Aries Monthly Horoscopes

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This is one of those times in your life when everything is happening all at once. And if you are able to pace yourself, it could be fun. At the moment, despite living in gnat years in this bizarre new version of the digital world, that pace should be slow — at least for a while. The emphasis of your solar chart is in two places: your home angle, Cancer, where the message is ‘feather your nest and get together with people’. Yes, I am suggesting you give up either an evening (or several evenings) of work or going out to do that thing that was so popular when our parents were little — stay in and hang out with friends and eat good food. If I have to tempt you with the business potential of this, we live in times when the kind of idea that can only be noticed in a relaxed state can be more helpful than making any effort. But I’m not suggesting a business dinner or anything with a focused purpose: I am suggesting good food that you make personally. Also active is retrograde Mercury in Leo, which describes a gold mine of ideas. It also describes something that pretty much anyone can do now, which is to pick up an abandoned creative project and have some fun with it. This is purely for the pleasure of doing, rather than for any end goal. You will feel good, and that is everything.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Use your mind like a Jedi and you will have mastery over your circumstances. Less is more; direct energy rather than strive to control. Tap in rather than exert yourself. Probe and study the patterns rather than jump to conclusions. Your patron planet Mars is in Virgo, which is mental, and it’s also potentially pushy — the most masculine actor in one of the most feminine signs. Pushing will not work; understanding is what you want. And you’re fortunate in that this transit is bestowing you with both curiosity and persistence. These traits will help you in this time of profound self-development and personal evolution, as long as you don’t go full-on OCD on petty matters of no real concern. Large forces are at work, in a way that can truly be described as once in a lifetime. Saturn and Neptune are working together to help you form entirely new elements of who you are; new underlying structures and means of expression. So keep your mind on your larger movements and greater goals. What are they? They’re likely to be based on discoveries you never would have anticipated. Suspend your previous expectations, difficult as this may be. Let go of emotional attachments to ideas and ideologies, and instead, keep asking yourself what is true, and what is true for you. No part of this is competitive, though Mars will tempt you with situations where you think you have to beat others at their own game. You are far greater than this, and you know it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Saturn entering your sign is the astrological equivalent of moving to a new continent, or, more accurately, the continent coming to you. New commitments, new responsibilities and a world of new possibilities will be open to you. Yet to allow this, you will, in a sense, need to forget who you were in the past, and let go of many methods, values and ways of life that have not served you. So you might think of this time in your life as an exchange process. And there are a few other elements operational here as well. Saturn can have a serious cast; Neptune has also recently entered your sign, and this is calling for some idealism and a bit of vision to go with your newfound capacity for achievement. Saturn is a taskmaster and a workhorse. The fuel it runs on is inspiration, and imagination. And now as ever, a modicum of faith is necessary. Another factor is that Jupiter is about to enter the home and security angle of your chart, and that means you must take the time, space and expense to live well. Your home must be a comfort zone, and a place where you are free to be yourself at all times. Many factors in your chart describe that experience per se — living boldly in your truth, even if you have denied yourself in the past. This will influence your relationships, and so you must summon the skill that comes least naturally to Aries, which is negotiation.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Who you really are is directly involved in all the things about yourself that you do not say. Put another way, just about all of the substance of your being is invested in what you don’t talk about, don’t reveal, and may not have discovered. In that spirit, I suggest making a deep and detailed inventory of all the places and topics about which you are usually silent. Go into the territory you hide not only from others, but from yourself. I mean, this could take years, though you could start with three items, ideas, intentions or desires. These are going to be things you’re not only reluctant to say to someone else but also reluctant to write down. And the question is, why is that exactly? Why the secrecy about such basic elements of who you are? That’s another list: who you might offend, what you might shake up, and what you stand to lose. Those are excuses, which are designed to conceal something else: the fear of either change (which often means progress), or of being in your creativity and self-authority. By avoiding these things, you dodge responsibility —that much is true. Yet what you really avoid is the edge. The edge is where you exist in a state that seems like total uncertainty. It’s easier to stand back, far away, or retreat into a cave and stick to what seems totally familiar. Until you can’t stand it anymore.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Neptune enters your sign this month for the first time since April 13, 1861. This is visionary, and you are the one to whom the vision will be coming. Yet you might not quite notice the presence of Neptune except for the sound of your ears popping and the pressure relief as it exits your 12th solar house. More noticeable is that you have two inner planets retrograde in your sign — Mercury and Venus — and you may be struggling to understand your feelings. That’s the whole point. Retrogrades are a minor irritant that calls your attention inward. They present special challenges here in the digital age since there is barely such a thing as “within” — meaning inner awareness. The effect of digital is to turn people inside out, to void and nullify any notion of privacy, and to turn the world into a kaleidoscopic mirror that nobody knows is a mirror. So tune in. Visit your inner life. Do things to encourage the establishment of interior space. Read a book and write on paper. Find places where you can be truly alone and leave your digital devices elsewhere. Do things that you don’t tell anyone about. Eat by yourself in a restaurant where nobody knows you — or anything to emphasize your feeling of being alone and anonymous. None of this is going to solve big problems. But experiments like these will point you toward yourself, and once you’re there, you will make potentially helpful discoveries. You will remember things about yourself that you left in the distant past. These inner planet retrogrades are preparation for major movements by Saturn, Chiron, Neptune and Eris that will be arising over the next two months. When these transits come, inner awareness will not be a luxury. It will be entirely necessary as a means of navigating your life and staying grounded in your personal reality — rather than a dream or fantasy.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — We have arrived at the big moment when Mars, the planet of Aries (and sometimes called Ares) stations direct. It’s been retrograde since Dec. 6, and this whole event has delivered quite a lot of energy, disturbance and potential. The deep theme for you is whether you feel safe in the world, and what it is that helps you feel confident and protected. Ultimately, this is a spiritual question, by which I mean that it’s between you and your inner teacher; between you and existence. Ultimately, no matter how materially well-off a person is, they can feel like they don’t have enough, or like their walls are not thick or high enough to ward off danger. There is never enough food, no matter how much food there is (and though no health gurus are saying this, I suspect this may be a factor in our society’s collective weight-gain issue). So the question is, what do you do to feel safe? Some vigilance and attending to business is certainly a good idea, though this can also lead to “never enough” territory. Really, on the daily level, your safety is a matter of trust. You learn to trust yourself, and you determine who you can trust in your environment — and you build from there. You learn from experience who to let into your private space and who to keep out. But there is one more thing. Most people are dragging around a lot of their parents’ and grandparents’ fears; and a lot of fear from childhood. There is a skill to acknowledging this and letting it go. It takes learning and work; it does not happen on its own — and is worth focusing on.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2025

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Your ruling planet Mars finally ends its retrograde on the 23rd. Yet along the way, it will form a tense 90-degree angle to Chiron in your birth sign. The result may be a need to control your feelings as a matter of integrity. It’s not your feelings that need modulating but rather what you do in reaction to them. Being justified in what you feel is not justification for conduct — and that includes toward yourself. While it’s dangerous to rationalize your emotions, you can learn a lot from observing them; and it’s possible to use wisdom or understanding to work them out. Feelings often have a source; and it’s usually not the thing we believe. The lesson from A Course in Miracles, “I am never upset for the reason I think,” is good for limitless help here on Planet Upset. If something is shaking you up, or bringing up resentment, you may be close to unraveling something that goes back a long way. The bottom line here is some lingering question about whether you are entitled to be who you are — or whether there is something allegedly wrong with that. I mean this on an existential level, though it may have some relationship to what you choose to do every day. We’re all a little hemmed in, but how much wiggle room do you give yourself? When do you get to go free range? Only when you let yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You are about to embark on one of the most exciting years of your life. What you experienced in 2024 was merely preparation, and gave you a push in a certain direction. Check your map and compass to determine just what your heading is. Initially, you will experience the developments in your life as changes to your social environment. You may have a prescient sense of what is about to be rearranged over the next few months, and you will have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve. Yet remember at all times that however dramatic society becomes, the actual changes are being driven by an impulse deep within you. It will be easy to get distracted by the world around you; it will be less easy to maintain your focus on your specific requirements of growth. Yet if you keep your locus of awareness within yourself, you will find it much easier to navigate through the upheavals that are about to take place on the planet, by which I mean in society. The question I am urging everyone to ask themselves involves assessing how overexposure to the digital environment has changed you. It is easy to think that the world has changed, though we have all been impacted, each in different ways. It’s vital that you understand what has happened to you, because much of the theme of the coming few months will be a recovery operation — what might best be described as soul retrieval.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You live on a creative volcano. You may not know this; you may sense that it’s true; and you may wonder what it feels like to tap in. I’ll tell you: it feels good. However, there’s a struggle that nearly everyone faces, including some we think of as the most creative. It’s about what parents told them about themselves, or rather, ourselves. This includes a variety of untruths, spanning from “you will never succeed at that” to “you cannot sing/draw/write,” to “I want you to do this my way” to “you must get an accounting degree.” Curiosity, sexual feelings and excitement about life are severely limited or worse, turned against themselves as resentment and guilt. This kind of treatment, which nearly everyone has endured, does not cut off children, and hence adults, from activities. We’re cut off from ourselves, since these experiences lead people back to who we are. You’re now on a mission of reclaiming your core fire and passion. You are being invited to make friends with intense feelings that come from within you (for example, not from a movie or zip-lining or some other thrilling outer-world adventure). The mystery of who you are is within you, and you will benefit greatly from pointing your mind and your senses inward. You have available the full spectrum of who you ever were. But a risk is involved; even learning is not assured, as that is a deep personal voice. Therefore, your curiosity is essential to learning, growing and experiencing yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The Sun’s annual transit through Scorpio is a time when you experience a different side of your nature. It is equally valid, though a whole other shade of psyche. In lived reality, there is a self who you think of as you, and there is a self who you think of as the you in relationships. You may have some idea that these are the same person, and ultimately they are. Yet they are different faces that you present to existence, and they each have their own properties. Each has its own inner experience. Ultimately, one must emerge as dominant. It’s easy to play a shell game with yourself, and shift into an alternate reality when the pressure gets high. And as you may know, the intensity building in your sign (spanning from the April 2024 total solar eclipse into many other planetary events in 2025 and 2026) is putting the pressure on you to emerge, grow and become in ways that may feel exceedingly challenging. Certain relationships in your life will provide you with a place of refuge, and you may be experiencing that now. Yet your connections to other people must always support your deeper growth, your foundational drive to actualize your true self (and relationships do not always support this, unfortunately). Who you are and who you are becoming are out of the control of others. Yet a true partner will be there for the things about you that are not about them.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Events will proceed quickly this month, and there is little you can do about the decisions that someone close to you makes. Your best course of action is to see your options for what they are at any given time, and make the best choices you can. This implies that you will observe your whole environment rather than fixate on any one situation, no matter how serious it may seem. Focusing too closely on a particular person or issue will distract you from the many possibilities open to you. This is a good time to consider the ways that your professional aspirations are in any way mingled or mired with the values of your family, and your relationship status. It would be reasonably easy for a person to make his or her way in life, were there not so many emotional obstacles and competing commitments. You may be looking at an opening over the next few weeks that could develop when a previously hot-and-heavy emotional situation shifts, and suddenly you find that you have more freedom. Of course, you always had it. But now you may see it for what it is — and be able to make decisions free of any guilt associated with breaking or changing a commitment for your own convenience. There are a diversity of ways this could manifest, though it’s essential for you to know what you want, and to remember who you are outside the definitions into which any relationship may seem to confine you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2024

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.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — A combination of factors is offering you one of the most social and creative times of the year. I suggest you do all the playing and exploring that you can, and learn how to make these things a priority. Truly appreciate the subtle things in life, and give yourself room to experiment. One year from now you’re going to be living under very different influences, arranged around a high priority on growth and personal responsibility. These may represent a total transformation of your self-concept and life circumstances — if handled well, for the better. At the moment, you’re under little pressure to be or become anything other than who you are. Yet you have plenty of room to explore your possibilities, to make friends and to experiment with business and creative projects. Most people are not so eager to try out anything other than what is familiar. Now is your opportunity to learn the art of stretching into your potential, when there is no unusual pressure to do so. Learn the art of being open minded, open to experience and open to people. Be present for what is in your immediate surroundings. Get good at questioning everything. When Saturn and Neptune move into your sign next year, you will be happy you have mastered some of these skills. The most important of them is to have a conscious relationship to your potential. Play with seeing and feeling what is possible, and then trying it out. Develop your game — well before the 2025 astrological Olympics.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — It’s time to mix it up, by which I mean add some diversity to your daily experience, get out more, and experience the life that you want to have. Planets in Aries (including your patron saint, Mars) are saying it’s time to connect with your motivation and your sense of direction and purpose. Do yourself a favor and surround yourself only with those who share a similar sense of derring-do and the faith that life is for living, not waiting around. Stick close to the people who are inspired by you rather than those who are spooked by your determination and creativity. The big news of the moment is that (as of May 25) Jupiter is now in Gemini. A dense concentration of planets centered in Aries is starting to fan out a little, and Jupiter’s new home will bring out your best social qualities. It will also bring out the salesman in you, and if you’re involved in any form of business, you know that success is all about selling yourself. That, in turn, calls for the gift of gab and the ability to tell a good story — perfectly described by Jupiter spending the next year in your 3rd house of commerce and communication. Make a business plan and get started putting it into action. You don’t need a stock prospectus for an initial public offering. You need a page or two that outlines your goals, your potential customers, and your approach to connecting the two. If you’re in a more conventional career, refresh your CV and your LinkedIn forthwith and make the future real — starting now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — As part of music study, you learn something, then you learn it again, then a few years later, you might learn it a third time. This is all mingled in with practice, trial and error, forgetting and remembering. With Mercury now moving direct through your sign, covering the places where it was recently retrograde, you’re in the company of musicians, for whom learning is a process of repetition, review and the gradual embodiment of your truth. Much of what you’re working through is not about external situations. You’ve reached a point where you can admit the undeniable necessity of knowing, understanding and accepting yourself. It’s not enough to merely look good, and even feeling good has its limits as a growth tool. Grist for the mill of self-actualization usually surfaces in times of crisis, distress and insecurity — so embrace these things if you have them. While much of May offers opportunities to re-evaluate and reconsider what you’ve experienced the past two months, events surrounding the April 8 total solar eclipse will stand as a permanent feature of your psychic landscape around which you can develop a sense of perspective. Those developments represented a point of departure, a before-and-after moment, or a crease through the center of your existence. Treat yourself gently, and remember that understanding will come in different ways at different times.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2024

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — If astrology means anything, this will be one of the most unusual months of your life. The central image is a kind of debut where you emerge into the world as the person you always thought you might be. To stand visibly in your truth, as a matter of action, is to stand out. It’s to express your desires and your accomplishments honestly and with humility. That is a vulnerable place to be. Yet it would seem that if you want to claim your position in the world, vulnerability is a small price to pay. And remember — it’s a feeling. Those who admit their vulnerability as a conscious idea are often protected by their commitment to truth, and by being in alignment with themselves. This has a way of repelling interference, or giving you the strength to handle any that may come your way. Many who feel the safest and most confident have problems lurking at their door. While you’re a private person in many ways, your current necessity is to be recognized and noticed. This is not a matter of ego, pride or fame. In order to do your best work, others must know about you. And your visibility is a matter of the example you set for others, which in the end, is your only teaching and your only true accomplishment. Model for others your ability to be steadfast and true in a world of chaos and deception. That is the mark of strength and integrity, and it’s the story being told by your astrology — now and far into the future.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2024

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — The challenge for all of us and especially for you is to think with your whole brain. Though this is not based on exact science, the metaphor works well enough: humans tend to think with half of their consciousness, and half of their awareness (at best) and shut out the rest. This leads to a polarized and distorted view of oneself and of existence. As the world goes wild this month, and unexpected and even impossible developments seem to burst out of nowhere, resist the temptation to be razzled and dazzled by the show. Keep your awareness turned inward, and calmly study your responses to people and situations. Notice that you will have two seemingly diametrically opposed views on any circumstance. See if you can spot this happening, and make a note of what those opposing or distinctive viewpoints are. Then, consider the idea that there is a way to see the world that transcends the parts, and the sum of the parts. You are a different person when you do this, when you transcend your limited or “hemispheric” perceptions. This is what you feel when you’re suddenly “the real you” and not one of these contentious, opinionated half-selves. The result is both accuracy of perception, and a state of calm that you can easily abide and wish would be with you all the time. This month, Sedna enters your birth sign for the first time in 11,400 years (yes, since back in one Stone Age or another). This represents a profound and necessary shift in the mental environment — especially your own.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2024

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — This may be one of the most unusual and brilliant months of your life, if you can hang loose and shed some of your attachments to the past. You don’t need familiar right now — you need bold and adventurous. Embrace the sense of ‘no turning back’ that’s likely to infuse your every step. You may feel like you’re not up to such an adventure, because you’re not personally ready for it, or have not done enough to “find yourself.” Yet taken as a whole, these coming weeks and months are all about making unexpected discoveries. That suggests there is no way to predict who or what you will become under a series of influences unlike any other that you’ve ever experienced. Among the challenges you face are making comparisons between what might be, and what has been. However, if this astrology is saying one thing, it’s that the past is the worst possible reference point for your future potential. So you’ll hopefully get to the point where your only option is to “let go and let God.” Events in your adjoining sign Aries may have you under what feels like quite a lot of pressure to discover something you don’t know about who you are. Yet you don’t have to do much more than remain open minded, go with the flow, and stay in contact with what you’re feeling rather than trying to pretend you’re not. Who you are and who you express in the world are about to drop into perfect alignment, and if you let this happen without resistance, you will gain something you take with you for the rest of your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — It’s not merely that this will be one of the most unusual months of your life so far. Rather, you are entering a phase of existence – lasting years – that will stand apart from anything you’ve experienced before. Yet despite the extraordinary astrology, the message of your charts is about doing the work of self-actualization. This concept is all but omitted from the world, except for my going on about it. If you are in any way struggling, the question is: are you being real with yourself? Related questions include: are you being true to your healing process? Do you compromise your values because you’re in a relationship with another person? The simplest way to describe self-actualization is to recognize that your relationship to yourself is your one and only priority in this world. The condition of other relationships are expressions of your commitment to your own being. It may seem like something else is true — and I would say that all of that “something else” is a distraction from your core mission. This is not about being narcissistic or egocentric. Those things deny the existence of others, and the various roles that you serve for people and that they serve for you. Yet you must have a point of orientation from which you can define “self” and “other.” If you find this difficult, take solace that many are in your situation. Very few take action, which means to actualize, which means making decisions based on honest perception. And that is the theme of the moment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This is a big time in your life — perhaps one of the most significant in many years. Do you feel it yet? You will by the time the Sun arrives in your birth sign on the 19th, and the April 8 total solar eclipse in your sign comes into focus. And this is no ordinary eclipse: it’s conjunct Chiron, which has been provoking changes going back to 2018. Planets in Pisces before then may act as a kind of diversion, lulling you into a dreamy state. Don’t fall for it; you want to be standing at the helm of your existence from this moment forward. Eclipses have three main properties. One is that there is an acceleration of events. Second is that there is a karmic or fated quality (which may or may not be true, but it’s there). Third is that you will seem to reach a point of no return. You can prepare for these things now by reducing your commitments, and lightening your load generally. That’s not easy in the world as it currently is — everything seems to be set in cement, even though most of what we experience is written in computer code. Speaking of, this whole business of virtual reality is most of what you’re claiming yourself back from over the next few weeks as the eclipse comes to a head. You can safely scrub all of your alternate identities, avatars, and other seemingly normal habits that aid in the fragmentation of our times. Claim yourself for who you are, using your actual name, city, state and zip code. Practice the truth that you have nothing to hide.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2024

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You may passively observe the changes to your social environment, and you can also step into the scene and investigate directly. For many years, the world has been locked into certain patterns that seem to weave an ever-tighter mesh. Now, that is slowly starting to unravel, though few have noticed. At first it will seem to be an invisible thing, not easily noticed (nothing much is these days). Many apparent changes don’t work out, and are for that reason easy to overlook. However, if you recognize that you are the catalyst and the activating force, you will have much more fun and a much clearer perspective. The changes to you and within your sphere of experience are being driven by your personal awakening. If the influences seem to be coming from the outside in, beware of the illusion. You are entering one of the most intensive spiritual growth spurts of your life. You may be wondering how you can handle your feelings and the potency of your awareness, and the answer to that is, gently. No matter how fast you or “things” may seem to be moving, take it slow, and keep your senses open. They will tell you more than your mind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Those who try to make their mark on the world are building a sandcastle at low tide. One’s mark has always been transient, though in the digital environment, most of its expressions verge on irrelevant. The question more suited to the moment is: what is the mark that the world is making on you? How have you been changed by the rising tide of technology? How have your social experiences been reshaped by an environment where nearly everything is a paid transaction? It’s not so much that every conversation is processed through an electronic third-party. Rather, the greater problem is that there is a fee attached to everything. This reduces the entire realm of human affairs to a version of amazon.com. You might add up the cost this has had on your life and on all of our lives. And once you’ve done that, the question is: what action are you prepared to take? If you’re happy with the direction things are headed, you might decide you don’t need to do much. If you draw the lines out and see where they converge, you might decide that you must intervene, at least within your own personal sphere. By that I mean with those the very closest to you. And it’s probably high time you meet, in person, some people you consider your online friends and test that whole theory. Along the way, don’t let anyone convince you that you are anything other than human. The arguments are sly.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The matter of resources comes up in grand style this month, as many planets make fireworks across Taurus and Scorpio. That is the money axis of your chart, and it influences such questions as what you have, where you get it, and what you do with it. Yet all of these things are abstract issues, in contrast to who you are — and who you think you are. Once you have a sense of that, the financial issues are much simpler. You have information about how to align yourself with your community and your society in a way that is designed to connect you to resources. Yet I would note that with money, the question is more often how one gets it than it is about what one offers for that to happen. Unless you’re a fantastic ‘manifestor’ (or huckster), the question always comes back to what you provide to others that is potentially of value to them. And this, in turn, comes back to the value that you put upon yourself. Do you recognize your worth, not as some abstract concept, but rather in productivity, commitment, experience and wisdom? Are you willing to offer yourself totally, without hesitation? If you are considering “saving some of yourself for later,” you will miss out on the benefits of your gifts today.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — We’re all on a quest for wholeness and sanity. Yet how can you seek those things in another unless you can find them in yourself? The fact of a relationship is no assurance of healing, awareness, or growth. It’s merely a place where these things might happen. Yet way too much emphasis is placed on relationships as a forum for self-improvement, or a place to seek the completion of a seemingly incomplete self — “my better half,” and all. It’s assumed this is what relationships are for. And it is no wonder that they are often so unstable, and then attorneys get involved. Someone may be showing you something about yourself right now, and it may even seem confrontational. Yet if you take the message and understand that this experience is a mirror, you will be much happier. This involves taking responsibility for yourself, your actions and your feelings. See if you can identify your projections: what you attribute to someone else that’s really your emotional and psychic property. Given recent alignments between planets in Aries and your opposite sign Libra, this has never been easier — even if it seems difficult. You don’t need to claim yourself incrementally; you’ve been doing that. Go the rest of the way in one jump, taking right, title and interest over yourself and your affairs.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Standing up to your relationships is a matter of confidence, not confrontation. Ultimately, this is about understanding that no relationship is strictly necessary, and that all must have a purpose. Sadly, we are trained to act from a place of obligation, and relationships are expected to serve their own ends. Yet with ethics like this, it’s easy to get lost in a fog. Whether you or someone else initiates a discussion, the encounter must happen and be on honest terms. When that happens, you will see that your viewpoints are probably not so far off. However, a seeming difference in opinions may mask a deeper issue of desire. Since I am speaking to you, my question is: what do you want, and what do you want from the relationship in question? Make sure you know these things, and are being sincere with yourself in your assessment. Either you will get them from this relationship experience, or you will not. You cannot expect anyone to change; therefore, you must be willing to make the changes that place you at the center of your existence.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Maintaining direct communication is not easy if you are preoccupied, or distracted from what is in front of you. There is something in your environment that needs your attention, though you may feel you’re too busy working out lingering problems from the past to take action. Yet matters of partnership and collaboration are of the highest priority now; many other things that seem complicated can wait, and most will work themselves out. Think of how often you’ve been lost in the sauce of what seem like urgent mundane activities, only to lose sight of the creative opportunities you have available — many of which will make a brief appearance and disappear back into the universe. Every cell in your body is calling you toward the future. Yet dwelling on the past serves the purpose of keeping your horizons limited, and therefore not “threatening” you with your own potential. To embrace your creative gifts requires courage. To make changes requires courage, though not as much as you think. And if someone is trying to get your attention, and remind you of who you are and what you have to offer, you might take them up on a conversation and even listen thoughtfully to a proposal or an invitation.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2023

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — For you to be at home means to be at home with yourself, wherever you are. That planet itself, for all its problems and all of its potential, is your present location. Orient yourself in space; pay attention to where you are on the globe. Think about which direction you’re headed when you’re moving, and which way your windows face when you’re in a building. Consider experimenting with the angle your bed is oriented. Which direction do you feel better with your head facing? You can also expand your sense of place and imagine where you are oriented in the solar system. It’s easy to get myopic and therefore be lost in a small maze — whether physically, or in your consciousness. Venus retrograde is suggesting that you keep close track of where you are and expand your awareness from there. This is a form of grounding that will help you feel less confused generally. At the moment, using relationships as a compass or guide will be less effective; you must plot your own course, and this includes socially. The forthcoming Full Moon in Aquarius suggests strongly that others are using you for their orientation, therefore you want your guidance to be coming from within.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The public relations aspect of life under digital conditions is getting tiresome, and it takes a lot of energy to be your own press agent. You can back off on that and stick to the tasks at hand rather than concerning yourself with how you’re perceived by others. You can never tell, and it matters less than you think. Your motto can therefore be, “There is no substitute for integrity.” Focus on the quality of what you’re doing, and be cautious about setting any artificial deadlines. You’re involved in something that is going to take as long as it takes. If you submit to that much, it will be easier and the work will proceed more efficiently. Therefore, allow yourself the luxury of some retrospection and a few side-tracks. There will be phases where you need to pause, because nothing much seems to be happening. These things facilitate creativity, which usually keeps its own clock and follows the course of the landscape more like a river and less like walking around. Without getting superstitious, you can assume there is a purpose to everything, including what seem like mistakes. This approach will serve you in relationships as well. If there is love, it’s a creative experience, and it finds its own way.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Your solar chart is exploding with the kind of creativity that is so concentrated and so meaningful that it requires patience to bring out. So if you focus on making some time and space for yourself, and slowing down enough to focus inwardly, you can do something beautiful that you’ve wanted to do for a long time. There is an element of retrieving something that you left behind or unfinished in the past, even if that is just a starting point. There is also a necessary element of trusting yourself enough to think your ideas are worth developing. You are likely to be challenging some childhood repression of your talents, abilities or curiosity. It’s difficult to understand why adults are jealous of the children they care for, though the result is too often intimidation. Kids hide their abilities and their curiosities and the parents reward them for being more “manageable.” So in taking your creative journey inward, there is an element of soul retrieval, and also of rebellion. And as you find your way into and through your personal labyrinth, you will confront a deeply private mystery that will be your reward for daring to enter your creative core.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2023

Here in the age of the “information superhighway,” people hardly communicate, and their attempted conversations often go nowhere. Think of a real exchange as people going somewhere. For you the question is: where, and in what direction? You seem to be standing at an intersection of many possibilities. There are many feasible directions you can take, and more options than you can handle. If you don’t feel this is true, first think in terms of two main potential realities to choose from, and you will see that those contain others. It’s probably tempting to lean in the direction of what is familiar, which may mean you’ve been there before. However, you have a better option, though it may feel more challenging. Why, exactly? What you would be rising to meet are your own priorities, which are too often easy to ignore. Yet if there is a time to engage with a particular creative risk, it’s now. You can wait for life to get better. Or you can take an inventory of what you have, and realize how much you’re working with. Many times in the past you would have been thrilled to find yourself where you are today, with the potential that you possess. You have all the ingredients, but this meal is not going to get up and cook itself. The courage, the initiative and the willingness to invest your time and energy into your own cause are things that you alone can bring. And when you take that step, you’re likely to find you have any help and support that you need. But you must lead the way.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2023

If you must assert your will, do so in a mindful and intellectual way, rather than an emotional or forceful way. How you speak and how you feel when you’re expressing yourself constitute most of the message you are conveying.There’s something else coming through as well: make sure you know what you want before you ask for it. A diversity of factors, including Mercury retrograde and an eclipse of the Moon in Scorpio, say that your priorities are under re-evaluation. That means you’re very likely to change your mind a few times between now and the end of the month. And then Jupiter leaves Aries and enters Taurus, where it takes on a new life.Which means you might miss your most important priorities — including really obvious ones. Therefore, take a long pause before making up your mind, especially if the decision is optional and not on an enforced deadline. If you are told you must commit by a certain time, especially before the 16th, then consult with a couple of people who you know to be helpful in the reality-check department. It’s essential to know your wants and your needs, and there must be impeccable attention to detail. Whatever you are thinking now, you may decide that it verges on irrelevant in just a few weeks, when you have much more exciting, appealing and fruitful options.Therefore, bide your time, which does not mean wait, or make digressions. Rather, it means abide in your time. Use it well, map out your commitments and take any opportunity to disabuse yourself of what is not working for you. This will open up space and energy for what you value, and you will have the freedom to explore it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2023

There is such a thing as too much integrity. That can come in the form of not doing something you truly want to do. It shows up as being too rigid to be spontaneous. It can manifest as hesitation on matters where you know what you’re doing. In other words, fear or guilt disguised as virtue in some form. This is an effect of your ruling planet Mars making a long square (90 degrees, maximum tension) aspect to Chiron.Mars in Cancer describes some emotional stress that is leading to any potential reluctance to do what you want. I am not talking about what you don’t want, or what you know is detrimental. You are likely to be looking at the source of the problem if you confront conditioning from your family infused with a little too much power or authority. Mars, which represents action and desire, is being pelted with a diversity of family-related emotional trips at the moment. The essence of this astrology is knowing when you’re making up your own mind, and when you’re channeling various ancestors and relatives, some of whom may be in the room with you. Self-actualization is largely about doing what you want to do for your own reasons, having nothing to do with the opinions of anyone else, or their hang-ups.They have their issues, and you have yours — you don’t need any extras. When it comes time to wage the revolution, that will come in the form of overthrowing guilt and embarrassment and doing what is right for you, because you want to.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — That matter may become animated and turn into an amoeba and squirm around in a pond is pretty amazing. Many creatures modify their environment. Yet what would seem to distinguish humanity from everything around us is our capacity for reflective self-awareness. This includes the ability to consciously grow and become, as a choice or act of will, and knowing that we have options for how to respond to the situations that confront us.Yet this exists mostly in potential. And that potential is extraordinary for you right now — an expanded capacity to be self-aware, to understand yourself, to grow rather than to cave in to your circumstances, and even to grow in the direction that you choose. But this comes at a cost, which is sensitivity. To feel your potential, and to truly feel your existence, you must also have a capacity to experience pain, longing, loss, need and desire. To boldly be yourself also involves moments where you may feel profoundly insecure. To acknowledge your strength implies affirming the ways you have been hurt. And it may be that the most important thing that we humans can do is to take those injuries, engage in a healing process, and learn how to turn them into sources of strength and wisdom.This, and no less, is what you are summoned to do as the society embarks on this next stage of development. We are at a fulcrum where a small shift at the axis can create a massive difference in the future. You are being invited to lend your awareness to the moment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Patience is not the first virtue that comes to mind when considering your sign. That’s a good thing, because we count on you to get things started sooner, rather than later. Yet it will help to know that the energy leading up to the Sun’s entry to your sign on March 20 comes on so fast and furiously, that you will benefit by preparing. Take these last weeks of your solar year and get everything irrelevant out of the way. We find it difficult to clear space from disk drives, much less from our lives. Yet the approaching influx of energy will be complicated and unproductive if you’re in the midst of incomplete or unresolved situations. Resolution is not a specialty for most people these days; we tend to wait around for the new to somehow obliterate the old. You could do that; it might work. But you would miss the opportunity of living consciously, and willfully. Resolution means moving on from what no longer serves you, in a way that requires your full participation, and engaging the people around you. Obviously you cannot bring every situation to closure in a month or two, but there may be one or two that are right within reach, and others where you can get the process started. This is about having intentions and acting on them, which works on many levels both physical and energetic. Through February, there will be strong activity in Pisces, which is your inner world — and this is the source of all of your wisdom, if you would only tap into your inner source.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2023

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Jupiter is back in your sign for a nonstop run that goes through May 16, when Mr. Fat and Happy — the boss of the solar system — enters your money house, Taurus. This is a formula that says “be yourself and you will succeed,” through being self-involved with who you are becoming rather than who you were. What most of the world thinks of as holiday season is a highly productive time in your personal year, and I suggest you keep a balance between having fun with your family or friends, and focusing on your highest professional priorities. You’re unusually visible during the Sun’s trek through Capricorn (which is your 10th house of reputation and achievement), as if you’re standing in a spotlight. This factor, combined with Jupiter in your own sign, makes you some combination of irresistible and unstoppable, though you might want to tune that up a little and add the factor of accountability. Make sure that you conduct yourself with the highest level of integrity, because people will be paying attention to you, and looking to you for ethical leadership. You are blessed with considerable influence right now. What are you going to do with it? What example do you want to set? Think carefully; others will follow.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This is one of those truly rare moments when the world is your oyster, as Jupiter re-enters Aries and the Sun lights up the success angle of your chart. Keep your mind not so much on your work but rather on what you want to do with your talent. Doors will open, and you may find yourself in the presence of wholly unexpected opportunities. However, with Mercury about to turn retrograde (Dec. 29 to Jan. 18, with a margin of error on each side), it is not a good idea to sign and fully commit to anything just yet. Any real proposal will allow you some time to negotiate, prepare and adapt. There may be exceptions, of course; sometimes you just have to pounce on an opportunity, but make sure you get the financials and scope of your involvement right, and determine whether something is a good fit. You have your options open and will likely be choosing from among several potential offers. Meanwhile, you are in the midst of Mars retrograde, which is urging you to think deeply and also to remove outdated agenda items from your plans. Stick to what is real, present and relevant — though the seeming backward movement of Mars is suggesting that you can retrieve an excellent idea from the past, in addition to much that you’ve learned from past activities. Be clear in your communications, and notice when someone speaks and understands your language. Evaluate carefully whether people are genuine with you (for example, do their words match their deeds?), and notice your own level of sincerity and devotion that comes from the heart and soul more than anywhere else.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — We live in a hall of mirrors. Perhaps we always have; the idea of reality as a reflection is nothing new. I’m talking about our environment of electronic communication, which seems like it’s ‘out there’ and ‘all around us’ but which can also be seen as a mirage that exists within our minds. I’m always reluctant to call all of perception an illusion, though there are times when it seems that way. There are also times when discovering this reveals the truth behind the veil — something more permanent and more meaningful than the fleeting world of pixels and data that our lives have become. Reality is what would be left when the power goes out or the network goes down. If you’re sitting in a dark, quiet room, on top of a mountain, or next to a lake, what do you have? You have your thoughts and feelings. You have what motivates you. You have your ideas about yourself. Mars retrograde in Gemini is designed to take you on a journey of your inner awareness. You do not need content feeds or little telepathic devices to communicate with yourself or with others, to dream, or to know what you want. All of that is contained within you already. And books are beautiful.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — The world, by which I mean existence, is swallowed by digital consciousness, has become a giant game of “you are wrong.” This is not a discussion of factual accuracy or intellectual integrity, but rather a mean-spirited drive to make sure that neither of those two things get to exist. It’s a game because it’s all a waste of time, which is designed to avoid the contact with reality and with one another that emerges from a state of trust. There can be no discoveries when everyone is suspicious of one another as a way of life. And yet trust would seem to be the very last thing people are interested in now, because it asks so much of them: in particular, making contact with their forgotten humanity. Yet you have this much, at least, to offer to yourself and to those around you. You know that your life story is now taking you deep into this territory, which is ultimately about trusting yourself. People make a big deal out of this, but only because their fantasies and delusions are threatened. You neither want nor need those; they are a waste of precious faith, of time and of opportunity to set your life on the path that you have chosen for yourself. Trust means going deeper than what you think. One of the most significant elements, and one that will come into full-force this month, is your willingness to reveal your own secrets to yourself. This includes being wholly and entirely willing to admit the ways in which you got it wrong — it being anything you decided based on information you know or should have known was false. When you discover those instances, quickly come to terms with the truth, and then make amends with yourself and whomever may have been in any way harmed or misled by your perceptions. Move swiftly from fantasy to reality, and honor your ongoing commitment to truth as your faithful companion.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2022

