ARIES (March 20-April 19)
The past year has offered a glimpse of what is possible. You’ve also seen how much can change how fast, and how little you will miss the past when it does. Mostly, though, I trust that you’ve noticed that life treats you better when you offer yourself as a direct participant rather than as a spectator. Now, there are two basic postures through which you can participate. One is defensive. The other is progressive. You’ve had a few tastes of both. Defensive is basically a mode of reacting to or pushing back against your environment, after it has moved and affected your life some way. Progressive is where you get an idea about who you are, then commence an experiment or adventure seeing what it’s like to explore that idea. This is a creative way to live, in that you’re consciously self-creating who you are, then asserting that on your environment like an artist paints on canvas. I admit that few astrologers would say that any Aries lacks assertiveness. But I’m not talking about being headstrong, pushy, or ambitious. I’m talking about making subtle refinements that efficiently remove any reactive postures you may have, including being ruled by the fear that you will disrupt the apple cart, disappoint others, or change your world in a way that you cannot change back. I suggest you make friends with all of these possibilities, and boldly create existence from the inside out.
TAURUS (April 19-May 20)
You seem to be on a quest to be free within your relationships. Or rather, your relationships may be on a quest to have you be free within them. There is no question that you’re involved and deeply invested in the personal and professional situations of your life. Neither is there any question that you’ve been exploring the limits of both your personal tolerance with limitations and the potential for evolving into a new version of yourself. This has presented a struggle seemingly with as many disappointments and losses as there have been gains and moments of progress. Over the next few weeks, something unusual happens. This set of circumstances ignites your passion for freedom and independence simultaneously with your drive to connect with the people around you, potentially someone specific. There is an “everything, all at once” property to the moment, and you may be in a position—wittingly or not—to make decisions that have the ability to unravel your life as you know it. That is potentially a good thing; as much as you fear too much change too fast, stagnation is not a healthy state of being. I suggest, however, that you do your best to make your moves consciously. Acting on idle curiosity can be dangerous. I suggest making decisions only when you know what you want. That means being aware of what you want and keeping it in mind as a reference point all the time.
GEMINI (May 20-June 21)
One thing does indeed lead to another, and that process will proceed in your relationships with the approximate enthusiasm as opening a shaken-up bottle of Champagne. With that as our starting metaphor, I suggest you avoid making decisions when you’ve drunk any more than an Honest Tea—unless you’re in the mood for a wild ride. Though I’m not usually the writer who does the Dear Prudence column, I’m going to take that role this month. As regards any relationship or partnership, keep your long-term intentions clearly in mind, and make every decision based on those intentions. Make sure you remember that it’s you who’s running your life. Whatever may happen in your world, you have a wide diversity of possible responses, and I suggest that the best ones would include a lot of time for contemplation, and for consulting with those who have less involvement or investment than you do, be it emotional or financial. What you need is objectivity. Please, get some and have it ready when you need it; inserting strategic pauses in the action may be enough. The combination of holiday pressures and numerous factors of the current astrology (Mercury retrograde, solstice, and eclipses, among others) are potentially dangerous when mixed into one vat, and you need to proceed slowly, with actual caution, until early January. Then you’ll be able to make coherent decisions that work out best for you and the people you care about most.
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
You may have a tendency to process information with your mind rather than your feelings, and right now you need both. The astrology of December calls for balance; it necessitates a dialog, starting with yourself. Here’s what I can tell you. First, no situation is as difficult or as complex as it seems. Challenging, perhaps, and yes—it takes faith to give yourself some distance and let things work out, particularly when you think the one thing you must do is exert control. There’s a relationship situation over which you have exceedingly little control, but here is the silver lining: You don’t want control, nor would it serve you, nor would it serve anyone else involved. This is a moment when the fates will intervene on your behalf, if you allow them to. How to do that is to stand out of their way, which means your own way. There is a phenomenon of something appearing one way, then morphing into something else, so allow that process to work so that you know where people, and circumstances, really stand before you decide how you feel about them. I suggest you make a yoga of keeping your fears not only in check, but rather burning it as a source of creativity. Certain events this month will teach you what you don’t want. Others will teach you what you want. Remember, the second of those is much more important.
