Mary J. Blige, a Capricorn.
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images
Mercury moves out of reckless Sagittarius and into careful Capricorn this morning. You might notice your thinking becoming more pessimistic than usual; problems you might have ignored last month suddenly seem much more serious. While this might not feel good, it can be motivating. Instead of mindlessly hoping things will work out, it’s time to get serious about the hard work needed to make sure they do.
You don’t usually worry much about what others think, but today people’s perceptions of you might be harder to write off. As much as you wish you were coolly indifferent to everyone else’s opinions, you want to be respected and admired. So today, don’t pretend you don’t care. It’s only human to want to be liked; just be mindful of whose opinions you’re taking into account. You won’t be universally loved no matter what you do, so focus on the people who matter.
Sometimes you discard your most ambitious dreams — maybe because you imagine them to be so far-fetched that they’re not worth pursuing, or maybe because you imagine that you especially don’t have what it takes. Today, give those dreams another look. In some cases, making one grand, dramatic change can be easier than trying to change your life bit by bit. If you’ve felt trapped by your routines, throwing yourself in the deep end can be the quickest, most effective way to break free.
It might be easier than usual to remain coolheaded today. No matter what problems you face, you can respond rationally and keep your wits about you. It’s a good day for tackling tough issues — but if those issues involve working with other people, remember that others might not have your same sense of calm. Try to be patient: Your friends might seem more emotional or less logical than you right now, but that doesn’t mean their perspective isn’t valuable or that they don’t have good ideas to share.
It’s possible for people to grow and change, but it’s a slow and unpredictable process; they rarely change just because you want them to or in the specific ways you hope for. So today, do your best to see the people in your life for who they actually are, not who you wish they were or who you think they might someday become. This might mean coming face-to-face with some facets of their personalities you’ve been trying to ignore, but it could also mean finally noticing wonderful qualities that you’ve missed before.
You might struggle with saying “yes” too much. You don’t want to disappoint people or miss out on opportunities, so you agree to take on more work than is feasible, participate in activities you have no genuine interest in, and fill your schedule until it bursts. So today, one of the best ways to care for yourself is to reduce your workload, cut back on social obligations, or narrow your focus. Your energy and attention are finite; make sure you’re using them in meaningful ways.
When you’re lacking motivation or you hit a mental block, you may think that the answer is to work even harder — and then, when that doesn’t work, to laze around and stop doing anything at all. Today, though, what you need is to set off in a different direction entirely. Channel your energies into a creative project; go all in on a new hobby — spend your time doing something genuinely fun. Life shouldn’t feel like a perpetual slog, so find ways to remind yourself of the joy.
When your feelings have been hurt, you don’t always like to show it. It can feel powerful to keep moving unfettered, to refuse to let anyone see that they’ve gotten under your skin. Sometimes you even lie to yourself. But today, it’ll be better to be honest. Acknowledging that you’re sad or in pain isn’t the same thing as admitting defeat. Instead of hiding your emotions, now’s the time to look at them head-on and figure out what you need to heal.
Others might encourage you not to get bogged down in insignificant details, but that might be difficult today, as all of the details seem important. You fear that ignoring the small stuff could lead to big problems, that if you brush off one problem, it’ll only spawn more. But the truth is that imperfection is a fact of life, and the more you try to fight it, the more stressed you’ll be. Decide what’s truly nonnegotiable to you, and put your energies there. Then try to let the rest go.
You like to think of yourself as a courageous person — and for the most part, your actions bear this out. But every so often, you opt for the path of least resistance, making compromises simply because it makes your life less complicated. There’s nothing wrong with choosing your battles — just make sure today that you’re not always picking the easy option. Doing the right thing can occasionally make your life harder, but don’t back away from the challenge. You’ll be glad you stepped up.
It might feel like the people in your life don’t understand the real you. They see a partial version, maybe, but there’s more to you than meets the eye: You have a wild or dreamy side that nobody else seems to notice. And the longer you wait for somebody to see these underrecognized parts of yourself, the more disappointed you are when nobody does. Today, it might be time to play a more active role and reveal the parts of your personality that you typically keep hidden.
Some people seem to imagine that there’s nothing more important on earth than their own feelings, but you, if anything, do the opposite. You tend to write off your emotions as though they’re insignificant, potentially embarrassing, distractions from your greater purpose. You want to change the world, not spend all your time focused on yourself. Just remember today that there’s a difference between self-absorption and self-reflection. The better you know yourself, the better prepared you’ll be in the world. Today, especially, a bit of introspection will be clarifying and well worth your time.
You sometimes hesitate to prepare too rigorously for the future — life’s so unpredictable that it seems safer to stay flexible, ready to respond to whatever comes up. But just because your plans are subject to change doesn’t mean they aren’t worth making. Today, give some extra thought to your big-picture goals and how you might go about bringing them to life. You’ll have to adjust your plans as you go along, but moving forward with intention will be more satisfying.
Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.
