Naomi Campbell, a twin. Photo Illustration: by Preeti Kinha; Photos: Getty Images
Sunday night Mercury moves (still retrograde) from Gemini back into Taurus. As long as the communication planet is there, everyone around you seems extra stubborn and you may not be able to convince them of anything. Your own thinking might also become inflexible, but remember that it’s still worth at least trying to keep an open mind. On Tuesday evening, the action planet Mars enters its home sign Aries and activates your self-confidence and fighting spirit. For the next month your belief in your worth as a human being will be unshakable and you will be ready to fight for yourself. Finally, on Saturday morning, Venus enters her home sign, Taurus. The thrill of the hunt loses some of its appeal. Instead, Venus in Taurus teaches you to appreciate love—be it romantic or platonic—that makes you feel safe and supported, like you’re exactly where you belong.
You are at your best when you are concentrating on your own work and are not distracted by others. Focusing on what you’re doing doesn’t mean ignoring those around you or ignoring their feelings and needs. It’s about avoiding the trap of comparison and jealousy. Normally you take this for granted, but this week you might have a bit of a problem. Don’t worry about it too much and don’t doubt yourself. You can experience the moment of jealousy, acknowledge it, then refocus your attention and move on.
After this spring’s solar eclipses, you may be disoriented. Perhaps certain relationships have proven less reliable than you thought, or unexpected obstacles have delayed your progress. But there is a downside to all this uncomfortable chaos: some people may prove to be unreliable, but others will prove to be more generous and helpful than you could ever have imagined. When some of your plans have unraveled, exciting new ones will reveal themselves. Unforeseen problems may have surfaced in your life, but you will also find unexpected friends and cuties.
Lately you can’t shake the fear lurking in the back of your mind, the voice that says you’re inadequate, that you haven’t fulfilled your potential. You wonder if you will ever find lasting satisfaction and love, or if you made the wrong choices and it’s too late now. In these moments it can be difficult to tell whether you are judging yourself by your own standards or those of others; They are usually entangled. Still, it’s important this week not to strive for someone else’s vision of success if it’s not your own as well. Your personal goals may be beautiful or strange or even boring to someone else – what matters is that they belong to you.
When faced with a decision, it’s useful—even necessary—to step back, reevaluate your thoughts, and ask if there’s a perspective or important piece of information you haven’t explored. Don’t get too comfortable in that attitude of constant self-doubt this week, though. You don’t have to go through every possible scenario before making your first move. You are human and your knowledge will always be incomplete, and that is okay. Your instincts are better than you give them credit for. Don’t think about it. Just make up your mind.
When you feel lonely or unsatisfied with your life, you may wonder if the problem is with the people in it. Maybe they act thoughtlessly, maybe they can’t express love in a way that you can understand. Maybe they were just busy. This week it might be liberating to temporarily remove others from your mind. You cannot control what they do or what they can give. If finding the fulfillment you were looking for was all up to you, where would you go? What project, what dream would you turn to? What happiness would you finally allow yourself?
You have worked long and hard to build a stable life, to build an existence that you can be truly proud of. Lately, however, it feels like the universe is determined to shake you, to leave no area of your life untouched by change. When the beauty and order you’ve cultivated begins to falter, you’re left with the work of putting the pieces back together. Just remember that you don’t have to reconstruct everything exactly as it was. Every disruption is an opportunity to grow, to make room for more joy or love or spontaneity that didn’t fit into your life before.
You are usually wary of other people’s judgment and wary of appearing reckless. You know that you are interesting, even wise, and that you are as deep and complex as everyone else. You also know that other people don’t always value kindness and beauty as highly as you do. You also know how the misunderstandings of others can affect the way you are treated. But this week, it’s critical that you don’t let other people’s potentially unkind assessments of your path dictate your path. The world is strange and the future is bleak, but you don’t have to forego enjoyment. There’s still value in the love we show each other.
Intellectually you know you deserve a chance to grow. But in practice people are reluctant to seek these opportunities, to take risks. You find it safer to make the best of the options you’ve been given than to risk failing in your quest to create something entirely new. And so many of the opportunities that come your way just don’t seem worth the uncertainty of putting yourself out there. But this week your belief in yourself will become bright enough to make whole new futures appear. When you try to expand, to grow, to change your mind, it makes you bolder. It makes your whole life brighter.
There is nothing weak or shameful about needing a support system. It sounds so obvious, put like that. But lately you’ve felt the pressure—perhaps just from yourself—to be smart and strong, completely self-sufficient. This week, remember that you can ask your friends for help. They probably don’t realize how much you needed them all this time: on the outside you seem strong and independent. The community you long for exists; The challenge for you is to make your needs known.
They are rarely idle: they work hard to commit to the long game. But when it comes to big decisions or dramatic actions, you like to slam on the brakes and wait for a sign from the universe, for permission from the people you respect, for outside confirmation that your big dreams are worthy. This week, however, you don’t need to hesitate any further. You have the skills and courage to change your life, and no one else’s approval (or withholding) will change that. If a trading opportunity arises that you wish to pursue, do not hesitate.
For a long time you have felt trapped in an existence that is too small, too ordinary for you. Your ideas are dazzling, far-reaching, but your everyday life is unexciting, limiting your professional and family commitments. You’ve learned to shrink to fit better, but this week you deserve a chance to be yourself. You have an opportunity to stop trying to force what doesn’t fit and instead create a life that is not only bearable but interesting, rich, and big enough for your full, wild self.
One of your greatest gifts is your willingness to accept complexity. They don’t ask for easy answers or reduce the whole chaotic world to a single narrow story. However, this week you may need to remind yourself that simplicity has value too. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, and the most obvious explanation is the one that’s true. You don’t owe it to anyone (including yourself) to find justifications for why you deserve peace and happiness or why you shouldn’t be mistreated. If you take a step back, you’ll see that it’s very simple: just because you’re a human being in the world, you have the right to seek happiness.
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Read the weekly horoscopes for the week of May 16th. The weekly horoscopes for the week of May 30th will be online next Sunday.
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Basically, each planet has a home sign (“domicile” in astro-speak) where it is most “itself” and able to express its qualities with a minimum of complications or obstacles.