Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You are your own person. Anyone who tries to tell you or sell you otherwise is a con artist, religious huckster or politician. Presently there are many looming about, though they will not be wearing a friendly ID sticker. This matters much less as long as you are willing to assert yourself in any situation where you are personally challenged to go against your own morals, ethics, or self-interest. We are hearing a lot lately about doing things for the good of society; however, if that is true, then it will include you. You may assume that what goes against your relatively modest personal interests is not necessarily good for anyone else. You might notice the extent of the pressure or whether any form of persuasion or coercion is involved. For the foreseeable future and far into places you cannot yet see, the central themes of your life are, and will be, matters of health and wellness. This is the Aquarius angle of your solar chart, where Jupiter and Saturn are currently placed. This could represent one of two main factors. One is a seemingly overbearing source of authority trying to take over your life. The other is you finding your integrity and setting some boundaries that will delineate where you end and the rest of the world begins. That line must exist for you. Maybe it moves a little, maybe you have some room to negotiate — but not much. Those who would seek to run your life have already overstepped their reasonable limits and are currently standing in your kitchen or bathroom, metaphorically or otherwise. That said, do not be afraid to disrupt the Board of Education if you must. Mama Grizzly must protect her young from hunters and businessmen.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — One question I would ask you: are you indebted to the past, or the future? The answer may be neither, though I doubt it. Your heritage is calling you; so too is our current experience of history-in-the-making. Your ancestors are speaking to you, and so too is your responsibility to your children, grandchildren and all the young people on Earth. If you tune in carefully, you may notice that what you would offer to the past is similar to what you would offer to the future: and that means your full devotion and dedication. You are the connecting link between the two; you are the liaison that will help ensure some continuity. While you’re doing this, there is one thing I suggest you not do, and that is to assume that everyone has your best interests at heart. This is especially true if your interests are said to be less important than those of other people. The argument of “those more vulnerable” is currently being abused to the point where it is meaningless, and those who are actually vulnerable are being left behind or having direct harm done to them. As for your personal chart, where health matters are related, I would remind you of this: With Pisces on your 6th house of health and wellbeing, you are vulnerable to misdiagnosis and to being given the wrong medication. With Neptune transiting this house in the long-run, this effect is tripled. It is also true that there is no other sign for whom your physical condition is so closely related to your emotional situation. For you, the worst toxins are stress and pressure. Therefore, where any form of medicine or medical treatment is concerned, less is more. Precision counts for everything, and here is where discretion is the better part of valor. Always ask: what is the rush? And, what do I know?

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — There is plenty you don’t know about yourself. You may not think so, though how can you be sure? It will help if you are open to discovery, and reassess your policy of keeping secrets from yourself. I have a theory about that: you may feel that what you fully acknowledge about yourself, others will have a way of seeing into. So if you throw a scrim over your innermost feelings, you will be have some distance and some privacy from others. Yet many circumstances in your outer life are conspiring to pop you out of that shell, and you may discover the pleasure in real-time self-disclosure: saying what you learn as you make your discoveries. Much of this involves your deeper feelings about relationships, in general and specifically the ones you have experienced. You are not nearly as conventional as you portray yourself to be, and fortunately your personal environment is matching your sense of your own non-ordinariness. This is the thing; the essential dramatic tension of your life, and of your human affairs. Inwardly, you are unlike anyone you know; that is, as well as you can know the inner lives of other people. Yet you cannot really compare your deepest experience of yourself to what others present in their public relations kit. You cannot live up, or down, or any other way, to their simplified portrayal of their lives. Therefore, take the example of the strange, wonderful, iconoclastic people who have worked their way into your world lately. Try not giving a gosh darn what anyone thinks about you enough to raw out your true being and put it right in the room where it belongs. This will help you live, and breathe, and take off a lot of pressure. You’ll feel better. Though others may not, I know you that well, anyway.