Horoscopes: How To Make Them Work For You.

Horoscopes. We only have to click on-line or pick up a magazine to read our weekly horoscope or monthly horoscope forecast to find out when we’ll find love or win millions on lotto. I’m joking of course! However, millions of us read horoscopes on a regular basis – so if it’s all make believe, why do we do it? is a general weekly horoscope or monthly horoscope worth the pixels it’s printed on or, if we’re all so keen on astrology, should we only believe our bespoke personal horoscopes cast by our friendly neighbourhood astrologer?

As an astrologer I’m biased of course – I would always advise a client who is serious about the year ahead to get a personal horoscope forecast done. However, when I sit down to write your weekly horoscopes and the Really Big Horoscope every month I treat them just as seriously as I would a bespoke horoscope for a client.

The reason is this. Our general horoscope forecasts – weekly horoscopes or monthly horoscopes – give valuable information about the celestial movements affecting us all. If you compare a bespoke personal horoscope to having a personal shopper, then a general horoscope is like a fashion blogger – it shows you what’s happening out there and what you need to take notice of if you want to stay on trend!

So, in this post I’m going to set out what the differences are between the weekly and monthly horoscopes and how I approach them in comparison to a bespoke horoscope. One big difference is this – with general horoscopes I always advise you to read for both your Sun Sign and Rising Sign. I don’t do this with a bespoke personal horoscope forecast with good reason. I have to make a completely different set of assumptions and I’ll explain this as we go on.

Weekly Horoscopes

So, when I make weekly predictions for each zodiac sign, this is the most general of the forecasts I make. There is always a lot going on in the skies but, for a weekly horoscope I pick out the ‘stand outs’, i.e. the aspects and planetary movements that are going to have the biggest impact as I can’t fit everything in in a short general horoscope! So, major planets changing signs, major aspects occurring during the week – especially involving the Sun, Moon and inner planets are the things you need to notice in a short horoscope forecast.

And how do I work out how the stars are going to affect us in the way they do? The answer is by assuming that everything relates to the Sun – the most important body in your birth chart. So, the assumption I make (along with many astrologers) is to use a Solar Chart as I don’t know the birth time for all of you! This house system uses the Natal Sun Sign as the ascending sign and uses whole sign houses from there. So for example if you’re a Libra Sun, the assumption would be your Solar chart first house begins at 0˚ Libra. With me so far? Good!

When you read a weekly horoscope for your Sun Sign you therefore do it based on the astrologer (me!) making weekly predictions based on Solar Charts. So, why do I also advise you to look at the forecast for your Rising Sign too? Well, when astrologers cast a birth chart using the Whole Sign system of houses, we assume the chart begins at 0˚ of the sign that is your Rising Sign. So, if you know your Rising Sign, you can look at a weekly horoscope in the context of your own birth chart – and that can give you a really good feel for what’s happening in your own natal houses.

For your weekly horoscopes (if you haven’t already) you can find them on this website here.

Monthly Horoscopes:

Where monthly horoscopes are concerned, I make the same assumptions regarding house systems (Solar Charts, Whole Sign Houses) as I’ve just explained to you above – so yes, please check your monthly horoscope for both your Sun Sign and your Rising Sign. However, I’m looking at a longer timescale so, exactly what am I, as your astrologer, looking at in the heavens when I make my forecast?

For me, there is a critically important thing I look at – and that’s the Moon. I cast the charts for the Full Moon and New Moon every month – and of course sometimes that will involve really powerful charts of solar eclipses and lunar eclipses too. The Moon phases are incredibly powerful in our lives and they really structure our lives because of the effect the Moon has on our emotions and our responses to the world around us. Of course, I also look at all other significant celestial events too – once more picking the ‘stand outs’ because they will usually affect most of us too.

So, when you’re reading the monthly horoscope, you can see a flow of events and effects throughout the month – focusing on the houses most affected in your Solar Chart or Whole sign Birth Chart. You can see, therefore, where most of the ‘action’ is going to be in the coming month – whether it’s internal and emotional – or external and event driven. Bear in mind however, it’s still a general prediction so it’s not personal to you – but it should give you a great indication of the parts of your life that are going to be most active for the next few weeks!

Your monthly horoscopes are available on this website – you can find the link on our home page!

Personal Horoscopes

However, if you want your own personal horoscope forecast then that is for you and you alone. The benefits of getting your own forecasts done are huge because you can focus on specific issues in your life if that’s what you feel you need to do. So, you can focus on love, money, your career, family life – and be able to see how all the parts of your life are integrated and impact on one another. It’s personal to you – and so will really relate to the things going on in your life.

As an astrologer, it’s very satisfying to create bespoke predictions for clients because of the way the forecasts can open a client’s eyes to resolving some of the issues they are dealing with in their lives. I can use the house system which I feel is most appropriate to the consultation and of course can tailor the forecast because I know who the client is as will have looked at their birth chart in detail as well as knowing what issues they are currently dealing with in their lives and what concerns them about the future. It’s a whole more intensive and detailed technique – and even the post I did recently about Boris Johnson gives only a taste of the detail involved.

So, if you really want to take things to another level, I would always recommend at the least getting a professional reading of your birth chart potentials – together with regular Birthday Chart horoscopes every year – these are usually based on your Transits and Solar Return Charts – and Lunar returns can give you valuable information at the monthly horoscope level. However, their emphasis is not the same as the weekly or monthly horoscopes. One set of horoscopes is not a substitute for another – they each have a role to play in predictive astrology – and it’s up to you how much you want to know – and what you do with the information!

Bespoke personal horoscopes are available from me via this website – all personal information is treated with the utmost confidentiality.

© Sara Shipman 2019