Horoscopes | Week of May 21-27, 2012

ARIES (March 21-April 19): 'Stating the obvious' is one of those phrases often used to discourage people from directly communicating what is assumed to be self-evident to anybody who might be listening… though I think many of us would be better served by being safe than sorry on this one, and actually making ourselves as clear as possible. Sometimes, in fact, it's the very act of bothering to state the maybe-or-maybe-not-so-obvious to a specific individual—as a demonstration that we care enough about this certain someone to genuinely want to keep them up-to-date and informed—that's more significant than the content itself (which, as implied, could already be known to them). Therefore, Aries, I believe it's presently worth the extra social energy to deliver your message to any number of pertinent (even if only casually so) individuals who'll likely enjoy your considerate affirmation of their pertinence to you. Catch up with friends from whom you've drifted due to circumstance rather than desire. Explicitly tell someone how much they mean to you, or how eager you are to get to know them better. Extend written invitations. Share the good news. What's the harm in 'stating the obvious', anyway, when it's something heart-warming or enthusiasm-provoking?

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You must admit (perhaps with a slightly smug smirk), you sure seem to be better at fixing your eye on a particular tangible goal and not losing sight of it than certain other folks in your circle. It's one of the more positive spins we can give to the term 'bull-headed', which obviously must have been invented specially to describe your brand of stubbornness, eh, Taurus? At this moment, when your knack for asserting how you'd like any given situation to go is hovering near an all-time high, you might also notice that friends, teammates, and/or comrades in the good fight are struggling to find their assertive voices… and may, in fact, be close to sacrificing an advantage that would serve their end-game quite well, if only they were willing or able to insist on securing it for themselves. From where you're standing, of course, you could easily continue along on your merry self-protective way, effectively getting what you need without even the slightest pause, and leave them to their own devices. Let me suggest, alas, this would be like driving right past a neighbor who's pulled over on the side of a deserted road with a flat tire, in your rush to some unnamed destination where nobody's even expecting you at any specific time. Altruism is even more obviously called for when, except for a small delay, it won't really put you out to extend a much-needed hand.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): This is not a dream, Gemini. The world really does keep on spinning… and, given enough time, it will always whirl you back around to some new picturesque hotspot that'll once again have you eager to jump off the bus and sample the local culture. I cannot tell you enough times that, throughout this special period you're still just at the beginning of, your main duty to yourself is to actively quench whichever curiosities get stirred by the experiences and encounters that show up in your life. (My guess is that, under this highly-favorable-for-Geminis astrology, you won't have to 'do' much for plenty of enticing stimulus to arrive.) You are not, however, expected to muster much understanding as to how any one of these opportunities is liable to change your life—though it's not entirely unlikely that one or another of them ultimately will prove to do so—but merely to welcome in all the possibilities, every one on a tentative and/or limited basis for the time being. This openness will be particularly helpful, believe it or not, if you have felt lost or confused or dissatisfied with what you're doing with your career (or public life). Chance meetings or reconnections occurring now could, over the course of a few months, point you in an entirely new direction... if you quit trying to figure it out what that could possibly mean.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The cherished perspective-bestowing wisdoms do not merely dwell in the category of experiences you have already deemed 'important'. The boundaries between Philosophical Truth and the so-called 'useless trivia' that supposedly detracts from it are more porous than ever. Too serious a strain of focused inquiry could easily yield a relative dead-end, Cancer, while something you might've wholly written off at some other juncture could end up forever affecting the manner in which you interpret life as more or less meaningful. Once again, I'm left to conclude with the theme of 'Who's to know?' That is why you'll reap more substance out of this mystical hiccup in the time/space continuum of your life-story by squeezing the absolute fullest presence out of every moment you experience—even, or maybe especially, those that may superficially seem to be totally random and/or insignificant—than by trying to chase anything specifically identifying itself as Substantial or Significant. The art may not be what's declaring itself as such due to its gilded frame or position on the gallery-wall, but rather the unkempt procession of chaos that parades past the window. God is in the discarded, overlooked scraps of roadside poetry, not just amid the sacred portraiture. Snatch a line of lyrical wonderment at every filling-station.