TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Though millions of other people may be flirting with glamorous badness and crafty nastiness in 2007, I bet you’ll have a minimal attraction to negativity, no matter how interesting it might allegedly be. Drama kings and drama queens may try to seduce you into the crazy chaos they stir up through their addiction to pain, but you’ll be pretty immune to their temptations. Seemingly reasonable people might hope you’ll buy into their gloom and doom, but you’ll be too smart for that. Congratulations in advance for your determination to be free of the stupid suffering that so many people love to entertain themselves with.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Happy Holy Daze, Taurus! I’ve been meditating on the perfect holiday gift for you. What item might inspire you to take maximum advantage of the cosmic currents in 2007? I’ve decided on *Winning With Integrity: Getting What You’re Worth Without Selling Your Soul,* a book by sports agent Leigh Steinberg. It’ll help you be both smart and heartful as you navigate your way through the negotiations you’ll be called on to do in the coming months. Here’s a taste of Steinberg’s advice. (1) Align yourself with people who share your values. (2) Learn all you can about the other party. (3) Create a climate of cooperation, not conflict. (4) Learn to listen. (5) Convince the other party you have an option, even if you don’t.

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.