A Note on Today’s Photos
In German, “Virgo” translates as Jungfrau — simply, young woman. Today’s photos are from the Book of Blue project: in one expression, a series of portraits of (mostly) young women created between 2005 and 2017 in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Portland OR, Portland ME, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, and Paris. The project began as a search for what my photographic subjects understood about themselves (as women), and morphed into a quest to find and make peace with my own inner woman. — efc
Aries (March 20-April 19) — You may need to go back to the scene of a family situation that you thought was resolved, and attend to one last piece of business. It may be deeply personal, or it may involve a financial matter. You have some time to work this out, though I suggest you get busy as soon as possible — time is moving quickly and there will be other items appearing on your horizon. Think of what you’re doing as some form of going back to your old home, or your old school, to see if you can tap into the feeling of what it was like to be there in another stage of your life. There is usually something unsettling about this, as if you’re wondering where that other person you are went. However, it’s still you, older and possibly wiser. There is a specific question to keep in your pocket like a Swiss Army knife, to use when you need it: and that question is, who was running the show, and why? What were the motives involved, and who was involved in a cabal with whom? There are connections, and you won’t have to stretch. There was a plan, and you can trace its shapes by the various outcomes. It will help significantly if you study old photos. I don’t mean look at them and turn the page of the album, but rather study what is going on in the background, and who is in the frame, and how they appear to feel about one another. Study the furniture and the wallpaper. Ask yourself what was going on outside of the frame.
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Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You can be more socially adventurous than you usually are, and this will lead to some unexpected creative outcomes. There is a quality of blending the colors of paint, and exploring new expressions of who you are in environments where you can be bold and test the responses that you get. You’re not going to offend anyone, and remember that most people are only pretending when they act like they have an opinion. And sadly, most are pretending when they say they care. You will be able to sort out illusion from truth only through pushing your environment a little and conducting yourself in ways that you don’t normally. At the same time, you’re going through an inner process that may leave you feeling like you’re way out on the edge of yourself, uncertain what might happen next. There’s an equation that is all but forgotten here in the digital age, and that’s the one about how contact with others only comes through vulnerability. And truth be told, vulnerability is not your strong suit. Although running all of our relationships through electricity and microwaves is not making this any easier. Yet you remain a human in the tactile, sensory, physical world. You want and need contact with others. That can only come through being open, and practicing empathy for yourself and others. This implies both experiencing their beauty and feeling their pain. That means being open, and listening, and letting yourself out of your psychic envelope. Remember there is no right or wrong in this realm of life; there is only kindness or the lack thereof.
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Gemini (May 20-June 21) — We humans often take for granted how important faith is to us; and how faith is the bottom line on sanity. I do not mean hope. I do not mean wishful thinking. I mean faith as a point of contact with something greater than ourselves — whether that’s humanity, something about God or cosmos, or yourself. As Pluto dips out of Aquarius and back into Capricorn for the last time over the next 10 or so weeks, you will be reminded what it feels like to be subjected to situations that we could call faithless. That means where you have no power, or where others seem to have all the influence. This is just a reminder. It’s here as a refresher course for all the times you managed to get a grip on yourself and your affairs. You have done this many times over long years; it was potentially the most challenging learning process of your life, and over and over again, you rose to the occasion. You might think of the last weeks of Pluto in Capricorn as a graduation ceremony. You might think of this time as the opportunity to take a victory lap around the territory you thought was long impenetrable. You may have to make one last decision to not just declare, but to establish your independence from some cryptical forces, the life of an ex, or the life of your in-laws. This is your business and nobody else’s. Love implies respect; the lack of respect is an assurance of the lack of love. Avoid projection and make your assessment carefully.
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Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Keep your interests close to home, and be exceedingly careful in your interactions with women. You will need to find the balance between not backing down and boldly standing up to them. If you find someone who is justifying their conduct on the events of some long span of history (say, 5,000 years) focus your attention on how they (and you) feel about the elusive and seemingly all-powerful being known as father. You are coming face to face with the essential crisis of your family. That’s the same thing that has been responsible for all their strange behavior over the generations and the decades of your life. The same thing that seemed to be a kind of labyrinth from which you could not escape, and a shadow you could not get out of. When you see what this was really all about, you will be amazed how ordinary it was — for example, the collected rage at how cold people were to one another, or all the ways that power was inserted as a substitute for love. It never is, and never can be, and there is only one way to respond: open your heart and stand in your truth. ‘Stand in’ means to occupy the ground of, and to speak only from that position. You have room to maneuver there, while holding open the same basic ground. This starts with being wholly real with yourself about how you feel, what you need and what you want. That will blend nicely into what you want to do with your time on Earth, which is your choice and your prerogative entirely — not theirs. Throw that lie into the ocean.
