Weekly Astroguide

Some situations are complicated. Some problems are difficult to solve. Some issues require research and concentration before they can even be properly understood, far less effectively addressed. I mention all this only to illustrate that I am aware of such a syndrome. When I tell you that your outlook is essentially simple this week, I am not just saying it for the sake of it. Don't get caught up in endless debate and discussion. Don't be drawn into unnecessary confusion. Stay clear and you will have success. In your love life: Gently test the ground before you step too far forward. But fear not. If you are open-hearted, much joy will be found.

It is an astrologer's job to shed light on all that is perplexing, and give guidance. Yet we cannot expect seers or star-gazers to offer ultimate understanding about matters which are as intricate as they are ongoing. You want me, I suspect, to say a source of irritation will resolve itself soon, especially if you do this' or that'. You already know what the this and that' is. These actions will, indeed, alleviate aggravation. But probably, only temporarily. It may be wisest to accept you are in a situation for the long haul. In your love life: Some people stir up drama because it gives them emotional satisfaction. What seems awkward may yet prove to be fine.

To what extent are you underestimated or overlooked? Don't you deserve more appreciation? Surely, when opportunities arise, you should reach out to seize them with confidence rather than question your entitlement just because you suspect someone else is questioning you. This week's Solar Eclipse in your sign suggests it is time to surprise yourself and to leave others pleasantly amazed by what you prove yourself to be capable of, despite all assumptions and expectations. In your love life: If there is concern about any issue, don't indulge it. Stay calm and you will find it's all a large teacup, housing a small storm.

You have such power, such talent, such strength. Are you aware of this? Or do you sometimes suspect you have been browbeaten by a harsh, heavy world, into a state of submission? Do you even fear that it doesn't matter how many natural gifts you have and how advantageous your position in life is, when everything is a struggle. Even if you find you can nod in a agreement at such suggestions, there will be a change for the better this week and those opening statements will yet prove true. In your love life: Opportunities revolve around the need to be more giving, regardless of how others act. Your generosity will be rewarded.

There are times when we need to take action and times when we should sit back. Then there are also times when we are not so sure what kind of a time it is. As you now look at a challenging situation you wonder whether to make an effort or apply patience. Better to wonder than to feel sure for the wrong reason. Uncertainty is appropriate because you need to pursue both policies at once! Try to change something and try too, not to care whether you are successful or not! The right outcome will ensue. In your love life: Have you made an unfair assumption? Look closely and find a much stronger, more realistic state of mutual respect.

Whenever we face a tricky situation, we apply our mind to the problem it poses. Surely,' we figure, this is a puzzle like any other. All I have to do, is keep at an emotional distance and soon I will see the logical way to set it all straight. That's smart thinking apart from one thing. Once in a while, there is no logical way to proceed! Sometimes, we are just as wise, if not wiser, to use our imaginations and follow our instincts, even if we can't fully explain our reasons. The impulse you act on this week, will be right. In your love life: Do you have unrealistic dreams? What's attainable may not match the fantasy but it will satisfy your emotional needs.

Other people respect you, trust you, believe in you. You, though, aren't always so sure this is the case. This, at least partly, is because you have too much integrity to abuse any power you are given. You tend to be humble, gentle, kind and considerate. You would rather be thought of as too meek than too fierce. Yet this week we find you in a sensitive situation, preventing (by your very presence) the wrong thing from happening. The Eclipse is a clear celestial suggestion that it is time to acknowledge and assert your own strength. In your love life: Why must conflict on a point of principle, spoil what could be a deeply fulfilling link. Make a brave choice: heart over head.

People don't always know why they do what they do. They fall into habits. They act out patterns and uphold traditions. Often it takes a major change or a dramatic event to shake someone out of a routine. Is that what's happening to someone in your world? Is life demanding a review and a rethink? The Eclipse suggests that what was once a passion is now more of a passing interest. As priorities change, so you see opportunity you might not have recognised. All that will work greatly in your favour. In your love life: Eclipses herald change. What was once strong, but wrong, may be weakening. Find the emotional connection.

Our commitments often feel like mixed blessings. We gain a sense of purpose from knowing there are certain things we must do and places we must be. Yet we can end up feeling trapped by the promises we dare not break and the arrangements we cannot get out of. Lately you have become more aware of reasons to resent a situation than of things to feel grateful for, the Eclipse suggests all this is changing. This week, you will discover a hidden advantage in the way that an agreement was set up long ago. In your love life: The coming eclipse suggests there is something you both need to review. It may be tense but will yet be highly liberating.

