CANCER (June 21-July 22): In its early days, the band Depeche Mode had the infinitely boring name Composition of Sound. Humphrey Bogart’s and Ingrid Bergman’s classic 1942 film Casablanca was dangerously close to being called Everybody Come to Rick’s. And before Charles Dickens published his novel Bleak House, a scathing critique of the 19th-century British judicial system, he considered eleven other possible titles, including the unfortunate Tom-all-Alone’s. The Solitary House that was always shut up and never Lighted. I bring this to your attention, Cancerian, as the seeding phase of your personal cycle gets underway. The imprints you put on your budding creations will have a major impact on their future. Name them well. Give them a potent start.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): One summer afternoon when I was seven years old, my friend Billy and I grabbed an empty jar from my kitchen and went looking for ants. Near the creek we found an anthill swarming with black ants, and scooped a bunch of them in the jar. A little later we came upon a caravan of red ants, and shoved many of them in with the black ants. Would they fight? Naturally. It was mayhem. Looking back now, I’m sorry I participated in that stunt. Why stir up a pointless war? In that spirit, Leo, I urge you to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Don’t do anything remotely comparable to putting red ants and black ants in the same jar.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In order for everyone in your sphere to meet their appointed destinies, you must cultivate your skills as a party animal. I’m only slightly joking. At least for now, it’s your destiny to be the catalyst of conviviality, the ringleader of the festivities, the engineer of fun and games. To fulfill your assignment, you may have to instigate events that encourage your allies to leave their comfort zones and follow you into the frontiers of collaborative amusement.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Your symbolic object of the week is a magic wand. I recommend that you visualize yourself as the star of a fairy tale in which you do indeed have a wand at your disposal. See yourself wielding it to carry out a series of fantastic tricks, like materializing a pile of gold coins or giving yourself an extraordinary power to concentrate or creating an enchanted drink that allows you to heal your toughest wound. I think this playful imaginative exercise will subtly enhance your ability to perform actual magic in the real world.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The taskmaster planet Saturn wove its way through the sign of Scorpio from October 2012 until the end of 2014. Now it has slipped back into your sign for a last hurrah. Between now and mid-September. I urge you to milk its rigorous help in every way you can imagine. For example, cut away any last residues of trivial desires and frivolous ambitions. Hone your focus and streamline your self-discipline. Once and for all, withdraw your precious energy from activities that waste your time and resist your full engagement. And if you’re serious about capitalizing on Saturn’s demanding gifts, try this ritual: Write either “I will never squander my riches” or “I will make full use of my riches” 20 times—whichever motivates you most.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The advanced lessons on tap in the coming days are not for the squeamish, the timid, the lazy, or the stubborn. But then you’re not any of those things, right? So there shouldn’t be a major problem. The purpose of these subterranean adventures and divine interventions is to teach you to make nerve-racking leaps of faith, whether or not you believe you’re ready. Here’s one piece of advice that I think will help: Don’t resist and resent the tests as they appear. Rather, welcome them as blessings you don’t understand yet. Be alert for the liberations they will offer.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Man’s being is like a vast mansion,” observed philosopher Colin Wilson, “yet he seems to prefer to live in a single room in the basement.” Wilson wasn’t just referring to Capricorns. He meant everybody. Most of us commit the sin of self-limitation on a regular basis. That’s the bad news. The good news, Capricorn, is that you’re entering a time when you’re more likely to rebel against the unconscious restrictions you have placed on yourself. You will have extra motivation to question and overrule the rationales that you used in the past to inhibit your primal energy. Won’t it be fun to venture out of your basement nook and go explore the rest of your domain?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “An obscure moth from Latin America saved Australia’s pasture-land from the overgrowth of cactus,” writes biologist Edward O. Wilson. “A Madagascar ‘weed,’ the rosy periwinkle, provided the cure for Hodgkin’s disease and childhood leukemia,” he adds, while “a chemical from the saliva of leeches dissolves blood clots during surgery,” and a “Norwegian fungus made possible the organ transplant industry.” I think these are all great metaphors for the kind of healing that will be available for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius: humble, simple, seemingly insignificant things whose power to bring transformation has, up until now, been secret or unknown.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “She is hard to tempt, as everything seems to please her equally,” said artist Anne Raymo in describing a hedonistic acquaintance. A similar statement may soon apply to you, Pisces. You will have a talent for finding amusement in an unusually wide variety of phenomena. But more than that: You could become a connoisseur of feeling really good. You may even go so far as to break into a higher octave of pleasure, communing with exotic phenomena that we might call silken thrills and spicy bliss and succulent revelry.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): During my regular hikes along my favorite trails, I’ve gotten to know the local boulders quite intimately. It might sound daft, but I’ve come to love them. I’ve even given some of them names. They symbolize stability and constancy to me. When I gaze at them or sit on them, I feel my own resolve grow stronger. They teach me about how to be steadfast and unflappable in all kinds of weather. I draw inspiration from the way they are so purely themselves, forever true to their own nature. Now would be an excellent time for you to hang out with your own stony allies, Aries. You could use a boost in your ability to express the qualities they embody.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Everyone is a genius at least once a year,” wrote German aphorist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. “The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.” According to my astrological analysis, Taurus, your once-a-year explosion of genius is imminent. It’s even possible you will experience a series of eruptions that continue for weeks. The latter scenario is most likely if you unleash the dormant parts of your intelligence through activities like these: having long, rambling conversations with big thinkers; taking long, rambling walks all over creation; enjoying long, rambling sex while listening to provocative music.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I think if we didn’t contradict ourselves, it would be awfully boring,” says author Paul Auster. “It would be tedious to be alive.” But he goes even further in his defense of inconsistency, adding, “Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do.” This bold assertion may not apply to everyone all the time, but it does for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. You should feel free to explore and experiment with the high art of changing your mind. I dare you to use it to generate extravagant amounts of beauty.
Homework: You know what to do and you know when to do it. Provide the evidence that this is true. FreeWillAstrology.com