When it was first discovered in 2005, the distant heavenly body Eris was referred to as the 10th planet in our solar system. Since then, it's been demoted to a dwarf planet, but if you're an astrology enthusiast it still can add depth to your birth chart — especially if you're drawn to the darker side of life, or if Pluto (another dwarf planet) plays a significant role in your astrological identity.

In order to find your Eris sign, you'll have to seek out an advanced birth chart reading — or an online generator that allows you to select other planets and asteroids (in addition to the sun, moon, and nine planets) to display. Once you find where Eris is located on your chart, the real reflection can begin. To be sure, if you only have a passing interest in astrology, you might want to skip out on learning about this celestial body, since it's not a major one. But, if you want to explore the edgier parts of your psyche — and believe that astrology is best way to do that — Eris is an excellent place to start.

Named after the Greek goddess of strife and discord, Eris' position in your birth char t indicates how and where in life you express your rebellious side. Certain signs of the Zodiac are known to be more anti-establishment than others (Aquarius and Scorpio leap to mind), but thinking that others aren't rebellious at all is to overlook Eris' influence. After all, everyone has this dwarf planet somewhere in their chart. So, even the most straight-laced Virgo or go-with-the-flow Libra still has some fight in them — let this be a reminder that rebellion comes in many forms.

For example, having Eris in Aries is a pretty straightforward expression. This placement suggests that you resist boldly, loudly, and with abandon. When expressed through the sign of the confrontational Ram, Eris is what urges you to speak out against — and fight to the end — anything that you consider to go against your morals. An Aries Eris can easily be found leading the charge in a protest or breaking a glass ceiling at work.

Then, on the other end of the Eris spectrum, is someone who has this planet placed in a more passive sign, like Cancer. In this sensitive water sign, Eris' influence is expressed much more subtly, to the point that your behavior is more likely to be read as resentment rather than rebellion. Similarly, having Eris in a sign that's preoccupied with the material world (say, Taurus or Capricorn) may contribute to an envious streak. You might be more inclined to compare your successes to others — and act out if you believe you deserve more than what you have.

As you may have guessed by now, learning about your Eris sign might not reveal the most flattering aspects of your personality, but it's still valuable to anyone who trusts astrology to show them the full picture. And, if you really hate what your Eris placement has to say about who you are, don't panic — there are plenty of other planets, asteroids, and points that, taken together, give a more holistic picture of how you shine.

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What We Already Know About Kim & Kanye's Baby, Based On Her Sign

The birth of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's third child, via surrogate, isn't just big news in the realm of celebrity. Born on January 15, 2018, at 12:47 a.m. (the time zone remains unclear), this baby girl is the very first earth sign to be born into the Kardashian-Jenner family since their rise to fame. And what an earth sign she is. At the moment of her birth, the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Pluto were all in Capricorn, forming a powerful stellium in baby Kardashian-West's chart.

In a family of moody water signs (Kris, Caitlyn, Khloé, Rob, and Kendall), flighty air signs (Kim, Kanye, Scott, and North), and the occasional tough-cookie fire sign (Kourtney, Kylie, Mason, Reign, and Saint), this baby's life will be ruled by the sign of discipline, responsibility, and hard work. As someone with a Capricorn stellium in my own birth chart, I can tell her from experience: She's in for a weird time.

If you aren't familiar with the concept of a stellium in astrology, it's simply a concentration of three or more celestial bodies in a single sign. Finding one in your birth chart may indicate the strongest parts of your personality.

In my case, the sun, Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune were all in Capricorn when I was born, and I have those placements to thank for my dry sense of humor, diligent-but-offbeat work ethic, and the value I place on integrity and structure. This concentration of planetary energy makes up a huge part of my personality — and that's with only four bodies in the same sign. With six celestial bodies camped out in the sign of the Goat, Kimye's baby will have an even greater concentration of the same hardline Cap energy.

Having Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn foretells of a life built on steep ambition for this baby, especially as she grows up and enters the workforce. But an ambitious woman with the last name Kardashian isn't that surprising. It's having a Capricorn sun, moon, Mercury, and Venus that will set her apart from her relatives.

This new baby may speak more directly than her water sign aunts — and she'll probably have less of a tolerance for free-wheeling, abstract conversations than her Gemini sister and father.

Due to their closer proximity to Earth, these heavenly bodies have a more noticeable effect on us, ruling over such areas of life as our emotions, communication style, and romantic selves. This new baby may speak more directly than her water sign aunts — and she'll probably have less of a tolerance for free-wheeling, abstract conversations than her Gemini sister and father.

Speaking of Kanye, let's look more closely at how the stars will affect the baby's relationship with her parents. Again, I can speak from experience on this topic. Where Kim is a Libra and Kanye is a Gemini, my mother is a Gemini and my father is an Aquarius. Yes, there are a differences between these pairs, but one very important thing remains consistent: They're all air signs.

What's funny about an air-parent and earth-child combo is that the latter is more interested in rules than the former. Air sign parents are more interested in stoking their children's curiosity and honing their verbal skills than they are in enforcing curfews or upholding familial traditions. Within this dynamic, it isn't unheard of for the child to rebel by adding more structure to their lives.

Case in point: As a Capricorn child, I found great comfort in timing everything I did — literally, with a kitchen timer. I would enforce my own bedtime by setting a timer that told me when I had exactly 10 more minutes to play before getting ready for bed. Then, I'd set another timer to make sure I brushed my teeth for the dentist-recommended two minutes. If my parents weren't going to set a strict nighttime routine, the Goat in me was going to make it happen, goddamnit. Judging by my casual watching of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, this kid is going to have to navigate some personalities to find the structure and order her Capricorn self needs. (It can be done, Baby Kimye!)