Life, it seems, is full of facts that are hard to face and realities we might prefer to ignore. It is no wonder some of us retreat into a fantasy world and others grow fond of escapist entertainment. Librans are sometimes accused of being unrealistic in how they handle their highest hopes and most inspiring aspirations. Yet now, you are being brave and sensible. In almost forcing yourself to recognise a truth, you are starting to see where an opportunity has been hiding in plain sight! You will yet do well this week. In your love life: Relationships are healthiest if you can develop the art of forgiveness. The only ideal that truly matters now is honesty.

First, we identify a problem. Then, we curse our luck. Next, we look for a way to fix it. After that? Well, some say much depends on how much time and energy we devote to the second part of that three-stage process. We cannot help but feel annoyed when things don't happen as we want them to. But if we allow annoyance to colour our judgement and affect our mood, we may prevent ourselves from being as inventive as we need to be. This week, you will see something bright only if you look on the bright side! In your love life: Physical and emotional chemistry are key. But rapport can be even more crucial. Keep channels of communication open.

Whenever we do what's expected of us, we raise the level of expectation. We also become beholden to our own understanding of what we think others may think about us. Even if we deliberately behave oddly, we have to live up to our own reputation for eccentricity! Different people now have different ideas about how you should respond to this week's challenge. You can (and should) heed advice. You can be sensitive, too, to ideas. But only you now know what's really right and why. In your love life: Are all your expectations justified? A situation is not ideal in every way now, but it still has so much to offer all concerned.

Expert opinion varies about the length of time during which a planet can be considered stationary'. The technical definition is never for long' but there is a to all intents and purposes' definition that can extend, at least in the case of your slow-moving ruler Saturn, to the best part of a month. If it is an optical illusion, does it matter? Yes because it is deeply symbolic. March is when you finally get to grips with something that has been moving too fast and causing great frustration. At last, you bring it under control. In your love life: A fact must be faced. If that's seen as a compromise, not a sacrifice, the world will give back to you in delightful ways.

If, in March, you feel as if the wind has been taken out of your sails, don't assume the cosmos is no longer your friend and protector. It is but it knows how much you need a helping hand and it knows too how people can be hard to assist when they are too busy trying to do things the way they think they should be done. A dip in your energy level plus a doubt about your direction, is all the chink in your armour that a heavenly hand requires if it is to assist you. Watch and be amazed as a problem turns into an asset! In your love life: Persistence pays. How sad if you dropped out of a race moments before you could have won. Listen to your heart.

How hopeful is your outlook in March? Let's just say that you need not rely on a birthday present to lift your spirits. Or, rather, you will get a present but it will be one of a cosmic kind. A solar eclipse in your sign implies an immense, imminent, advantage; a decisive moment where a line is drawn under the past and the doorway to a brighter future is thrown invitingly open. Your woes and worries won't all vanish in an instant this month but bit by bit you will feel so much more confident that many troubles will shrink. In your love life: Problems? Less about getting what you want, more about getting less of what you don't want. You may yet succeed!

They say, travel broadens the mind . But what if the mind is already so broad that it doesn't need to travel? In March, you look set to make a journey of discovery. This may not involve physically, going anywhere. It may be that at the crux of whatever you discover is the sweet, simple, idea that you are fine where you already are. There is nothing wrong with contentment, no shame in being able to say, I'm glad of who I am and where my life is going . These may yet, soon, be statements you can make with conviction. In your love life: Give as fully as your heart is inspired to share. Accept what is freely, lovingly offered. More than that may be asking too much.

We set our sights on ambitious objectives, then wonder why our lives contain so much stress and strain. Would it not all be so much easier if we aspired to less? I ask, not to dissuade you from a plan but to remind you that if, this month, you find the going arduous, it may all be for a worthwhile reason. Already, this year, you have taken brave steps in a new direction and set important changes in motion. Now, just as you start to wonder if you have the stamina for the rest of the campaign, you start to get help and support. In your love life: Don't inflame a silly situation; let it heal. Your heart won't be the only thing that thrives as a result of a forgiving gesture.

How smart are you? How quick? How clever? We all, of course, have blind spots. Even the smartest of us fail to spot things once in a while. But, by and large, you know what you are doing and why. Few and far between are the situations that leave you baffled or beaten. Even if recent events have knocked your confidence, coming events will restore your self-belief. Rightly so! This is due to be a month during which you remember what you are naturally good at and why you set your heart on a brave target, long ago. In your love life: Beware of pressure this week. A misunderstanding can be resolved, as long as it isn't made into an unnecessary row.

