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Weekly horoscopes for the week of January 23 by cup

January 22, 2023

Gertrude Stein, Aquarius.
Photo-Illustration: by Preeti Kinha; Getty Photos

On the evening of Sunday 22, the planet of chaos Uranus completes its retrograde, at which point no planets will be retrograde, a relatively rare occurrence. Celestial bodies are moving forward, and so can you. It’s not that everything will suddenly become miraculously easy, only that things have been exceptionally difficult lately (you never imagined) and now you have finally arrived on the other side. Then, on Thursday evening, love planet Venus enters dreamy Pisces, where it will remain for the next month. This is one of the smoothest transits around, so try to take advantage of it. People are more open, eager to see the good in each other. If you yearn for tenderness, compassion, or forgiveness, the people in your life might finally be able to give it to you.

When you look around, it seems like everyone is better at managing their lives than you are. You feel like others have figured out how to do their jobs well and enjoy a fulfilling social life — and hang out, exercise, rest, and do the laundry and, and, and. But the truth is, no one feels like they’re totally on top of it all. We simply expect too much of ourselves. This week, give yourself permission to let the little things slide. Focus on what really matters to you and trust that, at least for now, enough is enough.

You try to isolate others from your feelings. You imagine that your grief, fear, or regret can only be a burden, that the kindest thing you can do is attend to your healing and treatment in your free time in private. But there’s a big difference between dumping on others and leaning on them. Asking for emotional support or a listening ear isn’t unreasonable – it’s what friendship is all about. This week, do your best to believe that the people who love you can handle your feelings. You are not alone in this case.

When you express dissatisfaction with the shape or direction of your life, the response is often “Try harder.” And maybe that advice is helpful sometimes, but not when you’re using vapers just trying to get through each day. You can’t push yourself when you’re already at your limit; there is no point in challenging yourself more when your plate is more than full with the challenges that the universe keeps throwing at you. This week, don’t let anyone convince you that your problem is that you’re not working hard enough.

Sometimes big dreams seem like more trouble than they’re worth. In the face of enough disappointment, you begin to wonder if it might be better to stop. want to so much, to stop striving and instead find a way to be content with what is. It’s a difficult balance to strike, not driving yourself mad with desire, but also not giving up on happiness and growth. This week, hold on to your dreams at least a little longer. You have already come all this way.

When you are unsure of yourself, it can be helpful to look outside of yourself for reassurance. If people around you think you’re special, it must be true. If they believe you have something to offer, then you can believe it too. It’s wonderful and natural to let the people you love pick you up when you’re feeling down. But it’s not always possible (or necessary) to outsource your trust. This week you will discover that you can be sure of yourself just because. You don’t need anyone else’s validation or permission.

There are certain relationships in your life (not necessarily romantic ones) that are constant sources of tension. Even when you are not actively in conflict with this person, they haunt your thoughts; you often find yourself arguing with them, trying to justify yourself to them, or just trying to make sense of them. Up to a point, it’s unavoidable. We can’t always control who takes up space in our lives. But this week, focus on putting your energy into the connections that make life better, not worse. Give your time and energy to friends who make you feel like the best version of yourself.

It is important to have the intention to nurture friendships. No matter how much you value community, it can be hard to find the energy you need when you’re busy with work or family. You are an amazing friend, but even you are distracted. So this week, take the time. Who needs to hear from you? Who do you miss? Who would you pick up the phone and call you? The people you love will appreciate the thought and effort; more than that, feeling connected will nurture youalso.

It’s hard for you to ask for favors, partly because you can’t stand feeling vulnerable or in debt, and partly because you rarely have faith that someone will come in your place. People are disorganized and unreliable, so it seems safer to do the job yourself. And when it comes to certain people, that’s the wisest approach. But it’s also true that some of your friends have skills that you lack. Some like to tackle the tasks you hate the most. Collaboration doesn’t have to be stressful or transactional. This week, if you accept it, can be extremely productive.

Most of the time you are happy to go with the flow, having new experiences in stride and meeting interesting people and seeing where you end up. Occasionally, however, you start to imagine that you need to be more deliberate with your time – that you should strive to be a total original, the first, the best. But this kind of thinking will only bring you grief and a feeling of lack. You don’t have to be the first or the best. Living a fulfilled life, whatever that means to you, is enough.

You savor the victories that don’t come also easily. You prefer the hunt, the victories won by your own intelligence and your wiles. The lucky hits and successes that fall on you are worth less than the ones you had to fight for. But this is not the case still must be so hard, and there are no bonus points for making things harder for yourself than they already are. When ease comes to you, embrace it.

It’s hard to accept that good ideas don’t always translate into good results, that engagement doesn’t inevitably lead directly to the future you imagined. You can work hard for months or even years without showing any progress. You will encounter obstacles that seem insurmountable, you will experience disappointments or rejections that will seem to sound the death knell of your dreams. But this week, you will discover that the universe still holds surprises and that all is not lost. Your efforts and planning have not been in vain. They piled up, and finally a breakthrough is coming.

In your lifetime you have done many things for which you deserve an apology; everybody has. Humans hurt each other’s feelings. We talk indiscriminately and we act selfishly, thoughtlessly, even cruelly. When we do, an apology is in order. But this week, check that you’re not also conciliatory. You don’t have to apologize for being a person, for doing your best. You don’t have to feel guilty for expressing yourself or honoring your desires. No one can shame you for having a spine.