None of this is to say that this baby will be a black sheep in the family — the Kardashian-Jenners are too tight knit for an astrological difference to come between them. What's more likely, however, is that she'll find success in ways we haven't seen from her older relatives. But that's just my guess. Only the stars (and probably Ryan Seacrest) know what's in store for Kim and Kanye's little one.

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It’s a full-steam-ahead action week with the planetary stage set for new beginnings and the sun shifting from reserved Capricorn to social Aquarius. On Monday, big-hearted Jupiter’s meetup with intense Pluto makes powerful inspiration available to those willing to see the bigger, more complicated picture. Broadening your mind can make it easier to make other, more tangible changes. If there’s anything you did not like in your or others’ behavior last week, draw on this energy to switch over to a more positive pattern.

Tuesday’s new moon cleans the slate for the month to come, encouraging fresh goals and new intentions. Any activity you do during a new moon is easier to keep up over the next four weeks. If you’re trying to eat healthier, not take work home, or do more volunteer shifts, put it on your schedule for Tuesday evening. It’s also a great time for launching those New Year’s resolutions — or kicking them up a notch.

On Friday, we finally crawl out from under that heavy Capricorn blanket and celebrate the first Aquarian birthdays. Aquarius is the sign of friendship, weirdness, and humanitarian politics. Let loose Aquarius-style over the weekend by chillaxing with your chosen family, those people who make you feel uniquely you. And if you and your peeps want to change the world, set your sights high and get plotting!

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The way you talk and listen is one of the first things new people notice — and as much as your rising sign affects that, you actually have your Mercury sign to thank for your gift of gab or receptive listening skills.

In the same way that Venus, the love planet, rules what and how you love, communication planet Mercury rules how you think and speak. So how can you figure out Mercury's influence on your life? That depends on your Mercury sign — aka where Mercury is on your birth chart.

Beyond giving you some context into how you talk and think, your Mercury sign can help you identify potential BFFs. Comparing your respective Mercury placements with people may give you a better idea of how you'll get along. If you have Mercury in chatty Gemini, for example, you might mesh well with someone a little quieter, but just as intellectually curious as you are — like someone with Mercury in Virgo. (Although, it should be said, having misaligned Mercury signs is not a good enough excuse to dismiss someone you've just met.)

If you aren't sure what your Mercury sign is, check your birth chart online. You can also narrow it down by following this astrological rule of thumb: Your Mercury sign is either the same as your sun sign, the sign that precedes your sun sign, or the one that follows your sun sign. Ahead, learn more about what each Mercury sign means.

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As any casual horoscope reader knows, astrology makes a big deal out of your birth. You need to know your birthday to find your sun sign, which then determines which horoscope you should read. Then, your birth time and place are required to have your birth chart drawn up. If this is as far as you've gotten in your astrological education, you might think that the only thing that matters about your life is that it started — and everything that comes after it isn't worth charting.

Of course, that is not the case. Another type of astrological chart, known as an inception chart, is specifically meant to help you understand the importance of developments in your life that have nothing to do with your birthday.

An inception chart is actually very similar to a birth chart. But, instead of your birth date, time, and place, it uses the date, time, and place of another life event, most likely one that kicked off a new chapter in your life (you might have an inception chart drawn up for your wedding date or the day you accepted a new job offer, for example). With this info, a professional astrologer can create an inception chart that shows you where the planets were placed in relation to the Wheel of the Zodiac at the moment of this auspicious event.

But, unlike a birth chart, the takeaway isn't that your wedding (or whatever event you're charting) has a Taurus moon. Rather, it's that the moon was in Taurus when you were married, which could foretell a romantic, even sentimental undercurrent in your union. An inception chart is less about bestowing an astrological identity unto a moment in your life and more about showing you the role that the planets may play in the outcome of that event. Or, as astrologer Robert Hand wrote, astrology can help us understand the significance of a new beginning — and inception charts are the perfect tool for that.

So, the planetary placements you observe in an inception chart for the day that you bought your first apartment, for example, can indicate how that decision (and the apartment itself) will fit into your life overall. Since this chart marks an important development in your domestic life, you may want to look for placements in Cancer and the fourth house, both of which are commonly associated with the home and hearth. If you find that Venus is in Cancer, that could suggest you'll find a true sense of comfort and safety in this apartment — and you may live there for a long time.

(Not sure what a "fourth house" is or how exactly planets factor in? Again, you'll most likely need to consult a professional astrologer if you want to draw up an inception chart.)

Of course, no astrological chart will give you a crystal-clear snapshot of the future — but inception charts can give you a better idea of what lies ahead than a general horoscope can. Whether you're looking at your anniversary or the day you got your dog, you're bound to come away from an inception chart reading with a deeper understanding of your life's trajectory.

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It's nearly impossible to know what any year will hold. There are certain holdovers of course: Maybe a lingering project, or an expected dip into your bank account for a big purchase you need. At the same time, success in the new year can usually be attributed to a mix of hard work, good fortune, and being open to possibilities.

So, as you start to plan out the year ahead, you may want to think more deeply about which areas to plot out down to the letter, and where you can give be a little more spontaneous. To help us determine where and how to set our marks, we've enlisted astrologer Mecca Woods to guide us through what each sign can expect in the realm of work and money in 2018.

Woods says money and security will be big theme this year, partly because of major movement among three planets this year: Jupiter, which is associated with abundance, is moving into Scorpio; Uranus, which governs sudden change and radical, unconventional thinking, is entering Taurus; and Saturn, the planet of responsibility and hard work, is currently in Capricorn.

"We're due for a restructuring of sorts in terms of how we think of making money, and spending money," Woods says. "Some of that has already started to take place with the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency."

Whether you're ready to take a risk on the markets, or are laying low at work, here's what you can expect for your sign.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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Every astrologer I've met in person has "read" me. That is to say, they've made an educated guess as to what my various signs are based on the first impression I give.

