Pack your carry-ons with crystals and get ready to jet set into the stars. With the recent spring equinox kickstarting the astrological year, it is liftoff on living the dreams that glittered in January and are now ripe and ready to become solid gold.
The cosmic transition from 2018 to 2019 has been major. Like an Alpine ski lodge, 2018 was lean and clean, led by the moon, Libra and Capricorn, who stripped it down and cleared us out, urging us to finally break the patterns that were breaking us. The cosmic mix of 2019 brings some hygge to the past year’s harshness, melting 2018’s wintry mix into the lush Hawaiian tropics of Venus, Neptune and Taurus energy. It is a recipe for banishing scarcity mentality, opening wide to our worthiness and magnetizing what our hearts and bodies are truly ready to receive.
And with road-tripping Jupiter now rolling through its home sign of wild pony Sagittarius, the forecast is fit for stretching our emotional muscles and stepping far outside our comfort zones. Your astrological sign is like a love letter written by the stars, beckoning you to explore its secret terrain. Read on for a custom cosmic itinerary that will bring your inner and outer worlds into greater alignment …
ARIES OR ARIES RISING
The freight train of the zodiac, you are perpetually primed for making it happen through your own fiery, frictional force. But with touchy-feely asteroid Chiron now moving through your sign, there is a subtle shift happening in your starting block energy, as you are asked to explore every flavor of feeling, even if it can’t immediately be actioned. This year’s magic medicine invites you to swap fully-lit leaps for first laying it down in a bed of roses. Take a load off Aries and let what you desire come calling at your door.
Star Trip: The Southwest. Your sign inherently understands the desert ecosystem, with its straightforward survivalism and unabashed exposure of “what is.” Soothe some of the occasional harshness of this heat by releasing and restoring in a desert spa town like Sedona, Arizona or Santa Fe, New Mexico. Equal parts beautifully bare and mystically charged, it is the perfect formula for adding some megawatt self-care to your minimalist vibe, and learning to trust in the treatments you can’t always see.
TAURUS OR TAURUS RISING
For a sign who often craves deep-rooted stability, you may feel like your secure systems have been getting rocked recently. But all this earth shaking is cracking you open to new forms of pleasure and a more relaxed relationship with possession, dear Taurus. As changemaker planet Uranus passes through your sign, you are undergoing an epic transformation that will leave you better able to loosen your grip and unclench your palms with ease and grace. Let yourself lean into the cycles of loving and losing and learning to love again, trusting that there truly is no loss.
Star Trip: Sicily. This volatile island of volcanic activity is a mountainous mashup of ancient culture collisions, complete with the ruins and relics that have survived it all. The perfect place to feel into what endures amidst change, Sicily invites you to release into its ruggedness and rise from the ashes. And as you learn to embrace your own epic transformations, you can also spoon-feed your notoriously pleasure-seeking side with endless plates of pasta and sweet gelato cones.
GEMINI OR GEMINI RISING
With a reputation for constant social circulation, you are the zodiac’s street level reporter. As your ruler, Mercury, retrogrades through emo water signs this year, you are asked to soften some of that intellectual buzz with profound dives into how you truly feel beneath the chatter. What has been begging for your attention that you have not yet given the time to, Gemini, and why? It is a powerful moment for some self-reflection, as you reacquaint yourself with your personal passions and learn to trust into the emotions that can’t always be analyzed.
Star Trip: Japan. Stimulate your sparkling curiosity with endless wanders through the labyrinthine streets of Tokyo, while also delighting in this country’s serene sense of simple, self-contained ritual and pared-down beauty. Take some time out to feel into the waters of Zen pools, perfectly presented sushi and carefully curated tea ceremonies. These meditative islands want you to embrace the magic of the precious pause, savoring the stillness that is available inside every moment.
CANCER OR CANCER RISING
As the zodiac’s “Little Mermaid,” you are in a lifelong learning around the concept of shelter, Cancer. This means exploring the deep-sea richness of your inner emotional world and deciding when and how to emerge from your shell to share it. With the north node of the moon now moving through your sign, there are powerful shifts occurring in how you deal with these more private sensations. Where have you been steering your ship based on other people’s inclinations rather than your own deep knowing? Harness your force and fight for what simply feels right, Cancer, even if you can’t explain it.
Star Trip: Buenos Aires. The tango is a perfect metaphor for the intensity of feeling you are now asked to celebrate, as you commit to making moves based on passionate prowess and gut instincts. Sink your teeth into the meat and magic of this city’s pulsating sprawl, as you wander streets of saturated color, imbibe a full-bodied Malbec or explore the surrounding wildness of the Argentine pampas.
LEO OR LEO RISING
So much air time is spent waxing poetic about your virtues as a performer, that we can sometimes forget that your astro mission isn’t actually about the accolades. At your core, you are here to fall in love with what simply tastes sweet, and to stand up for your own special sparkle and shine, regardless of how you are received. With Venus energy adding some softer fur to your roar, this year’s cosmic landscape is asking you to return to an innocent sense of creating what just feels good to make.
Star Trip: Las Vegas. This desert pleasure palace is unabashedly and totally committed to its essence. Your astro forecast is urging you to risk raising the stakes on your self-expression, complete with a healthy, hedonistic dose of humor and play. Whether you are plunging into a turquoise pool, watching a sequined dance number, or feasting on the riches of an endless buffet, let this town take you all the way home to the sensation of the hot sun on your bare skin.
VIRGO OR VIRGO RISING
You are here on earth to pledge a deep commitment to your inner code, sweet Virgo, taking it one step at a time, and checking in to see what is in alignment with your very soul. Sometimes, these check-ins can lead to an endless process of refining what is already more than good enough, and this year’s planetary movements are inviting you to practice letting it be. You have so much more wisdom in your storehouse than you could ever imagine, Virgo. Step up to the podium and become the teacher you have sought.
