The week begins with a full moon in Aries on Sunday evening. This moon — bright, self-assured, impulsive — calls on you to stop overthinking. If over the past weeks you’ve felt called to make a change, or to let go of a relationship that’s grown stale, or to set off on a new path, do it now with confidence, and without looking back. Then on Monday night, communication planet Mercury enters thoughtful, considerate Libra. Thanks to Mercury retrograde (the effects of which are still wearing off) communication has been difficult lately, combative or simply confusing. This week, it will get easier. Others will approach you with a genuine eagerness to listen. Do the same for them.
Aries Weekly Horoscope
Everyone gets mired in self-doubt from time to time, even you. And frustratingly, you can’t rationalize your way out of it, because your self-doubt usually isn’t rational. No matter how much evidence points to your being capable and delightful and cool, or how much your friends insist they love you, you still worry that maybe you’re doing everything wrong. This week, stop trying to talk yourself out of your insecurities. It’ll only waste your energy. Instead, accept that uncertainty comes in waves. It won’t last forever. Your confidence will return, as long as you keep moving forward.
Taurus Weekly Horoscope
Your awareness of your own weaknesses is admirable; more people should be willing to look at themselves critically. But it becomes a problem when your faults grow so large in your view that they block out everything else, when correcting the slightest flaws makes you forget to tend to your strengths. This week, stop beating yourself up. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a person with both assets and imperfections, like everybody else. You already spend enough energy apologizing for your shortcomings, so focus on developing your gifts instead.
Gemini Weekly Horoscope
When you’re unsure of where to put your focus, well-intentioned friends are always encouraging you to “just do what you want.” But how can you even know what that is, with so many options available? How can you follow your heart, when it’s pointing in a dozen different directions at once? This week, don’t expect yourself to find your one true path and stick to it. You don’t need to have it all figured out — not ever, but especially not right now. You only have to do something. It’s okay to be unsure. You’ll figure it out as you go.
Cancer Weekly Horoscope
When it feels like nothing is going right for you and you can’t get what you want, it begins to seem like a good idea to tone down your ambitions. But this week, you’ll be reminded how stubborn desire can be. No matter how impractical your dreams, or what common sense says, you can’t switch off the part of you that yearns for beauty or happiness or love. It can feel like a burden, but try instead to look at it as a gift, a reminder not to give up on yourself.
Leo Weekly Horoscope
You thrive in the spotlight, but what others don’t always understand is that it’s not enough for them to merely notice you. They need to notice you in the right way, and for the right reasons. People can shower you with compliments all day long, but praise that’s vague and ill-fitting is worse than none at all; it only makes you feel misunderstood. Recently, you’ve felt like nobody — even those who love you best — see you clearly, or recognize what’s most special about you. But try to trust that this isn’t how it will feel forever. The fog will lift. True recognition will follow.
Virgo Weekly Horoscope
You have good taste, Virgo. Other people don’t always recognize this in you, but you have a keen and unerring ability to distinguish between quality and mere flashiness, between what is genuinely cool and interesting, and what’s cheesy. But if you aren’t careful, your standards can become a kind of prison. Sometimes, the best experiences are a little cheesy. They don’t have to be complex or deep to be worthwhile. This week, try to remain open to things that seem, at least on the surface, to be silly. They might bring you surprising joy.
Libra Weekly Horoscope
Lately, you’ve been anxious that you aren’t where you “should” be. Whether professionally or socially or in a vaguer, more existential sense, you fear that there’s a benchmark you’re failing to meet, an ideal you continually fall short of. This week, stop imagining that there’s a one-size-fits-all standard that you should measure up to. Stop comparing yourself to other people at all. This is a moment to think about your own desires. If you’re unsatisfied with your life, you can make a change for your own sake, not as a way to become “good enough” according to society’s standards, but simply because you want to.
Scorpio Weekly Horoscope
At times, you wonder if you’re asking for too much. You wonder whether your longing for beauty and pleasure is self-indulgent and silly, whether you’d be better off if you could learn to be satisfied with less. But even if you could, theoretically, survive without glamor and enchantment and fun, you shouldn’t have to. Denying yourself laughter or fun won’t correct the injustice in the world; ignoring your emotional needs won’t help anyone. You don’t have to earn every moment of happiness through hard work or suffering. You deserve whatever joy you can find, simply because you’re human.
Sagittarius Weekly Horoscope
Recently, you’ve struggled to shake the notion that what you’re doing with your life isn’t enough. Even if you spend your days helping people, or working to improve your city, or creating art, or fighting for a better world, you still fear that, ultimately, your efforts will add up to nothing. The truth is that you could be doing the most heroic work on the planet, and still feel discouraged much of the time. It takes months, even years, of slow progress to make a significant difference. Don’t stop now. All of your work is adding up to something meaningful, whether or not you can see it yet.
Capricorn Weekly Horoscope
There are times when the best way to make progress toward your goals is to be completely practical. No relying on luck or chance. You make decisions based on the facts, even when they’re unpleasant or annoying. This week, remember that you don’t always have to be so businesslike. Life requires balance: If you’re going to be cautious in certain situations, you get to be reckless in others. When you’re pragmatic most of the time, being fanciful every once in a while maintains an equilibrium. You’ve earned a bit of playfulness. Take advantage of it.
Aquarius Weekly Horoscope
It’s difficult to know how generous or forgiving you should be with others, especially people who have hurt you in the past. You don’t want to be cold-hearted, but neither do you want to be foolish, naive, a pushover. Everyone around you seems to have strong opinions on the subject, but this week, you’ll know the best balance for yourself. If you truly want to extend a second chance to someone, then do. If you know that it’s time to be firm in your boundaries, then don’t let anyone else talk you out of it. Trust yourself.
Pisces Weekly Horoscope
If you could have your way, you’d only ever express yourself artfully. Every declaration would be wholly original; nothing would be flat or cliched. You understand that form, the way a thought is expressed, is every bit as important as the idea itself. But there are times for choosing directness over elegance, clarity over artistry. When people in your life continually misunderstand you, when they can’t or won’t take the hints you keep dropping, then make an effort to say exactly what you mean: kindly, but clearly.
Read the weekly horoscopes for the week of October 3. The weekly horoscopes for the week of October 17 will be online next Sunday.
Get Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, out now.