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Make a list of everything you’re certain about; all that you’ve made up your mind about; all that seems settled the way that it is — the important things, and the ordinary ones. Since there are likely to be a few, maybe just take a sample of the ones that stand out, or that you think about often. This is your list of what would benefit from rethinking, revision, reworking and reassessment. The placement of Aquarius — a fixed sign — in your house of ideas is the astrology lurking behind the systematic way you think. It is true that Sagittarius is so bursting with such potential that you need a method to keep your mind organized, which is really about doing your best to stay emotionally grounded. They are two different dimensions, though the emotional element has been sufficiently challenging that you may feel like you need to increase your mental control. There is a better approach. When you hang onto ideas, or firm beliefs, or belief systems, or methods of organizing yourself, you trap the very energy that wants to move through you. Saturn and your ruling planet Jupiter in Aquarius are doing what they can to clear space, and also to stretch your awareness from within. It is easier and more fulfilling to use your awareness to surround things than it is to categorize or control. You value freedom, and that begins with your own flexibility and openness to new ways of perceiving your existence. In our time, there are no ‘conventions of thought’. There is no normal. Yet there is such a thing as feeling good, and being at peace with yourself, and even in balance with the people around you. Yet to find that balance, you will need to stretch, tease and push yourself past any inner boundaries you notice.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — It may seem like some unseen force is guiding you or instructing you. This is always the case, though you may be noticing something different is influencing you, beckoning you, or providing some unusual sense of motivation. What would that be? Well, whatever it seems to be, it’s not outside yourself. You contain all those organs and facets of consciousness, if only by being aware of them. However, at the moment, it would be wholesome to practice some uncertainty, and to keep open your process of both observation and decision-making. In particular, your professional goals are under reassessment, and your most fundamental values are shifting. Yet there is something deeper that is moving within you, as if you’re making contact with yourself in a new way. This has been in motion for a while, though there are times when you suddenly catch up with yourself, and this is one of them. The word for this is growth. That often comes with growing pains, and with discoveries, and with the inventor’s frustration of having to start over again when you thought you had it right. Keep going. Be willing to make mistakes, because those are the very fabric of success. Mistakes drive growth, if you let them — most people are ambivalent about this, and collect their failings without benefitting from them. That said, you are entering a phase of time where you will need to be careful about the decisions you make and the examples you set. Make it a point to understand where the people around you are coming from, and listen carefully for cautions or advisories. You are not obliged to follow them, only to take them under consideration long enough to make an informed decision about one matter at a time.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may be wondering when it will all change, or when the challenges will let up. I don’t blame you, though that is not the thing to count on. You are at the point where you must count on yourself and rise to the confrontation, revelation or situation in the most affirmative frame of mind that you can muster. Saturn in your sign can feel like the presence of total responsibility. This is true for everyone, though Saturn connects to Capricorn, your 12th house, which can give its presence a much larger feeling, with greater pressure, sense of limits or sense of potential. Beware of the lurking feeling that you owe it all to someone else, or are paying down a debt from the distant past. While this sensation may not be at the front of your mind, it’s almost surely lingering in the back, and could be driving your current efforts. It will help if you reorient on the present and the future. Face your vessel forward, and do not be influenced by the past any more than a ship is controlled by the wake it leaves behind it. Your mission is in the present; your influence is in this moment, and right now is when your skills and awareness are needed. That you may feel restless or like important matters are unresolved can serve as a form of agitation that keeps you moving. You absolutely need the sensation of the road beneath you and the constant change of scenery. You need experiences that remind you that you’re free and that you have your options open. If you feel stuck, shake it off: do something, go somewhere, try a new approach to something you have to do routinely. Remember that this is all an experiment; your best certainties are questions: the kind that burn and spin and make sound.