LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22): Many people harbor the unconscious bias that beauty resides primarily in things that are polished, sleek and perfect. Celebrities work hard and spend a lot of money to cultivate their immaculate attractiveness, and are often treated as if they have the most pleasing appearance that human beings can have. Art that is displayed in museums has equally flawless packaging. But I suggest you appreciate a different kind of beauty: the crooked, wobbly, eccentric stuff. For the foreseeable future, that’s where you’ll find the most inspiration.

VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22): “No tree can grow to Heaven unless its roots reach down to Hell,” wrote psychologist Carl Jung in his book Aion. My interpretation: We earn the right to experience profound love by becoming familiar with shadows and suffering. It may not be possible to ripen into our most radiant beauty without having tangled with life’s ugliness. Virgo, you have dutifully completed an extended phase of downward growth. In the next extended phase, however, upward growth will predominate.

LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 22): The Great Balancing Act of 2015 doesn’t demand that you be a wishy-washy, eager-to-please harmony whore. Instead, it asks of you to express what you stand for with great clarity. It invites you to free yourself from worrying about what people think of you. Do you know what you really want, Libra? Find out! P.S.: Your task is not to work on the surface level, trying to manipulate the appearance of things. Focus your efforts in the depths of yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct 23-Nov 21): Muslims, Jews and Christians are collaborating to erect a joint house of worship in Berlin. The building, scheduled to be finished by 2018, will have separate areas for each religion as well as a common space for members of all three to gather. Even if you don’t belong to any faith, you may be inspired by this pioneering effort to foster mutual tolerance. May it help inspire you to heal schisms, build consensus and cultivate harmony.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21): In some phases of your life, you have been a wanderer. It has been a challenge to know which target you should aim your arrows at. You may have been forceful but not as productive as you’d like to be; you may have been energetic but a bit too inefficient to accomplish wonders. From what I can tell, one of those wandering seasons is now coming to a close. In the months ahead, you will have a growing clarity about where your future power spot is located—and may even find the elusive sanctuary called “home.” Here’s a good way to prepare: Spend a few hours telling yourself the story of your origins. Remember all the major events of your life as if you were watching a movie.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19): You have been slowing to a crawl as you approach an exciting transition. But I’m here to advise you to resume normal speed. You have paid your dues; you have made your meticulous arrangements. Now it’s time to relax into the rewards you have earned. Lighten your mood, Capricorn. Welcome the onrushing peace and start planning how you will capitalize on your new freedom.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 18): “Most people reach the top of the ladder of success only to find it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” Aquarian actor Paul Sorensen said that. The coming months will be a good time to determine whether the ladder you have been climbing is leaning against the right or wrong wall. My advice is to question yourself at length. If, after your investigations, you decide it is indeed the wrong wall, climb down from the ladder and haul it over to the right wall. And if you’re satisfied that you are where you should be, celebrate!

PISCES (Feb 19-Mar 20): When he served as Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi denigrated the cuisine of Finland. “Finns don’t even know what prosciutto is,” he sneered. At best, he said, their food is to be “endured.” But Finland fought back. In an international pizza contest held in New York, their chefs won first prize for their “Pizza Berlusconi,” a specialty pizza that featured marinated reindeer. The Italian entry finished second. I foresee you enjoying a comparable reversal in the coming months, Pisces.

ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19): To ensure the full accuracy of this horoscope, I have resurrected an old-fashioned English word that isn’t used much any more: “gambol.” It means to cavort in a playful manner, or to romp around with mad glee, as if you are unable to stop yourself from dancing. In order to cultivate the state of mind that will enable you to meet all your dates with destiny in the coming weeks, you need to gambol at least once every day.

TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20): Do you remember your first kiss? How about the first time you had sex? Although those events may not have been perfectly graceful, they were radical breakthroughs that changed your life. Since then, there may have been a few other intimate rites of passage that have impacted you with similar intensity. No doubt you will experience others in the future. I suspect that the next installments are due to arrive in the coming months.

GEMINI (May 21-Jun 20): Two-thirds of us don’t know what our strengths and talents are. That’s the conclusion of a study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology. One reason is what the report’s co-author Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener calls “strengths blindness,” in which we neglect our real powers because we regard them as ordinary or take them for granted. Here’s the good news, Gemini: If you suffer from even a partial ignorance about the nature of your potentials, the coming months will be a favorable time to remedy that glitch.

CANCER (Jun 21-Jul 22): In 1504, Michelangelo finished his sculpture of the Biblical hero David. But he hadn’t been the first person to toil on the 17-foot-high block of marble. Forty years earlier, the artist Agostino di Duccio was commissioned to carve David out of the stone. His work was minimal, however. In 1476, Antonio Rossellino resumed where Agostino had stopped, but he didn’t last long, either. By the time Michelangelo launched his effort, the massive slab had languished for 25 years. I see parallels between this story and your own. I suspect you will be invited to take on a project that has been on hold. This may require you to complete labors that were begun by others—or maybe instigated by you when you were in a very different frame of mind.