Monday Morning Horoscope #176 for May 13, 2019

Aries (March 20-April 19) — Write yourself a memo tonight. TO: Myself. FROM: Myself. RE: How not to overreact this week. Mars, your ruling planet, is about to enter Cancer; this happens overnight Wednesday to Thursday. It’s been in Gemini for a while, and is also in a condition called out of bounds, which means potentially skating out of control. This condition lasts into midsummer, so it’s time to practice anger management and also desire management. And with Mars entering Cancer, we could add insecurity management. This week and going forward, pay attention to any tendencies you may have to overreact to emotional situations. It’s all the rage and vogue these days to forgo the need for limits. Yet underneath general issues like that, there is something specific developing for you, which is overdoing your concerns about integrity to the point where you have no fun. What is the relationship between holding yourself down emotionally, and containing your sexual desire, based on a mental-level excuse? Pay attention to what you will and will not allow yourself to do. Pay attention to what you do anyway, and how you feel about it. Get your full Aries reading by Eric here.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Venus and Mars both change signs Wednesday (see Aries for the details on Mars, which can describe certain factors of your intimate relationships). Venus enters Taurus, and begins a conjunction to Uranus, still new in your sign — and that means adventure. Yet this is about the adventure of who you are becoming rather than where you go. Your sign is not famous for its love of change. We all depend on you for your consistency and your persistence, but you can take things too far sometimes, working for stability above all else. Even if that usually feels good to you, aspects this week are encouraging you to hang loose. That’s not easy these days; there is so little trust, and so much anxiety. One message of this transit is that you have the ability to reinvent yourself, in ways large and small. That may not happen in a day or a week, though you may get the idea for what you want to create for yourself. This is likely to come with some instructions for how to put your plans into action, which is best done one step at a time. This week, one may be quite enough. Get your full Taurus reading by Eric here.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Be careful not to get caught in anyone else’s web of intrigue or deception. Check carefully the claims people make, particularly about financial matters that influence you directly. It will be easy for you to slip into a space where you’re guided by unseen and unconscious forces if you don’t follow the visible, obvious signposts. In any event, you would benefit by pausing on any important decisions until next week, after Venus and Mars change signs. Yet be aware that there will be many moving parts in your personal environment even after these transits take hold, and you’ll need to re-evaluate where you stand with the people around you. That will take a few days, because many of them are experiencing shakeups and being reoriented in ways large and small. The emotional environment is in flux, which means it will feel like people are making decisions based on different values than usual. This includes you; make a study of what is motivating you. Then look around and see if you can determine what’s motivating others — when relevant. Get your full Gemini reading by Eric here.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Mars enters your sign this week, and begins a trek through the most intriguing territory of the zodiac. I’ve described this in the article above. It’s a lot to relate, though in summary form: over the next few weeks, Mars makes aspects to numerous high-potency planets in your relationship sign Capricorn and your career sign Aries. There are additional points in Libra that help complete the picture. I’m not talking about asteroids, I’m talking about “minor” planets in the category of Chiron and Pluto that describe the innermost healing our struggling society needs to work on. We see all the outer stuff, the politics and other madness in the news, with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. The deep, personal material is addressed by planets including Chiron and Pholus. There’s no way to overstate the energy contained in this aspect pattern, and now Mars is about to get into the picture. So I am instead using understatement. Pay attention. Any aggressive moves you make are likely to flash right back at you, so monitor your thoughts, your speech and your actions carefully. Tread lightly on the Earth. Get your full Cancer reading by Eric here.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — There is no point keeping secrets. Everything is already known. However, it is your prerogative to choose with whom who you want to discuss any facet of your life. What will not help you is carrying around an aura of being cloaked, like you’re on a secret mission. This will only stoke your anxiety, and hint to others that you’re not trustworthy when in fact you are. The next few days are likely to arrive with positive turns in your professional or vocational developments. You may receive an unexpected offer of some kind, or see an opportunity you had overlooked at first. The way the astrology plays out, you may be able to give some tangible form and substance to something that was only a wild concept. Everything about your professional or vocational life is pointing you toward something exciting, intriguing, different from the past and a little strange. At minimum, you need to invest yourself in what you find to be exciting, what feeds you, and what makes you want to get up every day and do that thing. Get your full Leo reading by Eric here.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Be mindful about what you say and do in the public eye. There are elements of your most intimate and personal life that could be punted into the public sphere — and few people understand the problem with this. We live in times when we’re stalked by cameras and GPS, and we know that anything we type into the field of a seemingly private text message could end up going viral on Twitter 15 minutes later. The living hell of having no inner sanctuary is not fully recognized by most people alive today; the memory and the feeling has been practically erased. But imagine if you could sequester yourself in a nice hotel room for a few days, with no access to the internet, with only a good book, a notebook or sketchpad, a few pens and pencils, and maybe a musical instrument. How would it feel to have an interval of nobody monitoring your thoughts, nor you broadcasting them to anyone? How would you feel? Can you even imagine not being interrupted? Who would you become? This may be what you’re searching for. Get your full Virgo reading by Eric here.