CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Suzan-Lori Parks is a celebrated American playwright who has won both a
Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant. During the
time between November 2002 and November 2003, she wrote a new short play
every day—a total of 365 plays in 365 days. I think you could be almost
as prolific as that in 2012, Capricorn. Whatever your specialty is, I
believe you will be filled with originality about how to express it.
You’re also likely to have the stamina and persistence and, yes, even
the discipline necessary to pull it off.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Pigeons are blessed with an extraordinary ability to find home, even if
they’re hundreds of miles away. They have an internal compass that
allows them to read the Earth’s magnetic field, and they also create a
“map of smells” that gives them crucial clues as they navigate. A team
of scientists performed some odd experiments that revealed a quirky
aspect to the birds’ talent: If their right nostril is blocked, their
innate skill doesn’t work nearly as well. (It’s OK if their left nostril
is blocked, though.) What does this have to do with you? Well,
Aquarius, you’ve been like a homing pigeon with its right nostril
blocked, and it’s high time you unblocked it. In the coming months, you
can’t afford to be confused about where home is, what your community
consists of, or where you belong.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
One of Alexander the Great’s teachers was Aristotle, who was tutored by
Plato, who himself learned from Socrates. In 2012, I’d love to see you
draw vital information and fresh wisdom from a lineage as impressive as
that, Pisces. In my astrological opinion, you need much more than a
steady diet of factoids plucked from the Internet and TV. You simply
must be hungry for more substantial food for thought than you get from
random encounters with unreliable sources. It will be time for you to
attend vigorously to the next phase of your lifelong education.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
In
the fictional world of the wizard Harry Potter, muggles are people who
have no magical powers. Because of their deficiency, certain sights may
be literally invisible to them, and certain places inaccessible. I’m
going to boldly predict that you Aries people will lose at least some of
your muggleness in the coming year. A part of your life where you’ve
been inept or clueless will begin to wake up. In ways that may feel
surprisingly easy, you’ll be able to fill a gap in your skill set or
knowledge base.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
On
January 15, 1885, Wilson Bentley photographed his first snowflake. Over
the course of the next 46 years, he captured 5,000 more images of what
he called “tiny miracles of beauty.” He was the first person to say that
no two snowflakes are alike. In 2012, Taurus, I suggest that you draw
inspiration from his example. The coming months will be prime time for
you to lay the foundations for a worthy project that will captivate your
imagination for a long time—and perhaps even take you decades to
complete.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
In
her memoir Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a
Reluctant Chef, Gabrielle Hamilton suggests my horoscopes were helpful
to her as she followed her dream to create her New York City restaurant,
Prune. “I killed roaches, poisoned their nests, trapped rats, stuffed
their little holes with steel wool and glass shards,” she wrote, “while
my girlfriend . . . walked through the place ‘purifying’ it with a
burning sage smudge stick and read me my Rob Brezsny horoscopes in
support.” I would love to be of similar service to you in the coming
months, Gemini, as you cleanse whatever needs to be cleansed in
preparation for your next big breakthrough. Let the fumigation,
purgation, and expiation begin!
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
In
1992, 30,000 Americans signed a petition asking the governor of Hawaii
to change the name of Maui to “Gilligan’s Island.” Fortunately, the
request was turned down, and so one of the most sublime places on the
planet is not now named after a silly TV sitcom. I’m urging you to avoid
getting swept up in equally fruitless causes during the coming months,
Cancerian. You will have a lot of energy to give to social causes and
collective intentions in 2012, but it will be very important to choose
worthy outlets that deserve your intelligent passion and that have half a
chance of succeeding.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
The
Palace of Versailles once served as home for French kings and their
royal courts, and was the hub of the French government. To this day it
remains a symbol of lavish wealth and high civilization. Set on 26
acres, it has 700 rooms, 67 staircases, 6,000 paintings, and 2,100
sculptures. The grounds feature 50 fountains and 21 miles of water
conduits. And yet the word “Versailles” means “terrain where the weeds
have been pulled.” Prior to it being built up into a luxurious center of
power, it was a marsh in the wilderness. I nominate it to be your
inspirational image for the coming year, Leo: a picture of the
transformation you will begin.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
A
guy named George Reiger is a certifiable Disney freak. He has covered
his skin with 2,200 tattoos of the franchise’s cartoon characters. If
you plan to get anything like that much thematic body decoration in
2012, Virgo, I recommend that you draw your inspiration from cultural
sources with more substantial artistry and wisdom than Disney. For
example, you could cover your torso with paintings by Matisse, your arms
with poems by Neruda, and your legs with musical scores by Mozart. Why?
In the coming months it will be important for you to surround yourself
with the highest influences and associate yourself with the most
inspiring symbols and identify yourself with the most ennobling
creativity.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
In
the Classical Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, the word teocuitlatl
literally meant “god poop.” It was used to refer to gold, which was
regarded as a divine gift that brought mixed blessings. On the one hand,
gold made human beings rich. On the other hand, it could render them
greedy, stingy, and paranoid. So it was potentially the source of both
tremendous bounty and conflict. I suspect that in 2012, Libra, you will
have to deal with the arrival of a special favor that carries a
comparable paradox. You should be fine—harvesting the good part of the
gift and not having to struggle mightily with the tough part—as long as
you vow to use it with maximum integrity.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
What
spell would you like to be under in 2012? Be careful how you answer
that; it might be a trick question. Not because I have any interest in
fooling you, of course, but rather because I want to prepare you for the
trickiness that life may be expressing in your vicinity. So let me
frame the issue in a different way. Do you really want to be under a
spell—of any kind? Answer yes only if you’re positive that being under a
spell will help you manifest your biggest dream. And please make sure
that whoever or whatever is the source of the spell is in the service of
love.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
The Environmental Working Group wrote the Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate
Change and Health. It concluded that if every American avoided eating
cheese and meat one day a week, emissions would be lowered as much as
they would be by removing 7.6 million cars from the roads. This is the
kind of incremental shift I urge you to specialize in during 2012,
Sagittarius—whether it’s in your contribution to alleviating the
environmental crisis or your approach to dealing with more personal
problems. Commit yourself to making little changes that will add up to
major improvements over the long haul.
Go to RealAstrology.com
for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily
text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at
877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.