LIBRA

The Scales — Sept. 23-Oct. 22

Every time my birthday season comes around, I set aside an entire day to engage in a life review. It lasts for many hours. I begin by visualizing the recent events I’ve experienced, then luxuriously scroll in reverse through my entire past, as if watching a movie starring me. It’s not possible to remember every single scene and feeling, of course, so I allow my deep self to highlight the moments it regards as significant. Here’s another fun aspect of this ritual: I bestow a blessing on every memory that comes up, honoring it for what it taught me and how it helped me to become the person I am today. Dear Libra, now is an excellent time for you to experiment with a similar celebration.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Depression is when you think there’s nothing to be done,” writes author Siri Hustvedt. “Fortunately I always think there’s something to be done.” I offer this hopeful attitude to you, Scorpio, trusting that it will cheer you up. I suspect that the riddles and mysteries you’re embedded in right now are so puzzling and complicated that you’re tempted to think that there’s nothing you can do to solve them or escape them. But I’m here to inform you that if that’s how you feel, it’s only temporary. Even more importantly, I’m here to inform you that there is indeed something you can do, and you are going to find out what that is sooner rather than later.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “How inconvenient to be made of desire,” writes Sagittarian author Larissa Pham. “Even now, want rises up in me like a hot oil. I want so much that it scares me.” I understand what she means, and I’m sure you do, too. There are indeed times when the inner fire that fuels you feels excessive and unwieldy and inopportune. But I’m happy to report that your mood in the coming weeks is unlikely to fit that description. I’m guessing that the radiant pulse of your yearning will excite you and empower you. It’ll be brilliant and warm, not seething and distracting.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I envision the next twelve months as a time when you could initiate fundamental improvements in the way you live. Your daily rhythm twelve months from now could be as much as twenty percent more gratifying and meaningful. It’s conceivable you will discover or generate innovations that permanently raise your long-term goals to a higher octave. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I predict you’ll welcome a certain novelty that resembles the invention of the wheel or the compass or the calendar.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Modern literary critic William Boyd declared that Aquarian author Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was “the best short-story writer ever,” and “the first truly modern writer of fiction: secular, refusing to pass judgment, cognizant of the absurdities of our muddled, bizarre lives and the complex tragi-comedy that is the human condition.” Another contemporary critic, Harold Bloom, praised Chekhov’s plays, saying that he was “one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.” We might imagine, then, that in the course of his career, Chekhov was showered with accolades. We’d be wrong about that, though. “If I had listened to the critics,” he testified, “I’d have died drunk in the gutter.” I hope that what I just said will serve as a pep talk for you as you explore and develop your own original notions in the coming weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Pisces-born Dorothy Steel didn’t begin her career as a film actress until she was 91 years old. She had appeared in a couple of TV shows when she was 89, then got a small role in an obscure movie. At age 92, she became a celebrity when she played the role of a tribal elder in *Black Panther*, one of the highest-grossing films of all time. I propose that we make her one of your inspirational role models for both the coming weeks and the next twelve months. Why? Because I suspect you will be ripening fully into a role and a mission you were born to embody and express.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1956, the U.S. federal government launched a program to build 40,000 miles of high-speed roads to connect all major American cities. It was completed 36 years later at a cost of $521 billion. In the coming months, I’d love to see you draw inspiration from that visionary scheme. According to my analysis, you will generate good fortune for yourself as you initiate a long-term plan to expand your world, create a more robust network, and enhance your ability to fulfill your life’s big goals.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus-born Youtube blogger Hey Fran Hey has some good advice for her fellow Bulls, and I think it’ll be especially fresh and potent in the coming weeks. She says, “Replacing ‘Why is this happening to me?’ with ‘What is this trying to tell me?’ has been a game changer for me. The former creates a hamster wheel, where you’ll replay the story over and over again. Victimized. Stuck. The latter holds space for a resolution to appear.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “The soul has illusions as the bird has wings: it is supported by them.” So declared French author Victor Hugo. I don’t share his view. In fact, I regard it as an insulting misapprehension. The truth is that the soul achieves flight through vivid fantasies and effervescent intuitions and uninhibited longings and non-rational hypotheses and wild hopes—and maybe also by a few illusions. I bring this to your attention because now is an excellent time to nurture your soul with vivid fantasies and effervescent intuitions and uninhibited longings and non-rational hypotheses and wild hopes.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I know people of all genders who periodically unleash macho brags about how little sleep they need. If you’re normally like that, I urge you to rebel. The dilemmas and riddles you face right now are very solvable IF and only IF you get sufficient amounts of sleep and dreams. Do you need some nudges to do right by yourself? Neuroscientist Matthew Walker says that some of the greatest athletes understand that “sleep is the greatest legal enhancing performance drug.” Top tennis player Roger Federer sleeps 12 hours a day. During his heyday, world-class sprinter Usain Bolt slept ten hours a night and napped during the day. Champion basketball player LeBron James devotes 12 hours a day to the rejuvenating sanctuary of sleep.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Actor and dancer Fred Astaire was a pioneer in bringing dance into films as a serious art form. He made 31 musical films during the 76 years he worked, and was celebrated for his charisma, impeccable technique, and innovative moves. At the height of his career, from 1933 to 1949, he teamed up with dancer Ginger Rogers in the creation of ten popular movies. In those old-fashioned days, virtually all partner dancing featured a male doing the lead part as the female followed. One witty critic noted that although Astaire was a bigger star than Rogers, she “did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and while wearing high heels.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, you may soon be called on to carry out tasks that are metaphorically comparable to those performed by Rogers.