HOROSCOPE: WE HAVE LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN THE COMING WEEKS

Astrology Column

Welcome to November, star children. We are emerging from the shadow of two powerful retrogrades, Mercury and Mars. Mercury retrograde complicates communication and contracts while Mars hinders sex drive, momentum and general mojo. A palpable energetic shift is at hand and frankly, it’s about time. The change coincides with Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S. While the holiday itself is inexorably linked to genocide, colonialism and the gross misrepresentation of the past, the ancient tradition of the harvest feast is an invitation for reflection and gratitude. According to the laws of attraction, you cannot attract what you do not already have and the practice of mindful appreciation is scientifically linked to better sleep, improved personal relationships, enhanced empathy and lower rates of stress and depression. In addition to practicing gratitude this season it is imperative that we feel responsibility to educate ourselves and care for each other. Gather, break bread, spill wine, toast life, but do so with the knowledge of who and what has come before and a reverence for the land that provides for us. In the words of German mystic Meister Eckhart, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

Scorpio
Oct. 23 to Nov. 21

Someone – I venture to guess, a fellow Scorpio – once said, “Your words are spells; choose them wisely.” All humans possess the innate power of manifestation, but with the sun in your sign you are especially suited to calling into being or casting into shadow anything your dark little heart can muster. Fair warning: be cautious with your asking. The answer is closer than you think.
Notable Scorpio: Ezra Pound / Oct. 30, 1885

Sagittarius
Nov. 22 to Dec. 21

During his lifetime, Mother of Invention and fellow Sagittarius Frank Zappa came within a razor’s edge of being both an advertising copywriter and a presidential candidate. I put my money on his success at either. That mustache lived by the creed, “Without deviation, progress is not possible.” As Jupiter unites with Pluto, progress is not only possible but damn near inevitable for you in the coming weeks, archer. To reap the rewards of this union you need only to be willing to take a few deviant steps outside of the ordinary.
Notable Sagittarius: Ted Bundy / Nov. 24, 1946

Capricorn
Dec. 22 to Jan. 19

English sculptor and fellow Capricorn Barbara Hepworth leveraged her position as a celebrated artist to establish the Penwith Society of Arts in St Ives, Cornwall. Hepworth founded and largely funded Penwith as a safe haven and workable studio space for outsider artists of all specialties. Though Hepworth herself died in 1975, Penwith continues to host artists and their work to this day. I offer you the ballad of Barbara as a nudge to use your own success as a collective come-up. It ain’t about how high you can rise, but whom you can elevate alongside you.
Notable Capricorn: Donna Tartt / Dec. 23, 1963

Aquarius
Jan. 20 to Feb. 18

This week’s new moon in Scorpio is a powerful lunation for beginnings. For you, water bearer, this moon is call, not to action, but to feeling. For too long there has been a disconnect between what you experience and what you express. It’s high time to bring them together again, even and especially at the risk of feeling hurt or humbled. Take it from fellow Aquarian and doomed, incestuous Romantic Lord Byron who wrote, “The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.” Get to feeling the evidence of your existence.
Notable Aquarius: Rosa Parks / Feb. 4, 1913

Pisces
Feb. 19 to March 20

In his poem “The Green Eye,” writer and fellow Pisces, James Merrill, asks the reader to bring their earliest tragedy to a garden and to name it with a color. I think of this as a microcosm of the power of the Piscean spirit, you who turn pain to poems and the brutal to the beautiful. Now more than ever your belief in miraculous transformation has a practical purpose for those around you. Lead the way into and out of the garden.
Notable Pisces: Josef Mengele / March 16, 1911

Aries
March 21 to April 19

Visionary painter and fellow Aries Francesco Clemente writes, “I repeatedly refuse to make any practical decisions. I get a feeling of nausea about practicality.” I urge you to protect yourself from the indigestion of the mundane in the weeks ahead, rams. Steer clear of housework, low cholesterol and orthopedic shoes. Commit yourself, temporarily, to the indulgent pursuit of senseless joy.
Notable Aries: Big Sean / March 25, 1988

Taurus
April 20 to May 20

In a recently excavated burial site in Peru, archeologists discovered the remains of a young woman interred with tools and weaponry associated with big game hunting. The findings upend the long-held belief that men were hunters and women gatherers. I offer the grave of this ancient huntress to you, Taurus, as you move through a month that asks you to unlearn and reimagine relationship roles and romantic dynamics. Remember that nothing is as it seems and nothing has to stay the same.
Notable Taurus: Joey Ramone / May 19, 1951

Gemini
May 21 to June 20

After a decades-long hiatus from making art, fellow Gemini Damien Hirst returned with an exhibit of “found” treasures, sculptures and artifacts he planted and then recovered from the ocean. The project was based partially in mythology and while panned nearly universally by his critics, no one argued that the work lacked ambition. I offer you this sunken history to encourage you to scheme and dream on the largest scale possible, Gemini, and to create yourself out of whatever myth moves you forward.
Notable Gemini: Zoe Saldana / June 19, 1978

Cancer
June 21 to July 22

In the sixth century B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. According to legend, the vast series of terraced gardens were built as an offering to Nebuchadnezzar’s wife, who was lonesome for the forests and mountains of her homeland. I offer this impossibly romantic artifact to you, Cancer, as you move through a season of enlivened love. What grand gesture can you make to demonstrate you understand and can exceed the needs of your lover? In homage to the king that came before you, start with an air plant.
Notable Cancer: John Dillinger / June 22, 1903

Leo
July 23 to Aug. 22

The recent conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto in your sixth house of work and health makes the here and now an ideal time for professional change or long-term career planning. You may find yourself faced with the choice of being an employee or, as Fleetwood Mac might suggest, going your own way with a business venture. Whatever road you take, make sure you are in a position of leadership and that the work itself aligns with your physical wellbeing. If it makes you itch, ache or swell, go the other way.
Notable Leo: Lucille Ball / Aug. 6, 1911

Virgo
Aug. 23 to Sept. 22

Reflecting on a doomed relationship, a pseudo sage I once knew told me, “Toast can never be bread again.” I suspect this proverb will resonate with you, Virgo. It’s easy to write off a person who has failed to meet your expectations or disappointed you in what you deem an irrevocable way. Yet, I argue that toast can be damn delicious. The same goes for any relationships in your life. It may not be what it once was, but it has the potential to transmogrify into something greater.
Notable Virgo: Taraji P. Henson / Sept. 11, 1970

Libra
Sept. 23 to Oct. 22

Your focus this month is on money, Libra. Your work is not simply the gaining and gambling of finances but an investigation into your emotional relationship with scarcity and abundance. Money, like everything, carries with it an energetic frequency and how you reach for, react to and release that frequency has a direct affect on your livelihood. How do you tune your channels to plenty? Begin by being grateful for what you already have and move forward with the personal promise that anything granted beyond what you need will be shared.
Notable Libra: Tommy Wiseau/ Oct. 3, 1955

REDA WIGLE is a middle child and Taurus Fire Tiger named after a stigmatic saint. She divides her time and affections between New Orleans and Key West.