This month's Solar Eclipse may not be visible all over the Earth but the symbolic influence will be felt in the heart of every Cancerian. Here comes a chance to discover your full power to change the world for the better and help someone overcome a problem. You are due to do well. You are set to succeed. You need not fear the consequence of asserting yourself. Someone has been wielding too much power. Mistakes have been made. Regrettable consequences have ensued. In March, wrongs will be righted. In your love life: Possibilities revolve around opportunities to be more self-contained. As you do that, you may find yourself more in demand.

The darkest hour, comes just before the dawn. Often too, a loss precedes a victory. If, this month, you find yourself dealing with a situation you would prefer not to be facing, don't see this as an omen of more to come. It is a positive portent. It suggests that the worst part of a process is over and now, having cleared up a mess, you are due to reap a reward. Sometimes we find our greatest inner-strength only after we have first confronted our secret weakness. You are due to do so well this month. In your love life: We all need to be less of a victim of our needs! Push aside an irrelevant aspiration; find freedom to seek lasting fulfilment.

You do so much for so many people and not because you expect the favour to be returned. You act out of the goodness of your heart, because you are kind, you care, you cannot bear to see injustice and you yearn to right every wrong. Even if others are selfish, you are very kind. You may think nobody else has noticed this but someone holds you in high regard. This month, they will make a gesture of recognition that has the potential to vastly improve the quality of at least one aspect of your life. In your love life: Surrounded by needy takers'. Draw a line. Make firm distinctions. Put aside any insecurities; trust your deepest feelings.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' People usually trot out this statement when they want to justify active intervention in an unsatisfactory slow process. Many of us though, fail to recognise how useful, even precious, nothing' can be. The right kind of nothing' can be worth far more than the wrong kind of something. Doing nothing, this month, may seem like a very passive policy but it may just be the most appropriate plan to follow. A wind of positive change is about to start naturally blowing in your direction. In your love life: Don't cling too tight to a fantasy. If you judge your reality now you should recognise how much you have to be glad of.

Other astrologers frequently urge caution. Watch for this , they say, beware of that . As you may have noticed, I prefer to take a different tone. We should learn to conquer our fears, not let ourselves become victims of them. This month you will do best if you summon your inner-steel, withstand a source of anxiety and refuse to succumb to an unnecessary worry. If a potential problem needs to be shown respect, be wary, but not too wary! Be steady and safe but don't slow to a standstill. Your outlook is surprisingly good. In your love life: You won't master every situation this week, but you will gain an insight that does much to improve a key relationship.

Farmers and gardeners know that positive processes need to take their time. Rarely can we change anything in an instant. Sagittarians find such ideas hard to accept. You like to make decisions one moment and see the results soon after. It so happens that this month, at least, the possibility of just such rapid progress arises. You can't alter everything in the blink of an eye but you have recently identified a key factor which can be adjusted. To this, there will be long-term advantages as well as short-term rewards. In your love life: An upturn is coming. Stay calm through one more set of brief frustrations, then magical rewards will start coming your way.

We all like to feel we are doing the right thing. We want to be fair, ethical, upright, reasonable. So far, so good. But sometimes, some of us (as you may have noticed) do the wrong thing and then try, through clever argument and explanation, to persuade themselves (and everyone else) that this was the right thing! You, of course, would always resist accidentally succumbing to self-deception. But this week, you may have to extend a rescue branch to someone who is now up to their neck in that quagmire! In your love life: Understanding another's needs and motives may be trickier than you expect it to be now but it is not impossible!

The deeper our feelings, the harder we find it to articulate them. The more private they seem, the more vulnerable we become when we share our secrets. It seems, this week, that life keeps putting you in positions that trigger sensitive reactions. Even if Aquarians truly are aloof and remote, the cosmos now shows it can bring out your hidden tender side. That is neither something to be afraid of, nor ashamed of. Just be honest and sincere and all that now seems a worry, will yet become a source of relief. In your love life: Don't fear the power someone has over you; for you have true power over them. Respect and integrity are your strong suits.

This week's Full Moon in your opposite sign invites you to revisit an old agreement, arrangement or contract. A deal has been done but is everyone still honouring the spirit of that plan? Has an imbalance developed? Is there now mistrust associated with the implementation of a scheme that was always intended to be fully fair? When we notice a problem, we are always potentially halfway to fixing that problem! Don't be dismayed by what you see, be inspired by your chance to get things set straight. In your love life: Someone's drawn a line. Trust that, trust them and, despite the disruptive nature of the Full Moon, they will trust you too.

