TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Drugs and alcohol need play no role in activating this week’s potentials. Your mind will just naturally inhabit what we in the consciousness industry call an “altered state.” This is very different from being sick or crazy, and it could turn out much better than being merely healthy. My advice to you? Break taboos that are no longer necessary to observe. Wander uninhibitedly in zones that have previously been off-limits. Explore the frontiers of fun. (P.S. If you try what I’m suggesting, chances are good that you’ll finally be able to scratch an itch that has been maddeningly inaccessible. But be sure you know when you’ve scratched enough.)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Connections are made slowly; sometimes they grow underground,” writes Marge Piercy in her book *Circles in the Water.* “You cannot tell always by looking what is happening. More than half a tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.” Piercy advises us to use this strategy in our own lives. “Penetrate quietly as the earthworm. Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden. Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar. Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in, a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside, but to us interconnected with burrows and lairs.” It so happens, Taurus, that this is the perfect astrological oracle for you, beginning now and throughout 2007.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I know how you’re feeling, Taurus. I’ve done time in the same psychic prison you’re trapped in. Because of my exemplary behavior while incarcerated, luckily, I was freed well in advance of my scheduled release date. Would you like to know what I did to win my early release? Four things: (1) I took responsibility for the ways I had perpetuated my own suffering. (2) I practiced feeling grateful for the lessons my pain had taught me. (3) I thought deeply about the actions I could take to atone for how I had hurt other people. (4) I vowed to use the shame I felt as a motivation to become smarter and kinder and wilder.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Dear Grandma and Grandpa of the Taurus this horoscope has been prepared for: I’m hoping you will bring your helpful influence to bear on our little darling’s dilemma. I know that in your own past you once had to navigate your way through complications similar to those that Taurus is now facing. So even if you have died and are in spirit form, please bestow your advice and encouragement, whether that’s delivered by phone, via telepathy, in dreams, or in person. One more thing: Please don’t let your wise blessing get tainted by any lingering disapproval you might be harboring about the path our beloved Taurus has chosen. This is a time for your smart love, not your judgment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Dear Love Doctor: Please send a divine slap upside the head to the clueless guy I’m in a half-assed relationship with. He’s GOT to wake up to the fact that it’s high time to let someone, namely me, shower him with love. I mean, all the magic’s in place. With just a flick of his attitude, he could materialize me whipping up gourmet Cajun cuisine in his new kitchen–not to mention spicing up every other room in his house. Love Doctor, please cast a spell to get him in alignment with cosmic necessity. -Overripe Taurus.” Dear Overripe: I appreciate the ability you Bulls have right now to envision the best and brightest possibilities for your relationships. However, it’s crucial that you give everyone the freedom to bumble along, even if it means that for now they’ll be out of sync with the wonders you can imagine.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Early in his film career, actor Oliver Hardy often played the parts of bad guys. But when he joined with Stan Laurel to collaborate on their series of comedic movies, he became a likable buffoon. I predict you’ll soon be the beneficiary of a comparable conversion, Taurus. Some troubling or adversarial influence in your life will become warmer and fuzzier, maybe even downright helpful and amusing. The psychological term for a conversion this dramatic is enantiodromia. It refers to the process whereby something changes into its opposite. It won’t be as freakish as it might initially appear. The unexpected transformation will be the result of an organic process.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Courage is not the abnormal,” wrote poet Jack Gilbert. “Not the marvelous act. Not Macbeth with fine speeches. It is the thing steady and clear. The marriage, not the month’s rapture. The beauty that is of many days. The normal excellence, of long accomplishment. Not the Prodigal Son, but Penelope.” Gilbert’s words are my gift to you, brave Taurus. Of all the signs, you best express the virtue of steady devotion to the demanding challenges of beauty and truth. In the coming week, I predict that you will dramatically prove how miraculous that quality can be.