Now that sounds fun. ‘A Party in the Open Air: Allegory on Conjugal Love’ by Isaac Oliver c1590 {{PD}}

Dear Gemini, why are you struggling with your own ambitious nature, with your own desires, that really couldn’t be more appropriate as expressions of who you are? Are you afraid your partner or significant other won’t approve? Have you been told what you want is greedy, impolite, undiplomatic, will cause envy, and so bring trouble? Well don’t be sad–‘they’ don’t know what they’re talking about! You should not only spend this coming Solar year, through to your next birthday, pursuing your wants–you will find Love and or Money along the way. I know! Sounds great! But as always, there are a few caveats you should take heed of: power and personal empowerment will come out in the big wide world, but it doesn’t come without a price–be very sure about what you’re willing to give up to get it, and acting on your imagination is good, but acting on your fantasies is not. You’ve got a mandate from the Universe to bring the essence of who you are into real-world forms and material expressions–at first it may feel like restrictions and burdens–but as soon as you begin working hard to get past those, the load will lighten and you’ll start to connect with your own creative power, probably in a whole new way. Happy Birthday, Gemini, and good luck!

Don’t despair, Gemini–this year, you can make it happen! ‘Fillette à l’orange’ Louise Catherine Breslau c1900 {{PD}}

You are ready and eager to meet reality head-on this coming Solar year, through to your next birthday, aren’t you, dear Gemini? Just be careful that you are actually dealing with ‘What Is’, rather than running full steam into a brick wall; your enthusiasm is matched only by an attitude that almost frantically wants to insure real-world progress–but that may not slow down enough to successfully get ‘There’ from ‘Here’. Too, you’ll have a secondary engine pushing you to pour all your emotions into Love or Money, or to pour all your Money or Love into what your emotion tells you to, and together these impulses can make for some chaotic times. Hints for survival: don’t put what you desire ahead of mastering the mechanism or role that will take you there; be willing to divest yourself of anything that isn’t needed or of use anymore–unfortunately, this year that will include relationships; and you can make magic happen if you can find a way to serve others through the public role/ career in a form that is original to you. So that’s not hard, right? Happy Birthday, Gemini, and good luck!

If you are a Taurus born today, please read yesterday’s ‘Born Today’

Paul Gauguin, ‘The Flageolet Player on the Cliff’ 1889 {{PD}}

In some aspects of thought and mental processing (especially in the way you think about emotions) this past year has been new territory, dear Taurus. That’s been a good development, as you’ll be better set to handle some tough but necessary future tensions around either relationships or finances, and that at core the responses you have will affect your identity–and once completely ‘handled’ will open up the flow of Love or Money–and that quite naturally will affect where, how, and possibly with whom you live. A new profession might even be on the horizon, but this is only possible if you currently feel an enormous amount of confidence, energy, and optimism surrounding your own talents–and only if you are up to making best use of certain ‘points of Fate’ that will present themselves this year, through to your next birthday. It may be a big year, but it will definitely be an interesting one that you’ll get a lot out of. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

Your year will be anything but static, Taurus. ‘Jens Juel – A Running Boy’ by Marcus Holst von Schmidten 1801 {{PD}}

You may be figuratively stuck the entire Solar year, through to your next birthday, dear Taurus, on communicating and hammering out agreements within relationships and over money, resources, and values. But, this isn’t a bad thing; your heart is in it, and making sure everyone knows what you think, and you know what everyone thinks, will have enormous benefits you really can’t anticipate. Does that mean your year is static? Not at all–besides the opportunities and sense of empowerment you’ll gain from smoothing out communications, you’ll act on what you learn, and the results will both lend an aura of authority to what you do and lay the groundwork for expression of the highest form your creativity can take–and that creative output, plus the actions you take and choices you make, will impact the life direction–so it’s in many ways a year of change that feels more like creating order and getting your sh*t together–and rest assured, you’ve also got wisdom, good counsel, and practicality on your side. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

A shop in China, rather than a china shop, but either way, no bulls in sight. Photo from ‘Through China with a Camera’
中文（繁體）‎: 位於香港的中國古玩店。
Date 1868~1872
By John Thomson {{PD}}

You may spend a lot of time this Solar year, through to your next birthday, dear Taurus, trying to figure out what’s wise, what’s the smart move or choice, and how being practical can also serve Self-expression–there seems to be a lot of conflict within you, as to how to proceed. At this point, you’re the thinking man or woman’s bull: thoughtful, looking for the spiritual and emotional underpinnings to everyday life, considering your next play carefully–and that could put you at a distinct disadvantage, making you a target of sorts for more aggressive, jealousy, or less resourceful individuals. There is a way to beat this, and that’s to be willing to form a clear idea of what you want, and then to go after it, with no apologies to others, no hanging back for permission or the sake of politeness, and no fears of being called a bull in a china shop–which is the way some have tamped down your assertive energies, and so kept you much too far from achieving your dreams. No more–this year, Taurus, it all changes. Happy Birthday, and good luck!