Most big issues begin as little issues. If we could only see them arising and nip them in the bud, we could save trouble later. But, just as a tiny plant and a mighty oak look similar when their first green shoots push above the Earth, the distinction between a minor nuisance and a potential source of major trouble, is not always so clear. We must take care, too, that we don't spend too much time responding to challenges which, if ignored and left alone, might go away of their own accord. Remember all that this week! In your love life: Wherever in your world there is a struggle to keep the peace, there will soon be a far greater sense of rapport.

Last month, for a while, I filled your daily forecasts with a story about a frog who lived in a well. I was encouraging you to go beyond your boundaries, step outside of a comfort zone and reap the benefit of a new opportunity. Hopefully, that's what you are now in the process of doing. It is not uncommon in any great adventure to experience several moments of doubt. Or, perhaps, an apparently unrelated development is causing you to wonder if you are on the right track. Be brave this week, and carry on. In your love life: You can control how dramatic events become. If you want a situation to calm down, merely watch what you add to the pot.

If you work hard, you get results. Or, at least, that's what we are taught at an early age. Some, though, might say that it's not so simple. Much depends on how we work and what we work at. It may be unwise to embrace the work ethic so passionately that we dismiss all possibility of a positive opportunity landing in our lap as if from out of nowhere. Yet effort made, even in error, or if applied to a poorly chosen task, always somehow magically brings us closer to reward. Just do your best this week, then relax. In your love life: Let others know how highly you think of them. Where genuine praise is deserved, offer it and it will be returned in kind.

We all like to feel we have a special relationship with the cosmos. Whatever or whoever created this world thinks fondly of us and singles us out for special help, doesn't it? Perhaps we don't always feel this is true but we still like to hope it might be. Once in a while, reassuring events seem to support such an idea, no matter how unlikely it seems when we are trying to be more logical. You may find it hard, given this week's developments, to persuade yourself that the universe is anything other than on your side. In your love life: Things look likely to go well for you soon. One little moment of insight will show you that you have all the power you need.

We were not placed on this planet to make ends meet. When we were born, nobody handed our parents an invoice and said, this is how much your child will owe to the cosmos in return for having been granted life. However hard existence may at times seem to be or how expensive - the universe really wants to support us as best it can. It is generous in that process, even if individual human beings are not always quite so kind. Events, this week, offer you the chance to benefit from a gesture of largesse. In your love life: Don't fight your critics. Just drop your own criticism of someone else and they will become less critical of you.

This week's Full Moon in your sign, shines a celestial spotlight on the great adventure that you have lately embarked upon. You aren't so sure that any activity you are now engaged in qualifies as a great adventure ? Perhaps you have not yet realised how great, or how much of an adventure, it is due to be. Somehow, soon, you'll see the enormity of a situation and you will recognise the true intensity of it too. This will bring clarity and, eventually, a sense of inspiration as you see what needs to happen next. In your love life: You feel a little vulnerable. Your world may seem short of refuges and safe places. Face it. Be persistent. It will pay off for you.

Rarely, if ever, do astrologers advise their clients to make risky moves. There is too much comeback. We seers and star-gazers, know we will always be safer if we encourage our clients to play it safe, too. That's all well and good, until life presents the kind of opportunity that can only be seized with a little willingness to take at least some small gamble. Really, the maxim I should encourage you to remember this week is nothing ventured, nothing gained. But, of course, I never said that. You didn't really hear! In your love life: You can aid a delicate situation as much by what you don't say, as by what you do, you can exert a helpful healing influence.

Is this the right time or the wrong time? I know that's not a question for me to ask you but one for which you would like me to supply the answer. Even so, I reflect this back at you. In your heart of hearts are you secretly wishing that I would deter you from a course of action or are you hoping that I will give you the go-ahead, relieve you of the responsibility of having to make your own mind up and push you past the point of no return? The choice has to be yours. But bravery, this week, will not go unrewarded. In your love life: Sometimes you have to just dive in. Discretion is usually the better part of valour. Not alwaysl. Is this such a time?

Sometimes, when we try too hard, we make simple situations complicated. Easy options turn difficult. Minor setbacks become major problems. Yet why does anyone ever make more effort than they need to, unless they care so much about the outcome of a process that they feel inspired, almost obliged, to put all they've got into it. I recognise that an astrologer, advising an enthusiastic Sagittarian to feign nonchalance, is asking for a lot. But then, you are fond of tall orders and brave challenges, aren't you? In your love life: Don't make a song and dance of it. Softly, softly... even if you are an excitable Sagittarian and this is a dramatic Full Moon!

