Horoscopes | Week of October 13-19, 2014

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Presuming any emotional flare-ups from last week have subsided somewhat, Aries, this would be your opportunity to return to the scene of any self-perpetrated interpersonal crimes… and to forge a sincere peace (whether it's thorough-and-deep or merely circumstantial) with anybody you might've needlessly hurt or offended, even if you aren't sure you ultimately like the person or want to be in relationship (of any kind) with them. Your relative fondness or distaste for a certain individual is not the issue-at-hand; rather, it's the behavioral ethics to which you must still hold yourself in your least impressive moments (we all have 'em) which must be addressed, for your own sense of integrity, if you indeed experienced a temporary lapse. On the other hand, if you've instead been able to lean comfortably on the support and companionship of a special someone during these fiery times, this is your golden chance to explicitly express your heartfelt respect, gratitude, and devotion to them. Feelings which may seem obvious to you aren't always as self-evident to the other person… and even if they already know how you feel, it's always good to hear it. In fact, just by going out of your way to show kindness and consideration to someone who's important to you, you might be simultaneously mending a minor tear in the relational fabric you didn't even know was there.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): To put an additional spin on last week's advice, Taurus, allow me to specifically draw a clearer link between (1) the formidable edge of emotional intensity still pulsing through your energy-body and (2) the indisputable advantages of attending to household chores, work responsibilities, and/or physical-health initiatives, as each remains a primary theme in your present astrological outlook. Not only will your concentrating on the latter provide a stabilizing counterbalance to the unsteadying influence of the former. Also, the propulsive power of that emotional intensity—when it's not being directed, with unbridled passion or fury, at that certain someone you may find yourself irresistibly preoccupied by—can be used, to great effect, to increase the fervent thoroughness with which you attend to those tasks and duties. Put another way, instead of investing all that potency into emotionally-charged interactions (during which you might find the other person and/or the exchange itself scrambles your focus or depletes your vitality), you could consciously siphon it all into really getting somewhere on concrete to-do items you've previously addressed with only modest effort or superficial attention. If you follow that recipe, it's virtually a sure thing you'll earn the good-feelings that come along with practical productivity—regardless of what other more complicated feelings you might also be dealing with.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In lieu of having unquestioned confidence about whether a certain person is willing and/or able to play their part in some mutually-desirable relationship (for a few sizzling hours or a love-filled lifetime), you might as well just keep the open-ended flirty rapport going, Gemini. You're a master at positioning yourself in those maybe-spaces where the proverbial cigar may be 'just a cigar'—or, alternately, is so much more—and playing to the multiple possibilities simultaneously, neither shutting the door to amorous potential nor forcing such a read on the situation. Venus and Mars will be cooperatively cavorting together this week, in flowing aspect across two solar-houses (the 5th and the 7th, respectively) which deal with expressing our pleasure-seeking drives to the individual(s) who we seek pleasure with: If the energy between you is there, this would be a pretty promising time to explore it further. (To be clear, though, we're talking about the promise of chemistry, which isn't the only quality needed to establish a workable, longer-term partnership.) Don't underestimate the titillating charms of playfully drawing out this suggestive repartee, as opposed to rushing toward a definitive yes or no; like any extended round of foreplay, it'd likely make an eventual union that much hotter.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In case this hasn't been an obvious thread in your recent horoscopes, Cancer, let me come right out and say it. This latest astrological swell is all about you tirelessly taking care of your own business: your home life (perhaps first and foremost), your work-and-money situation, and your bodily well-being, above all else. At present, there is no compelling reason to forego a deliberately intensive focus on these self-directed, self-supporting priorities… and especially not on behalf of someone else's alarm-sounds, control-games, or mistakes-they-need-fixed. The moment you jump up to save them from disaster (or is it just dramatics?), you sacrifice your own solid footing for an up-in-the-air episode that, even though it may be their stuff you've chosen to 'help' with, will likely leave you feeling anxious or emotionally ungrounded. And that would be a glaring example of essentially letting other people unduly impact your emotional state, at your own expense. If you don't wish for that to happen (again, I might add, because I suspect this is a familiar dynamic), you must be firm about addressing interpersonal attention-draws on your timeline, responsibly fitting them into a schedule alongside the above-mentioned top-priorities—not dropping everything because someone else 'needs' you (and, yes, that shit is in quotes).

