Romance and astrology. They go together like Thelma and Louise, Adam and Eve (or Steve), Mickey and Minnie, or Jacqueline Kennedy and tweed. With all these dynamic duos in mind, we welcome you to our love horoscopes for 2023, in time to help locate your astrological hotspots for hooking up, hanging out, and/or making homes.
While Venus (love, desire, beauty) will assume a big role in this cosmic dramedy, the main Star this year could be Jupiter, which deals with, among other things, finding luck in romance. But let us not think of these love horoscopes as a mere two planet play. Instead, imagine an ensemble cast, with Mars (libido), the Sun and the Moon, and even Saturn (longevity/commitment), making cameos (no doubt for some signs more than others).
In terms of setting, we will focus here primarily on three main areas of the chart, where love and romance tend to be acted out with the most tension and release: our Selfhood, Relationship, and Romance zones. Transits through these parts of your chart will shape your dialogue on love this year. Jupiter or Venus in the Relationship sector, for instance, augurs more harmony (Mars less of it). The Romance zone points to fun and procreation: Venus loves this spot for flirting, while Jupiter so placed might lead to excess boozing, schmoozing, and cruising.
Oscar Wilde (wit, genius) once said that we look to the dramatist “to give romance to realism.” Here we get real about your romantic outlook instead. And so, without further preamble, please grab your cute little theatre glasses–the baroque stage curtains are being drawn for the drama.
ARIES
Your main hotspot this year centres around a very strong Jupiter placement in your Selfhood zone from now until mid-May. The softening influence of the Luckgiver here should make you less martial, more marriageable. Jupiter’s expansive nature could also move you beyond the narrow confines of typical Aries self-interest, opening your heart to greater empathy and understanding. If you’re single, Jupiter tends to bring with it romance opportunities and luck, so make yourself extra available until mid-May by being out in the social mix. If you’re already coupled-up, Planet Luck portends deeper connection and bonding. The bottom line about Jupiter is that it always wants to go big, which could involve literal size (as in pregnancies and growing a family).
TAURUS
This looks to be a powerful romance year for a couple reasons. First and foremost, Jupiter moves into your Selfhood zone on May 16th for the remainder of 2023. Jupiter makes life bigger and better. With it highlighting the Selfhood sector of your chart, you can expect a boost of self-esteem and feeling more in step with the world around you. A more buoyant Bull, in turn, will be more attractive to those around you, whether you’re single and looking for charged glances at the discotech or you’re coupled-up and wanting a bit more zest in and around the boudoir. Keep in mind that Jupiter’s nature wants to expand beyond limits. As a fixed earth sign, you can dig your heels in too much, craving comfort rather than chaos. Trust in Jupiter’s good grace, however, and look to get beyond easy street in love and romance.
GEMINI
The first quarter of 2023 might very well be a bit tough with ornery Mars in your Selfhood sector. This could be a transit where you’re either at war with yourself over career path, past decisions, or future action. Naturally, such internal kerfuffles could negatively redound on how you interact with your helpmate (if you’re coupled-up), or how you present yourself to the dating scene (if you’re single). BUT….your world brightens in the middle of April when diamond-studded Venus enters your sign for a month to help smooth out Mars’s eternally rough edges. Planet Love in Gemini is sassy, sultry, and social. Take advantage of this transit by dressing up and going out. If 2023 starts off rough, it ends in cashmere, with Venus lighting up your Romance zone from November 8th to early December. This is a transit for having fun–either with your partner or finding one out on the tiles. With all this cosmic energy around romance and relationships, keep in mind that Venus energy will be extra fertile (the Romance zone deals with procreation so plan–or Plan B–accordingly).
