Horoscopes | Week of March 9-15, 2015

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Keep on doing whatever will ultimately (not merely fleetingly) please you, Aries, but please don't waste your breath trying to rationally explain, justify, or persuade. Those who aren't supportive of—or, for that matter, are openly hostile to—your latest moves won't be easily convinced to change their minds. Any such unfavorable reactions to you will be instinctive and psychologically driven in nature, not necessarily logical or lucid in the mind of the antagonist. And nothing you are likely to say, in an attempt to defend your actions and/or deescalate the tension, can adequately address their envy, animosity, competitiveness, or sense-of-threat. Plus, even your most carefully chosen words probably wouldn't come close to accurately describing what's really going on for you… and could, in fact, give them a very wrong impression of you, confusing your highly personal motives for some greater political statement or moral stance. Besides, your spirited upstart attitude actually does pose a threat to the existing order. While certain fellow pioneers, innovators, and risk-takers will find inspiration through communing with your fiery streak, others (especially those who've benefitted from how things previously had been going) may be just plain mad you've decided to behave differently. Not sure how explaining yourself to them would make for a productive conversation.

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Still a lot of precarious, unsteadying volatility in the ethers, triggering folks to do stuff you'd hardly believe if you weren't seeing it with your own two eyes. And still a fairly large amount of incomprehensibility surrounding these developments, Taurus, at least insofar as you may be concerned with trying to discern what this all will eventually mean to you. With no disrespect to your general insightfulness, this is not the time to attempt a coherent moral analysis of the situation (or really to make any plans for a response, a mobilization, or a departure). Let the events continue to happen, largely unfettered by jarring judgments or interruptions. This story's still unfolding. If you want more informational fodder for personal reflection, solicit commentary or discussion from friends or colleagues in the field… while stopping short of challenging or debating them, even if you notice a gut-level resistance to what they're sharing. I'm not telling you, by the way, to accept what they tell you as true. Rather, such conversations are simply a good avenue for keeping yourself busy and out of trouble. Though things won't necessarily 'calm down' right away, Venus's arrival to your sign next week will provide both some much-needed grounding and a few pleasant easings-up.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Being handed a microphone and the expectation that you'll offer some representative messaging in honor of the greater authority recently bestowed upon you, Gemini, comes with a certain duty not to improperly speak on someone else's behalf, create collateral complications for them, or throw them under the bus. So, before you just get up there and start extemporaneously riffing (which is a natural talent you can ordinarily rely upon with no danger), please consider which other important characters' roles and reputations are directly (or indirectly) involved in the premise, project, plan, or party-line you intend to speak out about—and how they are likely to be impacted by the manner of your descriptions, detailings, and declarations. Should you have any doubt or confusion about it, go one step further and ask for their thoughts, both on the issue-at-hand and your role in it. Carried out successfully, your communications will strengthen your relationship(s) with key colleagues, partners, or teammates, as an automatic result of your willingness to conscientiously keep their interests in mind alongside your own. Conducted sloppily, alas, you may instead suffer relational damage, due to your unconscious need to distinguish yourself from the others… but, oh, you'll stick out all right.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Making a splash requires worrying more about finessing your own most-impressive cannonball-jump, Cancer, than about who might get collaterally splattered by spray drops from your plunge. With a conjoined Mars/Uranus-in-your-10th brawling with love-'em-or-hate-'em relational-intensifier Pluto-in-your-7th, there's virtually no way to startlingly awe the world with your daring brilliance without concurrently pushing some people's (or should I say a certain someone's) buttons. How can you stand fully and uncompromisingly in the renown you're earning yourself, if you're constantly concerned about whether your actions have offended some impossible-to-please individual? Likelier than not, you've unfortunately trained this critical character to expect your submission to their needs (because you need to be needed by somebody needy, perhaps?), even if it's come at a cost to your career and/or some other public position you'd have otherwise assumed. But all of that has changed, or is changing… or maybe should change if, at this very pivotal moment in your professional ascent, you're holding yourself back from outwardly asserting your potential, in fear of the interpersonal repercussions. Do not try to remedy any circumstantial expressions of this dynamic with a well-meaning conversation about ideals, ideologies, or life-principles. Just concentrate on making your most impressive splash. If after the fact they want to bitch or moan or attempt to control you, simply because they got a little wet from the sidelines, you can deal with it then.

