Horoscopes | Week of November 9-15, 2015

ARIES (March 21-April 19): This is the time to begin earnestly addressing any interpersonal divergences, dilemmas, and/or opportunities to improve the dynamics between you and a certain somebody, Aries. Not only do you have the assistance of an 8th-house Mercury conspiring with Jupiter and Pluto to make it easier for you to stomach challenging communications about psychologically intense, difficult, and/or complex issues, but you can simultaneously rely on Venus-in-your-7th to soften the interactive rapport, endowing you with a better capacity to find common ground. However, conflict-ready Mars also lands in your 7th this week, framing these next couple months against the backdrop of an increasing urge to press forward with your agenda in key one-on-one relationships… and/or an increased likelihood of facing relational friction, should you find your needs at odds with the other person's. Because a happily dignified Venus is presently alongside Mars (and serving as its dispositor, which essentially puts Mars under Venus's administration), it'll be far shrewder for you to get going with such critical confrontations, complicating dialogues, or fights-waiting-to-happen right away. The longer you wait to start, the tougher it's liable to be.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): On the one hand, Taurus, you ought to appreciate a more seductive capacity this week to sell certain folks on that particular angle or outlook which furthers your mission. Yet, on the other hand, devoting too much of your attention to massaging messages—and vying for definitive influence over others' opinions—is something of an admittedly-engrossing diversion from other items which don't require companionable collaboration or dialogue nearly as much as they demand you to sit quietly at your desk (or whatever your version may be) and work. To forego the actual doing on behalf of discussing what you intend to do, at this astrological point in the process, is like asking for a respected colleague to review or endorse your latest masterpiece before you have any fair representative sample of your efforts to show 'em first. The 6th-house advantage now available to you clearly indicates the current value in mindfully honing your work-methods. Apply your artistic sensibilities both to polishing your processes and to perfecting the quality of your products, to promote how much personal pride you can genuinely reap from your efforts. By actually seeing what you can do, others will be alluringly won over… without their having to be convinced.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): As insistently as your mind may be pressing you to keep conjuring action-plans and ways-through, so as to prove to yourself you're treating life with sufficient seriousness, I'm here to reinsert the voice of light-hearted play as another consideration equally worthy of, er, serious regard, Gemini. Coming off of several weeks of emotional restlessness, uncertainty, and/or introspection, you're not necessarily expected to zoom back out into the world with an immediate party-hard demeanor… though if you do, then more power to you. Likelier, you might need the encouragement of knowing other people are relying on you to maintain contact and connection—and, in order to meet these interpersonal responsibilities, you'll have to unwrap yourself from the cocoon and reemerge as an agreeable participant. Might as well, then, make sure you all are doing something together that you're earnestly apt to enjoy. And once you're back in an externalizing rhythm… well, let's just say I'm pretty comfortable assuring you you'll naturally regain a cheerful, impish spirit, simply through the act of putting yourself out there (even if it comes with a few self-deprecating jokes about being reluctant or grumpy). The hardest part might be telling yourself it's okay.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A shift inward, toward a more patent concern for mood or sensitivity, needn't mean you're 'giving in' to some sinkhole of debilitating emotion, Cancer. On the contrary, there exists a palpable hope in the willingness to pause at the upwelling of emotional reactions—to inquisitively seek personal insight from a feeling, even if its initial oncoming is melancholic or menacing, by asking yourself nonjudgmental questions about what's skulking behind it—rather than to dread their existence immediately upon first notice and, in response, force yourself to do anything but sit with 'em for a spell. For instance, I'd be very skeptical of any tales you attempt to tell others right away about 'how you're feeling'… before you've given your internal narrator enough of a chance to explore the hidden meanings, the ambivalences and ambiguities, and/or the underpinnings which connect this moment in emotional time with others from your history totally relevant to understanding how your unconscious wants to make sense of your present spot. What's your rush, anyhow? Prematurely constructing a story to suit someone else's comfort (because, let's be honest, you'll probably say anything to get 'em to stop worrying about you) could lead you toward a dangerously reductive interpretation of how you really feel. Give it space to emerge.