Aries (March 20-April 19) — You are still working out a balance with a partner or love interest, which requires an honest dialog about what both of you want. Make no mistake here: without open affirmation of desire, there cannot be honesty. This is because honesty is about what you want. If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t feel you can express your desires, it’s worth stopping yourself and questioning what that’s about. Most of the misery in relationships comes from withholds: the things that people don’t say to one another. I recognize that in modern mythology, those might be considered good things because a level of secrecy provides social lubrication. At this stage in your life, you need to do much better than that, and take the risk of being real. The result will be that you have real relationships — the ones that don’t meet the test will dissolve, and you’ll get to move on.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — For a relationship to work as well as you want, something subtle must happen, and you can help. The key is understanding something about yourself that you’ve now had a while to consider. This would fall under the general heading of knowing who you are. The mistake most people make when it comes to self-knowledge is a kind of false clarity that leads to a stuck point of view. The first thing about who you are is that it’s changing continually, and in unexpected ways. This might seem to conflict with that aspect of Taurus that wants everything to be just so. Yet both forces are working in your personality and both contribute to who you are. Make room for yourself to be a little different every day, and it will make much more sense to you that people you care about are a little different every day. With that understanding, keeping your agreements adjustable and negotiable will help them stay durable.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Focus on your most valuable personal assets. Not everyone knows what they are — it’s time for you to figure it out. It’s not enough to be awesome, or a great person. You need a specific inventory of what you know how to do, what you have to offer, and what you have the capacity to learn. Know what you’ve accomplished; and from there, have an idea what you want to do next. The current vogue is to have all this be in some vague form, to be generically talented in some way. This is merely palliative. Your skills are your tools, and you have them for practical purposes. I suggest you take any opportunity to acquire new ones, or to sharpen and maintain the ones you already possess. What you may find is that this goes further toward solidifying your self-esteem and self-respect than any psychology exercise, personal brainwashing or personal improvement campaign. Feel the exquisite beauty of, “Yes, I know how to do that,” or, “I’ll figure that out.”

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Push your limits. Start with the one about how outrageous you’re not supposed to be. Outrageous translates to outgoing, nervy, funny, talented, assertive or sexy. Move from your center, like a well-trained dancer. Allow your presence to expand into wherever you are, and don’t be afraid to take up space and conversation bandwidth. It will help if you hang loose. If you want an example of how much a person can get away with in polite company, watch the film Borat, wherein he pushes every single limit and lives to tell some great stories. I will say this another way. You don’t need to be well-behaved; you want to be real rather than good. By all means, keep your commitments and be professional about your work, though that leaves you a heck of a lot of room for creativity. There is enough space on this planet to accommodate all of who you are.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Aspects for the next few days will help you let off some psychological pressure. The way to do this is to let your imagination flow uninhibited. Let off on the brakes, and choose to never be afraid of your own thoughts. The chances are that you’re tapping into the sweet spot of your imagination right now. You have a clue how good life can be, and you know you have the power to make that real. Yet imagination has a way of ‘threatening’ known reality, especially if it’s boring or backed into a corner. Wanting richer intimacy has a way of ‘threatening’ situations where there is little or no intimacy, for example. Visiting an exciting, creative workspace is certainly a ‘threat’ to any job that puts you to sleep. You might feel quaky for a moment at the thought of doing something more fulfilling, but once you spring into action, that won’t last long.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your intuition is impeccable at the moment, especially in social situations. Your chart is tuned so well that you can trust the first thought that comes to your mind — though by thought I mean something spoken in a calm, clear voice. Intuition is gentle. It speaks just below the level of language. It’s the subtle pull rather than the violent tug or shock. It’s necessary to listen carefully, by which I mean listen to yourself. What you will get for this small effort is genuine guidance. Let that flow through you right now. Once you get a certain aspect of your mind out of the way, you have an abundance of wholesome, useful information available to you. That can guide you on every subject, from what task to do next to whom to talk to in a room with 100 people standing around. That would be useful, right?

