Aries (March 20-April 19) — Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph, the light bulb and cinema, said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. You’re doing better than that on the inspiration scale, and need to invest your energy into persistence, determination and gumption. Gumption is a great concept, and you would benefit from cultivating it: shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness. Your success is not dependent upon everything going right. Rather, it will be based upon how you handle challenges, and your willingness to rise to the occasion. That means focusing, prioritizing and working as much as you have to work, as well as you can, until you are making headway. Set reasonable goals, attain them, and move on to the next set. Remember your partly expressed ideas and half-finished projects that can be dusted off and developed, and which will turn out brilliantly, if you keep the perspiration flowing and listen to those inspired messages.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Is it even possible to feel safe on the planet at this time? Even under the best conditions, life on Earth is tenuous, dangerous and there are no guarantees. Your sense of safety and belonging are closely related, and they stem from staying close to your purpose. By ‘close to’, I mean expressing, exercising and focusing your specific callings, and making no excuses why you cannot. There’s no safety in holding back. It builds neither confidence nor competence. You need both, so it’s time to take the dive even if you don’t think you’re ready; it’s time to squeeze the juice even if you don’t think you have any (you do). Most of all, teach yourself how not to hesitate, by practicing every day. If you want to trust your abilities and indeed yourself, you must continually cross over that place where you tend to get stuck, till the seeming barrier is gone.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You seem to be obsessed over some event that happened in the past. It might even help you to get to the bottom of your question, though you don’t need to work so hard, or to distract yourself from what needs to be taken care of today. You will get the information, the solution or the resolution that you’re after. Yet you would be wise to ask yourself how you think the discovery you seek would benefit you. It’s OK if you don’t have an answer. Pursuits or quests often start with one motive or necessity and end up another place entirely — and this may be one of them. Here’s a clue from your astrology: within the coming 24 hours, you’ll have information you want. You may not notice it; you may not believe it; you may miss its significance. All these are good reasons to keep an open mind, to listen carefully and, most of all, to read carefully.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — If you’re seeking cool and calm, you’re unlikely to have much of it. If you’re seeking adventure, you’re likely to have plenty, particularly in the form of self-discovery. Let go of being convinced of who you are. Rather, be open to new levels of understanding, which will be coupled with deeper levels of respect for yourself. Any such discovery would likely come with the stunned sensation that you didn’t really have a clue. The other effect could be a cascade of decisions that you know you need to rethink or revise, based on new information or a new understanding you have about yourself. This will come with some sense of urgency or the bona fide recognition that you must live up to your actual value in the world. Remember these words from A Course in Miracles: Every decision you make stems from what you think you are.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You have incredible potential, but have yet to devote to yourself fully. You’re driven forward, and at the same time, seem to have an odd attachment to the past, or to your ideas from the past. Step one in rising above your foundations is to recognize this when it happens. Notice when your expectations are specifically based on what you’ve done before, or what has happened to you before. This is the snag, and it’s one that’s taken for granted nearly all the time. Yes, it’s true that “the past is the best way to predict the future,” though that’s the thing you must get beyond. If you want to accomplish what is unprecedented, you’ll need to do what’s never been done. So in a sense, the past becomes the record you plan to break, the mistake you’re not going to make again, or the activation of what was previously latent potential. You will like living this way.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You’ll have a better idea what is happening, and what just happened, when the Sun enters your sign Tuesday evening. Still, it will take a few weeks to scope out your situation, with most of the relevant information coming when your ruling planet Mercury stations direct on Sept. 5. Events at that time will clarify the entire subject of Monday’s total solar eclipse in the most sensitive area of your solar chart. Until then, you may feel like you have to live with partial information or a sense of lingering mystery, though you can put that to work for productive reasons. There is indeed something important that’s demanding a review. It’s likely to pertain to a highly cherished goal or professional objective. The question may be: are you willing to involve yourself totally in what you want to achieve? You cannot be fully committed part of the time.