"Life is not just a diurnal property of large interesting vertebrates," poet Gary Snyder reminds us in his book The Practice of the Wild. "It is also nocturnal, anaerobic, microscopic, digestive, fermentative: cooking away in the warm dark." I call this to your attention, Aries, because according to my astrological reckoning, you'd be wise to honor all the life that is cooking away in the warm dark. It's the sun-at-midnight time of your long-term cycle; the phase when your luminescent soul throbs with more vitality than your shiny ego. Celebrate the unseen powers that sustain the world. Pay reverence to what's underneath, elusive, and uncanny. Halloween costume tips: Draw inspiration from the shadow, the dream, the moon, the depths.

Need more help deciphering the riddles and enigmas that are fueling your amazing story? Listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Even if your heart's not exactly shattered at the moment, it has no doubt been so at some time in the past. I invite you to feel a wave of sadness about your suffering, then move on to this possibility: that having a broken heart is one of the best things that can happen to you.

Why? Because it strengthens your humility, which makes you smarter. It demonstrates to you that you have a tremendous capacity for deep feelings -- far more than you're normally aware of. It breaks down defense mechanisms that have desensitized you to the world's secret beauty. It may also inspire you to treat other people's hearts with greater care, making it more likely that you'll be able to create intelligent intimacy in the future.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

Speaking on behalf of the cosmic powers-that-be, I hereby give you permission to make your love bigger and braver. Raise it to the next level, Taurus! Help it find a higher expression. Wherever your love has felt pinched or claustrophobic, treat it to a liberation. If it has been hemmed in by a lack of imagination, saturate it with breezy fantasies and flamboyant dreams. Cut it free from petty emotions that have wounded it, and from sour memories that have weighed it down. What else could you do to give love the poetic license it needs to thrive? Halloween costume suggestion: the consummate lover.

No one knows you better than you do, but maybe I can help you dig up even more self-knowledge. Listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Compose and cast a love spell on yourself. There's no need to consult pagan books about how to proceed. It may even be better if you improvise homemade conjurations and incantations.

Be sure to formulate a clear intention of what you want to accomplish with your mojo. Example: "I want to make myself irresistibly lovable." For best results, stand naked in front of an altar crammed with magical objects that symbolize both lust and compassion.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

You've heard the old platitude, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." The owner of a pizzeria in Mildura, Australia updated that sentiment in 2010 when the area was invaded by swarms of locusts. "They're crunchy and tasty," he said of the bugs, which is why he used them as a topping for his main dish. It so happens that his inventive approach would make good sense for you right now, Gemini. So if life gives you a mini-plague of locusts, make pizza garnished with the delectable creatures. Halloween costume suggestion: pizza delivery person carrying this novel delicacy.

Wouldn't you love to learn more about who you really are? What better adventure is there than learning about your soul's code? For more hints, listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Bring the spirits of sampling and the mash-up into your relationship life. Sampling is what happens when a musician openly lifts a riff out of an existing song and inserts it into his or her own composition. In a mash-up, a producer takes parts from two different songs to assemble a new song that has elements of both originals but is an entirely new creation.

How might you apply these approaches to your collaborations with intimate allies? For example, you could "sample" a close friend's favorite catchphrases or clothes, and use them as your own. Or tell that person a story from his or her own past, but recount it as if it happened to you. The two of you could write a journal entry together, taking turns spinning out each new line. You might even switch roles for a day, trying out what it actually feels like to be the other person.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

Some doors are almost always locked. On those infrequent occasions when they are ajar, they remain so for only a brief period before being closed and bolted again. In the coming weeks, Cancerian, I urge you to be alert for the rare opening of such a door. Through luck or skill or a blend of both, you may finally be able to gain entrance through -- or perhaps exit from -- a door or portal that has been shut tight for as long as you remember. Halloween costume suggestion: the seeker who has found the magic key.

I hope the oracle above provides you with the inspiration you need to do what you've got to do and change what needs to be changed. But if you need more clues, listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE, where I go further in exploring your mysteries.

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Play the game called "Tell me the story of your scars." It's best to do it with a skilled empath who is curious about your fate's riddles and skilled at helping you find redemption in your wounds.

