Your Personal Horoscope 2018

(Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, both these perspectives were identical. But now there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.)

Health and energy look excellent in the year ahead. There is only one long-term planet, Jupiter, in stressful alignment with you. All the others are mostly in harmonious aspect. So if you have any pre-existing conditions or health concerns you should hear good news about them this year. They are likely to be much milder, or even resolve themselves now.

Your empty 6th house of health is also a good sign: you don’t need to focus on health as it is not a big issue. Why do drastic things when there’s nothing wrong? You sort of take good health for granted this year. On November 8, even Jupiter will move away from his stressful aspect. So overall health will become even better.

Sure, there will be periods in the year when your health and energy are not as good as usual, but these are temporary things caused by the planetary transits. They are not trends for the year. When they pass, your normal good health and energy return.

Good though your health is, you can make it even better. Give special attention to the following – the vulnerable areas for Taurus (the reflex points are shown in the chart below):

 The neck and throat. These are always important for Taurus and regular neck massage is always a good thing. Tension tends to collect there and needs to be released. Craniosacral therapy is said to be good for the neck.

 The kidneys and hips. These too are always important for Taurus. Hips (and the buttocks) should be regularly massaged. This will not only strengthen these areas but improve your overall posture. A herbal kidney cleanse might be a good idea if you feel under the weather.

Venus, your health planet, is a fast-moving planet and will move through all the signs and houses of your Horoscope in any given year. Thus there are many short-term health trends that depend on where Venus is and the aspects she receives. Some months you might respond better to one therapy and some months to another. These short-term trends are best dealt with in the monthly reports below.

Uranus, as we have mentioned, will move into your sign on May 16. From a health perspective it signals ‘experimentation’ with the body. There will be tendency to ‘test the limits’ of the body. This is a wonderful thing in that much of our physical limitations are self-imposed or have been inherited, and it is good to break these limits. On the other hand, this testing should be done in a mindful and conscious way, not recklessly. Thus disciplines like yoga, tai chi or other martial arts might be good. These are safe ways to test the body’s limits.

This year Uranus is only making a foray into your sign. But next year – and for the next seven or so years – you will experience the full-blown transit and these tendencies will be a lot stronger.

Your health planet will move backwards this year. This is a relatively rare phenomenon that happens once every two years. So, from October 5 to November 16 avoid making major changes to the diet or health regime.

Home and Family

Your 4th house is not a house of power this year, Taurus. So the cosmos is not pushing you to make dramatic changes in your home life one way or another. It tends to the status quo and shows a sense of satisfaction with the way things are. You have more freedom in home and family affairs, but lack the interest to alter things. In spite of this, there will be changes and dramas in the family circle this year. Most likely you won’t be initiating these things, but reacting to events that happen. This year we have three Solar Eclipses – usually there are only two. Since the Sun is your family planet the Horoscope is forecasting more than usual turbulence. Two eclipses – one Solar and one Lunar – will actually occur in your 4th house of home and family, reinforcing the sense of ‘shakeup’ and ‘drama’ that we see.

We will cover the eclipses in more detail in the monthly reports. In general it is wise to be more patient with family members (and with parents or parent figures) as they are apt to be more temperamental. The emotional life (and the dream life) will tend to be more volatile as well.

A parent or parent figure is likely to move, renovate the existing home, or buy an additional home. It seems happy and fortunate. Another parent or parent figure seems very devoted to you and seems very focused on you. This is a double-edged sword: there is more support, but perhaps more control as well.

Siblings or sibling figures in your life could have moved in 2015 or 2016. Things are more stable for them this year. Children and children figures are likely to move after November 8, and perhaps next year too. This looks happy. Grandchildren of appropriate age have perhaps had multiple moves in recent years. This trend continues this year. Their wanderlust seems almost over with, however, and they will be more ready to settle down next year.

Though you are likely to need to make repairs to the home this year, major renovations aren’t likely. (You have freedom to do them, but no pressing necessity.) However, if you’re redecorating or updating the home in cosmetic kinds of way – or buying art objects for the home – June 13 to August 23 seems a good time.

One of the parents or parent figures in your life needs to watch his or her health more. A daily disciplined health regime is in order. He or she should pay more attention to the spine, knees, teeth, bones, colon, bladder and sexual organs. Surgery could be recommended to this person too.

Siblings or sibling figures have wonderful job opportunities this year. If there have been health problems there is good news on that front.

Finance and Career

Money and financial well-being are always important for Taurus, but this year less so than usual. I read this as a good thing. Finances are relatively stable – relatively satisfying – and you have no pressing need for major change. The money house is not a house of power this year. It is basically empty. Only short-term planets will briefly pass through there, so finances will be more or less like last year.

