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Horoscopes, Nov. 21, 2013

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By Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The poet Charles Baudelaire prayed for help, but not to God — rather he prayed to the writer Edgar Allan Poe. Novelist Malcolm Lowry sometimes pleaded with God for insight, but he also prayed to the writer Franz Kafka. Which hero, dead or alive, could you call on to uplift you? Be brazen and imaginative. The spirits could be of more help than you imagine. Magic is afoot.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): U.S. Confederate General Richard S. Ewell (1817-72) sometimes experienced episodes in which he thought he was a bird. Princess Alexandria of Bavaria (1826-1875) believed that when she was young, she had eaten a glass piano. Sad and funny and crazy, right? And yet I believe all of us have fixed delusions. What are yours, Taurus? Do you secretly believe a certain turning point in your past scarred you forever? Now is an excellent time to shed your fixed delusions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Philosopher Eckhart Tolle suggests that “there may be one person who reflects your love back to you more clearly and more intensely than others.” For some of us, this numinous reflection comes from a special animal. Whatever the case is for you, Gemini, I urge you to devote extra time to your relationship with this creature in the next 14 days. Brainstorm about the possibility of deepening your connection. What practical actions could you take to boost your loved one’s fortunes?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Cancerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad was one of the 20th century’s great opera singers. She specialized in the operas of German composer Richard Wagner, whose master work, “The Ring of the Nibelung,” runs 15 hours. Asked what she most needed to perform Wagner’s music with the excellence it demanded, she answered: Comfortable shoes. That’s good advice for your own life, Cancerian — both literally and metaphorically. It’s time to get really well-grounded.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Have you ever been in a social situation where you really didn’t care what anyone thought of you and therefore felt absolutely free to act on your inner promptings? When was the last time you lost all your inhibitions while making love? Can you truly say that sometime recently you have been totally responsive to your festive impulses? If you have experienced any blockages in expressing this type of energy, now is a perfect moment to fix that. You have a date with robust, innocent self-expression.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Norwegian public television is experimenting with Slow TV. In one program, patient viewers watched for five days as a cruise ship wended along the Norwegian coast. Another show featured a woman knitting a sweater from start to finish. I wish you would get hooked on slow-motion activities like those, Virgo. Maybe it would help you lower your thoughts-per-minute rate and influence you to remember that relaxation is an art you can cultivate. And then you would be in righteous alignment with the cosmic rhythms.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You’re smarter than you think, and soon will be even smarter. Previously inaccessible wisdom is seeping up from the depths of your subconscious mind. Your eyes are noticing more than usual. Your memory is working at peak levels. And your enhanced ability to entertain paradoxical ideas is giving you special insight into the nature of reality. I suggest you focus this higher intelligence on one of your knottiest problems.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The Paris Review interviewed Mexican poet Octavio Paz. “Just how much revising do you do?” the interviewer asked. “I revise incessantly,” Paz replied. “Some critics say, ‘too much,’ and they may be right. But if there’s a danger in revising, there is much more danger in not revising. I believe in inspiration, but I also believe that we’ve got to help inspiration, restrain it, and even contradict it.” Inspiration has visited you a lot lately, Scorpio, but now it will subside for a while so you can wrangle all your raw material into graceful, resilient, enduring shapes.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Costa Rica will close its zoos in 2014. What will happen to the 400-plus animals housed there? They will have to be rehabilitated at animal rescue centers, then released into the wild. I suspect there will be a metaphorically similar process for you in the coming months. Parts of your instinctual nature will be freed. You’ll need to retrain your animal intelligence how to function outside of the tame conditions it got used to.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Fate may well kick your sweet ass sometime soon. You may be compelled to face up to the consequences of your unloving actions or unconscious decisions. However, you might be able to dramatically minimize or neutralize the butt-thumping. Go over the last 11 months’ events, and identify times when you weren’t your very best self or didn’t live up to your highest ideals. Express your desire to correct wrong turns. Give gifts that will heal damaged dynamics.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Grammy-winning singer Bill Withers was a star in the 1970s with hits like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me.” But he hasn’t recorded a new album or toured since 1985. In “Still Bill,” the documentary film about his life, Withers says, “I watch other people show off and I say, man, I used to want to show off. … I need a little injection in my showin’-off gland.” Aquarius, I’d like to see you show off more. Not in an over-the-top, Lady Gaga-esque way. Rather, get more aggressive in showing people who you are, what you can do, and what your talents are.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I sense your value will rise in the coming weeks. An attractive person you thought was out of your league may express curiosity about you. You could get an offer to do an interesting job you previously thought unavailable. I bet your reputation will be growing, mostly for the better. Have confidence in your power to attract bigger rewards and more appreciation.