"How did you get that blotch on your knee?" he or she might begin, and you describe the time in childhood when you fell on the sidewalk. Then maybe he or she would say, "Why do you always look so sad when you hear that song?" And you'd narrate the tale of how it was playing when an old lover broke your heart. The questions and answers continue until you unveil the history of your hurts, both physical and psychic. Treat yourself to this game soon.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

Microbiologist Raul Cano managed to obtain a 45-million-year-old strain of yeast from an ancient chunk of amber. It was still alive! Collaborating with a master brewer, he used it to make a brand of beer. One critic praised Fossil Fuel pale ale for its sweetness and clove aroma, while another said it has a "complex and well-developed taste profile." I regard their successful project as a good metaphor for the task you have ahead of you in the coming weeks, Leo: extracting the vital essence from an old source, and putting it to work in the creation of a valuable addition to your life. Halloween costume suggestions: a friendly ghost, a polite and helpful mummy, a cloned version of Buddha, the person you were as a child.

For more help in understanding your relationship with the game of life, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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You understand that you can never own love, right? No matter how much someone adores you today, no matter how much you adore someone, you can't force that unique state of grace to keep its shape forever. It will inevitably evolve or mutate, perhaps into a different version of tender caring, but maybe not. From there it will continue to change, into either yet another version of interesting affection, or who knows what else?

Describe how you could get the hang of putting this tricky wisdom into practice.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

"When I read a book on Einstein's physics of which I understood nothing, it doesn't matter," testified Pablo Picasso, "because it will make me understand something else." You might want to adopt that approach for your own use in the coming weeks, Virgo. It's almost irrelevant what subjects you study and investigate and rack your brains trying to understand; the exercise will help you stretch your ability to master ideas that have been beyond your reach -- and maybe even stimulate the eruption of insights that have been sealed away in your subconscious mind. Halloween costume suggestion: an eager student, a white-coated lab researcher, Curious George.

Would you like further inspiration as you scheme and dream to make the most of life's sometimes puzzling opportunities? Listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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"Love is being stupid together," said French poet Paul Valery. While there's a grain of truth to that, it's too corny and decadent for my tastes. I prefer to focus on a more interesting truth, which is this: Real love is being smart together. If you weave your destiny together with another's, he or she should catalyze your sleeping potentials, sharpen your perceptions, and boost both your emotional and analytical intelligence. Your relationship becomes a crucible in which you deepen your understanding of the way the world works.

Give an example of your closest approach to this model in your own life. Then formulate a vow in which you promise you'll do what's necessary to more fully embody the principle "Love is being smart together."
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

"Sit, walk, or run, but don't wobble," says the Zen proverb. Now I'm passing it on to you as advice worthy of your consideration. Maintaining clarity of purpose will be crucial in the coming weeks. Achieving crispness of delivery will be thoroughly enjoyable. Cultivating unity among all your different inner voices will be a high art you should aspire to master. Whatever you do, Libra, do it with relaxed single-mindedness. Make a sign that says "No wobbling," and tape it to your mirror. Halloween costume suggestion: Be the superhero known as No Wobbling.

What exactly are you looking for? How would you describe the experiences you want more than anything else? It's possible my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE could give you additional help in figuring that out.

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"For a relationship to stay alive," writes James Hillman, "love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love stales into sentiment, duty, boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we first stopped imagining."

Make this your hypothesis. The next time you sense that you're about to say the same old thing to your closest ally, interrupt yourself and head off in the direction of storyland.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

You could preside over your very own Joy Luck Club in the coming days. According to my reading of the astrological omens, the levels of gratification possible could exceed your normal quota by a substantial margin. You may want to Google the Chinese character that means "double happiness" and use it as your ruling symbol. And it might be time to explore and experiment with the concepts of "super bliss," "sublime delight," and "brilliant ecstasy." Halloween costume suggestions: a saintly hedonist from paradise; a superhero whose superpower is the ability to experience extreme amounts of pleasure; the luckiest person who ever lived.

Want to hear more about the subconscious factors and hidden forces that may be influencing your life? Listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Would you like to make yourself more magnetic to blessings? You could experiment with good luck charms or magic amulets -- objects that you imagine might attract benevolence into your life. How about a replica of Brísingamen, the magical necklace of the Norse goddess Freya? When she wore it, neither man nor god could resist her allure. Or maybe a copy of the thyrsus, a wand wielded by Dionysus, the god of ecstasy? Or the bracelet of meteorite chunks I saw advertised as a luck-bringer in the back of a tabloid?

As fun as things like these might be, I believe there's a superior approach to the art of charging up your mojo. It's embodied by the metaphorical talisman that Tom Waits recommends in his song "Get Behind the Mule": Always keep a diamond in your mind.

