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Horoscopes | Week of January 6-12, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The best reason not to fight the obvious target that's presented itself, when you clearly (or so you think) hold the 'poetic justice' card and a high likelihood of being able to put You-Know-Who in their place? Because your own most-fortunate future does not hinge on whether you demonstrate your impressive smackdown skills… and that fortune ought to be what you're focused on, Aries, not ensuring interpersonal justice hath been served. Part of prioritizing your personal ascent into greater worldly clout involves the willful refusal to descend into petty personality clashes, in favor of patiently agreeing to disagree. That way, you keep yourself sufficiently unencumbered by concern for what someone else is up to and can continue striving toward your big goals. Holding yourself back from totally flipping your lid brings the double benefit of (1) conserving your passions to invest in something you feel passionately for, instead of expelling them toward something you feel passionately against, and (2) modeling a dignified restraint that fits the higher esteem you're, slowly but surely, earning. The best way to win this 'fight', therefore, is to not let it in fact manifest fully enough to steal your thunder. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Though you may wish to simply get shit done, by whatever commonsense means seem almost too obvious to question, it might in fact prove wiser to step back from the process and re-ask yourself—as well as any critical partner(s) in this undertaking—those fundamental questions about overriding Purpose. See, Taurus, what you are seeing as self-evident 'common sense' is not the only competent method of addressing this work, but may merely be the only way you've ever done it… and/or might be based on a former iteration of your mission-statement, which now likely needs revising. Your driving life-values have probably evolved over time (to a subtle or far-less-subtle degree), while your work-habits continue operating on steady-and-reliable autopilot. It's understandable, then, your first instinct upon seeing that whole pile of shit-to-get-done might be to just dive in and get to work. Yet, looking ahead over these next many months of Mars sticking in your 6th and flipping retrograde for 2½ months (starting on March 1), it appears likely that hasty, unconsidered efforts put forth now will need to be revisited again later. To avoid having to redo your work, it thus pays to properly consider the overall strategy… even if it seems to slow everything down. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Even in light of that swiftly expanding urge to immediately lurch toward whatever seems like it'll bring the most immediate pleasure or fun, Gemini, I encourage you to instead think several moves ahead, chess-champion-style. You can go for the easy entertainment and, most likely, succeed at easily entertaining yourself… but, as a strategy, I'd say that impulse seems a bit short-sighted. What I don't want is for you to fritter away this certain advantageous opportunity to fortify your footing in a longer-term, complication-rich scenario—perhaps even to cunningly slide into a far better position vis-à-vis the other player(s)—just because you'd rather not contextualize the promise of some 'quick high' within a larger perspective. In other words, choosing to straddle the line of commitment (and not cross outside the category of 'dabbling'), to momentarily hold onto the cash-money (in lieu of blowing it on one more round for everyone) and/or to flirt (rather than full-on consummate), will not only preserve your resources for shrewder usage: The overall feel of this conscious deferring actually increases your stock, making you that more appealing and valuable in the eyes of those who might then barter an even greater slice for such an obvious asset as your attentions.And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): This week's Mars-Jupiter square threatens to magnify your assertive tendencies… and before you even dare to claim yourself innocent of even having 'assertive tendencies', Cancer, let me reassure you that just because you don't speak (or otherwise conspicuously externalize) your desires, that doesn't mean you aren't still asserting yourself on some psychically protuberant substratal level. Whether or not you're aware that your recent emboldening also brings an uptick in impatience with anyone you feel is preventing you from inner peace and/or domestic tranquility, you will project an attitudinal edge in such situations… unless, that is, you work overtime to contain your emotional responses (which, admittedly, are about more than just whoever's pissing you off right this moment) and consciously play to the other person. Here's where the current 7th-house action (including Venus retrograde) comes in handy: As long as all your critical interactions faithfully adhere to your specific goal-orientation (i.e., never losing sight of what you want to get from a given person, and what the shrewdest method of getting it would be), you should be able to transcend any passing grump (at least as far as others can see) and successfully keep them unflustered and, consequently, accommodating.And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

