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Horoscopes | Week of June 20-26, 2016

ARIES (March 21-April 19): No need to insist that other people notice the massive overhaul you're immersed in carrying out, Aries. No good reason to demand they bow in respect to the major feats you're conquering like a champ, as if to suggest the real-world payoff isn't nearly as valuable to you as the sound of others' roaring accolades. You just keep doing what you're doing… but without centering your social exchanges around too much talk of your current activities or involvements. It's not that they're a secret, merely too important an emotional priority for you to treat as an offhand conversation topic (since you never know when someone will unwittingly comment in a manner that sorely demonstrates the chasm of psychological distance between you). Venus's recent arrival to your 4th indicates you'd probably be happiest by keeping a relatively low profile during these couple weeks… staying close to home, looking for your simple pleasures and soothing experiences in more private contexts, and ducking the expectation you owe anyone an explanation of your latest goings-on. Reserve and replenish your energy-stores. When nobody's around to watch, wonder, or inquire into, you get to steal a few moments of ceasing to be so directed and purposeful.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): One surefire way to stay constructively-minded—and, by doing so, to guard your own nuts-and-bolts interests—is to relish as much effortless, agreeably supportive social companionship as you possibly can, Taurus. When you're not devotedly engaged in some purposeful task or piece-of-work, why would you want to pointlessly tax your faculties with even more problems to solve, platforms to defend, or antagonists to throw down with? If an encounter looks to be strained or stressful and isn't directly applicable to whatever business you most need to handle this week, just don't engage. The potential psychological disturbance to your present field-of-focus simply isn't worth it… particularly since, once everything's said and done, you will have to eventually re-address any lingering interpersonal tensions. That's why it's so obviously to your functional benefit to surround yourself with pals, playmates, and polite perfect-strangers who won't bring any further intensity, antagonism, or complication into your life. Be careful, of course, with how you aim to disengage with those who reek of drama: If you come off too distant, dismissive, or disdainful, they could make a case that you're being the aggressor—and there you'll be, right in the middle of that very snarl you were trying to avoid.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Due to the fact that Mercury, now back in your sign, is forming a multitude of challenging aspects this week, Gemini, you should stay acutely aware of the potential for your brain to be operating so fast that you fall out of sync with everything else going on around you… and/or, more specifically, a certain someone who'd prefer you stay better focused on a fundamental (to them, at least) issue now up for tackling. Of course, having your ruling-planet and quintessential data-processor Mercury batting for your team again can hardly be considered anything but an awesome asset. Your mind's presently capable of producing lots of new ideas, fresh angles, interesting connections, engaging discussion-topics, and details to think further about. The only problems arise when this mental busyness lapses too far into hyperactivity (already a innate Gemini tendency)—at the potential expense of properly considering others' interests, respecting appropriate protocols, and/or noticing whether your own heart is on board with what your head's suggesting. Again, these are all possible consequences of simply too much hustle, speed, or emotional detachment rather than there being anything 'wrong' with what you're coming up with. Perhaps working with another patient, articulate person to root, anchor, vet, problem-solve, and/or carefully consider your latest insights and epiphanies could be your ideal approach to remaining in sync.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don't get careless or lazy with what you say, Cancer, at this moment when Venus's bedazzling glow would otherwise cast you in quite a flattering light. As long as you bring your full emotional presence to this week's encounters, allowing your pulsing heart and soothing touch and loving eye-contact to speak volumes about how much you care, you'll go far in preventing your underlying motives from being misperceived. However, if you lapse into the mindless recitation of bland pleasantries or banal platitudes or other impersonal remarks, you could inadvertently leave the listener feeling as if their distinct individual existence just doesn't matter that much to you. And you can only imagine how jarring it'd be for you to receive such a response, especially if someone else's upset or offense is very very far from what you'd intended to spark. Though this is largely a semantic threat, let's not downplay the present potency of your words—even those that sound 'nice', or perhaps especially those—to impact another person's emotional state, triggering odd impulses or all-too-familiar wounds in them you probably won't understand. Under astrology such as this, kind gestures speak much more clearly than hopelessly-insufficient language.

