Horoscopes

ARIES: This week will be as easy, or difficult, as you care to make it. Easier if you think STOP! each time you start making it hard by insisting on being right. Just settle down and stop stirring the pot. If you start overheating do something physical (and preferably non verbal), like exercise, dance, fix something... anything.

TAURUS: Once you no-nonsense numbers are on a mission the world best get out of your way, hey? But determined needn't mean Sherman tank - courteously persevering is equally effective. Smile at the mirror before you leave home. Wear your best outfit. Be sweet to the people you meet whether they deserve it or not.

GEMINI: This week's starmix has you gathering information, developing ideas and cruising along without too much fuss. Others rush around fretting themselves into almighty tizzes while you Twins, used to doing nineteen things at once, roll your eyes. Give them a hand though, because what goes round comes round.

CANCER: R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-Respect! Give it to me... Aretha Franklin lays down the soundtrack to this week's agenda, which is about respecting yourself and doing the same unto others. Recognising that everyone likes being compensated for their efforts, paid what they're worth and treated with courtesy.

LEO: Writer Robert Anton Wilson reckons reality's whatever you can get away with, and your majesties are getting away with plenty of provocative behaviour lately. But you'll get the best from others this week by recognising the delicate but vital difference between orders and instructions, forcing and leading, telling and indicating...

VIRGO: With the planets of energy, communication, luck and trouble all in Virgo, you won't be able to pass something out of place without tidying it, a loose end without tying it or a new cleaning product without buying it. And with everyone else playing honorary Virgos you get to see your own behaviour this week in all its adorably flawed glory.

LIBRA: Venus is petulant at present, so lower this week's emotional demands if you want a peaceful life. A slightly trying week in store for airsigns, but no real drama if you stay reasonable and agreeable, don't take on other people's angst and sidestep getting pressured by heavyweights determined to have their way.

SCORPIO: It's hard to enjoy the present if you keep comparing it to good times gone by, but this week makes it easier to cut invisible strings tying you to the way things were. Take that skeleton out of your closet and give it a decent burial - the relief will be tremendous, and you need that space for something much more current.

SAGITTARIUS: While it might seem like folks' faults are glaringly obvious to everyone except themselves, smart Archers will refrain from comment, because people in glass houses... need I say more? You'd do the world a major favour this week by demonstrating that performance counts more than all the talk in the world.

CAPRICORN: Capricorns are hard workers. They need to be, because sometimes it's hard work just being a Capricorn. This week's conundrum is how to improve existing conditions while still preserving certain traditional values. After you've figured that out, take those diligent, deserving hooves off for a luxury pedicure and pampering.

AQUARIUS: Spread by the Fact Police who frown at fantasy and fight poetic licence with logic, the 2-2 Prosaic Virus is going round with its symptoms of rules, regulations, red tape and doing things by the book. If someone looks like giving you a dose, tell them Einstein considered imagination more important than knowledge...

PISCES: With this week's planetary emphasis still in the sign of the Fussy Ones, it's worthwhile squeezing all you can from those last Pisces-friendly Virgo vibes. Consider all offers this week, even if they seem unexciting - because something ordinary, humble or prosaic has a hidden and quite unexpected treasure for you.