Yearly Horoscope: Libra – 2020

Welcome to your 2020 theme: air, air and more air.

It’s worth pointing out that Libra is a cardinal air sign, and as such, you move things along. You thrive on air currents, breezes and winds. Aquarius is a fellow air sign, only its quality is fixed, so Venus here is less about movement and more about holding in position and observing, taking in the view from great heights.

And when Venus goes retrograde this year in the mutable air sign of Gemini from April 4 to Aug. 7, it could feel like a swallow darting through the air foraging for insects.

All that, plus Venus’s normal transit through your own sign of Libra in the fall (Oct. 28- Nov. 21) means your ruling planet spends more than five months in air signs. Relationships are writ large for you in 2020. From social contracts to legally binding agreements, 2020 is a year when your mailboxes, feeds, phones and ears will be filled with updates, announcements, queries, gossip and assorted chit-chat, along with a few handwritten cards and letters for good measure.

It’s little wonder that you want to be out mingling and communicating with others right now instead of staying home and taking care of business, or rather what feels like a black hole. Since late 2017, you could have developed a love-hate relationship with your abode, and for that, you can thank the planets of Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn.

It’s just been one thing after another, whether it’s home repairs and renovations costing more than what was estimated, getting in over your head with a house purchase or having cherished possessions lost to age, breakage, vandals, thieves or even weather and natural disasters. Perhaps due to some DIY projects you’ve undertaken or maybe because you simply let things pile up, now you have rooms and garages full of disorganized “stuff.” It’s morphed from being an afternoon cleanup chore to you needing to hire professionals to do a purge.

Maybe your four walls and roof are intact but there is heightened responsibility for those who live in or signify the “home,” especially a parent. Maybe there was a recent loss of a parent, and you’re dealing with the aftermath, sorting through papers and possessions and deciding who gets what.

Or perhaps a close family member requires extra assistance right now. It’s not like you can just delegate that kind of care and be done with it. They expect you to show up.

Fear not, the heaviness will ease up by year’s end, but in the meantime, there is still a lot going on in that area of your chart.

For starters, Jupiter has also arrived in the sign of Capricorn, and here he can help you make the best of the situation. Now might be the time to convert unused rooms in your home to host travelers on AirBnB. Or create a space for a home office or to host a family member in need of a refuge. It’s a time of putting your home to good use, perhaps in a way that earns you money.

You might even need to relocate quite a distance from where you live now, in which case, do it as frugally as possible and jettison everything you no longer need.

With so much of your focus on homelife, it’s possible there are professional changes arising that you’re not fully cognizant of. A lunar eclipse in Cancer on Jan. 10 could shake things up for you professionally, and this, in turn, could reverberate across the home front. Think back six months (to July 2019) to see if there were events or activities that tie back to this eclipse. Then brace for impact.

Two days post-eclipse, on Jan. 12, Saturn and Pluto form an exact conjunction in your solar fourth house. This event has been long in coming, and it serves to punctuate the story about your home, your roots, even your DNA. Whether the story wraps up with a simple period, a question mark, an exclamation point or semi-colon (denoting more to come) remains to be seen. But Jan. 12 signifies an end and a beginning, a moment that you’ll look back on and see as a point in time when you took responsibility on the home front. “Adulting” is what the kids call it today.

You can exhale on Jan. 14, when Venus moves into Pisces, a sign where she is exalted, in your sixth house of work, health and service. Here, you find it easier (and more fulfilling) to connect emotionally with co-workers, employees, clients and even bosses, especially in endeavors where you can provide the personal touch. Fields such as consulting, counseling, the arts, fashion, glamor and health/fitness are all areas where you enjoy uplifting others.

With Venus, the state of being exalted can be a mixed blessing. It’s like floating on clouds right now because she shares the same sign and house as Neptune, the planet of what we yearn for. Venus forms an exact conjunction with Neptune on Jan. 27, which could play out as a workplace attraction. It’s a dreamy fascination that magnetizes one or both of you. Unfortunately, so often with Neptune, great romances come to naught. Your feelings may be unrequited, or the object of your desire may simply be unavailable. Or someone isn’t being completely truthful. So, tread carefully and remember that if/when the attraction fades, you still need to be able to work together. In the meantime, make beautiful music together.

Your relationships, in general, tend to sizzle on and off this year, starting when Venus travels through cardinal fire of Aries from Feb. 8 to March 4. Venus tends to be feisty in Aries, so if you’re single, you might suddenly be updating your dating apps and arranging coffee dates. Be careful of coming on too strong, which is a pitfall when Venus is in the sign of her detriment.

If you are in a relationship, your partner might just need some space to do his or her own thing, to pursue some new passions. Your partner’s bid for independence could incite some jealousy on your part. They could just be looking for a new gym to join, not a new romance, so don’t assume the worst.

Along those same lines, be cautious on March 8. That’s when Venus conjoins Uranus, the planet of surprises, in the sign of sensual Taurus. The exact conjunction, while brief, could spark a love-at-first-sight moment, though it might be better called “lust at first sight.” And if you’re hoping to keep a dalliance under wraps, just know that it’s Uranus’s job is to reveal secrets.

The big event for Venus in 2020 is her retrograde in the sign of Gemini beginning on May 13. This is when Venus appears to move backward in the sky, a phenomenon that will occur in your solar ninth house of higher purpose. Venus’s job here is to help you better understand the world at large and gain a broader perspective. She does this by attracting people from other countries, religious leaders and mentors willing to share their philosophy.

It could be that you have a long-distance trip planned at this time, but most likely, it won’t be for relaxation and pleasure but for a specific purpose, such as buying merchandise abroad, attending a business conference or visiting siblings and kinfolk.

The retrograde has both positive and negative effects. As with a Mercury retrograde, there could be miscommunication and details getting lost in translation. This could strain relations, and you could be the blame. A desire to patch things up with the black sheep of the family, for example, could backfire and make the parties more entrenched.

But on the plus side, this retrograde lets you derive deeper meaning from encounters with those you’d describe as teachers or mentors. The “do-overs” you experience through Aug. 7 could give you a new sense of purpose and help redirect your life in crucial ways.

The “feistiness” of partnerships returns on June 28, when Mars, the god of war, enters your house of partnership. While there, he, too, goes retrograde and will basically remain in the sign opposite yours until year end. Mars’s passionate nature will vie for your attention and affection, but there also could be some backtracking involved. If you’re looking for love, you might attempt to rekindle an old relationship. If you’re in a committed relationship, maybe one of you will move out to temporarily take a break from each other.

With Mars in the house, there’s always potential for a breakup, especially Nov. 9 through Nov. 19 when Venus is traveling through your own sign of Libra opposing Mars then squaring Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn, all of which are in cardinal signs. There’s not much common ground to be had during that time — at home or with a partner, but thankfully, no transit lasts forever! And there’s remains the possibility that your partner’s great affection and passion will ultimately give you a reason to fall madly back in love with each other by year’s end.

And why would we suggest such a thing when Mars and Venus seemingly have turned their backs to each other? On Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn leave Capricorn to form an epic conjunction at 0 degrees of Aquarius. The conjoining of two planets whose approach is as different as night and day (even though they ultimately conspire to make us better people) show there is hope for all relationships. It comes down to cooperation and working for mutual good. Aquarius may represent fixed air, but you, Libra, can speak this language. To find out where your relationships will take you in 2021, you’ll want to check back here a year from now.