Your Weekly Horoscope: Week of July 17

On Monday, a new moon in nurturing Cancer calls on you to take your emotions more seriously than you have been recently. New moons are good for rest and reflection; use this time to think about which of your needs have been going unmet, and what you might do to change that. Then on Saturday night, Venus retrograde begins. From now until it goes direct again on September 3, you may experience challenges in your love life, from arguments to missed connections to weird dates. Don’t think of these as setbacks but as opportunities to figure out what you do want. Finally (and also on Saturday night), the sun enters Leo! Leo season invites you to stop thinking small and waiting on the sidelines, and start acting like you deserve all the happiness and love you’ve ever dreamed of. It’s a fun, creative, expressive time. Try to enjoy it.

Read: Your Daily Chinese Horoscope

Aries Weekly Horoscope

You don’t take yourself too seriously. You understand that life is unpredictable, often unfair, and occasionally silly, and that the best way to weather it is to keep a sense of humor about it. Sometimes, though, people mistake your humor as a sign that you aren’t really trying or are blasé about your future. They may even take it to mean they can kid at your expense, that you can handle being the butt of the joke. But this week, especially, you may need some extra care. Don’t shrug off weird comments or rude behavior. Let people know that you expect to be treated well.

Taurus Weekly Horoscope

For some time now, you’ve been grappling with accepting that your life isn’t going to turn out the way you always thought it would. The world looks different than it used to, and it keeps changing, and you’re different than you used to be too. Your old ambitions might no longer fit, past desires may not match the person you’ve grown into. This week, remember that you don’t have to keep doing the same things you’ve always done if you’re no longer satisfied with the status quo. Be brave enough to rewrite your goals and set off down a new path.

Gemini Weekly Horoscope

You sometimes rebuff other people’s attempts to care for you, whether because you’re uncomfortable with intimacy, you don’t think you deserve the attention, or you think it’s your job to take care of yourself. And while ultimately you are responsible for your own happiness, that doesn’t mean you can’t accept any help. This week, when others offer support, welcome it — even if it takes some effort on your part. You don’t have to be totally self-sufficient or present a tough exterior all the time or deflect every compliment with a joke. Everybody needs a little softness, even you.

Cancer Weekly Horoscope

There’s so much about your life that you wish was different. If you could wave a wand, you’d heal all your old wounds, erase the selfish or insecure parts of your personality, make it so you’re always kind to yourself and the people around you. But your intense longing for improvement makes it difficult to get through the day sometimes. So this week, your job is to stop putting so much pressure on yourself, if only for right now. There will be plenty of time later on to challenge yourself and grow. For now, trust that you’re already doing what you can, and that’s enough.

Leo Weekly Horoscope

It’s easy to carry yourself with confidence when everything is going smoothly, when you have big achievements worth boasting about and people are full of praise for what you’ve accomplished. When life gets rocky — when plans don’t go as expected or opportunities seem to dry up — it gets harder to hold onto that self-assurance. This week, your challenge is not to put too much stock in other people’s approval. Because, ultimately, you don’t need it and you don’t have anything to prove. Even when times are weird, you can believe in yourself.

Virgo Weekly Horoscope

You put a lot of energy into being good to others. You want the people around you to see you as someone who is trustworthy and thoughtful and who actively makes their lives happier. You recognize that loving people can take work, and you’re happy to put the effort in. What you forget about, sometimes, is to be mindful about receiving love in return. Relationships can’t be one-sided — you have to give others the opportunity to be good to you too. This week, lean on your friends for a change. Embrace their care and support with the same grace that they do yours.

Libra Weekly Horoscope

You can’t stand it when people act like they’re the most special person in the room, as though their lives are inherently more interesting and their needs more pressing than anyone else’s. It’s important to you never to behave this way, never to delude yourself into thinking you matter more than the people around you. But while you aren’t the main character of the universe, you are the main character of your own life. You don’t have to impose your own interests on everybody around you, but this week, remember that it’s okay for your emotions and desires to matter deeply to you. It doesn’t mean you’re being selfish.

Scorpio Weekly Horoscope

You’ve learned through painful experience that you can’t always give others the benefit of the doubt. While most people do their best to be responsible and to treat others right, you can’t ignore the fact that some do not. In order to look out for yourself, it’s necessary to maintain a healthy air of skepticism. That said, at times, it’s vital to let the suspicion go. Keeping everyone at arm’s length is damaging too. This week, make a point of opening up, of letting your friends get close to you, of trusting that you can show your genuine self and be met with love.

Sagittarius Weekly Horoscope

Lately, you’ve found it hard to stay focused on your own work and life. Instead, your attention keeps wandering to your peers: What have they accomplished, which milestones have they reached, and how do I stack up? The constant comparison is enough to make you doubt everything you’ve ever achieved and every choice you’ve ever made. Ultimately, it’s only a distraction. So this week, keep your eyes on your own paper, so to speak. Keeping pace with others isn’t your job. You have goals of your own, a future that’s unique and wonderful, and it has nothing to do with what anyone else is up to.

Capricorn Weekly Horoscope

When your life isn’t going the way you want it to — when you’re stressed about money or anxious about the future or feeling lonely — you tend to assume that you must be doing something wrong. You tell yourself you need to work harder, or spend your time with “better” people, or change your attitude. And sometimes, that’s true. But other times, the universe is unfair, or your timing is unlucky, or you’re simply experiencing life’s natural ebbs and flows. Don’t blame yourself for what’s ultimately outside of your control. Trust that doing your best is enough, right now.

Aquarius Weekly Horoscope

There are plenty of people in the world who would benefit from becoming a bit more self-critical. Every day, you’re struck by how many of your peers seem perfectly happy to behave selfishly or unethically or just thoughtlessly. In response, you often end up being hypercritical of yourself, as though this could balance the scales. But in reality, all it accomplishes is to make your life more difficult. This week, focus on treating yourself with compassion for a change, and on accepting kindness and generosity from others without worrying too much about whether or not you “deserve” it.

Pisces Weekly Horoscope

In theory, you believe in the value of experimentation, trying new things, approaching people and ideas with sincere, open-hearted curiosity. In practice, though, this isn’t always easy to do. It requires a willingness to be proven wrong some (or a lot) of the time. You’ll give your trust to people who turn out not to be worthy of it, you’ll claim opinions you later abandon, you’ll set off on a path that turns out to be a dead end. This week, don’t let anyone (including yourself) make you feel ashamed about this. Mistakes are a necessary part of the process.

Read: Your Daily Horoscope