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Aries (March 20-April 19) — Here is a proposal: your spiritual path is to allow nobody to define who you are or what you believe. Most would agree that is a worthy goal. What’s difficult is knowing when it’s happening, and then being able to stand up to the pressure to conform. These are equally challenging. You may only know the situation if you make a choice to do what you want, or to have your own understanding, and assert yourself a little. Then, the resistance you encounter will give you a clue what pressure you were under. So this is what you might think of as a real-time experiment in self-actualization. Chiron is now at full-strength in your birth sign, and will drive you to grow, to become, to explore your consciousness, and to stand out in any way that you need to. This is the nature of the healing crisis (really, the critical mass point) based on Chiron in Aries. It’s possible to experience this transit as being singled out, as not fitting in, or not fitting into your own skin or consciousness. This is the challenge. It’s not really coming from outside of yourself, though the world is very much your playground when it comes to not just figuring out who you are, but fully embodying your personal reality. One thing I suggest is you take it slowly. Do not rush the process, or think you know the outcome. Chiron rewards slow, meticulous effort. Chiron works well in the presence of documentation, which serves as a guardrail against denial. And there is one other thing, that is most often forgotten: the presence of a teacher, and also of serving as a mentor to at least one person who seeks you out.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — One of the most challenging elements in the life of a Taurus is to change your ways. This can be a source of deep conflict. For example, imagine you know there is something you need to alter about yourself or your life pattern, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot do it. This can be about anything from adjusting your diet to quitting smoking, or adopting a more positive outlook. At the root of this is changing your mind. One would think that thought would be the most flexible of all substances, but it tends to be one of the most rigid. Uranus in your birth sign is doing its best to shake you up at every possible opportunity. These are mostly minor quakes, which will compel you to rearrange your beliefs and thought patterns each time they happen. This, in turn, is designed to teach you flexibility and adaptability, which I suggest you adopt as your ongoing yoga practice. Meanwhile, Jupiter and Saturn have now reached the midheaven angle of your solar chart. This is calling forth a new level of commitment and responsibility. Such are never convenient, nor ever easy. Rather, the nature of Saturn in Aquarius is to persist, and to cultivate impeccability. And the nature of Jupiter in Aquarius is to base your mission and purpose on getting along with your brothers and sisters. The world is brimming with excuses and opportunities to disrespect people. You are now the beginning of where this ends, and where a new approach to life commences.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Nearly everything that counts is a matter of faith. To be happy, to be sane, to be productive, your faith must be in humanity. You don’t need fancy theology or notions of the divine. You don’t need ornate religions or complex hierarchies of thought. You need people: to love them and be loved by them; and to cultivate mutual respect. Though you may have been aware of this in the past, it’s now coming in at full strength. The problem with people is how casually they disappoint one another. This often gets tossed off as ‘flaky’, though what happens is that gradually, humans erode one another’s faith in humanity. They make it difficult to trust the next person, or to hold themselves as trustworthy in new relationships. Your faith in humanity begins with yourself. You are the proof within your own life that it’s possible for someone to be sincere. This involves many facets of relating to yourself and to others, including a modicum of consistency. It’s tempting to wake up every day and be a different person. It’s also tempting to think you’re stuck in who you are and cannot change, and that’s just the way that it is. These states of being will all leave you wanting for, well, for everything. Thankfully, Jupiter and Saturn have just entered your fellow air sign Aquarius, which will help you stabilize yourself. This, in turn, will have many cascading benefits, including helping to steady your view of the road of life that you’re traveling on. Your vision of the future has been obscured by the complications of the past, which at times have been an obsession for you. There is no future without the present. The past does not lead you anywhere. But you can go anywhere from here and now, as long as you are here and now.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Whatever you’ve been through the past few years, I reckon you don’t want to go through it again. You are onto new adventures, and very different ones. That also means new challenges, though they will be more accessible than what you’ve experienced. Most of Saturn moving through your opposite sign Capricorn was about all that was non-negotiable. At various times, various people attempted to define your reality for you, which was not going to happen. Yet we cannot say the various conclusions were any form of mutually agreed upon. And that becomes the theme of the next few years, with you in the role of diplomat. It’s ultimately up to you to manage the role of everyone you bring into your life, and to know why they are there. This calls for putting up a filter or gateway through which everyone must pass before they get too much access to you. This would include business and personal access; financial and sexual access; and any form of collaboration. You will find that this is a top-level necessity for getting control of your affairs. Be mindful of who enters your life along with others; that is, pay attention to the personal networks of those you work with or socialize with, as you are subject to their karma as well. The bottom-line necessity is for you to have authority over your own resources. And you must fully understand and agree with the terms and conditions under which you have access to the resources of others. Know what is in each agreement. Make it plain. Make sure it’s understood in words, both spoken and printed, and that you have an exit clause to any agreement you get into. Know where the door is.