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Please do not isolate, Leo, even if you're quietly wondering whether you have anything 'worthwhile' to bring to a social exchange. You are what's worthwhile, silly… and that's not a truth dependent upon you having a wild anecdote to share, a happy-go-lucky attitude to brandish, or a particular purpose to justify your bothering to show up at all. Of course, you'll discover that yourself as soon as you do show up, since the only reason to doubt the current appeal of social interactivity would derive from the fishy messages your internal naysayer is feeding you, in some suspicion-driven attempt to convince you other people are as a distraction. Contrary to that dubious conclusion, other people will in fact provide you the much-needed sparks of outside input, whether through their controversial remarks, provocative questions, unsolicited critiques, or indulgent monologues. Yes, it's likely that at least some of 'em will rub you somewhat awkwardly, irritatingly, or altogether wrong. But that isn't a problem to avoid, as much as it's a chance to differ, discuss, disagree, explain, call out, testify, and tell 'em what you really think. Though there could be some rough edges to certain of these interactions, I get the sense they'd actually inspire, energize, or invigorate you rather than cause you any major bummer.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Think of these weeks ahead, please, as an integration phase, Virgo… an opportunity to carefully review what's just gone down over the past few months (and especially since early October), to bank what's been gained, to dial yourself back wherever you might've proceeded too far too fast, and to begin earnestly reiterating those initial steps recently taken in order to reinforce their intended staying-power. There's now a new focus on your 2nd house, traditionally interpreted as the sector of one's own earned income, though its fuller significance extends beyond mere monetary concerns. The 2nd also symbolizes one's sense of self-worth, for it logically follows that we cannot bring in more money than we believe we deserve (at least not for too long before our hidden doubts start to undo us)… and that we must hold sincere confidence in those traits and capacities we already possess if we expect anybody else to pay us our fair market-value. While I don't think it's necessary to fixate on financial matters if they don't presently warrant immediate action—though, if they do, this is an excellent time to organize a forward-looking financial strategy—it does serve you to devote some dutiful attention to reassessing your worth. I suspect much about you has changed (and very recently, in certain ways) since you last engaged in such an exercise. Don't revert to former analyses which underplay, and thus dishonor, your present place in the world. Update.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Ready to finish off your year with a noteworthy push forward, Libra? Just as I informed you in our last edition, you'll be welcoming energizer Mars to your sign midweek (on Thu Nov 12)… an astrological injection of raw, self-assertive, initiatory resolve which remains in effect into the opening days of '16, perfect for lurching yourself ahead, launching efforts or jump-starting stalled actions, and otherwise ensuring your driving desires are indisputably apparent. And for this first segment of Mars-emboldened move-making, during these next three weeks, you've also got Venus-in-your-1st along for the ride… which deems this the time to put your charms to deliberate use, greasing the social wheels and buttering up any integral players, with a calculated eye toward nimbly-but-persuasively recruiting their support for whatever you are trying to pull off. In presenting your case, I recommend sticking with a tone of thoughtful pragmatism, describing your aims less as a mere matter of personal predilection (even if, in fact, this is mainly about you getting what you want) and more in terms of 'just what makes sense'. Though there may be a subtle craftiness to your deploying facts, figures, and rational logic to satisfy self-interests, it's all fair game—as long as what you're telling 'em is true.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): I want you to have a realistic timeline in mind, Scorpio, for whatever life-progress you're hellbent on making… and which, no doubt, your zealous brain-ball is trying to convince you to push ahead now! by any and every means necessary. That's why I must dutifully inform you of Mars's arrival this week to your solar 12th, the holding-chamber house where planets land before they're about to make their big splash (i.e., when they hit the 1st) and must first ready themselves, by shedding dead emotional skin and accumulating ample anticipatory verve. Mars is the driver of all our assertive advances, provoking us to proceed onward rather than passively staying where we are… and, as your traditional ruling-body, holds even more significance for you than for other signs. When in the 12th, Mars can breed impatience and frustration—not merely as understandable expressions associated with current delays, obstacles, or limbo-states, but also, critically, as psychic echoes of prior disappointments and hurts resurfacing now so you can neutralize their hold over you prior to decisively initiating new actions. In other words, having Mars in your 12th makes this a less-than-ideal moment for starting up, getting going, or moving on. Rather, this relative slowdown is meant to stir preparatory retreat, reflection, and retroactive feeling-process. Mars stays in your 12th through the first week of January. But don't grumble about it: You'll have extra doses of Mars's dynamic punch come 2016.