Copyright

Thorsons

An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by Thorsons 2016

FIRST EDITION

© Star ★ Data, Inc. 2016

A catalogue record of this book is

available from the British Library

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016

Cover illustration © Sally Taylor

A catalogue record of this book is

available from the British Library

Star ★ Data assert the moral right to

be identified as the authors of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN 9780008144500

Ebook Edition © June 2016 ISBN 9780008144517

Version: 2016-05-05

Dedication

The author is grateful to the people

of STAR ★ DATA, who truly fathered

this book and without whom it

could not have been written.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

A Note on the ‘New Zodiac’

Glossary of Astrological Terms

Aries

Personality Profile

Understanding an Aries

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Taurus

Personality Profile

Understanding a Taurus

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Gemini

Personality Profile

Understanding a Gemini

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Cancer

Personality Profile

Understanding a Cancer

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Leo

Personality Profile

Understanding a Leo

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Virgo

Personality Profile

Understanding a Virgo

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Libra

Personality Profile

Understanding a Libra

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Scorpio

Personality Profile

Understanding a Scorpio

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Sagittarius

Personality Profile

Understanding a Sagittarius

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Capricorn

Personality Profile

Understanding a Capricorn

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Aquarius

Personality Profile

Understanding an Aquarius

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

Pisces

Personality Profile

Understanding a Pisces

Horoscope for 2017

Month-by-month Forecasts

About the Publisher

Introduction

Welcome to the fascinating and intricate world of astrology!

For thousands of years the movements of the planets and other heavenly bodies have intrigued the best minds of every generation. Life holds no greater challenge or joy than this: knowledge of ourselves and the universe we live in. Astrology is one of the keys to this knowledge.

Your Personal Horoscope 2017 gives you the fruits of astrological wisdom. In addition to general guidance on your character and the basic trends of your life, it shows you how to take advantage of planetary influences so you can make the most of the year ahead.

The section on each sign includes a Personality Profile, a look at general trends for 2017, and in-depth month-by-month forecasts. The Glossary explains some of the astrological terms you may be unfamiliar with.

One of the many helpful features of this book is the ‘Best’ and ‘Most Stressful’ days listed at the beginning of each monthly forecast. Read these sections to learn which days in each month will be good overall, good for money, and good for love. Mark them on your calendar – these will be your best days. Similarly, make a note of the days that will be most stressful for you. It is best to avoid booking important meetings or taking major decisions on these days, as well as on those days when important planets in your horoscope are retrograde (moving backwards through the zodiac).

The Major Trends section for your sign lists those days when your vitality is strong or weak, or when relationships with your co-workers or loved ones may need a bit more effort on your part. If you are going through a difficult time, take a look at the colour, metal, gem and scent listed in the ‘At a Glance’ section of your Personality Profile. Wearing a piece of jewellery that contains your metal and/or gem will strengthen your vitality, just as wearing clothes or decorating your room or office in the colour ruled by your sign, drinking teas made from the herbs ruled by your sign or wearing the scents associated with your sign will sustain you.

Another important virtue of this book is that it will help you to know not only yourself but those around you: your friends, co-workers, partners and/or children. Reading the Personality Profile and forecasts for their signs will provide you with an insight into their behaviour that you won’t get anywhere else. You will know when to be more tolerant of them and when they are liable to be difficult or irritable.

In this edition we have included foot reflexology charts as part of the health section. So many health problems could perhaps be avoided or alleviated if we understood which organs were most vulnerable and what we could do to protect them. Though there are many natural and drug-free ways to strengthen vulnerable organs, these charts show a valid way to proceed. The vulnerable organs for the year ahead are clearly marked in the charts. It’s very good to massage the whole foot on a regular basis, as the feet contain reflexes to the entire body. Try to pay special attention to the specific areas marked in the charts. If this is done diligently, health problems can be avoided. And even if they can’t be completely avoided, their impact can be softened considerably.

I consider you – the reader – my personal client. By studying your Solar Horoscope I gain an awareness of what is going on in your life – what you are feeling and striving for and the challenges you face. I then do my best to address these concerns. Consider this book the next best thing to having your own personal astrologer!

It is my sincere hope that Your Personal Horoscope 2017 will enhance the quality of your life, make things easier, illuminate the way forward, banish obscurities and make you more aware of your personal connection to the universe. Understood properly and used wisely, astrology is a great guide to knowing yourself, the people around you and the events in your life – but remember that what you do with these insights – the final result – is up to you.

A Note on the ‘New Zodiac’

Recently an article was published that postulated two things: the discovery of a new constellation – Ophiuchus – making a thirteenth constellation in the heavens and thus a thirteenth sign, and the statement that because the Earth has shifted relative to the constellations in the past few thousand years, all the signs have shifted backwards by one sign. This has caused much consternation, and I have received a stream of letters, emails and phone calls from people saying things like: ‘I don’t want to be a Taurus, I’m happy being a Gemini’, ‘What’s my real sign?’ or ‘Now that I finally understand myself, I’m not who I think I am!’

All of this is ‘much ado about nothing’. The article has some partial truth to it. Yes, in two thousand years the planets have shifted relative to the constellations in the heavens. This is old news. We know this and Hindu astrologers take this into account when casting charts. This shift doesn’t affect Western astrologers in North America and Europe. We use what is called a ‘tropical’ zodiac. This zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations in the heavens. They have the same names, but that’s about it. The tropical zodiac is based on the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. Imagine the circle that this orbit makes, then divide this circle by twelve and you have our zodiac. The Spring Equinox is always 0 degrees Aries, and the Autumn Equinox is always 0 degrees Libra (180 degrees). At one time a few thousand years ago, these tropical signs coincided with the actual constellations; they were pretty much interchangeable, and it didn’t matter what zodiac you used. But in the course of thousands of years the planets have shifted relative to these constellations. Here in the West it doesn’t affect our practice one iota. You are still the sign you always were.

In North America and Europe there is a clear distinction between an astrological sign and a constellation in the heavens. This issue is more of a problem for Hindu astrologers. Their zodiac is based on the actual constellations – this is called the ‘sidereal’ zodiac. And Hindu astrologers have been accounting for this shift all the time. They keep close tabs on it. In two thousand years there is a shift of 23 degrees, and they subtract this from the Western calculations. So in their system many a Gemini would be a Taurus and this is true for all the signs. This is nothing new – it is all known and accounted for, so there is no bombshell here.

The so-called thirteenth constellation, Ophiuchus, is also not a problem for the Western astrologer. As we mentioned, our zodiac has nothing to do with the constellations. It could be more of a problem for the Hindus, but my feeling is that it’s not a problem for them either. What these astronomers are calling a new constellation was probably considered a part of one of the existing constellations. I don’t know this as a fact, but I presume it is so intuitively. I’m sure we will soon be getting articles by Hindu astrologers explaining this.

Glossary of Astrological Terms
Ascendant

We experience day and night because the Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. It is because of this rotation that the Sun, Moon and planets seem to rise and set. The zodiac is a fixed belt (imaginary, but very real in spiritual terms) around the Earth. As the Earth rotates, the different signs of the zodiac seem to the observer to rise on the horizon. During a 24-hour period every sign of the zodiac will pass this horizon point at some time or another. The sign that is at the horizon point at any given time is called the Ascendant, or rising sign. The Ascendant is the sign denoting a person’s self-image, body and self-concept – the personal ego, as opposed to the spiritual ego indicated by a person’s Sun sign.

Aspects

Aspects are the angular relationships between planets, the way in which one planet stimulates or influences another. If a planet makes a harmonious aspect (connection) to another, it tends to stimulate that planet in a positive and helpful way. If, however, it makes a stressful aspect to another planet, this disrupts that planet’s normal influence.

Astrological Qualities

There are three astrological qualities: cardinal, fixed and mutable. Each of the 12 signs of the zodiac falls into one of these three categories.

Cardinal Signs

Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn

The cardinal quality is the active, initiating principle. Those born under these four signs are good at starting new projects.

Fixed Signs

Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius

Fixed qualities include stability, persistence, endurance and perfectionism. People born under these four signs are good at seeing things through.

Mutable Signs

Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces

Mutable qualities are adaptability, changeability and balance. Those born under these four signs are creative, if not always practical.

Direct Motion

When the planets move forward through the zodiac – as they normally do – they are said to be going ‘direct’.

Grand Square

A Grand Square differs from a normal Square (usually two planets separated by 90 degrees) in that four or more planets are involved. When you look at the pattern in a chart you will see a whole and complete square. This, though stressful, usually denotes a new manifestation in the life. There is much work and balancing involved in the manifestation.

Grand Trine

A Grand Trine differs from a normal Trine (where two planets are 120 degrees apart) in that three or more planets are involved. When you look at this pattern in a chart, it takes the form of a complete triangle – a Grand Trine. Usually (but not always) it occurs in one of the four elements: Fire, Earth, Air or Water. Thus the particular element in which it occurs will be highlighted. A Grand Trine in Water is not the same as a Grand Trine in Air or Fire, etc. This is a very fortunate and happy aspect, and quite rare.

Houses

There are 12 signs of the zodiac and 12 houses of experience. The 12 signs are personality types and ways in which a given planet expresses itself; the 12 houses show ‘where’ in your life this expression takes place. Each house has a different area of interest. A house can become potent and important – a house of power – in different ways: if it contains the Sun, the Moon or the ‘ruler’ of your chart; if it contains more than one planet; or if the ruler of that house is receiving unusual stimulation from other planets.

1st House

Personal Image and Sensual Delights

2nd House

Money/Finance

3rd House

Communication and Intellectual Interests

4th House

Home and Family

5th House

Children, Fun, Games, Creativity, Speculations and Love Affairs

6th House

Health and Work

7th House

Love, Marriage and Social Activities

8th House

Transformation and Regeneration

9th House

Religion, Foreign Travel, Higher Education and Philosophy

10th House

Career

11th House

Friends, Group Activities and Fondest Wishes

12th House

Spirituality

Karma

Karma is the law of cause and effect which governs all phenomena. We are all where we find ourselves because of karma – because of actions we have performed in the past. The universe is such a balanced instrument that any act immediately sets corrective forces into motion – karma.

Long-term Planets

The planets that take a long time to move through a sign show the long-term trends in a given area of life. They are important for forecasting the prolonged view of things. Because these planets stay in one sign for so long, there are periods in the year when the faster-moving (short-term) planets will join them, further activating and enhancing the importance of a given house.

Jupiter

stays in a sign for about 1 year

Saturn

2½ years

Uranus

7 years

Neptune

14 years

Pluto

15 to 30 years

Lunar

Relating to the Moon. See also ‘Phases of the Moon’, below.

Natal

Literally means ‘birth’. In astrology this term is used to distinguish between planetary positions that occurred at the time of a person’s birth (natal) and those that are current (transiting). For example, Natal Sun refers to where the Sun was when you were born; transiting Sun refers to where the Sun’s position is currently at any given moment – which usually doesn’t coincide with your birth, or Natal, Sun.

Out of Bounds

The planets move through the zodiac at various angles relative to the celestial equator (if you were to draw an imaginary extension of the Earth’s equator out into the universe, you would have an illustration of this celestial equator). The Sun – being the most dominant and powerful influence in the Solar system – is the measure astrologers use as a standard. The Sun never goes more than approximately 23 degrees north or south of the celestial equator. At the winter solstice the Sun reaches its maximum southern angle of orbit (declination); at the summer solstice it reaches its maximum northern angle. Any time a planet exceeds this Solar boundary – and occasionally planets do – it is said to be ‘out of bounds’. This means that the planet exceeds or trespasses into strange territory – beyond the limits allowed by the Sun, the ruler of the Solar system. The planet in this condition becomes more emphasized and exceeds its authority, becoming an important influence in the forecast.

Phases of the Moon

After the full Moon, the Moon seems to shrink in size (as perceived from the Earth), gradually growing smaller until it is virtually invisible to the naked eye – at the time of the next new Moon. This is called the waning Moon phase, or the waning Moon.

After the new Moon, the Moon gradually gets bigger in size (as perceived from the Earth) until it reaches its maximum size at the time of the full Moon. This period is called the waxing Moon phase, or waxing Moon.

Retrogrades

The planets move around the Sun at different speeds. Mercury and Venus move much faster than the Earth, while Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move more slowly. Thus there are times when, relative to the Earth, the planets appear to be going backwards. In reality they are always going forward, but relative to our vantage point on Earth they seem to go backwards through the zodiac for a period of time. This is called ‘retrograde’ motion and tends to weaken the normal influence of a given planet.

Short-term Planets

The fast-moving planets move so quickly through a sign that their effects are generally of a short-term nature. They reflect the immediate, day-to-day trends in a horoscope.

Moon

stays in a sign for only 2½ days

Mercury

20 to 30 days

Sun

30 days

Venus

approximately 1 month

Mars

approximately 2 months

T-square

A T-square differs from a Grand Square (see above) in that it is not a complete square. If you look at the pattern in a chart it appears as ‘half a complete square’, resembling the T-square tools used by architects and designers. If you cut a complete square in half, diagonally, you have a T-square. Many astrologers consider this more stressful than a Grand Square, as it creates tension that is difficult to resolve. T-squares bring learning experiences.

Transits

This term refers to the movements or motions of the planets at any given time. Astrologers use the word ‘transit’ to make the distinction between a birth, or Natal, planet (see ‘Natal’, above) and the planet’s current movement in the heavens. For example, if at your birth Saturn was in the sign of Cancer in your 8th house, but is now moving through your 3rd house, it is said to be ‘transiting’ your 3rd house. Transits are one of the main tools with which astrologers forecast trends.

Personality Profile
ARIES AT A GLANCE

Element – Fire

Ruling Planet – Mars

Career Planet – Saturn

Love Planet – Venus

Money Planet – Venus

Planet of Fun, Entertainment, Creativity and Speculations – Sun

Planet of Health and Work – Mercury

Planet of Home and Family Life – Moon

Planet of Spirituality – Neptune

Planet of Travel, Education, Religion and Philosophy – Jupiter

Colours – carmine, red, scarlet

Colours that promote love, romance and social harmony – green, jade green

Colour that promotes earning power – green

Gem – amethyst

Metals – iron, steel

Scent – honeysuckle

Quality – cardinal (= activity)

Quality most needed for balance – caution

Strongest virtues – abundant physical energy, courage, honesty, independence, self-reliance

Deepest need – action

Characteristics to avoid – haste, impetuousness, over-aggression, rashness

Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Leo, Sagittarius

Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Sign most helpful to career – Capricorn

Sign most helpful for emotional support – Cancer

Sign most helpful financially – Taurus

Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Libra

Sign most helpful for creative projects – Leo

Best Sign to have fun with – Leo

Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Sagittarius, Pisces

Best day of the week – Tuesday

Understanding an Aries

Aries is the activist par excellence of the zodiac. The Aries need for action is almost an addiction, and those who do not really understand the Aries personality would probably use this hard word to describe it. In reality ‘action’ is the essence of the Aries psychology – the more direct, blunt and to-the-point the action, the better. When you think about it, this is the ideal psychological makeup for the warrior, the pioneer, the athlete or the manager.

Aries likes to get things done, and in their passion and zeal often lose sight of the consequences for themselves and others. Yes, they often try to be diplomatic and tactful, but it is hard for them. When they do so they feel that they are being dishonest and phoney. It is hard for them even to understand the mindset of the diplomat, the consensus builder, the front office executive. These people are involved in endless meetings, discussions, talks and negotiations – all of which seem a great waste of time when there is so much work to be done, so many real achievements to be gained. An Aries can understand, once it is explained, that talk and negotiations – the social graces – lead ultimately to better, more effective actions. The interesting thing is that an Aries is rarely malicious or spiteful – even when waging war. Aries people fight without hate for their opponents. To them it is all good-natured fun, a grand adventure, a game.

