Horoscopes | Week of May 26-June 1, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): During the course of this week ahead, Aries, you're heading away from all this mixing and mingling and sharing with other people… and toward a few-weeks' worth of honest, practically-minded self-reorganization work, a situation which warrants very little conversation with anyone but the closest intimates. Whether you've most recently been welcoming others' praise and affection, or whether you've been facing off against their oppositional attitudes (whatever that might be about), your day-to-day reality has largely been consumed by relational concerns. Now, it's time to button your lip, to handle internally whatever emotional responses (happy, sad, angry, or something in the grey areas in between) have arisen as a result of what someone else has been doing, and to concentrate on thoroughly taking stock of what's what in your life, independent of anyone else. On the financial front, specifically, this is an ideal moment to strip down your analysis to the basics—that is, no counting on speculative returns which haven't yet manifested, and no conveniently ignoring lingering debts—and spend this next span ironing out the wrinkles. Next time you feel the temptation to totally immerse yourself in another round of interpersonal brouhaha, please remember you may be costing yourself money.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Oh, happy day! indeed when the ruling queen of your zodiac domain, the great and powerful Venus, returns to her Taurean home, as she does this Wednesday (May 28) for a month-long run. Though no single astrological happening is a promise that every last headache and hang-up will be replaced by nothing but blessings-up-the-ying-yang, the arrival of Venus—especially when she's as happy as she is in your sign, Taurus—usually brings a lightening of mood, a heightening of personal attractiveness and appeal, and a easing of your way down whatever path you're on. Sound good? To support yourself in reaping the maximum benefits from Venus's visit, I urge you to become very proactive in your connective and communicative reachings-out. Under these transits, you'd be a stubborn bull not to be out in the world, initiating chitchat, getting back in touch, inviting favorable occurrences to fall upon you by putting yourself where you can't be missed. It's also an optimal moment to reopen conversations that you've wanted to continue but haven't yet been ready to, until now. With Venus on your side, the other person will take more kindly to whatever you're saying. Just don't plan to finish such conversations right away: 'Reopen' doesn't mean resolve.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For the next month or so, with Venus slipping into her 12th-house cloak of invisibility, you aren't likely to receive much external affirmation that whatever you've presumably chosen is indeed panning out well for you. You're going to need to find your faith from the inside out, Gemini… with less concern for the outer signs of having made a 'good decision', and more focus on the confidence-building practice of having made the decision you wanted to make. That's not to imply there's any difference between the 'good' choice and the 'desired' choice, of course. Is there such a thing as an objectively 'good' choice, divorced from the interpretive calisthenics one goes through in the act of issuing this sort of judgment? I say it's not even an especially fruitful intellectual exercise to occupy yourself with, trying to discern whether certain positives would be more or less emphasized by a choice other than the one you've been moved to make. Once you pick a path, you really ought to keep going down it long enough to at least spy a few reassuring landmarks, rather than second-and-third-guessing yourself, treading forward and back across the same ground, spending too much time loitering at the crossroads. Go forth for a full month before daring to question yourself. A lot can develop during that time, with just a simple commitment to staying the course.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In this shifting astro-climate, you'll help relieve any sense of 'being on the hot-seat' by purposefully extending the scope of attention to your colleagues, teammates, and/or pals whose contributions have been instrumental in this success you can all now legitimately share. Once Mercury hits your sign midweek, you should know just what to say to effectively widen this spotlight, allowing those who've been by your side (or who are, just recently, revealing themselves to be excellent new allies) to feel the pride of receiving their due credit… as well as allowing yourself a few moments of not feeling like it's all resting on your shoulders. While I encourage you to use Mercury-in-your-1st in this group-minded manner, to altruistically hype up your fellow participants, Cancer, I will also provide the heads-up warning that Mercury's going retrograde at the end of next week—and thus I'd hold back on making too many confident 'I'-statements or first-person declarations you might have to revise or retract later. But unless you're being disingenuously fawning or outright deceptive, it's far less likely you'd have to backpedal from generous expressions of your respect and gratitude for your comrades in the big cause.