LEO (July 22-August 23)
Think strategically about your health, and about your work. Proceed with a plan, and allow that to be the central feature in your life. You appear to be under some extra physical and psychological stress; you can handle it, if you take care of yourself. This would be an amazing time to get into the groove of true self-care, if it’s something you’ve resisted in the past. Pluto is in Capricorn for the long haul, and is now joined by Mars. This is giving you the energy and incentive to push it, though Mercury retrograde (in the same neighborhood) is suggesting that you not do so, and in particular that you take care of your mind. Even if you’re in a tight spot financially, try not to worry about cash—a world of opportunity is likely to open up in the spring, particularly if you keep yourself in balance now. If you count that as your primary responsibility, you’ll notice your life flows better, opening up a sense of potential that is mostly psychological in nature. That’s the kind of potential that actually works. And in this, having a plan will help immeasurably, to give you the sense that what you’re doing is actually doable—and it is. I can sum up your whole plan in the words of Don Herold, quoted in my favorite homeopathic text, Prisma: “Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow.”
VIRGO (August 23-September 22)
Art will not only save your life, it will give you life; it will give back to you more than you put in, with the benefits extending to everyone around you. Art begins when you don’t try to impress anyone with what you’re creating. It’s all about what you do and how you feel, so don’t try to impress yourself, either. I suggest you consider any and all of your excuses for why you don’t do art as remnants or direct results of childhood trauma: examples such as having too much work, not enough talent, it’s too frivolous, or, best of all, too childish. Proceed on the basis of sensation. Treat any excuse or resistance that comes up as specifically the thing you get to heal as a direct reward for embarking on creative experience—and experience is the key concept here. Taste some of that; lure yourself with how good it feels. You have enormous energy pent up in the creative-erotic angle of your chart, and it’s wanting to come out now, in force. I suggest that whatever you do, that you work with something kinesthetic, such as clay, papier-mâché, or even finger paint. This will provide direct contact with what you’re doing and feel the shapes take form. This will keep the creative energy flowing from your mind to your body through to the thing created. Remember: no judging, evaluating, or critiquing. Feel, and feel the child in you coming to life.
LIBRA (September 22-October 23)
Let’s take a moment and review the recent Venus retrograde (spanning from early October through late November). I know the current astrology has morphed into what may seem like bolder adventures, and the rare retrograde of your planet, partly in your sign, may already feel like a thing of the past. Yet for you, it’s what distinguishes this year from many others in your life, and I suggest that the take-away from the past two months is a long-term project of understanding the concept of self-esteem. As I’ve suggested in longer articles, self-esteem is the spiritual issue of our day. It’s connected to mindfulness and the ability to respect yourself, to honor your authentic values, and to live like you’re a natural part of existence. Through early January, as Venus makes its way across Scorpio, you get to internalize this material in a full way. You’ll have many opportunities to see the shadows in your mind as what they are, and to assert yourself against the negative conditioning of your upbringing. You’ll be able to witness the ways in which your values have been dictated by others, and distinguish these influences from the ones that you’re providing on your own terms. Nobody has or ever had the right to tell you how to feel about yourself: That is your privilege alone, and as you embrace a new depth of self-acceptance you will come into even closer harmony with the world around you.
SCORPIO (October 23-November 22)
Your mind is a filter through which you perceive the rest of reality. The rest, as in “the little that’s left without your mind.” You know that expression, “Smile and the whole world smiles with you”? It also translates to, “Rage and the world rages with you,” and “Be alert and aware and the whole world is alert and aware with you.” Now, which of these is happening? You may be experiencing a strange mix. Because Mars has joined your Pluto in Capricorn, you’re working through a maze of material from your distant past. Any frustrations you’re feeling connect with the embodied emotions of a powerful yet powerless child who could not successfully influence the environment around him/her. The thing to remember now is that you can influence your environment, and that you don’t need to rage, compete, argue, or justify yourself. It may take some extra focus to notice the lines between old influences and new ones, and to see that you’re responding to both at the same time. If you’re feeling helpless or defensive, that’s a sign that you’re not recognizing the options that you have to make a difference in your own life. Every factor is guiding you to consider those options. You don’t need to make a lot of changes; one or two bold moves might be enough. The very point where you feel the most hamstrung or frustrated is where to look the most honestly, and in the words of my mentor, Joe Trusso, “Use what you know.”
