Free Will Astrology

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The "cocktail party effect" refers to your ability to hear your name being spoken while in the midst of a social gathering's cacophony. This is an example of an important practice, which is how to discern truly meaningful signals embedded in the noise of all the irrelevant information that surrounds you. You should be especially skilled at doing this in the coming weeks, Aquarius — and it will be crucial that you make abundant use of your skill. As you navigate your way through the clutter of symbols and the overload of data, be alert for the few key messages that are highly useful.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Shunryu Suzuki was a Zen master whose books helped popularize Zen Buddhism in America. A student once asked him, "How much ego do you need?" His austere reply was "Just enough so that you don't step in front of a bus." While I sympathize with the value of humility, I wouldn't go quite that far. I think that a slightly heftier ego, if offered up as a work of art, can be a gift to the world. What do you think, Pisces? How much ego is good? To what degree can you create your ego so that it's a beautiful and dynamic source of power for you and an inspiration for other people rather than a greedy, needy parasite that distorts the truth? This is an excellent time to ruminate on such matters.