Aries (March 20-April 19) — Your life the past few months may have reminded you of the movie version of The Drama of the Gifted Child. While a series of challenging Mars transits and a pair of eclipses are behind us, you are still in sensitive territory. This may seem to be about other people, though it’s just as much about you. It will help if you don’t dwell on any sense of loss, but rather collect yourself in the present, and get a handle on what you want to do. You know that certain domestic or emotional situations cannot sustain themselves the way they’ve been going. The essence of the matter is that you need to be less emotionally involved, and more distant from circumstances that keep drawing you in. What you’ve learned lately has given you plenty of reason for doing so, though the decision must come from the emotional level if you want it to stick. Meanwhile, ask yourself of anything you do not like: how am I benefitting?

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Be conscious of give and take, whoever is on whatever side of the equation. Strive for balance. While few exchanges are mathematically equal, it will help you and everyone else if you make sure that to some degree, resources and goodwill are flowing in both directions, and to any third parties who have needs you’re aware of. Keep a sense of proportion and do your part to make sure everyone is taken care of, as best you can. Recent (and still developing) events are calling on you to have both a longer-range view of your life, and a much wider perspective. It is too easy for you to take a narrow view of matters that call for an encompassing one. Try to do this voluntarily, so that you don’t have to be shocked into awakening. The message may come to you one of many ways, though the essence will always be to extend your imagination further, and wider.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Financial matters come into focus as Mercury and the Sun approach a conjunction in Cancer. The problem you may confront over and over again is why certain people feel more powerful than you, or have any influence over your affairs. This is likely to involve your monetary independence: having your own money, and using it as you see fit. Yet there is also likely to be a matter of sexual power involved, and the way you can get drawn into someone’s tractor beam. In those situations, finances may be a ruse, when the real point of contact is closer to the emotional and biological level. It’s likely you’ve seen these situations for what they are over and over again; taking heed is not so easy, if you feel like hormonal forces are limiting your ability to think rationally. You know what is helpful and what is not; the question is whether you believe your own truth.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Keep a handle on your affairs, gently. Mercury retrograde has made its way into your sign. While your worst fears are unlikely to be valid, there will be something of a chaos factor as Mercury approaches a square aspect with Eris. This is most likely to manifest as confusion, so you want to think in structured ways. For example, that means checking your facts before you release something to the public, or assert it as true in a personal context. Be mindful of the actual numbers where financial situations are concerned. You are in a position where others can draw you into a space where you feel emotionally dominated, or like your options are limited. It’s your role to keep your mind open to your own possibilities, and to recognize what is not true for you. This is unlikely to come with a big defensive reaction; more likely, you will observe when the facts don’t add up, or when someone’s position is untenable for you. Move along gently.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Mars and Juno in your sign are urging you to take a fair-minded approach to life. Avoid any tendency to keep score in your relationships. Instead, be as generous as you can. Take up the causes of people who are getting the short end of the stick, which means using your position to advocate for others in need. Meanwhile, there would seem to be something you are struggling to resolve or let go of. It will help if you take a more realistic approach to this situation, which has its roots in the distant past. Make a deep inquiry into whether you think something has the power to hurt you, and why you believe that. There is a rigid quality you are struggling to transcend, though that cannot be done with flights of the imagination. You cannot dream your way out of anything, though you can certainly use your abundant creativity and problem solving ability. This will be easier if you take a little more time to yourself.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Recent events, back to late spring, have been encouraging you to widen your aperture and let in a little more light. You have a way of seeing worst-case scenarios as the most realistic ones, and then compensating with a Pollyanna approach to the solution. There’s a lot of fertile, interesting territory to explore in between the two positions, and that is where you want to roam around. Life is not just a matter of hope and fear. It’s about building your ideas into tangible reality, which takes sustained effort. It also calls for relationships with people who are supportive of who you are and what you want to do. It’s not always easy to steer clear of unsupportive people, particularly if you think you owe them something. But it’s a skill you will benefit greatly from mastering sooner rather than later.