Horoscopes | Week of February 15-21, 2010

ARIES (March 21-April 19): How does one go about convincing a 'do-er' that there's presently tremendous advantage to not doing much of anything? I'm not quite sure, Aries, but apparently the planets have charged me with forging an attempt. As I was getting at in last week's fishing-and-hunting metaphors, we often must strike a delicate balance between projective self-assertion (the part you innately carry off well) and receptive surrender (this part less so), in order to work with other individuals and the unseen hand of magical order for everyone's best benefit… as opposed to, say, insisting on things going in a certain manner by a certain deadline and, while some observable result is surely achieved, potentially missing lots of value-added goodies we'll never know about (since, of course, we missed 'em in our mad rush to get it going our way). Don't miss out on this extra-special something by being too insistent. What you can do is more the behind-the-scenes work: looking within, setting priorities straight, finding peace regardless of outcome, meditating on the mysteries that make life beautiful. Anything regarding forcing an issue or needling another person, I'd take a pass on.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): There's definitely something to the appeal of losing yourself in the crowd… if that 'crowd' is a collective of folks who comprise a movement you're authentically part of, a wave you can ride to higher heights and further distances than any journey you could make on your own. Leap into that collective pool with all your clothes on, Taurus, completely discarding any thoughts about how silly you might look or worries you might drown in all the excitement. When the folks laugh, they'll be laughing with you (assuming you, too, cannot wipe that wide-toothed grin off your face). If you sputter, they'll rescue you from danger. And all they expect as 'payment' for protecting you as one of their own? The same favor returned in spades… that you would slice another hour out of your seemingly too-full-to-be-believed schedule to aid them in their struggle, that you'd temporarily postpone indulging in self-delighting pleasures long enough to ensure they have a smidge or two to delight themselves with, and that you'd never quietly bear a super-sized cross, with only your own self-enclosing resignation as a prop, when they'd love the chance to grab a corner and help support the weight.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Ask not what the world can do for you, but what you can do for the world. It's that sort of thinking that'll line you up with the Venus/Jupiter boon currently lighting up your solar 10th. Yes, those are the two so-called 'good luck' planets in your house of career and public contributions, Gemini… though they only activate to their highest when we conceive of possibilities beyond our hungry ego's selfish cravings. In other words, among the many viable options under 'what you can do for the world', consider which would actually address what the world may most need. You've got mad skills in a number of areas (for you Geminis are the quintessential jacks-and-jills-of-all-trades), yet only certain of them can be applied to fulfill a genuine 'calling' now being transmitted along the psychic wires. Will you answer the call, knowing it could seem to knock you off the path of your seeming choosing—or perhaps finally knock you back on? Nobody's asking you to save all of humanity by sacrificing your own earthly needs. Still, if there's a way to yield just enough dough and some life-experience by orienting yourself toward the mystical pull of altruism (which comes in many forms), now's the juiciest moment in over a decade for embracing this sort of contribution.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Please don't get hung up on the piddling pesky li'l ins-and-outs of what you don't like about your present life situation, Cancer. This is a minor blip in time… at least, as long as you commit to not getting stuck in this 'present life situation' such that those same 'piddling pesky li'l ins-and-outs' aren't still bugging you two or three years down the road. I return your attention to last week's scope because its outlook toward a more enjoyable, meaningful future for you is exactly where you ought to continue concentrating. Flatly stated, you will not find a more apt moment for activating your imagination toward whatever stimulating personal goal will carry you far from here (literally or metaphorically). And if you can't begin with picturing it, you'll be hard-pressed to dig up the faith required to actually embody it at some later date. I'm not blowing smoke up your ass, encouraging you merely to 'believe' in a pie-in-the-sky future when it isn't likely to manifest if you don't also work hard toward making it happen. Your imagined picture won't come to life overnight, nor without plenty of sweat equity in the process. But the blueprint must first carried on the wings of an insightful dreamer's imagination, so the magicians behind the curtain have some guidelines to work from. Are you that insightful dreamer?

