Free Will Astrology	by Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I’m not necessarily recommending that you read Stanely Seigel’s book The Patient Who Cured His Therapist. But I do think you should regard the title as a suggestive metaphor for your immediate future. It’s possible that you’ll be helped by a person you’ve been helping, or be given gifts by a person to whom you’ve given gifts. Could it be that you’ll be healed by someone you imagine you’re superior to, or taught a beautiful lesson by someone you don’t understand? Meditate on the ways you might be the beneficiary of a role reversal.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “For those who are walled up, everything is a wall…even an open door.” In conveying this thought from the French poet René Char, I don’t mean to imply that you’re any more walled up than the rest of us, Taurus. My reason for mentioning it at this particular moment is to prod you into taking aggressive action to un-wall yourself in whatever ways you can. According to my reading of the omens, the cosmos will reward your efforts to topple facades that are obstructing your view and preventing you from being touched.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “If one theorized about the nature of the Creator from a study of creation,” said British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane, “it would appear that God has an inordinate fondness for stars and beetles.” He drew that inference from the facts that one-fourth of all animal species are beetles and that in the Milky Way Galaxy alone there are a trillion stars for every person on earth. What about you, Gemini? What could we conclude about the nature of your mission here on the planet if we took an inventory of what you create? What are the experiences, products, artifacts, words, feelings and impressions that you regularly spawn, and what do they say about you? It’s an excellent time to meditate on this subject.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I think it will be important for you to be brave in the coming days. Probably not in the sense of rushing into a burning building to save a child, but rather in the sense of expressing yourself with forceful grace in situations where you have previously been asleep or hidden or ignorant. In order to summon that much courage, you’ll be wise to heed the advice of Buddhist author Pema Chodron: “The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.” Be rigorous as you uncover any lies you’ve been telling yourself.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “As soon as you concern yourself with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of your fellows,” said Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the martial art of aikido, “you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.” Make that your hypothesis in the coming week, Leo. Proceed according to the theory that you can feed your strength and power and freedom by accepting other people just the way they are. Assume that one of the surest ways to be happy and successful is to judge no one.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The faintest star in the night sky is Van Biesbroeck’s star. It’s only about as big as the Earth and is just .002 percent as luminous as our sun. Every other heavenly light outshines it. From one perspective, then, it’s a puny little thing. And yet it is visible despite the fact that it’s almost 19 light years away from us. From that point of view, it’s an amazingly intense, potent, brilliant body. Is there anything about you that resembles Van Biesbroeck’s star, Virgo? I think there is. Celebrate and show off that part of you in the coming week.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “The future is already here,” says science fiction writer William Gibson. “It’s just not very evenly distributed.” Your job in the coming weeks, Libra, is to locate hotbeds where the future is concentrated, and put yourself in the midst of them. It’s time, in other words, for you to escape from the wan, sludgy places where the past is masquerading as the present. You’re ready to thrive on the delightful shocks of the new.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Eskimos of Siberia are perplexed by the changes in their climate, wrote Usha Lee McFarling in the Seattle Times. Thunder and lightning used to be exceptional events, but now they make regular appearances. Bizarre, balmy winds breeze in out of the south. Elders who were once skilled in the art of reading the sky to foretell the weather are at a loss. “The Earth is turning faster,” said one hunter. I suspect, Scorpio, that you’re having a comparable crisis of faith on the personal level. For you, the Earth may not only seem to be rotating at a speedier clip, but also at a different angle. One of these mornings, you may even see the sun rise in the west. But your situation isn’t necessarily as disturbing as the Eskimos believe theirs to be. For all you know, the signs are portents of rebirth.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur” is Latin for “Anything said in Latin sounds profound.” Since your imminent future will require you to be elegant, high-minded, august, and in possession of gravitas—even if people you deal with aren’t any of those things—I’ll provide you with Latin phrases to fit the kinds of situations you may find yourself in. (1) Quod natura non sunt turpia. (What is natural cannot be bad.) (2) Quinon proficit deficit. (He who does not advance, goes backwards.) (3) Quod cibus est aliis, aliis est venenum. (What’s food to some is poison to others.) (4) Magna cum voluptate. (With great pleasure.) (5) Sane ego te vocavi. Forsitan capedictum tuum desit. (I did call. Maybe your answering machine is broken.) (6) Revelare pecunia! (Show me the money!) (7) Quomodo cogis comas tuas sic videri? (How do you get your hair to do that?)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The coming week won’t be a favorable time to seek revenge against the thunder for making such loud noises. Nor would it be a good idea for you to curse the sea for being so restless or to angrily punch the sky for being so high or to spread nasty gossip about the wind for refusing to heed your commands. On the other hand, cosmic fortune will bless you if you yourself are like an elemental force that unapologetically obeys the laws of your own nature.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): One morning a few weeks ago, I was sipping tea in a cafe on San Francisco’s Valencia Street. Diving into the New York Times, I found a front-page, above-the-fold story about how San Francisco has become the first American city to offer free or subsidized health care to all adults who don’t have medical insurance. My response was a mix of happiness and surprise. I was pleased to learn that my homebase had struck such a radical blow for practical compassion. And I was bewildered that I had seen nothing about it in any of the local Bay Area media. You may experience a similar scenario soon, Aquarius. To become aware of a major development that has been occurring close to you, you might have to get help from a distant source.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Dear Rob: I base who I am on how much I have suffered. My identity is wrapped up in all that I don’t have but want, the things that have hurt me, and every wrong that has been done to me. The weird thing is, though, that I’ve actually made a flourishing, creative life for myself. My experiences are far richer and my luck is much greater than my ‘poor suffering soul’ would like to admit. Any advice? -Successful Yet Gloomy Pisces.” Dear Successful: I’m happy to announce that the coming weeks will be an opportune time for you Pisceans to accomplish a big shift in your relationship to your difficult memories. Life will be conspiring to free you from the compulsion to anchor your sense of self in your pain.

Homework: Comment on Nietzsche’s belief that “One must have chaos within oneself if one is to be a dancing star.” Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com; click on “Email Rob.”