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — When you have all the answers, there is no mystery to anything. There is nothing to discover and your mind goes to sleep. When you believe that anyone outside of yourself has the answers, the effect is tripled. Part of sleeping is setting aside the necessity of wrestling with your conscience. Closely related is disabusing yourself of the notion that you might have made serious mistakes, or keeping that fact a secret from those whom it may in some way affect. Uranus is now past the midpoint of its seven-year journey through your sign. This has transformed you from someone who is resistant to change and transformation to someone who wants nothing but these things. Uranus is a powerful, liberating and revolutionary force, and you were long overdue to be propelled out of whatever reality you were lodged in for many years before that. Perhaps of all the signs, Taurus is the most determined to live life its way. Yet, this is the relic of another time. The emphasis of your astrology is shifting to houses 6 and 10 — related to service, work and reputation. Of the three, the last is the least meaningful now. You are being called to action on matters of urgent collective necessity. Your personal healing is still relevant; setting up the first aid station is more important. Your preferred activities are still relevant; doing the work of the community is more crucial. Err on the side of taking on too much rather than a little less than you think you can handle. Learn to distinguish your personal interests from what you know must happen. It is only because many other people have done this before you that you are where you are, with the advantages that you have. The forthcoming Mars square Neptune aspect strongly cautions that you cannot calibrate your truth against yourself. You will need some ideal, example or reference point to use for contrast. Be sure you select one that is based in time-honored wisdom.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You cannot really be of two minds, though many people try. Without recognizing it consciously, they hold two competing belief systems, switching from one to the other. Often, this leads to what A Course in Miracles calls “the war against yourself,” which is designed to do one thing only — rob you of your spiritual inheritance. The way this is set up under what I call full digital conditions is mostly competition between inner and outer perception — your inner life, and your outer life. One example of this is how you feel, versus what you believe other people think. In our time, it’s truly challenging to bring your focus inward. It’s not merely that there are so many distractions. It’s that the nature of the digital environment draws us all out of ourselves, to the point where it’s difficult to sleep. The astrology of the remaining months of the year will be attempting to draw you inward, and to map out your inner territory. As foreign as this sounds, there may be an element of conflict or fear involved. Your own deep personal landscape may be unfamiliar to you, or seem like an intimidating place to enter. Why would that be? Well, because your whole spiritual reality exists within yourself — and there you will find your core being, your guides, and what Quakers call the Inner Light. None of this is in “the world.” It is all in you. To embrace this means to let go of the insanity of the embroiled mentality of image, projection and the belief system of the ego. Yet inward is the direction you are moving, and will be moving into more deeply. Practice passing through the turbulence and toward a space of reassurance, calm and what may feel like Divine presence — because it is.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Through the early part of the month, a diversity of experiences will ensure that you discover, or rediscover, your true priorities. This will ideally be a daily exercise where you enact decisions as you determine what is necessary, and establish what aligns with your personal truth. The rub is that within a few weeks, once Mars enters Gemini, you could forget what you’ve learned, or decide that you’re confused, or somehow be of two minds. You may forget the thing that had urged you to come terms with yourself. One thing I can tell you is that your fundamental values don’t change so much. You may adhere to them, or violate them, but underneath, you know how you feel and you know what is true for you. It will be wise of you to note carefully what actually matters, and make all of your decisions on that basis. Your values are what get you through both the turbulent times, and the good times. Your values are the measure against which you determine what is true for you. There may be one crucial matter where you have decided that you’ve had enough of one particular way of life, or a rule that has bound you. It’s likely this has been irritating you for some years, potentially as far back as 2018 and you may finally decide that it’s time for a new approach. Yet this is not a light matter, and you may not feel at the outset like your feet are firmly set on your path. Tread your way with gentleness and quiet determination, and allow yourself at least one year before you consider changing your mind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — If you are feeling disoriented or unstable, spend more time in nature and more time reading books. Express yourself in any way that keeps your mind awake, alert and engaged with your environment. The conjunction of Mars and Eris in your birth sign is urging you to claim back your soul from the digital environment. This is something we all need to do, and yet it’s not easy to determine that’s even an issue, and for most, it’s even more challenging to figure out what to do about it. Both sides of that equation require having special tools: observation and discernment, on the one hand, and expressive abilities, on the other. Neither are easy, as life is so packed with routines, responsibilities and holding together the many aspects of our lives that are constantly fraying or going out of control. You will know what you’re experiencing by its effects. If you notice exaggerated feelings, particularly anger or insecurity, that is a hint. If you find yourself constantly searching, or trying to figure out who you are, as if you’ve lost something, that’s a clue. Yet this might express mostly as confusion or a sense of emptiness. Let this provoke you to take action. There is no solution — there is only adapting. This is less about being in passive harmony with the overwhelming digital environment than it is about asserting yourself within your own life. Creative self-expression is no longer or a luxury a privilege of talent. It is a matter of sanity and survival. In a time when everything is being reduced to an algorithm, experiencing the universe in a creative and self-creative way is essential to actually living, loving and thriving. Many factors in your chart, including Jupiter and Chiron, say you have the personal resources and moreover, the will to do what you know you need, and what you surely want.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You could set off a controversy without trying, by doing something that comes naturally to you — and you may be surprised by the fuss. Tread carefully where your family is concerned, particularly your elders, or anyone who fancies themselves in a position of authority. You can move more boldly in matters of your own personal business affairs, though do so with as little financial exposure as you can. Rather, speak softly and carry a big idea. Your mind is fresh and alive right now, and any sense that you are stuck is an illusion of Mercury stationing direct (June 3). Therefore, be patient with yourself. Mars and Jupiter lining up in the early degrees of your birth sign is exciting, and may come with a restless, gotta-burst-out feeling. Please notice when you feel internal pressure that you want to act on or in some way release. This must be done as a controlled burn, rather than haphazardly. Small actions or statements can set off unexpectedly large chains of events. So for a while, you need to pretend you live in a fireworks shed. Don’t play with fire; defuse situations that may arise; and delay your plans for starting anything until after Mercury moves to direct motion. You may not feel like you can hold off; Mars and Jupiter in your sign are urging you to get busy and do big things. However, you are not working with full information, especially about the financial angle. Use the time well. Plan ahead, look for flaws in your plans, and listen to squirrels and the odd things that people say to you.  Good advice (and cautions) will come in odd and unusual forms.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) —  Just like that, Jupiter is about to enter your sign. This will magnify or expand all things in your world, and give you a much better sense that you belong on the planet. Its arrival in just a few weeks will let off pressure; you may feel your ears pop and be able to hear things much more clearly — so listen. Yet you may also feel like you’re walking around in two worlds at once, a dreamlike astral world, in parallel to the world you can see. You may experience this as déjà vu, as remembering your sleeping dreams in an usually vivid way at odd times during the day, or having the feeling that you’re in two places at once. Speaking of dreams, your activity on the subtle planes at night will continue to be unusually rich and equally informative. Consider it a form of normal consciousness, even though the rules are a little different. There are many spiritual theories which hold that all we perceive is a dream, and if true, this implies that you are the dreamer. The art of dreaming is sublime, and is initially based on observing that you are doing so. That is what those subtle clues (such as déjà vu and parallel world experiences) suggest. Now, the question is, how to direct and influence your experience. Jupiter will bestow on you the power of attraction. Your mere presence in any situation will bend space and time. You do not need to say much. Notice carefully who and what is drawn in your direction.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — It’s now time to wrap up old business, which includes retiring expired plans and ambitions. These things have a way of laying around and consuming space, time and energy, your most important resources. It’s not enough to focus on what is new; you have important matters to resolve as you make one of the most important transitions of your life during the next year. This is associated with Pluto moving out of Capricorn and off of your cross of the heavens (the cardinal cross, consisting of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Cap). If you maintain a sense of the past, the present and the future, you will handle this transition deftly. Yet this requires focusing on things other than blazing forward with your many ideas. While you might think of resolving certain matters of the past as a delay, they will give you time to size up your current plans and ambitions, and winnow them down to what you want the most. At this stage of your life, you must be strategic. And it’s essential that you account for the qualities that make you and your creative work different from others. Any truly valid life plan will honor your distinctions, especially now as they are coming to the forefront under the influence of Chiron in your sign. Certain elements of your new phase of existence have already begun. You are entering a time that will be distinguished by your social involvement rather than professional aspirations. Your work-related life will follow this trend. The past 14 years of Pluto in Capricorn have been a wild ride, as you have navigated your way through various elements of ‘straight’ society. You are almost done with that, though not quite. So keep your focus on the present, and take every opportunity to resolve any past matter that could hold you back. From there, the way forward will be much easier to see and feel.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — There is a phobia going around about being different. Or you could say there is a mania about making sure one is seen as doing the same thing as others and believing what they believe. Forget it — no two people ever, anywhere, conduct their minds or bodies identically. That’s just a false notion, accepted for social convenience. It’s never true for you, and with Chiron transiting your birth sign, it’s not even a consideration for you. Everything about you stands out as different, though there is a diversity of ways to manifest this — including being easily provoked to insecurity. Chiron can work a few different ways, though at its best, it’s the influence that gets you to stand apart from not only the people around you but from your own past. The best results of Chiron are often provoked by a sense of injury of some kind, whether immediate, in the distant past, or some combination of the two. With that in mind, the extraordinary astrology of our moment is calling you to great achievements. Not just one: a series of them, in rapid succession. There are some conditions, or perhaps cautions, related to this. You must be restrained on the level of getting credit, or any credit. Be guarded about any form of public communication — it would seem likely that in this case, you want to stay far from social media, and conduct as much business on the phone or in-person as possible. Concern yourself with getting the job done. There are elements of your influence that will be invisible or off to the side. At times you will be the one who initiates the action, and at others, you will be the follow-through person. Track each situation carefully, and follow the connections between things. You may occasionally be tempted to use your power in an excessive way. For the purposes of your current chart, any use of power could be too much. Stick to the influence. Make suggestions. Ask questions. And, very quietly, always be ready with plans B and C, which you had best keep to yourself till you need them.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You seem to be surrounded by an astonishing mob of opinionated people, and may be wondering who your friends are, and more significantly, are not. You may be wondering who is right and who is wrong. Yet that matter is secondary to you nurturing your own spiritual connection and grounding in your truth. This is a deeply private matter, and it does not involve anything social, or scientific, or technological. It does not involve any other person, or their ideas. Rather, the one and only thing that matters is your idea of why you exist. This is more than an idea though — it’s about your direct experience. This is only as good of a teacher as your capacity to observe and learn from your journey. Any teacher is only as helpful as your curiosity and willingness to learn. Mars conjunct the Galactic Core suggests, though, that you may notice something and then quickly forget it. It may seem too strange, or elusive of words, like a dream that is lingering around the back of your mind. Does this matter? Do you learn from these things even if you don’t bring them to full awareness and embodiment? Perhaps, though I suggest you do your best to catch the lightning in a bottle. This starts with the feeling of a truth that cannot be argued pro or con. It is not right or wrong; it simply is. Immerse yourself in this feeling, as soon as it comes to you. Tune in and listen, sense, and notice. You are being offered a kind of personal truth that will help you make choices in the very near future. Beware that there are all kinds of people who are attempting to sway, influence, guide or manipulate you. The only thing you can do successfully in such a time is to connect with your knowledge and use that as the sole basis for directing your life. Yet this will take a form of discipline that is rare for this world: actually trusting yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2022

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Your central purpose right now is to align yourself with your professional goals, as they manifest in the present time. You have some catching up to do with yourself — such as a review going back to about 2000. That was another time, when everything seemed to change all at once, and you were compelled to figure everything out in a world that was changing faster than you could keep up.  Once again we live in a time when everything has changed, and is changing. Yet now you know much you did not know in the past. And at the present time, you are more intimately involved with the people and circumstances that surround you. There is no escaping them, and little chance you can hold yourself above them. Your charts describe coming to terms with your direct involvement in the world, and with certain specific partners. This must occur before you can actually move forward and take new territory. Therefore, the place to start is with the reality of your circumstances right now. With whom are you involved, and what is the nature of the involvement? Who is supportive of your efforts, and who is not? Once you have that done, work your way back, and tell yourself the story of the past dozen years or so. Take your time doing this, and keep going until you reach a point in space and time that feels so old it’s a little weird to be there. What would you say to that person, knowing all that you’ve learned in the ensuing decade or more? Be clear in your suggestions and specific in your ideas. This is most likely what will benefit you from learning and putting into practice now. It is not too late; in fact, you are right on time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2021

There is a solitary element to any true spiritual journey. It is not a social event; where you go is for your steps alone, and what you learn is the domain of your own soul. It’s often better not to try to explain what you’re experiencing, as that may dissipate the energy, and the responses of others may dissuade you from your mission. And you do have one — a purpose, that is — though it’s also likely that your understanding is about to change. Spiritual is no longer an abstraction, or theoretical, or really about ideas at all. Those were all distractions. Spiritual is about your relationship to fear. It is about whether you choose to love, when you have other options right in front of you. It is about whether you strive to see through how things may appear on their face, to what they are in reality. Spiritual is about your commitment to truth. And it is not about concentrating any power other than your ability to help others. You are being reminded by a diversity of astrological developments this month to go direct to source, rather than to accept interpretations, or assertions of what is supposed to be right for you. There are two other elements. One is the need to widen your perspective, and to see everything in context. The other is to seek an understanding of where your sexuality fits into your notion of the divine. Sexual desire is usually made to be left outside the door where any notion of religion, spirituality, or divinity are concerned. Yet this has led only to problems, for individuals, for communities, and for the world. To change course may require special courage, though this all pertains to something everyday and ordinary, and which is equally human and divine.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2021

You may feel as if a commitment in a relationship or partnership is interfering with your self-development, and for that matter, with your wider social life as well. I would agree: you seem to be in a tight spot, though you’re also fully invested. Therefore, focus on taking care of what you have given yourself, and allow the other aspects of your life to wrap themselves around this particular involvement. From the look of your solar chart, it’s unclear whether this matter pertains to an intimate personal commitment or a professional and financial commitment. It may be all of the above, and even if a few of the above are involved, you’re in a situation that you can think of as being about your whole being in a state of transformation: your life could be taking a whole new form. This will come with various trials and tribulations that will be worth enduring and, if you can, embracing in the most positive way possible. You are where you are for a reason, and not one determined by fate. You made a series of decisions that got you where you are today. Some of them were based on wanting something, and others seem to have been based on avoiding a sense of discomfort or of being a misfit. Speaking of which: not exactly belonging is the overarching theme of your astrology for the foreseeable future. You would likely have it to some degree no matter what you’re doing. Every individual is unique (and that is one of the few appropriate uses of that word, it’s so true). Yet most people plaster over their true being with image control and assorted public relations tactics in order to seem likable or to avoid rejection. This is simply not an option. And that’s a beautiful thing because the only answer to your situation is sincerity.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2021

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.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2021

There is a solitary element to any true spiritual journey. It is not a social event; where you go is for your steps alone, and what you learn is the domain of your own soul. It’s often better not to try to explain what you’re experiencing, as that may dissipate the energy, and the responses of others may dissuade you from your mission. And you do have one — a purpose, that is — though it’s also likely that your understanding is about to change. Spiritual is no longer an abstraction, or theoretical, or really about ideas at all. Those were all distractions. Spiritual is about your relationship to fear. It is about whether you choose to love, when you have other options right in front of you. It is about whether you strive to see through how things may appear on their face, to what they are in reality. Spiritual is about your commitment to truth. And it is not about concentrating any power other than your ability to help others. You are being reminded by a diversity of astrological developments this month to go direct to source, rather than to accept interpretations, or assertions of what is supposed to be right for you. There are two other elements. One is the need to widen your perspective, and to see everything in context. The other is to seek an understanding of where your sexuality fits into your notion of the divine. Sexual desire is usually made to be left outside the door where any notion of religion, spirituality, or divinity are concerned. Yet this has led only to problems, for individuals, for communities, and for the world. To change course may require special courage, though this all pertains to something everyday and ordinary, and which is equally human and divine.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2021

Before the Sun enters your sign later this month, you have an opportunity to experience the beauty of your inner world. Not everyone knows this exists. At the moment, the only world most people experience is the internet and anything connected to it. Yes, there are a few people in our society who remember forests, but not most. Contact with nature would bring you closer to yourself. An ocean or large body of water comes to mind, though the natural world in any form will do. The feeling you experience with nobody else around, coming face to face with beauty, is a glimpse of your personal and private world. The longer you stay, the better, though you take your inner existence with you everywhere you go. Another approach is to consider food, which is one of the most intimate things about a person. Give yourself frequent experiences of eating exactly what you want, in a setting where you don’t need to justify yourself nor have your choices be subject to discussion. You would be amazed how much approval-seeking surrounds a matter that should be distinctly one’s own business. You may notice a particularly strong emotional charge around food, and all that it’s associated with. You are in an especially good time to adopt the maxim, “Let food be thy medicine.” On March 20, the Sun enters Aries, which is a refreshing moment for you and for the world. Unlike many people, you have considerable freedom of movement, and social options. But those will be limited by fear, and fear is fed by ignorance. You have a responsibility to know your personal truth, which is a matter of self-understanding and making a true effort to understand the facts of the world around you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2021

Your most important work is bringing people together. It does not matter in which context this occurs, though it’s likely to have manifestations in your professional life. Taking part in this will be helpful to the world, though also essential to your healing. One of the problems undercutting human harmony is a degree of nearly obsessive toxic competitiveness that you can find almost anywhere. Your current spiritual project, as I read your chart, is to resolve this in yourself. That means taking a different approach to professional and social situations: extending yourself more, doing things for which you’re not paid and don’t get recognition, and where you set the example of being helpful for its own sake. You may not be able to ‘make’ everyone get along; not all of them want to, though it will help if you study their differences. Imagine the politics you see in the environment surrounding you in some way reflecting attitudes and values you possess. As well, the helpful actions of others will provide a positive example and a map to your healing. Note that you may be feeling an increasingly intense need to compete with others. This is precisely the impulse you are learning to transcend, on a quest for new ideas about both success and what it means to participate in a community. The message is that life is not about what you do. Rather, your life is about who you are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2021

Self-care is your top priority no matter how busy you may be. In fact the more you have going on, the more you need to focus on your inner needs, your basic nourishment, and giving yourself time to replenish the well. We live in an age when the theme is to exploit every resource till it’s depleted, and push every system until it breaks. That does not work in the human world, and it’s time to remind yourself that you have limits — and these must be honored. It may seem like a cliché to say that if you have your health, you have everything you need, though it’s ultimately the bottom line. You may be getting the message that your work is your top priority (all that action in Capricorn, at the top of your chart, and in Virgo, your house of activity and service). Yet this is set within the context of being a living creature that depends on food, water, rest and companionship. The world is growing more complex by the day, to the point where chaos theory is the only way to get a handle on things. That’s a fancy way of saying “pattern recognition.” To do that, your mind must be in a relaxed state. You need some empty space and available bandwidth to have an idea or to notice the solution to a problem when it comes to you. The problem is we’re forgetting about these things: relaxed state, empty space, available bandwidth. You must remember, and rediscover, if necessary.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2021

You have both unusual magnetism and the ability to help others discover themselves. You possess something of what others need. Yet this can also work the other way; where Chiron is involved, it’s necessary to refine and focus the “do no harm” approach to existence and to relationships. This is not always possible, because people can make self-destructive choices even when you are at your loving best. Still, you will benefit from aligning your awareness with your psychic hygiene, and being fully present for everyone you encounter. You need to maintain your own sense of what people are ready for, and whether your communication is clear enough to sustain deeper levels of intimacy and sexual contact. One characteristic of people who enter your energy field is that they may be trying to define their reality their way. From your viewpoint this may be a “conscious” or “unconscious” process for them, though I suggest you err on the side of acknowledging the self-awareness of everyone you speak with. Listen to the words people say for clues as to how they want to exist within their reality, which includes you. It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with their position; whether they try to impose it on you or whether you pick it up in a passive way. Invest the energy and love into listening to people carefully. Figure out what they are saying about their state of being, and what they want from existence. You might be able to offer some of it; you might not. Regardless, your ability to bear witness to someone else’s reality will help you bear witness to your own.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2021

We live in the age of politicized sex, which is not sex at all. This is reaching into every facet of human relationships, though it’s not always obvious what is happening. One challenge is that our society currently has little concept of sexuality that is not part of a public dialog involving power, rights or legal issues. Be aware that this might find its way into your most intimate partnerships. Out to one extreme, this could involve some legal matter arising. However, it’s more likely to work its way in subversively, through unquestioned beliefs and expectations. There’s also the question of how contemporary issues relating to gender and women’s rights influence the most sensitive elements of your life. The question you might ask yourself is, what do you want? If you’re seeking emotional exchange, vulnerability and pleasure, then relating through a political filter will not serve you. If you are seeking respect, that is done by agreement, and through a claim to natural rights rather than legal ones. Most people are not interested in being equals in some legalistic sense. Relationships involve complex dynamics, with “topping” and “bottoming” in various shades being distributed through the emotional and logistical landscape. If you want to be treated with respect by someone, you must treat that person with respect. You decide for yourself what that means, and then can communicate in a way that will hold someone’s interest voluntarily. Throwing down an ultimatum may be honest, but it will have consequences.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2021

You are in one of the most financially ambitious phases of your life, though money is likely to take care of itself if you remain true to yourself. That’s not easy in a world that routinely expects people to violate their core values just to make a little money. By this I mean actually encouraging what is genuinely wrong. This works fine for people with no ethics, who do not suffer the psychological consequences. Happily, you do not qualify, so that means you face the quest of what it means to do the right thing, for your peace of mind. This does not just happen in the workplace. The new burst of Aquarius energy is leading people to think they can get others to conform with their every whim. The challenge you face is about standing out. Borrowing from the astrology to illustrate: all that Aquarius in your 11th house (groups, organizations, your immediate society) is blaring with the message that we all must do the same thing. However, Chiron in your birth sign, among other factors, is saying that you must stand up, stand out and be yourself. Listen to how terrifying people describe this as being — and it’s all a head trip. Or better said, it’s not fear of others but rather fear of oneself. Chiron will push you to never have that be something that controls your life, and this month you have much help from Mercury retrograde in Aquarius. Nothing says ‘independence of thought and action’ like Mercury — a vitally important planet to your sign Aries. Be the person you actually are, in the face of any and all pressure to deny yourself. This may seem to take courage. Really, it bestows courage.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2021

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.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2020

For the past few years, Chiron in your sign has been pushing you to individuate. This is a phase where you emerge into your own psyche and the world as a distinct being who is unwilling to compromise your values due to pressure from others. The drive to do so is always there. Society seems designed to make sure that nobody gets to be too special (except for a few celebrities who don’t do too much of any real note). For you, this is not about being noticed. It’s about having oxygen to breathe, only available if you’re being truly and genuinely yourself. The way you know you’re doing that is you feel the resistance around you and the necessity within you. You will feel vulnerable, and wonder if you’re doing the right thing. More than anything, you will feel like you’re in unfamiliar situations where you have to think on your feet. As Jupiter and Saturn move into Aquarius, your involvement with community and various circles of friends is likely to shift, and increase radically. Notice the emphasis on Aquarius — the sign of groups, which also happens to occupy your 11th solar house of groups — on the heels of all these attempts to shape social society and drive people apart from one another. The universe is a large place, though you can only see what your filters allow you to see. Your filters are about to show you not just how complex and beautiful the social life of humanity is, but where you may have a new part in a new world that you get to help shape. This is very much about thinking globally and acting locally — and having a vision that exceeds yourself and your needs.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2020

The moment we’re all waiting for happens November 13 — Mars stations direct in your sign. The world has a confidence issue. All the wrong people have way too much of the stuff, and too many others are lacking it. I trust that the events since July have taught you how to feel more centered in who you are and what you want. However, the breakthrough may be yet to come. Unusual things help people build confidence: a fire-walking workshop, or sitting in silence for 10 days during a Vipassana meditation retreat, or giving birth. In truth, this thing that so many find so elusive is an ongoing discovery process of what is getting in the way. There are issues that obscure one’s basic sense of belonging in the world, usually ancestral in nature, passed down through the family. You might be worried about something that your great-grandmother found vexing but never mentioned to anyone. You might have taken on a negative comment your mother or father made when you were three years old. When a parent says “anything is possible” or “you are doomed to fail,” that makes an impression. The retrograde of Mars is a hint to look for the ways that, as a young child, you were afraid of threatening a parent or caregiver with your power. Ask yourself what you’re hiding. It could be your sense of humor, or your musical talent, or your ability to organize, or your preference for something. Any hiding at all depletes confidence, whether you’re concealing your face, your voice, your height, your intelligence or your breasts. The next two weeks arrive with a decision that may seem ordinary and mundane, but which is really existential in nature. A seemingly small decision contains a much larger issue. So every choice you make needs to be evaluated on the basis of what you want for your whole life, because that is what you’re choosing.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2020

You have far greater influence than you may think. However, if you’re not regulating your emotions, then you’re likely to stir up chaos in your environment and think you have no influence at all. You will keep spin control on your environment by doing so with yourself. There are people around you who are modeling stability and balance. This is not coming at the expense of their vitality or creativity. Rather, it is a product of two qualities. One is applied intelligence. The other is the practiced ability to change, and to help others change. Look around for who is setting a positive example for you, and spend some time with them learning their methods. Meanwhile, you are still in the midst of Mars retrograde, which is a deep review. If you are over the age of 40, you may be experiencing one of the most comprehensive personal inner delves of your entire life. If you are younger, you are being taken on an introspective journey that will set the template for what would be helpful to do on a regular basis. You may notice that people tend to be obsessed with the past without learning much from it. They tend to be stuck in the ways of the past without the benefits of true wisdom that could be found there. These are not luxuries and you cannot afford to waste your time. Use what you know, use what you’re learning, and make sure you have reference points around you in the form of people with whom you can reality check on a regular basis.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2020

To claim your desire is to claim your confidence. When you acknowledge what you want, letting nothing stand in the way of your mind and feelings, then you will emerge as the truly bold person that you are. For the next two months of Mars retrograde, you will find yourself on an inner quest to make contact with your passion, your yearning, and your needs. You will see all the ways you did not take possession of your feelings, and you will also get a kind of grand tour of all the emotional obstacles you encountered when you tried. You may notice a theme emerges, which is the influence your family had. They may have been wholesome and well-meaning people. They may have been deeply flawed. They may have existed a few places on a continuum between the two. Yet they made their mark, and in many ways it curtailed you. It is time for the consequences of that to end, and you are the only one who can make it so. This will come not through psychologizing or spiritualizing, but through direct experience. That means the exercise of your volition. The exploration of your curiosity. Experimenting with your determination and your drive. Allow yourself to ask all the most challenging questions, knowing that to do so is to challenge the authority others have exercised over you — and knowing that in doing so, you are seeking the light of your own soul.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2020

This month’s edition is brought to you by Mars in Aries, which is now working its way through the degrees where it will soon be retrograde. Mars is not often retrograde in Aries; it tends to stick to the other side of the zodiac — tending more in the direction of Leo, Virgo and Libra. The most recent retrograde of Mars in your sign was in the summer of 1988, when Ronald Reagan was president and you either had a very different hair style or were not yet born. In astrology, anything rare will stir the pot a little more. What will come up may be hinted at or directly revealed by subtle developments between now and Sept. 9, as Mars moves through the territory, gradually slowing down. Pay attention to anything or anyone unusual. I don’t mean this in the sense of “signs and omens” but rather the properties of your environment: such as how you respond to people and how they respond to you. Notice echoes of the past. Most significantly, pay attention to your level of confidence in yourself. Perhaps look back through your photo albums, your old yearbooks, or consider the panorama of lovers and friends who have passed through your life. Consider the jobs you’ve had and the roles you’ve played in your community. In what ways did self-assurance influence your choices? What would you have done differently if you had felt just a little more brave? What would you say or do today if you could pluck up a little more coura

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2020

Your choices matter, and so does your basis for making them. Events this month offer a series of leadership challenges that will help guide you to the place you will want to be for the next few years. Like many things in the world, you’re making the transition from executive authority to new methods of social organization. This is also called informal leadership, though that whole concept must evolve into something more participatory. There’s an issue in that relatively few people care what happens to everyone else. You might, though who among your friends is concerned enough to devote themselves to gathering knowledge, building consensus and focusing action? We can expect a long transition, though with little pockets of successful experimentation here and there. In the long run, here is what I would propose: your experiences as a parent, boss, manager, or any form of elected leader will provide a substantial sampling of where human nature is, and where it needs to be. Meanwhile, surround yourself with people who know how to cooperate. Set that as a standard for who gets to enter your life in an intimate or committed way. The nature of both the intimacy and the commitment must be a certain kind of spiritual bond where you recognize having the same underlying purpose and can work from there. What exists on the more surface levels is of little meaning compared to the true common ground you share — the very thing that holds you up, and a spirit of generosity and goodwill toward all living creatures.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2020

Ultimately, to be real, healing is a quest to which one must devote their entire life. The form will change many times depending on one’s circumstances. The underlying purpose of the journey remains consistent, even if you may seem to fail, or your attention to it falters. Now is the time to focus your awareness and your efforts. Call forth your strength and use it well.In nature, no living system survives without complete and integrated cooperation. That is where you find yourself: needing to be integral to something larger than yourself.Yet at the same time, Mars entering your sign on June 27 represents your need and desire to assert yourself boldly. That means gaining confidence and connecting your intentions to actions. These two factors can and must work together in your life. One cannot be at the expense of the other, as so often happens.To this end, many factors are working in your favor. Saturn is now making its test run in Aquarius through July 1. While there is much other astrology to write about, Saturn is the forerunner of the new age of human cooperation and a measure of practical idealism, and you are positioned to gain its richest benefits via your 11th solar house. Yet this calls for a measure of leadership.Mars’s meeting with Chiron on July 14 will keep that in balance; Chiron is always working for the greater good, and in this position embodies the sacred warrior. This is a personal initiation for you, which you might think of as the opportunity to claim your personal power and express it in the most life-affirming way. You have every reason to have faith in yourself. Others are counting on you, your example and your bold wisdom.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2020

In a world of rapidly changing value and values, you must stick to what you know matters the most. Yes, it seems like everything is up for grabs, and is for sale cheap. Things like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Matters such as the truth. The entire economy and its ability to feed people. An important element of the astrology that is driving this dizzying, free-for-all “re-evaluation” may have you doubting yourself, or struggling with your self-worth. I suggest you learn how to distance yourself from what you see going on in the world, and even how it’s affecting you, and remember your priorities. If you’re having trouble remembering them, go within yourself and figure out what they are. The challenge is that you’re easily drawn into various forms of public debates. Your opinion is being influenced by outside forces a little too much for comfort. You may not even realize this, because it’s such a deep human instinct to think along with the group. Yet you must think for yourself. You will know you’re doing this because it makes you nervous. You will feel uneasy, uncertain, and like you need validation. You may not get it; at this stage you don’t really want it. It will be better for you to feel uncertain and continue on your quest, than to have false certainty and be distracted from it. In this world, it’s not easy to stand apart from others, and it can feel like you may be treated like a nonperson if you’ve made your own decision about something. The very act of deciding, and of seeking your truth, is a testament to your humanity.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2020

It is time to take a more active role in your community. That does not mean “activist.” Rather, meaningful involvement is your calling. This may not feel like getting a result or having an impact. That is something evaluated much later. You run the risk of trying too hard, or of asserting yourself in a way that seems rebellious or antisocial. Therefore, strive to cooperate and co-facilitate rather than take charge. You don’t need a large role, so find a modest one, and do it well. Then you will see openings that call upon the skills and energy you have to offer. Whatever this may involve, you’re at the beginning of this particular journey or phase of your life. From now through July 1 is an experimental foray into some new territory you’ve never been in, or have not encountered for a long time. Mars currently moving through this area means you’re likely to push matters and make mistakes. If you do, remember that it’s all part of the learning process. Despite the experimental nature of the moment, it would be wise to proceed with awareness of your surroundings. The entire social landscape is being rearranged, and you are feeling this in a direct way. You will always have the choice of observing first and then taking action, or leaping headlong into things and seeing what happens. You’re likely to try both at different times, and I trust you’ll figure out which one works best. Remember that confrontation is about resolving an identity crisis. It’s about finding out who you are. It may be the most efficient way, as long as you don’t make too many enemies.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2020

The Sun’s ingress into your sign March 19 sparks up your drive for individuality. This is mostly about the Sun’s conjunction to Chiron, the one planet that is not afraid to stand out. Yet being oneself demands actual courage, because there is so much pressure placed on all of us to fall in line and to go with the mob. People often struggle to stand up even to their closest friends on matters of deep personal importance. Usually, it’s easier to be quiet and pretend to agree, and this is not going to work. The Sun’s transit through your sign presents an adventure for everyone, particularly for you, and this will be encrypted into your year-ahead chart (called your solar return). At every corner, you will be faced with some version of the same question: do you have the guts to speak up, or to break from the crowd and do your thing? This is about living your truth: no small matter. You may find a greater sense of independence when Saturn enters Aquarius on the 21st, which will serve to put a boundary between you and those you relate to. This begins a long (three year) experiment in redefining yourself in the context of any and all groups; any and all communities. The general trend will be away from the digital sphere and toward the physical sphere. We all know it can be a little strange finally meeting someone in person whom you’ve known for years as an online friend. Now, imagine that multiplied by the whole world.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2020

It may seem your whole life is focused on your career and matters involving your family, which are related. This could be taking considerable time, effort and emotional energy at the moment. To suss out the relationship between family and profession, notice who at work is acting like whom in your family of origin. Notice the way the dramas unfold. Most of all, notice how you respond: do you feel weak and powerless? Do you feel like you have a voice? Can you stand in your strength? Do you have some influence over the flow of events? Use what you know, and remember your power of choice at all times. Whatever might seem to be going on now, your life is heading well beyond these situations that are consuming your time and energy. You are making your way to a whole new reality field, where you will find yourself on much more level ground. Your concept of power will evolve this year from a top-down model to a lateral model. You will still be able to use what you learned from negotiating your freedom and your destiny, though the rules will all be different. Bring your attention to the far wider social environment that surrounds you, and where you have much more influence. Notice the people around you. Treat everyone respectfully, as your equal, and establish yourself in your community as a person dedicated to service. This is leadership; it will take practice, and it will be worth it

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2020

It may seem your whole life is focused on your career and matters involving your family, which are related. This could be taking considerable time, effort and emotional energy at the moment. To suss out the relationship between family and profession, notice who at work is acting like whom in your family of origin. Notice the way the dramas unfold. Most of all, notice how you respond: do you feel weak and powerless? Do you feel like you have a voice? Can you stand in your strength? Do you have some influence over the flow of events? Use what you know, and remember your power of choice at all times. Whatever might seem to be going on now, your life is heading well beyond these situations that are consuming your time and energy. You are making your way to a whole new reality field, where you will find yourself on much more level ground. Your concept of power will evolve this year from a top-down model to a lateral model. You will still be able to use what you learned from negotiating your freedom and your destiny, though the rules will all be different. Bring your attention to the far wider social environment that surrounds you, and where you have much more influence. Notice the people around you. Treat everyone respectfully, as your equal, and establish yourself in your community as a person dedicated to service. This is leadership; it will take practice, and it will be worth it

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2020

As preparation for your new life ahead, start working with language. Listen to how you speak, and study how you write. This includes what you say, though how you say it is the more significant factor. Both matter and both are essential. You need to do this like you’re going to an unfamiliar country where you know you’ll need to speak the language as a matter of necessity. You know that the language will open up possibilities that would not otherwise be there, because you would not hear about them or understand them if you did. However, at the moment, you don’t know what country that is going to be, or how things are necessarily said. So what you want to work on, therefore, is your ability to put your ideas and feelings into words. Work on this process deeply enough to reach the point where you have a shift in your ideas as you refine their expression. This aligns with how the writing process is often a thinking process; but when you have a tangible thought, it has a way of writing itself. Work both sides of this equation, and make sure this happens in actual writing. The closer you get to pen and paper the better. Begin as if you’re sketching something you cannot see but know exists. This is intuitively educated guess work that you can practice and practice until you slip your hand into the feeling and know the glove fits. Keep at this, somewhat relentlessly, and trust that it will all make sense soon enough — but not too soon to get real preparation

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2020

As preparation for your new life ahead, start working with language. Listen to how you speak, and study how you write. This includes what you say, though how you say it is the more significant factor. Both matter and both are essential. You need to do this like you’re going to an unfamiliar country where you know you’ll need to speak the language as a matter of necessity. You know that the language will open up possibilities that would not otherwise be there, because you would not hear about them or understand them if you did. However, at the moment, you don’t know what country that is going to be, or how things are necessarily said. So what you want to work on, therefore, is your ability to put your ideas and feelings into words. Work on this process deeply enough to reach the point where you have a shift in your ideas as you refine their expression. This aligns with how the writing process is often a thinking process; but when you have a tangible thought, it has a way of writing itself. Work both sides of this equation, and make sure this happens in actual writing. The closer you get to pen and paper the better. Begin as if you’re sketching something you cannot see but know exists. This is intuitively educated guess work that you can practice and practice until you slip your hand into the feeling and know the glove fits. Keep at this, somewhat relentlessly, and trust that it will all make sense soon enough — but not too soon to get real preparation.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2020

It may seem your whole life is focused on your career and matters involving your family, which are related. This could be taking considerable time, effort and emotional energy at the moment. To suss out the relationship between family and profession, notice who at work is acting like whom in your family of origin. Notice the way the dramas unfold. Most of all, notice how you respond: do you feel weak and powerless? Do you feel like you have a voice? Can you stand in your strength? Do you have some influence over the flow of events? Use what you know, and remember your power of choice at all times. Whatever might seem to be going on now, your life is heading well beyond these situations that are consuming your time and energy. You are making your way to a whole new reality field, where you will find yourself on much more level ground. Your concept of power will evolve this year from a top-down model to a lateral model. You will still be able to use what you learned from negotiating your freedom and your destiny, though the rules will all be different. Bring your attention to the far wider social environment that surrounds you, and where you have much more influence. Notice the people around you. Treat everyone respectfully, as your equal, and establish yourself in your community as a person dedicated to service. This is leadership; it will take practice, and it will be worth it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2019

Tonight’s top story in the solar system is that Chiron has entered your sign. It’s rare when an era-defining event takes place in the home territory of your Sun or rising sign, though it’s happened to you many times in recent years. Yet Chiron will have a way of helping you integrate many unusual past developments in your life. You may have several of those moments when it all suddenly seems to make sense. While this transit lasts eight years, the first year will be one of the most interesting of them, as Chiron makes many aspects to slow-moving planets in the next 12 months. The upshot is that it’s time to wake up and get hold of your destiny, particularly where your professional aspirations are concerned. Your awakening and the work you do are now so closely linked as to be the same thing. At certain times you can feel who you are; at other times you can feel what you want to do. Now, taking action based on both considerations will be more intuitive. You may still feel like you’re balancing two sides of an equation, going back and forth between them — though that’s a sign of progress even if it feels like acrobatics. It’s significant that all of your current astrology puts you into contact with a wider public. You may feel the allure of being part of some larger group or ideology. You don’t need this. Keep your own counsel, and hold to your choices and personal values. When you see a crowd, walk the other way. Your true success depends on it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2019

This year you will meet Chiron. You might have at some point in the last four seasons, though most likely you were addressing some urgent material from the past that took up most of your energy. Yet in the sense of experiencing a particular kind of activation, and an unusual challenge that compelled you to grow, or threw you into some kind of crisis, what you experienced was pure Chiron. What you are learning is how to distinguish yourself from others. This is mostly an internal process. You begin by awakening to the degree that you allow your ideas about yourself and your existence to be determined and even dictated by others. The early stages of this — which you may well have experienced — may include the consequences of being different, such as you might stumble into accidentally, by stating your opinion. The place you will want to study is the point of resistance, where your will meets that of “some other force.” The “other force” you’re encountering is a combination of your past conditioning and the current movements in society that might reinforce it. So you might look at this as a clear case of you against the world, or vice versa. That is how Chiron can seem, at times, because it’s so closely associated with standing out and standing apart. There’s another way to experience this dynamic, which is internal: expressing your self as contrasted with your not-self. The quest — and the urgency — to be real exists entirely within you. It has nothing to do with all those other people

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2018

You may not consider yourself a creative force of nature, though the time has come to not just experiment with that notion, but to step into it like you’re boarding a vessel of light. Your chart has Leo in the vibrant, illuminated 5th place: the art studio of the zodiac, the creative space where the spark of life is transacted from one person to the next, and one generation to the next. This is more than a physical space; it’s like a transport beam that will carry you, through your own creative process, from one experience to the next, from this phase of your life to the next, from your current idea about yourself to the next. Yet there is one requirement, which is your full participation in your own existence. You must admit that you are connected to core source, which is within you. You personally are not that source, nor do you want the burden of being so. Yet you contain it, and can access your strength as a source of energy that feels distinctly like who you are at your best. Bring the small willingness to engage with the strength that you contain. This strength is one and the same as your sexual energy. Saturday’s eclipse may come with a temporary dimming of the light, as if you’re resetting yourself, reforming your personality, or preparing to take some great inner risk. Do not hold your breath. Rather, keep breathing

