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Horoscopes | Week of April 6-12, 2015

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Pay extra-close attention to any sudden realizations, instantaneously enlightening observations, or otherwise unexpected ideas abruptly jolting your consciousness awake, Aries. Though you're generally on a practical-minded energetic downshift (per last week's edition), that doesn't mean there isn't one more brilliant flash of spontaneous wisdom likely to cross your path during the week ahead. But while I encourage you to milk any present-moment insightfulness for as much juice as you can squeeze out, this new bit of data is not an invitation to just-as-suddenly switch up the whole game-plan in the very midst of trying to carry it out. Don't mistake this creative spark for a call to immediately revise, revoke, or halt dead in your tracks. Continue with what you've been doing this past week or two, while, at the same time, treating this latest addition as inspiration for a future next-step… one which you can only carry out to its fullest or best effect after you've brought this current step to a stabler place. This is how you constructively blend fiery revelation with an earthier logic: not dropping everything and darting off at the first sign of promising energy, but integrating it into whatever processes are already in motion, building atop your earned progress rather than wastefully starting from scratch.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): This week's astro-outlook is not so different than last week's, Taurus, as the dynamic duo of Mars-and-Venus-in-your-1st continue to encourage your self-asserted progress. You're also still on warning against unexpected verbal explosions, whether they erupt spontaneously from your unsuspecting lips or are instead directed toward you from someone out in left-field. If you have something important to say, I recommend you hold off on it until mid-next-week (after Mercury's in your sign and your ruler Venus has passed its exact Saturn opposition). And let me add that even being in the same place as the person you'd like to say something to, though you may intend to politely hold your tongue, could pose a significant enough threat to your self-control to suggest it might be wisest to stay away. Besides, for the time being, you're likely to squeeze much more useful productivity out of the present astrology by stubbornly fixing your focus on independent, self-serving projects and purposes—and, as a result, ensconcing yourself somewhere that leaves you inaccessible to melodramatic interpersonal intrusions. Reserve all your potential bite for selfish pursuits this week. Once next week's astrological shifts take hold, you'll be better equipped for fruitful interactivity. Until then, don't tempt fate.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): At this point, Gemini, it probably doesn't serve you to bother striving for a safe, diplomatic, or overly amenable pose. Those dubious allies or shit-talking frenemies who don't already enjoy a certain affection or natural affinity for your true demeanor are highly unlikely to change their instinctive indifference or antagonism towards you, just because you've gone out of your way to offer them some conciliatory or coddling remark. Why concern yourself with whether they've selected you to be on their team, or are indirectly icing you out? You ought to be doing the choosing, exercising more Saturn-in-the-7th discernment with regards to which relationships deserve your energy-investment… and there's no better method for soliciting insightful data to support such judgments than offering up the sort of irreverent conversation-starters you love tossing out, and noticing who gets jazzed up and who gets pissed off. Don't be afraid to discover which certain characters aren't hip to your groove. It's better to know who isn't a constructive vessel for your social efforts, not because they're necessarily a 'bad' person but due to your instinctive incompatibility. With Venus arriving to your sign late in the week (on Sat Apr 11) but applying to a Saturn opposition, you'll become even better able to charm the pants off of all sorts of folks… though not everyone is a personally worthwhile investment for these Venusian blessings.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Public authenticity, no matter how nerve-wracking your lack of control over others' responses to your honest testimony may be, is your most personally gainful approach to adopt, Cancer. I wish I could reassure you that the corresponding sense of threat to certain friendships or affiliations you'll likely feel, as a result of daring to speak out, is merely a phantom fear… but, alas, there may be something valid to it. Their power over you is predicated, in part, on the implicit dangling of such a threat. If you rank your own outwardly-expressed forthrightness over unilateral deference to a relational alliance, you will demonstrate a self-sovereignty apt to make this ally quite nervous. While transparently advocating your uncompromised ideas for what'll most markedly move this endeavor along could be good for your professional development, it might not be what's best for this certain someone. For one thing, how can they be certain you won't blow their cover, reveal sensitive details, and/or set them up for increased responsibility or accountability? If you're exploiting your advantages to the fullest, the truth is: They can't. You may be reaching the pivotal juncture of diverging interests—and while I don't suggest you throw anyone under the bus for punitive or vindictive purposes, neither should you set your ambitions aside to protect anyone else's apathetic, inept, and/or corrupt actions.

