Art World
Michael Lutin’s Art World Horoscope for December
The only thing holding you back is your “fear of flying.”
Sagittarius is usually a happy month, where you feel gifted with options an there’s nothing that can hold you back. This year, however, with Saturn lurking in the shadows, whether you deny it or not, there’s angst and uncertainty about the future. So you probably wake up in the morning with the same million tasks ahead of you, but are tempted to hit the snooze button, pull the covers over your head, and stay in bed. The good news is you always get up and go to work, and that’s what pays off.
Saturn in Sagittarius, however, raises moral, ethical, and philosophical questions. Does culture affect art, or does art affect culture? Can culture judge the distinction between an eternally great masterpiece of a genius and the attempt of an amateur in the present to depict the same thing?
Consider also Pussy Riot. Led by Nadya Tolokonnikova (born Scorpio but progressed into Sagittarius), Pussy Riot’s continued creative impudence is the perfect example of questions we are all facing as we move toward 2017. Does the current positions of Jupiter and Uranus signify complete, unbridled freedom of expression? Or does Saturn in Sagittarius challenge morality and ultimately put certain limits on creative liberty? Good question. We shall see in the months to come.
From Pussy Riot’s video, “Straight Outta Vagina.” Photo via YouTube.
ARIES / ARIES RISING (March 21–April 19)
For a good chunk of this month, with Venus and Mars both in Aquarius, and ruled by the planet of Uranus in your sign, you’ve got a good buzz on. You’re as jazzed as if you had four espressos, and likely trying to squeeze a 32 hour day into 24. That’s true for at least the first three weeks of the month. You are open for anything, out and running around, operating at high speed. Fortunately, you’ve got company wherever you go, and people to calm you down. They not only encourage you, but admire you as well. That’s good for your social life on all levels.
The only thing holding you back is your “fear of flying,” and that could delay your travels and hinder your thirsty curiosity to see the world. Knowing you, you’ll probably hem and haw, but go anyway, mainly because this month, you gotta get out of the house.
TAURUS / TAURUS RISING (April 20–May 20)
Focusing on health and work may be boring, but it does help reduce all worry about a crisis that hasn’t even happened yet, and may never. There’s not a whole lot we can do about the future, except live a better life today, obviously. And with Jupiter in your solar sixth house, you’ll have help doing that.
Few members of your sign are fond of multitasking, but you’ll be running around and busy professionally this month, driven probably by the desire to take control of things you probably have no control over. As if you need more irony in your life, an eighth house lunation drives your desire nature. It’s therefore quite a feat to stay high-minded and “moral” while your body is wiggling for some good old-fashioned gratification.
GEMINI / GEMINI RISING (May 21–June 21)
Surviving criticism and even scandal will depend on all the people you choose to advise and guide you now, mainly because somebody has to be sane enough to do so. Like everybody else in the world, you could get pumped up and deflated only to have to pump yourself up again. You do not want to be dependent on our family, although you are. On another note, everybody needs a little love in their life. Relationships? Do you have to be taught by hard lessons not to believe any romantic story you might tell yourself? Shouldn’t you wait until you are sure there is trust? They say that falling in love is wonderful. But a long-term commitment is another story.
Nova, Galerie, Micky Schubert, Benedicte Gyldenstierne, Sehested, Mark van Yetter. Courtesy of Art Basel in Miami Beach.
CANCER / CANCER RISING (June 22–July 22)
Vegetarian or not, you’re still human with the same hungers and desires we’ve all been blessed and cursed with. Be thankful you live in a decent place with at least somebody in your family still talking to you and able to nurture you. Sticking to a sane diet and a regimen that includes moderation will reduce inflammations of body and mind, and keep you from blowing a minor complaint into the greatest story ever told. Taking care of yourself does not, however, eradicate your desire for deep emotional contact. Remember that, thanks to Pluto, you’re still feeling the lingering effects of a relationship that persists in body and mind even until today.
LEO / LEO RISING (July 23–August 22)
The mind says one thing, the heart quite another. It’s an age-old question indeed. Nobody can talk themselves into or out of love. Either you feel it or you don’t. And there is often a big fat discrepancy between how you know you should feel and how you actually feel. On a superficial level, you’re absolutely fine. No problem, things are going swimmingly. In matters of the heart, however, you don’t have total confidence in your performance, and you get stage fright. You’re not going to be alone, though. There’s plenty of outside stimulation this month. With Mars and Venus in your solar seventh house, you’ve got both men and women on your horizon, depending on your sexual preference, of course.