CANCER
You start the year with the serious Capricorn Sun in your Relationship zone until late January. Love is already on the docket, Crab, but Capricorn isn’t for games. As the year kicks off, and New Year’s resolutions ring out, align yourself with the Goat’s no frills attitude. If you're single, and want to stay that way, resolve to get into a relationship with work and career: there’s no shame in that game. If, however, you want to change your status, be clear about that now when there’s relationship magic in the air. Ultimately, this is a transit for deeper questions, whether single or coupled-up: don’t be afraid to ask the hard ones. Now is the time to treat the topic of love with a bit of gravitas. A less buttoned up transit starts early May until early June. Glittering Venus brightens your sign then. Planet Love is like perfume in this part of the chart. Confidence and charm should lightly scent your sense of self (always attractive that). A more randy Venus manifests in your chart at the end of the year, where it enters the red-light district of your Romance zone for December. If you start 2023 by asking serious questions, you finish it in a playfully erotic place with partners or potential suitors.
LEO
Dour Saturn has been casting a pall over your Relationship zone for the past two years. It finally leaves this part of your chart on March 7th, which should have you feeling lighter in love. However, you shouldn’t disembark from your two-year intensive study under the Schoolmaster without showing you’ve learned some lessons. Emotional maturity is the name of this Saturn game. Demonstrate this to a partner–or a potential suitor, should the opportunity arise. After Saturn’s exodus, you will welcome lovely Venus in your Selfhood zone beginning early June for four months. On paper, this sounds great, but Planet Love will be retrograde from late July until early September. This wonky Venus transit could have you feeling up and down about love and yourself for a month or so. After all this intense Saturn and Venus retrograde activity in key astrological Houses, the universe throws you a bone to end the year, with the fun-loving Sagittarius Sun limning your Romance zone in late November until the Solstice. This could very well be your moment to put all the tough transits behind you and relax finally into love–or lust, or both.
VIRGO
Make hay while the Capricorn Sun shines in your Romance zone for the first three weeks of the year. This part of the chart deals with pleasure, fun, procreation, tavern life, and creativity. But this isn’t a transit of pure bacchanalia, as this Sun will be flavoured by serious Capricorn energy. The Goat’s earthy and more sombre nature doesn’t mean that you can’t or won’t have fun, but rather that you might be looking at romance and its pleasures not as an end in itself but as a means toward some more long term plan or goal. Fun with undertones of adulthood is the theme of this transit. Right after this placement, Venus lights up your Relationship zone from late January until late February, followed by the Sun in the same section of your chart from late February until March 19th. The front end of the year is heavy duty, therefore, with romance and relationship atmospherics. The Venus transit, in particular, will have a head-over-heels motion to it, with Planet Love in dreamy Pisces. Accordingly, prepare for strong feelings toward a new suitor or for seeing your tried and true helpmate in a more poetic light. Romance gets less prominent after the equinox in March, so wear your heart on your sleeve the first quarter of the year.
LIBRA
Like a giant peach, lucky Jupiter ripens in your Relationship zone from the start of the year until mid-May. If you’re single, be receptive to this kind of energy during this extended Jupiter transit by being out more. If coupled-up, Jupiter could help enrich and deepen your love. The Great Benefic governs over marriages, so this a prime transit for asking and popping bigger questions. The Sun lights up your Romance zone (also the site of procreation) from late January until around Valentine’s Day. Granted, this will be a more detached Aquarius Sun, meaning that within this overarching Jupiter transit, you may start looking abstractly at the prospect of enlarging family life--kids, a bigger or more permanent home with a partner, etc. Last but not least, your ruling planet, Venus, will transit your Selfhood zone early November to early December. Venus is in rulership here, indicating more love of the self, confidence, and charm. Happy Venus in Libra=Happy You during this span. Sometimes this is the most important relationship to have.
SCORPIO
Your sweet spot this year: late May all the way to the end of 2023. Your sour spot: late April till May’s midpoint. We all need sour to enjoy the sweet, so let’s start with the more challenging aspects. You have a wobbly Mercury retrograde in your Relationship zone for three weeks, starting April 21st. Mercury retrogrades are infamous for destabilising intended words and actions–so be aware of this sour transit, which will get greatly sweetened, nonetheless, by Jupiter entering your Relationship zone mid-May until the end of the year. Jupiter wants to bring luck and abundance to life. It makes things bigger–but only if you’re looking up from the little things that your fixed-water nature can obsess about. Don’t miss out on the vista of the forest because you’re not letting go of this thing your partner said at the gas station 60 kilometres back. Jupiter wants to open windows and doors–don’t keep them closed off. From mid-May onward, it’s a time to grow (Jupiter) by letting go of small-mindedness in love.
