Yesterday was the New Moon in Aries. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, a sign of beginnings. So the Sun and the Moon are in the same sign, this sign of beginning, this sign of reset, a feeling of spring (in the northern hemisphere) and its fits and starts, how intense it can be, how good and how hard, keeping up (by letting go) with the flow of change. Uranus is also in Aries, blasting us out with sudden changes and electric energy for a bit longer, before it moves into Taurus in May. Pluto is in Capricorn, and so is Saturn, and so is Mars. One of the things I’m saying here is that the Cardinal signs - Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn - are getting a lot of motivating nudges towards change. Take all the breaths and drink all the water.
But if you are down with being awake and not missing your life, it probably feels like you’re getting these nudges almost all of the time, whether you are a cardinal sign or not, and I am here to say, hey, I feel you. Being awake and not missing your life means that you stay connected to the truth that we’re changing every moment, and it’s intense to be a person living on planet earth. I can’t emphasize this enough. I probably write it every week. Can we at least give ourselves permission to acknowledge that it is intense being a person living on planet earth?
People ask me about transits and specific dates a lot, and I keep bringing the focus back to birth charts, which in Astrology is considered basic. More and more, I feel that Astrology and/or any divination tool can give us so much when we use beginner’s mind and re-see the simplest aspects of it. We don’t need more astrological (or other) information - we are so saturated! - we can just use one or two astrological truths as cues for our own intuition about our next moves.
If we just focus, for example, on Aries - on the energy of Aries, which is where the Sun is right now, this offers us so many cues about this time and what is going on. A time of dynamic change. A time of transition. Aries loves to start things. This principle shows up in humans who also have the Sun in Aries, but also in the weather, and in other species at this time, etc. Just that basic information is enough to affirm our experience, to remind us to go with it, resist the energy of this time less, relax into the moment.
These horoscopes are about connecting with a moment of stillness this week, so that you can be there with yourself and all of your own basics enough to intuit your next move. This is what Astrology is - a language of Nature, asking you to listen to yourself, since you are also nature.
ARIES | March 21-April 19
Question - How often do you make your own food?
Meditation - Food as connection to slowness.
Assignment - This Aries energy, this Aries time, you’re probably lit a.f. And/or exhausted from being lit. Make some food for yourself this week. Make something that takes time, and involves small tasks like peeling potatoes or other root vegetables, etc. Food that is slow enough that you have to pay attention to the food itself, where it came from, what its properties are, how it nourishes you. Listen to the food, let it tell you things you might be too loud to listen to lately. (And by loud I mean a particular kind of vibration of movement that you have.)
TAURUS | April 20-May 20
Question - When do you notice clouds?
Meditation - Air and the sky.
Assignment - Do legs up the wall at least three times this week. By this I mean, lie on the ground, and put your legs against a wall. This allows you to look up, which it is very important that you do more often, and it allows you to be rooted while also letting in more lightness, more air. Let the air circulate through your body and mind, bringing in freshness.
GEMINI | May 21-June 20
Question - How conscious are you about your sensory input?
Meditation - sensory sensitivity!
Assignment - Gemini tends to be curious about everything! What are you bringing in. Discernment is so important. What do you let through - your nervous system gets so lit! How often do you notice this, and what do you do about it? You are the boss of a lot of what comes in. Not all of it, but a lot of it. So give yourself at least two times, even for 3-5 minutes this week, of sensory deprivation. Set a timer. Find the location in your life that allows you to have the most silence and physical calm as possible. Put it on the calendar if you need to. I’m being bossy because I think this is really important for you. Don’t just think about doing it, actually do it.
CANCER | June 21-July 22
Question - What can your joints tell you about your next step?
Meditation - the magnificent joints of your body.
Assignment - Listen to your joints this week. Specifically the ones of your lower body. Do at least one meditation where you ask your joints questions about what they need. What they can offer you about what your next moves are. Think of it as a divine job, this kind of listening to these magnifcent joints.