When confronted with a problem many people will say, ‘Well, let’s think about it, let’s analyse the situation.’ But not an Aries. An Aries will think, ‘Something must be done. Let’s get on with it.’ Of course neither response is the total answer. Sometimes action is called for, sometimes cool thought. But an Aries tends to err on the side of action.

Action and thought are radically different principles. Physical activity is the use of brute force. Thinking and deliberating require one not to use force – to be still. It is not good for the athlete to be deliberating the next move; this will only slow down his or her reaction time. The athlete must act instinctively and instantly. This is how Aries people tend to behave in life. They are quick, instinctive decision-makers and their decisions tend to be translated into action almost immediately. When their intuition is sharp and well tuned, their actions are powerful and successful. When their intuition is off, their actions can be disastrous.

Do not think this will scare an Aries. Just as a good warrior knows that in the course of combat he or she might acquire a few wounds, so too does an Aries realize – somewhere deep down – that in the course of being true to yourself you might get embroiled in a disaster or two. It is all part of the game. An Aries feels strong enough to weather any storm.

There are many Aries people who are intellectual. They make powerful and creative thinkers. But even in this realm they tend to be pioneers – outspoken and blunt. These types of Aries tend to elevate (or sublimate) their desire for physical combat in favour of intellectual, mental combat. And they are indeed powerful.

In general, Aries people have a faith in themselves that others could learn from. This basic, rock-solid faith carries them through the most tumultuous situations of life. Their courage and self-confidence make them natural leaders. Their leadership is more by way of example than by actually controlling others.

Finance

Aries people often excel as builders or estate agents. Money in and of itself is not as important as are other things – action, adventure, sport, etc. They are motivated by the need to support and be well-thought-of by their partners. Money as a way of attaining pleasure is another important motivation. Aries function best in their own businesses or as managers of their own departments within a large business or corporation. The fewer orders they have to take from higher up, the better. They also function better out in the field rather than behind a desk.

Aries people are hard workers with a lot of endurance; they can earn large sums of money due to the strength of their sheer physical energy.

Venus is their money planet, which means that Aries need to develop more of the social graces in order to realize their full earning potential. Just getting the job done – which is what an Aries excels at – is not enough to create financial success. The co-operation of others needs to be attained. Customers, clients and co-workers need to be made to feel comfortable; many people need to be treated properly in order for success to happen. When Aries people develop these abilities – or hire someone to do this for them – their financial potential is unlimited.

Career and Public Image

One would think that a pioneering type would want to break with the social and political conventions of society. But this is not so with the Aries-born. They are pioneers within conventional limits, in the sense that they like to start their own businesses within an established industry.

Capricorn is on the 10th house of career cusp of Aries’ solar horoscope. Saturn is the planet that rules their life’s work and professional aspirations. This tells us some interesting things about the Aries character. First off, it shows that, in order for Aries people to reach their full career potential, they need to develop some qualities that are a bit alien to their basic nature: they need to become better administrators and organizers; they need to be able to handle details better and to take a long-range view of their projects and their careers in general. No one can beat an Aries when it comes to achieving short-range objectives, but a career is long term, built over time. You cannot take a ‘quickie’ approach to it.

Some Aries people find it difficult to stick with a project until the end. Since they get bored quickly and are in constant pursuit of new adventures, they prefer to pass an old project or task on to somebody else in order to start something new. Those Aries who learn how to put off the search for something new until the old is completed will achieve great success in their careers and professional lives.

In general, Aries people like society to judge them on their own merits, on their real and actual achievements. A reputation acquired by ‘hype’ feels false to them.

Love and Relationships

In marriage and partnerships Aries like those who are more passive, gentle, tactful and diplomatic – people who have the social grace and skills they sometimes lack. Our partners always represent a hidden part of ourselves – a self that we cannot express personally.

An Aries tends to go after what he or she likes aggressively. The tendency is to jump into relationships and marriages. This is especially true if Venus is in Aries as well as the Sun. If an Aries likes you, he or she will have a hard time taking no for an answer; many attempts will be made to sweep you off your feet.

Though Aries can be exasperating in relationships – especially if they are not understood by their partners – they are never consciously or wilfully cruel or malicious. It is just that they are so independent and sure of themselves that they find it almost impossible to see somebody else’s viewpoint or position. This is why an Aries needs as a partner someone with lots of social graces.

On the plus side, an Aries is honest, someone you can lean on, someone with whom you will always know where you stand. What he or she lacks in diplomacy is made up for in integrity.

Home and Domestic Life

An Aries is of course the ruler at home – the Boss. The male will tend to delegate domestic matters to the female. The female Aries will want to rule the roost. Both tend to be handy round the house. Both like large families and both believe in the sanctity and importance of the family. An Aries is a good family person, although he or she does not especially like being at home a lot, preferring instead to be roaming about.

Considering that they are by nature so combative and wilful, Aries people can be surprisingly soft, gentle and even vulnerable with their children and partners. The sign of Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is on the cusp of their solar 4th house of home and family. When the Moon is well aspected – under favourable influences – in the birth chart, an Aries will be tender towards the family and will want a family life that is nurturing and supportive. Aries likes to come home after a hard day on the battlefield of life to the understanding arms of their partner and the unconditional love and support of their family. An Aries feels that there is enough ‘war’ out in the world – and he or she enjoys participating in that. But when Aries comes home, comfort and nurturing are what’s needed.

Horoscope for 2017
Major Trends

Electric Uranus has been in your sign for many years now, and he will still be there in the year ahead. In the past six or so years your life – the conditions and circumstances of your life – has been radically altered. The old saying, ‘life can change at any moment’ is certainly true for you. You’ve been living it. The cosmos has been setting you free from old restrictive conditions. And, sometimes it had to do it in dramatic, even explosive, ways. Your body and image have been a continuous work-in-progress. Every time you think you have it ‘just right’ a new idea or look comes to you and you start to change again. The good part of all this is a sense of personal freedom that many of you have never known. It’s a heady feeling. By now most of you have learned the lessons of Uranus, but there’s still another year to go. You should handle it with ease.

Jupiter moved into your 7th house of love in September 2016. He will be there for most of the year ahead – until October 10. This is one of the main headlines of the year ahead. It’s a strong and happy social year. Many of you are ready to ‘settle down’ these days – especially after so many years of being footloose and fancy free. Serious relationships, both romantic and in business, are happening this year. More on this later on.

Jupiter will move into your 8th house on October 11. This will bring prosperity to your spouse, partner or current love. Often it indicates inheritance, though no one needs necessarily to die – you can be named in someone’s will or be appointed to some administrative position in an estate. Also it favours projects involving personal transformation, weight loss and detox regimes.

Saturn spends most of the year in harmonious alignment with you. This is a good health signal. But towards the end of the year he moves into Capricorn and into a stressful aspect (this begins on December 21). Health will need more attention from that point on, well into 2018 and 2019. Saturn in your 9th house most of the year shows a happy and expanding career. Most likely there is more career-related travel. But when Saturn moves into your 10th house (on December 21) career becomes more serious. You have to perform. Bosses are strict and demanding.

Pluto has been in your 10th house for many, many years and will be there in the year ahead. As we have written in previous years, a cosmic detox is happening in your career. This involves your whole approach and strategy and the people involved in it. Many are having ‘near-death’ kinds of experiences or surgery. Your industry is changing. The rules of the game are changing.

Your areas of greatest interest this year are the body and image (a long-term interest); love, romance and social activities (until October 10); personal transformation, reinvention, sex and occult studies (from October 11 onwards); religion, higher education and travel (until December 21); career (another long-term focus); and spirituality (also a long-term focus).

Your areas of greatest fulfilment this year are love, romance and social activities (until October 10); personal transformation and reinvention, sex and occult studies (from October 11 onwards); health and work (until April 29); children, fun and creativity (from April 29 onwards).

Health

(Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, both of these perspectives were identical. But now there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.)

Health needs more attention this year. Three long-term planets are in stressful alignment with you for most of the year. Jupiter moves away from this stressful aspect on October 11, but Saturn will come into stressful alignment on December 21.

The problem this year is that your 6th house of health is empty for the most part; only short-term planets will move through there. Your tendency would thus be to ignore health issues – and if not to totally ignore them, not to give health the attention that is needed. You will have to force yourself to pay more attention here.

Our regular readers know that there is much that can be done to enhance the health and prevent problems from developing (or getting worse). Give more attention to the following vulnerable areas:

 The heart. The heart has become important in recent years, and will become even more important after December 21 when Saturn moves into a stressful alignment with you. Spiritual healers seem to agree that heart problems are caused by undue worry and anxiety. So more faith and confidence is needed.

 The lungs, arms, shoulders and respiratory system. These are always important for you, Aries. Mercury, the ruler of these areas is your health planet. Regular arm and shoulder massage is a powerful therapy. Give the wrists and elbows more support when exercising.

 The head, face and scalp. These too are always important for you. Incorporate regular scalp and face massage into your health regime. This will not only strengthen these immediate areas but the entire body as well. Reflexes in the scalp and face affect every organ and system of the body. Craniosacral therapy is, in general, a good therapy for Aries – the plates in the skull are moveable and need to be kept in right alignment.

 The adrenals are another important area for you. The important thing here is to avoid anger and fear, the two emotions that stress the adrenals.

 The musculature. For you, Aries, more than most, good health means physical fitness (and not just ‘no symptoms’). A weak muscle can knock the spine and skeleton out of alignment and this will cause all kinds of other problems. So regular physical exercise is important for you. A health tonic. A day at the gym will, in many cases, do you more good than a visit to the doctor.

After all these years our regular readers surely know that Mercury, your health planet, is very fast moving. Only the Moon moves faster than him. In a given year he will move through all the signs and houses of your Horoscope. So there are many short-term health trends and remedies that are best discussed in the monthly reports.

Mercury will travel backwards four times this year, which is highly unusual. Generally he is only retrograde three times. (This was the case last year too). It is not advisable to make dramatic changes to the diet or health regime during these periods: January 1–8, April 9 to May 3, August 11 to September 5 and December 3–23.

Home and Family

Your 4th house of home and family is not a house of power this year. Nor was it last year. I read this as a good thing. You seem basically content with things as they are and have no pressing need to make major, dramatic changes. This tends to the status quo.

Of course every year brings its share of crises and drama. Generally there are two Lunar eclipses every year, and these impact on the home and family. (The eclipsed planet, the Moon, is your home and family planet.) This year is no different. This year the eclipses occur on February 11 and August 7. The good news is that they reveal what in the physical home needs fixing. Perhaps there were problems (and sometime these are serious) that you weren’t aware of. Left to themselves, they can bring major damage. But the eclipse reveals them to you so that you can make repairs. The eclipses also bring emotional dramas with family members, and especially with a parent or parent figure. There is a need for more patience with them over these periods and it’s advisable for them to take things easy and stay out of harm’s way.

Pluto has been in your 10th house for many years now. This indicates problems with one of the parents or parent figures in your life. Physical death could have happened in many cases, but generally it shows surgery or near-death kinds of experiences. This trend continues in the year ahead. This parent or parent figure has been more spiritual the past two years; there is much internal growth going on here. On December 21, as Saturn crosses the Mid-heaven, this person seems more serious, more exacting, more of a disciplinarian. He or she should be successful in detox or weight loss regimes this year.

Your family planet, the Moon, moves very fast. She is the fastest of all the planets. Every month she will move through your entire chart, so there are many short-term family trends that are best discussed in the monthly reports. In general, family issues tend to be short-term issues for you.

Siblings or sibling figures in your life are prospering, but having a more or less stable family year. If they are of childbearing age, they seem more fertile. A parent figure could move in the coming year. There is good fortune in the purchase or sale of a home. Children or children figures in your life are likely to move after October 11. Grandchildren (if you have them) have been taking more responsibility over the past two years and seem prosperous. A move could happen for them after October 11.

If you’re redecorating or otherwise beautifying your home – in a cosmetic kind of way – June 21 to July 22 and July 31 to August 26 are good times. If you’re planning renovations or major repairs June 4 to July 22 is good.

Finance and Career

Your money house is not powerful this year Aries, not a major focus of attention. Generally this is a good thing. It shows a basic contentment with the status quo and thus tends to the status quo. Of course, there will be periods in the year – as the short-term, fast-moving planets move through your money house – where finances become important and active, but these are short-term trends, not trends for the year.

In spite of this, the year ahead looks prosperous. Venus, your financial planet, spends a lot of time – triple her usual time – in your sign. She will be there from February 3 to April 4 and then again from April 29 to June 6. This shows some important financial development happening, something with many twists and turns, something that goes forward for a while and then back-tracks – mirroring Venus’s motion. It also indicates other things. Venus will bring you financial windfalls. She will see to it that financial opportunity seeks you out rather than you having to run after it. She will bring a lucrative partnership or joint venture opportunity too. But be patient here. There are many wrinkles to be ironed out.

Venus is a fast-moving planet. In any given year she will move through your entire chart, spending time in each of the houses of your Horoscope. Thus earnings and opportunities for earnings will come to you in many ways and through many different circumstances and people – all depending on where Venus is at any given time. (The aspects she receives will also play an important role.) These short-term trends are best dealt with in the monthly reports.

Your career – your life work, your professional status and standing – is much more important than mere money this year. It will become even more important towards the end of the year and into 2018 and 2019. You’re in a preparatory stage this year. Towards the end of the year, as Saturn, your career planet, crosses your Mid-heaven and enters your 10th career house, you’re going to be asked to take on more responsibility. You need to be ready for this. So it won’t hurt to take on extra responsibility now – in preparation. Get used to it.

Your career planet spends most of the year in Sagittarius, your 9th house. This shows career-related travel happening. Your willingness to travel will boost the career. It also indicates – and this will depend on your age and stage in life – a need to either mentor others or to educate yourself in areas that boost the career. By all means attend (or give) business-related seminars and lectures.

Pluto, as we have mentioned, has been at the top of your chart for many years now. This gives him great prominence and power. Thus, bosses and authority figures are having (and have been having) surgery and near-death kinds of experiences. In some cases there has been actual, literal, death. Your company or industry has been having near-death kinds of experiences too. And, in many cases, your actual career has ‘died and been born again’ – resurrected. By the time Pluto is finished with you (you’ve got many more years to go) you will be fearless in career matters. You will also have your ‘dream’ career – your ideal.

Love and Social Life

As we have mentioned, this is the real headline of the year ahead. This is one of the best and happiest love and social life years you’ve had in a very long time – perhaps in the last 12 or so years.

Benevolent Jupiter is established in your 7th house of love until October 10. Combine this with Venus’s three-month sojourn in your sign and you have a signature for romance, marriage or serious relationship. It all seems very happy.

For many years now marriage – committed relationship – hasn’t been advisable. Uranus in your own sign was denying it. Your self will, your passion for personal freedom and independence – though good in itself – was not good for serious long-term relationships. But Uranus is almost finished with you. In a year or two he will be out of your sign. You’re ready for some stability in your life. For those of you born early in the sign of Aries (March 20 to April 5), Uranus is already finished with you. Marriage, or relationships that are ‘like’ marriage, are advisable. If you were born between April 6 and April 19, it still might be advisable to wait. Enjoy romance for what it is but there’s no need to rush into anything.

Jupiter in your 7th house shows someone of good education and refinement coming into your life. Perhaps he or she is a foreigner. Perhaps you meet him or her in a foreign land. This is a person you can look up to and respect. Jupiter in your 7th house is an aspect for someone who falls in love with the minister or professor. There is an allure for ‘mentor’ type people.

