Aries Sun & Aries Rising
It’s true that all the pieces appear to be in place, and if you’re ready to return to the material world then, baby, it’s ready to have you. It might be worth your time, however, to figure out if the material world you’re venturing toward is the same one you left behind. Perhaps, in your absence or abstention, it’s changed. And if not — then maybe you have. Mars’ foray into Capricorn has you doubling down on strategy. You’ve always had the will to get it done — whatever *it* is — but these days that willpower collects in you, and you’d rather take your time and do it right. You know that the difference between getting what you want and getting something you want long after you have it means being more discerning. It’s not that you lack discernment, far from it, but just because you have something doesn’t mean you know when to use it. One thing to keep in mind is that discernment is not the opposite of courage. Whether your struggles are internal or external, sometimes facing a formidable beast requires a stakeout, not a sword. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Taurus Sun & Taurus Rising
It’s the last week in the trenches of Venus’ retrograde transit through Capricorn and while there are plenty of valid reasons to keep your head down and stay out of the way, we both know you’re not the type. What a Taurus loves even more than rest is a valiant challenge worthy of needing it. Perhaps, then, it’s worth noting that this week begins with a last quarter Scorpio moon, a moon tired of suffering fools — especially, but not only, the ones that we shelter within ourselves — and ready to shed them. And as Venus approaches direct station on the 29th, it makes an imperfect trine to Uranus, planet of destabilising change, which moves steadily forward in your sign. If you’re looking for a go-ahead, a green light, the universe is full of them. But keep this in mind: a strike in one area does not create an isolated wreck. It reverberates, it moves you. You have to be ready for waves, for a sea change. You have to want the wreck and not the story of the wreck. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Gemini Sun & Gemini Rising
What’s a little Mercury retrograde to a Gemini living through the plague years? Surely, the planet’s apparent backward movement is not unlike a Gemini combing through the tangles of threads and projects left dangling. Focus on the small and tangible things, the ones that feel good to do, the ones that help you feel a part of this very human planet. What project needs your valuable input, dear one? Who was it you meant to call back? Where can your attention return, renewed? While it’s possible for one person to be good at many things, there are only so many things one person can do at any given time — especially with the world in the state that it is. This retrograde is a beautiful time for you to examine what has and hasn’t held your interest, to note the kinds of endeavours you’re more likely to sustain and relinquish responsibility for those that have proven themselves unsustainable. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Cancer Sun & Cancer Rising
While Jupiter’s ingress into Pisces might have you getting more comfortable about sharing yourself with the world, Venus’ retrograde transit is still in the midst of teaching you what it means to share yourself in ways that require more than just taking up space — ways that ask you to be vulnerable and accountable in your relationships. And while there’s no direct feedback loop between the two, there is the general understanding that confidence breeds confidence. When you’re feeling yourself in one area of your life, you start to think about what it would be like to feel yourself in others. You stretch a circle in one spot and the whole thing widens. In this time of widening, of allowing yourself to be more and asking for more, it’s okay to keep some benchmarks to yourself. But take some time mid-week, Cancer, to celebrate the space you’ve carved out for yourself, your creativity, and your courage too.ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Leo Sun & Leo Rising
Aquarius season has a way of pulling Leos out from their big kitty slumber and into a congress of the wild cats. Of course, social desires and social realities aren’t always aligned, and if it’s not a country-wide viral surge, then it’s a conjunction between the Sun and Mercury retrograde that has us reaching out and stumbling back. Don’t let what falls through dishearten you, dear Leo; let it fill you with tenderness for all the ways that we strive to connect with one another, even when connection is tied up with fear and risk and loss. So, if you’re lonely and you find yourself uncertain of who to reach out to, you’re not alone in those feelings. And wasn’t there a way, before, to share your world with someone even if you weren’t in the same room? A way more thoughtful, more sustained than a Zoom call? When was the last time you made a playlist for someone else, a care package? Wouldn’t it feel good to sew a silly patch onto something and send it away?ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Virgo Sun & Virgo Rising
Most people have a public face and a private one — at least one of each — and Virgos are no different. Concerned with the public discourse, engaged with all matters of engagement, even the most introverted Virgo knows how to keep a conversation going. But talking about matters that concern the world at large can be a lot easier than talking about matters that concern the private chambers of your own heart. Especially if you’re not sure whether or not these matters mean as much to others as they do to you, especially if you’re protective of their meaning. Switching faces can exhaust even the most ardent Virgos, however, and there’s no greater relief than finding someone who sees all your faces and still sees you. Of course, that relief is the reward of vulnerability, not the precursor to it. It doesn’t have to be easy, Virgo, to be at the right time. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Libra Sun & Libra Rising
