oh, the horo!

It's impossible to believe that everyone born between September 23 and October 22—and that's a lot of us, considering I probably know someone with a birthday every other day in that period—will suffer similar fates or celebrate similar joys each week.

But it's true.

You can poo-poo the alignment of the planets and the conspiracy of stars, but you might as well dismiss the whole notion of god, since astrology probably gave birth to most of our religious concepts and even to our saviors. (If you have an extra couple of hours, you can become enlightened (or unenlightened, as the case may be) watching Zeitgeist; the first 30 minutes are sufficient.)

I'm not a religious person anyway, so it makes no sense that I would look to the blurb beneath my zodiac sign for a hint, a portent. But I've been cracking open fortune cookies that say things like: "When winter comes, heaven will rain success on you" and "A cheerful letter or message is on its way to you." It seems that humans, when there's something significant on our horizons, will look to mysticism for a glimpse of the future in advance of it.

When you are raised in an ethnic household of some sort (I can't claim that Russian and Hungarian Jews have cornered this market—or maybe I can), superstition is bound to affect you, even if you don't buy that you must wear your boxers backward for six days in a row in order for your team to win. To this day, I cringe when I find shoes on a piece of furniture—Serena's gym shoes in a blue bag on the chair, for instance. I watched my grandmother throw salt over her shoulder every time she spilled some baking a cake, and it became a habit for me, too. And I know from my father and my grandmother that one should never talk about one's successes until the papers are signed.

Which leads me to Not Talkin' Tuesday. Mysterious though it was, Monday did not evolve the way I thought it might. I chalk it up to my play-by-play tales to far more people than the significant parties—my immediate family and my friend, Barbara, who is my smart luck charm.

So I leave you today with some of the best weekly writing around, even if it is for a horoscope column. These are not, however, like the hang-out-a-shingle, $20-a-reading, neon-sign psychic predictions: "you have been hurt before," "someone from your past will pay you a visit," "you will hear interesting news." Skip the palm, and buy some fortune cookies. No, D.K. Brainard is a gifted astrologer, as is Rob Brezsny, whose horoscope back in 1997 predicted that I was pregnant.

And I was.

Here's what it means to be a Libra this week.

In the realm of competitive swimming, it's a big deal when an athlete shaves a fraction of a second off an existing world record. At a championship meet in Melbourne earlier this year, Michael Phelps was virtually canonized when he beat the previous mark for the 200-meter freestyle by two-tenths of a second. I predict that you will achieve a comparable feat in the coming week, Libra. Some tiny improvement you accomplish will make a major difference.

Source: Free Will Astrology

Early this week you may attract some rather intense people or experiences into your life. These interactions seem designed to make you aware of something you're saying or thinking, perhaps unconsciously or obsessively. Repeated often enough, thoughts and words turn into actual things. As don Miguel Ruiz says in The Four Agreements, "The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is the tool of magic." On Thursday, Venus, the goddess of your tribe, comes home to Libra. This should significantly lighten the energy for you. Having Venus in your sign gives you a magical glow. People naturally want to help you and be around you, just because of the beauty they see in you. Friday's New Moon falls in your 2nd House of value(s). It may be time to let go of an income source or time investment that drains your energy without providing you proper value in return. Doing so will clear the path for a new opportunity that is more aligned with your core set of values.

Source: "Words for the People," Creative Astrology

I can tell you that yesterday I spoke with an intense person who was talking up some intense experiences, that my energy is volatile, and that I am waiting for Thursday to lighten my energetic load. I am also looking to achieve a tiny improvement that will help accomplish my feat, thereby improving my fate.

Now you're surely curious about your own, so I encourage you to visit the astrology authors and subscribe. And buy a few things. I predict you will click.




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