This Week

This is a good time as times go. There's luck and sweet words and some very, very blessed surprises. Be grateful as you can be as just as with the bad times, this too will pass. Monday, Thursday, and all weekend are standout days. Have fun. Have ice cream with a cherry on top. Monday 31st could see some flare ups as Mars kicks dirt at the Sun. This is just overexcitement and overconfidence at all the good stuff that's been going on. This too will pass.


Aries
A lovely expression that astrologer Barry Perlman uses (www.astrobarry.com) is ‘an elephant in the room’ and for you this expression is the soup du jour on Monday. Last week’s half-baked argument (or full-baked assault that really burnt someone’s ears to a chargrilled crisp) means something awkward now lingers. What we’re really dealing with here – and what you are about to become acutely aware of – is that something in your past has been stymieing your passage to the Person you Want To Be. As a result you’ve been magnetising people and circumstances to you that reflect that barrier– and more to the point REINFORCE it – just so that you can knock it down and get on with your life. Hence the argument and hence the current ‘elephant’. If you’re a smart Ram you will realise that what this means is… you have actually been shouting at yourself. Oops. Welcome to the human race. Luckily for you, while the rest of us remain trussed up in the chicken wire of our own grudges/hang ups/learned self-sabotaging practices, you now have a rocket launch of an opportunity to go from where you are now (overwrought by a shadow that keeps you out of the light) into a lighter, brighter, more passionately honest future. What your father taught you about how things are and how things have to be may be relevant to him in his truth… but they are not true to you in yours. Unpack them. You are grown up. You are a product of your generation, a dynamo amongst your peers. Start saying boo to your own inner goose.

Taurus
Sit up Taurus and pay attention. This is important. Every year for around 3 – 4 weeks before your birthday the Sun makes its move through your secretive 12th house. This is where we hide our hang ups, fears, worries, grudges, should-dos and ought-not-tos. The movement of the Sun here is like taking a narrow-beamed torch into a loft, a candle into the garden shed at midnight. All the cobwebs look startling, the shadows menacing. By daylight you hardly notice unless you have to get the bottle of Baby Bio out from under the rake after 12 months in storage. Bleurgh. The reason I bring this up now is that presently you are going through this 3 - 4 week pre-birthday candle-in-shed process and as a result you may be preoccupied with your own inner cobwebs, fears, shadows, ‘not good enoughs’ etc. Normally I’d be inclined to say go with it, take your vits, and don’t audition for Rada or flag yourself up the flagpole in a work type situation scenario. However, and that’s a big HOWEVER, the planets this week are offering you the chance to wish for something big, bright, and laden with future promise that they can and will deliver. Hard as it is right now you have to picture that garden shed in daylight so when you make those wishes and urge others to make those commitments they are done in a positive frame of mind. On Monday week someone may try to talk you down. It may even be you. Don’t. Stand firm bully. Don’t flinch. Next week’s New Moon and Venus and Mercury’s forthcoming campout in your garden shed will bring the help you need to iron out the wrinkles, dust out the cobwebs, and polish up the windows. Until then make like the snowy mountain tops and reach out to the heavens sparkling with promise.

Gemini
I suspect that Friday’s Full Moon may have put a dampener on your wishes, at least the upshot of the buckshot fired off from lovers, the rugrats, or by some missive pertaining to a creative venture you had been nurturing will have done some dampening. But you are mentally quick to zip back into creative thinking and this week as your zippy Kaiser chief Mercury meets Venus, Uranus and Jupiter around the celestial drawing board you should be snapping the lead on more than one pencil as your excitement mounts. With your wishes rising like a phoenix and all the Mercurial energy triggering your houses of success and tycoonery this could be job changes with more money, or a promotion, and/or a nice fat commission that takes you ahead in your field. (And while you’re about it buy a lottery ticket at the weekend.) A couple of caveats before you start swinging from the rafters in nothing but sling-backs and a tiara 1) watch out for arrogance and/or jealousy from friends (2) watch out for partners’ feelings. Your changes will have knock on effects for your nearest and dearest and with Pluto about to regroup and head back into your house of intimate partnerships for a final time this lifetime, how you proceed now could make his swansong a cotside lullaby or a ringside call to arms.

