The past month with the Sun in your birth sign has hopefully helped you establish your independence and autonomy more concretely. The chances are you’re already making certain relevant changes to your life, and gazing forward with a fresher outlook.

It’s all very well to be swept off one’s feet by another person (or an idea), but eventually it becomes necessary to stand with both feet firmly on the ground. Allowing yourself to be carried for longer would actually be an insult to your own intelligence.

It is easy to express anger, and usually destructive. It is difficult to be honest about what you want, and usually productive to do so. You will have a choice today between what makes you angry and what you sincerely want. They are not the same thing. They have different feeling tones.

No doubt you know the superstition that if you make a wish over birthday candles or unidentified comet-like objects, or whatever, you should not then communicate said wish to anyone. This possibly has its roots in a magical theory that suggests to verbalize something is to diffuse its power. Whatever the merits of that concept, you might actually be wise to do the opposite this week.

You seem to have begun stepping up a gear in terms of growing into your power. It’s as if the universe has dropped some clarity in your lap regarding a part of your identity, of which you may have been unsure or unaware for a while. This is almost certainly an ongoing quest, so make no assumptions and keep up the exploration.

With lots happening in Aries this week, including the grand entrance of Chiron into your sign, you might expect to be dashing about like a dog on a mission. However, the changes need time to shake and settle themselves into place, and so do you. Mercury is stationing direct; and a New Moon is taking place amid the conjunction that’s defined the last couple of years.

You seem to be taking matters pretty much in your stride, with something of a determination to move forward in career-related ambitions regardless of pesky little things like the present Mercury retrograde. To a large extent you may feel that you’re somewhat of an open book.

Mercury stations retrograde in your sign today, just as a powerful aspect approaches between the Sun and your ruler Mars. This might feel like conflicting messages; though it needn’t if you take the long view, and recognize that the spotlight currently on you is no transitory beam. You are laying the foundation for lasting progress. From that perspective, a few weeks at a relatively slower pace is at worst a minor blip.