In her poem ""Shedding Skin,"" Harryette Mullen compares her own transformation to the action a snake periodically carries out to renew itself. Since you now have an excellent opportunity to undertake your own molting process, you may find her thoughts helpful. (I''ve rendered them in prose for easier reading.) ""Pulling out of the old scarred skin—old rough thing I don''t need now—I strip off, slip out of, leave behind. Shedding toughness, peeling layers down to vulnerable stuff. And I''m blinking off old eyelids for a new way of seeing. By the rock I rub against, I''m going to be tender again."" Halloween costume suggestion: snake sloughing its skin.

*

LOVE YOUR LIFE! How''s your fight for freedom going? Are you making progress in liberating yourself from your unconscious obsessions, bad habits, and conditioned responses? Are you turning out to be the hero of your own life?

For extra assistance and inspiration, tune in to my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES.

""Only the young and stupid are confident about sex and romance,"" says 49-year-old author Elizabeth Gilbert, who has written extensively about those subjects. I agree with her. I''ve devoted myself to studying the mysteries of love for many years, yet still feel like a rookie. Even if you are smarter about these matters than Gilbert and me, Taurus, I urge you to adopt a humble and curious attitude during the next few weeks. The cosmos has prepared some interesting lessons for you, and the best way to take advantage is to be eagerly receptive and open-minded. Halloween costume suggestion: sex researcher, love explorer, intimacy experimenter.

*

MAYBE JOY AND PLEASURE ARE ESSENTIAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. Assume that your drive to experience pleasure and happiness isn''t a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.

For extra inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery,"" wrote Gemini author Dashiell Hammett. But I recommend that you use his approach very rarely, and only when other learning methods aren''t working. Most of the time, your best strategy for getting the lessons you need is to put lubricating oil into the machinery, not a monkey-wrench. That''ll be especially true in the coming weeks. I suggest that you turn the machinery off for a while as you add the oil and and do some maintenance. Halloween costume suggestion: repair person; computer techie; machine whisperer.

*

YOU NEED MAGIC EVERY DAY. You constantly have to wade through a relentless surge of soul-less facts. The experience tends to shut down your sense of wonder. Every day, you''re over-exposed to cynical narratives that have been sucked free of delight and mystery. That''s why you have to make such strenuous efforts to keep your world enchanted.

I like to think I can contribute to the sacred cause of feeding your sense of wonder and enchantment. In fact, that''s one of my prime motivations for offering you the free weekly horoscopes you read in this newsletter.

If you ever want more of that good stuff, and think it''s worth paying for, please consider trying out my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

The great Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman was a Cancerian like you and me. One of the factors contributing to his success was that he put his demons to good use, ""by harnessing them to his chariot."" He also testified that he gained control over his demons by taking long walks after breakfast. ""Demons don''t like fresh air,"" he said. ""They prefer it if you stay in bed with cold feet."" I suspect that now would be an excellent time to adopt his advice. Halloween costume suggestion: walk your demon on a leash, or make it into a puppet, or harness it to your chariot.

*

MY OTHER HOROSCOPES. Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to guide you through life’s labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular deliveries of uncanny revelation.

One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.

If you ever want more, and think it''s worth paying for, try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny and where you''re headed.

Throughout the Halloween season, I encourage you to fantasize extensively about what your dream home would look like and feel like if you had all the money necessary to create it. What colors would you paint the walls? Would you have carpets or hardwood floors? What would be your perfect lighting, furniture, and décor? As you gazed out your windows, what views would you see? Would there be nature nearby or urban hotspots? Would you have an office or music room or art studio? Have fun imagining the sanctuary that would bring out the best in you. Halloween costume suggestion: the ultimate homebody.

*

WHY IS MY HOROSCOPE COLUMN CALLED ""FREE WILL"" ASTROLOGY? It''s called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that nurture your free will.

Contrary to what some horoscope fans believe, there''s no such thing as predestination. Fate is a tricky, wiggly sucker that keeps changing its mind about where it wants to go. The stars may impel, as the astrological saying goes, but they don''t compel.

That''s why I''ve never considered myself a fortuneteller. I prefer to think that my greatest service is as a psychic intelligence agent, helping you expose the hidden patterns and unconscious forces that may be affecting your life without your knowledge.

If I ""predict"" anything, it''s not so much the future as the unknown part of the present.

And if you ever want more than the ''scopes you''re reading here, keep in mind that every week I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look,"" writes novelist Jodi Picoult. That''s crucial for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. Why? Because your superpower is going to be the ability to find extraordinary things that are hiding in places where people have almost never thought to look. You can do both yourself and those you care for a big favor by focusing your intensity on this task. Halloween costume suggestions: sleuth, treasure hunter, private eye, Sherlock Holmes.

*

SPURRING, ENCOURAGING, INSPIRING YOU. Some people regard me as more of a cheerleader and motivator than an impartial reporter. They think I downplay the pain and embellish the gain that awaits you.

There''s a grain of truth in that. Now and then I may imply that paradise is nigh when in fact the suburbs of paradise are a more realistic goal. But I view my optimism as a healing counterbalance to the absurdly exaggerated doses of discouraging news you hear almost everywhere else you go.

I you ever want more of that good stuff, beyond the horoscopes you''re reading here, keep in mind that evey week I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming."" Author Shauna Niequist wrote that. In accordance with the astrological omens, I endorse her perspective as true and useful for you. You''ve zipped through your time of fertile chaos, conjuring up fresh possibilities. When January arrives, you''ll be ready to work on stability and security. But for now, your assignment is to blossom. Halloween costume suggestions: beautiful creature hatching from an egg; strong sprout cracking out of a seed.