Cancer
Life should be feeling like a bowl of cherries, sweet crab, a smorgasbord of your favourite carrion. Not only are you firing on all pistons, but you’ve luck luck luck on the love front, and praise bravo and he’s a jolly good fellow in the boardroom. And your long-range plans are looking pretty innovative and lucrative ‘nall. Well buckle up, clawface, it’s about to get really really brillog. Uranus, the planet of surprise (who heralds anything unexpected from a lottery win to the Spanish Inquisition to your mother running off with a fishmonger from Battersea) has been whirling like a maniacal dervish in your zone of life directions for the past five years. As a result you have likely been driving folks potty in your never-ending dervish-natured approach to ‘do you know where you’re going to?’ What transpires this week is the stuff of serendipity. Uranus has a chimpanzee’s tea party with the contract-discussing Mercury and the buxom, floaty-haired Venus at the exact same time that Jupiter the planet of luck luck luck sprinkles your favourite biscuits and rose petals onto the proceedings. Never in your life has the future looked quite so bright. This is a bizniz partnership which foretells of a glorious future or a loving partnership which foretells of a glorious future. Or both. Watch Thursday and over the weekend for proof of the pudding and proposals made on Monday week see you signing up under supportive skies for the long-haul. Watch for arrogance that day (“I told you so,” is sooo 1684) but aside from that, grab it with both claws and devour with delight.

Leo
After the irksome feelings of last week you’ll notice yourself now coming up for air in the waterhole. Mars in your 12th may have you ever so slightly paranoid that the symbolic young lion with the big paws is after you/your job/your dignity and you’ll be keeping your eye on that little upstart through April but other things out on the horizon are calling for your attention now too. The Sun in your ninth house is, quite literally, calling you to a sunny climate. How you long to feel its beating rays releasing the knots in your fabulous shoulders... But the ninth house is also about long-range planning and if you can’t pitch up on a Florida marina or a Mediterranean balcony and think on, then do it on the bus to work. Where where where do you want to be in six months time? Raising your income will be part of that picture, or at least securing it will be. As if out of leftfield this week an opportunity presents itself. Jupiter in your house of work and service (Me! King of the Jungle… serve?) has a game of celestial Consequences with Uranus (him of the unexpected), Mercury (contracts, communications, commerce, technology), and Venus (her of floaty dresses, luxuries, and good food). Thursday through Sunday watch what happens. A surprise opportunity through work and/or helping others, which involves some or all of contracts, communications, commerce, technology, floaty dresses, luxuries and good food, is going to help bring a new order into your life. Keep one eye on the other lion for the time being if you have to but you must seize this chance to make a change. By May the other lion will be long forgotten and if you’ve grabbed it this current opportunity will be coming up roses.

Virgo
These are important times Virgo. Mars racing through your social calendar is filling up your dance card while across town the Sun is urging down time to unravel some of the bigger, deeper questions about how you attend to life at all levels. On top of all this fire there’s a distant burbling as a brook forks at the canyon and becomes a torrent in your house of love and partnerships. Every year for the past few years Venus has met Uranus (the planet of change) in the Spring. And each time you’ve had a feeling in your water that the brook was going to become a torrent and deposit a dreamcake in tight trousers and playing an air guitar at your door. And so far the dreamcakes have been nothing but disruptive disappointments. This year as the sound of the burbling comes again I hear you saying, “Yeah yeah, what a load of old tripe in a basket.” But, Virgo, this time it’s different. Not only is your ruler Mercury on the raft ensuring that your rational mind is involved in the selection process but this year too, for the first time ever in your lifetime, Jupiter, that there planet of beneficence, is coxing the boat. Whether this is a business partnership that gets your creative ventures out into the world, or a love affair that’s going all the way to the horizon, or a relationship that’s bringing you children - the torrent is coming to whisk you away this time. You’ve the approval of Saturn and Pluto on this adventure. With those heavyweights behind you you may feel a little queasy under the pressure. Nothing is ever going to be the same that’s for sure. But that’s alright.