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Be confident of what you want to accomplish and go for it. You can skip over any concerns you might have about doing good or helping others. Those factors seem to be included in your intentions no matter what you do. They are the basis of your plan rather than an add-on. Anything you do that leads to genuine success will be about providing support and some kind of caring to the world. It’s as if your concept of profession inherently stems from the idea that humanity is a family. Yet even a household is a serious business, and you must take that approach. Be clear about your plans and have some idea how you intend to get where you want to be. Make sure you work with a budget; that is, a basic business plan with elements of where revenue comes from and where resources go. Money is one resource to track carefully, though also count the personal gifts you bring to the table, such as emotional energy and time.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Make one decision at a time. You don’t need to solve the whole riddle or tie up all the loose ends. Focus your intentions and set a clear, short agenda. Then address a single concern. It might be something minor, to get an easy task out of the way. You might choose something difficult (saving the easier stuff for later) and build confidence in yourself because you’ve risen to an unusual challenge. It doesn’t matter. What will make the real difference is that you gather momentum in a positive direction. Dissolve or withdraw from what is not working for you while you emphasize what is working. Do everything you can to invest in what actually gets a result. Your chart setup is such that your life will accumulate momentum in whatever direction you’re going. That’s the thing to pay attention to; keep it positive, since that’s what will multiply.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Flexibility is your best friend. Therefore, offer it lots of gifts. Stretch out and stretch your ability to consider many possibilities rather than just one. Lead yourself into coming up with new potentials based on what you want rather than what you think is possible. On that topic, it will help if you recognize when you’ve taken on someone else’s idea about what’s impossible, and decide for yourself whether that’s true. Can you really know until you’ve tried? Therefore, monitor carefully this idea of what you think is ‘possible’. You have things you want to do; you have places you want to go; you have talents that are aching to be expressed. Too many times, petty fears have blocked you from taking action. There comes a time when you must ignore them, and other times when you must rebel. The choice is yours.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — It would seem that for the great majority of people, allowing themselves to be loved is a challenge greater than loving. Which is it for you? It’s clear that you’re harboring doubts of some kind, perhaps of whether you’re ‘acceptable’ — though if that’s even vaguely true, you just need to get over yourself. There is no orthodoxy necessary; such is merely a power trip. It’s quite enough that we have the privilege, the gift and the ongoing experiment of life. It will be a happy day when that’s accepted by humanity, though you can have that pleasure a heck of a lot sooner if you choose. Just open up and receive. Allow yourself to flow. And remember that you’re bigger than any fear or concern that you could possibly have — if you remember that you are. Said another way, try stepping out of your ideas about life and into life itself.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Your work environment must be nurturing, like a greenhouse is to plants. Create the right conditions and you will be able to accomplish great things. Presently this seems to include co-workers or employees who are willing to assist and take part, yet who are in need of positive affirmation and a sense of family. This is too often said and not often enough acted upon. Many workplaces resist being too nice to people, knowing that their kindness is most likely to be taken advantage of. Set that fear aside, and promote a value of ‘We’re all in this together; let’s make the most of our experience’. Speaking of values, decisions are best made based on an underlying agreement about what is important or necessary. Agree to that and the right thing to do will be obvious to everyone.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — This is a beginning for you, the kind which you long for the most. There’s passion in your chart; there is personal expression, lavish creativity and a sense of daring. It’s even fair to say you have the potential for some new dimension of love. At the same time, there is the unusual pressure to be sober and realistic. There is you, a sensitive person, and there is the world you live in, the wider world, which is straining for any peace or sanity at all. You live your life as if straddled between the two realities. You might wish that you could dive into the love and the creativity without having to bother addressing the insanity and pain of the world around you. However, the two seemingly separate realities form a polarity, which like a battery is the true source of your energy. Responding effectively to the paradox that you must stretch yourself across both is the essence of your life. The result is what you’ll create and then take with you the rest of your days.