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Horoscopes | Week of June 24-30, 2013

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Though both a desire and an available opportunity to kick up your heels and shimmy the proverbial night away are floating out there, Aries, don't feel you must proceed toward this lighter-hearted party-hardying straight away if a part of you seems strangely sensitive and, therefore, unsure of whether you want to be out at all. Yes, you probably could benefit from ratcheting up your levels of purely-for-the-sake-of-fun socializing… though not if your emotions are reacting to the possibility as if this were one more obligation to meet or challenge to conquer. There will be other invitations to accept, at moments when you're less generally hesitant (perhaps for reasons you can barely articulate to yourself, let alone present as a fair excuse to someone who'd love to hang out). You should feel free to bow out completely, though, with as little explanation as: 'I just a need a little "me" time.' Or if you really do need to get out of the house, you can choose to be less talkative than usual, instead soaking up the eager words of your companions as a more receptive participant. Of course, staying home needn't mean doing so totally by yourself—invite a friend or two over to your place, shifting the setting and thus the likely tone of your interaction, fostering more intimate conversation.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Remember this horoscope (from two weeks ago) about just 'seeing where the conversation goes', Taurus? As certain conversations not only continue to stretch on and on and perhaps even loop back around to territory you thought had already been adequately covered, you have little choice but to remain generously participatory… if, that is, you care enough about the other person's well-being to respect their current spot in the process, which may not be as 'far along' as you would hope but, judging from this conversation's continuing dynamism, still seems to be actively in motion and headed somewhere. Just to be clear, the specifics of how what I'm describing actually dovetail with your reality may not even seem as obviously significant as I'm making them sound, as if this aforementioned 'conversation' must be about life-and-death matters and/or the other person your best friend. Maybe this practice of engaged interactivity will play out with someone who don't know all that well… and, therefore, may not 'care enough' about? Or maybe the care you're being called to consciously invest is, in fact, something you'd want to show all people. It's not on you to assume how important, according to some meaninglessly 'objective' measure, someone else's major concerns are; there's likely a deeper back-story that's really behind why they're all stirred up over that seemingly minor issue.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Formulas become so much harder to follow, Gemini, when you keep adding variables to the equation. Haven't we already discussed, plenty of times in the recent past, how certain elements of your life are already more complicated than you might prefer? As your most profitable counterbalance, then, please simplify the manner in which you're constructing your to-do lists. I'll bet you could immediately cross out at least half of the supposed must-dos you mistakenly believe must be taken care of in order to maximize your productivity (though, for some reason, you still haven't taken care of 'em). Instead just work twice as hard on the few obvious items that will directly grow your income, your business, and/or your standing-in-the-world. In an ideal world, perhaps it would be awesome if you first finished that enormous cleaning-and-reorganizing issue, handled all the check-ins with your key confidantes so you knew you had their explicit blessings and whatever feedback they might give about how they would do it if they were in your shoes (though they decidedly aren't), and cleared the deck of every last side-project... but that is already too tall an order, creating white noise that drowns out the clarity of your real top-priorities. Reduce the terms, cancel out unnecessary steps, and concentrate on the basics.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Let's you and me admit right up front, Cancer, that you're still getting accustomed to a new-and-improved way of showing up in the world, one which has only very recently started to embolden you… and, therefore, your few first steps outward in this rejuvenated vessel may have seemed somewhat shaky or unsure-footed. There's no shame in that. Our first few workouts, after a period of relative inertia, are liable to leave our muscles sore or freaked out by the sudden reengagement. In the midst of all this regenerative activity, you now also have the gift of a Mercury retrograde in your sign (starting this Wednesday Jun 26 and stretching through Jul 20), which, as far as I'm concerned, grants you an astrologically-appropriate chance to take a second (and third and fourth and fifth) shot at impression-making reentry. If you launched off on the wrong foot, simply turn around, return to start, and try a different approach, If you made a hasty announcement or offered something you now need to rescind, take it back. If a discussion left you with a funny feeling, revisit it... as many times as is necessary to neutralize the not-quite-right-ness. Being genuine means not worrying if it takes you multiple tries for your efforts to stick.