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — It would appear that one of your most important projects the past couple of months has been cultivating a deeper level of independence. That mainly means emotional freedom and self-affirmation, but also control over your physical spaces. You simply must feel at home in your own skin, your own home, and whatever you call your family. Because part of your nature is to be so dependent upon your family structure, this may not be easy, though you’ve seen the benefits of giving yourself some distance. Yet that alone will not get you where you want and need to be. Your own physical space — a bit more than a room of your own, though that’s a start — is essential. It’s only in your own space that you can actually feel yourself, think in peace, and respond to your own needs. While not always possible, it’s certainly not impossible, if you structure your time and resources and focus the goal.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — It’s likely that you need to change your mind about someone or something. This energy tends to build up in your life like tectonic plates pressing against one another, then it releases in a personal earthquake. You can take a calmer, easier approach, and reflect on whether you’re being realistic about some of the more important facets of your existence. That said, the whole notion of “realistic” has fallen into hard times, and you may feel an urgency around blowing it sky high and just going with the waves of your emotions. That’s not going to serve you very well, though. Flexibility is not about gushing, or swirling around in the currents. Observe yourself carefully. Notice what you need to change, and make the adjustments from the inside rather than in outer appearance. Also, there seems to be something from the past you are desperately trying to forget. You might flip that around, and make a point of remembering.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Are you feeling any better about yourself? I hope so, after all you’ve been through, all the pressure you’ve been under, all the changes you’ve endured. The takeaway has been that if you want to have your relationships on something closer to your own terms, you must negotiate that as a conscious act. If you don’t, you won’t know your own position or point of view. By that I mean one benefit of negotiating is figuring out what you want and what you need. Sure, it helps to go into any discussion with an idea of this, though your values are changing fast. So you will need to discover where you’re coming from as you move along. Due to the long-term effect of Jupiter square Neptune, which will last for a couple more months, you must be careful not to make any promises you cannot keep.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You have a more potent impact on others than you may imagine, and they are more sensitive to you than you’ve noticed. Please honor that and be gentle with those who care about you — and with one person in particular. You may not recognize the degree to which your position seems to be set in concrete, or that others perceive you as intractable. This is not so much about compromising in the sense of finding a halfway point, but rather about actually feeling what another person is feeling, whether you think it’s right or wrong. Be cautious of any situation where you seem to have power over someone, whether it’s emotional, sexual, financial or professional. Assert, with your actions, that others have the right to make decisions, and give them all the space to do so. We live in times when “everything is about power,” though this is not a healthy position for you to take.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may be wondering whether something is a short-term thing or a long-term thing. Neither applies, since everything is what it is now. Regarding duration, the only question you need to ask yourself is the nature of your commitment, rather than that of someone else. Others will demonstrate their loyalty to you, or not. They will express their desire to get along with you by being easy and kind. You don’t want a contract; you want to have experiences, and gently evaluate the relationship or partnership based on what you learn from them. It would be nice if more of the world took more of this approach, based less on expectations and promises, and more on experiences. This is not an easy position to take for insecure humans, who so often seem content to stand on the ground of their hopes. But you can do a lot better than that, for you, and anyone you care about.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Keep your creativity going. Mars is pushing you to succeed and get the job done and done well (and all of that), though you will benefit greatly from immersing yourself in your art, and whatever gives you pleasure. Take the time to do it; use that Martian “get it done” energy to work ahead of your schedule, so you clear some free time. Delegate what you can to anyone who can do the job as well as you. Your best ideas will flow when you leave some time around them, meaning, leaving some slack in your schedule and taking as much time alone as you need. Socializing and romantic relationships are not typically good for creative endeavors. You don’t need anyone’s permission to do what you want and need to do, though it will be helpful if you’re open about your intentions. Balance is possible, but lean in the direction of investing in your own cause, whatever it might be.