Libra
This is a striking week Libra, and not one that will be lost amongst all the others. You’ve success in the boardroom and you’ve the energy to strive harder for it. You’ve a sense of optimism growing in how you develop your closest relationships and after the Full Moon has now catapulted you into the Spring there’s some real chances for a lasting cleansing and healing process to begin. Now you know which bits of you are getting in your own way and tripping you up like a stile on a country path, the question is – what are you going to do about it? Your ruler the buxom, floaty, softly-speaking Venus is currently under water with the fishes but that doesn’t mean that anything you decide to say or do this week won’t be effective. Your gentle Empress meets Mercury, Uranus and Jupiter this week spelling healing, change, and confidence in both your office and your general sense of well-being. And with the Moon stroking the fevered brow of Pluto at the weekend the stile that has been tripping you up in the dark is at last clear for you to see. As I keep repeating repeating, this is mother and home stuff - letting go of your mother’s inability to be a perfect mother, letting go of the demands you make on you, womankind, your family, and letting go of the need for absolutely everything to stay the same. Every so often you get the feeling that you really should be moving on, putting the old fears to bed. You’ve never had such a big chance to accomplish that as you do now. So do it. And then off down that country path for you as you dance by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon; as you dance by the light of the moon.

Scorpio
This week it’s all starting to fall into place, Scorpio. Those long range plans that have been flapping about in the wings and tripping over the props as they headed for the stage are finally out there in the footlights in one piece and standing intact in all their glory. Bygollgeewow. There’s no business like show business! And with Jupiter in your third house giving you sparkle and the gift of the gab you’ve got the courage to deliver your lines with gusto and speak out for the things you want. This opening night falls under auspicious skies. The big news this week is the stupendous partay between Jupiter, Uranus, Venus and Mercury that you’ve felt brewing for the past few weeks. Mercury and Venus meet on Monday, link arms, and then skip over to Uranus at the weekend as he’s playing a game of craps with Jupiter. There’s a birth of something extraordinary here – whether that’s literally a baby human bean arriving, or a conversation that starts something creative, or a lover that brings something astonishing, new, challenging and brilliant right to you. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. It’s going to take time and effort to ensure your opening night turns into a long-range career, your dreams become a reality, and you know that. From this week’s big start you’ll find that as early as May you’ll be putting structures in place to take you there. Friends are likely to be a key part of this and older friends and authority figures within your social whirl can help you pave the way.

Sagittarius
Sex and money are in the picture this week Archer. You’re part fluffy about children and love affairs and part rampant she-devil. Mars is firing your loins and urging you take charge in the bedroom like a randy dominatrix. With your clothes back on, Mars is also urging you to prove yourself as being ‘somebody’ in the outside world - most likely by spending and blinging like a rap star. Whatever you’ve been up to in your boudoir/lounge/stairwell, if you’ve been eschewing the Faberge eggs and the stretch limos for a life with a modicum of financial sense then this week should bring good news. If you’re selling your wigwam you’re in for a tidy profit and if you’re not, news of a dream house could surface or a visit to a mortgage lender should go better than expected. Uranus, the planet of ‘where did that come from?’ has been camping out in your home life for the past five years and it’s been as choppy changey as Britney’s hairdo. But generally speaking this time – even if it’s tenancies ending, mortgages going up, even lovers moving out - you’ll be able to take the long-range view and you’ll see these changes are genuinely for the best. That’s if you’ve been spending wisely... For those who’ve been spending like the Sultan of Brunei but earning like a busboy the day of reckoning is here. Pluto in your piggy bank is about to come and sit eye ball to eye ball with you and ask, “What tha’ FIG you bin playing at?” in the menacing voice of an Italian-American thug. Start getting your bank balance in order. And start now.