VIRGO / VIRGO RISING (August 23–September 22)
It would be absolutely fantastic to be able to go back to your childhood when you were completely taken care of, and all you had to do was think about was your homework. But let’s be real. You were always taking care of the family. This is a new century. It’s not easy to walk out the door and leave the chaos behind, but you’ve got to be the grownup now and perform as the consummate professional. Of course you’ve got your personal life to think about, and it sure is comforting to have a sweet, sweet sweetheart in your arms at night, real or imagined. You cannot permit, however, any abandonment anxiety to impede your ability to continue to build your reputation outside the house. By the way, what do you think about an investment in real estate now, or at least fixing up your place if you’ve got the money?
LIBRA / LIBRA RISING (September 23–October 22)
Why should anybody just expect you to be as chatty, chipper, and chirpy as a robin in springtime? As if you didn’t have your own deep-down anxieties that you’re probably facing. Funny thing, though- when you support and encourage other people, your own ills shrink appreciably in size. There’s always the question, though—should you go ahead and have that heavy, deep, and real conversation, and bare all? If you hold back, this “friend to everybody” thing could get really old. Great to be the team mascot, if you can do so without seething from within over the sacrifices you made to do so. It’s a gift from the Universe, however, that you are able to put your own anxieties aside to make someone else laugh.
SCORPIO / SCORPIO RISING (October 23–November 21)
With Saturn in your solar second house, money either enhances your options, or the lack of it will limit them. It’s a question of being better at business right now and conserving your resources. Balancing your spiritually correct choices and actions with your wish to enjoy material prosperity and be openly generous with everybody will be a cool balance to achieve now. You still have to be fiscally prudent, and not freak out about what could happen in the market next month, but at the same time you have to believe that your good karma will save you. The New Moon has put your Scorpio Sun in the twelfth house, which means pull back a little, refresh your inner self, heal, and prepare for a triumphant re-entry.
Erwin Wurm, Big Disobedience, 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, © Art Basel.
SAGITTARUS / SAGITTARIUS RISING (November 22–December 21)
God bless all Sagittarians a million times for your upbeat take on everything, from a tiny splinter in your foot to catastrophic climate change. You’re right though, there’s a positive lesson to be learned from everything, and an opportunity for growth. We must however, with this New Moon, make note of your sudden sobriety, and some dissatisfaction in you. Quite unusual for a Sadge. It’s ok to have that dark spot. Discontentment is not a fatal flaw, because if you hide it, sooner or later you’ll take your frustration out on the wrong person and then feel guilty. It’s not just a childish temper tantrum. Saturn has put something in your way. Your friends both sympathize and forgive you for it already. What if it turns out, ironically, that you are in your own way? You’ll figure it out, don’t worry.
CAPRICORN / CAPRICORN RISING (December 22–January 19)
It’s not necessarily paranoid of you that you could almost give your life now defending your turf. Naturally you want to hang on to what you’ve got. Even if the whole system is in tatters, you’ll be damned if you let anybody mess with your position. Period. This New Moon, however, and the planetary configurations forming subsequently, will remind you that justice must rise above all other power and position. There are laws, both human and divine (karmic, if you want to call it), that define morality. And those laws are inexorable. But exactly what are the rules for or against defending all you have worked and saved and sacrificed to achieve? Hmmm. If you were a judge in the Highest Court of your land, would you be able to answer that question without serious contemplation? Doubtful.
Lady Bunny’s Intergalactic Disco. Courtesy of Art Basel in Miami Beach.
AQUARIUS / AQUARIUS RISING (January 20–February 18)
It has been often said that belonging to and sustaining membership in a democratically organized group of humans demands that you tolerate at least one person whose views and beliefs you absolutely abhor. That’s the challenge now. There’s at least one person causing you a pain in the ankles. Apart from the likes, dislikes, and prejudices we all have, there’s a humorous truth in life: Eventually everyone is annoying. With Mars currently in Aquarius, you don’t have a lot of patience for idiots, and you would just adore a big confrontation. Pull back a little. In each of our own lives, we are all dealing with a system we perceive as outmoded and corrupt. Yes, it’s torture. Unless you want to go rogue, however, your revolutionary and conservative sides have to come to terms at the moment.
PISCES / PISCES RISING (February 19–March 20)
What a mixed deal you’ve got going in your public life at this time. On the one hand, you’re on top of the world. Jupiter’s granting all your wishes, but with Neptune and the south node in the tenth house of the recent Lunation, some people are questioning your motives and even challenging your position. You are not about to go quietly into the shadows of obscurity, however. You do not want to creep back into the bosom of the family like a prodigal child returning home.
It’s a paradox, though. You’re both happy there and miserable at the same time. You want to be taken care of but don’t want a caretaker. You want recognition and you don’t want to be stoned for it. Above all, you don’t want to be dependent. Ironic, because intimate nurturing could be far more fulfilling than the applause of a thunderous crowd.
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