you've already made.