"You're something dark — a Scorpio?"
(Nope.)

"You're a Capricorn, there's no question."
(Yes!)

"I see Capricorn for the sun, but the rising is totally different. Pisces, maybe?"
(Exactly!)

The first question that enters my mind is, How can they do that? But the second is, How can I do that?

This kind of guessing game is common among astro fans online, with Reddit discussion threads calling on users to guess each other's signs based on anything from photos to facial expressions to music preferences. There's even a WikiHow article meant to teach readers how to identify astrological traits in others. If you take the time to learn about how the 12 signs of the Zodiac really behave (and go beyond their broad stereotypes), you stand a chance at guessing an acquaintance's sign correctly, too. But are there any tricks that pros use to get it right?

Astrologer Colin Bedell tells Refinery29 that he'll usually pay attention to eye contact. Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces), he says, will be deeply focused and fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) will often hold direct eye contact with him. On the other hand, "air sign [Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius] eyes dart from corner to corner, but they’re data-downloading, so they have to," Bedell says. And finally, earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn) won't always hold his gaze or appear to be listening, but they are — "because earth energy is buried within," he says.

If you take the time to learn about how the 12 signs of the Zodiac really behave (and go beyond their broad stereotypes), you stand a chance at guessing an acquaintance's sign correctly.

Bedell is quick to add that, if you're making your guess based on little more than an assumption or something you've heard about this person, kindly don't. "Let others show you who they are first," he says. "Stay open to undiscovered astrological virtues, too, as opposed to enforcing confirmation bias." So, if you've never gotten along with, say, a Sagittarius, and you meet someone who rubs you the wrong way, you may feel justified in assuming they're a Sagittarius, but that wouldn't be fair to them — or the general population of Sags, for that matter.

As helpful as these tips may be, your ability to identify astrological traits in others depends on your own sign, too. "As a Gemini, I can’t intuit [others'] signs from their body language," Bedell tells us. "But I can get close to their energy from their word choice, sentence structure, spoken rhythm, and their listening practices." In other words, since Geminis are ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication, they tend to pay more attention to verbal cues than other signs do.

This logic can be applied to any sign: If you're an action-oriented, Mars-ruled Aries, you're probably better off looking at someone's body language than listening closely to their conversational style. Or, if you're an intuitive and empathetic Pisces, you might have an easier time guessing someone's sign based on how they express their emotions. So think about what your strengths are, and take an approach that works for you.

All of this being said, Bedell doesn't think people should get too caught up in guessing other people's signs. There's no hard-and-fast-rule for how to do it, so it often comes down to having years of study and experience with the Zodiac — and even then you can get it wrong. "It’s all about observing the context of the time and the space to see who’s energy is most appropriate," Bedell says.

But hey, if you meet someone who's texting nonstop and saying "hi" to everyone who passes by, why not ask them if they're an ultra-social Libra? You might just blow their mind.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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Remember the night before the 2016 election, when everyone was like, Thank god this will be over soon? Ha ha! Our 2016 selves were such jokers. In 2017, we witnessed DACA’s rescindment, a Nazi resurgence, Paul Ryan wax nostalgic about his youthful dreams (of throwing seniors off health care), daily sexual harassment allegations, and an alleged sexual-assaulter-in-chief who doles out racist nicknames like candy. (When he’s not hastening a potential nuclear war, that is.)

Many of us want to #Resist. The larger astrological moment suggests we are moving swiftly toward a point of great and irreversible change. The stars work in conjunction with our free will. What that change looks like is up to us, whether we #Resist and whether we build toward a non-dystopian future.

This year’s astrology supports shaking off the paralysis and getting down to work. With rigorous Saturn entering its own sign, Capricorn, the U.S. will be deciding whether to keep our leaders or toss ‘em out. Government structures will come into question and each of us will have intense focus for goals that matter. This is the year to sweat like an activist. Pick your battle and get a move on!

Ahead, find your sign’s activist cause.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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It will keep us together, it can’t be bought, it makes the world go around. It supposedly makes a Subaru a Subaru, and can be used to measure a year. Yes, we’re talking about love. But do you even know what love is?

On Tuesday, the Sun comes face to face with Venus, planet of love, money, make outs, and personal values. What is love? Love in astrology has to do with how we treat our bodies as much it does with who we pledge our hearts to. Love has a different meaning in your life than it does to the Beatles or to a car company’s marketing department. Love is one thing with your mom, another with your best friend, and an entirely different animal when figuring out how to treat yourself with love and respect.

This week, our collective project is to look at our relationships and — meta warning! — our relationship to relationships. Something attracted you to these friends, this partner. You’ve chosen them for deep, hard-to-put-into-words reasons. Maybe they reminded you of your family. They made you laugh. You felt seen, calm, or excited in their presence. But friends and lovers can make us feel like crap, too, especially when they bring out the parts of ourselves we haven’t figured out how to live with.

The planets are giving you a bravery booster right now to connect with others more honestly and deeply. If a friend has turned into a frenemy lately, for instance, you can use the celestial encouragement to ask them what’s up. There’s enough love in the air to help you move through a conversation with kindness, leaving the bond stronger and helping you define for yourself what love really means.

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New year, new you, new tricks to try out in the bedroom? Believe us, stargazers — variety is the spice of life and it's perfectly normal to want to spice things up in your sex life, specifically. It can be tricky to know where to start, though, so why not consult the stars?

Sure, your Zodiac sign isn't the one and only thing that determines your sexual preferences, but it can play a role. In the same way all 12 signs should approach dating differently this year, so, too, should they each find a new thing to try in the boudoir.