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) —There are days when your whole life feels like you’re gazing through a fog, and cannot make out any recognizable shapes. Other times you may feel like you’re in the dark, which you might trust more than someone in the 18th century being handed night-vision goggles. In foggy conditions, the tendency is to focus in the zone of what would be immediately before you. What if you use the method of the Magic Eye books and rest your gaze further out, behind the book, and behind where the air is too dense to see through? You may discover another sort of vision; you may see things that are not present in the usual mundane world. You may sense presences that are not normally available and are just outside the range of normal perception. Ask anyone you may become aware of: what is your purpose in my life? This is the central question of the next two months, as Mars moves through Libra (where you negotiate arrangements), which is just where Mercury performs its retrograde maneuver in a few weeks. Meanwhile, Chiron is in Aries, insisting that you identify and focus on what you truly value, what you know you need and — shocking though this may be — what you know you want. The three are now closer in alignment than ever. The slowest-moving object in this pattern is Chiron, which serves as the pivot, anchor or docking point of your reality. Its constant reminder to assert yourself, annoying though it may be if you don’t like confrontation, is your very best friend. It is only when you do this — present yourself as you are — that you serve as a catalyst in your environment, and get the chemical reactions moving. You do not need to use words in this process as much as actions and being present; though keep searching for the language to express your agreements. That time will come, soon enough and also late enough to give you time to work that out in your reflective and circumspect way.

Aries (March 20-April 19) — When you look back, you will see that these years of Chiron in your birth sign or ascendant were an unusual and even marvelous time of advancement and growth, of evolution and becoming. Yet do you see this time that way now? Chiron can feel like the shoe that does not fit — until you walk in it for a while, and notice where you are, as contrasted with where you were. Chiron is a utility that will keep calling your attention to all that is not resolved. Some of these topics may have come up before, including in 1997 or so, or in the early 2000s, though in a different form. If there is a sticking point, you might focus there: something that keeps getting your attention, or persists as a problem. That can be your organizing principle. It will tend to be so whether consciously or not; when you apply your will and embark on a healing process, that will have a way of spreading out into other areas of your life that you may have thought were not really part of the situation. Because Chiron represents the holistic principle, it is wise to treat the background conditions as well as that which you think is the situation or cause. If you think the matter is physical, consider the emotional and mental. If you think the problem is emotional or mental, get your body into the action. And as may be the situation for the next month or two, if you think the focal point is a relationship, that is an indicator to place your attention on yourself and your needs, rather than on a partner or partnership. It’s not that you’re ignoring the encounter with another person; rather, you can use it as a reflection of your deeper circumstances and therefore, as a means of learning about yourself.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may feel on top of the world, as if you possess some unusual power, influence or control over your destiny. However, be cool and relax: one pitfall of Saturn in the 10th house is arrogance. While you may possess a modicum of superiority to certain others, you still need them. And while your commanding presence is capable of being used as a tool to get people in line, remember that you are either not tolerating others telling you what to do, or are doing a good impression. The dramatic tension in your chart is between being an iconoclast who makes their own rules, and someone who knows they must make a point of conforming in order to stay out of trouble. This may be an impossible setup to resolve, as described; you will benefit from another angle of approach. How about this? Think of yourself as a beacon for those who are experimenting with their true individuality. To do that, you must be open on several levels, and work with your personality and life circumstances to be a point of gathering. In this environment, one’s distinctions need space to be welcome, even if they are disagreeable, or are considered dangerous. Lower your threat level, and set the example of cooperation. Another way to describe the fundamental tension in your chart is between pushing the limits of what is considered acceptable, and using your skill and personal authority to maintain a modicum of organization: for example, enough for dinner, a project or a party. While you’re doing that, observe how people play and interact. Notice who enjoys and values keeping the commitments they make. Observe who is able to inspire others to do more, do better, or do anything at all. This will give you the lay of the human landscape, and help you refine your social skills.