LEO (July 23-August 22): Go in expecting many of your week's happiest moments to be subtle unspoken gratitudes, spontaneous intuitive understandings, and/or private peace-stirring self-love fests, Leo. With such an expectation in place, you therefore won't be hunting too vigilantly for outside circumstances to provide you the affirmation or entertainment… and instead can direct your focus inward, in spiritually- or existentially-minded reflection, quietly appreciating how you're always, in the eternal cosmic conundrum, both 'one with everything' and your own preciously distinct face of this infinitely-faceted jewel of existence. If what I've written so far seems to provide you little practical guidance (which, of course, was by design on my part), let me reassure you that, on the functionally earthy level, you remain in a spot where it's shrewder to follow friends' or colleagues' leads than to branch off on your own. You're still moving through less-than-smooth emotional waters, which has an unavoidable impact on how matter-of-factly you can reason through real-world matters. But that's really not such a problem unless you deny this reality. Besides, for now, the intangible—though no less meaningful—insights you can reap, through deliberately moving towards your feelings, are more important to this stage of your evolution than independently 'getting business handled'.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): A big part of your communicating in a professional tone—which I recommended you do in our last edition, Virgo, and remains advisable in all public contexts (not just those related to your career)—is to not come across as either (1) flagrantly pandering to a certain party, at the expense of inconvenient facts or other stakeholders' angles, or (2) self-congratulatory about the superiority of your understanding over anyone else's. Of course, this can be especially challenging in situations where you do have to play to that certain-someone's ego-needs, in order to attain a particular goal, and/or you do appear to possess a better understanding that the rest. That's where the impression you make amongst your fellow participants (and the silent observers) is at least as important, for now, as the 'actual reality' (i.e., dealing with that certain-someone's personality, watching the data like a hawk) you're responsible for navigating. Public appearances are part of this 'actual reality', too… and you'll only create functional hindrances to your own success, here in this 'real' world, by emanating a discernible distaste for these customary hoops we all must jump through.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Don't let your getting-clearer-every-day vision for a more satisfying and successful future become derailed, Libra, by subtly-undermining remarks or other supposedly innocent small-talk. Nobody else needs to comprehend, endorse, or believe in your master-plan… and the moment you don't like the turn in somebody's tone (whether or not they're even aware of how their jaded, cynical, or unimaginative attitude affects those they chit-chat with), you needn't continue to subject your cherished values to their unwelcoming energy. Likewise, please resist the self-limiting notion that, to be 'reasonable' or 'realistic' about presently-pressing financial and/or business-related circumstances, you ought to stop funneling so much attention into what else may become possible later, once the immediate situation is better stabilized. Frankly, that's hogwash. In fact, if you sincerely hope not to find yourself in quite the same tight spot again and again, you must simultaneously handle today's business and continue dreaming up favorable scenarios for getting beyond this crap tomorrow. Remember that, as you take advantage of this brief window of career (and/or outside-world) opportunity: Why attach to the thoughtless shit that other people say, if it merely binds you to a routine reality you're in the quiet process of reconfiguring and/or transcending?

