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Horoscopes | Week of January 16-22, 2017

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Please hang tight, Aries. Your time to make a forward move (or many moves, as the case may be) is coming, I swear. But that time is not now. Your ruling driver Mars remains in its holding-chamber (your solar 12th) through the end of next week… and until it shifts out of there and into your own home-sign, it behooves you to hold off on dashing ahead. If you want to do something quote-unquote 'productive' as you're waiting, you might consider dialoguing with yourself about any life-philosophy which stipulates that taking immediate action is always the superior option in any and every situation. Though such a philosophy undeniably leads to good results in certain contexts and conditions, it also carries an ingrained bias against other types of responses such as wait-and-watch, feel-into-it, or talk-it-through. You may be more generally action-oriented than your less-fiery zodiac kin—which sometimes serves you well, and sometimes puts you at a disadvantage—and yet they still manage to be competent and successful in their own right, albeit in distinct ways. Rather than taking much action, then, spend this week reflecting on the relative virtues of options other than 'action'.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You aren't entirely at liberty to take a purely self-referencing, self-interested position within the organization, tribe, or public sphere, Taurus… due mainly to an existing arrangement, dynamic, or power-share you've already agreed to uphold alongside an influential partner, collaborator, or investor who you don't want to cross. This preexisting relational condition serves as but a mere mitigating factor, however, rather than a wholesale shutdown of your continuing capacity to lead others in the context of a common cause or concern. You still have a rather persuasive part to play within this larger group's determination of its best next-moves and team-building focal-points. How, then, to simultaneously lead while not going so far out on a visible limb that you jeopardize the terms-of-trust which (for now at least) inextricably bind you to this certain other power-wielding party? By relying on your teammates, of course, to do some of the more conspicuous 'heavy-lifting' in terms of what happens in the glare of public light. If y'all are sincerely working together, you should wisely identify that you presently have more to lose from outward displays of uncompromising resistance than many of your peers. Delegate roles accordingly.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): What makes you successful in your career efforts and/or other public-world endeavors is not some isolated skill-set or character-trait that's easily separated out from the sum-total of your personality, Gemini. Even if you think you do a good job of segregating your professional performance from your 'personal life' (as if you cease to be a 'person' whenever you're attending to these outside responsibilities), you still bring your whole self with you wherever you go—yes, even when you're a multiplicitous Gemini. This is an astrologically apt moment to mindfully embody this awareness, instead of denying its present relevance or trying to act like someone you're not in professional contexts. Though overall you remain in a prominent position to impress, you won't competently do so by forsaking interpersonal sincerity or selling out parts of yourself, essentially inviting managers or contacts or colleagues to build their working relationships with a disingenuous facsimile rather than the real you. Remember: Courtesy of Saturn's ongoing presence in your 7th, your most-pressing personal work continues to demand fuller moment-to-moment forthrightness in all your one-on-one exchanges—yes, even at work.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): It is perfectly okay to be motivated by grand idealistic notions, cherished values, and/or the quest for something bigger and better than what you deal with everyday in the here-and-now, Cancer. Scratch that: It's better than 'okay', it's magnificent to care about adhering to a principled worldview, learning to understand how others lead meaningful lives outside your limited-perspective bubble, and striving for a daily existence with fewer moral compromises. But simply declaring these intentions isn't nearly enough to magically situate you on such a path. You must incrementally put these ideals into practice. So, while your day-to-day work or other mundane obligations may not immediately afford you the unqualified freedom to drop everything that doesn't neatly mesh with your highest belief-system-based priorities, you do presently hold a heightened capacity for effectively conveying relevant beliefs and defending treasured principles through your one-on-one exchanges… a more modest way of living your truth, perhaps, than leaving your personal duties behind and devoting yourself entirely to some humanitarian mission, but nonetheless impactful. Stand up for what's right, then, when conversations present you the chance. Don't let problematic shit slide.

