ASTRAL REFLECTIONS
BY TIM STEPHENS
JUNE 27-JULY 3, 2004 

	All times/dates are Pacific Daylight Time.
	I've put a new relationship article on the web site (www.astralreflections.com). To access it, click "Platforms," then "Compatibility." It gives you a thumbnail sketch of your relationship with any other Sun sign, in terms of love, marriage, etc....
	You might remember my mid-May preamble on the "behavioural channelling" that telecos and other large corporations impose when you telephone them. (Wherein you cannot speak to a living person, but must continually choose between a limited number of options.) Just today, I realized this channelling is prejudicial. Educators have finally discovered that the more intelligent a person, the less likely he is to perceive the "real answer" to be among the simple ones provided by another. So the telephone companies' behavioural channelling answers/accepts lower IQs, and rejects higher IQs. As Hitler and Stalin knew, if you want to enslave a people, first you remove their intelligentsia.  
	I received an unusual amount of email about this entire telephone phenomenon. Here's a sample of your comments:
	"...telephone companies are basically saying that telephones are ineffective...I overlooked the bigger picture that I was being reformatted." - K.R.
	"...the banks have been doing it for years, that's why I switched to a credit union...there's only so much oppression people can take." - S.J.
	"I have worked in one of the corporate entities named in your piece for 24 + years...employees in these companies are suffering profoundly along the lines you describe regarding dehumanization...we chronically run into barriers to genuine human contact [in the workplace]...it has become standard corporate policy to cycle management personnel into and out of positions very frequently [to destroy] the natural sense of human connection..." - Steve
	"I thought I was the only one wading through the... isolation-istic spirit our overly-virtualized world is creating....The move toward icons and pictures completely mirrors the fact that less and less people are emotionally responsive... The natural/family world and the business/government world are really irking me. How can these two realities anchored on the same soil be juxtaposed...without a collision?" - D.K.
	"I think the rigid implacable slotting phenomenon imposed on us by corporate businesses and government are the last gasp of the old order. It is a ...hardening of the arteries that will kill the old system... we will never be perfect [but] the present obsession with standardizing everything will be forgotten." - G. W.

Start Nothing: Before 9:13 a.m. Sun., 5:57 p.m. Mon. to 11:15 a.m. Tues., 7:52 p.m. Wed. to 11:01 a.m. Thurs., and 7:24 a.m. to 10:22 a.m. Sat.

Aries   March 21-April 19
Focus on home, family, real estate, security and business foundations/territory. Your life could change in good ways Sunday/Monday - but only if it "happens to you." If you determinedly chase change now to Christmas - e.g., invest heavily, begin a sexual affair, sign a mortgage, change your lifestyle - you could regret it later. A wise, mellow mood comes Tuesday/Wednesday. Contemplate "how you got here." July brings sweet messages, pleasant trips, a relaxing vacation. Charge after career Thursday, but with caution Friday. A nice friend, new hopes, possibly light romance, Saturday night!
	
Taurus   April 20-May 20
Handle paperwork. By next week, it will be too late for an application, notice or other important document. Make enquiries, exercise your curiosity, gather details (or evidence for a court case) find those phone numbers, make contacts - these, too, could "go nowhere" by next week onward. You'll learn something Thursday (or Friday morning) that could open a door to success! Earlier, relationships flow smoothly Sunday/Monday - be happy, make friends, but commit to nothing and no one. Sign nothing. Life's depths "surface" Tuesday/Wednesday - see deeply, make changes. Love, wisdom visit Thursday/Friday.

Gemini   May 21-June 20
Your love life should start perking back up now through August. Creative tasks, children's interests, and speculative "gambles" go well - a recent hesitation ends in these. The six weeks ahead propel you into travel, writing, calls and paperwork. You'll make optimistic, flirtatious and humorous new friends! Tackle necessary work Sunday/Monday, but don't volunteer for new duties, don't buy machinery. (It's good but useless.) Relationships might frustrate you suddenly Tuesday night, but this day and Wednesday offer opportunities, too. Finances and sexual desires reach a peak Thursday/Friday - don't "pay" too much!

Cancer   June 21-July 22
Your charisma, energy and effectiveness reach a yearly high! Go forth, impress people, start important projects. Money will flow to you for the next six weeks - make sure you save it. You'll have an almost subconscious urge to spend in fruitless, wasteful ways. You'll solve inner or spiritual questions during July - an old fear or nagging conscience "item" will dissolve. Romance, speculation, creativity, beauty, children's charms, and the "pleasure of the moment" - these call you Sunday/Monday. For success, receive, don't chase. Be wise - you don't really get something for nothing.

