Let the stars steer you to success!It takes more than a resume to get the perfect job and more than capital to grow a business. Talent, passions, interpersonal skills -- and, yes, lucky stars all play a part.Full of valuable tips and helpful advice from Matthew "Dr. Matt" Abergel, a professional astrology consultant for over ten years,Work Your Stars!reveals the secrets to super negotiations with anyone in the universe, from that Leo boss (make her feel important) to the Gemini secretary (ask questions -- Geminis love telling you the answers) and that Virgo messenger (praise his problem-solving handiwork).Work Your Stars!also helps you create your Personal Planetary Profile, a customized chart using your Sun, Moon, and rising signs, and planetary positions to pinpoint your professional potential and pitfalls. Using the simple charts and easy instructions, all you need to know is when and where you were born, and you'll have all the tools to discover what success means to you -- and how to achieve it.Work Your Stars!is the ultimate guide to plotting your career path to stellar success!

Matthew "Dr. Matt" Abergel is a professional astrology consultant who has advised many entrepreneurs and small businesses. He's the former online editor of the Business Communications Zone, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.

Contents

Introduction
Let's Get Started: How to Use This Book

Part One
SOLAR POWER -- GET PLUGGED INTO YOUR POTENTIAL

Aries @ Work
Taurus @ Work
Gemini @ Work
Cancer @ Work
Leo @ Work
Virgo @ Work
Libra @ Work
Scorpio @ Work
Sagittarius @ Work
Capricorn @ Work
Aquarius @ Work
Pisces @ Work
Stellar Negotiations

Part Two
YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS: YOUR RISING SIGN AND THE PLANETS, TOO

How to Get Your Foot in the Door -- Your Rising Sign
There's a Place for You -- Visit the Moon
Your Inner Secretary -- Mercury
Sizing Up Your Sales and Seduction Savvy -- How Big Is Your Venus?
Where's Your Fearless Leader? Try Mars!
Opportunity Knocks -- Meet Jupiter
Get Over It -- Your Saturn Sign
What's Up with Uranus? -- Megatrends, Macroplanets...and Other Insider Secrets

Part Three
PUTTING IT TOGETHER: YOUR PROFESSIONAL PLANETARY PROFILE

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

From Part One

What to Look For

Because of the Sun's immense importance in your horoscope and your Professional Planetary Profile, each Sun sign is broken up into several sections:

The Myth

The story behind the sign. Who is Taurus anyway? What did Cancer the cranky crab do to get prime real estate in the night sky? Each sign is backed by a rich mythology. Let the symbols sink in. They may inspire you to create a few myths of your own!

Motivation

What drives you to succeed? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Here's the irresistible impulse behind all that you do, the energy you need to survive, your ultimate goal. Knowledge of what drives you will help you realize your goals by clarifying the most important elements of your life. Get ideas here for your personal mission statement.

Assets

These are the good aspects of your sign, your character. What folks like about you, how you affect other people positively. Where you succeed interpersonally and professionally. These are the traits you ought to capitalize on and invest in.

Liabilities

These are the traits you ought to be careful of. They'll drag you down. Often you'll find that your greatest assets can also be your greatest liabilities. You may be really good at saving money (an asset) but forget that money's useless unless you invest (liability). Understanding your faults multiplies your successes. You can't avoid falling into a chasm unless you know it's there.

Dr. Matt's Tips for Success

At the end of your Sun sign, I've highlighted a few strategic pointers for making the most of your solar potential.

Alliances

Here's where you find out how your sign interacts with others. This section is just about as big as all the above sections combined. That's because business and professional alliances matter -- a lot. The roots of the wordseconomicsandcommercedon't have anything to do with money. They're about relationships. And in the marketplace relationships make all the difference, whether you're partners, teammates, or employer and employee. Remember, the Sun symbolizes the vision you have for your business or career and, in fact, for your life. Grab your suntan lotion -- now it's time to look up your Sun sign and its corresponding chapter in part one.

Get Some Sunshine: The Benefits of Understanding Your Solar Powers @ Work

Turn on and turn up your motivation.
Connect with the deepest promise of what you can become.
Discover the ancient myths behind your solar powers.
Let go of the stereotypes of tabloid horoscopes.
Take stock of your assets and liabilities.

Aries @ Work

"I'm still big. It's the pictures that got small."

Aries film star Gloria Swanson

The Myth

There are many Aries myths, and all of them are about one thing: going for what you want. Consider the circumstances of the celebrated ram's birth: Neptune (god of the sea and surfing) loved a woman who rejected him. So the mighty god turned both himself and his beloved into sheep. As you might imagine, one thing led to another and they soon gave birth to a little baby sheep: Aries, the first constellation of the zodiac.

But Aries wasn't your garden variety of ram. He was a magical, flying ram, and the Golden Fleece -- more valuable than a Burberry's cashmere sweater -- came off his back. Everybody wanted it, but it was protected by a ferocious dragon. Finally Jason and the Argonauts snagged the Golden Fleece and won fame and fortune. The hero was Jason, but the moral of the story is all Aries: What's a little stiff competition when it comes to getting what you want?

