Aries (March 20-April 19) — This month it looks like you discover something about yourself that you knew all along and figured out on at least 100 other occasions but somehow it is suddenly real and makes perfect sense. The sensation is something akin to suddenly discovering who you are, which was the person you knew you were all along, and are somehow now miraculously remembering. Let’s not let anyone try to convince us that human consciousness is something that more resembles what we think of as a trance than the mind standing at attention. For many, the trance is like a movie, which has this odd script where every other line is, ‘I’m confused’. Confusion is often a method of denial; it literally means “mix or mingle things so as to render the elements indistinguishable.” Now the time has arrived to unconfuse yourself, which means to see yourself for who you are. You are bigger than your fears. You have more courage and perseverance than you thought you did. And your craving to be free is real. The restlessness you’re feeling is not something you want to medicate away, talk yourself out of, or pretend does not exist. It’s not merely spring fever, though that’s a good way to describe your whole life. Rather, what you’re feeling is your soul calling you to wake up to your beauty and the beauty of life, no matter how weird things currently are on the planet — and no matter how scared anyone else may be.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Your dream life may be going a bit wild lately. How that looks astrologically is that potent planets are either in or edging up on Aries, your solar 12th house. This is what psychologists refer to as the ‘unconscious’ or the ‘subconscious’. Jupiter, which arrived last month, is turning your hidden world into a kind of bold cinematic enterprise. Uranus, which arrives on March 11 to stay for seven years, turns it into a kind of action thriller, full of surprise twists. No matter what someone’s natal sign, Aries can act as the seat of identity. For you this comes through an area of your chart that is half veiled in the dreamtime — and that has not seen too much in the way of sustained new energy in many years. What is being stirred up is not merely your dream life, but rather your awareness of yourself on many deeper levels than you usually encounter. You’re not having a temporary visitation but rather are embarking on an ongoing encounter with your deeper self. This will only be shocking or strange if you don’t know such a thing exists. Your dreams, fantasies and artwork are drawing you deeper into yourself. So too is your social contact, particularly involving groups. You may not realize it yet, but everything has changed in your relationship to the social world, an evolution which at first will feel like a newfound gift for successfully being exactly who you are.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — If you are making a professional move of any kind, the thing to choose among your many options is the one that you both want the most, and where you feel you may not be ready, qualified or willing to be noticed. Often, the thing people would succeed brilliantly at works out to be the very thing they avoid. On this theme, you are in one of the great moments of your life. It’s not going to go away any time soon, but neither will it last forever. You are at a beginning, which is the time to make sure that you set your priorities and your goals in a meaningful way. Those goals can and probably will change, but they provide a point of focus. Consciously working toward something is a way to concentrate your energy. You can unravel a longtime question here by directing your energy in a way that creates something positive and helpful — to you. Creative energy is potential; it has to be activated through awareness and conscious action. The transit I’m describing is Chiron embarking on its eight-year transit of your 10th solar house — the one that covers matters of achievement, reputation and direct involvement with the world. This is a society-wide issue today: a small number of people abuse power, and many others think they have none. Now is the time to claim yours.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — You’re at this rare and glorious moment of bursting free. It may come on all at once: you get this feeling that it’s time to explode through the glass ceiling of existence and feel the sunshine, sky and fresh air all around you. This directly involves the work you do. You may be in a position where you’ve compromised your abundant freedom, individuality or creativity to the point where you want to activate the landing slide and escape with a few cold ones. However, you have better things in store for yourself. With both Jupiter (expansion, knowledge and reputation) and Uranus (invention, revolution) at the top of your chart right now, this is the time to do what you do in an original way that is as much about having fun as it is about succeeding. You could say that a sense of liberation around your work is the first way to define success. As this story unfolds over the next few years, you will have many opportunities to reinvent yourself — though I will say that some will feel so bold as to be a bit frightening, and some are going to come along and reinvent you. The world may not be ready for everything but it’s ready enough for what you have to offer, and these very months are an unusual moment for you to take space that is rightly yours, attended by what you might describe as a wild wind of fortune.