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Horoscopes | Week of March 25-31, 2013

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You've got this, Aries. Continue your amazing ascent through the cosmos, courageous pioneer. These speeds are enough to give the faint-hearted an awful case of upset stomach, but I have confidence that you were built for this. Please don't glance behind you for more than the briefest moment, lest you get caught up in energy-depleting worry about what or who you've left back there. Back there, it's too easy for others to shoot the wounding 'you're so selfish' bullet at you, as if to punish you for being motivated enough by your own passions to act upon them. While it's not altogether unjustified when you're accused of self-centeredness, you and I both know that one cannot be anybody other than who they are… and who else should be at the center of one's life, if not one's self? Though I do believe you've got this, no one ever said it wouldn't hurt the crown of your head when you crash through the ceiling on your way up. After all, as you're flying through space, you will obviously confront obstacles—institutional roadblocks, massive egos, tyrannical authorities both actual and internalized—and you must be careful not to hurl yourself against 'em so hard that you walk away injured and, thus, somewhat impaired abilitywise. Don't let the obstacles stop you, but take them seriously: They may require a more sophisticated neutralization strategy than mere brute force.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You aren't crazy to wonder whether you're currently going crazy, Taurus. This is some seriously crazy astrology, and, among all the signs, yours is the one with the least clear or obvious call-to-practical-action in the midst of everything that's happening… and, fuck, that must feel totally maddening. But the only 'craziness' you're actually forced to contend with is the acceptance of your momentary helplessness in taking any tangible steps to fix any apparent external problems. If you can accept this (again, remembering it's temporary) and simply sit with the myriad layers of complex and conflicting psychic response flooding your senses… well, you just might find yourself irreversibly altered by a stroke of receptive brilliance, like Isaac Newton watching that mythic apple fall from a tree, unlocking a whole new philosophy of cosmic understanding about why this sort of shit happens. If, however, you fight against this higher need to embrace reflective retreat and repose and instead keep trying to push back out at the world from a position of stubborn overconfident knowing… well, not only will you miss your chance at the aforementioned 'stroke of receptive brilliance', but the world will keep pushing right back at you with unintelligible harshness. And won't that just leave you shaking your head more furiously and exasperatedly, still wondering if you're friggin' crazy?

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If difficulties or darknesses you've faced over the past few years have taught you anything, Gemini, it's that only certain people will stick close by your side when you aren't able to put on a happy face for their interrelational ease. Though you may be able to maintain the surface appearance of friendship or solidarity with them, you also suspect (or, in fact, confidently know) they probably wouldn't respond with sincere unbending support if they were aware of all your thoughts on relevant matters. Under this current quake-like astrology (which most strongly shakes your 11th house, where we identify ourselves within a larger social milieu of 'our peeps'), however, these latent ruptures are breaking through this tenuous surface… and in order for you to stand resolutely in favor of a certain ideal, you may have no choice but to consequently declare yourself explicitly at odds with those folks whose actions and/or attitudes clearly conflict with this ideal. You have made it through too much adversity—and, as a result, strengthened your character to such a degree—to sell yourself out, on behalf of superficial friends, now. Don't worry about who you might lose, though: Concentrate on the peace-of-mind you will ultimately gain.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There really is no turning back, Cancer, in hopes of returning to some former safety-zone (and was it really all that 'safe' to begin with?) in your career and/or public-achievement sector. Not with all this jet-powered, forward-thrusting planetary mojo burning hot beneath your butt-cheeks, razzing you into action. Though we covered this same theme from different angles both last week and the week before, the astrology will not allow me to skip over another reiteration. The life-changing potency in what's now going on for you mustn't be downplayed, lest you convince yourself this is merely one more insignificant blip of moody discontent that will soon pass unremarkably by. I must add one more exceedingly relevant detail: It is highly likely that a certain someone will feel threatened by the self-determined changes you're driven to make, and may try to enforce their power over you—power which, of course, they only hold because you've allowed them to—so that you remain in the spot they are most comfortable with you assuming. (Or maybe you just fear how the dynamic between you will be affected?) Any hesitation to proceed onward on your part is probably deeply connected to your misgivings about altering this important relationship… though the obvious pressure to evolve it cannot be ignored.