Your Personal Horoscope 2012: Month-by-month forecasts for every sign

Your Personal Horoscope 2012: Month-by-month forecasts for every sign Joseph Polansky Your complete one-volume guide to the year 2012. This fantastic and in depth book includes month-by-month forecasts for every sign and all you need to know to find out what is in store for you in the year ahead.Discover when your lucky days will fall and when it might be better just to stay in bed, with your complete one-volume, month-by-month guide to the year 2012 – the only horoscope you will ever need.This bestselling guide gives you individual predictions for the year ahead and shows you how you, your friends, your family and lovers will fare. It includes:• A month-by-month forecast for every sign• A personality profile for each sign• What to expect in terms of love, sex, work and money• Detailed predictions of your best days and worst days – and the ideal days to attract love or money.• Invaluable advice on exactly when to ask for that pay rise, what days you should be on the look out for exciting revalations and the days you should probably just stay in bed! Joseph Polansky Your Personal Horoscope 2012 Month-by-month forecast for every sign The only one-volume horoscope you’ll ever need Contents Introduction Glossary of Astrological Terms Aries Personality Profile (#ulink_752f354e-bc9d-5bd4-9b34-aa80b81cfa44) Understanding an Aries (#ulink_6579dcb4-8acb-5aa4-85e6-175620757540) Horoscope for 2012 (#ulink_b8f864b9-45fa-5d91-a252-281e5a0d027c) Month-by-month Forecasts (#ulink_4e48399c-4c79-549f-84e2-954170f74fdd) Taurus Personality Profile (#ulink_ffd35b19-9fcb-5ce0-9480-79abf9292eeb) Understanding a Taurus (#ulink_e1cca4a1-eda3-5b1e-8f27-4b19e44b0c85) Horoscope for 2012 (#ulink_b718fb59-ea19-5712-b364-12d2c6738aea) Month-by-month Forecasts (#ulink_11eb7197-4b14-5ca9-99ae-400ce8b1a170) Gemini Personality Profile (#ulink_a45d043f-ca19-5c61-a36e-0213dea5c60a) Understanding a Gemini (#ulink_c3a3a746-b33a-511f-a921-40486777dfea) Horoscope for 2012 (#ulink_b86904aa-cc40-550b-a7e1-e752bd3901d6) Month-by-month Forecasts (#ulink_05625810-2229-58af-beb4-4ca6e41df49b) Cancer Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Cancer (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Leo Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Leo (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Virgo Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Virgo (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Libra Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Libra (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Scorpio Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Scorpio (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Sagittarius Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Sagittarius (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Capricorn Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Capricorn (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Aquarius Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding an Aquarius (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Pisces Personality Profile (#litres_trial_promo) Understanding a Pisces (#litres_trial_promo) Horoscope for 2012 (#litres_trial_promo) Month-by-month Forecasts (#litres_trial_promo) Copyright About the Publisher Introduction Welcome to the fascinating and intricate world of astrology! For thousands of years the movements of the planets and other heavenly bodies have intrigued the best minds of every generation. Life holds no greater challenge or joy than this: knowledge of ourselves and the universe we live in. Astrology is one of the keys to this knowledge. Your Personal Horoscope 2012 gives you the fruits of astrological wisdom. In addition to general guidance on your character and the basic trends of your life, it shows you how to take advantage of planetary influences so you can make the most of the year ahead. The section on each sign includes a Personality Profile, a look at general trends for 2012, and in-depth month-by-month forecasts. The Glossary explains some of the astrological terms you may be unfamiliar with. One of the many helpful features of this book is the ‘Best’ and ‘Most Stressful’ days listed at the beginning of each monthly forecast. Read these sections to learn which days in each month will be good overall, good for money, and good for love. Mark them on your calendar – these will be your best days. Similarly, make a note of the days that will be most stressful for you. It is best to avoid booking important meetings or taking major decisions on these days, as well as on those days when important planets in your horoscope are retrograde (moving backwards through the zodiac). The Major Trends section for your sign lists those days when your vitality is strong or weak, or when relationships with your co-workers or loved ones may need a bit more effort on your part. If you are going through a difficult time, take a look at the colour, metal, gem and scent listed in the ‘At a Glance’ section of your Personality Profile. Wearing a piece of jewellery that contains your metal and/or gem will strengthen your vitality, just as wearing clothes or decorating your room or office in the colour ruled by your sign, drinking teas made from the herbs ruled by your sign or wearing the scents associated with your sign will sustain you. Another important virtue of this book is that it will help you to know not only yourself but those around you: your friends, co-workers, partners and/or children. Reading the Personality Profile and forecasts for their signs will provide you with an insight into their behaviour that you won’t get anywhere else. You will know when to be more tolerant of them and when they are liable to be difficult or irritable. In this edition we have included foot reflexology charts as part of the health section. So many health problems could perhaps be avoided or alleviated if we understood which organs were most vulnerable and what we could do to protect them. Though there are many natural and drug-free ways to strengthen vulnerable organs, these charts show a valid way to proceed. The vulnerable organs for the year ahead are clearly marked in the charts. It’s very good to massage the whole foot on a regular basis, as the feet contain reflexes to the entire body. Try to pay special attention to the specific areas marked in the charts. If this is done diligently, health problems can be avoided. And even if they can’t be completely avoided, their impact can be softened considerably. I consider you – the reader – my personal client. By studying your Solar Horoscope I gain an awareness of what is going on in your life – what you are feeling and striving for and the challenges you face. I then do my best to address these concerns. Consider this book the next best thing to having your own personal astrologer! It is my sincere hope that Your Personal Horoscope 2012 will enhance the quality of your life, make things easier, illuminate the way forward, banish obscurities and make you more aware of your personal connection to the universe. Understood properly and used wisely, astrology is a great guide to knowing yourself, the people around you and the events in your life – but remember that what you do with these insights – the final result – is up to you. A Note on the ‘New Zodiac’ Recently an article was published that postulated two things – the discovery of a new constellation, Ophiuchus, making a thirteenth constellation in the heavens and thus a thirteenth sign, and the statement that because the Earth has shifted relative to the constellations in the past few thousand years, all the signs have shifted backwards by one sign. This has caused much consternation, and I have been receiving a constant stream of letters, emails and phone calls from people saying things like: ‘I don’t want to be a Taurus, I’m happy being a Gemini’, ‘What’s my real sign?’ or ‘Now that I finally understand myself, I’m not who I think I am!’ All of this is ‘much ado about nothing’. The article has some partial truth to it. Yes, in two thousand years the planets have shifted relative to the constellations in the heavens. This is old news. We know this and Hindu astrologers take this into account when casting charts. This shift doesn’t affect Western astrologers in North America and Europe. We use what is called a ‘tropical’ zodiac. This zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations in the heavens. They have the same names, but that’s about it. The tropical zodiac is based on the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. Imagine the circle that this orbit makes, then divide this circle by twelve and you have our zodiac. The Spring Equinox is always 0 degrees (Aries), and the Autumn Equinox is always 0 degrees (Libra). At one time a few thousand years ago, these tropical signs coincided with the actual constellations – they were pretty much interchangeable, and it didn’t matter what zodiac you used. But in the course of thousands of years the planets have shifted relative to these constellations. Here in the West it doesn’t affect our practice one iota. You are still the sign you always were. In North America and Europe there is a clear distinction between an astrological sign and a constellation in the heavens. This issue is more of a problem for Hindu astrologers. Their zodiac is based on the actual constellations – this is called the ‘sidereal’ zodiac. And Hindu astrologers have been accounting for this shift all the time. They keep close tabs on it. In two thousand years there is a shift of 23 degrees, and they subtract this from the Western calculations. So in their system many a Gemini would be a Taurus and this is true for all the signs. This is nothing new – it is all known and accounted for, so there is no bombshell here. The so-called thirteenth constellation, Ophiuchus, is also not a problem for the Western astrologer. As we mentioned, our zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations. It would be more of a problem for the Hindus. But my feeling is that it’s not a problem for them either. What these astronomers are calling a new constellation was probably considered a part of one of the existing constellations. I don’t know this as a fact, but I presume it is so intuitively. I’m sure we will be getting articles by Hindu astrologers explaining this. Glossary of Astrological Terms Ascendant We experience day and night because the Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. It is because of this rotation that the Sun, Moon and planets seem to rise and set. The zodiac is a fixed belt (imaginary, but very real in spiritual terms) around the Earth. As the Earth rotates, the different signs of the zodiac seem to the observer to rise on the horizon. During a 24-hour period every sign of the zodiac will pass this horizon point at some time or another. The sign that is at the horizon point at any given time is called the Ascendant, or rising sign. The Ascendant is the sign denoting a person’s self-image, body and self-concept – the personal ego, as opposed to the spiritual ego indicated by a person’s Sun sign. Aspects Aspects are the angular relationships between planets, the way in which one planet stimulates or influences another. If a planet makes a harmonious aspect (connection) to another, it tends to stimulate that planet in a positive and helpful way. If it makes a stressful aspect to another planet, this disrupts the planet’s normal influence. Astrological Qualities There are three astrological qualities: cardinal, fixed and mutable. Each of the 12 signs of the zodiac falls into one of these three categories. Cardinal Signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn The cardinal quality is the active, initiating principle. Those born under these four signs are good at starting new projects. Fixed Signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius Fixed qualities include stability, persistence, endurance and perfectionism. People born under these four signs are good at seeing things through. Mutable Signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces Mutable qualities are adaptability, changeability and balance. Those born under these four signs are creative, if not always practical. Direct Motion When the planets move forward through the zodiac – as they normally do – they are said to be going ‘direct’. Grand Square A Grand Square differs from a normal Square (usually two planets separated by 90 degrees) in that four or more planets are involved. When you look at the pattern in a chart you will see a whole and complete square. This, though stressful, usually denotes a new manifestation in the life. There is much work and balancing involved in the manifestation. Grand Trine A Grand Trine differs from a normal Trine (where two planets are 120 degrees apart) in that three or more planets are involved. When you look at this pattern in a chart, it takes the form of a complete triangle – a Grand Trine. Usually (but not always) it occurs in one of the four elements: Fire, Earth, Air or Water. Thus the particular element in which it occurs will be highlighted. A Grand Trine in Water is not the same as a Grand Trine in Air or Fire, etc. This is a very fortunate and happy aspect, and quite rare. Houses There are 12 signs of the zodiac and 12 houses of experience. The 12 signs are personality types and ways in which a given planet expresses itself; the 12 houses show ‘where’ in your life this expression takes place. Each house has a different area of interest. A house can become potent and important – a House of Power – in different ways: if it contains the Sun, the Moon or the ‘ruler’ of your chart; if it contains more than one planet; or if the ruler of that house is receiving unusual stimulation from other planets. 1st House Personal Image and Sensual Delights 2nd House Money/Finance 3rd House Communication and Intellectual Interests 4th House Home and Family 5th House Children, Fun, Games, Creativity, Speculations and Love Affairs 6th House Health and Work 7th House Love, Marriage and Social Activities 8th House Transformation and Regeneration 9th House Religion, Foreign Travel, Higher Education and Philosophy 10th House Career 11th House Friends, Group Activities and Fondest Wishes 12th House Spirituality Karma Karma is the law of cause and effect which governs all phenomena. We are all where we find ourselves because of karma – because of actions we have performed in the past. The universe is such a balanced instrument that any act immediately sets corrective forces into motion – karma. Long-term Planets The planets that take a long time to move through a sign show the long-term trends in a given area of life. They are important for forecasting the prolonged view of things. Because these planets stay in one sign for so long, there are periods in the year when the faster-moving (short-term) planets will join them, further activating and enhancing the importance of a given house. Jupiter stays in a sign for about 1 year Saturn 2? years Uranus 7 years Neptune 14 years Pluto 15 to 30 years Lunar Relating to the Moon. See also ‘Phases of the Moon’, below. Natal Literally means ‘birth’. In astrology this term is used to distinguish between planetary positions that occurred at the time of a person’s birth (natal) and those that are current (transiting). For example, Natal Sun refers to where the Sun was when you were born; transiting Sun refers to where the Sun’s position is currently at any given moment – which usually doesn’t coincide with your birth, or Natal, Sun. Out of Bounds The planets move through the zodiac at various angles relative to the celestial equator (if you were to draw an imaginary extension of the Earth’s equator out into the universe, you would have an illustration of this celestial equator). The Sun – being the most dominant and powerful influence in the Solar system – is the measure astrologers use as a standard. The Sun never goes more than approximately 23 degrees north or south of the celestial equator. At the winter solstice the Sun reaches its maximum southern angle of orbit (declination); at the summer solstice it reaches its maximum northern angle. Any time a planet exceeds this Solar boundary – and occasionally planets do – it is said to be ‘out of bounds’. This means that the planet exceeds or trespasses into strange territory – beyond the limits allowed by the Sun, the Ruler of the Solar system. The planet in this condition becomes more emphasized and exceeds its authority, becoming an important influence in the forecast. Phases of the Moon After the full Moon, the Moon seems to shrink in size (as perceived from the Earth), gradually growing smaller until it is virtually invisible to the naked eye – at the time of the next new Moon. This is called the waning Moon phase, or the waning Moon. After the new Moon, the Moon gradually gets bigger in size (as perceived from the Earth) until it reaches its maximum size at the time of the full Moon. This period is called the waxing Moon phase, or waxing Moon. Retrogrades The planets move around the Sun at different speeds. Mercury and Venus move much faster than the Earth, while Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move more slowly. Thus there are times when, relative to the Earth, the planets appear to be going backwards. In reality they are always going forward, but relative to our vantage point on Earth they seem to go backwards through the zodiac for a period of time. This is called ‘retrograde’ motion and tends to weaken the normal influence of a given planet. Short-term Planets The fast-moving planets move so quickly through a sign that their effects are generally of a short-term nature. They reflect the immediate, day-to-day trends in a horoscope. Moon stays in a sign for only 2? days Mercury 20 to 30 days Sun 30 days Venus approximately 1 month Mars approximately 2 months T-square A T-square differs from a Grand Square in that it is not a complete square. If you look at the pattern in a chart it appears as ‘half a complete square’, resembling the T-square tools used by architects and designers. If you cut a complete square in half, diagonally, you have a T-square. Many astrologers consider this more stressful than a Grand Square, as it creates tension that is difficult to resolve. T-squares bring learning experiences. Transits This refers to the movements or motions of the planets at any given time. Astrologers use the word ‘transit’ to make the distinction between a birth or Natal planet (see ‘Natal’, above) and the planet’s current movement in the heavens. For example, if at your birth Saturn was in the sign of Cancer in your 8th house, but is now moving through your 3rd house, it is said to be ‘transiting’ your 3rd house. Transits are one of the main tools with which astrologers forecast trends. Aries THE RAM Birthdays from 21st March to 20th April Personality Profile ARIES AT A GLANCE Element – Fire Ruling Planet – Mars Career Planet – Saturn Love Planet – Venus Money Planet – Venus Planet of Fun, Entertainment, Creativity and Speculations – Sun Planet of Health and Work – Mercury Planet of Home and Family Life – Moon Planet of Spirituality – Neptune Planet of Travel, Education, Religion and Philosophy – Jupiter Colours – carmine, red, scarlet Colours that promote love, romance and social harmony – green, jade green Colour that promotes earning power – green Gem – amethyst Metals – iron, steel Scent – honeysuckle Quality – cardinal (= activity) Quality most needed for balance – caution Strongest virtues – abundant physical energy, courage, honesty, independence, self-reliance Deepest need – action Characteristics to avoid – haste, impetuousness, over-aggression, rashness Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Leo, Sagittarius Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Cancer, Libra, Capricorn Sign most helpful to career – Capricorn Sign most helpful for emotional support – Cancer Sign most helpful financially – Taurus Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Libra Sign most helpful for creative projects – Leo Best Sign to have fun with – Leo Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Sagittarius, Pisces Best day of the week – Tuesday Understanding an Aries Aries is the activist par excellence of the zodiac. The Aries need for action is almost an addiction, and those who do not really understand the Aries personality would probably use this hard word to describe it. In reality ‘action’ is the essence of the Aries psychology – the more direct, blunt and to-the-point the action, the better. When you think about it, this is the ideal psychological makeup for the warrior, the pioneer, the athlete or the manager. Aries likes to get things done, and in their passion and zeal often lose sight of the consequences for themselves and others. Yes, they often try to be diplomatic and tactful, but it is hard for them. When they do so they feel that they are being dishonest and phony. It is hard for them even to understand the mindset of the diplomat, the consensus builder, the front office executive. These people are involved in endless meetings, discussions, talks and negotiations – all of which seem a great waste of time when there is so much work to be done, so many real achievements to be gained. An Aries can understand, once it is explained, that talks and negotiations – the social graces – lead ultimately to better, more effective actions. The interesting thing is that an Aries is rarely malicious or spiteful – even when waging war. Aries people fight without hate for their opponents. To them it is all good-natured fun, a grand adventure, a game. When confronted with a problem many people will say, ‘Well, let’s think about it, let’s analyse the situation.’ But not an Aries. An Aries will think, ‘Something must be done. Let’s get on with it.’ Of course neither response is the total answer. Sometimes action is called for, sometimes cool thought. But an Aries tends to err on the side of action. Action and thought are radically different principles. Physical activity is the use of brute force. Thinking and deliberating require one not to use force – to be still. It is not good for the athlete to be deliberating the next move; this will only slow down his or her reaction time. The athlete must act instinctively and instantly. This is how Aries people tend to behave in life. They are quick, instinctive decision-makers and their decisions tend to be translated into action almost immediately. When their intuition is sharp and well tuned, their actions are powerful and successful. When their intuition is off, their actions can be disastrous. Do not think this will scare an Aries. Just as a good warrior knows that in the course of combat he or she might acquire a few wounds, so too does an Aries realize – somewhere deep down – that in the course of being true to yourself you might get embroiled in a disaster or two. It is all part of the game. An Aries feels strong enough to weather any storm. There are many Aries people who are intellectual. They make powerful and creative thinkers. But even in this realm they tend to be pioneers – outspoken and blunt. These types of Aries tend to elevate (or sublimate) their desire for physical combat in favour of intellectual, mental combat. And they are indeed powerful. In general, Aries people have a faith in themselves that others could learn from. This basic, rock-solid faith carries them through the most tumultuous situations of life. Their courage and self-confidence make them natural leaders. Their leadership is more by way of example than by actually controlling others. Finance Aries people often excel as builders or estate agents. Money in and of itself is not as important as are other things – action, adventure, sport, etc. They are motivated by the need to support and be well-thought-of by their partners. Money as a way of attaining pleasure is another important motivation. Aries function best in their own businesses or as managers of their own departments within a large business or corporation. The fewer orders they have to take from higher up, the better. They also function better out in the field rather than behind a desk. Aries people are hard workers with a lot of endurance; they can earn large sums of money due to the strength of their sheer physical energy. Venus is their money planet, which means that Aries need to develop more of the social graces in order to realize their full earning potential. Just getting the job done – which is what an Aries excels at – is not enough to create financial success. The co-operation of others needs to be attained. Customers, clients and co-workers need to be made to feel comfortable; many people need to be treated properly in order for success to happen. When Aries people develop these abilities – or hire someone to do this for them – their financial potential is unlimited. Career and Public Image One would think that a pioneering type would want to break with the social and political conventions of society. But this is not so with the Aries-born. They are pioneers within conventional limits, in the sense that they like to start their own businesses within an established industry. Capricorn is on the 10th house (career) cusp of Aries’ Solar horoscope. Saturn is the planet that rules their life’s work and professional aspirations. This tells us some interesting things about the Aries character. First off, it shows that, in order for Aries people to reach their full career potential, they need to develop some qualities that are a bit alien to their basic nature: they need to become better administrators and organizers; they need to be able to handle details better and to take a long-range view of their projects and their careers in general. No one can beat an Aries when it comes to achieving short-range objectives, but a career is long term, built over time. You cannot take a ‘quickie’ approach to it. Some Aries people find it difficult to stick with a project until the end. Since they get bored quickly and are in constant pursuit of new adventures, they prefer to pass an old project or task on to somebody else in order to start something new. Those Aries who learn how to put off the search for something new until the old is completed will achieve great success in their careers and professional lives. In general, Aries people like society to judge them on their own merits, on their real and actual achievements. A reputation acquired by ‘hype’ feels false to them. Love and Relationships In marriage and partnerships Aries like those who are more passive, gentle, tactful and diplomatic – people who have the social grace and skills they sometimes lack. Our partners always represent a hidden part of ourselves – a self that we cannot express personally. An Aries tends to go after what he or she likes aggressively. The tendency is to jump into relationships and marriages. This is especially true if Venus is in Aries as well as the Sun. If an Aries likes you, he or she will have a hard time taking no for an answer; many attempts will be made to sweep you off your feet. Though Aries can be exasperating in relationships – especially if they are not understood by their partners – they are never consciously or wilfully cruel or malicious. It is just that they are so independent and sure of themselves that they find it almost impossible to see somebody else’s viewpoint or position. This is why an Aries needs as a partner someone with lots of social graces. On the plus side, an Aries is honest, someone you can lean on, someone with whom you will always know where you stand. What he or she lacks in diplomacy is made up for in integrity. Home and Domestic Life An Aries is of course the ruler at home – the Boss. The male will tend to delegate domestic matters to the female. The female Aries will want to rule the roost. Both tend to be handy round the house. Both like large families and both believe in the sanctity and importance of the family. An Aries is a good family person, although he or she does not especially like being at home a lot, preferring instead to be roaming about. Considering that they are by nature so combative and wilful, Aries people can be surprisingly soft, gentle and even vulnerable with their children and partners. The sign of Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is on the cusp of their solar 4th house (home and family). When the Moon is well aspected – under favourable influences – in the birth chart, an Aries will be tender towards the family and want a family life that is nurturing and supportive. Aries likes to come home after a hard day on the battlefield of life to the understanding arms of their partner and the unconditional love and support of their family. An Aries feels that there is enough ‘war’ out in the world – and he or she enjoys participating in that. But when Aries comes home, comfort and nurturing are what’s needed. Horoscope for 2012 Major Trends For those of you born early in the sign of Aries (March 21–31), 2011 was no piece of cake. There were challenges galore, yet you overcame. You worked harder, perhaps longer hours, but you saw the fruits of your labour. In spite of all the challenges, you prospered. Prosperity is still strong in the year ahead as well. Things were not easy but they were good. (The really worthwhile things in life rarely come easily.) When Saturn leaves Libra on October 5, things start to get easier. Health and energy will improve. The love situation will also improve. Those of you born later in the sign also had prosperity and the good life last year. But you are feeling the challenges more this year – and in future years. The main theme of 2012 (actually it began in the spring/summer of 2010) is change. Uranus entered your sign in 2011 and will be there for many years to come. Many of you divorced in the past two years or broke up serious relationships and now you are exploring your personal freedom. Many of you have been praying for change for some time now, and it is happening. Those of you born early in the sign are having it now. Those of you born later in the sign will have it in coming years. These changes are dramatic ones – not like changing your hairstyle or job. Uranus is saying to you, ‘Yes I will bring you the change that you are praying for, but in order to do so, you must allow me to shake things up a bit.’ Love, as we mentioned, has been challenging for the past two years, but should get easier later on in the year, after October (more on this later). Your spiritual planet, Neptune, makes a major move this year. He moves from the sign of Aquarius, where he has been for 14 or 15 years, into his own sign of Pisces. This is showing shifts in your own spiritual life and a deepening of it. Though the romantic life is challenging, friendships seem good. You have very devoted friends these days – friends who put your interests ahead of their own. Jupiter will move into your 3rd house on June 11 and spend the rest of 2012 there. Thus this is a year for expanding the mind – for learning or teaching and for pursuing your intellectual interests. Many of you will get new cars and communication equipment as well. Your most important interests in the year ahead are the body, the image and personal pleasure; finance; communication and intellectual interests; love, romance and social activities; sex, personal transformation and personal reinvention; and your career. Your paths of greatest fulfillment this year are finance (until June 11); communication and intellectual interests (after June 11); foreign travel, higher education, religion, philosophy and theology (until August 31); sex, personal transformation and personal reinvention (after August 31). Health (Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference: these perspectives were identical. But today there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.) Your 6th house of health is a ‘house of power’ for the first half of the year and this is good news. You are focused on health; it is a major priority – and it should be, as health is more delicate this year than usual. Three powerful long-term planets – Uranus, Pluto and Saturn – are affecting you, so overall energy is not what it should be. More attention to health is called for this year and you are responding. There is much you can do to enhance your health and prevent problems from developing. Give more attention to the head, face and scalp (regular scalp and face massage will be especially powerful until July 3; craniosacral therapy is powerful too); the heart (avoid worry and anxiety, the spiritual root cause of heart problems); the adrenals (strong emotions such as fear and anger tend to knock out the adrenal glands: do your best to minimize this); and the small intestine. Aries are lovers of physical exercise and athletics in general. But this year vigorous physical exercise is very good for the health. Good muscle tone is important. If the muscles lose their tone, the skeleton gets out of whack – the spinal vertebrae get misaligned and this can lead to hosts of other problems. A day at the gym is not only fun but will often do as much for you (if you feel under the weather) as a visit to the doctor. With Mars, the ruler of your Horoscope, in your 6th house for the first half of the year, good health for you is not just ‘no symptoms’ or physical fitness, it also means ‘looking good’. There is a vanity component here. Good health will do more for your personal appearance than a host of beauty treatments. This vanity component can be used for healing as well. If you feel under the weather, buy a new outfit or have your hair or nails done – do something that improves your appearance, and chances are that you will feel ‘physically’ better as well. Reflexology Try to massage the whole foot on a regular basis, but pay extra attention to the points highlighted on the chart. When you massage, be aware of ‘sore spots’, as these need special attention. It’s also a good idea to massage the ankles and top side of the feet (see below). Aries is always the daredevil. The more dangerous or adventurous a project or activity is, the better they like it. But this year, the tendency is even stronger. You are experimenting with the body, testing the limits. This is basically a good thing – the body can do much more than we think – however these experiments need to be done in a ‘mindful’ way, or injury can result. With Uranus in your 1st house I’d recommend exercises like yoga, tai chi or chi qong – these are safe ways to test the limits of the body. Your health planet, Mercury, is a fast-moving planet. During the course of the year he will move through all the 12 signs and houses of your Horoscope. Thus there are many short-term health trends that are best discussed in the monthly reports. As we mentioned, Saturn will move away from his stressful aspect on October 5, improving your health and energy tremendously. However, with Uranus and Pluto still affecting you, you still need to watch your health. The most important times to rest and relax more this year are from January 1 to January 19; June 21 to July 22; September 22 to October 22; and December 21 to December 31. Home and Family Your 4th house of home and family is not a ‘house of power’ this year. Normally this would mean a status quo kind of year, with no major changes. But this year, with Uranus in your 1st house (especially for those of you born early in Aries) status quo is not in your lexicon. You are into change, change, change – the more the better! Usually when Uranus occupies the 1st house (and this will be a trend for many more years) people become nomadic. They are restless. They might not formally move, but will travel around a lot and live in different places for long periods of time. They might have a home, but they behave as if they were ‘homeless’. This also generates a ‘passion for personal freedom’. You don’t want any responsibility, and this can create problems with the family unit. Every family member has responsibilities, whether formal or unspoken, so this could create rifts with the family this year. (Those of you who have Aries people within your family need to give them as much latitude as possible – so long as it isn’t destructive. Aries children are more difficult to handle this year; they are more rebellious.) The Moon is your family planet and she gets eclipsed twice this year – this is pretty normal. This means that twice every year (and sometimes more than twice) you get the opportunity to improve the home and the family relations. The cosmos forces you into it. Thus if there are flaws in the home, or hidden grudges with family members, these are the times when they surface so that they can be corrected. The two lunar eclipses this year are on June 4 and November 28. We will discuss them in more detail in the monthly reports. We do see dramas with parents or parent figures this year. This began last year, but is more pronounced now. They can be having operations, near-death kinds of experiences and financial changes and shakeups. Like you, parents and parent figures need to watch their health more, especially their overall energy levels. Siblings and sibling figures are having a very spiritual kind of period until June 11. There is much inner growth happening. After this date they enter a period of prosperity, with increased earnings, luck in speculations, travel and the good life. Siblings of an appropriate age are much more fertile than usual during this period too. There are probably major repairs going on in their homes early in the year. Children of an appropriate age could have multiple moves this year, but they seem stressful. If they are going to move, it will be better to do it before October 5. Afterwards there are many delays and glitches involved. Grandchildren of appropriate age seem to have a status quo year as far as the home is concerned. Finance and Career In spite of all the challenges you’ve been facing, last year seems to have been prosperous and the trend continues in the year ahead. Expansive Jupiter – the planet of abundance – is still in your money house until June 11. By then, your financial goals will more or less be attained and your focus will be on other things. Like last year, assets you already own tend to increase in value. Thus your net worth is increased regardless of your actual earnings. Jupiter is both the generic and actual ruler of your 9th house. Thus there are financial opportunities with foreign companies, or in foreign countries, or with foreigners in your own country. With Jupiter, the planet of religion and philosophy, associated with wealth this year, it is very important to have a good personal philosophy of wealth: a good metaphysical understanding of what causes it and how to attain it. There is much more to it than just mere ‘hard work’ (although this is part of it). If there are flaws in your personal philosophy (i.e. if you believe that wealth is just material things), it can hamper your ability to earn. There are a few complications though. Venus rules both your love life and financial life. Thus, for you, there is a powerful connection between love and money. When love is going well, finances tend to go well. When finances are going well, love tends to go well. Problems in love can cause problems in finance and vice versa. Thus, because the love life has been challenging, this could affect earning power. (In cases where couples are getting divorced or separating, there are often financial conflicts involved.) Love problems tend to be the root causes of financial problems in your Horoscope. If financial problems beset you, do your best to get the love life in order. Venus is a very fast-moving planet. Like Mercury, sometimes she moves fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes she goes backwards (this year she retrogrades from May 15 to June 27). Thus there are many short-term trends in finance that are best dealt with in the monthly reports. For the past two years your career planet Saturn has been in the sign of Libra. This is a nice position by the way: Saturn is exalted in Libra and your career energies are at their most ‘exalted’ status. This situation continues for most of the year ahead, until October 5. The career planet in Libra shows that you advance your career by social means – by attending or hosting the right kind of parties and through your social connections. Your friends (and spouse or current love) seem supportive, career-wise. Pluto has been in your 10th house of career for some years now and will be there for many more years to come. There are great shakeups and upheavals in your company or industry. This trend accelerates after October 5 when your career planet enters Scorpio, the 8th house of your chart. The rules are changing. A detox is happening in your company and industry, and also within yourself. Your attitudes and approach to your career are getting purified, sometimes by dramatic means such as by ‘near-death’ kinds of career experiences – situations where you face apparent ruin. However, the career dramas you are facing are really the ‘birth pangs’ of something new and wonderful. Love and Social As we mentioned, the love and social life has been challenging for some years now. Saturn has been in your 7th house. There are many good things about this, but seldom is this transit pleasant. Singles are better off not marrying this year. We often get into relationships with a honeymoon mentality, but the honeymoon rarely lasts for long. After a while the burdens and responsibilities come in and we have to deal with them. The past two years – and most of the year ahead – is such a time. Many a love relationship has dissolved these past two years and many more will dissolve in the year ahead. Many of you even doubt that love exists, it all seems like a duty and burden. Even good relationships (especially if this is the first marriage) have become dull. The spark of love, the fire of romance, the spontaneity seems lacking. All of you will have to work harder to project love and warmth to others. On some unconscious level, you are projecting a ‘coldness’, a distance, an aloofness and others are picking up on this. So it is up to you, through your conscious effort, to project love and warmth to counteract these astrological tendencies. The good part of this transit is that you will learn whether your love is real. We seldom know this when everything is going well. It is only in the tough times that we learn this. The other good thing here is that many of you are learning that duty and responsibility are another form of love. Doing your duty by the beloved, no matter how you feel or how onerous it is, is a form of love. And, in many cultures it is considered the highest form of love. Aries people tend to jump into relationships much too quickly. They fall in love very quickly and often marry quickly. But now with Saturn in your 7th house the cosmos is cautioning you to go slow in love. Don’t rush things, let love develop as it will. There is a need for patience in love this year. Singles are probably attracted to (and attracting) older lovers this year. Often under this aspect marriage is seen as a career move – a career like any other – and more like a business partnership than a romantic attachment. A person will marry for convenience rather than for romantic love. Those of you into your first marriage are having the marriages tested right now. Good marriages will survive and get even better. But inherently flawed ones will probably dissolve. Those of you working on your second marriage have opportunities for business partnerships this year. But there are also good marriage opportunities in the first half of the year. Love opportunities happen as you pursue your financial goals and with people who are involved in your finances. Those working on their third marriage have excellent prospects and a third marriage is very likely. There’s not much you need to do – this person will find you. Saturn in your 7th house shows a need to pare down social activities. You need to focus on quality rather than quantity. In general you are mixing with people of high power and prestige, with people who can help you career-wise this year, as has been the case for the past two years. Many of you will be involved in the classic office romance, especially with superiors. Self-improvement There have been many disappointments in love and with friends the past two years, and you are still not finished with this. So there is a need to avoid becoming embittered or vengeful. You can be carrying deep-seated grudges on an unconscious level. This is not constructive and will cause more problems in love and in other areas of life. So, learning and practising the art of forgiveness is very important