Capricorn
Mars is thrusting his way through your closest partnerships so if your leather posing pouch is gathering dust in the loft you’ll be feeling high and dry, hot and bothered, twitchy as a March hare in a cubicle for one. And that isn’t all. The phone is going to be ringing off the hook this week, the email account smoking, your larynx hoarse with chatter. The biggest news is the surprise element to all this communication – unexpected contracts, out-of-the-blue email missives, cheques actually arriving in the post. With all this hoohaa Jupiter is looking on from your in-tray as editor. News that lands this week, even if at first it seems baaad, will turn out to be the best thing for you, Jupiter will see to that. While all this buzzy, chatty, swoony banter is going on Pluto sits by your campfire and begins sending smoke signals to Saturn, your ruler, currently out on the lone prairie kissing the horizon. While the Jupiter / Uranus chachacha is a bit of an up tempo brush with destiny, the Pluto / Saturn link is a more sombre, steady Cosmic sign. The path you are now taking is a necessary review not just of who you are out in the world but how your vision of yourself has a moulding impact on your long range plans. In May this goo will start rising like a cake. For now, the one loose stick in this Cosmic game of Kerrplunk is a cross word between your significant other and your home-life on Monday 31st. Either your Mum thinks your latest squeeze is a shocking excuse for a human bean, or your long term lover finally snaps at your habit of cutting your toenails while he’s eating pie in bed. It’s a logjam situation and the horns are out. If you’re frazzled by the week’s communications overdrive and too tired to rant, try sorting it out with a bit of swash and buckling in the boudoir (or dust off the posing pouch, above).

Aquarius
If you were going to win the lottery, Airy friend, or back the fastest runner on the dog track then this weekend could be when. Jupiter hooks up with the Moon in your 12th house of spooky intuition and they then tip the nod to Mercury (commerce, communication), Venus (love, money) and Uranus (planet of surprise, surprise). Uranus, your unpredictable but perfectly formed ruler, is at the centre of this eureka moment so placing bets on where this lucky break may spring from would be a fool’s game. Go with your gut feeling and see what pops up on the path. If you find that it’s not the lottery or Roger’s Stead that are destined to bring in the winnings then a lucky break with pay cheques, health insurances, or expenses at work may even be in store. Mars in your sixth house has you getting on with the job in hand with additional gusto and bosses who have the say on wage slips, job perks, and luxury breaks for the employee of the month have noticed you. Not only that, but as the Sun shines down on your everyday world and your everyday banter, you’ll find you have winning words if you’re entering a “Why I like multinational corporations…” competition on the back of a cereal box. All things crossed, Aquarius, and if you’re reading this on a work junket to Tobago or the employee of the month all-expenses paid bus trip to Skeggy, be sure to send astrobabble a postcard.


Pisces
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Have I been drinking? All words that may spring to your fabulous Fishy lips this week Pisces as Uranus, Mercury, and Venus spin you round on their cosmic carousel. Dizzy as you may be, Jupiter’s beneficent watch and the Moon’s nurturing spells will ensure that even if you break an ankle in the dismount, the nurses in A&E will be tip top. Underneath this giddy joy there are deep forces of change at work. Your significant other/s and their impact upon you are changing you and your future dreams, that much you know. If a fear bubbles to the surface this week that you’re not at the wheel and aren’t ready to change then the one surefire thing you can turn to for reassurance in these matters IS the significant other at the heart of this change... How so? If you look closely you will see that all this time they have been changing in the light of their relationship with you. So when you feel unsteady and scared, ask them what it has been like. What lies beyond the next bend in this road are changes to your social whirl, your friendships, and your wish list for the rest of your life. Pluto, who’s in the driving seat of this change, is about to reverse back into your house of social standing to do one last idiot check before he leaves the house for good. From now until November you’ll be seeking the right compromises so that you won’t be called on to give up anything that truly, deeply matters. And then, Fishy Wish, onwards!