Humbling Planets

The difficult arrangement of Venus, Jupiter and Neptune is a good time to learn how things work. To learn is to lower oneself, admit ignorance and allow the influence of others. You can lower yourself and still have great stature. It’s a paradox of status: The highest kings and queens are but lowly servants to the people in their kingdom.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’ll notice that you’re missing someone. It’s a gift, as it also means that you’ve loved, that you’ve let someone deep enough into your world to have a presence there even in their absence.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You cherish your friends, especially the ones you’ve known a long while, and now you’ll have additional reasons to do so. An old friendship will offer you a surprising new value.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You are thought of and adored by someone who is not immediately present. The small evidence of this — the friendly text or the social media “like” — represents a mountain of affection.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). One measure of friendship is the amount of truth the relationship is able to bear. Good friends say nice, supportive things. Best friends will say less nice, more true things.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Hoard your time and attention so you can spend it all on yourself. Really. Don’t give it to anyone. It’s OK; you’re not usually like this. Right now you need to be in order to recharge.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). There’s got to be another way. There always is, after all. But how are you going to find it if you only ask yourself? Trust that you’ve already given your best answer, and now it’s time to get suggestions from the outside world.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You like to make others comfortable and require as little as possible from them. But people really like and need to be put to work. Great kinships develop over shared work; you wouldn’t want your hospitality to stand in the way of that!

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). When people show you who they are, you believe them. Though, if you’re initially surprised, you’ll assimilate to the new picture in stages, and it will take longer for this new understanding to settle in.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You’re really tuning up your process of self-creation. In some ways you’ve already become what you believed you would be. It’s time to practice believing in a version that’s a little bit grander.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). As much as it might seem fun being so well-thought of that your status is elevated to the stratosphere, the real fun has nothing to do with being high-status. Accessibility and vulnerability are your finest assets.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). The thing may seem lost to you, but of course, nothing is ever really lost. It’s somewhere else, or maybe it has changed form, transmuted into a new incarnation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Heracleitus said you can never step in the same river twice, though what you’re standing in now looks a lot like the river from yesterday and can be maneuvered as such, safety precautions in place.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (June 23). It feels bold and risky to invest heavily in your own ideas and education, but when you start seeing results from this investment, you’ll quickly learn that it’s actually much riskier not to put money and energy into your passions. There’s a fun plot twist in November. Winter vacation will be both relaxing and exciting. Taurus and Gemini adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 5, 19, 40 and 17.

FORECAST FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: Mercury and Venus square off to offer a window into the thoughts of others. For those who are in a position to sell, lead, bond, seduce, motivate or influence in any way, really, inside knowledge of the other person’s needs and wants is essential. A young person’s heart and thoughts are likely to be projected onto their face, while an older person learns to hide certain feelings. Even so, under these stars, the flicker of internal process will emerge across the face before the consciousness has a chance to tamp it down. Those adept enough to pick up on this will understand the inside of a situation and be able to use the information for a number of purposes.

Midweek, Mercury leaves Cancer for the entertaining realm of Leo. The weeks to come favor expressive, emotional stories that involve varying degrees of truth. It’s a good time to recognize the difference between emotional truth and facts. It will often feel like we’re relaying the Hollywood version of a story, in which the emotional truth can resonate even when the facts aren’t quite accurate or have been manipulated for effect.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Born on the cusp of Gemini and Cancer, Frances McDormand has astral influences in both signs. Mercury, her communication planet, is expressed in the versatile sign of the twins. Sun and moon in soulful Cancer emphasizes nurturing instincts and perhaps psychic ability. Venus in Taurus is the grounded energy that brings normalcy to the life of even a top Hollywood actress.

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