TAURUS (April 20-May 20): We are equals. Though I may sometimes have the power to provide you with guidance and amusement, you have skills that are beyond my ability, and you know mysteries I can't fathom. Let this thought be the hub for more extensive meditations in the coming days. It's time for you to democratize your world down to the roots. Regard everyone — me, your boss, the president, the homeless guy in front of the post office, J. Lo — as no better and no worse than you. Each of us is potentially your teacher and your student, a dazed and amazed seeker in a mysterious world whose mix of wonders and terrors is impossible to master.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): My old friend John liked to joke that he lived "in tent city." It was his way of bragging about how he loved to steep himself in a level of intensity that would make most people's eyes bug out. I suspect you'll be staying "in tent city" for a few days. Since you'll only be visiting, your time there should be more exciting than exhausting. Here are tips for getting the most out of your trip: 1) Do what you fear at least twice. 2) Set in motion plans to seize back any rights that have been stolen from you. 3) Resuscitate an ailing dream as if your life depended on it.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): You know how sometimes you get a dramatic demonstration of telepathy or precognition, but it's utterly trivial? For instance, on the same night a few years ago my brother and I both had a dream of Frank Sinatra eating onion soup in a snake pit. Interesting, but so what? You, on the other hand, are about to experience a more interesting version of this phenomenon. For instance, you'll be able to read the minds of very important people and gather crucial previews of the future. There is one condition: You must vow to use any information you gather only for good works that benefit everyone.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the history of your relationship with togetherness, you've maybe never experienced a stretch as demanding as the one that's about to begin. The stakes will be high and the challenges daunting; and yet if you bravely venture to question everything you thought was true about love, you will break through into a radical new level of intimacy that is deep and playful beyond anything you've imagined.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the video for her song, "I'm Gonna Getcha Good," Virgo singer Shania Twain portrays a flying robot chased by the devil. The powers that be at MTV were so impressed that they awarded it "Most Demented Video by a Country Artist" for 2002. I hope that in the coming weeks the rest of you Virgos will unleash your imagination with the same fervor that Twain summoned. Your best chance at being happy and fulfilled between now and February 15 is if you think way, way outside the box.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I predict that some night this week you will dream of a secret garden. From a distance, you'll spy it below you as you're walking alone in a hilly wilderness. As you approach, you'll be filled with dazzled thoughts like, "Wow! That's exactly how I'd create a secret garden if I ever had the chance! It's got everything I love!" When you finally arrive at the gate to the garden, you'll find it bears a sign with your name on it, and when you slip your hand in your pocket you'll find a golden key that fits the gate's lock perfectly. As you stride in, you'll realize this is in fact your very own secret garden: You created it long ago, but forgot about it until now.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): All roads would lead to you if you'd only sit still long enough. Gifts would come pouring in if your potential benefactors weren't in the dark about where you're at. Keep up this faithless lurching around and fate will conspire to trip you up and pin you down wherever you happen to fall. Don't let that happen! Drop everything that's contributing to your agitated distraction so that you can tune in to your poor, neglected homing signal. You will find instant relaxation the moment you surrender to the obvious.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Visualize Robin Williams doing an improvisational skit in which he portrays a slightly tipsy Santa Claus who insists on giving you a few too many nice presents. That's one way to understand the effect of the planet Jupiter on your life. Now imagine that for the first part of 2003, this influence will be hanging out in your astrological ninth house, also known as the house of exploration, experimentation and expansion. What effects do you think that'll bring? I'll act like an overly generous Santa Claus and tell you some other names for the ninth house: house of wild frontiers; house of goose bumps and shivery possibilities; house of lucky accidents.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I'm finally able to give you an assignment I've been aching to deliver for months. Are you ready for a burst of proof that the "no pain, no gain" approach is not the only way to acquire wisdom? During the coming days, act as if life is crazily in love with you; as if every force of nature longs to be of service to you; as if animals and children and well-adjusted adults are eager to see the best in you. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in becoming the gorgeous curiosity you were born to be. Visualize the possibility that the entire universe is endlessly conspiring to bring you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Ruth Lilly, 87-year-old heiress of a pharmaceutical fortune, recently donated $100 million to a cause that's usually ignored by her fellow philanthropists — poetry. Her electrifying endowment to the modest but well-respected Poetry magazine was even more miraculous in light of this irony: Over the years she has submitted many of her own poems to the magazine in hopes they'd be published, but the editors have rejected every one. Can there be any more perfect embodiment of unconditional generosity? Let her be your role model in the coming week. Bestow your blessings not only on helpers who like you; reach out, as well, to those who have rebuffed and underestimated you. The rewards will be worth more than you can imagine.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You're the object of more than a few greedy fantasies these days. Even people who are normally quite prudent may crave an extra piece of you, so just imagine what excesses that energy vampires might be prone to. Beware of being manipulated and exploited. Try to monitor your own unconscious responses to all this grabby action. I'm afraid you may be secretly pleased that everyone seems to want you so badly, and as a result agree to be depleted. Try this compromise: Allow three worthy and noble people — no more — to claim a larger dose of you than usual. Send reports of UFOs, paranormal events, precognitive dreams, and good investigative journalism to