Louis Léopold Boilly – ‘Conversation Dans un Parc’ Before 1912 {{PD}}

You don’t know it yet, dear Taurus, but by the time you reach your next birthday, you’ll have achieved an emotional completeness, a total emotional and intuitive understanding and acceptance of who you are, that offers you a fresh start at a new, higher level–but before that happens, you’ll meet every dark and mysterious corner of your life, every thing ignored, denied, or suppressed, every bit of anger over abuse and injustice that you carry, and you must resolve these, in order to reach that pinnacle of emotional success. On your side: one or more close family members, most especially the father or a paternal figure; empowerment through the social order or through educational or religious means; a strong sense of instinct; creativity or idealism that pays off. Not so much working for you: a communication state that is stuck in only one mode, which has and expresses strength and has superior negotiative abilities but that also may suffer inflexible attitudes and thinking and have difficulty perceiving nuance in the communications of others. You’re on the way to big change–make sure that your choices and actions bring you the kinds of changes you want–indications are that this coming Solar year, if you are conscientious, they will. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

‘Hymne à la femme (Bezeichnung auf dem Rahmen)’ Auguste Levêque 1909 {{PD}}

This coming Solar year, through to your next birthday, dear Taurus, you decide which way you want to go, and with whom you want to travel that life Path. The good news is that you’ll be able to choose on instinct; you recognize the ‘right’ person(s) and Path immediately. The bad news, if you want to call it that, is that you’ll walk that Path and learn about every little thing you hold in your ‘blind spot’, every quality of personality, inclination, belief, and quirk that others see but that you are totally unaware of, and you may feel by the end of the year that the whole thing’s been completely unfair–but it won’t be. It’s time for you to look in a mirror that shows the entire picture in 3 dimensions–and once you have you’ll quite literally get whatever you want–not everything you’ve ever desired, but something that comes from the ideal and that offers you Love, Reward, Companionship, or Health–and that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

John William Waterhouse – Pandora, 1896 {{PD}}

You have two core obligations (for want of a better term) to fulfill this coming Solar year, through to your next birthday, dear Taurus: you must learn to totally, completely trust and honor your instincts, and you must discover the contents of your ‘blind spot’ (things you can’t see but that all those around you can), excavate it, and so make yourself as Self-aware as humanly possible. Notice I said, “humanly possible”–no one is expecting you to be perfect, but this is the year when you can develop your sense of Self, your identity, and put into action your Soul’s intent, so that you become centered and secure in your sense of who you are. That’s a tall order, but one we all come here to fill–and right now the Universe is out to help you do that. Strengths include the ability, after a little adjustment, to embrace more of your own natural power and personal authority than you ever have before, and this will have the bonus effect of drawing in Love and/ or Money. You’ll also be able to effectively relate that sense of empowerment and what you have to offer to the masses–or just to your social circle, whatever’s appropriate for you. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

Lovis Corinth ‘Mädchen mit Stier’ 1902 {{PD}}

This coming Solar year, through to your next birthday, dear Taurus, you may find instincts and assumptions crowding out rational thought or reasoned response. This isn’t the norm for you at all, but you may find repeatedly that you are acting or choosing on impulse, which may expose those ‘blind spot’ areas others see clearly in you and of which you are unaware–and that may be very scary for the normally placid bull. Here’s whatcha do: hook up with someone who can offer opportunity or who has authority that can help with your empowerment options–getting as firm a footing as possible will be important right now; recognize when something is bigger than you can handle, and stay out of its way–you’re not up to the battering ram method of getting what you want, no matter how feasible it seems (and it will seem possible); and try to enjoy the ironic way those matters you’ve ignored, been in denial about, or have been enraged by, resolve–and these may have (mostly positive) impact on your career, reputation, and/ or that element in life we call ‘luck’. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!

I don’t pretend to know what will happen next. Woman holding Scissors and Winged Child’ c1900 {{PD}} Photoprint by Fritz W. Guerin

You’ve got a Solar year ahead, dear Taurus, that drives your fate and tests your strength–are you ready? You’ll get divine guidance, or spiritual aid of some kind, and what occurs will leave you feeling like a true child of the Cosmos, and both of these factors should help you navigate some unusual material issues–and put you in the way of some bigger and better-than-expected opportunities. Should you take them? Only if you’re comfortable traveling on a wing and a prayer–if you’re married to the earth (and what Taurus isn’t?) then this might be tough on you–but then again, this year you are exceptionally attuned to the unseen, the ephemeral, the imaginative, the creative, and to making circumstances such that you’ll see the ideals enter reality–which means chances are very good that sooner or later that is exactly what will happen. Happy Birthday, Taurus, and good luck!