Aries (March 20-April 19) — When it comes to mastering artistry, students usually spend time developing skills in formal training before attempting to improvise. Musicians are often trained to follow the score before learning when and how to depart from it. It’s common (but not universal) to require apprentice actors to learn their lines and stick with the script. Many beginning painters start by copying the old masters, and so on. It’s about developing technique before giving free rein to creativity. In your case, the art of living may call upon you to do both in tandem. Learning and improvising at the same time can be a very good thing. The key is to be conscious of the extent to which you are in either role at any given time. Such awareness will soon come in handy as a way to understand your situation. Being aware of the extent to which you are ‘winging it’ will help you to better evaluate any risk you have undertaken. Knowing when you are in a teaching moment will assist you to more fully appreciate rewards you receive. — by Len Wallick

 

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — A select few probably have the status of VIP (Very Important Person) in your public life. If it is wealth or power that confers primacy in your workplace or community, that dynamic tells you something about the values that contribute to define those places. If significance accrues from skill, experience or wisdom, that tells you something else. Now is a good time to better understand how the VIPs in your corner of the world came to be perceived that way. Assuming you are in touch with your own values, such an understanding will give you a reading on who and what you are in relation to your public associations. You will also better know whether and how you fit into the surroundings and constituency where you labor and live. Furthermore, you will be equipped to act responsibly should any tension develop between you and the comrades or authority figures in your life. That way, any issues that might come up will tell you whether it is you or your surroundings that need changing. — by Len Wallick

 

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — In many a milieu, women conventionally have bonded and developed trust by sharing confidential information, insights and support. Men, on the other hand, have traditionally formed bonds of trust by engaging in common enterprises to build or achieve something together. Yet very little is conventional or traditional anymore, whether in relationships or endeavors. Additionally, it’s gotten more difficult to forge healthy and functional bonds when so many of us spend so much time in cyberspace and so little time in the physical space apprehended by the bodily senses. Even so, there are places you can go and things you can do that entail being in the same room with other people who are looking to start new traditions and break out of outmoded roles. At the same time, these places and activities also develop bonds that require and rely on both trust and physical presence. The first step in finding those opportunities is to look for them. The second step is actually showing up to give them a try. — by Len Wallick

 

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — It’s become trendy to make fun of those who practice yoga. In some cases, there is a valid point behind jokes made at the expense of those who believe that a deep and ancient tradition can be accessed through what amounts to superficial means. In other cases, it’s appropriate to satirize anything that is represented as a be-all, end-all. Yet, those who practice yoga in any form for any reason do set at least one valid example for all of us, by combining an effort to achieve both greater erudition and attain better health at the same time. Whether or not yoga is your thing, you might want to begin looking for an activity that results in your being both more well-rounded in personality and a more physically fit person. It could be as simple as taking regular walks to a visit local libraries so that you can sandwich voyages of imagination between discoveries made on foot. The ideal objective is not efficiency (even though there’s nothing wrong with that) so much as it is to explore what makes you tick. — by Len Wallick

 

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Do you remember the first time your parents allowed you leave home without requiring details of where you would be and what you would be doing every minute until you were expected back? Do you recall what you did with that freedom? In all probability you did some experimenting. In the process you almost certainly defined yourself in ways that you would not have been able to under direct parental supervision. Now, in all probability, you are being presented with some opportunities to define yourself anew. Just as in your youth, these opportunities will probably come with a chance to leave your customary surroundings and try some new things. Even so, it will not be the same. You are a different person now. Taking risks is not the same as when you felt invulnerable. Therefore, make your experiments appropriate for your age. Rather than risk losing anything, risk gaining something. Specifically, risk gaining knowledge about just what in fact it is that does make you a different person now. — by Len Wallick

 

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Every new generation tends to distinguish itself in a paradoxical way by refusing to conform with their elders, while at the same time hastening to conform with each other. While such behavior is contradictory on the surface, it makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary perspective. Dispensing with the ways and means of those who have gone before enhances the ability to adapt to a changing world. Also, creating and conforming to new standards and ideals fosters community and lays the groundwork for cooperation. It appears that you have reached a point where you may not only be seen as but also justified in being just as paradoxical as a rebellious youth. Only this time it’s not a generational thing. Now it’s seems to be a matter of distinguishing your soul. It would be great, but not absolutely necessary, to find an authentic soul mate so as to have some community and support. In the final analysis, however, this is a very personal form of evolution, which both begins and ends in your most private spaces. — by Len Wallick

 

 