Venus leaves your sign this week but, thankfully, not until after Valentine's Day. So while the world is getting romantic, hearts are melting and people are preparing to gaze into one another's eyes whilst whispering sweet nothings, you are at the peak of your own astrological potential to captivate! No, really, you are! Don't doubt this. Throw yourself into the role that someone else would most like you to play now. In love and in many another area of life, too, such an approach will pay off handsomely. In your love life: We can't change each other. But we can change ourselves an act of wisdom likely to produce a delightful reward.

As this is Valentine's week, let us ponder a philosophical question. Why are some people attracted to others? Don't worry, the publishers of this page have not extended my space and I know you don't have hours to read a long explanation. But if I sum it all up in just one word and suggest that this, in turn, encapsulates the only point you now need to keep in mind to ensure success in every area of your world, you must forgive me for possible oversimplification. What's required for from you now, is confidence! In your love life: Just as important as it is to believe in yourself, you must be sincere about your willingness to please someone else.

If we don't talk to each other, how can we hope to understand each other? Before we go any further into this forecast, did you notice it began with a trick question? We talk to each other all the time. Rarely is that the barrier to communication. It isn't that we don't talk, more that we don't listen! Or, even if we do, we don't hear what is actually being said! I'm not just drawing your attention to this because it is Valentine's week. Keep it in mind whilst pursuing more mundane objectives if you seek success this week! In your love life: Engage in a gentle, honest conversation. That act of giving will guide Cupid straight to the heart of a sensitive situation!

Other people can make such a difference to our lives. When we feel things are good between us and them, our hearts well up with happiness, our minds over-brim with confidence and we naturally gravitate towards beneficial opportunities. Yet, when there is tension, the reverse is true. The moral of that then is to work even harder at healing wounds, moving on from past conflicts, letting go, forgiving and forgetting. Those policies will prove your keys to every kind of success this Valentine's week. In your love life: The helpful position of your ruling planet suggests that happy developments are likely. You're heading in the right direction.

We all have dreams, hopes and wishes. We all have secrets, too. There are some things we simply don't tell to other people, not because we are ashamed, afraid or because we fear they won't understand. It is just that privacy is important. It affords a kind of gentle, dignified independence. It seems, this Valentine's week, as if you are being asked to reveal more about yourself than you feel happy about doing. But there is a quid pro quo in this. The trust you gain will bring a valuable reward. In your love life: Communications are often surprisingly restricted. This week brings a rare opportunity for greater honesty and comfort.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, your ruling planet moves from the house of intense desire to the heavenly home of idealism and altruism. Let your decisions, this week, reflect that transition. Go beyond an old, tiresome sense of need. Explore, instead, a belief that if you do the right thing, you will get the right result. In a situation that could easily descend into chaos and complication if too many excuses are made and truths are ignored, there is a chance to form a sweet, simple connection that brings lasting joy. In your love life: Are there some key issues that should be taken into account? You won't regret making the allowances for them.

This week, for you, would be all about building bridges, even if there were no river to cross! Even, indeed, if it did not bring Valentine's Day and all the pressure we feel at such times, to overcome our differences and create some kind of fantasy-come-true in our personal lives. Such pressures can, of course, work against their own fulfilment. When we worry too much about what seems to be wrong, it is as if more and more keeps going wrong! But you can right many a wrong now, just by striving to be kind. In your love life: Ignore stress and strain. The sky insists you can work a miracle, in your personal or emotional life, this Valentine's week.

There is more than one way to crack a nut. Or solve a problem. Or, perhaps most pertinently this Valentine's week, to fulfil a desire. There is something very particular that you want. Now, consider this. Do you want the result? Or do you want that result to be attained in a highly specific way? If there is an option that involves less stress but affords the same satisfaction, why would you not take that? Presumably, only because you can't see it. So start looking for it! Slowly, soon, it will make itself visible. In your love life: Where a change is overdue in your personal life, an event this Valentine's week can set a wonderful process in motion.

Should we wait patiently to see how the world intends to reward us? Or should we stride out boldly and start shaking the tree of potential reward until the fruit falls at our feet? Some recommend a more passive approach. Agitate that tree too vigorously,' they warn, and you risk an unripe fruit, falling hard on your head!' They prefer to sit beneath the branches until nature takes its course. There is often much to be said for such a philosophy but not so much to be said for it in your life this Valentine's week! In your love life: You are full of assertive energy. But the reward for allowing a situation to evolve may soon be a welcome, loving gesture.