From February 3 to June 6 Venus, your love planet, will either be in, or hovering near, your sign. This shows that love pursues you. There’s nothing special that you need to do to find it – it will find you.

Love and money go hand-in-hand in your chart: Venus is both your love and financial planet. So when one is going well so is the other. When love is happy, so are finances. When finances go well, so does love. Wealth in a partner is certainly an added allure, but refinement, education and philosophical compatibility are just as important – and perhaps even more so this year.

As we have said, you don’t need to do much to find love this year. But educational and religious-type settings are good. People you worship with are playing cupid.

Venus moves through your entire horoscope in a given year. So every month the love venues can change depending on where she is at any given time. These short-term trends are best discussed in the monthly reports.

Those of you working towards a second marriage still need patience. Marriage is not advisable this year. Those working on the third marriage have a very nice opportunity. There is someone of high status interested in you.

Self-Improvement

A planet at the top of the chart indicates much more than a person’s career. It shows that the affairs governed by the planet are of the highest priority; that you will be involved in these issues. So, Pluto’s position on your Mid-heaven for many years now shows that issues of death, surgery (a form of near-death experience), wills and estates and in some cases debt and taxes have been paramount in your life for many years. Dealing with these issues has been a high priority – and perhaps part of your current mission in life. This can sound scary, but this is not the cosmic agenda here. Through these experiences you’re confronting death and gaining a deeper understanding of it. This is happening both on the material and spiritual levels. Very few people understand the intricacies of wills or probate law until they have undergone the experience. So the purely material understanding is expanded. But spiritual understanding of this is also happening. You’re learning what physical death is all about – why it is not to be feared, but understood. When death is understood spiritually, we will live better and more effectively. Many of our cherished hopes and wishes are blocked because of the fear of death. Once you get through this, new vistas of life open up.

Pluto in the 10th house also indicates success in projects involving personal transformation and reinvention. Spiritually speaking this is your real mission these days. You are being called to give birth to your own ideal of self.

Spirituality has been important for some years now – ever since Neptune moved into Pisces in 2011. For the past two years – and for most of this year – Saturn has been testing your spirituality. In some cases, there was a conflict between the worldly career and your spiritual values – a classic conflict. In some cases, the forces of tradition (parents, elders or authority figures in your life) attacked your spirituality – your practice and ideals. You’re being forced to integrate the two urges: to have a viable spiritual life and a worldly career; to be practical in the world without losing your spiritual ideas. It’s not so easy to do. You still have this challenge this year, but it will soon be over. By December 21, as Saturn moves into Capricorn, this issue should be resolved. Perhaps it will help some of you to understand that spirituality is always eminently practical. It seems unworldly, but it has great worldly effects. Spirituality only shows a ‘different approach’ to practicality. A better approach. Your intuition has been tested these past few years – and this continues in the year ahead. This is ultimately good. No reliable tool gets forged without testing.

Saturn’s move into your 10th house at the end of the year will bring strong career demands. You have to succeed by sheer merit, by being the best in what you do. Often this aspect brings a stern, demanding boss who overworks you and expects ‘the impossible’, who seems never satisfied, who is sparing in praise, but quick to criticize. This isn’t pleasant, but it will stretch you if you handle it properly. Don’t resist the demands. Do your utmost to fulfil them. You’ll be amazed as you start achieving things that you believed were impossible. These things are not really burdens but spiritual gifts – as you will see in hindsight.

Month-by-month Forecasts
January

Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24

Most Stressful Days Overall: 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 25, 26

Best Days for Love: 2, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 31

Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 31

Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26

You begin your year with 90 per cent of the planets in the upper half of your chart. Not only that, your 10th house of career is ultra-powerful. You’re in a yearly career peak and this is where the focus should be. Home and family issues can be downplayed for now. Emotional wellness will come with outer success. The best thing you can do for your family and friends is to succeed outwardly.

Health needs watching this month – especially until the 19th. The career is demanding (and interesting) but try to schedule more rest periods. Your health planet Mercury spends most of the month in conservative Capricorn, so you’re conservative in health matters. Back and knee massage will enhance your health. Watch your posture. Bad posture habits could be throwing the spine out of alignment. Avoid making major health regime changes until after the 8th, when Mercury starts to go forward.

Last month the planetary power shifted from the West to the East and this will be the situation for the next five or so months. Time to exercise more independence and create the conditions you want in life. The planetary power is now moving towards you and away from others. Thus, your way is the best way these days. Others are more likely to adapt to you rather than vice versa.

Personal independence will grow even stronger (if that’s possible) from the 28th onwards as Mars crosses your Ascendant and enters your 1st house. When a person is under the influence of Mars, it’s as if he or she has taken amphetamines. Everything is speeded up. There is more energy, but also more impatience. With some people it’s like taking an ‘anger’ pill. Things that they would normally let pass can now make them erupt. These are the main dangers of a Mars’ transit. Impatience and temper can lead to conflicts, accidents and injury.

Venus, your love and money planet, has her solstice at the end of the month (the 29th to the 31st). (The Sun’s solstice happened last month.) So, it is good to pause in love and finance. There will be a brief lull and probably a change of direction.

February

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 9, 10, 19, 20, 28

Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22

Best Days for Love: 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 28

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 24, 25, 28

Best Days for Career: 1, 2, 9, 10, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28

Mars spends the month in your 1st house and 80 per cent of the planets are still in the Eastern sector. This is basically good, but with you, Aries, there can be a tendency to overdo the independence thing. It is good to be independent, this is your nature, but try not to run rough shod over others. Review our discussion of Mars last month. Mars in your 1st house has some very positive things to offer too. The aspect gives energy and charisma. You will excel in sports and exercise regimes. Things get done quickly. Life is fast paced – just as you like it. (This is even more than usual – 90 per cent of the planets are moving forward from the 6th onwards. And before the 6th all the planets are moving forward.) Progress happens swiftly this month.

The main headline are the two eclipses that happen this month. This guarantees change and volatility. The Lunar Eclipse of February 11 (in America it occurs on the 10th) takes place in your 5th house, affecting the children and children figures in your life. There are dramas and life-changing events happening. Keep them (as much as possible) out of harm’s way over this period, a few days before and after the eclipse. Every Lunar Eclipse impacts on the home and family and on parents or parent figures. Be more patient with them. Passions run high in the family. Often repairs are needed in the home.

The Solar Eclipse of the 26th occurs in your spiritual 12th house and is a pretty direct hit on Neptune, your spiritual planet. Thus it indicates important changes in your spiritual life. This can take many forms. Sometimes people change teachers and teachings, or change their practice. If you belong to a spiritual-type organization there are shakeups happening there. Guru figures have dramas in their lives.

Every Solar Eclipse affects children and children figures. So we have a continuation of the previous eclipse. Again keep them out of harm’s way as much as possible. The finances of a parent or parent figure are affected and he or she is making very dramatic changes. If a parent or parent figure is ailing this eclipse can bring a near-death kind of experience.

The dream life will be hyperactive during this Solar Eclipse period, and even before it actually happens. But these dreams are not significant. Don’t be overly concerned. The psychic world is being churned up.

March

Best Days Overall: 1, 9, 10, 18, 19, 28

Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 7, 13, 14, 21, 22

Best Days for Love: 1, 9, 13, 14, 18, 27

Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 18, 23, 24, 27, 30

Best Days for Career: 1, 10, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28

Venus entered your sign on February 3 and she will be here for the rest of the month ahead. Thus love and money have been pursuing you. The love and social life has been good this year and is even better since February 3. The only fly in the ointment is Venus’s retrograde from the 4th onwards. Perhaps a relationship seems to be going backwards instead of forwards. The beloved is still very devoted to you, but less sure than usual. Love is under review until April 15. Avoid important decisions one way or the other. The retrograde of Venus slows down the social life (Jupiter in your 7th house of love is also retrograde) but doesn’t stop it. This is just a ‘pause that refreshes’.

The same thing is happening financially. Financial expansion and earnings are still happening but more slowly than before. It is very important that you don’t make matters worse by being careless. Make sure cheques are signed and dated properly. Read the fine print on your purchases. If you’re buying big ticket items (although it’s best to avoid doing so at this time) make sure you have all your receipts and that there is a good returns policy. A little care in the beginning can save much heartache later on. The good news here is that you’re very focused on finance now. Mars, the Lord of your Horoscope, enters your money house on the 10th. This extra attention should pay off.

Normally with 80 per cent of the planets moving forward, this would be a good month – from your birthday onwards – for starting new projects or launching new products. But the retrograde of Venus suggests waiting a while. April might be a better time for these things.

Basically though March is a happy month. Your 1st house is chock-full of planets from the 20th onwards. You have energy, charisma and sparkle. You look good and dress well. You are (from the 20th onwards) at the maximum of your personal power and independence. If there are conditions that are less than comfortable for you in your life, this is the time to make the necessary changes. Later on in the year (in a month or so) it will be more difficult to do. You’re having life on your terms these days. The world caters to you rather than vice versa.

Students have to work harder at their studies (those at college level). Foreign travel is best being rescheduled.

April

Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 14, 15, 16, 24, 25

Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 30

Best Days for Love: 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 23

Best Days for Money: 1, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25

A happy month ahead Aries, enjoy. Many nice things are happening both in love and finance, but perhaps in roundabout kinds of ways. Something good, an opportunity, might seem to leave you, but it will return.

Health looks good this period. You have energy and magnetism. You’re still getting your way in life, which is always nice, though wrong choices can have consequences later on down the road. You’re still in a period of maximum personal power and independence. If there are still conditions that irk you, make changes now.

Venus spends most of the month in your 12th house of spirituality. Thus love is very idealistic now. In many cases the idealism is so strong that anything less just won’t do. On the other hand, you have the ability to experience nuances in love that few ever experience. Your capacity to give and receive love is greatly enlarged. Love opportunities happen in spiritual settings this month – at charity events, spiritual seminars or lectures, and prayer meetings. Follow your highest ideals and love will find you there. On the 28th Venus crosses your Ascendant again and enters your 1st house. This indicates that love is pursuing you; there’s nothing much you need to do, it will find you.

This is a good month (the entire month) to buy clothing and personal accessories. Your sense of style is excellent and the purchases will be good.

The month ahead is prosperous too. Venus starts to move forward on the 15th, relieving many financial log-jams. There is financial clarity now. On the 19th the Sun enters your money house and you begin a yearly financial peak – a period of peak earnings. When Venus enters your sign on the 28th there will be financial windfalls and opportunities – these too come to you with little or no effort on your part. (The effort will most likely come later on.)

Last month, on the 20th, the planetary power shifted from the upper to the lower half of your Horoscope, and will remain there for many more months. Your career planet, Saturn, goes retrograde on the 6th. So career is de-emphasized now. It’s time to get more involved with the family and your emotional well-being.

May

Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 12, 13, 21, 22, 29, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 27, 28

Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 21, 22

Best Days for Money: 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

Best Days for Career: 3, 13, 14, 15, 22, 30

Prosperity continues to be strong this month. Your financial planet spends the month in your 1st house. You are a ‘financial magnet’ drawing both money and financial opportunity to you. You look rich. People see you as prosperous – you project this kind of image. Moreover, your money house is still very powerful this month, until the 20th. This shows great focus. By the spiritual law, we get what we focus on.

Students are having a much better month than last month. Mercury was retrograde most of April (from the 9th onwards) and this slows down learning and information retention. But this month Mercury begins to move forward again, on the 3rd. Your ruling planet, Mars, will be in your 3rd house all month. On the 20th the Sun also enters the 3rd house of communication and intellectual interests. The mind is sharper and clearer. There is a hunger for information and knowledge. There is strong motivation to study. Teachers, writers, journalists and marketing people are also having a better month – communication skills are stronger than usual.

Mars makes beautiful aspects to Jupiter from the 10th to the 14th. This brings financial expansion and travel opportunities. Students applying to colleges should hear good news (best case scenarios). If you are involved in legal issues, this period brings some good news too.

Health is still good. Any doubts about it get resolved after the 3rd. You can enhance it further through scalp and face massage, craniosacral therapy (until the 16th) and neck massage after the 16th.

Love is very happy this month. Jupiter is still in your 7th house of love and your love planet is in your own sign. Love still pursues you ardently, and you are popular socially in general. You radiate grace to others – it’s as if you took a ‘love pill’. People respond to it though you might not be projecting it consciously.

Retrograde activity increased last month – 40 per cent of the planets were in retrograde motion. This lessens a bit this month after the 3rd, when only 30 per cent will be retrograde. While it is best to start new projects when the planetary momentum is more forward, this might still be a good time to start a new project or launch a new product. From the New Moon of the 25th onwards would be best. Although there was less retrograde activity in March and April than now, the planet that was retrograde, Venus, is an ultra-important one for you. So, this month seems better.

June

Best Days Overall: 8, 9, 18, 19, 26, 27

Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 24, 25, 30

Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 10, 11, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30

Best Days for Career: 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 27

Mars, the ruler of your Horoscope – a very important planet – spends almost the entire month ‘out of bounds’ – from the 1st to the 29th. This shows that you’re moving outside your normal sphere. You’re ‘out of your usual boundaries’.

Mercury will also spend a good deal of the month ‘out of bounds’. Thus you’re outside your usual sphere intellectually and in health matters. You’re thinking ‘outside the box’ – in unorthodox kinds of ways.

In a way this is good. Health becomes more delicate after the 21st and you do need ‘new and different’ solutions and you seem willing to try them. The most important thing, as we have mentioned many times, is a high energy level. Don’t let yourself get overtired. Make sure you get enough sleep. Enhance your health through neck massage until the 6th. From the 6th to the 21st you will respond well to arm and shoulder massage. Breathing exercises will be good – plain old fresh air is good. After the 21st the diet becomes more important. This should be checked with a professional. Watch your mood and emotions during this period and do your best to keep them positive and constructive.

Finances still seem good. On the 6th Venus moves into her own sign and house – your money house – and stays there for the rest of the month. Venus is stronger when she is in her own sign (Taurus) and house, so earning power is stronger than usual. Social connections are always important for you financially, but more so this month. A partnership or joint venture is likely.

The current love seems financially supportive. The current love’s financial planet went retrograde on April 20 and is still retrograde this month. So he or she needs to be more cautious in financial dealings. Your beloved is experiencing a slowdown in their financial affairs, so they might as well be helpful to you. Curiously, this focus on you brings more prosperity to him or her (but there are delays involved).

The Sun makes beautiful aspects to Jupiter from the 2nd to the 5th, which brings luck in speculations and ‘happy money’ – money that is earned in happy ways. Children and children figures prosper in this period too.

The love planet’s move into your money house shows a shift in your love attitudes. Now, wealth and material gifts are romantic turn-ons. Singles are very much attracted by these. For singles love opportunities come as you pursue your normal financial goals and with people involved in your finances. A visit to the accountant or financial planner could become much more than that.

July

Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 15, 16, 23, 24

Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 8, 9, 21, 22, 28, 29

Best Days for Love: 1, 10, 19, 20, 28, 29

Best Days for Money: 1, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 8, 9, 15, 16, 23, 24

Your 4th house of home and family was very strong last month and is still strong in the month ahead – until the 22nd. The planetary power, figuratively speaking, is furthest away from your career and outer activities. Thus these activities are less important for the moment. (Your career planet is still retrograde all month.) This will change in coming months, but this is the case now. The cosmos impels you to ‘cater to your base’ – the home, your family and your emotional life. The cosmos has its own way of arranging these things. You become more nostalgic. You remember – vividly – old, seemingly obscure events. The dream life becomes more active and you feel a need to ponder your dreams’ meanings. The urge to probe the unconscious and emotional side of life – the interior life – is stronger than the pulls of the outer world. The universe is not denying you a career or career progress – on the contrary, it is forcing you to become emotionally healthier and more stable so that future career progress can happen. Every now and then we have to go backwards in order to go forward. This is one of those times.

