Aries (March 20-April 19) — You may feel like it’s taking you 10 hours to get an hour’s work done, or a thousand words to cover what you might ordinarily clear up in a sentence. I suggest you back off on the effort and focus on inner clarity. It’s tempting to want to get things right in relationships, and with work relationships sometimes it’s essential. However, most of what you get done these days, you’re going to accomplish despite other people rather than with their assistance. That’s likely to shift when the Sun ingresses your opposite sign Libra later in the week, and Mercury resumes direct motion after its three-week retrograde. Once that happens, you will need to prioritize carefully rather than trying to catch up with everything in one day. Figure it will take you about one week to get back up to speed. Focus on what is the most pressing or timely, and then tidy up the less important tasks as you go.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You will only act on one condition, which is your own willingness. It’s important that you not be fooled by some other idea, or try to fool yourself. This puts you into control of your own life, to the extent that such is possible. You might, then, focus on willingness as your primary way of relating to life. Whatever may be motivating you, that means working with what you want, or with whatever goal you want to achieve. Presumably, if you want the goal, you will be willing to take the steps to get there. Those will invariably involve some tasks you like more than others, and some that you prefer less than others. They are all part of the same process, as is working with some people you fancy more and some you fancy less. What matters is that you understand what you want to happen, and what it will take to accomplish that; and understand that reaching the goal means not resisting any step along the way — or else changing your goal to suit your needs.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Mercury is about to change to direct motion this week just as the Sun enters your fellow air sign Libra. You may have the urge to accomplish every task that’s been bumped off your to-do list the past three weeks. You might suddenly feel that anything is possible. I suggest, however, that you begin your catch-up process close to your most basic emotional needs, your physical body and your living space. Then it will be easy to branch out from there. It will serve you better to work from the inside out, because without you being aligned inwardly, it’s difficult to manifest your intentions or desires in the outer world. One question you might face is what to do in the case of seemingly conflicting desires. This is why knowing yourself, feeling centered and understanding your priorities is so important, and why it’s the place to start.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The past few weeks have been mentally agitating, though that does not appear to have dimmed your enthusiasm. You may have exerted quite a bit more energy and worry than you care to. With Mercury returning to direct motion and the Sun moving in your favor later in the week, you’re more likely to get a grip. Overall the astrology is delivering one message, which is that the central priority of your life must be your life, rather than your work. However, work is an essential part of life, so this re-prioritization is likely to require many subtle changes in your way of life — though now is the time to make them. The first among those adjustments is making sure that all of your relationships are founded on a degree of genuine mutuality. This must begin with the people closest to you. To make it happen, you might need to think your way out of a box. But it’s only a box.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — When the Sun changes signs this week, you may start to give yourself a break from worrying about money. Cash flow is meaningful but understanding your priorities is more important — and that’s the place to start. Once you determine what really matters, you might be surprised to see how much else does not matter. It’s been easier than usual for you to obsess over the small details lately, because there have been so many of them, coming at you so fast. For the next few weeks, you have the perfect opportunity to work through essential or desired tasks left incomplete, or those that have been forgotten. It will still be easy to get distracted by trivial worldly concerns, so you will need to keep prioritizing as a conscious act. These days that’s an essential skill, with so much mental overload. Yet do it long enough and you’ll get the hang of it, and get back into the flow.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Mercury changes to direct motion in your sign this week. On one hand this will come as a relief, like an invisible pressurized bubble bursting. On the other hand, this retrograde phase has been keeping you focused on something — possibly to the point of obsession. Whether it’s a constructive activity or not I don’t know, but this looks like the kind of thing you can really make work for you. I suggest you take advantage of it while you can, which means for the full week or so that Mercury seems to be standing still. What that means is that you have an opportunity to complete some deep or introspective journey into yourself, and then to pivot on short notice. This will allow you to respond to a shift in your intentions by making actual changes, some of them on the structural level. Use this moment well, because it’s truly unique in all the world, and it has your name on it.

