 | | Were It So | For the Faithful by Eric Francis | 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. Astrology Readings on CD by Eric Francis | | Aries (March 20-April 21) | | 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. | | Taurus (April 21-May 20) | | These days are, for you, a study in the often peculiar psychology of desire. Oh, we all know how strange desire is, how it leads us to what we want, only to be followed by the discovery we didn't want it. The power of what we cannot have is, to me, one of the more interesting phenomena of human experience. Desire can surprise us right in the midst of where, or whom, we had no inclination at all to be. We might say, "If only I knew what I want! Then I could get it!" But life is for learning this one most powerful formula, and these days you could sum up your whole story in this one project. Yet then there is the experience of being the desired, the tantalizer, the coveted, the hunted. Are you really so uncomfortable with this role as you have suggested in the past? Or is its power rather alluring? Be careful, but while you're at it, have fun. | | Gemini (May 20-June 21) | | Most people get frustrated when their feelings take them one way and their thoughts take them another. It is not necessarily so pleasant; we can feel divided and unable to bring the hemispheres of reality together. But somehow I see this condition working for you now, to get you to the next stage of your growth. The squirming around from thoughts to feelings and back again has a purpose and a message, which to me is that you are laboring under the weight of a burden unlikely to be your own. It is something you have inherited: a sense of heaviness, of guilt, of responsibility that is not your own, and these feelings can cause you to doubt the rightness of who you are. We are accustomed to thinking of the conditions of our life as normal and as belonging there. Yet how would we know otherwise, unless, of course, we found out? | | Cancer (June 21-July 22) | | The theme of what to do with fear persists, and the answer, as always, is to take it to a creative level. We have no choice on Earth: we will confront fear, or be confronted by it. But for all we know about so much else (computer software, how to work the furnace, the train schedule, the history of nickels and dimes, etc.) we know rather little about fear. For as much as we experience it, and for as much as it messes up our days, and for as much as its knells and shrill warning s turn out to be false, you might think we'd be more curious. The less we know about fear the more power it has. Experiencing fear, we might call it misdirected or inappropriate. But that does not change the basic fact of the experience. Right now you are responding, on a deep level, to an approaching threshold in your life, a time of momentous re-emergence in the world. This is not happening fast, but it is as inevitable as birth. When you feel fear, consider it potential, or a kind of promise that you really are alive, and that so much more is possible. | | Leo (July 22-Aug. 22) | | It is easy for your thoughts of love to turn to thoughts of marriage, or one of its derivative forms of relationship. Can we avoid thinking of who might suit us better, or holding the hope that someone will be The One? I want to propose that there's something else going on that is worth looking at, a flaw in the social structure of our culture that is causing us to live for, or obsess over, The One, in our curiously modern way. The flaw, as I see it, is that our social structure does not really support our needs, and right now, there are many ways this condition is making itself felt in your life. We often lack true personal companionship, and we often feel alienated as a result. There are many ways in which we are banned from expressing our need for contact. Our friendships tend, as a rule, to compel a level of caution around self-disclosure, and as a result we relate to others as partial people. By all means, seek the affections of those by whom you are smitten, but please let your desire remind you that you need a whole lot more. A real place in your community awaits you, and you deserve it. | | Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22) | | I would remind you again to be suspect of your circumstances if you are being called upon to toil rather than to work, to labor rather than to create, to push yourself against resistance instead of move with the flow of existence. These are no doubt some of the most ambitious seasons of your life in a long time. But a warning as come in from Cosmic Central: take a seat at the controls, and distribute your energy in ways that really make sense, ways that are aimed at the long run, just not the immediate moment. Look, carefully, where you are acting on the sense that you have failed to meet up to someone's expectations, or to a commitment you think you have made and must live up to. Any trace of guilt in your mind can serve as a marker for such a belief: the belief is hidden, but the guilt is like its chemical residue. If you view yourself as part of a larger cause, just exactly what is that cause? What institution, organization or system of belief? How did you get involved? The more you ask these questions, the more options you will see. | | Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) | | You have so much support, and so many possibilities, though you may not even recognize them. How capable are we of looking at our lives - even in the best of times - and owning up to the notion that things are pretty good? How often do we look out at the world of today and see the past? If the current landscape bears an eerie familiarity with some other recent time in your life, you can remind yourself of all the ways your here and now bears no substantial resemblance to what you have experienced before, whether