SAGITTARIUS
There are hotspots, and then there are super-hotspots. You have a lot of sizzle from late February until mid-March. Lovely Venus (love, desire, beauty) joins up with the other benefic Jupiter (largesse, opportunity, expansion) in your Romance zone, a place where Venus has its “joy.” This is a winning ticket transit, so please cash in. The Romance zone is about creativity, procreation, and recreation. It’s a fertile time for minds (and bodies). If single, these three weeks augur romps, vacation, fewer hours at the office, strapless bikinis, champagne. If in a relationship: ditto. This super-hotspot burns brightly within a much longer and auspicious transit, namely Jupiter in your Romance zone for the first five months of the year. With your ruling planet so placed, the only thing to worry about is going too big. Excess marks the underside of this transit: beaucoup late nights, too many romantic interludes. For some, that sounds like one of those good problems. But moderation in all things, Sadge. Behave somewhat.
CAPRICORN
We start the year for you with a rather intense configuration of Pluto (dark Sith-lord) and sweetheart Venus together in earthy Capricorn on January 1st. There is an obsessive quality to this thankfully fleeting transit, not to mention that communicative Mercury is also retrograde in your sign on this date (and onward until January 18th). That means lots of wonky energy right away to start the year, especially around words and messages. To put it plainly: don’t write texts that shouldn’t be sent on New Year’s Eve. Instead, demonstrate some willpower and soldier through this tempting first day of the year, for there are much greener pastures ahead. To wit, Venus will be extra strong for you from mid-March until April 11, where it will transit your Romance zone. This is the time to flirt, be open, and send texts with luscious innuendo. If March and April is for flirting (or if you’re coupled-up, with your bae), early May indicates a time to nurture. It’s then that Venus dips into caring Cancer until early June. Romance here gets more domestic–staying in to make some elaborate dish and watching Wong Kar Wai’s absolute masterpiece “In The Mood For Love” on repeat because it’s just that magical.
AQUARIUS
A big year for you, in general, and, perhaps, for love and romance, in particular. On March 7th, disciplinarian Saturn, your ruler, leaves your sign after a long, brutal transit there. The past couple years have been like training for some huge sports match, with Saturn, as the hard-nosed coach, grinding you down to make sure you’re in shape for some big event. Bottom line: expect to feel way lighter in life and love around early March. Let’s be clear, though: there are gentle summer breezes already opposing Saturn’s headwinds now. Indeed, lovely Venus will be softening Saturn all January in your Selfhood zone. Saturn knows it is on its way out–and Venus is coming to hold your hand for the transition. With Venus in the picture, it’s time for more warmth and bright eyes: no more cold shoulders and icy glances. Please mark late May to late June on your calendar, as well. You will have the flirty Gemini Sun in your Romance zone for this transit. Finally unencumbered by Saturn, this is your time to be out on the tiles, light-footed in sandals instead of the Taskmaster’s heavy trainers on your paws.
PISCES
Last year, you had your ruler, Jupiter, planet of big dreams, in your Selfhood zone. Jupiter encourages your sign toward evermore expansion, excess, and love. But on March 7th, this hippie chic ends, as Saturn, the grim Berlin fashionista, enters your Selfhood sector instead. Volte face. Your boundary averse nature is about to get some lessons in staying-in-line. Saturn is strict and serious–but this could be what you need in love, Fishes? The overarching theme for this year (and the next) is emotional maturity. If this is the big picture, three smaller frames are these. First, lovely Venus in your Romance zone from early May to early June. Second, the caring Cancer Sun also in your Romance zone from late June to July 20th. And finally the service-oriented Virgo Sun in your Partnership zone late August for one month. What should be informing these smaller transits is the bigger Saturnal one: how do I have fun, experience romance, and interact with partners in ways that aren’t wishy-washy and fleeting like the shoreline and the sea? Saturn rules over iron–and while this isn’t a year to be iron-fisted, it is a time to think about heavier metals, like those found in rings that bespeak commitment and longevity (which Saturn rules).
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