Aries (March 20-April 19) — You must keep a cool head. This is true in every facet of your life, though let’s start with personal situations. It would appear that a partner is in a space where they’re easily triggered. The only way to handle this is to keep yourself in balance, even if others are finding that a challenging state to maintain for themselves. As for the professional aspect of your life, you seem to be making progress toward a challenging goal that you’ve been working toward for a long time. However, you will need to work with the powers that be, rather than against them. This is not the time to be rebellious; it’s the time to be what’s known as politic: mind your manners, offer your opinion politely, and make sure you’ve listened for a while before you do that. The very worst thing you could do is to get pushy, as it’ll be interpreted as aggressive. Rather, focus your goals, work with your allies, and gently persist at what you want to accomplish.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may be in a tight spot emotionally, but you won’t be for long. The past few weeks have been an emotional time, though you have moved through the territory consciously. Do not be deterred if you seem to run up against one final challenge as you move into a new place. You don’t need to fight or defend yourself; just be yourself and do what is right for you. It would help if you admitted that you may want togetherness and you may love to be bonded, but you also want your freedom. This is a difficult position for many people to honor about themselves. Others would do it more willingly if you were to step up to that simple fact of your existence: you cannot be held down. You’re not only capable of profound commitment; you love it. Yet within that space of devotion you need room to move, to expand, and to explore new dimensions of your reality. Step one: keep your sense of humor handy.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You may be feeling scattered, but creatively you’re in rare form. To get the flow of ideas going requires a little chaos, and your life certainly qualifies at the moment. You’ll benefit from channeling your energy into productive activities (making art in any form, imbibing art in any form, passion, sex, etc.) rather than merely emoting, or talking about things. In fact it would make sense to skip the part about telling people what you’re planning to do, and instead get down to business. Meanwhile, your astrology suggests you pay special attention to anything involving shared finance or matters of taxation. Get second opinions, sleep a few nights on any question and, most of all, read before you sign.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Work for a negotiated settlement in any conflict you may be involved with. There is a matter of power involved; you have some, and other people have some. Yet you don’t want any situation to come to blows. Rather, everyone needs to respect where the other is coming from, and the resources that they have available; and you’re the person who is going to set that tone. By all means be strong and clear, and assert what you think is right. That, however, is different from being confrontational. Not everyone will agree with this philosophy, and some people may believe force is the best approach. In that case I recommend working between three options. One: delay. Do not engage, or do so only minimally. Two: be clever, exerting as little energy as possible. Rather, look for opportunities to strategically shift the situation. Three: do the thing you do best and keep things on the human level: kids, dogs, cats, football, lunch, etc. Take it slowly — this will blow over soon enough.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Don’t let anyone’s scrambled ideas about life scramble your mind, or your emotions for that matter. It will help if you recognize when this is happening. It may have been happening quite a bit over the weekend. The best thing you can do is to stop communicating with people who view their role as being to mess with you in some way. The other best thing you can do is to keep your sense of humor. Nearly everything has a funny side, and you’ll be at an advantage if you keep your mind there rather than on some other aspect. The truth has a way of coming through when humor is present. It’s as if seriousness blocks the sensitivity and perceptiveness needed to actually discern reality. Notice the way that your experience changes as your perception changes. The world you see is the one you contain in your mind. Knowing that, and using it, gives you extraordinary influence.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You have a perfectly gorgeous opportunity to let go of some creative and sexual inhibitions. That story in a moment; let’s go to the background first. That would be self-esteem, the foundation of psychic health. You are discovering that in new ways now. You have some added substance to work with, like a car that’s got clean oil and a fresh tank of gas. That gives you some extra mojo when it comes to expressing yourself in daring ways. Through the past five years or so, you’ve been gradually loosening up your previously inhibited approach to life. A series of jolts, moments of liberation and creative breakthroughs have led you to the understanding that there is more to life than you had imagined. Now you get to make some of that real. The way you will do this is by stepping out and asserting your desires. You may have help with that — and clearly people will be interested — but remember, this is about you, not them.