this year. Real forgiveness comes not just from the lips. It is an organic forgiveness – the hurt and pain are released from the very cells of the body. With real forgiveness you are able to think of the person who has hurt you without anger, pain, regret, sadness or any other negative emotion. You may not be passionately in love with the person who has wronged you, but at least you will not be emanating more negativity (and thus creating more negative experiences in your life). It might help you to understand that we never forgive the actions – only the people. The actions were wrong and there is no whitewashing these things. But these people’s actions were prompted by their own insecurities and errors and they may have had little control over what they did. As we mentioned, Neptune, your spiritual planet (and also the generic spiritual planet) makes a major move into your 12th house this year on February 3. Thus spirituality is going to become important for many years to come. Now Aries are activists even in their spiritual life. They serve the Divine through the physical body, through being active in charities or causes. They like to express their spiritual ideals in a physical way. This is all well and good but now, with Neptune’s influence upon you, it might be good to also include the more contemplative, meditative paths. Yes, action is good, but stillness is also good. Stillness, silence, will lead to even more powerful actions – and it seems to me that this is the spiritual message for you. Before rushing into a worthy activity automatically, spend some time in the silence communing with the Divine. Then your actions will be more powerful and effective. This is a time in your life where you learn that non-action and action are two sides of the same coin; one gives birth to the other. Uranus is in your 1st house for many years to come. Thus, as we mentioned, you are more experimental with the body, testing its limits. But along with this many of you will be more rebellious these days. Sometimes rebellion is called for – there are certain situations that we should not submit to. But sometimes people rebel for the sake of rebellion. Change is seen as good for its own sake, and this is not always the case. The positive way to rebel is to create something better than the thing that you are rebelling against. Find a way that really improves things and practise it. This will do more in the long run than a million temper tantrums. Month-by-month Forecasts January Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 10, 11, 19, 20, 28, 29 Most Stressful Days Overall: 8, 9, 14, 15, 21, 22 Best Days for Love: 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26 Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 16, 17, 21, 25, 26, 30, 31 Best Days for Career: 15, 21, 22 Your year begins with the planetary momentum overwhelmingly moving forward. Until the 24th all of the planets are moving forward (highly unusual), and after the 24th 90 per cent are going forward. Not only that, but the universal solar cycle is waxing. So this is a great month to start new projects or launch new products. Try to find days when the Moon is also waxing (from the 1st to the 9th and from the 23rd onwards) and you’ll have the best of the best days to start new projects. Last month the planetary power shifted to the Eastern sector of your Horoscope, and this month the shift is even stronger. By the 8th 70 per cent (and sometimes 80 per cent) of the planets will be in the East. You are always an independent sort, but now even more so. This is a time to create your life circumstances, rather than to adapt to things. Your happiness is up to you. Other people are always important, but they will adapt themselves to you rather than vice versa. Health needs more watching this month especially until the 20th. Energy and vitality are not up to their usual standards so rest and relax more and try to pace yourself better. Instead of a go-go-go rhythm, try a go-go-rest beat. Happily, you seem more focused on health this month and you will listen to your body. You can enhance your health by giving more attention to the liver and thighs (until the 8th) and to the spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment, afterwards. Fire therapies – heat-oriented therapies – are powerful until the 8th, after that earth-based therapies (mud bathing, soaking in mineral waters and the like) are strong. Your health planet Mercury travels with Pluto from the 12th to the 14th and thus detox regimes are especially powerful that period. Surgery could be recommended that period and you seem inclined to agree, but get second opinions. (Be careful driving that period too. Cars and communication equipment gets tested then and might need replacement.) Your health planet is in stressful aspect with Uranus from the 8th to the 10th – reinforcing the above, but also suggesting the avoidance of risky, daredevil types of behaviour. Ever since Jupiter entered your money house in June of last year you have been in a prosperity cycle. This trend continues. Financial intuition seems unusually strong and good this month. Venus travels with Neptune from the 12th to the 15th and then enters mystical Pisces on the 24th. You can’t really make financial decisions based on logic alone as there is too much going on behind the scenes now so your premises and assumptions can be faulty. Intuition sees through all these things. Though you are materially minded these days, this is a good month to go deeper into the spiritual realities of wealth. The material thing is only the side effect of a spiritual reality. Spirit is the actual cause of wealth – the activities of the earth are merely effects. You seem to give more to charity this month. This is good as it opens the doors to the spiritual supply. Involvement with non-profit organizations or altruistic causes brings both love and financial opportunity. February Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 15, 16, 24, 25 Most Stressful Days Overall: 4, 5, 11, 12, 17, 18 Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 24, 25 Best Days for Money: 1, 5, 6, 9, 15, 17, 24, 25, 27, 28 Best Days for Career: 3, 12, 17, 18, 21 The planetary momentum is still mostly forward this month: until the 6th 90 per cent of the planets are going forward, after that 80 per cent. So this is still a good month for launching new products or starting new projects (and many of you are involved with new projects these days). The planetary power is also still in the East, so keep in mind our discussion of this last month. The main headline this month is the power in your spiritual 12th house – it is easily the strongest house in the chart right now. Venus entered here last month, Neptune moves in on the 3rd, Mercury on the 14th and the Sun on the 19th. The new Moon of the 21st will also occur here. No question this is a spiritual month. It is normal to feel more reclusive under these transits, to crave solitude to get right with yourself and with the Divine. And, since you are approaching your personal new year (your solar return – your birthday) it is good now (and until your birthday) to review the past year, assess your progress or non-progress, atone for past mistakes, and set your course for the year ahead. These things can only be done in solitude and quiet. For those of you on the spiritual path, this is a month for spiritual breakthroughs. When these things happen it is most rapturous. It changes the whole outlook on life. Love has been stressful for some years. Marriages and serious relationships are getting tested. But this month we see some improvement. Venus crosses your Ascendant and enters your 1st house on the 8th. Your spouse, partner or current love seems more devoted to you, more on your side, and you are in a more romantic mood. Singles are not likely to marry this month, but there is love in your life – in fact it pursues you. Still, it is highly unstable and volatile (Venus is conjunct to Uranus from the 8th to the 10th). This means that sudden love can come to you but can also leave you just as quickly. Still it is exciting. This is a nice aspect for finance too. Financial opportunity, and probably some windfalls, is coming to you. An opportunity for a great business partnership or joint venture occurs. But don’t jump into things too quickly. The staying power of this venture is in question. It seems that you are spending more on technology too from the 8th onwards, and it seems like a good investment. Though health has been stressed for more than a year, this is one of your better health periods in the year. You can enhance your health even further by giving more attention to your ankles and calves (both should be regularly massaged) until the 14th and to the feet after the 14th. Your health planet moves into your spiritual 12th house on that date, so this is a month for going deeper into the spiritual dimensions of healing. Many of you will be involved in spiritual healing for others and this is a good ‘entry point’ to this vast subject. March Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24 Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 16, 30, 31 Best Days for Love: 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, 25, 26 Best Days for Money: 7, 15, 16, 25, 26 Best Days for Career: 2, 10, 15, 16, 19, 29 The planets are now in their maximum Eastern position of the year. Personal independence is now at its strongest. This is a time for having your way in life and for creating your own happiness according to your personal specifications. You have the power and the support. This month the planets make an important shift. For the first two months of the year, the upper hemisphere of your chart was the strongest. So ambitions and career were dominant interests. By the 20th, as the Sun crosses your Ascendant, the lower half of the Horoscope becomes dominant. You are in the dusk period of the year; night is falling. Outer career activities are less important for the next six or so months; instead family and emotional issues are more important. Sure you will deal with your career, but perhaps in a different, more ‘internal’ way. In winter, when everything is bleak and desolate and seemingly dead, nature is ‘dreaming and visualizing’ her future blossoms and fruits; nature is still alive, but in a more interior way. And when Spring comes, her dreams start to become real. So it is with you. Your outer ambitions are far from dead, but they need to be worked on in a different way. This is a trend for the next six months. Now your emotional harmony is very important. Without emotional harmony you won’t be effective in your ‘dreaming and visualizing’. Your 12th house of spirituality is still strong until the 20th, so keep in mind our discussion of this last month. On the 20th the Sun enters your own sign and your 1st house. This is a very happy transit. You enter a yearly personal pleasure peak. You are in a period where the pleasures of the body are easily fulfilled. There is personal optimism and happiness. Health and energy (a problem for more than a year) is much improved now. Whatever your age, you are more the child this month – happy-go-lucky. You look younger too. Aries of appropriate age are more fertile this month. There is luck in speculations now too. On the 5th, Venus enters your money house where she joins with Jupiter. The two benefactors of the zodiac are now occupying your money house, signalling a month of prosperity. Opportunities for business partnerships and joint ventures are also happening and these seem more stable and serious than last month. Venus travels with Jupiter from the 11th to the 14th, a great period for both love and money. Singles are perhaps a bit too practical about love – perhaps a bit too materialistic – but they seem to get what they want. They find love opportunities as they pursue their normal financial goals and with people involved in the finances. April Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 10, 19, 20, 29, 30 Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 12, 13, 26, 27 Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 14, 15, 24, 25 Best Days for Money: 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 24, 25 Best Days for Career: 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 25 Your health planet was retrograde most of last month, and is retrograde until the 4th of this month. Health news that you’ve been receiving – test results and the like – is probably not what you think and perhaps is even amiss. This is a time for doing your homework – reviewing your health regime – rather than for making major changes; not until after the 4th is it safer to make changes. Until the 17th Mercury is still in your spiritual 12th house, so spiritual healing is still very powerful for you, and you respond well to it. Also give more attention to the feet. On the 17th Mercury moves into your own sign, therefore give more attention to the head, face and skull (areas that always need more attention anyway) and to the adrenals. Physical exercise is always good for you but now even more so. It seems that you are making important health changes from the 17th to the 20th. Be a more defensive driver that period as well. There are job changes happening during that period too. In some cases it is within the same company, in other cases, it is with another company. If you employ others there is instability in the workforce over that period, perhaps employee turnover and dramas in the lives of employees. If you are looking for a job, job opportunities are seeking you out after the 17th. If you employ others, new employees are coming to you. Last month was a prosperous month and the trend continues even more strongly. The Sun enters your money house on the 20th and you enter a yearly financial peak. This is one of your best financial months in a great financial year. Enjoy. What I like with this transit is that it shows ‘happy money’ – money that is earned in pleasurable and enjoyable ways, not through drudgery. Also, it shows that you are enjoying your wealth, spending it on leisure and fun kinds of things. There is luck in speculations from the 20th onwards too. Children in your life are also prospering and seem supportive financially. This works in many kinds of ways. Sometimes the support is in the form of actual money or financial opportunity (if they are of appropriate age), sometimes they have good financial ideas, or they inspire you to earn more. Your personal creativity also seems more marketable now. Your love planet enters your 3rd house on the 3rd and spends the rest of the month there. Thus love opportunities occur in the neighbourhood and perhaps with neighbours. Love happens in educational-type settings – in school or lectures or seminars. Good communication turns you on. Mental sex is as important as physical sex. May Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 16, 17, 26, 27 Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 9, 10, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31 Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 11, 12, 21, 22, 30, 31 Best Days for Money: 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 29, 30, 31 Best Days for Career: 4, 9, 10, 12, 22, 31 Many of the trends of previous months are still in effect. Most of the planets are still in the East (though this is about to change), and most of them are still below the horizon of your Horoscope. Continue to create conditions as you see fit and pursue emotional harmony. With your career planet retrograde for the past few months you can safely downplay the career and focus on the home and family. Many career issues need time to resolve; there is no quick fix right now. Retrograde activity increases compared with previous months; after the 15th 30 per cent of the planets are in retrograde motion. The pace of life slows down a bit. The most important retrogrades affecting you now are those of Saturn (your career planet) and Venus (your love and financial planet). Three important areas of life are being affected, and so your financial and social judgements are not up to their usual standard; important decisions ought not to be taken. Big purchases, big investments, big changes need serious thought. (Venus is retrograde from the 15th of this month until June 26.) Love is more complicated now, maybe going backwards instead of forwards. Perhaps your spouse, partner or current love is ‘back tracking’, or perhaps you are. This is all part of the cosmic agenda to get you to review your love life, your romantic relationship, and see where improvements can be made. Sometimes the way forward is backwards: sometimes the review will lead to greater forward progress in the future. Avoid important love decisions now. Singles should let love develop as it will without trying to force things (this is hard for an Aries). Your love planet goes retrograde in the sign of Gemini and in your 3rd house. The message here is that you need to be more careful when communicating to your spouse or current love. Don’t take things for granted. Make sure you get their message and that they get yours. Many of the problems now come from miscommunication and misunderstanding. A little more care in the beginning can save a lot of heartache later on. You are still in a very prosperous period – a yearly financial peak. This continues until the 20th. The retrograde of your financial planet will not stop your prosperity, but will perhaps slow it down a little, giving you a bit more breathing room. It is a pause that refreshes, as the saying goes. There is a solar eclipse this month on the 20th – right on the cusp of your 2nd and 3rd houses. Thus the affairs of both these houses are affected. You will have to make important financial changes in coming months (but take your time and study things carefully). Avoid speculations during the eclipse period. Your spiritual life seems very affected as this eclipse impacts on Neptune. Probably you are changing teachers, practices and the overall regime. Children should avoid risk-taking kinds of activity during the eclipse period. Cars and communication equipment get tested now and it is likely that some of these things will have to be replaced. There are dramas in the lives of siblings, sibling figures and neighbours. June Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 22, 23 Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 20, 21, 27, 28 Best Days for Love: 8, 9, 17, 18, 27, 28 Best Days for Money: 5, 6, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, 26, 27, 28 Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 9, 18, 28 Retrograde activity increases further this month. Until the 25th, 40 per cent of the planets are in retrograde motion – a high percentage. The pace of life in the world slows down and this is so on a personal level as well. Patience, patience, patience: this is the watchword. It is a difficult lesson for Aries, but it will do no good to try to circumvent things. This month the planets are starting to shift to the Western sector of your Horoscope. This is the social sector, the sector of other people. This shift will be more complete next month, but you are starting to feel it now. Over the past five or so months you have created conditions as you wanted them – you have had your way in life. Now, it is time to road test your creation, to enjoy it (if you have built well) or to suffer the discomforts of it (if you have built unwisely). It is more difficult to change things now. You are more dependent on others and their good graces now, and it is best to adapt to things as best you can. Later, towards the end of the year, you will again enter a cycle of independence and will be able to make any changes desired. Now, however, is the time to hone the social skills and gain your way through co-operation with others, rather than on your own. The social side of your nature is being developed this period. Jupiter is making an important move into your 3rd house on the 11th. For the past year he has been in your money house. By now you have achieved your financial goals and are ready to explore new areas of interest: learning and the expansion of the mind. This is an excellent transit for students, whether pre-college or in college, and there is success in your studies. Learning is easier and more fun. Many of you are taking important tests and exams in coming months and this transit brings good fortune (although you still have to study!). Those of you who are college-bound seem fortunate in this area. (A lunar eclipse on the 4th will create a few bumps on the road, but even the bumps are positive.) Those of you in the workforce will enjoy taking courses, seminars and attending lectures. The mind is hungry and wants to be fed. New and upgraded communication equipment is coming to you, and perhaps a nice car too (looks like an expensive one!). Siblings and sibling figures in your life are prospering and entering into serious love relationships now. The lunar eclipse on the 4th will affect you strongly. It not only impacts on the Moon, your family planet, but on your ruling planet Mars as well. So reduce your schedule for a few days before and after the event. Avoid daredevil, risky kinds of activities, and avoid testing the limits of the body – you will have many other opportunities in the next six years to do this in a safer way. This eclipse brings dramas in the lives of family members and perhaps in the physical home as well. If there are hidden flaws there, now is the time you find out about them and take the steps to correct them. Students can have abrupt changes in school, college or in their choice of studies now. But this will work out in a good way. July Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29 Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 17, 18, 24, 25, 30, 31 Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 15, 24, 25 Best Days for Money: 5, 6, 12, 13, 15, 16, 24, 25 Best Days for Career: 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 24, 25, 30, 31 Retrograde activity is still strong this month. The players in the drama change, but the overall percentages are still high. Pluto and Neptune are retrograde all month. On the 13th Uranus will start many months retrograde and on the 15th Mercury will also start to move backwards. From the 15th onwards 40 per cent of the planets are in retrograde