HOROSCOPES:

astrology with Lilith Rocha

MAY 22- J UN 22

When the Gemini new moon on June 3 delivers your once-a-year birthday present, set aside some quality self time to get clear about what you truly, madly, most deeply want. Not easy, with articulate Mercury and energetic Mars in your business zone pitching ideas, negotiating work terms and juggling earning with splurging, but you need focus this month. Keep others on board by staying on track, and avoid complicated arrangements with too many options. Mid-month Venus sashaying into your sign is super-friendly and electrically sexy, but try not to race ahead of yourself at the overstimulating June 17 full moon.

Cancer JUN 23-JUL 23

Inspired by the moon of new beginnings on June 3, you will look less in the rear-view mirror, more forward towards a new chapter. Eloquent Mercury and get-ahead

Mars are riding tandem in Cancer this month, so you’re at your most engaged, persuasive – and mischievous. As are others, so absorb the benefits of being a team player, but watch your back. The full moon on June 17 recommends an eyes wide open approach to the enthusiastic oversell: that slick sales pitch and dangling carrot need background checks, feasibility studies and general due diligence so you can make choices and decisions from an informed position.

Leo J UL 24- AUG 23

While praise and acknowledgement are necessary accessories, flattery’s a slippery slope. Be wary of oversharers this month. With Venus in a light, delightful, possibly unreliable mood, people running hot and cold can make it difficult to get an accurate reading. The antidote is a Mars/Mercury power surge, flicking your efficiency switch into organising an epic streamline, declutter, downsize and feng shui of your home, life and relationships so you can work smarter and live healthier. When late-month Mercury makes its stage entrance into your sign, da-dah! … your majesty’s audience instantly expands and you have their rapt attention.

Virgo AUG 24- SE P 23

As this lip-loosening month hits the gas, wordy Mercury, the cosmic conversationalist, unleashes interesting ideas, marathon chat fests and saucy socialising. That’s the good news: its flip side features conflicting information, mixed messages and mind changing. Red-light dates are volatile on the

June 17 full moon, when team steam could reach boiling point, followed by Neptune going rogue in your relations zone, bringing up trust issues. For processing these, the Four Agreements of Virgo shaman Don Miguel Ruiz offers a sensible operating system: Be impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personally. Don’t make assumptions. Always do your best.

Libra SEP 24-OCT 23

With Mars and Mercury activating Libra’s cardinal-sign leadership skills, you will engage with a wide variety of people this month, speaking up for what you care about. Namely, ensuring everyone gets a fair share of airplay and input in meetings, that no one monopolises conversations or dominates discussions, that problems are resolved equitably, everyone’s heard and acknowledged, and grandiose plans get a feet-on-the-ground reality check. On winter solstice’s shortest day and longest night, Neptune backtracking into your sector of healthy balance calls time out for rest and replenishment, privacy and play, love, laughter and powering down for a deeply relaxing debrief.

Scorpio O C T 2 4 - N OV 2 2

If the flood of flighty, flaky, ditzy storylines just don’t seem to add up and feel increasingly superficial, fear not: Scorpios have more than enough depth and intensity to go round. While Venus in your house of intimacy has you flexing the flirting muscles and making conversational foreplay, this month’s actually more concerned with the romance of time management. Ancient Greek philosophers recognised two different types of time: kronos or chronological clock time measuring hours, days and years; and Kairos, the unstructured dreamtime of serendipity, synchronicity and inspiration. June is about marrying these two – or at least getting them engaged.

Sagittarius N OV 2 3 - D EC 2 1

While quirky Mercury and playful, entertaining Venus spark plenty of passing pleasures and kindred-spirit chemistry, more lasting contentment lies in looking past June’s undeniable sizzle to its underlying substance: the nurturing of relationships, including yours with yourself. If you’ve already trimmed and pruned, now it’s time to feed and fertilise, for which this month’s quadruple planetary retrograde and winter solstice are a good fit. Multitasking isn’t your friend right now, so slow down, let ideas and feelings have their say – on a vision board if that’s your thing. The high-beam annual Sagittarian full moon on June 17 illuminates something you might have missed.

Capricorn DEC 22-JAN 20

Ardent Mars and eloquent Mercury are in your relationship house, so how can you resist sharing what’s in your heart? You’ll love this witty, stylish month, though it’s not one to take others at their word. If someone’s not walking their talk or there’s significant dissonance between speech and behaviour, investigate further. With Venus in your sector of self-care and sexy moves, getting physical at the gym, dance class, fitness walk or favourite classy activity helps decongest Capricorn heads from the excess of mental energy. The full moon of closure on June 17 highlights a personal trait best put to rest – you know which one.

Aquarius JAN 21-FEB 19

The early June new moon suggests taking life in general and romance in particular off autopilot by doing something completely new. With love planet Venus in a fun mood, this month you will experience a flirty festival of the intellect, fizzing with stimulating ideas all the way from genius to wildly unrealistic. While you’re trying to find the sweet spot between them, what best to focus on? Space organisation and clearing; anything you don’t manage to finish will get a second chance again next month. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye right now, so observe and learn, wait and see. Timing is key.

Pisces FEB 20-MAR 20

Pop the cork on this sparkling, effervescent month by using the June 3 new moon to call in what could make the last half of this year more joyous. June is alive with the sound of buzzing tongues, but just because verbal Mercury and assertive Mars are stirring passions, it doesn’t mean others feel the same way. Retrograde Neptune in Pisces is scrambling signals between fact and fabrication, fantasy and wishful thinking, like a galactic fog machine, so stick with trusted solid ground, whatever that is for you. Consider both your audience and future possible consequences before holding forth.

Aries MAR 21-APR 21

Expect glamour, glitz and glitter as this month’s scintillant Venus in your sector of demon socialising invites Aries’ inner party animal to circulate, percolate and stay out late. You’ll also need to find time for Mars in your home zone to have that really important talk while the communication planets are on reasonably decent speaking terms, before Mercury reverses next month and words can hurt. Around the June 17 full moon overload, when everyone’s talking at once, consider the merits of JOMO: the joy of missing out by staying in, unplugging from cacophony and bathing in a blissful symphony of silence.

Taurus A P R 2 2 - M AY 2 1

This gregarious month of energetically networking social butterflies is tailor-made for sourcing helpful contacts, making new connections, power lunching and brainstorming. The caution being that talk is cheap, and along with big-picture thinking and silver-tongued charm comes a tendency to overpromise and underdeliver by people with admirable ambitions overestimating what they can accomplish. Brilliant ideas? Absolutely, and they need realistic timelines, cost assessments and references. Your planetary ruler Venus morphing midmonth from earthy Taurus to stylish Gemini delivers a clear cue to amp up the glam factor with a personal revamp, wardrobe overhaul and upstyle.