ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the alternate universe created by Marvel comic books, there is a mutant superhero called Squirrel Girl. She has the magic power to summon hordes of cute, furry squirrels. Under her guidance, they swarm all over the bad guy she’s battling and disable him with their thousands of tiny chomps and thrashing tails. She and her rodent allies have defeated such arch-villains as Dr. Doom, Deadpool, Baron Mordo and Ego the Living Planet. Let’s make her your role model for the coming weeks, Aries.... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Tarahumara Indians of northwestern Mexico are renowned for their ability to run long distances. The best runners can cover 200 miles in two days. The paths they travel are not paved or smooth, either, but rather the rough canyon trails that stretch between their settlements. Let’s make them your inspirational role models in the coming week, Aries. I’m hoping that you will be as tough and tenacious as they are — that you will pace yourself for the long haul, calling on your instinctual strength to guide you.... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Are you afraid that you lack a crucial skill or aptitude? Do you have a goal that you’re worried might be impossible to achieve because of this inadequacy? If so, now is a good time to make plans to fill in the gap. If you formulate such an intention, you will attract a benevolent push from the cosmos. Why spend another minute fretting about the consequences of your ignorance when you have more power than usual to correct that ignorance?... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): How we react to the sound of the wind gives clues to our temperament, said philosopher Theodor W. Adorno. The unhappy person thinks of “the fragility of his house and suffers from shallow sleep and violent dreams.” But for the happy person, the wind sings “the song of protectedness: its furious howling concedes that it has power over him no longer.” I bring this up to illustrate a point about your life. There will be a strong and vivid influence coming your way that is like the wind as described by Adorno.... Read more

ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 19): The writer Oliver Burkeman has some advice that would be helpful for you Aries folks to hear right now: “When you assume your current preferences won’t alter, you’ll make bad decisions: embarking on a career or marriage, say, not with a view to its durability, but solely based on how it makes you feel now.” I am most definitely not predicting that you are about to make the kind of bad decision Burkeman refers to.... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): German theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a central figure in the rebellion against the Catholic Church that led to the Protestant Reformation. You’ll never guess where he was when he was struck by the epiphany that became the core axiom of his new religion. I’ll tell you: He was sitting on the toilet in the Wittenberg Monastery. The Holy Spirit gave him the crucial knowledge then and there, or so he testified.... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I was too lazy to write your horoscope this week, so I went to a website that hawks bumper stickers and copied a few of their slogans to use as your “advice.” Here you go. 1. Never follow a rule off a cliff. 2. Have the courage to honor your peculiarities. 3. It’s never too late to have a rebellious adolescence. 4. Criticize by creating. 5. Never make anything simple and efficient when it can be elaborate and wonderful. 6. Complex problems have simple, easy-to-understand, morally clear, wrong answers. APRIL FOOL! I lied.... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings,” says poet Muriel Rukeyser in her poem “Elegy in Joy.” “Not all things are blest,” she continues, “but the seeds of all things are blest. The blessing is in the seed.” I urge you to adopt this perspective in the coming weeks, Aries. Be extra sweet and tender and reverent toward anything that is just sprouting, toward anything that is awakening, toward anything that invokes the sacredness of right now.... Read more

ARIES (March 20-April 19): If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid.” That could turn out to be a useful mantra for you in the coming week. Being pragmatic should be near the top of your priority list, whereas being judgmental should be at the bottom. Here’s another mantra that may serve you well: “Those who take history personally are condemned to repeat it.” I hope you invoke that wisdom to help you escape an oppressive part of your past. Do you have room for one more inspirational motto, Aries?... Read more

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Maybe you’re not literally in exile. You haven’t been forced to abandon your home and you haven’t been driven from your power spot against your will. But you may nevertheless be feeling banished or displaced. It could be due to one of the conditions that storyteller Michael Meade names: “We may experience exile as a lack of recognition, a period of transition, an identity crisis, a place of stuckness, or else having a gift and no place to give it.” Do any of those describe your current predicament, Aries?... Read more