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Concentrate on squaring up, stabilizing, and securing your present spot in the career zone (and/or in the public-stage spotlight), Leo. Even if where you are now isn't your end-all-be-all dream for what's possible, it is an achievement in its own right… and if you can set aside your understandable strivings for this next span-of-time, and instead just accept the tangible blessings that come from having already gotten here, you'll make your life a whole lot more rewarding in the very short-term. With Mercury's transition into your 12th, this is not a favorable moment for coordinating practical plans or discussing nuts-and-bolts; your mind will operate much better if left to the sort of daydreamy visioning that demands no specific questions be answered. At the same time, though, a materially-contented Venus now sits atop your solar chart in the 10th, attracting positive attention to professional and/or outer-world efforts you've already made or are in the process of making. Though the newer you remains largely cocooned in the midst of this big self-reconstruction process, the you you've been for a while now might as well receive a few well-deserved kudos—without any pressure to build upon them, or really do anything else other than quietly welcome the acclaim.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): There's a new solidity to your position presently developing, Virgo, which makes it increasingly less necessary to keep up the 'selling'. The advantages to your way of looking at things are starting to speak for themselves, and the other stakeholders should be able to plainly see the results. Or maybe they won't, and that still wouldn't qualify as a good reason to shove anything under their noses. You're now able to gaze out beyond this sorting-it-all-out phase… to that future in which you, as well as whoever decides to come along for the ride, are already enacting the vision that's been taking shape these past months, living it as if it were natural as day. That's your chosen fate, the components of which are already being set into place. As for who else will chose that fate alongside you? This is no longer the appropriate time to actively recruit allies… though freely discussing what you're up to with those who could become allies later, with a tone empty of attachment to whether they're on board on not, is perfectly fine. Make it appealing by not 'selling'. Either way, you're on board, and that's what matters.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): At this point, it behooves you to hold the line, Libra, rather than tinker with moving it a meter or two closer or further away in some act of endless negotiating. The negotiations may not, in fact, be totally over, but for the time being, you probably ought to treat them as if they are. By that logic, your best negotiatory tactics involve granting the other party a wide berth of space-and-time to accept where the line's been drawn… and to let that acceptance work its gradual, erosive magic on their up-until-now reluctance or resistance, without you shifting the terms again or throwing in one more concession. As far as all outward communications involving this situation (or, really, any matter of wider import or interest) are concerned, put forth your most polished public-relations messaging. Say little of actual substance, but without coming off evasive. When put on the spot to remark about someone who you may be displeased or disgusted with, offer only generically complimentary feedback (and don't discuss your actual gripes). For you, it's a moment for graciously watching-and-waiting, with good self-control. Let them throw in the first concessionary chip.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Let's please hail this week's return of benefic Venus to your relationship house (the 7th), Scorpio… and use it as another helpful little reminder not to seclude yourself in the Mars-in-your-12th wonderland of pretending that, as long as nobody knows what you're up to, it won't fuck anything up. Such a potentially perilous life-philosophy needs to be talked out, for goodness's sake, so you can hear your delusive logic voiced aloud for yourself—and so the lovingly grounded presences in your life can help you deconstruct the faulty arguments, not with harsh judgment or castigation, but with mind-broadening angles that support (rather than threaten) your well-being. Even for those of you not contending with any self-destructive urges, the present astrology powerfully favors investing earnest one-on-one time with important characters (especially a partner, lover, or best-friend, as well as any intriguing acquaintance who could soon prove to hold one of those roles)… not just for the easy companionship, but with the explicit intention of fostering inspirational discussions about the proverbial 'meaning-of-life' and other such deep reflections. Trying to wax philosophic on these matters by your lonesome, under these influences, merely squanders the relational brilliance of others' perspectives now so readily available to you.