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Horoscopes | Week of April 21-27, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): To expect yourself not to be feistier than usual, during an astrological hot-time in which you have been thrust into the role of 'loose cannon' or 'short fuse' or 'way off the map', would be a little unrealistic. But hopefully, Aries, you've been earnestly putting into practice the intentionality we discussed last week, so at least you're using this role to break free from circumstances which aren't suiting you and/or to leap radically into situations where you instinctively feel future promise awaits. Though sparks may still be flying through the air (especially earlier in the week), your fired-up bombast is starting to gradually give way to a more measured reflectiveness… particularly in the realm of trying to understand the practical consequences of whatever changes have been stirred up. By now, you should understand the general trends in which these changes are headed. And though a surprise or two might still be loitering in the wings until its moment of release, it probably ought to not greatly influence which direction you know you've got to keep heading. It's time to think about how to sustain your journey, for fuller implementation could well take a while longer and you won't want to peter out because you didn't properly plan with the required essentials. (For instance, if you're hitting the end-of-the-road in a certain relationship or professional position, you need to chew over the financial and logistical concerns you must still take care of during the transition.) Even as the fireworks are still exploding, you must also calmly consider what'll happen after this show is over.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Before you yawn at the prospect of reading through one more horoscope that informs you (1) you have very little control over what's happening now and (2) trying to assert control over it will only cause you needless problems, Taurus, let me offer you a happy alternative: By the end of the week, both the Sun and Mercury will be back in your sign for their yearly visit… and you should be starting to feel like you've regained some of your recently-missing faculties. We mustn't rush ahead, however, for the first half of the week remains as unruly, unpredictable, and ungovernable as the past few weeks have been—and the best advice I can give you, for the moment, remains to keep your hands off the main steering-wheel. Modest tinkerings on the work front, with your personal self-care habits, and/or in terms of chores that need your attention can be successfully conducted, as long as you don't hit up against any big-picture directional questions which demand an immediate answer. Yet, as the week progresses, you'll begin to instinctively gain clarity where before there was none. Certain things will suddenly reveal their first glimpses of sense. The words to describe what's been wholly inarticulable are finally forming themselves into coherent concepts. You're getting back to a more solid version of yourself, albeit one who (if you pause to think about it) has been irreversibly changed by these past few weeks' developments. This solidness, though generally a familiar state-of-being for Taureans, may feel strangely delicate at first. Don't put it to any hard tests right away. Just gently re-acclimate.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): During the course of these days ahead, Gemini, I suggest you use the first half of your week to ensure that your final (at least for the moment) decisive take on any disputed matters has unequivocally been put on the record. No relevant players should have any doubt as to where you stand. Even if you still hold conflicting feelings, the other folks ought to be appropriately apprised of these different emotional strains and their present lack of tidy integration. And even if an ongoing standoff or intensified dalliance remains unresolved, that too must be brought to the forefront of everybody's awareness. This is no time to forge inauthentic ceasefires, to pretend 'everything's cool' when it's still pretty heated, or to sweep over glaring exceptions and inconvenient truths. In fact, as we talked about in the last edition, it's to your personal benefit to draw attention to any and every such complication. Then, by the time Mercury moves into your 12th house midway through the week, you'll have probably done enough talking already. I mean, really, what else is left to say? (If you actually have a legitimate answer to that question, please, oh please, say it by Wednesday.) Your churning mind and busy mouth will be ready for their periodic break. You'll be due to recede, turn in, and regroup… not necessarily with much deliberate intent in mind other than that, but just to allow everything to sink in, settle, and perhaps magically sort itself out some more, with fewer outside distractions.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Once again, I start by urging you not to fixate on any seemingly apocalyptic developments in one or more key sectors (e.g., career, relationship, domestic life), as if the 'end-of-the-world' they represent is equivalent to an actual disaster. Such upsets simply represent the natural outcome of you daring to reach for more out of life… and in order to free up your hands so they're able to confidently hold the 'more' that's now in front of you, you have little choice but to let go their grasp on that which you've previously resigned yourself to or settled for. Of course, I make 'letting go' sound like the most ordinary exercise in the world, when we both know that you Cancerians have an especially difficult time with it, as if you're somehow proving 'not to care' by choosing your own development over dutifully maintaining psychic connections with people and/or circumstances which symbolize your less-than-satisfying past. You can still care, by the way, while doing so from a relative distance. Staying too close to the familiar patterns in problematic one-on-one relationships (namely, the subtle undercurrent of mutual manipulativeness wherein one and/or another of you try to 'help' the other, in the manner you've presumptuously decided is best), disrupted family dynamics (a context in which your prior lack of self-assertion is now being compensated for), and/or destabilizing career reverberations (where very little is occurring in business-as-usual style) is too tempting, just as I wouldn't encourage bringing a 30-days-sober friend to a boozy nightclub. What you need most for support is the camaraderie of those grounded pals encouraging you to keep on growing, regardless of the fallout. Stay close to them instead.