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2018

You will have an unusually close-up view for one of the strangest shows on Earth, and you may also be a participant in the changes that are now in progress. The first thing to be conscious of is who you consider a friend. This is not an honorary position in your life; the word must have real meaning, which is demonstrated through both correct action and honesty. Most people you know have already established a track record with you. You will need to be aware of what that is, and not pretend it’s something else. A friend is someone who accepts you as you are, who embraces you no matter what you are going through, and no matter what your opinions may be. That may seem like a tall order — and in fact, most of us have very few actual friends. You are likely to find yourself in many situations where you will feel called to go against the grain of what is popular, and this is likely to last through the summer. You are also inaugurating another phase of your life, wherein you live up to your reputation of being the headstrong one who always goes your own way, who sees the world through your own eyes, and who makes all your own decisions.  Pay attention: this is about leadership

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2018

If you have ever suspected that you are different from others in some significant way, this will be the summer when you test your theory. First, your ruling planet Mars will be retrograde in Aquarius, the sign of groups. This presents a picture of you doing your thing your way, and seeing how others respond. Your purpose here is not to shock anyone or to stir the pot; your purpose is to be yourself. This will teach you how to handle yourself in public situations, and build your confidence. You will learn how to extinguish gossip. Go through this consciously and you will emerge in a position of social leadership. You are empowered by Chiron, newly in your sign: the planet of healing and also of individuality. Chiron will teach you to be a maverick: a person who does what you know is right, no matter what the current trend may dictate. Mars retrograde is what you might call a short-term experiment. Chiron is a long-term visitor to your sign, and you will be using the results of the Mars retrograde experiment for the decade or so that Chiron is in your life. Prepare by paying especially close attention to social situations. Listen to what people are saying, though never repeat it. If you must, go directly to the source, or seek to debunk rumors promptly. The truth is all that matters

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2018

You do exist. If you consider that long enough, and carefully enough, you will cause an earthquake. Much of the crisis of our society, its sickness and its violence and its obsession with identity, is all about a struggle to acknowledge existence. There are many ways to do this. Marshall McLuhan, the brilliant and infamous media theorist of the Sixties, said that identity is always established through aggression. I would say that’s true, when other more elementary biological factors are missing, such as living passionately, and engaging your sexuality. Chiron is about to enter your birth sign and, after a brief phase-in, will be there for the next nine years. Along with Chiron is a potent, more recently discovered point called Salacia. Representing all things salty, you might say that Salacia offers the opportunity to grow and evolve through understanding and exploring your sexuality. When you combine this with Chiron — which will be the case for the next few years — you get an extended, though once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity to focus on an aspect of healing that everyone seems to understand needs emphasis, but few know how to approach. And how do you approach it? You just start; and keep reading, having conversations and exploring physically till you catch on to the rhythm. There is a world awaiting you, and the taboo is rapidly falling away.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2018

You do exist. If you consider that long enough, and carefully enough, you will cause an earthquake. Much of the crisis of our society, its sickness and its violence and its obsession with identity, is all about a struggle to acknowledge existence. There are many ways to do this. Marshall McLuhan, the brilliant and infamous media theorist of the Sixties, said that identity is always established through aggression. I would say that’s true, when other more elementary biological factors are missing, such as living passionately, and engaging your sexuality. Chiron is about to enter your birth sign and, after a brief phase-in, will be there for the next nine years. Along with Chiron is a potent, more recently discovered point called Salacia. Representing all things salty, you might say that Salacia offers the opportunity to grow and evolve through understanding and exploring your sexuality. When you combine this with Chiron — which will be the case for the next few years — you get an extended, though once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity to focus on an aspect of healing that everyone seems to understand needs emphasis, but few know how to approach. And how do you approach it? You just start; and keep reading, having conversations and exploring physically till you catch on to the rhythm. There is a world awaiting you, and the taboo is rapidly falling away.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2018

You do exist. If you consider that long enough, and carefully enough, you will cause an earthquake. Much of the crisis of our society, its sickness and its violence and its obsession with identity, is all about a struggle to acknowledge existence. There are many ways to do this. Marshall McLuhan, the brilliant and infamous media theorist of the Sixties, said that identity is always established through aggression. I would say that’s true, when other more elementary biological factors are missing, such as living passionately, and engaging your sexuality. Chiron is about to enter your birth sign and, after a brief phase-in, will be there for the next nine years. Along with Chiron is a potent, more recently discovered point called Salacia. Representing all things salty, you might say that Salacia offers the opportunity to grow and evolve through understanding and exploring your sexuality. When you combine this with Chiron — which will be the case for the next few years — you get an extended, though once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity to focus on an aspect of healing that everyone seems to understand needs emphasis, but few know how to approach. And how do you approach it? You just start; and keep reading, having conversations and exploring physically till you catch on to the rhythm. There is a world awaiting you, and the taboo is rapidly falling away.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2018

Events this month build toward an unusual unleashing of energy in the professional, career, reputation or mission aspect of your life (however you may think of it). You have the power to initiate ideas that take root quickly, though it would be wise to start only what you think you can sustain. Work with ideas that are sufficiently interesting that you’ll want to stay connected and committed in the long run, and which you value enough to develop even in the face of resistance, challenges or obstacles. This will call for a design scheme, which you could base on nature. One of the ways that humans and, ostensibly, other species are perpetuated is because sex is so appealing. This makes reproduction inevitable. It’s this level of motivation that must be soaked into what you’re doing: drive that is rooted in biology, and that taps into existence with the sensation of insatiable curiosity, and the need to connect. More than the desire to do something, you might let yourself be driven by the need to discover something, using your mind, your senses, your body and your feelings. While this might feel like throwing your body and soul into what you want, remember that relatively minor adjustments can have a significant influence. Pay attention to what may seem too small to even matter. That’s what might matter most.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2018

Events this month build toward an unusual unleashing of energy in the professional, career, reputation or mission aspect of your life (however you may think of it). You have the power to initiate ideas that take root quickly, though it would be wise to start only what you think you can sustain. Work with ideas that are sufficiently interesting that you’ll want to stay connected and committed in the long run, and which you value enough to develop even in the face of resistance, challenges or obstacles. This will call for a design scheme, which you could base on nature. One of the ways that humans and, ostensibly, other species are perpetuated is because sex is so appealing. This makes reproduction inevitable. It’s this level of motivation that must be soaked into what you’re doing: drive that is rooted in biology, and that taps into existence with the sensation of insatiable curiosity, and the need to connect. More than the desire to do something, you might let yourself be driven by the need to discover something, using your mind, your senses, your body and your feelings. While this might feel like throwing your body and soul into what you want, remember that relatively minor adjustments can have a significant influence. Pay attention to what may seem too small to even matter. That’s what might matter most.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2018

You’re working yourself to the edge of your comfort zone, which is exactly the place you will benefit from being. While you’re there, you can question a whole diversity of social expectations, starting with jealousy and competition in relationships, especially friendships. Navigating the social aspects of life is directly connected to your work-related aspirations, though it’s worth understanding that there are two different spheres of influence with two sets of rules. Those of the social world are usually informal and not structured on an organizational chart. Influence is gained though affinity and charm. In the professional sphere, influence is (in theory, anyway) structured and orderly. However, in our current time, this is reversed: formal structures are crumbling and losing their effectiveness, while informal influence, tribal organization and affinity are gaining momentum (part of a very long trend). If you remember the properties of both spheres, you’ll be able to work deftly within them — just know where you are and what rules you’re playing under at all times. Remember that custom usually trumps law, and the informal social guidelines typically win out over formal power structure. Among your friends, you can take the risk of opening communication; especially if you want to make a change. You have the gift of being an initiator, and you’re persuasive enough to make a difference.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2017

Freedom and discipline go hand in hand. That will be a happy discovery for you, as you embark upon a momentous phase of your vocation in the coming seasons. Note that I did not say career or profession. A vocation can become those things, though it starts someplace else: with a calling. It’s a calling so deep it could be considered spiritual, or one’s true dharma; and the fulfillment of the purpose is more important than success. This will take everything you’ve got, and you’re ready to offer that up. You will need to address any authority issues you have, whether they involve being responsive to others in power or wielding your own. This will be an ongoing process that will largely entail internalizing your sense of responsibility. You will need to work with time, which means pacing yourself; neither being in a big hurry nor willing to wait forever. You’ll need to have faith in yourself, and to persevere, in times when you’re doubting your mission or when things don’t seem to be going well. At the heart of your life plan must be some concept of home. That’s the most dependable way to provide grounding not just for your success but also a place where you can rest and connect with others. Just remember, all true collaboration depends on intimacy, and is fed by passion.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2017

Saturn enters your house of professional advancement this month, which is the thing you need if you want to succeed at something meaningful. This is in the top tier of transits that can advance your cause, or that of the world. Saturn, which tends to describe worldly affairs, enters Capricorn, the solar 10th house of Aries, typically associated with fame, notoriety and success. Yet this never happens by itself. One must do the 10th-house work of developing a solid reputation, especially where Capricorn is concerned. You will need more traditional means than the website, app and Instagram feed. It will be essential to understand the difference between a solid achievement and a little flash of success. You’ve likely done plenty the past 10 years that qualifies, though in any event now is the time to get moving. The emphasis must indeed be on building: relationships, organization, work habits, and — most significantly — purpose. Saturn says work with time, including the past. You’re likely to have abandoned many past accomplishments, perhaps deeming them unrelated to what you currently want. However, you must work with all your skills, particularly now. There’s one last ingredient that will come up, one way or another: the whole issue of authority. You must be your own self-regulated individual, and also know your place in every pecking order. From there, you can move around.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2017

Take the time, and the emotional risk, of encountering people as people; not their online avatar, their image in pixels or their disembodied voice. Make real contact, in person, without a time limit. That part is easy: when you plan to visit someone, don’t schedule anything else afterwards for the same day; and if you might stay over, clear your morning hours. The idea is to give yourself room to stretch out and experience something you’re not necessarily planning for. You might know what you want. You might also recognize that it’s a little weird to declare (for example) that you will never, ever do something with someone. If you’re saying that, then you’re carrying around some energy. What’s that about? It rarely happens that you’re knocked off of your center specifically due to the actions of someone else. When you are holding your center, and you know who you are and what you want, you tend to be in balance and on solid ground. There’s something more significant: know what you have to offer. You will feel relevant in your relationships based on what you give; not what you take, or ask for, or expect. You’re the one in a position to start the process of exchange, by being generous with your mind, your body and your spirit; with your time, your love, and your resources.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2017

You may not see it now, but all the good work you have been doing for the last two years or so is ready to harvest. Just as is the case with a tangible agricultural situation, however, your labors are not quite over. If you imagine yourself as a farmer who has finally seen months of planting and cultivating pay off with a crop that is now ready to bring in, you will have envisioned something of your present condition in a nutshell. One more stretch of effort over the next six or seven months is all it will take. Conduct yourself with diligence and care over that period. Whatever you have been striving for will accrue in sufficient quantity to sustain you through a new cycle of renewal and achievement over the two years or so yet to come. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2017

There’s an old expression about not judging a person until you’ve walked a mile in their moccasins. You have the rare opportunity to do just that — experience the world from the viewpoint of a significant other. Part of that includes how they experience you. You might find that, as a result of this, you make some adjustments to your personality or to how you treat the people around you. Two changes would help: you can afford to listen more attentively, and you can afford to be more generous emotionally and financially. Open up and deepen your intimacy.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2017

Venus retrograde in your sign is encouraging you to see the world from another point of view, such as that of a relationship partner. How often do you have one of those revelations where you suddenly get that you really understand another person’s perspective, or feel the world the way they feel it? Rarely enough that it’s a special occasion when you do. It’s also a reminder that your actual primary relationship is within yourself. Love in any form is inherently introspective: it comes from inside you, and involves your feelings. If you’re not grounded within yourself, intimacy can feel dangerous; and in many ways it is. Venus retrograde is your encouragement to find your inner lover, or what you might call your best friend within. This is different from being narcissistic, self-important or egotistical, so different in fact that it’s the polar opposite. Coming from a self-loving place brings a subtle form of confidence. When you get there, a kind of neediness dissolves and gives way to authentic generosity. You recognize and hold gently the fact that everyone is an individual with their own needs, their own spiritual quest and their own healing process. If you want to cultivate deeper contact, listen to what people close to you have to say. At the moment, it’s more important that you understand them than that they understand you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2017

The great adventure has begun. The times, they are a-changin’. And who are you really? That’s the journey, and that’s what you are ready to discover. You have so many possibilities, and yet you so often approach life the same way. You’re under some intense pressure to set yourself free. But free of what? An idea about who you are, which seems to dictate how you relate to the world. This looks like a search for gender identity. Your feminine side is calling you; she’s trying to get your attention, though she’s having some challenges expressing herself. It’s as if you’re hearing but not listening. Let yourself be drawn into your inner life, and if you feel resistance, remember that this is one of the most fearsome things a person can do. Many pressures you’re under are designed to draw you outside yourself. Yet your inner awareness, your imagination, your ability to feel who you are rather than tell yourself who you are — all of this is calling you. You’re being invited into your own inner sanctum. Don’t fall for the glam, the commercial or what your social media accounts claim about you. Turn toward the unknown and take your time getting there. In those moments when you feel the least comfortable in your skin, when you feel restless, when you doubt yourself: that’s your invitation, easy to miss.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2017

Your bold experiment in who you are will be more fun if you take it out of the house. You’re under no obligation to be the same person every day, which is a good thing because that’s about how frequently you get a new idea. To really find out, you must explore more openly in your relationships. The people closest to you must be on board with your project; this is about co-creating rather than shocking anyone. Gender roles, artistic pursuits, your professional goals, how intense you want (or dare) to be and what you’re willing to reveal: it’s all fair play

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2017

A small aggravation in your home or emotional life could be the spark that ignites a whole new era in your public life. Of course, a lot depends on recognizing that ember for what it is. Then there is the matter of what you choose to do with it. Even though it may sound trite, a sincere desire to change yourself will be the necessary requisite for turning a glimmer of ‘what could be’ into the light of a new day. Assuming you have an aspiration to evolve beyond your current definition of self, the next step would entail how you perceive events that are merely annoying. The moment you can see opportunity in what irks you will be the instant you realize how a proactive solution will accomplish more than just take irritation away. Ultimately, just such a shift in your perception, and the subsequent revision in how you respond, will validate and multiply those who support you, while exposing any remaining critics for what they are. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2017

Your power to achieve great things this year is only limited by your imagination, which means no limits at all. Yet you need to make a conscious choice to dream of the possibilities and then take action. You can see potential where nobody else can. You can feel your talent, though others might not notice at first. Yet you would be wise to focus your goals into something that you understand and can explain to another person. Many things are possible, and many possibilities are appealing. Concentrate your efforts on your most cherished priorities and you will be unstoppable.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2016

Included prominently in what you can probably claim to have gained from 2016 is a strengthened belief in yourself. Just think of all you sustained and maintained better than you might have. Give yourself credit for when your plans and follow-through paid off. Acknowledge what you have overcome when doing so was not a foregone conclusion. Now, as you head into a new calendar year, one worthy objective would be to enhance the extent to which others believe in you. To increase the probability of accomplishing that goal, keep two things in mind. First, do not underestimate the importance of timing. Pick your spots to impress, and endeavor to be both alert and prepared for when spots pick you. Also, remember that others often see you through themselves. Therefore, anything you can do to help others believe in themselves will also serve to raise their estimation of you. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2016

Integrity means integration: aligning your outer life and your inner life. Your charts draw a stark contrast between the two, describing a world within you that bears little resemblance to what you present to others. This worked for a while; though to facilitate your sanity and your growth, you will need to bring them into alignment. Perhaps what you’re experiencing inwardly has no easy expression in words. It may be so deep as to elude your awareness, or feel so private that you could never reveal yourself. And it’s easy to choose an appearance or persona and express that to the people around you, who may have no idea whatsoever what you’re really going through. Yet you’re past the time when you can abide the pressure that this causes. Start by being truthful with yourself, and then take steps each day to live uncompromisingly in that reality. Invite people you care about into your inner world. Let your face match your true feelings. When asked, or when you feel moved, give your real opinion. Let your actual needs and desires guide your decisions. Most of all, you would be wise to avoid putting on appearances or what the esoteric literature describes as ‘glamours’. From these experiments, you will tap into your true strength, which is about standing in your most honest reality as a day-to-day, hour-to hour journey.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2016

Of all the people in the world, the only one you can truly control is yourself. Keep that in mind for the remainder of this year, and you have the key for making your closest relationships work as well as possible. This does not mean you should withdraw and focus on yourself. Instead, make yourself the focus as you interact with others by constantly asking yourself how to set the most authentic, instructional and inspiring example for the people who know you best. This may mean breaking with some of your older and less productive behavioral patterns. More likely, your path towards greater influence in your closest quarters will begin with making the greater good for all involved your biggest concern. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2016

Given the high-voltage planets in your sign, you may have wondered if you’re too intense for a normal social life. You would be wise to err on the side of asserting who you are rather than trying to hide or tone down. Jupiter is now boldly working its way through your relationship sign, Libra. That’s a way of saying that people will not only accept who you are, they will benefit and thrive on your energy and your wild streak. The coming year will be one of great meetings. Be real, look people in the eye and welcome them into your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2016

It’s possible you will want to solve a mystery over the next several weeks. More likely you will need to accomplish an entirely different task: developing your discernment and applying it to problems in the world. To be clear on the distinction, envision yourself sorting and matching a pile of socks as opposed to taking the same amount of energy and time to search for a single lost stocking. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2016

You’re not through finding yourself, though you’re less lost than you were at this time last year. You’re adapting to the idea that you wake up a slightly different person every day, in a different world every day. This means embracing being less certain, though what you’re giving up is a fragile or even false concept of who you are. You now have more space to maneuver, and less need to prove to yourself or anyone who you are. It’s through action and interaction, live and in real time, that you will make your most significant discoveries. Life is not a matter of theory that you or the world must live up to; rather, your experience will have a way of hinting at who and what is real and relevant to you. It’s then up to you to extract the potential from all of this, and create something for yourself. You may still be inclined to ask for permission from others; you may still think you need the approval of authority figures. You may still think there’s a matter of morality involved, especially if someone is trying to impose their morals on your choices. There is no argument to have. It can be challenging to grasp that merely existing sends a stronger message about your intentions than anything you might say.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2016

Progress means change. Sometimes progress happens quickly, and that can be unsettling. Yet given your potential, it would seem that ‘settling’ is the last thing you want, in any sense of the word. You’re in the perfect position to take advantage of this restless, unpredictable moment. Circumstances that might work against other people are opportunities and resources for you. You have the ability to respond to new circumstances quickly, though you must keep an open mind and be willing to take the opinions of others on board. The keys to success are listening and conscious collaboration.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2016

Know thyself, especially in comparison to who and what you were at this time last year. If you are pretty much the same person you were 12 months ago — if your needs are being met and your life is going smoothly — you are in a position to demand substantial reward for risking any change to your good thing. If your personal evolution has been substantial enough to make change your primary need at this time, consider thinking differently. Instead of risk versus reward, think in terms of renegotiating any previously incurred contracts, responsibilities or obligations to do right by both your new self and your old relationships. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2016

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Fighting chaos is like trying to smooth out the surface of water with a canoe paddle. You may be facing some challenging situations at work, though it won’t take much for you to turn them into opportunities. The first thing to do is take a different approach to any turbulence or conflict, which would begin by stepping back and observing. You may not be noticing how your influence in the situation is stirring up your environment. The best way to figure that out is to step back, observe and listen. The thing to study is relationships. Notice where people’s loyalty is invested, without judging it or saying anything about it. This is a matter of facts, not of opinion. The only way to get anything done — whether it’s a project of some kind, or your own professional advancement — is to work with others. And that is entirely based on who is loyal to whom, and why. What I suggest you remember about this thing called ‘work’ is that for most people, it’s merely the one means they know of to the end called eating. For a few other people, work is a creative endeavor that gives meaning to their lives. For a few others, it’s a political game or power trip. Know where you stand, and know who you’re dealing with at any time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2016

It’s high time to take it a bit easier on yourself. Likely you have been diligent enough at ‘doing’ in the conventional sense of making things happen. Rather than working harder, think about how to work smarter. This does not necessarily mean you need to organize or be more efficient. Nor is there any certainty you are procrastinating overmuch. Instead of pushing yourself to do more, try another tack: look to address any relationships where inertia has taken over. You might be surprised by how far reviving or refreshing stale connections with others will go towards helping you to give yourself some much-needed slack.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2016

If the skies are any indication of where you are in life, the phrase ‘mending fences’ should resonate in some way for you now. How that term reverberates in your case will in large part depend on relationship choices you made during the past two seasons. In all probability, the consequences of those choices will begin to become increasingly clear during the next month or so, serving to define the parameters of your life for at least the next six months. Because you have already proven yourself to be a reasonably rational and competent decision maker over the last couple of years, there is no reason to second-guess yourself now. Rather, follow through by acting to shore up the framework of one-to-one relationships you have chosen to sustain and develop over the six months just past. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2016

Belief is best used as a tool, rather than as a block against something else that might be true. You’ve seen the value of opening your mind to new possibilities. Keep reminding yourself how helpful this is. Notice when you run into an old idea about life that slows you down or discourages you, and then come up with some new possibilities. What you observe now, in the present moment, is far more useful than the ideas that others put into your mind long ago. Ask yourself honestly what is true for you, and use what you discover.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2016

If you’ve been wanting for company, you won’t be for much longer. There is companionship in the stars, which means that you’ll have a variety of possibilities available. People have a way of aiming low in their relationship choices. We’ve all been there, and seen it more times than we can count. You have your options open, and I suggest you leave it that way for a while. You don’t have to commit to the first person who you think might be acceptable, and you don’t have to compromise. Stand in your truth, and see who responds to you as the person you really are. This will take some time. And in that time, you’re free to do what you want, with whom. See if you can stand back from the idea that you owe anyone your loyalty, fidelity or exclusivity for as long as you need to have some fun and to truly discover who the people around you are. Far from violating the rules of civil society, you might say you’re violating the rules of low self-esteem. Over the past year or so, you’ve emerged as someone original with a unique mission. There are people in the world who recognize you for these qualities. Those are the people you want in your life: those who are friendly, supportive, encouraging and genuinely loving. Settle for no less.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2016

When you were a child, simple and unstructured playtime did more for you than you could have possibly known at the time. That’s especially true regarding play with others of your own age. Now it may be time for a refresher course more consciously taken. It’s not so much that all your hard work lately could use a little complementary balance (although that’s part of the picture). It’s just that new connections to a wider community of similarly inclined people will more likely be established outside of your usual environs of service and work, rather than within them. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2016

After months of focusing on some deep inner questions, you are now free to explore new horizons. After considering the past and your previous involvements so carefully, you can look at the future with the confidence that your desires are within reach, and that the potential you feel is real. You might sense your ideas about life expanding suddenly. If you’re wondering whether you should act on these discoveries immediately, ask yourself what you would be waiting for. You might have a reason to pause, though remember that the journey you’re on always leads you to the next place, and the next.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2016

Much of what’s been shocking the world for the past few months involves your birth sign or your primary planet, Mars. This may be resulting in change, clarity or some chaos. You may know that the great astrological event of our era — Uranus conjunct Eris — is happening in Aries. For its part, Mars, on a long visit to Scorpio, has been provoking some results out of the conjunction. Personally, this could be serving to get you interested in being free. By that I mean participating in your relationships on new terms, able to make ongoing choices about who in this world you’re intimate with. The notion that one must give up nearly all close contact with people for the sake of one relationship actually works for very few people. It’s altogether reasonable that anyone would choose to coexist on their own terms. If you notice one thing, maybe it will be this: the social rules that pressure people to be certain always seem to be rooted in the past, but really they are held in place by peer pressure. Couples are often more influenced by the group around them than they are by their own values and ethics. Where do you stand on this? Once you’re solid with yourself and your partner, or potential partner, it’s much easier to do what you want, no matter what the crowd is up to.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2016

Act on your highest aspirations and you will most likely be on the right track. If you can do so without resorting to impulsive action and without procrastinating, all the better. In order to have the tides of life in your favor at this time you will first need to be clear about what you want. Once you have that clarity, the rest will be a matter of intent, focus and continuous effort. If you have already been in continuous and consciously defined action for the last two years or so, you should now be near successful culmination. If such a pinnacle does not seem to be at hand, worry not. You still have time to get there. Eschew fantasy. Be fantastic. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2016

You can now work out a mutually agreeable plan in an intimate relationship. When you look back on this development, you will see that the missing ingredient was being honest about what you want. You knew all along; this was a matter of admitting it to yourself. True enough, it involved subject matter that’s not easy to discuss even with oneself; but you seem to have figured out that you really need to be more open. This story is not over; you’re learning something that will set the tone of the next couple of years, so remember to use what you know.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2016

As always, your greatest asset is your self-confidence. Remember that one constant, and any winds of change you might encounter will only serve to lift you up and propel you forward. Speaking of changes, you may want to consider making some of your own. Specifically, the universe appears to be offering you the dual gifts of ample room to change your mind and sound reason for a change of heart. While the world may not always be fair, you can at least always be fair to yourself. Therefore, take everything that comes with the next month or two as fuel for your fire and grist for your mill. There is no obligation for you to be or live to the satisfaction of others if it means being dissatisfied with yourself. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2016

What is it about sex? I mean, what is it exactly? Have you noticed that the world seems driven by something that it’s simultaneously obsessed with and terrified of? It’s time for you to put sex into the category of what is natural: like organic apples, playing Frisbee with a dog or dancing at a concert. Any time you have a question or a concern, imagine one of those things. Any time a power struggle manifests, think of a border collie leaping into the air and gleefully snapping a flying object in its jaws. While you’re at it, be aware of the faux moral trips that people lay into one another on a regular basis. At a certain point, any mature, happy person must decree that such is utter nonsense, if for no other reason than it’s useless for anyone to mind anyone else’s business. With this comes one particular necessity: dropping the control drama. This may seem like too much to ask, but freedom is to sexuality what breathing is to yoga. You can hold your breath through your Sun salutation, but only at the expense of depriving your brain of oxygen and turning blue. You can now do something radical: allow yourself to be free, and openly encourage others to be free. What do you do with jealousy? Recognize it as the toxic emotion that it is, and put it down — just like cigarettes.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2016

You will look back on this time and see how many things were working in your favor. Whether hindsight reveals that you were one of those things is something you can determine now. Everything you have been through for the last five years or so has prepared you to be your own most serendipitous supporter. By now, you know your needs like the back of your hand — especially when it comes to sustenance. You have also come to learn something of your value to others in relationship. Over the past two years, especially, you have made great strides finding your place in a changing world. Now, the idea is to get everything working together. One fringe benefit of supporting others is that they often feel more inclined to support you in return. While that is not the reason to help people, there is something to be said for remaining open to receiving from others as you evolve and grow. — by Len Wallick

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2016

Nothing is predictable, nor do you want it to be – especially relationships. Leave yourself room for adventure and for surprises, and set this tone with friends and partners. All the good that’s entering your life is doing so through spontaneity. So practice that as yoga. Change up your schedule any way you can. Take different routes to and from places. Meet people you might ordinarily pass by, and hear their story. All of this will feed into your current extravaganza of self-discovery, though one other thing is certain: there’s opportunity in the air, and to get access you must assert yourself. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2016

You are becoming someone you never expected to be. That is welcome news, as the change you’re going through will help you find a place in the world that is all your own. Be humble about this fact, but recognize that only you possess the distinctive combination of skills, talents and creativity that you offer. What you do flows from who you are. What you do is an expression of your distinct gifts. Give them to the world gently, without trying to prove anything. Observe carefully who notices you, who recognizes you and who receives what you offer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2016

Take care of yourself — words often spoken and rarely heeded. Most people take far better care of their car than they do of their body, and incredibly, our bodies hold up under constant assault. Our minds, though, feel the stress, and we pay in ways we don’t usually notice. Begin to orient your life around your home. Speaking of cars, save yourself time, energy and money by reducing your time spent on needless travel. Notice the many things that make supposedly modern living into the frenetic chase it so often is. The motion and energy expended on so much that matters so little add up to one huge distraction from life. You need your energy now, as you’re in a rare space of personal breakthrough. It’s the kind of development that’s calling for you to pull your attention inward, so you can actually feel, notice and work with the changes that are developing. It is fair to say that you’re taking a genuine, long-anticipated step in your personhood. While this is a rare moment of personal evolution for you, it would be easy to miss the opportunity for profoundly improved self-awareness that you have in your hands. Feed and nourish your internal progress with quiet spaces, doing the things you love to do the most, and spend time with carefully selected people you care about.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2016

You are far less likely than most to lose your head at this time, and not just because it is attached to your body. The next month or so represents a period when you will find it easier than many others to remain in full possession of yourself, regardless of whether or how things move or change direction in your life. The main thing will be to pay attention. This does not mean you need to be all tense and vigilant 24-7. By all means, allow yourself to periodically set your cares aside, relax and even indulge forms of distraction that serve to refresh and revive your acumen. That way, when you need to be on the ball, you will be in self-control and ready to roll — and you’ll show the rest of us how it’s done. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2016

Any financial plans you make would best be long-term. You have some excellent ideas and opportunities, though you need to do more due diligence. Information and timing are marks of the truly successful person. There are likely to be ideas far beyond what you are currently thinking, if you can project yourself a few years into the future. What I suggest you remember is that you have what you need. Not only are the basics covered, you’re unusually resourceful. For those who aspire to great success, it’s good to remember that there’s such a thing as enough.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2016

No matter what you may think or feel about the progress you’re making, you are building toward an unusual breakthrough. By unusual I mean once-in-a-lifetime, though it may happen in slow motion, such that you don’t notice for a while. Astrology, however, can help align you with your moment. There is a process that’s helping you get there, which may lead you to feel as if you’re delaying or lagging behind, though that’s not true. Mars retrograde in Sagittarius is inviting, enticing or compelling you to question your deepest-held beliefs about existence, which means about yourself. The situation as I see it is that who you are becoming is bigger than your current beliefs can contain. When you cross the boundary of a belief, you can stir up conflict about ‘trying to do the impossible’, which can be self-limiting. Therefore, before you strive to exceed what you think of as your current limitations, you will need to investigate them. One relationship that you’re in the process of changing is how you coexist with time. It will help immensely if you remember the ways you’ve learned what is possible when you use time well. Part of your assignment is learning the personal discipline to do what must be done each day. Part is remaining connected to your long-term goal. When you put the two together, you are unstoppable.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2016

Know what works for you. Filter all your options through that knowledge, and your decisions will be properly informed. Simple though the protocol may be, it will be easy to forget. That’s because your life looks as though it might gain considerable stimulation in the coming weeks. A lot of good things and interesting people are likely to be drawn to you. Your power to attract is very strong right now. Unless you exercise discretion and set some boundaries, however, the real gems may get lost in the sheer volume of people and things moving in your direction, through no apparent effort of your own. Be selective. Additionally, prioritize what you want to go after over what or who is coming after you. — By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2016

Believing in yourself and making an impression on the world: that’s what these weeks of your life are about. When you have confidence, you don’t need luck; you know how to take the right chances. When you have faith in yourself, people of influence notice you. You know you’re in the right place at the right time. Yet there’s one more vital way to express your sense of belonging: look toward the future. Right now that takes courage. Most people do not dare. Be the bold one and reach forward. You know that great things are possible. Now, prove it to yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2016

You’re bestowed with more energy than you know what to do with. Yet the planets are encouraging you to do something not so characteristic of your sign: pace yourself, move methodically and take the long view. You’re onto something unusual, with a bit of extra potential. Yet your path to success looks like it will require you to revise your plan several times, including the financial end. Keep in mind that you’re not sprinting but rather running a marathon, one whose course is not exactly set at this point. As you take the journey of the next year or two, you’ll become a distinctly different person from who you are today. The greatest points of potential emerge where you encounter any seeming obstacle, diversion or reversal. That’s where the real power is contained. To tap that power effectively, you’ll want to be moving slowly and with conscious intention. The challenge here is that you are likely to be feeling driven and ambitious, which for you translates to the desire for speed. Instead, work for mindfulness and efficiency. Most important, focus on who you are becoming as much as on what you’re doing, making or reaching for. When all is said and done, that’s the single most important factor in the equation of your life: who you are becoming, in the present, now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2016

Your vision, hearing, smell, taste and tactile senses provide you with valuable information about the world. That information, however, is always experienced in your mind. Such a state of being conscious provides great advantages. For within your mind is where the experiences of your own lifetime combine with all you have been taught, and even with the essence of life’s history on Earth. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is vital for you to be aware of what your mind brings to your encounters with the world as perceived by your senses. That awareness will be the final ingredient that will blend in with the entire content of your psyche to make you more than the sum of your parts: somebody capable of changing the world at least as much as it changes you. This means what you do with the information you receive is your call.– By Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2016

Don’t let the pressure get to you. The energy surge is coming from inside. Your mind is bursting with ideas and imagination, which would make many people nervous. Not you, however. I think you’re aware how rich the moment is. You might call this the Year of the Brilliant Idea, and set as your primary goal expressing yourself any way you know how. You’ve only begun to experience the first waves of the once-in-a-lifetime self-transformation that you’re about to go through. Be aware: that means change. You cannot have one without the other, though many try.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2016

You may have the sensation that you’re sitting out in a lobby of a theater, while the most fabulous show ever is going on right on the other side of those doors. Yet you may feel like you can’t find your way into that other room, the one where all the action is. Here’s a clue: it’s inside you. That other space, or other dimension, is your own imagination. You are not missing anything at all; what’s happening is that your potential is expanding quickly, and will continue to do so until you can’t contain it any more. This may take a few weeks; then events will begin to manifest rapidly. The best thing you can do for yourself is to stay in touch with your inner life. Recognize that the ideas you have are excellent, though they may be in nascent form. They will require development, and this will take patience and persistence. You need to have enough faith in what you’re creating to stick with the plan for long enough to get results, which will only be the beginning. Rather than slow down, the way to proceed is in tangible steps that you accomplish one at a time, which lead you forward in ways you notice. Patience and taking the long view may not be your strong suits, though there are rewards for developing these skills.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2016

Let comfort be your guide. Offer comfort to others. As odd as it might seem for a person of action like yourself to make comfort your cause and objective, it’s not really inconsistent. You know from experience how important it is to make a good start in any endeavor. That’s especially true if the endeavor is a cooperative effort. To ensure that any common enterprise you are currently initiating (and maybe even leading) may be successful, do your expected part and then something more. Work to keep yourself and everybody involved feeling content with their role and confident of what anybody would define as success, and your extra effort will pay off. — by Len Wallick.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2016

Love always has conditions, and it’s easier if you understand them. To keep things simple, I suggest you have just one: that you be loved for who you are. For that to be possible, you must not only stand boldly in your truth, you need to speak up about what is most important to you. Don’t expect others to read your mind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2016

You can have a formula for success, though it requires that you focus many different talents and capabilities simultaneously. The one that stands out is using positive vibes rather than power to persuade people. One way to do that is to get people turned on by what you want. This may seem self-centered, but it’s really saving people the trouble of originality while they get to contribute to something larger than themselves. Therefore, I suggest you know your objectives and know what’s appealing about them — and make a point of both feeling good and being open. In many respects, the more radical your plans, the better. By that I mean that the more you are challenging yourself and others to think in a different way, the better. There is another piece to this, which is about ethics; or rather, teaching ethics. Focus on doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. This notion is starting to become popular, but it remains mostly an idea because the skills are not readily available. Yes — what I am saying is that people need both teachers and examples for how to do the right thing: how to be devoted, honest and faithful. There remains the question: is it possible to teach ethics? That’s debatable, but you may find yourself needing to do just that. Start by setting the best example.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2015

You stand at a branching of the ways in your own life. One road leads toward appearances, glitter and glamour, and the other leads toward self-realization. Life is not normally so black and white, though a great wave of energy is about to come through your life, and its raw power is inherently neutral. It will carry you far and fuel your endeavors, in whatever direction you choose. You are the one who gives it meaning, and who harnesses it for the purpose that you designate. In other words, you choose what to do with the vital force that powers your entire being. And now that vital force is rising, and you will have great surges of energy, as will many around you. Yet the path of least resistance will be to stay on the surface; and many will do that, transfixed by shiny objects. The more challenging path is to go inward. Part of why it’s challenging is that ‘inward’ is such strange territory these days. For many it’s entirely alien, and for most it’s unfamiliar, intimidating and chaotic. Do not be intimidated by yourself. Leave that to others, if that’s how they feel. You are who you are inwardly, and you are being challenged now to go inside and stay with yourself for a while. If you seek understanding, and self-respect, you will indeed find them.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2015

You must use strategy to accomplish your goals. Effort and passion are necessary (and you have plenty) but they will not be enough. Motivation is drive, and strategy is guidance. That means thinking. By this, I mean manual mode, step-by-step, careful and reflective thought. We’re not accustomed to this and Aries is not exactly famous for it — but you are capable of using your mind this way and you will profit from doing so. It will help if the strategy you use is an organic expression of who you are. You should not have to think against your own grain or use ideas that somehow violate your ethics. Rather, the best course of action depends on your own innate skills, traits and temperament, and most of all, your sense of right and wrong. You might want to tighten the mesh there, and do only what you know is absolutely correct for you, and does as little harm as possible to others. Your environment also favors long-range planning over meeting some immediate need. Therefore, an effective set of plans will take you a bit beyond your goal and into the next couple of phases of your idea. To do all of this well, it’s more important that you be real rather than exemplify love and light. Being authentic is not popular, and it’s not necessarily easy, but it will serve you well.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2015

You have problem-solving power beyond anything you’ve experienced before. It’s as if your true intelligence has blossomed and is fully available. Part of that gift involves patience for details, something that’s also frequently eluded you. Put your mind to work on whatever might be vexing you or those you love, and you’re sure to win the game.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2015

For any individual in possession of talent or desire to accomplish something, there is a phase of learning about how the quality of your work and the audience response are two different things. This could be said about any phase of life, though let’s focus on the work you do: the thing you want to be known for, and what you feel is your true gift. One reason people hold back developing their talents (we all have them and in my experience, just about all people are aware of that fact) is out of fear of how they will be received. I would remind you that some of the very greatest artists and thinkers have received initial responses verging on insulting. To give one hilarious example (which I will come back to soon): the Wright brothers were busy flying an early model of their airplane around a field in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, but the local newspaper refused to send a reporter. I could rattle off dozens of these tales from memory. The message of the story is that your work must proceed regardless of what you think people will think, what they actually think or whatever the heck else. This includes your friends, your ‘friends’, your family and so on. Ultimately you must resonate with your own creative core. Be true to your vision, come what may.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2015

