Aries (March 20-April 19) — The past month or two looks like your life has been the scene of nearly nonstop strife. In an odd way, you knew that this was centered with you, and yet there were others who seemed to be provoking you, making a compelling case for the energy coming from outside of you. All in all, I reckon you have at least determined that you’re sick of people holding power over you, at the expense of your ability to influence the events of your own life. Make a careful study of all that happened, and determine your exact role. This is more for your own forensics than anything else. As for what is ahead: events early in the month can conspire either to challenge your confidence in such a way that you feel compromised, or inspire you to take the creative risks you want and need to take, to assert yourself in a bold and courageous way. You are not the child who grew up in your family home; you are well beyond that, though it’s easy to get dragged back into your old insecurities, and the emotional manipulation of others. To create, and to create yourself, takes courage; nothing else gets the job done. Courage is an old French word that means coming from the heart. This is what it takes to be yourself in the current environment, where there are so many influences that say all you need is a little gloss and a little grease and you can fool the whole world. You want to fool nobody.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — There is a subtle message coming from your solar chart, which you may recognize. It involves your relationship with the technology you use, and how it changes how you experience yourself. By “experience yourself,” I mean your relationship to your own consciousness: your thought process, your memory, what you externalize that was previously only deeply personal material. In other words, what are you saying in online environments that you would never, ever have said 10 or 20 years ago — and why are you saying it? This is not merely about technology or devices; it’s about what they do to you, what they do to who you think you are, and how you relate to yourself and others. I reckon you are onto these issues to some extent, though I suggest you bring them to the foreground. The forthcoming solar eclipse is a factor that gives you unusual ability and added leverage to change your mind, along lines you know you want to. You face many questions about what to do with old, outmoded beliefs. Those, too, have a trend of controlling you in ways you have surely noticed by now. You might say the forthcoming astrology is a moment of truth, in a time when the truth is the only thing that rightly matters to you. Over the next month or so, you will be reclaiming many things about yourself that you seem to have surrendered, though your greatest fortune is held in your ability to be utterly and only real with yourself.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — One of the peculiarities of Gemini involves a lot of ebb and flood where your finances are concerned. There is constant fluctuation, and it’s not easy for you to create a stable situation for yourself. This is a matter associated with having the sign Cancer as your 2nd house or solar house, associated with your personal assets. But what is really fluctuating? An argument could be made that your perception of your value is what is rising and falling, and this drags your bank account along with it. Sometimes known as self-esteem, though I am partial to the term self-respect, since this is a matter of re + spect in the true sense of the word: to see again, and in this case, to see yourself “again” (meaning, maintain an awareness of who you are and what you have to offer). There is more, though: you need to work with the predictable elements of your life (in the spirit of a tide table), and know what is coming and when. Your cycles are not as unpredictable as they may seem, though you need to study the patterns. Here is the thing about commerce: it requires many other things that begin with the prefix “com” — community, communication (and mutual trust and friendship). If you are going to be competitive, you need to choose wisely and remember who your friends are. Yet there is one thing worth more than anything, which is your word. It must be your bond. It must be your gold standard, or else you have nothing.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Events of the past two months (associated with Mars transiting your sign or rising sign) may have spun you around so many times, you don’t know if you’re dizzy or not. There was a little bit of everything: a trial here, a tribulation there; a confrontation here, a moment of truth there; a challenge here, a breakthrough there. Overall, this was about the quest to be persistent, consistent, true and correct. All in a day’s work for the astrology you’re under. Now comes something new: a total solar eclipse in your birth sign. This happens July 2. The most recent pattern of this nature took place in 2009-2010, and current developments may be reminiscent of that time. Anyway, here’s my theory about this eclipse, and the corresponding one in Capricorn two weeks later. This is a point of realignment for you. You have concentrated power to make adjustments to your innermost being, which will then ripple out into your relationships. Part of this process will be intentional, and an aspect of what you do will be intuitive. It will help from the outset to work with the idea that you want to use what you have learned. Some of what you have learned (in part, from a series of confrontations and also, more creative intimate encounters) is who you are and who you want, and need, to be. Eclipses also relieve pressure, and you’ve been under plenty. Let the momentum carry you; keep your hand on the rudder and your eyes ahead, constantly scanning from side to side.