HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 30): This solar return brings a childlike wonder; what you’ve experienced is only part of how it really is. Your mind will be increasingly open to new levels of depth and feeling. The social life picks up in September. A change in your family will shift around all the roles in a fun way. You’ll be honored in December. Libra and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 49, 2, 22, 48 and 17.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You don’t know your power. That’s not your fault, though. Your power has a lot to do with forces beyond your control. Stretch out and exercise yourself on many levels to find out what you can do.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stressful moments constrict your creativity and mental processing. Laughter gets everything flowing again. Keep looking for the humor. That’s when you’ll be at your very best.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21): It’s not selfish to want to put your best foot forward. Address your social concerns. Most center around your own self-image. This is the moment to make an improvement or nip a problem in the bud.
CANCER (June 22-July 22): Record and explore new ideas. You will put some of these to the test and wind up inspiring others (through both success and failure) as you have been inspired by the greats.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): One thing you find bothersome is pressure from people to agree to something before you’re ready. A noncommittal attitude could save you down the road when you change your mind.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Put something great on the schedule for later. To forestall your reward is to give yourself the added pleasure of anticipation. Thinking about how wonderful it will be to finally indulge may be even better than the indulgence itself.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): There’s nothing like a little identity crisis to wake you up to the truth. If you momentarily forget who you are today, here’s a hint: The answer is somewhere close to your childhood idea of yourself.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): For those who have access to a library and/ or the internet, education is free. The will and motivation to study? Priceless. You possess this precious drive, and you will make the most of it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One strategy is to ignore the stuff that isn’t working for you and give extra nice attention to the stuff that is. Encourage all behavior that’s even remotely headed in the right direction.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What energizes you will be something other than what you think it will be. So try different ways of getting your mojo flowing. Substitute a walk for a nap, a glass of water for a cup of coffee.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Either you’re getting better at handling stress or you’re getting better at handling life. You’ll be calm, cool and collected in the very situation that used to unnerve you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Bring in something new, and throw out something old, though not necessarily in that order. Being open to change in one area of your life will lead to change in several. The next version of you is coming together.
FORECAST FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: The first change of the week will be a change of heart. Venus, the love goddess of the sky, has been radiating her charms through the realm of Gemini, and it’s stirred up quite a nice social swirl for many. Being the sign of sharp wit, neat trends and zippy fun, what Gemini adds to love is the addition that feels like subtraction — levity. Communication has been easier and quicker. Romance is a breezy thing, more a meeting of like minds than a dramatic love story.
But when Venus slips into her moon-child mode Monday, things begin to intensify. Cancer is the sign of mothers, and the maternal energy, which everyone reading this was born from, can be a highly complex influence over our lives. Regardless of how nurturing our mother was (or wasn’t), there is always a strong imprint regarding the role of the person we relied on for life in the very earliest and most vulnerable stages of growth.
Venus doesn’t glide through this part of the sky so much as evolve through it, changing constantly as she comes to realize and manage the vast ocean of emotion that is relationships. No one comes out of this next Venus cycle unchanged.