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Horoscopes | Week of March 30-April 5, 2015

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you wish to accomplish more than merely spewing hot air (though you don't have to, I suppose, if you don't want), Aries, then I suggest adopting a more interpersonally practical flavor as you navigate through the week's events. In other words, before thoughtlessly lurching onward under the presumption your most unfiltered remarks or attitudes will be your most striking show of power, I'd instead default to a more considered approach… anchored by logically following whichever steps are likeliest to lead to someone else handing you the keys to the kingdom. That's right: You'll actually demonstrate a more confident wielding of worldly respect by setting up another person to give you what you want than by rashly grabbing at it. Even if a grab gets the immediate job done (albeit in a down-and-dirty tone that'll mark your reputation in a certain way), your longer-term ascendency is far better served by recruiting sympathetic allies, admirers, and enthusiasts along the way. And don't overlook the financial facets of this logic either: We only get more money by persuading others to pay us more, whether as grateful employers or loyal customers. Marketing, in this sense, is an excellent example of such 'interpersonally practical' thinking.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): With Mars arriving to your sign early this week (to stay through the first third of May) and Venus still there too (until late next week), this is decidedly the time for you to get things going, Taurus. But the astrology is very clear that outward communication is not the right way to go about it, at least not at this stage in the game. Instead, your best bet is to simply show up and start doing stuff, letting your actions speak for themselves and sufficiently occupy your attention so you have no time to engage in petty spats, ideological debates, or detailed explanations. As long as you're keeping yourself busy carrying out concrete initiatives which produce tangible results, even if incremental rather than spectacular in scope, you're likely to stay calmly and contentedly on track. However, once you allow the unruly influence of an outside party to infringe upon your focus, during this lunar-eclipse week when tempers and attention-spans are short, you could quickly lose control of what shoots out your mouth when you least expect it. Though you may indeed 'win' any verbal battles, they will significantly deplete the enterprising energy you really need to reserve for doing your stuff… all because somebody else laid out the bait and you couldn't resist taking it. Exercise your assertiveness by insistently concentrating on your agenda, rather than arguing against anyone else's.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): On the heels of last week's edition, Gemini, the appropriate time for making critical social moves has now passed (for the time being, at least)… and active participation, at this point, will bring increased risk of inadvertent backfire, loss-of-control, and/or disturbance of the hornet's-nest. Only thing is, you may still feel the compulsion to jump into the group discourse, inserting yourself, perhaps, with the intent to build bridges, smooth things over, and/or address the elephant in the room. Though there's nothing innately wrong with proceeding by such motives, it'll be precariously easy for you to lose sight of your own personal stake in this matter, so engrossed could you become in transmitting and translating everybody else's stakes—and in the midst of that, you might even neglect to honor your distinct separateness from the meat-and-potatoes of these proceedings. Put more basically: You're under threat of ending up in the eye of a drama-storm that isn't necessarily your drama, just because you want to 'promote dialogue' or 'make it okay for everyone'. However, should you hold yourself back and retreat into a more self-reflective pose, first and foremost in an effort to protect yourself from collateral damage, you might use it as an opportunity to examine what exactly is behind your psychological need to 'make it okay for everyone'.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Even as I reiterate the suggestion to be out in the social flow which I offered you last week, Cancer, I don't want to ignore the possibility that so much exposure could be causing you some emotional stress or anxiety. As we wax toward a lunar eclipse full moon late in the week, you moon-children are vulnerable to experiencing heightened sensitivities—a condition which might ordinarily send you side-scrambling to your most private safe-space—while you're still expected to don a undaunted public face and show up, center-stage, no lurking in shadows or calling in sick. Here's an interesting twist you wouldn't necessarily expect, but which could in fact help you successfully navigate the need to stay in the game at the very moment you'd prefer to slip out: The other people on your team can provide you real true support, in the form of 'covering' for you when you're at your most sensitive, as long as you don't indulge the crablike impulse to hide from them in embarrassment or shame. If accepted, their charitable camaraderie can create a shield around you, allowing you to subtly recede (on an energetic/emotional level) without actually vanishing. However, if you outright reject their support or give them no opening to reach through, your emotionality could instead blunt their trust in you… by simple virtue of you having left them out.