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Horoscopes | Week of January 28-February 3, 2013

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Last week's endorsement of stretching out of your way to explicitly feed and strengthen your alliances with friends and/or teammates was not just an exercise in expressing gratitude, Aries. There was also a more pragmatic purpose to this instructive: As of early next week, you'll have drifted in a passing phase of peculiar powerlessness, during which much of what will transpire is mostly beyond your direct control. In fact, the harder you try to 'fix' circumstances that aren't flowing to your preferred liking, the more clearly you'll discover how these trends are larger than your capacity to head them off. Your role, then, will involve a certain degree of hands-off retreat… tending somewhat privately to your own emotional responses, while the other players and their situational twists-and-turns play out as their destiny (which they've directly or passively chosen for themselves) determines. That's where the friends and/or teammates come in: Please put your trusting stock in them to help you affirm your most appropriate responses, to lift certain responsibilities off your hands, and to remind you that you are being looked after. February's liable to be kind of a weird month, but this, like everything, is temporary. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The smartest moves for safeguarding your grand vision during the weeks ahead, Taurus, will entail you more outwardly uniting forces with others who hold similarly grand (though not necessarily identical) visions. You needn't worry that the specific values or content of what you've been working so hard on will become watered down or otherwise convoluted by momentarily taking your eye off your special prize and, instead, focusing on where it dovetails with what your allies are up to. Your purposeful lowering of any defensive barriers will help foster a greater community discussion about the issues at hand, both (1) allowing you to influence the broader trends from a collaborative, rather than didactic, position and (2) helping your own endeavor(s) evolve in accordance with what's presently most relevant to the population you've serving. All the while, wonderful Venusian rays will be shining down on your 10th house (starting on Fri Feb 1)… meaning you can feel comfortable concentrating your efforts on this team spirit, knowing your personal reputation will continue to circumstantially blossom without your needing to insist on the attention. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Real-world action will be demanded of you, Gemini, if you want any or all of these super-good ideas to actually yield you a position somewhere doing something related. While it may be far breezier and more enjoyable to brainstorm or strategize or dream, it's not enough to get the job done. This week presents you a pivot-point in your process, leveraging the renewed enthusiasm you have (hopefully) stirred in yourself into full-on assertive reachings-out. I tell you this not merely to lay on the pressure to keep moving forward (though that's one motive): It's also that the planets, especially the stationing-to-direct Jupiter in your sign, are conspiring to somewhat ease the difficulties involved in the ol' putting-yourself-out-there realm. You have to make the moves, alas, in order for the astrology to help you out. Here's one more encouraging tidbit: You don't have to know exactly what the plan is. Think 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey'—your sight might be somewhat impaired and/or you may feel rather dizzy, but you can still feel your way around until you magically make your way to the right spot. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There's a subtle whiff in the air that smells quite promising, Cancer, like the faint aroma of delicious food bubbling away on a stove, which is still not fully cooked but which, when it is, you'll be fortunate enough to feast upon to your heart's delight. Between this week and next, you'll find you're moving one step closer to that metaphoric 'supper-time'… hopefully bestowing upon you enough anticipatory zeal that you're willing to look beyond any headachy hassles which occupied your attention most recently. It's time to more powerfully push for this expanded perspective, to begin actively advancing toward that other place where 'dinner' will at last be 'served'—as opposed to hanging too close to home, dizzying yourself in circular repetitions of the same daily steps you've taken for so long now that you hardly have to think about 'em. You ought to be thinking about each step you take, and whether it keeps you in this insular neck-o'-the-woods or helps carry you to that enthusiasm-inspiring elsewhere you wish to believe you're heading. Wishes must now give way to consciously aimed steps. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

