Horoscopes: May 8-14 2011

BORN THIS WEEK

Sofia Coppola (May 14, 1971)

Taurus draws on the myth of Io, the nymph who was turned into a snow-white cow. Like Snow White, she portrays the maiden archetype encountering trials and triumph. Filmmaker Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, and Marie Antoinette all explore this theme. After her own failed vealish fashion label, Milkfed, and pans for her acting skill, Coppola became the first American woman—the youngest ever—nominated for a Best Director Oscar and to win the top prize, the Golden Lion, at the Venice Film Festival.

Aries

Personal ambition puts strain on domestic happiness. This eases by Tuesday, but only after a showdown of sorts. You may commit to living on the job/out of a suitcase, or you’ll make it known to colleagues that you’re more homeward bound. Mars in cahoots with Neptune allows you to realize fantastically creative endeavors. We’re talking Disney visions here. And it makes you something of a superhero, inviting higher powers to rally behind any good fights or quixotic quests you’ve taken up. Loved ones lamenting you’re emotionally out of reach soon lovingly understand you’re exactly where you need to be.

Taurus

Enjoy any sense of limbo while it lasts, as you’re about to become too busy for words. Mars entering Taurus, Wednesday, signals a seismic shift from feeling at sea to being galvanized with purpose. You’ll have less downtime than ever. But you’ll scarcely notice as new projects and opportunities energize you to a level you haven’t known since the days of jumping out of bed for Saturday morning cartoons. You’re nicer to be around. Pluto inspires making amends, not excuses, on Saturday, to those who’ve bobbed and weaved around your recent mood swings. Try losing the word "but" from your vocabulary.

Gemini

There’s little doubt that you are the giver in your family or intimate circle of friends. But Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus are calling for self-examination on this score. Check your motivations to insure your intentions are purely altruistic and not designed to inspire begging and scraping. Or to provide you the power to, ultimately, taketh away. Self-aggrandizement via letting others depend on you can be a poor substitute for a sense of your own accomplishments. While on the subject, you may be overly delegating. Some assistance is good. Too much of it can rob you of experiences you’ll later wish you had.

Cancer

You’re determined to have your sway. Petty obstacles only strengthen your resolve. Typically subtle in exacting plans, you’re tagged now as unusually aggressive. But with Mars entering Taurus on Wednesday, you realize that the “secret” law of attraction only gets you so far. Now you must reach out and grab. Some learn not to push their luck with you. Others aren’t so, well, lucky. The Libra Moon on Friday the 13th urges you to own the professional or public status you’ve gained over the past six months. Believing that all the achievements you’ve made can be taken away is a purely self-fulfilling prophecy.

Leo

Your lust for life is amped. Thus emboldened to try new things, you must take proper look-sees before leaping into the uncharted. Especially situations involving new groups or organizations. Impassioned as you are, temper can flare. Negotiate increased self-confidence—as if you needed a bump here—against cockiness or outright tyranny. The Leo Moon, till Tuesday, seeks to shock you out of ruts, including the trap of judging too quickly or harshly. Extra patience is required, yes, but not for others. Give yourself more time to see that people and circumstances aren’t automatically beneath you.

Virgo

It’s an emotional time. But whereas a sentence like that would have inspired fear in the past, it now promises visceral release and increased accessibility. You are aware of how you’ve clawed yourself out of the abyss of victimization this year, and how such trials have enabled you to become one of the happier signs on the planet. Moon in Virgo, from Wednesday, puts you in full possession of feelings, focus shifting to mind expansion. Take up invites to outré cultural outings. And immerse yourself in a study or program you’ve only ever flirted with. Particularly those designed to further open your third eye.

Libra

A softer shade of Libra is revealed as you express the inner turmoil of these past weeks. On the surface, you’ve seemed your usual snazzy self, positively spinning setbacks that would have derailed anyone else. It was your formula for surviving disappointments. And it just goes to show how Saturn’s stoical self-restraint can be a boon in your sign. Still, there’s a childlike quaver in your voice now. And though the wind has gone out of your sails a bit, it draws others to your side. Expect to be praised and comforted, regaled and cherished, restored to your full height as a righteous mover-shaker for goodness and light.

Scorpio

When it comes to family, you’ve dedicated compartments of time and energy to keep interaction with them under your favorite word: control. And it’s worked brilliantly. But signs show you’re gearing up for reunions, and that certain close relatives may blur the lines you’ve drawn to comfortably engage with them. By Thursday, Saturn, Uranus, and ruler Pluto are in T-square formation, indicating a need to further limit your involvement in any upcoming brood fests. A jealous sibling or other rival can be real trouble. Better not to share your success with those who choose to think you’re rubbing their nose in it.

Sagittarius

Getting ahead of yourself, resist the urge to network wares before you have them. With Mars moving into Taurus, you’re uberconcerned with making a mark on the world. But that mustn’t take precedence over pinpointing what you plan to make that impact with. Early this week: Get thee to your workshop, laboratory, drawing board, or whatever metaphor best describes your hub of would-be productivity. Friday the 13th sees Jupiter in the thick of cosmic activity as you enter a social swirl. When tempted to lay it on thick, thinly veil some humility instead. This gives others the big idea to champion your causes.

Capricorn

Where is the love? A romantic bond may’ve become too business-like while single Goats have gotten used to tables for one. You have come to prefer your own company to the tandem variety. But Pluto mediating an opposition of Saturn and Uranus forces you to confront if only lingering fears of intimacy. You won’t be conscious of any lowering in your standards. You’ll simply prize quirks in others that previously put you off. While the part of your brain controlling your own perfection, too, goes a bit haywire. Announcing the newly improved, perfectly flawed, censure-free Capricorn with added cuddle flavor.

Aquarius

Signs show you dusting off shelved entrepreneurial projects or weaving more commerce into the fabric of your daily life. Some of you may be departing the corporate world, going freelance, or hanging out an eponymous shingle. The Leo Moon’s moves on Tuesday and Wednesday spotlight cultural traditions or your own ancestral roots as sources of aesthetic or moral inspiration. This all comes under a larger heading of longing to cultivate increased spiritual grounding. To date, you’ve been more concerned with the personal aggrandizement that community involvement can bring. Now you switch it up.

Pisces

Those opposite-facing fish of your sign are the perfect expression of paradox. So you will understand our telling you to forge what others assume to be your weaknesses into your strongest assets. With Pluto squaring Uranus and Saturn this week, so-called skeletons in your closet become the bones of a business plan, bestselling novel, or globally embraced belief system. A monster mash-up of Mercury and ruler Neptune on Friday the 13th will leave detractors shaking in their boots. Without your so much as lifting a buffed pinky, those with dishonorable intentions are exposed by seemingly supernatural forces. You’re welcome.

Writers and astrologers Stella Starsky and Quinn Cox are the internationally bestselling authors of Sextrology and Cosmic Coupling and have contributed to Paris Vogue, Allure, Elle, and Style.com. They are metaphysical consultants in private practice. Their live musical comedy act of starry wit and social commentary is regularly staged at venerable venues like Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York.