Your financial planet, Mercury, is, next to the Moon, the fastest and most erratic of the planets. Sometimes he moves very fast (passing through three signs and houses in a given month), sometimes he’s slow and sometimes he goes backwards. The fact that he’s your financial planet shows that though you tend to be fixed in your ways, when it comes to finance, you’re very flexible. You can change your opinions and attitudes at the drop of a hat.

This erratic nature of Mercury indicates that there are many short-term financial trends, all depending on where he is at any given time, how fast he’s moving and the aspects he receives. These trends are best dealt with in the monthly reports.

We should mention that Mercury will go into retrograde motion three times this year (this is usual, although in the past two years he went retrograde four times each year). These are times to put the financial life (your goals and planning) under review. These are great periods for research and study, but not so good for making important purchases or financial moves. Mercury is retrograde from March 23 to April 15, July 26 to August 19 and November 17 to December 6.

The real action this year is in the career. Here we see many – and positive – changes. You tend to prefer status and prestige over mere money, Taurus. You sort of feel that ‘if I’m successful, if I have status, money will follow eventually’.

There are two eclipse in your 10th career house this year – a Solar Eclipse on February 15 and a Lunar Eclipse on July 27. These indicate shakeups in your company or industry. Your career strategy and thinking will change. A lot of obstacles (or what you thought were obstacles) will be removed. But even more important than that is your career planet Uranus’s entry into your sign on May 16. This signals you have the favour and support of the people with power in your life, the bosses and authority figures. This move is favourable for the career. It shows that career opportunities will start seeking you out rather than vice versa. The offers will come, you just have to go about your daily business.

With Uranus in your 1st house people will see you as successful. This will be your image and persona. You will dress and look the part. Personal appearance and overall demeanour will be a big factor in your career success.

Uranus in Aries for the past seven years has made the career highly unstable. There was always a feeling of insecurity. Uranus in Taurus is more stable – more solid – less volatile.

Love and Social Life

As we mentioned earlier, the year ahead is a banner love and social year. For some it will be the best ever, for others it will be up there among the best. Much depends on your age. Jupiter will spend the year in your 7th house of love. The stresses to your love planet, Pluto, are mostly over with. If you are single, this is a year for finding that special someone. Often this transit shows a literal marriage, but not always. Sometimes it shows a relationship that is ‘like a marriage’.

All of you will be socializing more, making new and significant kinds of friendships. Often business partnerships happen under this transit too.

In spite of all this good, there are some complications (and this is especially so for those of you born early in the sign – from April 20 to April 23). Uranus in your sign is not the best aspect for serious relationships. There is a tendency to want absolute personal freedom and it is difficult having to compromise that. You want to do what you want to do when you want to do it. A committed relationship, by definition, implies a limitation of personal freedom. One needs to be able to sacrifice the latter in order to explore other kinds of freedom – the freedom of intimacy with another, the freedom to explore family life, etc. Too much self will might not stop romance, but it might stop committed relationships. Those of you involved romantically with a Taurus need to give them as much space – as much freedom – as possible, so long as it isn’t destructive.

So romance is very likely this year – the opportunities are certainly there – but will it lead to marriage or commitment? That is the million dollar question.

Pluto, the generic planet of sex, is your love planet. Jupiter, the actual planet of sex, is in your house of love. This gives many messages. Sexual magnetism seems the most important thing for you (and for the people you’re involved with). It seems the ‘be all and end all’. While there is no question of its importance, we can’t confuse that with real love, nor can one build a solid relationship only on that. More is needed.

Jupiter in your 7th house indicates an attraction to foreigners and to highly educated or religious kinds of people. You’re attracted to mentor types. (Many of the people you meet seem eager to be mentor figures.) It shows an attraction to wealth too. In fact the people you’re meeting seem well off; they seem like ‘money people’.

There are romantic opportunities at your place of worship, at religious or educational functions or in foreign lands. Professors and the clergy in your life – as well as the people in your place of worship – like playing Cupid.

Self-Improvement

Uranus’s brief venture into your 1st house this year is only a foretaste of things to come; an announcement. Much change is happening in your life, much of it sudden and unexpected. There is a cosmic lesson here. An important one. Taureans are conservative people. They like routine. They like predictability. And they don’t do well with too much change. But now the cosmos is pushing change on you – and make no mistake, it is for your good. So the lesson here is to make change your friend. To embrace it. To roll and adapt with it. There is something very exciting about all this. Anything can happen at any time. Routines – comfortable though they may be – are not likely to last. It is important now to be flexible and ready to let things go. If you learn this, things will go easier for you down the road.