motion. Like last month, the lesson is patience. Hurry and rush will not achieve anything, and short cuts will actually create more delays. Take your time and be perfect in all that you do – this is the best way to handle these retrogrades. Mars, the ruler of your Horoscope and a very important planet in your chart, makes dynamic aspects to both Uranus and Pluto from the 15th to the 21st. You will probably feel the effects even earlier and for a few days later, but this is when the aspect is most exact. Don’t be afraid, but be more careful and mindful when driving or when handling sharp or dangerous objects or electrical instruments. Avoid confrontations and risky activities. Listen to your body more. If you are working out and you feel a pain, stop. If you are engaged in sports and start to feel a pain, again stop. This is not a time to be testing your body’s limits. Your friends should also be more careful then too. Relations with friends seem tense this period: try not to make matters worse. The tension will pass. In general, health needs more watching this month, especially until the 22nd. Try to rest and relax more. Now is a good time to go on a nice relaxed holiday – and with so many retrogrades, you probably won’t be missing much. The heart, which is important all year, is especially important this month and needs more attention. Sunshine and heatoriented therapies will be powerful. Your health planet goes retrograde on the 15th so avoid making dramatic changes to your diet or health regime then. Study things further. Health and energy improve dramatically after the 22nd as the Sun moves into Leo. You also enter into one of your yearly personal pleasure peaks. This is a time for enjoying your life. Though your overall energy is not up to its usual standards, there are still nice things happening. Venus is very near to Jupiter this month. The aspect is not exact, but it is still in effect; this brings prosperity and financial opportunity, and love opportunities too. Like last month, love is close to home. Love happens in educational-type settings – in school, at lectures, seminars, at the library or bookshop. August Best Days Overall: 6, 7, 16, 17, 24, 25 Most Stressful Days Overall: 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 27, 28 Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31 Best Days for Career: 1, 2, 11, 12, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30 Retrograde activity among the planets is still strong but is less than last month. On the 8th Mercury starts moving forward and the retrograde percentage drops to 30 per cent. With Pluto retrograde, any surgery is better off delayed (unless it is an emergency). Elective surgeries need more research doing now. Friends seem to lack direction this month, they seem ‘up in the air’ (a trend for the next few months). Purchases of high-tech equipment and software need more homework too; a new and better version could be in the works, or new operating systems could make them obsolete as soon as you buy them. As we mentioned last month, avoid making important changes to the health regime or diet (or job) until after the 8th when Mercury starts moving forward again. Like last month, enhance your health by giving more attention to the heart. Having said all this, the month ahead seems basically happy – a fun kind of month. (Having fun will tend to improve your health as well.) You are still in a yearly personal pleasure peak until the 23rd. Health and energy are much improved over last month too. Mars is making fabulous aspects to Jupiter from the 8th to the 21st, which is a very happy transit for you. It brings enjoyable travel opportunities. Students hear good news about school or tests. There are religious and philosophical breakthroughs happening and you have good relations with the academics and religious figures in your life. There is luck in speculations and a general feeling of optimism. Venus, now moving firmly forward since June 27, moves into Cancer on the 8th. This shows many things. There is more socializing with the family and with those who are ‘like family’ to you. You are probably investing in the home, redecorating it, and spending on objects of beauty for the home. Family and family connections are important financially this period. And family members are playing cupid now. There are a few short-term financial and love upheavals after the 8th but they pass very quickly. On the 23rd the Sun enters Virgo, your 6th house. This signals a more serious period. You are in the mood for work, and this is a nice transit for job seekers. Job seekers are not just looking for ‘a job’ – they want work that they will enjoy, and it seems they will be successful. Many of you will sacrifice pay for enjoyable work. Children seem confused and lacking in direction from the 21st to the 24th – a bit dreamy and other worldly. But this will pass. Avoid speculations that period. September Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 12, 13, 21, 22, 29, 30 Most Stressful Days Overall: 10, 11, 16, 17, 23, 24 Best Days for Love: 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 29, 30 Best Days for Money: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30 Best Days for Career: 8, 9, 17, 18, 23, 24, 26 Mars entered your 8th house of transformation on the 24th of last month and will be there for the entire month of September. There are many positives to this. It is a great period for detoxing the body and for losing weight (if you need to), and a good period for delving into the deeper things of life – past lives, reincarnation, occult studies, life after death, etc. Whatever your age or stage in life, libido will be stronger than usual, so it is a more sexually active kind of month too. This celestial position tends to make a person more serious about life; they see beneath the surface of things, beneath all the fa?ades that people put up. There is also more dealing with death, either physically or psychologically. There is a need to come to terms with death, to understand it properly. Mars in the 8th house intensifies the desires of nature. The desires can be good or ill, but they will be more intense than usual. Thus there is a greater likelihood of success. You go after what you want in a very fierce and single-minded way. Health is good most of the month until the 23rd. After that you need to rest and relax more. Happily you are focused on health this month. You can enhance your health by giving more attention to the heart (all month but especially on the 1st); the small intestine (from the 2nd to the 17th); and the kidneys and hips (from the 17th onwards). Avoid alcohol and other drugs from the 1st to the 3rd. It is always good to keep harmony in your marriage or love relationship, but after the 17th it becomes an actual health issue. If problems arise (God forbid), examine this area and restore harmony as quickly as possible. The love life has been stressful so far this year, but things are improving this month. Venus moves into Leo on the 7th so there is more joy in the current relationship and in general. You are more fun-loving in love, not as serious and pessimistic as in the past few years. Also, on the 23rd the Sun moves into your 7th house, initiating a yearly love and social peak. Singles have wonderful love opportunities now, but they don’t seem like serious ones – more like love affairs. Perhaps they can develop into something in the future, but for now they are just love affairs. Avoid speculations from the 23rd to the 30th. (You are always a risk taker, but this month even more so than usual.) Children need to be more mindful when driving or handling electrical equipment or dangerous objects. They should avoid risky kinds of activities. If the children are very young, keep dangerous objects away from them. Children are prosperous this month, and there is good financial co-operation between you and them. October Best Days Overall: 1, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 27, 28 Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 21 Best Days for Love: 1, 12, 14, 15, 21 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31 Best Days for Career: 7, 16, 20, 21, 24 Retrograde activity increases again this month: Jupiter moves backwards (for the rest of the year) on the 4th, meaning 30 per cent of the planets are retrograde this month from this date onwards. If you are involved in legal issues there are more glitches and complications these days. Take your time with these things. Students should be more cautious about making important educational changes now. Mars in your 9th house from the 7th onwards shows that foreign lands are calling to you; you have the travel itch now, but Jupiter’s retrograde motion shows that these trips need carefully planning. Health still needs watching this month. You probably need more sleep than usual. You can enhance your health by giving more attention to the kidneys and hips (until the 5th); the colon, bladder and sexual organs (from the 5th to the 29th); and the liver and thighs (from the 29th onwards). The good news this month is that after the 23rd, your health and energy will dramatically improve. The short-term planets move away from their stressful aspect and, more importantly, after a two-year stay Saturn leaves his stressful aspect in Libra on the 5th. From that date onwards, for the next two years you will feel like a heavy weight has been lifted off your shoulders. If you have had health problems the past few years you should hear good news about it. Keep in mind though that there are still two long-term planets stressing you. So your health still needs monitoring. Last month was a sexually active month. Now with Saturn in your 8th house for the next two years, you need to be more ‘choosy’ about sex. Sexual activity will probably be reduced and there is a need to focus on ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’. Last month was also good for detoxing, slimming down, personal transformation, occult studies and gaining a deeper understanding of death. Likewise this month, especially after the 23rd. If you are involved in estate, tax or insurance issues, you need more patience. There are many delays here. Things will work out in these affairs, but slowly. Your spouse, partner or current love might feel financially squeezed, but the resources needed are there. He or she just needs to reorganize things a little. Until the 23rd you are still in a yearly love and social peak. Singles are dating more and have more opportunities for love. For the past two to three years, the social circle was slimmed down, but now it can start to expand again in a healthier way. With Saturn leaving your 7th house this month, a current marriage or love relationship has either healed or broken up. One way or another you are in a new and better social condition. November Best Days Overall: 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 24 Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 16, 17 Best Days for Love: 1, 10, 11, 20 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 11, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29 Best Days for Career: 3, 12, 16, 17, 21 On September 23 the planetary power started to shift from the lower to the upper half of the Horoscope. Last month the shift got stronger, and now 70 per cent (and sometimes 80 per cent) of the planets are now in the upper half – the career half – of your chart. You are in the daytime of your year once again. Enough dreaming and visualizing, now is the time for action towards your career goals, for making your dreams manifest on the physical plane. If you worked properly during your night period, these actions will be very natural and spontaneous. You will expend energy but it won’t be stressful: it will just be ‘physical follow through’ of inner realities. You can safely de-emphasize home and family issues and focus on your career. Mars, the ruler of your Horoscope, enters your 10th house of career on the 17th – reinforcing this message. Your career planet is now in your 8th house and the ruler of the 8th house is in your house of career (technically these two planets are in ‘mutual reception’ – they are co-operating with each other – a positive aspect for your career). Your physical body has been detoxing over the past few months (and it’s still going on), but your career is also undergoing a detox. You are forced to look at ‘near-death’ career scenarios and somehow see past them. Many of you are actually changing your career. With the 8th house of transformation so involved in career, activities such as surgery, psychology, money management, insurance, banking and brokerage, and ‘intelligence’ are favoured. (This is a long-term trend.) There are many shake-ups happening in your company and industry. The old guard is perhaps dying off (not necessarily physically, but perhaps through resignations and reassignments), and the rules of the game are changing. There are two eclipses this month, which guarantees that the month ahead will be turbulent and full of change. Happily both seem relatively benign to you, but it won’t hurt to take things easier at those times. The solar eclipse of November 13 occurs in your 8th house. Thus your spouse or partner has some financial shake-ups and dramatic changes. Children need to reduce their schedules and avoid risky kinds of activities. They seem emotionally volatile and temperamental that period. Surgery could be recommended to you (or to children) but get a second opinion. There are also encounters with death (generally on a psychological level). Children are redefining their image and personalities now, and for the next six months or so. They might be going through detoxes of the body as well. The lunar eclipse of the 28th occurs in your 3rd house, and it is the turn of siblings and sibling figures to have financial shake-ups and to make dramatic changes. This eclipse ‘sideswipes’ Neptune, your spiritual planet, thus you are making important changes in your spiritual regime and practice. There are shake-ups in charitable or spiritual organizations that you are involved with. If there are flaws in the home, now you find out about them and can correct them. Communication equipment will get tested. December Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 30, 31 Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 2, 8, 9, 14, 15, 28, 29 Best Days for Love: 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20, 31 Best Days for Money: 1, 8, 10, 11, 16, 20, 23, 24, 25, 31 Best Days for Career: 1, 10, 14, 15, 18, 28 Between 70 and 80 per cent of the planets are still above the horizon of your chart and the ruler of your Horoscope is still in the 10th house of career until the 26th. On the 21st the Sun also enters your 10th house of career, initiating a yearly career peak. There is a very clear message here: focus on the career and let go of home and family issues. This is a very powerful career month and much progress will be made. Retrograde activity lessens this month, and the planetary momentum is overwhelmingly forward; by the 13th 90 per cent of the planets are moving forward. Add to this the power of fire in this month’s Horoscope and you have a recipe for fast progress and success. The pace of life is quick now – just the way you like it. Health and energy are even better than last month. Enjoy. With energy all kinds of new opportunities present themselves to you. Doors that were formerly closed are now open. Things that seemed impossible are now eminently possible. You do need to watch your energy more after the 21st, as the Sun enters Capricorn, but this period will not be nearly as stressful as July or October. Until the 11th you can make your good health even better by giving more attention to the colon, bladder and sexual organs. From the 11th onwards you can enhance health and energy by paying attention to the liver and thighs. Water therapies, soaking in a tub, whirlpool or natural spring, are powerful until the 11th, and detoxes as well. Fire therapies – heat, saunas, steam baths, hot baths and sunshine – are powerful after the 11th. Your 9th house was powerful last month and is powerful this month too. By the way, the 9th house is considered the most fortunate of houses by the Hindu astrologers. This is a happy-go-lucky kind of period. Students should succeed in their studies. There are religious and philosophical breakthroughs for those who are interested in these things (and you will tend to have a greater interest this month). There are happy travel opportunities. But like last month, Jupiter is retrograde, so give these things careful study and analysis. Allow more time for your trips. Plans could change and change again and again. Finances seem strong this month. Early in the month you have the support of the ‘higher ups’ in your life – bosses, authority figures, parents, parent figures and elders. Your good professional reputation seems very important. Pay rises and promotions are likely. You seem more cautious in finance until the 16th, which is probably a good thing. After the 16th you spend more freely, but you also earn more. You seem very involved in the earnings of your spouse, partner or current love until that date. Be careful of overspending. Sexual magnetism seems the most important thing in love until the 16th. Good sex will cover many sins in a relationship or marriage. However it is not enough to hold things together. After the 16th there are love opportunities in foreign lands, with foreigners and in religious or educational-type settings. You crave philosophical compatibility in your relationship. Taurus THE BULL Birthdays from 21st April to 20th May Personality Profile TAURUS AT A GLANCE Element – Earth Ruling Planet – Venus Career Planet – Uranus Love Planet – Pluto Money Planet – Mercury Planet of Health and Work – Venus Planet of Home and Family Life – Sun Planet of Spirituality – Mars Planet of Travel, Education, Religion and Philosophy – Saturn Colours – earth tones, green, orange, yellow Colours that promote love, romance and social harmony – red–violet, violet Colours that promote earning power – yellow, yellow–orange Gems – coral, emerald Metal – copper Scents – bitter almond, rose, vanilla, violet Quality – fixed (= stability) Quality most needed for balance – flexibility Strongest virtues – endurance, loyalty, patience, stability, a harmonious disposition Deepest needs – comfort, material ease, wealth Characteristics to avoid – rigidity, stubbornness, tendency to be overly possessive and materialistic Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Virgo, Capricorn Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius Sign most helpful to career – Aquarius Sign most helpful for emotional support – Leo Sign most helpful financially – Gemini Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Scorpio Sign most helpful for creative projects – Virgo Best Sign to have fun with – Virgo Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Aries, Capricorn Best day of the week – Friday Understanding a Taurus Taurus is the most earthy of all the Earth signs. If you understand that Earth is more than just a physical element, that it is a psychological attitude as well, you will get a better understanding of the Taurus personality. A Taurus has all the power of action that an Aries has. But Taurus is not satisfied with action for its own sake. Their actions must be productive, practical and wealth-producing. If Taurus cannot see a practical value in an action they will not bother taking it. Taurus’ forte lies in their power to make real their own or other people’s ideas. They are generally not very inventive but they can take another’s invention and perfect it, making it more practical and useful. The same is true for all projects. Taurus is not especially keen on starting new projects, but once they get involved they bring things to completion. Taurus carries everything through. They are finishers and will go the distance, so long as no unavoidable calamity intervenes. Many people find Taurus too stubborn, conservative, fixed and immovable. This is understandable, because Taurus dislikes change – in the environment or in their routine. They even dislike changing their minds! On the other hand, this is their virtue. It is not good for a wheel’s axle to waver. The axle must be fixed, stable and unmovable. Taurus is the axle of society and the heavens. Without their stability and so-called stubbornness, the wheels of the world (and especially the wheels of commerce) would not turn. Taurus loves routine. A routine, if it is good, has many virtues. It is a fixed – and, ideally, perfect – way of taking care of things. Mistakes can happen when spontaneity comes into the equation, and mistakes cause discomfort and uneasiness – something almost unacceptable to a Taurus. Meddling with Taurus’ comfort and security is a sure way to irritate and anger them. While an Aries loves speed, a Taurus likes things slow. They are slow thinkers – but do not make the mistake of assuming they lack intelligence. On the contrary, Taurus people are very intelligent. It is just that they like to chew on ideas, to deliberate and weigh them up. Only after due deliberation is an idea accepted or a decision taken. Taurus is slow to anger – but once aroused, take care! Finance Taurus is very money-conscious. Wealth is more important to them than to many other signs. Wealth to a Taurus means comfort and security. Wealth means stability. Where some zodiac signs feel that they are spiritually rich if they have ideas, talents or skills, Taurus only feels wealth when they can see and touch it. Taurus’ way of thinking is, ‘What good is a talent if it has not been translated into a home, furniture, car and holidays?’ These are all reasons why Taurus excels in estate agency and agricultural industries. Usually a Taurus will end up owning land. They love to feel their connection to the Earth. Material wealth began with agriculture, the tilling of the soil. Owning a piece of land was humanity’s earliest form of wealth: Taurus still feels that primeval connection. It is in the pursuit of wealth that Taurus develops intellectual and communication ability. Also, in this pursuit Taurus is forced to develop some flexibility. It is in the quest for wealth that they learn the practical value of the intellect and come to admire it. If it were not for the search for wealth and material things, Taurus people might not try to reach a higher intellect. Some Taurus people are ‘born lucky’ – the type who win any gamble or speculation. This luck is due to other factors in their horoscope; it is not part of their essential nature. By nature they are not gamblers. They are hard workers and like to earn what they get. Taurus’ innate conservatism makes them abhor unnecessary risks in finance and in other areas of their lives. Career and Public Image Being essentially down-to-earth people, simple and uncomplicated, Taurus tends to look up to those who are original, unconventional and inventive. Taurus people like their bosses to be creative and original – since they themselves are content to perfect their superiors’ brainwaves. They admire people who have a wider social or political consciousness and they feel that someday (when they have all the comfort and security they need) they too would like to be involved in these big issues. In business affairs Taurus can be very shrewd – and that makes them valuable to their employers. They are never lazy; they enjoy working and getting good results. Taurus does not like taking unnecessary risks and they do well in positions of authority, which makes them good managers and supervisors. Their managerial skills are reinforced by their natural talents for organization and handling details, their patience and thoroughness. As mentioned, through their connection with the earth, Taurus people also do well in farming and agriculture. In general a Taurus will choose money and earning power over public esteem and prestige. A position that pays more – though it has less prestige – is preferred to a position with a lot of prestige but lower earnings. Many other signs do not feel this way, but a Taurus does, especially if there is nothing in his or her personal birth chart that modifies this. Taurus will pursue glory and prestige only if it can be shown that these things have a direct and immediate impact on their wallet. Love and Relationships In love, the Taurus-born likes to have and to hold. They are the marrying kind. They like commitment and they like the terms of a relationship to be clearly defined. More importantly, Taurus likes to be faithful to one lover, and they expect that lover to reciprocate this fidelity. When this doesn’t happen, their whole world comes crashing down. When they are in love Taurus people are loyal, but they are also very possessive. They are capable of great fits of jealousy if they are hurt in love. Taurus is satisfied with the simple things in a relationship. If you are involved romantically with a Taurus there is no need for lavish entertainments and constant courtship. Give them enough love, food and comfortable shelter and they will be quite content to stay home and enjoy your company. They will be loyal to you for life. Make a Taurus feel comfortable and – above all – secure in the relationship, and you will rarely have a problem. In love, Taurus can sometimes make the mistake of trying to control their partners, which can cause great pain on both sides. The reasoning behind their actions is basically simple: Taurus people feel a sense of ownership over their partners and will want to make changes that will increase their own general comfort and security. This attitude is OK when it comes to inanimate, material things – but is dangerous when applied to people. Taurus needs to be careful and attentive to this possible trait within themselves. Home and Domestic Life Home and family are vitally important to Taurus. They like children. They also like a comfortable and perhaps glamorous home – something they can show off. They tend to buy heavy, ponderous furniture – usually of the best quality. This is because Taurus likes a feeling of substance in their environment. Their house is not only their home but their place of creativity and entertainment. The Taurus’ home tends to be truly their castle. If they could choose, Taurus people would prefer living in the countryside to being city-dwellers. If they cannot do so during their working lives, many Taurus individuals like to holiday in or even retire to the country, away from the city and closer to the land. At home a Taurus is like a country squire – lord (or lady) of the manor. They love to entertain lavishly, to make others feel secure in their home and to encourage others to derive the same sense of satisfaction as they do from it. If you are invited for dinner at the home of a Taurus you can expect the best food and best entertainment. Be prepared for a tour of the house and expect to see your Taurus friend exhibit a lot of pride and satisfaction in his or her possessions. Taurus people like children but they are usually strict with them. The reason for this is they tend to treat their children – as they do most things in life – as their possessions. The positive side to this is that their children will be well cared for and well supervised. They will get every material thing they need to grow up properly. On the down side, Taurus can get too repressive with their children. If a child dares to upset the daily routine – which Taurus loves to follow – he or she will have a problem with a Taurus parent. Horoscope for 2012 Major Trends You have been idealistic about your career for many years now, and now that your career planet is in your spiritual 12th house (it entered last year) this trend continues and will go on for many more years. It’s not enough for you to just make money and achieve status; you need to do this in a spiritual, socially conscious way. This is the challenge these days. For the past two years you have been very health conscious. Daily disciplined regimes have been more interesting. Probably you are watching the diet more but it is a struggle. Later in the year it will get easier. The focus on health continues in the year ahead. Ever since Uranus moved into Aries last year, and into a square aspect with your love planet Pluto, love has been challenging and highly unstable. Instability is perhaps the hardest thing for a Taurus to handle. They need – yearn for – stability, security and an established routine. The love life and marriage has been just the opposite. Love continues getting tested in the year ahead, especially after October 5. When Jupiter entered your sign in the latter half of 2011, you entered a period of prosperity and this continues in the year ahead. Jupiter will be in your sign until June 11, and then moves into your money house. So, you are living the good life, travelling and enjoying all the pleasures of the body. Also you have the wherewithal to indulge these things. Neptune makes a move this year (this only happens every 14 or so years) from your 10th house to your 11th house. Thus you are making friends with spiritual types these days. Many of you are joining spiritual organizations and groups or becoming more involved with them than usual. This is a long term trend now. Your areas of greatest interest this year are the body, image and personal pleasure (until June 11); finance (from June 11 onwards); children and creativity (from January 1 until July 3); health and work (until October 5); love, romance and social activities (after October 5); religion, philosophy, theology, foreign travel and higher education; friends, groups and group activities (from February 3 onwards); and spirituality. Your paths of greatest fulfilment this year are the body, image and personal pleasure (until June 11); finance (from June 11 onwards); sex, personal transformation, personal reinvention and occult studies (until August 30); and love, romance and social activities (from August 30 onwards). Health (Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, these perspectives were identical. But these days there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.) Health should be good this year, Taurus. All the major long-term planets are either in a good aspect or leaving you alone. So energy and vitality are basically good. Certainly, over the course of a year there will be periods where your health is less easy than usual, perhaps even stressful, but these things are caused by the planetary transits; they are temporary and not trends for the year ahead. When the stressful transits pass, your natural good health returns. These stressful periods will be from January 20 to February 18; July 22 to August 22; and October 23 to November 21. These are the times to rest and relax more and to pace yourself better. Your 6th house of health is strong this year, showing a great focus on health. But since health is basically good, I would say that your problem could be an ‘over focus’ or a tendency to magnify little things into big things – bigger than they actually are. Good though the health outlook is, you can make it even better. Give more attention to the following areas: the neck and throat (regular neck massage, especially the back of the neck, will be good to release tension there); the kidneys and hips (regular hip massage will be powerful); the gall bladder; and the spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment (regular visits to a chiropractor or osteopath would be a good idea). Give the skin more protection when you are out in the sun. Therapies such as the Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais would be good to help your posture, and I also like craniosacral therapy, which work with the bones in the neck as well as the head. Give the knees more support when exercising too. All these areas are the most vulnerable ones in the year ahead, and any problems would most likely begin there. So keeping them healthy and fit is sound preventive medicine. Venus, your health planet, is a very fast-moving planet, and over the course of the year she moves through all the signs and houses of your Horoscope. So there are many short-term health trends that are best covered in the monthly reports. Reflexology Try to massage the whole foot on a regular basis, but pay extra attention to the points highlighted on the chart. When you massage, be aware of ‘sore spots’, as these need special attention. It’s also a good idea to massage the ankles and top side of the feet (see below). Saturn will move into Scorpio on October 5, which will be a stressful aspect for you, so overall energy will not be up to its usual standards. However, Saturn by itself is not enough to cause major problems. It is when many long-term planets gang up on you that we get concerned. Still, it is an issue. You have to become more selective and choosy as to how you use your energy; you can’t do everything and priorities have to be set. Home and Family Your 4th house of home and family is not a ‘house of power’ this year. This means the trend is to the status quo. You have more latitude and freedom here but no special desire to make changes. You are more or less content with things the way they are. Your family planet, the Sun, gets eclipsed twice every year and this year is no different. These eclipses tend to bring out problems in the home or with the family (the dirty laundry, the grudges and dissatisfactions) and thus forces correction. This year the eclipses occur on May 20 and November 13 and we will discuss them in the monthly reports. Your family planet will be travelling with Jupiter from May 6 to May 14, which is basically a happy aspect. You are likely to have opportunities to move (a happy move), renovate, enlarge or sell the home or receive expensive items for the home. There will be opportunities in the real estate field as well. The family as a whole (and especially a parent or parent figure) prospers during that period. Your family planet will also make nice aspects to Jupiter from October 3 to October 11. If you are planning to beautify the home, to repaint or make cosmetic kinds of changes or to buy objects of beauty for the home, July 22 to August 22 and September 6 to October 5 are good times for this. Siblings or sibling figures in your life may want to move – they seem cramped in their present home. However, this is not advisable this year, although after October 5 is better than before that date. They need to make better use of the space that they have: perhaps a renovation would be better than a move. Children in your life have a status quo kind of year. Like you they seem more or less content with the home as it is. Grandchildren (if you have them) are likely to have multiple moves in the year ahead. One of your parents or parent figures seems nomadic this year, moving around a lot. He or she could also be having surgery or ‘near-death’ kind of experience. Finance and Career As we mentioned, this is a prosperous year. You catch the lucky financial breaks. There is luck in speculations (and speculations not only happen at the casino or bingo hall – business people make speculations every day). There is travel, nice clothing and accessories, good foods, good wines, good restaurants, good personal pleasure. The carnal fantasies get fulfilled in happy ways. Your only concern (and this is more from a health perspective) is in overdoing it. Keeping your weight down can be a problem. Jupiter is the ruler of your 8th house of inheritance. Thus, there is some sort of inheritance this year. Hopefully no one need actually die – instead you can be named in someone’s will or be called on to be an executor or trustee. Sometimes people receive trust funds under this kind of aspect too. If you have insurance or royalty claims, there is good fortune. Those of you who are looking for outside investors also have good fortune. There is much talk about ‘tight credit’ in the world these days, but for you this is not so. You personally have good access to outside money. On June 11 Jupiter will move into your money house and this more or less reinforces what we have been saying. With Jupiter in your money house the assets you already own tend to increase in value. Often people are disappointed with a Jupiter transit. Though it always brings increase, sometimes the expectations are unrealistic. If someone is praying for a million pounds and Jupiter brings an increase of only ?10,000, they might dismiss the transit. The problem isn’t with Jupiter but with unrealistic expectations. Regardless of your expectations you should finish the year with greater net worth than when you began. As we see, finance is not the problem this year: it is career that seems more challenging. Your career planet Uranus is in stressful aspect with Pluto and this signifies career changes – a move to another company, another industry, or even a change of career. Friends, your social circle in general, are not supportive of your career goals this year. It will take more work to get them on board and to get them to co-operate. It is best to rely on your own merits rather than on who you know. With your career planet in the sign of Aries since last year, you want a more independent kind of career – to be in charge of your own destiny. This entails some risk and most likely your spouse or current love will not be in favour of this. Also, as we mentioned, you want a career that is more meaningful, that helps humanity as a whole and is more socially conscious. Many of you have opted for altruistic careers in recent years and this could still happen now. But even in a worldly type of career, you can enhance and further it by getting involved in charity work or good causes. Love and Social Life As we mentioned, Uranus’ move into Aries has been putting stress on the current marriage or love relationship. Last year you felt the beginnings of it, and this year the testing of the marriage or current relationship becomes even stronger. Divorces or breakups this year wouldn’t be a surprise. However, these aspects don’t mean that you ‘must’ divorce. Only that this is the tendency. If there is real love between you the relationship can survive, but it will take a lot of effort and dedication to make it work. Part of the problem seems to be a conflict between your spouse or current love and a parent or parent figure. This seems nasty. Another aspect of the problem could be career issues – the demands of your career pull you away or distract you from your relationship. In the case of those who are not married, you could be transferred to another city, even to another country, far away from your beloved. This too puts stress on the relationship. Towards the end of the year Saturn will move into your 7th house of love and marriage, which will further strain the marriage. The cosmos is ‘road testing’ the relationship, subjecting it to extra kinds of stress much in the way that a car is road tested. The underlying sturdiness of the relationship will be revealed through these means, and any flaws will easily be seen and can be corrected. However, if it is a bad relationship the ‘road testing’ will be too much for it and it will dissolve. (If your relationship survives the next two years, it can probably survive anything.) With volatile Uranus squaring your love planet all year, the mood changes in love are swift and bewildering. You and your partner can be madly in love one moment and at each other’s throats the next. Even in established relationships, you don’t know where you stand from moment to moment. It is as if every moment is a new courtship. Taurus people more than most are uncomfortable with this. They like their security, and dealing with instability – sudden change – is one of their biggest challenges. Those working on the second marriage could reunite with their former spouse or get together with someone who is very much like him or her. It seems to me that there is a spiritual agenda behind this: you get to resolve old issues that couldn’t be resolved in any other way. Those working on the third marriage have opportunities with spiritual kinds of people and in spiritual locales and settings. Singles should probably not marry this year. Things are too unstable, and especially so after October 5. Singles will probably date less after this date too. There is a need to focus more on quality that quantity. Fewer, more meaningful dates, with meaningful people, are preferable to many mediocre dates. Socializing in general is reduced after October 5 and for the same rationale – to focus on quality, not quantity. Self-improvement As we mentioned, Uranus, your career planet, made a major move last year into your 12th house of spirituality, bringing a need for a career that is meaningful for the world at large and not just for yourself. You want a career that doesn’t violate your spiritual principles and ideals, and instead is in harmony with them. No matter how much money and status a company is offering, it is doubtful that you could be happy there (or successful) if there is a violation of these principles. Different people are at different stages of the spiritual journey. Those just setting out will probably try to incorporate both a worldly career and the pursuit of spiritual goals. Sometimes this is done by being involved in charities or altruistic kinds of causes while the individual pursues their worldly career. Sometimes they choose a more spiritual career, i.e. working for a non-profit organization or being an executive in a charity on a professional level. I know people with these aspects who have opened up profitable yoga and tai chi studios, and some have entered the ministry. But for those of you more advanced on the path, the message here is very clear. Your spiritual practice – your path – is of itself the most important thing and is your mission right now. Yes, these seemingly isolated spiritual disciplines (carried out far from the crowd) do change the world. The world is changed heart by heart, mind by mind, often in quiet and solitude. This is where real change happens. Politicians – people of power and prestige – never create the change; they merely ratify what has already occurred. So, your spiritual practice is of itself a valid career and your mission over the next six or seven years. Uranus in your 12th house also has other meanings. It is the planet of science and system. Thus the message here is that you need a spiritual path that is scientific and rational. Yes, the Divine is above all mind and all logic. But the path and the practice have a science to them and this kind of approach seems good for you. The spiritual side of astrology also seems good these days. Neptune, the most spiritual of all the planets, in your 11th house of astrology and science reinforces what we are saying here. Month-by-month Forecasts January Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 21, 22, 30, 31 Most Stressful Days Overall: 10, 11, 17, 18, 23, 24 Best Days for Love: 3, 6, 7, 12, 17, 18, 19, 21, 27, 28, 30 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 21, 22, 30 Best Days for Career: 1, 10, 19, 23, 24, 28 Career is the main headline of the month ahead. You begin the year with 60 per cent (and sometimes 70 per cent) of the planets above the horizon. Your 10th house of career is powerful all month, while your 4th house of home and family is empty (only the Moon will visit there, on the 8th and 9th). Furthermore, on the 20th you enter a yearly career peak. So, career ambitions are strong; you can safely downplay home and family issues in favour of your work. The good news is that the family itself, far from being resentful, seems supportive. Your family as a whole is more ambitious as well, and you and your family achieve much career progress this month. Only your spouse or current love seems non-supportive – perhaps even antagonistic – to career goals. Pursuing your career path seems to involve some social sacrifice this period (and in the year ahead as well). The new Moon of the 23rd also occurs in your career house. Thus many career dilemmas will get clarified as the month progresses. Relations with bosses, elders and parents (or parent figures) will also become clearer. Health is good this month, but rest and relax more after the 20th. You can enhance your health and energy through ankle and calf massage until the 24th and through foot massage afterwards. The good news is that health is high on your agenda until that date and you are paying attention to it. It seems that you understand that without good health career progress is not only more difficult but meaningless as well. Success is wonderful, but without health to enjoy it, there is no real satisfaction. Venus travels with Neptune from the 12th to the 