astrobarry.com the web

Horoscopes | Week of June 30-July 6, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you approach it head-on, Aries, you're liable to hit up against considerable pushback from institutions or power-players who won't necessarily accept your feelings as a good enough reason to reverse the rules, upturn protocol, or grant special exceptions. You'd rightly seem to be just one little guy-or-girl trying to topple a governing structure far larger than you, all David-v.-Goliath-like, which might only serve to further inflame a me-against-the-world complex. Yet, if you sneak in through the side-door or an open window out back, as if no 'confrontation' whatsoever was anticipated, a mere curiosity-quenching conversation could casually unfold at any time without attracting any misgivings or mistrust; you're likelier to sidestep both the possibility of piquing their suspicions and the heightened potential of your behaving too mischievously. Massage your topic-of-interest in gentle circles around its circumference, softening the entire vicinity, rather than going straight in for the bullseye kill. Socially seduce the important characters into willingly entering the hot-zone of their own accord, letting them introduce the pivotal turn-of-discussion as if you just happened to be witness to this impromptu development (instead of having surreptitiously pulled the strings to make it develop just like this)… all without breaking a visible sweat or spoiling your perfect smile.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don't go for the ideological fight this week, Taurus. Opt instead for radical pragmatism, knowing full well that certain pieces of the discourse could, as a result, be publicly broken down in terms you aren't especially happy with. Do the specific words matter? In the long-run, yes, I believe they do. But is this the best moment to interrupt a relatively uncontroversial vibe amongst your circle of loosely affiliated associates, in order to correct a point that's important for you to be unerringly precise about, but which others might see as a case of you being needlessly picky? Probably not… especially if you have self-organizing lists to create, items to accomplish under the pressure of deadlines, and/or financial plans to batten down. The war over defining concepts and principles isn't yours to lose, just because you decide that, due to the current timing and a simultaneous convergence of multiple other priorities, you're going to let this round-of-battle go uncontested. This doesn't feel like a critical must-win proposition, particularly in light of all that you really should be taking care of; this one can be surrendered without significant consequence.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Breeze on through, Gemini, and leave the heavier gig-harshing headaches to everyone else. To most properly honor Venus, I'd declare your rallying independence from any dark-cloud reminders of whichever circumstances aren't quite as you'd wish them to be. This is time to concentrate on all that is presently flowing rather well, and to expand its prominence within the lenses you're gazing through. If others want to criticize you for ignoring the more disappointing or depressing realities, then let them have your head on the platter. Under accusations that you're trying to accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives, you may politely bow your head and accept it: 'Guilty as charged, and I'd do it again the exact same way!' Or perhaps you're legitimately guilty of some prior lapse-of-actual-judgment and somebody chooses to call you out on it this week? Even if you're only partially responsible for this blunder, you might as well as honestly own your participation. Nothing will nip that potential unpleasantness in the bud faster than agreeing with their critique, acknowledging your imperfect humanity, and reaching toward this person with conciliatory friendliness. No sooner than you let such challenges to your likability slip right off your back, folks are apt to forget the details of their original gripe with you—and join in with the merriment you've defiantly insisted on creating wherever you go.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Beware of the very strange risk of being misperceived as a menace to someone, Cancer. Though you might sincerely wish them the best and/or support them in their independent efforts, it's just as likely that they have projected some unresolved psychic garbage onto you as it is that you are unconsciously emitting some disapproving undertones… and, under this strongly-12th-house astrology, it'd be near impossible to discern your shit from theirs. So please don't bother trying to work out any apparent disagreements or chasms-in-understanding, for you unfortunately won't be so clear as to what you're supposedly 'working out'… and could end up, in the exasperated emotional space of enduring crossed signals, inadvertently creating an actual reason for them to be pissed off at you. I want to offer you the suggestion of playing your week below the radar, though I suspect that even a calculated laying-low holds a heightened potential to backfire on you, since others might be suspicious about why you're downplaying your participations. Therefore, I'm left merely to advise you not to take any bait lain before you… to instead attempt the delicate portrayal of someone who's laying low without seeming to lay low… and to try your damnedest to resist being slotted into a depiction as 'difficult', at a time when it'd be better to not be 'depicted' at all.