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): You know that ol' sitcom plot-device in which a main character solicits advice on a personal predicament by posing the inquiry as, 'I have a friend who needs some advice…', so as to somehow shield themselves from the exposure? I thought of this trope, Leo, when considering how you might best proceed in gaining some additional perspective in your present situation—not because I think you ought to deceptively pretend the narrative details belong to somebody else, but to inspire you to frame your perspective-seeking conversations with peers from a more impersonal angle. In other words, it may be less helpful to directly ask people what they think you should do (since they'll probably already detect what answer you want them to give you and/or might rhetorically cushion their feedback within ego-coddling sweet-talk intended to 'make you feel better')… than to, instead, instigate more rambling, anecdotal exchanges about the central issues themselves, allowing everybody more freedom to express their opinions. While I'm not suggesting you need to withhold the truth of your reality from anybody, your wholesale laundry-listing of these personal details will amount more to a venting session than to a scenario where you're likely to reap much valuable insight. For maximum impact, skip the first-person storytelling… and go straight to the reflective heart of the matter.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Though I want to commend you, Virgo, for donning the many different hats that have enabled you to so comprehensively oversee these many different details your responsibility entails, I also want to mention it might not be so terrible if you temporarily softened your management style, in a charitable show of consideration to someone else's differently-abled capacities. I'd recommend such moves in any case where you highly value or care for a certain individual who may need extra attention… if their presence in this circumstance (or in your life in general) is more important, on principle, than preserving your otherwise 'perfect' process… and/or if slowing down to explain or accommodate helps reconnect you to what's really at the heart of these strenuous efforts. However, if instead you're essentially handicapping yourself and/or thwarting your progress on behalf of a certain individual who you've inherited against your will or from prior bad-decisions, who adds nothing but drama, and/or who you feel you have to singlehandedly rescue, carry or save… well, this relationship is an obvious energy-drain that's weighing you down, but with no obvious benefit. 'Which is it?' you may wonder. I respond: Your most rightful forward actions ought to bring interpersonal growth to both parties; let that make your determination.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Shapely, sophisticated approaches to life often involve integrating opposites. Yet, we don't usually progress to such integration through the cool moderateness of balancing a bit of this with a smidgeon of that, without ever tasting either opposing option in a more unadulterated totality. Sampling something to the extreme, however, reveals its full flavor… and from there, it's easier to fine-tune our desired expression of it, based on actual experience, than if we hold a measured distance in fear and never come to know its ins and outs up close. That's why I attempted to embolden you in last week's horoscope, Libra, to 'make a statement' without the careful moderation—not to discredit your innate thoughtfulness and spur hasty conclusion-jumping, but to actually encourage your further philosophic absorption in the life-questions now confronting you. I don't merely wish for you to bat around theoretical possibilities, as if memorizing four-line summaries of great-thinkers' legacies in cramming for a big midterm exam. I want you to sink your teeth in, grab a big bite, and establish your personal preferences from exposure to the meats of life… some of which you'll learn you adore, and others you'll find disgusting.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Trust me, Scorpio, you'd much prefer continuing this labyrinthine discussion (which seems to unveil another new hairpin-turn or trapdoor almost every day!) with this individual or entity who's a level pairing for your tricky-ass self (though their types of tricks may be quite different than yours) than to too neatly emerge as the 'correct' one and rest on your laurels. Where's the triumph in easy self-satisfied domination? You crave this open-ended back-and-forth with a formidable match… somebody who can confidently meet you where you are, without being intimidated by your presence, and call you out on the inconsistencies in your playbook. Kudos to you, if you've permitted yourself to be confronted by the force of their unquestionable intelligence, for it's only through such confrontation with similarly strong individuals that you'll discover where your own blindspots reside—and, as a result, learn more about how to please those parts of yourself that have been heretofore relegated to acting themselves out like a neglected child thirsting for attention. If you are spending too much time interacting with folks you feel you could outsmart with half your brain tied behind your back, you must be tired as hell of the tedium. Demand more of yourself; keep hanging with the ones who demand that much more from you, too.