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Be sure you’re the one who speaks for yourself this week. You don’t need any proxies to represent you. Don’t send anyone anywhere to do your bidding. You are the person best suited to advocate for yourself, and to stand up for your own values. Yet consider this: you don’t need to do anything other than be who you are. Your example is what teaches, and what makes the strongest statement about you. With Mars so prominent in your chart right now — and undergoing a kind of initiation process (see above article) — the best thing you can do is notice how you influence your environment. By that I mean: when you walk into a room, feel your own presence and how others respond to you. Most people are insensitive to this; I suggest you become a student of your own aura, what you project and how others respond. Watch their faces. Listen to what they say. Observe who notices you, and pay attention to whom you are attracted. And listen carefully before you speak. Get your full Libra reading by Eric here.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — What do you believe? Do you even know? Belief is a strange thing, because usually it’s veiled as certainty. When you peel back the surface of certainty, what you usually find is that people merely believe something, with little basis for understanding why, or what that belief implies. However, be it known that such a removing of the layers reveals many things that are not usually visible, and which it may be inconvenient to find out. For one thing, you might discover you were wrong about something significant. Then you would need to learn the truth. Fortunately, you’re in an excellent position to do just that. But it starts with recognizing that you merely believed something you thought you were certain about, at which time curiosity and hunger for the truth would supplant any disappointment. Whether you take part in this process or not, something of this nature will become a central feature in your life in the coming days and weeks. You can benefit and even profit from the process, though it may be a little weird. Get your full Scorpio reading by Eric here.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — You’re probably getting the message that it’s time to be honest about your need for intimacy and your sexual desires. You might also be figuring out there is something that irks you a little about being too close to people — some element of your individuality that you might have to sacrifice, or your urge to have space around you. In truth, you can compromise neither. So you will require some other method of preserving your personal integrity while getting the human contact that you need. One question it will be worth asking is what role sex plays in your ideas and direct experiences of intimacy. Said another way, how do you relate to your own sex drive? Do you own it fully, or do you let others own it for you, partly or fully? This is a topic too complicated for many people to go into today, though I suggest you open up the discussion with yourself. Aspects over the next few weeks are likely to put you in contact with your deepest feelings, including some inner conflict that will be looking for a way to resolve or express — not itself, but you. Get your full Sagittarius reading by Eric here.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You will need to measure your words and your responses this week, particularly with intimate partners and those with whom you do business. Mars enters your opposite sign Cancer, and begins to make a long series of complex aspects that may get you into emotional water that is over your head. However, you are equipped with a warning system that will help you know when you’re in the right place and when you are not. It comes down to one thing, really: are you having fun? You are inclined to identify many aspects of life as duty or responsibility, and allow the fun aspect to be subtracted. But right now, this is your canary in the coal mine. It’s true that your life is somewhat complex at the moment, and you may not see a way through the maze, or out of the past. Yet one sensibility will serve you: your ability to experience pleasure, which means to laugh, to be curious, and to create your life, if only in seemingly small ways. For your purposes now, they are all equal. It is the feeling that counts. Get your full Capricorn reading by Eric here.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You have work to do. You may face some seemingly daunting tasks. Yet you will be well served to engage in two yoga practices that will be helpful. One is to remove obstacles from your path. With many decisions you make, you will have the choice to add a block of some kind, or to get it out of the way. Second, prepare for the future. I don’t mean the distant future so much as the immediate one, weeks or months ahead. Know what responsibilities and challenges you face, and prepare your life to meet them. Make sure you’ve allocated resources to take care of certain important situations you know you will have to address. Consider your time and your health as your most valuable resources, and use them wisely. If you have to push to get something done, do your best to remove other commitments from your schedule. You cannot get up early and stay up late every night. Remember that anger is a vast waste of energy. You don’t need it, and there are more efficient and creative uses of your personal resources. Get your full Aquarius reading by Eric here.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You are a Pisces, which is presumed to be the most pleasure-seeking sign. Would you really want your life to be an exercise in hedonism? Probably not. Pisces can be the most self-sacrificing tribe of the zodiac, the least realistic, and the most driven by a nagging sense of responsibility. Then there is the infamous guilty conscience. You must keep all of those factors in balance now, beginning with a healthy dose of bold honesty with yourself. Then, make sure your basic responsibilities are met from day to day. At the same time, keep the level of pleasure, recreation and creativity flowing in your life. Call this the Pleasure Principle — the thing that greases your wheels or floats your boat. Use it to guide your way through the world. If you find yourself faced with work, focus on doing it in a way that is fulfilling. If you’re concerned about money, find the sweet spot between what works financially and what works creatively. You need both. Most of all, be real about who and what you want, and what you want with whom. Get your full Pisces reading by Eric here.