Free Will Astrology

ARIES

(Mar. 21-Apr. 19): Aries psychologist Abraham Maslow coined the term “peak experiences”: surging upflows of heightened clarity, awe, vitality, and love. He also identified another category, “plateau experiences.” These are gentler but more enduring states, characterized less by ecstatic fireworks than by a leisurely delight in being alive. I believe you’re in a phase that favors those plateau experiences. So, the semi-bad news is that you may not be besieged by a nonstop flood of spectacular epiphanies. The good news is that you’ll harvest a steady stream of subtle amazements. Your gratitude may be less dramatic but more sustained. A calm, glowing contentment can teach you all you need to know right now.

TAURUS

(Apr. 20-May 20): A finely crafted mechanical watch depends upon many gears moving at different speeds. Some spin rapidly, while others barely move. Yet each contributes to the overall success of timekeeping. Please remember this when you get restless about your uneven progress. Not every area of your life can or should be in dynamic motion simultaneously. One project may require vigorous action while another benefits from patient incubation. A single standard of productivity isn’t right for you these days. Harmonious coordination among different rhythms serves you best.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20): I invite you and urge you to ruminate about the stories you’ve been telling about yourself. Are they still accurate? Still empowering? Or have some become outdated myths that no longer honor your ripening identity? During the coming weeks, I predict you will be energized as you revise your personal mythology with imaginative generosity. It’s time to retire narratives that shrink you. Reinvent an old saga so it makes you more of a hero and less of a victim. Compose two fun new tales that are spacious enough to accommodate the curious beauty you’re on your way to becoming.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22): Among elephants, older matriarchs lead the herd. They carry detailed memories of watering holes, migration routes, and old brushes with danger. During tough times, their accumulated experience becomes indispensable. This fact of nature reminds me that your own history contains wisdom you haven’t fully appreciated. And now is an excellent phase to bring it all into your conscious awareness. Instead of dwelling on old disappointments or sad mistakes, focus intensely on what durable knowledge you’ve harvested from living through them. Your future and the futures of those you care for will improve in direct proportion to the respect you show your past. The point is to recognize yourself as an increasingly skillful keeper of hard-earned sagacity.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22): A bird doesn’t perceive reflective glass as we do. To it, the spotless glass façade of a building may look like a continuation of the outdoors, with blue sky, clouds, tree canopy, or water. But humans have the know-how to create bird-friendly patterns that interrupt this illusion by giving the glass enough visual “texture” to register as a solid obstacle. With these visual clues, birds are less likely to collide with the structure. In the coming weeks, Leo, I hope you will summon comparable thoughtfulness. Your small gestures can protect others from unnecessary confusion or pain. You’ll have extra power to express subtle kindnesses that free people to navigate the world more safely and confidently.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You may be feeling so physically well right now that it seems almost implausible. Your mind may be operating so sharply that you wonder whether you can trust it. Even love may appear so straightforward and righteous that part of you suspects you have misunderstood the signs. But that’s the cosmic joke: These blessings don’t come with an invoice or a looming punishment. You’re allowed to receive them freely. Tell your harsh inner critic that its counsel isn’t needed. Then make ample room for the release and freedom that are unfolding.

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I’m not right 100 percent of the time, but even when I’m not completely correct, I usually get close to at least one of the key truths simmering in your story. In the oracle you’re reading now, I’m offering a concise burst of guidance that I believe is even more likely than usual to be 100 percent accurate. I’m urging you to examine the balance of give-and-take in one specific relationship. Your gift for harmony can sometimes tip into always being the one who accommodates, adjusts, and gives more, until the scales sit lopsided and you barely notice. Investigate that possibility, please. Fixing the imbalance is an act of care for a bond that’s worth keeping healthy.

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): How long has it been since you’ve meandered around a library? I’m old-fashioned about books, so that experience is high on my list of pleasurable adventures. I enjoy searching for specific books but I also love browsing the shelves without a fixed destination. Both approaches are valuable, though browsing often produces happy surprises. One unexpected title leads to another, opening pathways no search engine could have predicted. With this in mind, Scorpio, I recommend that you browse freely in the coming weeks. Wander through ideas, friendships, music, bookstores, museums, forests, conversations, and neighborhoods without demanding a predetermined outcome. Serendipity is preparing a curriculum especially suited to restless brilliance.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): There’s a Welsh word, hiraeth, that refers to a longing for a home that may never have existed. It’s a homesickness for a place or a way of being you can’t actually return to and aren’t sure was ever fully real. I bring this up, Sagittarius, because I suspect you’re feeling the tug of distant horizons lately, a restless ache for an elsewhere you can’t name. Don’t dismiss this longing as mere wanderlust to be scratched with a plane ticket. Sit with it. Ask what it’s pointing toward. The far country you ache for may be a quality of soul you’re being called to cultivate right where you are. Your true destination might be more interior than you assume.

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Engineers who design a suspension bridge know the structure must be able to sway slightly in wind and weather. A perfectly rigid structure would eventually crack under stress. In the coming weeks, I’m hoping you’ll incorporate extra doses of this paradoxical attitude. It’s crucial not just to grudgingly acknowledge but to fondly celebrate the fact that stability will thrive on generous flexibility. Some plans and convictions will grow even stronger because you’ll be willing to adjust and tinker with them.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Astronomers sometimes revisit old telescope data using improved software. In doing so, they may discover planets or galaxies that had been hidden from them for years. The information was always there. Only the methods of perception changed. I suspect you’re ripe for similar types of revelation, Aquarius. I invite you to return to old notebooks, abandoned ideas, neglected friendships, or forgotten ambitions. You may not have extracted all their value yet. Your present self possesses interpretive abilities that your former self lacked. Yesterday’s overlooked clue may be tomorrow’s breakthrough.

PISCES

(Feb. 19-Mar. 20): Nineteenth-century Piscean composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin poured an almost unbearable tenderness into his nocturnes and preludes. His delicate, intimate music is among the most emotional ever created. Evoking potent, mysterious feelings was his specialty. I propose we make him your inspirational role model. Please do everything you can imagine to express your deep feelings with artistry and intelligence. Be as sensitive and impassioned as you dare.

Homework: What’s your secret for enhancing your capacity to give and receive love? tinyurl.com/s2s3s4s