Read on for suggestions to make the sex you have in 2018 the best yet. And don't forget to read for your Mars and Venus signs (the former influence your sexual inclinations while the latter indicates your romantic self).

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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Sometimes, you just have to play to your Zodiac sign's known strengths. It's then that you feel the most in your element — at your most confident. You just need to know which strengths your sign possess and figure out how you can benefit.

All 12 signs can be forces to be reckoned with, as long as they have the right tricks in their arsenal. After all, a brazen, self-assured Aries probably won't share the same approach to handle stress as a by-the-books Capricorn. And a lone wolf Pisces would not gain confidence taking a chatty Gemini's advice.

Ahead, discover the simple habit your sign should pick up to feel more confident, whether you're pitching your ideas at work, negotiating with your landlord, or gearing up for a Big Talk with your partner.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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New year, new food resolution. As much as we aspire to undo all that holiday budget damage by eating out less in January, selecting the prime meal-plan for our particular habits and schedules can be a lost cause. Ultimately we find ourselves jumping to extremes (like, I will cook every, single day for a month) and winding up in over our culinary heads — resorting to takeout pizza by week two. But not this year!

This year we decided to get a little more astrological with our aspirations by matching food resolutions with our corresponding horoscopes. Scroll ahead to streamline your January meal-planning success with a comprehensive list that's curated for your zodiac sign. It's time to start thinking of 2018 as a new year, new food adventure.

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House of Cards, Netflix's first original scripted series, came out in 2013. In the four years that have followed, Netflix has become a powerhouse in developing intelligent, experimental, and above all, quality TV. There are the shows we know we already love, like Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things. Netflix also keeps rolling out astonishingly good content, like last year's American Vandal, a parody on the true crime genre set in a high school.

Amid all this, how can you choose which Netflix original show to watch next? Let's approach Netflix binge-watching methodically, using the precise science that is astrology. We've matched up one Netflix original series with each of the twelve zodiac signs. Some shows just exude a certain vibe that aligns with a sign, whereas some shows have characters that are definitely a sign (Kimmy Schmidt is such a Libra).

So, without further ado: Let the stars choose what you click "play" on next.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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It doesn't matter if you're single or in a relationship. The desire to try something different in your love life can easily rise to the surface at the start of a new year. If you're not the type to make relationship resolutions, or if you've already tried all the dating advice you've gotten from your friends, your romantic self may be better served by consulting the stars.

Every sign of the Zodiac approaches dating differently — and 2018 is on course to be a very different year for all 12, too. So, if you're in a rut, sick of swiping left, or are just curious about what you could be doing differently, trust us: The cosmos has a suggestion or two.

Ahead, we've rounded up love recommendations for every sign. If you don't see your specific romantic situation reflected in your sun sign, check out what the stars have to say for your Venus, moon, or Mars sign — these planetary placements play a major role in your relationships, too.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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Enjoy this period of peace and quiet while you can because, come March 22, the first Mercury retrograde of 2018 will arrive, bringing with it the usual headaches and chaos.

That retrograde is set to conclude on April 15, but we're in for two more before the year is out, one from July 25 to August 18 and another from November 16 to December 6. This is a normal amount of Mercury retrogrades for a single year, but they all share something very special. Every time it takes a backspin this year, Mercury (aka the planet of communication) will be moving through a fire sign: first Aries, then Leo, and finally Sagittarius. If you aren't super familiar with this astrological element, brace yourselves, stargazers.

Of the four elements of the Zodiac (fire, earth, air, and water), fire, as you might expect, has the most volatile and dynamic influence. Let's look a little closer at those three fire signs: Aries are known for their hardheadedness and combative attitude; Leos are warm, demanding, and passionate; and Sagittarians are an adventurous, boisterous bunch. These signs are not afraid to make their presences known — and their flair for the dramatic will only amplify the drama that tends to accompany Mercury retrogrades. Overall, these retrogrades will have the potential to affect the areas we are the most passionate about, according to astrologer Susan Miller — and thus they may spark more conflict than usual.

Under an average Mercury retrograde, we may fall behind on our to-do lists, lose important items, or go through rough patches with our friends or partner. But this year, you might not just forget about a dinner date you set before the backspin, you might also royally tick off the friend you stood up. Or, your decision to drop a work project at the last minute might lead to harsher repercussions than usual. Translation: The consequences for our mistakes may, at times, seem out of proportion from what we actually did.

Keep in mind that each sign will affect the Mercury retrogrades differently, too. The retrograde in Aries may prompt childish behavior in those who don't get their way, while Leo's retrograde could lead to inflated egos and snobbery, even among the most humble. Mercury's time spent in Sag will likely see spells of bad luck and grand, long-term plans going awry.

Worried for your survival? Here's a tip: Take things slow. Act carefully and conscientiously, admit mistakes when you make them, and get everything in writing. Oh, and at the very least, there's something to look forward to: Mercury will actually scoot from fiery Sagittarius into water sign Scorpio during its third and final retrograde. We'll still have to deal with its muddling effects, but hopefully with cooler heads.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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As romantic as it is to believe your go-to astrologer makes their predictions with little more than a crystal ball and their intuition, that, sadly, is just not how astrology works. More accurately, astrologers are generally working from a laptop, poring over a table of planetary positions known as an ephemeris.

This handy tool is essentially a map of the night sky. It's based on astronomical models and calculations of how the planets move, and it displays years' worth of planetary activities as they occur daily. And it's with this information that astrologers make their predictions. Nowadays, ephemerides are usually generated using software, but they're said to have been distributed as early as the 4th century BCE.

You may think that this sounds like some sort of cheat sheet, but that's probably because you haven't spent much time trying to read an ephemeris yourself. Open one up and prepare to be mystified — to actually understand the thing, you'll need to do some math.