LEO (July 23-August 22): As bounteous monarch Jupiter stations to direct motion in your sign this week, Leo, it's a good moment for reminding yourself how this year is astrologically pre-ordained to be a big one for you lion-hearted souls. What has happened in your life since last July (when Jupiter first arrived in Leo)? Have you become better able to glimpse beyond whatever limitations previously inhibited your vision, now seeing greater possibilities where before you might've felt stuck? Have you let something go, tried something new, and/or stretched into unfamiliar territory? Jupiter's presence makes this a much more auspicious climate in which to intentionally invest such progressive efforts, but it won't force wonderful developments to unfold without you asserting your initiative. You've got a few more months of Jupiter's direct blessings (before it moves on to Virgo in mid-August), a truly critical phase for Leos which only picks up in excitement—and, potentially, in ego-tempting mischief—once Venus joins the party early in June. And you will want to make this moment count, in terms of significantly furthering your overarching life's-meaning agenda. This is your chance to recommit, to pick back up wherever you've become distracted, and to steel your resolve to see those big goals through. If you just let circumstances unfold more organically, you might still end up greeting 'auspicious' developments; only, they may bear little relevance to what you originally claimed you really wanted.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Trust me, Virgo, it's better not to 'settle back down' into whatever ultimately-restraining reality may feel secure simply because it's familiar. You ought to be looking unapologetically ahead, to a future which could likely feature some qualities quite distinct from what you've come to expect… if, of course, you're willing to remain on the edge of your seat a while longer. The broader astrological backdrop against which I'm drawing this week's counsel is Jupiter's stationing direct in your 12th, an anticipatory signal that, just a few months from now, this growth-fostering luck-planet will finally head back into your sign (for the first time since 2004) and inaugurate a yearlong phase in which 'reaching beyond' and 'trying something new' will be very strongly favored and synergistically supported. Right now, though, it's enough simply to notice the faint sense that exciting developments are imminent is becoming just a bit less faint… and a bit more immediately palpable. This, therefore, isn't the most logical time to retreat into any arrangement which represents a modest more-of-the-same resignation. Though you're probably not full-on ready to embrace the active creation of your distinctly different future, you should be able to intuit the not-so-far-off arrival of wide-open opportunities for you to evolve—and, thus, might as well stay on your toes, in eager expectation.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): I would make one more all-out effort to instigate, engage, and/or intensify the conversation with that special someone, Libra, just to be completely and totally certain you've said your piece and permitted them to thoroughly explain theirs. As this week feeds into next, you'll feel the beginnings of a transition from 'totally immersed in it' to 'moving beyond this'… and you will want to make sure certain questions have at last been answered, helping you determine what sort of role you want this other person to play in your next chapter. If you two are intending to share an ongoing intimacy, you need to be unabashedly current with each other's psychological states—even if lurking doubts or ambivalences remain, even if you're still dealing with hurt from a prior relationship, even if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. And if one or the other of you isn't as gung-ho about sharing an intimate future together, you need to know that, too… to allow everyone the same fair shake in visualizing an achievable reality for themselves, minus any illusions kept alive by a refusal to just be truthful with one's intentions. No matter which way it's headed, this unfolding process likely still has a few complications up its sleeve. Regardless, though, you both deserve the relative peace-of-mind which comes from clearly seeing what's in the other's heart, even if it's not what you'd hoped.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Don't be afraid to tell a stinging truth about how some existing work-process may be a discouraging drag on your day-to-day effectiveness, Scorpio. Though certain delicate egos could get rubbed wrong by your feedback, your job is not to mindlessly repeat inefficient tasks ad infinitum (or at least I hope it's not). If you'd like to expand the organization's reach, your role within it, and/or its overall capacity to produce, you must be willing to endure a few bumpy moments of interpersonal friction in defense of a methodological innovation, resource reallocation, and/or change in habit you believe will increase the efficiency or efficacy of your workday efforts. To minimize any relational fallout and emphasize your commitment to the tasks-at-hand, I strongly advise you to phrase your calls-to-action in direct terms of the work itself… passing up any temptation to point blaming fingers, demand accountability, or needlessly criticize the manner in which the status-quo came to be (since such remarks would only serve as distracting bait, luring colleagues or bosses into defending themselves instead of addressing the legitimate issues). All the while, be sure to approach the discussions with lots of 'we' and 'us' phrasings, demonstrating your team-minded desire to strive for mutually satisfying solutions—even if their reactionary attitudes, for the moment, tell a different story.