Love is the way in
Love is not a mistake. Love is not an accident. Love is not a way out.
Love is our way in.
Love is a risk. Love is a loss. Love is a revolution.
Love makes clear every fear we must work through. Love reveals every reason to make the effort. Love initiates us, leaving us forever changed, forever marked, forever awakened to what is possible.
The love we cultivate, the love we elevate, the love we accentuate speaks volumes about who we are and how we define our lives. It speaks volumes about what we are willing to give up. It speaks volumes about what we are able to withstand. It speaks volumes about the capacity of our hearts to grow, no matter what is promised to us, no matter what is delivered.
Love is, quite simply, the only thing worth the difficulty. Love is, quite plainly, the only thing worth decorating oneself for. Love is, quite frankly, the only thing that can keep us honest.
Love needs to be at the center of all we do if we are to do it for long. If we are to do it with sincerity. If we are to do it with success. Love needs our actions because it starves on words alone. Love needs our solidarity because it shrivels in isolation. Love needs our promise because it withers under fickle suns.
Love out loud
Love is needed in all forms right now. Romantic love is one road into the heart, but it needn’t be the only one. We could all show humanity more love without expecting validation in return. We could all show ourselves more love, without conditions of performance or external praise. We could all show the planet more love, without extracting from it unnecessarily, but with unending gratitude for what it has given.
This world has no shortage of opportunities to learn how to love and to demonstrate love out loud.
These horoscopes were written by Chani Nicholas in 2017. This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to republish these favorites as guides to understanding yourself and your beloveds with more eloquence, acceptance, and ease.
Please feel free to read any or all of the following horoscopes for the Sun, Moon, Venus and rising signs of yourselves and your loved ones.
Aries & Aries Rising
Love the fire. Love the passion. Love the energy.
Love them like they are or leave them alone. Love them without asking them to stay in one place. Love them for all that they stir up. Love them for the spirit they have to channel day in and day out. Like a live wire, Aries possesses a tremendous wattage. That’s no easy task. It can leave one burnt out, freaked out, or on fire with inspiration.
They need many outlets.
They need indirect encouragement to focus on the activities that are productive and proactive. They need to find solutions to their problems themselves, or they won’t respect what they have won.
If you love an Aries, love the way they set themselves and life into motion. Love the way they fill empty space with their energy. Love the way they burst onto the scene. Without thinking about the consequences.
Love them through the choppy waters they find themselves in when they realize that they didn’t think about the consequences.
Love them through every scuffle, but refuse to let them pick fights with you just to let off steam. Love them through the wild bouts of energy that they are asked to manage but don’t let their style steamroll your own needs. Hold them accountable. They will love you all the more for it. Love their bravery and their ability to encourage your own.
Be that brave.
Be a worthy opponent by being honest and unwilling to be bossed. Be willing to push back out of a deep dedication to your love for them. Be dedicated to your own independence, and let your relationship with them form a testament to what can happen when people come together in honor of one another’s spirit and their own.
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Taurus & Taurus Rising
Love the love. Love the commitment. Love the staying power.
If you love a Taurus, be prepared to have your own loyalty tested in the face of their relentless ability to love you no matter what. Be prepared to be hugged often and cuddled constantly. Taurus needs tactile reinforcement. Get your massage game on.
Give up pushing — you’ll just exhaust yourself. There is no point trying to move a boulder or a bull. Instead, find comfort in being able to lean on a source of enduring warmth.
Taurus is its own time zone. You can either get with #TaurusTime or get frustrated about it, but you won’t change it. They’ve got a rhythm that they are good with, and if you aren’t, it’s on you. Be willing to release your need to check your watch all together while in their company. Taurus knows how to sink into the moment and absorb what is good.
Following suit can only help you find your chill. Following suit can only help you glimpse at the opulence they know how to live into. Following suit can only help you feel more luxurious in your own skin. And if Taurus knows how to appreciate anything, it’s the skin we’re in.
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Gemini & Gemini Rising
Love witnessing the movement. Like watching butterflies. Bubbles. Fireflies.
Loving a Gemini is loving rapid fire questions, answers, and the ideas that brew in the in-between. Gemini lives in the in-between. In the liminal. In the bubbling of an idea. In the not-yet-formed-so-all-bets-are-off moments of life.
To love a Gemini is to love learning how to fly. Without a safety net. Without wings. Without resistance to their antigravity effect. To love a Gemini is to soar outside the bounds of time and space into the open skies of wind and words.
To love a Gemini is to help them come home. To hold them down once in a while. To remind them that their body is intelligent. To remind them that their emotions are another kind of intelligence. To call them out when they get sneaky about rationalizing feelings. To call them in when they try to escape working through something all the way to the end.
To love a Gemini is to not be fooled into thinking that inconsistency is the same as real change. In order to grow we must be willing to shed layers, but changing scenery isn’t in the same league as changing a pattern of behavior.
To love a Gemini is to be enamored with the most charming of charmers, and to know that it does them no good to let that charm cover up the truth of a situation. Love them and yourself enough to keep you both honest.
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Cancer & Cancer Rising
Love being cared for. Love being fed. Love being home no matter where you are.