That's because an ephemeris doesn't spell out the planets' positions for you. Instead, it lists their placement by degrees on the Wheel of the Zodiac so that astrologers can see where a planet is in relation to each of the 12 signs, plus where it's headed next (you have an ephemeris to thank for any long-term predictions you read in your horoscope).

For example, on January 1, 2018, Uranus was in Aries at 24 degrees. This tells an astrologer that it'll still be a while before this slow-moving outer planet heads into the next sign on the Wheel (Taurus). And until that happens, you can expect old desires for adventure to bubble up, and to feel a bit more combative than normal (such is the influence of this dynamic-yet-mysterious sign-planet combo).

Like we said, though, it's pretty hard to understand an ephemeris if you haven't studied astrology. An accurate astrological reading is the product of years of study and research. Even if your astrologer prefers to use a software program to pull up the exact movements of a specific planet, learning to read an ephemeris — and using it regularly — was absolutely part of their training.

And hey, if you'd still like to think of the horoscope-writing process as far more esoteric than a set of calculations would make it seem, we're sure your astrologer would appreciate the gift of a crystal or two for their desk.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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“I’m not saying you’re a serial killer, but if it weren’t for the fact that your sun exactly trines your moon, maybe you would be,” Angel Eyedealism, the world-renowned astrologer, performance artist, and East Village legend, says ominously. We are sitting at her kitchen table, drinking Yogi Tea, and looking at my natal chart on her 48-inch monitor. The chart in front of us looks like something the aliens in Arrival might come up with: circular, all-knowing. Angel, my spirit-guide for the next hour and a half, is wearing a silk robe with purposefully mismatched socks and platform slippers, along with drag-style glittering eyeshadow in bright turquoise and hot pink that gives her the appearance of an intergalactic peacock.

Upon the moment of my birth, she explains, the Moon was in Scorpio, which means that I feel emotions very intensely (true), trust no one (very true), and am probably a bit paranoid (okay, also true.) “What makes it even more complicated is that the ruler of your moon is Pluto, and your Pluto conjuncts your moon,” Angel says. “It makes it even more intense.” Hence, why I might have ended up a serial killer, prone to losing myself in paranoid rage or jealousy, were it not for the influence of my sun, which happens to sit at the perfect angle to serve as a “mitigating factor.”

I’m not really sure how any of this works — trine, conjunct, suns and moons and various astral bodies, living in houses, ruled by planets, all with mysterious qualities. It’s all Greek to me — but nonetheless: What a relief to hear that the stars are protecting me from myself.

Since the dawn of time, humans have looked to the sky for guidance — and today is apparently no different. Millennials especially, seem to be flocking to the stars to soothe themselves even as they increasingly eschew organized religion.

A full quarter of Americans now identify as “spiritual but not religious,” according to an analysis of Pew Research Center data from September. Church attendance continues to decline, with millennials being the least traditionally religious of all living generations. The majority of Americans now agree it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral. Meanwhile, the psychic services industry — which includes astrology, as well as tarot-card reading, palmistry, and other metaphysical services — is growing. Between 2011 and 2016 it shot up 2%, according to industry analysis firm IBIS World. If that doesn’t sound like a big jump, think about it like this: It is now worth $2 billion annually, and it was one of the few industries to weather the crash in 2008 with “minimal declines.”

Not only is astrology recession-proof, it proved to be a calming balm for the uniquely turbulent spiritual desert known as 2017. While horoscopes have long been a fun staple in magazines and newspapers, mostly useful just for giggling over, young women are returning astrology to its former glory by placing it at the center of their spiritual lives. “I’ve seen women in their 20s really get into learning their whole charts [this year]: moon signs, rising signs, all of it. I’m really impressed by the high-level cosmic conversations I hear young women having,” says Tali Edut, one-half of the AstroTwins. She adds that the AstroTwins’ website traffic doubled in 2017, suggesting that gas has been thrown on what was a slower burn in previous years.

“The 2016 election was a mindfuck for many people, like how is this actually happening?” Edut says. “But it’s not like this is the only reason. Young people are facing a challenging economy, unaffordable higher education, and the stress of bullying, social media, and an uncertain future about the environmental state of the planet. Astrology and spiritual practices are incredibly grounding in the face of this.”

Astrology and some of these other practices acknowledge that there is sacred feminine energy in the universe.

Cameron, a 20-year-old Leo from Long Island, who declined to use her last name, has thrown herself into the study of her chart this year, thanks in part to (who else?) Donald Trump. Aside from being startling to the spirit all on his own, the President has driven a large wedge between Cameron and her mother, a Scorpio, who supported Trump in 2016.

This was difficult for Cameron to grasp, as her mom has always been her idol, someone who instilled a lot of Cameron’s feminist beliefs. “My mom is a domestic violence survivor, a sexual assault survivor, and so for her to say she doesn't believe that Donald Trump sexually assaults women — to hear her say things like that really was devastating to me because I know what she's been through,” she says. “It was like she was invalidating everything that we'd been through as a family just to support this lunatic.”

Worse still, when the pair would argue about Trump, Cameron noticed her mom would manipulate the truth, stopping at nothing to make her case. It was very cunning, something she’d never noticed about her mom before, because she previously always agreed with her.

None of it made sense to Cameron — until she read her mom’s chart. “She is just such a classic Scorpio,” Cameron says. “And through astrology I’ve also found that, a lot of the gaslighting or manipulation she did to me was inherited through her own childhood. Of course I could figure this out without astrology, but when it’s written right there in her chart and interpreted, it is validating.” This doesn’t mean Cameron is letting her mom off the hook for her support of Trump, but it does help take the edge off the deeply personal, painful aspects here.

