Madame Clairevoyant (a.k.a. Claire Comstock-Gay) has written horoscopes for the Rumpus and the Toast; starting this week, she’s the Cut’s new astrologer.
Mars has been retrograde since April, filling you with thoughtfulness, maybe, or with a quiet tension, or with a fear whose name you don’t know. As Mars goes direct this week, think: The impossible can happen, and the possible can begin to shimmer bright like sunlight on a lake. It can shine like sunlight in your eyes. Energy will flow back into you, and what will you do with it? If the world can speak your language again, how will you answer?
Aries: The bigger the world feels around you, the harder it can be to remember your own body, your own hungers, your own feet on this sweet, warm earth. The world is large and strange, but you won’t disappear inside it; you won’t float away. Try to remember this. There are trees that keep living, green and quiet, and there are birds that keep living, small and so loud. And you can keep living, too, and your heart will keep beating, solid and true.
Taurus: This week it might feel like the world is shifting under your feet. It might feel like the sky is cracking open above your head. There is no map for the days that we’re in, and the road isn’t paved, but this isn’t the end. You’re probably stronger than you think you are, and you’re definitely weirder. Take this gift and hold it. Keep it in your pocket. Even on the longest days, even on the darkest ones, your instincts can point you north.
Gemini: There is so much sweetness to be found when you need it: All these blue skies and pine trees and long afternoons, all these green things reaching toward the sun. Open your windows. There’s so much life all around you, and there’s a whole universe inside you. Even in this strange cruel world, there is light and there’s magic. This week, think: What will you do with it? How do you most want to live?
Cancer: It can be overwhelming to think of all the forces outside your own self, all these feelings that have burrowed into your heart, all these things that can change you. It can be overwhelming to feel your own size, to test the strength of your own boundaries. This week, try to remember: It’s a gift to be able to grow. It’s a gift, not a loss, to let yourself be changed. There are so many forces outside of you and still, always, you belong to yourself.
Leo: It isn’t bad to stretch out your limbs in this world, and it isn’t bad to sweat, and it isn’t bad to feel something tender, something soft in your heart. Some days, vulnerability can save your life. Some days, it can save the sweetest parts of yourself. This is a week for sunlight on kitchen tiles, a week for drinking water. This is a week for loving the people you love. This is a week, too, for shouting and spitting fire if you need to. Even that doesn’t have to harden your heart.
Virgo: This week, try not to worry if your limbs feel heavy, or if your dreams grow wild and unknowable. You’ve lived through so much, and your body still holds onto the feelings your brain has let go. Somewhere inside you is leftover sorrow. Somewhere inside you is leftover joy. How can you find it? How can you use it? It’s hard to know, and this unknowing makes you gentle. If you let it, it makes you wise. It can give you a good, kind heart and a backbone of steel.
Libra: You know who you are, but you’re also more than that. Your knowledge is true, but it isn’t total. Even now, it’s possible to surprise yourself with unknown magic, unknown joy. Even now, your range is broader than you think. This is a good week for going places you’ve never been before. This is a good week for remembering all the different people you’ve been on the way to the person you are now. All you have to do this week is keep your eyes open.
Scorpio: Sometimes, the world moves in cycles too big to see; sometimes, you can feel in your bones what you can’t yet see with your eyes. It isn’t easy, living through change, but it won’t destroy you, either. This is a week for following each moment to the next moment. You already hold the knowledge you need inside of you, and you can teach yourself how to move.
Sagittarius: It can hurt to keep moving forward all the time, even when you move with courage, even when you move with grace. There are so many things to miss in this world; behind you is so much brightness, so much green, so much warmth. It isn’t bad to move, and it isn’t bad to choose. You’re growing all the time, and your life is brighter and wilder than it’s ever been before. You don’t need to hold on to every life you’ve ever had, you just need to keep living this one.
Capricorn: The world might not always see the golden wildness in you, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. The world might not recognize your bright, electric courage, but you can see it in yourself, when you pay attention. Try, then, to pay attention. Some things you can’t do for yourself, but some things you can. Remember what it looks like — your truest, strangest self — and hold on to this vision. Carry it with you. Your eyes are bright and your vision is clear. This week, you can do anything.
Aquarius: It isn’t easy to keep your footing in a world as full of movement as this one, and it isn’t easy to keep your rhythm in a world so full of noise, but somehow, you keep doing it. Somehow, you keep your balance under the bright blue sky. Try to remember this, when the world feels like it’s too much. Try to remember this, when you start to doubt your own life. There is grass under your feet, and dirt below that, and rock below that, and still the earth will hold you.
Pisces: If there’s a place where you feel stuck, there’s also a way out. If there’s a bad dream that won’t let go of you, there’s also a way to wake up. Forests grow and they die, and the tides keep rolling in and out. Change happens slower than your racing thoughts and it happens slower than your beating heart, but still it happens. Keep working hard this week. Your life will get brighter, but it might not get easier. This is a different kind of magic.