Star Trip: Cross country USA. Embrace an easy, breezy way of being with a road trip across this diverse, messy, magical land. From sea to shining sea, let your itinerary go largely unplanned, focusing on how you want to feel and letting yourself follow the wind to regions as diverse as the wet and wild south, the endless golden rolling of the Great Plains, and the mountainous majesty of the Rockies. This land is your land, Virgo.
LIBRA OR LIBRA RISING
Your sign’s association with balance is a dynamic process, complete with sampling both ends of the spectrum and then some. This year’s astro landscape is inviting you to soften your gaze and truly celebrate every shade of the rainbow, rather than feeling forced to have to figure it all out. You do not have to give up your high standards completely, but what if you could let the hard edges of some outmoded concepts dissolve into different forms? Whether it is a partner, a job, or a subtler shift in your identity, let yourself be delightfully surprised by whatever chooses to show up.
Star Trip: New Zealand. This mystical “Lord of the Rings” land is both deliciously strange and unexpectedly charming. Housing a dizzying area of creatures and vegetation that are found nowhere else on Earth, and extreme adventure sports that push the limits of gravity, New Zealand is an invitation to live completely present in the moment. Let tightly held ideas and ideals bungee-jump into brand new shapes, Libra.
SCORPIO OR SCORPIO RISING
Intimacy and intensity are your rallying cries, Scorpio, and you are here to dip into the sensations that others are not always ready to feel. But this does not always have to be so damn hard, and you can soften into trusting your intuitive hits without waiting for the rug to suddenly be pulled out from under you. This cosmic year is opening you wide to Venus and Jupiter energy, and these pleasure-seeking planets are all about summoning the courage to enjoy even more of the good stuff. Swap suspicion for more enjoyment and let yourself receive the succulent sweetness of simply being alive.
Star Trip: Thailand. Blending deep religious reverence with glittering beaches and cacophonous city life, this overgrown, humid landscape is the perfect place for snacking on your capacity for sweat-drenched intensity, while letting it all be a colorful collision of light and dark. Mix your spicy with your sweet, sample street cart eats with abandon, and let jungle journeys take you to the heart of primal passions that feel like paradise.
SAGITTARIUS OR SAGITTARIUS RISING
As your ruler, Jupiter, continues its roll through your sign, you are expanding like never before, Sag. But this flavor of expansion asks you to get more consciously aligned, and practice choosiness alongside your penchant for risk. While you are the zodiac’s perennial seeker, often preferring the open road to the comforts of home, this is a glorious year for truly giving yourself both, trusting in your capacity to mix some earthiness with your fire and fuel your mission with clarity.
Star Trip: Scotland. This down-to-earth turf mixes Highland wildness with royal history and village comforts. While you might usually be inclined to favor more far-flung terrain, Scotland’s landscapes offer a sense of groundedness that is still infused with grandeur, inviting you to blend your over-the-top dreaming with some home-cooked heartiness. Whether exploring the misty secrets of the Loch Ness monster, settling in to a sleepy pub, or climbing the stairs to a castle outcropping, this is your prime place for marrying your sense of mystery with clear motion.
CAPRICORN OR CAPRICORN RISING
With power planets Saturn and Pluto continuing their roll through your sign, you have been digging deep and uprooting longstanding patterns of control. This astro year is a magical moment for sloughing off the “shoulds,” softening the edges of strategy, and learning to trust in your own inner authority instead of external accolades. While your sign is the proverbial mountain climber, you are now asked to find the sweetness alongside of the struggle, and the worthiness that exists inside of you always, sans sweat.
Star Trip: Napa. Like the wine world concept of terroir, you understand the fruits that are borne through the hard-earned experience of living. Consider what kinds of emo weather patterns truly nourish you, and dive into your root systems, with a trip to this sun-drenched land of gentle rolling hills and ripe berries. This astro year wants you to feast on your accomplishments and invite yourself to sit down at your own table. Raise your goblet to the California sky, Capricorn.
AQUARIUS OR AQUARIUS RISING
With your ruler, radical changemaker Uranus, now in earthbound Taurus, you are learning to embrace groundedness and gut instincts. What if you could freely feel into your next move without having to figure it all out? This astro year encourages you to put aside your penchant for rational explanation and tap into the knowledge that exists in your blood and bones. Something wants to be creatively and emotionally birthed in your life right now, Aquarius. All you have to do is raise your lightening rod and let it come through the channel.
Star Trip: Tanzania. Liberate yourself from intellectual effort with a spin across the plains of this wide-open landscape. The endless grasslands of this East African country beckon you to let grippy timelines recede and realign with a seasonal rhythm of animal migration. Let wildlife safari unleash your own instincts, and delight in your status as a tiny speck at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, knowing that there are natural forces far beyond your control that are 100 percent on your side.
PISCES OR PISCES RISING
The zodiac’s most mystical dreamer, you constantly crave those star-kissed moments of spiritual connection that can’t quite be explained. This astrological year is all about using those dreamy qualities to support your own self sovereignty, as you harness your notorious capacity for non-judgement and use it to heal the harder places inside of yourself. It is a year for diving into your own depths without drowning, creating clear boundaries that liberate even greater emotional expression, and becoming the lover to yourself that you so often are to the whole wide world.
Star Trip: Big Sur. Pitched at the edge of the earth, this sweeping landscape of cliff sides and crashing waves is the perfect spot for pledging your allegiance to self, Pisces. Both monastic and majestic, let the rugged beauty of this coastline remind you that you can find retreat from your tendency to absorb others’ emotions at any moment. Gain new perspective on the emotional waters far below, without always having to take the full plunge, and know that you truly deserve your own castle in the sky.
