No one really needs to be reminded that stealing is bad and truth-telling is good, but the planets do it anyway today in the form of a cosmic melodrama, complete with a predictable moral lesson. This hammy conflict is the opening act to the Mars entrance to Scorpio, which will provide a higher grade of intrigue and artistry in the days to come.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). Emotions coming from a primitive brain space are every bit as valid as anything reasonable your intellect poses. Today’s best decision is rooted in a raw feeling.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Everyone has to do their own exercising, growing or learning. You’ll have a full plate in that regard today, so why not let someone pitch in on one of the many other things they can help you with.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The playing that is literally supposed to be fun and games can, in reality, be quite difficult. It takes practice to play well. The ones who do it a lot tend to be better at it. Those are the people to surround yourself with now.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll benefit from knowing the motives of others and you’ll easily figure them out now, too, especially if that someone is a child or has the emotional maturity of one.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Why struggle for success in a realm you don’t enjoy? Go where your talent lies, and thrive. You’ve valuable skills that others would be hard-pressed to replicate. Focus there, and collect your prize.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Being a creative person, you’ll risk playing the fool and being wrong if it gets you closer to making something with the potential to inspire or entertain. Much goes down in the name of getting a laugh.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). A difficult circumstance won’t last. Don’t try to remedy it. Without your involvement, it will recede with the tides — be swept into another realm of responsibility, proving it was never really yours to solve.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). When your mind and heart are fully expanded, there is no such thing as “better than” or “less than.” Everyone is equal and different. It’s all a matter of finding the best fit for you.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Avoidance won’t work, and resistance will prove futile, but you might be able to outsmart the problem. Try treating the trouble as if it were an advantage and suddenly you will actually see the advantage that is truly there.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You could go to all the same places, read the same literature and eat the same food — you would still be different from your friend/sibling/partner. Make an effort to be with those who celebrate your uniqueness.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You are passionate about human rights, which include the right for others to believe differently from the way you do. If you still want to exercise powers of persuasion, you need nothing other than to live as a shining example.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ve heard assessments and opinions, and now it’s time to forget all that. If you can approach without preconceived opinions and prejudice, you’ll be the one to see the brilliant answer that everyone else is missing.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Oct. 30). You’ll enjoy defying expectation and playing with perception to create a sense of wonder around you. Your magic will draw fans in both your professional and personal realm. You’ll obtain new tools to make life easier. You’ll also be training others, one of the many ways you’ll build your legacy. Sagittarius and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 11, 4, 1, 38 and 16.
HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS: TRICK OR TREAT?: While the fight for food is among the most basic tenants of the survival code on earth, the instinct to gift food is reserved for the highly evolved. Somewhere in its early development, the human species seems to have collectively agreed on one thing: the gods want our food.
Humans in every culture have been known to sacrifice animals, vegetables and relatives to the gods. In recent times, our gifts are more commonly indirect and representational. To leave oranges on an altar, ingest a sacrament or even treat St. Nick to some cookies is to observe some primal instinct to, if only symbolically, share food with the universe.
Consider the soul cake. Its early origins are murkily related to human sacrifice, but by the eighth century, these baked items were paid to wandering beggars in exchange for a prayer for the souls of dead relatives, and from there, the practice evolved in various directions: sweets for songs, dances, costumes and other “tricks”; sweets for charity; sweets as payoffs to avoid trouble; or sweets just because on some basic level, down deep in our souls, we still believe that the gods must be hungry.
CELEBRITY PROFILES: Matthew Morrison is a triple-threat Broadway entertainer who drew on all of his considerable talents to create the lovable teacher Will Schuester of the television series “Glee.” Morrison was born when the sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Uranus were all in the soulful realm of Scorpio, suggesting heightened powers of intuition. His natal Jupiter, the planet of luck, is in Leo.
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