LEO (July 23-August 22): The belief that there's something you absolutely must get done this week (or else, naturally, you're a terrible person who never gets anything done and therefore should be considered a total loser) is not one that'll actually support your productivity, Leo. Rather, a sense of urgency or pressure is likelier to rouse your renegade fuck-it reactivity into power… maybe even causing you to resort to stubborn behaviors which would detract from your ability to meet practical goals, thus setting you back instead of moving you forward. With this astrological forecast in mind, then, you really ought to cut yourself some slack with any gung-ho expectations, wisely realizing that it may be more important to guard against falling into self-constructed booby-traps than to make much real progress right away. To support such self-preservation, I suggest happily playing the role of 'sidekick' or 'chorus member' or 'party attendee #3' in somebody else's spectacle than trying to pull together your own big production number. Leaping to fulfill friends' immediate desires for a helping hand, a resounding cheer, and/or one more filled chair in the auditorium of adoring fans is a surer bet than leaving yourself to your own devices. Following others' leads will hopefully lessen your impulse to rebel, since there's no charged-with-anxiety obligation you'd be rebelling against.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Unless every last detail of design, production, delivery, and implementation was completely handled from start to finish by you and only you, Virgo, then you mustn't be so attached to questions of ownership. Your successes belong just as much to you even when you can catalog a handful or two of features which were altered from their original plan, fell short of expectation, and/or became subject to someone else's last-minute creative revisioning. To get snagged on these minor disappointments is to negate everything that did happen as you wanted, much in the way a malcontented author might complain about her publisher's final edits or the art-director's subpar layout at the expense of duly experiencing pride at having written a book in the first place. It works against your public favor to reject the kind reception, just so you can fixate on pointing out whichever specificities still stick in your craw. It not only belittles the work of the whole team (because, yes, there was a whole team working on this), but it's just plain ungracious. Please own your success. Its necessary partiality, its imperfection, needn't detract from the merits it contributes to the greater whole.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): The worst things you could tell yourself at the moment, Libra, would essentially chalk up this latest life-snapshot as just one more day in a flummoxing expanse of days just like this one… as if just because you've had this extended exposure to certain recurrent stimuli, likely to the extreme point where you cannot sincerely claim to have missed the obvious message, you shouldn't expect much more than more of the same. On the contrary, an endless continuance of these past-several-months' lashings and lessons is not what's ahead for you. In fact, that tempestuous chapter is almost at its close… to be followed by an ideal opportunity to start building a foundation to support all that you've recently concluded you do, in fact, want. But I'm not saying you ought to suit up in your workclothes, grab your tools, and meet me out in the backlot straight away for a decisive groundbreaking. For right now, it's enough for you to simply be looking ahead… for acclimating to the realization that the 'crazy shit' you've been pointing dizzyingly at and yelling, 'that shit is crazy!' has perhaps already dropped its craziest crazies on you. The shaking's just about stopped. That uncanny quiet whispering its presence on the wind is an anticipatory energy, awaiting your readiness to assert what's next.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Really and truly, Scorpio, you need not forcefully push that next step onward. Whether or not it's lately felt this way, you actually are one of the souls best equipped for dwelling a bit longer in these in-between places… and, in most cases, you gain an increasingly better position the more securely you can endure that nervous energy before anyone takes a critical action that'll disturb the unspoken surface-tension. Though there may be a fairly-obvious-to-you observation sitting on the tip of your tongue, the aloud voicing of which is almost certain to alter the dynamic between you and the person you're so astutely observing, you'd probably be shrewder to coax the information out into conversation through leading questions and topical intimations than by coming right out and saying it. Based on how such potentially sensitive insights emerge, you could be seen as a therapeutically nurturing companion who knows just how to 'hold space' for someone coming to terms with a new level of self-awareness—or, alternatively, as a harsh critic, at fault for being cold or careless with somebody else's feelings. Try to stay on the side of nurturing companionship, which will probably involve patiently allowing others' discomfort to gradually crack itself more widely open.