LEO (July 23-August 22): You mustn't attempt to act as if you're a solo entity, Leo, when your immediate fate is inextricably tied up with certain other people's efforts. The good news is that you're definitely not alone in this. Even better, because you're not alone, you're liable to jointly produce more inventive and/or thorough results than you possibly could without their collaborative contribution. On the other hand, it'll inarguably be a more involved, intricate, and/or entangling process than it otherwise would… for the simple fact that multiple opinions, attitudes, and investments must be exchanged, haggled over, and/or interwoven, in order to attain an outcome that's more-or-less acceptable to all parties. Please accept that fact, rather than trying to resist its inescapable applicability. In more stressful moments of the process, you may be able to cool any interpersonal tensions by reframing the tense talks away from personal preferences or interests and towards 'what'll work best', turning an ego standoff into a less-charged discussion about methodology or functionality. That, of course, means you might also have to compromise on how you want it to go, in favor of what'll work best for the joint endeavor's maximal success.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): There are rarely moments this ripe for unequivocally describing what will make you happiest, Virgo, so the person(s) presently best situated to provide it can actually satisfy your predilections… or at least so that you all can come to terms with their inability and/or lack-of-desire to do so. That's why you'd best refrain from telling yourself you're being 'needy', trying to downplay the 'drama' of navigating hurt feelings or dashed expectations, and/or refusing to accept that relationships are living-and-breathing extensions of ourselves which, therefore, must evolve along with our changing life-circumstances and self-definition. Everything you fear is too touchy, messy, awkward, confusing, or potentially painful is a source of your exquisitely fallible, emotion-driven humanity—the singular quality upon which our most accepting, nurturing, healing, and honest partnerships are based, since the only way to authentically share a life with somebody is to share yourself with them. To give yourself more of that, be real about your likes and dislikes. Otherwise, ask yourself how you could ever become happier with someone you can't 'be real' with.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): One modest challenge at the moment comes from resisting the urge to interrupt your streaming workflow, Libra, in order to chitchat or bellyache or kiki with pals. If catching up with a certain player is indeed pertinent to your continuing-along with your current tasks-in-progress, then, by all means, please don't skip that step. But as soon as you've allowed your work to serve as an initiating excuse to then perpetuate a conversation once it meanders far beyond the zone of anything immediately applicable to the task-at-hand, you're wasting valuable productivity time. What's the big deal with that? you might wonder. It's simply a matter of shrewdly exploiting windows-of-opportunity when they come around—and this is one of those instances when you should try to accomplish as much as you can, while you've got 6th-house planetary assistance. Inessential socializing can wait, therefore, even if just for another week or two. The most frustrating part about that might just be how many exciting possibilities (other than whatever's being born out of the 'streaming workflow', of course) are now really starting to stir. Lots to discuss, soon enough.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Your sign is notorious for not letting your guard down with just anyone, Scorpio… or at least not without a very specific motive for doing so (one which you don't always share with the person-in-question, which begs the question of just how much you're really 'letting your guard down'). But for the moment, brandishing a comparatively unguarded attitude toward folks interested in hearing about the unique inclinations and proclivities that make you you—those with whom such a heart-to-heart discussion might help you better acknowledge, articulate, and/or accept the truth of your incontestable desire—will move you closer to getting what you want than self-protectively 'playing it cool'. Plus, putting this desire out on the table enables you to see it more clearly… including the aspects of it that, even with an eager embrace of your romantic-thinking side, you can't help but notice are conspicuously impractical. Though you shouldn't let this measure of impracticality extinguish your hope, you do need to address it… which is something I believe these unguarded heart-to-heart discussions will directly and distinctly assist with. Admitting you don't quite know how to actualize this thing you desperately want is a wonderfully honest opening.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Presently, your behavioral impulses will be actively egged on by whatever potent emotional reaction you're experiencing at any given moment than you might totally understand, Sagittarius. That won't be too much of a problem as long as you willingly concede its truth, rather than posturing like you're being altogether 'reasonable' in your response-instincts. Once you can admit you're just feeling a certain way at this certain time, however, you can hopefully see the value in allowing that feeling ample room to make itself thoroughly known—to surge or spike, to simmer down or subside, to slip-and-slide from one angle to another—before acting on it. For the record, I am not questioning the validity of any presently potent emotions you feel… merely encouraging you to interject a sufficient pause in your response-process so you can integrate a moment's feelings with the longer-term life-strategy you've (hopefully) been loyally sticking with as Saturn's been working through your sign. This week, with an emotionally provocative and/or agitating 4th-house Mars squaring off with Saturn, you're at risk of disturbing your longer-term strategic efforts with overly hasty moves motivated more by defiance than proper forethought. Inserting a bit of lag-time so you can plan your next action could make all the difference.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): When sharing your distinct thoughts as I encouraged you to do in last week's horoscope, Capricorn, you needn't have any particular agenda other than to candidly participate in that moment's discussion. You needn't angle for a certain outcome… or even rack your brain in hopes of determining which outcome might be most personally favorable. Neither need you worry about whether you're preserving the appropriate tone, exposing too much personal information, or creating one particular impression of yourself or another in the listener's mind. In fact, this is an especially fitting week for speaking off the cuff, sharing intimate details for no other reason than letting someone else get to know you better, and flashing your less self-controlled side to the world-at-large. This calibration is more about harnessing the current astrology for outward-aiming self-expression, to provide yourself both the release of disclosing thoughts and opinions and feelings and a chance for those released sentiments to morph and evolve while bringing you closer to other people. Meanwhile, what those 'other people' might think about what you share is not, at the moment, as much of a concern (so stop trying to control their perception of you).

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): This is no time to discount or scoff at what you do have at your disposal, Aquarius. Regardless of what your bank balance presently reads, you are indisputably rich with resources you could use to better secure your footing, to plug up any leaks and immediately slow or stop the hemorrhaging of cash, and/or to invest in efforts that'll create a more lucrative future for yourself. To optimize your ability to practically deploy these riches, you'll need to start with halting any fruitless 'wishing' that you had something you in fact don't—which is nothing more than a refusal to accept material reality. You can't make workable plans without an accurate accounting of your current situation, minus any inflationary notions-of-grandeur or confidence-depleting self-pity. Amazing feats have been carried out with the monetary equivalent of recycled newsprint, scotch tape, paper clips, and heaps of passion. Though of course it's easier with an injection of financial capital, the successes are qualitatively different... and the do-it-yourself successes arguably prove more valuable. In any event, in the short term, I recommend taking this stock discreetly rather than loudly declaring your worth: Saturn in your 11th warns of the current social dangers of talking comparative wealth with friends.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): You are who you are. It's as simple as that. And the present astrology is tailor-made for coming fully to terms with this simple truth, Pisces… and realizing there's nothing intrinsic about yourself which you must fix, disavow, or apologize for. That's not to say there aren't areas for improvement, habits that need to be better encouraged or altogether curtailed, unfulfilled goals to work toward or values to pay more attention to. But the essence of your individual self is perfect as it is, you must know—and if only you granted yourself the same compassionate consideration you show to everyone else (you know, all those wounded hearts and less-advantaged souls and folks-in-need whose trespasses you routinely forgive, knowing they mustn't be judged as people based on their less-than-upstanding behavior), you'd save yourself all that emotional self-torture. On a more practical-life level, this radical self-embrace would necessarily include acknowledging if a current professional (or public-world) position you hold, a boss or authority-figure who oversees you, and/or a parental dynamic is actively contributing to the mistaken sense you aren't okay being who you are. Any such acknowledgment is your clue about how that path is only leading you to diminishing returns, if not outright self-damage.