The Sun joins Mercury, Venus, and the Moon in Aries this week. Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, the beginner, initiator! Corresponding with the Vernal Equinox on Tuesday, the 20th. The one of two times a year when the amount of light and the amount of dark are the same (the other on the Fall Equinox.) Nature continually offers seasons as reminders of the perpetual change of our universe. We use electricity, a marvel of science, to help us do many things, like communicate in this way, for example. And yet it's something that often cuts us off from the balance nature provides for life by constantly changing. Nature doesn't work the same amount all year! Nature doesn't stay up till midnight no matter what season it is! Nature rests in winter, and blooms in spring, and produces in summer, and goes to seed in fall. So our frequent exhaustion and overwhelm has so much to do with such simple things, like resisting or fighting against the most basic laws of nature.
For most of us, resting whenever we feel like it, or when nature suggests, doesn't feel like an option. Often we know we are working in some way that is not in alignment with our bodies! And we tend to ignore this because facing it brings up a lot of questions we don't know how to answer, like, how would I support myself if I wasn't working as much during the winter? etc. The story of 'how things are' told by capitalism appears very at odds with nature's suggestions (aka nature's laws). Which has a lot to do with the state of the environment, aka our home.
It's easy to remember this and move immediately to despair and/or a feeling of failure that one is working too hard, and should somehow figure out how to not do so. Certainly moving toward a life that is more responsive to nature and in alignment with laws like seasons and light and dark, will probably help us and the planet, since we are made of each other. But if this becomes another thing to try to accomplish, or another thing we are failing at, it just reinforces the pattern.
Back to the moment. Breathing right now. Everything wants to be acknowledged, especially the body. I see you body, I feel that you are tired. I'm going to keep working right now, because it's the best I can do at the moment. Thank you for everything you do for me, every day. Thank you for being the vehicle through which I express divinity and connect to other humans and life on earth.
The horoscopes this week are focused on the opposites, the conversations of the zodiac, in honor of the principle of balance that is expressed through the Equinox.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Question - When do you prioritize balance?
Meditation - Balance.
Assignment - Libra, opposite you in the zodiac, seeks balance in all ways, all spaces, all relationships. Aries is more quick to act and initiate, start things without considering balance. But these two energies need each other - for balance! So imagine, this week, orienting like a Libra. What would that even mean? What does balance look like for you, right now, today, or tomorrow? What does it mean for what you are eating? When you are sleeping? What media you are consuming? What conversations are you having? What are you doing with your body?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Question - What does a necessary risk look like in your life right now?
Meditation - The power of risk.
Assignment - Taurus can learn so much from Scorpio about risk. Taurus is much more risk-averse, preferring to stay in sameness and sensory comfort. Your friend opposite in the zodiac can teach you so much about how life comes alive when the feeling of risk is present, a world opens. What terrain feels like risky terrain right now? Reflect on past risks you've taken that have offered new insight, or times when you regretted not taking a risk. Adjust things accordingly.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
Question - When does zeal show up in your life?
Meditation - The power of zeal.
Assignment - Sagittarius can show you about the fires of passion and zeal. Gemini tends to weigh all the options endlessly, often in a purgatory of indecision, seeing all paths as valid. Sagittarius can be focused on philosophical inspiration that leads them to take action. What would zeal allow you to focus on? What freedom would be gained if the options were narrowed down? What does precise, yet soft, focus, look like for you?
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
Question - When have you accessed the freedom of emotional dispassion?
Meditation - Dispassion as connective.
Assignment - Capricorn approaches the world very matter-of-factly. In the spectrum of the zodiac, Cancer is considered one of the most personal signs, and Capricorn one of the least personal. Meaning, Cancer relates in a personal way to everything and everyone, and Capricorn does the opposite. Try on this dispassion of Capricorn as a way of approaching life. What might being dispassionate open up within your connections? What might it make space for, to relate to the world in a less personal way? Take this assignment lightly! Experiment with it when you are feeling experimental.
LEO (July 23-August 22)
Question - What groups do you consider yourself a part of? What does it mean to belong to a group?
Meditation - Collective enlightenment.
