Love is a risk. Love is a loss. Love is a revolution.
Love makes clear every fear we must work through. Love brings with it every reason to make such effort. Love initiates us, leaving us forever changed, forever marked, forever awakened to what could be.
The love we cultivate, the love we elevate, the love we choose to accentuate speaks volumes about who we are and how we define our lives. Love isn’t romance alone, but the most platonic of relationships can be the most romantic. Love is the only thing worth decorating oneself, and ones life, with and for.
Love needs to be at the center of all we do if we are to do it for long. Love needs our actions because it starves on words alone. Love needs our solidarity because it shrivels up in isolation.
This world has no shortages of opportunities to demonstrate love out loud. May we use each one that comes our way. May our love crack the shields that loneliness creates. May our actions create more spaces for love to flourish.
This week’s horoscopes are (reworked and) republished from February 2017, I hope they still serve you well. They were, and are, written as inspirations to help us understand, accept, and possibly love each other, and ourselves, a little better.
The sign that the sun was in when we were born is only one part of our astrological chart, far from the whole of it. You may therefore, want to read the horoscope for the signs that your sun, moon, rising, and Venus are in, for yourself and your loved ones. You’ll know which parts of each of them resonate with you the most, as always, leave the rest.
Aries
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 energy that 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 the latest 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 every scuffle but refuse to let them pick a fight 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. Love the fact that they are willing to test the limits of their heart through the boundaries of the relationship they are in with you. Hold them accountable. They will love you all the more for it.
Love their bravery and their ability to encourage your own.
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 be a testament to what can happen when people come together to honor one another’s spirit.
Taurus
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, often. 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 such enduring warmth. Taurus is its own time zone. You can either get with Taurus time or get frustrated by 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.
Taurus knows how to sink into the moment and absorb what is good. Following suit can only help you get your chill on. Following suit can only help you get a glimpse of the kind of opulence that they know how to live into. Following suit can only help you to feel more luxurious in your own skin, which, if Taurus knows how to appreciate anything, it is the skin we are in.
Gemini
Love the movement. Love the effervescence. Love the breeze they make as they blow through each and every idea.
Loving a Gemini is loving rapid fire questions, answers and the ideas that brew in the in-between. Gemini lives in liminal spaces. 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 resistance. With ideas that have an anti-gravity 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 be enamored with one of the most charming of magicians. It is to know that inconsistency is not the same as change. In order to grow we must be willing to shed layers, but shifting scenes isn’t in the same league as changing a pattern of behavior. It does no one any good to let a sleight of hand cover up the truth of a situation. Love them, and yourself, enough to keep you both honest.
To love a Gemini is to love both their need for exchange and reflection. A mind that never rests needs both the far reaches of space and the deep caves of consideration. Being loved by a Gemini is to be endlessly entertained with options, ideas, new angles, and an unrelenting humor. No one knows how to lift your spirits with a turn of a phrase like the twins. No one looks harder for their counterpart than they do. To be loved by a Gemini is to feel part of the most dynamic of duos. An inner circle of extraordinary company.
Cancer
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.
The release of water is their every ritual.
To love a Cancer means that you will 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. You’ll need to know when you have pressed up against their soft underbelly. 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 in to 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.
Leo
Love the theatre of living. Love being the roaring applause. Love basking in the glow of an incredible star.
To love a Leo is to love loudly, without shame or reservation. Never hesitate to demonstrate your appreciation of them. Leos need consistent odes of devotion. Some Leo’s may want a grand gesture, others will just want a simple one, but there needs to be something shown.
Receipts count and will be counted.
So will the times that you encouraged their courage. Leos need to shine but don’t always believe that they have the right to. Even the loudest, most flamboyant of cats need to hear that their mode of self-expression is inspiring. Even the most self-assured of 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 in letting go of your inhibitions. It is to feel lucky to be relieved from the grit and grime of the mind, lifted up to the realms of the spirit. Leo may need applause, but it will always return the favor with a confident wattage that will light you up and remind you of your own magnificence, brilliance and importance.
Virgo
Love the precision. Love the thoughtfulness. Love the sincerity.
To love a Virgo is to love that they may not know how to leave well enough alone. Love that they may not know how to let go when there are jobs left undone. Love that they may want to sort instead of consort until there’s quality company to be had.
Notice the work that they have done to make your life easier. Applaud them for the carefully curated problem solving they have provided for you. Make an effort to understand how their worry manifests. Hyper-criticism will arise when they feel unsafe, unsettled, or unfulfilled. 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 at a moment’s notice.
Once Virgo understands your ability to roll up your sleeves and put the effort in, the well-earned, hard-won respect you get from them is no ordinary praise. Virgo can be demanding, but Virgo will never forget your favorites, your needs, and your necessities. They might not call for your attention all the time, but once you get theirs, they’ll make a ritual out of reminding you how special you are.