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — To the extent that you’re a different kind of person, you need different kinds of relationships. In your case now, that translates to something less glamorous than is the current fashion. Rather than being about anything exotic, innovative or digital, you seem to be craving the kind of connection that is only possible to have in a home space. I suggest that, when you’re with a lover or partner, cook your own meals and eat in. Give yourselves time to get to know one another, for the first time or in a new way for this phase of your life. Your astrology describes you seeking intimacy, understanding and a genuine exchange. These values have nothing in common with relationship by SMS or sex by Snapchat. Getting the devices and, indeed, the robot commonly known as the Internet out of your intimate time will feel radical and revolutionary.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — For all its supposed progress, the world is losing a value on cooperation with one’s neighbors. If it persists, this would be a great loss for humanity, since on our planet nothing happens without mutual enterprise. Take leadership among your friends, colleagues and those you live with, and exploit any opportunity to get people working together. Many hands will make light work, if there is coordination, and you are the organizing intelligence within your immediate sphere of influence. Take this to the social level as well. Many people are slowly going insane from lack of genuine human contact, and from lack of the experience of taking care of one another. You might consider having a small gathering in your home or that of a close friend. I have suggested before that potluck dinners will save the world from its present state of madness and instability. It’s a theory worth testing.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You’re more intelligent than you think. If you feel like there is some issue or problem that’s over your head, all you need to do is slow down and tune in. This may relate specifically to a goal you have, one you might think you’re not up to. This insecurity may come back to a single comment some adult made to you as a child. You might also be struggling with an effect of digital life, which is to scramble certain forms of self-awareness. In any situation requiring your ability to think, the first thing to do is to be self-aware. Tune into your body and how you feel. Then start to put things into context. If you feel you don’t understand something, begin to break down just what it is you don’t know. You will figure out that you know more than you think, and you’ll have an inventory of missing information to put the pieces together. This works for any scale of question or problem.

The Beehive Cluster in the constellation Cancer. Image by Tracy Tuttle.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You must be what you want to become. The world usually gets this one backwards: You become something, and then you get to be it. That might work for holding public office (president, police officer, judge); but for what you’re doing, you do what you do and that makes you what you are. Therefore, stop putting off your most cherished goals for sometime in the future. I am aware of the time crunch that may be affecting your life, seemingly more than those of other people you know. This is mostly an illusion. You can correct this two ways: you don’t need as much leisure time as you think. Artists of any stripe who really do their work are engaged all the time. Stop thinking in terms of time on and time off, and carry a pencil and notebook everywhere. Train your mind to the task for which it’s best suited: total devotion. Second, plenty of time is wasted. Pay attention to where your hours go, and you will use them much more wisely.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You don’t need to engage in any debate about morals, especially sexual. In sex, there is just one necessary line of appropriateness, which is of-age consent. Once that’s been taken care of, you are entitled to be who you are, to feel what you feel, and to do what you want to do. So is everyone else. What is so often disguised as morality is like a crepe-paper Halloween costume pulled over a deeper reality: some people want everyone else to have less fun than they do. The very things to avoid are gossip and scandal in any form. Simply do not participate. Walk away or end the discussion. You are the one and only person who must make up your own mind about what is right or wrong for you and for your relationships. This takes less courage than it may seem to at first. You merely need to call things what they are, and remember that nobody is your judge or jury.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The self-critical nature of your sign hardly allows you a moment to feel as if you’re the flavor of the month, or that you really belong on the planet. This is mostly a head-trip; that is, something in your own mind. Give yourself a break. That should be easy now. You might try asserting yourself — whether creatively or socially. Do something radical, such as get out of the house, have fun, and don’t worry about what people think. It’s never about what they think, anyway: it’s always about what you think. And you have significant influence over that, if not total control. I suggest this now because you’re likely to find the social waters easier to swim, and your creative gifts easier to express. It’s as if a knot is finally coming untangled and giving you some space and freedom to move around. Relax your mind. Take that as a mantra. Tell yourself over and over.