Conversations about resources, about wealth, about what a person has, are necessarily complicated. What belongs to us and what we are raised to believe we are entitled to isn’t just a matter of individual privilege, it’s the result of an ongoing system of inequality. That said, there are energetic aspects of wealth, of receiving and having, that prevail despite circumstantial differences. For instance, it is nearly impossible to imagine more for yourself if you don’t believe that more is possible. And, it’s very difficult to invite in all that’s available to you when you’re afraid that there’s not enough to go around and you don’t think that you deserve it. But unlearning scarcity is no easy feat. It takes time, and it takes small, sustainable practices. This week invites you to transmute whatever material fears rattle within you by doing an inventory of your resources — an inventory as simple as holding your own hand and breathing in before saying, “good things come.”ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Scorpio Sun & Scorpio Rising
Despite the internal or external pressures you’ve collected, there really is no deadline for being sure. You can tally up your pros and cons, comb through evidence, and search the undersides of everything you love only to come up with proof that — yes — there are two sides to whatever it is you’re doing and at least two ways to go. If you can accept that even being 100% sure is in itself a temporary feeling, like an angel that simply moves you from one spot to another, then you can try calling on as many angels as you want: An angel like a second wind that carries you from one task to the next, assuring you that showing up counts as doing your best. An angel like a crying jag that moves an old sadness through your body, a sadness that’s both precious and mysterious to you. If certitude is temporary, so is waywardness. It might even be that the angel of temporary pleasure, of play, knows the angel of purpose. You don’t need to be sure to call on one or the other. Just a little desire will do. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Sagittarius Sun & Sagittarius Rising
There’s something sweet about your ruling planet under the stars of Pisces. And, perhaps it’s returning to you, that sweetness, even if it’s mixed with sadness: a belief in home as an ever-evolving thing, especially if you understand home through your relationship with other people. I’m reminded of these lines from a poem by Stephen Dunn, called “Sweetness”:
Often a sweetness comes
as if on loan, stays just long enough
to make sense of what it means to be alive,
then returns to its dark
source. As for me, I don’t care
where it’s been, or what bitter road
it’s traveled
to come so far, to taste so good.
Maybe you do care, Sagittarius, maybe you’ve spent your life wishing you didn’t care so much. This week offers you all kinds of small rituals strong enough to keep that heavy sweetness at bay. But, your magical ability to reject is just as powerful as your ability to receive. You can turn a spell around, if you want to. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Capricorn Sun & Capricorn Rising
You don’t have to believe in ghosts to have their blessing and you don’t need to be the kind of person who really believes they have a safety net in order to feel seen and loved. You can just take it day by day, walking out onto the high wire that is being alive, balancing yourself on the taut rope of this world, and whatever flies above you and stretches beneath you is bound to do the rest. But, if you want to believe in something, even if that something is simply your own magic, it might make the tightrope feel more manageable. And, not that you need it, but if you’d like to have the option of the easier way, you’ll find that the more you believe in the numinous. the more it helps you. Remember, belief is cultivated in the interior, so don’t bother with comparisons. All magic, all love, is incomparable — including the kind we nurture for ourselves and for others.ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Aquarius Sun & Aquarius Rising
As we move further and further from the solstice, the sun beckons us to take up space in the world again. But, what kind of world is this? Yes, there’s more to life, to being alive, than the ever-collapsing state of our institutions. But, up against the global climate, letting your intuition lead the way can feel like following a dry riverbed: the memory of water and the course it needed to take. But, you know that proof of what once was is powerful. You know that within it lies the promise of what can be again. Perhaps the way forward for you this time isn’t about jumping into the unknown but in honoring what you do know — what’s remained. Can you accept that one river is dry without foreclosing the possibility of new rivers? Can you pull close that which pulses with life around you and feel into its possibility? What do you have? What do you want? What feels good? What changes can you make now to have more of that?
ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
Pisces Sun & Pisces Rising
There are seasons in our life when memory and experience will have to do for truth, even if we know deep down that truth is a lot more complicated than one person’s recollection. And maybe hindsight is 20/20, or maybe it’s just easier imagining what we could have done better, differently, when the chance to do so is already long past us. While it may be hard to accept, imagining is not the same thing as living through it. There are no guarantees, only wild bets and the dice falling. Knowing this doesn’t make moving forward any easier. So maybe it’s not supposed to get easier. Maybe you just get better at catching on. Maybe you don’t need the truth as it was then, only as it is now: What you value in yourself, what you value in others, what you would like to remember. Sometimes, it can take a while to find your way out of the past and its looping roads. Follow the signs that guide you toward the connections you want; emulate their language. ILLUSTRATION BY barbarianflower
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