Madame Clairevoyant: Horoscopes for the Week of July 28–August 3

The moon wanes as it moves through Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer this week, building toward a new moon in Leo next Sunday. During this final phase of the lunar cycle, projects, emotions, or relationships are drawing to a close. Nothing lasts forever, and that isn’t a bad thing (though it’s not always easy). Your job is to prepare to release the old, so you can enter a new phase with a full and eager heart once the new moon arrives. In the meantime, find the weekly horoscope for each zodiac sign, below.

It’s easy to take feeling lonely as an indication that you’ve been doing something wrong, spending too much time in your head or neglecting your relationships. But while it’s true that you need to put in effort to maintain strong social bonds, no amount of hard work can protect you from all loneliness — it’s only human. Don’t worry if you feel isolated or alienated this week. It’ll pass soon enough. You’re part of a larger ecosystem, even when it doesn’t seem that way, and you’ll find your sense of connection again.

Everybody benefits from listening to outside perspectives and taking thoughtful criticism onboard from time to time. Ultimately, though, the person who understands your life best is you; even when you’re confused or torn, you’re still the one most intimately acquainted with your history, your needs, your dreams. The trouble is that there’s so much pressure to ignore your inner voice, to act in ways that make others’ lives easier. This week, don’t be afraid to seem “difficult.” Be honest — with others and with yourself — about what it is that you truly want.

People are always telling you to “just be yourself,” but that advice is not always so simple in practice. Human beings are multifaceted and often surprising. Different friends bring out different sides of who you are; nobody shows up exactly the same in every context. You might feel like you’re “supposed” to be less contradictory this week, like you need to squeeze your personality into a form that makes more sense to everyone around you. But it isn’t your job to be easy to figure out — only to be human, no matter how messy or unpredictable that gets.

Sometimes, you make everything more difficult for yourself without even meaning to. You take on more work than you need to, or you put yourself into unnecessarily stressful situations. Given a choice, you opt for the path of most resistance. But suffering isn’t an indicator of time well spent, and happiness doesn’t mean you’ve been shallow or lazy. Some pain is inevitable in life; there’s no reason to seek out extra. Remember that there’s nothing wrong with making your days (and those of the people around you) easier when you can.

Lately, you’ve been looking around at your life and wondering how you got here, asking what your younger self would think of where you’ve ended up. You have so much to be proud of, but there might also be a part of you wondering whether this is it. If you’re feeling vaguely let down that you don’t have more to show for yourself, remember that you haven’t reached the end yet. You’re still in the middle. There is so much still to come, so many chapters that have yet to unfold. A new stage is beginning. Don’t underestimate yourself. From here, anything could happen.

You’ve had the weird feeling that everything is happening to you — that you’re being dragged this way and that by forces beyond your control, other people’s decisions determine the shape of your life. Now is the chance to take some time and reset. You have more power than you realize, but it’ll wither if you don’t use it. Maybe you can’t snap your fingers and change the universe in an instant, or right every injustice through sheer force of will, but you’re still the author of your own story. You can make decisions, take action, say no.

With a little effort, you can think your way through practically any problem. You know how to look at an issue creatively, to ask useful questions, to synthesize information until you’ve figured out the best path forward. It’s one thing to know what you need to do; actually doing it is another matter entirely. Action is so much riskier and more stressful than analysis, but remember that it can also be more rewarding. If you’ve gotten stuck in your own head, this week is your time to start participating in the world around you again.

You’re probably the type of person who always has a backup plan, staying ready for all manner of worst-case scenarios. It isn’t that you’re a pessimist; you just understand the universe doesn’t cater to your personal desires. You’re not always so prepared for the moments when life surprises you in a positive way, feeling suspicious of lucky breaks and looking for the catch in every unexpected opportunity. You don’t have to let down your guard entirely, but this week, let yourself believe that good things can happen, too.

The world around you is constantly evolving, so you’ve learned how to adapt. Instead of helplessly wishing that things were different, you focus on playing the hand you’ve been dealt. At a certain point, though, it starts to feel like you’re constantly on defense. You don’t have to react to change all the time: You can create change, too. This week, think about what kind of world you’d like to live in, and how you might work to build toward it. Start from the assumption that nothing is inevitable, that your own actions, however small, are helping to shape the future.

The people in your life might seem way too intense lately. Maybe your friends need more than you can give, or they’re picking fights over the smallest issues, or acting in ways that confuse and irritate you. It’s enough to make you want to withdraw from them completely. You’re already plenty stressed; you hardly want to add extra interpersonal drama into the mix. But if you resist the temptation to ignore everyone this week, you’ll find that your connections with others are even more rewarding than they are aggravating. Relationships matter. Don’t try to get through life alone.

Some people live like their time on earth is infinite, like they’ll never run out of vitality or new opportunities. You, on the other hand, are all too aware of the limits placed on each of us. You know that golden opportunities don’t come along every day, that deep connections with others are all too rare, that life doesn’t stretch out endlessly before you. But don’t let this make you hopeless. New beginnings happen all the time. You haven’t run out of chances to change your life. The possibilities are endless.

You’re not one to get bogged down in inconsequential details; you keep your eye on the big picture, on your ultimate goals. This mostly serves you well, but sometimes it stresses you out because you can’t see the progress you’re making. Stop trying to solve your problems in one fell swoop. Right now, at least, the best way to make the progress you want is to take action in small ways, again and again. Tending to details never feels like enough in the moment, but over time, you’ll see the effects add up.

Read the weekly horoscopes for the week of July 21. The weekly horoscopes for the week of August 4 will be online next Sunday.

Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.