**LEO**
*(July 23 to August 22)*
Happy birthday, Leo! This month, if you are filled with self-centered fear, it’s time to help somebody else. If you are obsessing about somebody else, it’s time to focus on yourself for a minute. And if you feel free, congratulations — just keep doing what you are doing.
**VIRGO**
*(August 23 to September 22)*
When people are talking to me, I often feel like life is elsewhere, usually somewhere deep within, away, cloistered, and sheltered from the hum of the world. Maybe you aren’t that kind of Virgo. But if you are, let’s both practice engaging in the hum a bit more attentively this month and see what surprises wait there.
**LIBRA**
*(September 23 to October 22)*
Look at the thing you think you want and ask yourself why you want it. Go deep. If the answer is genuine passion, you should know that the passion lives in you and can be relit again and again, even if you don’t get this thing. And if you want what you want solely out of pride, be careful what you wish for.
**SCORPIO**
*(October 23 to November 21)*
The adage “We can’t control the direction of the wind, but we can control our sails” is the only thing you have to remember this month. Also, I’d like to add that sometimes we don’t feel like we can control our sails either, and that’s OK too.
**SAGITTARIUS**
*(November 22 to December 21)*
It’s easy to see that certain concepts sold to us by the media are an illusion. But for each of us, there are always goals, states of being, and ideas regarding who we should be that we buy into. What if the only thing worth having is what you have right now? That would be cool.
**CAPRICORN**
*(December 22 to January 19)*
It’s lonely at the top, but it’s also lonely in the middle and at the bottom and everywhere. This month, conduct a brief interview with your loneliness. See if perhaps it isn’t actually some kind of friend, warmer than you thought, a creative space.
**AQUARIUS**
*(January 20 to February 18)*
You might trust the process of life, or you might not trust the process of life, or those feelings may alternate depending on the given day or minute. But most of us have sticking points: those things we simply feel we must control, regardless of how much faith we have. Make a list of those. Make a check mark every time you are gripping one of them with an iron fist.
**PISCES**
*(February 19 to March 20)*
Dismiss the retrogrades. Forget the eclipses. Erase the predictions. Ignore Saturn. Never mind the prophecies. Sleep through the new moon. The whole universe is already inside of you. The end.
**ARIES**
*(March 21 to April 19)*
This month, I’m giving you a simple reminder that just because you are “supposed” to like something doesn’t mean you have to like it. Keep this in mind when it comes to art, people, careers, ideas — everything.
**TAURUS**
*(April 20 to May 20)*
Waiting for the other shoe to drop is a way of protecting ourselves from fear of the unknown. I’m not telling you to stop waiting. But you should be aware that’s what you’re doing and that it has very little to do with reality.
**GEMINI**
*(May 21 to June 20)*
Schadenfreude is a natural feeling. We all love to gossip and even delight in other people’s misery on occasion. But this month, if you find yourself a little more into this behavior than usual, ask yourself what your own life is missing that’s making you look outward.
**CANCER**
*(June 21 to July 22)*
Sometimes it seems like it might be kind of soothing to be numb. It’s not easy having feelings. But remember, every feeling always changes, because everything changes. Also, the only good numbness isn’t numbness at all but the presence of serenity, which is underneath every feeling if you get very still.
*Melissa Broder is the author of the novel* (1) *(Hogarth), out now!, and four collections of poems, including* Last Sext *(Tin House 2016) and* So Sad Today, *a book of essays from Grand Central.*
1) (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/557707/the-pisces-by-melissa-broder/9781524761554/)