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Aspects around profession, reputation and aspiration are so strong right now, you could make a smashing success of anything. Yet you might feel like this on the outside but less so inwardly. The point of resistance seems to be questioning whether your ideas are good enough. Usually you’re optimistic about your plans and your sense of purpose. If there is a current question, it seems to be lingering around the matter of, “Is this really me?” or, said another way, “Is this how I want to express myself?” On any long-term project or new phase of your life, it helps to keep in mind that there is not always a perfect fit in the early stages. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Assume that you’re doing the right thing for yourself (and, it would also seem, your community or surroundings). Then give yourself some time, perhaps a few seasons, to work out the subtle points.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Mars is about to return to direct motion in your sign. This is a turning point along a specific journey of your life that dates back to early January. That’s approximately when some powerful motivation kicked in and led you to start making decisions. You’ve questioned many of them, and gone through some effort to rethink what didn’t work out the first time. For the next month, Mars will assist you in completing that process of reassessment. If you do this honestly, you’ll notice a few things that will benefit from the power of your choice. You might need to make decisions that seem as if they will reverse or up-end what you’ve already established. This will be worth it. You’re far closer to the beginning of your process than you think. In hindsight, whatever you correct or rework now will blend into your memory of the early beginnings of this new phase of your life.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Ask yourself for real: how many times have you been overwhelmed by fear, and then had the specific thing you’re afraid of actually happen? Or even something close to it? The answer is probably close to zero. With such an abysmal track record, how is it that fear is taken so seriously? Well, there is certainly an element of long-term conditioning involved. And there is something about where most fear is hooked, which is on a difficult-to-access emotional level. The difficulty is taboo: there’s a kind of imaginary fence around the region where it’s possible to learn something. Anyway, no part of you is off limits to you. You have no classified or top-secret elements of your psyche that you must avoid. And if you’re willing to embrace how you actually feel, and what you really want, you will be more likely to discover the hook where fear seems to get its power over you — and let it go. Consider, though: it all comes back to desire.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may be wondering how someone feels about you, or whether they are moved by you, but the real question is how you feel, and whether you are moved. Mars is a planet closely associated with your sign, and it’s been at a standstill for days. This suggests some form of either hesitation or of feeling like you must make what seems like a huge decision. Yet is it really that significant? There is an added factor that’s been popping up to some extent all year long, which is concern over what other people might think — by which I mean friends or associates. Concern over your image is the best way to divert attention from the actual substance of who you are: what you want and what you feel. We live in morally corrupt times when nearly everyone is concerned about maintaining the image of purity. This is merely a trap, and one that you don’t need to fall for.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — In order to find yourself or discover who you are, some element of conflict with others is necessary. At the moment, though, I suggest you not challenge anyone other than yourself. While you’re doing this, pay close attention to your environment. Notice how people are responding to you and to one another. You are in a position to offer leadership, though you must take a psychological approach to the question. In other words, your assignment is to know your needs, intentions and plans, and then figure out for everyone else the most likely ways they can help you get that done. This will take some observation, however; and that will take a little time. Aspects currently developing hint strongly that a delay of a few days, perhaps till later in the week, will serve you — and when the time comes to take action, do it subtly, one step at a time, phasing in your plan gently.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — It is often said that we create our own reality. Yet is that true, as an independent statement? Or is it closer to actuality that we drive our lives in various ways, and are also in a complex relationship with our environment, and with many forces outside of our control? Let’s presume the second one is true. We live in a world of cars, and of roads. To drive the car effectively, it’s necessary to understand the roads. You have a creative opportunity in your hands; something unusual, and something that could truly enhance your life. For this to come to fruition, it will be necessary for you to pay attention to what you’re doing, and to pay even closer attention to your environment. One of the most vital factors of environment is belief. You have your beliefs, and you swim in an ocean of the beliefs of others. Notice how the two interrelate and you will have much more fun.