Horoscopes | Week of July 8-14, 2013

ARIES (March 21-April 19): When it comes to establishing a blissful domestic sphere and/or private life, Aries, the stakes are upping themselves between this week and next. If you have found it frustratingly difficult to successfully heed all my recent horoscopic counsel to seek peace-and-harmony in this realm, then it's high-time to start fighting for it. Now, I know the concept of 'fighting' for peace is something of an oxymoron, but if a certain irritating housemate, family member or intimate friend refuses to respect your home-front wishes, grant you emotional space, or shut the fuck up for more than five minutes at a time… well, you probably have no choice but to assert your desire pretty forthrightly, and then see any resulting brouhaha through to its logical conclusion, if you ever hope to claim agency over your own inner well-being. I am not purporting this to be easy or pleasant advice to follow…and if instead you're able to discern another method for stealing the quiet-time you deserve, by circumventing the challenging party and/or creating your own sanctuary elsewhere, by all means give it a try. I'd just hate for you to settle for longer-term unsettledness in the very setting you most need comfort and calm.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You might not know 'the perfect words' to say (as if such things exist) to show them that you care, Taurus, but just being openly willing to talk in the first place is enough of a demonstrative gesture. You are under no obligation to guide the conversation in any particular direction, simply because you take the initiative to get it started. In fact, I'll bet the other party will provide plenty of help in directing it toward whatever item has nearly been burning a hole through their tongue, while they've waited to see if you would give them a chance to talk it through. (It's actually pretty likely they've been presuming you have little-to-no interest and/or patience in hearing them out… which may or may not be a presumption that holds some truth.) This week's advice is especially relevant to relationships with siblings, cousins, or neighbors (all of whom are symbolized by the solar 3rd house, where lots of the astro-action's going done): Don't worry about whether you possess the missing piece that'll resolve the tension or put the squabble to rest. Just reach out, instigate the initial reconnection, and let it evolve from there.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): With a several-week-long stream of planet-action in your sign now having moved through, Gemini, you'll find yourself somewhat off the hot seat. But that certainly doesn't exempt you from continuing onward with everything you've just gotten going. Perseverance is what separates a stroke of good-luck from lasting fortune… and I'm speaking both metaphorically and quite literally here. This is your time to diligently do all your follow-up work, to turn promising conversations into concrete agreements, to pledge to repeat whichever steps have already started to bear fruit as many more times as it'll take until you aren't still treating this boon as a passing fancy. You have to believe, in your heart of hearts, that you're up for this challenge of staying the course. (And in case your short-attention-span rascal is already wondering whether you won't get bored too quickly, let me say: Don't worry about the longer long-term; let's concentrate on, say, the next two months.) Establishing material grounding and a sustainable mode of daily life ought to be a top priority.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): By week's end, energizer Mars will have landed in your zone for a 6½-week stay, Cancer, bringing even more planetary attention to your tribe. Only, this interval promises to inject a newfound feistiness to your overall vibe, turning you (1) that much likelier to actually grab for what you want out of a given situation and (2) that much unlikelier to back down, should someone try to block you from your grabbings. Of course, because you're still a sensitive soul-type, your typical methods of 'fighting' to fulfill your desires are probably less balls-out straightforward… and more under-the-surface, in an attempt not to subject yourself to an unpleasant intuitive drenching by waves of others' displeased emotional responses. But please own this extra-assertive edge you're now brandishing, rather than claiming not to understand why they're reading you as willful and/or pretending you have no preference in outcome. Too unconscious a relation to this Mars-in-Cancer business on your part, and you'll likely anger others through your arguably well-meant efforts to downplay your wants (out of supposed consideration?) when they're actually more pronounced than you think.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Others will actually feed you the most valuable information, Leo, as long as you neither expect nor insist upon anything in particular. You must release your belief that you know what you're seeking, however, and instead hold out faith in the universe's uncanny knack for providing that which you need… though it's perhaps not what your short-sighted logic-mind wants, in order to ease its open-ended questions. The hands-off approach demonstrates you're not grasping for a specific conclusion, but rather that your palms are available to catch whatever drifting treasure wafts down from the heavens and lands on the magical 'X' that marks your spot. Beware, therefore, of causing yourself needless problems, just because you're uncomfortably fidgety with this cosmic instructive to sit still, listen, watch and wait. Venus remains on your team, after all, and she functions best by seductively attracting rather than going out and snagging anything. Let her do her thing, leaving her well enough alone. No strings to pull, no active strategies to hatch.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): It's perfectly understandable, timely even, for you not to be seeing the direct personal payoff quite yet. Everything lately has been so relentlessly collaborative and/or wider-ramifications-oriented, Virgo, it would make sense if you were starting to question what you are getting out of all this (besides, of course, reaffirmation of your distinct ethical industriousness). Please table such questions, particularly if their lingering too steadily in the forefront of your mind ends up inspiring irritation towards those who you imagine are more directly benefitting from your efforts. Looks can be quite deceiving. Not only might their apparent advantages merely be a glossy coating that conceals their shakier self-worth (shakier, perhaps, than you may realize) and therefore they probably need this immediate favor more than you do, but yours is coming soon, too. A few weeks from now, you'll be in a better position to mold these team machinations into a more selfishly satisfying shape… while hopefully still allowing everyone else to reap some goodies as well. That said, please remain an agreeable team-player.