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Turn down the volume on your megaphone, step off the soapbox, and reduce any righteousness in your tone, Leo… not because you don't have a legitimate purpose behind your zeal (or a certain degree of inflaming astrology to power its delivery), but in a purposeful effort to foster additional sympathy or support for the cause by touching others' hearts-and-minds, through gentler conversation, on a case-by-case basis. This is a powerful time for you, in terms of cultivating (or, if careless, damaging) your outward image as an authoritative voice—and those with legitimate authority need not shout about their expertise, bark orders, or drown out dissenting voices, but quietly demand their due respect with a dignified carriage and self-assured participation in relevant discussions. As a result of currently conflicting astrological strains-of-influence coming to a head during this week's lunar eclipse, your behaviors could easily veer in either of these directions, bombastic-and-bossy or shrewdly-and-strategically-sociable. Truth be told, the former option may feel more fabulously freeing and is likelier to attract you some immediate attention… but it's the latter which better serves your long-range professional and/or public-world ambitions, though it requires undeniable patience and politically-minded restraint.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): 'Staying true to your soul' was a theme from your two-weeks-ago horoscope, Virgo, offered in the midst of a moment when it unquestionably behooved you to remain mired in the messy muck… if for no other reason than the most appealing alternative would've likely inspired you to sacrificially give in, just to attain relational ease (even if merely a superficial one). A couple weeks later, and the tides have shifted: Provided you did indeed allow ample space for negotiating conflicted feelings (whether it was a conflict between yours and theirs and/or an internal conflict), it's come to the point where your energy-investment should've yielded some notable progress toward mutual understanding, catharsis, and/or resolution—and any further amount of backs-and-forths, beatings-around-the-bush, and/or runnings-in-circles are producing diminishing returns, productively speaking. While I don't think it's necessary (or, for that matter, wise) to decisively shut a door on these negotiations, as if to make some sort of power-grabbing statement, it does serve you to redirect your attention to items which directly support you in your pursuit of self-serving interests, particularly insofar as such items also represent the overall direction you see your life going… whether or not anyone else is along for the ride.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Instead of being the one who makes it simpler, easier, and/or less awkward for the other person, Libra, try embodying the complicated, challenging, and/or potentially uncomfortable position you'll end up in by admitting your feelings are ambiguous, contradictory, and/or uncertain. After all, there's a lot to be said for authenticity… even though it necessarily resists being neatly encapsulated in a pretty package, and often creates more questions rather than definitively answering the ones already up for discussion. Despite the likelihood that you will feel at least as unsettled as they will, this act of being unapologetically authentically present with your emotional reality is the only remedy for that oh-too-familiar experience of swallowing your emotions in deference to someone else's dominating influence (whether real, perceived, or feared). As soon as you start comparing your feelings to any hypothetical notion of how someone else might, would, or should feel in your situation, you've already bolted from the scene of the present emotional reality, to hide out in the land of abstract ideas. No one else's opinions, pressures, or judgments ought to be considered relevant to how you feel. While what you do in response to your feelings is another matter altogether, the genuine acknowledgment and sharing of them is solely your domain to master.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Right at the very moment work/career concerns flirt with taking over your entire life—and rightfully so, in so many ways, Scorpio—it ought to dawn on you why you're so boldly striving to accomplish this much advancement, acknowledgment, and/or success. Is it simply because you want to test the far limits of your capabilities? Are you creatively compelled to deploy your energies toward some lasting symbol of your excellence? Or are you attempting to be 'the best', in an expression of innate competitiveness? Though your version of such answers may be more complex and nuanced than my questions suggest, I urge you not to let yourself drift too far away from considering the relational and/or social incentives at play, when it comes to the motives behind your ambitions… and to simultaneously ponder the (dare I use the word) spiritual ramifications of these relational/social drives. Put another way, if you don't examine the underlying interpersonal attitudes (whether toward certain individuals in your past or present and/or hypothetical 'other people' who represent something to you) you harbor while making important work/career-related decisions, you might end up toiling harder than is personally healthy (physically, mentally, or emotionally) just to prove a point or show somebody up.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): And now, alongside pride and personal passion as prime motivating factors in your present dedication to producing worthwhile work, Sagittarius, please add community-fostering altruism to the list of reasons to stay focused. Think of all the other folks, the like-minded individuals whose own journeys will be all the richer and less treacherous thanks to your contributions. They'll find inspiration, guidance, solidarity, and solace in what you provide them from this project you've been so compelled to pursue. You could make the difference between someone not so dissimilar from you feeling themselves part of something bigger and just feeling alone in the world. But none of those humanitarian aims will come to fruition, of course, if you don't finish what you've started. There will be no record to refer back to, as a way to demonstrate everything you've brought to this table, unless you see this through. You have an amazing amount of astrological support, in the form of Mars joining Venus in your solar 6th (the house of work habits), behind you at the moment to promote continuity, consistency, and endurance…. and yet, you also have plenty of astrologically-sanctioned temptation to keep on talking about, talking up, and talking through the premise of your work, at the expense of actually doing it. Maybe thinking more intently about everyone else who'll benefit from the fruits of your labor will help keep you on track to get 'er done…?