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — For who you are and what you’re doing, you need special kinds of nutrients. Like an athlete must stay hydrated and pack carbs, you must feed the person you’re becoming. You might be wondering who that is, but don’t psych yourself out. Identity is not as simple as putting on a hat with the Nike swoosh. It’s an inner process, and you’re putting what seem to be pieces together. Here’s the thing: you can never be more or less than one person with one life. You might think you’re many people playing many roles with many missions. What you want to nourish is exactly the opposite of that. Get some focus and simplify. Remove commitments that are not working for you, and that don’t serve the larger purpose you’re growing toward. Make time and space for what is actually working, and don’t be afraid to drop what is not serving you. Rest and eat real food. You will like the results.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Some important relationships in your life are finding their new way of being. This is a somewhat mysterious process that’s related to you making some vivid discoveries about who you are. At the same time, people in your environment are going through a similar process of getting their intentions in order. One thing that’s clear is that if everyone is willing to compromise and accommodate one another just a little (not a lot, just modest compromise), there will be room for everyone, and their goals. The key is being willing to make a series of adjustments, in real time, learning as you go. Small obstacles and obstructions add up to problems, and removing them adds up to clarity and flow. It will help to go to the deeper level of having mutual understandings of what everyone is working toward, and drawing strength from common goals and standing on mutual ground.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may be feeling the calling to devote yourself to a goal with full strength. It may seem like you’re doing this for someone or something, though you’re really doing it for yourself. I don’t mean self-serving in the usual sense of that; I mean in service of your integrity, your ideals and your bonds with others. Once you have those things in line, there will be plenty of overflow of benefits for everyone. Therefore, focus on your commitments. Keep your promises; and for what you cannot keep, or must delay, negotiate and make new arrangements. You’re not the prisoner of your commitments, though you might feel like that at times. Rather, you work in service of them and they work in service of you. Be grateful that you have a structure to use, which will help keep you focused. The more you work within your existing structure, the more freedom you will have — including the freedom to make changes.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The Sun enters your sign in grand style this week, on the heels of the Full Moon. Better still, Venus is in your sign, which is helping you attract whom and what you want — even in this unpredictable and unstable moment of time. Make yourself one promise: sometime in the next four weeks, you’ll slow down and take some time for yourself. By this I mean open up space to appreciate who and what you love the most in life — space to remind yourself of, and to strengthen your bond with, those people and things most meaningful to you. Venus is bestowing you with some magnetic power, to draw toward you more of whatever that is. Tune into that vibration and let it fill you up. This might take a little trust and it’ll definitely call on you to filter out some of the noise and distraction that flood our lives so easily these days. It’ll be worth any care or effort required.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You seem uncertain about what you need to feel safe. Is it some form of emotional reassurance? Is it the feeling of stability? Or do you need to find your core of self-reliance, the one that has worked for you so well in the past? I would propose that the less you can make this about other people, and the more you can make it about yourself, the better you will feel. Despite ancient and modern mythology to the contrary, your confidence comes from you. Your security comes from you. This begins with you deciding to feel comfortable in your own skin and accepting of who you are. There’s something huge here about giving yourself permission to desire exactly what you need, without judgment. The more honest you are with yourself, the more confidence you will feel. Therefore, if you’re feeling shaky, get real with yourself and you will feel better.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You can cool off on asserting yourself and your point of view. I know it’s been challenging the past couple of months, getting clear, making your viewpoint clear and then getting others on board. You can ease back on all such efforts for a while, and instead pay attention to who actually hears what you say the first time you say it. It would be much more productive use of your time to observe your own thoughts and feelings evolving, and then to listen to (and hear) yourself. Your opinion about some unusually deep matter is changing. You might say it’s doing so despite your intentions or best efforts, and seems to have a life of its own. But ‘its life’ is really evidence that you are alive, that you’re breaking free of something, and that a new burst of life will sprout from the compost of old fears, ideas about yourself and feelings that no longer serve you.