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Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Your survival instincts are running high, or they will be soon. But all you really need is your ability to relate to other people. And I would add, in a way that steps aside from the sense of urgency that you might be feeling as the month develops. You can use that feeling to guide yourself closer to the truth of an emotional or family matter, in which case it would be dedicated to your healing process. If you need to get intense, do so in a contained environment where you are as sure of confidentiality as you can be — and not on the internet in any form. The kind of feelings you may be having call for in-person conversation, grounded in-body and complete with eye contact. And, I would add, conducted with someone who has no interest in what you think, feel or choose. It’s unlikely that the worst of your fears is remotely true, though there is something legitimate concerning you; and you can address that something. It may be a matter of old business that you thought was resolved coming to the surface, or threatening to. If you hold it down, you may discover that it becomes a source of chaos. If you’re experiencing disturbance for a reason you don’t understand, ask yourself what you’re not saying. For most people that would be a long list, which they might not want to make. I’m talking about something specific, and maybe two or three related topics. One will lead to another; you should know all of your own secrets. You will be much happier.
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Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The Sun enters your sign on Thursday, Aug. 22, which is the herald of your birthday season. Mercury is about to station direct, about six days later on Aug. 28. Between these two events, you know that it’s time to get moving on one particular goal that is of the highest priority, but which you may not think is possible. Here is a clue: it will not be feasible if you stretch yourself in too many directions. But if you have one thing you’re fully committed to, you will get it done. This may be challenging. Gemini is involved, which tends to split goals in half. The way to handle this is to bring the halves together. One thing about Virgo is that its natives often have two seemingly different careers. These may be related, like author and illustrator; they may be seemingly unrelated, such as auto mechanic and violinist. Whatever they may be, you want to use the principle of synergy: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That is the most succinct guiding principle of Virgo in any event, and it’s crucial for you now. You want everything about you working together. Leave no facet of yourself behind. Do not imagine that some part of your experience is not applicable and — more to the point — remember the things you have plenty of experience with that will be useful in your current situation. And please remember, while you may not be a competitive person, your deepest need right now is to accomplish something meaningful for yourself. Ideally this is something you’ve never done before, potentially because you’ve never had such a brilliant opportunity.
Click or tap.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Your intuition will not fail you, if you use it and do not rationalize it away. Intuition means knowing without knowing how you know. It’s not false certainty — there is no bravado, and nothing external about it. Though in the external, pay homage to time-honored traditions, and bring what you learn from them into the moment. This is a poignant time of year for everyone, and a special time of year for you. Your inner being stirs to life and is filling you with many forms of knowing without knowing how. This means anticipating the important changes coming into your life. Commit to meeting them with a positive mindset, which means making the most of who you are and the opportunities that come your way. It may seem trite, though it’s no less true: every challenge is an opportunity for growth. When you start to collect the gifts of these developments, you will love them for what they are. There is more, much of which is about a leadership gift you have. That is the gift of leading through honoring the common ground that all people and indeed all living things share. To lead, you must go first. To go first, you must have courage. To have courage, you must come from your heart and not your mind. You are in an alchemical moment where you can transform yourself into nearly anything you want, anything you want to be, as long as you are willing to give up what is not right for you, or true for you. Giving up the useless, the outdated and the untrue are no sacrifice.
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Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You want more; that much is clear. But more of what? Is it something that can even be measured? Unlikely so; all the things that matter the most in life cannot be, and you are being driven toward something that makes a difference for you and for the people who are closest to you. However, there may be some conflict. What you want more of may not be something that others are interested in, and your desires may conflict with something they want from you. For example (just an example), everyone wants you to come on a family vacation, and you need to explore the world alone. This is a good time to honor your personal desires that you have for yourself. It’s an excellent time to truly respect your spiritual calling, and your need to experience and be part of something larger than anyone you know is interested in. The question is, will they accept you if you choose to have those experiences? If you’re feeling confident in yourself, the answer to that would be something like: that is their business. To get there, you would need to confront any fear you have of being cast off, or away from the tribe, which is a significant fear for Scorpio. Yet with Pluto moving into position in Aquarius, you will need to make your own security. You are responsible for your sense of safety and belonging on the planet that has no direct relationship to what others feel. And in tribal culture, when the Shaman needs to go into the wilderness or on pilgrimage, it’s nobody’s business to say otherwise.
