Horoscope

ARIES: Most people don't know anger's your way of expressing stress, so making either/or ultimatums to get your way won't work this week. No-one will listen, take the slightest notice or give a fig. You hate that - so since you respond more promptly to a velvet touch than an iron fist, be extra sweet and accepting of your own shortcomings this week. And others will benefit as well.

TAURUS: If you want to drop a load of emotional baggage and experience some psychic weight loss, Gemini time makes it easy to lighten up. Plus this week's mutability loosens a few seized wheels in your thinking and suddenly there's a lot more options than you thought you had. Quite exciting ones, too.

GEMINI: Many Geminis consider declarations of doom to be acts of terrorism, and they're right. Blessed are they who don't take things too seriously this week, for they shall create more fun for those around them. You'll be eloquent, playful and entertaining - but might have difficulty distinguishing between what's valuable and what's mere veneer.

CANCER: This week's citizens are smitten with a burning urge to express themselves: ceaseless lip-flapping which makes it difficult to focus or concentrate. If it gets too maddening and the buzz becomes too much, tune your inner ear to the quieter, more truthful murmurs of peoples' hearts. This kind of listening is in high demand because right now there isn't too much happening.

LEO: If certain circumstances are getting your whiskers in a snit, it might be time to modify those great expectations of others - or temper them with a touch more empathy and understanding. Your Royals are competing with Geminis for centre stage this week; you'll soon see that less talk and more action's your smartest attention-getting strategy.

VIRGO: This mentally and verbally stimulating period aggravates your critical tendencies, which will antagonise those who don't share your quest for perfection. So without lowering your standards, could you ease up a little? Invite those Virgo archetypes, the Critic and the Fixer, to discuss their mutual aims - or whatever keeps them occupied...

LIBRA: Always trying to keep things nice makes a one-dimensional Pleasantville. With Venus in opposition to Pluto you can pretend nothing's happening, but deep down you know there's sea changes going on. The world's getting messy, and you can't make that go away - time to look it in the eye and love as much of it as you can.

SCORPIO: Silent magnetism's your astrological birthright, but during Gemini time intensity's passé and frivolous wit's flavour of the day. But why worry when this week adds attractive surface spritz to your Scorpionic depth, making you look supercool while everyone else runs round in an uproar? Take a frolic in the shallows till the plot thickens.

SAGITTARIUS: Inspiring speakers though you are, with this week's planetary emphasis in the sign of Having A Chat About This And That, it's best to focus less on objective truth and more on human communicating. And unless people ask for advice they don't want it - and won't thank you for giving them something they don't feel they need.

CAPRICORN: If you're thinking about going retro - returning to a person, place, situation or relationship from the past, it's probably not going to work. Right now there's no comfort zone, and no going back. We're all entering new territory. Better to spend time getting really specific about some major new extensions on your wish list.

AQUARIUS: It's important not to let that agile mind overpower your instincts or undermine your intuition. Or allow exciting ideas to override ethics. Or forget that Aquarians are the zodiac's humanitarians. That said, this week's brimming with sparkling repartee and buzzing with bright ideas - so cruise and schmooze to your heart's content.

PISCES: Words are cheap - it's actions that carry weight. Don't talk the talk unless you're prepared to walk the walk this week, because you might be challenged to put your money where your mouth is and do it rather than talk about it. And be extremely specific about what you ask for - because that's likely to be what you get.