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): There's not only no harm in actively seeking to promote a fairly lightweight social vibe at the moment, Leo, it'd actually be a pretty generous tactic to adopt... as long as, in the process, you don't dishonor anybody else's less-than-light-hearted experience of this present moment. Encouraging others to appreciate the uncomplicated pleasures in the here-and-now can be a wonderful way to share the love, since so much of our perpetual human anguish is a self-imposed result of holding on to a past that's already said-and-done or fruitlessly worrying about a future that hasn't yet manifested. By attracting conversational attention to anecdotes, observations, or reflections which bring smiles and lift hearts, you'll help the rest of us see beyond the edge of our cynical noses. Your joys will remind us of our joys, provided you're using a tone which inspires us to join along with our contributions to the glee-boosting exchange. You'll go too far, alas, if our every attempt at chiming in is merely met with more first-person monologues about yourself; then, rather than inspiring our optimism, you'll be bulldozing us flat with Pollyanna-ish narcissism. 'Cheering up' folks who have legitimate reasons to be discouraged or depressed can easily backfire, if you cannot also hold space for their reality, too.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Keep reiterating to yourself that you're laying groundwork, Virgo. That should help temper any unreasonable belief you're supposed to be presently singing and dancing your way through a lead role in this week's glimmering production… when, in reality, you're likelier to be feeling the discontenting drudgery of an underutilized understudy who must dutifully watch another star shine each night from the sidelines, tidying up the props or sweeping the backstage floor while the audience cheers for someone else. Ordinarily, such a behind-the-scenes position wouldn't even bother you this much. However, the relative modesty of your current public-profile is probably triggering years-old resentments from other instances in which you were expected to subserviently support another person's vision or passion (a family member's? an old flame's?), with nary a complaint nor a competing ambition of your own. That is, alas, not actually the situation in which you find yourself now. Despite the irksome inner irritations you're temporarily enduring, you are making concrete progress on ironing out a clearer understanding of what you've got to work with, and what you still need to procure to fulfill your future goals. Don't succumb to anger or pessimism. Your time is coming, only not tomorrow or the next day. This phase, in the meantime, is ideal for organizing and planning—and incubating dreams.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Despite the slipperier aspects of this current eclipse-addled astrology, you, Libra, remain in a better position than most… which, therefore, makes this an excellent time to continue recruiting allies and admirers to your team. You probably won't want to be so brashly self-serving in your approach, though I'm confident you naturally possess that keen instinct for 'selling' ideas to people without them feeling as if they're being fed a sales-spiel. That said, don't fixate on trying to decisively close any deals at the moment: Mercury is still retrograde, and in your sign no less, suggesting the present conversation is more a return, a review and/or a refinement with preexisting roots than a totally new proposition. Your main task for now, then, is to gently and inconspicuously remind everyone about what you're up to, why they might find it personally interesting, and how much they'd have to gain by involving themselves. Please note I've made no reference to you needing to mention what specifically you are hoping to gain from confidently securing collaborators. It's not that you ought to be secretive (and, thus, shady) about your own stake, but merely that you're likelier not to come off like a discourse-dominator if you deliberately angle your communications to appeal to their probable motives or desires. And should any exchange yield the names of friends' friends (or their friends) who could be potentially like-minded comrades in this endeavor, please don't hesitate to reach out to those promising connections sooner rather than later.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): I again urge you to pay little heed to the surface-level appearance of what's now transpiring, Scorpio, because I don't think it's necessarily an accurate indication of how things will look a few weeks down the road. Seemingly insurmountable problems may prove themselves to be phantoms. A glaring lack of positive signs could be due to results not having yet manifested, or perhaps simply a matter of your looking for them in the wrong place. But regardless of whether these possible perspective-flips indeed come to pass, you still should continue diligently putting in each honest day's hard work as you've been doing, under the fair-and-faithful assumption that it is amounting to something worthwhile. I suspect you have enough items on your plate that, if you just set aside those items which rest on unanswered questions or dynamically-in-flux plans, you'll have plenty of straightforward and/or uncontroversial stuff left to work on. And as for those items which are up-in-the-air or somehow disputable? Be very open to the notion that the ideal solution hasn't yet presented itself, and that there's not presently an urgent reason (aside from potentially misleading appearances) to force one into being. Why obsess on the momentarily irresolvable? It's not like you don't have other things to do…