15th. The dream life will be active and you are likely to have spiritual experiences. Avoid dreaminess while driving or when working on the physical plane, however. Stay in your body. Spiritual healing will be powerful this period, and after the 24th as well. Your finances are good this month, as they will be through until June 11. There is some financial disagreement with your spouse, partner or current love (perhaps business partners as well), but this should straighten itself out after the 24th. Your partner is also doing well, especially until the 24th. Afterwards he or she needs to work harder to achieve financial goals. Love is being tested all year. It is challenging. However things seem easier after the 24th than before. February Best Days Overall: 1, 9, 10, 17, 18, 27, 28 Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 13, 14, 19, 20 Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 24, 25, 27 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 12, 17, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 Best Days for Career: 7, 15, 19, 20, 24 On January 20 the Sun crossed over from the Western to the Eastern sector of your Horoscope. On January 27 Mercury followed suit, and thus there is a shift in the planetary power. The Eastern sector of the self (self-interest and personal independence) is now more dominant than the Western sector (the area of others, social interests and the needs of others). This represents a psychological shift in you as well. You are entering a period of greater independence. You have more control over your destiny for the next six or so months. If conditions are irksome you have greater power to change them. You need not put up with them or adapt to them. Other people are always important, but your happiness doesn’t really depend on them now – it’s up to you. So be nice to others, but please yourself. If you are happy others will be happy. Most of the planets are still above the horizon of your chart, and you are still in a yearly career peak. Continue to focus on the career. Outer achievement is alluring now, and your drive here tends to produce success. Continue to rest and relax more until the 19th. After that your health and energy return to their normal good levels. You can enhance your health by giving more attention to the feet (until the 8th) and to the head, face and scalp afterwards. Face and scalp massage will do wonders for you. From the 8th to the 17th Venus makes some very dynamic aspects with Uranus and Pluto. Be more mindful when driving. Avoid temper tantrums and confrontations, and avoid high risk activities. Though this transit brings career success and opportunity, it can also bring down the wrath of others, especially the spouse or current love. You seem in a more rebellious kind of mood during this period, and more willing to take risks with your body. Love is stormy from the 8th to the 17th. Weak relationships can break up. You need more patience with your current love and with friends in general. Finances are good. Until the 14th, money comes from your career, thanks to your good reputation or from pay rises. Parents or parent figures (also bosses) are financially supportive. After the 14th, friends and social connections seem important financially. Follow your financial intuition after the 14th. Remember to keep up to date with the latest technology, too. March Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 15, 16, 25, 26 Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19 Best Days for Love: 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 25, 26 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 5, 7, 13, 15, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 Best Days for Career: 5, 13, 18, 19, 22 The planetary momentum has been overwhelmingly forward for the past few months, so progress has been rapid. Things got done quickly (and we rarely appreciate this until we experience glitches). In January all the planets were in forward motion until the 24th. In February 90 per cent of the planets were forward until the 6th, and 80 per cent of them then after. This month, 80 per cent are moving forward until the 11th, and 70 per cent thereafter. Slowly but surely retrograde activity has been increasing. It is still at tolerable levels, but things are slowing down. Taureans tend to be patient people so this is nothing you can’t handle. You just need to be more perfect in all that you do: spend more time in the beginning and get things right, and this will save a lot of heartache and delays later on. Mars has been retrograde since January 24. He is your spiritual planet. His retrograde motion at this time is very significant as this is a highly spiritual month. Your spiritual 12th house is the strongest in the Horoscope. Thus you are experiencing many spiritual/supernatural phenomena now – prophetic and revelatory dreams, synchronistic kinds of experiences, unexplainable coincidences and enhanced extrasensory perception. But Mars retrograde suggests that you need to verify your intuition and spiritual messages. They might not mean what you think. Also it is not advisable now to make dramatic changes to your spiritual practice. Wait until Mars goes forward next month (April 11). Mercury goes retrograde on the 12th until the end of the month. So many problems in life – problems with friends, your spouse and the children – are due to miscommunication and misunderstanding. People do not understand you properly and vice versa. Now with your communication planet going retrograde, you need to be even more careful. A little more care in the beginning will save many a hurt feeling and emotional explosion later on. This is especially so when communicating with children or youngsters in your life. Though you are lucky in financial matters this year, with Mercury being your money planet this period is not especially great for speculations. The retrograde of Saturn (which began on February 7) suggests more caution in foreign travel. It is best to avoid it if possible, but if you must travel allow more time and insure your tickets. Protect yourself. Students need to be more cautious about making important educational changes now. Study things further. Venus, the ruler of your Horoscope, crosses the Ascendant on the 5th, heralding a happy transit. You look great and attract the opposite sex. You have a great sense of style and this is a good time to purchase clothing, accessories or objects of beauty. Venus travels with Jupiter from the 11th to the 14th and this brings luck in speculations, opportunities to travel, and financial abundance. April Best Days Overall: 4, 12, 13, 21, 22 Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 2, 8, 14, 15, 29, 30 Best Days for Love: 4, 5, 8, 12, 14, 15, 21, 24, 25 Best Days for Money: 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30 Best Days for Career: 1, 9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 19, 29 Love is being tested all year, and Pluto’s retrograde (which begins on the 10th and goes on for many months) complicates things further. Avoid making important love decisions one way or another. Neither marriage nor divorce is advisable now (though you could be sorely tempted). You and your current love need more breathing space. You both need time to reflect. In the meantime you can enjoy your life. The same holds true for business partnerships too. On the 20th the Sun crosses your Ascendant and enters your 1st house, initiating a yearly personal pleasure peak. (You will have another one in a few months.) The body and the spirit are both important this month. Though these interests seem opposite they are very related. Physical well being and harmony are the natural side effects of a healthy spiritual life. So, with your 12th house powerful until the 20th, you are getting the spiritual life in order. (Mars, your spiritual planet, starts to move forward on the 11th helping matters). Spiritual breakthroughs lead to ‘physical and material’ breakthroughs. The natural consequence of this is a period of personal pleasure that begins on the 20th. You look great this month. You dress wonderfully. The image shines. In spite of relationship difficulties, you are attracting the opposite sex. Self-esteem and self-confidence are good. Health is excellent now. You have all the energy you need to achieve any goal you set for yourself. You can (and probably are) having things your way. You are in the maximum period of personal independence from the 20th. Don’t wait around for others to make you happy; take matters in your own hands and create it for yourself. You can enhance your already good health by giving more attention to the neck and throat (until the 3rd – neck massage is wonderful) and to the lungs, respiratory system, arms and shoulders from the 3rd onwards. Breathing exercises are beneficial now. You seem more sensitive to impurities in the air. If you feel under the weather, get out in the fresh air and breathe deeply for an hour or so. Venus moving into your money house on the 3rd shows a strong personal focus on finance (always a strong interest, but now even more so). It shows earnings through work: job-seekers should have good fortune. Also it shows that your personal appearance, your overall demeanour, is unusually important in earnings. Probably you are spending more on yourself and your image. May Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 28, 29 Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 11, 12, 26, 27 Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29, 30, 31 Best Days for Money: 2, 8, 10, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29 Best Days for Career: 7, 11, 12, 16, 26 Retrograde activity increases this month. The major development is Venus turning retrograde on the 5th. The retrograde of Venus is strong on a personal level – Venus is both ruler of your Horoscope and the ruler of the 6th house. You are very independent these days. You have a lot of personal power and can have things your way. But with Venus retrograde you are not really sure what ‘your way’ is. This makes it more problematic to implement personal change. However, this is a time to study these things; research them more, review your personal life and conditions and see where improvements can be made. The same holds true for job or health regime changes. This is a time for review, not for action. The retrograde of Venus, the generic planet of love, complicates your love life even further. Now, both the love planets in your Horoscope are retrograde at the same time. Whatever we said last month is now reinforced. Last month the Sun entered your 1st house initiating a yearly personal pleasure peak. You’ve been living the good life for almost a year and this month even more so. All your carnal fantasies are getting fulfilled. The only problem now is overdoing things. Your weight might be a problem. Family members, especially a parent or parent figure, seem unusually devoted to you this month. They are supportive but perhaps over-controlling. The Sun will travel with Jupiter from the 11th to the 14th forming a happy transit. Family members are prospering. A parent or parent figure has a financial windfall or opportunity; your partner likewise. You have opportunities to move, to buy or sell a home. There is good fortune with insurance claims. This is a good period to pay off or refinance debt. There is a solar eclipse in your money house on the 20th. This shows important and long-term financial changes happening. It seems to me that these changes are good, although they are disruptive. The changes and disruptions should increase prosperity over the long term. This eclipse happens as the Sun enters your money house, initiating a yearly financial peak – a period of peak earnings. Family, real estate and parent figures seem very involved and supportive of the financial life now. On the 9th, Mercury moves into your sign and shifts the balance of the entire Horoscope. Now, the bottom half of the chart is stronger than the top. Career goals have more or less been attained in the short term and now it is time to focus more on the home and family. The next five or six months is the time for setting up the conditions – internal and external – for future career success. These conditions include a stable home base, good family relations and the feeling of emotional harmony. June Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 15, 16, 24, 25 Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 2, 8, 9, 22, 23, 29, 30 Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 Best Days for Money: 1, 5, 6, 10, 17, 18, 20, 21, 26, 27 Best Days for Career: 3, 8, 9, 12, 22 The month ahead is full of important changes. Jupiter, the planet of abundance, will move into your money house on the 11th extending the prosperity you’ve been having even further. A lunar eclipse on the 4th occurs in your 8th house and impacts on the finances of your spouse, partner or current love as well. He or she is forced to make important financial changes and shifts. This eclipse (as well as last month’s solar eclipse) affects the family and home. Probably there is some kind of family crisis. Perhaps there are repairs needed in the home. Emotions are more volatile now and there are dramas in the lives of parents or parent figures. Since the Moon, the eclipsed planet, rules your 3rd house, there are likely to be dramas in the lives of siblings and neighbours too. Cars and communication equipment get tested and often need replacement. The 8th house is the house of death and resurrection – so near-death kinds of experiences, and encounters with death, could happen now too (most likely on the psychological level). Reduce your schedule for this period. This eclipse impacts strongly on Mars, reinforcing what we say here. Do whatever needs to be done, but avoid risk-taking activities that aren’t necessary. Mars is your spiritual planet so there are important spiritual changes happening now – changes in the regime, practice and attitudes. Now that Mars is moving forward it is safe to make them. There may be shake-ups in spiritual or charitable organizations that you are involved with too. Though marriages and serious relationships are still undergoing severe testing, on the financial level there is co-operation and mutual support. One thing has nothing to do with the other. You are involved in your spouse’s or partner’s finances and vice versa. You have good access to outside money now. If you have ideas and need investors, it seems easy to attract them. They are there. If you need to borrow, this seems easy too. There is good fortune with insurance, estate and tax issues. Perhaps you are paying more tax these days, but this means that you are earning more too. There are financial opportunities through creative kinds of financing. Your health is still good. You can enhance it further by giving more attention to the lungs, respiratory system, arms and shoulders. Breathing exercises are powerful now. The Sun makes a dynamic transit from the 28th to the 30th. Family members need to avoid risky, daredevil-type activities. Clear the home of dangerous objects and keep them out of the reach of children. The emotional life is more volatile, and this can lead to accidents, so it’s important to stay calm under all provocations – take a few deep breaths when you feel you’re about to ‘lose it’. July Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 22, 23, 30, 31 Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 15, 24, 25, 26, 27 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28, 29 Best Days for Career: 1, 5, 6, 9, 19, 20, 28 Retrograde activity increases this month. Neptune started to move backwards last month. Pluto has been retrograde since April 10. Uranus starts going backwards on the 13th and Mercury on the 15th. From the 15th onwards 40 per cent of the planets are in retrograde motion, the highest percentage so far this year. The pace of life – the pace of events – starts to slow down. The retrograde of Uranus shows that your career is slowing a bit, which is perhaps a good thing now. Your major focus now is on home and family, and career can be downplayed. Avoid, where possible, making important career decisions at this time. On June 21, the Sun crossed from the Eastern sector of your Horoscope to the Western sector, and now the Western social sector of your chart is more powerful. You are in a ‘paying karma’ phase of the year – you have to live with your previous creations, it is not so easy to change them now. If you created well you are enjoying your ‘good karma’. If you created amiss, you are paying the price now. You need to adapt to conditions as best you can and make corrections when the next ‘independent’ cycle begins. When the Western half of the Horoscope is strong, personal initiative (even personal ability) is not that important. It is the social skills that matter. Attainment happens by the good graces of others. Your ‘people skills’ are what bring success. Health is basically good, but after the 22nd you need to rest and relax more. You can enhance your health this month by paying more attention to the heart, the lungs, respiratory systems, arms and shoulders. (Regular shoulder massage will be wonderful.) Good mental health also seems important this month. Avoid thinking or talking too much (big wasters of energy!). Keep your speech positive and constructive and strive for intellectual purity. Mars enters your 6th house on the 4th and stays there all month. Thus vigorous physical exercise and good muscle tone are important these days. And since Mars is your spiritual planet, spiritual types of exercise seem good too – things like yoga, tai chi or chi qong. You will also get good results from spiritual healing techniques such as prayer, meditation, the laying on of hands and manipulation of subtle energies. Mars makes a very dynamic transit from the 15th to the 21st: it opposes Uranus and squares Pluto. Everyone needs to be more careful and mindful on the physical plane. Avoid confrontations or risky kinds of activities. Daredevil stunts are to be avoided like the plague. Drive more mindfully, keeping alert and paying full attention. August Best Days Overall: 8, 9, 10, 18, 19, 27, 28 Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 2, 16, 17, 22, 23, 29, 31 Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 8, 13, 14, 18, 22, 23, 27, 31 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30 Best Days for Career: 1, 2, 6, 16, 24, 29, 30 Continue to rest and relax more until the 23rd. Enhance the health in the ways mentioned last month. After the 8th you can also enhance your health by paying more attention to the stomach and breasts. You need to pay more attention to the diet then too. Last month Mars was making dynamic aspects with Uranus and Pluto. This month, from the 14th to the 17th Venus makes a similar aspect with these planets. Keep in mind our discussion of last month. Take things nice and easy. Slow down and be mindful on the physical plane. This period also seems to test your marriage or current relationship in a very severe way. Emotions are high, so do your best to stay calm and to avoid making things worse. By the 17th the worst of this should be over with. Career changes could also happen under this transit. When the Sun enters Virgo on the 23rd, you enter another yearly personal pleasure peak. Enjoy. Personal creativity will be a lot stronger than usual. You are more involved with children and health and vitality will also start improving. Your financial planet, Mercury, retrograde since the 15th of last month, goes forward on the 8th. Avoid major purchases or financial decisions before this date. The financial life – investments and changes – should be being reviewed now. If you do this properly you will be in a good position on the 8th when Mercury starts moving forward. You seem to be spending more on the home and family this period. Family support will tend to be good, and family connections also seem important financially. The Sun in your 4th house (a powerful position – this is his own sign and house) shows that this is a month for psychological-type breakthroughs. Emotional patterns or moods that have been holding you back are revealed so that you can correct them. You have greater insight into moods and feelings this month, and this helps you in your dealings with family members. Mars moves into your 7th house on the 24th. This will further test marriages and current relationships. You can make things easier by avoiding power struggles with your partner as much as possible. September Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 14, 15, 23, 24 Most Stressful Days Overall: 12, 13, 19, 25, 26, Best Days for Love: 1, 5, 12, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30 Best Days for Money: 4, 5, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26 Best Days for Career: 2, 12, 20, 21, 25, 26, 29 Retrograde activity is reducing this month, and after the 18th only 20 per cent of the planets will be moving backwards. Glitches and complications are slowly but surely resolving themselves and this tendency will get even stronger in coming months. The pace of life quickens. You are still very much in a yearly personal pleasure peak until the 23rd. This is a time to enjoy your life, to express personal creativity (one of the great joys) and to be more involved with leisure and entertainment. After the 23rd the focus will shift to more serious things such as health and work. Venus enters your 4th house on the 7th and so home and family remain a major focus. This is a good period to beautify the home, redecorate or buy objects of beauty for the home. It is also good for entertaining. If there has been discord in the family this is a good period to create harmony (you have cosmic support for this). The health of the family and family members seems a major focus this month, and you seem successful here. It is a good period for making the home itself ‘healthier’, for example by removing unhealthy kinds of paint or chemicals from the home, and by installing some health or gym equipment. You seem more interested in a healthier diet too, both for yourself and for your family. Mercury, your financial planet, moves very quickly this month, indicating the achievement of financial goals quickly. Your financial decision-making is probably quicker too (and if you did your homework during Mercury’s