By Jonathan Cainer

As Mars and Venus edge towards a conjunction, people are beginning to find fresh hope in their hearts. Hope is a funny thing. Whilst some insist it must have logical justification, it is a feeling. Emotions aren’t supposed to make sense. They are what they are. And either we allow ourselves to experience them or we strive to suppress them. Why should you (or indeed, any of us) hold back hope? There is absolutely no reason. And even if there were, the imminent end of Mercury’s retrograde phase will soon produce many concrete arguments in favour of increased positivity.

ARIES (March 21 – April 20)
When we are trying to make a decision, we might toss a coin. Depending on how it lands, we might then decide to throw two more to get the best of three. And if we are still unhappy with the result? Well, at least by then we know that we are unhappy and then can feel clearer about the result that we would have preferred. Then, we simply have to ask if we are obliged to accept this cosmic sign or entitled to honour our own choice. You can probably have what you want this week, as long as you want it badly enough.

TAURUS (April 21 – May 21)
If you are experiencing a strong pain in the neck, here is a way to cure it. Just sit down suddenly on something sharp. You won’t notice your neck any more after that! Yet this is surely, hardly, a practical policy for the avoidance of discomfort. The big question for you this week, is whether, in your attempt to be free of one problem, you are simply replacing it with another? A more measured, patient, approach may yet show you a solution that has many fewer unwanted side-effects. Remain inventive and hopeful.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 22)
Later this week, Mercury ends its retrograde phase and you complete a process of reflection and review that you have probably been more inclined to experience as a time of delay and frustration. Why are you having to wait for something or someone? It isn’t necessarily because the power is out of your own hands. It may be at least partly because you have given away some of that power because you doubt your own ability to make a final decision. You could claim this back but you may as well hold on a little longer.

CANCER (June 23 – July 23)
You are not allowed to read this forecast. Someone will disapprove. So? Why are you still here looking at this page? Isn’t that information enough for you? Oh, I see. You want to change the dynamic of a particular relationship, don’t you? You have had it up to here with restrictions and limitations. You want your freedom, even if you don’t particularly want to have to hold a showdown. It might, though, be more honest to court conflict than to deploy deception. If you maintain your integrity, you will be unassailable.

LEO (July 24 – August 23)
Two wrongs don’t make a right. And two rights, surely, don’t make a wrong. But what about several little wrongs? When added all together, do they amount to as much as one giant injustice? And if a wrong is a big one? How many smaller rights may be required to cancel it out? Don’t waste time wrestling, this week, with the mathematics of morality, the algebra of the esoteric, the statistics of spirituality. If something can be forgiven, just let it go. And if not? Even so, it is a good idea to stop counting and keeping score.

VIRGO (August 24 – September 23)
Have you ever owned a catapult? Or a bow and arrow? Just before the missile is despatched, it has to be drawn back to the point where a great deal of tension is created in the firing mechanism. We could argue that Mercury’s recent retrograde phase has put you in a position, not dissimilar to that of a weapon just prior to release. The tension analogy is certainly relevant. But what about the target? Do you have it in your sights? Aim carefully and await your moment of opportunity. It will arise later this week.

LIBRA (September 24 – October 23)
Anyone with a musical ear can soon distinguish between a tune in a major or a minor key. It is not always so easy for any of us to tell a major issue from a minor one. There are bound to be times when our judgement is compromised. A small problem, for example, can seem like a big one if it triggers off a set of uncomfortable associations or raises some worry that we had been striving to suppress. All you need to know about this week, is that something that seems very big is actually surprisingly small.

SCORPIO (October 24 – November 22)
Life, they say, is for living. It is for having fun, feeling good, smelling the roses, appreciating the magic, celebrating the wonder of the precious gift of existence. Or at least, that’s what it is when we aren’t caught in a conflict, wrestling with a worry or fending off a threat. You could be having such a good time this week, if it were not for this… or that. Can you fix this and free yourself from that? Suppose, for a moment, that you can’t. You can still be happy. Don’t try to solve a problem, just seek to rise above it.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 – December 21)
It is my official duty, to advise you to avoid extravagance. This week’s alignment from Venus to Jupiter awakens an impulse to be lavish, indulgent and overly optimistic. Much though I hate to argue with the conventional wisdom of my peers and predecessors, I don’t think there is anything wrong with you going over the top this week – as long as you go over the right kind of top, in the right way. Don’t gamble or overspend. But do allow yourself to feel truly hopeful. That’s not a mistake. That’s appropriate.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 20)
Pick up one foot. Now, leaning forward, put it down again a few inches further ahead. Placing your weight on the foot that you have just lowered, raise the other. Repeat! You don’t need me to show you how to walk? Or might it be that in one key area of life, you have become baffled and bemused? You feel as if you are being asked to perform a task or fulfil a function that doesn’t come naturally or easily. Go slowly and steadily. Not only can you do this, you can do it well. You will yet stride to success this week.

AQUARIUS (January 21 – February 19)
Your eyes are looking at a page. It contains letters of the alphabet that have been arranged into words. As you decipher those words, they are triggering memories that give you clues to their meaning. Sorry to state the obvious but I rather suspect that, in your life now, where there are problems, these are intrinsically linked to obvious issues being overlooked. Somehow, a very basic idea has become overcomplicated, and unnecessary anxiety has arisen as a result. Mercury’s new direction implies real reassurance soon.

PISCES (February 20 – March 20)
Venus and Mars are passing through Pisces, edging towards a moment of exact conjunction. How auspicious is that on a scale of one to ten? Eleven! If it is possible to be ‘almost too fortunate’ you will soon understand what such a phrase means. You won’t win lotteries. Nor will you meet wish-granting fairies. But you will start to recognise the true hidden value of a situation that you have been inclined to take for granted. In allowing yourself to appreciate this, you will start to see many solutions to old problems.

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