Horoscopes | Week of April 4-10, 2011

ARIES (March 21-April 19): One sudden-brainstorm big idea begets the next, as simply and speedily as you can release any attachment you might hold to the prior one, should it, in the process of becoming actualized, prove to have been short-sighted, unrealistic, or missing some key point. You face no shortage of nexts, Aries, as long as you adamantly refuse to get caught up on snags. Snags happen all the time, to everyone. It's how we react once we hit one that separates the doers from the whiny complainers. I hold limitless trust in your sign's present capacity to persist… to maintain a forward-charging momentum no matter what surprises get thrown at you, how many times you have to invent a previously-unimagined solution to circumstantial slowdowns, overlooked steps, or other people's piss-poor excuses. Yes, in some cases, sheer might could be required—perhaps even terse words with folks who aren't willing or able to think beyond protecting their own meager domain of authority. Don't be unnecessarily mean. Respect 'em as people who aren't any better or worse than you… though you may end up at irresolvable odds, and have to go around 'em or trudge through 'em to continue.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What we focus on gets bigger, and what we ignore dissipates into the background… a truism that only carries more power for you presently, Taurus, with so much planetary occupation in your solar 12th, where our state-of-being is that much more emphatically impacted by how we channel our psychic energy. While this 'in-between' moment doesn't call you to carry out too many tangible out-there efforts, it certainly does provide a wonderful opportunity for positive intentional visualizations—and, at the same time, increases the destructive capacity for negative fixations to prolong and/or intensify the very conditions that originally spurred the negativity. More so than usual, following the illogical (but impossible to disprove, especially the deeper you get into theoretical physics) rules of metaphysical thinking supports your desired goals more than struggling to make real-world advances (when the cards are temporarily stacked against you, which could lead you to get frustrated, which could undermine your confidence and worsen the struggle). Even if you don't totally 'believe' in the premise I'm describing, adopting its practices will still have a productive effect.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Part of reorienting yourself to a life lived more fully 'out there'—as opposed to staying cooped up inside one singularly all-encompassing situation—involves finding your place by trial and error. So don't hold back from directly questioning those characters who belong to your newly-emerging niche, for guidance on the best social protocols and practices to use in this context. Likewise, Gemini, if you notice a dynamic that doesn't make any sense to you, there's no need to pretend it does. Push on the awkward symptom, to see what sort of reaction you get. Because you're not quite all the way 'in' yet, you're uniquely positioned to provide a fresh-eye's feedback on what doesn't appear to be functioning so smoothly. By virtue of your very presence (and your willingness to openly engage), you may be profoundly helping your friends or colleagues break away from stale, unconsidered patterns. Of course, it's just as likely that, since you're still finding your place, others will correct certain misperceptions you're harboring (hopefully with a gentle touch), demonstrating where you've inadvertently been blind to your own self-referencing biases. Navigating through such clunky moments, without getting mired by holding on to tension, is how you'll all get to know each other better.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): While so many astro-indicators suggest you're at a decisive career (or public-world-contribution) moment for pushing ahead with a self-determined agenda, it appears unlikely you'll move forward (at least as resoundingly as you hope) unless you confront a certain battle-of-wills head on. It's near impossible, Cancer, to simultaneously (1) occupy the go-getter role presently assigned to you, for the sake of your own blazing ambitions, and (2) still emotionally kowtow to the subtly (or less subtly) controlling sway of a person who'd probably prefer you not pour more of your energies there. In other words, you have no choice but to more audaciously claim the power position—though this could irreversibly alter a key relationship (personal or professional), due to an unapologetic shift in priorities on your part. We must consider the possibility that this 'controlling sway' I'm attributing to another person is actually something you have handed over to them (whether or not they're consciously aware of it)… that you have somehow benefited from putting consideration for someone else's needs above all else. In that case, you're really 'battling' within yourself, over the notion of whether displeasing another person or dashing their expectations is worse than selling yourself short.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): The more emphatically you attempt to shirk your everyday attending to non-optional obligations, the more threateningly their unavoidability will loom over your visions for what else is possible. In other words, Leo, don't lump all your responsibilities together into one large sum of shit you'd rather not have to siphon your amped-up energies towards. As I mentioned last week, some of what you're contending with can actually be circumvented, dismantled or transcended. Yet, other parts of it require your continued attention. That's why you mustn't paint your current list of to-dos with too broad a brushstroke, lest you overlook pressing essentials in a mad rush to the next destination. You'll have to differentiate pointless busy-work from purposeful productivity… and then, on top of that, you'll still want to keep one eye up ahead (where all the excitement is) while keeping the other firmly in the here-and-now. It's a potentially stressful straddling act, between (1) present-quickly-lapsing-into-past and (2) future-quickly-becoming-present, but that's just the nature of the times, isn't it?