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You’re working with some extraordinary mojo when it comes to meeting your highest goals and objectives. In other words, this is the week — and indeed the month — not only to dress for success, but to look for every opportunity to make your way in the world. Your planets are especially well-favored for two things. One is a take-charge attitude that also includes building your reputation. The other is working with people who are higher on the food chain or ladder of success than you are. The key to both is a gentle, friendly and creative approach rather than an ambitious or aggressive one. By all means know what you want and develop your plan for getting there, but remember that success is always about how you work with others. And that spirit of collaboration is where you are shining bright. Remember that for a Libra, doing quality work means taking care of people, and it means doing everything beautifully.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may be aware that for about two months, Mars (the first planet associated with your sign) has been retrograde. Mars is now in Scorpio, slowing down as it gets ready to change directions: a process that peaks on June 29 but which spreads out two weeks in either direction. You may feel some deep movement in your emotions or in your soul. You may feel like you’re realigning with yourself. You may feel like you’re coming to terms with some unusually deep questions that you typically don’t ask yourself, much less answer. If you find yourself asking, go gently on getting a response. This is very much a matter of allowing the information to bubble up from a deep level of your psyche. This might come from so deep you discover a new dimension of who you are. There is one thing you can do to facilitate this process: be honest with yourself about what you want. Do not pretend; do not deny. Be real with yourself. You will feel great.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You will need to keep a handle on your emotions today, and if you do, you can figure out something about a nagging emotional need. This might be masquerading as a sexual need, question or issue, and that’s true on one level. I see two things going on. One is about your ability to receive love and other forms of emotional nourishment. For many people it’s easier to love others than it is to receive, though what that prevents is an exchange. And an exchange is what you want. The other thing relates to self-worth. It’s true that the whole self-esteem issue has gripped society on a pandemic scale. Yet it’s your destiny to go beyond this, perhaps before any of your friends; and you know you’re a pioneer. This may not be comfortable territory for you, because the thing you need in order to receive emotional nutrients is vulnerability. Yet the moment you open up, you will feel like someone let the oxygen back into the room.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you’re feeling isolated or lonely, or like nobody understands you, take a deep breath. Help is on the way. The Sun enters your opposite sign Cancer on Tuesday, and that will shine some light on your love life. You’ll feel more at home on the planet. Until then it will be helpful if you go gently on yourself, and remember that much of our world is in dire straits. You might need a reminder that you can reach out to others. I suggest you invite over a close friend or two and cook them dinner (not take-out, not instant mac and cheese — actual cooking). What you want to cultivate is the feeling of home. This is more than a safe space; it’s your space, among the people whom you choose to be with. This feeling is disappearing rapidly as living space become less stable, and more time is spent out of the house than benefits anyone.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Make a list of everything you would need to do to take care of yourself, and get busy. What’s missing from your life? Exercise? Getting outside? More wholesome food? Cleaning out closets? Better rest? Focus your life on providing those things for yourself. What do you have too much of? Responsibility? Visibility? Relentless effort? Ease back on that and see if you can let your mind, rather than brute force, do the work. When you experience resistance, whether internal or in your environment, pause and see if you can figure out where it’s coming from. You’re making an adjustment in how you assert your will. Rather than applying pressure or persuasion, see if you can align yourself with the right thing. This may take an act of faith, but it won’t be blind faith. If you gently lean into what you want, or want to do, you might find that the world moves more easily than you expected.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You seem to be making some important adjustments around money: how you think about it, how you handle it, and what you can do with it. This would be an especially helpful time to conduct some long-term planning, such as sketching out your one-year plan and your five-year plan. Granted, the world is going so fast that most people don’t even dare to think about the future. Though the opportunity you now have is so good you don’t want to miss it. So, be brave and really consider what you want, what you want to accomplish and where, geographically, you might want to be. You won’t be held to any of these plans; you’re not setting anything in concrete and steel. You’re merely writing a rough draft that you will revise a number of times. More than anything, this is about getting your ideas going and beginning a creative process that will teach you something helpful.