PLANETARIUM MICHAEL LUTIN

TAURUS APRIL 20-MAY 20

When Mars is in your midheaven, your career is what drives you. Either you decide to make something of yourself and get olT your butt, or an authority figure, often in the form of a calTeine-crazed man. comes around and kicks it for you. This transit hits at an odd time, because at the moment you need to gain some distance from professional polities as a way of refreshing yourself, injecting some creativity back into your work, and maybe even discovering the meaning of life.

Ironic, isn't it? Right now the thing that makes you nervous is relaxation.

GEMINI MAY 21-JUNE 21

Depite any illusion you may have, you're not playing a romatic " lead this month. Instead, you have to be the open-minded friend to all. free from clinging attachments. That would be easy, except that when planets in opposing squares are clustered around your solar 8th house, you can become either very creative or very morbid. To avoid compromising your privacy, let's just say it depends on whether you find an outlet for the sexual tension that's been building up inside you.

CANCER JUNE 22-JULY 22

Congratulations. You've just about completed a transit of Saturn through your sign. While it's been sheer torture some of the time, you've shown that you can take on seemingly impossible tasks and do them damned well. Although you'd probably love to run ofT someplace where cell phones don't work, at the moment you are needed right where you are. In fact, this could be one of the most successful moments of your entire life, and God help anyone who dares to get in your way. One other thing: during such periods people often either gain or lose about a hundred pounds.

LEO JULY 23-AUG. 22

You've got to hand it to the pioneers of this world who courageously go carving their way through pathless jungles, crossing roadless mountains, and pushing themselves beyond all human endurance to explore new scenes and create a new life. Right now, with an eclipse in your 9th house dumping out into your 6th, you are joining their ranks, even if the thought of change makes you sick. You are heading into uncharted territory without a Shcrpa to guide you or hold your hand. The first step is hard, though. It involves leaving the house.

VIRGO AUG. 23-SEPT. 22

Virgos often try to pass themselves ofT as transcendent masters of the mind, as if they've evolved way beyond the instinctual, hormone-induced needs for love and passion the rest of us have to cope with in ourselves and in those we care about. You may as well can that image this minute. With your 8th house all aflutter, and a T square emptying into your 5th, you can kiss your rational pretensions good-bye. Artistically, you're exploding with creativity, and even if you're not the hottest tamale this side of the border, at least you're more sexually honest.

LIBRA SEPT. 23-OCT. 23

Despite the fuss you make about your independence, you're not a loner. Get that through your head right now and we'll all be a lot happier. The eclipse in your 7th house and the outlet of the T square in your 4th both suggest that you are attracted to aggressive people, but resent them when they try to control you or, worse, go off and do things that don't include you. You've also got father issues up the wazoo. You're not crazy or wrong to feel conflict over all that. Just don't deny it and you'll be on the road to happiness—or at least recovery.

SCORPIO OCT. 24-NOV. 21

If everyone were to stand in the street as you go by and wave to you in acknowledgment of how overworked and underpaid you are. would you then finally stop moaning about your exhaustion and get back to work? The conjunction of the sun. the moon, Venus, and the moon's north node in your 6th house may not be glamorous, but it'll keep you healthy and olT the streets over the next several months. With the exception of your secret little side trips, this is a time to produce, so roll up your sleeves and wear something that doesn't show stains. It's that simple.

SAGITTARIUS NOV. 22-DEC. 21

It's party time. Sort of. A new moon with Venus in your solar 5th house lets you enjoy life a little and even find true love, provided you can exchange some freedom for honest intimacy. It also demands that you connect better with your kids (if you have any), whether it cramps your style or not especially if you have an odd itch to run around with friends and avoid getting close. Besides, since you're into making money, there won't be any dancing on a table with a lampshade on your head.

CAPRICORN DEC. 22-JAN. 19

"M dragging on for months are finally being resolved, and it won't ^ be long before Saturn gets out of your 7th house, leaving you free to make a move without having to wait for somebody else's signature. The stress at home in these final weeks of the transit could be intense, however, since a T square is forming all around your sign. While many astrologers favor this sort of planetary aspect as a sign of high creative energy, others would take one look at the chart and murmur "Oy."

AQUARIUS JAN. 20-FEB. 18

Mars rising could conceivably explain why you don't have a minute to spare for contemplation or prayer, but how do you expect to catch your breath if you don't take time out from the absolutely insane schedule you've set for yourself? It's hard to describe the current planetary configurations occurring in your solar chart. On the one hand, you can't stand being out in public at all. On the other, you can't stop zooming around town as if you had to contact everybody you ever knew before the clock strikes midnight for the last time.

PISCES FEB. 19-MARCH 20

Sensitive nightingale that you are, would you please start paying attention to the bottom line so that everyone can see that you have a head for business as well as a soul for art? That is the secret to success now. and probably for the rest of the year. The solar eclipse in your 2nd house sets you on a strictly financial path that's not really about sharing and togetherness and "Here, take the bigger half of my sandwich, cookie." You have to find a way to reconcile your newfound, healthy hunger for wealth with your desire to help all sentient beings. Some trick.

ARIES MARCH 21-APRIL 19

There has to be some explanation for why you're taking on such an enormous challenge now, especially at a time when you want more freedom. One look at your solar chart and the mystery is solved. It must be the solar eclipse with Venus and the node, occurring at the same time that Mars transits your 11 th house, that's making you defy reason (and even gravity) simply to take a fresh position and prove that you do have a few superpowers left. Or maybe it's just that the security you were once petrified to lose has finally bored you into action.