TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Very few raindrops are actually raindrop-shaped. A far greater number take the form of doughnuts. These doughnutty raindrops are your power objects, Taurus–your magical symbols. I hope they inspire you to look for the wide-open spaces in the middle of every stormy downpour. I trust they will alert you to the possibility that there’ll be windows of opportunities at the heart of the drizzle.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): As I meditated on your horoscope, I was driving a rented Ford Taurus 90 mph south on California’s I-5. “Give me omens about what Tauruses need to hear,” I asked the Fates. Moments later, a red Infiniti car whizzed by me on the right. The aroma of pig manure from a nearby farm pervaded the air. On the CD player, devotional musician Krishna Das launched a hair-raising hymn to the Goddess. Orange brush strokes appeared in the dusky sky over scissor-shaped mountain peaks, making me feel as if nature had painted a gorgeous canvas for my personal enjoyment. Here’s how I interpret this lush symbolic offering: As you’re gliding along, a message from eternity will speed by you from an unexpected direction. Fertility will be abundant in your life even though it may be pungent. You’ll have rousing contact with a boisterous, masculine form of spirituality. Nature will offer you a gift–a beautiful secret just for you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Many critics consider Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) to be one of the 20th century’s best composers. He is most famous for “Bolero,” an orchestral piece that was originally written as the accompaniment for a ballet. The stimulus that served as Ravel’s major inspiration for “Bolero” was a visit to a cacophonous steel mill. He’s your role model for the coming week, Taurus. I foresee you drawing creative excitement from events that are rife with noise and commotion. May your messy encounters lead you to produce great work, interesting surprises, or both.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts,” wrote American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. “They come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.” The first part of your assignment, Taurus, is to identify other people’s brilliant creations that remind you of good ideas of your own that you’ve failed to develop. The second part of your assignment is to do something–anything!–to correct for your neglect. Get started on your own masterpiece.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The biggest food fight on the planet will soon take place. More than 20,000 lunatic combatants will gather in the Spanish town of Buñol to hurl 45 tons of overripe tomatoes and other veggies at each other. Maybe you should book a flight there, Taurus. You’d do yourself a big favor by indulging in senseless but harmless mayhem that allows you to lose control in the name of fun. Nothing would be more healing than a big dose of maniacal fervor.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I heard a guy on the radio tell the following story. He and his wife stopped to enjoy a sunset. After a few minutes, they noticed that its breathtaking beauty remained static; the scene wasn’t evolving. Upon further investigation, they registered the embarrassing fact that they had actually been admiring an image on a billboard. Make sure a similar event doesn’t happen to you, Taurus. Avoid getting hooked on substitutes, stand-ins, or simulacrums. Insist on the real thing.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The UK is populated by hordes of “overweight, alco-pop-swilling, sex-and-celebrity-obsessed television addicts,” according to the travel book *Rough Guide to England.* I recommend, therefore, that you avoid traveling to that part of the world if you’re a sensitive person who’s susceptible to taking on the attitudes of the people around you. The astrological omens suggest that you should take stringent measures to exorcise any impulses you might have to indulge in excessive consumption of bad food, numbing intoxicants, superficial sex, dumbed-down entertainment, and mindless gossip about famous lightweights. For that matter, you should be ruthless in sealing yourself off from influences that tend to bring out the worst and the mediocre parts of you.