Go get one of those diamonds.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

For over a hundred years, an English woman named Lena Thouless celebrated her birthday on November 23. When she was 106, her daughter found her birth certificate and realized that mom had actually been born on November 22. I'm guessing that a comparable correction is due in your own life, Sagittarius. Something you've believed about yourself for a long time is about to be revealed as slightly off. Halloween costume suggestion: a version of yourself from a parallel reality or another dimension.

To further explore the ripening blessings and interesting challenges in your life, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and bats love to drink the nectar that flowers offer. In return, these pollinators are expected to get some pollen stuck on their bodies and carry it away to fertilize other plants.

While the nectar is tasty, it's usually not pure sweetness. If it were, the first pollinator to come along would suck it all dry, leaving nothing for further visitors. And that wouldn't be good from the plant's point of view, because it would limit the number of places where its pollen would be disseminated.

To keep nectar-drinking sessions short, therefore, most plants include a touch of bitterness in the blend.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

"Everyone is a genius at least once a year," said scientist Georg Lichtenberg. According to my reading of the astrological omens, Capricorn, the coming weeks will be your time to confirm the truth of that aphorism. Your idiosyncratic brilliance is rising to a fever pitch, and may start spilling over into crackling virtuosity any minute now. Be discriminating about where you use that stuff; don't waste it on trivia or on triumphs that are beneath you. Halloween costume suggestions: Einstein, Marie Curie, Leonardo da Vinci, Emily Dickinson.

Need more whacks applied to your mental blocks? More caresses bestowed upon your growing edge? Listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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"The Eskimos had 52 names for snow because it was important to them," wrote novelist Margaret Atwood. "There ought to be as many for love."

Here are a few that the ancient Greeks devised, according to Lindsay Swope in her review of Richard Idemon's book Through the Looking Glass.

Epithemia is the basic need to touch and be touched. Our closest approximation is "horniness," though epithemia is not so much a sexual feeling as a sensual one.

Philia is friendship. It includes the need to admire and respect your friends as a reflection of yourself—like in high school, where you want to hang out with the cool kids because that means you're cool too.

Eros isn't sexual in the way we usually think, but is more about the emotional gratification that comes from merging souls.

Agape is a mature, utterly free expression of love that has no possessiveness. It means wanting the best for another person even if it doesn't advance your self-interest.

Your assignment is to coin three additional new words for love, which means you'll have to discover or create three alternate states of love that have previously been unnamed. To do that, you'll have to put aside your habitual expectations and standard definitions of what constitutes love so that you can explore an array of nuances, including varieties you never imagined existed.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

You're ready to shed juvenile theories, amateurish approaches, or paltry ambitions. I'm not implying you're full of those things; I'm just saying that if you have any of them, you've now got the power to outgrow them. Your definition of success needs updating, and I think you're up to the task. Why am I so sure? Well, because the Big Time is calling you -- or at least a Bigger Time. Try this: Have brainstorming sessions with an ally or allies who know your true potential and can assist you in formulating aggressive plans to activate it more fully. Halloween costume suggestions: a head honcho, big wheel, fat cat, top dog.

Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? For more clues, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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A common obstruction to a vital intimate relationship is what I call the assumption of clairvoyance. You imagine, perhaps unconsciously, that your partner or friend is somehow magically psychic when it comes to you -- so much so that he or she should unfailingly intuit exactly what you need, even if you don't ask for it. This fantasy may seem romantic, but it can sink the most promising alliances.

To counteract any tendencies you might have to indulge in the assumption of clairvoyance, practice stating your desires aloud.
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

I know a woman who claims on her Facebook page that she speaks four languages: English, Elvish, Mermish, and Parseltongue. (For those of you who don't read Tolkien or Harry Potter, Elvish is the language of the elves, Mermish of the mermaids and mermen, and Parseltongue of the serpents.) My Facebook friend probably also knows Pig Latin, baby talk, and glossolalia, although she doesn't mention them. I'd love for you to expand your mastery of foreign tongues, Pisces, even if it's just one of the above -- and the coming weeks and months will be an excellent time to begin. You will have a greater capacity for learning new ways to talk than you have since childhood. Halloween costume suggestion: a bilingual bisexual ambidextrous expert in reciting tongue twisters.

Would you like to hear me say some more about your ever-evolving destiny? Check out your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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Write the following on a piece of red paper and keep it under your pillow. "I, [put your name here], do solemnly swear on this day, [put date here], that I will devote myself for a period of seven days to learning my most important desire. No other thought will be more uppermost in my mind. No other concern will divert me from tracking down every clue that might assist me in my drive to ascertain the one experience in this world that deserves my brilliant passion above all others."
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The preceding oracle comes from my book, PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.