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Make a list of the places you want to go, and pick the one you want to visit the very most. Choose a time, research the location, figure out the best places to stay (or find people you can stay with) and GO. One journey will lead to another, which will lead to a new concept of who you are. You may have travelled for growth and adventure in the past — you have the ‘find yourself on the road’ kind of chart. Now you’re in a ‘find yourself on the road’ time of life. If you do want to travel, there is something to be said for doing so spontaneously. When your life circumstance permits, go where you want to go. If your company reorganizes and you find yourself with your days free, put gas in the car and break out the map — in that order. The adventurous transits that take hold of your awareness have other expressions. One of the most vital is about exploring some field of knowledge that really turns you on. Visit the biggest or, alternately, the most specialized library in your area (a fantastic day trip — go alone). Consider opening your home to a guest from far away; there are programs for doing that, from student exchanges to grownup exchanges. Focusing on travel, knowledge and meeting even vaguely exotic people will remind you how young you are, why you’re alive and moreover that you’re alive.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You are beginning a new adventure in your relationships. I’m going to guess you are taking that as good news. Let me explain why it’s such good news. You have long been howling to the universe for an organizing principle in your human encounters. I have this button stuck to my Sun visor that says, “Being Weird Is Not Enough,” which I am sure you could apply to many of the people you’ve met the past few years. Some of them weren’t just weird, but many gave you the feeling that there was just going to be no dependable point of contact; which in turn pushed you into some reactionary states. Many factors that seemed like permanent institutions the past several years have changed. You seem determined to maintain an identity that exists apart from your relationships — this is a huge relief. And what was an erratic energy is being replaced by a sense of focus, purpose and attention to the underlying emotional material of human contact. I suggest, though, that you be highly discerning who you connect to and how. I don’t mean resistant or defensive; I mean perceptive. Associate with people who speak your language. Listen for the purposes that motivate their choices. Pay particular attention to people who are different and good at it: mavericks as opposed to rebels. Most of all, welcome the people who honor the fact that you are an individual and respect you for devoting your life to being so.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — There are many aspects to sex, including two essential ones that are usually forgotten or pushed back beneath the water — the reproductive part, and the dark side. You like sex to be interesting, with some ideas behind it. I assure you these things, though typically avoided, certainly are. You may find the deepest core of your pleasure right in what you or others shun the most. You’re also likely to discover the things that have in the past seemed to take your most daring pleasure from you, or sour it when you get what you want. If you’re able to get as close as you are, you certainly deserve to get the rest of the way. My suggestion is that you move your emotions, fantasies and experiences into the emotional and physical material you are the most embarrassed by, or avoid the most. Embarrassment is a veil that conceals something you’ve been striving to understand. On one level it says ‘turn back’ yet experienced another way, there’s a distinct lure, and that has a purpose of both healing and pleasure. These are closely related in a culture where we always seem to be claiming back something that was taken from us following a larger agenda. There are things that you may feel or experience that you want to share with others. I suggest you do so judiciously, and initially invest in finding out what people know rather than telling them what you know.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Someone close to you is going through something, which is reshaping your concept of what a partner is. Other factors in your chart are suggesting that you’re experiencing a reshaping of your own concept of what you want from relationships. Given your orientation on relationships, this is a significant change, and it’s only beginning. It may seem like you want adventure first and your partners need deep emotional healing first. Assuming that you’re involved in a relationship, I suggest you consider the personal validity, to you, of everything that your partner says they need, or everything they’ve gone through. You can also experiment with the idea that who and what you are will work for them. Meanwhile, I would call your attention to a childhood event involving someone with whom you were intimate that initially shaped your idea of ‘the other’. This may have been a first time (or very close to it) experience that made a deep emotional impression and set your expectations. There was a secondary effect, which was to establish how your being in relationship to one person shaped your relationship to your circle of friends: how you’re perceived, how you perceive yourself, and whether you think you fit in. There is complex sociology to one-on-one relationships, and this has a direct effect on your sense of emotional security and your self-esteem. When you understand this and keep it where you can see it, you will feel a lot better.