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Please make the 'strategic swivel' we discussed last week, Sagittarius, and shape-shift yourself from 'rising star' to 'one of the gang'. This is not a matter of abandoning your ambitions or accepting you've gone as far as can. On the contrary, my friend: It's so you can keep successfully ascending the ranks that you must, for this next stage of the game, step aside… and take a vital role in actively supporting the efforts of those you consider genuine allies, colleagues, or friends. By visibly adopting a greater engagement with community interests relevant to your specific niche in the world, you're both helping along the development of programs which benefit many of your folks and generating cooperative goodwill likely to come back around to you later on. Now, if you're a supporter of certain community efforts, you probably likewise don't endorse certain others. While I don't suggest feigning support for those you're unenthused about (for it'll smack of self-serving politics), you won't do yourself any favors by outwardly criticizing or attacking anybody else's endeavors. Make your statement positively, oozing loyal enthusiasm for that which you're on board with—and saying little-to-nothing about the rest.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): These next few weeks call you to a more conspicuous, attention-grabbing spot on the world-stage, Capricorn. This is no time, therefore, to muffle your leadership potential beneath an opaque layer of agreeability or opinionlessness. Though it naturally behooves you to consider the consequences your latest pursuit of goal-driven objectives is liable to have on those around you, you mustn't let a fear of standing-out or rising-above restrain your aspirational oomph. With Venus and Mars now in your 10th, you're likelier than usual to find ways of stylistically differentiating yourself from peers who are content with following or obeying… without necessarily turning them against you, provided you spend a little extra attention appealing to them as respected equals (with all the cordiality and small-talk expected of 'friendly colleagues'). To pretend not to have an ambitious personal-stake in the matter, however, is liable to feel more vaguely manipulative to their unconsciously intuitive receptors (since who's really going to believe you aren't quietly harboring ideas about how you could improve upon the current status-quo?). It is presently appropriate for you to assume a bolder (but not too brash or brazen) position in the public sphere, on the job, and/or amongst your wider community. Go for the gold, if only to see how much you're capable of achieving.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): No matter what you've recently been through, Aquarius—trials and tribulations, triumphs or tragedies, that whole bunch of mind-rattling intrigue or overwhelm—you're now at the moment when you must look intently forward, if you desire the clarity I promised you would be imminently forthcoming. The choice to move on first takes hold on the level of conscious perspective: You've got to voluntary turn the page when you're ready to read the next chapter, or else you'll keep rerunning the details of this same story over and over again, wondering why no new developments have pushed the action forward. What motivating inspiration can you derive from this last episode, in order to push your story along in whatever direction's likeliest to yield meaningful development, so that you'll look back upon this pivot-point as an instrumental one in your unfolding hero's-journey? Your most formidable adversary in such reinspiring vision-shaping: a compulsive refusal to believe there's something else beyond here, that all this (like every aspect of life) is only temporary, because you fear giving in to such hope will leave you vulnerable to disaster. Sure, we can never know when we'll tumble into the next pitfall. Yet, we shouldn't cease our onward march, nor cede the anticipatory optimism which powers it… unless we wish to trade our zestful vitality for 'safe' dissatisfaction, inactivity, or boredom.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): No, you don't 'finally understand everything' now, Pisces. You are not clear on 'what it's all meant'. Nor are you as 'ready to put this behind you' as your brash brain might be reporting. If, instead, you are feeling less resolved and more unsettled about where you stand… if a certain someone has gotten under your skin (whether in a perturbing or titillating manner) and you can't stop thinking about 'em… if you're trying to figure out what'd be the most personally advantageous terms of a pending exchange… and/or if you're juggling a weird mix of seemingly incompatible emotions and can't decide which one is 'right'… well, then I'd be a lot more comfortable telling you you're probably exactly where you're supposed to be. In a sense, the rest of your year is liable to be a bit of an uncontrollable mess, now that Mars will be spending the next couple months in your solar 8th (the house where it's hard to discern what belongs to you, and what to the other party). But I really don't want the word 'mess' to freak you out. It's also your invitation to not worry about tidying up any loose ends right away, particularly since you aren't really that sure about how you'd specifically like this situation to look once it's been 'tidied-up'. In the short term, give yourself permission to feel your way through, at a modest pace. Don't, meanwhile, sign away any rights too quickly.