LEO | July 23-August 22
Question - What is your mind doing when you are doing chores?
Meditation - domestic chores as time for divine listening.
Assignment - When you do the dishes this week, or any domestic task, give yourself an assignment by asking a question. So the question can be something you want to know about, something you might ask an astrologer or psychic. Hold this question gently when you arrive at the dishes, and see what happens. Use this time where you are attending to yourself and your home to reveal the answers you are needing.
VIRGO | August 23-September 22
Question - What counts as doing and what doesn’t, in your mind?
Meditation - noticing as doing.
Assignment - Lie on the ground as much as possible this week. Look up. While you are lying down, notice what stories arise about the things you need to be doing instead. While you are reading this, notice the stories that arise about why you don’t have time to lie down. Let your body teach you new stories about what doing might include. Let your body remind you how to be creative about what doing is. How did you think about doing as a kid? What did your body feel like as a kid? Use these answers as cues if it’s helpful.
LIBRA | September 23-October 22
Question - When do you re-read important things?
Meditation - learning is a spiral.
Assignment - Return to something you used to love this week. Perhaps this is a book, or an email, or some other communication from another that inspired you. Return to it for the inspiration again, and also to see how you have changed. What do you notice about what has changed? What do you see that you didn’t before? Reflect on your own growth through this process. Tell yourself good job, just for existing, and for noticing your own growth, not to be taken for granted.
SCORPIO | October 23-November 21
Question - What noise or sounds help you?
Meditation - Sound as emotional cue.
Assignment - What sounds do you notice that occur regularly around you that help you? By help I mean, maybe there are sounds you find annoying, which contrast to your own sounds - and the difference between the two helps you discern your next step, and the boundary between what is yours and what is another’s. Or I mean, if there are sounds (on all levels / any level) that consistently arise that don’t serve you, what can you do to receive less of this input? How can you care for yourself in this way? Think of sounds as communications, noise, language, music, weather, and more.
SAGITTARIUS | November 22-December 21
Question - What role does color play in your life right now?
Meditation - Red - blood, growth, life, movement.
Assignment - Spend some time meditating with color this week. Maybe that means contemplating a color that feels good to you, putting it around you, noticing it when it comes through. Allowing color to work as a metonym for what you want to introduce in your life. Invite life in, invite what is needed in, in the form of color. I see red in your field right now. How does this connect for you? How do you interpret this?
CAPRICORN | December 22-January 19
Question - How would a child respond to what you are dealing with?
Meditation - childlike responses.
Assignment - You’ve been an old soul your whole life, so getting older is a way for you to get younger. It’s a paradox, as most of life is. Return to any part of you that ever did feel like a child, and ask this child questions about how they would live right now. What would your childhood self prioritize in this moment? What would your childhood self suggest about your next step?
AQUARIUS | January 20 to February 18
Question - What is your level of distance from / to your own pain?
Meditation - walking into the center of your life.
Assignment - Let yourself shed this purple bruisey energy by walking from the outside of your life to the inside. Aquarius can be distant from its own pain. Sometimes we need to move closer to it in order to let it move away from us. What does it mean to you to be embodied? This is what I mean by moving to the center of your life. When do you feel most embodied? Ask yourself this question in a moment of quiet. Let the answer tell you about what to spend your free time on this week.
PISCES | February 19 to March 20
Question - What energy is dispersed in your field that you can collect back up?
Meditation - Collecting seeds into a basket.
Assignment - The image this week for you is drawing in, collecting what has been dispersed of your own energy. It’s a huge hand moving from opened to closed, in a graceful, precise gathering motion. This doesn’t mean your heart closes. This means you return to your rightful place as the boss of your own energy, and don’t conflate giving your energy away with compassion. The way to be most effectively compassionate and connected with others is to collect your own energy and guard it with great respect. This is called for so that your energy can not be depleted, so that you can actually have love to offer!