There are two main aspects to this thing we call spiritual. One is the visible part, which involves bodies of ideas, teaching and learning those ideas in the world, the organizations people take part in to facilitate that, and more formal institutions and their various rules and laws. It’s in this area of life that someone may strive to be a better person, to accumulate knowledge, to attain purity, and so on. Then there is the invisible dimension — the one that lurks and lingers behind everything, occasionally finding its way to the front of awareness. It’s a parallel world, which can be visited through direct experiences: dreams, journeying, direct exploration of awareness, transcendent erotic experiences (such as through tantric practice), near-death experiences, and those vast moments of personal revelation that cannot be planned. It’s easy to see why Carl Jung said that religion (the first group of concepts) interferes with religious experience (the second). For you now, the conceptual and pre-programmed level of spiritual life is about to be dissolved into the direct, authentic experience. This will take some time — the next year or two — though it’s beginning now, as you read. Therefore emphasize your actual journey — what you feel, and who and what you experience. Put less into books and concepts and ‘practice’. The rehearsal is over. You are now the instrument, the musician and the audience.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2015

You certainly have plenty to do and you’re motivated to get it done. What’s essential is that you bring your imagination to your work rather than just your time, effort and focus. There’s a purpose to what you’re doing, and the way to keep in contact with that purpose is to allow in the creative element all the time. This may run contrary to what colleagues and coworkers are doing; they seem to have ideas of their own, and they may seem obsessed with something that misses the mark. Therefore, you’re the person who must interject the element of that special something that keeps the project meaningful. Be subtle about this. There are ways to add the magic elixir that are not quite obvious, though you do have the advantage of understanding the original purpose of whatever you’re doing. That said, and collaborations aside for a moment, this can be an incredibly productive and, moreover, creative month for you. Make sure you leave yourself enough time and space to focus on your own individual priorities, both professional and creative. Don’t let work commitments siphon off all your energy, ideas and motivation; make sure you take a little something home every night after work, and that you focus on your own priorities. That means projects, but it also means people — especially after Mercury stations direct on the 9th.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2015

You may not make sense to others, and this is something that you’ll need to get used to. What you want, how you think of yourself, how you explain yourself — indeed, the essence of who you are — are all changing. This is happening while others may be expecting you to fit their idea of what is reasonable. It’s easy to fall for this. Being different, and going through a process of change that reaches to your roots, are vulnerable places to be. Often others who are intent on conforming and doing things the supposedly right way will try to make others hold the line. The key to doing this successfully will be choosing to not worry about what others think. Get accustomed to doing this now, and then get better at it — you’re going to need this skill the next few years. It’s not your job to live up to anyone else’s presumptions or expectations. You can go through five years of therapy or you can embrace this simple fact. This remains true no matter how much authority anyone exerts, or tries to claim. Look for any hint of religion or religiosity as the basis of the head-trip. Such rationales are almost always rooted in hypocrisy. Part of what you will learn over the next two years, beginning now, is to never, ever put up with that kind of bullshit.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2015

To express oneself boldly and freely does not always feel free. Often there is work involved. Yet this is different from ordinary toil or effort, because it’s possible to experience time in a much lighter way — to get lost in one’s work. Really that expression is the opposite of what it means, which is to find oneself in one’s work. That’s what I suggest you do, and what I think your soul is calling for. Remember as well that expression is introspective, at least initially. That thing you’re expressing is yourself, which calls you into yourself to make contact with this seemingly elusive aspect of existence. You may decide that there’s something specific you want or need to do. There may be a connection between your impulse to heal yourself and to have an experience of yourself and also to make or say something. Follow that focus. As you do, you may encounter the specific resistance, judgment or deception that has, in the past, prevented you from feeling, being or speaking what you truly are. This may feel like something that was ‘installed’ in you, and getting yourself free may feel like bypassing or, better still, dismantling or uninstalling it. The mere fact that you are allowing yourself to try means that you don’t have full faith in its power to control you. Keep unraveling, and feeling, and expressing.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2015

By now you’ve figured out that you have to break a few rules to get anything done — and it certainly seems you have plans for what you want to accomplish. Here are some guidelines for breaking rules: First, make sure you try the conventional channels and methods first. This includes knowing what rules or guidelines you’re expected to follow. Then, your next strategy would be to negotiate. See if you can engage others in a give-and-take process where your mutual interests are supported. Your astrology is suggesting that you have significant room to alter some important agreement, particularly one that you entered within the past two years. In fact, your astrology suggests that tuning up this contract or understanding is a high priority, and the sooner you get to it the better. All of that said and done, you might have to bend the rules to accomplish something. If so, stick to rules that are somehow contradictory or vague. Make sure you understand the consequences of your actions. And if possible, be subversive. Avoid direct challenges or any show of bravado. Most of all, be fair. Do what you need to do, at minimum, and skip the extras. Right now, psychology is your most useful tool. You’re well positioned to assess where others are at, and you have every right to put that information to good use.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2015

You may have changed your mind about something in the past month, something that really matters. You may even rethink that same thing several times in the coming few weeks. And you may be wondering why you’re not able to get a clear fix on your real position, though you’ve learned a lot from working through the question so many times. What you’re about to discover is that what matters is not what you think but how you feel. Emotions are the real motivator for most people, if not for everyone. You can test this out by noticing how often the facts are ignored entirely and people respond only to their emotional impulses. You may find that in doing so, you harness a lot more of your authentic motivation. It will help immensely if you remember what you’ve learned in sorting out things like harboring two perfectly contradictory desires or opinions simultaneously. It can be really annoying while you’re working through that, then you start to get the benefits. One of them is seeing how what seems to conflict does not have to. Often opposites contain one another, and support one another more than they compete. The ability to hold contradictions cultivates profound strength. From there, when you make a decision, you align yourself with some deeper core reality of who you are and move forward with bold determination.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2015

Pull your mind into focus and set your priorities. This will give you a sense of direction. As you move through the next few weeks, you’re likely to revise your plans many times, or more likely, rework the language you use to describe them. I suggest you not get lost in the sauce of thinking that the words you pick to describe something are more important than whatever they are designed to illustrate. Focus on your central idea and you’ll find it a lot easier to be clear. Stay close to your subject matter. At the same time, keep shifting your viewpoint, so you get a fuller panorama. Notice when your perspective gets stuck. When it does, move around and look from another angle, or through a different lens. If you find yourself arguing, argue the other side of the case as well, and then weigh and balance what you learn. Language is always a matter of experimentation, of revision, and of getting the best approximate fit between a concept and how you sketch it out. Think in terms of improvement rather than perfection. Remember that good writing is not merely about clear words but rather about expressing clear ideas. And it can take some time to get there. If you consider that you’re describing something that already exists, this process will be much easier.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2015

This month will be full of surprises, though mostly you will surprise yourself with your ability to come up with creative solutions to problems that others would dare not touch. The thing you must do, however, is take control of your money. Make sure that your approach to the various challenges of life uses money as the last line of resort. Correspondingly, you would be wise to turn your attention to generating and accumulating money, the better to secure your ability to fulfill your long-term plans. This is going to take determination, a measure of shrewdness and most of all, discipline. Steer as clear as you can of the burdens of others. It’s not that you don’t care; to the contrary, you do. The issue is that others will depend on you if they can, as if calling in old favors or compensation that exist entirely in their imagination. Follow this theme through the next few months — it’s essential that you establish yourself in your actual, present-moment here-and-now rather than being drawn backwards into the past. Point your mind, your senses and all of your intentions forward. Use your intelligence to know where you are headed at any time, and keep turning yourself in your chosen direction of travel — no matter how many times you must choose again.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2015

There’s something unusually beautiful or momentous brewing, though you may not be able to focus on it well enough to predict. Plenty has been happening; you have been keeping busy and from the look of things, positive and involved with life. Yet there’s something beyond all that, as if hiding off to the side of another dimension. If you listen carefully you will hear the movement backstage. If you go backstage and look around, you will gain both insight and influence. The way to guide this event is to envision it. Imagine that you have been offered an opportunity to make one significant change in your life, yet something all-encompassing. You may know what you want to get away from, or what you want to replace, though the question is, with what? How would it look visually, and feel, viscerally? I know this is easier for some people than for others; and that most significantly, this involves giving yourself permission to exist in some form other than what you are now. That is the actual boundary that you stretch with a real experience of growth. You are not far from this now. There is some wild momentum moving in your life. The sensation is as if something you will thrive on is about to precipitate, seemingly out of nowhere. But it’s definitely coming from somewhere, or rather someone, and that would be you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2015

You seem to be getting involved with people in new ways. This may look like a rearrangement of your social life, perhaps as canceled plans, then other things coming up spontaneously. You may find yourself in different social circles, or arrive somewhere and say gee whiz, how did I get here? You’re in the midst of a reshuffling experiment, and while you’re there you can have great fun. Yet what I see happening is that you’re engaging with people in a different way, for a different purpose. That new purpose obviates certain kinds of social activities and opens you up to other ones. The difference between old and new will seem like you are relating on a lighter but simultaneously more meaningful level. There is a focus on authentic communication. You’re able to express and evoke from people opinions that they might not ordinarily share. Energetically, the shift within you may feel like this. Normally you relate through Mars, which has a distinct polarity. Currently you are relating through Mercury, which has many possible valences, and thus, can relate on equal terms to more people in more diverse ways. If there’s a focus on language, much of that involves a different type of listening — the kind that evokes trust, because people get that you understand and that you care.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2015

You are way ahead of yourself, even though you may have this crazy idea that you’re lagging behind. Like any inventor (that does seem to be your role these days), you have more ideas than you can put into practical use on any given day, though now you must embody the principle of cooperation. One sticking point here seems to be the idea that nothing of any worth is accomplished unless some people are exploited. But it’s time to question that one. Cooperation is voluntary. That voluntary factor is also an important step out of false individuality and into true autonomy. So you don’t have to feel bad about asking people to collaborate with you. However, you will need to be aware of any murky psychology that emerges once people form any kind of collective, or share in any goal. Remind people that it’s a privilege to partake in anything larger than themselves, and to work toward goals that benefit the whole community. Some of the more unusual psychology will be your property alone, focused on the theme of your early environment. What, exactly, happened when the child you once were tried to get people to cooperate with you, or with one another? That set up some negative expectations, and it’s time to let them go in support of better outcomes. If you can, so can everyone else. That is leadership.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2014

There is big business moving in your chart, and right at the same time planets come storming through your house of achievement and success, Saturn makes its first move into Sagittarius. The theme is ethics. Seen one way, your astrology is perfect for you to take a success-at-all-costs approach to life. It would probably work, remembering the ‘all costs’ factor. Saturn, for its part, is saying that you must be mindful of the spiritual ground you stand on, which would include (for example) the relationship between what you achieve and how you get there. It would include making sure that every statement you make is true for you and also for the person hearing the message. Yes, planets are strongly hinting at a time of boldly claiming your power, your talent and your authority. Yet unlike most business situations, the final result when we do the calculus on your chart comes down to do the right thing for the right reason. There is one other element: If you encounter a voice of parental authority, whether in the form of guilt, some religious regulation or a personal hangup with success, listen carefully. I suggest you take notes and map it out. Nobody else can tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, though voices from the past are trying to hijack the issue. It’s not up to them — this is your call.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2014

Events this month seem destined to reveal the futility of jealousy and the thing it’s made of, which is the illusion of control. If you consciously give yourself the opportunity to be submissive to existence, you will find that you have more influence than if you try to run the whole show. I understand that you may be feeling the need, on one level, to exert your power. If you do something gentler, which is to stay in contact with your desires, and responsive to the desires of others, you will be able to get the energy moving in a way that allows a real exchange and also that brings you closer to people. This is subtle territory, and the land of mixed emotions. Stay close to your desire, informed by love.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2014

Something you’ve recently learned or discovered about yourself now must be taken to heart in a relationship situation. Self-knowledge is the basis of any agreement you have with another person, and when you gain some of that (or what looks like quite a bit) it will necessarily influence your agreements with others. Or rather, it will if you are paying attention, and if you want to live sincerely. You have long known that you could not fit yourself into any situation or partnership that is smaller than you are. True, it’s the way of the world to try to cram ourselves into these situations, though such a compromise will eventually fall apart. You might start from the premise that no compromise is possible — not, at least, on the specific matters you have identified. And then what? Well, one solution to that puzzle is that you proceed as an individual on your own terms, and others will get to enter your life as individuals on their own terms. A relationship is not two people living as one, because in truth that is not possible. It’s two people acknowledging their mutual existence, respecting one another for their similarities and their differences. If this sounds like walking over a cliff, it’s because maturity is in short supply these days, though from the look of your chart, you are being called to tap into your deepest reserves.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2014

Events this month will be surprising and most of all you will surprise yourself with what you are capable of. You are likely to accomplish things you never imagined possible, which relates to emerging as someone you never quite thought you were. This will require more than ‘being real’, though in the most essential sense of that idea, it’s exactly what you will be doing. Yet this is more like being real in the way that you never thought possible. You seem to have gathered the idea that if you are bold and stand out, that will ultimately have an alienating effect on the people around you. You have the potential to discover an approach to life where asserting yourself fits a social pattern that helps you and everyone else. I will give you a clue how this works. Note the tendency for people, government agencies and countries to resort to aggression as the first resort rather than the last. The cosmic law of your chart says that you can do anything about which you can speak openly with others. Establish communication first and act second. Maintain a dialog. Make sure that you speak and listen in more or less equal proportion. And more than anything, don’t try to hide who you are. Assume that you are immediately recognized for who you are, and be that person all the time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2014

The chaos factor you’re experiencing may be the result of clinging to an idea about yourself — some point of identity, which feels like insisting on ‘I am’. This has its effect whether one claims to be a doctor, married, cool, pure, gay, straight, trans, smart, stupid, old, young or any other descriptor. One problem with ‘I am’ is that it changes, and right now it’s changing rapidly for you. This may be making you nervous enough to hold on tight — to anything. ‘I am’ rarely describes the deeper and more meaningful level of existence; indeed, the insistence on identity can serve to obscure much else. Your existence is an adventure, a fact that is especially true now. Yes, you need something you can refer to for stability. A relationship will not serve that purpose, especially if that relationship cannot contain the discoveries you’re making about yourself. So what does that leave? It leaves the quest that you’re on. Define yourself by the adventure that’s before you, and within you. Define yourself by the questions that you ask. Know yourself in your immediate experience, by perceiving what is shown to you — and then gradually recognizing the perceiver. Consider the notion, “I am the mind of the senses, the consciousness of creatures.” Who is that mind? Who is that awareness? This is who you are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2014

You get to live a little bolder than usual, though I don’t mean impulsively. I mean taking thoughtful risks, knowing what you stand to lose and stand to gain. I also mean a commitment to development over time — at least one year, and maybe more. This is the kind of risk that involves taking a chance on what you want to see grow and develop in the world, what you might call a daring vision. Based on these criteria, casino gambling would not be included. It’s not nearly creative enough, plus there is too much risk for a very low potential for monetary or spiritual reward. There are all kinds of thrilling sports, and while you probably like them and would have lots of fun, your charts are describing something more. You want the kind of adventure that requires intelligence, passion and the potential to learn and grow. I suggest you consider your options and then make contact with the long-term benefits of what you want to do, and aim your choices in the direction of what has lasting value. Right now the way society is organized, there are few opportunities for intellectual risks, or rather, they are not especially popular or considered sexy. Don’t let that deter you. Eventually wisdom will come back into style, and you’ll be in the right place at the right time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2014

Embrace the ever-present chaos factor. There is no getting around this; in fact it’s so close to your core, and enmeshed in our time of history, it’s what you want to indulge rather than avoid. Chaos can go two ways — toxic or creative. Creative would mean accepting that who you are is a constant work in progress, and that the ability to change rather than be stuck is a sign of vitality. Meanwhile, you are approaching a replay of opportunities that you may have missed earlier this year, and now you will be able to do more about them. You have more space in your life, and in your mind. Ultimately this will become a matter of commitment, but not in the usual sense, involving someone else. This is about commitment to yourself and to devoting yourself to who you are and what you do. Other people may be involved, but in truth there is just one moving part, which is you allowing yourself to feel passion. Ultimately this will be the factor that gets you beyond any contradictions, within yourself or within your environment, and which becomes the galvanizing factor in your psyche. Therefore, allow yourself to feel strongly about something you really want to experiment with. Allow yourself to take action and to bring your body and soul into the experiment. And remember — it is an experiment; or rather, you are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2014

In France, in the United States and in your life, July is the month of independence — when you start to crave emotional independence and start to make moves to design that for yourself. Well, design may be exaggerating a bit; it looks more like emotional jolts that prompt you to invent something new on the spot. The key is to go forward, even if you don’t think you can see the future. Take any unexpected development as an immediate prompt to get yourself in motion. You don’t need to know where you’re going. You just need to orient on one point so that you don’t go in circles. As you do this, all kinds of opportunities are likely to appear, including several from recent months that you were certain you missed. As they appear, you will see them more clearly for what they are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2014

It’s time to update your files on a relationship. All year long you’ve been in a phase of review or reconsideration of an important partnership. The question phase is over, and it’s time to apply the things you’ve learned. The core question that it’s time to answer is, what are you doing in this involvement? You may decide that it’s productive; you may decide it’s not working for you at all; you may decide that the situation is workable and that you’re still committed to it. However, you need to know where you stand, and anyone else involved must know that too. This meeting must be on level ground, with all parties agreeing that the situation is fair and mutually beneficial. This is likely to require some ongoing, careful thought on your part. For example, if you decide that the situation is not perfect but is workable, then the details have to be worked out. If you decide that it’s not worth going forward, then an exit strategy must be negotiated. And if you feel strongly about moving ahead with the relationship, you still have to do some careful review of the history of your involvement so that you don’t repeat any mistakes going forward. Whatever you do, it’s clear that you need to proceed with full information and a solid commitment. There are significant challenges ahead, and you have the ability to turn them all to your advantage.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2014

There’s a fine line between being lost and being found. Have you ever become disoriented, then certain you knew where you were, then discovered you did not know, and then finally figured it out? That’s different from cruising along confidently, sure of where you’re going — a quality you would love your existence to have. Yet to be there, you would need to know where you stand with yourself, and where you stand with others. That is the quest of the moment. I suggest you start with where you stand with yourself. It will be tempting to consider what you would do based on another person’s feelings, or to plot out your life based on what might happen in a relationship. The order of the moment seems to be how you can live your life spontaneously as yourself, following your plan for your own existence. Yes, it’s possible that plan involves investing your whole consciousness and intent within the life of someone else. You might ask yourself how that’s worked out for you in the past, and how much of what you have wanted to accomplish you actually have accomplished. Or closer to the point, to what extent do you feel that your way of relating to others has interfered with your ability to actually live your life? Once you sort this out, it’s likely to prompt you to redefine many things you took for granted in the past.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2014

You seem to be holding onto a lot of energy that you absolutely must express. I don’t mean a modest amount of energy; I mean on a volcanic scale. Energy always finds a way into manifestation. Given what you’re working with you must take up the power of directing it in a constructive way. That’s not a given, and there are no guarantees. The closest you can come is a commitment to yourself to be aware from moment to moment where you focus your mind, particularly in your intimate relationships. You may need some time away from a partner, or space to experiment in entirely new ways. Any relationship is likely to either feel the stress or come along for the journey, though I suggest you not try to push or drag anyone into what is inherently about you alone. If you value the relationship, be honest about what you’re experiencing and negotiate the space you need. At the heart of the matter seems to be an experiment in emotional independence for the purpose of exploring and experiencing life in ways you may have long dreamed of. This will not be a predictable process, and once you admit that it’s happening, you will be on a journey with a life of its own. Or rather, a journey of discovering, perhaps once again, that you have a life of your own.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2014

Give partners and loved ones extra time and wiggle room to hesitate. Give them extra space to be self-centered. While you’re at it, give yourself that space as well; once you figure out you need these things, you’ll be more understanding of why others do as well. Over the next few weeks, you will gain a better understanding of where both you and partners are coming from. Remember that a partner or loved one’s lack of confidence may be associated with a memory that long predates your association. People will often allow their own past impressions to influence or even dictate what happens in a present-time situation. Ideally we would not do this, however, it’s more likely that the first step is learning to notice when it’s happening. This is the theme of the year for you — to know and understand the nature of projection, perhaps the most common psychological phenomenon. Projection is when you see something about yourself existing exclusively outside of yourself. As a clever writer recently pointed out, projection can only happen in the dark. So the first step is to gradually turn up the lights so you can see what is happening. The second step is to keep asking yourself what belongs to you and what belongs to someone else, and not to be satisfied with an answer till you have several points of documentation.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2014

You’re figuring out that you’re capable of great things. Yet none of it will be possible without fostering cooperation. There is, of course, the danger of giving away your power to others by depending on them for the completion of your goals, so you need to know about that potential pitfall and remain in full alignment with yourself. That means being the primary authority in your life. Cooperation is a peer-to-peer enterprise, a consultative role, an exchange of ideas, but without the competition or authority stuff that we’re so accustomed to in nearly every facet of existence. This is a seed moment for you, particularly where your work and your contribution to society are concerned. If you’ve been having ideas that you believed could change the world (and it looks like that’s been true for years) this is the time to act on them. The gift of the present moment is twofold: one facet is the birth of a new kind of confidence, despite whatever confusion you may be feeling. You are starting to trust that you can have an actual impact. Another is discovering evidence that you were on the right path all along. You have already learned most of what you need to know, and what you gained in the past is one of your greatest resources today.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2013

We live in a time when everything comes down to power. Every question, action taken, or choice made becomes a question of power over others, or whether an individual has the strength to stand up to it. It would be one thing if this were just the king and his men. It’s now every major corporation and countless events that unfold on the individual and intimate levels of existence. Sex becomes a question of rape. Food becomes a matter of mass poisoning. Rule One is: you do it if you can. This comes at a price, which is self-mastery. As long as the name of society’s game is domination of others, we will overlook that the essential mission of arriving on Earth in a body is to be the master of your consciousness, your choices and to the greatest extent possible, your destiny. That theme comes into focus now, and as your ruling planet Mars moves into Libra and then into aspect with the historic Uranus-Pluto square, this theme will remain in focus for the foreseeable future. It is true that many forces in your personality are leading you to feel less than stable, though that is precisely what you must learn to harvest and focus with discipline and a true commitment to self-reinvention, clarity and the ability to direct your will.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2013

If you focus on work, you will be less distracted by an emotional or partnership situation that arises, and will be less likely to get drawn into it in an unhealthy way. The situation has its limits; you must make sure that you have yours as well. Words said without actual intent, misunderstandings and sexual contracts that are not clear are the potential lures into a likely energy-consuming unknown. Though most days I am not the type to suggest taking a purist approach, I recommend that you direct your energy consciously into focused, productive effort or healing. You may be prompted to seek deeper understanding of a partnership issue, though that will be more productive if you seek assistance from a disinterested third party rather than trying to ‘work it out’ with someone whose agenda you may not understand.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2013

Your plans may unfold more slowly than you were expecting, as if you’re living in a parallel world where time runs at half-speed. This is not only necessary; it will be helpful. Typically you run so fast you don’t look back to reflect on where you’ve arrived. Then the movement itself becomes the thing to do for its own sake, which happens not to be for your sake. The purpose is some form of healing, rest and repair. It would be a good idea to seek out someone’s assistance, or to notice who is in your environment — most likely a professional and not a friend or relative — and willing to assist with your healing mission. One other purpose of taking work, projects and social activities slower is so that you can place your focus on what appears to be a significant transition in a personal relationship. Your astrology describes this both as a release point and as an opening; as the invocation of a limit and your ability to surpass a previous blockage. This relates directly to your healing path, and though you cannot control the outcome, you can influence it in a positive way by being attentive to your own needs and always taking responsibility for what you can do to improve the situation, starting with yourself. No matter what it may seem, ultimately your life is not about anyone but you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2013

Others will have little choice but to deal with the fact that you cannot be anyone but yourself. Now, from one point of view, is it really possible ever to be anyone but yourself? Yet we all know how much faking so many people do. You’ve even done a little yourself every rare once in a while. You can count on opening your mouth and saying exactly what comes to mind, and trusting that the results will sort themselves out. I suggest you notice what you say to whom. Rather than being far flung and out of control, you’re being more precise than you may think. It just may take you some time to have respect for your own point of view, especially if you manage to send out some ripples or have a few objections sent your way. Pay attention to who says what; notice who is turned on by your outbursts of authenticity. The one thing that nobody can complain about is that you’re getting a lot done. I suggest you engage that fully, and focus an agenda of everything you want to get done for the rest of the year (assuming you’re on such a schedule) and set about doing it sooner rather than later. Get a solid start on every project; get your research and your facts together; make progress while there’s progress to be made.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2013

Calculate your risks. Do not take them frivolously. I know this is not a popular activity but for you it’s a necessary one. You are more inclined to go out on a limb right now; at the same time there are factors in the equation that you may not be aware of. Therefore I suggest you consider worst-case scenarios before you do something that is potentially dangerous. At the same time, some of those scenarios have ways of expressing themselves that come up in your favor. For example, a phase of adversity in a relationship can work out in your favor, by taking you deeper with someone, and helping you build trust with them. Yet it’s essential that you be conscious as you do this. I am not suggesting that you stoke your insecurity — only that you look before you take a soulful, bounding leap.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2013

One challenge of the coming weeks involves discerning self-interest from your calling or desire to support others. Ideally there would be no separation of those concepts. That we can and so often do play games that have one winner and many losers is a problem. That we tend to lack the idea of ‘the greatest good for all concerned’, or what are called win-win scenarios, is the deeper issue. It’s essential that you bear this in mind now. Your interests are not separate from the people you care about, and in truth they’re not separate from those of anyone else. Understanding this requires reaching a new level of consciousness — which you’re reaching for, capable of and where you may already be. In this scenario, it will help to know what you want, and at the same time you must also know about (and care about) the wants and needs of the people with whom you share space and time. To do that, you’ll need to ask, listen carefully and listen to what people say when they’re speaking freely. Simply put, you’re being called upon to be fair, to the point where you set aside competition in exchange for creating a mutually beneficial situation. This calls for a heightened level of honesty, first with yourself and then with others.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2013

What do you offer in your sexual relationships and what do you get back? There may seem to be a situation wherein you do all the giving, and where someone else benefits. Have you found yourself in this situation before? You seem to be in the role of sexual healer. That’s someone who engages in erotic experiences primarily for the benefit of others. Your role is to hold space for them, which is a high-consciousness experience. At the same time there’s part of you that craves the experiences you want — yet you will learn more and deepen your relationships by offering rare experiences to others, or to someone in particular. Reach for a deep understanding of what your partner or someone you care about needs and offer that to them as a conscious act of generosity and healing

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2013

If you understood how much of your insecurity was about trying to please others, you might find yourself getting angry. And if you do find yourself getting angry, consider that it’s about trying to make sure that everyone approves of everything from your plans to your state of mind before you allow yourself to make a move. I suggest you try this month to seek nobody’s approval for anything. Make up your own mind about everything. Even in matters involving family or household, you’re entitled to your own opinion, which means an opinion that others might not agree with. As you start to do this, you might notice that you’re sloughing off layer after layer of submission, conciliation, people-pleasing and what you believed was give-and-take. All of that is the opposite of taking authority. And taking authority is what you’re about to do. This will require some actual courage, and I believe you’ve got that available. You will need to follow what both your instincts and intuition tell you. The information is coming into your awareness from a deep place. You know what is true for you. Now what you must do is count that as relevant — and make a decision that the emotional dramas of others are irrelevant to you living your life in the way that is right for you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2013

You seem to be going back and forth on an issue that’s calling for a firm decision. The more decisive you try to be, the more it seems like there are two irreconcilable sides of the story, each with its own seemingly valid point of view. The more you try to please everyone, the more obvious it becomes that you’ll never be able to do that. I suggest you not burn yourself out doing this. You probably already know the reality of the situation, not from rationalizing or arguing one side of the case over the other, but because you simply know. What you’re really waiting for is the courage to take action, whether that means declaring an end to something, or committing to it more fully.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2013

It’s unusual that you can truly focus your energy inwardly, though that is where the planets are guiding you. Plenty of what you consider inward is rather worldly, involved with people, places and things. You now have an opportunity to subtract all of those external influences and go to a new depth of self-understanding. Take the time to do this in a meaningful way. You don’t need the opinions of others, and their presence is likely to distract you from the significant matters at hand. While you’re embarking on an extended phase where your most dependable source of wisdom will come from you, the present moment is especially rich with information and a new kind of curiosity. You have the chance to get to the bottom of some deep insecurities. Normally you address these by reaching out to the people around you, or distracting yourself with activity. Yet that never really answers your question. While you may not get answers over the next few weeks, you will be able to focus your deepest questions in a meaningful way and set an agenda for yourself. Good questions are more important than answers, because they will challenge you to be creative about your own most intimate thoughts. I will say this. You’re a different person when you feel safe and when you do not. Feeling safe allows you to get a handle on surface-level material, and thus go deeper. Yet that doesn’t happen very often, and now the door is wide open.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2013

Get ready to make a stretch — of your living space, of your emotional capacity, of your ability to take care of yourself and others. You don’t need to be afflicted by the same ‘there’s never enough’ bug that so many others seem unable or unwilling to shake off. You can afford to feel safe, and you will only benefit from encouraging the people you love to understand that they too are safe. Humans are critters that belong in broods, tribes and caravans. Our society falsely promises benefit and gain by striking off on one’s own or ignoring the needs of others. Everyone needs some time to themselves, but that’s a different thing. Anyone who feels the pleasure of cooperation and the benefits of solving collective problems collectively is unlikely to go back to the old way.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2013

Most of what we experience in life is shaped by how safe we feel. Those who feel safe also feel confident. They consume less energy on fear, and as a result have more to invest in creativity, productive work and loving experiences. What is interesting about experiencing safety and confidence is that it improves with practice rather than with external reasons or rationales to feel a certain way. It’s worth practicing, especially now that the planets are moving one by one into a position that makes it easier than it’s been in quite a while. When you tune your emotional body to a space of harmony and empathy, you get different results than if you are practicing competition or fear as your daily yoga. Events this month can take you on a journey into a grounded, confident space, and give you a model for how to feel stable there. With each passing event, you can go a little deeper into the calm assurance that you belong in your home, your community and in the world at this time. This is something you can commit to as a conscious choice, then gradually teach yourself and improve your skill, learning what thoughts, communication patterns and ways of connecting emotionally foster your sense of safety. If questions arise, they are most likely to focus on identifying and letting go of emotional thought forms that no longer serve you. Let them go and you will liberate space and energy for what is beautiful, good and true.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2013

Most of how we experience life is dependent on one thing: how we feel about ourselves. This is often considered an emotional experience, and in the end it may be. But you’re now down to one option, which is to use logic. This will get you past any impulses and snap judgments that you may be experiencing, and into a frame of mind where you can ask yourself what’s true and what’s not. Make sure you ask yourself how you know what you think you know, which will help you avoid certain biases that all people have about themselves. There seems to be something about yourself that you’re trying to let go of, and something else that you want to embrace. Remember that humans are creatures of habit, and what you emphasize (by any means, whether negative or positive reinforcement) is likely to increase.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2013

Just the concept that something is or even that it may be valuable is enough to make it so. It works the same way in how we feel about ourselves. Consider the effects of the value you put on yourself. I don’t mean your monetary value, though that will come up eventually; I mean whether you think you matter to others, or whether what you do and offer to the world makes a difference. You’ve had a way of thinking about this theme for a long time. You’ve tried to work out the equation a number of times before, with only limited success. It’s as if you know your own value intuitively but cannot quite articulate it to yourself. Yet there’s a vital piece to the puzzle: values are only valuable to the extent that we act on them. Once acted upon, there’s greater tangibility to what is, in essence, an idea. The dividing line I see in your chart seems to involve making an actual decision about what you say is the most important to you, and then sizing up the effects based upon what happens. We do a lot of jabbering to ourselves about what is so important, though rarely put ourselves through this simple test. Well, it may not be so simple, and you may need to persevere through what seems like an inordinately long time to get your results, though it’s only long in your perception. Assuming you keep at it, you may not have your answer until six months from now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2013

I suggest that you not get ahead of yourself. You may feel that there’s nothing you cannot accomplish, but certain recent events may also demonstrate that there’s no guarantee that impulsive decisions actually work out to your benefit. When life is moving unusually fast, and when there are so many unpredictable factors that it seems impossible to use logic and scheduling to solve your problems, you may be tempted to throw all organization to the wind. This is the time to pause and ask yourself what it really is that you’re doing, and why. Have you thought this through? Well, it’s not too late, though you may have to slow down and take the pulse on a relationship or partnership that seems to have taken on a life of its own. The astrology is suggesting that the most challenging thing is listening. That includes you listening to others, and them listening to you. Yes, it seems elementary that such a basic level of exchange could be missing in a situation so significant in your life, though I suggest you check this carefully and make sure that you and those close to you are truly willing to hear one another out. Doing so will not threaten anyone’s existence, importance or role. What a sincere (and extra-length) exchange of feelings or ideas will do is to re-incorporate the human element into this endeavor, before you encounter challenges that depend entirely on that one very thing. In a word, that would be trust.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2013

Confidence is everything on this planet — if you want to do things, that is. I know there is wisdom in insecurity (borrowing an idea from Alan Watts), and that humility is a necessary ingredient of trust and truly being human. Yet these things must feed confidence rather than erode it. At a certain point, you must take action, and that works best from a place of faith and trust in yourself. I am not talking about swagger, but rather a hunch that you’re doing the right thing by trying, rather than knowing that there will be a perfect outcome. Making peace with the uncertain outcome is a big part of the confidence or trust that I’m describing. You have many reasons for that trust, but it’s time to go beyond any form of rationalizing or mentally establishing your validity. Connect with the feeling of substance within you. I reckon that sensation will be pretty strong, perhaps stronger than ever, if you allow yourself to tune in. Don’t distract yourself with appearances, particularly with any form of glamour. There’s an old expression — don’t let your confidence come from your feet. The place you want it to come from is your heart, and it will, if that is where you focus. Feel the fullness of your soul, the richness of your imagination and the hyper-charged sense of potential. Then get ready to take your first step on a journey that’s likely to lead you in an entirely new direction.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2013

You may find yourself drawn into social environments, though I suggest you take a strategic approach — spend only as much time there as it takes to meet your objective. That might include meeting the one person you know you were ‘supposed’ to meet, having one conversation, making a cameo and moving on, or hanging out in the back room during your own party. I say this for two reasons, besides the fact that the social realm can be a waste of time, energy and aspiration. One current reason is you need to be careful of group dynamics, and conscious when you’re in their midst. I would encourage you not to surrender your power to a group. Another is that small shifts in trajectory will take you in significantly different directions from the one you’re currently moving in, and it’s necessary to be aware of when you feel that change. Last is that you have deeper pleasures waiting for you than those you can have in public, hence, the social realm is merely a means to something better, and that something better is the thing you want. Part of creating it will involve setting up the environment for it to manifest; the idea that comes to mind is containment, a kind of world apart. Make sure that your home is prepared, with various libations and the implements of pleasure (soft lighting, clean sheets, phones disconnected, suitable music) and then go with the flow.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2012

You have the potential to accomplish great things, and you know it. You also know that discipline and focus are the keys to doing this. You can no longer depend exclusively on exterior structures to keep your goals or work pattern in place. And it would seem that the reputation you worked so hard to cultivate now translates mostly to experience. Yet that experience, if nothing else, can remind you that you have what it takes to get the job done. The question really comes down to who will keep you focused — you, or some force outside yourself. If you depend on your own inner resources to build your structure, you will have the creative freedom that you want. If you depend on something outside yourself, you will be compromised in what you get to express. I realize that the high-temperature, erratic nature of your idea flow doesn’t lend itself well to focus, but that is precisely the point. You want to maximize your qualities of initiative and originality, and in order to do that, you need your own management structure. This will give you a sense of ownership of your ideas, and help you take full responsibility for their use. Whatever you’re saying, doing or developing has more influence than you think, and you may have at least one experience this month of seeing the potentially negative impact when you pretend they don’t. This will remind you to align with your intentions, which means knowing what they are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2012

Being weird is not enough. Having no fear of being perceived as weird is essential. This will help insulate you from any misguided impulse to sacrifice your individuality or conform to what some authority figure wants you to be, and I assure you that the temptation will be there. Yet experiencing the tension between ‘rebellious’ and ‘conformist’ is not enough to guide you, on its own. You must do something subtler, which is trust that your self-guidance is more effective than anything any ‘leader’ could provide. Worship of authority is one of the most common forms of the mommy/daddy drama that adults, by definition, have resolved and put behind them. Getting clear about these things will allow you to step into the bold place of being an actual creative person, rather than an iconoclast. Of course, one persistent icon does need to be taken off of the altar, and that is your self-image. Remember that actual self is stronger, more influential and more beautiful than any mockery of it could be. Therefore, avoid glamour, fashionable trends of belief or doing anything for the sake of appearances. If you can do this, you will guide yourself deeper into the confidence that you are the only leadership you need. To many this will seem like a dangerous place, and it just may be. I suggest you equip yourself with a few more tools. The most important one is honesty, by which I mean the willingness to know yourself, and call something what it is.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2012

The time has come to go beyond belief. In fact, I suggest that the moment you find yourself ‘believing’ something, that’s the time to question it. By this, I mean ask yourself a series of questions, check every fact, and persist in going deeper, over an extended period of time. You’re about to encounter a situation where this kind of mental rigor will be essential both to your happiness and your financial wellbeing. The setup is essentially that you’re headed for making a decision that seems good at the time, only to doubt yourself, only then to find out that you have regrets. You can avoid this whole thing by pausing and getting the facts now. I recognize that this kind of attentiveness can be off-putting to others. Having information is a form of power, and refusing to go blithely on belief, or simply to accept others at their word, can be off-putting. You might feel guilty for challenging others. The most important thing you can do, besides having some healthy skepticism, is to be polite. Persist in seeking specific facts and numbers, which will take a few more weeks (into early December or a bit longer). Meanwhile, if you’re moving forward about anything and you still have your doubts, slow down the move. Build in some delays, and hold your cards until your knowledge starts to reach a tipping point. That’s a moment of truth, and it’s better when this happens before you’re committed to something you can’t get out of easily.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2012