There are other good reasons to focus more on the emotional life. Health is not what it should be and still needs watching. Overall your energy is not what it should be. Interior activity requires less energy than outer activity.

Continue to enhance the health by resting more, spending quiet times at home, scheduling in more massages and natural treatments. Diet is still important, until the 6th. After that, give more attention to the heart. Regular chest massage will be beneficial. Schedule more leisure activities with the children and family. Laugh more. Joy itself is a powerful healing therapy these days.

Your health will start to improve dramatically after the 20th. Perhaps some pill, herb or therapist will get the credit for this, or some miracle diet or supplement. But the truth of the matter is that the planetary power shifted in your favour. The other things were just the side effects of this shift.

Finance is becoming less important this month. On the 5th Venus leaves the money house and it is basically empty during July (only the Moon will move through there on the 19th and 20th). Financial goals – the short-term ones anyway – are more or less achieved and your focus is elsewhere. Venus will make nice aspects to Jupiter on the 18th and 19th. This brings a nice payday and happy romantic meetings for singles.

August

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 20, 21, 29, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 4, 5, 18, 24, 25, 31

Best Days for Love: 9, 10, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28, 29

Best Days for Money: 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31

The month ahead is basically happy and healthy, but two eclipses will create excitement and change. You’re basically in a party period now. Your 5th house of fun and creativity became powerful on July 22 and is still powerful until the 22nd of this month. The eclipses might interrupt the party but they won’t stop it.

The Lunar Eclipse of the 7th is the stronger of the two – as far as you’re concerned. It affects Mars, the ruler of your Horoscope. So take it easy that period and avoid stressful situations. This eclipse occurs in your 11th house and affects family and friends. There are life-changing kinds of dramas happening with them. Repairs could be needed in the home. Its impact on Mars shows a need to redefine yourself and your image – the way you think about yourself and the way you want to be seen by others. This is generally a good thing. We are always changing and growing and every now and then we need a redefinition. But this seems to happen in a forced way. Events force the issue, and this can make it stressful or unwelcome. The marriage and social lives of children and children figures get tested. There is a crisis here.

The Solar Eclipse of the 21st occurs right on the cusp of your 5th and 6th houses – thus it impacts on the affairs of both these houses. This eclipse is strongest on children and children figures in your life. They have personal life-changing dramas. Most of the time these are normal things – sexual awakening, leaving school and going off to college, marriage or divorce etc. But sometimes, especially if they haven’t been careful in dietary matters, the eclipse can bring a detox of the body. The body throws off its effete material. Often this gets diagnosed as disease, but astrologically speaking it isn’t. The children are redefining themselves now (especially the oldest) and this will manifest as a new look – a new image – a new presentation to the world. This will be a six-month process. They will also be forced to make important financial changes. You can have job changes and changes in your health regime.

Overall your health is good. The eclipse can produce a scare, but most likely it will not be more than that.

September

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 16, 17, 25, 26

Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 14, 15, 20, 21, 28, 29

Best Days for Love: 7, 8, 16, 17, 20, 21, 28

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 28, 30

Best Days for Career: 1, 7, 8, 16, 17, 26, 27, 28, 29

Last month’s Solar Eclipse of August 21 could have brought job changes. These often occur within the same company or situation, possibly with another one. If this is the case for you, the job changes seem very fortunate. Your 6th house of health and work is very powerful all month, but especially until the 22nd. Job seekers have no problem whatsoever. There are all kinds of job opportunities for you. You can pick and choose. The New Moon of the 29th will further clarify this situation. All the information you need for a right decision will come to you, right up to the next New Moon in October.

Health is good, yet there is a focus on health. Hopefully this indicates preventive regimes and diet. Often when the health is good and the 6th house is this strong there can be an over-emphasis on this area: trying to fix things that are not really broken. Or magnifying little things into big things.

Finances seem happy. Venus is in your 5th house until the 20th – this shows happy money – money that is earned in pleasurable ways. There is a joy in the act of money-making. Sometimes this shows that financial opportunities or important contacts happen as you’re having fun – at a resort or park or the theatre. You spend money on fun kinds of things but can earn from them as well. Often something that starts out as an enjoyable hobby can become a business enterprise. You’re always a financial risk-taker, but until the 20th you are even more so than usual. The problem with this aspect – though it is a happy one – is a tendency to overspend, to be overly optimistic about financial matters. Sometimes this is not realistic. After the 20th, as Venus moves into Virgo, financial judgement is more rational, more conservative. You will spend, but you won’t overspend. You’ll get value for your money.

The love life is also enjoyable this month – especially until the 20th. Those in relationships are having fun with the beloved. You’re doing fun kinds of things together. Singles will find love opportunities as they do the things that they enjoy doing. Your joy will not only create wealth but attract love as well. When your love planet enters Virgo on the 20th she starts to travel with Mars. So a romantic meeting is close at hand (it can happen next month too). The workplace, health spa, gym or doctor’s surgery can be a venue for romance during this period. You’re attracted to health professionals and to people involved in your health.

October

Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24

Most Stressful Days Overall: 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26

Best Days for Love: 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28

Best Days for Money: 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30

Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26

The planetary power is now at its maximum Western, social position. Even the ruler of your Horoscope, Mars, will move into your 7th house on the 22nd. It’s as if you are far away from yourself, in a foreign country. Your needs and interests don’t matter much. It’s all about other people – their needs, their interests, what they want to do. For an independent Aries this is challenging, but you seem to be handling it properly. It’s also therapeutic. It’s healthy every now and then to take a vacation from oneself. Many psychological and spiritual pathologies emanate from too much self-concern; it skews one’s perspective on life.

Your way is not the best way this period. Let others have their way so long as it isn’t destructive. This attitude enhances your social popularity, which is strong and active this month.

The love life is the main headline this month. Your 7th house of love is chock-full of planets – and beneficent ones. The social life has been good all year, but now you’re in a yearly peak. It is the culmination of the year. In many cases it’s a lifetime peak, in other cases it’s ‘one of the lifetime peaks’ – much depends on your age. Romance is in the air. Those of you already in a relationship are experiencing more happiness within the relationship. All of you are attending more parties, weddings and gatherings. Even children or children figures in your life are experiencing romance or meeting new and important friends (much depends on their age). The 26th and 27th seems especially good for that.

You get on with all sorts of people these days – religious types, academics, money people, athletes and intellectuals. There is a broad base to your social life. This is a good month for planning a wedding. Business partnerships or joint ventures are also likely this period. Venus, your financial planet, enters the 7th house too on the 14th.

The other major headline of the month is Jupiter’s move out of your 7th house into the 8th house on the 11th. This indicates prosperity for the current love interest or spouse. Their prosperity will go on well into next year.

Health needs more attention. There are many planets in stressful alignment with you. As always make sure you get enough rest. Physical exercise and scalp massage are especially beneficial until the 22nd (these are always good for you). The hips and kidneys could do with more attention. Massage the hips regularly (and the buttocks too). After the 17th sexual moderation is important – you seem more sexually active that period anyway. Enjoy it, but don’t overdo it.

November

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 9, 10, 19, 20, 29, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22

Best Days for Love: 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26, 27

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17, 26, 27

Best Days for Career: 2, 10, 20, 21, 22, 30

Your 8th house became powerful on October 23 and remains very powerful until the 23rd of this month. The 8th house is going to be a major interest for the next 12 or so months.

The 8th house is about getting rid of things, not adding more things. It’s about reducing the clutter in our lives – tidying up. This applies to the physical body, the mental and emotional life and to our physical circumstances. In the 8th house we expand and grow through contraction – through getting rid of what doesn’t belong in our lives. It sounds counter-intuitive to talk about expansion through contraction, but it is easier to understand if you think of your breathing. The more complete the out-breath, the deeper will be the next in-breath. The more you get rid of what doesn’t belong in your life, the greater will be the inflow of what’s really important.

Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up is a very 8th-house kind of book. You should read it now – and next year too. Her test for what belongs in your life is the ‘joy test’. You pile up your possessions and go through them one by one, asking yourself: ‘Does this thing give me a feeling of Joy?’ If the answer is yes, you keep it. If the answer is no, you get rid of it. This is one way to do it. The other way, which I prefer, is to ask the question ‘do I use this thing? Do I really need it?’ If the answer is yes, keep it. If the answer is no, get rid of it. As you do this, you’ll be amazed at how much ‘lighter’ you feel. You’ve made room for the new and the better to come into your life.

With your 8th house so strong this month (your financial planet moves in there on the 7th) it is a good time to pay off debts, to consolidate your bills, if possible, and to refinance or restructure your debts to more manageable levels. Sometimes it is necessary to borrow money, and this is a good month for this too. You have very good access to outside capital. If you have good business or product ideas, there are outside investors available to help you.

Health is much improved over last month. Self-esteem and self-confidence are perhaps less – there is less bravado and bragging these days! But overall energy is much better. You can enhance the health further through colon cleanses, practising safe sex and sexual moderation until the 6th. Physical detox regimes are beneficial all month. After the 6th thigh massage is powerful. An herbal liver cleanse might be in order if you feel under the weather.

The social life is still very active, but much less so than last month. Continue to put others first and to cultivate your social skills.

December

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 16, 17, 26, 27

Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20

Best Days for Love: 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 28

Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 24, 25, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28

In October the planetary power began to shift to the upper half of your Horoscope. This month, from the 21st onwards, the shift is even more pronounced. From the 12th to the 26th almost all of the planets (90 per cent) are above the horizon. The other times it is 80 per cent. So your career and outer ambitions are important now. Your 4th house of home and family is empty this month (only the Moon moves through there on the 5th and 6th). Your 10th house of career, in contrast, is ultra-powerful – especially from the 21st onwards. Career is the main headline this month. This is where the focus should be. The month ahead should be successful.

Saturn makes a major move (it only happens every two to two-and-a-half years) into your 10th house on the 21st. The Sun will move in on the 21st and Venus on the 25th.

Saturn’s move is very significant. It indicates more career responsibilities. Yes, these can be burdensome, but it’s generally a sign of success. The people who take more responsibility are the people who get promoted. The career will be demanding, for sure. But if you take up the burdens – don’t try to evade them – you will find unexpected help. Also you’ll be setting the stage for long-term – enduring – success.

Bosses are likely to be over-demanding, exacting, over-controlling and on your case. This is generally not pleasant. The best way to handle this is to give your boss more than is demanded. There is a spiritual law involved here.

Health is good until the 21st but afterwards (and for the next two years) will need watching. There are many planets in stressful alignment with you. You won’t be able to escape the demands of the career, but you can handle them in more energy efficient ways. Delegate wherever possible. Take short breaks when you feel tired. Spend more of your free time at a health spa or schedule more massages or other natural therapies. Keep the focus on the really important things in your life and let go of the trivia. (Marie Kondo’s advice about possessions applies to the thought process as well.) Your health planet spends the month in Sagittarius, your 9th house. Health can be enhanced through thigh massage (which will also strengthen the lower back) and liver care.

The month ahead is prosperous, with Venus in lucky Sagittarius (and the lucky 9th house) until the 25th. Earnings increase. You spend more (perhaps overspend) but you also earn more. You have a happy-go-lucky, optimistic attitude to finance. Perhaps you are too optimistic. After the 25th, as Venus moves into Capricorn, the financial judgement is more realistic, more conservative. Pay rises (official or unofficial) are likely.

Personality Profile
TAURUS AT A GLANCE

Element – Earth

Ruling Planet – Venus

Career Planet – Uranus

Love Planet – Pluto

Money Planet – Mercury

Planet of Health and Work – Venus

Planet of Home and Family Life – Sun

Planet of Spirituality – Mars

Planet of Travel, Education, Religion and Philosophy – Saturn

Colours – earth tones, green, orange, yellow

Colours that promote love, romance and social harmony – red-violet, violet

Colours that promote earning power – yellow, yellow-orange

Gems – coral, emerald

Metal – copper

Scents – bitter almond, rose, vanilla, violet

Quality – fixed (= stability)

Quality most needed for balance – flexibility

Strongest virtues – endurance, loyalty, patience, stability, a harmonious disposition

Deepest needs – comfort, material ease, wealth

Characteristics to avoid – rigidity, stubbornness, tendency to be overly possessive and materialistic

Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Virgo, Capricorn

Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

Sign most helpful to career – Aquarius

Sign most helpful for emotional support – Leo

Sign most helpful financially – Gemini

Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Scorpio

Sign most helpful for creative projects – Virgo

Best Sign to have fun with – Virgo

Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Aries, Capricorn

Best day of the week – Friday

Understanding a Taurus

Taurus is the most earthy of all the Earth signs. If you understand that Earth is more than just a physical element, that it is a psychological attitude as well, you will get a better understanding of the Taurus personality.

A Taurus has all the power of action that an Aries has. But Taurus is not satisfied with action for its own sake. Their actions must be productive, practical and wealth-producing. If Taurus cannot see a practical value in an action they will not bother taking it.

Taurus’s forte lies in their power to make real their own or other people’s ideas. They are generally not very inventive but they can take another’s invention and perfect it, making it more practical and useful. The same is true for all projects. Taurus is not especially keen on starting new projects, but once they get involved they bring things to completion. Taurus carries everything through. They are finishers and will go the distance, so long as no unavoidable calamity intervenes.

Many people find Taurus too stubborn, conservative, fixed and immovable. This is understandable, because Taurus dislikes change – in the environment or in their routine. They even dislike changing their minds! On the other hand, this is their virtue. It is not good for a wheel’s axle to waver. The axle must be fixed, stable and unmovable. Taurus is the axle of society and the heavens. Without their stability and so-called stubbornness, the wheels of the world (and especially the wheels of commerce) would not turn.

Taurus loves routine. A routine, if it is good, has many virtues. It is a fixed – and, ideally, perfect – way of taking care of things. Mistakes can happen when spontaneity comes into the equation, and mistakes cause discomfort and uneasiness – something almost unacceptable to a Taurus. Meddling with Taurus’s comfort and security is a sure way to irritate and anger them.

While an Aries loves speed, a Taurus likes things slow. They are slow thinkers – but do not make the mistake of assuming they lack intelligence. On the contrary, Taurus people are very intelligent. It is just that they like to chew on ideas, to deliberate and weigh them up. Only after due deliberation is an idea accepted or a decision taken. Taurus is slow to anger – but once aroused, take care!

Finance

Taurus is very money-conscious. Wealth is more important to them than to many other signs. Wealth to a Taurus means comfort and security. Wealth means stability. Where some zodiac signs feel that they are spiritually rich if they have ideas, talents or skills, Taurus only feels wealth when they can see and touch it. Taurus’s way of thinking is, ‘What good is a talent if it has not been translated into a home, furniture, car and holidays?’

These are all reasons why Taurus excels in estate agency and agricultural industries. Usually a Taurus will end up owning land. They love to feel their connection to the Earth. Material wealth began with agriculture, the tilling of the soil. Owning a piece of land was humanity’s earliest form of wealth: Taurus still feels that primeval connection.

It is in the pursuit of wealth that Taurus develops intellectual and communication ability. Also, in this pursuit Taurus is forced to develop some flexibility. It is in the quest for wealth that they learn the practical value of the intellect and come to admire it. If it were not for the search for wealth and material things, Taurus people might not try to reach a higher intellect.

Some Taurus people are ‘born lucky’ – the type who win any gamble or speculation. This luck is due to other factors in their horoscope; it is not part of their essential nature. By nature they are not gamblers. They are hard workers and like to earn what they get. Taurus’s innate conservatism makes them abhor unnecessary risks in finance and in other areas of their lives.

