I recently divorced and my ex husband passed away unexpectedly.  I am ready to date and have tried online, but the whole process is a nightmare and I just do not have the patience.    I would love to meet someone, but I live in a very family friendly town and due to my job, I do not have the luxury to peruse the local hotspots.  Do you see me meeting anyone soon?  December 19, 1965

Yes, I do see you meeting someone soon.  In fact there may even be as many as three someones that you will be dating seriously over the next year and a half.

It sounds like you’ve been through a bit of war-zone (emotionally speaking) these past couple of years with Saturn, the planet of trials and tribulations, squaring your sign and Pluto, the planet of ordeals, winding up its stay in Sagittarius.  These two planets would have kept dragging you back into situations that you were trying to struggle free of.  It’s perfectly natural that you would want to move on and to start living your life as soon as possible, but you’re kind of like a soldier returning from the front.  It’s going to take time to make the transition back to civilian life.

Nobody likes online dating—and that includes the majority of people online.  Nevertheless it does seem to work.  I hear you when you say that you live in a very family friendly town, but you are a single woman looking to be in a relationship and chances are people already know it, so I don’t think you’re going to look out of place at a local hotspot.  Obviously this is about comfort levels and you’re fortunate in that your Ruling Planet is Jupiter.  Children of Jupiter do very well in groups and community activities.  What this says to me is that you could probably meet someone through volunteer work or events that are sponsored by your church or some other kind of social organization.  Clubs, societies, and/or any education course where people get together and share like-minded interests would be terrific for you especially since you were born with your Ruling Planet Jupiter in the social sign of Gemini.  Now I know it will be hard to not focus on the faults and foibles of every guy you meet.  Part of this is because you’re moving out of your normal social circle and part of it is because you’re going to be on the defensive.  Everyone is on the defensive when they’re getting back out there in the dating pool.  But if you can keep in mind that most of the fellows you’re meeting are feeling pretty much the same way, then I think this will help you to relax.  Yes, you’re going to meet some jerks and bores and losers.  Everyone does and it’s all part of the process.  But if you can just commit to getting on out there and giving everyone at least one chance, then I think you’ll start to get back into the groove of things.  It’s going to take time and energy, but by January 2011 you’ll see for yourself that it was all totally worth it.

My birthday is 3-21-45 and his is 9-13-52. We are best friends, but he has no appreciation of how other people think. What works for him should work for everyone—for instance anyone who doesn't have a Mac is stupid or I am stubborn because I won't go see Avatar.  He told me, albeit when he was frazzled, that I have stupid ideas.  I have tried to talk to him before and it does no good. He just says that's the way he is and he is not going to even try to change. Well it happened again and we have parted ways. I KNOW it's not personal. I know he doesn't mean to be rude but I can only take so much. So should I let my best friend fire me or always be the one who compromises?

First of all you are not stupid.  You’re an Aries and Aries is one of the brightest signs of the zodiac because Aries rules the head.  Your friend is a Virgo and Virgo is ruled by Mercury—the planet of the mind.  Virgos don’t have stupid friends.  However people born under Virgo and Aries do tend to be headstrong—but in different ways.  Virgos are unapologetic intellectuals.  They pride themselves on their analytical abilities and their technical prowess.  This is why your friend thinks you should be up-to-date on the latest technological wizardry like Macs and Avatar.  He wants the best for you and this is his way of saying it.  People born under Aries, however, are what I call  “closet” intellectuals.  For some reason they put themselves down when it comes to their book learning and will often play dumb.  Your friend knows that you’re smarter than you let on and he probably gets impatient when you pretend otherwise.  He may see himself as your self-appointed mentor, which might have been all right once, but not now.

You are in the process of changing as a person thanks to Jupiter, the planet of spiritual evolution, traveling through your zodiac sign. You aren’t going to suffer fools gladly—nor are you going to put up with intellectual bullies.  I think you’re tired of your friend’s intolerance and given the ornery behavior you describe, it sounds like you’ve had enough of his take-it-or-leave-it attitude as well.  Now relationships are all about give-and-take and compromises are a necessary fact of life.  But there’s a difference between compromise and feeling compromised.  A compromise involves two people working out their differences together by establishing common ground.

I think the best way to talk to your friend is to talk about yourself.  Talk about how you need to be who you are in your friendship and not his idea of who you should be.  Isn’t that the point of friendship?  If you can’t be yourself with your best friend then who can you be yourself with?  Being true to oneself should never come at the expense of someone else’s authenticity.  This is something that I’m sure your best friend would understand.  Have the conversation after August 21, 2010 and you’ll find that your friend is a lot more open-minded about these sorts of things then you might think.