Horoscopes | Week of June 21-27, 2010

ARIES (March 21-April 19): It seems you just cannot stop yourself, nor should you. In the same vein, therefore, whoever at the top becomes visibly perturbed with your 'latest antics' (how they might describe your relentless cracks at carving out your own niche in the world) is simply expressing their rightful response to you… all of which should tell you, Aries, in a certain sense, there's no getting around this adversarial 'kill or be killed' power struggle that stands between you and the grand prize. If somebody's powerful (or power-hungry) grasp on the reins continues to strangle you, perhaps you ought to be borderline (or way-over-the-line) infuriated. Even if there's no actual person cackling evilly from the throne room, you may still have justifiable fury against a fucked-up chain of command, an ineffectual bureaucracy, or that problematic model of authority you inherited from your family. And what are you, a timid doe? a blushing flower? a sopping doormat? Ha! Warrior-spirit, you mustn't fear a full-on overthrow (or your most valiant attempt, at the least). Blow that under-the-surface unpleasantness right out of the water!

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Time to meet the ultimate logical conclusion to your stated principles, Taurus. Are you ready to see just how far absolutism serves you? As threatening as those opening sentences can sound, they just as easily might be interpreted as promising wonderful results to those clear-headed enough to stick to their beliefs no matter how crazily relativistic the rest of the world appears to be. Whether this end-of-the-line realization is shockingly distressing or morally rewarding, its lesson is likely to reveal itself to you through how well your belief-system stands up to surprises. What happens when you or someone you love and trust behaves in a fashion that 'makes no sense' according to all that's familiar to you? Is there enough 'give' to bend, or will the ultra-rigid bough break? Will you cut off your nose to spite your face? Are you adaptable enough to new variables that you can avert the first-reaction judgments? Or, in the end, are you damn glad to be so firm and solid in what really matters to you that no unexpected development will shake your spiritual foundation?

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Neither one of us, not you nor me, can afford to look away from the truth. It ain't always pretty, as you surely know by this point, Gemini. And yet, the refusal to stare pain and loss and struggle (and maybe even death) square in the face is an implicit nod to staying frozen, right where you are… which (if you don't fully understand the consequences, allow me to explain) is like inviting a dull agony to loiter underneath indefinitely into the future, never wreaking its total havoc (dreaded though it may be) but also never really moving along. Yes, you heard me: It might never give way to anything better if you don't invite its full brunt into waking consciousness. Sure, you could pretend you've put it all to bed—even put on a brave face, giggle over the latest reality-TV-star headlines (because their exaggerated drama is easier to cope with than real reality?)—but it'll still lurk like a predator, hungry to destroy your hopes for a fulfilling future, by preventing you from connecting, on a genuinely intimate level, with anybody else. Why? Because what's gone, or is still going, on with you cannot be dealt with neatly. To get past it, you must trudge through it. Your authenticity is at stake. (Note to Gemini readers: Life won't be like this forever, I swear, and neither will your horoscopes.)

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cling to no more illusions, Cancer, about who a certain person is, or has been, in your life. You may still choose to love or hate them, hang on their every word or plug your ears every time they come near, but please don't tell yourself stories (whether flattering or indicting) about who exactly they are. Identities are fluid. Personalities are inconsistent. Chances are, this particular individual—and, for that matter, any individual—is much more than a tidy encapsulating summary can capture. And ultimately, the illusory understanding you've held about 'em is really more about you and the qualities you fear, envy, covet or detest in them than what they've 'done' (or 'not done') to you. But only after you demythologize their image, and see 'em for the internally contradictory creature they've always been, can you then reframe the whole discussion… because, after all, what's most important is granting yourself the same freedom to morph and transform, move forward and leave behind, without getting caught in the 'kind of person' such changes would deem you to be.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): An absence of basic real-world productivity ('I toil this many hours a week, to produce this tangible piece of work right here') has its very real ramifications… not the least of which is the obvious fact that, without it, not a whole hell of a lot ever gets done. Just because we are thinking and communicating beings, that doesn't exempt us from following a simple equation of 'asserted effort' + 'purpose' + 'persistence' = 'results'. We cannot sweet-talk ourselves out of hard labor, nor out of becoming increasingly unhealthy due to the poor habits we may keep. The good news, Leo, is the actual steps involved in staying productive are easy to understand—and, at this pressing moment, necessary to attend to. The harder news, alas, is whatever strangely potent psychological residue has left you semi-unconsciously resistant to accepting full physical responsibility for what you want… well, it's now rising up from its latency. Hopefully it will inspire you to sign an unbreakable contract with yourself to reprioritize dutiful daily productivity, as a way to show this inner rebel-complainer who's really running the show. Otherwise, it may tempt you toward inertia, laziness or self-overindulgence.

