By Jonathan Cainer

Mercury, this week, returns to where it was before its recent retrograde phase began. Think of it as some enthusiastic orator, midway through a monologue, obliged to cease while security evict some belligerent heckler. The throat clears and, with “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…” it is off again, back on track as if no diversion, disruption or delay had ever occurred. The retrograde phase may have ended a couple of weeks ago but the recovery phase is only now picking up pace. For all with agendas to progress, it should be a good week.

ARIES (March 21 – April 20)
Clues to the past are all around us. We stand in a field. It’s clear that someone planted it. We stroll down a street. All around are buildings. Who designed them? We can choose not to notice but we can’t deny that history has happened. Clues to the future are just as easy to spot. But do we really want to see them? I’m not talking here about astrological or clairvoyant clues. Logic can tell us plenty, too. This week’s conjunction of Mars to Pluto gives you precious insight to a future possibility. Thus it also brings choice.

TAURUS (April 21 – May 21)
Some people deal with their issues by talking about them openly and honestly. Others stick their heads in the sand. They try not to think about the factors that upset or unnerve them. They rather hope that if they ignore all of these, they will go away of their own accord. Sometimes, for a while, it can seem as if such a policy is working. Sooner or later, though, what we don’t deal with turns corrosive or explosive. It’s far better to sort it out. Saturn, this week, invites you to summon courage and broach a tricky topic.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 22)
Some weeks bring nothing but trouble from the moment we wake up each day to the moment we go to bed. Other weeks are magical, inspiring, wonderful and memorable. When you put the two types under a microscope, though, the similarities are far more striking than the differences. Often, indeed, the real difference between ecstasy and exasperation is a nuance: a factor that’s almost undetectable to the outside observer. Which kind of week is this week going to be? Whichever of the two: you choose.

CANCER (June 23 – July 23)
Do you wonder whether, by moving home, changing jobs or altering your lifestyle, you may be able to reduce the amount of onerous obligation you seem to be under? Be aware that, even though you are a clever Cancerian, you can no more escape your responsibilities than you can separate yourself from your own shadow. Happily, you do not now need to follow any great plan. The recent Full Moon has already started to bring positive change, whether you seek it or not. Sit tight for a while and things will improve naturally.

LEO (July 24 – August 23)
Would you like to rule the world? Surely not. Wouldn’t you rather pick an ambition that requires a little more creativity and a little less force? It’s not a battle you want to win, it’s a fear you want to conquer! You are capable of attaining any objective you set your sights on. Currently, you are taking a great interest in asserting control over a chaotic situation. This is making you feel slightly disconcerted. You don’t want to end up in charge of everything and everyone. Fear not. Once you get what you really need, you will relax again.

VIRGO (August 24 – September 23)
If you are making a soup, it rarely matters much whether you add an extra carrot. If you are making a soufflé, you had better have your recipe and temperature exactly right. You are now trying to implement a process. Yet you won’t do this successfully by sticking to the letter of the law. Nor will you do it by wandering too far from the basic framework. There is only one principle, this week, that you have to be absolutely true to. Grasp that essential point and you will naturally find the right level with all else.

LIBRA (September 24 – October 23)
Are you extremely clever? Let us leave that question unanswered, other than to remark that really clever people tend not to take too much pride in their abilities. But it is true that you are dealing with an issue that is not as complex as it seems. It requires no rocket science to see what’s most appropriate. Will you lose face if this leads you to change your mind? Perhaps. But what matters more: image or integrity? A conjunction of Venus to Saturn will help you to profit from doing what’s truly right. What else matters?

SCORPIO (October 24 – November 22)
Some people are easily upset. As soon as you tell them something, they have a reaction. In the end, it gets easier not to tell them anything. Months, even years, can go by with two individuals failing to communicate. They may be in regular contact – yet if crucial points are never discussed… neither will know what they need to. This week is all about saying what needs to be said. It is not necessarily you who has to do all the talking. You may need to do some of the listening. Mars and Pluto make that possible.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 – December 21)
It’s not that you need to dredge up every detail of some recent contentious debate. More that it’s high time a pretence was acknowledged. Nobody wants to say what someone else doesn’t want to hear so; everyone has been silently conspiring to let incorrect assumptions remain upheld. This week’s sharp right angle from the Sun to Jupiter is effectively determined to destroy a cosy castle of convenience. Don’t resist. Don’t fear. Don’t apologise. Don’t expect. Just trust. Get real. Stay real.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 20)
Some people are suspicious of research. When millions are raised in an attempt to find a cure for a problem, entire industries grow dependent upon this income. Thousands of people end up in the strange position of searching for something that is against their own best interest to find. By a similar token, when we look in unlikely places for solutions, it becomes questionable whether we truly wish to move on. If you really want progress this week, you can have it. But you must recognise where key vested interests lie.

AQUARIUS (January 21 – February 19)
‘If at first you don’t succeed, sulk. Feel sorry for yourself. Give up on the whole idea and look for someone else to blame for your disappointment.’ That is how the old saying goes, isn’t it? I’m not suggesting you should swing to the other extreme and bang your head on a brick wall this week. But you could at least attack it with a less fragile part of your anatomy and continue until you have established whether that wall is really solid or just made out of thin paper on which a brickwork pattern has been painted.

PISCES (February 20 – March 20)
At the University of Life, there is no graduation ceremony. We never really complete the course. We just get to keep on learning. If you skip the lectures, the lessons come and find you. Nor is it even as if your studies take you into ever-changing territory. Sometimes, it seems, you have to unlearn what you think you’ve learned and then relearn it in the light of some new discovery. The current cosmic climate, describes a moment of revelation. Here comes an eye-opening, thought-provoking, paradigm-shifting, development.

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