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 22)
Business and money are the primary focus of the next six weeks. If you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to perk up your lot in life, you’re in the zone, though timing is everything: December is for preparation, January is for action. Obviously, you’re feeling the drive and the rumblings, and we all know that the last few weeks before the holidays are not usually the best time to invest a lot of energy because everyone seems to have something else on their mind. That may be true, but you’re likely to have a series of low-key interactions with people that feel more like conspiratorial plans than like Apple announcing the newest iThing. I suggest you directly focus on creating a financial strategy. Be specific about what you want to create and how you want to get there. And I suggest you put this high on your priority list as a long-term endeavor. Here is the spiritual piece: In doing so, you’re likely to come up against the programming of past generations that we can politely call “poverty consciousness.” You might encounter guilt that you want and intend to create abundance. You might encounter any number of emotions, ranging from the sense of “not deserving” to noticing the struggles of others, to your belief that you cannot thrive in a “bad economy.” This is the karma that it’s time to burn through, once and for all; you’re done with it, and it’s done with you.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20)
This ought to be an interesting month—just about everything that can happen in astrology happens in your sign. Nearby planets are aligning with distant ones, Mercury retrograde will be dancing around, and (looking ahead to early January) a solar eclipse takes place, square your ruling planet Saturn. That all must mean something—it looks like action and activity, plenty of it unpredictable. You get a series of chances for significant wins and losses, which means the potential for actual progress. This happens at the time of year when most people want to kick back and take it easy, spending a little too much time drunk and overstuffed. Not you, please. Maintain your focus, and proceed with a plan. Keep an eye on both necessity and opportunity. Manage your holiday commitments carefully, and I strongly suggest minimizing travel plans: You will save time, money, and precious mental energy. What I’m suggesting overall is that you leave sufficient bandwidth available to take advantage of what opportunities come your way and to solve problems that may arise. The shadow side of this may be confusion about who you are, a measure of inner chaos and some anger; the solution here is to keep your perspective, and maintain whatever spiritual or growth practice has served you—such as yoga, therapy, morning pages, and skillful use of your appointment calendar. And please don’t fall for anyone claiming you owe them something. Guilt is a nonstarter. Toss it back.
AQUARIUS (January 20-February 19)
There’s a passage in A Course in Miracles that took me a little time to get used to—like, about 20 years. That is: “You don’t ask too much from life, but rather far too little.” It’s time to start asking more; time to recognize how much you have and how useful it is. You can now put together two seemingly different aspects of who you are into one unified person, actually dialing in solutions that come from you and your existing resources. The thing to remember is: You have what it takes, on many different levels; your current exploration is finding the point of alignment. This should be easy. If you keep your focus on who you are, you will discover what you have. And that discovery will reveal that you have far more than you think, in resources of any kind, in ideas, in community: Turning this into productive energy is a matter of intention and alignment. There is an intuitive leap involved. It’s like the resources you’ve got available are right next to you and you’re reaching a little further than you need to. Your greatest success will come from putting two obvious things, concepts, or people together that you might not have guessed would work so effectively. The results of this alchemy take you one wide and wild step beyond what you know, beyond what is familiar, and certainly beyond what you expected was possible at this time in your life.
PISCES (February 19-March 20)
If you’re in a phase of seeking, and finding, ever-greater clarity, then remember—everything is subject to being perceived through this lens. Be open to revising your methods, and let every development be an occasion to do so. Be open to revising your goals, but remember what the most enduring of them are, and keep your focus there. Be flexible enough that you can adapt to your environment and evolve your concept of what you want, and steadfast enough that you can persist in the face of the questions and possibilities that are humming around one authentic purpose. Look closely and you will see the silver lining to everything. Listen carefully and you’ll get clear direction about how to reach your next destination efficiently, though in a way you might not have been expecting. What the planets portend is a depth of awareness that you can apply to your worldly affairs right away, in actuality rather than in theory—remember that. This is a truly revolutionary time in your life, a fact that will become apparent after the dust settles on the wild spell of astrology that blows through late in the year. Learn to trust yourself as a daily yoga. Learn to recognize your contributions to the world from moment to moment. And remember to keep your vision close to the front of your mind. Remember what you’re creating, and remind yourself what this says about who you are becoming.
