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Horoscopes | Weeks of January 14-20, 2013

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Sometimes, Aries, what is best meant by 'using your power' in a professional context involves being explicitly clear about what you're not going to do. Whether this is a flat refusal based on ethical concerns and/or a self-protective maneuver to limit your vulnerabilities, you'll certainly manage to prevent being dragged somewhere you don't want to go if you speak up before the dragging happens. From an alternative angle, your declining may simply be a case of knowing your strengths and your non-strengths… and responsibly resisting taking on a duty you wouldn't do well, in favor of smartly delegating it to somebody who's better suited. Or this could merely be a situation in which your number-one priority is already clear, and drifting into some other participation would show bad managerial judgment. Whatever the current specifics of your career or public-community position, please use your power to consciously set yourself up for receiving the best results. How? By doing what you do best, and not the other stuff. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Being stringently fair doesn't always grant you the immediate outcome you might wish for, Taurus… but it bestows upon you an enduring credibility in the eyes of other reputable characters, which you can draw from at will over the years to come. Therefore, your key relationship(s) will now benefit greatly from your voluntary, unforced admission of any recent instances in which your stubbornness got the best of you, and/or you purposely short-circuited further principled consideration because you wanted something done a certain way purely for personal-preference reasons. I don't necessarily see any actual conflict at the heart of this advice, by the way. The other party may have no clue you did anything 'wrong'… because, technically, you didn't. This isn't a case of righting a wrong, as much as an opportunity to advantageously build upon already-existing goodwill, by externalizing your evolutionary thought-process in a transparent move to up your interpersonal integrity game. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The best option is not always the easiest option, Gemini, as I'm sure you know. The converse proposition is also worth chewing on: Difficult isn't necessarily bad. Keep this in mind throughout your week, when there's an excellent potential for attaining markedly different footing in a long-dragged-out arrangement… a shift that would ultimately leave you feeling much better, but could first cause a momentary flinch. Such a change might require you to swallow your pride and/or bargain away some chip you probably hoped not to lose, which would be the likely instigator of the passing pain. Think of it like a shot from the doctor: It hurts for a few seconds, maybe bruises for a week or so, and yet your systemic health greatly improves because of the good medicine coursing through your bloodstream. Therefore, if this is the agreement that'll get you to the 'different footing', then please consider taking the deal. Even as you may be crying out the residual consequences, I think you'll be acutely aware that they're cleansing tears of relief. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You're under some potent relationship astrology this week, Cancer, which could offer an affirming influence on a pairing in which the two of you appreciate one another's full personalities (yes, including your need for regular validation and the fear that crops up when you don't receive it), instead of pretending to only be your 'best selves' around each other. A key facet to just how 'affirming' this influence will be: You have to be able to reflect on your moment-by-moment experience of this relationship and conclude that you actually like what happens between you. This is definitely not the same thing as liking the person (who might be a perfectly lovely individual of their own right, but who, when coupled with you, plays a part in an unlikable dynamic) or liking what might be possible between you (if only x, y, and/or z could finally change). No matter what level of interrelating we're talking about here (romantic, friendship or otherwise), your actions in relation to this other person convey a clear statement of desire: 'I am here with you because I like how it's going between us.' If you 'state' this, it must be true, right? Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

LEO (July 23-August 22): Don't expect me to get off your case any time soon, Leo, with regards to your pressing need to be consistently responsible with your daily habits. You will just have to trust me that I'm not on a personal vendetta to fully strip Leos of your license to lollygog—I'm only suggesting you limit it to the appropriate moments, when the planets seem to suggest you'll actually draw contentment from it. On the other hand, due to the let's-get-serious team of Saturn and Pluto conspiring to whip your inner core into both emotional and physical health, your '13 astrological forecasts will often include a call to stay on task as your number-one tactic for feeling your best. This week, if I were you, I would focus all my productive efforts on successfully completing one noteworthy work project, organizational effort, or pattern-break breakthrough… something you can tangibly point to and say, with utter satisfaction, 'I finally took care of it this week.' If you devote yourself to such a feat during your workweek, you'll have earned yourself an extra-pleasant (and guilt-free!) weekend with your friends. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): I cannot be too emphatic in reiterating my endorsement of fun—in whatever special shape you'd most prefer it to take, Virgo—as your top astrologically-favored task for the week ahead. This is not just a matter of superficially entertaining yourself, though: Whatever leisure activity you pursue is also an intention-setting declaration of which sort of pursuits you'd like to enjoy more in your life. If you wish you saw more films, for instance, please see a film. If you want to play more soccer, go play soccer. Because of the continuing 5th-house spotlight (hello, Venus conjunct Pluto), this advice holds particular resonance for artistic or creative types. I strongly encourage you to spend a significant chunk of time this week actually creating in the form that's currently interesting you. And likewise for parents (or anyone who's around kids a lot), do what you can to make sure the little ones are busily engaged in whichever extracurricular brings them the most happiness and/or which they hope to have a bright future in. Across all these contexts, it boils down to: Do whatever you want to be doing more of. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Before anything else continues, Libra, I believe the doctor has ordered you to assert an atypically unbudging stance on some matter that probably means way more to you than it does to anybody else… which, of course, explains why (1) you must not budge on it, as a symbol of standing up for whatever you need to feel all right, and (2) anybody else affected by your not-budging is likely to be left perplexed by the severity of your insistence, though their understanding it isn't really required. There's something so powerful about hitting palpably up against your core of self-supportively uncompromising durability, hidden as it is beneath your few layers of accommodating considerateness, that I think you'll actually feel super awesome about refusing to be swayed in this certain context. You, after all, are in charge of when and where you choose to be considerate… or to be a steward of your own emotional comfort, above all else, regardless of which other requests or recommendations are hoisted at you. After holding any such resistance at bay, you'll feel gloriously free—a great place from which to begin next week. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Tell 'em everything they need to know so they aren't walking around like a fool, lacking the very bit of knowledge that everyone else seems to know (and that everyone else seems to know they're lacking). But don't tell 'em more than they need to know, Scorpio, especially if it'll leave unnecessarily hurt feelings in the wake of the disclosure or generate needless tension between them and a third party. Strive for the 'realness' middle-point in your exchanges: no pretending-away of details crucial to another person's integrative awareness, but no stirring-up of excessive drama. Done correctly, your deft moves to sensitively communicate your outsider's observations about how they're perpetuating stress or pain in their life could prove potentially life-changing. Done sloppily (and/or with vengeful delight), the same moves could leave 'em mortified and/or caught up in misdirected anger. Saying nothing at all, when you quietly know your words could totally alter the situation in a helpful manner, is shirking your duty as a friend. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Your most important practical duty for the week, Sagittarius, is to take one significant money-related action that will immediately lessen your anxiety. This is not simply an invitation to think more deeply about your financial situation, to once again decide how great it would be to have a budget and how maybe you should go buy a book on personal money management some time. Go buy the book, and read the first eleven chapters. Actually put together the budget… or if that's too many steps ahead, commit to merely tracking all expenditures for a month. Other possibilities: put those unused valuables up for sale, pay down a credit card, renegotiate your student loans, ask the friend who owes you to repay their debt, cancel an unnecessary recurring bill. Legitimately do something with an instant payback. Once you do that, you're officially off the hook for further 'important duties'… and should feel free to ride that high of practically improving your life into a pivotal role, as engaging conversationalist and provocateur, in an increasingly hyperspazzy amalgam of converging social forces. So there. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Knowing in advance that you are in the decidedly advantageous position (thank you, Venus-Pluto conjunction), it would likely elevate your spot even further by using your advantage to actively promote the interests of others, Capricorn, and not merely your own. Goodwill is not something to greedily hoard, as if it's a scarce resource in much demand—even more so than money, it's one of those rare commodities that directly begets the creation of more by spending it. If you're able to offer a leg-up to a friend or teammate, or to boost the profile of a cherished cause or organization by publicly endorsing it, please do whatever you can to help… even if you must go somewhat out of your way to do so. The potential gains for the entire community (of which you and the designated group or colleague are but a part) should be obvious. What may be less obvious is the added benefit to your own reputation, both among your community and beyond. Bluntly put, not everybody can pull off what a Capricorn can; if you can deploy this aptitude for more than just selfish purposes, the rippling effects will be tremendous.Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): You'll want to be able to hit the ground running next week, Aquarius, with a more-ambitious-than-usual schedule of communicative reach-outs and get-in-touches… which means that this week is best spent sorting out all the back-end, behind-the-scenes elements that you'll want to achieve personal clarity on before involving other people. They will have detail-specific questions, I'm sure, and it'll behoove you to anticipate these in advance, to the best of your ability, so they don't catch you in blithering breathlessness. More than any factual concerns, though, what you really need to sort out is your bottom-line level of commitment—not to a particular methodology, but to the actual purpose itself. You must be dead-set on doing this… and on seeing it through until you've done everything you can and/or it literally cannot go any farther. All other variables can be tinkered with, figured out on the spot, or switched out with other possibilities. But there's no point in going forward until you believe that you will be going forward, no matter what.Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Dispatch tokens of your social loyalties to the appropriate characters, whether they be near or far in this vast universe. Affirm what kind of person you are, Pisces, by affirming which people you believe symbolize that 'kind'. Consider such acts as magnetic gestures, your honing-signal to invisibly summon others of like-mind who you haven't yet bonded with toward you: 'yes, more of these people, please'. Likewise, if a certain someone in your life (who oh-so-poignantly represents a certain type of someone you've repeatedly known) has earned a firm 'no' from you, please do not hesitate to send that message either. (Blocking out their penetrative presence will do you so well. Concentrate on this tremendous personal benefit, instead of getting hooked into feeling bad 'on their behalf'.) Once you've dispatched the necessary tokens, you can exhale a deep breath… and settle into that strange untethered sensation which is likely to persist a few more weeks. All through this seeming aimlessness, your people are your anchor. Still haven't bought ASTROBARRY'S 2013? What are you waiting for? Grab the year-ahead forecast for your sign NOW!