Aries (March 20-April 19)
Professional ambitions need to play second fiddle to community concerns, but the two don't contradict one another. You need to be thinking about the specific role you need to play, rather than all that is possible. The idea of need is based, in part, on what your environment is calling for, but to a greater extent, on what you're specifically prepared for and ready to offer. This is likely to be something that you have thought of many times but perhaps deemed yourself unworthy of or unqualified for. You still may not feel ready for what you know you really must do, but this is not the time to hedge or hesitate. In truth, few people are ready for their greatest achievements when the time comes. But I can assure you that you are in fact ready, if you will do the other part, which is make sure you are truly willing.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Venus retrograde is taking you through your layers of repression and can, if you let it, deliver you to a more free and liberated place. I recognize that not everyone wants to go there; many consider freedom scary. There are many more influences teaching us to hold back than we like to admit, and tops on the list are the psychological and emotional hang-ups of our parents, and the flogging that we receive from organized religion and government. They are directly related, and fall in the larger category of "authority figures who don't want us to have too much fun." I can assure you that 99% of humans don't get anywhere near the core of this inner psychological subject matter. You're now being given an exceedingly rare opportunity not only to understand yourself in this regard, but also to make the choices you need to make to express yourself honestly.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)
During the past six months, I would propose that you've made more progress dealing with your fears than you have at any other time in your life. Perhaps it was through making them conscious, and giving them a name; perhaps it was through doing something other than thinking, or thinking a different way, which demonstrated that fear is just part of the spectrum of consciousness and not the source of all light. The result has been a change in your relationship to those you consider powerful. Most power is, indeed, sponsored internally by our own misgivings. But fear no longer impresses you as much as it used to. Having centered on your power of decision helps considerably; having decided that you have very little to lose has been a big help as well. Stay awake.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Climate change is now a high priority on the global agenda. As one born under the sign of the Crab, you are among the most sensitive people to your environment, including the psychic environment. Is that inner, or outer? Well, it is really both. But please keep your focus on what is really inside you. Maintain the awareness that serves you so well, particularly with the increasing intensity of your relationships and commitments, both personal and professional. In every area of your life, the pace is quickening. This is less a time to be a hero and more a time to be the calm, steady captain of your ship. As such, you need to make conscious, basic decisions as regards your happiness and wellbeing. Particularly where a health concern is involved, the more gentle, less invasive and energy-oriented approaches will get the results you want.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
These days, it often seems the work is relentless -- but you can be thankful for this, in a era of the world featuring mental automation, boredom, sagging creativity and too much fear. If you're not already loving how much you're getting done, just a slight change in attitude will get you there. In fact, you have enough energy and activity coming your way to support several people, if you will cultivate their skills and learn a few extra things about delegating. While many feel that there's an overall net loss in having others involved in one's work, for you there would be a net gain. Many hands make light work, and what you can learn these days is the power of a group dynamic. Groups are good places for people who already have some sense of individuality, and can be risky places for people who seek to find their identity there. Make sure you learn to spot the difference.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
You have just as many reasons to feel good about yourself as not. You have just as many reasons to trust life as you have to be scared. What will make the difference for you? There are a number of factors, the first being where you choose to find your pleasure. Humans are strange critters. We need pleasure so desperately that we will even begin to discover it in aspects of life that don't feel good, or in withholding pleasure and comfort from ourselves. I suggest you continue your long migration away from this quality of human nature, and cultivate something new. I suggest you move away from seeking gratification from any extreme, and rather find comfort in what is earthy, sensory, nourishing, natural and understandable to you. In doing so, you will cultivate these same qualities in yourself.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Beneath your even-handed and tolerant personality is a deep sense of how the world should be. The beliefs that support your identity and way of life are hidden like the foundation and beams of a finished building. You cannot usually see them, but they are there. Most have origins deep in your past. As you may suspect, there is a reason you have such a firmly rooted sense of justice and such a commitment to being fair, even to your own detriment. There are reasons that you could call "positive" and others "negative" -- that is, reactions against things you've witnessed, or creative ideas for a better world. Venus retrograde in Capricorn is taking you on a trip back through time. Though the past is quite familiar territory to you, you're in a space where you're understanding it in an entirely different way, one that helps you improve your life today.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
One of the most courageous things a person can do in life is face their projections. Though some individuals have begun to do this, and as it works out, quite a few of them may have Scorpio somewhere prominent in their charts, the world has yet to get busy on the issue. Projection leads to wars and chaos. It utterly consumes love in its deceptive abyss. In the whole process, we quite literally forget who we are and thus have no way of knowing the other. You've either recently been through some kind of crash course in undoing this madness, or you've grown unusually close to someone as a result of having addressed the issue successfully in earlier times of your life. This really has been a process of getting to know another through getting to know yourself, and behold, it's pretty amazing. And it's not over.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
It's not that there are no limits. Everyone knows there are. It is, however, true that you're here to find out what those limits are, and what you can do with them. And that is something you're content to call freedom. Okay, that plus a little pushing the edge for fun and profit. You have a very effective guardrail, known as your values system. You see, not everyone has the benefit of this. No, I cannot generalize for every Sagittarius on the planet, but I feel confident enough to say this to you now. There is nothing more reliable to you than what you really know is right. Contrary to some perceptions, on that deep level of cognition and assessment, you're careful, clear with yourself and you like to keep the issues separate. I suggest that you offer more of this side of yourself to the world. It won't tarnish your image as one who is alive to enjoy life.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
It may take some time for you to figure out the extent of the change that has come into your life, or rather, the extent that you're no longer under a certain high-intensity pressure to change. Many of the same themes remain in place: for example, what right do you really have to exist? This is a question that many grapple with but few actually bring to the surface of their awareness. In this new stage of your growth, the questions are a little more at arm's length. How does what you believe mesh with what our society believes, particularly in its very strange current state of affairs? How do you feel about yourself? What do you need, and do you feel worthy of receiving it? And -- perhaps most vital -- do you really feel that you deserve a place within the "tribe" or community (however you define that)? If you want the answers, don't mumble -- ask out loud.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Personally, I prefer to treat people like autonomous adults, otherwise I wind up being a dog trainer. I don't do parental mode, and I wish people would see that it really gets us all nowhere. I say this recognizing that being mommy or daddy to other adults is an absolute obsession in most Western and Eastern cultures alike. Our governments, religions and places of employment are, for the most part, based on this notion. I am aware that there are many tons of people willing to play the child's role and keep the whole scenario going in virtual perpetuity. You are now receiving a high-intensity call to do what used to be called self-actualize: to be real unto yourself; to be actually you at every moment; to stand apart not merely for the sake of doing so, but because you absolutely must.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
To be successful, we need to let go of our image of ourselves as a failure. This seems too high a price for most people to pay. Of course, it's always easy to blame someone else for our own fears, and to deny having an actual attraction to being less than we are. Uranus, the planet of awakening, is making a long-term transit through your birth sign. This is pushing you to be brave, to be innovative, to be inventive and most of all, to do what you really came to the world to do. Those who embark on this path always -- and I mean always -- encounter all the inner resistance, censoring voices, guilt trips, responsibility trips, fears and all their cousins, all of which are the toxic byproducts of living in a world that too often aspires to mediocrity. Uranus is here to help, but won't be around forever. Learn freedom while the learning is good.