retrograde period, your decisions will be good). Your spouse’s or partner’s finances will improve after the 23rd. Love is still stormy. Like last month the advice is not to make matters worse. Minimize the negativity as much as you can. (The period from the 28th to the 30th seems especially stressful.) The Sun makes a very dynamic aspect to Uranus and Pluto between the 28th to the 30th. Family members, especially parent figures, need to avoid stressful, risky activities. It wouldn’t hurt for your spouse or current love to also avoid taking risks and daredevil-type stunts. October Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 12, 13, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31 Most Stressful Days Overall: 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 22, 23 Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 29 Best Days for Money: 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26 Best Days for Career: 9, 18, 22, 23, 27 Retrograde activity increases on the 4th to 30 per cent of the planets, although this is a temporary state. Jupiter starts to retrograde on the 4th and will be this way to the end of the year. Your spouse, partner or current love needs to be more cautious in financial matters now, and new deals, investments or major purchases need careful homework – especially the ones that seem ‘no brainers’. For you it indicates that you need to read the small print very carefully when buying insurance or borrowing money. Any elective surgical operations would be better delayed this month. On the 23rd you enter a yearly social peak, but it is a social peak in the midst of a difficult love year. Still, it brings some respite. Singles are dating more and attending more parties – in fact all of you are attending more parties and social gatherings now. But marriage is not likely for singles, nor is it advisable. With Saturn moving into your 7th house on the 5th, you begin to reduce the scope of your social life. Love life, marriage, friendships are all going to be reordered and reorganized now and for the next two years. All of you seem more cautious in love matters. Yes, you are going out more, but you are cautious about falling in love. You are looking for relationships that have ‘staying power’ and this takes time to determine. This month the planets shift from the lower sector to the upper sector of the Horoscope. By now, you have found your point of emotional harmony and the family situation is more or less in order. Now it is time to focus on the career. Overt moves are not advisable just yet, as Uranus is still retrograde, but you should get ready to make those moves. It is like waking up from a good night’s sleep. Your day is just starting and you are doing the preliminaries, preparing for the day ahead. Health is still good, but now that Saturn is making a stressful aspect, your energy is not what it was previously. If you organize your day better, delegate and outsource wherever possible, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. After the 23rd though, rest and relax more. Don’t be embarrassed to take a nap when you feel tired. Enhance your health by giving more attention to the heart (from the 5th onwards), the small intestine (from the 3rd to the 28th), and the kidneys and hips (from the 28th onwards). Your health planet spends most of the month in your 5th house of fun and creativity (from the 3rd to the 28th), so just being happy will improve your health. If you feel under the weather do some fun kind of activity: have a night out on the town or get involved in something creative and you will feel much better. November Best Days Overall: 8, 9, 16, 17, 26, 27 Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 7, 12, 13, 18, 19 Best Days for Love: 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 20, 26 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, 28, 29 Best Days for Career: 6, 14, 18, 19, 23 Many of the trends of the past few months are still in effect. Most of the planets are still in the Western, social sector (and since last month in their maximum Western direction), and most are also above the horizon. Thus you still need to be cultivating your social graces and attaining your goals through co-operation with others. Career is important – more important than home and family matters now. Retrograde activity lessens this month as Neptune starts moving forward on the 11th. Your health still needs attention, especially until the 22nd. Enhance it in the ways mentioned last month, and also through more attention to the kidneys and hips until the 22nd and to the colon, bladder and sexual organs afterwards. If there are health problems love issues are probably behind them. Do your best to restore harmony here as much as possible (it won’t be easy). Detox regimes are powerful from the 22nd onwards too. There is more socializing with the family and from home these days, ever since your family planet moved into your 7th house on October 23. Old flames could be coming into the picture too. There are two eclipses this month: a solar eclipse on the 13th and a lunar eclipse on the 28th. The solar eclipse seems to strongly affect you, so reduce your schedule around that time, and avoid risk-taking activities. The solar eclipse occurs in your 7th house of love and marriage, so the testing that we have been seeing all year is intensified even further. Tensions that have been building all year now come to a climax and much pent-up emotion is released. In many cases this indicates a breakup. Relationships that survived the past year and survive this eclipse will probably last forever. There are dramas in the lives of friends and family members too. If there are problems in the home – hidden flaws – they reveal themselves now so that you can take corrective actions. Family members are more temperamental now, so be more patient. The lunar eclipse of the 28th occurs in your money house and signals important financial changes and shifts. You need a new strategy and the eclipse will lead you to it. This eclipse – like every lunar eclipse – tests cars and communication equipment. Often they need replacement. December Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 24 Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 17, 30, 31 Best Days for Love: 1, 6, 10, 11, 14, 20, 23, 31 Best Days for Money: 2, 8, 11, 16, 21, 25, 26, 27, 31 Best Days for Career: 3, 12, 16, 17, 20, 30 Your career planet Uranus starts to move forward on the 13th. Most of the planets are above the horizon (and also moving forward), and in a month you will enter a yearly career peak. Your caution in career matters is paying off now. You have mental clarity, a clear plan, direction, and plenty of gas in the tank to take you where you want to go. From the 16th to the 27th Venus, the ruler of your Horoscope, makes very wonderful aspects to your career planet, so there is success happening – and perhaps even promotion: you are getting on well with bosses and authority figures in this period. Sometimes the planets don’t bring an actual, literal promotion, but things happen that promote you in subtle ways on the inner planes. In due course you will see the ‘official’ side of it. Mars, your spiritual planet, crosses your Mid-heaven on the 26th and will be there for the rest of the month and well into the next. This shows that you can enhance your career by getting involved in charitable and altruistic activities, which will help you make good connections and ‘burnish’ your image Health is good and will get even better after the 21st. You can enhance your health even further through detoxing, giving more attention to the colon, bladder and sexual organs (until the 16th), and to the liver and thighs after that date. Love is still very complicated, but you seem to be trying very hard. You are going out of your way to please friends and the beloved. Yes, you are more popular, but how lasting is all of this? Most of the planets are still in the West and your financial planet is in your 7th house until the 11th. This means your fortune comes through others and their good graces and not so much from being such a smart business person. This is especially so in finance. Your affability and social connections open many doors now. There are opportunities for business partnerships or joint ventures until the 11th (these could have come last month too). You are still in a cycle for prospering with other people’s money – outside money – through borrowing, creative financing or attracting investors to your ideas. This has been the case for many months, but this month even more. As long as you focus on the financial interests of others ahead of your own, prosperity will happen. Your 9th house is strong after the 21st. For many of you this is a more religious period, with religious and philosophical breakthroughs. For others this shows the lure of foreign lands; there are happy travel opportunities. Students seem successful in school. Gemini THE TWINS Birthdays from 21st May to 20th June Personality Profile GEMINI AT A GLANCE Element – Air Ruling Planet – Mercury Career Planet – Neptune Love Planet – Jupiter Money Planet – Moon Planet of Health and Work – Pluto Planet of Home and Family Life – Mercury Colours – blue, yellow, yellow–orange Colour that promotes love, romance and social harmony – sky blue Colours that promote earning power – grey, silver Gems – agate, aquamarine Metal – quicksilver Scents – lavender, lilac, lily of the valley, storax Quality – mutable (= flexibility) Quality most needed for balance – thought that is deep rather than superficial Strongest virtues – great communication skills, quickness and agility of thought, ability to learn quickly Deepest need – communication Characteristics to avoid – gossiping, hurting others with harsh speech, superficiality, using words to mislead or misinform Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Libra, Aquarius Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces Sign most helpful to career – Pisces Sign most helpful for emotional support – Virgo Sign most helpful financially – Cancer Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Sagittarius Sign most helpful for creative projects – Libra Best Sign to have fun with – Libra Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Taurus, Aquarius Best day of the week – Wednesday Understanding a Gemini Gemini is to society what the nervous system is to the body. It does not introduce any new information but is a vital transmitter of impulses from the senses to the brain and vice versa. The nervous system does not judge or weigh these impulses – it only conveys information. And it does so perfectly. This analogy should give you an indication of a Gemini’s role in society. Geminis are the communicators and conveyors of information. To Geminis the truth or falsehood of information is irrelevant, they only transmit what they see, hear or read about. Thus they are capable of spreading the most outrageous rumours as well as conveying truth and light. Geminis sometimes tend to be unscrupulous in their communications and can do both great good or great evil with their power. This is why the sign of Gemini is symbolized by twins: Geminis have a dual nature. Their ability to convey a message – to communicate with such ease – makes Geminis ideal teachers, writers and media and marketing people. This is helped by the fact that Mercury, the ruling planet of Gemini, also rules these activities. Geminis have the gift of the gab. And what a gift this is! They can make conversation about anything, anywhere, at any time. There is almost nothing that is more fun to Geminis than a good conversation – especially if they can learn something new as well. They love to learn and they love to teach. To deprive a Gemini of conversation, or of books and magazines, is cruel and unusual punishment. Geminis are almost always excellent students and take well to education. Their minds are generally stocked with all kinds of information, trivia, anecdotes, stories, news items, rarities, facts and statistics. Thus they can support any intellectual position that they care to take. They are awesome debaters and, if involved in politics, make good orators. Geminis are so verbally smooth that even if they do not know what they are talking about, they can make you think that they do. They will always dazzle you with their brilliance. Finance Geminis tend to be more concerned with the wealth of learning and ideas than with actual material wealth. As mentioned, they excel in professions that involve writing, teaching, sales and journalism – and not all of these professions pay very well. But to sacrifice intellectual needs merely for money is unthinkable to a Gemini. Geminis strive to combine the two. Cancer is on Gemini’s solar 2nd house (of money) cusp, which indicates that Geminis can earn extra income (in a harmonious and natural way) from investments in residential property, restaurants and hotels. Given their verbal skills, Geminis love to bargain and negotiate in any situation, and especially when it has to do with money. The Moon rules Gemini’s 2nd solar house. The Moon is not only the fastest-moving planet in the zodiac but actually moves through every sign and house every 28 days. No other heavenly body matches the Moon for swiftness or the ability to change quickly. An analysis of the Moon – and lunar phenomena in general – describes Gemini’s financial attitudes very well. Geminis are financially versatile and flexible; they can earn money in many different ways. Their financial attitudes and needs seem to change daily. Their feelings about money change also: sometimes they are very enthusiastic about it, at other times they could not care less. For a Gemini, financial goals and money are often seen only as means of supporting a family; these things have little meaning otherwise. The Moon, as Gemini’s money planet, has another important message for Gemini financially: in order for Geminis to realize their financial potential they need to develop more of an understanding of the emotional side of life. They need to combine their awesome powers of logic with an understanding of human psychology. Feelings have their own logic; Geminis need to learn this and apply it to financial matters. Career and Public Image Geminis know that they have been given the gift of communication for a reason, that it is a power that can achieve great good or cause unthinkable distress. They long to put this power at the service of the highest and most transcendental truths. This is their primary goal, to communicate the eternal verities and prove them logically. They look up to people who can transcend the intellect – to poets, artists, musicians and mystics. They may be awed by stories of religious saints and martyrs. A Gemini’s highest achievement is to teach the truth, whether it is scientific, inspirational or historical. Those who can transcend the intellect are Gemini’s natural superiors – and a Gemini realizes this. The sign of Pisces is in Gemini’s solar 10th house of career. Neptune, the planet of spirituality and altruism, is Gemini’s career planet. If Geminis are to realize their highest career potential they need to develop their transcendental – their spiritual and altruistic – side. They need to understand the larger cosmic picture, the vast flow of human evolution – where it came from and where it is heading. Only then can a Gemini’s intellectual powers take their true position and he or she can become the ‘messenger of the gods’. Geminis need to cultivate a facility for ‘inspiration’, which is something that does not originate in the intellect but which comes through the intellect. This will further enrich and empower a Gemini’s mind. Love and Relationships Geminis bring their natural garrulousness and brilliance into their love life and social life as well. A good talk or a verbal joust is an interesting prelude to romance. Their only problem in love is that their intellect is too cool and passionless to incite ardour in others. Emotions sometimes disturb them, and their partners tend to complain about this. If you are in love with a Gemini you must understand why this is so. Geminis avoid deep passions because these would interfere with their ability to think and communicate. If they are cool towards you, understand that this is their nature. Nevertheless, Geminis must understand that it is one thing to talk about love and another actually to love – to feel it and radiate it. Talking about love glibly will get them nowhere. They need to feel it and act on it. Love is not of the intellect but of the heart. If you want to know how a Gemini feels about love you should not listen to what he or she says, but rather, observe what he or she does. Geminis can be quite generous to those they love. Geminis like their partners to be refined, well educated and well travelled. If their partners are more wealthy than they, that is all the better. If you are in love with a Gemini you had better be a good listener as well. The ideal relationship for the Gemini is a relationship of the mind. They enjoy the physical and emotional aspects, of course, but if the intellectual communion is not there they will suffer. Home and Domestic Life At home the Gemini can be uncharacteristically neat and meticulous. They tend to want their children and partner to live up to their idealistic standards. When these standards are not met they moan and criticize. However, Geminis are good family people and like to serve their families in practical and useful ways. The Gemini home is comfortable and pleasant. They like to invite people over and they make great hosts. Geminis are also good at repairs and improvements around the house – all fuelled by their need to stay active and occupied with something they like to do. Geminis have many hobbies and interests that keep them busy when they are home alone. Geminis understand and get along well with their children, mainly because they are very youthful people themselves. As great communicators, Geminis know how to explain things to children; in this way they gain their children’s love and respect. Geminis also encourage children to be creative and talkative, just like they are. Horoscope for 2012 Major Trends From 2003 to 2011 your life has been a series of dramatic changes and upheavals. There have been career changes, dramas with the parent figures in your life, and many personal changes. It is safe to say that your personal circumstances are radically different now to what they were in 2003. In hindsight you can see that these upheavals have worked out for the best, and that you were being set free into new and better conditions and circumstances. For most of you the situation is much improved over these past nine years. Happily things are settling down. There is more peace and less drama in your life, and more stability. Late in 2011 Jupiter entered your 12th house of spirituality, so you have been in a period of internal, spiritual growth. Many of you travelled on pilgrimages of various types, and many of you had amazing spiritual experiences. And this trend continues in the year ahead, until June 11. Neptune, the most spiritual of all the planets, enters your 10th house this year; not only that but he will spend most of the year hovering near the Mid-heaven of the chart (another indication of spirituality). It is perhaps the most important thing in your life right now. This creates a few challenges for you – for spiritual values tend to conflict with worldly values – and following the spiritual path often entails various worldly kinds of sacrifice. Jupiter will enter your 1st house on June 11 and stay there for the rest of the year. A very happy transit. It ushers in a period of prosperity that will last well into next year. You are travelling during this period, but this time more for pleasure than for some religious purpose. You will be enjoying the good life – good foods, wines, restaurants and all the pleasures of the physical body. You feel lucky and optimistic, and indeed you are. Love seems very happy this year too (more on this later). Your areas of greatest interest in the year ahead are spirituality; the body, image and personal pleasure; home and family (until July 3); children and personal creativity (until October 5); health and work (from October 5 onwards); sex, personal transformation and reinvention, occult studies, death and rebirth, life after death; career; and friends, organizations, groups and group activities. Your paths of greatest fulfilment this year are spirituality (especially until June 11); the body, image and personal pleasure (from June 11 onwards); love, romance and social activities (until August 31); health and work (after August 31). Health (Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference: these perspectives were identical. But these days, there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.) Health looks good in the year ahead. Most of the long-term planets are either in harmonious aspect or leaving you alone. Only Neptune begins to make a stressful aspect (on February 3), and only by himself, so this is not a major concern. It is when the long-term planets start to gang up on you that we get concerned. Good though your health is there will be periods in the year where health and energy are less easy than usual. This is also normal. These things come from the transits and are temporary, not trends for the year. When the stressful transits pass your natural good health and energy will return. Reflexology Try to massage the whole foot on a regular basis, but pay extra attention to the points highlighted on the chart. When you massage, be aware of ‘sore spots’, as these need special attention. It’s also a good idea to massage the ankles and top side of the feet (see below). This year the most stressful health periods will tend to be from February 18 to March 20; August 22 to September 22; and November 22 to December 21. These are periods to rest and relax more and pay more attention to health. Your 6th house of health is not a house of power for most of the year and so you are sort of taking good health for granted. But after October 5, it does become a house of power and you become more focused here. Good though your health is, you can make it even better. Give more attention to the following organs: the lungs, respiratory system, arms and shoulders (arms and shoulders should be