ASTRAL REFLECTIONS BY TIM STEPHENS OCTOBER 10 - 16, 2004 All times/dates are PDT. Next week I'll continue to describe the last four signs' "lucky areas" for the 13 months ahead. But first, I should mention that the luck cycles as I've described them - fraught with practical hindrances and pitfalls - are not going to affect everyone. Many will succeed during this cycle: when someone loses, often someone else gains, as in the stock markets. Life is never tilted totally downhill! Nor must you deal with these pitfalls - if you don't chase the luck, you won't face the problems. There are many other areas of life not affected by your particular luck cycle, so you can always "default" to these zones rather than brave the dangers of this upcoming, uniquely dicey luck. For example, TAURUS's luck is slated to expand in "hands-on" work and health - but there are pitfalls in this area also. So Taurus could focus on other areas: love, career (management or non-hands-on work) money or art, popularity, public dealings, children, home, real estate, etc. Or GEMINI, whose luck in romance will be powerful yet "dangerous," could simply focus on career, security, or anything else. The second thing to consider in regard to the present luck cycle (September/04-October/05) was pointed out by a CANCER reader who noted an error in my writings. She saw that in the "Year Ahead" articles written last January, I urged Cancers to buy a home from October to December, 2004. Yet in Cancer's "luck cycle" description a few weeks ago, I cautioned them not to purchase a home now through mid-July, 2005. So which is right? Well, you Cancers have great luck and expansion in home and real estate matters now until autumn next year (2005). But there will be a price to pay - the home (or mortgage payments) could be harder to maintain than you anticipate, and/or you might not realize an "investment gain" on the property, and/or this property might put a mild, sobering restriction on relations with your spouse. Still, this October, November and December, that price is at its smallest or weakest, and the benefits at their most reliable. So the joy, the sunshine, the secure feeling, the "goodness" of owning a new home might well outweigh these "sacrifices." This applies for every sign - the benefit from your lucky area might well outweigh the difficulties from October to December 2004, for a net gain. But from December 25, 2004 to July 16, 2005, the difficulties reach maximum strength, and fate's delusion dances in our urges. Take care then, my friends! In general, if you don't know what to do this October, continue whatever you started in the 12 months preceding September 25, for these matters are still mildly favored until October 27. Start Nothing: 0:32 a.m. to 6:32 a.m. Tues., 7:22 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. Thurs., and 8:43 a.m. to 1:58 p.m. Sat. Aries March 21-April 19 Partnerships, marriage, contracts, agreements, challenge and competition - all grow in importance, especially Tuesday/Wednesday. Fresh horizons and new opportunities invigorate and tempt you! Someone might flirt - be wise, if you're already attached. Love might seize you! Home life remains difficult, burdensome until next summer. By next August, these burdens will lift from your shoulders. Until then, don't evade them - eventually your efforts will return to bless you, perhaps to bring security and admiration to your old age. Tackle work Sunday/Monday. Investigate Friday - you'll discover a financial, intimate/sexual, or "knowledge" treasure. Taurus April 20-May 20 Work is fast-paced, demanding, especially Tuesday/Wednesday. Practice safety around tools, with driving, and in co-worker relations. You could be promoted "sideways," or be given a huge new job anytime this month or early November. Take it with a smile, for it is your entry to increased power, financially or otherwise - but be aware, examine your own motives - don't go blindly forward. Romance, relations with children remain sweet all month, especially Sunday/Monday. It's an excellent time to redecorate. Relationships challenge but refresh you Thursday noon to Saturday - grab a career opportunity! Gemini May 21-June 20 Your home is sweet, secure, particularly Sunday.. Real estate transactions or "family shuffles" are favored if they have roots in the 12 months preceding last September 25 - but time is running out! (October 28 will be too late.) Romance, creative projects, dealings with children, pleasure, fun and vacations these surge powerfully all October! (Tuesday/Wednesday, especially.) Remember my warning not to ignore your financial, earnings and spending needs while you're so immersed in pleasure. (But don't abandon the pleasures!) Tackle work Thursday p.m. and Friday, but keep yourself open to romance. Cancer June 21-July 22 Your home life continues its hectic pace, especially mid-week. Get things done while your concentration and determination are so focused in this domestic arena - but DON'T move in with anyone before November 12. Be diplomatic, tender toward kids. You might be tempted to end a career situation this month - act according to your age and ambitions. Siblings