If you love a Cancer, you will never go for long without an ample dose of feeling. An extra side of emotion. A cup that runneth over with the tears that were shed as a morning ritual.
Water is their beauty regime.
To love a Cancer means you’ll be initiated into your own emotional life. You’ll cry more. You’ll feel more. You’ll have to learn to weather the storms. You’ll have to learn how to read the forecasts. You’ll have to know the difference between skies that will bring a drizzle and skies that promise a torrential downpour. Always pack rain gear.
Crabs scuttle sideways when they get scared. Love is terrifying. You’ll sometimes look like a monster to them. You’ll need to remind them who you are. You’ll need to become adept at reading their defenses. You’ll need to understand the shape of their shell.
They are not the kind of beast you want to hurt. They’ll either pinch back with claws too mighty to mess with, or they’ll fall into a world of pain you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
No love is as personal as this. But no love is as permeating either. If a Cancer loves you, you will know it. If a Cancer chooses you, you will feel it. If a Cancer is down for you, you have love for life, and more nourishment than you’ve ever known.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Leo & Leo Rising
To love a Leo is to love the theater of living. To love a Leo is to remind them that their fire is flawless. To love a Leo is to love loudly, without shame or reservation.
Never hesitate to demonstrate your love and appreciation. Leos need consistent demonstrations of devotion. Some may want a grand gesture. Others will want a simple one. But there needs to be something shown.
Receipts count and will be counted.
So will the times you encouraged their courage. Leos need to shine, but don’t always believe that they have the right to. Even the loudest, most flamboyant cats need to hear that their mode of self-expression is inspiring. Even the most self-assured tigers need help taming their insecurities. Even the beasts with the most beautiful manes need to be reminded of their magnificence.
A little feedback goes a long way.
To be loved by a Leo is glorious. It is to be kissed by the sun. It is to laugh until you have lost all composure. It is to indulge in the joy of abandoning your inhibitions. It is to feel relieved from the grit and grime of the mind and lifted to the realms of the spirit.
Leo may need applause, but it will always return the favor. Leo loves with a wattage that will light you up and remind you of your own magnificence, brilliance, and importance.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Virgo & Virgo Rising
They may not know how to leave well enough alone. They may not know how to let a flaw go uncorrected. They may not know how to move forward until they get everything sorted (and there is never an end to this sorting). They may not know how to stop working, learning, or perfecting their craft, and you’ll have to help teach them when to join the party.
They will appreciate every time you notice the work they have done to make your life easier. They will feel heartened by the fact that what they carefully curated was useful to you. They will feel calmed by your acknowledgement that what they brought you was helpful.
You’ll need to understand how their worry manifests. Hyper-criticism will arise when there is a concern that is yet to be dealt with. Rather than engaging with the critique, engage with the underlying stressor. Let them know that you are holding their story with them. Following the plot. Connecting the dots. Ready to work it out together.
Once Virgo understands your ability to roll up your sleeves and put in the effort, their well-earned, hard-won respect is no ordinary praise. Virgo can be demanding, but Virgo is also sincere. They might not need your attention, but once you get theirs, they make a ritual out of reminding you how special you are.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Libra & Libra Rising
Let them know that it is OK if you are not. Let them know that it is OK to let you struggle with something. Let them know that conflict isn’t disaster. It’s a fleeting but necessary step to moving through an issue.
Let them know that it is not their job to keep the world in balance. Just themselves. Remind them to make themselves happy first. Remind them that their boundaries are beautiful. Remind them that they are always half the equation.
To love a Libra is to love the way they move through a crowd. To love a Libra is to love that they are always searching for where justice has yet to be served. To love a Libra is to love weighing all the options, with each person important to them. To love a Libra is to be initiated into the fine art of relating.
To love a Libra means we understand that we aren’t the only one they’ll need, but when they are with us, we’ll feel like the only ones in the universe that matter.
To be loved by Libra is to be relieved of the fear that you are alone in the world. To be loved by Libra is to remember your own beauty — and to share yourself proudly with the world. To be loved by Libra is to join in the fine art of relating for no other reason than the sheer pleasure and necessity of being in good company.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising
Don’t be timid. Don’t back down. Don’t let them get away with a moment of it.
To love a Scorpio is sometimes a test of one’s endurance. And a test of one’s ability to dive deep. If you can prove to them that you are a match for their intensity, you might catch a glimpse at the depths of their heart. Scorpio is known for its ability to be a fierce and formidable foe. Famous for its resilience, loving a Scorpio is loving the paths that will bring you to the edge. And back.
Scorpio loves all the way through. Into the mystery and back again. Into the misery and back again. Into the suffering of becoming and back again. With that kind of commitment, they will only be willing to work with you if you prove to them that you won’t abandon them. Why put in all that hard work if you aren’t worthy of receiving the fruits of their labor?
Wary of betrayal, Scorpio can take its time deciding who is worthy of their secrets and their powers of regeneration.
To be loved by a Scorpio is to be transformed. To be loved by a Scorpio is to have the stealthiest army on your side. To be loved by a Scorpio is to be in on the joke that life is just a dress rehearsal for death. To be loved by a Scorpio is to be focused on. Held together through every falling apart. Relentlessly devoted to.