Uranus is your career planet. The worldly aspects of your career have been discussed above, but the 10th house has a deeper meaning than just the worldly career. Spiritually it represents your soul purpose, your spiritual mission for this life. This is going to become ever more important in the coming years. The message of the Horoscope is that your body and image is basically your mission. You’re being called to create and personify the ‘Divine Body’ – the body as it was created to be – the Divine Idea of your body. This is perfection when we understand it correctly. But it is not just about the body, it’s also about your outer personality. You are being called to perfect yourself, to make you as you are intended to be.

Uranus is going to initiate a long-term trend in ‘self-redefinition’. You will be constantly redefining yourself, changing your image and your look – upgrading it the way you upgrade your computer and software. Every time you think you have it ‘perfect’ – a new idea comes to you and you change. You’re not going to be the ‘stodgy boring Taurus’ any longer, but someone exciting, electrifying and fun to be around. You will have a magnetic, charismatic kind of presence.

For years now, Pluto has been detoxifying your belief systems – your philosophy of life. Everyone has a philosophy of life – consciously or unconsciously. This area of life is much more important (though less popular) than psychology. Your personal philosophy will shape your psychology. So, much change has happened in your belief systems over the years. Now Saturn’s presence in your 9th house is going to test your new beliefs. They get a reality check. The changes you have made, are they real? Are they true? Can they hold up under the events of life? In the next two years, you will find out. Some will hold up, some will need to be changed, modified or thrown out completely.

Saturn in your 9th house favours what is called ‘the old time religion’. Traditional religion. It has been fashionable to toss this out the window, to mock it in certain quarters. But the reason these religions have lasted so long is that underneath the human baggage lie deep spiritual truths. These should be understood and absorbed now. Once you have the essence you can throw away the outer trappings. But first one needs the essence.

Month-by-month Forecasts

January

Best Days Overall: 5, 6, 15, 16, 25, 26

Most Stressful Days Overall: 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 31

Best Days for Love: 5, 6, 10, 11, 15, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28

Best Days for Money: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 15, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Best Days for Career: 4, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 31

You’re in a very interesting situation these days. You begin your year with 90 per cent (and for half the month all) of the planets above the horizon. The upper half of your chart – the ‘day side’ – is chock-full of planets, while the lower half is empty. Only the Moon will move through the ‘night side’ of your chart this month, from the 3rd to the 9th and from the 25th to the 31st. This means that you are very much a ‘day’ person in the year ahead. A career person. A person focused on outer achievement. Home, family and emotional issues are taking a back seat. Also it means that the lower half of the Horoscope – even at its strongest point – will never dominate. You’re in a strong career year – and the month ahead is a strong career month. If people accuse you of being ‘career driven’ – just humbly nod your head. It’s in the stars.

A Lunar Eclipse on the 31st will force you – if only briefly – to pay more attention to the home and family. It occurs in your 4th house of home and family and brings dramas in the lives of family members – especially a parent or parent figure. Often repairs are needed in the home and you won’t be able to avoid this. This is a powerful eclipse so reduce your schedule over that period. This eclipse will test cars and communication equipment, and in many cases they will need repair or replacement. Siblings and/or sibling figures in your life will have life-changing dramas. Since Venus is impacted by this eclipse (although not exactly, it’s more like a glancing blow) the health regime will change in the coming months. Sometimes there is a health scare – but your health looks good and it probably won’t be anything more than that. There can be upheavals in your neighbourhood and with neighbours too. If you employ others there is instability with employees.

It is interesting that this eclipse occurs right in the midst of a yearly career peak – one of your most successful (and demanding) times. It’s a distraction to the career. Happily, the family (for the most part) is supportive of your career goals. They see it as a ‘family project’ and not just personal to you.

The love life is going well this month. Between the 8th and the 10th Venus travels with your love planet, Pluto. For singles this indicates a significant romantic meeting or opportunity. Jupiter is in your 7th house as well – serious love is in the air.

February

Best Days Overall: 2, 3, 11, 12, 21, 22

Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 7, 14, 15, 27, 28

Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 21, 22, 25, 26

Best Days for Money: 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

Best Days for Career: 10, 14, 15, 19, 20, 28

Many of the trends discussed last month are still in effect now. You’re still very much in a yearly career peak and seem very successful. Last month – on the 18th – Venus, the ruler of your Horoscope, crossed the Mid-heaven and entered your 10th house of career. This shows personal success and elevation. People look up to you. You’re in charge (or aspire to be) and are at the top of your game. Venus will remain in your 10th house until the 11th. But another eclipse will distract you – and this one also looks to be powerful. It is a Solar Eclipse on the 15th, which occurs in your career house.