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Suddenly everything is more tangible and immediate. This is about your partnerships and intimate relationships, and it’s also about the total environment that surrounds you. The first thing to do is take notice of how you’re perceiving people and circumstances differently. Under transits of Jupiter and Saturn through your opposite sign Aquarius, the world will seem different in many ways, including the appearances, and behaviors of people you encounter. Study those changes before you act on them. Map out the new social territory, even as it evolves and takes form. Everyone has experienced these sign changes simultaneously, so everyone is adapting at the same time. It’s likely that people will make decisions quickly about where they stand, and try to lock into a new pattern prematurely. That is the mistake to avoid. Hang loose for a while and see what people do. You don’t need first dibs on anything; understand what you want, and be willing to take the time to get there. The new structure of your world is likely to look something like this: you see possibilities and limitations, without necessarily recognizing that these are just the first layer. The idea is to get past that, first by recognizing that there’s more behind the façade, or if it turns out to be a barricade or locked door, there’s something in there. To get it, you need all those Saturnian skills of patience, persistence, daily effort, and working in an organized way. Yet there is also what will seem to be a luck factor. It’s more of a “make your own luck” factor however, and that has all the same ingredients as Saturn only add being friendly — to everyone, all the time.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — You are now chief of collaborative efforts, in all that you do. This is usually true, but the world is falling apart, and you get to be the one who holds it together. OK, not just you, there are others, though they may not be local. Your first assignment is to go get a couple of assistants who may not be able to take on the full responsibility but who are willing to help. Consider yourself on a mission. Though this is about collaboration, you will need to be more independent than you ever have been, in terms of emotional dependency. You’ve been moving in this direction for a while now. You seem to have a love-hate relationship with it, though you may find that beneath that, you appreciate cultivating the ability to depend on yourself. Your assignment from a growth standpoint is threading the needle of cooperation by being self-reliant. I recognize this sounds like a paradox, or a Zen koan, and I don’t mean to imply one-hand clapping. I do mean that you need to know where you stand with yourself at all times, and be impeccably loyal to yourself, before you can expect anyone to be loyal to you. And that won’t work out all the time, though your bond to yourself makes any other lasting connection possible. What is so interesting is that you’ve always lived this way, even when you thought you were doing something else. And it has served you well, until you reached an endpoint of doing this method without full intention present. That is the thing that is changing; that is the step in the direction of self-actualization. And when you have that, you have so much.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Above all else, things must make sense for you — which will likely be a challenge at this stage of human history and in the history of your life. Yet help has arrived, in the form of stabilizing influences in your fellow air sign Aquarius. There have been many over the centuries who have discovered that if the world makes no sense, their creative life can, and must. That is where you are today. By creative, I mean any form of what you make, or invent, for the sake of doing so. This may be part of your livelihood (i.e., how you make your money), and it may not be. For most, it pertains to what they do for its own sake. This is not a luxury. It never was, though for you it’s a necessity now more than ever. You are fortunate that you have a place to concentrate your psychic energy and your need to keep your mind active. You have the ability to focus on beauty and healing. You may already be doing this; many readers of this column are artists and some are working artists. Value that gift that you have and that you’ve received. If you are on the line, if you’re distracted, if you’re going in circles, stop and focus, and draw your energy into some creative process. That is your zone of sanity; your place of stabilization; and it will turn out to be, where you rebuild your social life and sense of community. You may need to start modestly, though commit to making the investment of time, space, energy and any inconvenience you incur from needing to rearrange things. The space part of this is crucial: having a designated place to do what you do. It may be a spare room, the attic, or a table. Make a place for yourself.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You have a strong foundation. That is the thing to emphasize. Most of this comes through some form of family or community grounding. It might be your relatives, or your family of choice. Whatever it is, people are involved. That is essential. There is no way on Earth that you’re going to adapt to a socially distanced, isolated, separated existence. It’s not going to work for you — forget it. If anyone is trying to tell you this is to make you healthy, tell them it’s about as wholesome as prison food and solitary confinement. Meanwhile, everything you do must be centered around your actual health. Not the avoidance of disease, but the cultivation of well-being, both physical and emotional. You may have to be very bold about this. You may have to challenge authority figures in your life. Most of the environmental insults are coming in by way of the workplace, whether it’s about obstructing your breathing or forcing you to inject an untested drug. Take careful note of anything you even suspect might be impacting your health or your sanity. Pay careful attention to both your physical state and your emotional experience of life. Most people find that to get a grip on these matters takes some serious energy, focus and guts. But we are talking about your life here. We are talking about your ability to take care of yourself and to be happy — and to do your work. The way the world is going, get ready to make some changes. All of them must be focused on one thing — I will use the word again — your well-being. Bienestar in Spanish. Fuli in Chinese (福利). For your purposes, there is nothing else. Nothing else matters — nothing.