Writing and Illustration by Paola Valentina.
Many reading this will have had, most likely, ample time for introspection and self-reflection over lockdown months. Whether this has amounted to epiphanies of the self, existential perturbance, or more questions than answers matters not; as echoed by cliché instagram infographics and caring friends, the real value comes not from production, productivity, or tangible ‘progression’, but waking up to another day and choosing to exist in the belief that there is a future worth venturing into.
As we plunge into the new year, the second semester, and ever-changing lockdown regulations, it is more imperative than a luxury to take the time to identify habits, people, objects and thoughts that add value to this drifting existence. The laborious praxis of removing oneself from an already transient routine to evaluate our internal and external conditions can be overwhelming - but it is necessary to, once in a while, assess them. Are you not allowing yourself to indulge in little things that fill you with joy? Are you too preoccupied with the last stretch of your studies and denying yourself rest? Remember you do not owe anybody, or anything, more than its merited level of respect - you have survived everything up until this point, and this era will be no different. Put your wellbeing and mental health first.
Indeed, I do find the thought of going through daily motions exhausting at times and I am well aware I am not alone in this sentiment. Managing to rise from the heaviness (and easiness) of sleep, racing against a prematurely-setting sun, and prancing through the possibilities of what the next months will look like are hurdles to my previous propensity to unhesitantly relish life with gusto. Yet, even when we experience fragments of moments when we truly feel as if we do not want to belong to this world, it is the world that we have - and we do indeed belong to it. We are connected to it in the big things, in the implications of our membership in a globally community, and we are connected to it in the small things: our favourite flowers, the smell of coffee grounds, smiles we give our neighbours, our improvised dancing to new songs.
The playlist for your horoscope was a fun aside on my end, as lockdown meant a miniature reintroduction to my 14-year-old self’s curiosity regarding birth charts and astrology. Although I do not believe that our fate is written in the stars, it is nice to occasionally yield to the flirtatious idea that we are connected, belong to something bigger, and that there always exist deeper dimensions we are yet to understand within ourselves and others. But mainly it’s also got some sweet tunes in there for the much-needed boogie.
You can find the playlist on our Spotify account, along with our other playlists.
songs for your horoscope alignment
Taurus - River Tiber
Taurobolium - Devendra Banhart
Sagittarius Red - Eugene McDaniels
Sagittarius A* - Declan McKenna
Scorpio's Letter - Taste of Pluto, Navy
Scorpio Rising - Death in Vegas
Scorpio Rising - Soccer Mommy
Scorpio - Titanic Sinclair
Virgo - Pity Party
Virgo lunar - Tere González, Lautaro Estela
Virgo on Mars - Phono-Comb
Virgo - Tony Jupiter
No Aquário - YMA
Aquarius/ Let The Sunshine In - The 5th Dimension
Aquário - Tiago Mac
Trópico de cáncer - Café Tacvba
Cancer Moon - Sen Morimoto
Capricorn - Raining Pleasure
Capricornio - Duncan Dhu
Gemini - Princess Nokia
Géminis - Vijay Kesh
Gemini - The Alan Parsons Project
Aries - Gorillaz
He's an Aries Man - Starbright
libra moon - Deaf Dreamer
Libra - Lemoncello
Ascendant in the Libra - Rorkid
Leo Rising - The Virtuals
Leo Venus - KK the Artist
Pisces - Rebecka Reinhard
Pisces Fish - George Harrison
Pisces - Miranda Glory
Pisces - Anjimile
Pisces ATM Curly
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