It is the time of year when the whole world seems to be thinking about partnership. So let us look at the very delicate relationship between risk and reward. These two factors have to work very closely with each other, performing a dance not unlike the one between the Moon and the Sun. They are deeply interdependent yet rarely do we see them immediately aligned. The magic is in the way they keep their distance and co-operate to produce spectacular results. You should emulate that example this week. In your love life: Are there gestures someone dare not make for fear of being badly judged? Encourage a little courage this Valentine's week.

Is it less fortunate to be born under Scorpio than any other sign? Some astrologers seem to think so. Their writings are full of odd assertions casting cruel aspersions. But weren't we all issued a package of mixed blessings when we arrived in this world? If your curse simply involves being misunderstood by star-gazers, things may not be so bad, as long as there are other blessings. It would seem, this week, there are. You will soon be sweetly understood by someone with a down-to-earth appreciation of your true needs! In your love life: Can a difficulty be resolved? A small gesture, not necessarily romantic, may be all that's needed to make that happen.

Florists, jewellers, restaurant owners and card shop proprietors may feel there is only one point of focus now. True romantics, though, won't see it quite that way. Why should this weekend be different from any other? If you love someone, you don't just love them on Valentine's Day!' The most exciting, exceptional potential development in your life this week involves, not so much your love of an individual as your admiration for a particular process. Here comes a chance to get more deeply and pleasingly involved with that. In your love life: Be aware of intriguing suggestions. Trust your archer's eye to tell you when you have been singled out as a target!

Nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel. Is it not ever thus in the life of someone born under the sign of the stoical sea-goat? Actually, it need not be. Astrologers often do Capricorns a disservice when they fail to mention your sense of adventure, your kindness, softness, sensitivity and sensuality. They overlook the extent of your imagination, too. Events, this week, afford you a chance to explore your creativity in order to solve an old problem and enjoy a much-deserved break from stress. In your love life: Alter the signals you are sending out by subtly acknowledging how you may be able to do someone a favour.

Have you got this page the right way up? Perhaps you are reading the wrong forecast? Maybe this is a prediction for someone else, born under a different sign? Sorry to cast so many aspersions and awaken so many doubts, but then I wouldn't be the only person in your life now providing a reason to reconsider what you once took for granted. Yet there are some things you can be sure of and this week, you really need to put your faith in these and prioritise them. From that clarity will come pleasing progress. In your love life: Only unique and interesting types develop an appetite for your company. If you've got the best, you don't need the rest!

Are Pisceans really as imaginative as the textbooks tell us? You are supposed to be so sensitive, sentimental and creative that you live in a dreamworld of your own. Yet you have other, far more practical capabilities. You are not away with the fairies', you are the person who brings those fairies back down to earth and puts them to work! Evidence of that can be found this week in the way you envisage a way forward with a situation that has previously seemed impossible to make progress with. In your love life: Trust the supernatural knowledge becoming available; be delicate how you reveal your awareness. There's much to gain.

If my forecasts sometimes acknowledge when people born under a zodiac sign are likely to experience stress, it is only ever in the hope that an expression of empathy will help those who are suffering. There are, though, always some exceptions to the rule. Such people, reading the same forecast, should not feel downcast because it appears to be telling them to expect a tough time. To be clear. If you are feeling good already, you will continue to feel fine this week. And if you are not? Things will improve! In your love life: If you like what you feel now, that's fine. If not, remember your own power to change this.

If you want this to be a good week, it can be. Why might you want anything else? Well, the human mind is complicated. It can sometimes operate in peculiar ways. Psychologists still struggle to understand why we seemingly invite negative moods or stressful experiences into our lives. It is almost as if we punish ourselves. You may have some strange, secret, sub-conscious agenda. You may even feel you don't deserve to do well now. Ignore all that this week. Rise above it and you will yet find you thrive. In your love life: Time for karma. Make amends and you can make a difference, vastly improving the here and now of your heart.

Mercury remains retrograde. That's really rather good for you. It may, though, mean your big New Year resolution is in a state of suspended animation. Perhaps you can't entirely instigate the new regime or bring about the change because you are waiting for something to happen or to stop happening. Or perhaps you don't fully understand a particular process. Have faith. Persevere. If, this week, you work hard enough at getting what you want, you will be delightfully surprised by what proves possible. In your love life: Work, this week, on improving your understanding of someone. This will either help to heal a wound or build a bridge.

Does the cosmos require us to show gratitude and express respect for the power that sets the Earth spinning in the sky? Many religions insist as much. They teach us to live in fear and awe of a higher power. One has to wonder though, how high' any power can be if it needs to feed on gestures of subservience. It is good for us to show appreciation but not for the sake of a Creator. We show it because, when we feel it, we feel better! Be glad of all that's good this week, and you will find even more to be glad of. In your love life: We think we know what other people need. The secret of success is simple now. Don't assume, enquire!