Astrology has also helped her realize and reflect on her own faults. “It’s just a way to put some reasoning behind some of my feelings and to give me a way to learn how to cope with certain things that I don't like about myself,” Cameron says.“ I see astrology as just another way for me to be self-aware. It helps me explain why I do certain things, why I act in a certain way, how I am in my relationships with friends, boyfriends, whatever. And meditating on it, helps me feel like I can be better.”

She sees her new interest in astrology as equivalent to other faiths. “I definitely think that I get the same out of astrology that a lot of the people got out of their religions, whether that’s Christian, Muslim, Buddhist,” she says.

This is thanks to what L.A.-based astrologer Chani Nicholas refers to as astrology’s ability to lead to reflection. “We all are in desperate need of being reflective. We all deeply crave a reflection because a reflection kind of unlocks something in us and then it helps us to help to find our agency,” Nicholas says. In other words, astrology may seem frivolous (Cameron definitely could figure out her complex feelings about her mom without it, for example) but just by holding that space for reflection in her life, astrology becomes a powerful coping mechanism.

On top of that craving for reflection, we need connection, adds Nadiya Shah, a Canadian astrologer who has an M.A. in the cultural study of cosmology and divination from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. As interconnected as we all are now — by a global economy and the internet — these connections are mostly in our heads. They’re not tangible. “The word for this is ‘disembodied.’ Social media is great but the connection isn’t physical,’” Shah says. “Astrology to me is a way to restore a sense of meaning, magic, and order. We feel connected to the physical bodies of the stars, because they’re things we can see. They have spirit. But because they’re real, it’s an affirmation that we exist and our existence isn’t empty.”

Chani Nicholas doesn’t totally buy into the idea that there is some new astrology craze these days. “I feel like it's a little myopic to say that what's going on right now hasn't always been going on. It's just going on in a different way, in a more public way, which may bring more people in, sure.” Nicholas says. “But this is just another of many, many, many times over thousands of years where astrology is finding its way back into mainstream culture.”

And yet, Nicholas is representative of astrology’s latest era of comeback. Nicholas, who has been studying astrology since she got her first reading at age 12, has made a name for herself with her “politically charged and deeply pragmatic” readings, describes Lenny Letter. She’s been profiled by the Los Angeles Times, and featured in Buzzfeed, The Cut, and Nylon. Her horoscopes come out on Mondays, but on any given day, you can find her reading Cardi B’s chart for the listeners of a hip radio show or explaining why the eclipse was bad news for Trump to Paper. More than that, she’s now training a generation of astrologers through affordable classes via her website. (One young woman I spoke with, who had taken her classes, called her “the be-all, end-all” of modern astrology.) Her interpretations are inextricably linked to social justice causes, a link that makes her uniquely suited to read for a generation that’s extremely concerned by the persistence of those nasty human inventions — racism and sexism and ableism and more — and are now looking for ways to live through the Trump Era. “Astrology is just my skill set. Social justice is my passion. So partly it’s just me,” Nicholas says of the way she links her star readings to politics. “But also, astrology is all about commenting on humans and the human experience. It's about our decisions and our movements and all of that. So to me I don’t understand, under what circumstances would your politics not come into your astrology?”

She points to memes and Instagram and Twitter as not just a reason people seek out astrology or spirituality in the first place, but as a new, and very powerful avenue for finding it. “There's never been a public conversation in the same way as there is now about astrology,” she says. “But there's never been a public conversation about feminism or racism or about any of the things that many of us are now much more well versed in, simply because we have access to the information.”

Indeed, “astrology has been a part of every single culture, in every single time frame of humanity. It’s been very integral to humanity for as far back as we know,” Shah adds. Astrology in the West has its roots in Tetrobiblos, an ancient text written in Alexandria by the Greco-Roman mathematician Ptolemy around 100 AD. Ptolemy talked about astronomy as astrology, and vice versa. “During the time Ptolemy lived, this idea that the world is just the world didn’t exist. You couldn’t observe the world without also contemplating the spiritual significance of what it was that you were seeing,” Shah says.

At first, astrology was a precise predictive tool, used to explain the weather and the seasons and to tell exactly when misfortune or luck might visit you and how. After the fall of Rome begat the middle ages, the Arabs took over, translating Greek ideas into Arabic and making way for an understanding of astrology that jived with the concept of a monotheistic God. “When you look at Tetrobiblos, you see a lot of formulas: ‘If the Sun is here and Mars is here, this person is going to have a burn on their hand at 7 years old.’ But the Arabs looked at the sky, and said, ‘If your Sun is here or Mars is here, you might have problems with anger. So it might be good if you temper your anger.’ They put it into a context of a singular God who honored free will,” Shah says.

Over the years since then, astrology has fallen in and out of favor, but always: It survives. It made a huge comeback, along with painting, music, liberal arts, during the Renaissance when the invention of the printing press popularized the practice through the spread of almanacs. Then came The Enlightenment, which gave rise to the idea that spirit is one thing and matter is another. This relegated astrology to unserious mumbo jumbo for the first time in our history, which is interesting considering how recent The Enlightenment was in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless astrology lived on in the Spiritualism movement of the 19th century, and later still became a feature in New Age psychology circles in the 20th century.

The first astrological newspaper column started in 1930s Britain, written by R.H. Naylor in the Sunday Express, according to Smithsonian Magazine. It wasn’t unheard of for newspapers to hire astrologers to do star charts for famous people, just for fun. Naylor landed a regular column after seeming to predict King Edward the VIII’s abdication in a chart he did for the paper in honor of Princess Margaret’s birth in 1930. Then, in 1937, under pressure from editors to come up with a way to make his ‘scopes appeal to a mass audience, he came up with the idea of only reading the sun sign, which simplified things and birthed untold numbers of copycats.

