HOROSCOPE
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 Moon of Pain and Gain
The natural reaction is to avoid discomfort and run from anything with the potential to cause pain. Pain is there for our highest good, though. It either shows us what’s wrong so we can correct it or it comes part and parcel with growing stronger, better and faster. “No pain, no gain” is the motto of the hardworking, practical Virgo moon.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). Most days you get somewhere by doing the hard things first, while your energy is fresh. Today it’s the opposite. You’ll need to coax yourself along. Ease yourself into it by taking on the next small step.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Know many things; teach one thing. Your editing skills will be as important as -- if not more important than -- your ability to get one message across. You’ll be a godsend to an eager student.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’ve access to many creative people. Let them inspire you, but don’t hand the work over to them. Trust your own creative instincts and skills. You’ll enjoy the outcome better when it’s entwined in your own learning process.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). Your mind can be an unreliable ally. Instead of jumping to your defense, it sometimes trips you up instead. That’s OK. Minds can be trained, and it’s easy to do so because your heart is the right place.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ve been known to write things down, keep receipts, refer to a calendar and more -- habits that could use some tuning up now. These systems allow you to offload certain mental functions, freeing your brain up for what you really need it to do.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You aim to spend less time on mundane things so that you can spend time more creatively. Oddly, the mundane things may bring all the inspiration and rewards you were missing. It’s the approach that matters, not the task.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). A large number of the things you’ve ever thought or experienced are still in your memory banks or have been moved to an ancillary storage space somewhere in your body. It will be useful to trust that you know what you know.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You are on an adventure, a true co-creation, and the options multiply with each person you add to the team. Just make sure that everyone has a defined role and something key to do.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21).
The brilliant circumstances won’t be designed out of wishes and built out of expert plans. They will be discovered through trial and error or settled upon because they work well toward a desired end.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19).
There will be much meandering before the idea. Even then it may not be a good one. It will need to be tested. So be patient with your day. Listen to people. Take the time to relate. Don’t be in a hurry to get anywhere.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18).
Hesitation projects the wrong image. The good news is that you don’t have to worry so much about making the wrong decision; most of your inclinations will work. So just make (SET ITAL) any (END ITAL) decision, and do it quickly.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). In all things there’s a kind of cost-benefit analysis that’s at the heart of finding satisfaction. All that’s required is that you work until it’s more or less good enough, reaching a kind of equilibrium between effort and benefit.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Aug. 23).
The world got better when you were born, and the next six weeks bring increasing amounts of clarity as to who you are and the life you want. There’s something very lucky going on with work the last part of 2017. January brings an exciting reveal. February involves new friendship circles and influences. Gemini and Aquarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 40, 29, 30 and 15.
ASTROLOGICAL QUESTIONS: “Someone sent me a high school group photo on a social-networking site. I went to ‘tag’ the others who appear in the photo and was very surprised to see that their names didn’t come up on my list of friends. This is how I learned they had ‘unfriended’ me. I have no idea why. The two that ‘unfriended’ me are the most successful people in my graduating class, and I have been nothing but appropriately praiseful and congratulatory to them. They seem to still be friends with all of the others in our little group. It just seems so mean and uncalled for that grown adults would be so exclusionary, and I have no idea what I did to deserve it. I’m a Leo with a family, career and full life. That this bothers me so much is the most embarrassing part. But it just seems silly to approach them and ask them why, don’t you think?”
Being excluded hurts, and when it has to do with people from your childhood it hurts even deeper. Exact your revenge by becoming even more self-realized, internally strong and successful in all the ways that matter most to you. Go get ‘em, lion!
CELEBRITY PROFILES: Happy birthday to legendary shooting guard Kobe Bryant who once helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three NBA championships straight in a row. Bryant has both the sun and Saturn, the planet of lessons, in Virgo, suggesting that even though he’s unquestionably and exceptionally talented, it’s his work ethic that keeps him in the winner’s circle. Bryant’s Mercury in Leo adds a bit of flash.
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