Career and Public Image

Being essentially down-to-earth people, simple and uncomplicated, Taurus tends to look up to those who are original, unconventional and inventive. Taurus people like their bosses to be creative and original – since they themselves are content to perfect their superiors’ brainwaves. They admire people who have a wider social or political consciousness and they feel that someday (when they have all the comfort and security they need) they too would like to be involved in these big issues.

In business affairs Taurus can be very shrewd – and that makes them valuable to their employers. They are never lazy; they enjoy working and getting good results. Taurus does not like taking unnecessary risks and they do well in positions of authority, which makes them good managers and supervisors. Their managerial skills are reinforced by their natural talents for organization and handling details, their patience and thoroughness. As mentioned, through their connection with the earth, Taurus people also do well in farming and agriculture.

In general a Taurus will choose money and earning power over public esteem and prestige. A position that pays more – though it has less prestige – is preferred to a position with a lot of prestige but lower earnings. Many other signs do not feel this way, but a Taurus does, especially if there is nothing in his or her personal birth chart that modifies this. Taurus will pursue glory and prestige only if it can be shown that these things have a direct and immediate impact on their wallet.

Love and Relationships

In love, the Taurus-born likes to have and to hold. They are the marrying kind. They like commitment and they like the terms of a relationship to be clearly defined. More importantly, Taurus likes to be faithful to one lover, and they expect that lover to reciprocate this fidelity. When this doesn’t happen, their whole world comes crashing down. When they are in love Taurus people are loyal, but they are also very possessive. They are capable of great fits of jealousy if they are hurt in love.

Taurus is satisfied with the simple things in a relationship. If you are involved romantically with a Taurus there is no need for lavish entertainments and constant courtship. Give them enough love, food and comfortable shelter and they will be quite content to stay home and enjoy your company. They will be loyal to you for life. Make a Taurus feel comfortable and – above all – secure in the relationship, and you will rarely have a problem.

In love, Taurus can sometimes make the mistake of trying to control their partners, which can cause great pain on both sides. The reasoning behind their actions is basically simple: Taurus people feel a sense of ownership over their partners and will want to make changes that will increase their own general comfort and security. This attitude is OK when it comes to inanimate, material things – but is dangerous when applied to people. Taurus needs to be careful and attentive to this possible trait within themselves.

Home and Domestic Life

Home and family are vitally important to Taurus. They like children. They also like a comfortable and perhaps glamorous home – something they can show off. They tend to buy heavy, ponderous furniture – usually of the best quality. This is because Taurus likes a feeling of substance in their environment. Their house is not only their home but their place of creativity and entertainment. The Taurus’ home tends to be truly their castle. If they could choose, Taurus people would prefer living in the countryside to being city-dwellers. If they cannot do so during their working lives, many Taurus individuals like to holiday in or even retire to the country, away from the city and closer to the land.

At home a Taurus is like a country squire – lord (or lady) of the manor. They love to entertain lavishly, to make others feel secure in their home and to encourage others to derive the same sense of satisfaction as they do from it. If you are invited for dinner at the home of a Taurus you can expect the best food and best entertainment. Be prepared for a tour of the house and expect to see your Taurus friend exhibit a lot of pride and satisfaction in his or her possessions.

Taurus people like children but they are usually strict with them. The reason for this is they tend to treat their children – as they do most things in life – as their possessions. The positive side to this is that their children will be well cared for and well supervised. They will get every material thing they need to grow up properly. On the down side, Taurus can get too repressive with their children. If a child dares to upset the daily routine – which Taurus loves to follow – he or she will have a problem with a Taurus parent.

Horoscope for 2017
Major Trends

Uranus has been in your spiritual 12th house for many years now. This is creating change – and much experimenting – in your spiritual life and practice. Many of you have changed teachers, teachings and practices over the years and the trend is continuing.

Since Uranus is also your career planet, this transit indicates a growing idealism about your career and life work. Just being successful and prominent in your profession is not enough for you. It leaves you vaguely dissatisfied. You need to be involved in things that really matter, that truly benefit others and the whole planet.

In a year or two Uranus will enter your sign and will stay there for many years, bringing dramatic and sudden change into your life. Taurus folk are not very comfortable with change. They love the status quo and routine – it’s predictable and stable. But very soon now you’ll have to learn to be comfortable with change. We’ll discuss this further in 2018.

Jupiter has been in your 6th house of health and work since September last year and will be here for most of the year ahead – until October 10. This is a good health message. If there have been any pre-existing conditions you should hear good news about them. This also indicates that dream job opportunities are coming to you. If you hire others you’re expanding the workforce. Children and children figures in your life are prospering.

Jupiter will enter your 7th house of love on October 11. For singles this indicates love and serious relationships – perhaps even marriage. For those already attached it brings new friends and an expanded – more active – social life.

Your religious beliefs have had a real testing over the past two years, and this continues in the year ahead. This is usually not pleasant, but it is good. It forces you to rethink and re-evaluate these beliefs; in many cases they get modified or even discarded. This will be complete by the end of the year.

Saturn’s move into your 9th house at the end of the year (on December 21) affects mostly college-level students. They have to work harder at their studies. They need more discipline. They have to succeed in school by sheer merit, without any ‘gamesmanship’.

Your areas of greatest interest this year are health and work (until October 10); love and romance (from October 11 onwards); personal transformation, personal reinvention, sex and occult studies (until December 21); religion, higher education, foreign travel; groups, group activities, the online world; and spirituality.

Your paths of greatest fulfilment this year are children, fun and creativity (until April 29), home, family and emotional wellness (from April 29 onwards); health and work (until October 10); love and romance (from October 11 onwards).

Health

(Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, both of these perspectives were identical. Now there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.)

Health looks excellent this year. Until October 10 there are no long-term planets in stressful aspect to you. And even after October 11, only Jupiter will be in stressful alignment, and he is not a maleficent kind of planet. In addition, your health house is very strong until October 10. So your attention is focused here. You’re on the case. In fact, if anything, you might be too much on the case – more than is necessary. Often this leads to a tendency to magnify trifling problems into big ones.

As we mentioned earlier, pre-existing conditions should be much improved this year. Your health is basically good, but there will be periods in the year when your health and energy are less good. These things come from planetary transits; they are temporary things and not trends for the year. When the challenging transits pass, normal health and energy return.

Good though your health is, it can be made even better. Pay attention to the following:

 The neck and throat. These are always important for a Taurus. Regular neck massages will be a potent ‘pick me up’ and a preventive for future problems. Craniosacral therapy is also good for the neck.

 The kidneys and hips. These are also always important for a Taurus. Venus, the ruler of these areas, is your health planet. Regular hip massage (and the buttocks too) should be incorporated into the health regime. A herbal kidney cleanse might be a good idea if you feel under the weather.

 The liver and thighs. These only became important since September 2016, but they remain so for most of the year ahead – until October 10. Regular thigh massage will be good. A herbal liver cleanse would also help.

Since these are the most vulnerable health areas in your chart this year, problems, if they happened (God forbid) would most likely begin here. Thus keeping them healthy and fit is sound preventive medicine.

As Venus is such a fast-moving planet – she will move through every area of your chart in a given year – there are many short-term health trends that depend on where Venus is at any given time and the aspects she receives. This is best covered in the monthly reports.

Since Venus is both the ruler of your Horoscope and your health planet – she serves double duty in your chart – there is a strong connection between health and personal appearance. Your state of health instantly reflects itself in your personal appearance. Good health will do more for your looks than hosts of cosmetics, perfumes and powders.

Jupiter is the ruler of your 8th house of transformation. Thus his position in your house of health gives a tendency towards surgery. This is often seen as the ‘quick fix’ to a problem. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. Detox regimes should be explored first – you can get good results with these.

Home and Family

Your 4th house of home and family wasn’t strong last year and is not strong in the year ahead either. This can be seen as a kind of contentment with things as they are. It tends to the status quo. You have no pressing need to make dramatic changes here.

Of course, there are going to be periods of excitement and family drama. Every year there are at least two Solar Eclipses and this year is no different. There is a Solar Eclipse on February 26 and on August 21. Since the Sun is your family planet, these eclipses produce important changes. Perhaps there is some hidden problem in the home, perhaps a family member has some hidden problem or grievance. The eclipse will force these things to the surface so that you can deal with them. This year, you’re also affected by a Lunar Eclipse (February 11) that occurs in your 4th house. This will bring more of what we mentioned above. But these are temporary things that soon pass. And when they do, it’s back to the status quo. We will cover the effect of the eclipses in more detail in the monthly reports.

Siblings and sibling figures in your life are likely to move this year. The move seems happy (it could be job related). A parent or parent figure is also likely to move – after October 11. Children or children figures are not advised to move, however, though they might want to. They seem more depressed this year. Counselling therapies or meditation will be a big help to them, but a move will not do much for their psychological state. Grandchildren (if you have them) have been moving around a lot in recent years, and could do so this year too. They seem emotionally restless. Even if they don’t actually move they will renovate their existing home or spend much time in other places. It will be ‘as if’ they have moved.

If you’re planning to redecorate or beautify the home in cosmetic kinds of ways – i.e. to repaint, or change the curtains, or buy objets d’art for the home – July 22 to September 20 is a good time. If you’re planning major repairs – construction projects – July 20 to September 5 is a good time.

The health of a parent or parent figure is much improved over previous years. He or she could benefit from detox regimes. He or she has a tendency to surgery. Children and children figures will benefit from vigorous exercise, head, face and scalp massage. Siblings and sibling figures need a disciplined daily regime – more attention to the liver, thighs, spine, knees, teeth and bones will be very helpful.

Finance and Career

Your money house hasn’t been prominent for many years now. You are always focused on money, but of late, less so than usual, Taurus. This too I read as a good thing. It shows contentment with things as they are. There are no pressing needs to make dramatic changes. You sort of take prosperity for granted – which is as it should be. However, if financial problems arise, lack of attention (taking your eyes off the ball) is a likely cause. You’ll have to force yourself to focus more.

In spite of the empty money house I expect your year to be prosperous. There are no major financial impediments. You have a lot of financial freedom. Taurus is free to be Taurus – prosperous. We mentioned earlier that there are lucrative job opportunities this year. Also, those of you running a business will be hiring more people. This is not a message of poverty.

After October 11, when Jupiter enters your 7th house, there is prosperity for the current love, spouse or partner. He or she will have substantial financial windfalls and many happy opportunities. You will socialize more with ‘money people’ – rich people. If you have good ideas, it seems easy to attract investors.

Mercury, your financial planet, is a very fast-moving planet, as our regular readers know. Only the Moon moves faster than him. In a given year he will move through every sector of your horoscope. This shows that earnings and earnings opportunities can come to you in many ways and through many different kinds of people – depending on where Mercury is at any given time. These short-term trends are best dealt with in the monthly reports.

Mercury will be retrograde four times this year (as he was last year too). This is unusual. Normally he travels backwards only three times a year. So, this year more homework, more reviews of your financial goals, strategy and investments are necessary. More so than usual. When Mercury is in retrograde motion the financial thinking is not what it should be, thus the most important thing is to gain mental clarity and resolve your doubts. When this happens, you’ll be able to make good moves when Mercury starts to move forward again. This year Mercury’s retrograde periods are January 1–8; April 9 to May 3; August 11 to September 5 and December 3–23. We will discuss this further in the monthly reports.

Your 10th house of career is also empty this year, indicating that career is not a major focus. Again this should be read in a good way. You seem content with things as they are and have no pressing need for change. Changes will definitely happen – Uranus, your career planet, is the planet of change – but they are likely to be happy. As has been the case for many years now, it is good to enhance your career by being involved in charitable and altruistic causes. These are good for their own sakes, but will also cement your professional image. Important career contacts will also be made. Your technological skills and online activities in general will enhance the career too.

Siblings and sibling figures will have a stable financial year, although the eclipses (as mentioned above) will force changes in their financial thinking and strategy. The spouse, partner or current love interest will prosper, as we have mentioned. He or she has excellent financial intuition until October 11. Parents and parent figures also have a stable financial year. Children and children figures are prospering. Grandchildren (if you have them) seem content with things.

Love and Social Life

Both 2015 (the latter part) and 2016 were good love years. Many of you have married or entered into serious kinds of relationships. Socially things have been quiet since last September, with no major developments one way or another. This too is a good signal. There is basic contentment here. This is the case until October 10. But after that Jupiter enters into your 7th house of love and marriage – heating up and expanding the love life.

Those of you involved in an existing relationship might decide to take it a step further and tie the knot. Those of you still unattached will start meeting ‘marriage material’ – people you would consider marrying. There will be many opportunities for serious relationships. The love life will bloom well into next year too.

Pluto, the generic ruler of sex, is your love planet. Jupiter, the actual ruler of sex in your chart will be in your 7th house. Need we have a clearer message? The sexual magnetism seems the most important thing to you. This is the primary allurement. Wealth doesn’t hurt, but seems secondary to that. Good sex will cover many sins in a relationship or marriage, and problems here could threaten the relationship. If problems arise in the marriage or relationship, this area is what will need fixing.

Good sex alone, no matter how good, is not enough to make a marriage work. Even the best of sexual chemistries will have a life span of about a year. Then they start to get a bit jaded. Other compatibilities need to be there.

Pluto, your love planet, is in your 9th house of religion and philosophy and Jupiter (the occupant of your 7th house) is the generic ruler of these things. So, the Horoscope is saying that you need a good philosophical compatibility. It doesn’t mean that you have to agree on every point, but it’s important that you share a similar outlook on life, the same religious values, the same feelings of what life is all about – its meaning and purpose.

There is an old saying: ‘people who pray together, stay together’. This is certainly true in your case. Problems in a relationship can be worked through in this way. It would also be good to take foreign trips together or take classes together as a couple. The philosophical harmony – the harmony of the Higher Mental bodies – needs to be strengthened.

This strong 9th-house connection in love shows other things too. Foreign countries are likely venues for romantic meetings. So is your place of worship or college. Religious or educational functions and gatherings bring romantic opportunity. People in your place of worship seem eager to make introductions.

Often with these kinds of aspects one falls in love with the pastor, minister or professor. There is an attraction for highly educated people – mentor types. You like people you can learn from.

If you are working on your first or second marriage there is love this year and marriage opportunity. If you are working on your third marriage, your prospects improve after December 21. Next year – 2018 – will bring marriage opportunities.

Self-Improvement

The spiritual life – especially the abstract variety – is generally not that important to a Taurus. Taurus is down to earth and practical. Taurus sees life on earth – even the mundane things – to be spiritual. (You’re probably right too!) You feel close to the Divine when you are physically comfortable and at ease. But over the past six or seven years this has begun to change. The spiritual life has not only been important but active and full of dynamic change. Very experimental. Very interesting. Uranus, ensconced in your 12th house has seen to that. Your career is partly responsible for this. In order to get to where you want to go, your spiritual understanding must increase. And, in many cases, people involved in your career are on a spiritual path and this has enhanced your interest. No matter, the Divine knows exactly what will attract you.

With Mars as your spiritual planet you like the path of action. You like to express your spiritual ideals in positive actions. Silent meditation is generally not for you. You like to be doing something – building an orphanage, hospital or church. Feeding hungry people. Doing practical acts of charity. Being there for someone in hospital. This tendency is even more pronounced these days and it’s very good. But along with this the Horoscope is indicating some scientific, intellectual background too. Uranus is the planet of science. A scientific approach to the spiritual life will not diminish your actions, but enhance them. You will know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Your faith will be buttressed by knowledge.

