Horoscope

ARIES: This week has you peaking and plummeting, fully pumping then utterly drained from trying to reconcile opposites - drive and inertia, determination and indecision, selfishness and generosity - in yourself and the wider world. Keep to the middle path between extremes - it's easy going overboard and much harder clambering back.

TAURUS: The intellect reasons rationally, step by step. Intuition strikes like lightning. Intellect plods along, intuition breaks the sound barrier. Intellect makes you feel safe, intuition blows your mind. Uranus, retrograde till mid-November, works intuitively - making this the time to start trusting the kind of knowing you can't logically justify.

GEMINI: You're busy, buzzy and in danger of brain strain this week unless you pull the plug on your mind's computer and turn yourself off for a while each day. You're undeniably silver tongued - but don't forget silence can be golden. Sizzlingly social - but regular alone time for reflection's essential. Mind-bogglingly smart - but how's your heart?

CANCER: It's been rightly pointed out that two recent pieces (George Michael, Wall of China) were inspired by my favourite astrowriter, Cancerian Rob Breszny - who I rarely read for fear of recycling his ideas. And there, its happened... sorry, Rob. Could people similarly be loving and admiring you rather than ripping you off, Cancerians?

LEO: Most Leos dream of getting rich by just being themselves. There are times when the fabric of existence becomes plastic in the original meaning of that word - easily shaped the way you want it - and this is one of them. So start mind-mapping, time-lining or whatever planning it takes to flesh out your exciting new future, Lion dudes.

VIRGO: Did I remember to, must call X about Y... That mad machine, the Virgo mind, needs switching off occasionally this week to prevent core meltdown. Regular vegging out is your most vital survival technique - the universe won't implode if you don't finish your must-do list, and untidiness doesn't compromise your immune system.

LIBRA: Round and round I go, up and down I go, I'm in a spin... This week's struggle to juggle the manic, the tragic and the magical takes you emotional rollercoasting up and down between comedy and tears like Luna Park clowns. It's a period of seesawing scales, Librans, so whatever keeps you on an even keel - do lots of it.

SCORPIO: By keeping different parts of your life separate and compartmentalised, you wind up divided. Your notorious unwillingness to reveal your feelings or release that classified information about what's going on in your heart complicates life rather than safeguarding it, Scorps. Your stars are calling for communication and integration.

SAGITTARIUS: Being the zodiac's bop till you drop, burn out rather than rust, blaze instead of fade away mob, you energetic lemmings will be working hard and playing harder this week. When really the best thing you could do for yourselves is absolutely nothing. Just sit still and listen. Failing that, as little as possible. The bare minimum...

CAPRICORN: With Venus in opposition to Pluto, something has to happen around relationships - like everything that just isn't working and never has. So why fight it? Our times make change inevitable - and while shifting sands aren't particularly comfortable, this week's open up a whole new can of interesting possibilities...

AQUARIUS: You could learn more about certain facets of your personality than you probably wanted to this week. But on a need to know basis - well, it really is stuff you need to know. All ideas, attitudes and opinions need regular examination, consideration and updating. Which of yours are due for an overhaul - or scrapping altogether?

PISCES: It's a week of mad, mad chatterboxes so get creative about extricating yourself from unwanted conversations. In Sanskrit Namaste means: I greet the Divine in you, so if someone's driving you nuts, focus on their soul side - their divine madness, their brilliance as sacred irritants, their holy ability to press your buttons...