LEO (July 23-August 22): An ideal method for sustaining your patience level, during this time when you'd probably prefer not to restrain your antsy onward thrusts, is to refocus on the stability-providing aspects of your career (or other outer-community participation). Though even the very idea of 'focus' might seem anathema to the thousand electrifying currents of creative thought now shooting every which way through your head, Leo, you do still possess the capacity to purposefully turn down the volume on those distracting mental vibrations… most effectively, in fact, by turning back to those duties and tasks you're relied upon to carry out. Please don't curse the boring predictability of your 'safe' professional role, at least not for the moment: The stabilizing quality of faithfully repeating steps you've taken so many times already is an effective restorer of sanity (a state you'll need to actively foster, if you want your future aspirations to come into tangible existence). Though, to the overeager adventurer inside you, this might feel like a reversal or retreat, I promise this is merely a temporary reorienting… a reassuring touch-down with familiarity (no matter how stifling it's become), helping to moderate the pace of your evolution enough so as to minimize your later chances for motion sickness or pressure-change shock.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): There's been a lot of relational intermingling going on lately, Virgo—you wanting yours, them wanting theirs, you wanting or not wanting to give them theirs, them wanting or not wanting to give you yours—and, as a result, it's been very easy to become totally engrossed in the emotional experience (whether joyful, agonizing, or some complicated mix of conflicting feelings) of balancing self-interest with interpersonal consideration. This process of learning to juggle straightforward assertiveness (uncomfortable though it may, at times, be) with open-minded listening (and the stretches in your sometimes-narrow ideas of 'how people should be' that come along with it) is, of course, exactly what you've needed to be engaged with. But as the zenith of this zany astrological clusterfuck is now coming and going, you can start to resituate yourself in a less fevered or uncertain mindset by stepping back from the heated personality dynamics… and re-approaching the scene of what's recently gone down from a more deliberately philosophical angle. In other words, as this week bleeds into the next, I encourage you to begin reinterpreting the unsettling events or lingering questions not as being a matter of one or another person's will or desire—but instead as an issue of principle, as a representative symbol of how to both honorably stand your ground and compassionately respect others' positions. As a result, you might have to give in when your ego may prefer to fight, or to hold firm when your heart would rather be soft and surrender. Acting on principle means it's not always about what one wants, but about what's right.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): On-the-ground reports from Librans in the field suggest these recent weeks have been perhaps the furthest thing from 'smooth sailing' we could imagine for y'all… and here comes one more week of massive energies ahead, just in case you hadn't had enough of this madness. Thanks to that pesky Mars, still retrograde and still stuck in your damn sign (after 4½ months so far!), we might even claim that you, Libra, are having the toughest go of April's astrological powder-keg among all the zodiac tribes. I'm not sure what other specifying points about this situation I should make that haven't already been stated in prior weeks... except, perhaps, one reminder and one angle from which to understand this intensely odd period. Reminder: This too shall pass. This truism is one of my all-time favorite deep-thinking obviousnesses, and arguably the greatest gift astrology has to offer. To everything, there is a season—and this is undeniably the season of uncomfortable change (and all the angst, aggression, and anxiety that comes with it). Then, the season turns, turns, turns. In fact, in a very faint and nuanced way, this week is the earliest beginning of such a turn… though, considering your hot-seat in the crosshairs, you'd be excused for not noticing. Angle from Which to Understand This Intensely Odd Period: Might as well use this time to really-and-truly release everything which, ordinarily, you're too diplomatic or indecisive or tip-toey to actually put out there. With so much uncertainty already in the air, I recommend doubling down and going for the whole damn enchilada… risks, complications, and all that jazz.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): While you remain under high-threat of reacting to this minefield of energies with unhealthy, escapist, and/or potentially self-damaging behaviors, Scorpio, you're also at a juncture where you might finally be able to integrate your idea of 'fun' with the 'responsible self-containment' lessons Saturn has been imposing on you. How it all goes will come down to whether you can conscientiously host whatever blissful experiences (including amorous interpersonal exchanges) provide a moment's reprieve from the unnerving chaos… yet still consciously maintain residence in that chaotic reality rather than trying to wish it away, desperately chasing the bliss beyond its appropriate borders and alleging it's 'all that matters'. Shifting bodily needs and/or changes to your daily routine, even if they are related to an opportunity which promises a lot of exciting new possibilities, feel naturally unsettling—and as such, they could stir a heightening in anxiety levels, leading to the aforementioned unhealthy behaviors I don't recommend. Your saving grace is the unquestionably grounding impact of one-on-one time with a primary partner, best friend, or close confidante. Uncomfortable though it may be, please tell them everything that's going on; it'll help neutralize any threat.