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Horoscopes | Week of May 1-7, 2017

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Continue what you started, Aries. Append any hastily partial statements. Clarify what had been painted with too broad or feverish a stroke. Clean up any drips, leaks, or collateral messes. Eat the crow if you really fucked up. But keep on keepin' on, please. Mercury may be returning to direct motion this week (on Wed May 3), yet it remains too closely aligned with unpredictability-factor Uranus for anybody's comfort. Who needs 'comfort', though? Whatever's already happened in the past week or two is still very active… and whatever hasn't yet emerged but, inside the whirligig of your overzealous mind, feels like it must come out right away is, well, ready to come out. If it's been cracked open, you might as well throw another variable into the mix (or another shock into the system). Don't stop midway through this discharge process. Let it all gush forth. Now that the once-again-direct Venus is back in your sign (for another full month!), you've got a coating of fortunate charm atop your outer persona. You might be startled by the ultimately positive results of your free-wheeling, provided you aren't being excessively rough or mean-spirited.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Though Mercury finishes up its retrograde on Wednesday (May 3), Taurus, it remains in a rather precarious position in your solar chart through this week and next. So, just as you've recently been wise to keep your mouth shut and your actively-being-revitalized perspective on life to yourself, you should probably continue allowing the transmissions, transitions, and transmutations now happening around you to proceed as they are—without any direct interjections or interventions on your part. Please recognize, however, that you're in a far less vulnerable or off-kilter position than you were earlier in this hands-off phase: more solidly grounded in yourself (rather than unduly influenced by others), more immediately aware of your practical interests (and not wanting to threaten them), and more protectively on-guard (considering what's already gone down). And still, your biggest challenge remains not reacting when poked or provoked. While intently engaged in not-reacting, then, ponder what this stance has taught you about staying positive and pleased within a self-created bubble of reflective retreat.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Rather than focus on salvaging fractured alliances, correcting ideological misperceptions, or sparing feelings, Gemini, I'd recommend you accept any currently-ongoing shakeout as a very effective process of figuring out, trial-by-fire-style, who your people really are. Not only that, I encourage you to continue proceeding further into it… as opposed to backing away from any unsettling truth or glaring difference-of-opinion, in a halfhearted attempt to 'make things okay again' when perhaps they never really were. Don't be afraid of what might become irreparably damaged amongst your network of social connections, as a result of removing your filter and speaking on the spot from your heart. Instead, perhaps you might ponder why you'd want to rescind a sentiment that's probably (at least partially) really how you feel, just to reserve yourself the ability to mix and mingle with a wider cast of characters (including some who, if you're honest with yourself, you actually don't like that much). Grant yourself the freedom to let certain characters come and go.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You'll need to continue 'think[ing] on your feet, while still keeping them firmly planted on the ground' in your career zone (and/or the public sphere), Cancer, as Mercury flips back to direct motion and re-approaches Uranus-in-your-10th. Even with factoring in any recent surprises, discoveries, or announcements, you still don't know quite what to expect… so please don't fall prey to that false sense of certainty which often follows on the heels of a sudden disclosure or shocking piece of news, as if to assume now that's come to light, everything else is all neatly worked out. Mars remains in your 12th, a potentially treacherous influence over your instincts should your response-strategy involve playing both sides, proceeding on partial information, and/or undermining somebody while still smiling to their face. If you're instinctively moved to such a response, I recommend channeling the impulse into a behind-the-scenes rendering of all the different ways you imagine it could transpire… an exercise that'll provide you some insight to chew on, without you actually taking any external action. Outwardly, stay ready to optimistically embrace nearly anything.