Uranus rules astrology. Astrology has a very strong spiritual basis to it. We call it esoteric astrology. It is a philosophy of the stars. Thus this is a valid spiritual path these days. Jnana yoga, hermetic science and kabbala would also be interesting. These are rational scientific approaches.

Uranus in your 12th house shows ‘spiritual experimentalism’. This has its good and bad points. On the positive side, you learn what path, what approach works for you through trial, error and observation – the scientific method. On the negative side it can make a person a ‘spiritual faddist’, running after the latest fads and trends, jumping from one to another. Spiritual progress takes persistence. If you jump around too quickly you only delay yourself.

The main challenge this year is integrating spirituality with a worldly career. Everyone finds their own personal solution to this. Some people opt for a spiritual-type career. They work for a charity or start a non-profit organization and work at it full time. Some people pursue a worldly career and start a non-profit business on the side. Some people get involved in charitable works while involved in a worldly career. You will find your solution for yourself. There are no rules about this.

Month-by-month Forecasts
January

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 15, 16, 25, 26

Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 7, 8, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28

Best Days for Love: 2, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 31

Best Days for Money: 1, 6, 9, 10, 15, 18, 19, 25, 26, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 1, 5, 6, 13, 14, 23, 24, 27, 28

It looks like a happy and successful month ahead, Taurus, enjoy. Your 9th house – a happy-go-lucky kind of house – is strong until the 19th so there are happy travel opportunities occurring. You might not actually travel, but the opportunity is there. Life is expansive. The horizons are widened. Students at college level should do well.

Your financial planet Mercury will spend most of the month in your 9th house – a good financial signal. It indicates expanded earnings. The only issue is that Mercury will be retrograde until the 8th so there might be delays and glitches involved in this expansion. Take more care in your financial dealings until the 8th. Read the fine print in all contracts very carefully – and it would be better not to sign them over that period. Avoid major purchases or investment decisions then. By the 13th, as Mercury re-enters your 9th house – this time in forward motion – most financial perplexities will be resolved. And earnings will happen faster.

On the 19th the Sun will cross your Mid-heaven and enter your 10th house of career. You enter a yearly career peak and much progress will be made. You have good support from the family, and the status of the family as a whole seems raised.

The Sun’s solstice happened last month. This month Mars and Venus have their solstices, around the same time. With Mars it is from the 27th to the 31st, with Venus is from the 29th to the 31st. This suggests a pause – a personal pause and a pause in your spiritual and charitable life – and then a change of direction. These pauses are healthy. Nothing seems to get done outwardly, but inwardly the ground is being prepared for the future.

The bottom half of your chart is almost totally empty. Only one long-term planet is there. So the upper half is very dominant. The focus will be – and should be – on the career and outer objectives. Home and family issues can be downplayed right now.

We see the same situation with the Eastern and Western sectors of the chart. There is only one long-term planet in the Western sector. The Eastern half is overwhelmingly dominant. Thus you’re in a period of personal independence. It is a time to have your way in life, a time for creating your own happiness. You have the power to create your destiny now, to be pro-active. If some condition irks you, make the necessary changes. Others will go along with you eventually.

February

Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 21, 22

Most Stressful Days Overall: 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25

Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 24, 25, 26

Best Days for Career: 1, 2, 9, 10, 19, 20, 24, 25, 28

Health and energy have been less robust than usual since January 19. And this is the situation until the 18th of the month ahead. Your overall health is very good this year, as we have mentioned, but this particular period is less good, so get more rest when possible.

You’re still very much in a yearly career peak and much progress is being made. When Mercury crosses your Mid-heaven on the 7th, pay rises can happen (official or unofficial ones). The authority figures in your life are favourably disposed to your financial goals.

Mercury’s speedy motion this month indicates good financial confidence. You cover a lot of territory. Financial progress seems swift. In general the pace of events is swifter than usual. All the planets are moving forward until the 6th, with 90 per cent of them in forward motion after that.

The main headline this month are two eclipses. This is guaranteed to shake things up and create some excitement. The Lunar Eclipse of the 11th (in America it’s on the 10th) occurs in your 4th house of home and family. This tends to bring personal – often life-changing – events and dramas to family members, parents or parent figures. It can bring a need for sudden repairs in the home. Cars and communication equipment get tested and might need replacement or repair. Siblings and neighbours are also affected here, so be patient with them this period. This eclipse affects you strongly (it’s in stressful alignment with the Sun), so reduce your schedule and avoid high-stress activities now.

The Solar Eclipse of the 26th will also impact on the home and family – every Solar Eclipse does. So there is a reinforcement of the previous eclipse. Important changes need to be made in the home and family relationships. You know what they are; the eclipse will force the issue. This eclipse affects Neptune, the ruler of your 11th house. So your high-tech gadgets – smart phones, computers, laptops and software – can play up. Repairs or replacements might be needed. Make sure important files are backed up.

There can be dramas in the lives of friends. The marriages (and social life in general) of children or children figures get tested. Bosses and parents or parent figures are forced to make important financial changes. This eclipse seems less stressful on you personally than the previous one, but it won’t hurt to take things a little easier anyway.

The month ahead is very spiritual too. Venus, the ruler of your Horoscope, enters your 12th house on the 3rd and spends the rest of the month there. Mars and Uranus are already in your spiritual house, so it is powerful this month. A good month to study spiritual literature, attend classes, seminars or workshops and spend more time on your spiritual practice.

March

Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 11, 12, 21, 22, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24

Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 27, 31

Best Days for Money: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 18, 19, 23, 24, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 1, 10, 19, 20, 23, 24, 28

One of the main headlines this month is the retrograde of Venus. This begins on the 4th and continues until April 15. Since she is the ruler of your Horoscope, this can make you feel less confident. There is a lack of direction. It is interesting that this occurs during a period of strong independence and personal power. You have the energy and power you need for personal happiness, for having things your way, but you’re not sure what ‘your way’ is. Mars moves into your sign on the 10th and this increases your independence even further. You could be tempted to rush into changes that you’re not sure about – and this will cause headaches down the road. What good is achieving things if you only have to undo them later on? Take the time to get clear on personal goals – how you want your body to be, what kind of look do you want to present to the world, what kind of regime you want to undertake, etc. Take your time. When clarity comes – and it will – you’ll be in a good position to put your ideas into action.

Since Venus is also your health planet, don’t rush into miracle diets or miracle therapies just yet. Study things further. Job seekers should study prospective offers more carefully too – and this applies to those of you who hire others. Get the facts. Get mentally clear. Resolve all doubts.

Health is excellent this month, but should you feel under the weather head, face and scalp massage will be excellent remedies. You respond well to spiritual-type therapies too. If you feel under the weather see a spiritual healer.

The month ahead is a spiritual month. Not only is your 12th house the strongest in your chart, but the ruler of your 12th house – Mars – will be in your 1st house (a prominent position) from the 10th onwards. Spiritual interests – meditation, contemplation, journaling, the study of sacred scripture – come naturally these days. Those of you already on a spiritual path will make great progress. Those of you who are not will just feel more idealistic for no apparent reason.

The financial planet will move into your 12th house on the 13th and spend the rest of the month there. The financial intuition will be excellent. Mercury’s conjunction with Neptune on the 4th and 5th also brings good financial intuition. When such intuition happens it rarely seems ‘rational’ at the time – it is only later that we see how rational it was.

Mercury will conjunct Uranus on the 26th and 27th. This brings sudden, unexpected financial good. It can happen via the career or through parents or parent figures.

Mars in your sign from the 10th onwards makes you more physically active. You will want to exercise more, spend more time at the gym, indulge in sports, etc. Exercise is good, but the chart favours the more spiritual kinds – yoga, tai chi and so on. A more refined kind of exercise seems best.

Green is always a good colour for you; it is the colour of your sign. This month you might want to add more red – especially from the 10th onwards. Wearing the colours of the stars puts you more in tune with them and helps on the subtle levels of energy.

Love is a bit problematic this month. Venus is retrograde and Pluto, your love planet, receives stressful aspects. Hang in there, these are short-term problems.

April

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 17, 18, 26, 27

Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21

Best Days for Love: 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 23, 26, 27

Best Days for Money: 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 5, 6, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25

Continue to gain clarity on your goals until the 15th. This is the most important thing. When Venus moves forward on the 15th you will be entering your period of maximum personal power. It was worth the wait. The changes you make now will be good ones. And you have plenty of power to create conditions as you want them to be.

Continue your spiritual interests until the 19th. Spiritual breakthroughs will be seen outwardly after that date.

This is a happy month ahead. The Sun moves into your sign on the 19th. Family seems very devoted to you and there is good family support. You have energy and star quality this period. Your personal appearance shines. Health is excellent. If you feel under the weather, spiritual-type therapies are still powerful.

Finances are good this month, though more complicated than usual. Mercury in your sign brings windfalls and financial opportunity and the money people in your life are supportive. But Mercury will go into retrograde motion on the 9th, indicating that your financial thinking could be unrealistic. As always, avoid making major financial decisions – major purchases or investments – from the 9th onwards. Don’t stop your life over a Mercury retrograde, but avoid major expenditures.

The money people in your life can change their mind during Mercury’s retrograde or delay certain actions. Use the delays to gain clarity and set goals for the future.

On the 21st Mars will move into your money house. (Mercury will move backwards into Aries on the 20th.) Financial intuition becomes important – except it needs verification during this period. Financial guidance will come in dreams or through other spiritual sources – ministers, gurus, spiritual channels, astrologers, tarot readers, etc. But you should confirm your insights with several of these sources before making any decisions. Mars in your money house will incline you to make quick financial decisions, but you should resist the urge until Mercury starts moving forward again early next month.

There is career success on the 13th and 14th – and the family as a whole seems successful too. But career is starting to wind down. The planetary power is beginning to shift to the lower half of the chart. The shift will be stronger next month, but you start to feel it from the 19th onwards.

May

Best Days Overall: 4, 5, 14, 15, 23, 24, 29, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 2, 3, 9, 10, 17, 18

Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24

Best Days for Money: 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26

Best Days for Career: 3, 13, 17, 18, 22, 30

The month ahead is Taurus heaven. It is a month of prosperity. The cosmos impels you to do what you most love to do – focus on finances.

There are many nice financial developments happening this month. Your financial planet starts moving forward on the 3rd, so your financial intuition is much more reliable now. From the 1st to the 11th Mercury and Uranus are travelling together. This brings sudden financial windfalls. Parents and bosses seem supportive. On the 16th Mercury will cross your Ascendant and enter your 1st house, bringing financial windfalls and opportunities to you. The money people in your life are supportive. You look rich and feel rich. People see you as a ‘money person’. Mars will be in your money house all month. This again shows strong financial intuition (the period from the 10th to the 14th is exceptionally good). You are fearless in financial matters these days. The Sun will enter the money house on the 20th, further energizing it. He brings good family support. You begin a yearly financial peak. Wealth and earnings will increase.

Health is still excellent all month. There are no planets in stressful alignment to you (only the Moon, occasionally, will make stressful aspects, but these are short-term things). You have plenty of energy and with energy comes increased possibilities. However, if you feel under the weather at times you still respond well to spiritual-type therapies. Physical exercise and scalp/face massage are also still powerful therapies.

Love is bittersweet this month. Venus and Pluto are not in good aspect. Thus you and the current love are in disagreement. You have to work harder on your relationship. The love life should improve next month.

Retrograde activity is still strong this month. Until the 3rd 40 per cent of the planets are retrograde; after the 3rd it’s 30 per cent. When starting new projects or ventures it is always best to have as many planets moving forward as possible. But if you must launch a new venture or product, this may be the time to do it – from your birthday onwards. This will give you a waxing (growing) personal solar cycle along with a waxing universal solar cycle. The 3rd to the 10th and then from the 25th onwards are the best times for new starts this month.

June

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 28, 29

Most Stressful Days Overall: 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 26, 27

Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 20, 21, 28, 29

Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24, 30

Best Days for Career: 9, 13, 14, 19, 27

The planetary power is still mostly in the Eastern sector this month, although this will start to change next month. So if there are conditions that need changing in your life, this is the time to do it. Later on it will be more difficult.

Health is still excellent. No long- or short-term planet is stressing you out (only the Moon will do so occasionally). You have all the energy you need to achieve whatever you want to do. If you happen to feel under the weather, continue using spiritual techniques until the 6th. After that, neck and throat massage will be powerful therapies.

Venus’s move into your sign on the 6th is fortunate. She brings happy job opportunities for the job seeker. If there are vitamins, supplements or other health items that you need – they come to you naturally and normally without any special effort. Venus’s move into your sign is like taking a ‘grace’ pill. She confers social grace, sweetness of disposition, charm and beauty. You get on better with others. The love life will improve. Disagreements with the current love seem resolved after the 6th. The only issue in love right now is Pluto’s retrograde movement (since April 20). There’s no need to rush into important love decisions one way or another. Let love take its course.

You are still in a strong prosperity period until the 21st. The money house is still powerful. Family support is still good (and you are probably spending more on the home and family). Family connections are important in finance. On the 6th Mercury enters your money house – another good sign. He will be in his own sign and house and thus more powerful on your behalf. Earnings should increase. Whatever business you’re involved with, good sales, marketing, PR and advertising are important. This is so all month. People need to know about your product or service. Mercury in your money house also brings good wealth ideas.

By the 21st your short-term financial goals should be achieved. The money house empties and your focus shifts to other things – to intellectual interests and communication. This is as it should be. Money is only a means to an end. It is not the purpose of life. It buys freedom and time, so that a person can grow mentally and spiritually. This is a period to grow mentally.

By the 6th the planetary shift from the upper half of your chart to the lower half will be complete. For the next few months the lower half of your Horoscope will be more dominant than the upper half. Career can be downplayed. Now it is time to focus more on your home base and your emotional well-being.

July

Best Days Overall: 8, 9, 17, 18, 23, 24

Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 10, 11, 23, 24, 30, 31

Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31

Best Days for Money: 1, 4, 10, 11, 16, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 6, 10, 11, 16, 24

Your financial planet, Mercury, has been ‘out of bounds’ since June 18. It is still ‘out of bounds’ on the 1st but is moving back into its normal boundary. So, in your financial life, you’ve been moving out of your normal orbit into uncharted territory. After the 1st you’re back in your normal sphere. The month ahead is prosperous. Venus (a very important planet in your Horoscope) moves into the money house on the 5th and spends the rest of the month there. This indicates great focus on the finances – which is 90 per cent of the battle. We get what we focus on. You spend on yourself and adopt an image of wealth. Personal appearance seems ultra-important in earnings. Be careful not to let the ego get too involved in finance though – anything that distorts the judgement is a problem.

Mercury has been in your 3rd house of communication since June 21, and remains there until the 6th. So, many of the financial trends we discussed last month are in effect until this date. Good marketing, advertising and PR are very important. On the 6th Mercury moves into your 4th house, indicating the importance of family and family connections. Family support should be good. You’ll probably be spending more on the home and family too. The financial planet in the sign of Leo makes you more of a risk-taker in financial matters – more speculative. This is not normal for you. On the other hand, sometimes we need to take a risk – we need to overcome fear. On the 26th Mercury moves into Virgo, your 5th house. You’re still speculating, but the financial judgement is better. After the 26th we get a feeling of ‘happy’ money. The act of money-making is more enjoyable than usual. You spend on fun kinds of things too.

Your 4th house becomes very powerful from the 20th onwards, when Mars moves into it, followed by the Sun on the 22nd. So the focus is on home, family and your emotional well-being. Interestingly, these interests help the career – in a direct kind of way. Next month the focus will be even stronger. The powers that be seem to approve of a good family and domestic life.

When the 4th house is strong, emotional wellness and harmony is the dominant factor in life. If that is happening everything else will fall into place. But if there is discord, nothing much will work out.

