Planetarium

MICHAEL LUTIN

CANCER

June 22-July 22

With Venus retrograde in your 12th house and Mars there at the same time, this could be one of your crazier, more paranoid birthdays. However, you're not crazy and you're not paranoid. Even if your boss, shrink, or sweetheart tells you it's all in your head, things are going on behind your back. Normally if someone hangs up the phone quickly when you enter a room, you tend to think he or she has been talking to the doctor about your "case." This month you may be right. Remember, though, that your fears are secret fantasies that you yourself are harboring.

LEO

July 23-August 22

A lot of people are being driven crazy by Leos lately. It seems that many members of your sign (especially the baby-boomers bom with Pluto in Leo) have become even more obsessed than usual with getting attention. They are often downright obnoxious about making sure they're not ignored, which seems to have the opposite effect: people are so turned off by the Look-at-me! antics that they'll do anything to get away. If you're not one of those Leos, ignore this message. If you are, do something for humanity. Try being part of a group. It won't kill you.

VIRGO

August 23~September 22

While members of your sign are supposed to be dedicated, humble servants, as silent as nuns in a convent and more neutral than eunuchs in a harem, the presence of planets in your solar midheaven has got to add zip and verve to your normally shy and reclusive nature. It's not that you necessarily lack ambition. It's just that you're usually waiting around like a Hollywood starlet, hoping someone will lift up that cabbage leaf and discover you. Mars in your 10th house proves that even Virgos can experience the drive for dominance, sexual and otherwise.

LIBRA

September 23-October 23

You have no conflicts or ambivalence over any of your major relationships. You're ecstatically happy. You don't feel lonely. You don't feel a shred of insecurity about being worthy. You have no fear of being stranded and alone, and above all you don't need counseling. O.K., fine. With a Satum-Chiron node configuration operating all year, if the slightest feeling of anxiety should dare to creep into your sunshine-filled consciousness, break the tension with a little trip. If that doesn't work, phone a shrink or a wise relative. If all else fails, try truth in communication.

SCORPIO

October 24~November 21

High consciousness is a wonderful thing to aim for. It's not only what New Agers have been yapping about since the 60s but also what even the ancients sought to achieve—and one out of 12 of them had to be a Scorpio. When planets transit your 8th house, however, as they are doing now, you are humbled by such lowly preoccupations as estate taxes, joint finances, and all types of messy paperwork involving money and other people's greed. Besides that, there is now a devilish sexual desire to cope with. The primitive animal lives within us all.

SAGITTARIUS

November 22~December 21

Sagittarians are supposed to be in search of truth, and for the most part you are, especially when it comes to the Big Issues, such as where Jesus was actually born, whether Supreme Court justices are corrupt, or what your sister-in-law was really doing in Chicago for seven months before she met your brother. Although you've been known to exhibit outbursts of defensive temper, in your effort to avoid confrontations you prefer to pretend you didn't hear something. With Mars in your 7th house, heated discussions will not only clear the air but also, conceivably, lead to sex.

CAPRICORN

December 22-January 19

There were moments last year when you were immobilized. If you can't find a person or thing to blame, just say that Saturn made you restless, nervous, and unable to concentrate. Now with that planet in the sign of Aries, you're full of spit and fire, especially when it comes to protecting your turf, which is definitely going to need protecting in the coming months. The good news is that you're energized now. With Mars in your 6th house, working more consistently and with greater focus should keep the wolf from the door—unless, of course, wolves turn you on.

AQUARIUS

January 20-February 18

At long last you are climbing out of the gloomy shadows or stepping out of the darkened room (possibly a closet, if the term seems apt). Although when it comes to the future, not even astrologers can give guarantees, as the sun begins its glorious ascent along with Mercury, Venus, and Mars, you must believe that all the goblins that have been dancing in your brain over the last few years have finally dried up and blown away. You're on the comeback trail. Call it a new lease on life, if you want, but it's just a lease. You don't own. You're just renting.

PISCES

February 19~March 20

Whether you've been a hot box-office property or a building superintendent, your career is in a major transition. Of course, being a Pisces, if you're a movie star, you often end up playing a lowlife anyway, and if you're a blue-collar worker, you spend half your time fantasizing about what life will be like when you become famous. With the inner planets opposing Pluto right now, it may be great to be recognized and have people staring at you, but it's also wonderful to have privacy, live daily life, do over the kitchen, and watch kids grow up. Pisceans must have it all.

ARIES

March 21-April 19

A lunation in your 4th house should be the perfect moment to eat a lobster on a moonlit deck overlooking the sea or to settle down in a cottage hidden by tall pine trees and forget every earthly care and woe. All that would be possible if there were no phones, faxes, E-mailings, or ruling planets of your 1st house transiting your 3rd. On this very real plane of existence, however, you are itchy and restless, so fidgety that you are hard put to find a spot to light on for longer than five minutes. That makes it rather tough for anyone sharing your bed right now.

TAURUS

April 20~May 20

Tauruses know just how ridiculous and fleeting all the phenomena of the physical world really are. Social position, for example. You could be the darling of the polo set, sharing squab with the swells, one moment and sitting alone in a diner eating corned-beef hash the next. With Uranus in an earth house and Saturn and Pluto in water houses, you need to be thinking about such lofty philosophical issues as the nature of immortality. Don't let yourself get too far out, though. With inner planets in your 2nd house, continue shopping, spending, and screaming about money.

GEMINI

May 21-June 21

For many months you've been thinking twice about the dubious joys of a freedom which you once relished above everything else. With Pluto in your 7th house, it has begun to dawn on you that your precious independence doesn't mean all that much if you don't have someone to share it with. This month, however, as Mars transits Gemini, you're probably going to be up to some of your old tricks. It's not that you're flaky, noncommittal, and duplicitous. It's just that you're trying to integrate your need for financial stability with your love of being a nutcase.