The time has arrived to carefully consider the role of religion in your life, in society, and in the place where the two meet — which is where you make your most personal choices within the context of society. Your charts tell the story of someone who goes from making their decisions more or less autonomously, to then suddenly making them in the context of numerous outside influences that vie for which of them will run your life. One of those seemingly outside forces is religion, as if you have some kind of stunning awakening, conversion experience or revival of belief. This could be productive, and who knows, it might be, though your charts describe a scenario of both getting high on power and also of restricting your emotional and erotic freedom in the name of purity. I suggest you start with the notion that there is no such thing; even under laboratory conditions, actual purity is rarely attainable. Within the psyche, there is so much churning around and such a mix of elements that denial would be a more suitable word. I suggest you save yourself a lot of conflict and remember that you’re human. As such, you have both sexual impulses and also the impulse to a relationship with the mysteries. We’re basically forced to convert ‘the mysteries’ to some notion of God or higher power, who invariably wants you to be a better person. It’s time to question whether any of this is really true.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2012

There are people who insist that the best sex happens after a huge fight with one’s partner, and this is one description of your charts right now. We could however apply it to many areas of your life, and many different kinds of partnerships. The way the astrology is describing it, your MO seems to be resist until you decide to submit. While this is helping maintain your reputation of someone who is not afraid to stand up to authority (in whatever form it may take), I don’t think it’s helping your peace of mind. If you’re looking for some dependable success and/or a stable situation in a relationship, it would help if you expressed yourself in a way that invites collaboration. I’m aware of the sensation of giving up one’s individuality to do that. However, I would propose that it’s the best way to find your identity. Your astrology is configured in such a way that you are extremely, boldly and assertively yourself, and then in equal measure (on a half-moment’s notice) you’re able to have your identity disappear into a relationship. You can consider your rebellious moments as attempts to define your identity within a partnership. This would be a lot simpler if you didn’t view this process as standing up to authority but rather an experience of meeting another person on level ground. The boring part of this is that it’s not as dramatic or brimming with pathos. The sensation is more like a conversation across a table, which can go anywhere you mutually decide.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2012

There’s this concept from psychology that everyone would benefit from knowing about: projection. Projection is when you see your qualities, issues or challenges in another person. It’s called ‘projection’ because it’s like having a light on your forehead that shines your material onto them, rather than being anything that comes inherently from them. This kind of transaction makes relationships difficult because when it’s happening, it verges on impossible for anyone to take responsibility for what is really their own, and thus open the way to have two people make their way through the world as conscious adults. This month, I suggest you listen to any accusation or claim you might make about another person and ask whether it has something to say about you. If you find yourself in any form of conflict, pause and do what’s called ‘withdraw your projections’. Start with taking full responsibility for being in the situation, and take ownership of your responses to it. Give others the opportunity to do the same thing, without pushing them in any way to do so; your example is enough. You’re likely to discover that this reveals the conflict for what it is, and puts everyone in a position where it can be resolved. The problem with identifying projection is that it can be psychologically uncomfortable and vulnerable. It can feel weird to observe what you’re doing, much less admit it. It’s easier to go on projecting, which only pushes the conflict deeper.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2012

You’re about to experience what you can think of as a progress-check on your journey to wellness. You’ve been through a long phase of reflection, many experiences of learning how to change your mind, and gradually devoting yourself to healing. Yet it seems like the real demonstration of your progress is going to come through your relationships in the coming weeks. Part of what you’ve been working through is how to handle anger and aggression. Along the way you may have noticed what a bit problem this is for so many people these days. Where stand today at the point of connecting theory to practice. You’ve studied the map, you’ve studied yourself; now as Mars moves out of Virgo and into your opposite sign Libra, you get to dive into the territory. This includes how you handle your own Mars-related emotions (desire, anger, aggression, fear) and how you handle those feelings in partners. You will need to notice carefully when you go into reaction mode, as opposed to response mode; it’s essential that you be able to distinguish whose feelings are whose; it will not always be easy. Most significantly, you become the guardian of fairness and balance, and this will necessarily involve situations wherein you’re the judge of your own case. On one level I could describe the aspect structure of the next month as an experiment in integrity, which is to say, both inner wholeness and the question of what your relationships reflect about your state of mind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2012

Within the context of the rare, beautiful astrological events of this month, your job is to devote yourself to the quality of your work. You may feel a drive to innovation, leadership, invention or otherwise stirring the pot — though what your chart suggests is that you work calmly and steadily on specific, focused projects. Said another way, ground yourself in your goals, processes and methods. Focus on the details. You will have the occasion to work through certain blockages or obstacles, which may seem to be in your environment. I recognize that I’m not describing a glorious role, despite the fact that all eyes will be on the Sun, an object closely related to your sign. Your influence will come from your awareness and your ability to remain calm and go deep. That is the kind of leadership that you’re being called to. It’s the kind that involves intelligence, persistence, tenacity and foresight. There is a measure of self-direction that you’re being called to initiate, and you may be the one who gets to solve a problem that is too annoying or seemingly intractable for anyone else to work out. You’re doing this all the better if you feel invisible through the experience. The point is that this is not about you. You have a role, and by all indications it’s an integral one. Yet you can only accomplish this properly if you drop back and work with the full presence of your mind with no interference from your ego.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2012

If you’ve been through a crisis recently, I suggest you look at where it enabled you to go, which is someplace you might not have gone without it. Mercury has been in your sign for a few weeks, stirring things up. Yet this has clearly been a project with a purpose. Recent events have conspired to bring you up to date with the times we’re living in. Even for an Aries, it’s too easy for the human brain to live in the past, and to get wound up in familiar patterns. Your mind is doing its best to burst free for you; it would be fantastic if you would consciously help with the process. If you feel that anything is blocking you, the chances are it’s a kind of mental block based on an attachment to something that is no longer valid in your life. Said another way, you may be turning an attachment (to someone or something) into an element of your identity, and confusing it with who you are. People do this all the time — but you have much better options. You have, over the past few weeks, seen some glimpses of the future. You may have wondered whether the best potentials were really possible — and I assure you that they are. You tend to become what you identify with, and if you want to become something new, I suggest you identify with that. You will distract yourself from the past, and crystallize what is real and valid in this moment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2012

You could look at the whole human drama as a struggle with awareness. We already have the solutions to most problems; many of the most persistent have been solved at least 100 times. What stands between an issue and finding the answer is awareness, and often that translates to self-awareness. You have the answers you need; what you don’t have, you can invent. You may not believe that, though to test the theory you merely need to slow down and be with your existence in a conscious way. Do this often, and with a touch of faith that might feel like ‘suspending disbelief’. While your astrology certainly is illustrating an exciting trip through the outer world, other factors are pulling you deeper into yourself. Don’t get too distracted by all the activity and drama — keep your focus on your soul, which I assure you will be easier than you think. You may even have a breakthrough, which could feel like accessing a deeper part of your consciousness that offers you better information about yourself than you’ve ever had. Yet this is about far more than you. Being invited into a contact point reminds you that in waking up, you’re not alone — many other people are reaching a similar place within themselves. You’ll recognize them more by the look in their eyes than by face; more by their tone of voice rather than the words they say.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2012

You’re still figuring out how to handle the sensation of constant change, though I assure you that retreating to the past is not the way to do it. Understanding the past will help, to the extent that’s possible, though the past is usually more a question of interpretation than of ‘truth’. That said, certain facts are coming to light, about choices you’ve made, things that you’ve said and that have been said to you, and on a deeper level, how you felt about these things that influenced the direction of your life. If you’re going to let this information inform your choices today, do so creatively. Making choices based on past regrets doesn’t work. It’s far better to acknowledge what’s happened and then choose based on an open concept of the future. You know what you want. It’s different from what you wanted in the past, and that seems to be the whole point of your life now and for the foreseeable future: a different life, where different things happen. The way forward may not be clear now or for the next six weeks or so as Mars finishes up its long retrograde in Virgo. But you can go far to resolve old hangups, get a grip on your health, let go of attachments, and focus on getting clear about your top three priorities. I suggest you let yourself feel just fine if all three involve your drive for professional success and financial wellbeing. It’s about time, isn’t it?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2012

Focus on your health. The potential problem I see is stress. However I also see an opportunity to cultivate habits and patterns of living that open the way to your vitality and longevity. Your best window of opportunity for this endeavor is from now through mid-April, when the influential planet Mars treks backward in Virgo. Let’s start with stress — which in this case seems to be a study in how you handle obstacles created by the need for attention to details. If you’re experiencing any kind of a setback, view it as an opportunity to solve a lot of seemingly minor issues that you want to work out anyway, only now you have an excuse. The whole theme of ‘rethinking’ is one that will help you relax into a truly creative space, which will be good for you. As for wellness opportunities — the story boils down to remembering that you exist in physical form, and physical activity is good for you, indeed essential to keeping your psychic energy in balance. You have so much voltage running through you at the moment that balance and clarity count for extra. I suggest you start by unraveling or undoing habits you don’t want — such as subtracting certain foods from your diet — and then gradually shift your momentum into what you consciously want to establish or create. This is a simple formula. As you liberate stuck energy and aggravating factors, more of your vital force becomes available for creative purposes.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2011

Many factors have been pushing you to change your mind. I don’t mean make a new decision about something, but rather understand your way of thinking and then revise key elements of your thought process. You do have a way of getting split down the middle; different points of view can have the same apparent value, when really that’s not true. Over the next few weeks, you’re likely to have experiences that point out this fact specifically: there was something you were missing, and you’re going to get a good look at what that was. This comes with a clue. An issue you were stuck over, which seemed to be on the level of your mind, turns out to be about an emotional hang-up. By that I mean an attachment to the past of some kind, which was obscuring your view of the present. Once you get your emotions out of the way and can assess the situation from a mental or analytical point of view, you will suddenly see a distinction much more clearly, and understand the ways your attachments to how things were was blocking your perception of how things are. In short, the time has arrived for you to participate in a larger world, on adult terms, rather than a small world following the rules of a child. Look around and notice how many of your peers still live by the rules of the schoolyard, a condition you can no longer abide.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2011

You might want to pause and ask yourself what you’re trying to prove. There is little you can accomplish by conquering anything or anyone, and plenty of damage you can do. While you seem to be past the emotional restrictions and frustrations that dominated your summer months, it would be unwise to overcompensate in the other direction. Therefore, I suggest you tamp down any competitive feelings and establish harmony with your environment. People around you will be eager to return the favor. If you push the limits in any situation, you’re likely to encounter a boundary of some kind; notice if that happens, and revise your approach. You might experiment with things like negotiation, using a more creative method (rather than confrontational) and understating rather than exaggerating.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2011

In every relationship where the parties are opposite sex and anywhere close to reproductive age, there will be reproductive politics involved. The relationship does not have to be an overtly sexual one; pheromones know no boundaries. By politics I mean there will be some negotiation or struggle for power that is based on biological instructions that tell us to reproduce, and how those are activated by the presence of people who might help us do that. Within relationships, part of the struggle involves the question of whether the ‘real’ purpose of sex is to make babies or to make love. I don’t mean to set up a dichotomy, or worse, a false dichotomy. The actual purpose is not necessarily one or the other — but the truth is that relatively few people explore their sexuality in order to have children. That happens without much exploration at all; in fact it usually happens unconsciously, leading to all kinds of adventures and misadventures. This is the time to take control of your creative power, in whatever form it takes. It’s the time to look for your wholeness not in relationships but within yourself. It’s been that time for a while, but as the next month or two develop, you may discover that you have no choice. Your relationships will remain important; they will provide the necessary reflection that your self-discovery and healing process are your business. Yet beyond a certain point, they can no longer be the main focus of your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2011

I suggest you become more curious about your sense of emotional injury. Usually we avoid investigating this kind of thing when we can. Yet recent events might have stirred you up a bit, and that’s an invitation to go deeper. This is especially true if you’ve had any of those ‘I’m feeling something deep but I really don’t know what it is’ moments the past three or four weeks. Your charts give a clue: the picture shows a relationship between your sense of pride, the sensation of being hurt, and a particular way you tend to get stuck. Somewhere in your distant past, you were told it was wrong to be self-centered, which you took as meaning ‘centered in yourself’. The result, of course, would have been to knock you off-center, as if that were somehow good for you or anyone else. Self-centered vs. centered in yourself has many equivalents. I suggest you also sort out arrogant from confident; narcissistic from self-loving; needing attention from craving meaningful passionate contact with others. Underneath these distinctions is a deeper value. The first concept in each pair is about alienation, and the second is relational. The first involves a sense of injury and the second is about healing. Yet they’re not really opposites; they are related like shadow and light, which depend on one another to exist. If you want the light, it’s necessary to embrace what’s going on in your shadows. Both, treated with awareness, are sources of nourishment and wisdom.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2011

We have yet to account for how individual emotional turmoil ripples into the world around us, affecting everyone and everything. One step in the evolution of humanity is each of us learning to handle our emotions. I have an old friend who believes that everyone — everyone — needs anger management training. The movement of Mars this month, through one of the most sensitive angles of your solar chart, suggests that you want to be a master of your emotions rather than a slave to them. In all sincerity, both are possible; the more probable of the two will depend on what you want. This is all about what you want, and by that I don’t mean a new surfboard — I mean your definition of happiness. Let’s start with your domestic life; what is your idea of a home that sustains you? What energy do you put out, and what do you take back in? What is it that makes you feel safe? Notice whether events that unfold this month are like or unlike what you want. Notice how you conduct yourself with others; notice what is motivating you as carefully as you can. While you’re observing, I will say this: there is little use for anger, except when expressed as a matter of fact, with the intention of awareness and healing. We all get angry. We have a lot to be angry about, and rage is driving most of the world’s biggest problems. Make sure you use the stuff constructively.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2011

How does it come to be that we get so over-identified with our relationships? How is it that we confuse them with who we are, and can even think we lack validity, existence or citizenship unless we are certifiably partnered? There are actually answers to those questions if we look at them sincerely. At the moment you seem to be in a situation where your inner development is exceeding the capacity of a relationship. This, in turn, may be conflicting with your tendency to identify with your situation. Now, the cosmic beauty of this is that you will get to define a boundary between you and your circumstances. Indeed, as you clarify this, you will see what you’ve been trying to do for a long time, much longer than you realize. I would remind you that our culture provides exceedingly few examples of what it means to be in a relationship as an individual. For many people, being in a relationship or a family environment is a hedge against that individuality — and I suggest you examine your family line for information about how this may be true in the people who raised you. Ultimately, your drive to grow and become far exceeds any circumstances or the limits that can be imposed by an agreement. If you are indeed growing faster than someone, or many people, around you, then this is something to admit directly, and promptly. At this stage of your life there is no time for faking it, and plenty of incentive to be real with yourself and others.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2011

You may notice that your life becomes rather quiet all of a sudden. By that, I mean your circumstances are settling, and so is your state of mind. What seemed so urgent just a few weeks or months ago is now more a matter of reflection, and this is the time to reflect. There is a life lesson here: life runs a little like the tides (though somewhat less predictably), with peaks of intensity that don’t necessarily require you to make big changes. The urgency appears to have involved your pressing need for independence in the context of a situation that was keeping you hemmed in. The urgency has passed; the specific situation has not. However, you may notice that it starts to seem less intractable as the month progresses. Despite these changes, the same basic question remains: does this circumstance support your long-term growth? You now have a more mature task at hand, which is to evaluate that question when you’re not feeling like you’re on fire and have to run outside. The question is just as important today as it ever was. It’s just as crucial that you make up your mind, and come to terms with your environment, whether it’s a personal relationship, a career situation or both. You have some big goals. You want to increase your presence in the world. And you want room around you to love the way that you love. Remember your goals, every single day.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2011

Be careful about being right. I don’t doubt — at least on one level — that you are correct in what you’re thinking, but I suggest you be cautious about any presumed entitlement or privilege flowing from that notion. Right is too close to self-righteous, and that won’t work in your favor. The equation, ‘I have this, therefore, I deserve more’, is especially toxic, though it takes subtle forms that you may not notice. Any such feeling is being driven by forces lurking beneath your awareness, which may include the fear of isolation, conflict within your values, or a phobia about not knowing who you are. You may find yourself obsessed with trying to figure yourself out, and to evaluate whether you’re acting in an ethical way. I suggest you measure your happiness using factors such as your sense of abundance, your generosity and your level of fear. This is the time to mix having with giving, rather than to mix having with withholding or demanding. Now, I recognize you may think these are good ideas, but perhaps you’re wondering where you’re going to find the flexibility to keep an open mind. That is an internal matter, something you really cannot negotiate with others. You are not at the mercy of your personality or your conditioning. You are only at the mercy of your awareness. With so much activity in your world, pausing to reflect deeply may not be something that occurs to you naturally; this is your reminder.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2011

Two questions for you: what do you really want to be doing, and what do you think is stopping you from doing it? This is a two-part question. The first involves your volition, your sense of potential and whether you feel like you can make a decision about it. The other involves what you perceive as an obstacle in your way. Let’s handle them one at a time. It looks like you know what you want, and you feel like you’re in a position to create it. Your willpower and sense of drive seem to be at an all-time high. You may even mistrust your own impulses, but you know what you want and it’s true that you’ve waited long enough. Yet you seem to have an idea that some external circumstance is holding you back. It looks like a relationship. Indeed it looks like the usual human paradox of having two different things, a relationship and a life. This comes with the idea that you may not be able to reconcile the two. Yet at a certain point you have to be yourself no matter what you think someone else’s expectations may be; that’s another way of saying you are free not to use that as an excuse. Anyone who loves you loves you as you are. On the deepest level this is not about a relationship at all; it’s about you having the self-respect to live honestly.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2011

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.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2011

Do you suddenly have the feeling that you’re living two lifetimes in one? This sensation may have come out of a psychic closet of sorts; it’s been in the background for a while. The sense of ‘two lives’ may involve a relationship experience on the one side, and your experience of your inner world on the other. It could involve two seemingly opposite sets of tendencies that you’re noticing in yourself, such as being bold in certain aspects of your life and cautious in other aspects. Or perhaps you’re operating with two different sets of goals, each of which seems to have its roots in different circumstances. Now, add to this the potential that you’re likely to be embarking on a search for yourself through some social or group enterprise. The setup has the feeling of, ‘if only I could find the right group or the right friends, I would know who I am’. I don’t suggest you take this route. Rather, I suggest you explore the seeming con tradiction within yourself. This may be challenging because so many of the factors seem to be external. The thing is, they’re really not; your situation is all about spontaneously discovering who you are in a truly new way. On the inner level, the action piece would include being bold and honest about who you are. On the outer level, it’s about actively being who you are regardless of what you imagine that any social group or relationship partner might think.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2010

How many commercials have we seen promising some version of ‘the new you’, whether it was for a workout gadget, hair color or a mental outlook offered in a self-help book? Despite our collective obsession with personal renewal, this seems to be something that rarely works. Part of why involves our attachment to the past, and the typically human fear of change. Yet these tumble when we have a vision that we want to create with passion.With Uranus entering your birth sign for the next seven years, your sense of self becomes something entirely flexible, and you may have the feeling that anything is possible. That is true: yet what, exactly, do you want to be possible? Over the past few seasons you’ve had a clue. It may have seemed like something too good to be true, or impossible because it was so amazing. That’s the thing to guide yourself with. Don’t worry about whether it seems possible, or concern yourself with plotting every step in the process. You grew from a zygote into a fetus into a child and then an adult understanding nothing about how that worked on the anatomical level. Thank goodness for DNA.The DNA of Uranus in your sign suggests not merely personal renewal but rather ongoing personal revolution. It may take a while to figure out what I mean, but it will become obvious. From the inside, this may feel like the desire to burst free even though you did precisely that yesterday; to drop every pretense you ever put up; to act boldly and immediately, instead of taking years to plan things that rarely happen. Something inside is seeking to set itself free. In short, this transit brings out your true nature, as if a veil is being lifted off of your psyche.Your inner awareness is being joined closer with your daily expression. You will be able to tap the rich potential even of what seemed like negative developments, or things that seemed inconsequential. Whatever may have happened during the past four seasons, trust that the world has made room for you, for the work you want to do, and the person you want to be in your deepest relationships. Patience may be the most challenging virtue you can muster in these seasons of your life. This is a new kind of patience — one based not on waiting, but in cultivating trust in yourself, practiced like yoga from day to day.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2010

The past year has offered a glimpse of what is possible. You’ve also seen how much can change how fast, and how little you will miss the past when it does. Mostly, though, I trust that you’ve noticed that life treats you better when you offer yourself as a direct participant rather than as a spectator. Now, there are two basic postures through which you can participate. One is defensive. The other is progressive. You’ve had a few tastes of both. Defensive is basically a mode of reacting to or pushing back against your environment, after it has moved and affected your life some way. Progressive is you get an idea about who you are, then commence an experiment or adventure seeing what it’s like to explore that idea. This is a creative way to live, in that you’re consciously self-creating who you are, then asserting that on your environment like an artist paints on canvas. I admit that few astrologers would say that any Aries lacks assertiveness. But I’m not talking about being headstrong, pushy or ambitious. I’m talking about making subtle refinements that efficiently remove any reactive postures you may have, including being ruled by the fear that you will disrupt the apple cart, disappoint others or change your world in a way that you cannot change back. I suggest you make friends with all of these possibilities, and boldly create existence from the inside out.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2010

Your interests and those of someone close to you seem to be skewed in two different directions. It may feel as if the values that you once shared and that bonded you are now diverging, and growing more distant by the day. It would help if you acknowledge this rather than ignore it or hope it will change. What is rarely taken into account is that despite being in a relationship — whether partners, business collaborators or friends — people have different cycles of growth. You’re experiencing one of those cycles now, and it may be creating a diversity of effects where people seem unavailable. What matters now is focusing on what you want. You’re still caught up in the emotional residue of what was or might have been; the particular cycle you’re at is moving forward, cutting yourself free from past emotional entanglements. As you do this, and as you persist and focus on what you want to create, you will figure out that you’re in totally new territory, with a much wider horizon of possibilities than you had just a few weeks ago. Let this lead you far and wide; give yourself the chance to open up to a new kind of optimism, in particular, one that does not depend on the presence or acknowledgement of anyone else. Yes, you’re likely to have lingering feelings or regrets. Remember: we all must live with one another’s decisions.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2010

There’s only so challenging a relationship should be; only so many times that the same thing happens before a conscious attempt is made by both parties to shift the pattern. Yet you could say that within the seemingly endless workload that we create in our relationships, consciousness is the number one item on the agenda. Add a little of that and you are likely to notice that most of your struggle is pointless; that is to say, it lacks a tangible agenda, goal or orientation. This is true particularly if the pattern is repetitive or if there seems to be some lesson that you’re not learning. The futility is veiled by everyone’s investment in the situation: it’s likely to be some combination of emotional, sexual and financial, though lodged in what seems like an intractable place. It looks like you’re the one who has the power to move on, and the desire to let go of the past. It also looks like, as usual, you’re the one who is impatient and who is less willing to wait for something to happen, and more willing to work for a result. Yet a partner or love interest has a need to investigate a past issue. You may be too biased or too close to the situation to help out, but that does not dismiss the relationship. It does emphasize the fact that a relationship is the meeting of two individuals, not two halves of a couple.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2010

The only reason developments will take you by surprise this month is because you’ve become distracted by less important things. In particular, I strongly suggest you not get involved in petty dramas and seeming problems in your workplace. These will only ensnare you in trivia. If you’ve already become involved, then snip and slip out of the web, cease giving your opinion and focus on working out old, persistent problems rather than anything that makes its appearance as something seemingly new and exciting. One thing it’s time to consider carefully is if the work you do every day matches your passion, your intelligence and your creativity. If it doesn’t, that could be the root cause of any turbulence in your life. Yet there are deeper regions that the current Mercury retrograde is guiding you to explore, and one of them is your family’s connection to religion. This may be the source of a “work ethic” that consistently guides you away from what you love to do, and what you’re the most talented at. One last factor is understanding the way in which your state of mind influences your relationships. This factor is not imaginary — how you feel, and the thoughts that you think, influence the people who are closest to you. Many of these ideas are, in turn, influenced by your relationship to the past, and that is what is coming to the surface now. Remember: love brings up everything unlike itself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2010

Your life has been in transition from one moment to the next, one day to the next, week after week. At times it’s been so much you haven’t been sure how to handle it, and you still may not be — this, despite the sense of excitement and potential. Let’s consider that potential and how it’s going to manifest. You go through spurts of bursting with energy, then encounter limits and frustration. At the same time you’re confronted by changes in your environment, your relationships, your workplace, and lately, considerable pressure from family or home-related matters. It’s difficult to see where the two processes fit in: that is, your experience of growth and emergence, and the tectonic changes in the world around you. The next six months or so will be an experiment in seeing the many connection points between who you are becoming and what the world is becoming. What you may have lacked recently — a commitment to flexibility — is what you’re being offered now. Think of that flexibility as your mind responding creatively to your experience. By creatively, I mean self-creatively. Though the changes in your world seem to be the result of powerful forces, there must be nothing forced about your response. When in doubt, retreat and assess your situation, and observe your options, and more to the point, your desires. What you want not only matters, it’s the only thing that does. You have tried every other option; give this one a go.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2010

Free will, and freedom in general, are among the greatest challenges that most people ever face. One common response is to panic at the notion of potential and the opportunity to choose. Another is to run away with power and see how much abuse one can foist on the world. But the most common response is to go to sleep and pretend that there is no freedom. As it works out, none of these are viable for you; rather, you’re finally in a position where you must take on both potential and the responsibility of freedom, as well as the power and the sense of danger that comes with it. These are all acting simultaneously on your chart, and therefore your psyche. You have the right to be nervous, but I would not call that a privilege, and I don’t suggest you indulge it any more than is necessary. Simmering down more aspects than I could write about in a good length article, we get one bold theme: you’re ready to step into an expanded vision of yourself. This means being fully present for your own life and showing up for your relationships in a new way. If there’s a sacrifice involved, it’s a kind of habitual insecurity that you ignite on the altar of progress. This comes in the form of one decision that is imminent now that affects both your most intimate private life and your most assertive professional life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2010

Do we ever really reinvent ourselves? Sometimes we do. Often we do not. As much as we strive to turn over new leaves, write new chapters, get a spiritual makeover, make a new effort at self-improvement, change our image, color our hair, strike off in a new direction, stop letting the family define our reality, we do very nearly everything in our power to resist real change. We have many tools for this, and most of them are relationships. Then one day it happens. Despite everything, we suddenly find ourselves rapidly becoming someone else, doing something different, living another life. It may be wildly different than anything we thought possible, or thought of at all. These are the changes that emerge from the inside and then somehow take us to other places on the planet, or make us thirst for new knowledge, or crave freedom from everything we knew in the past. And that is the moment you are in. You’ve had plenty of time to consider your potential, and by now you know what you want: to be at peace, all you need to do is admit your truth to yourself, and then let go into the flow. There will be time later to reflect on what you’ve done, to revise your ideas and to try a new approach: but this first go is the most meaningful one. It’s the moment when you say yes to yourself: a moment of faith and adventure.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2010

In many ways you live an existence driven by idealism and fantasy, but this fact is often veiled from your awareness. You’re more likely to consider yourself a pragmatist or someone bent on achievement, and lately you’ve been true to form, bringing new determination to the idea of meaningful success. With Chiron transiting into Pisces, your focus shifts to seeking understanding on the deepest levels of your psychology: your hidden life and your spiritual dimension. Chiron in Pisces is an awakening point to delve into what you may think of as the ‘other side of your personality’ but which is really a deep inner well that is as much part of you as the aspects of yourself that you encounter in normal consciousness. You may have noticed that in recent years, despite your focus on your adult priorities, your imagination has become more like that of a child. Images mean as much as words. The harder you work the more you need to escape. Yet it’s often been difficult to concentrate the energy in a productive way. You’ve become more curious about the nature of your soul, yet it’s often challenging to find a practical home for this quest in the world. Chiron in Pisces is an opportunity to open up dependable access to those dimensions of yourself. If you feel slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of this, or if your early experiences make you stop and question your reality, you’re on the right track.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2010

You’re getting a lot of bold messages to be yourself, but you also seem to have way too many choices for who that self is. Beyond all the seemingly tangible possibilities is a chaotic realm where you simply don’t have the answer. Every time you seem to get a clue, something changes. We’re accustomed to plastering those unknowns over with labels and other assumptions, rather than leaving the question open. While a mystery like this can be uncomfortable to live with, I suggest you stay in a state of uncertainty for as long as you possibly can. Consider it a kind of meditation. Embrace the chaos of who you are, who you are not and who you might be. This is designed to help you have greater access to your potential rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. At the moment far more is possible than you’re likely to be aware of. As the next two months progress, you’re going to get a taste of what this potential is; yet in order to have this potential be real you need to keep your mind open and make sure you’re ready to change, adapt and go on a new adventure at all times. Stay loose. Notice the game of pretend that we’re all taught to play the moment we’re confronted with an unknown. Unknowns are your best friend right now and I suggest you keep them near and dear to your heart.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2010

What you need to conclude the matter is to begin. That is often the way of endings, and that’s how it is now: to resolve or free yourself from the past, reach for the beginning and commence. You are likely to experience one or two significant moments of insecurity as you do, which I would classify as a false lack of confidence. One may involve money, that is, the idea that you don’t have enough of it or you can’t handle yourself. That is part of the risk. In business, there tend to be two kinds of ventures: someone’s father-in-law buys them the whole thing; or someone starts with a roll of postage stamps, a used computer and an idea. You are better suited for the second kind, the one that takes more nerve and leaves you with your independence. I’m not sure you’re the guardian angel type, but if you are, you can trust those critters — you seem to have two of them watching over you. I know you’re wondering whether you’re really fated to survive or succeed; I suggest you put all of your energy into trust and as little as possible into worrying. The people around you are committed, and everyone is ready for change, if you will stand up and lead the way. Progress is focused around the 10th, when Mars stations direct, and the 20th, when the Sun enters your sign.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2009

Every person who dares to step out of their conditioning or routine and do something original goes through a crisis of whether their ideas or work will be accepted by others. The prevailing reason why people don’t express themselves involves the expectation of a negative reaction; of judgment; of some kind of consequences. Yet anyone who is interested in breaking free of this needs to take the journey inward and figure out what inner obstructions are breathing life into those fears. It’s convenient that this inner journey is some of the best fodder for the creative process, which is really about an inner journey. Most of the meaningful art and literature you find is more like a postcard from a deep inner space rather than being a “creative product” of any kind. Mars turning retrograde in the most creative and dynamic angle of your solar chart is saying that it’s time to plunge deep into these personal fires. The key is not what you create — it is what you learn about yourself, and in the process, document or illustrate. There is something hidden you are looking for: something about which you may have no clue. Think of it as ‘hidden karma’ or think of it as the pearl of great price. Remember, a journey is involved: a journey that will last for months, and whose destination is not clear.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2009

Beware of toil. Most things you think need to be done actually don’t need to be done; and when the time comes they should be a little easier than you think rather than more difficult. However if you dive into work unconsciously, without a plan and without a clear goal, you may find yourself lost in a maze of unrewarded effort. The key will be to let your mind do as much of the work as possible. Take five times longer thinking about what you need to do and why. Work out the issue until you have a breakthrough. I know, this is a tall order for an Aries, but you’re not just impetuous. You like things to be easy.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2009

In our society we don’t generally see the ambivalence we have around the concept of ‘friend’. We accept that friends might betray us, hold us down, con us out of our values and enforce the laws and expectations of our parents. The past year of your life has had, as a dominant theme, redefining the concept of friendship. Events this month invite you to look directly at the shadow side of that concept, and give it a name. Look at the ways that codes of conduct are enforced; expectations are placed on people; and the harsh punishment for daring to exceed the limits that others place on themselves and try to enforce on everyone else. The thing you may fear the most, being an outcast, is at the moment your most potent ally. Before we can actually accept ourselves and be accepted, we have to confront this one. Think of the alternative: you spend your life, in ways direct, subtle or both, avoiding any possible situation where you might potentially face rejection. And rejection for what? For being who you are. The result of this would be a life of pretending to be someone else. It worked for a while, but it’s not going to work any more.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2009

You may not be able to get your emotional needs met right away, but you’re in an unusual position to find out what they are. I suggest you put some energy into considering your feelings carefully, though the real grounding comes first from being explicit with yourself about what is important to you. The next step in the process is understanding how it came to be that you have so many injuries associated with the things you hold to be the most valuable and precious. You know your needs are simple enough. But there seem to be so many social pressures that pull you in other directions or set limits on your happiness that it’s necessary to look at the connections to the larger world around you. For example, do your relationship ideas really come from you? Do others support you in your desires, or do they enforce society’s expectations? Are you willing to push people whose friendship you depend on, or do you generally take a more passive approach and keep quiet about the most sensitive subject matter in your life? Many factors point to how the time to have a new policy has finally arrived, particularly if you want to make your way toward healing the inner divisions that stand between you and your happiness.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2009

At a certain point we all learn to stop judging ourselves. It could be sooner; it could be later; but in terms of saving time, emotional energy and conserving opportunities that only come once, the sooner the better. One thing you might have to get over is the notion that the kind of self-critique you’re accustomed to makes you a better person. I don’t think it does. I would say that the only possibility we have of being better people is awareness, and the gradual, repeated choice to surround ourselves with aware people. In the trapeze act of life, we need to work together and the main thing we need support in is consciousness. What you seem destined to learn over the next few weeks is that having a fixed concept of who you are, or who you’re supposed to be, is the basis of your overly critical opinion of yourself. Judgment requires criteria, and when those are unconscious, unreasonable or unrealistic, then the assessment is more of a mental or emotional trip than it is a growth process. You’re working toward an extraordinarily rare moment of being able to let go of the self-concept that is at the heart of this crisis. With it, you may find yourself letting go of certain ideas of why exactly you deserve so much attention. You do, but it’s for reasons other than you think.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2009

If you want to feel safe and secure on the planet, go to bat for your friends. I wish I could write that 12 times, but it applies to Aries first, and since your sign is at the top of the page maybe everyone will read it. Take care of your community. Step up to the challenge; act on what you say you believe, on behalf of those you say you love. Your intuition is impeccable right now, so you will know what to do. Just remember it’s always easier, safer and more sensible to work on behalf of those who work for themselves. Those who do not have another problem.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2009

Looked at one way, sex is about oneself, often to the point of obsession. We typically make a big show of it being about the other. Yet deep down we know that the attention, affection and energy of the other is usually craved or worked for so that we may reaffirm our sense of who we are. Realize that people do indeed have karma with one another, and this plays out in relationships; but that’s a big part of the problem. The unconscious drive for affirmation, plus the unconscious tendency to hook up with people we have karma with, calls for a phase of sorting out. This will happen sooner rather than later with Venus retrograde in your sign between March 6 and April 17.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2009

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, which is why you are always the designated driver of motivation: one expected to put the key into the cosmic ignition and start the engine of the universe. I would propose, though, that you shift your orientation from speed to quality — and that you do this partly in response to the feeling that you’re being observed and scrutinized. You are indeed more visible than ever, which is saying a lot. You are choosing to take a leadership role, which is getting the attention of others in leadership roles, whether it’s helpful attention or not. And while it’s clear that you’re trying to make a name for yourself, this needs to be filed under “don’t worry about it.” I suggest that in support of all your goals and honoring the fact that every move you make counts for extra right how, you be your own most thorough critic and most subdued publicist. Do nothing for the sake of appearances and downplay what you do for other reasons. Rather, ensure that your actions are worth the effort and the expense that is going into them. Work out petty rivalries with a compromising attitude. Remember that your greatest resource is the people around you, which is a reminder to share both responsibility and credit for what you take on. If you’re looking honestly, those nearby will deserve both.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2008

Ambition, focused and urgent, seems to be the most significant theme of your charts, but you know better. Your calling to succeed is so potent as to be humbling; as to make you wonder whether you can do it at all, and you need to burn that doubt like fuel. This is a special phase of your life, wherein you will orbit closer to your outer destiny than perhaps ever before, and even make direct contact. What you accomplish in the highly eventful early part of the year may indeed open the way for what you create during an extended phase of your life. This being said, try not to judge your achievements or lack thereof; your impulses are likely to be far greater than your ability to actually do all that you want to do; and I strongly suggest that you keep in mind just how long of a process we are talking about with Pluto in Capricorn. My Godmother, an unusually patient specimen of an Aries (born 04/04/1904), was fond of saying that Rome was not built in a day; you might want to use a photo of the Coliseum as your desktop image to remind you of this. I also suggest you remember that, though your push energy is running strong, you are being drawn to something as well. That something involves your human environment, a factor that is rapidly developing though the shape of which you may not yet see. The beauty of this process is that you are, gradually but very steadily, finding out who you are through an ever-clearer reflection developing in those around you. They can see something you cannot; and as you begin to open your eyes, you will become what you have been missing.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2008

After such an odd spell of relationship confusion, you can now return to pursuing your most meaningful goals. You’re about to feel the power of Pluto’s recent arrival in Capricorn, which is likely to arrive with the sense that you’re invincible. Little can stop you — if you remember your ethics, maintain focus on your feelings and never forget this is a world based on people and not on power.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2008

For some people, social acceptance is so important they will do anything to keep it once they have it. Don’t be one of them. The story of the recent years of your life has been the struggle — if I may use such a strong word — to maintain your individuality while also finding a place for yourself anywhere outside your front door. Whether it’s among your friends, or some group you want to mix yourself into, or a professional situation where you are seeking acceptance, don’t sell out. True enough, as Dylan said, if you try to be anyone but yourself, you will fail. But I’m talking about something else: significant success that will be the reward of focusing on your individuality and integrity.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2008

Leadership, when attained, often arrives with what seems like a test. It may be designed by the cosmos as such; it may be that there is an ‘equal and opposite reaction’ taking place somewhere, and this is the result. What seems like a crisis (from a dense level of perception) is also accessible as a reorganization and opportunity (from a more expanded perspective). Change brings change. This comes in many forms, and it now appears to be arriving in particularly large measures. To me, the astrology suggests that whatever may be developing, you not lose sight of your objectives, your intentions and what are commonly called goals: the big ones; the dearly held ones. Look at any situation and ask how you can use it as an opening. It is true that you are encountering forces beyond your control and are suddenly playing in another league. It’s true that the practical matters you are encountering have little to do with the visions you were holding out for yourself so recently, and for so long. This is a crucial point as anything comes to fruition; once you get to the place where practical concerns dominate, keep sight of your vision, your meaning, your truth — no matter what anyone else says or does.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2008

You may not understand the energy source behind so much change in your life, though you need to stay fully awake in order to count it as progress. You run the risk of becoming overly invested in a relationship situation that could distract you from far more meaningful endeavors. If that relationship involves business, it’s vital that you take the advice of others under consideration without letting it dictate your choices. This is easier said than done.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2008

Life always seems to present a paradox between the possibilities of the imagination and the limits presented by material reality. Have you ever considered that the opposite is true? Looked at another way, our imaginations are rather desperately lacking in energy, and the material world presents them with nothing but opportunities. Not everyone views life this way. You need to decide what is true for you. In fact, I suggest you start by deciding which you want to be true for you. Your imagination is on fire, and there are factors developing in your chart, long in the making, which suggest that physical reality is more like clay you can work with and less like a wall you are facing.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2008