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Invite yourself to fall deeper in. The urge to grasp tightly to symbols or symptoms of your independence is a defense mechanism, holding truer intimacy and collaboration at bay. The thing you fear to lose—which essentially amounts to your direct control (as well as your ability to claim full credit)—is something of an illusion anyhow. And even if the absolute worst ends up happening further down the road, you'll always be able to pull yourself back out… and in the meantime, you'll have learned a valuable lesson or seven. But let's not focus on the worst, Leo, because in the likelier best-case scenarios, your willingness to share (in all the different meanings of the word) increases the ability for a certain special someone to actually see you (the real you, not just the magnetic image you project), perhaps in a way you've never been seen before. You and I both know that this 'real' you is even more loving and lovable, generous and loyal, supportive and stabilizing than most reputations you attract. Bring that sweet person out from behind the lion's roar. Dissolve the guard. Be all the way in it with your intimate partner or collaborator. Embody togetherness.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): If there were ever a week in which to cast a love spell (or to engage in whatever your 'less woo-woo' version of such wizardly behavior may be), this would be it. The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in your relationship house, Virgo, is the astro-aspect par excellence for reeling in an enhancement of interpersonal intimacy and connection. (Read more about it here.) To arouse the elements into supporting your happiest relational possibilities, I encourage you to meditate deeply on how it would feel in your body (as opposed to merely what you'd think about it) if you were in a situation where all your most lovingly supportive energy was readily accepted and cherished by someone open-hearted enough to value it accordingly. (If you're already living that situation, then you really ought to spend your week expressing your gratitude both to your partner and the gods-and-goddesses who brought him/her to you.) Notice the manner in which I phrased this meditation suggestion: in terms of the feeling of having your sincerest interpersonal offerings valued. Orient to that, my dear, and so much else that you want from relationship will follow as natural side-effects.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Don't underestimate the massive inroads you can attain, Libra, if you're attuned to how much your current work will benefit the day-to-day existences of folks out there living their lives… including, of course, your own. For the time being, it's as if you've become the obedient channel for a higher force of productivity that's powering your efforts, giving you a near super-human knack for diving in and enduring the elements as long as it'll take to emerge with results in hand. If you're not connecting with this divinely-inspired efficiency, you've obviously also disengaged with your boundless passion for making a difference that would power this connection. (And maybe that means what you're presently doing isn't, in fact, making much of a difference? Please take note of that insight.) Remind yourself why you labor as diligently as you do—and if that purpose is meaningful enough, let it push you past any self-imposed conservatism, in terms of how passionately you do (and don't) throw yourself into it. If you're already in touch and working with the 'boundless passion' I hailed, also please remember your physical self does have bounds.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): When I tell you 'love is in the air' for you, plenty of you simply won't want to hear it. When I report your rivers of personal creativity are gushing forth at unusually high levels, the more disgruntled among you might quip, 'Yeah, but what's that doing for me?' And when I insist, Scorpio, that no matter how grueling your present battle against that unsightly lack of recognition, outer-world opportunity and/or unjust power-structure may presently be, you're standing on the shores of more pleasure and joy than is imaginable by many… well, I just can't allow you to shut down my upbeat spin on your life, even if it requires arm-wrestling you into submission. I have repeated a similar message for you over the past few weeks, not because I'm running out of things to say (please: I'm never in short supply of words) but because (1) what I'm telling you is true and (2) you have enough justifying evidence to disbelieve me that this truth begs a continual drilling-in. So, have I drilled deep enough yet? Have I gotten you away from those hollow want-ads, the angry emails to disrespectful supervisors, your perpetual microscopic focus on where your best efforts don't appear to be leading you? Let's just put it this way: If I were there with you right now, I'd start tickling you until you couldn't help but giggle… and once that giggle slipped out, there would be no going back. Please don't make me come over there. Coax that giggle out from its hiding place now.