By Jonathan Cainer

The New Moon holds forth a beckoning finger. If it could speak we would hear it whisper, ‘Humans, why get so caught up in your dramas and your futile efforts to gain power over a cosmos that’s already doing all that it can to support you?’ It wants to show us the distant stars and urge us to lift our own sights and standards. But if the Moon can speak, we can’t hear it. A New Moon is both silent and invisible. Its absence lets us see those more distant beacons. Let them kindle hope in you now.

ARIES (March 21 – April 20)
Can you think on your feet? Are you smart and fast enough to adapt to changing situations as they arise? Well, usually you can. Of that there can be no doubt. But aren’t things a little different now? Might you be entering a set of circumstances for which it would have been more prudent to have become better prepared? Then again, a challenge is only a challenge if you don’t know until you rise to it, whether you have any chance of being successful. Just trust this is the only kind of challenge that you face this week.

TAURUS (April 21 – May 21)
The New Moon in your sign heralds an annual festival to which all Taureans are invited to participate. This is a celebration of renewal and reinvention, a time to put down the past and to pick up a happier plan for the future. A time for letting go and moving on. While all that sounds inspiring, we should note that sometimes, the most positive changes that we ever have to make come about only when we are finally ready to see the truth where we have been deceiving ourselves. Even so, what’s changing now is something to celebrate.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 22)
Don’t be assertive. Don’t set deadlines. Don’t try to get to grips with a problem and show it who is boss. Well, when I say, ‘don’t’, I mean don’t do any more than you have to – and certainly not any more than you are already doing. You’ve already got more than enough potential for conflict in your life this week, and you look set to handle it extremely well. But you really must pace yourself. And remember that life is not all about attaining victories and proving points. There must be some fun, too. And there can be for you, soon.

CANCER (June 23 – July 23)
We can choose our friends but we don’t get any choice over our family. Or so they say. But some of us make clear distinctions about which of our friends and relations we want to have any involvement with. And few of us can remember a particular moment when we actively, consciously, decided that person X or person Y is going to be our best buddy from this day forth. The New Moon now speaks of an important close personal relationship coming under some pressure. But it is, nonetheless, part of a very positive process.

LEO (July 24 – August 23)
We often find our greatest strengths in our moments of weakness. It happens when we have to face a fear or adjust to some new reality which we might once have envisaged only as part of some dark fantasy. We say to ourselves, ‘I’ll never be able to cope with this.’ Yet it turns out that we handle it surprisingly well. I’m not suggesting that the cosmos will soon oblige you to rise to any such arduous challenge. It’s more that this week’s New Moon may help you see the true benefit of having conquered a demon, long ago.

VIRGO (August 24 – September 23)
What would you like to worry about this week? Which problem do you feel most deserves all your anxious energy? Actually, there is no problem, real or imaginary, anywhere in this entire universe that genuinely deserves that. And you, most definitely don’t deserve to have to experience yourself experiencing it! When you get upset, the whole world quakes in its boots. Even your own boots aren’t quite big enough to cope with all that unnecessary quaking. What you see as hopeless now, is actually, surprisingly, hopeful.

LIBRA (September 24 – October 23)
What can you see out of the corner of your eye? What are you almost but not quite noticing? Well, you aren’t sure, are you? That’s the thing about events and situations on the periphery of our vision. We just can’t quite pull them into focus. And, of course, whenever something seemingly lurks in the distance like that, it is tempting to read sinister symbolism into it. But what is just out of your sight now, is constructive and benign. Trust what you can’t see but can more or less get a sense of. It will yet bring you delight.

SCORPIO (October 24 – November 22)
So, whose fault is it? Your own? Or someone else’s? Be careful where you point that finger of blame. What good can come of aiming it at yourself? And even if it is the fault of another, who let them get into a position from which they could be responsible for all that? If, this week, you get caught up in accusation and counter-accusation, you will go nowhere other than around in ever-decreasing circles. Look at building bridges and forgiving, if not forgetting. Then the New Moon’s magic will work in your favour.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 – December 21)
The more you think about it, the more there is, it seems, to be thought about. Yet no amount of thought is going to bring clarity. Nor is any action, no matter how decisive, going to bring resolution. A situation is unsettled. It raises a point of great vexation. So what are you supposed to do? Ignore it? Actually, yes. More or less. Keep an eye on what’s happening, by all means, but don’t identify too closely or emotionally with the developing drama. In time, it will sort itself out more satisfactorily than you expect.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 20)
When motorists are in a hurry, they may often overtake slower vehicles. But what if they speed so fast that they miss their turn off? It is always, ultimately, more important to know where you are going and why, than to indulge a constant, restless, hunger for progress. That is an especially important point to remember, straight after a taxing, trying encounter or experience. You have built up a head of steam. You have used this to set a process in motion. This week, you need to give it time to work and give yourself time to relax.

AQUARIUS (January 21 – February 19)
Are Aquarians as aloof and unemotional as the textbooks tell us? You will benefit enormously if you can manage to show some detachment. That will help steer you away from getting caught up in a draining drama, or worrying unduly lest a conflict escalates. This is not a situation that is likely to improve through provocation or intervention. I, as you may know, often say that Aquarians are actually sensitive and passionate. If it helps you to keep trouble to a minimum, I am happy to be proved wrong this week.

PISCES (February 20 – March 20)
When bad things happen, good things happen too. And vice versa. That’s the way of the world. We can choose to focus on the less desirable developments and wonder what we have done to deserve them. Or we can be so heartened by what’s pleasing that we forget those niggling disappointments. Your cosmic climate, this week, brings a bag of mixed blessings. The heavens may not mind which you choose to make the most of, but you will see a big difference if you let yourself be guided by your heart.

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