Free Will Astrology

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If your destiny has gotten tweaked by bias or injustice, it's a good time to rebel. If you are being manipulated by people who care for you — even if it's allegedly for your own good — you now have the insight and power necessary to wriggle free of the bind. If you have been confused by the mixed messages you're getting from your own unconscious mind, you should get to the bottom of the inner contradiction. And if you have been wavering in your commitment to your oaths, you'd better be intensely honest with yourself about why that's happening.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Diamonds are symbols of elegant beauty, which is why they're often used in jewelry. But 80 percent of the world's diamonds have a more utilitarian function. Because they're so hard and have such high thermal conductivity, they are used extensively as cutting, grinding, and polishing tools, and have several other industrial applications. Now let's apply this 20/80 proportion to you, Taurus. Of your talents and abilities, no more than 20 percent need be on display. The rest is consumed in the diligent detail work that goes on in the background — the cutting, grinding, and polishing you do to make yourself as valuable as a diamond. In the coming week, this will be a good meditation for you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The pain you will feel in the coming week will be in direct proportion to the love you suppress and withhold. So if you let your love flow as freely as a mountain spring in a rainstorm, you may not have to deal with any pain at all. What's that you say? You claim that being strategic about how you express your affection gives you strength and protection? Maybe that's true on other occasions, but it's not applicable now. "Unconditional" and "uninhibited" are your words of power.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): What actions best embody the virtue of courage? Fighting on the battlefield as a soldier? Speaking out against corruption and injustice? Climbing a treacherous peak or riding a raft through rough river water? Certainly all those qualify. But French architect Fernand Pouillon had another perspective. He said, "Courage lies in being oneself, in showing complete independence, in loving what one loves, in discovering the deep roots of one's feelings." That's exactly the nature of the bravery you are best able to draw on right now, Cancerian. So please do draw on it in abundance.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his book The Four Insights, author Alberto Villoldo tells the following story: "A traveler comes across two stonecutters. He asks the first, 'What are you doing?' and receives the reply, 'Squaring the stone.' He then walks over to the second stonecutter and asks, 'What are you doing?' and receives the reply, 'I am building a cathedral.' In other words, both men are performing the same task, but one of them is aware that he has the choice to be part of a greater dream." By my astrological reckoning, Leo, it's quite important for you to be like that second stonecutter in the months ahead. I suggest you start now to ensure that outcome.