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Though outward excitement amongst 'your people' continues to abound, Sagittarius, you're due to begin coming down a bit from the high of finally indulging in the fun you've long deserved. Or maybe 'coming down' isn't quite the right way to put it, if indeed you're hoping to keep up this newly-heightened level of fun-time participations, but rather blending it back in with the practically-minded concerns that have recently cornered you into painstaking attention. It's likely you are still enjoying the social advantages of playing the provocateur, and I see little reason for you to cease that pleasure-providing role… except, as I've told you so many times before, if it's getting in the way of you handling any business which fuels your financial bottom-line and/or strengthens your solid self-worth footing. As the more raucous earlier part of the week gives way to a faint shift in the astro-air during the later part, you'll support this integrative project of rebalancing work with play by giving much thought to how to adjust your schedule and/or slate-of-responsibilities, with the intent of enabling yourself to just as successfully accomplish your highest-priority tasks on a prompt timeline, while not assuming an unnecessary sense of urgency about those lesser priorities. Rushing to complete items that, truth be told, would probably be best tackled at a more gradual pace (to ensure a comprehensive, rather than potentially sloppy, eye to detail) only robs you of ample time for those precious provocative pleasures… and, at this point, I don't think your soul can afford that sacrifice any longer.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): By my watch, it's about time for you to start spinning a few of those characteristically droll one-liners or wry wisecracks, Capricorn. The pressure's been hell-of intense up here in this kitchen, for nearly every last one of us… and there are few folks as adept as you at turning a distressing reality into an astute joke that at once (1) sincerely acknowledges the distressing quality and (2) forces a pressure-relieving laugh, at the expense of all us hapless humans struggling to not turn this distress in on ourselves. The flip-side of what might be described as the judgmental or self-righteous tendencies Capricorns sometimes fall prey to? A hearty sense-of-humor that directly addresses such tendencies, acknowledging that the impulse to 'fix' or 'master' or pragmatically 'do something' can fall short when we don't have a fucking clue what's really needed. Good-heartedly show those around you that you don't take yourself too seriously (even though, of course, you do) by outwardly expressing the sort-of-hilarious inner dialogues you get caught up in, allowing the rest of us deeper access to your human side. And at the same time, good-heartedly knock back into place those who have clearly gotten too big for their britches and/or are otherwise feigning a false confidence that belies the terrifying chaos they find themselves in. Rather than playing it cool, I strongly suggest you make a big playful display of your awareness that we're all behaving like chickens with our heads cut off at the moment—including, yes, you—and it's all pretty damn funny once you get out of your own head and talk about it with others.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): In lieu of the expectation that elucidating sense will be immediately made of these absurdly unstable goings-on, Aquarius, I instead recommend going further inward… not, for the record, to indulge fearful future-projections about what all of this might end up meaning for you, but as a means of simplifying the parts of your life that aren't irresolvably up-in-the-air. Weighing one fundamental life-priority over another, in an attempt to make some grand decision about where to concentrate your primary intentions, won't be especially fruitful at the moment. Too much wrangling for a good view of the 'big picture' will just leave you hopping from one vantage-point to the next, wondering if this is the best perspective. (I'm already exhausted, in fact, from observing my imagined version of you trying frantically to find the significance, as if it were a hidden treasure waiting to be dug up.) Talking it out with others may keep the discovery process moving, but it's not due to yield any answers this week or next. Thus, it'd be just as productive to not blather on and on about what you don't know, like a newscaster attempting to fill air-time with rhetorical questions or meaningless exclamations while a still-developing story unfolds live. Hang out at home. Stay on task. Acknowledge the freaky outside-world developments without letting them freak you out. In the sense-making zone, though, let everything settle for a bit.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): While I honestly don't see you being able to triumphantly escape the so-called 'drama'—nor, for that matter, is it in your own interests to do so—that doesn't mean you must let it rattle your resolve, confuse your sensibilities, or shift your position to a more conciliatory one. You remain under Venus's benefic beams, Pisces, which continues to leave you with the relative advantage… if, and only if, you are able to stick consistently with the direction your ethical considerations have concluded is correct, per Venus's trine to a 9th-house Saturn. This supportive aspect is your safety-raft, at a time when pretty much all the other astrology is erratic, disruptive, and undeniably challenging to navigate. As long as you clutch to your guiding ethics and don't let go, you will make it through with less scratches than many of those around you. But in case this point hasn't been made perfectly clear, there are influences currently seeking to loosen your grip, due to the personal benefits they believe they'll derive by convincing you to cave to their will. And they aren't above using dirty tactics, hitting you where it hurts, playing to your sympathies, and/or otherwise manipulating you into seeing things more from the angle of their ethics. They may even try to create a wedge between you and common friends-or-allies, as if threatening to turn others against you will be enough to bully you into submission. Any 'friend-or-ally' who goes along with such tactics, by the way, is not worth pandering to. All of this (and/or other odd socially-related happenings) must be borne like a champ, all while sticking consistently to your integrity, regardless of any pushy persuasions.