astrology

Madame Clairevoyant: Horoscopes for the Week of January 9

Illustration: Jen May

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On Thursday, there’s a full moon in Cancer, and Mercury moves into Capricorn. This can feel like balance, or it can feel like tension. There’s a softness here, but not a weakness — a dreaminess, but a heaviness, too.

Aries: There’s no such thing as leaving a place forever; there are just moments, loops, currents that carry you along. Feel the tides that pull you out, then back in again. Watch the moon circle the sky, changing its position and shape. You don’t have to surrender to the moon or the tides; just recognize there are forces bigger than you. Remind yourself that even in the middle of so much change, somewhere on this earth an old friend misses you.

Taurus: Grass still grows under the snow, and a warm heart still beats under your skin. There’s so much in the world you can’t see; there’s so much inside you others can’t see. Remember this, when other people’s ideas of you get louder than your own. Remember this, when that makes you feel stuck. You can cut your hair or you can change your name. You can speak truths that no one expects. You’re the only one who can nurture your own brightest magic, so do.

Gemini: It’s a kind of magic, to be just the way you are. It’s a kind of magic, too, to let yourself grow into something different. There’s no change strong enough to break you; there’s no contradiction so wild you can’t hold it. If you didn’t need to explain yourself, what would you have the space to do? If you let your life stop making sense to other people, what would you lose, and what could you find?

Cancer: Happiness moves so unexpectedly; it moves along surprising paths and then disappears again, brushing past you, invisible as the wind. Listen: You can’t control it. What would it look like if you chased something different? Not one of us can live a life without sorrow, and this is okay. There are other things worth seeking, other things worth fighting for. When the sky turns gray, there are still people who need you.

Leo: This is a week for courage, a week for taking risks with what wisdom you have, with love in your heart. You don’t need to dive off the world’s tallest cliff or ride into unknown lands; you just have to do what you can. This week, try to remember how powerful your fragile body is. You can make so much noise with your own two hands, and you can cover so much ground with your own two feet. It just takes courage, sometimes, to start.

Virgo: Even now, you can remain unbroken. Even now, you can refuse to be moved. You can plant your feet. You can memorize your favorite poem, or your favorite recipe, or the phone number of someone you love. Even now, there’s enough here to nourish you, to fill your life up. There’s a golden light you can cast back out across these strange hills.

Libra: It’s easy to look out across a frozen lake and search for yourself somewhere in the ice. It’s easy to look to the crows and expect yourself to fly like they do. But don’t hold yourself to standards so strict you can hardly breathe, or expect your power to show its face in simple ways. You can dream whole new worlds into being, but you’ll still need to sleep. You’ll still need to drink water. It’s okay.

Scorpio: Some days, the air itself feels itchy. Some days, your body won’t move right. If the world feels hostile or your own self feels unfamiliar, how will you keep going? How will you call yourself back to your body? Some days, the best thing is to wear the clothes that make you feel most yourself. Some days, the best thing is to cook a dish that tastes like home. Call your friend or water your plants or mend a sock. The trick to getting through these days is remembering what works, remembering what you need.

Sagittarius: It’s satisfying, sometimes, to look for a narrative arc, to see every moment like a bead on a string. This week, try to think of the moments just as moments. Look at the stars, not the constellations. Each one has its own brightness; each one has its own heat. Each has its own rules, its own gravity, its own space to act. If you stopped, just for now, looking for a linear story, what beginnings would open up? What moments, untethered, would become yours to hold?

Capricorn: You won’t be lost forever, and you won’t be bored forever either. There is a life for you where you’ll use your whole best brain; a life where you’ll be truly seen. You’re traveling toward this life even now, but time can move strangely, all hazy and slow. It takes a different kind of courage, making it through the slow days. Try to believe: Good things are waiting not so far from here.

Aquarius: This is a week to let your dreams roam wide; it’s a week for visions of faraway places. A long strange path has led you here, and now you stand on a hilltop, looking out over these valleys. This week is like looking out an airplane window, all the fields and forests a patchwork below you. Where will you go from here? With this sudden, clear vision, what can you see that you couldn’t before? Take a moment to catch your breath. There’s wilderness ahead, but you’ll make it through.

Pisces: It’s weird that beauty, or balance, or even love isn’t enough to sustain a life. There is goodness more tangled, more muddy than these. If you feel heavy this week, if the sky doesn’t hold enough sunshine, look for the surfaces that will reflect light back to you. Look for the shelters that will keep you warm. You can survive this, of course, but you can also do more. There’s joy in strange places, even in a serious heart. Look for the moss that grows in the city. Look for the birds that flash across winter skies.

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Madame Clairevoyant: Horoscopes for the Week of January 9