Angel Eyedealism tells me that the majority of her clients today are millennial women, and this, of course, has everything to do with what’s written in the stars. It’s possible to cast charts for entire generations, entire cultures and nations, she explains. (In fact it’s a major part of astrological history that charts were once read for entire civilizations.) All you need is a time frame to calculate where the stars and planets were in order to glean insight.

Millennials have some key similarities in their natal charts, thanks to certain slow-moving planets. “Neptune stays about 13 years in a sign, so it can influence an entire generation,” Angel says. “Neptune is confusion, delusion, and illusion. Most of your generation has Neptune in Capricorn, which is such a business-like sign. So, your generation sees spirituality as business and business as spiritual.” Many of us also have Uranus, the ruler of astrology and technology, in Capricorn as well (it stays about seven years in a sign). “So for [millennials], it seems like the most practical thing to do is consult an astrologist about business or other practical matters,” Angel says.

Many young women today are also looking to it because it’s a lived faith. It requires routine practice, and that brings a level of mindfulness that is “calming,” says Garlia Cornelia, a 34-year-old mom of two and a playwright in the suburbs of New York. She uses astrology, and the related practice of studying moon cycles in relation to her menstrual cycle, as a way to carve out a space for self-care and planning ahead. “You can plan your time upon your cycle and the stars,” she says. “There are times where you may need more downtime, and there are times where you will more creative and when you pay attention to those cycles, you’ll start to see patterns and learn to listen.”

Shah says this is an example of how astrology is about a deep yearning for a way to link the feminine to the divine. “Astrology and some of these other practices acknowledge that there is sacred feminine energy in the universe. They can be a way of honoring the sacred feminine.” In a world where all the major prophets are men, and where feminine chastity and obedience to the patriarchy are the main things celebrated by traditional religions, it’s obvious why millenial women — maybe the most powerful generation of women ever — are looking to see ourselves in our experiences of the divine.

For Shea McElroy, a 23-year-old Capricorn from Santa Cruz, CA, astrology is less religion than a hugely important tool of self-exploration. She graduated from college this year, and she’s living at home with her parents as she charts (literally) her next step. “Last night, for example, I made an extended journal really mapping out my horoscope this week. It was like, on Monday Saturn was conjunct Mercury and the horoscope says this highlights what obstructs our path,” she says. “And on Tuesday, I had this breakthrough in therapy. It was something about what I really want and what gets in the way of me acting on it the way that I really want to, and I left my session with my therapist giving me a pat on the back saying, ‘You said something insightful and also really heard yourself say it.’ I literally experienced insight about something obstructing my path!”

If that doesn’t make you a believer…. Well, McElroy doesn’t care if you’re a believer, actually. “I don’t think astrology even asks you to believe in it,” she says. In fact, that’s part of the appeal. She realizes she is seeing patterns she wants to see, and that there are limitations to its usefulness. “Astrology just asks you to use it, to look at the present astrology, or your chart, and reflect on it — to take what works and leave the rest.”

This is perhaps the thing that’s most attractive to millennials: It’s all about you. “The practice is very much based on self-trust and self-authority,” Shah says. “It helps us trust ourselves, not a religious authority, but something that is personally meaningful to us.”

Of course, millennials are often derided as “self-obsessed,” but don’t get it twisted: Self-obsessed does not necessarily mean selfish. One also has to remember that millennials have been let down over and over again: We were told we were post-racial and post-feminism; that equality had been reached, and yet we all experience racism and sexism constantly. And when we speak about it online, or attempt to organize for change, we’re derided as “whiners” or “snowflakes” and told to shut up and stop complaining. We were told to work hard and we’d be rewarded, and instead we graduated into a wrecked economy, enormous debt, and an ever-more unstable world. It’s no wonder we want to be able to trust some deep wisdom within ourselves. We can’t trust anyone else.

Then again, this could also just be my personal trust issues talking, my moon in Scorpio pointing it’s paranoid stinger once again. Who knows? We are all just a bunch of complicated people, with conflicting beliefs and mysterious tendencies — we are made out of stardust ourselves, after all — living on this planet, trying to figure out how we’re going to get through another revolution around the sun.

All I can say for certain is that I walked out of my reading with Angel feeling happier, lighter than I’ve felt in ages. It’s not like Angel offered any specific guidance on what I should do to extinguish the current sources of doom in my life — my partner’s student loan debt, the #GOPTaxScam, my job security in the midst of a series of pivots to video, Nazi resurgence, climate change, #MeToo, and so on — but the whole exercise made me feel seen, as though there is something out there to explain why I am the way I am, and what role I’m destined to play in this cosmic farce. That alone is far more comforting than someone telling me to come back down to Planet Earth.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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For all the changes we may seek to make at the start of a new year, it can be just as fulfilling to sit with what we already have — or even decide to get rid of some of it. Cleanses of the juice variety aren't our thing, but we're wholly on board with detoxes of a spiritual nature. And after a year like 2017, everybody (and every sign) under the stars could probably use one of those.

Each sign of the Zodiac is in for a very different 2018, so it stands to reason that all 12 should focus their efforts on cleansing a different part of their lives. Ahead, we've recommended one thing that each sign should seek to let go of this year. If you find that your sign's suggested "cleanse" doesn't quite fit, check the cleanse for your moon and rising signs. You just might find the inspiration you've been seeking to make this year feel truly new.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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I don't remember the first time Ana* read me or sent me my horoscope, but I can remember how the horoscopes she shared with me made me feel: comforted, and at peace with myself.

Ana was the first friend I made in college, and as a very nervous freshman who had just moved from California to New York City alone, I was grateful to have met someone who seemed to be on the same wavelength as me, who I felt like I had a deep connection with right off the bat.