*

PRAYER FOR YOU. An interviewer once asked me if there''s any special ritual I do before writing my weekly horoscopes. I told her that I say a prayer in which I affirm my desire to provide you with these three services: 1. that what I create will be of practical use to you; 2. that it will help you cultivate your relationship with your inner teacher; 3. that it will inspire you to tap into and use the substantial freedom you have to create the life you want.

If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you''re reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also create EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""He believed in magic,"" writes author Michael Chabon about a character in his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. ""Not in the so-called magic of candles, pentagrams, and bat wings,"" nor ""dowsing rods, séances, weeping statues, werewolves, wonders, or miracles."" Then what kind? Chabon says it''s the ""impersonal magic of life,"" like coincidences and portents that reveal their meanings in retrospect. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because now is a favorable time to call on the specific kind of magic that you regard as real and helpful. What kind of magic is that? Halloween costume suggestion: magician, witch, wizard.

*

It has been a while since I told you that I love you. So I''m doing it now. I LOVE YOU.

And that''s why I continue to offer these weekly horoscopes to you free of charge, with no strings attached. That''s why I work so hard to be a playful therapist and an edgy mentor for you. That''s why I am so tenacious in my efforts to serve you as a feminist father figure and a kindly devil''s advocate and a sacred cheerleader.

Again, I don''t expect anything in return from you. But if you would like to express your appreciation, you could do so by offering a similar type of well-crafted care to people in your own sphere.

There is also something you could do to support me -- and help yourself at the same time! -- and that is to buy my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad."" Sagittarian author Jane Austen wrote that in her novel *Northanger Abbey*, and now I''m passing her message on to you, slightly altered. My version is, ""If adventures will not befall Sagittarian people of any age or gender in their own neighborhood, they must seek them abroad."" And where exactly is ""abroad""? The dictionary says it might mean a foreign country, or it could simply mean outside or in another place. I''d like to extend the meaning further to include anywhere outside your known and familiar world. Halloween costume suggestion: traveler on a pilgrimage or explorer on a holy quest.

*

OUR TELEPATHIC LINK. I really do feel that you''re here with me as I create these horoscopes. In a sense, you''re my assistant. Our telepathic connection is utterly palpable and practical. The hopes and questions you project my way stream into my higher mind, coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give you exactly what you need.

If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same collaborative spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you''re reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

PR executives at a beer company offered to pay me a lot of money if I would sneak a product placement ad into your horoscope. They asked me to pretend there was a viable astrological reason to recommend that you imbibe their product in abundance. But the truth is, the actual planetary omens suggest the opposite. You should not in fact be lounging around in a haze of intoxication. You should instead be working hard to drum up support for your labor of love or your favorite cause. Very Important People will be more available to you than usual, and you''ll be wise to seek their input. Halloween costume suggestion: the Ultimate Fundraiser; Networker of the Year; Chief Hobnobber.

*

BY THE WAY. Astrology is not a science. It''s an elegant system of symbols, an art form with a special capacity to feed your soul and educate your imagination. When used with integrity, it engenders poetic approaches for deepening your connection to life''s great mysteries, not predictions of literal events.

It''s meant to open your mind to the mythic patterns that underlie the surface-level interpretations of what you''re all about, not compete with scientists'' logical analyses of why things are the way they are.

ASTROLOGY IS NOT A SCIENCE! Nor is depth psychology, mythology, dream interpretation, or poetry. It makes as much sense to criticize astrology for not being scientific as it does to deride a Kandinsky painting because it isn''t the binomial theorem. We need both: the mytho-poetic and the logically analytical.

If you ever want more information and inspiration generated in this spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you''re reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""What kind of idea are you?"" asks author Salmon Rushdie. ""Are you the kind that compromises, does deals, accommodates itself, aims to find a niche, to survive; or are you the cussed, bloody-minded, ramrod-backed type of damnfool notion that would rather break than sway with the breeze?"" I pose this question to you, Aquarius, because I think you could be an effective version of either idea in the coming weeks. If you''re the latter—the cussed, damnfool notion—you may change your world in dramatic ways. Halloween costume suggestions: revolutionary; crusader; agitator; rabble-rouser.

*

LOSING YOUR BURDENS. An earthy psychic once told me that my first name ""Rob"" is an apt description of my spiritual function. ""You''re here on earth to rob people of their godawful belief that life is a misery and a burden,"" she advised me. ""Your job is to steal away the habits that sap their life energy; to rip off the sorry dogmas that blind them to the wondrous feats their imaginations are capable of.""

I don''t know if I have fully earned that glowing promise, but I certainly aspire to do so.

If you ever want more information and inspiration generated in this spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you''re reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

""There is no beauty without some strangeness,"" wrote Edgar Allen Poe. Fashion designer Rei Kawakubo ventured further, declaring, ""Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty."" She also added another nuance to her definition: ""For something to be beautiful, it doesn''t have to be pretty."" I''ll offer you one more seed for thought: wabi-sabi. It''s a Japanese term that refers to a kind of beauty that''s imperfect, transitory, and incomplete. I bring these clues to your attention, Pisces, because now is an excellent time to refine and clarify your own notion of beauty—and re-commit yourself to embodying it. Halloween costume suggestion: the embodiment of your definition of beauty.

*

ARE YOU THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE? ""Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."" So begins Charles Dickens'' novel David Copperfield.

I''d like to inspire you to write a story of your own that begins like that. That''s why I provide these free horoscopes for you.

If you''d ever like even more assistance from me, tune into your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, which I create for you each week. They''re four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.