Jupiter is now in your sign, prompting you to reach far and aim high. Eric will show you how to maximize this opportunity in your 2016-17 Birthday Reading. Pre-order your copy here for the best price.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — The Sun is about to join Jupiter in your birth sign, which will emphasize what an unusual time this is in your life. By unusual I mean beautiful, and with your potential making itself known to you. The thing with potential, though, is that you must consciously choose to make it into something, and then take action. Feeling what you might do, and how much you want to do it, is a good start; now comes the addition of intention and dedicated effort sustained over time. The time factor is one of the most significant issues of our era; the immediacy and instant gratification of our culture (mostly driven by digital consciousness) makes it difficult to think about anything coming to fruition in the long run, such as over the course of a year or so. This is an impossibly long span of time to consider for most people, though if you can focus that much energy and concentration, it will be just enough time to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You seem like you’ve been wanting to burst and keep total control at the same time. You cannot do both, but you may be able to choose when and where you want to let it all out. The thing not to deny is that you have all this energy running through you, and it’s lighting you up and pumping your heat and giving you all these impulses what to do. Once you make friends with your drive and desire and core-level need to express yourself, you will feel more balanced. Yet the thing to do is to actually get your energy moving and to direct it in intentional ways, focused on what you really want to express or create. It would be too easy to blow off all your energy in a way that’s not especially constructive or creative. It will be almost as easy, and much more fun, to focus and do something productive, pleasurable and real.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The concept ‘spiritual’ is often described as a kind of Zen state of mind in a hushed space filled with calm and quiet, and a little tree, and a meditation cushion. Then it turns out that the many people we respect the most, the ones who have the courage to challenge authority and to make changes in society and to let their energy have an impact on the world, are doing a whole other kind of spiritual — the one that’s about the fire of actual spirit coursing through their heart and soul. That’s what you have going on right now. It’s as if you’re channeling the energy of the cosmos into every cell in your body. There is intelligence coming through in this experience: about what you want and do not want, about how to make decisions and how to conduct yourself. You can afford to let go into this experience; it’s far better for your integrity than holding yourself back.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If you’re honest you will admit to yourself that some of your perceptions of life, and some of your expectations, have fallen short of realistic. I’m not advocating for limiting yourself or curtailing your dreams in any way. Rather, I’m suggesting that you take some time to do a reality check. Saturn, the planet associated with your sign, is calling on you to look at yourself and your life from a new angle, one that shows you something you’ve been missing. Here’s a suggestion: it’s easier than you may think to meet people on common ground. You don’t give up any part of yourself by finding a point of agreement or of cooperation. Rather, you will only enhance your life by sharing your desires, your passion and your drive for success. Life is not an all-or-nothing exercise. Your reality overlaps those of the people you care about in many different ways.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Whatever challenges you may be facing in your immediate time and place, you’re being called to take the long view of your life. Even if you’re doing brilliantly and are both happy and successful, it’s time to expand your view of yourself and your purpose. Rather than planning for the future, you might imagine yourself in 10 years looking back at yourself now. What ideas or advice would your future self have for you now? What obstacles that look so challenging today would seem minimal if seen from a greater distance? And what opportunities do you have available that are obscured today, but which seem obvious if seen from a different vantage point? Try a few exercises like that, and stretch your ideas about who you are and what you’re capable of. With the perspective offered by astrology, it’s obvious this is far more than you may think.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — It’s up to you to set a positive tone in your relationships. More than anything that includes leaving the past behind. Humanity is in the unfortunate state of seeming to drown in its own karma. Many people cannot seem to get out of the past long enough to catch a glimpse of the light of day. You cannot allow this to dictate the course of your life, or of your relationships. Yet this is not a matter of wishful thinking, of hope, or of optimism. Rather, it’s about calling yourself to be fully present and maintaining your awareness of the present. Along the way, you must let go of many insults and injuries that have been cast about, which date back as long and as far as you remember. If you can do this for a little while, the return of happiness, shared space and productivity will demonstrate that it’s the best way to live.