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Respond to any emotionally reactive tendencies not with a direct engagement-of-battle with the person or entity which is triggering you (or should I say that which you believe is triggering you?), Capricorn. Instead, funnel that fervor into whatever you've creating as a substitute, antidote, and/or testament to your contrasting values. Your best 'revenge' (though I'm reluctant to use that word) won't come through winning a war or retaliating against anyone else's perceived oppressiveness, but by un-dramatically detaching yourself from this subjectively-provocative interpersonal dynamic and calmly advancing your own ambitions… with a special focus on imprinting your unique stylistic mark on whatever evidence of your efforts the world will most clearly see. Please be aware, though, the present path-of-least-resistance leads right back to emotionally intimate drama. If you're not mindful, a single impulsive jab or cutting wisecrack on your part will thrust you smack dab into another flare-up—and you will bear some responsibility for what then transpires. Practically speaking, you'd be better off working to build something you genuinely like better, rather than fighting to conquer that which drives you mad.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Contrary, perhaps, to your first instincts, Aquarius, 'taking the high road' won't be as easily accomplished at the present moment through conversation (no matter how 'high-minded' you think you're being) as it will through stepping back and laying off. Though you may believe your air-sign coolness bestows upon you a certain calmness that'll afford you the fairest perspective, you'll actually become more heated once you're in a live interaction with someone else. Regardless of whether you intend to control your emotive expressions and/or appropriately balance speaking and listening, there still lurks a relational unpredictability liable to dash such expectations. The proverbial 'other person' is likelier than usual to divert the train-of-thought somewhere other than where you believe is its most meaningfully productive destination, to dominate the discourse without conscious regard for your supposed peacemaking efforts, and/or to struggle with getting outside their first-person frame-of-reference… which, of course, is a potential recipe for you losing your cool. If you're diligent enough about timing to refer to weekly horoscopes as a guiding tool, then you must understand you're most apt to stay on 'the high road' by staying away from the dicey conversational line-of-fire during this eclipse-rocked week ahead.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): If you are largely keeping to yourself and tinkering independently without much interaction or feedback, Pisces, your imagined 'easier way' may ultimately cause you to squander productive energy, self-confidence, and/or money. Autonomy (which I strongly advocate) is not the same thing as operating inside a self-imposed bubble, out of some irrational fear that letting outside influences in will somehow compromise your personal ownership over the process. We covered this ground last week, when I encouraged you to open yourself up to input—but without necessarily surrendering to others' opinions or implications—but I wanted to make the relevant tensions at play here more explicit. In order to rise into a more secure embodiment of authority in what you're doing, you must be willing to expose your efforts to the broader marketplace-of-ideas—and you must be brave enough to ultimately disagree with those whose tenets or tastes are out of alignment with your style and stance, even if they have proven themselves a success, and even if they become vocal opponents of what you're up to. (You needn't worry about 'agreeing' or 'disagreeing' at the moment, however; simply take it all in.) Part of this work involves thickening your skin when faced with divergent viewpoints… for the good of your project and its life-of-its-own.