Leo   July 23-Aug. 22
Be restful. Contemplate. Work on your private interests - especially on a legal, educational, publishing or far-travel project - without alerting others. Relations with friends, lovers, spouse and business associates will be easy and smooth, and your sexual magnetism actually intensifies now through mid-August. But until July 21, your energy will remain low - so enjoy the attention, the pleasantness, without knocking yourself out. Take frequent naps. Eat sensibly. If luck in real estate or family matters drops in your lap Sunday/Monday, accept it - but don't chase these things. Duties "climax" Thursday/Friday.

Virgo   Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Dreams could come true in the week and month ahead! Be optimistic, make friends, envision a delicious future! Higher-ups favor you. Career projects, delayed recently, go forward in July. As noted many times, you're in the midst of one of the luckiest and most cataclysmic years of your life. Which it is - luck or cataclysm - in some ways is up to you. But in many ways, luck and cataclysm are one and the same this year - be brave! Casual tempts, but serious rewards, Sunday/Monday. Romance and risk appeal, Thursday/Friday. 
		
Libra   Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Legal, educational, love, far travel or publishing matters that have been delayed should sail forward in July. (They might stall again in August, so be quick.) Ambition - or higher-ups - push you to proceed with projects. Your career area is under a restrictive, sober influence, so aim only for what you can accomplish through effort. Don't depend on luck. And don't over-burden yourself, for the duties you shoulder now could last a few decades. Light, flirtatious romance enlivens July - you could meet a viable mate at a group function!
	
Scorpio   Oct. 23-Nov. 21
A mellow mood flows over you all July. Wisdom, understanding nudge you to release old hurts and resentments - good! Educational, far-travel, legal, philosophical, love, and social rituals are all "supported" now. (Not " blessed," as a weighty, "nothing free" influence fills these areas until July 2005.) Higher-ups and parents are temperamental, perhaps high-handed, through mid-August, so step diplomatically, keep your sense of humor. Your bigger investments and "worth" continue to grow nicely.  The world looks to you Sunday/Monday - impress people! Start important projects Monday, not Sunday. Gather money Tuesday/Wednesday. 

Sagittarius   Nov. 22-Dec. 21
A beneficial relationship (love, friendship) or a "happy opportunity" that has been delayed recently moves forward in July. But be quick, show your intentions, because August will bring another month of backtracking, delays and indecision. Impulse is better than procrastination in relocation, business, marriage, client-advisor spheres, and in dealings with the public. You'll travel in July/August - aim for foreign shores! (It's better before August 10.) During the same period, learning, philosophy, rituals, religion and publishing are blessed - legal hassles are not! Don't jump Sunday/Monday. Act Tuesday/Wednesday instead. Money, Thursday/Friday!

Capricorn   Dec. 22-Jan. 19
A major relationship decision awaits, especially around July 7th/8th - do you end it or further it? "Relationships" includes love, business agreements, a litigation scenario, relocation, etc. Two hints: 1) others hold the aces, and 2) something in you deeply wants a relationship these years (2004/05). For six weeks, your sexual desires heat up. Yet your subconscious will nudge things toward an "end" - e.g., you might unexpectedly insult someone, achieving the result you just couldn't perform consciously. DON'T invest impulsively, through August. Work that had been delayed now sails forward.

Aquarius   Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Tackle chores. You'll get more done this week than in the two following. A love relationship, creative project, speculative venture, vacation or pleasure foray, delayed since May, goes forward in July. Your loved one either turns up the ardour dial now, or you'll meet someone new, talkative and dramatic - he/she hates to be ignored. If a career plum is dropped in your lap Sunday/Monday, accept it. But don't start new business or career projects - don't "push." You feel hopeful, popular and flirtatious Tuesday/Wednesday. Retreat, wait and plan late week.

Pisces   Feb. 19-March 20
Romance, speculation, creativity, games, sports - you're a winner in these zones in July! (Someone might chase you Sunday/Monday.) You'll succeed best where you connect present pleasure to future goals. (E.g., fall in love for "ever.") Your home remains affectionate; domestic projects that have been delayed will sail forward again. Work, safety, machinery and co-worker concerns grow more urgent now through mid-August. There might be a heated word or two, or simply a lot of hard work. Accomplish as much as you can before everyone hits August's delays and glitches.

www.astralreflections.com. Email: timstephens@shaw.ca. For a reading: 604-261-1337.


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