This is a good period – after the 20th – to do renovations in the home. However, the health becomes more delicate. Make sure to get enough rest.

August

Best Days Overall: 4, 5, 13, 14, 22, 23, 31

Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 26, 27

Best Days for Love: 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31

Best Days for Money: 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31

Best Days for Career: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 21, 29, 30

Your 4th house remains very powerful this month. Continue to work on your emotional wellness and the harmony of the domestic sphere. In the philosophy of astrology, when we handle the 4th house properly, we enter a joyful, holiday kind of period. The 5th house of fun and creativity follows the 4th house – it doesn’t precede it. Fun happens after emotional harmony is established, not before.

We have two eclipses this month. Both seem to affect you strongly so have a more relaxed schedule over those periods.

The Lunar Eclipse of the 7th occurs in your 10th house of career, so there are shake-ups happening in your company or industry. This will most likely require a course correction on your part. Often there are dramas in the lives of bosses, parents and parent figures. Sometimes the government changes its rules. The marriage of a parent or parent figure (and perhaps a boss as well) gets tested now. Cars and communication equipment get tested. It will be a good idea to drive more carefully.

The Solar Eclipse of the 21st occurs in your 4th house but very close to the cusp of the 5th house. Thus both houses are affected. Every Solar Eclipse affects the home and family anyway, and family members will have dramas in their lives (children too). Sometimes repairs (possibly extensive ones) to the home are necessary. When an eclipse happens in the 4th house any hidden problems in the home are revealed. Perhaps there are mice or other rodents lurking around. Perhaps mould has collected in the interior plasterboard. Perhaps there is a hidden leak in the pipework. Now you find out about these things – they show themselves – and action has to be taken. This is inconvenient to be sure, but it is good that the problem is no longer hidden and can be dealt with.

Retrograde activity is very strong this month. From the 13th to the 25th half of the planets are travelling backwards. This further compounds the problems caused by the eclipses. An eclipse demands immediate attention, but planetary retrogrades create delays. Your financial planet starts to go backwards on the 13th too. Therefore (as you know by now), you should avoid major purchases or important financial decisions until he starts going forward again on September 5.

September

Best Days Overall: 1, 10, 18, 19, 28, 29

Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30

Best Days for Love: 1, 7, 8, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 28, 29

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30

Best Days for Career: 3, 4, 8, 17, 27, 30

Health and energy are much improved over last month. Problems were created last month (perhaps we should say ‘revealed’ – they existed before last month’s eclipses happened) but now you have all the energy you need to handle them. Your health can be further enhanced by giving more attention to the heart until the 20th, and to the small intestine after then. Giving yourself permission to have fun – to enjoy life – will also enhance your health.

Your 5th house became powerful last month and remains so this month too. So, handle your issues and responsibilities but make sure you have some fun too. You can do both. Sometimes the best way to deal with an insurmountable problem is to let it go. Do something else. Get creative. Have fun. When you come back to the problem, you discover the solution comes to you easily. Your obsessive focus was blocking things. Often the solution is hilariously simple.

This is a month to get more involved with the children and children figures in your life. You relate very well to them. To be sure, you’re a bit of a child yourself. Personal creativity is very strong now too. It is good to express some of this. Your sense of fun – your lightness of heart – will help the financial picture too. Mercury retrograded back into your 4th house last month; on the 10th he re-enters the 5th house. As we have already mentioned, this indicates happy money. You earn or have earnings opportunities while you’re having fun – perhaps at the movies or theatre. Perhaps at a resort or party.

The love life is much improved this month. Pluto, the love planet, is still retrograde, but he is receiving very good aspects. So the social life is happy. There are many love and social opportunities happening. Only don’t be in a rush. Enjoy things for what they are.

The love life of children or children figures is a bit stressed this month. If they are married or in a serious relationship, they need more patience. The problems seem more about the partner’s issues than their own.

Mars makes beautiful aspects to the career planet Uranus from the 1st to the 3rd. Being involved in charities or good causes helps the career.

October

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 15, 16, 25, 26

Most Stressful Days Overall: 1, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29

Best Days for Love: 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28

Best Days for Money: 1, 9, 10, 11, 20, 30

Best Days for Career: 1, 6, 14, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29

Jupiter has been in your 6th house of work all year and will be there until the 10th of this month. Your 6th house became powerful on September 22nd and remains so in the month ahead – 60 per cent of the planets are either there or moving through there. This is a lot of power. It is a wonderful time for job seekers; there are multiple opportunities happening now. (The whole past year has been good for this, but now it’s even better.) Some of you could be working two or three jobs now. Others are merely having multiple employment opportunities. Power in this house also shows a great focus on health. But as we mentioned earlier, this focus can be too much. You don’t need to magnify little things into big things.

On the 11th Jupiter moves into your 7th house of love and will be there well into next year. Mercury follows on the 17th and the Sun on the 23rd. Thus love is the main headline from the 23rd onwards. You will be in a yearly love and social peak. Singles are going to date more, and they will attract meaningful kinds of relationships. Many a marriage will happen in the next 12 months. Those already attached will be attending more weddings and gatherings. They will make new and significant friendships. A business partnership or joint venture might manifest.

Jupiter’s move into the 7th house brings financial windfalls and general prosperity for the spouse, partner or current love interest. (Prosperity will get even stronger in 2018.)

There’s more good news on the love front. Pluto (your love planet) started moving forward on September 28. So, all systems are go when it comes to love. There is opportunity and mental clarity – good social judgement. Enjoy.

The Sun will have his solstice on December 21. But this month Venus and Mars will have their solstice. They ‘pause’ in the heavens and then change direction. In the case of Venus (which is the more important one for you) this happens from the 16th to the 19th. So, this calls for a pause in your affairs and then a change of direction. It is a pause that refreshes. It might feel like a ‘stoppage’ but it’s not.

Mars, your spiritual planet, has his solstice from the 23rd to the 30th. This suggests a change of spiritual direction – perhaps a change of direction in the charities or causes that you support.

November

Best Days Overall: 3, 4, 12, 13, 21, 22

Most Stressful Days Overall: 9, 10, 16, 17, 24, 25

Best Days for Love: 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, 16, 17, 21, 22, 26, 27

Best Days for Money: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, 26, 27, 29, 30

Best Days for Career: 2, 10, 20, 24, 25, 30

Health became more delicate last month on the 23rd and remains so until the 22nd of this month. This is nothing serious, just less than usual energy. Try to get enough rest and sleep. This is a short-term issue. After the 22nd your health and energy will rebound. Enhance the health in the ways mentioned in the yearly report until the 7th. After the 7th give more attention to the colon, bladder and sexual organs. Love is active and happy, but there’s no need to overdo the sex thing. Your body will tell you when enough is enough. A herbal colonic might be a good idea if you feel under the weather.

The love life is still the main headline this month, with your 7th house still very powerful. Indeed, on the 7th Venus moves in and makes it even more powerful. You are socially popular and socially active. The 12th and 13th seem especially good on the romantic front (and bring a nice payday too). New friends come into the picture on the 16th, 17th, 29th and 30th. (This can happen online or via more regular ways.) Many of you will be more involved with astrology or have your personal horoscopes done.

Finances will be good this month (always important for you, Taurus). Until the 6th your social connections are important in this: your like-ability is important. After the 6th, as Mercury enters your 8th house, you prosper by ‘cutting back’ – by eliminating waste and duplications, by cutting needless expense, by paying down or refinancing debt. It will be a very good period in which to get rid of old possessions that you don’t need or use. Function should be your guide. Things that you use, keep. Things that don’t get used should be sold or given to charity or otherwise disposed of. The financial planet in the 8th house suggests a need to make others rich. The financial interest of others (especially your partner or spouse) should come before your own. As you put others first, your own prosperity will happen naturally. Tax issues should be considered in financial decision-making. Those of you of appropriate age should consider wills and estate planning – it’s a good period for this. It’s also a good month to purchase insurance or annuities, if you need them.

December

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20

Most Stressful Days Overall: 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22

Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29

Best Days for Money: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31

Best Days for Career: 8, 17, 18, 21, 22, 27

The planetary power began to shift to the upper half of your Horoscope in October, and during this month the shift becomes much more pronounced. Mars moves to the upper part of your chart on the 9th. Thus all the planets (with the exception of the Moon) will be in the upper half of your chart – and between the 14th to the 27th, even the Moon will be in the upper half. The career and outer goals are most prominent now. Emotional wellness will happen as a side effect of outward success. Focus on the career now. Great progress is being made here this month – and it’s still not your peak career period (this will happen in January and February 2018).

Mars’s move into your 7th house indicates spiritual-type friends these days. Love is more spiritual. Singles have romantic opportunities in spiritual settings – at charity events, spiritual seminars, lectures etc. If you can avoid power struggles in your relationship (one of the problems with Mars in the 7th house), love should be happy. The two rulers of libido – Mars, the generic ruler, and Jupiter the ruler of your 8th house – are both in your 7th house of love.* The sexual attraction and sexual magnetism is the most important thing. It’s not everything to be sure, but will cover many problems in a relationship. You can’t build a long-term relationship only on that, but this is still the primary attraction.

Mercury, your financial planet, spends most of the month retrograde – from the 3rd to the 23rd. This complicates holiday shopping. If possible do it early, before the 3rd. If this is not possible, just do more homework and make sure the stores have a good returns policy. With your financial planet in Sagittarius all month, the tendency could be to overspend.

Health is good this month. There are two planets in stressful alignment with you – Mars and Jupiter – but that’s it. The other planets are supporting you or leaving you alone. You can enhance health further (if you feel under the weather) through detox regimes (until the 25th) and thigh massage. A herbal liver cleanse would also be helpful. After the 25th enhance the health through back and knee massage.

* Pluto, a generic ruler of libido (along with Mars) is your love planet as well.

Personality Profile
GEMINI AT A GLANCE

Element – Air

Ruling Planet – Mercury

Career Planet – Neptune

Love Planet – Jupiter

Money Planet – Moon

Planet of Health and Work – Pluto

Planet of Home and Family Life – Mercury

Colours – blue, yellow, yellow-orange

Colour that promotes love, romance and social harmony – sky blue

Colours that promote earning power – grey, silver

Gems – agate, aquamarine

Metal – quicksilver

Scents – lavender, lilac, lily of the valley, storax

Quality – mutable (= flexibility)

Quality most needed for balance – thought that is deep rather than superficial

Strongest virtues – great communication skills, quickness and agility of thought, ability to learn quickly

Deepest need – communication

Characteristics to avoid – gossiping, hurting others with harsh speech, superficiality, using words to mislead or misinform

Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Libra, Aquarius

Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

Sign most helpful to career – Pisces

Sign most helpful for emotional support – Virgo

Sign most helpful financially – Cancer

Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Sagittarius

Sign most helpful for creative projects – Libra

Best Sign to have fun with – Libra

Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Taurus, Aquarius

Best day of the week – Wednesday

Understanding a Gemini

Gemini is to society what the nervous system is to the body. It does not introduce any new information but is a vital transmitter of impulses from the senses to the brain and vice versa. The nervous system does not judge or weigh these impulses – it only conveys information. And it does so perfectly.

This analogy should give you an indication of a Gemini’s role in society. Geminis are the communicators and conveyors of information. To Geminis the truth or falsehood of information is irrelevant, they only transmit what they see, hear or read about. Thus they are capable of spreading the most outrageous rumours as well as conveying truth and light. Geminis sometimes tend to be unscrupulous in their communications and can do both great good or great evil with their power. This is why the sign of Gemini is symbolized by twins: Geminis have a dual nature.

Their ability to convey a message – to communicate with such ease – makes Geminis ideal teachers, writers and media and marketing people. This is helped by the fact that Mercury, the ruling planet of Gemini, also rules these activities.

Geminis have the gift of the gab. And what a gift this is! They can make conversation about anything, anywhere, at any time. There is almost nothing that is more fun to Geminis than a good conversation – especially if they can learn something new as well. They love to learn and they love to teach. To deprive a Gemini of conversation, or of books and magazines, is cruel and unusual punishment.

Geminis are almost always excellent students and take well to education. Their minds are generally stocked with all kinds of information, trivia, anecdotes, stories, news items, rarities, facts and statistics. Thus they can support any intellectual position that they care to take. They are awesome debaters and, if involved in politics, make good orators. Geminis are so verbally smooth that even if they do not know what they are talking about, they can make you think that they do. They will always dazzle you with their brilliance.

Finance

Geminis tend to be more concerned with the wealth of learning and ideas than with actual material wealth. As mentioned, they excel in professions that involve writing, teaching, sales and journalism – and not all of these professions pay very well. But to sacrifice intellectual needs merely for money is unthinkable to a Gemini. Geminis strive to combine the two. Cancer is on Gemini’s solar 2nd house of money cusp, which indicates that Geminis can earn extra income (in a harmonious and natural way) from investments in residential property, restaurants and hotels. Given their verbal skills, Geminis love to bargain and negotiate in any situation, and especially when it has to do with money.

The Moon rules Gemini’s 2nd solar house. The Moon is not only the fastest-moving planet in the zodiac but actually moves through every sign and house every 28 days. No other heavenly body matches the Moon for swiftness or the ability to change quickly. An analysis of the Moon – and lunar phenomena in general – describes Gemini’s financial attitudes very well. Geminis are financially versatile and flexible; they can earn money in many different ways. Their financial attitudes and needs seem to change daily. Their feelings about money change also: sometimes they are very enthusiastic about it, at other times they could not care less.

For a Gemini, financial goals and money are often seen only as means of supporting a family; these things have little meaning otherwise.

The Moon, as Gemini’s money planet, has another important message for Gemini financially: in order for Geminis to realize their financial potential they need to develop more of an understanding of the emotional side of life. They need to combine their awesome powers of logic with an understanding of human psychology. Feelings have their own logic; Geminis need to learn this and apply it to financial matters.

Career and Public Image

Geminis know that they have been given the gift of communication for a reason, that it is a power that can achieve great good or cause unthinkable distress. They long to put this power at the service of the highest and most transcendental truths. This is their primary goal, to communicate the eternal verities and prove them logically. They look up to people who can transcend the intellect – to poets, artists, musicians and mystics. They may be awed by stories of religious saints and martyrs. A Gemini’s highest achievement is to teach the truth, whether it is scientific, inspirational or historical. Those who can transcend the intellect are Gemini’s natural superiors – and a Gemini realizes this.

The sign of Pisces is in Gemini’s solar 10th house of career. Neptune, the planet of spirituality and altruism, is Gemini’s career planet. If Geminis are to realize their highest career potential they need to develop their transcendental – their spiritual and altruistic – side. They need to understand the larger cosmic picture, the vast flow of human evolution – where it came from and where it is heading. Only then can a Gemini’s intellectual powers take their true position and he or she can become the ‘messenger of the gods’. Geminis need to cultivate a facility for ‘inspiration’, which is something that does not originate in the intellect but which comes through the intellect. This will further enrich and empower a Gemini’s mind.

Love and Relationships

Geminis bring their natural garrulousness and brilliance into their love life and social life as well. A good talk or a verbal joust is an interesting prelude to romance. Their only problem in love is that their intellect is too cool and passionless to incite ardour in others. Emotions sometimes disturb them, and their partners tend to complain about this. If you are in love with a Gemini you must understand why this is so. Geminis avoid deep passions because these would interfere with their ability to think and communicate. If they are cool towards you, understand that this is their nature.

Nevertheless, Geminis must understand that it is one thing to talk about love and another actually to love – to feel it and radiate it. Talking about love glibly will get them nowhere. They need to feel it and act on it. Love is not of the intellect but of the heart. If you want to know how a Gemini feels about love you should not listen to what he or she says, but rather, observe what he or she does. Geminis can be quite generous to those they love.