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — It’s true that familiarity can sometimes provoke contempt. If you have ever been on a long road trip accompanied only by the music you loved the most when you departed, it’s likely that you were willing to hear nearly anything else upon arrival at your destination. Therefore, if for no other reason than to stimulate yourself and even inspire others, see what you can do to change your own tune. Start with the word ‘recreation’. For most people it means relaxing and having fun. For you it can mean that and even more if you will consider practicing the word in its hyphenated form: re-creation. Just look at what happens when somebody you know simply changes their hairstyle for the fun of it. It’s contagious. People get excited about, ask questions of, make suggestions to and just generally refresh their relationships with anybody familiar who shows up looking a little different. Imagine the response if you came up with a way to have a little more fun by trimming, altering or adding a little color to what you do and how you do it. — by Len Wallick

 

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — When it comes to all the material things you want to possess but do not, allow yourself to indulge an experiment in your thoughts. Imagine possessing anything and everything that appeals to you. Don’t actually move to acquire any of those things, however. At least not right away. Just keep a wish list. Once you have reached a point where you can no longer think of anything more to add to your ‘wants’, itemize all you already possess. Then imagine that you would have to give up something you have before being allowed to acquire something from your wish list, until you get down to a collection of the things you would never want to surrender even in exchange for something you desire. Next, consider what your life would be like if those remaining treasures that you would never want to part with were all that you have in the world. Finally ask yourself what a life with everything you want would cost you compared to a life in which you own only what you need and value most. Would it be worth it? — by Len Wallick

 

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — What does satisfaction consist of for you? This is no idle question. Current astrology indicates that one of the things you need most in your life right now is a way to meet any given need with knowledge of how to satisfy it for the long term, so that you can move on. Start with the example of food. If all a satisfying meal did was to sate your hunger, the quest for satisfaction would never end. Yet, you know from experience that some exceptional meals remain satisfying for days, weeks and even years later. So satisfaction must be something that can not only be met, but sustained. All of which makes satisfaction more like an achievement that is always yours once you’ve attained it. That’s a clue about how you might want to pursue satisfying any needs you have now. Rather than merely slaking a need with inherently ephemeral means like food, drugs or alcohol, look for a more lasting solution. Seek to create or find a metaphorical home where your needs can rest in comfort, without being compelled to repeat an endless search. — by Len Wallick

 

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Long ago and far away probably does not refer to a galaxy for you. Yet, if there is anything to the slowly moving wheels of astrology in the present, what is long departed still burdens you only because you give it power to do so. Rather than allow what is now only a shadow to throw weight around your life — weight that it no longer actually has — give this shadow from the past a job. Allow what you were once compelled to serve to be in service to what you are now. That way you will feel no need to expend energy on the past, and the energy of the past will have something to do besides weigh you down. Ideally, the best way to harness the energy of residual reactions to past provocations (and to assert your authority over them) is to let them inspire you. Express them through some sort of artistic endeavor that has no other objective than to get it all out. Take up a brush, pen, musical instrument or any other creative means as soon as you can, and seek to wear it out so that you will no longer feel so worn. — by Len Wallick

 

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — First impressions tend to last a long time. They are the seeds of reputation. Whether you know it or not, you are now moving into a position to take advantage of how first impressions work. That’s because there are new people and relationships on your horizon. Those people yet unmet have the potential to bring on what amounts to an era of reformation for you and your life. But first you must find them. In all likelihood you will not come across what you are looking for one person at a time. Rather, it will probably be a group activity of some sort through which you’ll encounter others who are looking for new communities with a common objective. So even if you are not religious or a good singer, give choirs a look. Even if you are not an athlete be alert for a team or a league where simply being a body can lead to being somebody. Find a place to practice teamwork in the presence of others, and endeavor to be for them what you want them to be for you. — by Len Wallick

 

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Consider what it means to be attractive, and what you would be better off attracting. Not in the Madison Avenue sense of attraction, which emphasizes status and the unattainable. Rather, observe how attraction works in the natural world. Rivers do not flow up mountains that stand above them. All flowing waters, without exception, are attracted to the oceans situated below them. In other words, humility makes you more attractive to those who would actually contribute themselves to your life than authority does. Authority is only attractive to those who are looking to strike a bargain. After rivers, consider what makes flowers attractive to bees. The pleasing forms, colors and scents displayed by flowers are not an end in themselves; they are a signal of where nourishment may be found. Translation: being authentically attractive is more pragmatic than aesthetic. When the people of the world eventually do beat a path to your door it will be because they perceive something they want on the other side. — by Len Wallick