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Don't try so hard to fix what you may be imagining is a far larger social gaffe, communicative mishap, or methodological miscalculation than it actually is, Leo. There may, in fact, have been no actual wrongdoing at all. Ease up on the futzing and finagling, and just let it be. Static on the airwaves or a tangle in the wire will likeliest work itself out much better if you don't play the nobly sincere hero. Besides, you don't need to do much of anything at all to reap plenty of small, pleasant benefits due you from the arrival of Venus to your sign on Thursday (Jun 27), where she'll remain into the second half of July… though you could obstruct Venus's good wishes by nervously feeding internal doubts, drawing overt attention to them through unnecessary apologies or awkward backstepping explanations. Trust me, what's going on in the externalized reality is not as complicated or convoluted as your overactive analyzing brain might have you believe. You will, however, create such convoluting complications by attempting to talk out the finer points of dynamics you'd do best to leave alone for now. Calmly step back from overprocessing relatively simple matters, and taking a few deep re-centering breaths.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Allow plenty of room for the cast of characters to reorient themselves, Virgo, according to their changing minds and shifting interest-levels. No one ought to be pressured into staying where they are, under duress or guilt-trip or threat of losing your support. Though you're likely to be 'dragged into' conversations about their still-developing ideas on what to do next, don't lay your better-formed opinions on them with too much insistence. When directly asked, feel free to offer your thoughts; but once you're on the record, don't beat the drum any further. You'll want any allies to decide for themselves to stay the course—or not, as the case may be—and those decisions (which, yes, you thought they'd already made) might not be finalized this week or next. So what? The uncertainty is just something you'll have to live with. Losing your patience with the seeming time-waste of indulging others' emotion-driven reconsiderations is not only not going to help matters, it will actually increase the amount of anxiety, unrest or confusion they are dealing with… making it that much harder for them to attain clarity. You cannot resolve this for them. Be a caring colleague, without too much attachment to eventual outcomes out of your control.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Ascending into your deserved success is a process, Libra, not a single extraordinary leap that, once experienced, miraculously resolves all the ego-challenges you've faced along the way. Success is also something of a moving target, insofar as, sometimes, we don't realize we'd been aiming our aspirations toward a short-sighted goal or phantom benchmark… though it would have been impossible to recognize our imprecise aim until after we'd reached a critical achievement-point and discovered it didn't provide the accompanying sense-of-accomplishment we thought we'd been working so hard for. This moving-target, learn-as-you-go quality is inseparable from any sincere engagement with worldly ambition, not a signal you've somehow goofed. Give into it wholeheartedly, then, instead of wishing you'd known then what you know now (since the only reason you do know it now is because you set off on a certain course not knowing it and grew along the way). Though the present astro-climate promises you a period of heightened professional growth, it doesn't dictate in which direction that growth is due to occur—and, therefore, it may not go exactly according to your grand plan. You might first be finding out what doesn't work, a development leading directly to a massive opening-of-new-possibilities.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Keep your eyes on the road up ahead, Scorpio, and on the deliverance it holds in store if you continue proceeding down it. You may hear hollers from the sidelines, loud voices of certain supporting characters and/or sirens and flashing lights being used to exaggerate the importance of what's going on in the wings. While it's never kind to completely ignore those who are obviously seeking your attention, it also doesn't behoove you to pause too long in your journey to indulge ancillary concerns that, at the end of the day, will pose little relevance once you get where you're going. This week feels just a little bit sticky, in terms of the powerful allure that non-essential preoccupations or false alarms may hold over your concentration… but once you make it past this round of seductive oases, you're likely to experience a jump-start in forward propulsion, fueled by your having stayed the course while within striking-range of certain influences tempting you not to. When caught in one of these tempting moments, repeat to yourself the overriding principle(s) behind why you're making this journey at all. Hearing it again and again helps your purposefulness to resist being hijacked by beckoning noises or bewitching sights.