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — There is either cruelty or communication. One will supplant the other. There needs to be a high standard for what constitutes an exchange of thoughts and feelings. The first thing to be cautious of is any form of scorekeeping. If you notice you’re working from a list of grievances, I suggest you put it away and listen. More than anything, track your own expectations for the relationship. Where do they come from? Are they grounded in reality, or are they based on presuppositions? You might take the exactly opposite approach: what can you offer to serve the situation? Note, the answer to this question is, itself, not predicted by much of anything except what is right. And it’s based on what the situation calls for, rather than what you think is appropriate. So therefore, it might turn out to be bringing more of yourself to the relationship, or less. To know that, you will need to listen, and listen to yourself. Meanwhile, whole new prospects in life are calling you: from the look of your solar chart, there is something new and unusual that you want to devote yourself to, with your time, your body and your soul. This is described by your astrology as something that is vocational or not necessarily profitable, rather than a career kind of thing. It’s the deeper calling than what is merely professional, and it will mean more to you. This does not insinuate it will not in some way support you financially, though at the moment, that’s beside the point.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The world you will see when you look around is a reflection of the one that you contain within you. This is almost always true; one spiritual aphorism I’ve often found helpful is that projection makes perception. However, at the moment, this message is taking a specific form. You are coming up against certain inner limits to your creativity, ones you would be happy if you transcended. There is a dichotomy described by activity in the two other earthy signs. Capricorn, which covers your most creative and dynamic house, is at maximum density, which may feel like you’re having an implosion of some kind. If you’re an artist in any sense of the word, this may be a challenging time for you, though I assure you that you’re capable of your best work now. You will need to go deep into yourself and take a risk with what you express, which means doing something where you feel like you’ve got something to lose. In Taurus, an alignment of Uranus, Vesta and Albion is pushing your horizons wider. You may be seeing tremendous potential — outside of yourself. That’s really a description of what you are personally capable of. It is, therefore, an excellent exercise to envision the world a better place; to recognize the excellent work of others; to imagine what is possible; to look all the way out to the horizon and be curious what’s beyond it. I would remind you that thanks to those little pocket computers, we tend to live hideously myopic lives. Stretch yourself out of this like it’s all that matters. You are not your IP address.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You are the person who frames your reality. That’s basically what you are: a walking, talking concept of existence, which you then experience. The spiritual books all drip with this idea, which can be annoying as all get out. However, Logos, a long-term visitor to your sign (a Kuiper object, part of the Logos-Zoe binary pair), says that you are the ground of consciousness you stand on. In order to demonstrate this, you will need to investigate your reality, and do some experiments. In particular, notice the way people, circumstances and events take on the significance you give them, which comes from you. Therefore, practice giving these things different meaning. You could start with the greatest purpose of all, an experience that offers you learning and the potential for growth. Most people you meet will be out to get ahead, or be out for themselves and themselves alone. Be vigilant against any trace of these things. Making progress in life is a good thing, though the kind of progress matters a lot. Your success must be meaningful. Your life is not your image or who you impress. I know this is a radical thing to say. It’s not about your bank balance or (borrowing from a Grateful Dead joke) whoever has the most tapes when he dies wins. You are a deeper person than your society and your social environment let you recognize. You are, at this time, being called into deeper relationship experiences, which are about going in, rather than up or over. When you are with someone you care about, turn your awareness inward. Feel, listen, share. Keep going.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Recent activity of Mars in the past month suggests that (like your water sign cousin Cancer) you may have been through the wringer the past two months. It was something special to behold, and to experience: Mars making aspects to Chiron, Saturn, Pluto, the lunar nodes, as well as Eris, Logos, Makemake, Salacia, Quaoar and Pholus. (None of these are asteroids; they are all slow-moving modern planets. I will link a few articles at the bottom of the horoscope in case you missed them.) And what exactly did you go through? What did you learn about how you use your power? What did you learn about how you use language? Most of all, what did you learn about projection? By that, I mean assigning to others what is really in your mind and your feelings, a concept I suggest you do some quiet reading about, given the current state of your astrology. You have now changed modes entirely: you are in your ‘rock the world’ state of being. There are those times when you recognize your potential and you utterly groove on all that is possible if you apply yourself to your life purpose. However, I suggest you take it easy on the ambition and aspiration thing, and allow certain unfinished processes to play out. Now is the time to evaluate all of your goals, cross some old and outmoded ones off the list, and add one or two truly meaningful ones. During Mercury retrograde (the last three weeks of July), you will be reviewing some of the territory you crossed in May and June. Be careful and thorough about this. Make amends where necessary.