TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Speaking on the authority of the expansive planet Jupiter, I hereby free you from all inferior temptations. In the coming weeks, you will, by cosmic decree, be enticed by only the finest, most uplifting temptations. That doesn’t mean you should automatically succumb to the charms of those temptations. The more important point is that you should allow them to influence you — to change you around every which way. Trust that the impact they have on you, as they invite you to follow them, will inspire you to express yourself more beautifully and upgrade your relationship with yourself.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “For those who are walled up, everything is a wall . . . even an open door.” in conveying this thought from the French poet René Char, I don’t mean to imply that you’re any more walled up than the rest of us, Taurus. My reason for mentioning it at this particular moment is to prod you into taking aggressive action to un-wall yourself in whatever ways you can. According to my reading of the omens, the cosmos will reward your efforts to topple facades that are obstructing your view and preventing you from being touched.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change,” said psychologist Carl Rogers. I suggest you make that your guiding principle in the coming weeks, Taurus. You’re overdue for a purge of bad habits and a surge of fresh approaches, but that won’t happen unless you can conjure up a relaxed acceptance towards those bad habits — as well as a big dose of self-forgiveness.

Distrurbingly apt.

For 19 September 2007, the day before my flight to California:

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): *Symphonie Fantastique* is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of music of the 19th century. French composer Hector Berlioz wrote it in 1830 as a response to being rejected by the woman he loved, hoping to seduce her with the power of his artistry. Your assignment in the coming week, Taurus, is to emulate Berlioz: Capitalize on a refusal you’ve had to endure; create a masterpiece in rebellion against a repudiation you’ve experienced; make a thing of beauty to compensate for being shunned or ignored. (P.S. The woman in question, Harriet Smithson, eventually married Berlioz.)

For 26 September 2007, the day before my breakdown:

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Which kind of person are you?” asks editor Paul Somerson. “Are you a spineless lickspittle wage-slave cog toiling away to make someone else wealthy, destined to lead a bleak anonymous Wal-Mart life of relative poverty? Or are you someone with guts and brains who wants to get out from under the thumb of capricious, unappreciative bosses, create something new, and reap financial rewards?” Personally, I think he’s engaging in a bit of hype. There’s lots of fine territory to stake out in-between the extremes he describes. Still, it’s a good idea to push and prod you with his provocative question. You’re in a phase when you have more potential than usual to change your livelihood for the better.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here’s the problem as I see it: You’re not feeling sufficiently confident to trust your unique insights, and so you haven’t dared to communicate them. But it’s crucial that you do speak up. Even though you may not be as knowledgeable about the big picture as other people are, you possess a missing piece of the puzzle that they’ve got to have. You may even be an outsider or a latecomer with relatively little credibility in the eyes of those in the inner circle, but still: You know something they don’t know and need to know.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The secret to success is to always be in love,” said educator and ex-army officer John H. Stanford. “Staying in love gives you the fire to ignite other people, to see inside other people, to have a greater desire to get things done than other people.” Did Stanford mean that you should be forever infatuated with some irresistible human being? Or was he referring to a more all-purpose phenomenon, like being in love with life? I urge you to meditate with great diligence and exuberance on this matter, Taurus, because you are, in my astrological opinion, going through a phase when love is EVERYTHING. It’s the question and the answer, the hammer and the nail, the dreamy necessity and the pragmatic mystery.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): This will be an excellent time to read five books simultaneously, snack constantly on delicacies while avoiding heavy meals, climb a tree with an adventurous friend and make careful yet wild love right there, refuse to practice any form of meditation that doesn’t involve laughing, buy ten cheap alarm clocks and smash them with a hammer out in the middle of a meadow, pretend to be a feral teenager who’s allergic to civilization, and throw invisible stones at any god, angel, or genie who won’t help you get the love you want.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don’t try to understand the Great Mystery in the coming days, Taurus. Instead, *be* the Great Mystery. Don’t go with the Flow; *be* the Flow. Don’t struggle and strain to put yourself in harmony with the Creative Surge of the Divine Wow. *Be* the Creative Surge of the Divine Wow. Do you catch my drift? It has never been more important than it is now for you to be a uniter who is at one with everything and everyone you encounter. This is the time and this is the place for you to be an exhilarating and playful force of nature who’s madly in love with all of creation.