This week, the dwarf planet Makemake enters retrograde under Libra in the 1st House of Self. Makemake’s proclivity for activism, Libra’s desire for justice, and the 1st House’s ego-centric nature combine to urge us to reflect on how we’ve been shorting ourselves emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially. How can we become better self-advocates?
A powerful conjunction between Uranus retrograde and the first quarter Moon at the end of the week will shake up our ideas of what it means to practice self-compassion. Keeping an open mind and heart will be crucial this week. What might this look like for your sign?
Choose Your Sign
Though not always the case, generally speaking, our relationship with the world around us is reciprocal. Selfless devotion can have its merit. But you deserve to receive benefits in return, such as inner peace, contentment, and fulfillment. As counterintuitive as this might be to you, who often shirks their own needs for the sake of the greater good, you mustn’t fight it, Aries.
As Makemake goes retrograde in your ruling 1st House of Self, the stars encourage you to consider the ways your heart and soul are lacking for sustenance. If you look hard enough, you’ll find there is a healthy balance between a cause that needs attention and one that doesn’t erode your well-being and, ideally, bolsters it.
Be wary of creating a comfort zone atop a foundation of an idealized sense of self. Having aspirations toward whom we could be compared to who we are is normal. But this week will be a case in point as to why we shouldn’t reject the parts of us that go against our “dream” self. More often than not, our subconscious has a reason for keeping these bits around.
An opportunity to reevaluate your place in the social strata will present itself to you by the end of the week. Don’t be afraid to look closely at the revelations this chance offers. The longer you keep pressing down your gut instincts and writing them off as problems to fix, the longer you keep yourself from reaching true fulfillment.
Actions don’t need to be grandiose — or even consciously acknowledged — to become habits, and that’s a blessing and a curse. In your case, the stars are leaning toward the latter. The more you place others’ needs ahead of your own, the more natural it will feel to do so. Consequently, taking care of yourself will become foreign due to a lack of regular practice.
Luckily, it’s not too late to turn the tide. Rather than focusing so much on pleasing others, try concentrating your perspective on keeping people around who want what’s best for you. Those with your best interest in mind would find your constant overextending of yourself acutely distressing. Look at those who don’t with a skeptical eye, Gemini.
Progress isn’t linear, and the values and ideals we hold along the way aren’t static. Bracing yourself to follow the inevitable ebb and flow of your passage will make navigating this new path much easier, Cancer. Doing so requires a delicate balance of knowing when to put in extra work and, conversely, knowing when to let go and let the universe take over.
A powerful conjunction with your ruling body, the Moon, and Uranus retrograde locks into place at the end of the week. Keep an eye out for opportunities to evaluate your progress thus far and how it reflects your goals and principles. Regular check-ins like these will help keep your future self from bearing the brunt of even more backtracking.
Your energy is a sacred thing, Leo. It’s high time your daily schedule starts reflecting that. The humdrum of daily life often blinds us to the possibility of play, exploration, and openness. But rest assured, this is merely an illusion. Even if a close evaluation reveals no extra wiggle room, the stars urge you to use this assessment as a catalyst to create some.
That means being more discretionary with what obligations you pile onto your already full plate, even if taking on more tasks might gain you some morsel of social promotion. At the end of the day, you’re only left with yourself — no gaggles of fans or faraway admirers. As such, you ought to focus your efforts on satisfying yourself as opposed to others.
Your desire to help others is admirable, Virgo. But be careful that you’re not using this calling as a scapegoat to avoid problem areas in your own backyard. It’s not your responsibility to water everyone else’s garden while yours is dying off. The stars urge you to strike a better balance between your external and internal compassion.
Indeed, this might require a change in your daily schedule that you’re not quite ready to make. However, your future self will be grateful that you did. Consider the ways in which you’re shorting yourself from day to day. What would it look like to take time previously devoted to others and focus it toward yourself instead? The answer isn’t as unattainable as you think.
Nostalgia often keeps us clinging to that which no longer serves us, and toxic relationships are certainly no exception. Your immediate environment deserves protection and regular maintenance, and, unfortunately, no one else is going to be able to provide that but you, Libra. Don’t underestimate the ability of others — whether close or distant — to weigh us down.
You are not beholden to anyone else’s expectations of your career, relationships, or general life path. Those who try to make you feel like you are likely don’t have your best interests in mind. Use your heart, not external opinions, as your moral compass. No one else can navigate your life path as deftly and successfully as you, and that’s okay.
Manifestation is a powerful thing, but be careful not to confuse it with wishful thinking. You can talk about making changes in your life all you want, but if you never take the first steps to turn those words into action, then the transformations you wish to see will remain just out of reach. Let this fact of reality empower, not dishearten you. You’ve already done the hard part.
It’s time to move forward with the goals and aspirations you’ve been mulling over for so long. Or, conversely, perhaps it’s time to come to terms with the fact that the dreams you once had are no longer what you want. Either way, the stars encourage you to act. Stop waiting for the perfect moment to appear on its own and create one yourself.
The stars are shining light on a challenging road ahead. But if anyone was equipped to handle these obstacles, it’s you, Sag. The cosmos are aligned in your favor — all you have to do is keep going. This forward motion will become increasingly present throughout the week, reaching an apex as a motivational first quarter Moon conjoins with your ruling planet, Jupiter.
What you find along the way might surprise you. In fact, these revelations could completely dismantle the foundation on which you had previously placed your reality. Take these shockwaves as they come, and keep your eyes focused on the bigger picture. Great things lie in wait. Don’t let whispering insecurities keep you from reaching what’s rightfully yours.
The changes you wish to see in your life won’t kickstart themselves, Cap. Nor will they come about if you continue to be dishonest with yourself. Life transitions like these are distinctly personal. They depend on the good, like your values, strengths, and aspirations, but they also rely on the more negative aspects of our being: our weaknesses, insecurities, and judgments.
If you aren’t catering your redirection with these elements of yourself taken into account, then you’ll likely stay on this stagnant plateau for much longer than you’d like. No two life paths are exactly the same, and in that same breath, nor are any two approaches to walking them. View the problem subjectively if it helps add clarity, but don’t forget who you’re dealing with here.
You can take a principled stand rooted in logic and reason all you want. But if your heart disagrees emotionally, then the entire point will be moot, Aquarius. Splitting yourself in half might get you to the next chapter in your life faster. But don’t expect to feel any sense of fulfillment once you get there. True progress requires a total awareness of self.
Unfortunately, that means paying attention to even the most inconvenient aspects of our inner environment. Old pain will make its way to the surface early in the week. Use this as a guidepost for resolving these issues once and for all. Try not to focus on what you think you should be feeling. What’s important is what you are feeling.
What if instead of constantly bending yourself to meet the needs and desires of others, you sat and waited for the rest of the world to bend to you? Sure, doing so might prolong interpersonal conflict or lengthen the road toward your goals. But if you end up at the same place with a greater sense of self-compassion, then is the extra time really all that bad?
Just because you’re not used to taking the reins doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing so. The stars urge you to push against the status quo established around your easygoing, people-pleasing attitude and put yourself first this week. Anyone who can’t handle the waves this creates likely should’ve never been on your boat to begin with, Pisces.