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Feed the weird part of yourself this week: the nonconformist, the artist, the original thinker. This takes slightly more courage than doing what you might usually do, or going along with what everyone else seems to be doing. You can feed that aspect of your psyche as well, taking as few risks as possible — though if you do, you’ll be missing out on some glorious opportunities. The planets look like this: to think differently, you have to break free from the structure of your past ideas, and the past in general. This is unusually easy at the moment; everything is conspiring to draw you in that direction. Yet internally, you’re craving deeper contact with yourself. Mars, your ruling planet, has re-entered Scorpio, which is calling on you to be submissive to your own inner emotional truth. You have not reached the bottom of your journey there; stay open and guide yourself deeper. You’re doing this for one reason: liberation.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You’ve arrived somewhere you’ve been before, perhaps only recently. Your challenge is to see it as a new place. The way to do that is to change your vantage point in some way, such as remembering something you learned that influenced your understanding of your life or of a relationship. You seem to be under pressure to resolve some form of indecision or uncertainty, though I suggest you keep your mind open to the possibilities. Key situations are definitely not resolved, though you may not want them to be. ‘Unresolved’ means subject to change, which in your scenario will likely be change for the better. Over the next week or so, you will be able to put words and ideas to things you’ve been thinking for a while but have not been able to consider clearly. Just make sure that clarity does not fix your viewpoint. Keep your thoughts, your eyes, your ears moving. Turn your head from side to side and notice what you see.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The debate over whether love works, or is real, or lasts forever, is meaningful only to those who are obsessed by guilt. Once guilt is seen as the obstruction that it is, the nature of love becomes obvious. Yes, it’s something that you offer to the people around you; yet in our era, perhaps the greater need is to accept the love that’s offered to you. You can only have as much as you’re willing to receive, and I suggest you open all the way up and just let people care about you, feel for you and support you. You might be thinking that love and support are just not there; or “I’ll receive it when there’s more available.” That, however, is not a formula for happiness. Embrace what is offered to you. Little kids smiling at you count. Random dogs saying hello count. Your ex emailing to see how you’re doing counts. Even an honest ‘no’ gives you information about how and where to proceed: count that as a form of affirmation.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You can see and feel ‘both sides’ of yourself with unusual clarity right now — so well that you might decide there are a lot more than two. Yet they aren’t separate; you are not separate from yourself. Inner division is an optical illusion, yet it can take some learning to understand that on an intuitive level. You might try a meditation for the next week or so, in various forms: I am united with myself; I am one being; I act in harmony with my own intentions; I am aligned with my creative force. It’s true that one of the most challenging spiritual quests is healing the sense of a Self divided against itself. As you explore, learn and facilitate that healing, you’ll experience many points of personal reunion; each of them beautiful, each a reclaiming of something that’s truly yours. And as you do this, you will become stronger, more honest and less easy to deceive.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You cannot control how other people perceive you. Try as you may, everyone is going to come up with their own idea. There is no point resisting or resenting the attention that you get, when you try so diligently to be visible and to make the right impression. It’s interesting how much energy people invest in being their own publicist, stylist and manager trying to get a grip on their image, and the mixed feelings that result. While you cannot control what others think, you can influence it. The distinction is relevant because wielding influence is different from the illusion of controlling someone’s perception. One distinction is that it would necessarily lead you to pay attention to the response you get from your environment. That will tell you a lot, and you’ll have more fun. You just need to hang loose and be more transparent. Open up and actually offer people insight into your thoughts, and notice what happens when you do.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Reach for something big. Yet recognize that means offering yourself wholly to what you want. Our whole society is centered around getting right now. There seems to be little recognition that getting anything involves an exchange, and when what you want is something dear to you, something you identify with, the thing you give is yourself. This is making a good few people freaky, as it seems like they’re sacrificing something. Giving, however, is different from giving up. Offering is different from sacrificing. You expand, you grow, you become, by offering yourself. Your whole life is about growth, becoming and evolving, and if you leave out that crucial part about surrendering your energy to what you want to become, one result will be inner conflict. The question is: what benefit would you see from rolling yourself into a little ball and holding on tight? A flower blooming is a sign of life. Vulnerability not only demonstrates love; it makes love possible, and makes it real.