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): It's time to integrate the two divergent threads of advice I've recently offered you here, Sagittarius. On the one hand, with Mars sticking around your solar 6th for another several weeks, this is one of your best periods all year for hanging in with your day-to-day work. Even if you've already seen tremendous progress and/or brought some project to a serviceable resolution, it still behooves you to keep a consistent rhythm… if for no other reason than to counteract your tendency toward a more erratic surge-followed-by-burnout pattern. And yet, at the same time, this week is also an excellent moment for offering another statement of personal gratification, pride, and honor… your own version of a gleeful squeal, both as a joyous release and as a lightning-rod for attracting others' enthusiastic attention to whatever you're so damned excited about. By week's end, Venus will have sashayed into your 7th, a place where its magnetic magic increases your chances of winning over other people's (and/or a certain special someone's) good favor. However, Venus forms an opposition to Saturn-in-your-1st, indicating you must balance (1) your willing wooing of interpersonal magnetism with (2) your most responsible staying-focused-and-on-track. That's where the integration comes in: You'll want neither to fall off the work-horse nor to squander these lovely relational moments. Heed both considerations, in steady moderate amounts.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): This is probably the right week for you to definitively release any leftover remnants of annoyance, outrage, or upset, Capricorn… but with enough careful precision that you do so in a relatively discreet context, protected from those who might misperceive your understandable venting as a battle-cry. I wouldn't ignore that inner emotional itch, as if pretending not to notice this certain unsettledness is sufficient for neutralizing its charge. Otherwise, it'll force its way out at a less opportune moment—perhaps one that's supposed to be 'fun', but which ends up taking a dark turn once you've downed a couple drinks and/or gotten so comfortable that your guard comes down and the bitterness come out. The funny thing is that any unresolved feelings are likelier to become longer-standing grudges or resentments if you allow them to leak out so publicly, due to your audience's mistaking your passing irritation as a more decisive statement about your overall attitude. Though you might 'get over it' sooner rather than later (if you give yourself a genuine opportunity to really let it out behind closed doors), others could wrongly assume you're still holding onto a gripe or grievance… and as long as that assumption's floating out in the ethers, its ghostly traces will keep coming back to haunt you, prolonging the afterlife of this otherwise-temporary emotional itch.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): In order for you to continue to positively grow and evolve in how you relate with others, Aquarius, you must be willing to more directly communicate what's true for you in a given moment… even while not knowing exactly where the conversation's liable to go next, or even where you want it to go, other than somewhere frank and/or revelatory. What's interesting to note about this week's horoscope in contrast with last week's, which advised you to steer clear of the 'conversational line-of-fire' if you were seeking to 'take the high road': (1) What a difference a week makes, now that we're past the second eclipse and into the waning half of the lunar cycle. (2) With that week of presumed 'stepping back' and 'laying off' under your belt, perhaps you better understand how you needn't consume yourself so seriously with inhabiting some 'high-road' position, as if you're only entitled to feeling as you do when you can legitimize it with some upright moral defense. Thinking of your stance in that manner is a distancing technique, making it harder to actually discuss anything with anyone because it implies you already believe you're right. Forget about who's 'right'. Accept that you're coming at this from a very subjectively human (though, therefore, no less valid) angle. Only then can you talk it through, person-to-person, on each other's level, nobody 'higher' than anyone else.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): With that proper combination of ongoing discussion and action you've hopefully created in recent weeks, Pisces, you now ought to be ready to surge forward with your work based upon this week's emerging epiphanies about how to put what you've got to its most effective use. As long as you're able to skillfully set any personal insecurities aside from your business-minded analysis (because nothing gets in the way of aligning with one's instincts more obtrusively than fear or self-doubt), you should have an increasingly clear understanding of your best next-steps… and the winning answers are probably pretty simple to grasp, on the concept-level, even if they'll demand some hard work to enact. Don't second-guess this simplicity, by the way, by needlessly dragging in too many outside concerns. In order to accomplish your aims, you'll have to adjust the unrealistic expectation that you can simultaneously support a whole bunch of other people's agendas with just as much dedication. Breaking news: You cannot suit your own interests and everyone else's, all at the same time. As a human being, you have limits... and must prioritize accordingly. What can you get done, in a manner that's both personally ambitious and also possible? Accept the commonsensical awarenesses now coming into view, and follow the workplan they logically lay out.