Maggie Cheung, a Virgo.
Photo-Illustration: by Preeti Kinha; Photos: Getty
When Venus enters Virgo on Sunday night, your understanding of love may shift a bit. Dramatic gestures will no longer be the pinnacle of romance. In fact, they may even come across as insincere. Instead, you’ll witness devotion in the little things we do for one another — the simple acts that show we’ve been paying attention, that we care. Then, on Friday night, Mercury retrograde begins, this time lasting until the beginning of October. Take this as an excuse, if you need one, to go easy on yourself even to the point of what you’d normally consider laziness. slowing down and reflecting is not a way to avoid life’s important work; right now, it work the important work. Finally, on Saturday morning, a full moon in mystical Pisces lights up the sky, activates your compassion, and heightens your sensitivity to emotions (yours and other people’s). This is an opportunity to connect on a deeper level, to forgive and be forgiven.
Some people are cautious or indecisive when it comes to making a change but not you. When you’re not valued at your workplace, you don’t both and haw. You quit. When a relationship is dragging you down, you leave. You’d rather take a risky leap right away than waste time mapping out your next five moves. Just remember that at times you do have the luxury of planning, and when you do, it’s worth making the most of it. If there’s a change you envision for the future, start laying the groundwork this week. You’ll be glad you did.
No matter how many obstacles you conquer, there’s a part of you that remains hesitant to stick your neck out too far or make the first move. You’re scared to be vulnerable. If you’re going to fail, you’d rather not have an audience. The problem this week is that people want to support and help you along the way, but they can’t unless you tell them what you want. It still might not work out, but it also might change your life.
Everyone is misunderstood at times, but lately, other people’s inability to recognize you has been grating. For whatever reason — maybe they aren’t paying attention, maybe they just don’t care — they cast you in roles that aren’t quite right. Often, the easiest course of action (at least in the moment) is to go along, to contort yourself into the shape others expect you to take. Do this too often, or too long, and you, too, will start losing sight of who you are. This week, don’t feel you have to be amenable when others misjudge you. Stand firm in yourself.
Being human (as in, messy, flawed, inconsistent) can feel deeply embarrassing. All you think about are your shortcomings and failings. You’re no more imperfect than anybody else, of course, but that’s no comfort when you’re in this kind of mood. This week, the best thing to do is fight that creeping sense of shame. If you’ve made specific mistakes, apologize for them and work to fix them, but don’t apologize for being complicated, for being a person. Don’t imagine for an instant that you need to fix yourself.
Although you know that there’s nothing wrong with ordinariness, that even the quietest of lives contains depth and beauty, you want more for yourself. You dream of a rich life filled with adventure; you want magic. But constantly striving for greatness means a lot of disappointment. it makes it harder to appreciate the day-to-day high points; it drains your pride in your achievements. So this week, think smaller. You don’t have to change the whole world to be appreciated; you don’t have to find the love of your life to enjoy sweetness. Remember that joy, however imperfect, is already within reach.
When you get bored, your instinct to seek out new challenges, to take on added work — generally to invite difficulty into your life. But right now, that’s unlikely to help. You don’t need extra problems to solve; the world already throws enough of them at you, and you’re working as hard as anyone could be expected to. What you need are different stimuli, fresh ideas, a more ready supply of fun. This week, make a point of giving your brain and your body something novel and, crucially, enjoyable to do Life will appear brighter, and its challenges will become more bearable.
A reminder for this week: You don’t have to maintain a positive outlook all the time. It’s not as if you actually are sunny all the time. Life’s far too stressful and confusing for that. At the same time, you feel a twinge of guilt whenever your emotions get negative. You tell yourself you should always be able to point to something to be grateful for, that you’re failing if you don’t always give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Remember that “bad” feelings like fear, mistrust, and simple anger are valuable, too, and expressing them won’t diminish the “good” ones.
When you’re in the middle of a period of growth, it’s hard to recognize how far you’ve come. All you’re likely to notice is the pain and frustration. For a long time, it seems nothing is going your way. Don’t lose heart this week. Don’t take recent difficulties as a sign that you’ve failed, that you aren’t cut out for the work you’re attempting, that you’re undeserving of the life you want. Just because your efforts haven’t borne fruit yet doesn’t mean they never will. Trust that you’re in the middle of a strange time and that you’ll have something amazing to show for it in the end.
You like to leave things open-ended as much as possible, to remain open to all the universe offers. But lately, when possibilities resolve into realities and good things happen, part of you remains unsatisfied. You’re not trying to be ungrateful, but you can’t escape the suspicion that something is missing — in your relationships or your work or your creative pursuits. This week, don’t be quite so flexible. It’s okay to be specific, even picky, about what you want most. It might be the only way to find it.
There are those in your life who can’t bear to hear a single negative comment, who act as though the only way to be in harmony with the world and the people in it is to be unconditionally accepting. But this week, keep in mind that you’re allowed to be critical, too, and that it isn’t toxic negativity. Sometimes you have to admit that you’re unsatisfied — or that you’ve been treated poorly or that things are too difficult — before you can begin improving your circumstances. It’s not cruel or weird or bitter to want better.
Some of your friends act as though any show of anger is unhealthy or irrational, but you know that’s not always true. Holding on to resentment can fuel you. Dissatisfaction signals that you deserve better from the people in your life. All the same, this week, try to remember that rage can outlive its usefulness. Eventually, you have to let it go. Not because you’ve gone soft or even reached a point of forgiveness, necessarily. Instead, you’ve grown. You no longer need it.
You can easily recognize the best qualities in anyone no matter your differences. But sometimes, it seems as if no one is able to reciprocate, to perceive what’s special about you. It hurts to feel overlooked. However, try to remember that the point isn’t to love and be loved by everyone you meet. It’s to cultivate strong connections — genuine intimacy — with those you want to invest in. There are people (some you already know and some you have yet to meet) who don’t need help seeing how wonderful you are. So try not to worry so much about the others.
read the weekly horoscopes for the week of August 29. The weekly horoscopes for the week of September 12 will be online next Sunday.
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