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): You needn't insist on finding your way out of this maze solely on your own. For that matter, Virgo, I'm not sure you need to 'find your way out' at all. Any frantic searches for the emergency escape-valve will be largely motivated by panic… which can alternatively be diffused simply by calmly acclimating yourself to your surroundings, rather than falling prey to a conceptual claustrophobia that has you convincing yourself you're trapped (when, in fact, you're simply somewhere else). But if your situation does demand that you somehow wind yourself back out—and in case I haven't made this suffocatingly clear, I'm not sure it does—then please make this quest an interactive project. Pose the dilemma, at least as you see it, to other parties involved. Ask them what they would do in your case. If they choose to reply in safe non-committal language, push 'em for more. Should they wish to dodge this exchange of menacingly forthright feedback altogether, corner 'em into it. If there's indeed some legitimate problem, it doesn't just belong to you.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Running through the script in your head, either to prepare yourself in advance or to attempt to make sense of it in retrospect, is wasted energy. Before you even have a chance to get a calm grip on what just happened or to memorize your lines for the next act, Libra, the situation will have already changed again… and isn't your perturbation likeliest to worsen if you continue setting yourself up for dashed expectations? That's why it's best to have as few expectations as possible about how it'll go once you're finally engaged in the negotiation, the meetup or the having-it-out. Just show up, ready for anything to come out of You-Know-Who's mouth… or out of yours. It wouldn't surprise me to learn the heightened potential for one or both of you to lose control is creating knots in your stomach. All you can really do to appease the anxiety, since no amount of further preparation is really helpful or even possible, is remember to breathe deeply every time you begin getting lost in your mind's hypotheticals. You air-signs need all the oxygen your little lungs can handle, especially when life refuses to slow down to a more graceful, flattering pace. (And it ain't slowin' down any time soon.)

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Should you confront a small (or less-small) disruption to a daily process, Scorpio, it could end up being a promising opportunity to revamp more than just this one particular section. But before you can even begin to consider a 'disruption' as an 'opportunity', you've got to prepare yourself not to freak out about the changing circumstances. Under the current astrology, you can pretty much expect to have to re-create or remaster bits and pieces on the fly… at least once or twice, if not repeatedly. And so, if you already know this going in, you should be able to align to this dynamic—and cut off any possible tantrums (which will only disrupt the process further) that would inhibit your most creative responsiveness. Forget about prompt timelines, pristine methods, or end-results identical to the preliminary sketches. Instead, embrace improvisation. Incidentally, this advice also applies when an idea or initiative gets hijacked by another person's pressing need to be included. Don't let 'personality issues' prevent you from hearing 'em out. Resisting their interjections will likely turn their tone that much more unrelenting.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): I already issued the warning last week: No more excuses. If you're not generally having an absolute ball in at least one significant zone of your life right now, Sagittarius, please get off your grumpy ass and do something about it. Astrological opportunities like these do not come around every day, or even every year. Fun is not only calling your name; it's insisting upon your presence, for deeper reasons beyond the obvious. Your zippy, cheeky energy is presently in great demand… not only to bring further pleasure into your life (which, to be frank, should be enough of an incentive), but to spark a liveliness in the people around you, in the environment itself, and in the entire cosmos, where a single laugh or squeal of joy can alter stellar orbital patterns and more, according to the golden rule of interconnectedness. There's more than enough bad news, complaint-filled outlooks and fear-frozen hesitancies to go around. What a generous altruistic gesture it is, therefore, to simply generate more good vibes here in our neck of the universe. And so basic. Need I say more?

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): Don't you owe yourself a private reprieve already? Isn't it worth letting yourself off the emotional hook for whatever instance of falling short you've conjured, in order to keep yourself feeling guilty (when it's not actually necessary)? Sometimes, Capricorn, the most intrusive impediment to achieving a sense of soaring inner freedom is our (conscious? semi-conscious? totally unconscious?) refusal to accept our own fragile, imperfect humanness. And so very often, we impinge on this free easy acceptance by defaulting to an immediately self-critical script (inherited from whom?), no matter what we have or haven't done… and leaving ourselves in a no-win situation where there's always something we could've done differently and/or better. This catches us in stunted progress, between regretfully self-questioning replayings of the past and tense unreasonable expectations for the future—when all we've ever really got is Now. Whatever it is you fear you messed up (though can't go back and fix) or are bound to mess up (so why bother even trying?)… give yourself a fucking break already. Move on, and free up all that emotional energy you're wasting.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): Hold at bay any compulsions to escape from the seemingly-never-ending social involvements, Aquarius. Though you imagine you'd feel less put-upon if only you could retreat behind the invisible beaded-curtain separating earthly participation from otherworldly non-personhood, the opposite is actually true. Hiding yourself away from the constant cordial inquiries, conversational openings and other shows of interest will only feed your darker side… thusly encouraging you to think cynical thoughts about 'how people are', from within the self-imposed remove of know-it-all untouchability. Nobody's very likely to prove your doubts wrong if you don't give 'em a chance. Meanwhile, nothing will push a cloud of pessimism away from your sphere-of-influence faster than free exchange of interpersonal energies with any- and everyone you come in contact with. Swapping a friendly smile with a stranger, for instance, could be enough to shift the whole day's mood. And that's just by exerting the barest minimum of social effort. Think of the effect that a rich afternoon or evening of nonstop socializing could have. Yes, the very thing you feel compelled to escape could be exactly what rescues you from self-invented gloom.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): What you know (at least on some level) you've got to do to help stabilize your own boat, Pisces, might look strange to other people. Or you might fear it'll look strange to other people. Or you may find yourself waffling on the 'just do it' step of the process, due to irresolvable wonderings about whether or not it'll look strange to other people. You, however, don't have the luxury of worrying, to any noteworthy degree, about such social-conformity concerns. You've got shit to take care of. (Or haven't you been keeping up-to-date on the conversation happening here?) Beyond the unambiguous need to rapidly attend to the pragmatic details of your immediate situation—and we're talking about your situation, not anybody else's—you have nothing else to worry about trying to 'handle'. Whether or not you bend over backwards to integrate yourself among people or projects outside your small radius of self-securing necessities (and perhaps strain or sabotage yourself in the process), your relationships with them will continue to evolve as they will. Try not to occupy yourself too much with such causes. Be reasonable about just how much time and energy you have at your disposal… and where it should be spent.