Weekly Horoscopes for the Week of January 17 by the Cut

Toni Morrison, an Aquarius.
Photo-Illustration: by Preeti Kinha; Photos Getty

Monday evening brings a full moon in sensitive Cancer. Full moons mark moments of culmination, of confusing feelings finally resolving into clarity, of understanding what kind of friend, neighbor, lover, you’re actually meant to be. Then, on Tuesday morning, Uranus retrograde ends, creating the conditions for the universe to surprise you, and — even better — for you to surprise yourself with your own unstoppable inventiveness. Finally, on Wednesday night, the sun enters brilliant, unconventional Aquarius. This season is your chance to reject the crushing weight of practicality. You don’t have to limit your dreams to what seems “realistic.” Instead, let your ideas grow wild and lofty. Let yourself want it all.

The trouble with really big ambitions is that they almost always require you to spend time working in solitude, in obscurity, in the quiet of your own mind. They require you to be brave enough to forgo external validation, at least for a while; to trust your inner compass instead of trends, your long-term vision instead of the (often false) promise of immediate results. Don’t be discouraged if your desired results aren’t coming as quickly as you’d like. Right now, take slowness as a sign that beneath the surface, important and genuine change is happening.

The universe is vast and impossibly confusing, and it’s challenging to navigate your busy daily life when the ground beneath you keeps shifting. You are, after all, only human, not objective or omniscient or removed. There’s no simple set of rules you can turn to, no unified theory of human existence to make it all make sense. You’re living through complicated times, but that doesn’t mean you have to make everything even more complicated for yourself. Choosing simple pleasures and simple kindness, choosing to just show up where you’re needed: These won’t solve the mysteries of the universe, but for now, they may be enough.

You’re keenly aware of the world’s unpredictability — of how suddenly the weather can turn, how fast a person’s life can switch direction. Sometimes, the knowledge that everything could shift at any moment gives you a heady sense of freedom. Other times, though, it leaves you feeling fragile and unstable. There’s so much that you cannot control, but that doesn’t spell that you’re entirely at the mercy of this unpredictable universe. You don’t have to sit around waiting to see what comes next. This week you, too, can create surprises. You can be a source of change, of astonishment, of joy that nobody, not even you, saw coming.

Everything around you has transformed so much, so quickly, that it’s easy to feel lost. The places you used to know best have grown unfamiliar; even your own inner landscape has changed. You used to have a strong sense of self, of your place in your community, your purpose here on earth. Now,…