Free People Horoscopes By Tracy Allen, Week Of February 17–23

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PISCES

February 19–March 20

The sun enters your sign this week, breathing new life into you and inaugurating Pisces’ new year. You’ll start to exude more energy and will find it easier to assert your will. Your impulse to start fresh around your birthday is on point, but with mental Mercury traveling retrograde in your subconscious sector, getting your head in the game will be the challenge. Merc is tussling with cynical Saturn in your perspective zone, threatening to cast a dark cloud over your thinking and hindering communication. Use this time for reviewing the past year and coming up with a practical plan for the next one. When the sun joins your ruler Neptune at the end of the week, your physical vitality may ebb and your body will be more sensitive to substances, so you’d be wise to avoid ingesting anything with a narcotic effect. Instead, daydream, meditate, sleep, swim, watch movies—do something benign that drops you into another realm.

ARIES

March 21–April 19

After the sun sneaks into your seclusion sector this week, you’ll find yourself retreating from the world a bit. As your solar year draws to an end, the final weeks before your birthday take on a reflective tone, and the sun’s presence in this dark corner of your chart shines a light on what’s going on inside you. It’s appropriate now to look back over your year and ask yourself where you go from here. With Mercury retrograde in your objectives house, you’re rethinking your life direction and what you want. Something isn’t panning out or has already peaked, and it’s time for a course correction. You probably feel out of sync with people at the moment and need alone time for introspection. Release your ego’s concerns as you search your soul for answers. Make peace with how your year played out and where you’re at now, and align yourself with your higher spiritual purpose.

TAURUS

April 20–May 20

The focus shifts to friendships, professional networking, philanthropy, new objectives and group activities as the sun glides into your hopes-and-humanity zone this week. One theme in the coming month will be following your ideals. Spend time thinking about where you’re headed next and what you can contribute to the world. Make a point of connecting with other people who share your interests and goals. Apply energy to teamwork. Say yes to socializing. Mercury is retrograde in your ambition angle and squabbling with stop-sign Saturn in your others house, leaving you with the impression that your path is blocked, perhaps by someone in particular. It could feel like the world is against you at times like this. But the sun meets up with empathic Neptune at week’s end, beckoning you to serve a purpose beyond fulfilling your ego’s desires. Helping other people will put you in the flow of life.

GEMINI

May 21–June 20

Much of your energy will go toward achieving goals and building up your professional standing after the sun crosses your ambition angle this week and proceeds to hover at the top of your chart for the following month. Your ruling planet Mercury is backtracking in your education sector and being tested by taskmaster Saturn in your competence house. Now’s the time to polish your skills; brush up on a subject you need to know inside and out if you’re going to succeed; rethink your methods; and put your nose to the grindstone to gain confidence in your ability. As the sun falls under the spell of murky Neptune at the end of the week, try to combine your push to accomplish something with your dreams of creative fulfillment or your yearning to pursue a higher calling. Aim for a middle ground between fired-up-to-conquer-the-world-right-this-second and if-it’s-meant-to-be-it’ll-happen-eventually.

CANCER

June 21–July 22

The sun’s entry into your journeys sector this week signals that it’s time to broaden your horizons in any way possible. Mercury’s and Jupiter’s retrogrades may make travel complicated, so if you can’t get away on a trip in the next four weeks, you can certainly still stretch your wings in other ways. Channel your energy into learning, interacting with people from a variety of backgrounds, exposing yourself to foreign cultures and having unfamiliar experiences. Get out of your routine to view the world from a different angle. You’re probably sifting through some heavy stuff in your head, with retrograde Mercury in your depth house. And when it battles roadblock Saturn in your self-expression zone, communication with someone close to you—or someone you want to get close to—feels nearly impossible. Focus instead on increasing your self-awareness and raising your consciousness.

LEO

July 23–August 22

The sun changes signs this week, dipping into your hidden-matters zone where it can shed light on opaque and taboo subjects in the next month. If you’re willing to follow it into the dark crevices of your psyche, you could gain something of value. Tune into your subtler emotions and be brave enough to look at aspects of yourself that you don’t like or simply don’t understand. Commit to transforming something within you—like jealousy, mistrust, a compulsion to control or an unhealed wound—into a strength, and even a thing of beauty. You may encounter someone in the coming weeks who can help you to make such a powerful change. Connecting with people on an emotional level won’t be easy just yet, with retrograde Mercury in your relationship angle fighting with withholding Saturn in your feelings house. But at the end of the week, your intuitive insights can give you a sense of peace.