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? If not, do you, perhaps, now suspect you can still get what you had been hoping for? The cosmic climate this week, depicts you with a clear objective. Either there is something you wish to attain or to find freedom from. You are becoming aware of a need but perhaps you are unsure if that need can ever be met. Your usually buoyant mood is sinking a little. You definitely will make your breakthrough in time, but it may not occur this week. Be patient! In your love life: Try to be more relaxed and accepting about the way things are, and not to indulge thinking how they should be?

In my world, if there is ever so much as the slightest hiccup in a plan or a project, somebody tends to look knowingly and say, Ah, Mercury must be retrograde!' From that alone, can you see how apt it is that Mercury rules your sign? Aren't you, too, often blamed for things that are not your fault? This week brings proof that good things can happen, regardless of Mercury's condition and proof too, that Virgos can make magnificent progress, regardless of any fear about what may be standing in their way. In your love life: Does love begin with loving or with allowing oneself to be loved? You will soon find the answer that is right for you.

Seers and sages often advise us to attune with nature. Feel the spirit of the universe,' they advise, and life will naturally take you where you need to be.' Ah, but does the universe make it easy for us to harmonise with it? Right now it seems to be bringing drama. Should you follow its lead by creating more? Perhaps not, but you can at least sit back and let the drama amuse you trusting that even if a situation seems tense, it isn't as problematic as it seems. The more you do relax, the more joy you'll find this week. In your love life: With the right people by our side, we can solve any problem. You'll prove that by your own example this week.

Is 2016 turning out any differently to 2015? It is too early to tell. You can't judge a book by its cover and you can't judge a year by its first couple of weeks. But even if, so far, you suspect that it is all just business as usual, and that past disappointments may merely be a taste of what's to come, events this week will inspire you to reconsider. You may have given up hope of improvement in one tense area of life, but a new development will restore flagging faith. You've got more power than you think. In your love life: You are special. Coming events will naturally enable you to communicate this very point to someone else as special as you.

Whenever Jupiter is retrograde, Sagittarians get to reflect, review and revise. That's what is happening for you now. You have been looking at the way things have been and double-checking to make sure that this is the way in which you really wish to continue. Should you conclude that change is desirable, it can be attained. Should you feel that little needs to alter, fear not. The status quo is secure if you don't challenge it. Be brave enough, though, to entertain some new, bold, ideas. They may just prove perfect. In your love life: You can stop a drama becoming too overblown by deliberately overreacting. The upshot could be an easier situation.

If something isn't good enough, you won't improve it by adding more substandard parts or by making extra special, unreliable arrangements. The New Moon in your sign has revealed issues of quality control'. There's a definite temptation to emphasise quantity or speed. Even in an area that's decidedly not material or physical, still it seems, someone is attracted to the idea of a quick superficial fix'. Really, though, there needs to be a thorough review and a careful reconstruction. Implement that and believe in the best this week. In your love life: Don't act out of anger, act out of wisdom. You can win any fight if your heart is full of kindness not anger.

How do we learn? By making mistakes. If we don't ever make any, we will never learn anything. Perhaps then, some of our errors are not as erroneous as we fear. It is easy to look back on a decision and regret it. It is easy, too, to paint a bleak, shallow picture of an event that we wish hadn't happened. But when we start being hard on ourselves, we make the only kind of mistake that truly is a mistake! Look this week, at what's good and at what could be made good! An alignment from Venus to your ruler promises inspiration and success! In your love life: If you really want something new to enter your world, you may need to be a little more candid.

Jupiter's link to the Sun insists you are doing what needs to be done. Of this we can be sure. Yet, how do you know it to be true? Are there flaws in your logic, gaps in your reasoning, holes in your arguments? Are you attempting to fill these in by weaving a fine mesh of words and ideas? They may sound good, but do they lack substance? Why should this bother you or anyone else, come to that? Why can't you just go with what inspires you and what you sense to be right? You can! Save yourself the stress of self-doubt. Trust yourself this week. In your love life: Something seems to be trying to make its way out of your life. Let it go lovingly and it may yet return in the same spirit.