Before her, the horoscope blurbs I’d read in the back of teen magazines weren’t enough to convince me astrology was really my thing. But not only did Ana make me understand that astrology was about so much more than predicting where you'll meet your next crush, she also had a way of believing in things that would make anyone else believe in them, too. It's really because of her that I know anything about why my moon sign and rising sign matter, or what a retrograde even is.

After college, we remained close, to the point of having keys to each other’s apartments, to the point that when a bartender once asked if we were celebrating anything with our cocktails, she told him that we just hadn’t seen each other in a long time.

"How long?" he had asked.

"Two weeks," she had replied. "That’s a long time for us."

That night was one of the last times I ever saw her.

We were inseparable, until we weren’t — until nearly six years after we met, and about two months after that night at the bar, when she suddenly ghosted sometime in mid-September.

I suppose we fell apart the way people usually do: gradually, and then all at once. After sensing some distance between us before she had cut me off completely, I reached out to her twice, asking if something was going on, if I had done something. Each time, she reassured me that she had just been busy.

"You didn’t do anything wrong," she said. "I’ve just been busy; I’m trying not to spend money, and I need to take care of my mental health."

Given how open and honest we were with each other, I understood, and trusted that she would open up if she ever felt ready, and if not, that was that. I tried not to take it personally, because, hello, not everything is about me. Still, I couldn’t ignore the gnawing sense that something was wrong, and my gut feeling was confirmed when weeks went by and she seemed to still be in touch with other friends, and then weeks later, when she unfollowed me on Instagram, and proceeded to delete all the photos she had ever posted of me and untag herself from any photos I’d ever posted of her.

So, yeah, I guess you could say I took that kind of personally.

To say that I spiraled would probably be an understatement. I tend to base a lot of my identity on how good of a friend I can be to people, and feeling as if I had become toxic to someone I loved triggered my depression in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. It felt like I had said or done something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what it was, or even try to make up for it or apologize for it. I spent a long time agonizing over what boundaries I could have crossed, what I did or didn’t do or say, and an even longer time thinking of myself in terms of what I lacked or ways in which I was deficient. I felt more lost than when I first arrived in NYC, totally alone.

I spent a long time agonizing over what boundaries I could have crossed, what I did or didn’t do or say, and an even longer time thinking of myself in terms of what I lacked or ways in which I was deficient.

It also didn’t help that ghosting in friendships isn’t something people tend to discuss. If a romantic partner ditches you for seemingly no reason, that's universally recognized as painful, and you have your pick of movies and think pieces that validate your struggles. But when it happens with a friend, things are a little less clear cut.

When I confided in well-meaning people, many of them told me, "Well, you have other friends," or, "I wouldn’t obsess about it."

But I was really struggling, and I needed answers. If I wasn't going to get them from Ana, I had to turn to the only other potential source I could find: my horoscope. And oddly enough, the stars seemed to confirm the turn that my life had taken.

"You may have needed more solitude and support," my AstroTwins horoscope for the month of October read. "There was a sense that a greater energy field was at play and that higher forces DID actually have another plan. For once, your struggles couldn't be solved with force and steely Scorpio resolve."

Chani Nicholas’ horoscope reminded me that "not every problem is yours to solve. Not every solution will make itself known in your lifetime. Not everything needs to be figured out in the way that we think it does."

And, as arbitrary and abstract as it sounds, it was incredible how good it felt to have something, anything, affirm what I was going through.

Personally speaking, I’m not great at processing pain. And it was hard to talk about a close friend ghosting me in a way that didn’t sound stupid or feel trivial. So when my horoscope seemed to reflect what I was going through, it was like a note of assurance from the universe that I wasn’t imagining this pain or overreacting; that yes, things might be especially difficult right now, but that maybe they wouldn’t remain that difficult for long. It was a reminder that there was a bigger picture at play.

Through reading my horoscopes, I was finally able to see that I may not get definitive answers ever — but that that's okay. After all, the very nature of being ghosted is that you don’t get the answers to why someone left you. I could, and have, spent ages guessing what I did wrong, what caused things to go down the way they did, but I probably won’t ever know for sure. So all there was left to do was to find healing on my own.

It’s not lost on me that something Ana brought into my life became something I clung to after she left it. Maybe my mind was reaching for one of the only threads that could still connect me to her, and to our friendship. I can’t imagine that it was easy for her to end our six-year friendship (or at least, I hope it wasn’t). I can’t take back anything that might have made my friend ghost me, but I can keep turning to the source of comfort she brought into my life.

After all, my horoscope this month promises that "pushing past your comfort zones will reveal opportunities or perspectives you'd normally miss." And after accepting the end of my friendship, I'm finally ready to do that again.

*Names have been changed.

Ready to launch into the new year but not sure where to start? Take a cue from the stars and let your horoscope guide you. 'Scope the rest of your year here.

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There's no time like the beginning of a new year to try something different. For some, that might mean giving up alcohol for a Dry January. For others, it's making a commitment to cook at home instead of relying on Seamless every night. But the most fun resolutions are the ones that let you do more, not less, so repeat after us: When it comes to beauty, nothing is off-limits in 2018.

Whether it's "upside down" liner that makes every eye color pop, glitter that works at the club and the office, or a unique highlight, there are endless makeup looks to try... but how do you know where to start? Easy — tap into the zodiac and leave your look to the stars.

We asked Jennifer Angel, astrologist and spiritual life coach, which beauty trends will best flatter each sign. How can astrology inspire your lipstick of choice? Angel says that your signs (yes, there are several based on your birth chart) are a connection to your spiritual self. So even if you don't keep up with your weekly horoscope or know what a rising sign is, translating your astrologic personality into a beauty look is a creative expression of who you are. Plus, it pushes you out of your comfort zone so you can be your best self in what we expect to be an exciting year.

Click ahead to for Angel's insight on the trends that will take your beauty game from 0 to 100. A new you awaits...

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