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Words can feel strangely inadequate, Scorpio… even as, at the same time, you have a noticeably enhanced capacity to articulate certain strains of difficult feedback, challenging confession, and/or nuanced explanation of what's working (and not working) in a given involvement. Though it is useful to delve into the various nitty-gritty facets of each other's experience—for continuing discussion not only provides us snapshots into one another's psyche, but assists us in cohering our own disparate feelings into a communicable tale—please have reasonable expectations about what can (and cannot) be achieved through an interactive exchange of verbalized sentiments. You can help each other fill in narrative blanks, understand direct emotional responses to particular incidents, and get close up into many of the relevant details. Yet, you can't expect any swap of words to produce an unambiguous answer about what the next 'right thing to do' is. Conversations will paint a picture of the landscape, but they won't reveal which way your journey ought to carry you. Only your gut-level intuition holds this distinct knowledge. Your body will tell you, non-verbally and unequivocally, what's correct for you.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): In a legitimate spirit of curiosity, please collect ideas, inspirations, observations, advice, and supportive sentiments from the most interesting, informative, and insightful characters in your life, Sagittarius. That will require you to refrain from defensively arguing back against notions which initially seem irrelevant, illogical, or inconsistent with your ideals (as first impressions can be deceiving), closing yourself off in fear or panic about possible farther-reaching implications (since, for the moment, you're just 'taking it all in', with no pressure to 'do anything about it'), and/or hastily rejecting anything that's too unfamiliar-sounding. This is unequivocally the smartest orientation for you to presently adopt, for your own professional advancement and/or real-world evolution. Naturally, there may be an emotionally unsettling quality to such a receptive posture, as if being open to other angles and possibilities somehow calls your own enterprising laser-focus into question. 'Unsettling' needn't lead straight to 'upsetting', though. It is its own distinct emanation, reflecting a instinctive response to the uncertainty that comes with innovation, expansion, and change. Any upset, in this context, would merely be a derivative response to that initial response, implying you somehow ought to be more certain than you are, for one reason or another. Spare yourself that. Instead, marry 'unsettling' (even with its triggering unknowns) to 'exciting': Something beyond what you'd initially envisioned could be possible.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Continuing reminding yourself, Capricorn, that the very manner in which you address your day-to-day responsibilities—which you consider most pressing or pointless, whether it's an endless drudge or purposeful energy-investment, how it either supports or undermines your bodily well-being, eases or exacerbates your existential dread—speaks volumes about what you believe. The everyday-and-commonplace is where our actions, small move by small move, literally comprise the worldview we tacitly endorse through living it out. So if the life you're living every day doesn't accurately personify the type of world you wish to be part of, you have a duty to yourself to address this divide. Thankfully, you definitely possess the power (especially now, as Jupiter and Pluto form their third-and-final exact trine) to steadily improve how virtuously your daily existence represents your ideals… though, I reiterate, this is best done in modest, mundane maneuvers, with lasting impact on your habits, routines, or rituals. With Venus presently in your 7th, the most immediately rewarding of such maneuvers: appreciatively reveling in the quality-time spent with the people you cherish, respect, and love the most.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Get yourself in the flow, Aquarius, by realizing that the way you conduct each piece of your work serves as a ringing endorsement of your style, your attitude, and your unique lens on the world. The sentiments you choose to emphasize, and the manner in which you express them… these comprise your story, which is yours to freely tell so long as you posit no pretense that it ought to speak for anyone else. (Trying to turn your first-person shares into objective commentaries on society will only weaken their power.) Therefore, please don't let your reservations about how what you're working on will compare, contrast, collide, and/or compete with others' endeavors freeze up your own productive process. Rather than caving to social pressures (and/or your desire to make some grand statement that reactively differentiates you from everyone else) while still in the very act of making decisions about what, when, and how to create, you ought to flip that sequence… and create first, then invite the results you yield to help you better identify the best niche to position yourself in. But are these efforts actually supporting your larger push-of-ambition? Too much worry about that, at this juncture, could shut you down. For now, just get into the work itself… remembering that you (and not some concocted marketing angle) are the most valuable investment-resource of all.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): It's currently more important that you reach a clearer understanding of what's going on inside you (as I mentioned in the closing of last week's scope), Pisces, than that you attempt to convey that understanding to others. In fact, the very act of formulating a version you could readily express to someone else already compromises the complexity of your multiple emotion-threads, since you'd essentially have to 'flatten' it into language in order to make it more digestible to that particular someone-else. There will be time for that later, after you're better settled into your own emerging self-knowledge. Beware, therefore, of any false sense of urgency (whether coming from a pushy partner, a demanding authority-figure, or your inner get-on-with-it-already) that would contend you must make a statement now, one way or the other, fight for your truth or count on defeat. (I'd argue that, to really make a statement, you must have spent sufficient time to internalize, integrate, and embody it first… or else you might be too easily shaken when faced with dissent.) In the meantime, Venus is presently doing lovely things for you, sitting in your solar house of love, creativity, pleasure, and play (the 5th), which suggests another way to 'speak volumes' is by engaging in activities you thoroughly enjoy, only with those folks best able to easily enjoy them along with you—and not worry so much about explaining anything to anybody.