regularly massaged); the colon, bladder, gall bladder and sexual organs (safe sex and sexual moderation is very important); the spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment (important all year but especially after October 5). Regular visits to a chiropractor or osteopath would be a good idea – the vertebrae need to be kept in the correct alignment. And don’t forget regular dental checkups, so you can catch problems before they get too severe. Knees should be given more support when exercising, and regular back and knee massage will be powerful, as will therapies such as Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais. Pluto is your health planet. In the physical body he rules the colon, bladder and sexual organs – hence their importance in overall health. He rules your health from the sign of Capricorn, which is associated with the spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment (hence the importance of these organs as well). Saturn, the planetary ruler of these organs, will move into your 6th House of health on October 5, reinforcing what we are saying here. With your health planet in the conservative sign of Capricorn (and for many years to come) you seem more conservative and traditional when it comes to health. You might be avant-garde in many other areas of life, but not when it comes to your health. You want the tried and true therapies that are accepted and that have stood the test of time. Generally this shows a tendency to orthodox medicine, and even if you indulge in alternative therapies they will tend to be the ‘traditional’ ones that have been around a long time. The good part here is that you want long-term cures and not short-term fixes. And this will tend to happen for you. Also you are more able – more inclined – to take on disciplined, rigorous (and even harsh) health regimes. Geminis of appropriate age are much more fertile this year than usual, especially after June 11. And, these days, with a range of fertility treatments available, even older Geminis will be more fertile. Home and Family Your 4th house of home and family is only temporarily strong this year. Mars spends an unusual amount of time in this house – more than six months from January 1 to July 3. This suggests various things. The most obvious is that there are heavy-duty repairs going on in the home, perhaps even the construction or reconstruction of a home. In all likelihood you are installing high-tech gadgetry in the home and in general being more experimental with your house. However, there are other meanings here too. Family life can be quite stormy now. Passions run high within the family. Tempers are flaring. There can be conflicts between family members, and if you are not careful even violent behaviour. Your challenge will be to maintain some semblance of calm within the storm, to maintain your emotional equilibrium. This is easy to say but not so easy to do. You should strive not to make matters worse and avoid inflaming an already inflamed situation. The house should be checked for dangerous items. Matches, knives, weapons or dangerous objects should be kept out of the reach of children. This is always a good policy, but especially so for the first six months of the year. A friend seems to be staying at your home for a prolonged period. Friends are having many personal dramas this year and this could be the reason for it. A parent or parent figure could be having surgery. Also he or she is more impatient than usual, more in a rush, and this can lead to accidents. This person needs to slow down and watch their temper. Another parent or parent figure enters a more spiritual kind of year. He or she seems more idealistic, looking for more meaning in life. If he or she is on a spiritual path, this will turn out very well; but if not, this search for meaning could lead to alcohol or drug abuse. This person is likely to move or renovate the home this year, or perhaps buy an additional home. Children also seem to be doing renovations in the home. Grandchildren could have moved in the past year, but if not it can happen this year as well. Siblings or sibling figures are better off staying where they are, making better use of the space that they have. Finance and Career The year ahead is prosperous and you should see a natural increase in your wealth, in your earnings and in the value of assets that you already own. In the first half of the year you are getting prepared for it – the stage is being set. By June 11 it begins, and it continues well into next year. When Jupiter moves into your sign at the beginning of June a great feeling of optimism sets in. And this innate optimism, this ‘happy go lucky’ spirit, helps you financially. Wealth is not really a sum of money, it is a lifestyle. People often confuse the two. It is not so much the money that we want, but what it can buy. Often these are tangible, material things, but quite often they are intangibles – a feeling of freedom, security, comfort, etc. Whether or not you have tangible cash assets, you will be living as if you had them. You will be living above your income level, travelling to exotic places, eating in the finer restaurants, wearing expensive clothing and accessories, and somehow (the cosmos arranges these things very individually) you will have the wherewithal for it. There is a feeling of luck that comes to you too. And there is luck in speculations in the latter half of the year. No matter how grim a situation seems, you feel inside that you will get through and shine. Overcoming discouragement and setbacks is said to be 90 per cent of the art of success. Jupiter also happens to be your love planet. So there is love in your life this year. From the financial perspective this would show a happy business partnership. In astrology the aspects for a business partnership and a marriage are the same: the same planets are involved. There is nothing much you need to do to make this happen. It will find you. Just go about your daily business. Career though is more complicated. You always tend to be idealistic about your career, but now, with Neptune moving into your 10th house on February 3 and staying there for the long term, this idealism is greatly increased. Your career has to be meaningful. It has to be good for the planet. It has to be altruistic and spiritual. Any career path that violates your spiritual principles or ideals will not make you happy or last for too long. And it is not so easy to integrate spiritual values with worldly values – it can be done but it will take work and creativity on your part. Everyone finds their own way of doing things. Sometimes they enter a spiritual career such as the ministry, charity work, working for a non-profit organization, or missionary work (and this could happen). Sometimes people pursue a worldly career while doing much charitable work on the side. On a more mundane level, with Neptune in your 10th house there is much non-disclosure in career matters, much behind-the-scenes activity and manipulation, and so you need to do your homework before making important decisions. Often there are scandals or unpleasant revelations regarding the authority figures in your life (bosses, parents, parent figures, elders). On a personal level you need to stay ‘squeaky clean’ in your career. Don’t do things that you don’t want to see on the evening news or ‘twittered’ all over the Internet. Love and Social Life Though your 7th house of love and marriage is not strong, other indicators in your Horoscope are showing a very strong love and social year. Love is definitely in the air. And it seems happy. Two important trends are happening this year. The first, as we mentioned, is that your love planet (Jupiter) is crossing your Ascendant and entering the 1st house on June 11. It will be in your 1st house for the balance of the year. This is a powerful love indicator. Secondly, Venus, the generic love planet of the zodiac, will spend an unusual amount of time in your own sign. Now normally Venus will spend about one month in a sign. Here she is sort of camping out in your sign from April 3 to August 7. This too is a positive love indicator. Indeed, from June 11 to August 7 the two love planets in your Horoscope will be in your own sign. Love will certainly happen and perhaps even marriage as well. The beauty of these transits is that you don’t need to do anything special. Love will find you. Just go about your normal business and it will happen. What I also like here is that you have love on your terms. The lover puts your interests way ahead of his or her own interests. You come first. You have your way. The same applies to social matters. New friends – and devoted ones – are coming into the picture this year. Existing friends are more devoted than usual as well. You don’t need to run around searching for social opportunities; again, they will come to you. The two love planets in your own sign show that your personal appearance shines; regardless of your age or stage in life, it is better than usual. You exude more grace and charm. You dress more beautifully and stylishly. You have an excellent sense of beauty these days. The opposite sex will certainly take notice. The above is true for all Geminis but especially those working on the first and second marriages. If you are already married, your spouse is paying more attention and is much more supportive than usual. Those of you working on your third marriage are probably better off not marrying, just dating. Love seems too unstable this year (and for years to come). But those working on the fourth marriage have a wonderful opportunity, and a marriage is likely. Siblings have a more or less status quo kind of love year. If they are single there is good opportunity after June 11. Children are having their marriages and relationships tested this year, and break-ups are likely. Grandchildren of marriageable age have a status quo kind of year. Singles will tend to stay single; marrieds will tend to stay married. Self-improvement With Neptune on your Mid-heaven all year and Jupiter in your spiritual 12th house until June 11, you are in a very strong spiritual period, as we mentioned. The invisible world is letting you know that it is around. This is a year (and especially the first part of the year) for all kinds of supernatural kinds of experiences, for an active and prophetic dream life and all kinds of synchronistic experiences. The spiritual world – and the world at large – is waiting for you to step into your real work, your real mission. Your spiritual life will become the main mission in life for many of you. As you change your own energy field, the energy fields of those you come in contact with will also change. Your individual work will change families, communities and even the country at large. In June and July you will face one of the classic spiritual conflicts that many people face. Jupiter and Neptune are in stressful aspect with each other. Thus there is a feeling that if you follow your true mission there is some love or social sacrifice involved, and this is always difficult. The so-called sacrifice is only ‘apparent’ and not real, but it is a good test of your commitment. If you pass the test, love (the equivalent or better) will be restored to you. Also, your spouse or current love, while very devoted to you personally, is not very supportive of your career, Perhaps they feel a bit jealous about this, and this will need some effort on your part to work out. Uranus in your 11th house indicates much instability with friends. It shows many dramas in their personal lives and this could impact on your relationship. While you are socially successful this year, you find it difficult to make long-term social plans as you never know who is available when. Being comfortable with social change is one of the main lessons of the year and for years to come. Month-by-month Forecasts January Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 24 Most Stressful Days Overall: 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 26 Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 28, 30 Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 21, 23, 24, 30 Best Days for Career: 7, 15, 24, 25, 26 You begin your year on a happy note. Your benevolent 9th house is strong from the 20th onwards. Very unusually, all of the planets are moving forwards (until the 24th), bringing rapid progress and achievement. So this is a happy and successful month. You cover a lot of territory and do it well. Your year begins with 70 per cent of the planets above the horizon. From the 18th onwards the percentage jumps to 80. You are in a very strong career period. Keep the focus on your outer goals. You can downplay home and family issues. You serve your family best, and attain emotional harmony, by being successful in the world. This is the time to attain to career goals through outer, overt, physical actions. Most of the planets are in the social, Western sector of the Horoscope. This is soon to change but for now you are in a strong social cycle, where you develop your social and diplomatic skills and where you attain objectives through consensus and co-operation rather than through personal initiative. Uncomfortable conditions are more difficult to change right now; you have to adapt to them as best you can. Your 8th house of transformation is very powerful until the 27th, which means this is a great period for losing weight, detoxing the body and getting rid of old and useless possessions. Clean up the house – not just the physical house but the mind and the emotions as well. Health and energy are good this month, and will get even better after the 20th. Detox regimes go well as we mentioned, and especially between the 12th and 14th. You can enhance your health in the ways mentioned in the yearly report. This is also a sexually active month. Mercury, the ruler of your Horoscope, squares Uranus from the 8th to the 10th, bringing a very dynamic aspect. Family members can be more temperamental. You should be more mindful on the physical plane, especially when driving or when handling dangerous objects. Love is more challenging after the 20th but this is a short-term trend. Overall the love life looks good. Venus travels with Neptune from the 12th to the 15th. You are getting spiritual messages either directly, through dreams and intuitions, or indirectly from psychics, channels, ministers, astrologers and the like about your career. The dream life is very active at this time too. February Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 11, 12, 19, 20, 29 Most Stressful Days Overall: 9, 10, 15, 16, 22, 23 Best Days for Love: 1, 5, 6, 9, 15, 16, 17, 24, 25, 27, 28 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 17, 21, 22, 27, 28 Best Days for Career: 4, 13, 21, 22, 23 This month, the planetary power will shift from the Western Sector, where it has been for many months, to the East; 60 per cent (and sometimes 70 per cent) of the planets will be in the East. So you are entering a period of greater independence, greater personal power. You have greater power to create conditions as you like them and no longer have the need to adapt to things. You can have life on your terms. Hopefully you will not abuse this power – many people do. However, when the cycle for ‘paying karma’ comes – when the planets shift to the Western Sector again (in about six months’ time) – you will have to live with your creations, so build well. The main headline this month is your career. Half of the planets are either in or moving through your career house this month. This house is strong quantitatively and also qualitatively: two out of the three most important planets in your chart spend a lot of time there – the Sun and the ruler of your Horoscope. So you are in a period of great outward success. Pay rises, promotions, elevations (perhaps even honours) are happening now. If your career goals are ultra, ultra high you might not attain them this month, but you will see great progress happening there. Career is a life-long project – our life work – one month is not enough to attain these things. So long as we are making progress we can consider ourselves successful. Family members are also outwardly successful and seem supportive of your career. You seem on very good terms with the authority figures in your life, your bosses, parents and elders. In fact, you yourself are an authority figure these days. Health and energy are excellent until the 19th, after that you need to rest and relax more. Your career is busy and taxing, but without good health success is an empty shell. You are very busy this month, but you can delegate or outsource as much as possible. Focus on essentials and let lesser things go. People at the top – as you are this month (each on their own level) – are often targets for the venom and anger of those less blessed. This is another drain of energy. This is the price paid (one of them) for outward success. There are many ways to deal with this, but it is beyond the scope of this report. Be more patient with children from the 8th to the 10th. Make sure they avoid dangerous and risky kinds of activities. They seem inclined to daredevil kinds of stunts. Love seems happy this month and all year. March Best Days Overall: 1, 9, 10, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29 Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 13, 14, 20, 21 Best Days for Love: 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 25, 26 Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 22, 23, 25, 26, 30, 31 Best Days for Career: 2, 11, 20, 21, 30 Retrograde activity increases this month. Mars went retrograde on January 24 and will be retrograde all of this month, and so friends seem to lack direction these days. (Make sure you do your homework before buying new high-tech equipment and software, too; some of the claims are not what they seem.) Saturn went retrograde on the 7th of last month and will be retrograde for many more months. (The spouse, partner or current love needs to be doing a financial review now.) Mercury – and this is the most important one for you – goes retrograde on the 12th. You’ve had a period of great success and now it is time to take stock of where you stand. You seem unsure of what happens next or where you want to go, and so a period of review is in order. You need to gain some mental clarity now. The home and family situation also needs a review. Retrogrades, when understood and used properly, are the ‘pauses that refresh’. They are no more a ‘setback’ than a good night’s sleep. This is when you gather forces for the next leap of forward progress. The glitches and setbacks that seem to happen come because we are not co-operating with the cosmic intent. Be especially careful in communicating with family members from the 12th onwards. Don’t take things for granted. Much of the family drama and hurt feelings that happen come from miscommunication and misunderstanding. A little more care in the beginning will save much heartache later on. Career is still very strong in your Horoscope until the 20th. You are in the midst of a yearly career peak now. Much of what we wrote of last month still applies. Finance has not been a big issue so far this year. Your money house is basically empty (only the Moon visits there for a few days a month). Career, status, prestige, promotion seem much more important to you than money. I would read this as a good signal; you are basically content financially and have no need to make major changes. The Moon waxes from the 1st to the 8th and from the 22nd onwards, and these will be the times when your earning power is strongest. The love life is getting even better than it has been this month. Venus, the planet of love, travels with your love planet Jupiter from the 11th to the 14th. For singles this shows a romantic meeting. For marrieds it shows more romance in the marriage and happy social experiences – invitations, social meetings, happiness from friends. The Sun opposes Mars from the 1st to the 5th. Then it conjuncts Uranus from the 23rd to the 26th and squares Pluto from the 28th to the 31st. Be more careful driving during those periods, and avoid arguments where possible. Mercury, the ruler of your Horoscope, conjuncts Uranus twice this month (once moving forwards and once backwards); again, be careful driving and be more patient with family members. April Best Days Overall: 6, 14, 15, 24, 25 Most Stressful Days Overall: 4, 10, 16, 17 Best Days for Love: 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 24, 25 Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27 Best Days for Career: 7, 16, 17, 26 Your 11th house of friends has been strong since last year. Last month, it got even stronger, and this trend continues until the 20th. This means you are more involved with friends, with groups and group activities and with trade or professional organizations. You are always a good networker, but especially so now. You are probably more involved than usual with online activities. You are personally more inventive and original these days, and perhaps a bit rebellious as well. You want to do unconventional kinds of things, and probably you will. The norm, the routine, seems boring. On the 4th Mercury starts to move forward and thus you have more personal clarity and a sense of direction. Career goals have more or less been attained (although we never completely attain them, in essence they are infinite) and now your interests are social. The month ahead is a very powerful social month, both romantically and in terms of friendship. On the 20th the Sun moves into Taurus and starts to have an impact on your love planet. The aspect will be more exact next month, but you will be feeling it after this date. Love is in the air, and this is serious kind of love. Singles might not marry, but they will meet people they would consider marriage material. This seems to be in happening in spiritual settings, such as the yoga studio, the prayer meeting, the meditation seminar or the charity event. It also seems to occur in the neighbourhood rather than far away. Siblings and sibling figures are playing cupid, and they too have romantic opportunity now and next month. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/joseph-polansky/your-personal-horoscope-2012-month-by-month-forecasts-for/?lfrom=688855901) на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.