 

LEO (July 23-August 22): Nothing ought to stand in the way of your carrying onward with whatever defining purpose has recently revealed itself, Leo, though functional questions about how exactly to achieve the most concretely potent results should still be actively on the table. The only avenue for affirming this purpose's lasting importance to you is to build it into the fabric of your everyday life… to make an actions-speak-louder-than-words statement that you intend to prioritize this purpose on an ongoing basis, well into the future, and thus must begin turning it into a habit. Otherwise, this moment could instead end up in the annals of your personal history as a remarkably interesting aside, a chance to dabble in a different sort of existence, rather than a full-on reinvention. Just to be clear, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with living out this latter scenario, provided you're being honest with yourself about the legitimate role all this latest excitement will play in your overall life-trajectory. Sorting this out is now becoming a more urgent concern for this reason: You're getting to a point where it strongly behooves you to get back to work, but what is the 'work' you should get back to? Must you start returning your attention more distinctly to your existing real-world, day-job responsibilities? Or is this latest 'defining purpose' now turning into your new real-world work?

 

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Be wary of any rising propensity in you to say the 'right' thing to that certain someone, Virgo—the sentiment likeliest to yield a most familiar, reassuring response and/or the relief-filled vibe of having once again attained a respectful mutual understanding—rather than the full truth of how you're feeling. Just because you may be able to use your words to quell an interpersonal strain and/or convince the other person not to obsess about some hot-button issue (which, perhaps, they should be preoccupied with), that doesn't mean your own needs will be satisfyingly met by adopting this diplomatic drift. In fact, such momentary reassurances would likely be founded upon partial sincerities, wishful thinking, and/or a nervous impulse to minimize upset at all costs… and, because of their improper alignment with your fuller psychological reality, could contribute to increased self-repressive resentments which only further amass your underlying frustrations. In other words, saying something sweet or accommodating, even with the best of intentions, won't neutralize the sentiments you're harboring to the contrary. If anything, they'll just intensify the emotional power of any shadow you're disowning.

 

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): Based on what you've been through with a certain someone (and/or in how you've been generally interacting with others) over the past two-to-three weeks, Libra, you should have a pretty clear idea of where it's all headed… and you might as well keep goosing it all along, with fearless conviction, so as to reinforce the obvious trend. That's not to confidently say there aren't any more surprises in store, however. On the contrary, if you're strongly unsatisfied with what's unfolded and/or disappointed that something you thought would happen still hasn't, this week provides you another electrifying chance to short-circuit this latest trend with a stunning shock. Think of it as your perfect 'all or nothing' shot, and proceed accordingly. Over the weeks ahead, you'll either be earnestly adjusting to the complicated realities of an interpersonal dynamic which has profoundly transformed since '15 began—or you'll be settling back down into pragmatic acceptance of what hasn't changed between you (and perhaps won't ever change). Where you fall among these options, believe it or not, is less about how the other person behaves… and more a factor of how hard you're willing to fight for emotional self-determination.

 

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Let's start in the very same place as last week, Scorpio: This is an incredibly promising moment for you, in terms of work-and-career-related matters. And so, naturally, I'd want to see you keeping these matters as your first-and-foremost priority for the time being… which may, consequently, mean not just uttering whatever thoughts cross your mind, especially if they are provoked by a need to defensively 'speak your piece' for idealized reasons of self-expression, rather than strictly by calculated practical strategy. Though you may excel at the actual tasks required to continue soaring professionally, you remain under Pluto-in-your-3rd threat of unintentionally communicating in a sharp, piercing tone. And it's damn hard to devote the necessary attention to those critical tasks when you become inadvertently caught up in convoluted processing-sessions, wars of words, back-pedaling apologies, or pointlessly distracting power-struggles… any or all of which would be a likely result of you pridefully refusing to hold your tongue. Pure self-expression may feel real fucking good, but it sure as hell won't pay your bills or ensure that a high-maintenance boss or client finally grants you that opportunity you crave. This is one of those cases where the old adage 'pick your battles' comes in super-handy. Your only active 'battle' should involve fighting to accomplish what's essential to your professional aims. For now, anything else is a risky ego-indulgence.