LEO (July 23-August 22): You might find yourself struggling to regain an attention-span conducive to organizing all that start-of-the-new-year business, Leo, especially if your innards are starting to grow downright giddy about the possibilities up ahead in the coming months. But please don't waste the astrological support you're presently receiving, which favors your attending to lots of these stray functional items and, along the way, discovering how more efficiently you might now handle it all than you did in the past. To generate these time-and-energy-saving benefits, though, you mustn't attach any psychic dread to the tasks-at-hand. Such productivity-inhibiting emotional habits represent a prior orientation toward work that's, to be frank, a bit adolescent… while the now-more-mature you is learning to see that competent management of your day-to-day business will, in the long run, serve as your magic ticket to self-sufficient freedom. Rather than a punishing labor-camp sentence, this redirecting of your practical attention will make whatever future you're getting excited about that much more amazing. So, instead of spinning fantasies about what may well be in store for you, I'd recommend actually laying the groundwork which will start making it real.And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Putting your affairs in clearer order and getting all the numbers in the columns cleanly balanced is not necessarily an unsound way to spend the first full week of a new year, especially if you're a Virgo. That's why I feel it's my duty to remind you not to absorb too much of your energy on such matters this week, Virgo, when your so-called 'new year' sortings are liable to last many months into 2014… and, no matter how adeptly you handle things now, likely to require more than one reworking. If I play to your hatred of wastefulness, then, can I convince you not to waste your efforts on items that you'll probably be revisiting again (and again)? Meanwhile, the celestial offer to have more fun, courtesy of a retrograde Venus-in-your-5th, remains flatly on the table—and the more energy you put into accepting that offer, the greater the chance your decision will unexpectedly lead to your discovering another new angle (or two or three) to your fun-time preferences. This is a time to behave as if you're unabashedly in love with all the uplifting little aspects of life, rather than stressing about how you should tinker-and-toil on behalf of preserving a quality of life you're too concerned with 'preserving' to remember to enjoy.And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Adrenaline runs high, fuses are short, and you damn well don't feel like taking anybody's crap when Mars-in-your-1st squares the great-bloater Jupiter as he does this week, Libra. All outward actions you undertake during such a transit carry an exaggerated and potentially distorted quality to them (and not always in a manner that's patently obvious to you… which adds a crowning self-confident flourish to any achievements you pull off, and just as distinctively cocky a point to any assertions you put forth. There are good reasons for you to be feeling puffed up to a certain degree (and therefore I won't try to talk you into tempering this swell), but such an attitude cannot help but spill over into whatever you externalize. On the other hand, your retrograde ruling-lady Venus (along with the Sun and Mercury) is presently lurking in the privacy of your 4th, suggesting you might consider laying low—say little, stay at home more, give this Mars-Jupiter square a chance to pass by and naturally deflate this puffed-up-ness—and decrease your risk of creating needless friction or otherwise disagreeable fallout. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Right at that moment when you least feel like returning their calls, accepting their invitations, and/or exchanging the latest news-of-the-day with your chums, that's exactly when you most need these perfunctory social contacts to keep you on the straight-and-narrow, Scorpio. This is another potentially perilous week for you, insofar as your craving for some meaningful deliverance from all-this-lame-ass-shit-right-here could inspire you to take excessive risks, just for the extraordinary thrills which would experientially remind you of the precarious quality of life itself. But must you actually flirt with the precariousness of life by setting self-protective care aside ('temporarily', you might tell yourself, though one false move could quickly become permanent) in order to find a release? This isn't the last time, during these months ahead, you're likely to feel drawn toward unhealthy, self-destructive, or outright insane behaviors. The temptation will be greatest, however, when you are alone, with nobody to check in with or answer to. So, intentionally diminish such problematic temptations by surrounding yourself with folks who want updates and responses, who expect to see you at a certain time-and-place, and who'd strongly prefer you not gamble with your safety. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Lest you find yourself way too interested in what's going on with everyone else, compelled to make your point known to all and/or discredit those whose errors-in-thinking are too blatant to let pass by, please pause and ask yourself what longer-range personal advantage you'll reap from engaging your attentions with this social fracas, Sagittarius, if any. I intuit there would be little lasting significance to your winning (or, for that matter, losing) a battle in this round of the proceedings—especially seeing as you're liable to experience rehashings and reiterations of a similar tone and/or with a similar cast of characters again, at least once, in the months to come. Don't assume, then, you're going to deliver a knockout punch this week… when it's likelier you'd just make your opposition that much angrier, and future rounds, therefore, that much nastier. Instead, concentrate on what will serve your longer-term goals: planning and strategizing, scrimping and saving, handling any business that'll directly lead to ironing out financial kinks. All the while, stay out of drama that doesn't immediately concern you. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): What if, for the moment, there isn't anything to 'strive for', Capricorn? What if your toughest task for at least this week ahead (if not longer) is to accept the beauty and divine perfection of everything exactly as it is right now… and, from that place of intentional appreciation, to generously spread this awareness to whomever you come in contact with, through (yes, I'm about to veer into unapologetically cheesy territory) random acts of kindness? Under the current astrology, it'll be incredibly easy for you to wholly occupy yourself with one more big career push, the ongoing struggle for professional self-determination (and, as such, against repressive structures and figures), and/or that ceaseless resistance to settling for anything in its current form when it can always be improved upon. And should you choose to give in to such occupations, you've certainly got the steam to invest—though, admittedly, you could in fact be a little too, er, 'energetic' about it for the moment. That choice does seem to invite in more of an unsettling edge to your personality… when, instead, you might simply play Venus's game, and focus on those connective bonds which have already made you that shining symbol of success. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): The illuminating answer to whatever vexing life-direction question is pressing on your consciousness, Aquarius? Don't spend any of your time or effort this week on searching for this kernel of enlightenment. Do you really think this lusted-for enlightenment will arrive as a mere 'kernel'? Do you honestly believe you can neatly contain your uncertainty to a single vexing question, just because your mind seeks to organize its disparate wonderings and bumblings behind a uniform call-to-action? Live here in the cloud for a while longer, my dear… or at least for the remainder of this week. Meet your worldly responsibilities (so nobody on the career front is able to witness any inklings of your quiet doubt), and that's it. Daydream. Read some escapist fiction, an inspiring travel tome, or a mind-shifting meditation on 'what really matters'. Refract any conclusions you attempt to draw, dispersing them into evocative fuzz. Vibe in, vibe out. Journal, or, as it's referred to in the séance room, engage in some 'automatic writing'. Receive, absorb, soak it in. The faint magical objectives which invisibly propel every activity you seek (for your edification and/or enjoyment) are washing themselves into a more refined form, just as rivers carve canyons over millenia. Allow this to happen. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Before you tell 'em what you really think, unload an unabbreviated can of whoop-ass, and/or otherwise let somebody have it, I strongly recommend stepping away from the too-hot-in-here kitchen… and rehearsing your lines a few times, in the presence of those who aren't charged up about this issue in quite the same way, before letting 'er rip. The psychic release of totally letting loose, Pisces, may (or, then again, may not) provide a fleeting emotional euphoria, but also tempts you too seductively into foregoing the rules of fair-engagement so you can land that knockout shot (which, later on, you're liable to feel ashamed about having lobbed). 'Coming out on top' in this standoff won't come from pummeling anybody into submission or poking them in their weak-spots until they cry uncle. On the contrary, it looks a lot more like you presenting an inarguable case, on principle—the sort that basically no one could allege was based on mean-spirited personal potshots, and would make logical sense to nearly any neutral bystander—and allowing your evidence to speak for itself. That's why employing a few emotionally-uninvolved pals or colleagues to help you develop your case (and to wring it dry of any distracting insults, tangents, or outdated rehashings) is a really good idea. And what about your year-ahead outlook? Go check out ASTROBARRY'S 2014 for all the details right now…!