Libra
Love their love of beauty. Love their need for justice. Love that they will try to be the balance to everything off kilter.
To love a Libra is to love that if laughter is missing, they will bring it. If anger is needed, they will bring it. If tenderness is nowhere in sight they will seek to be the source of it. Whatever is out of whack will be made right by these scales.
When you love a Libra 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, failure, or comment on their character. It’s a necessity moment when moving through an issue.
When you love a Libra you’ll need to let them know that it is not their job to keep the world in balance. Just themselves. Remind them that their boundaries are beautiful and acknowledged. Remind them that they are always half of the equation.
To love a Libra is to love the way they move about a crowd. It is to love that they are always seeking to see where justice has yet to be served. It is to love their need to weigh all the options with each person that is important to them. To love a Libra is to know 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 feeling that you are alone in the world. It is to be inspired to reveal your beauty, to share the best of yourself and to join in the art of relating for no other reason than the sheer pleasure of being in good company.
Scorpio
Love the intensity. Love the depth. Love the determination.
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 focused on. Held together through every falling apart. Relentlessly devoted. To love a Scorpio is sometimes a test of one’s endurance, a test of one’s ability to dive deep, and a test to see if you are a match for their intensity. If so, you’ll be privy to an impossible beauty. To get a glimpse of the depth of their heart is to be a reminder of your own.
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. Through the misery and back again. Into the suffering of becoming and back again. Scorpio works with those that prove they won’t abandon them in the process. Wary of betrayal, Scorpio can take its time deciding whom is worthy of their secrets and their powers of regeneration.
If they have chosen you, you can be sure you are up to the task, and its tremendous gifts.
Loving a Scorpio is helping them let go of what doesn’t work. Their deep reservoir of emotional energy must be accessed, worked with, and channeled. Anything in the way of doing so must be overcome, undone, and left in the past. This powerhouse of healing energy they posses is one that the world so desperately needs.
Sagittarius
Love the gallop. Love the furious and fearless pace. Love 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 the learning that you didn’t know you would be doing.
To love a Sagittarius is to love being pulled in the direction of discovery.
With a relentless optimism, Sagittarius can often overstep. Racing into the unknown, they can find themselves overwhelmed with unforeseen obstacles. Help them pace themselves without restraining their natural gait. To love a Sagittarius is to manage extremes with them. Forever learning the repercussions of such great galivanting, Sagittarius can be surprised by its own self-inflicted situation. While most of us are tired just at the thought of attempting a smidgeon of what they do, Sagittarius is already on to the next thing.
Loving a Sagittarius is learning how to be uplifted by their inspiring and expansive take on life while not being swept away by the earnest, yet sometimes improbable, promises they may make. It’s not that they are incapable of delivering the impossible, it’s just that the cost of it might outweigh the benefit.
To be loved by a Sagittarius is to be loved in the face of every doom and gloom the world might throw at us. It is to have an ally as full of faith, generosity, and gratitude 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.
Capricorn
Love the strategy. Love the climb. Love for real.
To love a Capricorn means that you’ll always know where you stand. You’ll unknowingly break their rules but at least they’ll have the courtesy to tell you exactly how, why, and when it happened.
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 on your core issues. 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 and keep it moving.
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 be in partnership with them, act like you mean it. Show up on time, which means early. Show up prepared, which means willing to keep working. Show up ready to put in your best effort, which means that nothing is sexier than efficiency and your desire to succeed.
In return, they will love you like it’s their most important job, and 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 without it.
Aquarius
Love the clarity. Love the certainty. Love the strength that they constantly communicate to the world.
Love their ability to care more about getting their point across than pandering to the feelings of those in power. Nothing impresses this sign save for the ability to think for oneself. Not swayed by public opinion, able to see past the fears that most humans let their thinking get bound up in, Aquarius aims for the truth and will pick you when they know that you are it.
To be loved by an Aquarius is to be respected. To be loved by an Aquarius is to be loved for your own 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 constantly astounded by how quickly they understand a system, situation or subtlety. To love an Aquarius means introducing them to the fact that facts sometimes can hurt your feelings. Facts don’t always need to be the first thing spoken. Some hearts need time to adjust to the truth.
To love and be loved by Aquarius means that autonomy is a turn on for you both, and space is sacred, necessary, and needed if the embers of the heart are to be kept alive and aglow.
Pisces
Love the romance. Love the infatuation. Love the way they see your very best first and foremost.
When a Pisces loves you, they will always wish the best for 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 round your heart soothing any ache with their whimsical ways, diverting your attention away from your sorrows towards more pleasant tides.
To love a Pisces is to love the intoxication of their presence. To love a Pisces is to let yourself be humored by their unruly ways. 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 kind of 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 and pure unadulterated agony can bellow from the depths of these seas. Better to roam freely beside them or 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 the whole.