Horoscopes

ARIES: Who needs the wisdom of hindsight when there's astrology columns to provide your personal recipe for a reduced-stress week? Unless people specifically ask for your opinion, don't offer it. Telling others what's best for them isn't likely to be heeded or appreciated, so listen to your own advice - and see if you take it.

TAURUS: This week's stars suggest it's a good idea not to blindly follow rules - especially your own. Experience and traditional time-honored techniques are invaluable, but look for ways to apply them to present time, keeping what's relevant and leaving what's not. If something doesn't work, don't keep trying to make it fit - do something different.

GEMINI: Rust never sleeps, and Geminis hardly ever. You've been on overdrive a long while now, and your dreams have something important to tell you - so at least think about having a lie down sometime this week. And smart as you are, you need to watch your mind doesn't trip your body up by making it do too many things at once...

CANCER: The worst way to spend this week would be downloading old grudges and piques - that's just making stress welcome, and you end up sleeping with the enemy. Complaining attracts more of the same energy your way; appreciating things cuts through energetic density and gives life a chance to send you more to be thankful for.

LEO: Oversensitivity to criticism (usually expressing itself as fury) is one of your Majesty's enduring personal quirks that's likely to be on undiluted display this week. Abate the rage by quietly meditating on this grisly, but satisfying, morsel of ancient folk wisdom: Sit by the river long enough and the heads of your enemies float by...

VIRGO: Mars, that mad master of mayhem - but also your faithful accomplice in the battle of self mastery - is in Virgoville for a six-week stay to speed up your rate of change. It's a steep learning curve, so if you're feeling rushed, tired and short tempered, wound up and pushing at life this week, ease off. Pull back. Take a break.

LIBRA: Stop-go traffic, phone-holds and other people all equal Glitch City this week - but don't go there because stress hormones are so terribly ageing, sweetie darlings. And while everyone accepts your status as style guru, nobody likes a taste dictator - so let others express themselves this week, however that might look to you.

SCORPIO: Making demands inevitably provokes animosity and conflicts, but asking nicely renders life considerably more user-friendly this week. It's also worth considering the better-than and less-than terms of speech you use, and scrapping or redefining them. Plus being aware just how adversely your disapproval affects others...

SAGITTARIUS: When Mercury's in Virgo people feel obliged to inform you about the best way to do absolutely everything. Irritating? Only till you realise that's exactly how you behave sometimes... If you're playing the blame game this week, remember what we dislike in others usually reveals a lot about ourselves. Or hadn't you noticed?

CAPRICORN: Just as you're getting a grip on crisis management and damage control this week, more surprises kick in. Don't shut down - the definition of a spiritual warrior's someone who keeps their heart open in hell. Anyway, what can stop a determined Capricorn? Certainly not impossible conditions or unexpected setbacks...

AQUARIUS: If you rebel Aquarians are in one of your rule-changing, authority-challenging moods this week, it's a good idea to keep a check on your own authoritarian tendencies. And if defusing volatile situations with your irreverent humour doesn't work, try something really weird and unusual: like imagining yourself in the other person's place and feeling the situation from their side...

PISCES: Don't give in this week to discouragement, disillusion or disappointment. Because then you wouldn't be ready to receive the unexpected assistance and quite surprising help already on its way to you. The truth is it's one of those magical times when your life can completely change in the blink of an eye. Believe it or else!