Horoscopes by Holiday, Weekly

FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF JANUARY 8, 2012

It is difficult to read the face of a person sitting beside you without craning your neck or bearing the awkwardness of an encounter that's too close for comfort. But the person sitting across from you is easily read. Communication flows effortlessly from this positioning. It's the same with the moon, fully illuminated in opposition to the sun. The full Cancer moon will allow unforced understanding of deep and complex emotions.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Slow and deliberate action will take you far. Avoid doing too much at too quick a pace. Take a moment to decide which of the options available to you are likely to be the most powerful choices. Acting on one or two stellar opportunities will bring you more success than if you were to pursue every good lead.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Your first instinct is to create your own niche instead of adapting to the circumstances that others have laid out for you. After all, what do they really know about you? Those circumstances were designed to serve their interests, not yours. By the end of the week, you'll find success in a compromise.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You'll be meeting with people who would like to join your cause but don't know how they can effectively fit into what you've already got going. Keep asking questions. Find out what they need and want. There's a way this can work, but it will take creative problem solving to figure out exactly how.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You'll be a kind of poet. You won't actually write poetry, per se, but you'll present things that people already know in a way that they have never heard before, helping them form new neural pathways and emotional connections. Though you won't be conscious of having an agenda, you'll be most persuasive.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). As much as you value loyalty and are impressed by unbridled enthusiasm, you usually behave more like a cat than a dog. You are independent, discerning and graceful in your approach. Others will get the impression that they must prove themselves before you'll let them into your world.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You'll get the chance to follow one of your more unusual interests. Not everyone will understand why this pleases you so. In fact, most everyone won't. It's not important that they understand or even that you do. What's important is that you give yourself opportunities to joyfully express your unique spirit.

LIBRA (Sept.

23-Oct. 23). You will craftily manage your impulses and appetites. To avoid disempowering feelings of being deprived or overwhelmed, give yourself a little of what you want. If you have trouble stopping after just a little, then try to divert your attention to other things you enjoy.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You have been so focused on tending to the maintenance of relationships and possessions that you've hardly had a minute to think about what you want. Your needs are changing daily. You'll have the opportunity to step into a new role, take stock of what you have, assess what's missing and make requests.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). There's no shame in desiring more than you can accomplish. It's one reason you attain such lofty achievements. Sometimes the striving makes you frustrated. Focus yourself on something other than the underlying current of defeat inherent in impossible goals. Think of all you've done and all you will do.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Too much planning and predicting could rob you of some fun now. Give yourself a break from thinking about the future. It may seem as though that's where you're going to spend the rest of your life. But the reality is that the future never comes. The only moment that can really be lived is this one.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). This week brings opportunities for you to grow wiser. Try not to let those same experiences cause you to be jaded. Your sign mate the comedian George Burns, who lived to be 100 and worked until very shortly before his death, said, "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old."

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). What you own becomes a time-consuming issue, and in all likelihood, the hours passed in maintaining and/or fighting for your possessions won't be among the most pleasant of the week. Consider relieving yourself of dead-weight assets. Think of the animals who own nothing and seem mostly satisfied with it.

THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS: You have been known to plan your life far in advance, though this year a key part of your plan is not to plan. Your big ambition will be matched by the huge amount of faith you have in the magic of the universe. You'll be tuned in to whispers of fate, and you'll seize opportunities that you couldn't have possibly plotted out for yourself. Someone will invest in you in February. You'll travel in March. April will bring a creative influence. Your social life sparkles with excitement in June.

Holiday Mathis is the author of "Rock Your Stars." If you would like to write to her, please go to www.creators.com and click on "Write the Author" on the Holiday Mathis page, or you may send her a postcard in the mail. To find out more about Holiday Mathis and read her past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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