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): You presently have an auspicious opening to exemplify unapologetic principle-based leadership amongst your friends, community, or social scene, Sagittarius… simply by not taking the namby-pamby middle road on an issue, initiative, or ideology where you do believe one thing over another. But to take fullest advantage of this chance, I recommend presenting yourself strictly as an advocate, rather than an opponent. There's no need to identify with a negative when you can identify with a positive instead. Folks respond more positively to positivity, after all. And besides, once you slip into antagonistic mode, that which you're attacking (whether a value-system, a religious tradition, a political view, or a particular person) could become a distracting lightning-rod for those prospective allies who might've gone along with you, had you not placed that certain idea or individual into the center of the debate. Though you may indeed have a real problem with something or someone, that's your personal axe to grind. When it comes to this broader principled leadership, though, you'll have to be solutions-oriented. Critique is easy; genuine innovation requires more applied creativity than that. You're creative, right? Apply it, baby.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): To the outside eyes, everything looks to be going swimmingly for you, Capricorn… at least insofar as you're able to hold the unflustered stance of someone competently handling their worldly responsibilities, regardless of whatever internal fluctuations may be occurring. Here's a moment in which you ought to be able to fall back on both (1) the prior hard work you invested, in order to earn yourself this certain level of accomplishment you can now temporarily glide by on, and (2) that fairly-reliable outward stoicism you deploy whenever you need to put forth a firmer-than-usual boundary between you and the rest of humanity. Behind the closed doors, alas, we can more freely concede that you're being flooded with a far-less-reasonable-or-rational deluge of befuddling, exasperating, enraging, and/or disheartening feelings that, if you were to behaviorally express them as the impulses arose, would likely wreak significant havoc in your life—in a manner, unfortunately, which won't right any wrongs or ultimately make you feel any better. Your time to act is still a couple weeks away, and, by that point, you'll have a better grip on this psychic overwhelm. Until then, ride along on a mix of perfunctory level-headedness and smooth self-preservation.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Keep your eyes fixed on why you're really doing this, Aquarius, rather than allowing yourself to too easily lose sight of that bigger-picture motivation due to other people's distracting antics. Perhaps without even consciously intending to do so, any such distracter-in-question is probably more invested in getting you to notice them—whether through compliments or criticisms, wooings or shunnings, extreme interest or suspicious disinterest—than in either supporting your driving purpose or challenging its merit. In other words, any distressing disconnect from them you might be experiencing is less likely to be a flat-out issue of disagreement… and more a simple matter of divergent agendas. Therefore, devoting any energy toward attempts to 'get everyone on the same page' would be like trying to herd children who've devoured gobs of sugary treats, as if they should be expected to sit down calmly next to you and talk out the important issues together. You'll know pretty quickly into an exchange whether or not somebody is naturally grooving on your wavelength—and if they're not, it's probably not worth much effort to divert their interest. Which also means: To keep yourself centered on what really matters to you may well entail removing yourself from their immediate sphere-of-influence, at least for the time being, so you're not competing with anyone for the agenda-setting driver's-seat.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): If you've been shrewdly 'embodying the discomfort' as I advised last week, Pisces, you might be pleasantly surprised to notice how this prolonging of a dangling conversation is starting to organically drift in a more satisfying direction. Careful, don't spook anyone by calling obvious attention to such drifts. Just as with courting a nervous animal, one sharp move could disrupt the whole encounter. Instead of pressuring another party to give in, get on board, or grant you some right, you should simply continue fighting to achieve your number-one outer-world goal… and if a collision between your continued pursuit of said goal and the other party's interests provokes that heightened discomfort, so be it. When you don't release your grip on that game-ball but rather keep forging ahead even through the uncomfortable feelings, it'll send a clear message about how uncompromising your commitment to this goal indeed is. From there, the other party—presuming they actually want to attain some tangible benefit (other than just 'winning') out of these negotiations—will hopefully realize they'll have to throw you this critical bargaining-chip, or risk an endless stalemate. Then, it's on you to find a different, less-personally-important issue on which you can compromise, in a show of goodwill. In other words, you can 'win' this: not by battling against anybody, but through sheer dedication to your driving aim.