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — What limits do you suspect are wrapped around your potential? Said another way, do you decide what is possible today based on what you accomplished previously? That would be a mistake, because the definition of an accomplishment is doing something you’ve never done before. That’s the whole point. So you need a better basis for assessing what you’re capable of than the past. This would take you out of your proverbial comfort zone, though you might ask yourself how comfortable it really is in there. Or, you might ask: Does self-doubt make me feel good? And if so, why? Anyway, you can go beyond that, though you would need to tap into some long-forgotten resource or talent. There is something you know perfectly well how to do, and it holds a key to your ability and willingness to do so much else. Remember, this comes from you, not from someone else.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — There’s a reason to avoid going deep into your feelings: you might learn something about yourself. It would be something you could no longer deny, and would therefore need to rearrange your life around. It looks like you can sense the potential for radical changes to your day-to-day activities, the way you structure your life and — most significantly — who you think you are. What may be making you nervous is that you don’t have any sense of who else you might be. But that’s like saying you don’t want to leave your room because you don’t know what you would find when you do. The whole point of discovering and admitting that you don’t really know who you are is so that you can enter the unknown with a sense of adventure. But you’re not really going far; you’ve been carrying a vast, unexplored world within you your whole life — and now it’s calling you.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the United States president from 1933 to 1945. He is famous for many things, including a statement about the nature of fear that they used to teach (in partial form) to schoolchildren. He said: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Your astrology is insisting that you have a clear, fully aware relationship to any form of anxiety, hesitation, nervousness or the bouts with outright panic that so many people experience these days. The reason you want a conscious relationship with these feelings is that it’s the only way to resolve them. You can bob, weave and dodge all you want, but you will still feel pursued by your own inner emotions. Just remember: fear and desire often masquerade for one another. You would do well to pause and ask yourself what’s really going on.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — As one challenge eases, another seems to come on. Yet have you considered that this energy is coming from inside you? For many years, you’ve built your life on an idea of stability and predictability. You’ve associated an idea of consistency with being a good person. Yet did that equation serve to create either goodness or consistency? Now, any direction you want to move demands that you change. That’s because you have no choice but to grow, and growth is change, which means being different. It’s possible to try to build your life on some concrete idea of yourself, oriented mainly on being secure. Yet you’re likely to create a tense, rigid emotional state when the thing you need is to move and flow. There is so much energy rising up from your core that it would be dangerous to block it. That includes hanging around people who reward you for being stuck or narrow. Your real friends embrace you in all your contradiction and wild potential.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — What you need is experience, not theory. It’s easy to chew everything over in hypothetical form, especially if you live mostly on the Internet. Genuine exploration happens through your physical body. Even if you’re a theoretical physicist, a designer of bridges or professor of philosophy, you don’t really know something for sure until there is an actual experiment performed. I suggest you set about doing that experiment, by which I mean anything prompted by an idea, which also has an uncertain outcome. You might do something like driving to an odd part of the countryside, intentionally getting lost. Visit some strange part of town or some other city, where you would never ordinarily go and where you know nobody, and do something the natives do. Take any chance to immerse yourself in unfamiliar environments, and to expose yourself to points of view you totally disagree with. That will stoke your creative (and social) fires brilliantly.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Don’t take the pressure so seriously. Most of it is based on abstract thought. It’s true that you’re being called to greater things in every facet of your life simultaneously. What you’re experiencing as stress is actually energy, which can work for you or against you: that’s your choice. Therefore, it will help if you connect everything to your motivation, by which I mean take inspiration from anything in your environment. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. It’s amazing how that can foster the efficient use of time. In that spirit, I suggest you invest no precious time waiting. Rather, make conscious choices and take action. Look at your limits and decide what to do with them, rather than merely living with them passively. Everything — by which I mean every problem or scenario — has a workaround. Learn how to identify your options and choose from among them. You have plenty.