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): This is probably a good moment to deliberately ease up on purposefully furthering your agenda, Sagittarius—and instead to put yourself in accommodating service to certain important individuals who could sure use more of your attention right about now. They might not need anything in particular from you, aside from a sense that you're genuinely interested in what they are currently up to… that you want to hear them recount the critical events or detail their thinking (even if they maybe already shared some of this with you), that you have supportive commentary to offer which reflects your engaged listening, and that you care about whatever they end up deciding next. Such interpersonal consideration will foster even greater benefits than it ordinarily would, not only because this main-squeeze or best-friend will be especially responsive to your reassuring presence, but also because this shift-in-outlook will also bring you a breath of relief. Getting your mind off its recent one-trackedness—away from retreading those same self-involved worries, and generously reinvested in helping nurture somebody else's confidence—will give your ingenuity a chance to regroup.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Even if you are in fact head of this whole damn operation, Capricorn, it still serves your own best interests to sit dutifully in that empty chair at the back of the room, right next to one of the many supporting characters who sit in these chairs most days, and let somebody show you how you can immediately boost the person-power as one more productive body joining this orchestra. Even if you believe your role ought to be far more 'advisory' than 'in the trenches', you've still got to dirty your hands with the actual raw-materials if you want to legitimately claim to know something about this process. And if you really hope to inspire others to do their best job, too, then you'd better first come to understand who they are in their own right as individuals, with lives far fuller than the single glimpse you've always gotten of 'em. So, pull up that adjacent chair, and humbly examine what you need to do to successfully mirror your comrades' efforts. Listen to their tales, both those related to these responsibilities you share and the more personal ones, and allow these perspectives to further enlighten you as to the unique privileges you're quietly enjoying. Work together with those alongside you, with a common spirit. The fruits of your labor will be both tangible goods and a subtly developing intimacy.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): While I prefer to stop just short of declaring 'happiness is a choice' (because, sometimes, we don't have the luxury of being able to see beyond our present-moment emotional reality to identify opportunities to assert agency in shifting our mood), I will tell you, Aquarius, that you currently face a distinct decision between (1) indulging the very-real-and-justifiable existential anxieties that, in their recently-riled-up state, are calling into question the entire undergirding purpose for why you strive to achieve certain goals, and (2) setting aside any self-imposed assumption that, just because your psyche's been recently riled up, you ought to wholeheartedly engage with deciphering and/or dissolving any such anxieties in all your spare time. Let me remind you that last week's horoscope clearly indicated how life's now due to get more fun, before revealing my avid endorsement of your second option among these two. Should your mood devolve further into dark reflections or doomsdayish daydreams, your best antidote is to step back and unashamedly laugh at your own melodramatic tendencies. The dark will always be there, periodically shadowing the light with its ever-impending scythe of mortal impermanence. Greet it, then: 'Hello, there, dark. No, I haven't forgotten you're lurking. I just already have plans to be stupid and silly and rebelliously not-serious for this next little while. I'll get back to you when my schedule permits. Later, dude.'

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Keep a rather modest radius of focus this week, Pisces, when questions of how what you're doing will, or won't, fit neatly into a wider social context are simply not as relevant as superficial concerns might suggest. Nothing will more quickly or completely throw you off balance than comparing your present position with what you perceive others' positions to be (since, right off the bat, your perception may have little relation to how they actually experience it)… which would be a damn shame, considering that much pleasantness and ease can be found by not looking anywhere other than right where you are. This might be one of those instances in which choosing to stay home could end up providing you a far better time than braving the outside-world exposure, just to attend some hyped-up celebration that's more about 'putting in an appearance' than genuinely enjoying yourself. It's not just the hassles of getting gussied up, finding a good parking space, knowing when to show up and when to slip out, and all that logistical jazz you'd be saving yourself. You'd also be avoiding needless encounters with other people's psychic garbage… which, though they may not intend to contaminate your sensitive soul with their underlying sourness (which maybe they aren't even aware is emanating off of them), could nonetheless cause you to feel grumpy or misanthropic for no reason directly relevant to your circumstances. Who needs that?