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You’re burning off some of your deepest insecurities. That’s a process that might make heat and smoke, meaning you might feel your fears in some raw form before you decide you don’t need them anymore. Therefore I suggest being prepared for some emotional intensity — which you would do best to be open about with people you share your living space with. If you’re going through something, tell them you are. This will serve as insurance against anyone taking anything personally when it’s not. You need some room to process your emotions. More than anything, in the grand scheme of things, you need room to feel what you feel. You need emotional independence. That’s good because by one reading, others are either ready to give you space, or you’re not interested in sharing too much space with them. You may learn a lot from people who grate on you a bit, and you’re entitled to take them in limited doses. In any event, you need a room of your own.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Yours is one of the most perceptive signs. I find it great fun to listen to the observation of the world from the Scorpio point of view, because it’s always seeking insight into subtle motives. Now is the time to understand your own motives. And it’s time to honor the power of your words, which is substantial. Your words have so much energy that they will penetrate deeper than you think, and have more impact than you may imagine. If you aspire to write, this is the time to have a breakthrough; that is, to have the feeling of actually, really writing and coming across. Reading will also benefit you now. If there is some subject you’re trying to get to the bottom of, now is the time. Just be clear, and gentle, and sit on things for a day or three before you publish or push ‘send’.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — This is an excellent time to expand your social network, whether for fun or to spread your influence in some way. In either case, your astrology says keep it friendly, and make your contacts with people in person as much as possible. You want them to see your eyes and your face; you want to see them as humans, and notice how they carry themselves and dress and what their voice sounds like. This whole business of everything happening on the internet is not really helping people. The real basis of trust is in-person relating; and if the association must be long distance, choose telephone rather than text message or email. You’re looking for actual connection, and you have the ability to create it. Let people feel who you are. Charm them with your friendly, positive approach to life, and look for the ways you may work and create.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you’re wondering what the right thing to do is, it’s the thing that brings people together rather than driving them apart. That means you, personally, being closer to people, rather than deeming anyone an enemy. Everyone you meet has the potential to help you grow, and you have the same potential for them. The current astrology is focused on your sign, and it is hot, it’s aggressive and it’s deep. That represents how you may be feeling: on the list of possibilities is anger coming to the surface, or some sense of loss, and a need to heal some wound and move beyond the past. What I suggest you remember is that when you clear all these other feelings out of the way, the underlying issue is connecting with yourself more deeply. That means being honest about who and what you want. It also means being honest about what you would do if you were to align your desire with your soul’s mission.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — There’s that old joke about the person buying the hotdog who says, “Make me one with everything,” then she asks for her change, and the vendor says, “Change comes from within.” Now, your current astrology might not be feeling so Buddhist. You might have thoughts and emotions surfacing associated with matters you thought were long past. You might be feeling some fear or panic. You might be having some unusually racy, deep or fiery erotic thoughts and desires. It’s all part of the same process, and though not all of this feels good (though some of it might), think of it as previously ‘unconscious’ material coming to the surface of your mind. In doing so, it relieves pressure. That, in turn, helps you clear your psychic and emotional bodies. Take the ride, be aware, and let yourself feel rather than stuffing your feelings down. From there, it’s a short hop to the joke about the hotdog vendor.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Your astrology continues to be high-impact; that is, your impact on the world around you. You have a lot of responsibility focused on you. It’s therefore vital that you maintain your spin control. You are visible, even if you’re not a public person. Your example is being taken as a form of leadership even if you don’t say a word. It may seem that with so much going on, you must neglect something — though I propose you take a different approach. Know your priorities, and invest in all of them, but give your top-ranked agenda items more energy. Make sure that among those items on top of your list include things that are for work, and things entirely for pleasure. Most importantly, make sure that every day you make some investment in the future. It might be jotting down a thought, expanding an idea, reading about something you want to do, or making contacts in a new field of interest. We live in wildly unbalanced times. Respond by maintaining a balance and, as the saying goes in the game Monopoly, building evenly.