By Jonathan Cainer

This week brings the mystical dark of the moon. It also brings the end of Mercury’s retrograde phase and the beginning of Saturn’s departure from Sagittarius as it returns to Scorpio for a short while due to its own retrograde motion. All these influences are positive as are most of the other aspects and alignments on the celestial events horizon. But positive experiences often present a degree of challenge first. If you see clouds rolling by your own sector of the sky this week, try not to forget that these may yet all turn out to have silver linings.

ARIES (March 21 – April 20)
Some people turn to their zodiac forecast for amusement. Their lives are okay but they would not object to news of some adventure, romance or windfall. Others have more pressing needs. They are unhappy or facing a stressful situation. They need reassurance and hope. An astrologer must choose his words carefully lest he sounds too flippant for those who are suffering and too intense for those who are relaxed. But for all who share your sign, I promise this. The week is due to be good and will only get better.

TAURUS (April 21 – May 21)
This week’s New Moon takes place in the part of your chart that governs material security. That’s encouraging. It may not be a promise of imminent untold wealth but it at least suggests a solution to an old problem. You need not fear that you are due to spend the rest of your life wrestling with a difficult issue. There is a way forward. There is something smart and practical that you can do. Simply identifying such an option will be your first big step in the right direction. The rest of that journey will happen naturally.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 22)
The New Moon in your sign implies a turnaround, an awakening, a new way to look at a confusing aspect of your life. We all, at times, find ourselves wrestling with issues that make little sense. Often, we feel slightly reluctant to tell other people about these. Perhaps we are ashamed or maybe we just don’t want to hear the same advice that we have already been given – and have tried but failed to apply. If you can go beyond whatever sense of frustration has begun to well up in you lately, you will yet find great inspiration.

CANCER (June 23 – July 23)
Our closest connections and our deepest affiliations are not always obvious to others. We may even hide them from ourselves. We may think we are ordinary enough, much like everyone else, then circumstances challenge our comfortable view of the world and we remember our deepest beliefs and philosophical perspectives. This week’s New Moon helps to remind you of why you are different and why, therefore, some of the world’s usual rules and restrictions don’t really apply to you. That’s exciting!

LEO (July 24 – August 23)
You may imagine yourself to be vulnerable but you are not weak this week. Mars insists that you are in a position of surprising strength. But you must be careful. If you don’t acknowledge the full extent of your own power and influence, you may end up using a sledgehammer to crack a nut or inadvertently causing some kind of hurt or harm as a result of some overly defensive emotional reaction. Don’t indulge that, ‘woe is me’ feeling. Adopt a new mantra, instead: ‘I am invincible, therefore I can afford to be gentle.’

VIRGO (August 24 – September 23)
Mercury’s recent retrograde phase is over. With that comes an end to some of the stress and strain you have lately been starting to feel.  While such heavenly phases are highly beneficial for all who wish to review and reconsider significant plans and arrangements, we astrologers must concede that the planets encourage such reflection with both a carrot and a stick. Of late, you have been more aware of an apparent threat than of some great potential reward. Soon you will see why it has all been for the good.

LIBRA (September 24 – October 23)
The further into this week we get, the more you may have to restrain yourself. You know your famous tendency to look at situations, identify potential problems and then attempt to solve them before they actually start happening? Soon you will start to recognise so many possible causes for concern that you hardly know where to begin addressing them all. They will pour down into your life thick and fast, like the raindrops that precede a thunderstorm. You must trust that this will pass. Stay calm, stay dry.

SCORPIO (October 24 – November 22)
Some situations are seemingly impossible. Others are almost unbelievable. Human beings, it would seem, have an amazing ability to create confusion and complication. Scorpios are sensitive. They rail against injustice and they passionately strive to achieve clear, honest, communication. Something has lately been standing in the way of this, and that undesirable obstacle may intensify this week. Respect it but don’t be daunted by it. There is a real way forward now and, if you persevere, you will find this.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 – December 21)
Quick! While nobody is looking! The guards are preoccupied, the key to the prison door is within reach, if you seize your moment, you can make your escape. Or something like that. Saturn slips out of your sign this week, removing an awkward obstruction from your path and enabling you to work more of the magic that used to come so freely to you in years gone by. This chance won’t last forever but if you are brave, optimistic and adventurous, you will convert it into a reward that stays with you for a very long time.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 20)
You have a natural aptitude for solving problems. If a situation is chaotic and disorganised, you can soon see a way to knock it into shape. Others may be intimidated by difficulties but you see only the need for plans and policies which, if cleverly made and carefully implemented, will eventually restore order. That, presumably, is why the universe keeps putting so many baffling situations before you. It knows that you are equal to the task. You may not relish the challenge you face this week, but you will succeed at it.

AQUARIUS (January 21 – February 19)
When will you ever lead a peaceful life again? That’s a good question and it deserves a little intelligent deconstruction. Firstly, we must ask, what do we mean by ‘peaceful’? Do you truly pine for a less eventful existence? Don’t you thrive on at least some degree of pressure? And what do we mean by ‘again’? Was there really ever a time when you led an ordinary life? Haven’t you always enjoyed an appetite for drama? Events, this week, may well put you under pressure but this is nothing that you can’t handle and gain from.

PISCES (February 20 – March 20)
‘Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me with your musket, fife and drum.’ So goes the old folk tune and I’m sure there are many songs in different cultures that echo this theme. The soldier tells the maid that he can’t marry her unless she first supplies him with this – or that. The wish list gets ever longer. The harder the poor heroine tries to meet every newly arising need, the more demands are made on her. Does that remind you of anyone this week? Stop trying so hard and worrying so much. What you truly need, you will get.

For a daily forecast from Jonathan, visit www.cainer.com, where you can find more in-depth horoscope analysis, and you can join his amazing 5-Star service.