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Whatever you do, Leo, please do not back away from that gleaming glint of motivating Purpose… which, like your own personal knight-in-shining-armor, is chivalrously escorting you out of the Dark Forest and straight to the Castle of Light. You mustn't let others' alternate ideas about your situation, any relatively-minor unanswered questions about this or that aspect of your path, and/or difficulties pushing through one especially troublesome step in the larger process cause you to indulge your self-doubt, robbing you of the go-getter attitude necessary to keep on going. This really is leading you somewhere new and exciting—but, dog-with-a-bone-style, you simply cannot release the grip on your belief in that fact. As at previous moments of transformation, you must combine this unwavering belief with a similarly stubborn commitment to doing the work every day. There will be no miraculous split-second life-makeovers… though, if you keep at it, you will eventually be able to look back on the gorgeously meaningful miracle your life has become, as a direct effect of your own efforts, and appreciate this journey. This week is a critical one for reaffirming your commitment to what really matters. A distracted focus, at this time, could too easily lead you astray.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Please do not project the notion that any surges of drama are entirely attributable to this other character who is the real 'drama queen' in the situation… while you, the ever-reasonable Virgo, is merely a spectator or (worse) the babysitter. According to that axiomatic law of physics which stipulates it always takes two to tango, I find it hard to believe you've found yourself in such a spot due to no implicating actions on your part. Actually, if you have passive-aggressively fed the unfair perception that the other person is often or always the 'irrational' one—while you rely on your even-tempered knack for coolly dissecting their 'emotionally hysterical' stance, fact by fact, as if you are the scientist and they some lab-rat subject—then you shouldn't be surprised if they react stormily to your patronizing disavowal of partial responsibility. Life is drama, Virgo. And we all are so-called drama queens at one moment or another… though some of us fancy ourselves the stars of spectacular high-budget productions, while others prefer the staid nuances of an understated character-piece. Due to some pretty high-drama astrology that's currently ensnared you in a climactic scene where you're playing off of a fired-up castmate (or some other hot-under-the-collar circumstance beyond your control), you cannot escape your principal role in this show. So shamelessly, unapologetically embrace it. The show must go on.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): With a full moon in your sign opposing a bunch of rebel-planets stirring the pot in your house of interpersonal dynamics (the 7th), it's an important week for holding your own in any relationship (personal or professional) where you can't afford the easy-breezy luxury of excessive diplomacy or claustrophobic compromise. In case you aren't properly regarding the proverbial writing-on-the-walls, Libra, this is perhaps the worst time to wish your concerns away or nostalgically cling to outdated perceptions of how the two of you relate (when, perhaps, it was never quite as idyllic as you imagine). You have no choice but to fight for your vision of a personally satisfying relationship life. Snags in this fabric won't magically iron themselves out; if left to their own devices, they could in fact unravel the whole damn thing. But just so you don't misconstrue this advice purely as a caution against deteriorating relationship dynamics, let me point out it also applies to potentially promising pairings that are new or newly intensifying: You'll still need to push through your safe diplomatic (read: non-committal) behaviors… and fight to make this connection as life-changing as it could.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Keep your wits about you (at least somewhat), Scorpio, during this week of potentially destabilizing astrology that could inspire in you hasty escape-artist acrobatics. The inherent restrictions on your day-to-day freedom—and we all face them as an intrinsic part of functioning adulthood, if we are treating our responsibilities (to our job, our chores, our healthful well-being) with the requisite regard—may be feeling extra prohibitive, as if you can see through the pointless veneer of mundane task-mastery and yearn instead for a life-experience with more immediate stimulation and profundity. But you have a definite choice in how you remedially attack this disgruntlement: (1) with constructive purpose, making abrupt changes in schedule or process or timeline prioritization to release some of that pent-up rebelliousness while still respecting the obligatory nature of certain non-negotiable duties, or (2) with total escapist disobedience, flipping the bird to that camel's-back-breaking last-straw and everything else piled up behind it, and darting off on a consciousness-numbing bender, in hopes of leaving that restricted feeling far far behind. Let's just say the latter option, though momentarily thrilling, ends up creating more problems than it solves… though the motivating drive behind this sort of hypothetical choice is real, and still needs to be addressed.