and casual friends remain pleasant - a "friendly romance" could arrive. (Yes, it will cause friction if you're married!) Travel, communications and detail work flow smoothly and luckily. Love, pleasure and creativity surge Thursday-Saturday. Leo July 23-Aug. 22 Communications, travel, detail work, casual friends, siblings, news and curiosity fill your life, especially mid-week! You'll receive a "message" or clue (or "dead air moment") that alerts you to the problems between this active, talkative influence and your private, hidden life. Guard, now through mid-November, against gossip, careless driving, and/or hastily saying something which can be construed as a legal commitment or comment. Money and purchases go well Sunday/Monday, but not Monday morning. Your home life nudges you to slow down Thursday-Saturday. An intriguing, unreliable person/situation draws you Friday. Virgo Aug. 23-Sept. 22 Your energy and charisma shine Sunday/Monday - say hello to someone new! Money matters reach a hectic pace. Your income could increase - now and for a whole 13 months! But until November 12, guard against money haste and spending heedlessly on non-essentials. (They seem like essentials, but aren't.) Pay attention to a small clue or refusal Wednesday - it's saying that friends and money won't mix well. Neither will money and your cherished dreams. (Your cherished desires might be more valuable in total terms, though.) A valuable money/work/machinery inspiration comes Thursday/Friday. Libra Sept. 23-Oct. 22 Rest up Sunday/Monday; retire to think and plan. By Tuesday/Wednesday (and all October) your charisma, energy and courage hit a peak - get out, impress people. Ask favors, start important projects. Someone's "hotly attracted!" You've slogged long and hard for the past year - done delicately, this is an excellent time to ask for compensation. (Delicate is the word - Wednesday's clue or "quiet refusal" could let you know just how far you can push. So, in a more drastic way, will early November. Keep your position rather than insist on a showdown.) Scorpio Oct. 23-Nov. 21 Rest, lie low, contemplate the situations you're in, and plan a successful path ahead. You've had a great year of social expansion, but now (through October, 2005) it's time to withdraw a little and settle down to practical affairs. However, don't go overboard - this is the worst time in two decades to go deeply inward in a solitary manner - and to pursue gurus, spiritual circuses, secret societies and strange charities. Keep it light. Midweek brings you a clue about this. Earlier, Sunday/Monday bring beauty, freshness! Your energy rises Thursday-Saturday. Sagittarius Nov. 22-Dec. 21 A wish could come true this month! (Perhaps mid-week.) Love could waltz in your door. (Actually, into a "public" door, or a friend's door, since a social function is involved.) But notice Wednesday's late clue - your net worth (and society's opinion of it) or your sexual proclivities continue to affect romance's outcome. Your career, your rep, are highlighted Sunday/Monday - an affectionate atmosphere and the favor of higher-ups bless this area until October 28, so pursue any ambitious projects you might have started in the last 12 months. Retreat, rest Thursday-Saturday. Capricorn Dec. 22-Jan. 19 A huge luck - and a hectic, rushed, assertive, impatient pressure - storm into the corridors of your career this month. The impatience lasts to mid-November. The luck lasts to autumn 2005. Be diplomatic, for the emotions floating around you now could signal an end to a particular position or career. On the other hand, the luckiest two months of the 13 months to come are this October and October 2005. So be diplomatic, curb obvious expressions of conflict, but do charge ahead! (Midweek shows you both the possibilities, and the cautions.) Aquarius Jan. 20-Feb. 18 Now through 2005, your understanding grows by leaps and bounds. Cultural events invigorate you - you're going to attend many of them. Your intellectual, philosophical, scholarly and religious interests will expand. You might travel afar, or attend school. This same breezy, flowing atmosphere can bring true love, a wedding, a loud argument, or a lawsuit. I wouldn't seek the last, especially this October through mid-November, when your "intellectual temper" is high - and you're wrong. Co-workers won't appreciate "intellectual arrogance" now through July 2005 (but someone will!). Sunday's sexy, Friday's "captivating." Pisces Feb. 19-March 20 Sunday, you're openly attracted. Monday, slightly less openly, a disagreement brews. Midweek brings the depths of relationships - intimacy in love, commitment in business. Investigate, diagnose. These areas (sex, finances, investigations) are heating up now to mid-November, and they can bring good fortune for a whole year ahead - if you avoid impulse, selfishness/greed, and "walk the line" in legal, moral and ethical ways. That you must, is hinted at by events (or the lack of agreement) Wednesday. A mellow mood arrives Thursday to Saturday - seek culture; be loving. Mysteries unfold! www.astralreflections.com. Email: timstephens@shaw.ca. For a reading: 604-261-1337. /30/