Achievement has not come easily for you in recent years, though having extremely idealistic goals certainly has. The polarity between the two states of being has at times been painful to stretch yourself across. You have surely made an effort, and you have been patient; this has taught you something crucial, which is temperance. You have wracked your spirit on many debates over the ethics of your choices, and have often tried to live as if you were spiritual rather than simply real. Deep in there you have questioned whether you are a good enough person to deserve success. Has it occurred to you that so much that you’ve been trying to work out was not your own personal material but rather the legacy of the parent who tried to cast their shadow over you? That shadow seemed like light; it was veiled in terms like ‘growth’ and ‘mystical’ and even ‘cosmic’, or maybe it just seemed like normal circumstance. It may have simply been someone’s religious trip that was endured by someone in a time before you lived; God knows there are plenty of them in our DNA. The message of Pluto’s entry into Capricorn is that it’s time for you to define accomplishment on your own terms. You set your own objectives and you determine the extent to which you need to go to make something happen in the world. Yet the more compelling point is this. Success is not doing what is expected of you. Often it is about specifically giving up those expectations, and taking up the responsibility and the privilege of independence.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2008

You don’t know who you are — and I suggest you not take any false comfort from the idea that you do. Authentic inquiry into your inner erotic reality may be unsettling, and you may need to ask questions that you don’t know the answers to. I can’t guarantee you’ll even like the answers when you figure out what they are, but I can promise you that your inner truth is easier to live with than some fake presentation you give to the world. You don’t need to justify your fears; you merely need to ask whether they are an appropriate response to the world you live in, or whether they provide you an excuse for inaction or refusing to choose an experience that you want deeply.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2008

You need to understand where another person is coming from, and to do that, you’re going to need to invest energy in listening. It’s unfortunate that many people, including someone close to you, struggle with being able to make a direct statement about their intentions. You can compensate by listening with unusual patience and focus, and by looking at how someone’s actions comment on the words that they say, and vice versa

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2008

You may want to give a domestic partner, lover or romantic interest time to sort out their seeming confusion. Most people are not as impetuous as you are, and for someone you care about, this is a time when they can experiment with not being so stuck inside. In particular, they need you to recognize that they have the freedom to change their mind. What you need to remember is that you also have the freedom to change your mind, and in fact, this may be the perfect time to do so. You know you have options. You are being offered something good by someone whose affections you would love to share. I suggest you ask yourself what you would do in a perfect world — that is, one without guilt.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2008

Do you have the feeling lately that you’re trying to put the pieces of a vastly complex puzzle together, and that puzzle is you? Are you struggling with linear time, or with keeping the plotline of your life together? I had this vision of you buying a 2009 date planner but getting a copy where the pages are all in the wrong order. Meanwhile, I’m wondering what it must be like for you to communicate with the people who are the most important to you. It’s probably not so easy at the moment, and I am sure you don’t think it’s getting any easier. Some kind of blowout or emotional injury (perhaps a double blow) that occurred late last month may still be lingering and you may even fear that it’s knocked an important relationship off the rails. I suggest you take it slow, and if vaguely possible, live with the uncertainty. Try not to push matters, but rather, work with your environment. To put it simply, Mercury is retrograde in your opposite sign, Libra, and this may be scrambling all the signals that you’re trying to get straight. Under these aspects, your time and energy right now are better spent listening and gathering information. What you need to remember is your commitment to yourself and to life, and your mutual commitment with those you love. The tides will rise and fall. These remain the solid ground on which you stand.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2008

Quite the tale of intrigue is showing up on the September radar, events that seem strange, beautiful and in some way fated. One theme is that for most people, love is based on need, and clearly you’re feeling that. Another is that what appears to be love may be one of several emotions that is not specifically love, but which you have the ability to take to another level. Last is that sex is going to guide you into yourself, into self-awareness of everything you need to feel, express and embrace about yourself. I imagine you’ve got your ear on someone who seems to speak deeply to who you are. Let that message go in and allow your emotions to soak into you until the full spectrum of their contradiction is revealed. You crave sex and you crave unabashed surrender. I assure you that what you truly crave is self-knowledge. Fortunately the way there is illuminated by heat.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2008

The time has come to set limits, and you also know that you need to exceed your prior limits. The question is what aspect of life to assign to which category? I think you need to exceed a certain value you’ve placed on playing it safe. This has grown really tired, particularly when there is so much adventure on the horizon. The place you might want to set a limit on is what developments you want to project into the future. I suggest you keep your eyes on the next few weeks rather than the next few months or years. Indeed, it would be better still to focus on right now, particularly where love is concerned. It’s an interesting moment, if you keep it light.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2008

You should be having no trouble keeping busy these days, but the question is, with what? Your charts suggest that you’re popular at work and in love. Well, popular may be stretching things, but there’s plenty of action, and you can either have dates or your existing date is actually available. Business, however, has that slightly-too-much feeling, and it seems like your inbox is heaping itself full. If I had to guess, this is eating most of your free time. Here we have one of the central dilemmas of existence: the supposed competition of love and work. Your heart says that it’s more important that you have fun, and I would second the motion. There is an escape hatch on the business front, and in a word, it’s efficiency. Do things right so you only have to do them twice. You would also benefit from jumping to a higher level than the one you’re on; you seem to get caught in a mental bog frequently, consisting mainly of your sense of responsibility rather than the work itself. If you prioritize love — not socializing, but actual intimacy — your life is much likelier to come into balance. And there will come a natural limit to the frenetic pace of professional effort that takes effect later in the month when Mercury stations retrograde.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2008

How idealistic are your ideals? You are about to find out. You may discover that you’ve merely been dreaming all along; or you may decide you possess a vision that you simply must bring into the world even if it’s the last thing you do. In a sense if you act on your dream, it will, rather, be the first thing you do. You’re unlikely to do it alone: this is an idea that resonates with many people, though they may not be the ones you know today.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2008

We live in a time when you’re not supposed to take chances, but I’m here to tell you that sex is risky no matter what. Feelings are involved, and not everyone tells the truth about that. Where bodies touch, health is involved, and we have some integrity issues here as well. Condoms break and pregnancy happens and we get into relationships we don’t always understand so well. The only thing that can make a difference is how aware we are of the risk that we’re taking. You could say that sex is one big adventure in consciousness. A total eclipse in the most dynamic house in your chart is calling you to be daring, creative and most of all alert to all the possibilities you create when you embark on an erotic adventure of any kind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2008

A solar eclipse in Leo early in the month will ease the way toward freeing you from the sense of responsibility, pressure or lack of flexibility that has characterized much of your year so far. If you feel you’re being pushed past your comfort zone, that’s exactly where you want to be; that zone is too small, too predictable and based mostly on how you anticipate your fears in advance. The theme that develops as the month progresses specifically involves social fears that translate to the closest thing to shyness that an Aries is capable of: a sense of not knowing who you are, or not understanding how others perceive you. A sequence of events that seems beyond your control will go a long way toward helping you build your confidence.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2008

What we humans don’t quite get yet (as a group; some individuals get it) is that the way into the other is through the self. If this same quality seems to trap us, it’s only because we’re not going deep enough. All you have is yourself, that is, as your perceptual tool and experiential vehicle to journey through your life; through consciousness. You are being summoned to surrender to this truth. The paradox is that if you let go fully into yourself as the vessel through which you experience existence, you must acknowledge that at some point, sooner or later, this vessel will cease to be. And from one particularly potent angle, the experience of surrender to creativity, to love, or to erotic pleasure implies its opposite, which from our point of view in ego consciousness is “nonexistence.” What all these things have in common is surrender. Right below the surface of whatever you are doing is an invitation to yield to it fully. This means letting go of the blocks you hold to full self-awareness; and this, in turn, will put you in contact with the world and the people in it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2008

If you don’t feel safe now, when will you? So get with it. One’s sense of security is better measured not by the quality of locks on the front door, but rather by the sense of beauty within one’s heart and home. True safety is not about defense or offense, it is rather about the awareness that the love you carry and express is what protects you. It is a condition that you cultivate. In the process, there is the question of what to do with one’s fears and insecurities. There is no easy answer to this, except for one caution: the thing that you don’t do is stuff them down or ignore them. Keep a dialog with your fear, and your confidence will take root.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2008

I suggest you direct your energy and aggression toward feathering your nest. Such is not the pinnacle of human civilization, but in a sense it is the foundation of it. For the next couple of weeks, you may feel like you’re banging your head against a wall where work-related projects are concerned; you may be up against all of your limits; and there may be someone driving you to the edge of your patience, and you may have got the idea from somewhere that it’s your job to fix them. In the alternate, you may decide it’s your job to fix yourself. Growth, however, consists of more than mental or mechanical tinkering, and in a fairly short time you’re likely to have decided that so much you thought was wrong is simply well enough. Perfection for you is now a matter of easing back rather than driving forward. You clearly want a sense of belonging, of safety, of an environment that can support you; but the way to be there is to receive and accept, rather than to conquer and be aggressive. This is a fancy way of saying despite the many pressures you are under, take it easy.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2008

I suggest you make a long list of improvements you need to make to your home, pick the top three, and start them now. If you do, you’ll very likely gather momentum and keep this project going in the long run. Aries come in all shapes and sizes; some are obsessed with having an exquisitely comfortable living space, and some are so busy that it seems like an impossible dream. If it is a dream, it’s currently eminently possible. Sooner than you think, you will have the resources you need, but remember, this is more about values and making choices than it is about something requiring a lot of cash.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2008

Home is indeed where your heart is. Or home is where you feel safe and loved, which is another way to say the same thing. It seems you are being called home, and at the same time, you are involved in a domestic situation that is necessitating you make a compromise of some kind. The compromise that’s appropriate at this point is balance; it will soon become obvious that your impressive drive for aspiration in the world means very little without a hearth that is burning. True, on one meaningful level, you carry around both the sense of home being inside you and of home being everywhere, or at least you would love to possess these qualities. Yet there must be an actual home somewhere, where you can go inside, lock the door and be received as who you are. You have nearly everything going for you now: creative passion, highly unusual opportunities, and quite possibly the attention of a loved one. A container will help nourish and focus this unusual state of being, and it will help you rest your mind when you get a little world-weary. You may not know quite where it is, indeed, this question may never have seemed more a greater mystery — but this is unlikely to last much longer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2008

If you are experiencing your potential more like a violent tug than a gentle ascent to grandeur, look for where you’re resisting internally. Around you there is nothing but opportunity. No glass ceiling separates you from the sky; no walls or locked door divides you from the terrain of existence that is spreading out around you. Yet what is developing internally is calling you to match any possibility you might hope for in the world with an inner revolution. One will make way for the other. For the most part, people are willing to live unconsciously, or they insist on doing so because awareness is too painful, or too much of a hassle. The most profound ignorance does not involve worldly knowledge, but rather is that which veils who we are from ourselves. This is what you are being called upon to let go of, and admittedly this takes some guts. You may feel like you have to release some aspect of denial all at once, and if that happens you may fear you’re going to be left in totally unfamiliar territory, with no sense of orientation. Even if this were possible, you would be a lot better off experiencing that than attempting to sort out your life one grain of rice at a time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2008

You must embody the principle of strategy. That means you need to think clearly, and work with a plan; and with any good plan, it needs to be reviewed on a continuous basis. This kind of clarity may be difficult when you actually seem to be embodying the principle of emotional impulse. Though you may have been struggling with this for weeks, you’re finally in a composed enough state where your mind can take over the process of guiding your life. What is most likely to distract your attention are concerns over your security, which you may translate into safety. Remember, this is about the feeling — not the real thing, but the feeling means a lot.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2008

Most people take the necessity of communication for granted. Perhaps this is because so few people are actually willing to listen. More likely, it’s because when we reveal our plans, ideas or needs, we stand a pretty good chance of getting shot down or plagiarized. You have reached a point where you must put communication first. The thing is, you’re likely to need to communicate something new, something you have not heard yourself say before, and which you feel may be threatening to others. I suggest you practice for a while, until you take off any aggressive edge. It is possible to relate exactly what you need to and still do so in an endearing way. Revealing your vulnerability in speaking your truth helps a lot. The truth is daring enough; you don’t need to impress anyone with how gutsy you are, or how dedicated you are to conquering any prior system of ideas or beliefs. I suggest you use the identical method whether you’re relating to those you consider your peers, or those who you consider to be in positions of authority. They may not be the same, but you are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2008

You have it in you to take a refined, well-planned approach, both to your life as a whole and in particular to a professional question whose time has come. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that the step you need to take involves some kind of worldly recognition, however. Nobody can give you anything you don’t already have. The situation or perhaps imminent crisis involves taking the more meaningful step of becoming someone you’ve been reaching for inside yourself for a long time. The progress you make this month depends on the confidence you allow yourself to feel. Nothing is stopping you, but only you have the power to take the first and most important step.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2008

You finally seem to be working with a concrete plan, but what you may not have planned for is how to put your plan into action. However, you don’t need to choreograph that, you just need to be patient for long enough for the circumstances of your life to align in a way where the beginning will be obvious. ‘Long’ in this case is a matter of weeks before you get the clue that you simply cannot delay, dream or divert yourself any longer. Late winter is always a slightly odd time of year for you; you seem to live in two worlds. There’s the real one, where none of the subtler possibilities seem to even exist; and then a profound imaginary one, where everything you want or need the most is tantalizingly real, but nearly impossible to manifest. Actually, how we handle this kind of seeming split is one of the most enduring themes in the history of mankind. To stretch yourself across the chasm between imagination and reality is creative work on the highest order of reality. Creative — as in actively embracing your divine nature.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2008

Save your money and you’ll have enough to get the things that you really want, or better yet, really need. You usually want everything now, or rather, you’re used to getting it. But practicality is in the air, and everything must be judged by its merits, not its color. The kitchen comes to mind: start with the plumbing and work your way out. Your home office comes to mind: clear the space and refine it until it’s functional enough to give you the feeling that you’re actually economically secure because you can take care of yourself. I also see soundproofing in your future. You need silence, doors that lock and things that work. I know you want a fast car. Stick to the fast computer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2008

You seem to be stretching yourself across the polarities of a contradiction of some kind, and I don’t think it’s particularly comfortable for you. You’re the kind of person who likes to go straight ahead, and for the past few months you’ve had to run through a kind of labyrinth, though running every direction but forward. Within a few days, you should at least be putting one foot in front of the other, but that won’t mean much if you come to the edge of a cliff. That particular paradox is going to resolve itself in what now seems like an unexpected or unpredictable way. If that’s true, you may ask yourself: why worry now? Well, it would help a lot if you use your imagination to stretch across that chasm. This is the awesome human faculty most often used negatively, that is, in a self-defeating way (as fear of that which is non-existent). And you seem to have plenty of that going on. The closer you come to washing away your delusions and getting to what is real, the more gently and easily this situation will let go of its grip on your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2007

RECENTLY, IT SEEMS you had the truth handed to you. What did you do with it? Do you still have it? While many on this planet complain that the truth is not knowable, or is a kind of fictional philosophical concept and not a provable reality, the problem involves how we respond once we encounter it. This peculiar function of the mind, known as denial, makes sure that we are usually out of contact with our most vital knowledge. You can afford no such luxury at this point. The reason for this is that you are gathering too much power to cut yourself off from your personal truth, or any other truth. Much of the past decade has taken you on a prolonged journey where you have seen many strange things, encountered a world bigger than you ever imagined, and endured several difficult tests of your mettle. You have wrestled with your conscience (and, likely, that of someone else). At times, you have prevailed in these tests of integrity and at other times, events have seemed to crush your preconceived ideas. You are now in a well-deserved phase of reconsidering what you have been through, and the decisions you make through the winter will be absolutely essential in determining your life path for an entire long phase of your life. So tell me, now that you know this, can you afford to play any games with what you know? I don’t think so, particularly not since all the forces of the universe are conspiring to focus your power. The whole problem with power in this world is that it does not care much for the difference between right and wrong. Most people in a position to conduct themselves this way — and to some extent, that includes anyone privileged enough to be reading this horoscope — have granted themselves an exemption from karma. You have no such luxury now, and neither do you want it. You have responsibilities that are much more worthwhile.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2007

You will need to take extra care to get along with housemates and family members through this winter. It would be prudent to not make any new commitments to living partners; this is simply not the time. As for the ones you currently have, your domestic relationships will only be as good as your conflict resolution abilities. Commit yourself to reducing unnecessary drama. Take the lead and ask people what they are feeling. The sooner you defuse tensions, the less power they will hold over you. The ones that go unspoken, and are not raised to awareness, promise to be the ones that do the most damage.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2007

Usually we humans don’t look back. At least here in the Western world, particularly in the United States, we have a disdain of history and we disregard the past. As an Aries, you are born under one of the most forward-thinking signs, but the long Mars retrograde that began in your sign last month is taking you on a deep review of the past: how you felt in the past, what influenced you, and most of all, what has contributed to your sense of unease or vulnerability. You may feel like you don’t want to go some of the places that Mars is taking you. You may be inclined to think that the past is over and therefore you don’t want any part of it. But how we feel about the past is what limits us in the present. Take these opportunities to resolve what has been left unresolved for so long. Be mindful of the depth of your feelings, including your frustration and most of all, your desire to express yourself. What is the emotional knot that holds you back? Now is the time to untangle it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2007

Focus on nutrition. Start with food; then start with the influence that food has on your relationships. Take the lead. Slow down and see how you feel after you eat different things and how you feel when you eat with different people. Then move onto discovering your emotional nourishment needs. You are well situated to feel what you need in a clear way; to feel your emotions; to feel difficult or unpleasant feelings and not be intimidated by them. Mars retrograde says you are in a moment of reclaiming your home. Start with your kitchen.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2007

You seem to be struggling pleasantly enough with your quest to reconcile your private insecurities with those surrounding your role in the community. At first they may seem to have nothing in common, like a knife and a sharpening stone. But when you put the two together, you will see that they not only fit precisely, but each allows the other to be what it is. This is to say, your most private needs, desires and fears are intimately linked with your quest to be an individual in the world around you at the same time you honor that you are part of that world. It is true, you may feel you’re a long way from agreeing to the compromise you think you need to make. I suggest, though, that rather than striving for compromise, you work to explore the maximum tension between your inner and outer worlds; that is, go deeper into both. There is a factor developing that you have not considered, which will take you far beyond the limiting concepts that currently define your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2007

You have no need to defend your feelings; they are your feelings. Take the same approach to your physical space; it is yours, and subject to your influence and to some extent your control. Remember that our first notion of a “house” is not our own house, but rather the one we showed up in, which was controlled by our parents and other older relatives. Beware that any power struggles that emerge among those you may currently share your space with could be repeats of earlier tales; it is your job to make them turn out differently. This is another way of saying your role is to hold everyone to the standards of an adult, never forgetting we are all little kids deep inside.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2007

If it seems a never-ending quest to keep the peace at home and at work, remember what the two have in common. The bonds that tie people together are remarkably similar no matter what the setting, though we allow some to become more intimate than others (or deem them so). Depth or passion does not change the basic necessities of communicating our expectations, of stating grievances out loud, and most meaningful of all, asking for assistance when the burdens of life become too heavy to carry alone. You need to guard against what is in truth baseless insecurity about yourself; you may at times swing through extreme moods and decide one day that you’re king of the mountain and another day notice you’re struggling for any sense of worth. If you are defensive and protective, you will likely feel less safe. If you seek cooperation, balance and honesty, you will find that these things come to you with surprising ease and grace — even if at certain times during the next few months you display no such qualities.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2007

You have one idea about how to proceed on a health-related issue, which may take a while. However, you may be handed information this month that reveals a more direct route to the solution. Notably, it may seem like bad news at first, but will turn out to be helpful. Of all the places you’ve lived in your life, you have inhabited your body through all of them, and it is your true home. This relates to the Earth herself, which is part of your body and vice versa. The best solution to any issue, question or situation you face will be found out of doors.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2007

There is just one way to avoid dramas at work, and that is to focus on work. There is one way to avoid health dramas, which is to focus on your health. In both aspects of your life, you are facing a significant threshold, yet the easiest and most productive thing to shift is your point of view — that is, your attitude or position with respect to these fundamental aspects of existence. For the moment, where other people are concerned, that position might best be a bit remote or removed. Certain people seem poised to shake the tree, when your calling is decidedly in the direction of patient effort, focus and long-term accomplishment. You are laying a foundation now for when Pluto crosses your career angle and your role in the world begins to take on entirely new proportions and undergo some profound changes. The foundation involves learning to set priorities and being able to maintain your integrity when that becomes the last thing on the priority list of others who are influential in your professional environment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2007

What is history? What value does the past possess? Ask yourself these questions now, and you’ll finally gain an understanding of how the past and the present relate to one another. There comes a point where everything in life is an attempt to get something old right. Then there comes a time when we need to push forward into the next ideas and experience that can feed us, make us strong and remind us we’re young. You would be wise to ask yourself whether the next thing you do is something you’ve done before, or something you have never imagined. One intriguing aspect of the past is what we never did that we still yearn for.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2007

You are not splitting in two. It is, however, true that you are rapidly approaching a branching of the roads where you will get to choose between a life that is predominantly dictated by your social life, and one that is nourished and sustained by your increasing creative passion. What divides the two is less about “what you want to be doing with your life” and more about your willingness to take the kind of risks that change you. When it comes to friends, you may want to choose from among those who are distinctly unafraid to stand out; who refuse to conform to what others expect of them, and who insist on honesty as a way of life; and who define themselves by their ability to change rather than to stay the same. This is what you are learning and these are the kinds of teachers and companions who will be the most supportive of you at this time. You may feel concerned about how meaningful your friends who may not fit this description are; but I propose it’s now time for them to come to you, rather than you going to them.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2007

Bear in mind what of your emotional landscape is the product of past influences and what is the product of current ones. They may be impossible to discern, so you may want to do one of those exercises where you walk around your house, pick up various objects and say, “This is mine, I am not in my parents’ house” and “This kitchen is my kitchen, I am allowed to leave my dirty dishes in the sink.” Of course if you have a partner, you would need to be aware of that, but the illusion of living in the depths of history, with all its insecurities, may persist until you and the people around you are fully aware that you simply are not there — you are here.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2007

The time has come to confront a sense of loss and angst that seems to take up all the space you need for pleasure and abundance. It’s as if someone took something from you, and you now have the opportunity to go on a hunt for just what that may be. It may seem inappropriate to bring any aggression to this deeply sensitive endeavor, but you must assert yourself in a way that is unusual for you. You are more accustomed to directing your energy outward rather than inward; to seeking answers surfing the usual channels of ideas and emotional sentiment. What you do over the next few weeks will feel like more of a struggle, or even an upheaval against the ways in which you tend to be set in your ways. Just remember, you are looking for a lost item of some kind, but here is a clue. It’s an emotional, spiritual or sexual quality that you not only did not lose yourself, but which you were never properly given. Someone else lost it, long before you were born.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2007

You need new ideas about life, and therefore you need to look for them in new places. You may be feeling this, as well as a bit of fear that once you start thinking in new ways, you will be compelled to change. It turns out that one concept or theory about life, if you follow it sincerely, has the ability to lead you to another reality. Over the years, you’ve had glimpses of what this other reality might be. It has leaked through as if coming from one dimension to another, and it comes with the feeling that “more is possible” or “I am someone beyond the person I seem to be today.” This time it will not be so subtle.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2007

Your chart is giving the impression you’re living at work these days. If so, I suggest you bring in a real toaster oven rather than a microwave. In fact, bring in home-cooked meals and bring enough for everyone. What are you up to, anyway? Regardless, your aspirations, be they moneymaking, creative or just generically ambitious, feed you well and keep those in your environment fed well. I tell you, just below the surface, this is all about food, and the connection between your emotions and food. This is the time to have all those mysteries reveal themselves, and to get a grasp on what’s really good for you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2007

It’s unlikely you’re leaving any stone unturned or taking any insecurity for granted. How could you, when your mind is working overtime attempting to figure out the source of what troubles you? The figuring may be part of the problem, however. It does not help that there are moments when you really do feel like you can calculate the nature of your emotional needs and odd hesitancies. That little taste of success is enough to keep you going in what amounts to the wrong direction (forward). Try orienting yourself in reverse: in time, in your assessment of what you want, and internally rather than externally. Consider the child you are rather than the adult you are forced to be. Consider what you do not say as being the most significant indicator of what you truly want to say. Look for your reflection in the fears and dysfunctional beliefs of others. Imagine what they are not saying, and you’ll have a clue what you are not saying. Then listen to yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2007

It’s unlikely you’re leaving any stone unturned or taking any insecurity for granted. How could you, when your mind is working overtime attempting to figure out the source of what troubles you? The figuring may be part of the problem, however. It does not help that there are moments when you really do feel like you can calculate the nature of your emotional needs and odd hesitancies. That little taste of success is enough to keep you going in what amounts to the wrong direction (forward). Try orienting yourself in reverse: in time, in your assessment of what you want, and internally rather than externally. Consider the child you are rather than the adult you are forced to be. Consider what you do not say as being the most significant indicator of what you truly want to say. Look for your reflection in the fears and dysfunctional beliefs of others. Imagine what they are not saying, and you’ll have a clue what you are not saying. Then listen to yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2007

As an Aries, you are an interesting, even excellent, mix of bold and insecure. Because you tend to plunge ahead despite your fears, you are less at their mercy than are most people. But this month’s astrology has you doing an interesting dance, as you confront what seem like vast, all-consuming anxieties that are in fact wrapped around your most creative, ingenious and daring ideas. This is the essential paradox of creativity: to do anything new, beautiful or innovative, you must dare to confront the unknown and unexpected, which sometimes seems like defying death or gravity. If, however, you think of this more as a formula and less of a contradiction, you will love the results, both inner and outer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

As an Aries, you are an interesting, even excellent, mix of bold and insecure. Because you tend to plunge ahead despite your fears, you are less at their mercy than are most people. But this month’s astrology has you doing an interesting dance, as you confront what seem like vast, all-consuming anxieties that are in fact wrapped around your most creative, ingenious and daring ideas. This is the essential paradox of creativity: to do anything new, beautiful or innovative, you must dare to confront the unknown and unexpected, which sometimes seems like defying death or gravity. If, however, you think of this more as a formula and less of a contradiction, you will love the results, both inner and outer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

You may feel like your world will explode if you set a glass down too hard on a table. An unusual planetary setup says that it would make sense to be as gentle as possible with both yourself and others, and to make sure you’re aware of when negative expectations are leading you away from what you really want. This being said, you are in an extremely unusual moment, and your apprehension is the measure of how creative and alive you can allow yourself to be. The key to living fully is being intimately aware of your fears, and looking within yourself to see where they come from and how much of your energy they consume. That energy is yours; take it back and turn it into something beautiful.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

Your fear may finally be pushing you someplace you need to be, making you aware of something you need to be aware of. Fear is indeed one of those things we have to put to productive use because there is so much of it in the world and in our minds. It is a potent form of energy. We run into problems when we stuff it, deny it, or cloak it in other colors and then pretend it’s something else. In your chart at the moment, looking in the simplest context, there is a close relationship between the experience of having, and the fear of loss. If we go deeper, there is a relationship between a radical idea, a push toward the future, and the surrender to the process of inevitable progress, all of which is bucking against values and priorities that seem fixed and seem to refuse to move. But they are more mobile than you may be acknowledging; you are more flexible than you may recognize.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

You seem to be getting a little bit of leverage, but remember the point is to let the lever do the work. Even if you alienate your friends by pushing your agenda, they’ll soon enough find their way back into your life as long as you remind them they’re welcome. But why go through all of this when you can play a good clean game?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

Your reputation is nearly everything to you, and you can trust that any damage that’s been done recently was temporary. People are willing to forgive your exaggerations and willingness to push their boundaries as long as you’re true to your own cause, so the first thing to pay attention to is whether you’re really doing that. You probably are, as long as you’re not being driven by a sense of what is missing, but rather what you want to create. I would propose that if something feels like it’s missing, check again, and you’ll probably notice it’s right there.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2007

Springtime has a way of focusing you on your relationships, or your desire for them. If life has been chilly in this regard lately, you may want to look for romantic adventure a little further from home. I don’t suggest you set off in search of that in particular, but rather for your fortunes in general. Limitations in one area of your life point to a great sense of expansion in others. Some aspects of living are calling for discipline; others are calling for a bold and unfettered time of exploring. Do a little (or more) of each, in its proper place and time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2007

Is it good to know how smart you are? Probably, at least in your case. The thing is, you may not know. Other factors in your personality may obscure this kind of self-awareness, and you may live walking around the world feeling like a “young soul” whose knowledge is not quite ready for the world, or truly applicable to life. From a cosmic perspective, all your best ideas and brightest awareness are like a show being performed with the curtain closed. You can hear the muffled lines being spoken, you’re aware of the stage sets changing, but the main idea may be eluding you. You need to know where to look — that is, where to direct your experiences this month such that you encounter the golden datastream. If you set out on a mission of some kind that involves intentionally traveling somewhere to learn something, you will very likely step into the flow, fully conscious. But for the full effect, you must initiate the journey.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2007

When in doubt, ask your mother. You may not like what she says, but her insight will prove to be helpful. In particular, find out how she handled your dad in a situation that is kind of like the one you’re facing now. Find out how she handled the psychological stress of not knowing something she needed to know, and how she found out.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2007

This time of year often feels like you’re doing a spacewalk outside the Hubble telescope — then suddenly the world is a clearer place. The gravity comes back, your inner light grows stronger and your emotions start to make sense. Spacey or not, you need to watch a situation involving a friend carefully, or potentially a group of friends. I suggest you make the most careful decisions where drugs or alcohol are concerned, and take no unnecessary chances; we all know the rules. Beware of people who put their energy into diversions rather than constructive creative activity. They are the ones who are, in actual fact, dangerous to you, though it may not seem that way at the time.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2007

Eclipses in Pisces and Virgo this month are likely to have one of two effects: to shake you up so you feel somewhat insecure, or shake you up so you feel how stable your foundations are. The choice in this is yours, but the question is why any of it is happening. The reason has to do with your creative spirit and your ongoing mission of freeing yourself. One factor in all this is how you relate to your space: is it designed to be fixed and stable, or can you change it around every day to follow your inspiration? Flexibility equals freedom; the willingness to change and the ability to do so will open you up in surprising ways.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2007

Breaking free is the theme of this moment, and it will take all your experience of the past two years to do so, as long as you have the confidence that you can. Breaking free of what? Well of course, the social expectations that keep more people trapped in their role, mode, frame of mind and geographic location than I care to imagine. You seem to be relating to the world as the underdog, and in the coming weeks as Mars makes its once-per-two-year conjunction to Chiron, the stars favor those who tend to feel less favored, particularly in certain social aspects of life. For example, this strongly favors those such as yourself who can abide by rules only if you helped create them. Indeed, the rules do need to change and you appear to be one who is noticing this, and who is willing to do something about it. Remember that your strength comes from awareness and strategy, rather than from brute power, be it mental or physical.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2007

You’re in a fabulous position to conquer the world, and fortunately for you, most people are way too apathetic to bother. The only thing that could possibly stop you is getting involved in the erotic opium dream cult that keeps sending you those alluring emails asking you to spend a Friday evening with them. You can always be Napoleon in your next lifetime.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2007

Compelling events and turning points, particularly involving your established social circle, are boldly announcing that a long phase of your life is drawing to a close. But the new phase will not begin immediately; it is still taking form in ways that you cannot see. We can, however, sum up the ending effectively by saying that you have grown too serious and too devoted to your own cause for certain people you once knew; you have been taking solid steps as an individual, and this, too, is setting you apart from others. I suggest you get used to it. It is one thing to be different; it is another thing to be unequivocally yourself. Having ideas and opinions comes at a cost, and it brings a rare kind of profit. Meanwhile, I suggest you consider this. Your ideas are not new and different; rather, they are old and different. You are seeking to preserve something traditional, while others are the ones going off in a new direction.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2007

This may not be the year you make your big career breakthrough. But at the very least, it will be the year you get ready, in terms of figuring out what you want, and then taking the additional step of wanting it with every cell in your body.You will, if you choose, gather your strength, determination and resolve, and begin to feel the undeniable onrush of the future coming at you. While the planets clearly reveal that you will work for everything you earn, and that feeling good will be the result of discipline and not luck or accident, there is no shortage of adventure or opportunity. Indeed, what the experts are calling 2007 promises to offer an authentic balance of labor and rewards for your labor; of grounded, serious thinking, and freewheeling exploration. But the key to success is indeed balance of these elements. Part of you will want to do everything at once, while at other times you’ll be keeping your foot over the brake, lest you miss a detail, fail in a commitment, or to guard against the movie going too fast. No, this is not typical of your life, but you are changing, and developing sensitivity for the value of commitments and the delicateness of relationships.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2007

Yours is the sign that moves from dark to light in a moment, and the coming seasons are marked by this very contrast. While you may be enduring in the dark night of the winter, before long you’ll be wanting an environment that is clear, clean and bright. Use metals like stainless steel contrasted with bright red objects like vases. Remind yourself of your perseverance and independence by putting a magnificent cactus plant into your environment, and let a sharp new set of knives be the symbol of the spiritual path you will invariably embark on this year. When traveling, bring your own pillow, and you will always feel at home. A renovating job is best left to professionals.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2006

It is not like you to book first-class tickets to India in search of a guru on three days’ notice, but as your astrologer I urge you to do what you need to do, nothing less. I predict, however, that when you arrive and find your true master, she’ll look at you and say, “Cute little Aries, the teacher is within.”

