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Horoscopes | Week of January 27-February 2, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you pause to contemplate such big questions, Aries, I suspect you'll discover your relationship to your 'Life's Work' has somewhat realigned itself over the course of the past couple months. Positions you thought were stepping-stones to a grander succession down that same path may now be looking like convenient place-holders. Side-jaunts or supposedly temporary assignments could be showing surprising promise, either as foot-in-the-door openings or inspirational fodder for further exploration. Characters you believed were mentors may have disappointed you, and/or new figures-to-admire might've cropped up in the unlikeliest of places. Look around, and take stock… without assuming you still want to accomplish the same type of professional successes you previously dreamt of achieving. Maybe the end-goal has changed. Or maybe your commitment to that same cherished height is fiercer than ever. Reflect back on what the latest data has yielded. Consider who are your role-models now, and whether certain initiatives ought to be redirected so you can more earnestly emulate these folks. No decisive actions or announcements are to be put forth this week, however. The brief 'pause' is the action. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If there's been any lingering question about where you stand on an issue of Guiding Purpose—e.g., whether you need to distance yourself from a certain someone over diverging ethics, whether you need to advance your knowledge-base and/or go deeper with a particular passion, whether you need to get yourself far away from whatever day-to-day bullshit is obstructing the panoramic perspective—you're probably now arriving at a point of fledgling clarity, dear Taurus. If you're attuned to your own instinctive self-wisdom, you'll even likely feel what's 'the right thing to do' in your body. But this is still a tender sprout, and can be too easily trampled by exposure to the wayward energies of overt debate or disagreement. Treat this burgeoning certainty with the delicacy necessary for stewarding it into full rootedness. Don't start defending its efficacy to all who might listen, here in the shadow of next week's Mercury retrograde, when you're too likely to adopt a tone inappropriate to your audience's current vibe and/or highlight the wrong details of your main gist. At this juncture, you needn't involve others in the state of your affairs (though, of course, later you will). If anything, let the fact that you're needing to reach firmer resolution within yourself serve as a good reason to focus your social exchanges on the other person and their unresolved items-for-discussion. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I'm hoping that what you've learned over the past month-and-a-half or so, Gemini, is to not run away from the past and/or try to ignore whatever cumbersome condition you've been forced to deal with… but rather to make room for it right at the kitchen table, along with everything else in your life, and come to positively accept the reality of living with it. Along the way, I also hope such acceptance has allowed you to re-engage with this 'condition' with a newfound confidence, as if your finally having grown accustomed to its ins-and-outs affords you a better position from which to renegotiate the terms of its everyday expression. In other words, only once you stop fighting against an undefeatable 'enemy' can you find novel ways to befriend it, and to convince it to throw you a bone here and there, to your decided advantage. Consider this Venus-retrograde-in-the-8th period (which is drawing to a close this week) as the critical pivot-point in this whole process, quietly transforming you from 'victim' or 'survivor' to someone who, in fact, soars as a result of having contended with adversity and come out the other side a stronger person. Dare I go so far as to goad you into a celebratory toast to what you used to think would destroy you? [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Interpersonal choices you make now, Cancer, ought to be based on a much upgraded self-perception compared to prior instances of having to make similar choices. You've got Jupiter in your sign, for cryin' out loud: You are bigger and brighter, with a more optimistic outlook and thus a more promising future, than previous versions of you… and, as a result, you arrive at any relationship-related negotiations from a more powerful position. Don't shy away from that descriptor—'powerful'—as if it somehow indicates a sadistic or dictatorial desire to issue orders at that special someone. You do possess the power (more than ever before!) to proactively nurture certain dynamics, or to reject them wholesale if they don't fit with that 'more promising future' I alluded to earlier. Please look back over your past six weeks (from just before Christmas onward), and reflect on whether your relations with any key partner(s) have demonstrated a tone you want more of in your life… and/or whether they've decidedly displeased you in some way. As soon as you can process this rich life-circumstance information (which could take five minutes or another few weeks), it's time to act on behalf of the relationship dynamics you really and truly want. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