Loving a Scorpio is helping them let go of what doesn’t work. Helping them know that opening that deep reservoir of emotional energy might require many moons in therapy. But if they stick with it, they will access a powerhouse of healing the world so desperately needs.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising
Love the furious pace. The gallop. The adventure.
To love a Sagittarius is to love not knowing where you’ll end up. It’s to love getting lost because of all you’ll find together. It’s to love all the learning you didn’t know you would be doing. To love a Sagittarius is to be ever pulled in the direction of discovery.
With relentless optimism, Sagittarius can overstep. Leaping into the unknown, they can find themselves overwhelmed with unforeseen obstacles. You’ll have to help them slow down sometimes, without restraining their natural gait.
To love a Sagittarius is to manage extremes with them. Forever learning the repercussions of such great gallivanting, Sagittarius can be surprised by its own overwhelm. Yet most of us are overwhelmed at the thought of attempting a smidgen of what they do.
Loving a Sagittarius is learning how to be uplifted by their expansive take on life, while not being swept away by the earnest, if improbable, promises they may make while high on life. It’s not that they are incapable of delivering the impossible — it’s that the cost might outweigh the benefit.
But to be loved by a Sagittarius is to be loved in the face of every doom and gloom the world throws at us. It is to have an ally as full of faith as they come. It is to be moved time and time again by their ability to find even the smallest speck of hope, and to hold it up to the light, casting prisms of beauty along the halls of your life together.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising
You’ll always know where you stand. You’ll have clarity about how they feel about you. You’ll break their rules and piss them off, but at least they’ll have the courtesy to tell you about it.
Loving a Capricorn requires that you love the tuff stuff. It requires that you can laugh at your own vanity. Because they will. It requires that you have a deep and abiding appreciation for being called out on your core issues. No one can pinpoint your issues like a Capricorn. Unafraid of the hard work of becoming, Capricorn knows the ins and outs of suffering. Unaffected by sentimentality, Capricorn is not afraid to call it like it is.
Capricorn was born to know thyself. Capricorn was brought into existence to teach us how to be self-reliant, self-sufficient, and self-supporting.
If you are going to ask them for their partnership, you better act like you mean it. Show up on time, which means early. Show up prepared. Nothing is sexier than efficiency. Show up ready to put in your best effort. This sign is intrigued by your desire to succeed.
In return, they will love you like it’s their most important job. To a sign whose work is sacred, that is no small sentiment. They will bring you the nuggets of wisdom that they have gleaned over the ages. They will awaken you to your own power — power that is slowly cultivated and authentically earned.
They will support you in finding your own foundation. One so grounded that it will have you wondering how you ever made it this far, buffeted about out there, without a solid sense of yourself.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising
Love the clarity. Love the certainty. Love the strength that they constantly communicate to the world.
Love their ability to care more about getting something straight rather than pandering to bruised egos. Nothing impresses this sign save the ability to think for oneself. Not swayed by mob mentalities, Aquarius aims for the truth. When Aquarius picks you, it’s because they think you’re it.
To be loved by an Aquarius is to be loved regardless of sentimentality. To be loved by an Aquarius is to be loved for your originality and merit. To be loved by an Aquarius is to be loved out of choice. Never out of duty.
To love an Aquarius is to love being reminded of what you didn’t think of yourself. To love an Aquarius is to love being astounded by how quickly they understand a system, situation, or subtlety.
To love an Aquarius means introducing them to the fact that facts can hurt your feelings. Facts don’t always need to be the first thing spoken. To love an Aquarius means teaching them that you can honor the truth and still give the heart time to adjust.
To love and be loved by an Aquarius means that everything you didn’t know to think of has already been thought out. When that care is applied to your goals, all things seem possible with that wise, contemplative love on your side.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
Pisces & Pisces Rising
Love the romance. Love the infatuation. Love the way you look in their eyes.
When a Pisces loves you, they will never give up hope on you. When a Pisces loves you, they will never let you forget why they believe in you. When a Pisces loves you, they’ll swim circles around your heart and soothe any ache with their whimsical ways.
To love a Pisces is to love the intoxication of their presence. To love a Pisces is to let yourself be tended to. To love a Pisces is to let your vulnerability rise to the surface to meet their own.
Pisces needs to be needed, but not controlled. Trying to hold on to a fish is foolish. Pisces needs to move, to flow, and to follow the currents of the day. Trying to limit this mystical creature to only one pond would be a shame of the highest order. To crush the dreams of a Pisces unleashes the howling cry of a forlorn mermaid.
Harsh, bitter notes of betrayal can bellow from the depths of these seas. Better to let the free roam freely and to stand back in awe of all the places Pisces can travel. At once. With great grace. With great compassion. With great abandon. With great love for you and all other beings its heart belongs to.
Treat yourself to a Self-Love care package handcrafted by Black survivor entrepreneurs via Gifted by FreeFrom. Each box contains black lava foot soaking salts, a relaxation mist, and balancing essential oil blend.