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — I would not be surprised if you go through moments where your confidence is soaring and others where you feel absolutely uncertain about the way you seem to have chosen. The thing is that the confidence and the doubt both feel so real. You don’t know what to believe. Which is authentic? Let’s pretend for a moment that they are on an equal plane, of equivalent value. They are not, but let’s experiment. Which of the two would guide you forward, into your dreams and your desires? Obviously the confidence would. So you can live boldly with intervals of doubt, or you can cower in the shadows annoyed by some intervals of having a vision for your life. Which would you choose? Now, the truth is they are not equivalent at all. You’re living a case of ‘the brighter the light, the darker the shadow’, which is my way of telling you that you’re burning bright at the moment — and you will be for quite a while. This is a new reality for you; for many years, you internalized your power, cultivated an inner connection and often checked yourself when it came time to step boldly out. In the past 12 months that has been changing rapidly and in this very season you may be discovering there is no place to hide. You don’t need one; be grateful of a dry roof, food to eat, something to offer the world and someplace to go.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — What an unusual space you’re in — like you are riding on a horse made of lightning, at the same time the capacity for absolute focus has taken hold of your mind. You have more energy available and you’re able to do something with it. Yet in this space it’s essential to send yourself positive messages. The most significant will be to affirm your intelligence and the relevance of your perceptions. You may be depending on those faculties now more than you have any time recently, and you may think that there are many other ‘better minds’ who could do what you do better. Any such thought is merely a self-esteem trap. The thing to remember about your mind is that it works differently, intuitively and creatively. This is true whether you think of yourself as ‘creative’ or ‘intuitive’. When you feel the difference between you and others, specifically in terms of thought patterns, that is the most meaningful difference. You’re also able to perceive a larger world with more colors and nuances, and those around you who cannot perceive those things can lead you to doubt yourself. So, you could say that the question of this era in your life, and the central growth (or healing) focus (as you choose) is: what’s it going to take for you to trust your senses and the mind behind them? The answer that comes to mind is experience, yet the truth is, you already have plenty of that.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You have the opportunity to resolve an emotional issue that has plagued you for a long time and has been getting your attention lately. I’m aware that healing processes take a long time, which is how long you’ve been at this. You’re inclined to take an analytic or goal-centered approach to healing matters, and when that doesn’t work you take a spiritual approach. The way into this one is to go directly for the feeling. Exactly how does the pain or struggle feel? The information you’re seeking is contained in the sensation of the struggle. It doesn’t translate easily into words or concepts, which is why you haven’t been able to work your analytical magic. It’s down there like an ocean current, invisible from the surface. When you notice yourself in the experience, stop whatever you’re doing and do two things: one is record the experience. Be descriptive, making notes of what prompted you, and any sensory descriptions that come to mind. The next time it happens, do it again. Then, be mindful of any associations to the past that come to mind. They may be totally irrational or delusional, to the point where they feel stupid or silly. That’s the thing you’re after. Go right to that ridiculous, senseless thing and once again, feel the feeling. Make the associations, let it all percolate, and see what you learn.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — On the Planet Waves website there’s this thing called the Oracle. It’s a database containing every horoscope I’ve written since 1998. When you ask a question, the Oracle randomly selects one of those horoscopes, providing answers that can be a little spooky. Just now I typed in a two-word inquiry — “integrity check” — and got back a weekly from 2003, when Uranus was entering our sign. This month, eight short years later, Uranus is on its way out. Just last month, Chiron transitioned from Aquarius, where it’s been for five years, into Pisces. Here’s what Mr. Oracle said: “I get up in the morning, sort out the reality of my existence, arrive at my desk and notice that it’s covered with Tarot cards — again. I wonder: am I concerned about the future? Well, why not. This is a very futuristic moment for Pisces. We are at the one-month mark before the first ingress of Uranus into Pisces. Uranus is one of the slow-movers; it takes about seven years to traverse a sign and thus marks an era (this was the chat room era). That Uranus is entering Pisces is one thing. That it is leaving Aquarius, your solar 12th house, is quite another. The 12th is home to all kinds of anxieties, mysterious nameless fears that make most people quite restless. Uranus is an agitator, an exciter, a revolutionary. The change from one sign to another will not be subtle. For the moment, easy does it, and read those cards with an open mind.”