 

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): As you continue striking while this iron's still burnin'-hot, Sagittarius, consider the private thoughts which are simultaneously passing through your mind as a test of how present you're being with yourself. Even as the visionary, artistic, romantic, and/or pleasure-seeking genius keeps gushing out your pores, there's that familiar inner-voice trying to reintroduce one or another self-sabotaging messages, essentially outdated bullshit which neither supports your current practices nor holds much, if any, relevant insight (except, perhaps, a memory-window into the ways in which you've habitually tortured yourself). Without a doubt, there is a certain crudeness to the life-affirming material you're now bringing forth… and yet this is not the time to worry about refining it (that comes later), but merely the phase of free-association, brainstorm-y, process-driven creation. In the past, when such demon-messages would show up, you probably reacted by just shifting gears and doing something else. In this case, Saturn expects you to stay focused and on-task. Therefore, you must consciously override the perceived power of your internal critic by reaffirming, beyond the shadow of a doubt, you are doing what you should be doing for maximal authenticity-of-self… and fuck the stupid nitpicking, which, if there is any relevant insight amongst the noise, you can surely address at a less-fertile future moment.

 

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): You don't have to share that supposedly casual remark, crack the innocent joke, or offer an unsolicited opinion on something which doesn't really concern you, Capricorn. Though Mercury's arrival to your 3rd could leave you feeling a bit freer with your chit-chat, its applying square to Saturn-in-your-12th suggests it might be better not to presume what's 'casual' or 'innocent' to you is a value-judgment shared by your conversational companions. We all remain under fairly erratic astro-energies, meaning you could find yourself in social hot-water before you realize what's happening, if you don't preserve a mindset which continually reminds you to minimize such potential with good psychic boundaries. You're actually more emotionally subjective in your understanding of what's going on than you'd usually be, leaving you prone to overreacting should someone else read your motives wrong and/or project their unresolved crap onto some offhand comment you threw out there. A quickly-escalating back-and-forth could easily erupt from there, each party fueling the other's upset with a stronger emotional charge… all the while, the resultant friction having virtually nothing to do with whatever topic superficially 'caused' the upset. When in doubt, therefore, adopt the self-protective conversational approach.

 

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): As advantageous (if not essential) as it is for you to stay in the social fray, Aquarius, please understand that your active participation does not—indeed, cannot—ensure you'll be able to control (or even strongly guide) the flow of these proceedings. No matter the force of your conversational will, there are larger currents of opinion and perspective which remain beyond your capacity to influence much… and the less carefully you consider them, as you make your play to forefront certain ideas or interests over others (for self-serving purposes?), the likelier you are to hit up against a wall of inhospitableness. Does that imply, then, that you ought to change your opinions or perspectives, in order to faithfully fall into line alongside the other troops? Only if your belonging to this faction is more important to you than freely discussing what's on your mind (even if it's admittedly tentative), perhaps because you know you haven't thought through these matters as thoroughly as they have. It's less about where exactly you stand, and more about (1) how much political savvy you use in your communications and (2) whether you can preserve a certain detachment from outcomes, with eyes wide open to the potential for other players to be irrationally stubborn.

 

PISCES (February 19-March 20): After nearly two months hosting planetary-thinker-and-communicator Mercury in your foggy-and-fantastical 12th house, it's finally crossing over into your 1st, Pisces… which means you'll at last be in a better position to actually speak out about what you've been up to over these past several weeks, whether out of pride, ambition, and/or necessity. This is the logical next-step, presuming you have indeed taken recent actions to jump-start your development in a certain self-interested direction. People need to hear about the new you you're creating, now that you have a bit of experience under your belt and can clearly demonstrate you're not just 'all talk'. Take this last duty to heart, however: You will be attracting attention from relevant bigwigs, contemporaries, and potential patrons, and they will assess your competence based on how accurately and forthrightly you present yourself. With Mercury moving to square a stationing Saturn-in-your-10th, you cannot afford to embellish your experiences or fudge the reality of your present achievement-level. They'll be more impressed by communications which transmit an unflinching confidence both in what you know and what you don't yet know but are ready-willing-and-eager to learn more about.