You need to be taking it more easy until the 18th anyway, but especially during the eclipse period. This Solar Eclipse affects the family, and especially the parents (both sets of parents or parent figures). There are dramas in their lives. The home might need more attention as hidden flaws there can be revealed. There are shakeups in your company and industry: perhaps the government changes the law and the rules of the game are changed. Bosses and authority figures have personal dramas. All these things are ultimately going to benefit your career, as obstructions to your progress are being blown away. But while it is happening there is usually a feeling of insecurity. A career course correction is very much in order now.

This eclipse is powerful in other ways too. Mercury, your financial planet, is affected. There is some financial disturbance, something that forces a course correction in your financial strategy and thinking. A love affair can be tested. Children and children figures need to redefine themselves. Jupiter, the ruler of your 8th house of regeneration, is also affected. Thus there can be near-death kinds of experiences, problems with the tax authorities or legal issues. Often people have dreams of death under these kinds of eclipses. But this is just to help you come to terms with it.

Health and energy will improve from the 18th onwards. Until then make sure to get enough rest. Enhance the health in the ways mentioned in the yearly report. Until the 11th pay attention to the ankles and calves. Massage them regularly. After the 11th give more attention to the feet – foot massage becomes very beneficial. Venus in Pisces, from the 11th onwards, favours spiritual kinds of therapies. If you feel under the weather, see a spiritual healer.

March

Best Days Overall: 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 29, 30

Most Stressful Days Overall: 6, 7, 13, 14, 26, 27

Best Days for Love: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 29, 30

Best Days for Money: 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

Best Days for Career: 9, 13, 14, 18, 19, 27

Career is still very important, and this is how it will be all year. But the month ahead is more spiritual. There are many planets in the spiritual sign of Pisces this month: at least 40 per cent (and sometimes 50 per cent) of the planets are either there or moving through there. This shows involvement with spiritual-type groups and befriending spiritual people. The spiritual connection seems important in friendships these days. (Let’s not forget that Neptune, the generic spiritual ruler, has been in your 11th house for many years now.)

Spirituality is further emphasized after the 20th as your 12th house becomes ultra-powerful. Your challenge this month will be to merge your spiritual values with the values of the world. This is not so easy to do. Your career approach will become more spiritual and your spiritual approach more worldly and practical.

Health and energy are superb this month. There is only one long-term planet in stressful alignment with you. All the short-term planets (except for the Moon on occasion) are either in harmony with you or leaving you alone. So long as you don’t fritter away all this extra energy it should bring you success and prosperity. You can enhance your health further by giving more attention to the feet until the 6th, and to the head, face and scalp after that date. Scalp massage will not only strengthen the brain and head, but the entire body as well.

Mercury, your financial planet, spends most of the month in your spiritual 12th house – from the 6th onwards. This shows the importance of intuition, and a need – and an ability – to access the supernatural sources of supply. This is a time for miracle money, rather than natural money. Mercury will go into retrograde motion on the 23rd, so wrap up important purchases or investments before then. After the 23rd it’s time to put your finances under review.

Love is good this year, as we’ve said, but after the 20th it does become more challenging. You have to work harder at your current relationship. There are some short-term personal disagreements with the beloved. Next month harmony is restored.

The planetary power is approaching its maximum Eastern position this month. Next month it will be even stronger. Now is the time to make the changes that need to be made. You have plenty of cosmic support. (If we have cosmic support we’re not worried about what humans think.) Personal independence is unusually strong.

April

Best Days Overall: 7, 8, 16, 17, 25, 26

Most Stressful Days Overall: 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 23, 24, 29

Best Days for Love: 2, 3, 7, 8, 16, 17, 25, 26, 27, 29

Best Days for Money: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30

Best Days for Career: 6, 9, 10, 15, 24

A happy and successful month Taurus, enjoy! Health and energy are terrific. And with more energy there is more happiness. (A good definition of depression, astrologically speaking, is ‘lack of energy’.) With more energy your horizons expand. Things that were considered impossible – things you may have dismissed from your mind – are now eminently possible.

The planetary power is East – maximum East. This, as our regular readers know, is the sector of self. The planetary power is on your side, supporting you and your personal happiness. As we mentioned last month, this is the time to make any changes that need to be made in your life. Irksome conditions are easily alterable now, there’s no need to suffer or compromise. Personal initiative matters. Personal skills matter. We are never disrespectful of others, but now you’re not that dependent on them. It’s time to have things your way – to have life on your terms. If you create wisely, the year ahead will be more comfortable. If you make mistakes you’ll learn about them over the next six months, and when your next period of independence comes, you’ll be able to make appropriate changes.