Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21)Wild creatures often have remarkable senses of direction. They

Published 7:00 am Monday, October 9, 2006

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21)Wild creatures often have remarkable senses of direction. They can somehow orient themselves toward home, without familiar landmarks, even from great distances. The Sagittarian internal compass, however, works differently, pointing unerringly toward unfamiliar territory—new and unexplored physical, mental, and spiritual landscapes. Consequently, you tend to steer relationships into white water and your own soul into blinding places (both dark and light). This can, naturally, be alarming for less adventurous friends and lovers. In fact, just to please (or keep) them, you occasionally need to ignore that backward lodestone and head away from your personal frontiers. Do that now: Retreat into familiar territory, or the next time you venture into the unknown, you’ll be alone.Capricorn (Dec. 22–Jan. 19)Capricorns love inevitabilities. Even death, for its sheer unavoidability, is peculiarly satisfying to some members of your tribe. When you’re playing a game—whether it’s cards or the stock market—you love the moment when it becomes clear (if only to you) that you have the thing wrapped up and there’s nothing anyone else can do about it. That’s what you’ve got coming to you this week, you lucky dog: exactly that feeling. Not a victory, not yet, but the route to one. If you play your cards right—which you will, I’m sure—you’ll soon see how you’ve got this one in the bag.Aquarius (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)It’s a good week to mobilize the posse, because you need your crowd around you right now. Whatever you’re up to—even if it’s just about having fun—you can’t even begin to accomplish it without your gang. They might need some rallying and inspired pep talks to get moving, though. After all, they have all their shit going on, too. If you’re persistent enough (and are willing to make deals and grub favors), they’ll come around, so don’t balk when they dig in their heels. Caving—instead of pushing through their resistance—would be the worst way to start off your new year, so don’t.Pisces (Feb. 19–March 20)Most Pisceans I know are good meditators. In fact, many of them spend significant chunks of their time—at least when they’re alone—staring at walls and thinking about nothing. You need periods of concentrated, full-on downtime. It’s what fuels your pseudo-psychic powers (and brilliantly strange pseudo-psychoses, too). Sometimes, because you don’t necessarily consciously pursue actual meditation practice, you don’t give yourself the quiet stretches you need, and you start to freak. It’s hard to justify lying around doing nothing while you have so many demands on your attention. Nevertheless, for the sake of your sanity and happiness, this week you must find a way to do just that.Aries (March 21–April 19)Anyone who habitually answers your questions with questions raises red flags. You want to know what’s up, and interacting with a mirror—despite your reputation for self-centeredness—isn’t that interesting. I don’t blame you for avoiding, like the plague, anyone who squirms out from under your honest, straightforward scrutiny. However, just because someone doesn’t like to be pinned down doesn’t mean they’re evil or even especially flaky. Find a way to discern between those who are underhanded or unreliable and the few who are simply fascinatingly unknowable (there’s at least one in this week’s batch), and you’ll be entertained, comforted, and pleased (if a bit confused) all winter long.Taurus (April 20–May 20)Once the room’s been cleaned, the dishes washed, the bills paid—then you can think, relax, and enjoy yourself. Sometimes it’s exceedingly important for you Taureans to bring closure to practical matters before you can allow yourself to embark on flights of fancy, rafts of inspiration, or magic- carpet rides (no matter what forms they take). I’m hoping you already did all the boring, practical stuff before this week even began, because I don’t want anything cutting into your fun and playtime. If you haven’t, get that shit done, pronto, so you can enjoy all the good stuff coming your way during the next seven days.Gemini (May 21–June 20)Right now you’re like a room full of electronic components all running from one power outlet. Each of them is plugged into the other, so if one fails, all the rest down the line will blow out, too. You’ve recently sensed, and started to panic a bit about, the precariousness of your current setup, only you haven’t been sure how to change it, or even what your options are. Luckily, someone or something you encounter this week is likely to do more than just bring along an extension cord. They can help you rewire the whole place. I suggest you take them up on the offer. You won’t get another chance like this until after you’ve suffered a meltdown.Cancer (June 21–July 22)The easiest full moon of the year comes this week. What do I mean by that? Usually, on some level, when the moon waxes you get stressed, but this one is loads of fun without much of the heavy or difficult stuff that usually comes up when everything feels so big and important. No need to seek out adventure this week (as things are bound to be pretty fun and exciting on their own), but there’s also no need to shy away from it, either. When thrills and chills come your way, don’t run. Just open your arms and let them in.Leo (July 23–Aug. 22)Every Leo, at an early age, learns a secret: If you say something with conviction, perhaps spice it with some interesting details, people often believe you. You can use these factual-seeming tidbits to support whatever argument you’re proponing at the time. An old boyfriend used to call this habit I had “quoting from the Book of Caeriel.” The problem comes when you start believing your own propaganda, then someone tries to make you resolve it with hard “facts” pertaining to the “real world.” As this is likely to happen this week, you have a choice: Either go bat-shit insane and ride your sinking ship of made-up crap all the way down, or admit to your misinformation campaign, have a good laugh (partially at your own expense), and move on.Virgo (Aug. 23–Sept. 22)Personally, I think of every skill I acquire as a kind of superpower. Learn a new language, for example, and suddenly you can communicate with millions of people you were cut off from before, and your horizons are expanded as well. But of course you can’t realistically go around trying to acquire skills willy-nilly. Even if you’re so amazing you can learn 13 languages at once without getting confused, you only have so much room in your mental toolbox—and tools you don’t use quickly grow rusty and useless. Opportunities to grow outpace your ability to take advantage of them this week. Pick and choose from them carefully.Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 22)I love it when I get mail from Libras—whether it’s of the hate or love variety. I worry when you don’t express your opinions—something that happens all too often. It makes it seem, frequently, that you simply don’t have any, and since those you need (or at least want) to impress this week appreciate bold thoughts and straightforward speech, they might not think that highly of you should you be too bland, unforthcoming, or uncontroversial. It might seem weird to you, but most interesting people would rather you had a strong opinion that they disagreed with than not professing to any position on a given subject. Speak your mind—which might, it goes without saying, involve making it up.Scorpio (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)You have more power to confuse yourself and screw up your life than any five outside influences combined. That may seem obvious to you, but I wonder, because you’ve been giving the shit that’s gone down lately way too much credit for sidetracking you, when it’s actually only a small part of what’s delayed your progress. What’s holding you back is just you. Realize (or remember) that, please, so you can just step over or around the real-life obstacles set ahead of you without much trouble. Getting over yourself isn’t easy, I know. Luckily, you’ll soon have some help. When someone laughs at your ridiculousness this week, don’t bristle. Laugh along.