LEO (July 23-August 22): If you've hit any tense interpersonal impasse over the past several weeks, Leo, you may finally be able to make a bit of progressive headway on it starting next week. The shifting of multiple planets into new signs will both (1) situate you in a more favorable interrelational environment than you've been in and (2) afford you a better ability to delve into what's really been going on between you, which may expose a more complicated story than your previous awareness had held. As before, a key ingredient to your successfully moving through this remains your refusal to assume too many similarities between what you're feeling and what they're feeling. You still need to really listen to their explanations, rather than hearing their first few words and presumptuously filling in the rest of the sentence with your projections. If you haven't experienced any such interpersonal tensions, then the astrological shift augurs an improved ability to connect with others in the month to come… based not merely on superficial affinities, but a surprisingly open willingness on all parts to get real rather quickly. Should you be on the hunt for a new good-friend or deep love-match, February may well prove fruitful. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): With a major energetic changeover slated to unfurl itself between this week and next, Virgo, you'll soon find you cannot avoid a more direct encounter with a certain individual… whether you are nearly overcome with desire for them to acknowledge you, or would just as strongly prefer not to get them involved but must accept you really have no choice. The coming weeks are chock full of relationship activity, which is your astrological invitation to conspicuously position yourself on this other person's radar (rather than, say, waiting for them to call or write or notice, all the while growing more annoyed by some invented quarrel or slight that only exists in your head). With Neptune's participation in such 7th-house doings, you should have a naturally easier ability to find a convenient window in, as you'll intuitively know which tact will best appeal to their current circumstances. But at the same time, getting 'in' is just the first step: Your sharper challenge will be to not presume mutual understandings, simply because you sense they get your drift without your coming all the way out with it (or is it merely wishful thinking?). What feels like speaking the obvious or belaboring a point is, in fact, the precise level of clear and detailed assertiveness that's presently required. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): The call of work starts to get louder this week, Libra, which means you only have a few more days to lollygag or wriggle away from duty before the alarm-bell rises to an unpleasant volume. Yet, in a lovely twist, I don't see your mood being at all adversely affected by this intensifying pressure to up your productivity. If anything, I believe the additional physical motion required will actually rattle all your bodily molecules into a happier state, much in the way an invigorating round of morning calisthenics can motivate us to engage that day's responsibilities with a bit of extra vim and vigor. So rather than prolong the agonizing anxiety that accompanies inertia (because, in lieu of activity, our minds will fill the empty space with panic about the activities we ought to be doing), prep yourself to start leaping out of bed each day, ready to bite into the plateful of scheduled tasks and small soon-to-be triumphs, knowing it'll nourish you on multiple levels simultaneously. The heightened effort you expend will oddly not exhaust you or leave you pining for compensatory quiet-time; on the contrary, it'll jazz you up. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): A level of self-restraint seems warranted, Scorpio, in terms of not running yourself ragged by replaying all the varying possible scenarios of what might've been, what could still be, and/or what you should've done differently. All of that is irrelevant, at least as long as it's merely fodder for private obsessions rather than actual lived-out reality. Though last week I advised digesting your reactions on your own, the week ahead presents a major turning-point: It's probably time to consider tying this chapter up inside a lovely bow of 'coming to peace'… and then, as this week bleeds into the next, to put yourself back out on the line, fishing for whatever the next chapter of excitement and fun has up its sleeve for you. If you still need to chew on some unresolved feelings from the past month-or-so's events, then please devote ample time in the earlier part of this week to doing just that—above all other priorities—in a thorough and purposeful manner. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Even while you may be continuing to happily ride the relational momentum you (perhaps?) stirred up by following last week's advice, Sagittarius, there's a simultaneous shift in focus to a more behind-the-scenes situation that demands some sort of action. A increasing concentration of planetary energies in your solar 4th house is set off by Mars's arrival there on Friday (Feb 1), suggesting you now prioritize attending to projects and/or problems on the home front (whether related to the actual dwelling or individuals you live with) or with inner emotional struggles requiring further direct engagement (possibly involving family-members, or at least some psychological legacy they left you with). Though the feelings likely being aroused in you could cause a certain degree of internal unrest (which I believe promises to be quite productive, if you indeed confront what's coming up), I strongly encourage you not to allow this to take over everything else in your life. Keep reaping the fortunate opportunities for pleasurable companionship, even if you question whether you're 'in the mood'. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): A recent knot of seriousness appears to be starting to loosen itself up, Capricorn, leaving you in a more light-hearted mode… with the possibility of benefiting not just your own mental health, but everyone else who comes into serendipitous contact with you. As the intentness with which you've been telling yourself you must attend to this or that item softens into a less strict tone, you'll create a bit more space for the unplanned and/or incidental to affect your moment-to-moment experiences without leaving you to stress about how it's messing up your schedule. The main beneficiary of this shift: your basic attitude in any and all social exchanges, which will no longer give off an impatient or put-out or shut-in vibe to those who merely want to shoot the shit with you for a few. Not only will you become likelier to want to devote a few extra bits of attention to whomever's shown up, but your willingness to do so will actually make a difference in the quality of their day—and, consequently, of yours too. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): After a month or so of your proactively assuming a primary instigator role in the center of all the action, Aquarius, you'll soon be returning to a more typical activity-level posture… though, at the same time, you shouldn't expect to disappear from center-stage. Later this week, Mars will leave your sign on the very same day (Fri Feb 1) that Venus arrives: The recently assertive edge brought to you by Mars, which presumably helped you get the ball rolling in multiple sectors, is being replaced by a much easier and more pleasant aura-glow of Venus's influence (which remains through much of February). In a certain sense, then, your next few weeks are something of a receiving phase, allowing blessed results from items already set into motion to reach you without much further effort. The effort that is essential, however, should be involved with banking these benefits… making sure the positive effects endure as long as reasonably possible, building further goodies atop what's already shown returns, exploiting opportunities that have opened (instead of, say, trying to force other new openings). Plus, Venus amps up your attractiveness, a gift you can cash in on in professional and personal contexts. It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)

PISCES (February 19-March 20): The first half of your week is best spent rallying your initiative with upbeat pep-talks, freshening your face or shining your shoes, and re-preparing yourself for appropriate public presentation. After a few weeks of dreamy drifting insubstantiality, Pisces, you're being summoned back to earthly existence. By the week's end, Mars will have entered your sign, injecting a swell of get-up-and-go gumption into your bloodstream that demands you do something physical active, assertive and/or provocative with it. Next week, therefore, should be understood as the official start to your whole new attitude toward the business-at-hand: You must make something happen, or risk an increase in resentful frustration (which could be turned inward at yourself or outward at others). The relieving part of this news, courtesy of Neptune: You needn't know the full extent of what exactly you're supposed to be 'making happen', only an instinctive vibe of which next-step(s) are beckoning you to take them. I am wholly confident that such vibes will be swimming around you in palpable doses. It's on you to act accordingly. Ready, set… It's almost February. You should have read ASTROBARRY'S 2013 by now, don't you think? If you haven't, then please hurry up! ;)