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Assumptions about the other person (whether someone you know or perhaps would like to get to know) serve no purpose at all, Sagittarius, during this spectacular moment for inquisitive conversational exchange. If you want to know, just ask… then prepare yourself for an earful or three of genuinely engaging reply. Of course, if you spend a solid several minutes listening and then decide you actually aren't so engaged by what they have to say, please, by all means, excuse yourself and move on to the next individual who may or may not pique your interests more sustainably. I hardly wish for you to waste your time with folks you'll derive little stimulation from; but yet again, I also don't want you to rule somebody out because they make a lousy first-five-minutes impression or possess one trait or opinion (among many!) that turns you off. At any point where there's a question about which way it might go, I encourage you to pose additional questions… to let the interaction meander into strange twilight-zone tangents… to share something offbeat about yourself, in hopes of conjuring a more educative response or reaction… whatever keeps it lively and compelling for you. People, in all their multi-faceted oddness, should provide no shortage of pleasurable input.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Rather than ranting or raving about any interruptions to your planned routine, Capricorn, consider whether this detour might have the fingerprints of an unseen spiritual teacher all over it. Grumpy or grumbly first-reactions to somebody else's presumed-by-you-to-be inconsequential 'nonsense' could likely prove premature… not necessarily because the superficial details of whatever situation they're involving you in actually are directly relevant to your life, but according to a more obscure logic that's immediately inaccessible. After all, you don't know what other potential hassles or hindrances you have avoided, thanks to the unanticipated intrusion of peer influence over the unfolding of your day. You don't know how profoundly your seemingly offhand exchange will affect either or both of you, in ripples too subtle to clearly identify. How could anybody discern which alternate-reality would be the optimal one, based upon who turned which way at the intersection up ahead, to grab their morning coffee at one local café over another? Not only do I suggest humbly giving in to circumstance when it dares to impact what you thought you'd be doing one day or the next, I encourage you to recognize any such scheduling schisms as another calling to interject a non-descript assertion of universal love.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): The planetary gods are clearly intent on imbuing this latest chapter of your life, Aquarius, with gobs more revitalizing playtime than you've welcomed in a long while. They keep lining up one astrological influence after another in your solar 5th house, where we happily partake of whatever creative activities, leisure pursuits, childlike games and/or adultlike flirtations will reflect what we, as our own most authentically unique individuals, most enjoy spending our unspoken-for hours doing. This is hardly a problematic astro-situation, I might add… and only more spectacular due to the implication that you may presently be in some sort of flux, with regards to knowing exactly which of the choices you most enjoy, and therefore are being called to simultaneously try out several entertaining options to help determine what's what. Another version of the same message: Accept every potential pleasurable possibility that's offered to you, and relish it for what it is. You may later decide you want more, or that you've already had plenty, thanks. I guess I should probably amend my earlier assess of this situation as 'hardly problematic', since there is such a problem as too much fun—especially when it impacts your ability to also get your business done.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): May and June are ripe months for investigating just how bored or fed-up you've recently become with where you're living… or, instead, to appreciate the many wonderful features to your current home, in order to reaffirm that it's where you want to be. Whether we're talking about the geographic locale where you reside, the actual dwelling, and/or the living situation you're in (with a certain housemate or on your own), this is the time to consider all the alternatives, Pisces. You ought to feel little-to-no pressure to repress any particular parts of your personality, in an effort to maintain a peaceful-seeming surface dynamic in this place that ought to serve as your reassuring hearth-like foundation. And if you have been practicing such self-repressive tactics, this is your flashing-neon-sign clue to get the heck out. Incidentally, I will not accept 'lack of funds' as an excuse to continue indefinitely living someplace that's draining your soul. Sure, you might have to think ahead, put together an action plan, cut back on other expenses in the short-term... or commit to any number of responsible-adult goals that'll get you to the next spot. But 'where you live' is a topic that's due to bring you more pleasure over the course of the next year than it has in a while—if, that is, you do something about it.