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Yes, Sagittarius, you may (and, perhaps, should) actively participate in whatever will make you happy right this very moment... and without trying to back away from it or contain your enthusiasm, as if there's lingering dark-cloud master threatening to lower the boom if you become too comfortably reacquainted with such light-heartedness. However, there is a glaring exception to this get-out-of-this-jail-of-your-own-making-free card, and it's a pretty significant one: You must not use this swell of liberating self-pleasuring as a misguided justification for blowing your whole budget or otherwise disregarding all the work you've been doing (or, ahem, better be doing) to transform your economic landscape. While this may immediately strike you as a real drag of an exception, I encourage you not to hastily run with such a first-response. People with financial restraints find incredible ways to joyously express themselves all the time. Artists without a pot to piss in will repurpose other people's 'junk' into objects of tremendous beauty. Revelers will grab whatever makeshift drum they can find, and pound out a beat that gets the whole town jiving. Arguably, there is even greater pleasure in creating a game, a charm, a masterpiece, a party, and/or a barrelful of laughs out of thin air (rather than taking the easier and more expensive pre-fab store-bought route): It is authentically yours, through and through.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Remain hyper-conscious, Capricorn, that your currently magnified need to assert emotional independence and/or snag yourself more than a tiny bit of personal space does have the potential to go too far. There are both gentler and harsher ways to get distance from loved ones (or less-loved ones) who have lately left you feeling smothered. You can, for instance, invest enough conscientious calm in how you assert your needs so other folks are exceedingly clear that your actions are about you taking care of yourself—and, though they might not adore that you're stepping back from them, this will hopefully minimize the possibility they'll take it too personally. On the other hand, if you let your irritability call the shots and get a bit sloppy with your tone of expression, you are likely to injure someone you may later wish you hadn't been so rough with. This is one of those super-charged weeks in which the volatile Uranus-Pluto square is being activated… and let me remind you that, due to Pluto's ongoing occupation of your sign, you continue to wield much more power to hurt (and, from the opposite angle, help) others than you may immediately realize. In fact, directing this potent astro-energy mindfully—refusing to sell out your self-nurture needs, while still showing sincere regard for those who'll be impacted by any moves you make—could prove to greatly help the other players take better care of themselves, too.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Please stay with it, right here, Aquarius, in whatever discussion or social encounter is occurring at the moment… instead of, say, projecting ahead into the future (based, with theoretical shrewdness, upon trying to eliminate repetitions from a painful past) and bad-tripping on what you might lose if you just let this continue, uncontrolled, in the direction it's apparently going. As always, the wild-card factor is the proverbial other person who, whether closest chum or blood-brother or stranger-on-the-street, cannot be counted on to think or feel how you logically presume any hypothetical 'person in their situation' would or should. For every serendipitous lightning-strike of eye-opening perspective or bit of new data that can help you grow and transform, as a result of openly exposing yourself to the endless surprises which stream from other people's consciousnesses, there's the counterproductive shutdown of possibilities you might (unconsciously?) impose by fearfully shutting down such threats to your cherished self-protective narrative. Leave your narrative intact by shutting others out, and, sure, you may be 'protecting' yourself—but only within a perceptual jail of your own making. Be willing to suspend the automatic 'I already know' response, however, and you just might free yourself in some manner that would never make sense to you until you actually let it happen.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): I don't know what kind of blinders you might need to don, Pisces, to ensure you keep your eye stubbornly fixed on your own interests. During this moment, when lots of people will be kicking up lots of dust in the process of making lots of big moves in their lives, it'll be rather tempting to turn your head in their direction… to nibble popcorn while watching the spectacle of their transformations unfold, to lend your usual helping-hand in support of their vision, and/or to nervously engage with the possible consequences you might face as a result of what they're doing. None of that, however, is where I believe your attention should be focused. While it's not altogether true that what they're up to doesn't matter, I will assert it should rank far below the concentration you now need to be devoting to your own standing in the world, regardless of who else you're aligned with and/or their current level of success or struggle. In the short-term, every last kernel of effort you can muster ought to be invested toward building yourself a stable foundation—and specifically, as I've been repeatedly mentioning, toward bringing in income. Meanwhile, letting someone else float you, while you sweat over helping their dreams come true, just won't cut it (no matter how much you love them or how sure you are of your future together). There is no substitute for self-sufficiency, even in relationship.