Motivation

Aries is driven to boldly do what no one's done before. A maker of breakthroughs, you're like Captain Kirk with a briefcase and a cellular phone. The way things are usually done is one thing, and the way you do them is quite another.

Needless to say you're not one to be lost in the crowd with poor puny Waldo. No one has to wonder where you are; your very presence screams, "Here I am!" No one forgets you when you make your exit because the impression you leave behind is like a solitary trail of great bear prints among the millions of tiny gull prints in the sand. When papers are scattered and deadlines rear their ugly heads, you, like an Atlas of the workplace, rise up against the mighty force of chaos with order on your shoulders -- and refuse to shrug.

And you were born this way, you lucky innovator. Born to buck. Most Aries have little trouble getting motivated. It's innate. You wake up with your eyes wide open ready to do, do, do. Problems arise when you can't figure out what todowith all that motivation.

Assets

I never met an Aries who didn't go gaga for bright colors. Taurus may be the sign of the bull, but it's Aries that charges at the sight of red, the smell of blood, the taste of success. Aries likes to take the lead. And Aries does. And Aries is good at it.

Your leadership abilities spark others into action. You're an adrenaline junkie with enough to spare. You ooze energy and your companions soak it up like espresso. If people are languid and lazy at the meeting, you'll perk them up with the electric shock of your personality. Things get done when you're around. Papers are filed, copy is written, forms are processed. You can goad an elephantine bureacracy into outrunning a leopard.

Aries won't tolerate lumbering. If rules must be broken in order to get things done, so be it. Long lines? Cut in front. Inventory problems? Demand what you need. Unfair policies? Charge up the steps of City Hall. Your mother may have told you time and again, "Haste makes waste," but for you nothing's so wasteful as wasted time.

And when something stands in your way? Well, darn it, you ram right through it like a Mack truck through crepe paper. In fact, you're eager to confront challenges -- you even kind of like them. What's life without a struggle, anyway? You'll not only climb the highest mountain, you'll seek it out. When someone says, "Impossible," you say, "Try me!"

Feisty, that's what you are, sort of like the Tasmanian devil in a suit.

Liabilities

When the road is clear and straight, Aries runs the fastest. But a few pebbles can trip up even a herd of stampeding elephants. Passion, courage, a boom box blaring Baroque or heavy metal -- you need these things, and you need a sensible secretary, too.

Sometimes, though, you run up against a stone wall. Aries has a hard time facing the fact that impossibilities do exist. You risk becoming like poor old Captain Ahab inMoby Dick,trying to harpoon a white whale that just can't be killed. It's an honorable enterprise -- the stuff of great books -- but you're setting yourself up for a loss. If you invest everything in a whale of an impossible venture, it might sink you and your crew in a dark sea of bankruptcy.

Likewise, in your single-minded pursuit of a certain goal, you're sometimes insensitive to the feelings of others. Everything's about impulse and reflex with you, and sometimes you kick back a little too hard. Compromise does not come easily. You'd rather knock antlers with the opposition than admit that you, too, might be wrong on certain points. Because you love the rush of battle, you sometimes forget to cushion your blows among more tender souls.

Remember, you need help as much as everyone else, and you don't want to alienate your helpers: the guy who brings you coffee, the postal clerk, and so on. Sometimes folks just don't have the time to do everything as efficiently as you'd like. You're not always realistic about limits and even overestimate yourself. Asking for help is difficult. You want to be the Lone Ranger, but you forget that even he needed Tonto at his side.

Discipline bores you. You want to jump to the finish line without training for the marathon, and this drive for instant gratification is both your asset and your curse. You will probably make it to the finish line (after all, you want it so bad), but only if you successfully harness your inner warrior and train it to get the job done.

Aries might climb the highest mountain successfully from time to time, but if you aren't careful, if you don't take breaks on the way up, you might run out of steam. Even with all that adrenaline pumping through your veins, every engine burns its gas and has to stop for refueling. You might think you can handle several projects at once, but take care you don't have to stay up 24/7 to do it. Do the things you can. Don't do the things you can't. And know the difference.

Dr. Matt's Tips for Aries Success

Don't choose a career that will take 20 years to hit the big time. Instant gratification tickles your fancy. Get some.
You don't always get what you want. Shoot for half and you're doing well. Meanwhile, make that half worth getting.
Cultivate the endurance to sustain your enthusiastic commitment. Discipline bores you, but some savvy Aries successfully harness their inner warrior and train it to get the job done.
Ask for help. People won't think less of you. They might even identify with you.

Don't Mess with This Broad!

Aries is typically caricatured as a warrior. But not all of you dress in camouflage fatigues and drink testosterone for breakfast. Aries is also the sign of the strong woman. Consider Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, and Diana Ross -- four Aries in high heels. All of them forged careers on their strong personalities, gaining renown for their indomitable will and drive to succeed in a tough-guys' world. In fact, Crawford and Davis pioneered Hollywood's damsels-not-in-distress character type.

Excerpted from Work Your Stars!: Using Astrology to Navigate Your Career Path, Shine on the Job and Guide Your Business Decisions by Matthew Abergel
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.