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Allow all the recently-expressed words to settle, Sagittarius. No need (and, honestly, no productive purpose) in adding icing to this cake, by trying to further convince those who don't agree or contributing even more details… let alone by backing away from the reality of having made yourself pretty clear, through apologetic revisionist re-utterings. Everyone deserves a few quieter moments to digest the enduring interpersonal significances, and to feel the uneasy or messy psychological responses which have been stirred. (Yes, it's true: You may not yet understand your own feelings on this matter, caught up, as they are, in your longer-term struggle to discern 'personal self-care' from 'not being a drag'.) Meanwhile, a happy Venus landing in your solar 6th points to an enthusiastic embrace of your day-to-day work at this time: While things with other people might be complicated and/or confusing, attending to tangible tasks-at-hand will prove a simplifying and satisfying counterbalance. Besides, there likely will be another round of this complicated-and/or-confusing conversation a few weeks from now. Until then, get some practical shit done.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): The fun bus is pulling into your town mid-week, Capricorn… and not a moment too soon, right? If I had to write you another edition of 'beware of intimidating other people' or 'take your power seriously' or 'get back to work', I'd probably face a crowd of upset sea-goats coming after me with spears and clubs. Thankfully, I instead get to hail the entry of a well-functioning Venus to your house of pleasure-and-play (the 5th) and an intuitively-adept Mercury to your interpersonal-relationship zone (the 7th): Not only are you planetarily due for some grounding happy-times, but you'll also have an extra leg-up in your ability to communicatively connect one-on-one with whomever you're focusing your attention on. Your 'power' should be far more easily understood as good, courtesy of this week's astrological shifts, than misread as controlling or haughty. Use it to help those around you calm the fuck down—not by authoritatively telling them to, but by providing 'em a disentangling antidote to their worries through the sharing of a mutually enjoyable experience. Of course, you'll simultaneously be using it to help yourself steal a few smiles and laughs… and maybe even a good healthy snog while you're at it. ;)

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Hunker down, cuddle in, and lean on your favorite behind-the-scenes after-hours home-life comforts to support your thorough defrazzling, Aquarius. The near-incessant processing of what is and isn't 'significant' won't be helped along any, at this juncture anyway, by continuing to fuel these exaggerated considerations with external stimuli. On the mental level, far more mundane concerns—such as determining which pieces of work are most immediately pressing, which bodily needs are seeking greater attention, and/or which home-improvement project will most quickly and powerfully improve your quality-of-life—are a better use for your churning gears than exercises in philosophic ponderance or ideological verve. And on the sanity level, privately reconnecting with the simple physical pleasures of a good meal (and glass of wine?), a comfortable piece of furniture, beautiful art, and/or the soft touch of a loved one will provide you far more support than another heart-wrenching conversation about all the un-simple particulars of what's lately stressed you out. Go for the home-cooked food, not the evening of on-the-town socializing. Get a massage instead of another opinion. Take the hug rather than the well-meaning advice.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Your monthly fresh-start provided by Wednesday's new moon is even more of an internal one than usual, Pisces… meaning that I strongly encourage you to take a few moments mid-week to consciously reset your emotional barometer, silently identifying and tapping into the overall attitudinal sense you'd most like to feel throughout the lunar-cycle ahead, and then imprinting that intention onto your inner self-regulating process. With both Venus and Mercury moving into more explicitly extroverted zones of your solar-chart during the week ahead, you can expect your attentions to become more immediately impacted by the social goings-on, who you're hanging with and what's up with them—and, if you haven't taken the advice I'm offering above, you could easily find yourself carried away on a wave of pleasant-enough chit-chat and entertaining-enough frivolity, which certainly wouldn't be such a terrible thing as it's happening but which could inspire you to totally forget the very considerations that are most personally important for you to hold close to your heart, as part of your individual process at this time. Frittering time away doesn't seem like much of a hazard, I know. Still, those little moments add up.