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — For someone as intent as you are on leading a self-determined life, you certainly get jerked around emotionally by others quite a bit. Never the twain shall meet, as the poet Kipling wrote long ago. Yet it is only experience that will teach you this. Early in the month, you may find reason to call into question a certain emotional connection that you have with another person. Based on recent past experience, this may not be an easy ride, and it may be calling on you to question the nature of your commitment. Remember that such is not something made for you; a commitment is something you make and uphold yourself. This is true on any day, at any time during any phase of the relationship: your commitments are your business. You can keep them, you can end them, but more than anything you must evaluate them. What do you give, and what do you gain? Who benefits? I do not mean to reduce the complexity of human relationships to what might seem like a cash transaction, but in the end, relationships are transactional: there is giving, receiving, gaining, losing and exchanging — of something. There are important factors in your astrology that currently make it difficult for you to see through the fog. Yet you have moments of clarity, which either arrive as the sudden dawning of awareness, or asking yourself a question so compelling that you have to stop and think about the answer. This is right about where you are today. Use this rare opportunity well.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — At the moment, everything has to come back to you. Rather than assigning responsibility or accountability to any circumstance, relationship or situation, take it all on board. Your whole existence begins and ends with you; your participation in the world makes the world what it is, to you. So forget about all of them for a while, and consider the nature of the changes you’re going through. Granted, this includes Pluto, which has been likened to a caterpillar spinning itself a cocoon and melting, having no concept what it’s about to become. You are deep in that process now. It’s not possible to know, or even fathom the future. Yet you can trust your process. You can also trust that you’re in the demarcation zone between the past and the future, by which I mean your whole past and your whole future. This is the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, which plays out between now and Jan. 12, 2020. While there is no rushing this process, you can be grateful that it proceeds as gradually as it does. And by the way, you are not a caterpillar; you are a human with full sentience, the power of observation, the ability to respond, and the power of decision. Therefore do all of these things, each in its turn, and allow your process to unfold. One last thought: It is probable that certain events over the past two months have given you a clear idea of what you do not want. That is important information, though only if you use what you know.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Two issues are up this month; they’ve been up for a while, but now, the bell rings. One is how, and whether, you take care of yourself, meaning your health, your rest, your nutrition — and your emotional wellbeing. Second, closely associated, is your association with aggression. This has been an issue in recent weeks, through much of the spring and longer, and it’s taken a toll on you and potentially your work-based relationships. You may be thinking that none of this was necessary, and if so, you’re correct. You’re under a lot of pressure right now. There is energy moving in your direction. You get to decide what to do with it. Do you direct it where you want, like a martial artist, or do you let it slam into you? There is a similar issue with your use of language, which is the forum for nearly all controversy these days. It will be helpful if you set all use of language in any potentially controversial situation on a 24- to 48-hour delay. Sleep on things for a night or two, including what you hear. You may develop a tendency to hear the things people say to you in the worst possible light, when really, they meant something else, or intended a different inflection of meaning. Therefore, slow down and contemplate your moves. You need to have a clear set of strategies, which you follow in a focused, disciplined and intentional way. You may need support. Get some advisors you trust. You don’t need to do what they say; rather, you only need to take it under careful advisement.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — It has not been easy for you to get a grip this year, though you’ve accomplished more than you may think. Jupiter, your ruling planet (from classical astrology), is in its best possible position — in Sagittarius, in your 10th solar house, which is giving you a sense of your true potential. However, Jupiter is square Neptune in your own sign, which is making your potential about as easy to grasp as a greased eel. There is also a clarity issue (see Sagittarius for another take on that), which is to say it’s not easy for you to discern what is real and what is not; what you want and what you don’t; who is helpful and who is not. Here is a clue: you need very basic criteria for these things, which you apply sooner rather than later. However, the second half of the year tends to bring an upswing for you. The Sun has moved in your favor, and there’s about to be a total eclipse in the most daring, dynamic angle of your solar chart. This represents you being willing to take a chance on yourself of some kind; it represents an opening; and most of all, it describes you moving into one of those deeply intuitive phases of how you relate to your own creativity. Set your priorities carefully. You will have abundant energy going forward, which can only be drained by misunderstanding, pointless controversy or wasting your time on goals that are not specifically relevant to you. Therefore, focus your priorities. Know what you want and what you need, resolve to create that and that alone, and stand your full height as you walk through the world.