HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Jan. 13): After months of research, you’ll home in on a project worthy of your vigorous focus, and then you’ll prove that grit and determination make anything possible. Also featured: an unexplainable and wonderful coincidence, the happy ending to a story that’s been years in the making and the mastery of a new skill. Aries and Gemini adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 26, 4, 44 and 19.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Many have suggested that the best ideas are born out of extreme boredom. To test the theory, though, you’d have to get past the mild boredom stage, which is more irritating than painful.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Laughter is a release, a bonding agent, a prescription for health, a weapon and more. When someone laughs at your jokes today — not a polite laugh but an honest-to-goodness “I get you” laugh — it feels like love.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21): More often than not, it seems that when you go where curiosity leads you, it leads you straight to a cash register. Is it worth the ticket price? Today it will be.

CANCER (June 22-July 22): Because of your cando attitude, “can do” has become your brand. People think of you when there’s something to be done. If you say yes, you’ll get more and more to do, until you say no.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Things to ignore: unhelpful thoughts, matters of little consequence, petty thinkers who magnify tiny errors, repetitive worries. (If you’re paying attention to the warning that worries represent, once should be enough.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Everything out of the ordinary will take extra effort to make happen. It will require force. You probably won’t feel like doing it at first, but do it anyway, because extraordinary happenings cannot occur on a typical day.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): The collective mind is subject to a group hypnosis so strong that most people have zero awareness of the spell and would deny it if pressed. But something happens to wake you up. You have seen the trick and now cannot unsee it.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): Some people never say “I don’t know.” It makes them uncomfortable, afraid even. It’s destabilizing. But seeing as all learning is born of ignorance, you’ll forget about appearances, humble yourself and open your mind.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The need for exploration is a real human need, central to the survival of our species and as important as other vital needs. When you feel stuck, bored or dissatisfied, it’s a signal that you need to quest, investigate and discover.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You enjoy being entertained and participate actively, bringing an aware and critical part of yourself to the media of your choosing. You also place limits, so as not to let other people’s dreams become your life.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): All the magic will be outside your comfort zone, en route to the adventure. You won’t feel like going. It will take a lot of energy to force yourself, but if you don’t do it, you’ll be seriously missing out.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): On the surface, it will seem as if you’re not like the others, but actually, you’re exactly like the others. They feel the same way but aren’t expressing it. So express yourself and you’ll forge a path.

FORECAST FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: When one thing changes, it’s easy to keep track of what it is. Someone’s hair was long; now it’s short. The room was green; now it’s white. Easy. But when lots of things change at once, it’s hard to take it all in, to catch every aspect of the transformation. You can use this principle to your advantage this week.

Let’s say you have a critic — someone who will dig in his or her heels and resist change, harping on every frightening alteration along the way. The thing to do is to upturn the apple cart, go for the complete transformation all at once, and you won’t have to listen to a litany of complaints about every little detail.

This maneuver also applies brilliantly if the critic is you, if there’s a critical and scared part of you that isn’t letting you move forward. Do it fast. Jump into the deep end. Don’t give yourself a chance to negotiate or resist. Just go. These all-in types of attitudes are prescribed to you by the Mercury-Saturn alignment at the top of the week.

The other aspect worth mentioning is the square of Jupiter and Neptune, highlighting lofty hopes, some of them quite childlike in their naivete. Avoid marketing funnels, programs and products that promise fast, miraculous and/or lucrative results.