Horoscopes (Aug. 7-13)

You have high hopes that whatever's going on will prove to be worth the investment. It doesn't matter if it's a situation, a relationship, or a project; you want this to work out. All of us have the tendency to want to hang on, or to preserve and be able to maintain what's in front of us. In your current circumstances, it might be best to detach from the idea that it will be written in stone. I say this because as much as the influences that surround you are loaded with excitement and promise, they appear to be paper thin, or too fleeting, and may not withstand the test of time.

So many things are about to give you a chance to take a different path, or adopt a new approach to the way you run your life. All of a sudden the deeper part of you has woken up to who you are and what you want. These epiphanies happen in regularly timed cycles. Depending on your age, you're either all excited about who you want to be when you grow up or you're clear about the fact that getting right with God is the only thing that matters. Others are stunned by these changes, one way or another. They will adapt — or not. Don't let anything or anyone hold you back.

The next few weeks are full of promise. This could be the moment when all of your hopes and dreams reach their tipping point. Whether things go up or down, and whether you win or lose, depends entirely on where you're coming from. The purer your motives, the better off you will be. You guys are good at seeing what you want to see, so watch the tendency to whitewash, or sugarcoat intentions which underneath it all are less than honorable. If you have developed the ability to be honest with yourself, how things unfold will reflect what is in your highest and best interests.

You've got everything under control. It's amazing how you manage to stay on track. The business of knowing who you are and what you want has a lot to do with it. A lot of changes are coming up in the next few weeks. How you handle yourself in the midst of it all will determine a big part of your future. As you move forward with your plans, you will find that others try to tell you what to do. Don't let anyone presume to know more about what you need than you do. Feel free to tell them that you're all set in the good advice department and 100 percent ready to follow your bliss.

This looks like it's going to fly. There's no certainty in anything nowadays, but you've gotten into something that has enough weight to hold you steady. It will also free you up to travel or focus on your real needs and interests. Others will be OK with things because they know that this makes you happy. No one ever told you that it's easy to get your life to work once you figure out that it's all about doing what you love. What you need to do is keep feeding the idea that it's totally OK to start over, and keep reminding yourself that it's never too late to follow your bliss.

Sometimes it takes everything we've got to rise above things. The tendency to get swamped by too many pressures rings up a lot of fear. What we forget when we're done in by these things is that no matter how hard things get, or how broke we are, everything is happening for a reason — and all of it is perfect. Praying for the strength to make it through in one piece is where it's at right now. It won't help to complain, or wring your hands in despair. Try to carry this weight with a light heart. This will make it easier to find the lesson in it; it might even inspire you to ask for help.

You didn't realize how much spilling the beans would affect people. If you're wondering why everything's nuts, it's because your truth-telling opened the floodgates. When one thing changes, everything changes; that's the way it goes. Your confession was made from a place of wanting to set things straight, but unfortunately, now everyone involved has to rearrange their thoughts and feelings just to accommodate it. No wonder the fur is flying! Will things settle down? It all depends on the extent to which others are willing to face the facts and be honest with themselves.

You need to brush up on a few things. It's time to expand your mind and be willing to accept the fact that you don't know everything. If you can do this, the next few months will bring you into contact with people and ideas that blow you away. Some of you will pursue this via traditional channels. Others will follow more eclectic opportunities and find yourselves in situations with people whose knowledge base is out of this world. Be open to all of it. This is a moment in time when everything you ever thought you knew is about to be exchanged for a whole new outlook.

You are in a much different space than you were a year ago. This could be literal; you might be in a totally new location. It could also be that you've let go of relationships and other forms of attachment that were bogging you down. All of this has altered your perspective on who you are. If you're not yet clear about where to go from here, there's a sense of restlessness that is looking for a place to roost. What the future holds doesn't have to be certain, so be willing to watch and wait and allow the latest clue to the new direction to reveal itself one day at a time over the next three months.

You could be feeling exhausted from having to sustain a lot of pressure over a long period of time. I bet there are days when you just want to sit down and cry, or throw in the towel and give up. I say this without meaning to make matters worse, but just to acknowledge the fact that it's been pretty intense. Not knowing how to encourage you, the best I can do is remind you that wherever there is great darkness there is always an equal amount of light. Keep that in mind. The idea that our greatest growth takes place at times like this is one of the best kept secrets on the planet.

What lies on the road ahead is already renting space in your head. Instead of getting all wound up, you'd do better to breathe deep, take it easy, and do whatever it takes to recharge your batteries before the seasons change. There might even be enough peace and quiet for you to reflect upon who, and where, you really want to be when you grow up. As much as you think you've got that piece all ironed out, if you could see your life from a bird's-eye view, there are some twists and turns around the corner and one or more of them could easily take you anywhere but here.

What's been stuck is ready to move. The impact of time and the actions of other people have shifted things enough for this log jam to start flowing. If you're worried about whether things will go up, or down, think less about that and figure out how to roll with it, no matter what happens. The need to face the facts in a situation that has been at the mercy of your naiveté, or your tendency to give people more credit than they deserve, will come full circle before the seasons change. At that point, you could wind up far away from here, with a whole new ballgame in play.

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