Sagittarius
(NOVEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 21)
“Dear Rob: I love to be proven wrong. That’s not an ironic statement. I actually get excited and feel creative when I acquire new information that shows me I’ve been operating under a misunderstanding. One of my very favourite life moments occurs when I am convincingly liberated from a negative opinion I’ve been harbouring about someone. As you can tell, I’m quite proud of this quality. The way I see it, emotional wealth and psychological health involve having so much self-respect that I don’t need to be right all the time. —Sagittarian Freedom Fighter.” Dear Freedom Fighter: Thanks for your testimony. The capacity you described is one that many Sagittarians will be poised to expand in 2010. And this is an excellent week for them to start getting the hang of it.
Sagittarius Birthdays: Alex Lapp, Jeff Stockhausen
CAPRICORN
(December 22-January 19)
In an early version of the tale of Pinocchio, friendly woodpeckers
chiselled his nose back to its original size after it had grown
enormous from his incorrigible lying. From a metaphorical perspective,
Capricorn, a comparable development may soon occur in your own life. A
benevolent (if somewhat rough) intervention akin to the woodpeckers’
assistance will shrink an overgrown, top-heavy part of your attitude,
allowing you to proceed to the next chapter of your story with
streamlined grace.
AQUARIUS
(January 20-February 18)
“There is light enough for those who wish to see,” wrote French
philosopher Blaise Pascal, “and darkness enough for those of the
opposite disposition.” I’m hoping you will align yourself with the
first group in the coming week, Aquarius. More than ever before, what
you choose to focus on will come rushing in to meet you, touch you,
teach you and prompt you to respond. Even if all the smart people you
know seem to be drunk on the darkness, I encourage you to be a brave
rebel who insists on equal time for the light.
PISCES
(February 19-March 20)
White dwarfs are small and extremely dense stars. They’re typically
no bigger than the Earth but as heavy as the sun. You currently have a
resemblance to one of those concentrated balls of pure intensity. I
have rarely seen you offering so much bang for the buck. You are as
flavourful as chocolate mousse, as piercing as the scent of eucalyptus,
as lustrous as a fireworks display on a moonless night. I’m quite
attracted to your saucy and zesty emanations, and I think most people
with strong egos will be. But some underachievers with lower
self-esteem may regard you as being more like astringent medicine. My
advice: Gravitate toward those who like you to be powerful.
ARIES
(March 21-April 19)
When Carolee Schneeman was a kid, her extravagant adoration of
nature earned her the nickname “mad pantheist.” Later, during her
career as a visual artist, she described her relationship with the
world this way: “I assume the senses crave sources of maximum
information, that the eye benefits by exercise, stretch and expansion
toward materials of complexity and substance.” I hope that you’re
attracted to that perspective right now, Aries. To be in most
productive alignment with the cosmic rhythms, you should be in a state
of openness, hungry to be stretched—like a mad pantheist.
TAURUS
(April 20-May 20)
“Dear Rob: Last night my son and I were star-gazing. When we focused
on the constellation Cassiopeia, an owl started hooting. Then a
brilliant shooting star zipped by as a huge bat flew right over our
heads. Was this a bad omen? Bats are creepy—associated with vampires.
And in Greek mythology Cassiopeia got divine punishment because she
bragged that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the sea
god’s daughters. But I don’t know, maybe this blast of odd events was a
good omen. Owls are symbols of wisdom and shooting stars are lucky,
right? What do you think? Are we blessed or cursed? –Spooked
Taurus.” Dear Spooked: The question of whether it’s good or bad
luck is irrelevant. Here’s what’s important: You Tauruses are in a
phase when the hidden workings of things will be shown to you—the
mysterious magic that’s always bubbling below the surface but that is
usually not visible.
GEMINI
(May 21-June 20)
The week ahead will be a ripe time to pull off magic reversals. May
I suggest that you try to transform dishwater greys into sparkling
golds? Or how about recycling the dead energy of a lost cause in such a
way as to generate raw fuel for a fresh start? I’m confident that
you’ll be able to discover treasure hidden in the trash, and that
you’ll find a way to unleash the creative zeal that has been trapped
inside polite numbness. Now ponder this riddle, please: Do you think
there’s any mystical significance in the fact that the word “stressed”
is “desserts” spelled backwards?
CANCER
(June 21-July 22)
Lately you remind me of the person Robert Hass describes in his poem
“Time and Materials:” “someone falling down and getting up and running
and falling and getting up.” I’m sending you my compassion for the
times you fall down, and my admiration for the times you get up and my
excitement for the times you run. It has probably become clear to you
by now that the falling down isn’t a shameful thing to be cursed, but
rather is an instrumental part of the learning process that is teaching
you marvelous secrets about getting back up and running.
LEO
(July 23-August 22)
“I burn for no reason, like a lantern in daylight,” writes poet
Joseph Lease. I think that’s a succinct formulation of one of your
central issues, Leo. Burning for no reason, like a lantern in the
daylight, can be the cause of either failure or success for you,
depending on subtle differences of emphasis. This is how it can be
failure: When you’re mindlessly and wastefully burning through your
prodigious reserves of fuel without any concern for the benefits it may
provide you and others. This is how it can be success: When you are
exuberant and self-disciplined in shining your light and radiating your
warmth just because it feels so good and so right and so healthy, and
without any thought about whether it’s “useful” to anyone.
VIRGO
(August 23-September 22)
In one of his short poems, John Averill (twitter.com/wiremesa) describes a
scene that I think captures the essence of your current astrological
omens: “Today is the day of the photo of moonrise over Havana in a book
on a shelf in the snowbound cabin.” Here’s a clue about what it means:
The snowbound cabin is where you are right now in your life. The
moonrise over Havana is where you could be early in 2010. How do you
get there from here?
LIBRA
(September 23-October 22)
An estuary is a bay where the salt water of a sea mixes with the
fresh water of rivers. These days you remind me of such a place. You
are two-toned, Libra. You’re dual-purpose and double-tracked. You’re a
hybrid blend of the yes and the no, the give and the take, the
extravagant and the traditional. And somehow this has been working out
pretty well for you. You’re not so much a dysfunctional contradiction
as an interesting juxtaposition. You’re not being crushed by a squeeze
of opposites so much as you’re getting massaged by the oscillating
throbs of complementary influences. Keep doing what you’ve been doing,
only more so.
SCORPIO
(October 23-November 21)
Big egos with flashy tricks may be mucking around in everyone’s
business, calling narcissistic attention to themselves as they pretend
to do noble deeds. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll be doing the hard, detailed
work that must be done to serve the greater good—quietly and
unpretentiously improving people’s lives without demanding major
tribute. That approach will stir up some sleek, silky karma that will
come in handy when you undertake the building of your masterpiece in
2010.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.