Taurus (April 19-May 20)

What Color is your Parachute? That's not a question, it's an annual edition book that helps people find their perfect work. It takes a while; you have about a year. That's exactly enough time. Don't believe what anyone says about the economy. Don't worry about any potential lack of qualifications or academic degrees. What do you want to do with your days? Play keyboards in a rock band? Work for Google? Teach English? I strongly suggest you raise this question every day for an entire month, and perhaps keep a notebook of your ideas. The river of life is taking you through some extremely fertile territory regarding the work you do every day, the services you perform, and the healing gift you have to offer the human family. Such changes sometimes occur as a sudden transaction, though more often they happen over time, and you have time now -- the right time.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)

Everyone has a different relationship with luck. Some people save it up for the future. Others throw it at the world and watch it come back five-fold. Some feel that luck is a superstitious concept and refuse to trust it, since to do so is to shortchange oneself of opportunity. But there is no arguing the point that to succeed one must dare. Most people who succeed do so after many attempts, then one day they 'get lucky'. Perhaps the timing is right. Perhaps they developed an idea to the point where it was strong enough to break through the noise of civilization. Whatever may be the case, and whatever you believe about luck, something is ready. And that something is urging you to soon take a risk, which may mean risking something substantial: your money, time, or most important, your faith. There are no guarantees, but honestly, you don't need any.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

There are generally two kinds of freedom: freedom from, and freedom to. Both require commitment, and constant nourishing of the truth of who you are. I suggest it's very much worth your while to experiment with both sides of this equation, and to think carefully what you mean when you say the word 'commitment'. A third kind of freedom is the freedom to be. This requires a sense of safety or security that goes beyond external factors. In essence, feeling safe in the world is itself the freedom to be. You could spend a lot of time analyzing why you are in fact safe, or you can indulge the experience and see what happens. The world changes, that much I feel confident saying. Perhaps beauty becomes more important than our ideas about it. Perhaps we recognize that we do have time; that it's not too late.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)

Often people go through years of therapy to learn one thing, which is not to be so hard on themselves. Anyone who succeeds at letting go of self-punishment, guilt and strict methods of conditioning has risen above one of the world's great lies. I'm not sure how to state that lie outright, but let's presume it's there, lurking in the background of thought. Its opposite is a definition of growth that factors in the reality that people make mistakes and inevitably learn from them. In the coming weeks, it's as if you'll acquire a resource that makes you wise beyond your years, and intelligent beyond the limits of your culture and upbringing. Would someone not reading a horoscope column notice this change? Perhaps they might, at the end of several seasons, notice a pattern of better decisions and a more balanced state of mind. You have the benefit of being able to plan ahead.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)

Every card in the deck is stacked in your favor if you want to increase your financial fortunes. I suggest, however, that such a priority take second place if you think having more money is going to make you feel better about yourself. Money is not the issue; your beliefs about it are. And your self is not the issue; your beliefs about yourself are. There are currently about a million ways you can let go of stressful, mentally-obsessive ways of making yourself a higher-quality individual. While in fact you may actually be succeeding, better is only as good as she feels. But since you're in the mood for heavy lifting and valve jobs, I suggest you pick three extremely challenging goals, such as stop smoking, quit some form of medication, get out of a relationship -- big stuff. Then call it good if you achieve one, and excellent if you achieve two.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

September is a big month: the approaching time of your birth and the Equinox, and the month when Jupiter enters Libra for the first time in 12 years, followed by the return of Mars to your sign for the first time since October 2002. You need the power boost these planets inevitably bring. A variety of influences (the Venus transit of the Sun, the Saturn-Chiron opposition and an approaching solar eclipse, to name three) have been putting you through the paces this year. Please don't complain. You've been doing extremely well, and I would hazard a guess you have no idea how much you've accomplished. It's true that before long you'll barely recognize your life; but so what? It was progress you asked for, and it's progress you're getting. You know it's not easy being a Libra, but you can be sure it's worth it.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)

Do you have the feeling that December is going to be a big month for you? Something that's been developing for a long time, and which has had many twists and turns this year in particular, reaches a point of contact or major transition; of closure and then commencement. Developments of the next two months will not necessarily be reassuring toward this end. I speak both of developments in the world, and to a lesser extent, in your world -- but just let any murky waters pass under the bridge and enjoy the adventure of life if you can. Nothing can stop the developments I'm talking about, and along the way there you're likely to forget them at times, which is not such a bad idea. As for how long it's taken to get to something resembling a destination, when the clouds clear and the light dawns, you'll see why all the seemingly pointless delays were necessary.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

How important is popularity to you? If I had to guess, you'd prefer that your ideas enjoy some public appreciation rather than you being the focus of any kind of adulation. However, it may not come down to a choice between these options. In fact, you have earned your reputation, and you deserve a payback in both social and monetary terms; such is likely to be on its way. What you need to do in the meantime and, no matter how successful you become, is work like you're still aspiring to your first job. In a very real sense you are, because you are at the first stages of a new level of your growth. Let no form of outer progress distract you from the important inner work that supports everything you do; and let no power or reverence for your talent prevent you from sitting down at a level table and negotiating your way to the next destination.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

Under any other circumstances, I would probably suggest that in the search for happiness, personal matters take priority over professional ones. But you have been so effective at rolling away the stone that separated you from intimate contact with your fellow humans that there's little else you can do except let the present catch up with the future. The life you knew and the self who lived it seem to be falling away one chunk at a time, and now that it's begun, this process will see itself through. Meanwhile, opportunity is beckoning, and you are someone who wears success well. There is one quality that must carry over from your personal relationships into your professional affairs and back, which is exceptionally direct communication. Begin with the facts, then move onto opinions. Get used to being one person with one agenda. And sacrifice no truth on the altar of fear.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Love is your religion, or the closest you come to practicing one. Yet you've never been able to play by the rules that others seem to take for granted. As structured as you like your life to be, you need to wake up each day and be the person you need to be. At first it takes enormous faith to believe people will accept this new incarnation of you each and every day. Yet consider this, please. It's far easier for others to accept the fact that you change than it is for them to accept a condition of your being unhappy with yourself. You've recently passed through a kind of test, as if your soul has moved through a kind of clarifying filter, putting you into greater touch with your own strength. You can afford neither struggle nor a condition of disapproving of yourself. Others will follow your lead effortlessly.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

The past year of Jupiter in Virgo has been a study in the details of relationship. It's seemed as if no shoes really fit, no clothes are suitable for your climate and nobody quite speaks your language. But you've learned to adapt, and you've learned to see a bit of yourself in everyone -- very good skills to possess in this world. Over the next month as planet after planet shifts into Libra (probably the closest cousin to Pisces in the zodiac), the world may seem to change around you. Yes, there are a lot of transitions ahead, but you're arriving at the delta of Venus, a kind of major destination. In the meantime, keep your focus on the details. You have a truly unique perspective at this moment; the mirrors in which you can gaze will provide an enormous amount of data. What you see may not match your sweet imagination, but will certainly feed it.