Your horoscope for the week ahead: A rare meeting of six planets in Aquarius is a good omen

A Sun-Mercury conjunction starts this week off on Monday. It is crackling with energy, vitality and insights into the future. Mercury will align between the Sun and Earth in a straight line in what's known as an inferior conjunction. This is the point in the Mercury retrograde when you can start making plans for the coming months. It's an important moment in the four-month Mercury cycle. The Master of Strategy will inspire you with a way to get what you want. 

Be careful to not get too impatient or lose your cool on Wednesday, when Mercury squares off with Mars, the Hercules of the Solar System. This could bring the usual glitches to communications, travel, transport and the internet. You'll need a sense of humour. Much can be accomplished on this day, though, if you remain focused on your hopes and dreams. 

There will be no Moon visible in the sky on Wednesday. This is called the Dark of the Moon phase, when our night luminary gets consumed by the solar orb. She will reappear as a thin sliver of light at sunset in the days after Thursday's New Moon in Aquarius. Make a wish when you catch sight of her. This is a time for bringing about positive change. 

There is a rare celestial traffic jam happening with Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, the Moon and Sun all in Aquarius. There are six planets including the Moon and the Sun bunched up together. The last time we saw something similar was on February 4 and 5 in 1962, but this one has a more dramatic feel to it. 

An auspicious Venus conjunct Jupiter will accompany the New Moon. The week ends on an excellent note as Mercury conjuncts Venus on Saturday followed by Jupiter on Sunday. Things don't have to be as they have always been. Those who combine determination with effort now will make real progress. 

Here is your horoscope for the week of Monday, February 8, 2021.

Aries

Opportunities are easy to handle. The hard part is recognizing them when they come. Problems, on the other hand, are impossible to miss. Life seems to present us with an endless array of them. But with the right attitude, even problems can turn out to be gifts in disguise. The challenge you're dealing with now is not as dreadful as you fear. You're in line for a spectacular turnaround once you spot the silver lining. The Sun-Mercury alignment this week will bring clarity and a delightful sense of enlightenment. What will really improve matters is not so much a change of circumstance as a change of attitude. 

Taurus

This week is a special week for it brings with it a chance to fix an important relationship or friendship that hasn't been right for a long time. When mistakes have been made, it is wise to put pride to the side. The Sun-Mercury alignment is working on putting this relationship issue back on a happy track. Rome wasn't built in a day, so do your best to be patient. Don't assume that because something didn't work in the past, it will never work. No great effort or sacrifice is needed to do what now really needs to be done. As your ability to see the lyrical side of life grows, your world will fill with endless joy. 

Gemini

Be mindful of how you respond to a certain challenge. Don't let it drive you into fear and anxiety. You are striving hard to reach a goal. Yet if you were only to stop and make a few adjustments, you could be accomplishing far more. With your fertile imagination and flair for innovation, you are fully capable of overcoming adversity with great ease. Be glad of all that is good in your life. Be glad even of your problems for they make you resilient, strong and wise. The Sun-Mercury alignment will blow an auspicious breeze into your sails. No matter what seems hopeless, you'll see real change for the better soon. 

Cancer

This is not time to start wondering whether you are doing the right thing. You really can't allow yourself to ask such a question now. Despite feeling on edge, there's good reason to believe that a certain arrangement will work out just fine. Letting fear rule your life would only scupper your chances of taking advantage of an exciting opportunity that is due to present itself. The Sun-Mercury alignment is squeezing you through a narrow opening into a new world that you will approve of. The whole process is offering an escape from a life of limitation to a life of freedom and abundance.  

Leo

Once a piece of vital information turns up as it shortly will, a bright idea will strengthen your prospects of getting a demanding situation under control. A time of contradictory impulses and experiences has come to an end. The unpredictable quality of life recently has done you a lot of good — perhaps, more than you realize. With the continued application of determination and a few perspicacious insights, you'll be surprised at how easily you manage to solve an enigma. The Sun-Mercury alignment will inspire you with the wisdom to abandon a plan that has reached a block and replace it with one that stands a real chance of success. 

Virgo

Someone has become so wrapped up in their own needs and feelings that they are forgetting to take yours into account. This is an untenable situation that should not be allowed to continue. Now is the perfect occasion to state your thoughts frankly and honestly. It's time to rectify someone's unacceptable behaviour. For better or worse, you have to finish what you have started. You have to see things through to the end. The Sun-Mercury alignment will support you in your efforts. Disregard any attacks of doubt you may encounter. They will quickly pass. If it's a miracle you're after, you won't have to wait long.

Libra

You are bound too tightly to an arrangement which you put in place because you were once very nervous about your future. Circumstances are now urging you to move on. The anxiety caused by an insignificant issue stems from being more conscious of your faults than your assets. Your anxiety will abate as the Sun-Mercury alignment reinforces and fortifies your self-confidence by inspiring you with wisdom and courage. You should be more proud of your accomplishments than you are. Let events unfold in their own natural way. A loving compassionate source is taking care of you. There is no need to worry. 

Scorpio

Many delicate points need to be carefully weighed and debated. It is easy to make the mistake of over-emphasizing certain thorny issues and downplaying other essentially rosy ones. A way to harmonize the imbalance is about to come as the Sun and Mercury line up and work their magic. You will suddenly realize there's another way to look at things. You can fix a situation that isn't quite right. You'll make sense of it at long last. You will be guided toward a healthier emotional attitude. Nourish the thoughts that inspire you and a joyous breeze of mirth and merriment will sweep into your heart. 

Sagittarius

A lot of buried anxiety that's hidden away deep within your unconscious is coming to your attention. It's causing you to face powerful impulses and strange moods. It's an emotional process that is stressful, but ultimately very positive. Something that wants out is knocking on the cellar door. A hugely positive shift is taking place as a cathartic process purges negative emotions out of your system. You are beginning to reach a series of clear conclusions that are making you feel impassioned, excited and determined. This is all very good. The Sun-Mercury alignment is marking a critical turning point in your self-awareness. 

Capricorn

The more you look at a factor that you dislike, the more you dislike it. A wave of pessimism is slowing down progress in an area of your life that ought to be moving faster. There is a fear that a certain dream may be impossible to fulfil. This negative tendency must be arrested immediately for it risks taking you down the wrong road. The Sun-Mercury alignment insists that what you seek to achieve is not only realistic — it is viable, feasible and entirely probable. Something that will make you happy is taking place under your conscious awareness. You'll soon find that despite all that seems wrong, something very good is about to reveal itself. 

Aquarius

Years of experience have honed your skills to avoid confrontations. You could run workshops on how to side-step provocation. Of course, there have been times when you've felt very tempted. But you learned how to take deep replenishing breaths and focus your attention on subjects that made you feel good. A tense dynamic in a relationship now is causing you to feel exasperated by someone. Thankfully, the Sun and Mercury alignment is pointing you toward peace and tranquillity. If it's something your heart truly wants, it will come true. The solution involves staying calm and reasonable. 

Pisces

You've worked hard to achieve what you have and to be where you are. If you find yourself in the line of critical comments, do your best to not let it get to you. A shift in your perception has already begun to provide a huge boost to your personal power. Keep your head above the fray and you'll find a way of steering events in a favourable direction. The Sun and Mercury alignment will show you how to turn something that's just okay into something spectacular. No matter what you are up against, your sense of separation from a much-needed resource is ending. You are about to get something you have long wanted.