VIRGO

August 23–September 22

The sun zips into your opposite sign this week, putting your one-on-one relationships in the spotlight for the next month. When opportunities for partnership arise, opt in rather than going it alone. Direct your energy toward close connections like your significant other, business partner or best friend, and in turn, you’ll receive energy back. Think about their needs and how you can be a better friend, partner, girlfriend or wife. Seek out help from someone who could be of significant service to you now, whether it be a doctor, an accountant, a teacher or someone else. Your ruler Mercury is backpedaling in your competence sector and battling serious Saturn in your mindset zone, making this a good time to reexamine your habits, methods and skills and how you solve problems. Then plot out in your head how you can improve these things and become more efficient and productive overall.

LIBRA

September 23–October 22

The sun leaves your pleasure house and enters your work zone this week, which may sound like bad news. But the coming month will allow you to devote your energy to taking care of business, and the ensuing sense of accomplishment should provide you with a pleasure all its own. Turn your attention to your habits, time management, work ethic and general way of doing things, then ask yourself how you can be more effective. Consider how you can get more out of your day and your job. Look at ways you might improve your health, your skills and the manner in which you handle crises. This is your month to better yourself and take your day-to-day life to a higher level that reflects your sense of purpose. Romantic or creative expression may be thwarted by low confidence now. The planets are compelling you to pause and assess your worth, resources, values and priorities.

SCORPIO

October 23–November 21

The sun moves into your joy sector this week, the part of your chart it’s traditionally at home in. In the coming month, funnel your energy into creativity, romance, humor, play, time with children, hobbies and other recreational activities. Be yourself and express your uniqueness to the world. Do what makes you happy. Take some chances. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Beyond simply enjoying yourself, this is a time to get to know yourself better as well. Neptune is traveling through this house, calling you to look at the ways in which your spirituality and ideals inform your identity. How does your quest for personal fulfillment coalesce with your higher calling? Your determination to delineate your purpose seems to be at odds with your innermost emotions at the moment. You’re grappling with thoughts about the past, but you can use this to your advantage if you make the connection between memories and current challenges.

SAGITTARIUS

November 22–December 21

After the sun crosses into your roots house this week, your family, home life, comfort, security, private feelings, ancestral heritage and childhood history vie for your attention. Find productive ways of directing this energy, such as sprucing up your place, cooking, seeing relatives, entertaining at home, scrapbooking, journaling, researching your family tree, finding a relaxing end-of-the-day ritual or going to psychotherapy. Carve out time alone at home to get lost in your own thoughts. When the sun blends with Zen Neptune in your domestic angle at week’s end, you might want to create a space in your home for your spiritual practice, like a meditation corner or a Buddhist altar. With mental Mercury backtracking in your mindset zone and clashing with sobering Saturn in your subconscious sector, your brain may be stuck in the past or dwelling on an ending. Think through whatever is bothering you, and then do your best to release it.

CAPRICORN

December 22–January 19

The tempo of life picks up when the sun commences its annual month-long visit to your communication-and-neighborhood house this week. Turn your attention to your casual daily contacts and notice your habitual way of communicating with people. Dedicate yourself to being a better listener. Contemplate your community with renewed vigor and mull over what you could offer of yourself to improve your environment. Get back in touch with people you haven’t talked to in awhile. Do your best to uncover your default modes of thinking and decide if they’re working for or against you. Pump catalyzing energy into new grooves in your brain to retrain it and encourage it to operate in fresh, innovative—even self-healing—ways. Honor your intuition and imagination, express your compassion and adopt a more accepting, forgiving attitude. If your priorities or values clash with friends or groupthink during the week, don’t try to win an argument during Mercury retrograde. Find practical compromises instead.

AQUARIUS

January 20–February 18

The sun’s entry into your worth zone this week calls for you to examine how you handle the resources in your life. During the next month, work on increasing your confidence, improving your financial strategy, maximizing your use of your innate talents, forming a healthier relationship with material possessions, aligning your self-identity with your core values and directing your will toward your highest priorities. The sun is also uniting with Neptune, prompting you to examine your attachment to things and how your things express aspects of your identity. Contemplate what wealth means to you and whether there is a spiritual component in your definition. With Mercury retrograde, it’s easier to reflect than to communicate. Now that Merc is clashing with stern Saturn in your authority angle, it’s particularly difficult for you to gel with a higher-up like a boss or parent. Instead of trying, focus on reviewing your game plan for professional success.