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The forthcoming Mercury retrograde in Libra (exact Sept. 27 – Oct. 18, with a three-week margin on either side) may dredge up some old material you thought you were done with. Yet you will discover that it’s excellent fodder for both healing and creativity. Be grateful for what you learn, and for what you discover was unresolved. Your ruling planet Mercury’s passage through Libra, now underway, will help you see the ways in which you have given up your power — and provide opportunities to claim it back. It will not be handed back by those who have benefitted from your dropping the ball in key decisions. Anyone who seeks to intimidate you is unlikely to mend their ways and remind you that you’re actually equal, or that they think you know more. These things you must claim, in what is no less than an ongoing gesture of self-respect. Such is not a feeling you walk around with, like a pair of new shoes. Self-respect is about the decisions you make, and about informing others that they are subject to your choices about yourself. You will find that many think it’s the other way around; however, they cannot get anywhere with this theory if you do not cooperate fully. You simply must assert yourself. And at the same time, you cannot get advice from people who are running an agenda for you. You need to consult with people who are objective and who support you, and moreover, those who are actually knowledgeable. Many times during the coming month you may figure out how little you know about something, though it would be preferable if this awakening happened before you commit to something you cannot easily change, or change at all. Therefore, beware of false clarity.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Beware of people and situations that undermine your confidence. I don’t mean avoid; I mean, be aware, and see if you can figure out how and why certain circumstances lead you to doubt your confidence. They are likely to be the same kinds of situations where you will not stop and check the facts and viewpoints when you truly need to. All month long, planets will be buzzing around Libra, your 4th solar house. This is about confidence, emotional security, and your sense of personal balance. Later in the month, Mars will arrive here, followed by the Mercury retrograde effect. This could represent distractions, as well as situations where you find yourself the recipient of misinformation. Yet the bottom line comes down to having enough confidence not to guess what is true, but rather to spot and challenge what is false. These faster-moving transits are all tethered to something much more durable in your astrology: Chiron moving through your solar 10th house. Your agenda is leadership, and in the current version of the world, this translates to having eyes behind your head and in the palms of your hands. It is about maintaining awareness of everyone and everything around you, and noticing who is asleep and who is alert and aware. Leadership is always about decisions, and all the factors that lead to them. You can learn the easy way, by taking charge and making your own mistakes, or the hard way, by allowing others to make decisions for you that you then have to address. You may be afraid that you’re going to ruffle a few feathers, but so what? You were not put on this earth to stroke the egos of others. You are here to find your way to the life that you want, and that means to standing up for yourself. So get on your feet.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — It’s essential that you be aware of situations that are defined by hazy or foggy agreements. They are where misunderstanding can slip in, along with more nefarious kinds of problems. Follow any misunderstanding, no matter how small, as evidence of a potential problem with an agreement. Planets are now moving into position that will tend to make you more decisive and self-assertive, then after that, you may find that you’re doubting yourself.  So one essential strategy for the next two months will be knowing how to delay decisions until you have enough information to proceed. That means facts and figures, which in turn mean full data on the financials. Rather than being a passive process, this is about actively fact-finding and looking for patterns. Among those facts and patterns are any hint as to who may be even meekly dishonest. They go in a special probationary category. To do this, you will need to be inquisitive and confident, as there are likely to be blind spots in your thinking that need to be revealed. Yet it is in your mental process, and your gathering and evaluation of facts, that you may experiment, as long as you do not make promises or commitments— except, that is, the commitment to learn and understand. There seems to be one particular situation where you will make ongoing discoveries in a series of layers and revelations, each of which will remind you it was a good idea that you didn’t act on incomplete information. If there are multiple sides to the story, bear in mind that they are not all equal. Ignorance is not ingenuity, no matter how loudly it may stamp. Ask your questions softly and meaningfully, and evaluate what you hear. As you do this, focus on your purpose: on the motive, need, desire or goal that is guiding you. Make sure you know what that is, even if it’s a work in progress.

beautifully illustrated by Deirdre Tanton

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