Ina Garten, an Aquarius.
Photo: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Late Sunday night, communication planet Mercury enters inventive Aquarius, where it’ll stay for the next three weeks. This is a time to broaden your thinking. No idea is too out-there to ponder, no question too strange to ask. If you’re willing to experiment, you can come up with new solutions to old problems. Then on Friday evening, a new moon in Aquarius offers a much-needed fresh start. This is your chance to reimagine your life, your future, even the world. Shake off all that’s bland and ordinary and set off on a different course, if that’s what you need. In the meantime, find the weekly horoscope for each zodiac sign, below.
You’ve probably been feeling antsy lately, hungry for novelty, wonder. It’s not that your days are boring — you’re plenty busy — only that they’re predictable: All the drama unfolds along familiar lines, you could do your job blindfolded, the news is reliably depressing. This week, the best way to invite fresh air into your life is to meet people. Get outside of your head, and outside of your regular social circle, too, and you’ll open the door to new possibilities. By expanding the cast of characters in your life, you can change your future.
No matter how hard you work or how much you accomplish, part of you fears it isn’t enough. You worry that you’re wasting your potential, squandering valuable time, falling behind on the five year plan you set for yourself. Of course, you don’t need to achieve anything. Life is about more than productivity. But if big dreams are calling to you, don’t give up on them or yourself. You’re likely to make a breakthrough this week, one that helps you appreciate just how far you’ve already come. The opportunity you’ve been waiting for is right around the corner.
This week, you’ll likely be more aware than ever of other people’s reactions to you. You’re good at reading people, and you can tell who thinks you’re wonderful, who’s put off by you, who’s indifferent. All this can be valuable information, but it can also be distracting. If you let others’ opinions determine your next move, you’ll only end up lost. And anyway, the less concerned you appear to be with what other people think, the more likely it is they’ll be drawn to you. Some people might resent your independence, but not the ones whose approval you care about.
The future is scary right now. The world only seems to get meaner, other people less generous, and the possibilities more limited with each day. You’re so worried about losing what happiness and stability you do possess that you hardly have the time or energy left to be bold, ambitious, creative. This week, it’s vital that you push back against that fear. Yes, there are things in this world to be frightened of, but you have to keep living here anyway, so you might as well make the most of it. Don’t be reckless, but have faith in yourself. You can take measured risks and land on your feet.
The past has been weighing heavily on you recently. Maybe you can’t let go of the ways you’ve been wronged by others, or maybe you’re haunted by the times you were the one in the wrong. Either way, it makes it hard for you to live in the present when you’re constantly looking back. This week, your challenge is to figure out what it would take for you to be able to move on. It could mean forgiving someone (or yourself), walking away, or agreeing to start fresh. You don’t have to close the door to the past, only find a way to keep moving forward.
There’s a stereotype that Virgo is the most critical of the signs. In fairness, as much as you dish it out, you’re also willing to take it in turn. You care more about doing good work than you do about having your ego flattered, so when people have feedback to share, you’re happy to listen. Just remember, this week, that not all criticisms are valid, well-informed, or offered in good faith. You don’t have to take it all on board. When comments are mean-spirited or simply unhelpful, the best thing to do is ignore them. Be discerning and trust yourself.
Often when you’re dissatisfied in your relationship, your career, your life overall, you try to suppress the feeling. Better to wait and see if the mood will pass than to hastily make a change you might regret. It’s a sensible approach, but the risk is that you end up spinning your wheels. This week, it’s time to take action. You don’t need to do anything drastic, like quit your job in a huff when quietly starting to send out applications will do for now. The important thing is that you stop hoping for some outside force to turn things upside down. It’s up to you to make a change.
You’ve been preoccupied with questions about your identity, your past, your purpose in life. The world would be a better place if more people were as thoughtful as you, but it’s exhausting work. It requires all the courage and strength you have, that level of reflection. This week, take a step back. Give yourself time to deal with the problems of daily life, to tend to your living space, to enjoy the company of the people you love. You’ve been focused on the heavy stuff. This week, allow yourself to experience ease.
You could be perfectly happy where you’re at and still crave newness. You want to be challenged, surprised, taken outside your routines. You’re tired of doing the same things every day, having the same conversations you’ve had a thousand times before. This week, if you want something different, you’re going to have to make it happen. If you want a change of scenery, it’s up to you to travel. If you want to talk to new people, it’s up to you to start the conversations. You can have all the excitement you want. You only have to take the lead.
It’s easy to feel cheated when you follow the instructions, do as you’re told, keep your head down … and you still don’t get the results you wanted. When you do everything you think you’re supposed to — follow the “right” career path, hit traditional relationship milestones — and find you’re dissatisfied anyway, it’s frustrating. You may even start to think the problem is with you. If that sounds familiar, this week is your chance to rewrite your plans. If the old script hasn’t worked out for you, write a new one. Get creative. Improvise. The world is changing all the time, so try changing the way you move through it.
You believe without a doubt that it’s possible to change the world. You’re less confident that it’s possible to change yourself. You fear that you’re too set in your ways, that you’ve gained too much momentum to alter course, or that the deck is stacked against you. This week, though, anything is possible. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, or that the transformation you desire will magically happen overnight, but with a little effort you’ll be surprised how quickly the impossible becomes attainable.
You’re generous with your time and attention; You make caring for others look effortless. This means that your friends don’t always notice how hard you work. Even you don’t always recognize how drained you are. This week, recharge, whatever that looks like for you. You deserve to laze around, to read and think and dream, to do nothing but rest. Don’t let anyone convince you that it’s selfish, or that you have a duty to always put your needs last. You’re running on fumes and you probably have been for a while now, so give yourself a break.
Read the weekly horoscopes for the week of January 28. The weekly horoscopes for the week of February 11 will be online next Sunday.
Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.