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2006

Perhaps the surprise of the year was how much you have to share with others, and how much others are willing to share with you. We live in a time when private interests dominate everything, and where for the most part our homes have become so isolated that we tend to forget that they are designed to facilitate not only solitude, but also community. There is something to be said for sharing your washing machine with a neighbor. Live human voices are riskier than the television, because people have needs. But it’s good to be in contact with the pleasure of helping others find fulfillment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2006

With any luck, you’ve discovered how much work it takes to be yourself, and you’re willing to do it. Part of the effort involves moving through your own doubts and layers of defensiveness until you arrive at the inner feeling of authenticity — in other words, discovering not only something new about yourself, some quality you’re not familiar with yet, but also a new state of mind. The rest of the project involves rising above your insecurities and coping with the confrontations involved in presenting yourself to people authentically. This, in turn, requires dealing with their reactions, and making the necessary adjustments in your life to compensate for, or move on from, those members of humankind who cannot bear very much reality. To do this, once again, you need to identify, acknowledge and deal with your own emotional fears. Is it all worth it? Do you really have a choice?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2006

You have more secrets than you think, but the really good news is, so does everyone else. Rather, they have more secrets than they think. This is the best month in the last 5,125 years to play truth or dare, twenty questions or spin the bottle.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2006

In any matter involving shared financial obligations, consider the responsibilities and benefits to everyone equally. You all stand much to gain and, if you are careless and lose sight of your shared priorities, much to lose. Don’t be fooled by the seeming difficulty. Working together, everyone can come up with a creative solution that improves the quality of life and loosens up the obsessive and sometimes too-serious environment that often exists in your home lately.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2006

What you seem to be reaching for is an understanding about some deeply sensitive matters. Nothing we’re normally exposed to in our culture, certainly not on television, prepares us for the kinds of discussions that you will have in the coming weeks. It’s also fair to say there’s no right way to do it. But we could establish some basic guidelines. Nothing is going to be resolved quickly, and by that, I mean in one day or one conversation. Anything that matters will take a few weeks. Also, given all the circumstances, listening counts for more than speaking. The better you listen, the more you’ll understand, and the more what you do say will make a difference. But if others do not feel heard, you can be sure that they will not trust what you say. Last, you need to leave a lot of space for misunderstanding, which means everyone has plenty of room to be wrong.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2006

You’re dancing on that thin line between work and passion. By now it should be obvious why this is not prime real estate. If you have passion around your work, that implies you might need to make a commitment. And sometimes you just have to follow your hormones, wherever they may lead you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2006

Humans hold the patent on the all-or-nothing situation. We do this, in particular, with our relationships, as if having a choice in the matter of love and companionship were a crisis too intense to maintain. You do have a choice now, but there is something to be said for not choosing — at the same time you go into your experiences deeply. The idea is to preserve this ability to decide in the long run. This is another way of saying keeping your freedom on a daily basis, so you may choose as often as you like.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2006

If you feel crowded out of your own house, then make it known and make some space. However, the sense of human presence could just as easily be cause for celebration. The recent solar eclipse right on your relationship angle has freed you from a commitment that was not working for you, and which may have prevented just the kind of socializing that you now have the opportunity to do. The possibilities really are endless.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2006

It’s time for the sex review. Since it’s always likely that the S word will be misunderstood, I am referring to the details of erotic pleasure and surrender, including commitment and its relationship to conjugal partnerships. Here is a question: to what extent is money a factor in these things, and why? How does that relate to your ideas about commitment? Forthcoming developments associated with Mercury’s retrograde in Scorpio will present you with a series of opportunities to allow pleasure, commitment and economics each to exist independently and for their own sake, not as one unified package. This is a boundary issue: creating healthy divisions between aspects of life that need, at the very least, to be considered separately before they are considered together. It’s possible that some relationships will find the process challenging, and if that’s the case, it would be wise to define improving communication as a theme of its own.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2006

Aries (March 20�April 19)Is there ever enough progress? You are certainly pushing the limits, and by the time of a solar eclipse later in the month, you will break the boundary on an issue related to work that’s kept you fenced-in since puppyhood. But this is not a time to pussyfoot. Be direct and sincere, like the dog you are.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2006

Your activity level is astonishing these days, but the time is right for a breakthrough on a health situation that has been a concern for some time. The issue involves the way you use your energy. Aries are endowed with a high coefficient of push power, which needs to be used in greater moderation than you’re accustomed to. You need to know when you reach the point of energetic strain, and stay well away from that line. Obviously, you cannot accomplish less, but you can accomplish it differently, and in a healthier way. Ideas for how to do that will be abundant this month.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2006

You may be feeling like it’s time for a new job. Wider horizons are calling, perhaps painfully, but most definitely. Often we need to reach a limit to go beyond whatever familiar territory becomes enmeshed in our patterns of living. Even if rearranging your day-to-day affairs seems impossible right now, you have an opportunity to make an adjustment in the way you express or exert yourself in the place you call work. I suggest you look at how you use your energy; study the patterns; account for where your time goes, and what you actually accomplish. Notice how you feel about it. Because this promises to be such an incredibly busy and productive month, it’s an interesting phase for a study. While you’re at it, notice what you like to do the most, and what you set out to do first when you have several choices. Getting a new job is precisely the time to choose, so practice now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2006

Who needs discipline when you have obsession? Your brain heating up and is about to become so hot and so focused you could cut a figure 8 in a steel boilerplate. But if you take a more gentle approach, you’ll get subtler results. A little persistence is all you really need, and the willingness to live every day a little bit differently, for a different reason, and with a different result.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2006

Do your thing. True, some of life must be spent doing somebody else’s thing, but let that happen as little as humanly possible this month. You have the resources, the focusing power and most of all the ideas to guide your life new places, and develop your most valued creative projects. What would stop you? In a word, perfectionism. Remedies for that include curiosity and a devotion to experimenting, but best of all is the pleasure of being who you are and expressing that in ways you love. So, keep your weekends clear and dive into yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2006

You seem split between passion and duty; you have so many ideas, and so much to do. The only answer is to plunge in all the way. Live your work like it’s all that matters, even if that means moving into your office or studio, staying till the Sun comes up, or whatever it takes to give yourself the space and permission to get into your creative process completely. Rather than divide work from pleasure, or responsibility from creativity, bring your passion into everything, and apply your devotion to everything you touch and consider. Do you really have something more important you need to do?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2006

Circumstances have encouraged, indeed, at times forced you to take greater risks, but you may still be waiting for the rewards. If I say, “They’ve already come,” you may be disappointed that they’re not what you think they would be. I’ll put it a different way: the foundation stones have been laid, and when you look back from the viewpoint of two or three years on, you’ll see that all the basic components of your new life were in place now. What you have not quite succeeded in doing is envisioning a place in the world for yourself, as you’ve redesigned that self — and that is the theme of an extended phase of your life that begins this month. The clay of creation is soft and pliable at the moment. People’s beliefs are more flexible than you imagine, as are yours. You have the tremendous advantage of having nothing to live up to, or to live down: only to live.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2006

What you experience in the next few weeks is a moment of truth. Do you have the strength to be who you are? Do you have the freedom to allow your curiosity to lead you through life? You may have reason to fear that you’re not so young anymore, but you’d be surprised what one bold move can do. Age is not a number. It’s all about what we believe, and why; it is about the risks we allow ourselves to take, and whether our fears rule the day. You are young when you can take a chance and express who you are inside. Right now there is something burning to come out.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2006

It could be worse. You may need to go out on a limb and take what for anyone else would be a huge risk. And, as the cookie crumbles, that may wind up being the very last thing you want to do when the time comes. The key may be to act sooner rather than later, before your insecurities take over. You could easily get lost for weeks trying to decide between alternatives or doing battle with yourself about the right choice to make. You’re slipping into one of these classic ‘caution versus dare’ situations, with the clock ticking. But what exactly do you have to be so cautious about? It seems you have a lot more to gain by breaking out of a plaster mold that seems to have grown around your sense of adventure. You need to act in accord with whatever you consider your true nature. That is, if you want to get anywhere, or get anything done.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2006

Creative forces can be violent, or at least troubling. It’s probably why most people lay down their artistic pursuits rather than develop them. I don’t concur with the ‘too busy’ theory but rather with the ‘too threatening’ one. Your own creative drives will be compelling you to hole up in your living space and make sure you do what you need to do. And they will be pushing you to make big changes in your life. This could be rough on a relationship; make sure the person in question is brought into the process rather than excluded, and is recognized for the significant inspiration and sense of grounding they are offering.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2006

Congratulations, you survived. Survived what? This you know and I do not. Indeed, this you know and no other seems to be aware. It’s likely to be too early to tell the end effects of recent events, but who needs the end when you’ve got the beginning? And that, for sure, you really have.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2006

Recent events or developments may have you feeling a bit apprehensive about making too much progress too fast. You may feel as if there is some pitfall in your way. Yet in many senses, the worst is over and you have been through the most critical changes. You would go a long way this month to settle your soul by concentrating on practical matters to address your emotional concerns, your home base and financial affairs being two excellent places to start. You know the time to initiate changes in these specific areas has arrived, and you must know it will do you a lot of good to take charge.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2006

Profound emotional restlessness may be pushing you in all kinds of directions. Beware that your situation might be exceedingly uncomfortable for housemates or domestic partners., but that makes it no less urgent for you. This might be a useful time to get on the road, even if you can only do solo weekend excursions; take a vacation; get a gig housesitting for someone; or spend as much time on the move as possible. Just don’t take your situation out on others. In reality it has nothing to do with them. However, if you propose an adventure, you just might find you have some company — the more outrageous the better.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2006

One theme of your chart for the past 18 months has been becoming what you’ve previously sought outside yourself. In a way, this involves embodying your opposite personality, or opposite qualities. You may want to notice what you seek in others for their soulmate qualities and observe the way you are striving to become these things as well. What you may notice about this process is that it rearranges your dependency patterns. You may decide you need people for some things you never considered before, and don’t need them for others that you had considered many times. You may also be feeling independent enough to decide that keeping the peace is not as important to you as it was last week or last month, and you do run the risk of provoking conflict with domestic or intimate partners, particularly if you get the feeling they are keeping score of your transgressions. Proceed with caution.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2006

Now you know what it feels like to be a cosmic phenomenon: something that many people marvel at, that can be interpreted many ways, and that nobody really understands. You, however, have finally come up with a theory to explain yourself, and if they gave Nobel prizes for this kind of thing, you would get one.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2006

As the dust settles and you start to wake up and figure out where you are, you’re likely to notice it’s somewhere quite different than where you were one month ago. There is a good chance you’re moving at an ever-increasing speed, and you may want to pause for a reality check. Your intuition has served you quite well up to this point, and despite a real measure of chaos you have made some decisions that are going to work out well in the long-run. But what you need now are tangible facts and a calm, rational assessment, even if you devote fifteen minutes to the project.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2006

By now, the contractions of your cosmic rebirth are undeniable, and have very likely arrived with a sense of vulnerability and the overwhelming experience of an unfamiliar world. Of this you can be sure — the beginning has arrived. Remember that after birth one is a child, and developing into a recognizable form always takes time. Bear in mind, as well, that this is not an entirely new incarnation. What you are bringing with you is the essence of your dreams, and the seed of your desire to actualize them. The first step is often the most challenging, and this you have taken. What also comes along are certain key individuals who in a sense are the keepers of your highest visions. These are the people who can see you in a way that nobody else can; who indeed can see you a bit beyond your capacity to see yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2006

New ideas about yourself need expression in dwelling places, and are also a good way to emphasize the point that change has, in actual fact, taken place. You’ve just gone through one of the biggest psychic spring cleanings in the history of your existence. You can go a long way toward establishing the benefits in physical reality by clearing away old objects and other materials, specifically those that have some kind of association with any aspect of your identity you are consciously choosing to part with. We hardly miss old things when they are gone, particularly parts of our personality that we need to wipe away like so much cosmic grime.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2006

They’re playing your song. In fact, they’re blaring it at full volume. Okay well, it’s more like a loud, opinionated conversation, which may be getting pretty sexy. And it’s going very well. In fact, it’s going so well you may never get down to business. So unless you’re having a really great time yakking, you better put your mouth to better use.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2006

Have you ever played poker? It’s a fun game, because it’s based on both luck and skill. While either can make up for the other, skill and the ability to play the game confidently are the greater part of the equation. At the moment you have both going for you. If you feel like a lot is at stake, I would say that the stars concur. Now is a time to move through the world with alertness, care and confidence, and take your chances one at a time. You will need to make decisions this month; they may feel truly life-shaping, and you can be truly grateful to have such an opportunity.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2006

Make sure the women in your life are happy, particularly those you class as friends rather than lovers. It is true that you have many of your own changes in progress, but a lot of those involve redefining the role you play in the lives of others. You have plenty of emotional capacity and a distinctly healing vibe going in your home, and you can be generous with invitations. You’d be surprised what a friendly ear and a lovingly prepared meal can do for someone who is struggling with feelings they can’t quite express. Listen with your heart as well as your ears.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2006

You have learned by now not to make too many assumptions, but for better or worse you’re not working with complete information and will need to make a leap based on a few good guesses. What matters most is that you use the information you have available. Gather that information sooner rather than later, even if the task seems impossible, or certain delays seem interminable. Actually, nothing is really taking as long as it seems, and much that seems to make no sense will actually seem more than sensible. So, you will need to do something rather un-Arian, which is be patient in the face of gradually building pressure that may, by the time the Sun enters your sign, feel somewhat overwhelming. But the sense of excitement will be palpable, and you will know you’re approaching a real turning point, and at such times, keep in mind what you want, do your best, hope for the best, and forget the rest.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2006

If dreams were real, you would be even more of a freak than you are now. Yet your current fantasy of yourself verges on being so overpowering that spilling over into reality is inevitable. Now you really will discover that the key to life is not worrying about what other people think. Besides, people are secretly begging you to have the guts to be free.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2006

Now that you know the effects of not feeling good about yourself on your environment, I trust that you will do your part to make the world safe for self-respect. The rather amazing strides you’ve made in this direction, though, need to be preserved carefully. In your next phase of experience, you may become so certain of your position that you start to scare people or come off like you don’t have room for any other viewpoints. I suggest that for the next couple of months you invest in the most precious leadership skill — listening. And when you want to express yourself, do it in writing first.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2006

Your household and how you organize it seems to be mirroring your tendency in relationships to emphasize independence. It helps that a certain individual close to you has been preoccupied lately, and perhaps giving you more space than you want. Yet in truth the time has arrived for you to live by the light of your own ideas in your own home. This is not one of your usual attempts to give up on relationships, but rather a true evolutionary step on the way to doing them in a way that’s fair to everyone involved. And a lot of that has to do with how you use your physical space.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2006

You may not know how you’re going to navigate or even find the turning point you feel approaching, but I suggest you go entirely on intuition. From where you are now, you cannot get to the wrong place. Though there is an element of chance involved, that’s the opening through which a rare kind of awareness will enter the equation of your life. Move slowly rather than quickly; look in all directions rather than straight ahead. Remember to look up and down. You are anticipating a turn to the left or the right, when really the curve develops in an entirely different direction. Likewise, if you find yourself expecting certain specific outcomes, you’ll only get in the way of the wide diversity of possibilities that are making themselves available to you now. Just because you cannot see them, or even conceive of them, does not mean they’re not there.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2006

You’re not the type to collect stuff, or even be particularly interested in it; but suddenly the material world means a lot more to you: material as in the textures of fabrics and colors of cloth that come to life in your fingers. This developing inner sensitivity seems to have become a passion, as if you’re seeing dark reds and browns for the first time in your life. Or like you never noticed the luxury of mahogany. Or food that you cook at home all afternoon. Will you ever go back to glass and chrome? Or Chinese take away? Let’s not ask.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2006

Professional ambitions need to play second fiddle to community concerns, but the two don’t contradict one another. You need to be thinking about the specific role you need to play, rather than all that is possible. The idea of need is based, in part, on what your environment is calling for, but to a greater extent, on what you’re specifically prepared for and ready to offer. This is likely to be something that you have thought of many times but perhaps deemed yourself unworthy of or unqualified for. You still may not feel ready for what you know you really must do, but this is not the time to hedge or hesitate. In truth, few people are ready for their greatest achievements when the time comes. But I can assure you that you are in fact ready, if you will do the other part, which is make sure you are truly willing.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2005

Another year, another opportunity to be punted through the goal posts of life and call it victory. But as it works out, you’re finally starting to infest the world around you like some kind of exotic species delivered by burrs in the furs of wild things. You’re finding your place, even if it wasn’t exactly the place you expected.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2005

Whatever impact a certain friend or loved one makes on your life over the next few weeks, it’s likely to reveal that a space within you long left unfilled has the potential to bring you happiness. The encounter or experience will not exactly match up with the rules of life explained or demonstrated to you long ago. But I suggest you be determined to persist in being exactly who you are, and hold the space open for the people around you to do the same. The revelation for everyone will be that love is not about owning someone else; it’s about appreciating them now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2005

To an unusual degree, you may find yourself in circumstances where your leadership and wisdom are called upon every moment. This is one of those times when you’ll need to remind people to tie their shoelaces; when your career will more resemble running a home for children; and when you’ll need to give a few safer sex lectures. It’s all in your job description, if you ask the astrology. So prepare for the work, keep your home well supplied, and set the ground rules that inside your four walls and for considerably beyond, discussing anything with anyone is acceptable.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2005

One of the original art pieces for the Planet Waves homepage, from the summer of 1999, was created by Aries artist Via Keller and called “Under a Tangled Sky.” Much of the astrology that inspired that design repeated in early November and will make additional appearances in early December and mid January — what is called a ‘grand cross.’ For you, this represents a development area in your capacity for giving yourself credit where it’s due. If you can do that, others will too. The world is poised and waiting to meet you on the level you respect, and to value your creations, your desires and indeed your existence. Your recent efforts at untangling yourself, at really making a commitment to how you feel about yourself and your life, are achievements of this distinctive era in time. In our world it’s easy to decide that nothing matters. I doubt you would ever take that approach. That is good for everyone.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2005

Finally, finding and appreciating peers has moved to the top of the Aries playlist, and that may include a love affair or the discovery of a new group of friends. You may have other ideas about how this is a time for learning responsibility, but I assure you that for a young person, this is responsibility of the first order. While there are likely to be some struggles with fitting in, the sooner those are actually begun, the sooner they are resolved. Still, it often takes a long time to discover a true sense of purpose, which at the moment is one and the same as having friends (a kid’s equivalent of colleagues).

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2005

If you have not got your financial affairs in order by now, you have two weeks. Hire an accountant or a good bookkeeper and close out your 2005 accounts before the end of the year. There is a reason, but I don’t have enough space to tell you here — you’ll discover it soon enough, and you’ll be very happy I mentioned this. (I’m accepting gratuities c/o my web page.)

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2005

Jupiter making its way into complex, rewarding Scorpio this month will open doors for you — financial as well as amorous. But you would be wise to keep the two factors separate. It’s true enough that growing up, and indeed, many places in our society and in many forms of relationship, the two are considered one and the same. But this is the beginning of an era in your life when love is love, and money is money. You may need to do some negotiating to set this straight, but mainly you need to know what is important to you. In the end, the result will be worthwhile for everyone.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2005

It’s always good to keep an eye on when you’re taking religion too seriously — and when it’s secretly running your life. Typically, this manifests in ways that have nothing overtly to do with actual religious teaching, but rather beliefs and superstitions that influence how your family and household are organized. If anyone recoils at the discussion of sex, you had better declare your space a free-speech zone. If anyone goes on a power trip about money, you have my permission to remind them they can afford to be a lot more generous. Indeed, this may be a good time to turn the Protestant work ethic on its rear-end. Please, lead the way.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2005

We’re in the thick of Mars in Taurus retrograde, and I wonder what you’re thinking. Mars allegedly hates to be retrograde, but in light of the human development project that has emerged since the days of ancient Greece, old astrological views need to be rethought and revised. This rare transit is giving you an opportunity to do just that with your values and deepest beliefs, particularly the ever-sensitive matter of how you feel about yourself. Yes, you’re an Aries — you have the ability to go forward no matter what. And you are human; all humans doubt themselves. Events, developments and your introspective journey during this phase, which goes through Dec. 11 but unfolds for at least a month beyond, will help you get to the bottom of those doubts, and to find some genuine treasures within. There’s an added benefit: what you learn about yourself now will provide valuable experience for a leadership opportunity that manifests early next year.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2005

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, the expression goes. But it would be wise to consider each separately at the moment. Relationships are allegedly based on shared territory, and as a result too often what is important to each person involved, strictly as an individual, gets left out of the discussion. Of course, it could be threatening. You get to lead the way on this matter: you can allow what is important to someone close to you to be all that matters. Give that about two weeks to settle in, and then have the discussion of what’s important to you. Given that you’re an Aries, a little diplomacy will work brilliantly.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2005

Aries is the great and awesome sign whose message to the world is I AM. With a solar eclipse approaching in your love angle, you might want to stick to “we are.” Really, they’re the same idea; but one recognizes the fact that no matter what happens in life, it’s helpful to have a friend you can whine to, even if they are deaf. So be nice, and learn sign language.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2005

What now unfolds is, in part, related to what others are going through and in part related to what you are experiencing. But in order not to take on what is not yours, you must remain some combination of discerning and nonjudgmental. Your primary commitment is being true to yourself, and remembering that allowing for change is one of the healthiest qualities any relationship can have. Then you will save yourself much unnecessary strife and energy. When you reassess the situation in a month, you’re likely to see it through entirely different eyes, and be far more agreeable to the changes that someone close to you has been going through. What is more noteworthy is that your own process of inward seeking and questing for self-understanding will go on for considerably longer, and you’ll be the one counting on the patience of someone close to you; so you would be wise to offer yours now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2005

How much is money worth? It’s worth something. Is it worth fighting for? You’ll have to be the one to decide that. It’s definitely worth working for, but the question there is how fiercely you’re willing to resist your own sense of right and wrong to put cash in your pocket. Better to scale back your sushi habit.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2005

Contact is the word of the season; you may think your Aries youngster is obsessed by activity, or is perhaps grappling with minor health issues. Yet the deeper matter is a desire to draw close, to be appreciated, and to communicate with you and others in his or her life. Discovering what’s really important has been a high priority and continues to be so; but such is meaningless if it cannot be shared and appreciated. Whatever this is, make sure it seems as important to you as it does to them. This is a moment when examples of what it means to be a mature adult count for a lot, and you’re the prime candidate.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2005

You seem to be taking an unusually hygienic attitude toward your personal affairs, though the emotions rarely stay dry or clean for long. What you can do is keep the water flowing, the windows open and some level of a discussion happening. But you run the risk of talking or reasoning yourself out of an erotic encounter that could bring you some of the nourishment and pleasure you’re seeking the most. Remember, passion is what you want, not what your daddy told you it should be. He knew a lot, but he didn’t know everything.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2005

What’s yours is yours but we don’t really have what we cannot share. Before long that will become obvious enough though what may be more difficult to accomplish is getting over the feeling that others have more to offer than you thus they should be offering it to you. The issue is not really a material question; rather at its essence it’s one of loyalty. And at the heart of that is loyalty to yourself. I suggest you take a good look at everyone to whom you pledge your devotion and those who give theirs to you. Can you see any patterns or can you take any messages from these situations? Is there anything out of balance for example your taking for granted certain people to whom you could show much more appreciation? If so this is an easy situation to remedy; appreciation is free but both giving and receiving it are a truly precious gift.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2005

Look for some species of daddy-pleasing at the heart of what an outrageous situation your life has become. You had a good riff going for a while where you were allowing yourself to be the strange-but-true person you actually are. Now you’ve got yourself stuck in this mode where what everyone thinks is more important than what you think.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2005

You seem to want to take a risk you won’t let yourself dare. There is a new influence in your life which is working to slow you down and make sure your thought process is more methodical. This is not designed as a cosmic hindrance or any other kind. Rather you’ve finally got a chance to see the benefits of more carefully considered decisions and what I like to call calculated risks. There is a way of taking a chance that involves understanding the implications — and that’s precisely what you’ve got an opportunity to do now.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2005

These days you’re getting a sense of how you can do quite well being a bit less impetuous more predictable and over all inclined to put politics above making a personal splash. I’m not sure who we have to thank for being your role model but at least it’s someone you respect and one who has made his way in the world. It may also be someone who you want to have a greater role in your life but might have never dreamed it possible. Perhaps the friendship has developed so long that you don’t think it’s likely it’ll change; perhaps you have the feeling lately that this person is about to move on. Or more to the point you’re sensing your own need for independence as standing out above all else. But you can take steps to balance your need for standing apart with your need for companionship. Both are basic nutrients.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2005

There’s what’s true and there is what we want to be true. For children, we must take extra care to protect both. Wishful thinking is not merely a diversion for children, it is a way to contemplate what is possible. And while both you and they may be inclined to take a more sober approach to life these days, where Aries youngsters are concerned, I suggest you hold open the field of dreams. Aries children are now entering a rare phase of what you might call growing up young. It will be your responsibility to remind them that they are still children. And for them to get a little closer to that reality, you must do so first.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2005

Just whose rules you’ve been living under for so long would make an excellent topic for a personal investigation. Now that you don’t have to dance to anyone’s choreography but your own particularly inside your own front door it would be an equally valid question whose rules you’re living under now. The overall message that it’s your job to take charge of both your home and your creative process — yours and nobody else’s — is pouring through the cosmos now. But please notice when you dare to live differently or to do something different whose mental voice chimes in? Isn’t that really interesting?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2005

You had better decide what you want from life because from this point on you need to leave behind what’s not so important and make some serious decisions about what is. And I don’t mean getting your MBA — I mean doing what you love. It’s not enough for you to do what you like; you have to get down to the real nitty-gritty of your deepest desires. Time is tight; responsibilities are many; people have their expectations. You are free to disappoint them but we both know that’s not what you want from life. So be clear with yourself prioritize and act on the decisions you make.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2005

Approaching changes may seem to hem in your desire to be a freewheeling Aries. But what has the power to hamper or delay your creative expression also offers the most positive influences. Youâll find solutions in such time-tested methods as setting priorities working within limits and making sure you have a concrete agenda when it comes to living the life you want. Itâs not going to happen by accident and itâs not going to happen accidentally. But as long as youâre willing to make a small consistent effort over time youâll build just the situation you want and need.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2005

Saturn changes signs this month, and this will have a strong effect on both adults and children of a number of signs. For Aries, Saturn moves into the solar 5th house, where we want to have fun, take chances and fall in love. Saturn is generally not seen as supportive of these experiences, unless we remember that we can’t really enjoy ourselves in life unless we have a little discipline. Yet there are those who will respond with so much discipline that life becomes no fun at all. Take it easy and please be realistic. Remember who you’re talking to, and what you went through at that age. And have some fun yourself. You need it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2005

All the planetary aspects of any consequence this month and there are quite a few are related to where your creative life meets your professional life. The story goes like this. For no apparent reason begin to take certain things you love to do seriously. You find yourself being disciplined where once you were impatient; focused where once you were just overflowing with energy. You ground in your creative process you become oblivious to distractions and you bear down on your creative talents. Then at the same time you notice that you’re doing something highly original which oddly finds a place and a need in the larger community. That place begins to open for you you discover that you’re more respected for your talents than you ever dreamed and the next thing you know you’re into certain career advances you normally would deem impossible.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2005

When the seasons change, Aries children can take remarkable turns in their personal stories. Astrology always works on at least two layers: the more obvious expressions of the personality, and the inner side of life that is less apparent to anyone but those who are most intimate with us. Aries of every age are likely to be feeling emotionally sensitive now, but this comes with deep impressionability. Events and developments of this month could remain factors for a long time. I suggest going a little further with your attempts to reach into any isolation you perceive. Nobody is a lone wolf, and everyone on this planet needs reassurance.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2005

You know what’s good for you or you’ll soon figure it out. When the lights come on remember to do something useful with the information. Action always boils down to confidence doesn’t it? Yet you rarely have any reason to doubt yourself. Try to remember I said this: real confidence comes from the heart and not the head.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2005

What you see is what you get. That’s your motto and it’s quite a theme for you this summer. Yes people love to lay on the images illusions glamour and glam. You have to be you and now you have the strength the awareness and most of all the desire. You know you don’t do anyone any favors by pretending you’re someone you’re not. But you may not win any popularity contests either because when any one person gets real that shocks other people either into promptly doing so or freaking out because they’re hiding who they are. But none of that needs to matter.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2005

It’s likely that the last few days of Mars in Aries (through June 11) may not exactly have you feeling like the Six Million Dollar Man. The question is why. The answer is probably that you are consciously or not attempting to bring a long cycle of experience to a close. The last gasps of this process are likely to come with substantial emotional and psychological pressure which may feel like the urgency to do or be something. The pressure is an illusion. Yes something is ending and something about you is resolving itself. Given the astrology you may want to focus on one specific agenda item. It could be making sure you return to a creative project perhaps to finish it. You may need to find closure with a particular person in your life. Or you may want to devote the time to coming to terms with what has come and gone in your life in the past two years.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

There is such a thing as being trapped in comfort and this month you may slowly discover that’s where you’re at. Who knows — the feeling could be incredibly cozy and you might have some deep need to cocoon yourself in which case I recommend that you do. I would say though that the one regret I’ve had in common about every place I’ve lived in the past 10 years is that I didn’t spend enough time away to really appreciate it. You might at least want to click on some discount airfare web pages. Ours remains a big world.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

You only need to live by one rule which is to keep all four wheels on the ground. Then you can go as fast as you like and take the turns with full confidence. However this is a good time to check whether you’re actually going in the right direction. When was the last time you saw a road sign?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

Powerful forces of nature are calling on you to ground yourself in both who you are and where you are. Yet you could just as easily make a decision that changes everything. Recently you’ve experienced an outrageous phase of experimentation. Did you make the most of it? Were you true to your desires your needs and your ideas for what you want to do and be? The coming weeks may be a time for you to stabilize yourself — or they may be a time for a more perfect upheaval a longer stretch or turning an even steeper curve in the mysterious universe.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

It’s a different world when you feel good is it not? That sense of belonging anywhere is just an extension of feeling like you belong in your own body. Home is an extension of your own body as is anyplace you happen to find yourself. Then there is the psychic layer. A lot more is going on there than in the physical world and what I suggest you do is use your body level of comfort and fulfillment to anchor yourself into physical reality so that the extraordinary developments that are percolating in through your dreams visions and ideas arrive in a welcoming environment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

To a great extent, language is the means by which we define our reality. Be careful of what words you use around young Aries people this month, because they are not just listening; they are making decisions based on what they hear. The way you say things sets limits, or opens the way past limits. Listen carefully to the particular way they express themselves if you really want to know what is going on. There will be clues in their choice of words, tone of voice, and the way that their ideas and arguments are structured. Good reading material would make an excellent gift.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2005

To keep your momentum you’ll need to move in the direction that seems the most difficult or challenging. Certain factors may seem to slow you down but they’re the ones that you’re using to summon your deeper strength and your unquestionable sense of purpose. You may have noticed that the prevailing meaningless quality of life on Earth is starting to wear a little thin and it’s being replaced by a deep sense of longing and searching. By all indications this is reaching you with a particularly strong pull that is in truth a kind of homing signal. Please don’t make the mistake of not listening to it because it seems too good to be true too difficult to be feasible or an occasion for which you would need to do a little rising up above your everyday routine. That is the whole point.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2005

You have many choices and options open but if you look you’ll see that most of them involve how you respond to your environment and who you choose to be in any given moment. You seem to be caught between an ideal of perfect equality and being swallowed by the power of another person. Sooner or later you’ll find your one and only self and claim your right to make your personal choices — why not make it now?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2005

Typically most people are quite conditional in the way they feel about themselves and you have an opportunity this month — or perhaps many opportunities — to see yourself in a new way. We hear the words ‘unconditional love’ tossed around a lot without realizing that the first and only place it needs to be applied is to oneself. Some may fear that the world will turn to anarchy if people give up judging themselves guilty but I propose that when any one person relaxes and tells herself it’s okay everyone around us relaxes and feels better too.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2005

There may have been a slow relief from certain emotional or household issues the past few months a break from the relentless intensity of ‘deal with everything now’. These matters have changed since you last addressed them and are unlikely to seem anywhere near as daunting when you look again. In truth it comes down to the fact that you feel far more secure within yourself therefore much more confident handling this material. Also your perspectives in the past were a bit exaggerated. So face the changes with confidence and optimism and you’ll take away any power they seem to hold over you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2005

Aries kids are doing more growing up this month than most people can imagine, unless of course you happen to be an Aries parent. There may be moments of regression, confusion and outright brilliance, but the overall direction is toward the core ofÊtheir true being. If they are more willing than usual to stand up to peers and even authority figures, that’s about as healthy a sign as you could want. Certain facts of the world have become rather plain to their eyes, and one great thing about young people is that their defenses and denial trips are a lot less evolved. Pay attention: you could learn something useful.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2005

With a solar eclipse taking place in your sign this month, you may be feeling a bit nervous about some inevitable change you feel approaching. This is a natural feeling to have around an eclipse, but I suggest you take over the energy and ask yourself straight away: what kinds of changes do I feel like making now? With an eclipse, there is certainly a no-turning-back quality to the moment. I think you know exactly what you need to know to make the best of that. There is certainly plenty that you want to leave behind, but without pushing it away. There is plenty you need to go beyond, but without denying it. And the doors to that kind of forward motion and authentic growth are wide open now. But you will, in a sense, need to take a deep breath and dive headfirst into what promises to be a passionate wave of change.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2005

Insecure about your career? Forget it. Persist rise above the fears you’ve already got over six times and don’t forget to depend on the kindness of friends. When the breakthrough you’re heading for arrives you’ll regret having wasted one calorie of your precious energy on worry or negative expectation. The key to the future: you don’t belong anyplace where you don’t get to be your brilliant and loudmouth self.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2005

If you’re seeking wisdom or assistance you’re going to find the help you need. Here’s the Identikit on who will give you the best advice: Probably an older person; someone you think is a little strange; someone with experience in several fields of life which seem to have nothing to do with one another; not a prude; someone you know is dedicated to freedom (since that’s what you’re looking for); and someone you meet through a close friend. This person may be an Aquarius — but don’t worry if they’re not.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2005

Do you believe your own fears? It’s time you started listing them so you can address them. To address something means to give it its place and put it someplace you know where to find it. I suggest that you may have a fear that you’ll never really be welcome in your own home. You may not know how far you’ve come in the past few seasons of your life to resolve that one once and for all. But you can’t force the issue; you can’t make yourself see something you’re not ready to see. Sooner than you think one day this is something you will just simply feel.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2005

You are not really free until you begin to express yourself. Others have other opinions (such as you’re not really free to do anything except shop online) but for now I suggest that the act of creative expression is no act at all: it is the oxygen of existence. Creation is the means by which you will identify with and in truth prove the existence of the love that you feel. It is the conducting medium of that love between you and all the people in your life. At the moment the very best of what you have to offer may seem deeply hidden away. But it still exists — though you can only discover how much you have by passing it on. When the time arrives you will know where to look within yourself and the way will be open. Then don’t be afraid — just let yourself out and let yourself free.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2005

Aries children and teens are going to do a lot of growing up this year. You may be stunned at the pace of change, particularly between now and summer. So if you’re having any ‘maturity issues’ in school, at home or elsewhere, wait them out. At the moment, the desire to be accepted by friends will lead the way to clearer ideas about what adults call identity. Such is never formed in a vacuum; it is always part of a social pattern. Young ones may seem a lot more authentic among their peers than with parents and caregivers. Enjoy the baby in them while it lasts.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2005

You’re under no pressure to accept what you don’t believe. But unless you let go of your preconceived ideas about life you are basically kidding yourself. You may find yourself swimming in some rather interesting possibilities and you may feel overwhelmed by pressure to live up to something you just don’t have the words to describe. Chaos is a sign that your doors are shut. Dreaming of the world you want — for yourself and for everyone else — will ease the tension and help you turn the key.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2005

What you need to do is turn promise into reality. There is plenty of the first; how you manifest that into tangible human form is a question of whether you are able to see and feel yourself as one who stands out from the crowd. Look for a special someone in public that is to say stop writing personal ads and walk out the front door. Group environments will be supportive. You’re looking for someone both spiritual and intelligent — a bit like yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2005

If you can overcome any inertia tempting you to cling to the way things once were you’ll plunge headlong into the future. More than anything you need to get yourself out of the house as much as possible. Keep an overnight bag with you at all times and arrange your life so you can be spontaneous. For example make sure nobody is expecting you home and that the kitty has a little extra food and water. There are people waiting to meet you — an entirely new group of friends that will manifest in the coming days and weeks. But they probably won’t be knocking on your door.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2005

We have many ideas of what it means to be good, and I think that most people carry some serious injuries about whether they are acceptable to others or not. As an Aries, you can always compensate for this by emphasizing your individualism and taking strong initiative with the people around you; you are certainly one who can make your own posse if you need to. But that does not really fill in for the deep need you have to be accepted as the individual you are. As Chiron makes its way into Aquarius, you embark on a new project of understanding your relationship to your peers. Just remember to let them speak for themselves.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2005

You’ve been attempting a clean sweep of your emotional affairs for a long time now and have almost succeeded. What you must come to terms with is that no matter how many times you run the broom across the floor it’s still going to get dusty again. And however many walls you put up between yourself and annoying relatives who seem determined to throw a wet blanket on your warmth and comfort you need a functioning door through which you can come and go. These days you had best spend some time on the outside of that door because the professional opportunity you’ve been waiting for is not going to come visiting — you have to go get it and you can.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2005

The real work and thus the real gain of these four seasons involves sorting out what is important to you and what is not. The astrological key is Mars retrograde in Taurus which happens in the fall but which will be offering its messages throughout the year particularly as the Sun crosses Taurus this spring.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2005

If you were to ask most Aries children what they wanted in their horoscope, they would say, “I’d rather do it myself, thank you.” In fact, when it comes to pursuing mystical knowledge or even creating it, this is an exceptional time for Aries, and the young ones may have you quite convinced of reincarnation. How else would they know all this? Yet there have been tests of right and wrong, and the awareness that with knowledge comes responsibility. Perhaps these seem to be very advanced lessons for someone before midlife crisis. But it’s better to learn them sooner rather than later.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2004

An assortment of forces are now aligned to help you turn your ambitions into something you can stand on live in and build a future with. There’s an old expression that you have to get it right the first time. I don’t buy it. With each day that passes you get a chance to use a hard lesson you learned in the past and do it right this time around. Only now you may notice that people are suddenly a lot more cooperative than you ever remember.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2004

When you have sex with a person you give them part of yourself and you receive part of them. There’s an exchange and it’s of more than an experience. That’s why it’s a good idea only to have sex with people we really admire. Of course it doesn’t always work out so well but that’s a good measure for how to evaluate potential partners and how to decide if someone is appropriate for you. Ideally you would find people who are inwardly balanced — who have access to their inner male and inner female aspects and who speak to both of those aspects in yourself.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2004

I truly hope these four seasons have taught you to get along better with people. Not better in the sense of learning to make more compromises, but rather in the fashion of being yourself without doubt or equivocation. At this point in your life, that’s all you can really do. The first kind of getting along results in a lifetime of compromises. The second kind allows you to make your way in the world following your original and undeniable calling to truth and freedom. As you know, it’s a lot easier to be free together than it is to be free alone. This is why so many people think liberty is a myth: they refuse to cooperate with the experience of others seeking release from what holds them back. Why, I don’t know, but I do know that people learn from example, and value those who know how to give them the right nudge on the right day.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2004

Most people pick and choose what they will allow themselves to feel — or at least they think they do. There are allegedly good feelings and bad ones; naughty and nice; the safe ones, and the dangerous ones. That may well be true, where certain levels of the personality are concerned. Feelings that are ‘too intense’ can threaten our sense of identity and our stability in relationships. They can bring up material from the past that we would rather consider dealt with, and leave in the past. And certain emotions are clearly more socially acceptable than others. You need to take the whole ride. All the deeper feelings within you are likely to seem, at first, fused into one intense wave of emotion: passion, grief, rage, ecstasy and sadness, to name a few. Your capacity to feel any one of them will open the door to the rest. Yet the main thing you will feel is better.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2004

One by one, planets have been thundering into your opposite sign, Libra. And there is a solar eclipse coming there on the 14th as well. All of this may have you under a lot of pressure to make decisions, particularly where people are concerned. On what basis should you be making up your mind? One and one alone — whatever will make your life better. Yes, it’s healthy to be concerned about the wellbeing of others, but at this point, what’s good for you is very likely good for them. People close to you have a full life and will survive quite nicely without your attention. That more than anything is your ticket to freedom, because it seems like the theme of the season is relationships that are freed from dependency. We all know that obligation is a poor basis for choosing to be with someone. But it’s rare that there feels like a perfect alternative.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2004

New developments all but assure that your personal relationships, romantic situations and work partnerships will be overflowing as the next month develops. With the Sun, Jupiter and Mars so prominent in your chart, before long you’re likely to be very busy with some truly high-energy people. The astrology is so excellent that I’m going to approach this question from the other angle: what if, by 45 days from today, you’re still not happy? The planets sketch out three potentials. One, you’re too invested in your work identity to really enjoy human contact or even the human adventure of your job. Two, you’re experiencing some fear of the edge, of surrendering that part of yourself that needs to vanish in order for you to really merge with another person. Three, you’re encountering some aspect of yourself within a relationship that you don’t necessarily like. Deal with these things forthwith, if necessary. This moment is far too brilliant to waste.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2004

Your sense of duty and service may collide with an urgent necessity to do things your own way, in your own time. It may be that the line between art and work is not caring what others think, and in that respect, your work now has the power to rise to the level of true creative passion. It’s pretty much inevitable that this will take a toll on your mind and body, so I suggest you remember the ways you can best take care of yourself and actually do them. Yet it would appear that the more significant test of the next few weeks is learning how not to argue. In doing so, you merely devalue what’s most important to you, and consume precious time and energy. Arguments begin inside us, as the process of rationalizing our actions. The key to tapping your hottest fire is letting it speak for itself; passion is blameless, and does not need a lawyer.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2004

You can afford to be braver on matters such as having a little more fun. Nature, however, is cleverer than a Jack Russell terrier and you will find that in celebrating life with gusto you’re being lured toward a turning point. What amount to entrenched old habits of relating have prevented you from exercising certain options because you cared too much about what other people thought of you. Guilt is a likely factor. In a sense, you silently agreed not to act a certain way or take up your own cause due to what were regarded as commitments. You now have to decide the terms by which you will allow yourself to unmake what you made, or were convinced you made. Anyway, you can be sure that other parties to the discussion have more than enough on their minds and might appreciate some serious independence on your part. Beware of anyone who stands on mere principle; principles are for school; this is life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2004

Change is the word of the hour; it’s the word of the month; it’s the word of the year, particularly as your most intimate bonds are concerned. The life process of people besides yourself is entirely out of your control, and we all know that out-of-control change is some of the scariest stuff going. Suddenly your own growth may seem to pale by comparison, particularly if it’s the jumble of emotional crisis and confusion that it seems to be lately. None of this is for nothing. Surrender to what is so, speak the obvious, and feel the future rather than attempt to design it, and you’ll see that you are at this very moment headed for some of the richest experiences of love and companionship of your life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2004

If you feel like you’re in a burning building, you’re in the right place. What’s burning is karma: old stuff, such as the ancient psychological and emotional material that clogs your life. This has been going on for months, but the furnace is just reaching full temperature. There is also something about needing to be released from a commitment. It will not be long before you have the go-ahead you need to feel like you’ve done what is called for. At the same time, you will also feel the anger, passion and pain that will motivate you to be free and clear. Don’t medicate yourself. Stay with every sensation and sentiment until you work it through. What it all points to is a pattern of enslavement that may be sexual in nature, and which is working its way out of your world. Remember, there is a difference between power and pleasure.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2004