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): While I continue to urge you not to rush into decisions or conclusions that'll prematurely cut off this worthy psychological process—the one by which you'll eventually determine, with the greatest of confidence, what's right for you (regardless of the potential headaches, scary risks, or painful recognitions it may ultimately unleash)—you are moving into a spot where you can more easily anticipate that future feeling of having done what's right. In other words, Sagittarius, though you probably haven't yet reached that confidence point, you're beginning to taste its earliest emanations… a sort of affirming soul-pride in your willingness to hold out for certainty before making any rash moves, and, in doing so, to promote whatever primary moral value(s) you're using to assess your options. You may not be completely clear on the specific outcome coming up around the bend, but you're growing increasingly clearer on what to look for as you head down the road. The signs are starting to show themselves, one at a time. Don't contaminate your investigative skills by jumping the gun before sufficient evidence has been collected. Until then, be exceedingly observant about any fluctuations in your gut.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): If you want to get to know a certain somebody better and/or discover more about whatever given situation is taking up an ever-larger slice of your attention, Capricorn, then prepare yourself to hear a rather different version of the prevailing story than you've heard before. Whatever you do, don't start posing skeptical or antagonistic questions, as if to demand it be wholly consistent with previous versions. Do you want all the circumstantial fact-details to cohere into a carefully-delineated framework that eases your hungry-for-logic mind, or do you want actual access to the psychologically sophisticated (and, therefore, admittedly emotionally conflicted, contradictory and/or ambiguous) reality of this other position? The worst move you could make, in terms of gambling the intimacy already achieved, would be to involve outside parties (whether by alluding to them or overtly including them in the conversation) as a litmus-test for whether this certain someone is being as 'fair' or 'reasonable' as a hypothetical anybody might be in a theoretically similar situation. Instead, come at the individual-in-question with huge respect for their distinctive emotional stance. Let them walk you through their process, step by step. You'll learn a thing or three about their 'logic'.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): The old 'one day at a time' approach serves you incredibly well at the moment, Aquarius, since your natural instinct to project your considerations ahead to their logical-conclusion future is far likelier to trigger your rebel-demon into its devilish disobedience routine. Should you fixate on whatever long-range commitments or comprehensive declarations of intent would equal an ongoing continuation of the sanity-supporting steps you're still flirting with taking, then you're probably going to spook yourself into fearfully clinging to that which you're telling yourself you'll have to give up forever. 'Forever' is a really long time to wrap an intentional attitude around; it is unforgiving in its eternal demands. No wonder the very thought of it may rouse you to defiantly grab for whatever symbolizes the opposite of that healthier aim. All these constant negotiations with yourself, meanwhile, are liable to drive you crazy if you don't reach out for help… by which I mean simply talking to others about what you're going through, inviting them to provide you words of encouragement, and actually allowing those words in. Venus's arrival to your 7th house (the one-on-one relationship zone) this week reveals that actively sharing your experiences with the closest individual(s) in your life is even likelier than usual to soften the demon's self-inflicting bite.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): It is never too late to correct mischaracterizations you've permitted to hang out there, in the minds of new friends or close confidantes, because you hadn't been as 'on top of your game' the last time this topic came up. You may feel free to amend something you said earlier, Pisces, now that you have a better sense of why it wasn't 'quite right'. Maybe you were caught off-guard by a surprising question or an awkward environment. Maybe, in a fleeting moment of low confidence, you'd been trying too hard to impress someone with a particular self-portrayal. Maybe you didn't even know how you felt until after you said you'd felt a certain way and then realized that description didn't quite fit. Doesn't matter why. Doesn't matter at all. Drop the hesitancy, embarrassment, or shame. Give yourself a second or third take. Say it however feels right right now, without any concern for judgments you fear being subjected to from others (as if they never let something slide or change their minds or behave a different way on a different day). Aim for the experience of freedom that comes from airing your authentic sentiments, and avoid the trap of having to obey a no-longer-pertinent statement just because you fear someone else is holding you to it.