LEO (July 23-August 22): More important than what anyone else is doing, Leo, is that you feel like you're doing the right thing… for you. This needn't be some universal or objectively-speaking 'right thing' (in fact, it decidedly is not) in order to be this definitively important, just the logical and/or essential move that eases your journey down whichever path likeliest leads where you'd like to go next. Once you've resolved the big navigational matter of where you're headed (and I believe you either already have or are just about to), the smaller questions about whether this act or that deed is 'right' will become much simpler, exposing distinct answers which speak for themselves. In most cases, one certain choice will clearly facilitate your smoothest advance toward a life that most excites and inspires you… while other choices could be made to work, I suppose, with plenty of tradeoffs or drawbacks or awkward inside-out maneuvering. Such efforts would probably consume a lot of your energy, all because you didn't want to let go of something that's not especially well-aligned with your guiding intention, in a valiant (and impractical?) attempt to 'have it all'.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): You are reaching perhaps the critical moment, Virgo, in terms of any last feelings to share or sentiments to contribute which might be relevant to whatever you've been batting around these past few months. To be unequivocally blunt about it (but, of course, with love), you're not going to get a better chance than this coming week (and into the next) to speak the scary statement. If, after everything that's recently happened, you still can't claim your fullest (and, yes, most potentially inconvenient) personal truth within the container of this involvement and/or entanglement, then, sorry to say, you will bear a sizable chunk of the responsibility for perpetuating a situation that's bound to feel even more self-limiting in the months ahead. You must put your interests front and center—not instead of anyone else's, mind you, but prominently alongside—or else it'll be at least partly (if not largely) your fault for their not being recognized, valued, or supported. P.S. Please be careful not to misdirect this built-up need for free expression towards the wrong party.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): If you want something to change in a certain one-on-one relational dynamic (and/or in your overall relationship-related behavior), Libra, you have to tell the person how exactly you'd like it to change. Vague suggestions, passive-aggressive insinuations, and/or hoping for the best are all pretty ineffective strategies. If your harbored desire or critical piece of feedback hasn't yet been spoken aloud, plainly and straightforwardly, please do it now (or at least by next week). Otherwise, you're willfully (even if only semi-consciously) catching yourself in a circular rerun of status-quo indecisiveness, with diminishing rewards for the energy it's sucking from you. If, however, you have already broken open the underlying suspense by broaching the disruptive topic, then you should expect this ongoing interaction to imminently circle back around to the chaos left by this initial breaking-open: Since you can't go back to the way it was before (thank goodness), you'll have to figure out how it'll be going forward. Seeing as that's currently a blank slate, now's your chance to toss a novel idea into the mix.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): In the onward unfolding of whatever functional methods, processes, and/or plans are lately being (re)addressed due to immediate necessity (as I described last week), Scorpio, you'll be more successful (and probably happier too) by conceiving of this as a 'creative development' more than a repair, a correction, or a clean-up. Technically speaking, of course, you may indeed be fixing something broken and/or attending to something that had been unfortunately overlooked… but thinking of it like that is only a constantly repeated reminder of what's already happened, with unsatisfactory results. This same situation is also an opportunity (and not just in a corporate-spin way) to figure out this project, program, or piece-of-work better than you ever have (and I'm not just saying that, it's true). Creativity does require a radical sort of openness, though, since you're seeking the birth of what hasn't previously existed. At the moment, staying especially open to what other people have to contribute is the attitude with the greatest creative potential.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): You're playing out another one of those 'life's too short' moments, Sagittarius, which is hopefully inspiring you to reaffirm what you really want to be doing… and, as a result, possibly distancing yourself from and/or pushing back against any incompatible actions or attitudes someone else is angling for. Yes, assertive and combat-ready Mars is still in your relationship house (the 7th), an emboldening influence on your willingness to stand your ground, defend your interests, and/or strongly advocate for how you'd like things to go in relation to any other person. This current astro-climate is not especially well-suited for winning over potential doubters or detractors with hospitable likability. It's more a setting for unapologetically expressed individuality—because life's too short to pretend to be somebody you're not, or to kowtow to folks you don't particularly like—and for letting those who are rubbed wrong by your brash self-possession, stimulating suggestions, or mischievous merriment just deal with being rubbed wrong (because whose problem is that, anyway?).

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): If you've recently been willing to discard or destroy the stories you were fed about how best to 'properly take care of yourself' or 'honor thy family' or 'create a happy home', Capricorn, then you should be happy to hear me affirm your newly-emerging understanding of how radically uncomplicated such duties can be. But only if you take your marching-orders on these ultra-personal matters from no one but yourself, of course. The hardest part may well be disentangling your self-care instincts from the messages force-fed to you (whether by strict discipline, guilt-tripping, or silent disapproval) which told you your instinctive self-knowledge was misguided, mixed-up, or just plain wrong. Though your capacity to meet specific external expectations and/or come off as both reasonable and well-controlled does serve you in many useful ways, it does nothing to answer your own relatively clear-cut and defiantly not achievement- or reputation-oriented inner calls to self-care. How you behave out in the world certainly impacts others, and should thus be thoughtfully considered. How you privately nurture yourself is nobody else's fucking business.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): As I see it, Aquarius, your own emotional well-being is not as tied up in the interactions or exchanges-of-ideas now circulating around you as the other participants'. Your tenderest feelings are presently being stirred by private matters that have little or nothing to do with what's outwardly transpiring in your social world (other than, perhaps, in the way your most intimate friends might share their version of 'the story' with extra delicacy, should they be privy to what's going on with you). Without my even addressing what such 'private matters' may specifically refer to in your personal life, I can still point out the fact that because your feelings are currently occupied elsewhere, you hold a uniquely emotionally-detached position in whatever interpersonal drama is occurring nearby—a detachment you didn't possess just a couple short weeks ago—and therefore could candidly utter the observation or clarification that no one else can or will. That's not to say you must, but, hell, it'd be a nice distraction from the 'private matters'.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Mingle, chit-chat, discuss amongst those with various opinions, and allow the amalgam of ideas to stimulate your brain, Pisces… but accept none of it as gospel that automatically ought to apply to you, just because somebody said it with spirited conviction. Take everyone else's feedback in, sure—why would you ever reject knowledge outright, before considering whether it might prove personally useful or enlightening?—but also take it with a grain of salt. At this juncture, you are the only one who both understands the uniqueness of your position (yeah, it's true: each of us is a distinct individual) and must respond to your unique situation in a way you can sincerely get behind. Therefore, while I'm often an advocate of receiving more outside input over less, in this case it looks as if you will have to decide how you want to handle your own business (especially with regards to making money, building self-confidence, and/or becoming more autonomous). As scary as it might feel to just decide for yourself, it's also wildly liberating.