Star Struck Style

I grow weary of reading social media posts about how the year that just passed was such a dumpster fire. Every year the same tragic people post the same tragic assessment of the twelve months they’ve just endured. Are their lives really that bad?

I don’t think so. I think that some people just live to complain. While 2018 did give us all a lot to complain about, most of us are still here to see 2019 roll in. That’s something, right?

I posted a photo from a film called “The Best Years of Our Lives” that Roger Ebert really liked. The reason I did that is because the best year of my life was the year my book “Cosmically Chic” was published. The catalogue for the publisher had my book featured between Roger Ebert’s latest book and a new book by the Pope. Eighteen years later and only one of us is still alive. Who is having a good year now?

I’m not always the most optimistic person in the room, but I’m generally not much a pessimist, either. Still, even I can admit that there were some bad things happening in the sky in 2018, including some painfully-long retrograde cycles. That won’t be happening in 2019. So, for most of us, this should be a year that has us looking forward, not backward. With our eyes on the future, we should be able to make this one of the best years of our lives by not dwelling on the past or wondering what could have been.

Things seem to be moving forward with some momentum, too. Mars, for instance, will be speeding through the zodiac over the next twelve months. With fewer retrograde phases and several planets fortuitously-placed throughout the year, it’s going to be easier to enjoy ourselves. As long as we’re alive, we should be glad to be alive, right? In the words of William Goldman, the author of “The Princess Bride” who passed away just a few weeks ago, “Life isn’t fair, it’s just fairer than death, that’s all.”

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy your horoscopes for the upcoming year. Please share them with your friends on social media, and please visit my site frequently in the new year. Like the guy on the left in the photo above, I’m quite a captivating storyteller, if I do say so myself. Also, I’m still alive. Hooray!

Aries: Your energy returns on New Year’s Day as Mars moves into your sign. What’s even better is that the eclipse on January 5 heightens your sense of resolve. With Jupiter moving toward the apex of your solar ninth house, you should be ready, willing and able to get off on the right foot. Focus your energy into something monumental in 2019. Trade in your ambivalence for adventurousness. In the words of your fellow ram, Diana Ross, there “ain’t no mountain high enough.” For the next couple of years, the air up there will do you good.

Taurus: I believe that complacency is your worst quality. When you’re comfortable, the room you’re in could be ablaze and you wouldn’t even notice. However, other people notice, and in 2019 they might be eager to point out your obliviousness. Your key to success this year is to snap out of it before it’s too late. Fate might smack you across the face in early March, letting you know it’s time to sound the alarm. Heed those warnings, Taurus! A summer to remember is in the stars if you start putting out those fires early in the year.

Gemini: Jupiter’s recent ingress into your solar seventh house has made you aware that no man is an island. Still, your biggest challenge in 2019 will be to learn how to be a part of a tribe. Stop telling yourself that you are running the game when there are far too many variables to control. If you don’t make alliances, you might get blind-sided at the next tribal council. Start by forging friendships and building trust with the sort of people you would want around you if you were actually stranded in the middle of nowhere. Those survival skills will come in handy in 2020.

Cancer: The year starts off with a six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other scenario: for every good thing occurring in the sky, there is an equally rotten thing happening to balance it all out. So what are you supposed to do? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The eclipse on January 5 can get you cracking on a New Year’s resolution to be a better team player in 2019. Once summer arrives, the cosmos should provide you with an interesting dilemma: does a hard-boiled demeanor really work for you? It might be a better strategy to show the world your sunny side.

Leo: If you lions have felt restrained for a while now, don’t think that the rest of us haven’t noticed. You might not feel unbound as 2019 begins, but that’s a temporary situation. Personal and professional entanglements that have tied you up are slowly unraveling. You are getting your sense of self back without sacrificing what you have learned by yielding to those restrictions. By midsummer, you should be celebrating your freedom from whatever it was that was holding you down. Welcome back, Leo, and don’t ever forget that you were born free again.

Virgo: The sense of order and routine on which you thrive will return over the next couple of years. Still, some chaos may be in store for you in 2019, especially on the home front. Jupiter’s transit through your solar fourth house could have you upsizing instead of downsizing, or welcoming an unexpected addition to your family. Even though you’re the “less-is-more” sign, you can’t always fight your fate. So whether it’s a home renovation or triplets instead of twins, just embrace it, or them, or whatever it is that is about to ruin your life. I’m kidding, sort of . . .

Libra: For someone who is supposed to be a paragon of good taste and refinement, you can be quite content to spend a week on the sofa with a Netflix subscription and an endless supply of potato chips. However, 2019 may have different plans for you. Your sense of taste doesn’t necessarily get a boost, but your ability to talk yourself into an “upgrade” is at its peak. If champagne wishes and caviar dreams are your thing, then this is the time to use your charm to get onto someone else’s sofa — a nicer, more luxurious sofa. Your powers of persuasion have never been greater.

Scorpio: If 2018 was about mining the depths of your character in order to find something precious, 2019 is the time to celebrate the value of your new possessions. What you’ve learned about yourself has enhanced your sense of self-worth. Nevertheless, sharing that discovery with others might be difficult for someone who is as reticent as you are. You are instinctively defensive and you can hold onto what you’ve got simply because it’s yours. This year, learning to share will be your biggest challenge. Don’t be greedy. Spread the love, Scorpio.

Sagittarius: Now that Jupiter is finally transiting your own sign, you should feel as if you are in your own element for the first time in years. Just remember that for you Sagittarius natives, that element is fire, and nothing is as dangerous than a fire that is left unattended. Pay attention! Just because the universe is allowing you to be out-of-control, that doesn’t mean that you should be out-of-control. There will be a price to pay at the end of the year if you continue to fuel your worst, most-reckless impulses. Don’t burn yourself out trying to make up for the dullness of the last few years.

Capricorn: As the classic country song said, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden.” And yet I feel as if I’ve offered fairly upbeat horoscopes for you Capricorn natives over the past couple of years. That’s because the roots that nourish the canes are slowly but surely growing. Soon the shoots will emerge and the buds will appear. By 2020, you’ll be covered in blooms. Like gardening, life can sometimes be an exercise in patience. Cultivate patience like you would cultivate a rose bush this year. Your time is almost here. Ahhh!

Aquarius: You may believe that the amount of “friends” you have on social media is a genuine reflection of your popularity. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. Nevertheless, your networking skills are at a twelve-year peak, so do what you can to build a real-life following this year. You might need a few more people on your side in 2020. Figure out who “likes” you when you post photos of your cat online, and who likes you enough to post your bail. I’m not saying that you’re going to need it, but I’m not saying that you’re not going to need it. I know, right?

Pisces: In theory, great things should be happening to you at the moment. The two planets associated with your sign are in favorable positions for almost the entire year. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for your fishes! So what does that mean? Not much if you can’t stop thinking that following the current is against your nature. Prove to everyone else that you’re not too cool for school in 2019. Show up for class. Join a club. Next year you can drift off somewhere else on your own. Go with flow now and you’ll be off the hook next year when the stars are not so favorably aligned.