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Allow your maternal instincts to guide you, to motivate you, and to calibrate your ethics. This means to be guided by the lunar principle rather than the solar. Both are necessary, though the world is currently being fried in solar radiation and a toxic version of the masculine principle: conquer at all costs. The lunar principle chooses to love and to nourish as a matter of grounded physical and emotional necessity. It’s about taking care of anyone young, vulnerable, hungry or cold. You might take this as your mission for the next year or two — or for as long as you live. You may be called to serve in seemingly random or fated ways. Be open to these opportunities; do what you can to set aside the feeling of inconvenience, open your heart and do what you can. You will inspire others to get involved. The message of today’s eclipse is to boldly lead by example.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — It’s time to wholly abandon the notion of ‘power’ as you previously thought of it. Monday’s total eclipse of the Sun occurs in an angle of your chart associated with all kinds of influence, authority, organization, and accountability. Some confuse that with power in the executive sense; it could certainly show up that way. Yet the eclipse is describing your forming a whole new relationship with these subjects. At the heart of the matter is understanding the way that your parents wielded their authority over you, because that was your model. Did you have a say? Could you influence the flow of events? Most significantly, what was the balance among the people around you; for example, how did your parents work out their power-sharing agreements? You will learn much from understanding these dynamics, including many things that you need to forget. And you’ll see just what you need to address in more sane and equitable ways.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — One of the core questions in the life of any Sagittarius concerns the details versus the big picture. You’re a big-picture person until you need things to go absolutely, positively correctly — at which point you morph into Micromanager-in-Chief. This works as long as you’re aware of the seeming dichotomy. The sign Virgo plays prominently in your astrology, as a standing feature of your chart, and particularly now, as the once-in-a-lifetime eclipse streaks across the American continent. It is indeed time to emphasize the details, though you must never lose track of what they add up to. An artist installing a large mosaic must focus on each individual tile or stone, though the final vision must be kept in mind, and infused into every tiny piece of the whole. This will take practice, and it will take devotion. You may discover a whole new approach to the big picture versus the details: there is no conflict.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — The theme of your life is justice and fairness. You must equate yourself with these things, as ideas and as necessities. First and foremost, this involves shared finances. Total identification is essential: you are the model, the source and the inspiration for all that is right and true. That may mean making some adjustments: for example, listening more carefully, to the point of breaking a sweat when you figure out where someone is coming from. Yet the most meaningful thing you can do is see the folly and the fallacy of jealousy. To the extent that this is part of your character, you are debilitated in your ability to be fair. This also impinges on your ability to be honest, since jealousy requires concealment. Let go of your tendency to keep score in your relationships, and devote yourself to giving more than you receive. There will be other phases of your life; other modes in which you exist; for now, this is a crucial layer of your growth to master and embody.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Monday’s now-infamous eclipse of the Sun occurs in the relationship angle of your chart. The Moon and the Sun meet up in Leo, your 7th solar house. This imparts two messages: one is wiping the slate clean. Another is an opening up to new possibilities. Yet there’s a process being described by Mercury retrograde in another important relationship house, the 8th. This is where you work out the details: the financial contract, the sexual agreements, and the secrets that you share. Before you go on, it will be necessary to resolve some old business. This doesn’t need to take a long time, but it requires your full attention. It may be about an existing relationship, though it’s more likely to address a pattern you’re becoming aware of. That awareness is your first prerequisite; next you must want to have things be different; then you must act on that desire, which mostly describes how you speak to others, and the expectations that you have.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You are here on a mission. It’s not an easy one, but it’s certainly a meaningful one. Being on a mission is different from being on vacation, or being an explorer. The miracle of this phase of your life is that you’re learning to coordinate the various aspects of your purpose: recognizing it, for one thing, and taking it seriously, for another. In our time of total chaos and confusion, this may seem more difficult than it really is. You start by getting out of your own way. You continue by surrounding yourself with cooperative people, and only cooperative people. Then you persist, day by day. In the end, your whole experience of life, of your work, of your mission and ultimately of your success — however you define it — comes back to self-respect. You may know this; you will really, truly get it when Chiron leaves your sign and enters Aries next year. Pull this aspect of things into focus now. It will pay astonishing dividends.