Horoscopes for September 2011

by Eric Francis Coppolino, August 31, 2011

Virgo (August 23-September 22)
You are strong enough, and feel beautiful enough, to be yourself in your relationships—100 percent yourself and nobody else. It might mean stating your desires honestly. It might mean standing up to someone in a way you never have before. It might mean making a decision based on nothing other than what you know to be true. One of the great challenges of human existence is creating a state of equality in our relationships. But there’s only one way to get there, as far as I can tell, which is calling ourselves fully present into our own lives. There comes a point where you know it’s better to be in no relationship at all than one that is not healthy for you, and that is the moment when equality is possible. This is a way of saying you have nothing to lose by being real, and it’s a way of saying you’re ready to offer yourself fully to the right situation. Now is the time to experience that sense of wholeness and self-sufficiency. In truth this idea goes far deeper than relationships, which get too much emphasis as the core meaning of life. Yet existence itself is a relationship—which might be between you and the other, between you and yourself, or between you and all that you don’t know. Being fully yourself means summoning your commitment to existence.

Libra (September 22-October 23)
There’s a fantastic musical from 1970 called The Me Nobody Knows. It explores the secret lives of inner-city kids who put their feelings, observations and experiences into words. The play has no plot—only characters and a theme. In a similar way you come to the world with your own deeply introspective journey, your observations, and certain experiences that don’t seem to rise to the level of a story. Being totally open with yourself about this dimension of your life will help you feel strong, clear, and grounded. Go beyond the familiar routines of your life directly into the feeling of existence. As you do, imagine what it would be like to speak your truth to the people around you, even as you discover it. Feel how bold and tentative this is at the same time. When you speak from an unfamiliar place, and step out onto the edge of your awareness. That is the creative state: a kind of poignant unknown that you cannot hide from yourself. Shorn of intent or desire, something actually new can emerge. Shorn of judgment, you can allow your fears to come to the surface, where they have less power over you. Be aware of your sense of ambivalence and give it space to exist. There is indeed a you that nobody knows, and you’re discovering who this person is. Don’t rush; rather, listen and feel. You have no role to play, but rather a place to find where you are met by others who look at you through honest eyes.

Scorpio (October 23-November 22)
You tend to be picky about your friends, and you hold them to a high standard. How much of that, I wonder, is a response to your feeling like you’re being judged and scrutinized by others? It looks like this scenario is starting to relax. If you’re feeling more welcoming of others on a social level, you can be sure they’re feeling more welcoming of you. It may seem that this is about letting go of social pretenses, and on one level it is. But the deeper aspect of that is about having reached the point where you have no option other than to be real. That’s drawing you out of your shell and giving you the courage to take a chance on a new kind of vulnerability. Making contact with your own creative force, and the deeper currents in your imagination, is a potent force for making contact with others in a way that is fully authentic. As you do this you will notice the people around you are more embracing than they’ve ever been, or rather, than you’ve ever noticed them being. Your own inhibitions played a role in isolating you from others, and in assuming that they were looking at you askance. Even if that happened in reality, sooner or later you will have to leave your impressions behind and proceed through life free of the prejudices past experiences burdened you with. Take the risk of creating your life in every moment. Life will return the favor by re-creating you in every moment.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 22)
This is a complicated time for you personally—but don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of a moment when the door is open to a great achievement or two. It’s often true that the energy in all aspects of your life increases at the same time. On a personal level, you’re sorting out some potentially troubling, at the very least challenging, questions. Here is one. If you excel in the world, and shine in your chosen profession, does that make you a self-centered, egotistical so-and-so? Of course it doesn’t, but there are family influences (overt or sly) you might want to investigate, which propagated a belief that success is a sign of bad character. From the look of your charts, you’re in the somewhat uncomfortable position of being compelled to find your individuality, while at the same time pushing back against conditioning that until now you only had a scant clue existed. You will discover more of these influences as you continue to push—they are part of the same self-discovery process. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say a self-creation process, which feels a lot like taking back space that was taken from you. I reckon that as you do this, opportunities will open up in the world around you that match your inner growth. Just remember: Even if you seem to get a lucky break, you worked for it—and you will need to put some focus into developing it.

Capricorn (December 22-January 20)
Someone close to you may be acting like the human trampoline. I reckon they’re about done, none too soon, either. You cannot really control others, but you can definitely set limits on what you’ll tolerate. Meanwhile, you have more important matters on your mind, and you want to maintain a thoughtful and productive environment. That said, avoid an “all business” attitude. Keep your flexibility and sense of play. You’re in a position of leadership, and that starts with holding a vision and then acting on it. That means bringing people around you into focus—and that is why anyone whose primary function is to rock the boat needs to spend a little time in the water. Yet make sure that you’re not contributing to any games. Be clear about what you want, first with yourself and then with others. At the same time, make careful note of how others influence you. Make sure that their lack of confidence does not become your own. You certainly might have empathy with someone who is feeling less than confident of themselves, but don’t have too much. The chances are that their crisis of confidence isn’t quite what they think it is. Therefore, don’t fall for it—and then if their state of mind influences you or anything you’re doing, address the matter directly with them. This is a moment for you to be steady and stable as a top priority, and though life has thrown you a few curves lately, you’re up for the challenge.

Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
You seem to be working a particular edge of your presence in the world. The feeling is something like “This is so new and strange, but I’m sure I’ve been here before.” Both are true. I want to suggest something bold, which is that you’re currently in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual initiation. This is the challenging, painful, beautiful, interesting, and necessary process of emerging into the world as the person you always knew you were inside. This may feel tentative and subtle at times, bold and inevitable at others. In this stage, the most meaningful thing is not what you accomplish or do in the world—rather, it’s tuning your perceptions and responses to a new frequency and feeling tone. For the moment, life is all about how you respond to it. You may notice yourself easing out of any competitive tendencies into more collaborative ones. You may be noticing the prevailing fear-based consensus reality for what it is—and in the same gesture understanding that this is simply not your way. Note that how you distinguish yourself and your individual nervous system from the toxic cloud of anxiety is by becoming more sensitive, not less. I know this feels like a big gamble in a world where so many people seem poised to assault at the least opportunity. Part of your evolutionary mission is to be on the forefront of people who actually feel safe on the planet.