I am holding out my hand and pointing my finger. Which direction am I signalling? How can you tell? I am not here in front of you. Only my words are! But out of interest, when you read the opening sentence, what did you imagine? What picture popped into your head? I only ask because, this week, if I am to be helpful to you as an astrologer, I need to show you how easily we let notions become beliefs. We read too much into too little, then let this guide our lives. Watch for that this week. Trust what you're sure of. And be sure of yourself! In your love life: Keep an eye (and an ear) out for an unecessarily misleading possibility and you can make something wonderful happen.

Don't underestimate the importance of what's happening this week. Don't fear it, either. Alignments from Venus to Pluto suggest push may be coming to shove, but big decisions are getting made and crucial turning points are being reached. The satisfactory resolution of a long drama is imminent. You have been through a lot. You deserve a good outcome. That's what you are about to get even if a situation that seems, superficially, oppressive plays a part in bringing this about. Ride the storm. It will get you (safely) where you need to be. In your love life: Whatever you now have to do to get through to someone, this week, has got to be worth doing.

Others can help you to ask the right questions. The answers, though, have to be ones that you arrive at yourself and then act upon almost single-handedly. Don't see this as bad news. There's nothing in your outlook to signify a lack of success. You can improve a situation that has been tiresomely inadequate for too long, once you recognise that there are certain duties that only you can fully honour. Mercury aligns helpfully with Jupiter and the Sun this week. Accept support where it is offered... but trust that you have what it takes to do what's needed. In your love life: Think how two people in your world interact. Much will improve if an expectation is altered and an accommodation is made.

You are not full of contradictions, nor are you entirely consistent. You are not particularly prone to exaggerate but you don't see everything in proportion. You are hardly the world's worst rebel but when told what you cannot do, you think, We shall see about that.' In other words, you are a human being. You have your flaws and foibles just as you also have your talents and strengths. As we move on from a New Moon, it is important to remember this week that, even if you are not perfect, you have nothing to apologise for and every reason to expect success. In your love life: Even if storms have been blowing, they are calming down. You don't have as much need for security as you may think.

Some things are obvious: You really don't have to think about them. Others are subtle: You can easily miss their meaning. We all know this. It's just that we can't always tell the difference. We waste much time seeking hidden depth in the simply superficial or we dismiss as irrelevant something that deserves a lot more thought. As we move on now from Jupiter's alignment to the Sun, you suspect that there may be more to a certain story than meets the eye. Trust that inkling. Continue to ask smart questions and you will get helpful answers. In your love life: Someone is at odds with your own need. Don't put what's expected of you above what you expect of yourself.

A small celebratory drink is in order. It need not be alcoholic. It's far more appropriate to make it a healing herbal tea... or a smoothie full of Vitamin C... or a cocktail of exotic stimulants like ginseng or guarana. A toast of some kind, though, should be proposed to the conjunction of Mercury and the Sun plus harmonious alignments from your ruler to Jupiter and Venus. Cheers? Yes. Three at least. All hearty and heartfelt. Problems are not about to vanish in a puff of smoke... but even your greatest sources of hassle will get easier to deal with. In your love life: You are waiting for a decision. If you're willing to accept what transpires, you'll much like how things turn out.

Once, everyone wanted to be normal. They craved respectability and worried about being thought peculiar. Now we all take pride in our eccentricities and relish every chance to stand out from the crowd. We all want to be different. Which is, of course, perfectly normal. By what benchmark are you measuring your current condition? Whose standards will you employ to determine whether something is good or bad? You are anxious lest you have ended up in the wrong situation and are doing the wrong thing. But what's happening now is right. In your love life: Deep within you, there's a person of impressive talent. Here comes a chance to bring out more of what's within you.

You can rev your engine as much as you like. If your foot is on the brake, you won't go anywhere. You can shout as loudly as you like. If nobody is listening, you still won't be heard. Talk is cheap. That's why there is so much of it. Not all action, though, meets its mark. There must be ingenuity as well as intention, strategy as well as strength. Mars remains in your sign, imbuing you with strength, determination and potential. Now it's a question of aiming well so that when the moment comes, this week, to make your move, you hit your target. In your love life: Look again at something that upset you. Did you place one interpretation on something that could be read in several ways?

The year may only have just begun but it is time for a rethink. In its current form, an idea is unworkable. It only needs modifying, not abandoning. Make allowances for the needs and beliefs of the people who do not see things in quite the same way that you do. They may be wrong but they must be respected. And in a way, they may yet be right. You may eventually be very glad that you had to make an adjustment. As your ruler now completes a harmonious alignment to the Sun, several fascinating discoveries begin to be made. Be open to new possibilities and you'll see some truly inspiring ways to proceed. In your love life: Someone is stretching a story past breaking point. Find a way to render reality more appealing for you and for them alike.