| There are those times when you don't need astrology charts to read astrology; you can just look at the sky. This is such a moment. What we are witnessing in evenings in the western sky is a gathering of planets (sometimes called a 'string of pearls', a lovely name indeed) across the signs Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. This gathering currently includes all the planets of antiquity except for the Moon (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter), plus the brightest asteroid (Vesta quite close to Saturn) and something invisible, called the North Node. What we are experiencing in terms of the slow but steady acceleration of madness, excitement or wild experiences in our lives is a warm-up to events that will unfold a little later in the spring that are likely to change the world and change our lives. As the Sun moves into Gemini, aligning with Saturn and the North Node, and the Moon swings into position on June 10 when a total solar eclipse occurs, we will very likely be feeling the momentousness of these events that are now taking shape. While you may not have much influence in "the world," you have a lot of influence in your life. Make it good. The Right To Exist by Chris Grosso | Sign dates below are approximate. They now overlap by one day. The date and time of the Sun's ingress to the new sign changes a little each year, so please check with an astrologer if you want the exact position of your Sun, and while you're at it, your rising sign -- this horoscope is written for both your Sun and rising signs. If you find that some other sign's interpretations work for you, then go for it. | | Aries (March 20-April 21) | | Choose your battles, and please think strategically. Think of your future, as well as your present needs. Think of your reputation, as well as your actual integrity. I suggest putting an extreme of caution into everything you write, and everything you let other people read. Your written words, your ideas and your influence on the people around you are all extraordinarily powerful, but ultimately somewhat difficult to control. So I suggest you work from a plan, and check your actions against that plan. If you write, work with an editor. If you are planning any kind of important meeting, rehearse. If you do, the potential for some awesome successes is right in your hands. | | Taurus (April 21-May 20) | | Finally, you seem to be taking in the message that how you feel about yourself is more important than how anyone feels about you. You may not have credited recent changes in your life to this truth, but it's not too late, and it's not too late to allow this recipe for reality to help you trek across any potential time in the future when you may feel more alienated than you do today. Your sense of being different, or of containing some dark mystery within, deserves a place in your life, and that means in your relationships. For it is true that whole relationships can only come from being the whole you. | | Gemini (May 20-June 21) | | It would be timely to look at the dualism that characterizes your sign as an inner meeting of (or contrast between) the male and female polarities of human expression. There are lots of other ways to consider the twins of Gemini, but with Venus and Mars heading for a stunning exact conjunction, called an occultation, in your sign shortly, we have something of an astrological no-brainer here. For some time you have been experiencing an emphasis on the male polarity in your nature. Events of the coming weeks show you the infusion of the female. As the two grow closer together, the results should be rather interesting, to say the least. | | Cancer (June 21-July 22) | | I imagine people have been expressing some strong reactions to you lately, and yet internally, all is moving toward healing, balance and stability. Most humanoids who are less in touch with the flowing emotional cycles of the Moon are probably being pulled around in ways they don't quite understand, as we now begin our journey through the most intense astrology of 2002. You are blessed, at this moment, with a degree of foresight that those around you may be lacking, so cut them a little slack and be the bigger person if they're edgy, scared, paranoid, or even taking it out on you. | | Leo (July 22-Aug. 22) | | If only you knew what you wanted, you could have it. Just what is standing between you and your knowledge? Look out at the world around you. Look for something that you think is real or true that you know is not; look for something that you doubt, but which you know is true. Then ask yourself why you are choosing one and not the other. There is a reason. More than anything, that reason involves the fear of sacrifice. Following words to their roots, I ask you: is it necessary to sacrifice in order to make something sacred? This week, you may have a glimpse at another way. | | Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22) | | You are poised for a rare breakthrough in your career, which may come in the form of your reputation being put on display in a very unusual way, or successfully challenging an authority figure who has tried to hold you back. But you are the source of the action; you will need to make choices, use your discrimination, and apply your knowledge, achievements and mostly guts to a demanding situation that is likely to provide you with substantial rewards. You have it in you. Promise. | | Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) | | With so much activity in your 9th solar house, I would not be surprised if you were contemplating travel to far away places. The sooner you finalize your plans the better, since there is a short window of opportunity open during which the view is relatively clear. Beyond May 1, it becomes increasingly different to see into the distance, and increasingly likely that your choices will lead to unexpected changes in your life. Of course, you may be craving some new territory, new beliefs or new ideas about yourself, which makes this a very favorable time to make choices that will have uncertain outcomes. | | Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) | | It would be wise not to get too carried away with your emotions during the next few days. This week's Full Moon across the most personal angle of your solar chart is likely to have the effect of bringing something that seems crucial to a head in one particular relationship. But no matter how convincing they may seem, you have reasons to doubt your feelings, particularly if they are based on insecurities that have been hanging around for year after year. There comes a time when our fears, though still present, deserve less power. Remaining calm now will help you avert an unnecessary power struggle a little further down the line. | | Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) | | Let's see how well you've learned to stay out of the crises of the people close to you. Whereas in recent seasons it was relatively easy to place some element of the blame for what others were going through on yourself (maybe you were a catalyst for their changes, for example) what happens next so obviously does not involve your influence that you may actually be able to decide to let whoever go through whatever without blaming yourself. This is no small exercise, and to keep this particular boundary clear would be no small triumph. We have faith in you. | | Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) | | Your ruling planet Saturn's movements in this stage of your life give you the opportunity do several things that are distinctly un-saturnian, in particular, to treat structure as flexible, and have it respond that way; to treat your deep sense of personal tradition as open to some wild suggestions, and have it comsider them; and to subject attributes of your inner reality to a profound test, and have them pass with streamers flying in the wind. Your other option, in contrast to all of these, is to have the world act on you as if you had no choice in anything. Events of the coming week should give you a sense of which way you're going. Remember, there is still time to make up your mind again. | | Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) | | Planetary activity is daring you to loosen your grip on what you think of as reality, and then dare to think of something else as reality. Which leads to what you'll probably agree is a worthwhile philosophical distinction: there is the reality that changes, which is a product of our belief systems; and there is the reality that does not change, which is the reality of reality. It's really helpful not to confuse the two. But it's even better to bring the reality that changes ever closer to the reality that does not. It is something of the ultimate dare of free will and, for the time being, you'll know you're heading the right direction because, quite simply, it's a lot more fun. | | Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) | | I needed to remind myself today that good times in my life have nothing to do with how other people feel, or feel about me, or what they are going through. It surely helps if they are kind, understanding, honest or real, and not struggling, but really: how much better is your life when they are all just dandy and you're having a hard time? You're well suited to take an extraordinarily independent place in the world right now, and work the energy of your life in ways that take you significantly beyond the small matters of interpersonal relationships. The big ones count for more, but in reality, greater adventures yet beckon you. | This Year's Model Ah So: The Man is Pregnant Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index | Consultations  Space graphic above from the Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur.
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