Assignment - Next to Cancer, you're on the more personal side of the zodiac, meaning, you relate to the world in a personal way. Aquarius, opposite you, also does the opposite. Leo tends to work through relating to the individual, Aquarius through the group or system. What ways might your life benefit from orienting to groups or systems? How might your compassion open up for yourself and others if you tried on thinking like an Aquarian?
VIRGO (August 23-September 22)
Question - When do you let your attention expand outward, infinitely?
Meditation - Expansion.
Assignment - I've talked a lot about the conversation between Virgo and Pisces here, perhaps more than other opposites, and it's because this one seems particularly potent for each sign. In a way, the opposites can offer solutions for each other that the one might not discover as quickly on its own. The Virgo mind sings the siren song of details, fixing, and practical concerns, but you don't have to always be seduced by this song! The watery expansion of Pisces awaits you as a practice, to try on, see what happens, and not worry about losing your talents with working on and analyzing things. Those won't leave you! But you need to look up sometimes and see about horizons, about feeling without problem solving.
LIBRA (September 23-October 22)
Question - When do you let yourself act on impulse or inspiration?
Meditation - Acting on impulse!
Assignment - It's the beginning of Aries, the beginning of Spring! Life comes forward in such dramatic ways in Spring, and this is an invitation to you to stop weighing the options and act! People will get upset. People will have thoughts of you. Aries can show you so much about letting go of this, or not even needing to let go of it because Aries knows it's not even yours to let go of! Your job is to express yourself as you are, no matter other people's thoughts, in this short precious life you have on Earth. Hesitate less, act more.
SCORPIO (October 23-November 21)
Question - When do you feel steadiness is available to you?
Meditation - Balancing steadiness and risk.
Assignment - Scorpio has a strong need for intensity and can find risk intoxicating for this reason. Scorpio often does its best work under pressure, in the most intense conditions! But when is this being acted on because it's a habit, and what might it distract one from? Being in conversation with Taurus can help here. Taurus tends to be content with stasis. What might this feel like to practice? What room might it open up for contentedness? Balance the need for risk by practicing what your own version of steadiness.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21)
Question - When do you feel accepting of the diversity of experience?
Meditation - Diversity.
Assignment - Gemini can teach you a lot about trying on all the perspectives. When you're inspired about something, or philosophically against something, it can make you rigid and narrow your attention. Or it can make you captivated by the singular promise of one path. Gemini reminds us constantly that there are an infinite number of paths, all valid. This acceptance of diversity, in all of its meanings, can free Sagittarius from getting too attached to one path as its antidote or salvation. Just try on the lightness of Gemini, how at their best, they hold things very lightly. You can be yourself, exactly as you are, and see what it feels like to include all of it, as lightly as possible.
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)
Question - When do you let emotion guide you?
Meditation - Emotions as guides.
Assignment - Cancer can remind you that feeling is a valid way to make decisions, feeling guides us, it keeps us on a path of growth. When we disconnect from or ignore the information available our emotions, we are cutting ourselves off from a huge part of what makes us human and what connects us. And perhaps most importantly for Capricorn, a way to understand our purpose! Often to Capricorn, emotions seem inconvenient, without purpose. You can take Cancer's sensitivity and personalizing as a cue for a new way to orient. What would happen if you made a decision just based on feeling that might not seem 'practical'? Take note of your resistance in even asking this question. What do you notice about how Cancer operates in the world, and how might that help you to move more freely?
AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18)
Question - When do you let yourself be big, and emote?
Meditation - Moving toward center stage.
Assignment - Leo can show you how to take up space, how to try on identity. You won't lose your connection to the group, to the collective, by experimenting with this, but you might be able to connect to yourself and to others in a new way through experimenting with a Leo approach. Leo feels its their birthright to take up space, to personally engage with the world. Imagine the ways Leo connects that you might never have considered before? What is personal to you? Do others ever feel alienated by your distance or independence? Do you? What might it look like to not be on the outside, but on the inside, of everything?
PISCES (February 19 to March 20)
Question - What rituals happen daily in your life?
Meditation - Rituals as practice of earth.
Assignment - Virgo can show you how to do things consistently over time. How to participate in the unglamorous daily tasks of living. And you can bring the emotional significance and connection to these activities. What rituals can you continue or include that bring a reminder of the rhythms of the earth to your life? Daily, small, routine. This is one of the ways Virgo can help you.