it was last year or ten years ago. I would propose, however, that you have the potential to make the right decision where, in another case, you may have made some troubling ones. At the moment, you are blessed with an awesome gift of thought power that is beyond reason, beyond rationality, and exists, mainly as the potential to catch glimpses of the way things really are. From that point of view, I trust you will be deeply reassured, and learn that where others fail in their confidence, you do not have to get dragged in. | | Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) | | I get the sense that you are seeking a kind of independence that goes against your normal tendency to bond deeply. The question involves whether you can really get what you want, or whether it's all just a tease, or perhaps a matter of speculation. It seems that for the first time you are recognizing this about boundaries, because in being presented with such a scenario, for example, a tease, you are called outside your safe zone. While this is not a breach of your space, you are, in a way, compelled to over-extend yourself, and that means expending energy, energy which goes somewhere. And where would that be? What is the deeper nature of the game? On careful analysis, it's clear that this is really an issue of independence, and that there is an agenda involved, and it may not be an especially honest one. You can make a lot of progress if you keep asking the question "Do I really want what I do not have?" and perhaps even, "What else can I be doing that's a lot more productive?" | | Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) | | You seem to be predicting some kind of confrontation, though at the moment you're in an excellent position to create a whole different outcome. In fact, someone else is changing, and they are doing so in ways that are both deep and difficult to see. Really, it's so deep that they are not fully aware of the implications, nor of their own tendency to escape into a darkness where you can't really reach them. In working through this situation, you can arrange for yourself a whole new way of being in relationship to people, and to the world. To make this work, it will be necessary to study what you feel deeply, what you value, and what you need, all very carefully, and when you have an understanding, bring your observations into every situation. You don't really need to say that you are doing so --- only if it's appropriate. But if you know where you're coming from, you will not only find it far more difficult to be confused by the changes of others, you will see real opportunities to experience other people in meaningful ways when they arise. | | Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) | | Humans and other land-dwellers have a different relationship to the elements than do creatures of the air or water. They live surrounded with their medium of transportation, while we normally touch ours only with one part of our body, our feet. If you've ever studied a fish swimming or a bird flying, it's clear that they are more agile and, in reality, more at one with their medium than we are with ours. Right now you are moving in the air, in world of thought. But this is not your natural medium, and you may feel like you can't pull together the necessary control to keep your focus. At the same time, you are handling certain inner situations that require you to keep your attention flexible and clear, but that will not work without contact with your primary element. In short, I suggest you look for ways to ground yourself, literally, on the Mother; and figuratively, by spending more time with your feelings than you do with your mind; and making sincere practicality your No. 1 priority. | | Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) | | You must watch a tendency to throw diplomacy to the wind in the coming season, and remember that your inner nature will be calling on you to negotiate, no matter how difficult a situation may seem, or how much pressure you may seem to be under. One approach to reversing any negativity is questioning just how pressing one particular situation really is. The chances are, you are overestimating it. Yet I propose that this is at the expense of something else. For every negative potential being expressed in our world, there is an affirmative potential not being expressed, or perhaps even many of them. Energy doesn't care which way you use it, but it needs to go someplace. You do have plenty of juice at the moment, which is to suggest that your choices count for all the more. The more clear your strategy, the more effective this processes of reversing negativity and making sane choices will be. | | Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) | | I suggest you take a bit longer view of the future than usual, say, for example, three months. One whole season. Think the new season through backwards and forwards, check your calendar, and see if you can identify any special needs you have, any plans that need rearranging, or commitments for which it would be wise to plan ahead. Though you have substantial and satisfying challenges in the outer world, the world of people and ideas, your most important challenge remains internal. In this life, focus on the inner process is truly something of a luxury. To maintain and develop the growth that has been so successful, there is a balance necessary. Responsibility needs to be tempered with freedom, the mental or spiritual world with sensation, and, on some level, no matter how important other people are to you, you must come first, and this will take planning. Did I say three months? Three years, too. | Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index | Consultations Space graphic above from the Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur.
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