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): The more you think about it, the more uncomfortably heated-up you become. You have suppressed behaviors you otherwise would've enjoyed, merely to abide by rules (unspoken, implied and/or pressed upon you by peers) that the less-conscientious types clearly ignore. You've sacrificed blissful freedom for the sometimes-pinch of interpersonal responsibility, even when the other party hasn't asked for it (or, worse, would never instinctively return the favor). And now, when the questions on your mind likely involve how much shock or disruption you should or shouldn't 'inflict' on those unavoidably impacted by your current reordering of reality, you'd consider putting the brakes back on? Hhhhrrrrumph! I'm not advocating vengeance as a motivating drive, Virgo… but on the other hand, if the choice is between (1) maintaining the suffocating arrangement to mitigate the momentary chaos or (2) doing what you really want, though it may deeply upset someone else's expectations, please don't volunteer for more suffocation.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Is there enough space in your tightly woven cocoon for this unanticipated outside influence to assert him-/herself into your private domain? Whether we're talking about the physical residence where you dwell or that 'special place inside' where your secret self is safe to expose its tender parts, Libra, this question hangs, conspicuous like the humid air before a thunderstormy release. You can feel its density on your skin. The time's ripe to allow your life to become radically transformed by the close impact of another human being—only, you're understandably gun-shy about letting someone that far in (or, in the case of toxic housemates or family members, excising 'em all the way out). Making a literal move, to a new home or hometown, is a probable topic on the table… and while you might not fully commit to this plunge tomorrow, the emotions you're now experiencing represent the 'can't take it anymore' pinnacle. Your 'move', instead, could come in the form of finally disclosing the lurking fears keeping you on the brink of 'all in/all out'—an intimate share that may well decisively topple it to one side or the other. Life, however, is too short not to make some move.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Your brilliant ideas don't amount to much, if nobody knows about 'em. And sure, you could continue scheming until your grand plan starts to show signs of bearing fruit before finally showing your cards… but while that shields you from any blatant pressure to compromise your vision (or, for that matter, your control-freak tendencies), it removes you from the social marketplace of people interacting with each other, bringing their notions into open reality and actually letting them soar or crash on their workable merits. To separate yourself from 'them' (i.e., all those sorry dolts who show far less originality or passion than you know you possess) does nothing to push your agenda ahead, Scorpio, because you don't exist in a vacuum and therefore must 'play the game' (i.e., describe where you're coming from to people who may or may not initially understand or care), if you hope to get anywhere. That said, I grant you there's a lot of superficiality and unimaginativeness everywhere you look—and thus a real reason for you to feel fed-up. Don't succumb to it, though. Maybe you're the one to bring us some much-needed depth and imagination… if you actually will walk us through it, step by step.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): What you have is what you've got to work with, Sagittarius… and whatever resistance you're harboring toward this notion of believing you can make something of it, with surprisingly little outside investment (of either money or skilled labor), must be confronted head-on. And destroyed. And buried deep beneath the ground, never to be seen or heard from again. If you could make it through whatever Pluto-spawned darkness penetrated your existence during those difficult years (sometime between 1995 and 2008; the earlier within your sign you were born, the earlier the segment of time within that range), you can surely conquer this. In many ways, for the vast majority of you, you've already faced some of the hardest moments you'll ever know… which is why, while a lot of the folks around you are having their worlds rocked and rolled, you are far better prepared for this massive cultural change we're witnessing. Remember that next time you look around, wondering if someone else has the missing piece you need to turn this perspiration into a success story. You've already got it all, in spades. Now, to do something with it…

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): I can imagine it must really chap your hide, Capricorn, to admit, without flinching, that you are your worst enemy. Sure, the same could be said for any of the signs… ah, forget it, you Caps really do pose an especially formidable threat to your own freedom of expression and movement, if only because whatever you say or do will always fall short of how you envisioned it could go. But humanity's very survival may now be at stake (or, if it isn't, I still want you to proceed with a similar sense of urgency as if it were), and we cannot mess around with such inhibiting perfectionist tendencies. Therefore, you must starting fighting this foe with bloodthirsty ferocity. You've got to let yourself off the hook for 'falling short' and force yourself to be okay with who you actually are, right here and right now. Your game of self-repression is not only unhealthy for you, it robs us from all the assistance and motivation and diligence and smarts you'd otherwise bring to the table. That voice in your head telling you how bad and wrong you are, how you'll never amount to anything worthwhile so why bother even trying, or whatever other crap it's saying? Kill that fucker.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): The shrewdest way to shut the curtains on those shadows cast by hypothetical worst-case scenarios? Confront the demons, head-on, you versus the fear that threatens to ruin everything. Nobody can turn on the light, search under the bed, and clear out the closet but you, Aquarius… and the less willing you are to come to terms with the devious, self-aggrandizing part of your psyche that will never precisely adhere to your stated ideological position, the likelier it'll jump out from its hiding place and bite you in the butt. You are scared of that which you cannot wrap your brain around. This strain of selfish psychological lust—for dominance and total triumph, for ecstasy, for total release from worldly responsibility—must first be listened to, uncritically, on its own terms, before you can hope to corral it into conscious conduct. If you don't stay with it long enough to grasp what's at the core of its yearnings, it will always have you under its thumb. And if you don't understand it from multiple angles (and yes, that means one surging feeling probably conflicts with another), I suggest talking to someone about it. Even in that act, you'll bring it further into reality… the only place where you can hope to work with it.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Do you really give a rat's-ass how 'other people' (in quotes because, at its base, it's an abstraction) are apt to judge you? Seriously, Pisces, this whole notion of fitting in—or, its identical twin, purposely not fitting in (so you'll, of course, fit into a different sort of reactionary niche)—is terribly junior-high. And yet, at the same time, I want you to acknowledge how profoundly your psyche has been impacted by past experiences of rejection or incompatibility… if only so that you may understand why your adult self may still censor its distinctive individuality at certain moments, in order to gain supposed favor from that same cool older-sibling or trendy schoolyard clique reimagined with today's cast of characters. We've all hit up against our protrusive oddness through such exclusions. The difference in your case? You're so sensitive, they might've felt like mortal wounds. Before you automatically assume the role of outsider, pause to consider whether you have now become the preemptive judger (of yourself, of others, of others' judgments of you)… instead of leaving open the possibility you actually do belong somewhere, based on who you really are.