Virgo

virgo1Louise’s tarotscope: This month, think about the balance between giving and receiving energy. You might have come across “energy vampires”—the idea that some people drag energy out of us. This term is thrown around a lot, but I’m a bit against it, because I think it blames others for our energy, which is something we can instead take control of! It may be that you’ve been giving a lot recently, Are you constantly pouring someone else a cup of tea and forgetting to pour one for yourself? Or, stretching yourself far too much in order to help people and, then starting to resent them? You may be in that feeling like people are coming to you with all of their problems, but who are you going to tell your problems to? I want you to think this month about balance. Sometimes we can put a lot of pressure on one person to be everything for us; they have to be the person we go out with, the person we go to dinner with, the person we brainstorm with, that whole BFF thing. But we don’t have to get absolutely everything we need from one friend. We can have loads of different BFFs—the great thing about friendship is me allowing you to be you and me to be me!

This month you may realize which people perhaps aren’t the friends to go to when you’re feeling really worried, although you may love doing artwork or going dancing with them. That’s cool! It releases the pressure on the people around you so you can just really enjoy everybody for who they are and what they bring to your life. It means that you don’t feel so put upon either, because energetically, you’re finding with what you really need. You may start January going, “I’ve really not been laughing enough recently, who lifts me up? Who are the friends that I feel most alive with? Maybe I’m gonna spend a bit more time with them!” That word, energy, it’s just about where we place ourselves, you know? Of course, if you’ve got a friend who always comes to you with their problems, that’s fine! We do want to help our friends, and that’s good, but you don’t always want to be that person who is so put upon that they then complain to another friend about how resentful you feel about that dynamic! You want to help a friend in a tough time, but make sure you’re feeling uplifted yourself, so you can be a better help. Look at your community of people and ask what you need more of and what you need less of. Personally, if I wake up one morning and I don’t want to help someone, it’s because I haven’t really been looking after myself enough! Uh-oh! I know then that I need to give myself a bit of room. This month is about giving and receiving so you’re not just looking out for everyone else, but for yourself, too.

A side note: January’s also a good month for finding new mentors, if you’ve been looking for someone you really want to learn from—a big-sibling figure, or someone to help with school or college work. It’s a great moment in the year to put out that request. I feel there’s someone around you who is going to be the perfect mentor, so throw out that net if you want some guidance with a particular endeavor.

virgo001

Dylan’s advice: Crystals provide a kind of metaphor here for how we charge and drain our energy when we aren’t paying attention to ourselves and our needs. We can recharge and dedicate our energies for 2016 toward balance, and we can do that with beautiful, shiny crystals! If you don’t have any already, you can often find a variety of sizes of quartz, rose quartz, amethyst, citrine, and more at metaphysical-type shops, but if you don’t know where to look, may I recommend the infinite marketplace that is the internet? I like the Hoodwitch’s introduction to crystals. She guides you through how to cleanse, energize, and program your crystals to aid you. Dedicate a crystal to your pursuit of self-preservation to begin this practice in January, and continue to charge and meditate with your crystal whenever you feel an imbalance or any resentment creep up in how much you give. See your crystals as little reminders to receive and charge yourself, too.