Free Will Astrology

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Spencer Silver was a co-inventor of Post-it notes, those small, colorful pieces of paper you can temporarily attach to things and then remove to use again and again. Speaking about the process he went through to develop this simple marvel, he said, "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." I'd like to make him your patron saint for the next few weeks, Aries. Like him, you now have the chance to make practical breakthroughs that may have seemed impossible, or at least unlikely. Ignore conventional wisdom — including your own. Trust your mischievous intuition.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The axolotl is a kind of salamander that has an extraordinary capacity for regenerating itself. If it loses a leg in an accident, it will grow a new one in its place. It can even fix its damaged organs, including eyes, heart, and brain. And get this: There's never any scar tissue left behind when its work is done. Its power to heal itself is pretty much perfect. I nominate the axolotl to be your power animal in the coming weeks, Taurus. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you now have an extraordinary ability to restore any part of your soul that got hurt or stolen or lost.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the coming months, I hope that you will get sweet revenge. In fact, I predict that you will get sweet revenge. Keep in mind that I'm not talking about angry, roaring vindication. I don't mean you will destroy the reputations of your adversaries or reduce them to humiliating poverty or laugh at them as they grovel for mercy while lying in a muddy gutter. No, Gemini. The kind of revenge I foresee is that you will achieve a ringing triumph by mastering a challenge they all believed would defeat you. And your ascent to victory starts now.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I would love to speak with you about your hesitancy to fully confront your difficulties. But I will not speak forthrightly, since I'm pretty sure that would irritate you. It might even motivate you to procrastinate even further. So instead I will make a lame joke about how if you don't stop avoiding the obvious, you will probably get bitten in the butt by a spider. I will try to subtly guilt-trip you into taking action by implying that I'll be annoyed at you if you don't. I will wax sarcastic and suggest that maybe just this once, ignorance is bliss. Hopefully that will nudge you into dealing straightforwardly with the unrest that's burbling.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "Drama is life with all the boring parts cut out of it," said Leo filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. By that criterion, I'm guessing that your experience in the coming week will have a high concentration of magic and stimulation. You should be free from having to slog through stale details and prosaic storylines. Your word of power will be *succulence.* For best results, I suggest you take active control of the unfolding adventures. Be the director and lead actor in your drama, not a passive participant who merely reacts to what the other actors are doing.