LEO (July 23-August 22): I presume you have now seen and understood what hasn't been working so well about your day-to-day existence, Leo… and while it's likely you haven't totally fixed these broken links yet (though, if you have, kudos on the quick response time), it's enough to at least identify these areas-for-imminent-improvement so you're clear on where to invest your earnest labor in the weeks and months to come. 'Eliminating the kinks' remains a guiding theme of your next month's work, with the promise of turning yourself into a smoother-and-sleeker machine of ingenious productivity, alleviating a lot of the wasted time-and-effort that otherwise results when one refuses to innovate and evolve (because it takes extra attention up front, which the less industrious usually don't wish to put forth). These energy-saving adaptations, admittedly, aren't necessarily the fodder of passionate anticipatory fervor: How genuinely excited are you supposed to be about putting in more work, to become more efficient, if the obvious reward is merely more room to do more? Think about that last part again, though. 'Do more' is a vast open-ended invitation, extending far beyond a spattering of additional tasks within your same categories-of-experience. You don't yet know what awesome delights that 'doing more' could include. Perhaps you should be excited about any new space in your routine (literal and/or psychological) you can successfully clear. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): You're moving through a narrow window of opportunity, Virgo, during which you can foist your unique creative touch upon the larger group's goings-on without causing as much alarm or pushback from the other players as at other times. And I presume you've noticed, over these past several weeks, which parts of the aforementioned goings-on you don't like… and/or which would benefit from finer attention on your part, to everyone's ultimate advantage? This is an excellent chance for you to proudly leave your mark on something you've likely been ambivalent about and/or antagonistic towards at various earlier points in the process. Your assertive abilities in this arena, of course, all rest upon your willingness to diligently concentrate on your delivery. There's nothing distasteful about the 'sales' aspect of any job well done: You've got to convince the folks how what you're hawking will enhance the quality of their lives, in language that speaks to their concerns (rather than confuses or talks down to them). That shouldn't be too difficult, considering you genuinely do believe strongly in your creative vision. Get excited about the prospect of recruiting enthusiastic allies to your side, which will only spread the excitement farther and wider… all a result of both your ingenuity and your gracious persuasiveness. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Though it might seem you mustn't dare gaze anywhere other than at the professional opportunity now laid out in front of you, Libra, the astrology says something different… namely, that spending a bit more conscious focus on the inner foundation upon which such opportunities must reliably rest, in order for future constructions to be stable and long-lasting, is also an essential element of building yourself up. We explicitly discussed the tangible aspects of this foundation work a couple weeks back, as they relate specifically to your domestic life and the continuing need to ensure you're comfortable enough so that challenging yourself out in the world doesn't seem as daunting a task. Now that Venus's retrograde through your 4th is coming to an end, you've probably gotten a few good clues on how to improve this sector of your existence—and, over the month ahead, you should hopefully act upon what you've realized. One last detail to add: When creating and/or improving upon a home environment that'll feel nourishing and calm, put yourself in the role of that consummate nurturing homemaker-parent you always wished you had. By assuming this role, you'll be encouraging the young-upstart in you to keep striving for worldly greatness… because you're that capable, and that deserving. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Though it's nice to know who are the 'most important' people in your life on paper, Scorpio, that knowledge may not be immediately relevant to your understanding who will best serve your need for 'someone you can really talk to' right now. Sometimes, it's the very fact that certain people are so damn 'important' which makes it hard to be as open and honest with them as you might wish. Will they judge you? Will they hold this information against you, bringing it back up at a future point when you'll least want to hear it? Will such conversations only leave you feeling more ashamed, and more alone? On the other hand, a total stranger or somebody you only kinda-sorta know could be your perfect sounding-board, a sympathetic ear with little-to-no prior expectation of who you're supposed to be, and/or a provider of startlingly novel insight based on stories of their experiences which you've never heard before. A powerfully profound exchange, helping you put some logic and order to unexpressed sensations that have been ricocheting around inside your secret consciousness for weeks now, may very well manifest from an offhand social contact you never would've imagined could be this deep. To attract such an exchange, you must be willing to bear your beautiful soul to some other beautiful soul who, though they may not know your history or even your name, can somehow still see you. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): If you've been shrewdly utilizing the astro-energies of this first month of the year, Sagittarius, you ought to be feeling pretty determined to make the rest of '14 a very personally profitable one. Yes, I am speaking directly of your financial sector once again… though that's not the only interpretive relevance of 'personally profitable'. On the broadest level possible, your priorities have hopefully become rather simplified over these recent weeks: 'Here's what I've got. Here's what I want to have. Here's how I intend to use what I've got to get more of what I want to have. End of story.' At every turn, of course, the raucous disruptions of life beyond what falls on your simplified priority-list will threaten to pull you off-track, to distract you with complicating spectacles that might prove lucrative or at least interesting, or might just suck up all your time and attention. Though each disruptive exception probably needs to be vetted on a case-by-case basis, the number-one criterion to which such vettings must answer should always be whether it supports the already-identified 'personally profitable' priorities… or detracts from your capacity to continually address those priorities. While this year ahead will definitely bring more than its fair share of bizarre turns, you, my dear, have a crystal-clear rallying-call which ought to practically help you hold your focus through it all. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Make the impression that really counts, Capricorn. With Venus essentially standing still in your sign this week (from our earthly perspective, at least) alongside Pluto, you have a particularly persuasive capacity to leave whoever you concentrate your interpersonal energies on with a most memorable perception of you. But what sort of perception they form depends, of course, on you. Therefore, please don't just proceed by rote social habit, mindlessly squandering this special leverage by spending too much attention on bland appropriateness, perfunctory decorum, and/or gestures of characterless accommodation. Just because you know how to hit every expected benchmark of social convention doesn't mean you should focus your attention on all those p's-and-q's… not without thoroughly considering who you might want to impact more profoundly than that. During the course of these past six weeks of Venus retrograde, your preferential notions of who is worth the additional interpersonal effort (whether because you'd love them to receive more distinct confirmation of your fondness and/or because you think they need to learn more about how to keep you happy) have likely been revamped and/or reaffirmed, based on where you see the connection going. Now's your powerhouse moment to express what you've lately determined about your interpersonal preferences. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): You might sincerely believe, under this week's New Moon in your sign, you're in the midst of launching a fresh-start recommitment to the practical work-at-hand. Only thing is, Aquarius, your present relation to the 'practical' rests upon the still-shifting ground of your larger relation to All-of-Existence-and-Infinity. (In other words, you cannot consider this one lifestyle-angle distinct from your whole life.) Thusly, despite your best intentions to clarify your functional place in the world, you remain irresolvably caught up in unpacking and interpreting the epiphanies, serendipities, and/or mystical developments of the past several weeks… and their flashes of complicating insight have yet to be properly integrated into the now-so-obviously-incomplete framework of what you thought you already knew about yourself. Put another way, the appearance of wayward variables (which you must now start to include amongst your grand visionary projections-into-the-future) have made it harder to claim the assuredness required for accomplishing great forward strides and never looking back. This week's symbolic 'fresh start', then, is due to occur a few steps earlier in your process… on the primordial level of your consciousness, which must still finish updating itself prior to your firmly taking the next round of actual worldly actions. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Don't jump the gun, Pisces. Though Mercury moves into your sign this week, potentially leading you to experience a newfound conviction that your mind's finally made up and/or a bold itch to tell everyone all the details of what you've decided, this is a false start. By next week, Mercury will be retrograde. And by the following week, he'll be back in your 12th house, wandering through the mist and trying to recall exactly why you thought you'd already figured everything out. Because of all that, this would be a pretty inopportune moment for positing choices, uttering declarations, or spilling beans… as, likelier than not, you'll have a significant amount of rescinding to embarrass yourself with. That's not to say, of course, that you haven't made some critical progress on discerning what's what—especially in the area of sorting wheat from chaff in your social arena, where the chasm between 'reliable comrades' and 'fairweather friends' has grown wider than ever. So if you simply must start talking about the conclusions you've arrived at (for this week, at least), please do so with individuals who will not be assholes if and when you change your mind, and who are happy to participate in an ongoing discussion about these issues (rather than holding you to a one-time testimony). Certain resolutions may be less resolved than you'd like to believe, but you at least should know who to involve in your process… and who's better left out of the loop. [insert promotional announcement: 'Go purchase ASTROBARRY'S 2014 now!']