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Use this week to ramp up to a more prominent, protrusive public guise, Libra. Over the weeks ahead, it will not behoove you to disappear into the background or speak in too demure a tone. You must make yourself known to all who hold a stake in either nudging you to the top or holding you back, so they could never scan the list of participants and wonder what exactly you're working on. In fact, at this point, it's more important that they're eminently aware of your presence than that they officially like you. Any opinion held of you is preferable to no opinion at all. Part of what you typically do, of course, is play well with others (at least on the surface of things)… and I see no reason you can't continue to be a productive part of the group while simultaneously ensuring you also stand out. A key element of carrying that off successfully: You needn't conceive of your competitive drive to achieve more for yourself as a competition against anyone else, even if other people (whether your peers or the ones-in-charge) are framing it that way. You will ascend based on what you do, for all the world to see.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Let's get up to date, shall we, Scorpio? Your wheels are no longer spinning in place. The sticky mud has at last released you from its clutches… and while I wouldn't necessarily report it's totally 'smooth sailing ahead', you are now ready to start moving at a much more decent pace again. Because Venus's present spot in your solar 10th tells us that important eyes are gazing favorably upon your public behaviors (especially in career-related contexts), this is not the time to recount all the gory details of what you've left behind, as if replaying the trials and traumas will somehow earn you their respect. We all take your resilience as an unspoken given. Instead, dazzle them with your enthusiastic gushing of great ideas for the future…risks that you're curious about taking, innovations that have never been tried, reeducation plans that'll pad everyone's brains with rich new knowledge. All your best current opportunities are based in this forward-thinking boldness. While I'm not someone who actually believes it's healthy to 'never look back', a backward-facing gaze will work to your disadvantage for the time being.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): The decisive game-moves are finally starting to play out, Sagittarius. Brace for a potentially tempestuous and/or gut-wrenching, but hopefully ultimately cathartic few weeks ahead… during which these 'complications' I've repeatedly spoken of in recent horoscopes (and which I therefore presume you have close familiarity with) are coming to a climax. By the end of August, this situation will no longer be the same as it's been, the long-simmering not-knowing at last giving way to a much clearer slate. This significant something will be dead in the water and/or brilliantly reborn, but not perpetuated in any further straightforward repetition. Don't fear this transformation. Welcome even its ugliest or most painful short-term expressions, in the process of gallantly transporting yourself to the next station…with or without certain individuals, agreements, resources or extenuating circumstances still intact. You can only control your end of this gameplay, with actions that carry you towards the destination of your choosing. The actions of the 'other side', meanwhile, will demonstrate in increasingly obvious ways whether you're traveling in compatible directions.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Your likeliest source of frustration? Noticing yourself participating with a certain someone in the same fucking conversation that you've had a million fucking times, it seems… and, as a result of feeling tired of repeating yourself, losing your fucking patience with this certain someone. But please remember not everybody advances to a level of cathartic understanding at the same rate, Capricorn… and considering the present location of Mercury retrograde in your relationship house (the solar 7th), it may be that you are supposed to be revisiting a recurring mode of interpersonal action precisely because some key detail has not, in fact, been resolved. With assertive/combative Mars also landing in your 7th starting this week, you do have a chance to finally make your point clear to the other person…at the same time you also bear an increased likelihood of being an asshole about it, if you play the situation as a battle to win rather than an ongoing relational issue to make productive progress with. Just so we're clear, the combative approach may indeed 'win' you this round… but as far as making progress in a relationship you intend to keep, it might not be your best tactic.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): You're moving into your best moment all year, Aquarius, for diving into that master work-plan, diet-and-exercise regimen, and/or any other restructuring-of-the-everyday so that you can meet goals which undeniably require regular ongoing effort. While I know we've been talking about such matters for a little while now, the arrival of juice-infusing Mars to your solar 6th late this week augurs an uptick in physical initiative that can shift this habit-improvement attention from 'the best of aspirational intentions' to 'finally doing the fucking work'. Don't be shy about announcing to your closest supporters what exactly you're investing this energy-increase in. Though your natural tendency might instead be to get it going first and then flaunt the progress you've already made (as if to erase any initial struggles you faced from the official record), I encourage you not to squander the benefits (courtesy of Venus-in-your-7th) of having loving cheerleaders on the sidelines rooting for you. For the remainder of July and August, you should be working your ass off. If you stay on track, just imagine what September will look like…

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Hey, all you creative Pisceans out there… you're arriving at a fertile high-point in your process, which will remain auspicious and fruitful for the remainder of these couple months ahead. If you've been dragging your feet about returning to the dance studio, the sewing machine, the writing group, or the art-supply store and/or renewing your relationship with whatever form of self-expression is an uplifting container for your copious stores of passion, now's the moment to get back in gear. But not because you're supposed to, but because you want to. This is not some obligatory commitment to the universe to attain artistic greatness on the world-stage or else you're wasting your talents (though, if you happen to stumble into situations where you're given props for what you bring forth, then awesome!). It is merely an invitation to play around more frequently with activities that have brought you much contentment and pleasure in the past… and, at the same time, to remind you not to fixate too feverishly only on the parts of life that are Serious and Important (and, consequently, heavy and burdensome). And if you don't consider yourself one of those 'creative Pisceans'? Perhaps you should think twice about that…and try your hand at something new, even if you fear you're 'no good'. ('Good' is not the point.)