Free Will Astrology

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Ten percent of all sexually suggestive text messages are delivered to the wrong number. Take precautions to make sure you're not among that ten percent in the coming weeks. It will be extra important for you to be scrupulous in communicating about eros and intimacy. The stakes will be higher than usual. Togetherness is likely to either become more intensely interesting or else more intensely confusing — and it's largely up to you which direction it goes. For best results, express yourself clearly and with maximum integrity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If it were within my power, I'd help you identify the new feelings you have not yet been able to understand. I would infuse you with the strength you would need to shed the worn-out delusions that are obstructing your connection to far more interesting truths. And I would free you from any compulsion you have to live up to expectations that are not in alignment with your highest ideals. Alas, I can't make any of these things happen all by myself. So I hope you will rise to the occasion and perform these heroic feats under your own power.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972) was a Gemini. He liked to depict seemingly impossible structures, like stairways in which people who climbed to the top arrived at the bottom. I nominate him to be your patron saint in the coming week. You should have his talent for playing with tricks and riddles in ways that mess with everyone's boring certainties. Here are four Escher quotes you can feel free to use as your own. 1. "Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?" 2. "My work is a game, a very serious game." 3. "I think it's in my basement; let me go upstairs and check." 4. "Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible."

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Venus flytrap is a remarkable plant that gobbles up insects and spiders. Its leaves do the dirty work, snapping shut around its unsuspecting prey. Evolution has made sure that the flowers of the Venus flytrap sit atop a high stalk at a safe distance from where all the eating takes place. This guarantees that pollinators visiting the flowers don't get snagged by the carnivorous leaves below. So the plant gets both of its main needs met: a regular supply of food and the power to disseminate its seeds. I'll ask you to derive a lesson from all this, Cancerian. Be sure that in your eagerness to get the energy you need, you don't interfere with your ability to spread your influence and connect with your allies.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A sinuous and shimmering archetype that begins with the letter "s" has been trying to catch your attention, Leo — sometimes in subliminal and serpentine ways. Why haven't you fully tuned in yet? Could it be because you're getting distracted by mildly entertaining but ultimately irrelevant trivia? I'm hoping to shock you out of your erroneous focus. Here's the magic trigger code that should do the trick: Psssssssssst! Now please do what you can to make yourself very receptive to the slippery, spidery signals of the simmeringly sublime surge.