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Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — With Jupiter in your opposite sign Gemini, you may be wondering why that image in the mirror seems to do all the things you do. When you raise your hand, it does too. When you drink a cup of tea, it does as well. But try holding some printed words up to the mirror and see if you can read them. The chances are it will be very difficult. So maybe that reflection is not really you; maybe it’s just as incomprehensible as the words on the page, which are illegible because they appear to be printed backwards. Ah, but in truth, they are not. You can actually read them if you look directly at the page. So what would be the equivalent of reading your face or your body without the use of a mirror? What gives you a true reflection or accurate view of yourself? There is likely to be something, if you experiment. It may be listening to the sound of your voice. It may be writing, reading and rewriting. There may be a person you care about who has that “marvelously objective” quality — which means that you feel good when you hear the description of the existence of your ideas. The feedback would be interesting and useful rather than seeming to tear you down. One thing to remember is that while you live in a larger world than most people, you have a tendency to limit yourself. You tend to hem yourself in, often as a way of not having to deal with all that darned potential. If you’re done with that, declare it so — and then act like it’s true.
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Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — That you may overcome an issue that has persisted over years or decades may seem like a long shot, though you now have your opportunity to make the changes you need to make. And that really is the bottom line: you must make necessary decisions to change your thinking and your emotional patterns — and through that necessity, set yourself free. Most of the issues you seem to face are not your own. They are about people most of whom are long gone from this world. Yet you have inherited a kind of hologram, or their thought-forms, and it will help if you recognize that whatever this is about is mostly not your karma. By mostly, I mean that the power of decision is crucial in this situation. And it seems to involve two seemingly irreconcilable conditions, both of which may have you at the end of your tether. Count that as a positive, because it means that the kinds of responses that have not worked have run their course. You must make new decisions from new options. And those options are available to you; they are right there, within reach. What is running out are the ways that others have defined you for long years, which you have ultimately accepted, perhaps thinking there was no other possibility. Yet that does not change who you are, it only changes your experience of yourself. Who you are is waiting for you to embrace, as long as you realize this matter is not up to other people and not subject to a vote. It is entirely up to you.
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Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Pluto has backed out of your sign for a moment, after spending the past two years teasing its way in. This could represent two or more things. One is that you will get to remember something of your old life — the one that took shape in the years 2008+. Remember well what your priorities have been; how you defined your needs; and the curious sense of internal pressure that was pushing its way outward into your waking life. When Pluto finishes a major transit, even a difficult one, we can miss its influence and its presence. The second potential is that Pluto’s brief return to Capricorn is providing you with the opportunity to finish some pending business. This may be about a commitment you have to yourself; it may be about a mystery you’ve been trying to solve, related to your family or your ancestors; you may be confronted with some fear or paranoia that you need to meet eye-to-eye and finally laugh at. This is along the lines of actually having integrated what the Jungian scholars and groupies call “shadow material.” You cannot live happily in a world of phantoms: of patriarchies and hierarchies and secret governments you don’t understand — and this includes any mysteries still persisting about family politics. Pluto making its final visit to Capricorn is saying get a grip on yourself, and thank these people for teaching you to be yourself — whether they knew they were doing it or not. As a happy and adapted person, you are free to be anything but their victim. So consider your options carefully.
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Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You may finally feel like you’re untangling the threads in a complicated situation that has bound up your personal and business life. Mercury retrograde ends Aug. 28, followed by the Virgo New Moon. This all has the sensation of starting over from an improved situation. Yet you must be cautious and never over-confident. Self-destructive tendencies could slip up on you; you must know your truth and stick to it, and now allow yourself to be guided by your environmental conditions, including relationships. Yet relationships are about honoring what both people want; if you’re not up to that, then it’s time to bow out gracefully rather than taking advantage of anyone or any situation. Mars clashing with Neptune early in the month evokes the Course in Miracles teaching that the truth is all that matters — everything else must be cast aside. The trouble with that is there are so many convenient deceptions; there is so much cozy and comfortable confusion. But you can never be a little confused. The least bit blocks you from your deeper spiritual contact, and renders the most basic reality unknowable. Therefore, resolve to go beyond confusion because it’s a source of deception. The planets in their movements are guiding you to focus on your deepest service. This is not about owing the world anything, but rather owing yourself the fulfillment of your commitment to the purpose of your existence. And if you feel confused about that, remember, confusion has one use only — to conceal your reality from yourself. And you wouldn’t want that, would you? Of course not.
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