TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Esquire magazine quoted a renowned astronomer's surprising idea about the origin of the cosmos. "The big bang is so preposterous," said Allan Sandage, "and the chain of events it set off so unlikely, that it makes most sense when thought of as a 'miracle.'" Let's assume Sandage is right. If the beginning of the universe itself was a miracle, then everything in it is impregnated with the possibility of smaller but equally marvelous miracles. All of which is apropos for your life in the coming week. You're now primed to birth an amazing feat that your rational mind might find hard to believe.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The task you have ahead of you has a resemblance to — wait a minute; I should warn you that the following reference is rather graphic. Proceed only if you're not easily offended and have a supple sense of humor. Anyway, the task ahead of you has a resemblance to carrying out the artificial insemination of a rhinoceros. "But it's impossible to artificially inseminate a rhino," you may think. Well, it's not. With the help of a tool invented by scientists, zookeepers all over the world are regularly doing it nowadays. Likewise, you have a new metaphorical tool that will make it feasible — not easy, but feasible — to do the metaphorical equivalent.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards ceremony, Oscar nominees are called on to talk about themselves endlessly. Because of the nonstop parties they attend, they must cultivate a tolerance to extreme levels of interesting fun. Maybe most challenging of all, they've got to flaunt their stylish charisma with almost superhuman intensity. In the three weeks before the big night this year, for instance, actress Renée Zellweger wore 40 different dresses. What does this have to do with you? You now have astrological license to talk about yourself far more than usual, experience a high degree of fascinating fun and array yourself in a variety of vivacious clothes.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Many scholars believe the Garden of Eden was where Iraq stands today. Though remnants of that ancient paradise survived into modern times, many were obliterated recently. One of my spies who lives near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has kept me posted on the fate of the most famous remnant — the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Until a few weeks ago, it was a gnarled stump near Nasiriyah; but today a crater is all that remains. This can be an evocative symbol for you as you tackle your big assignment for the rest of 2003: Completely demolish your old ideas about paradise so that you can conjure a fresh new vision of it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of my early astrology teachers, Isabel Hickey, had a favorite saying: "Before you can give yourself away, you have to have a self to give." This should be your seed meditation for the foreseeable future. I am not implying that you don't have a self. But you do have a lot of work to do to define and strengthen your sense of who you are. I'd love you to visualize a flame in your heart growing steadily bigger and brighter and hotter.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do you believe there is such a thing as the human soul? How would you define it? What does your own soul feel like? In the coming week you should make frequent attempts to tune in to that elusive essence. Use all your ingenuity and persistence as you try to create a stronger bridge between your everyday awareness and your heart source, your seed code, your eternal song.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It's a perfect time to introduce more experimentation into your most promising relationship. To stimulate your imagination, here are a few ideas you and your companion might want to try together: 1) Go outside just after midnight, wail five loud cock-a-doodle-doos, then run back inside before you're caught. 2) Describe to your friend or partner a detailed vision of his or her best possible future. Ask for the same treatment in return. 3) Borrow the approach of the religions that have rituals of eating their gods. Buy a pastry that makes your mouths water, perform a ceremony in which you invite a divine spirit to enter into it, then slowly devour it while gazing into each other's eyes.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A month ago my Sagittarian friend adorned her car with her first-ever bumper sticker, "Give Yourself to Love." While proud of announcing her compassionate philosophy to the world, she was also nervous. Hadn't she raised the pressure on herself to live up to her noble ideals? A week later, she snapped. A guy gabbing on a cell phone in an SUV cut her off — and she gave him a middle-finger salute. Next day she added a new bumper sticker to the left of the first: "Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On." When I asked her about the contradiction, she confessed, "I've just accepted that I've got a split personality." Today brought another development. She pasted the word "and" to the space between the two stickers, to create a new thought: "Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On and Give Yourself to Love." She called to tell me the good news: "I'm whole again!"
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Are others luckier than you? If so, you can do something about it, according to psychologist Richard Wiseman. His book, The Luck Factor, presents research that proves you can learn to be lucky. It's not a mystical force you're born with, but is instead a habit you can develop. How? Be open to new experiences, trust your gut wisdom, expect good fortune, see the bright side of challenging events, master the art of maximizing serendipitous opportunities. You're now in a phase when you can make tremendous progress in enhancing your capacity to attract luck.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): This may sound strange and improbable, but my inside sources swear it's true: If you'd like to stay out of hot water, metaphorically speaking, you should literally immerse yourself in hot water more than usual in the coming week. You can stir up a protective, benevolent magic by taking a lot of long baths, soaking in hot tubs and playing around in warm swimming pools. And if there's any way you can get away to a hot spring for a day or two, you'll virtually ensure that trouble won't be able to find you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): On certain occasions, I encourage you to sacrifice your own needs for the sake of others, or try to heal their wounds before you attend to your own. But this is not one of those times. It wouldn't be in alignment with the cosmic mojo. What would be the most righteous course of action? Rouse your most imaginative brilliance as you dream up ways to be really good to yourself. Shower yourself with gifts, treats and blessings. Take all that tender loving care you're so skilled at administering to others and bestow it on yourself. Tell how America's invasion of Iraq made you a better person at