Geminis like their partners to be refined, well educated and well travelled. If their partners are more wealthy than they, that is all the better. If you are in love with a Gemini you had better be a good listener as well.

The ideal relationship for the Gemini is a relationship of the mind. They enjoy the physical and emotional aspects, of course, but if the intellectual communion is not there they will suffer.

Home and Domestic Life

At home the Gemini can be uncharacteristically neat and meticulous. They tend to want their children and partner to live up to their idealistic standards. When these standards are not met they moan and criticize. However, Geminis are good family people and like to serve their families in practical and useful ways.

The Gemini home is comfortable and pleasant. They like to invite people over and they make great hosts. Geminis are also good at repairs and improvements around the house – all fuelled by their need to stay active and occupied with something they like to do. Geminis have many hobbies and interests that keep them busy when they are home alone.

Geminis understand and get along well with their children, mainly because they are very youthful people themselves. As great communicators, Geminis know how to explain things to children; in this way they gain their children’s love and respect. Geminis also encourage children to be creative and talkative, just like they are.

Horoscope for 2017
Major Trends

Though you still need to watch your energy this year, many nice things are happening. Jupiter is established in your 5th house of fun, creativity and children and will be there until October 10 – most of the year ahead. Thus, it is a fun kind of year. A creative year. A year for exploring leisure and fun. Geminis of childbearing age are more fertile than usual.

On October 11 Jupiter will enter your 6th house of health and work and stay there for the rest of the year. This will bring happy job opportunities – good ones. It will also impact on the romantic life as it makes the workplace a venue for romance. More on this later.

Saturn has been in your 7th house of love for the past two years and will be there until December 21 – almost all year. This has been testing relationships – marriages or other types of committed relationships. They have been getting stress tested. Many did not survive – the good ones did. This testing continues in the year ahead. By the end of the year, as Saturn moves out of your 7th house, the testing eases up. The lessons have been learned. The love life should improve. More details on this later.

Pluto has been in your 8th house for many years now and will be there for many more. So there is more dealing with death and death issues. Your understanding is deepening.

Neptune, your career planet and the most spiritual of the planets, still sits at the top of your chart – near the Mid-heaven. Thus spirituality is an important interest. Spiritual or idealistic careers attract you.

Serious love is being tested, but friendships are going well. The overall social life is good but unstable.

Finance doesn’t seem a big issue this year.

Your most important interests this year are children, fun and creativity (until October 10); health and work (from October 11 onwards); love, romance and social activities (until December 21); personal transformation, personal reinvention, sex, occult studies; career; and friends, groups, group activities and online activities.

Your areas of greatest fulfilment are home, family and emotional wellness (until April 29); communication and intellectual interests (from April 29 onwards); children, fun and creativity (until October 10); and health and work (from October 11 onwards).

Health

(Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, both of these perspectives were identical. But now there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.)

Health and energy are improved over last year, but still need attention. Saturn will spend most of the year in stressful alignment with you, and Neptune has been in stressful alignment since 2012. The good news is that health will get better by the end of the year when Saturn moves away from his stressful aspect.

Your 6th house of health will become a house of power from October 11 onwards. This is a good thing. You will be more focused here and your partners, spouse or friends will also be too.

There is much, as our regular readers know, that can be done to improve the health. Give more attention to the following areas – the vulnerable areas of your Horoscope:

 The lungs, arms, shoulders and respiratory system. These are always important for Geminis, and regular arm and shoulder massage should be part of your daily health regime. The wrists and hands should also be massaged. Hand reflexology – see Mildred Carter’s book, Hand Reflexology – is especially beneficial for you.

 The colon, bladder and sexual organs. Colonics or herbal colon cleanses are good if your feel under the weather. Safe sex and sexual moderation are always important for you.

 The spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment. These have become more important in recent years – ever since your health planet Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2008. Regular back and knee massage is good, as are regular visits to a chiropractor or osteopath. The vertebrae and skeleton need to be in right alignment. Therapies such as Rolfing, Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique would be helpful. Watch your posture as you sit or get up from a chair – you could be unconsciously throwing your spine out of alignment. Give the knees more support when exercising, and if you’re out in the Sun use a good sun screen. Regular dental check-ups are a good idea too.

 The liver and thighs. These become important after October 11 as Jupiter – the ruler of these areas – moves into your 6th house of health. Regular thigh massage will not only strengthen the thighs and liver, but the lower back as well. It will also send energy to the colon. A herbal liver cleanse might also be helpful if you feel under the weather.

Since these are the most vulnerable areas this year, problems, if they happened (God forbid) would most likely begin here. Keeping them healthy and fit is sound preventive medicine. Most of the time problems can be prevented, but even if they can’t be totally avoided (due to strong karmic momentum) they can be softened to a great degree. They need not be devastating.

We’ve mentioned before that you have a tendency towards surgery, but detoxing methods should also be explored. These will often have the same result, but do tend to take longer.

Home and Family

Technically speaking, your 4th house of home and family is not a house of power this year. However, the Moon’s North Node (which is not a planet but an abstract point) will be there until April 29. This indicates more involvement with the family, and there is a sense of fulfilment in this area. It is a happy aspect.

The North Node indicates feelings of excess. In the 4th house it would show more involvement with the family than is actually needed – but no matter, you enjoy it. It would also show an ‘excess’ of emotion – positive or negative. Make sure to keep it positive. It also indicates success in therapy – for those of you involved in this. Psychological breakthroughs are happening for you.

Family support will be ‘more than is needed’ – but more is better than less. And if you move during this period – until April 29 – the new home is likely to be ‘bigger’ than necessary.

We mentioned earlier that Geminis of childbearing age are more fertile than usual. Thus there can be multiple births (twins or more).

Moves can happen – there’s nothing in your chart against it – but probably won’t. You seem happy with the status quo and don’t seem to have a need to move. (A move or renovation was likely to have happened in the past two years and this is another reason for satisfaction with the status quo.)

Parents or parent figures in your life (whoever plays this role for you) are prospering this year but a move is not advisable here. They are better off making the present home more pleasurable. Siblings or sibling figures in your life are likely to move or renovate their homes after October 11. Sometimes people don’t literally move – sometimes they acquire another home or buy expensive items for the home. The effect is ‘as if’ they are in a new home. Children or children figures are more likely to renovate their house than to move. It looks like big repair jobs will be going on. Grandchildren (if you have them) are having a stable home and family year.

If you’re planning to redecorate – to paint, change furniture, buy objets d’art or otherwise beautify the home – August 22 to October 14 is a good period. If you’re planning major repairs or renovations, September 5 to October 27 will be good.

The health of parents or parent figures seems reasonable this year. Sure, there will be periods where their health is less easy than usual, but these seem like short-term trends – not trends for the year ahead. One of the parent figures will start feeling a lot better after December 21. This person seems very affected by the Solar Eclipse of February 26. It brings life-changing kinds of dramas to him or her, together with a redefinition of the personality and image. Children and children figures will also feel better after December 21. They respond well to spiritual healing techniques. Siblings or sibling figures can be having surgery (although it could have already happened).

Finance and Career

Finance, as we mentioned, doesn’t seem a big issue this year. Your money house is basically empty. Only fast-moving, short-term planets will move through there this year. So, you’re not paying that much attention to money. I consider this a positive. It shows satisfaction with things as they are. You have no pressing need to focus here, which tends to the status quo. Earnings will more or less be like last year. If financial problems arise, lack of attention is probably at the root of them. You’ll have to force yourself to give the area more focus.

Though finances are not a big issue, the career is very important and a major focus. Prestige and status seem more important than mere money. You would take a high prestige assignment or position even if the pay was mediocre. Status trumps earnings. Many people don’t think this way, but you do. And, you could be right. Career advancement – career status – often leads to more money down the road.

Geminis are flexible people, and this is so in finance too. The Moon, your financial planet, is perhaps the most flexible and changeable of all the planets. She will move through every sector of your chart in any given month. She will make aspects with every planet, every month. Thus money and earnings opportunities can come to you from many places and people in any given month. These short-term trends are best dealt with in the monthly reports.

In general, the New and Full Moons tend to be financially strong days. Moreover, your earning power is stronger when the Moon is waxing or growing larger rather than when it is getting smaller or waning. When the Moon is waxing it is good to make investments where you want ‘growth’ to happen. When the Moon is waning it is good to use any spare cash to pay off debts or other obligations. These are things that you want to reduce and you get cosmic help here.

Your prosperity should be stronger later in the year, from October 11 onwards. There are lucrative job opportunities coming and they will probably pay well.

Two Lunar Eclipses this year – one on February 11 and the other on August 7 – will shake up the financial life. This happens every year, so it is nothing to fear. You’ve gone through this many times. The eclipses force financial ‘course corrections’. Twice a year – every year – you get a chance to make any necessary changes to the financial life.

Career is good this year, but will also get a lot better from October 11 onwards. On that date, Jupiter will start to make beautiful aspects to your career planet, Neptune. On December 21, Saturn will move away from his stressful aspect to Neptune and this will further improve things. In the meantime you just have to work a little harder.

A Solar Eclipse on February 26 will directly hit your career planet, and it occurs in your 10th house of career. So this will bring shake-ups in your company or industry. Course corrections will be needed in your career. And you will make them.

As we mentioned, you need an idealistic, meaningful career. Just being ‘worldly successful’ is not enough. Many of you will gravitate to non-profit organizations or charitable or spiritual-type organizations. The fine arts will also appeal to many of you. You don’t need to be an actual artist or performer, but can be involved in the business, administrative side of things.

Love and Social Life

Saturn, as we have mentioned, has been in your 7th house of love for two years now, and he will remain there for almost the whole year ahead. Existing relationships are getting severely tested. There has been many a divorce or break up these past two years and even now, flawed relationships are in danger. None of this should be considered punishment (though it can be stressful and feel like punishment). The cosmos wants the best for you, and if a current relationship doesn’t meet the standard, it will go.

For singles the past two years have been a bit different. The social life – dating and parties – has contracted. You haven’t been going out as much as usual. This too is not punishment. The cosmos wants you to focus more on quality rather than quantity. Quality dates, quality relationships, quality gatherings – though fewer – are preferable to hosts of mediocre things.

The love life started to change last year, in September, as Jupiter, your love planet, moved into your 5th house. You got into a more romantic mood. You increased the dating and party going, but you most likely didn’t marry. This is the case for the year ahead too. You’ll indulge in fun relationships, but marriage doesn’t seem on the cards. Marriage prospects will improve in 2018 and 2019 though – you’re just getting prepared for it now.

In love you seem of two minds. One part is very sober, serious and traditional. You want stability and security, and favour older, more settled types of people. This is shown by Saturn in your 7th house. The other part of you just wants fun – pleasure. This part is not at all concerned with stability or security, just enjoyment. The feeling of love (even if it’s illusionary) is preferable to dull, steady routine. This part is spontaneous and will fall in love quickly. The other part, the conservative part, will take its time to see whether it’s ‘safe’ to fall in love. It is difficult to satisfy both parts of your nature – they often argue. A person that satisfies one part might be abhorrent to the other, and vice versa. The best relationship will be with someone who satisfies both parts of your nature – but these people are hard to find. Be patient.

On October 11, as your love planet moves into your 6th house, your love attitudes and needs also shift. Fun becomes less important and you are attracted to the person who serves your practical interests. This is how you feel loved and this is how you show it.

The workplace becomes a venue for romance. Job opportunities are coming, as we mentioned, but it is the social atmosphere and social opportunity that will determine which job you take. There can be office romances with co-workers. You’re also attracted to health professionals or people involved in your health. A routine doctor’s visit can wind up being much more than that.

Saturn in your 7th house shows someone older in your life. Not an old person, but someone older and more settled than you. There seems to be a good sexual magnetism, but he or she also appears overly controlling.

Self-Improvement

Your 12th house of spirituality hasn’t been strong for many years, yet, because Neptune is the highest planet in your chart (and has been since 2012), spirituality is prominent. In general you gravitate to the path of love and devotion. Love, love, love and everything will work out. And Neptune on the Mid-heaven reinforces this. You’re someone who, if anything, has an excess of logic and rationality. So there is a need to develop the love and devotional side – the irrational or arational side. Mantra chanting, singing and drumming ceremonies are all excellent for you. Too much rationality can produce tendencies to depression. There are so many things in life that can’t be ‘reasoned’ away. We must rise above thought and this path will do the trick. If you feel depressed, half an hour of mantra chanting will take you right out of it. In fact, it will make you feel ‘high’ without having taken a drink or drug. One feels a sense of euphoria. And in this state, the Higher Energies can come through.

In a year or two Uranus will move into your 12th house and stay there for many years; spirituality will become even more prominent than it is now. This move will inject more science and rationality into the spiritual life. You will start to understand the science behind all this apparent ‘voodoo’. Right now it doesn’t seem to matter much, but when you understand the rationality behind the mystical practices, you’ll be able to write and teach about it.

Since Uranus is your planet of religion and philosophy, there will be revelation about the mundane and mystical practices of your own native religion.

The Mid-heaven and 10th house show more than just a person’s career. This is just the worldly reading of it. On a deeper level it shows a person’s mission in life – the spiritual purpose for the incarnation. You were sent down to do something special, something no one else can do. You took vows on inner levels to achieve this. Since 2012 it has been time for you to learn what this is and to start doing it. Until you do there will be this subtle sense of dissatisfaction, regardless of how successful you are. It won’t go away until you start to do your real mission. This doesn’t mean that you have to give up your worldly career. Definitely not – not right away. But gradually you start to give more attention to your mission, and the worldly career gets put into its proper perspective.

How do I find out what I’m supposed to do? This is the question we always hear – it’s a good question. Prayer is a good beginning. Ask the Divine to show you what it is. Gurus, ministers, spiritual channels, psychics and astrologers have information on this subject, and it might be advisable to consult them. Also, pay attention to your dreams. They are revelatory these days and there will be many dreams that lead you to your mission, once you penetrate ‘dream language’. Write your dreams down.

Usually a person is called to do great and mighty things. Much more than they believe is possible for them. Things that seem beyond their powers and abilities. This is generally the main reason they get ignored – the human mind can’t accept such greatness. But as you begin, according to your present abilities, you will find that the ‘impossible’ is very doable. We grow into our mission gradually.

Month-by-month Forecasts
January

Best Days Overall: 1, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28

Most Stressful Days Overall: 2, 3, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 30, 31

Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 10, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 31

Best Days for Money: 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29

Best Days for Career: 1, 2, 11, 20, 27, 28, 30

You begin your year with a focus on the outer life – the career and outer goals. The great majority – sometimes 90 per cent – of the planets are in the upper half of your chart this month. Your 10th house of career is very powerful, while your 4th house of home and family is basically empty (only the Moon moves through there on the 15th and 16th). The planet that rules the home, Mercury, is retrograde until the 8th. So we have a very clear cosmic directive – focus on the career now and let home and family issues go for a while. Emotional wellness is always important, but the chart is showing that this will happen as a side effect of career success.

The planetary power is mostly in the Western sector now, though this will change in coming months. So your focus is on others, your social life and getting things done by consensus rather than by direct action. Personal independence is not very strong now, so if there are conditions that irk you, make a note of them but don’t do anything yet. The time to make changes will happen soon.

Finance is not a big issue this month. You’re strongest financial days are shown above. Earning power will be strongest from the 1st to the 12th and from the 28th onwards – the waxing (growing) moon periods. The 10th seems like an exceptionally strong financial day. Not only are the aspects good, but the Moon will be at her perigee (her closest distance to the Earth).

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.