By Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Love isn't as simple as you wish it
would be. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as complicated as you fear it
is. My advice to you is to extinguish any itch you might have to compel love to
serve any agenda at whatsoever. Instead, bow down before it with all the
innocence you can muster, and declare yourself ready to be its humble student
and servant. Celebrate through surrender.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "Dear StarMan: I want to be a
famous actress like Scarlett Johansson. I know my natural talent is as good as
hers, but I'm not especially beautiful. On one of those 'am I hot or not?'
websites, I was rated 3.2 out of 10. Can you look into my future and see if
I'll ever make it big in Hollywood? And would it help if I got cosmetic
surgery? - Taurus Dreamer." Dear Taurus: It's a favorable time for you
Tauruses to explore ways you might be kidding yourselves about your destiny. So
let me ask you this: Does the dream you articulated express the primal truth
about your purpose here on earth? Or is it a fantasy your ego has fabricated
out of a deluded longing to pursue inappropriate ambitions that won't satisfy
you in the long run? Instead of saying, "I want to be a famous actress,"
try this desire on for size: "I want to be a good actress."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When I was in Seattle recently, I was
impressed with the extravagant requests of three seedy-looking homeless guys
downtown. Their cardboard signs made it clear they wanted far more than the
usual alms. "Need cash to buy fuel for my Lear jet," read one.
"Girlfriend needs liposuction—please help defray costs" and
"Desperately need new set of golf clubs for golf date with Donald Trump"
said the other two. Draw inspiration from these cheeky fellows. Dream really,
really big; ask for more than you've dared to before.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Is your schedule too rigid to allow
magic to seep in? Then mutate that schedule, please. Is your brain so crammed
with knowledgeable opinions that no fresh perceptions can crack their way in?
Then flush out some of those opinions. Is your heart so puckered by the stings
of the past that it can't burst forth with any expansive new invitations? Then
unpucker your heart, for God's sake.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Picture a bridge that once upon a time
allowed cars to cross over a river, but that now has nothing but hard dirt and
scrubby bushes beneath it. In other words, the river that once compelled the
building of the bridge has dried up. This is a useful symbol for you.
Metaphorically speaking, you're thinking about erecting a bridge over a barrier
that won't be a barrier much longer. If you wait a while, it won't be necessary
to do all that work.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Jeff Greenwald (www.ethicaltraveler.com)
has traveled extensively all over the planet for the last quarter of a century.
"Do the citizens of the world revile us Americans more each year?" I
asked him. He said that while millions upon millions have come to despise the
U.S. government, most don't actually hate us, the American people. That's
because they know firsthand the corruption and tyranny of their own countries'
politicians, and so they don't hold our awful government against us. Let this
distinction serve as a guide for you, Virgo. The time is right for you to fight
inept institutions and rotten traditions and bad ideas, but without hating
anyone.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Emilio Estevez was experiencing writer's block as he worked on a screenplay about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In his desperation to get unstuck, he jumped in his car and started driving north along the California coast. He stopped at the first random motel that had a vacancy, resolved to make this the place he'd plow ahead on the screenplay. The motel clerk recognized Estevez's famous face and asked him what he was up to. When he told her about his stalled project, she gasped. She had been at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. on June 4 and 5, 1968, the place and time Kennedy was killed. As she told Estevez her recollections of that night, he felt his writer's block dissolving. In the ensuing days, he wrote up a storm. I predict, Libra, that you're about to experience a similar synchronicity. It will jump-start a labor of love that has been on hold.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Last year actress Michelle Rodriguez was arrested for drunk driving in Hawaii. She was given the choice of spending five days in prison or doing 240 hours of community service. She surprised everyone by choosing to be incarcerated. Some observers theorized that she felt it would be a good chance to do research for future film roles as a bad girl. Rodriguez said, "I'm a gypsy. I can see beauty in a jail cell." While I'm not predicting you'll end up behind bars in the coming week, Scorpio, I do suspect you'll have a bout with limitation. If you do, regard it as an invitation to accomplish three things: (1) Develop more compassion for people who've undergone comparable adventures; (2) expand your ability to find beauty in challenging circumstances; (3) cultivate your skill at creating opportunities for yourself in the midst of perplexity.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Miami's Hotel Victor has a
"vibe manager" on the staff. This person's job is to ensure that the
hotel's ambiance is soothing and cheerful. As I see it, Sagittarius, one of
your important tasks right now is to be a vibe manager for the environments you
share with people. (It's in your selfish interests to do so.) In addition to
keeping the atmosphere relaxing, however, you should also keep it invigorating.
Don't let comfort lapse into stagnancy.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "It's not whoring if you do
it for free," read both of the matching T-shirts on a couple I saw at a
San Francisco café. Being a curious sort, I went up and asked them what exact
activity they were referring to. "He loves to give away his top-notch
psycho-spiritual advice," the woman said, pointing to her companion,
"and I love to give out compliments without expecting anything in return. Need
any free advice or compliments?" Her earnest statements were in sharp
contrast to the glib humor of the t-shirt quip. The next day, as I meditated on
your astrological omens, I realized my experience with them was a foreshadowing
of the oracle I should give you. Here it is: Be both playful and sincere as you
deepen your commitment to generosity. Cultivate a blithe intensity as you
bestow more of your gifts on the world.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "Your job," my philosophy
teacher Norman O. Brown told me back in 1981, "is to find the holy in the
mundane, and, failing that, to *create* the holy in the mundane." I've
done my best to carry out his directions all these years. Now I'm going to ask
you to do your part, Aquarius. Believe it or not, one of your important tasks in
the coming week is to feel awe and reverence while you're in the midst of the
everyday routine. Penetrate to the deeper layers as you seek out divine beauty
that gently shocks you into a state of heightened awareness.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In her role as DJ Debi Newberry in
the film
Grosse Point Blank
, Minnie
Driver defines the term
shakabuku
as a swift spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever. I think
you're due for one of those blessings-in-disguise, though I also believe you can
avoid it if you really want to. One way to prevent its delivery would be to
hide in your room and ferociously repress every unruly emotion that threatens
to rise to the surface. A preferable strategy would be to figure out why you
might need a swift spiritual kick in the head and then take action to change
the awkward situation that would require the kick's arrival.
In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, in-depth weekly forecasts designed to inspire and uplift you. To buy access, phone 1-888-499-4425. And be sure to visit his Web site at www.freewillastrology.com.