Extraordinarily promising events may seem to be failing to work out as planned. Or they may seem to be running their course too soon for your pleasure. Yet a deeper cosmic enterprise is at work; the stars have an agenda for you, and you cannot judge it from the outside. You simply must have faith, and do everything in your power to avoid the battles of words or unnecessary conflicts that only waste your energy. Words do, however, have their use. If you can put your energy into learning how to get along with women, for which words are extremely useful, you will cultivate a life skill that you’ll benefit from for the rest of your days. You may have tried and failed many times; you may have given up. Don’t blame your sisters. Don’t blame yourself. Just get it. Women are worth the effort.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2004

Springtime arrives early for you this year, with lust and sap rising and, with any luck, you feeling like a big juicy purple flower. This is not a mental exercise, however; the point is to touch and be touched, physically, emotionally and spiritually. If you feel like you’ve got to keep control over your attractive force, give it up while you’re still young. You’re visible, you’re beautiful and you smell good, and that’s going to draw people to you. Like the rest of nature, you cannot control this. The only control you need is to let people know exactly where you stand with them, today and every day. You owe nobody your perfect fidelity, merely your simple honesty. Romance is for wimps. Telling people what you want and how you feel is not.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2004

I hope you’re feeling a bit more confident now, having tested your theories and experimented with manifesting your visions. What you want are results, and results usually take repeated applications of a method or plan. In this respect, having attempted anything and not quite pulled it off very directly becomes an asset, but only if you keep going. You have certainly developed your ideas laid the groundwork for their development; you have completed the first stage of the beginning. That has included making one important contact in a position of power, probably a woman, whose advice and guardianship will be a true asset. In the second state, you are much more your own asset. Recognize not just your potential value but rather your actual worth in every sense of the world. Oh, I meant ‘word’, but I like world better.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2003

When you look back on this year in the context of the next few seasons, you will likely see that it provided the gestation period before the emergence of a much deeper dimension of who you are. We could say you are becoming a deeper person, but it’s more than that. Something you’ve long held inside yourself, a quality of existence free from the tight restrictions of identity and self-concept, has truly been released from you. As you know, you’re not living without a definition of who you are; but you now have a much more flexible definition, and an entirely different way of exchanging information with the world. In sum, you have learned how to receive, and how to give, even if you don’t yet know the name of what you are giving.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2003

Most of the important turns in the story of our lives are the subtlest. While life is marked by the occasional hurricane or earthquake, usually it’s the transitions we don’t notice and don’t give names to that have the greatest influence. I’m not certain it’s a good thing that astrology can point to some of these; there’s the possibility of applying will or raising expectations where going with the flow of events is often more effective. You are, however, engaged in a mighty quest to go beyond so many of the fears and insecurities that have dogged you for so long. I suggest that you not take the least victory in this struggle for granted. Notice when you throw off the least shackle, and each time you take a real breath.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2003

Before long, you may wonder whether the extraordinary ability you’ve developed to see through the layers of your perception and to gaze at the inner workings of your psyche was really real, or whether it will last. Regardless, insights of the past few months have allowed you access to depths of your humanity and to recognize the truly beautiful colors of your imagination, and this process continues. While evolving our relationship with fear seems to be high on the world agenda, it’s also been at the core of your process. In psychological terms, we could say you’re learning that you’re not your ego, rather, you are the inner man or woman whose sense of being transcends what has been called “the hungry I.” What you’ll notice in the coming weeks and months is the remarkable consistency between your self-knowledge and your self-expression. These lessons will never come again quite this way — and no, you’ll never forget them.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2003

Your soul may be screaming, or perhaps rejoicing, that all the old moorings are gone, all the notions that kept you clinging to yourself, and all the fear that they engender. Recently I had a breakthrough about the nature of fear and guilt in my own life, and why these were so persistent. I realized in a rare moment of tuning into my psychic metabolism that I was addicted to these emotions and was, quite literally, feeding on negativity. In our world, we do have a choice of what power source we hook up to. Certain factors may mask the option, or create the sense that the qualities of existence never change. You are being confronted with the naked truth of your existence and the raw elements of consciousness. What you are made of changes as fast as your choices.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2003

One of the curious things about the remaining months of the season is how close you’ll be to the feelings and experiences of your own past. What you may be feeling is more than mere sentimentality, and more than a life review. Rather, you’re being given an opportunity to directly retrieve something about yourself that is perhaps long-forgotten. Vivid imagination is the quality of which I speak — your ability to live in a much larger world, but one with far greater input from your own creative fire. This capacity all but vanishes in adults, who lose the ability to envision the development of their own lives. As I have been suggesting in recent months, part of what surfaces when the subconscious world is opened up is old fear. Let it out, and let yourself fly.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2003

‘Focus’ is what you’re hearing whispered in your ear. With your ruling planet Mars about to stop and change directions in Pisces, the most sensitive angle of your chart, if you can quiet your mind, your intuition will be clear and vivid. If you get distracted by your fear, which has been all too common in recent months, you’ll find that it’s impossible to take advantage of the extraordinarily rare viewpoint you’re being given. The potential is nothing less than a complete reassessment and redefinition of who you are. Though often promised by various spiritual paths or self-help projects, this happens all-too-rarely. It’s not necessarily going to happen quickly, though you are aligned with a few choice moments of revelation that are equally subject to both doubt and faith. Please choose carefully.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2003

You are evolving into a different relationship to your local environment, a process which likely became apparent through a series of interactions or transactions that unfolded last month. The effect has been twofold. First, you know more about the place you call home. Second, you are able to work with that information and take advantage of fluctuation and change rather than be sent into a tailspin by it. Any increase in value means a change in value. Thus, any change can potentially be worked into a mode of development. You may think you live in a small world, but large and small are often meaningless terms in the holographic universe. The people you connect with in your home and local world connect you to people everywhere, and I don’t just mean in the symbolic sense.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2003

Proceed with utter caution this month amongst your friends and community members. There’s a lot of energy in this sector of your chart, and it tells me that you’re brewing some pretty hot ideas about how you want your social world to be shaped. Yet the risks include putting out visions that you can’t live up to, and attempting to push people to get involved a little too fast for anyone’s good. You actually don’t need to say much. You do need to live the closest version of your highest vision that circumstances allow. For you, this means living as close to actual freedom as you can each day. We often have to act as if we are free, or act freely within circumstances to which we’re conscripted by past arrangement. I would say that there’s likely to be one raging ideal you possess that takes a hard fall this month, and another far more poetic one that materializes from the smoke of the past. The nice thing about being a visionary is that visions can change with relative ease.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2003

Current events may be pushing you to extremes or revealing something at your core that you have found it very difficult to come to terms with in the past, and my sense is that this is not a ‘bad’ something, rather a very ‘good’ something. But what you may notice is that it’s been expressing itself negatively or destructively. Now is the turning point. The core issue appears to have something to do with how desire and ambition were taken away from by repressive authority figures. But it really has to do with how grotesquely our vital force is cut of and used against us. You may have responded to this treatment by becoming way more passive than your nature will allow. You may have responded by becoming ruthless and workaholic. They stem from precisely the same core material. Events of the current days and of the coming weeks will lay it all right on the table for you. If you can respond with compassion toward yourself, the people who have hurt you, and anyone you feel you’ve hurt, you will know exactly what to do.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2003

This is not going to be your average Spring. The feeling is that of Promethian fire, of minds lighting up one another, of hearts reverberating with the music of freedom. I know the world is on the brink of chaos, but what we are witnessing is nothing more or less than the sum total of all we have denied all these years, and nothing less than the opportunity to go beyond it. As we release those cloaks and buttresses of refusal to know and feel the truth of who we are, we are born into a new world. For a moment, let no practical consideration deter your passion and your craving for vision, knowledge and freedom. Consider that very craving to be your most pressing practical concern. If life were really a game, you would be on top of it. But it’s no such thing. Not now. Not today.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2003

By now you’ve recognized that you must think with precision, but the necessity to act with precision builds with each passing day. Indeed, the current process of your life may be developing toward one specific instance of knowledge, decision and directed movement. You can be certain of two things. One is that the openings are there. Certain people will be revealing themselves as unexpectedly influential in the role of what might be called gatekeeper, enough to completely change what seems to be the outer climate of your life. Second, you will have the strength of both will and endurance to make what can be reasonably called the last of many decisions of a major growth cycle. People feel different, and not just to you — within themselves, they know it, and you appear to them as someone who has long known something they simply missed. Don’t let this go to your head. Their old fears were honest. Now you can get together and agree that there’s much more to life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2003

Revisions in your career plans will take up much of your time this month, but make sure it’s time well spent. There is no need for a long hunt or investigation about something you’re missing from the past when you know exactly what it is already. But an extraordinarily careful review of history, including what you have counted as your most significant successes, failures and innovations, would be more than productive. You are looking for a pattern, and the pattern is going to reveal a formula. I don’t mean a formula that you follow like a recipe. I’m talking about what you identify as the spiritual alchemy that is always present at the time of a breakthrough. If you happen, at any time in your research, to notice that this particular energy is around you, remember to take your moment.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2002

By now you are probably getting a sense of just how much support you have on accomplishing your most cherished goals, and how deeply this process is going to change your way of being, from the inside to the out. The demand, on the other hand, appears to be the extent to which all the affairs of this world require an exchange. And while that exchange does not necessarily call for sacrifice, it’s presently beckoning a more total commitment than you’ve ever known. But the key, at the moment, is looking closely at what you are requiring of yourself versus what is being required of you by others. The distinctions may be subtle, and they’re changing. Yet what’s clear is that you have what it takes to allow viable, mutually profitable transactions to happen in your life. And it’s also glaringly obvious — from these charts, anyway — that whatever it is, it’s spiritual.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2002

Your current experience of life is, to put it mildly, being colored by an encounter with someone who is overtly demonstrating the reality of who you are inside. Though you may wonder about balance, limits and equilibrium, for an Aries these are largely theoretical abstractions on the level of String Theory or perhaps Catholicism. It may be unusual to meet anyone who can match your intensity, creativity and will, but I assure you it’s far more odd to have it occur in a time when so much is available to you in terms of inner harmony and the constructive flow of energy. Events of the coming two months will present you with an opportunity to completely redefine, but moreover, personally embody what you consider spiritual. Let’s put it this way — it’s not what you thought, and it’s a lot better than you thought.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2002

Issues you didn’t even know were holding you back are about to emerge on your radar, and thankfully so. There’s nothing worse than a problem you don’t know you have, and given that this will resolve itself easily if it’s confronted directly, what you know is better than what you don’t. The complication is that you need to honor the feelings of someone you respect, but whose take on reality — particularly in relationships — is not quite up to your speed. It may be easier and threaten no actual loss of integrity if you admit to the basic facts (if they are true) but demonstrate through your actions that there is a better way. One of the challenges we face at our point in history is teaching one another to get along with one another. It is, however, better to show rather than to tell in this particular lesson.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2002

You will have a lots of company if you get the yen for doing your own thing your own way. Oh, wait, that’s the Thing that I’ve been writing about in this space for months. There are times when astrology provides us with better metaphors than any translation thereof, so I ask: what do you think it means that the asteroids Dionysus and Bacchus join Jupiter, the god of wisdom, joviality and excess, in your Fifth House of celebration, creation and taking risks? It must mean something. (If you’re a parent, please get your kids an account with the local cab company, or set up a network of rides, and stash the car keys). If you’re any species of impassioned, inspired or illuminated, you are being given cosmic license to celebrate the moment and celebrate the season. And while we’re into the astrology, Chiron’s renewed forward motion across your career angle says that such revelries will provide wholesome professional fuel.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2002

You are beginning  to understand the nature of the creative force, and you are beginning  to have the maturity to use it well. It’s easy to see, from your  vantage point, that to bring anything into this world entails  a measure of risk, but the risk is somehow what activates the  game of manifestation. This is because it’s a concrete exercise  of freedom and choice, which are a demonstration of divine power  on an individual level. I am tempted to say that there’s nothing  you can’t create in your life at this point, but I’ll put it  another way. There is no risk too big or too dangerous if you  think the results are worth it. The only caution you need to  bear in mind is that your ability to create may exceed your ability  to maintain. So it’s fair to move a little at a time, and observe  the results.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2002

In what seems to be  a theme for the month but rather magnificently for you, the whole  experience of intelligence is taking up residence on the emotional  level of your life. This is the only intelligence that matters,  at our particular point in history. We have more than enough  bridges, factories, radar systems, nuclear power plants and calculus  texts. Our libraries are brimming with data. What we don’t have  in a particularly accessible way is a spirit of mental power  that factors in sensitivity, or a widespread vision of spiritual  life that factors in compassion. We live in a time when the ends  are still justifying the means. There is a different, a very  different, energy moving through your life now, and it’s about  to transform your view of the world. And I would remind you that  even if you don’t know it, you’re an example for a great many  people.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2002

Some ask, is it possible  to forget the past? I would ask, is it possible to remember it?  I think what most of us carry are memories of memories, not the  real thing. When we think of “the past” we are usually  dealing with an interpretation, perhaps retold and re-remembered  several times over, maybe hundreds of times. Yet you are now  unusually close to the real thing, the facts behind the fiction,  and therefore, reconciling with difficult or disturbing aspects  of the past is possible. You don’t need to go far; the information  you need is coming toward you. The question is, can you use it  in a way that frees you from your misperceptions of what has  happened to you, even going back to dim and distant years? You  can if you want. By seeing the past for what it was, even in  glimpses, you will radically alter your view of the present.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2002

How you feel is more  important than what you think. This distinction cannot be pointed  to often enough, and it can only be learned through deep self-reflection.  Now, however, the difference is rather glaring. What you think  is likely to change a lot, and there may seem to be at least  a dozen viewpoints to every issue, none of which are quite true.  How you feel, on the other hand, is likely to be more stable,  gentle and come with the sense that you are guided and protected  by a spiritual force that is intelligent, benefic and, most of  all, revolutionary. Your thoughts are likely to lead you nowhere  this month. Your feelings can guide you to some amazing places  or significant achievements. It will be worth studying the differences.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2002

In one of my favorite  passages in modern poetry, delivered in a musical rapture, Bob  Dylan tells us that he “sit[s] here so patiently / Trying  to find out what price / You have to pay to get out of / Going  through all these things twice.” To me, the beauty of these  lines is how universal the experience of needing to learn our  lessons over and over is, so if you’re there, take heart. Somebody  knows what it will take to get you on your way again, even if  you think you don’t. Someone close to you has clear suggestions  and is willing to share them. It may surprise you that those  who know are not always inclined to be silent, though it would  help if you offered your attention. The gift is one of rationality,  or what might be described as a higher logic. This gift will  lend purpose to a relationship that will help you rethink the  purpose of your life, which is, of course, merely a point of  beginning.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2002

In these days and weeks,  you may discover you have a lot in common with people you thought  you shared nothing with at all. One of the cosmic jokes of Aries  is the extent to which this sign represents true bold individualism,  and yet at the same time, everything about it is linked to the  karma of the entire human race (the zodiac begins with something  called the Aries Point, which the Sun crosses each year at the  Vernal Equinox, and this is responsible for the effect). This  seeming paradox makes sense if you consider that unless we experience  ourselves as individuals, we don’t really experience ourselves  at all. And it seems that a lot of people around you are at long  last figuring this out. Now, it may be that you are observing  something you have previously missed. Or it may be that time  has advanced, and with it, something has shifted in the collective  consciousness. Or, more probably, you are provoking something  very positive in the people you know.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2002

In the words of Lou  Reed, “You can’t always trust your mother,” but I would  translate that to you can’t always trust what your mother wants  for you. It’s well worth pondering for a while, but there were  things that your mother did not know about, experiences she didn’t  have, and fears she passed along to you. And there were desires  she had never dared to taste. There is a universe of possibilities  opening up for you now. Some may seem strange, others beyond  hope, yet others too fearful to even think about. There is, I  can see, some kind of fog hanging over your most worldly desires  and cosmic aspirations, made no more clear by your shocking passion  and poignant curiosity. But whatever uncertainty you feel, the  unknown is your friend, the fertile void from which all real  possibilities emerge.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2001

In an effort to cope  with reality, you might try to make the world more simple, or  to make yourself more complex, even when you know these things  are not true. But if you do this, there’s a loss of contact possible,  a constriction of data flow between you and the people around  you. This may account for the sacrifice of your relationships  in the past year or so, but it’s surely easy enough to learn  how to get beyond. Interact with people, in language. Try not  collecting knowledge, but rather, using it. And please do remember  that mastering knowledge does not mean mastering people. The  two are related, but the only person you really want to master  is yourself, with great discretion, and in a spirit of freedom,  if such are possible. But as for knowledge: the one sure way  to tell if it’s meaningful is whether it changes you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2001

Authority figures  are known for making stunning blunders, yet we still appeal to  authority for truth. “The phonograph…is not of any commercial  value,” said Thomas Edison, to his assistant, speaking of  his own invention. “Well-informed people know it’s impossible  to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to  do so, the thing would be of no practical value,” opined  the Boston Post in 1865. So, watch what you say, and moreover,  what you allow yourself to believe. You are inclined, at several  points this month, to believe just about anything. And hey, it  may even be true. But I really, really suggest that you not repeat  — or act upon — something that you don’t know for a fact is  true, tempting though it may be to do so, no matter how reliable  the source. What you are dealing with is authoritative misinformation.  You need verification, and you’re going to get it, but it might  not go the way you think. Regardless, the truth is better.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 2001

The way is slippery  this month in your interactions with others, particularly close  partners. There’s no telling what they think or feel, or, more  precisely, what they mean by what they say — but they are in  the same boat. They still have so much to figure out that that  it’s not possible to come to any conclusions. I say “they”  and I mean people in general, but particularly one person, especially  if that person is (or seems) younger than you. Your challenge,  and it’s not a minor one, is to not take developments so personally,  and to respond with compassion to confusion. If you can hold  out for three or four weeks, if you can wait for awareness to  rise and understanding to flow, then you’re headed for some really  good times with this person. Impatience, being a parent or resorting  to anger will be more costly than usual, and it won’t get you  anything for the price. And if you must discuss personal matters,  do it in person. Not, for instance, by email.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2001

For a while, I’ve  been tracking the progress of your movement from the idea stage  to the action stage of your life. This is not about any one project  in particular, it’s just about a lot of energy opening up, and  the opening up of what may seem like a new dimension of who you  are. (Psychologists might call this the “superconscious”  and mystics might callit the “high self.” Astrologes  call it the 9th house. This phemomenon involves the Mars-Chiron  conjunction.) And it would seem you have (or will soon have)  an equal mix of rare opportunities in the personal and professional  spheres, and the places where they overlap. Enough has changed  in recent weeks, and is about to change again, that it would  make sense for you to check through your relationships and projects  one by one to make sure they’re all in accord with The Plan as  you’ve been cooking it up. Once you reach a certain point fairly  soon, there will be no turning back. And if you run into an unforeseen  problem, remember this: you’ve been through this one before.  You figured out the solution long ago, you just need to remember  what it is. You’ll remember a few other important things right  around then, too.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2001

Now you know what it feels like to be a Sagittarian at its best:  to stretch your bow way back, to hold your mark firmly in sight,  to breathe, and to let your arrow fly. You have endured being  put on hold for several long months, and have survived life with  your initiative trapped in a kind of motionless inertia. Those  days are over, and it would be unwise to waste time fearing their  return. What now occurs is the gathering of energy that precedes  the actual manifestation of any important vision. And though  I do not know what it is, the stars are clear that what you have  developed, imagined or discovered in these months is of extraordinary  value and potency. As for making your vision real, go one clear  step at a time, gather your new momentum slowly, and keep making  decisions. The important thing, as I think you know, is that  you have shifted directions. One monumental choice awaits you,  but you now know more than enough to negotiate your future.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2001

The Earth is not falling out from beneath your feet. It is, however, moving, and in a short time you may find yourself standing on top of a mountain that grew up beneath you. There are many who believe that “this life is a test,” and I am not usually inclined to believe them. However, at this particular juncture of your personal history, “test” is a fair statement of reality. The main question seems to involve an inquiry about whether you really believe in yourself, your visions, your ideals and your hard-won knowledge. You are being summoned, as well, to explore whether it’s possible for you to turn your greatest liability into your greatest strength. Do you doubt this is possible? I don’t advise wasting your time with such trivialities, or pestering your mind with pointless questions. It’s not only possible; it’s inevitable.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 2001

Everyone carries the legacy of the past, and everyone is influenced by it. Our parents’ secret stories, the unspoken histories of our families and the genetic memories of our species all linger in our minds and DNA, influencing the decisions we make each day. There is substantial research demonstrating that we even have the capability to access our parents’ memories of events that happened long before we born. In the weeks to come, the spotlight of awareness shifts into these secret rooms, where you will find vital information, reserves of energy you didn’t know you had and freedom from thoughts you never consciously accepted. To move within this space will take some guts, but if we can say one thing for sure, it’s that you now have the courage and see the wisdom in not just facing the past, but in understanding it.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2001

It would seem that you’ve evolved or stumbled upon some very powerful ideas recently, and that in this moment you are likely to be feeling just how precious these ideas are. Yet there is more, something much more subtle, that is coming your way; though if you approach the world with a conquering spirit you’re not necessarily going to be a bad conqueror, you’ll just miss some of the more beautiful dimensions of what you’re being offered. Take a moment and be still; there is a place within you where galactic wisdom and your body’s wisdom meet. There is a healing being offered to you now, and in the coming weeks and months I trust you’ll recognize a healing gift you have to offer to others. The healing relates to men: if you are a man, to the crippled sense of maleness that our culture passes through the generations; if you are a woman, to the anger and frustration you may feel with men, and to your own wounded desire nature.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2001

I was listening to Laurie Anderson’s album Strange Angels, and had a thought. It seems there is some music that carries traces of the past attached to it, and that other music is somehow art that’s unstained by the past, no matter what we’ve been through with it on our journey. All art can work this way — the feeling of Eternal Now with which some paintings or sculptures resonate is just overwhelming. Real art pushes us into awareness, and its effects ripple through our minds. We create this for ourselves by daring to make our fresh mark on the world each day, and by reminding ourselves to look at the people around us, no matter how familiar they may seem or how long they have been around, from a new perspective. Try this and see how alive it makes you feel.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2001

For some time I’ve had a vision for an initiation ritual called Self-Betrothal, or a wedding to oneself. It seems often that we seek out highly committed relationships in an effort to complete ourselves, when we really need to do this completion work on our own, though surely with the support of friends. Before such a joining to oneself, ideally there would be a time of preparation, perhaps a year akin to engagement, involving vision questing, counseling and learning life skills, culminating in a rite-of-passage in which a person essentially marries himself or herself in a ceremony attended by their community. The “ego” and “spirit” would be joined as one entity; the “self” and “higher self” would, through ritual and learning, be brought into one awareness. My idea may be some time from manifesting, but for you, this is a powerful time of joining to yourself, of allowing what is above, what is below and what is at the center of your heart to merge in sacred matrimony.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2001

Coming events may lead you to reconsider some of your ideas about love in light of your actual experiences of love. Idealism is one thing, but getting what you need is another. Prevailing cultural teachings on both the subject of love and of religion tend to pull us way outside of ourselves, and pressure us into negating what we actually notice about life, people and the cosmos. Lofty notions about relationships are put into our minds by everyone from ministers to Hollywood movies (there is little difference between the grandiose ‘Love of Gud’ and glamorized romantic ideals); both fragment us from what we observe to be true, and what we know we need and desire. God indeed loves us, and the lips of the beloved are surely sweet. There is no conflict here, unless we make one. Perfection of the soul is a prerequisite for neither, but making a few simple decisions surely is.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2001

There’s no way anyone besides you can account for what’s really influencing or motivating you to make and remake certain key decisions in the coming four seasons, though it’s obvious that you will brook neither interference nor persuasion from outside yourself. This is a rare time in which you will be given the opportunity to solidify your deepest convictions. I caution you against being different for its own sake, since even your most ordinary choices, perception of your basic necessities and what you simply know to be true about the world may seem so strange to others as to defy any rational explanation. Yet we who are paying attention will know from both your inner movements and outer expressions that your systems of belief are maturing, that your knowledge is deepening and that your commitment to change is becoming tangible. Certain projects, perhaps those most dear to you, may seem to be beset by delays, but what appear as delays from our viewpoint on Earth are often really timing factors, when viewed from another perspective. While it’s clear that in the not-so-distant future you will have rather extraordinary opportunities to make your mark on the world, you must make those moves from a space of deep knowingness, understanding and inner preparation; hence it’s crucial that you use your time for these purposes, and not take long detours. If you are able to do this, you’ll soon be holding the impossible in your hand.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 2000

Easy does it. Go gently, especially where other people and their feelings are concerned. You are trying to make a very big change, and what you need to recognize is that you’ve done all that you can do, in terms of raw effort. Now you need to allow the momentum of your own progress to carry you, which will require an act of faith. I say this understanding how important and life-affirming effort is to you. Yet there is something else at work in your life: the idea of sacrifice, and it’s connected to how hard you try; and no doubt you have both given up a lot to get where you are, and grown accustomed to doing so. What now remains is reaping the rewards of your labors, and this calls for a new and very different state of mind.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 2000

It’s time for the two-year relationship checkup. Please scan back to the fall of 1998, size up where you were at then, and run through a sequence of the turns, twists and trysts. If you have been in one continuous relationship, check for which conflicts have come up repeatedly, which have been resolved and which have not been addressed. If you’ve been in a series of relationships, examine the common themes that have surfaced, and the unique qualities of each experience. And, most important and perhaps most difficult, explore the balance of power question. Who holds the high cards? Who has the influence and how do they get it and keep it? Here, events around November 7-10 will be especially revealing, and most interesting.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 2000

You may feel compelled or pressured to work in modes that you would normally consider excessively verbal or cognitive, but even if you’re one of those intuitive types afraid that words get in the way of the truth, fear not. It’s a truly amazing time to let words do the talking, particularly in writing, and to do your thinking by projecting onto paper or the computer screen. From the looks of things, there will be no shortage of what to write about; no scarcity of awesome relationship experiences in which the universe is mirrored back into your glowing face; no shortage of people with whom you may explore ideas or with whom you can share your work. Just keep it all (you) flowing. If you’re getting overheated, frustrated or angry, easy does it — you’re just not writing enough.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 2000

It has been said many times that religion is a fact of life, but only which religion we choose is a variable. Most who consider themselves atheists have deferred the matter of cosmology to science, which rivals the world’s most corrupt religions for its dependence on blind hope, speculation, ignorance and surrender of critical thought. Religion, correctly defined, is the reconnection (re-ligios, as in ligament) of something that has been severed. Spiritualism is the recognition (re-cognition, or re-thinking) of a living Divine Source within us, which has never faltered but for our awareness of it. Which to you require? Which do you choose? Do you feel the living Source within, without, or some combination of both? I imagine that in the fortnights to come, you will have many opportunities to experiment and make your choices, though I suggest a simple test: follow that which points most clearly to love and life.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 2000

I asked Patti at Wreck Beach, one of your blazing Aries cousins, what she wanted her July horoscope to say. “I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the astrologer.” She could not understand why I thought that was so funny (when asked, why not say, “Life Is Amazing! Love! Freedom!”?) But with your emotional pots being stirred and homefires stoked by none other than the Sun, Venus, Mars and Mercury this month, there will be those moments when confusion is rampant, fulfillment is overwhelming and when passion’s fires reach into the heavens of perfection. What I’m trying to say is don’t waste these experiences even if you’re feeling mixed-up. Swim in your confusion. Surrender to yourself, and dive into those rich unknowns where anywhere is everywhere.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 2000

Now that you’re finished energizing everyone else’s creative projects, it’s time to move your own top-priority ideas into manifestation. I suggest you take three items off your list of things to worry about: 1. Money, including whether you will have too little, “too much,” or whether you will get it the “right” way. 2. That you wasted a lot of time on other people recently — you actually learned some essential skills that will come in handy. 3. That you’re too divisive or opinionated. Your very gift is that you initiate discussions of important issues, that you stir the pot on what everybody else is too lazy or scared to bring up. If ever there was a time to have no fear, and no guilt about being who you are (a problem few would peg you for) this is it. Bear all this in mind, and you will notice a direct relationship between your sense of inner worth, and the reality of what the world says you are worth.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 2000

Most concepts dividing the “material” world from the “spiritual” world are perfectly artificial, reflecting the mind’s conflicts far more than those of any objective reality. Yet is it not clear that we view ourselves more as what we have rather than who we are? And as a result, is it not clear that in a state of material abundance, we can feel perfectly empty? And that in other times of what you could call spiritual abundance, we can feel financially impoverished? I’m not in a position go make any guarantees, but if you pay attention during the next four to eight weeks, you’re in line with a series of revelations that will help you heal these divisions, now and forever, and get on with the real business and pleasure of life with higher integrity, and in greater comfort than ever before.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 2000

Anything you do that reminds you how much you already have will serve to enhance your sense of prosperity and good fortune. So the idea is to keep reminding yourself, indulging or experiencing those areas of your life in which you have plenty. If you do, I suggest that lack of any kind will prove to be some form of an illusion, which means a misperception or an easily-remedied situation. By “easily” I don’t mean to imply effortless, but rather involving effort in which your movements are not frustrated by pointless setbacks. And it’s all for a very good cause. You are well-poised to enter an unprecedented phase of earning your living by doing what you truly believe in — so, consider once again what that might be.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 2000

We tend to make a big deal out of the distinction between “friends” and “lovers.” And yet the overwhelming tendency in our culture is to have sex either with total strangers, or with people with whom we are in “permanent committed relationships.” Both have one thing in common: it’s not necessary to be fully truthful about how we feel. Strangers don’t care about honesty, and our long-term lovers are not usually so interested either. But these arrangements keep therapists, lawyers and psychic hotlines doing a brisk trade. Now is the perfect time to experiment with something different: sex with your friends — that is, choosing sex partners from within your inner circle, the people you care about, love, trust and understand. There’s something truly warm about it, plus, you’ll really get to be you.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for January 2000

With your most basic needs taken care of, and with so much complexity and adversity finally behind you, you may now turn your mind to the more subtle realms of life, love and what I can only describe as spiritual experience of the physical plane. It is time to set your goals on what you feel you must learn about the ways of this universe, a long-overdue project that has stood in the shadows of material necessity in a culture all-too-ready to deny the existence of anything beyond its own insanity. Now, more than ever, you are free to see that there is more to the world than the superficial images of life we’ve had branded into our minds by years of television and striving to be like everyone else. And there is a brighter and more hopeful endpoint of the journey across physical space-time than what some call death, for the path through these regions we now travel, far from being useless, contains value beyond measure and the potential for growth beyond our understanding. Your privilege is to search far beyond what is familiar, geographically and philosophically, and this golden quest upon which you are now free to embark is far more important than you suspect, no mere passing fancy. The question is where: where in the world, and where in consciousness, do you want to go? Please follow your heart.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for December 1999

There are at least two viewpoints you might consider taking on events of the past year. One is that they represented a struggle for control, specifically, the control of your own life and destiny. Certainly you’ve’ experienced a great push and pull with the people to whom you have given power over you, or who have it by default — perhaps sex partners or business partners, for example. The other perspective is to see events as a quest for innocence. Every specific subject or theme might match up exactly between these two angles: freedom in your relationships; financial independence; the ability to express your sexual desires; the right to be free from the past; your privilege of living without people having authority over you. But whether you view your life as a contest of the wills, or as a quest for expression of your innate self, will stack the odds against you, or in your favor. And this particular choice remains open.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for November 1999

Your motto for the month could well be, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.” Note that there are people in this life who are on the path of aspiration, and there are those who are not. The distinction is a fundamental division of purpose, and it’s not something talked about every day; it would be way too embarrassing. But as we can plainly see, assuming we look, there are those who aspire to do not just great things, but to do something, and there are those who aspire to do not quite evil, but to do nothing in particular, and for good reasons. When actively engaging life, we must challenge our theories and our ideas about who we are. We must project ourselves into the world, and then deal with the world’s reaction, and this makes some folks nervous. I imagine you are, by now, fully involved in this process (like it or not). What are you noticing? Have you gotten a sense for how solid a foundation you have built over the past fourteen months, and how much assistance is now available to you as a result of what you’ve accomplished, and as a reward for daring, as you now are, to be a much greater part of life? And have you made any strides toward figuring out what to do with the people who just don’t care?

Aries Monthly Horoscope for October 1999

Mirroring is one of those things we have come to accept as normal in our relationships. The fact that people reflect back to us what we on some level are has been accorded the status of a miracle of healing. The nature of this experience deserves some closer study at this point. Consider how good the mind is at projecting. Something the eyes “see,” from words printed on a page to a vision in the distance, can take on the shape, form or meaning that our minds contain at that moment. A paper bag can look like a struggling child. A newspaper headline can be read to mean something totally bizarre three or four times, and then the real words appear. The eyes may see and the ears may hear, but the mind controls perception. In much the same way, we rarely give people an opportunity to be themselves because we are often so full of ideas about who they are, and we rarely get an opportunity to be ourselves because everyone is so full of ideas about who we are. Introjecting is another concept to add to the equation: people tend to see us a certain way, based on their experience or prejudice, and we can tend to become that way. A series of truly rare opportunities are coming your direction which will afford you chances to let you be you and whomever be whomever, for certain and for real. You may be shocked, but you won’t be surprised.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for September 1999

If there are any compromises to be made, you’ll be the one in charge of making sure that everything turns out fairly. This is because not only are you coming from a position of power, not only are you coming from a kind of philosophical high ground to which you are truly dedicated, but also because you see how important it is that the results of what is worked out are, in the end, fair for everyone. Few people comprehend the idea of common issues and shared necessities, and most of them usually let their values go on vacation at least half the time, so the world is always needing people who can maintain awareness of what is simply correct. And since you are approaching what could be termed a day of advent in all matters of love, now is a good time to stay confident in your power. It should not be difficult.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for August 1999

Perhaps life would be easier if you understood the nature of the confrontation you find yourself in the midst of. I give you a lot of credit for taking it this far, and I suggest you do the same. You are finally seeking your freedom, but remember that this takes a highly advanced sense that life is about play more than it’s about work. In terms of your relationship to whatever is challenging or provoking you, it’s possible that you’ve reversed the roles involved; that it’s really you who now finds it necessary to challenge the stifling, limiting values you have internalized from authority figures, rather than someone else doing it to you. Next, the person to whom you’ve delegated the role of apparent challenger has far more in common with you than you are noticing, and by that, I mean he or she is here to awaken you to what you really want out of life but have long forsaken. Remember that whatever you are facing involves all of your relationships, not just one, because you are the one thing that all your relationships have in common. You are far too accustomed to viewing yourself as the inferior being, whether in family involvements, professional situations or personal affairs. If you want to be happy, bringing this philosophy of defeatism to a swift and conclusive halt would be quite helpful, for it is all that obstructs your path into a life that’s about exploring joyous and untold creative adventures with people who are truly your equals.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for July 1999

The idea of “inevitability” does not mean that an outcome is dictated or guaranteed, but rather that an irreversible sequence of events is likely to unfold. In the inevitable process known as your life, you may find yourself confronted with concepts and experiences propelling you forward, but which far exceed your present capacity or willingness to surrender to the next stage of your evolution. Yet isn’t it true that there’s so much you want to change, particularly in that deep, subtle and strange space inside you where relationships are experienced? Are there not so many stifling fears holding back blasts of energy you would just love to release into more creative activities? If it feels like you’re being provoked from the outside to do this (such as by a lover or partner) I propose that you investigate to what extent you are the one provoking yourself through some secret process or exchange within the relationship, and whether you consciously brought this person into your life for exactly this divine purpose. Of course you did. It’s really about you. And it’s fun to share.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for June 1999

You haven’t suffered any permanent loss of power. Recent months may have been confusing or chaotic, particularly in the sphere of close relationships, though it’s been a time of gathering your energies and exploring the limits of balance. Now, everything about this process becomes clear enough to enable your steps in radically new directions, surely heading straight for a series of profound transformations and a quickening of the energy of your life. As this happens, as you re-emerge, I suggest you practice the art of allowing people to be who they are, particularly those who annoy you the most, or whom you desire the most deeply. If it’s true that we give up something for everything we gain, then study what you value so that when the time comes, you’ll be ready to release what you don’t need in exchange for what you truly want, and surely deserve.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for May 1999

I’m one of those people who smells people. I might have been a beagle in some recent past life, but it seems natural to run up to folks, sniff their crotch and sometimes even lick their hand. I suggest you adopt some version of the Dog as your totem for about the next five or six weeks, doing the Pooch Review on everyone. If you do, the voice of a puppy will whisper in your ear the secret intentions of whomever you meet, though your first impressions alone will tell you everything you need to know. (Special assignment, unrelated to dogs: Sit naked in front of a mirror in a dark room for one hour, and write down whatever the shadows tell you.)

Aries Monthly Horoscope for April 1999

The first days of the Sun’s trip through Aries are colored with all kinds of great symbolism. Of course, the Vernal Equinox, when day and night are the same length — which was March 21 — is the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere. But then there is the more esoteric level. A new astrological year begins as the Sun appears to cross the first degree of the zodiac, which is symbolized by the image of a woman emerging from the sea, and a seal waiting on the beach to embrace her. That day, March 21, is called “The Day of Clarty,” according to the fabulous book The Secret Language of Birthdays. Yet the astrology of the current year speaks of a period of careful reflection for Aries souls, of understanding the past and making contact with the nature of your deepest desires. Let it be the reflection of a new light.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for March 1999

Here is a simple test for the status of your relationship: can you tell your partner exactly, precisely what you are thinking at the most passionate moment of surrender? If not, I would propose that there’s a lot more you’re not saying. The at-times-touchy-feely theme of this month is likely to be some version of approaching and backing off from commitments. You may have reason to hedge, a reason which can be just wanting to do your own thing, or harboring legitimate doubts, or awareness of a sudden and overwhelming sense that so much more is possible, and behold, it really is. But if you haven’t noticed, one of my philosophies of life is having it both ways, and I’d propose that you don’t need to give up anyone or anything that you really want in order to have someone or something else you really want. You just need to tell it like it is, and trust that people have good reasons for accepting you exactly as you are. But in reality, dear, they don’t have a choice.

Aries Monthly Horoscope for February 1999

Sign-by-Sign Horoscopes for February AOL Members can go to keyword MYSTIC This is a time of facing crippling doubts, then taking action, or more likely, action taking you. Though ruled by aggressive Mars, working on self-confidence is always a fine use of time for ARIES (March 21-April 19), and the sense of weakness you’re destined to conquer is that for whatever reason, your ideas or actions are not popular. They may not be. It hardly matters; life is a spontaneous process, and the most important events will seem to develop by accident, so pay attention all the time, even (especially!) if you feel totally lost, overwhelmed or unknown. Call it Karma, but the right thing happens; you can count on it.