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The past is over, but only if you live that way. Many events in the last weeks of 2020 have drawn to a close a long era of your personal history, and created for you a point of departure. Yet the story of humanity is that it lives staring into the rearview mirror, and therefore struggles to find the present moment and consequently, the way forward. People consider it natural to use the past as a reference point by which to judge the present. Yet more than being a source of practical wisdom, this casts a shadow on your perception and hence, on everyone you relate to. At this time, it’s essential that you evaluate your circumstances as they are, now. Evaluate people as they present themselves to you now, and as related to any tasks at hand, now. This requires listening skills, and it requires analysis of your immediate environment: particularly the group of people who surround you. You are central to whatever you think of as your community. This has many meanings to many people but I do mean in your actual local community, on the ground, in physical space. From there, that branches out into your community on the internet. You are a foundation of this group of people, whoever they are. That means you must be consistent in your communications and conduct. This is a central leadership role, not a top-down one. Your example counts for more than anything, as does keeping a level head. This is a special task for the unusual circumstances that are happening right now, which do not resemble any other moment. So stay present, in the present. Stay up to date. Know what you’re talking about and who you’re talking with at all times.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You must get a grip on your insecurity, if you want to accomplish anything of lasting value. You certainly can. It’s within your power and your potential to do so — though not if self-doubt is your religion. This counts for any form of fear, guilt or presumed debility. This counts for any form of anxiety about whether you are a stable person. In this next phase of your life, represented by the sign change of your ruling planet Saturn, you are being called on to step into your full maturity. This would count for whatever age you are, and for however much time you feel you have left on the planet. These things can all be done. They all come down to one thing, which is self-respect. The common term is self-esteem, which is difficult to define. I would say however that living your life as if it matters is the best way to put it. By that I mean in the sense of you being integral to the world around you. I mean caring enough about your plans, your abilities, and the contribution you might make to persist in doing so. Therefore, aspire to be competent, and to offer your services where they are needed — whether or not you are compensated. What you want is participation, and to be integrated with the world around you. These are not merely words. When you’re actually doing this, you will feel engaged with your purpose. Your life has meaning. And gradually you will recognize that you respect yourself, and that your resources are valuable to yourself and your community. You will therefore make different decisions than you have in the past. Good thing, too.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Saturn, your ruling planet in your birth sign or rising sign, is said to be the most powerful placement in all of classical astrology. I know that is a big statement, though it’s one that is well-studied. For the ancients, Saturn was the bottom line, and Aquarius is its true home: the place where its best properties can emerge. If you’re feeling like this is a “coming of age” time in your life, that’s why, at least in part. If you’re feeling a need to tap your deepest potential, Saturn in Aquarius describes how and why. Yet Saturn always demands that we take on its properties in order to avail ourselves of its services. In Aquarius, these include objectivity and impartiality. That means standing apart from your prejudice, and looking at everything and everyone with new eyes. Saturn in Aquarius wants to know all sides of any issue on which it must make a judgment or a decision. What safeguards do you take in order to know when you don’t know? (That by the way is one of my guiding principles for Saturn in Aquarius, which applies doubly for anyone with Mercury in Aquarius.) For the first six months of Saturn in your sign, you have help from Jupiter. This changes the tone and feeling considerably, bringing optimism and an enhanced sense of what is possible. Use this time wisely. Act on your plans sooner rather than later, and get things started under entirely positive aspects. Jupiter and Saturn represent favorable news for you professionally, though they insist that you take the initiative rather than waiting for anything to happen. Your life will be a new version of the story of how luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — For some time, your life has felt like the itchy and scratchy show. There were times the past few years when things seemed to go from bad to worse on a fairly regular basis. Yet you have endured, and your ship is upright and seaworthy. With the sign changes of your ruling planet Jupiter, and ever-important Saturn, a new regime has taken over your “executive function.” What you now have is the ability to consolidate your affairs, and concentrate your efforts. There are two things happening, generally. One is that your domain is expanding: the set of responsibilities over which you preside and are accountable for. Second is that you are drawing deeper into yourself, and becoming a more private person, even as you may still exist in the public eye. It’s necessary to work these two facets at the same time. You will draw your true strength from cultivating your inner vision: from listening to the steady, calm voice from within. This will teach you everything you need to know, such as how to work with people, and how to make your decisions. Remember that above all else, the achievements of those born under the star sign of Pisces are driven by vision. Often that is your ability to see what nobody else can; your ability to conceive of the future; your knack for being useful. Take a moment and notice the ways that both your environment and your mental state have changed over the past few weeks. Do not take too long to adapt: note the changes, and make your adjustments incrementally, but efficiently. That means step by step, always following your larger vision. You have one, and the more you trust that, the more you will notice it’s true.