Free Will Astrology: Week of August 18, 2022

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky wrote, "All my life, I've been going around waiting for something—as if I were waiting in a railway station. And I've always felt as if the living I've done so far hasn't actually been real life but a long wait for it—a long wait for something real." If I could speak with Tarkovsky right now, I would cheerfully tell him that his wait will soon be over. I'd say that in the coming months, Aries people who have been postponing and postponing, who have been standing by and holding on and biding time, will have an excellent chance to begin inhabiting their full, rich destiny. I invite you to imagine what that will feel like.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus poet Sherko Bekas wrote, "Each joy I wear, its sleeves are either too short or too long, too loose or too tight on me. And each sorrow I wear fits as if it were made for me wherever I am." With this as our starting point, Taurus, I'm pleased to report some good news. In the next three weeks, you will have zero sorrows to try on and wear like a garment. And there will be at least three joys that fit just right. The sleeves will be the correct length, and the form will be neither too loose nor too tight.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tips on how to get the most out of the coming weeks: 1. Create a big spacious realization by weaving together several small hunches. 2. Keep a little angel on your right shoulder and a little devil on your left shoulder. Enjoy listening to them argue, and don't get attached to anything they say. 3. Do the unexpected until it becomes expected. Then abandon it and try a new, unexpected experiment. 4. Meditate expansively on the question, "How many careers can I have in one lifetime?" 5. Enhance your home so it feels even more comfortable.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Be fluid and flexible while still being rooted and sturdy. Be soft and sensitive even as you are also firm and resolute. Be mostly modest and adaptable, but become assertive and outspoken as necessary. Be cautious about inviting and seeking out challenges, but be bold and brash when a golden challenge arrives. Be your naturally generous self most of the time, but avoid giving too much. Got all that, Cancerian? Carrying out the multifaceted assignments I just described might be nearly impossible for most of the other signs of the zodiac, but they are in your wheelhouse. You are a specialist in fertile complexity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "I've swung from ancient vines in the caves of Jamaica," exults Hoodoo priestess Luisah Teish. "I've danced with delight around totem poles and pressed foreheads with Maori warriors. I've joked with the pale fox in the crossroads, then wrestled with the jaguar and won. I have embraced great trees between my thighs and spoken words of love to thunder while riding lightning bolts." I offer Teish's celebratory brag to inspire you as you formulate plans for the coming weeks and months. What exhilarating adventures will you give yourself? What expansive encounters will you learn from? What travels outside of your comfort zone will you dare? The time is right for upsurges and upturns and upgrades.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In his poem "The Pupil," Virgo-born Donald Justice speaks of how he spent "a whole week practicing for that moment on the threshold." I advise you to do the same, Virgo. The goal is to be as prepared as you can be for the upcoming rite of transition—without, of course, being neurotically over-prepared. It's fine and natural to honor the tension of anticipation, using it as motivation to do your best. One other thing: As you get ready, please have as much fun as possible. Visualize the sense of accomplishment you'll feel when you've reached the other side of the test.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "One is always at home in one’s past," wrote author Vladimir Nabokov. But I encourage you to rebel against that theory, Libra. For now, find a way to NOT feel at home in your past. Question it, be curious about it, re-evaluate it. My hope is that you will then be motivated to change how your history lives in you. Now is an excellent time to reconfigure your life story, to develop a revised relationship with its plot twists and evolution. Revisit and update some of your memories. Re-evaluate the meanings of key events. Enchanting healings will materialize if you do.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Of all the signs in the zodiac, you Scorpios are most likely to regard that old pop tune by the Animals as your theme song. "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good," croons lead singer Eric Burdon, "Oh, Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood." But you may have less motivation to express that sentiment in the coming weeks, dear Scorpio. I suspect you will experience record-breaking levels of being seen and appreciated for who you are. For best results, do this: 1. Inform your deep psyche that you have no attachment to being misunderstood. 2. Tell your deep psyche that you would very much like to be well understood.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "Unless we are creators, we are not fully alive," wrote Sagittarian author Madeleine L'Engle. She was referring to everyone, not just people in the arts. She believed that to be soulful humans, we must always make new things, generate fresh possibilities, and explore novel approaches. The restless urge to transform what already exists can be expressed in how we do our jobs, our parenting, our intimate relationships, and every other activity. You are now entering a phase, Sagittarius, when this initiatory energy will be especially available, needed, and valuable.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In her poem "Valentine," Capricorn poet Carol Ann Duffy tells a lover she won't give her a "red rose or a satin heart." Instead, her token of affection is an onion, a symbol of multi-layered complexity. "Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips," Duffy writes, "possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are." She adds that the onion will "blind you with tears like a lover." OK. I understand the tough attitude expressed by Duffy. Romance isn't a relentlessly sweet, sentimental romp through paradise. But I don't recommend that you imitate her approach to your love life in the coming weeks and months. Appreciate the sometimes shadowy and labyrinthine convolutions, yes, but don't make them more important than beauty and joy and love. How about invoking the symbol of a pomegranate? It represents fertility and rebirth out of the darkness.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be extra expressive with the people and animals you care about. Be even more amusing and generous than usual. Dare to be abundantly entertaining and engaging and empathetic. Make it your goal to draw out your allies' dormant potentials and inspire them to love themselves even more than they already do. I'll tell you about the endearing terms that author Vladimir Nabokov called his wife. Consider using them with your dear ones: "My sun, my soul, my song, my bird, my pink sky, my sunny rainbow, my little music, my inexpressible delight, my tenderness, my lightness, my dear life, my dear eyes, kittykin, poochums, goosikins, sparrowling, bird of paradise."

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Sometimes, you may feel you're under the influence of a debilitating spell or hindered by a murky curse. Pisceans are prone to such worries. But here's a secret. More than any other zodiac sign, you have the power to escape from spells. Even if you have never studied the occult or read a witch's grimoire, you possess a natural facility for the natural magic that disperses curses. From the depths of your psyche, you can summon the spiritual force necessary to cleanse the gunk and free yourself. Now is a perfect time to prove to yourself that what I've said here is true.