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Without a doubt, the single best move you can make on your behalf this week, Sagittarius, is to stretch your compassion into whatever territory it need enter so you can forgive any annoyances that nag you when you're at home. I know that sounds like a tall order, but don't mistake this compassion-centered advice as an endorsement of overlooking the annoyances. There may indeed be something that needs fixing (especially with regards to unsatisfactory housemates or needy-and/or-pushy family members), in order for you to attain that greater level of inner-peace I keep going on about. But before you can even consider addressing the fix, you'll need to get a handle on your judgments against the indicted offender. Contrary to the simple black-and-white picture of the situation you've sketched in your mind, this is not a matter of 'right' and 'wrong'. It's a question of you requiring a certain manner of being in your domestic sphere, if you hope to gain refreshment and relaxation from your home-time hours… and a question of them having lived an altogether different history, coming from a different emotional place, and therefore not instinctively behaving the way you'd perhaps prefer. Open your heart to why the annoyance may be so damned annoying, and you'll be far better situated to deal with the person behind it, on terms they can grasp.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): If you want to claim your share of the week's Venus-Jupiter-enhanced fortuitousness, Capricorn, your number-one responsibility is to place yourself very much out in the social fray, so serendipity has a chance of finding you. Serendipity often travels on the backs of strangers or casual acquaintances who, as 'luck' would have it, happen to show up at just the right time… to deliver crucially affirmative messages, signs that you are on your own most proper track, without even necessarily knowing they are such insightful messengers. Of course, if we are so wrapped up in our own self-selected dramas (either with other people or with ourselves, chewing on those same damn bites but stupidly expecting them to taste different the longer they're in our mouth), we simply won't notice when divine epiphanies are emitted from the unsuspecting lips of other people. We're too busy repeating old, debilitating mantras. Please make it a point to participate in as many random encounters and unusual conversations as possible. Dare you pause with self-consciousness that you'll come off as silly or strange by engaging someone you don't know well, remind yourself we're all in the same boat of silly-and-strange humanity… no need to be shy.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Money, money, MONEY! Do I have your attention, Aquarius? Okay, I get that many of you Aquarians are so consciously aligned with ideas and values that transcend the common obsession with raking in dollars (though I'm sure plenty of you wouldn't mind raking 'em in), it would seem almost superficial or cheap to corral your energy toward a goal of financial gain. Yet, if ever there were a time to do so, this week—with a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, the two bringers-in, in your money house (the 2nd)—is it. I urge you, then, to take fullest advantage of asking directly for the monetary compensation (from employers, clients and/or the Cosmos itself) due you for sinking your electrifying genius into certain projects or purposes. The 2nd house is not merely about material currencies of value, however, but also represents our sense of self-worth… as a factor of being that we possess our own intrinsically valuable 'currency', with our traits and skills and attitudes, which we may exchange on the open market for other stuff. Therefore, if this makes it easier to ask for what you deserve, remember that the money is merely one agreed-upon measure of how much something (or someone) is worth. And considering what you're bringing to the proverbial table, aren't you worth it?

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Venus and Jupiter conjoin in your sign, Pisces… and for the first time since 1998!! This is just wonderful news for you, dear fishy. (Refresh yourself with last week's horoscope here, and with a whole article about the conjunction here.) On this occasion, I couldn't more strongly encourage you to shut off the pre-scripted tape in your head that's repeatedly directing your attention to everything that's not working as you'd like. If that's what you're looking at, that's all you'll see. The less contaminated a set of eyes and ears (and psychic receptors) you bring to your week ahead, the more likely you'll be able to detect the materialization of cryptic signs of your immense good fortune. I say this because, simply put, I have no doubt there's something right in front of your face which ought to inspire enthusiasm and hope about what this next many months may bring you. It is there, I swear it. The planets, alas, can only lead the fish to water; they cannot make it jump headfirst into the aqueous soup and immerse itself in that very substance it requires to flourish. The onus is on you to recognize, using the six or seven senses you possess, a damn good thing when it presents itself—and to claim it as your own.