Early this morning, Jupiter retrograde began in Gemini. The planet of luck and expansion will spend the next four months moving backwards, but this isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes Jupiter’s influence can be a bit too much, encouraging excess and hubris, so when it reverses course, you get a valuable chance to check yourself, view your life with renewed clarity, and eventually move forward with a confidence that’s well earned.

 You’re probably someone who learns best through experience: For you, no amount of talking or thinking is as useful as doing. But reflecting on your actions after the fact is every bit as important as taking action in the first place. If you’ve been rushing around lately, frantically trying to learn useful skills or meet new people, slow down today. If you take time now to process, you’ll be better equipped to take away the lessons you need.

Sometimes it feels like you want so much, so strongly, you could explode from the sheer strength of it. You want intangible things like love and happiness, but also material ones like a beautiful living space, nice clothes to wear, enough money that you won’t have to worry. . Today, though, all your unfulfilled desires could loosen their grip. You can stop worrying for a moment about everything you don’t yet have, and recognize what you do — and in the process, the path to finding the rest of it might become clearer.

You understand that you can’t always get what you want — life is full of frustration and heartbreak, and the only thing to do is keep going anyway. Today, though, it may become clear that some of your disappointments have actually protected you. Perhaps the thing you thought you wanted wouldn’t have been good for you at all, or perhaps there was something even better waiting down the road. This isn’t to say that you should be grateful for every misfortune you’ve endured, only that you can’t always know what it all means until later.

You try to be honest and realistic with yourself. There’s no point, you tell yourself, in dreaming of the impossible — wanting things you’ll never have will only lead to suffering. But while this mindset can sometimes protect you from pain, it’s just as likely to get in the way of your happiness. It’s worth going after what you want even when you might not get it, worth taking risks even when you might fail. You’re stronger than you realize, so don’t stop trying before you’ve started.

There are so many small tasks that need to get done every day — at your job, at home, or in your community — and when nobody else steps up to handle them, you do it yourself. Other people don’t always recognize it, but you work so hard to keep everything running smoothly. Lately, though, you’ve been feeling worn down by it all, so today, try to look at your responsibilities with fresh eyes. The world would probably keep spinning if you stepped away from some of them, so reclaim some time for yourself.

Most of the time, when you work hard it’s because you want to — because you care about what you’re doing or just love the work itself. Sometimes, though, it’s because you get caught up in the notion that this is what you’re “supposed” to be doing. If you’ve succumbed to other people’s ideas of success, step back today. Impressing the people around you won’t bring you any satisfaction if it comes at the expense of your own goals or peace of mind.

It can take you a long time to make up your mind, but once you come to a decision, you stick to it. You aren’t one to go back on your word. But sometimes, for all your careful thought, you still end up making the wrong choice — at least, one you’d take back if you could. So today, remember that sometimes you can take back your choices. You may have to swallow your pride, but you aren’t trapped. You can offer yourself a second chance.

You hate to lose control over yourself, and can’t stand the thought of others seeing you at your weakest. You recognize that everyone acts out and demonstrates poor judgment once in a while, but that doesn’t mean you want others to see you in your wilder or more irrational moments. In fact, you imagine that if they did, they’d lose respect for you or love you less. It’s not true, though, and especially today, letting your guard down might be the only way to let in the love you want.

You understand that relationships rarely stay the same over time — they ebb and flow, and people drift in and out of your life. Still, if you could have your way, everybody you love would always be near. Today, somebody you’ve been missing could return, or you could reconnect with someone you thought you’d lost. Sometimes a bit of time apart is necessary, other times it just works out that way, but it doesn’t have to be forever. Old friends can always return.

When your goals are modest, it’s easy to get results quickly enough. But when you’re working toward something truly big or important, you might have to put in a lot of effort over a long time before you begin to notice your progress. And today, you may finally begin to see your work pay off. Maybe you’ve been questioning whether all this hard work is really worth it, or doubting whether you have what it takes to succeed. But now, you can rest assured that each little bit of effort has been building toward something grander.

There’s more to life than just enjoying yourself — you hold higher aspirations or deeper ethical commitments that are much more important to you. But while some people put so much stock into having fun that they forget about anything more profound, you’re more likely to do the opposite, worrying so much about the important stuff that you deny yourself any pleasure at all. Today, ask yourself whether you’re enjoying your life, at least some of the time. You deserve joy, and if you’re not getting enough, think about how you might find it.

There’s a part of you that’s been feeling out of place lately. Your living space suddenly seems too small, or you’re bored or unhappy in the city you live in, or you sense something vaguely off about your life overall. It’s tempting to try to ignore this feeling, or write it off as the result of a couple bad days. Today, though, consider that it may be real and important. If you pay attention to the things that feel wrong, they can point you toward a life that would be right for you.

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