Today’s Virgo moon brings both ups and downs as it clashes with Venus, Saturn, and Mercury, but harmonizes with Uranus and Mars. Don’t be surprised if you run into obstacles, but try not to get discouraged. As frustrating as they might be in the moment, the setbacks you encounter today are likely to be temporary, and they’ll be balanced out by lovely conversations, unexpected opportunities, and random good luck.

Some people need to lay out a detailed, step-by-step plan before they take action, but you’d rather not spend too much time strategizing — plans tend to change anyway, and it feels like a waste of time. But the bigger the problem you’re facing, the more you’ll benefit from taking time to plan out your actions more methodically. You probably can’t fix everything in one fell swoop, but if you break it into pieces and tackle one at a time, you’ll be surprised by how far you get — and how fast.

You might be hesitant to indulge your imaginative side right now — it seems more important to focus on practical matters, devoting your energy to the activities most likely to materially benefit you or your community. But today, stop assuming that creativity is a luxury. You might struggle to express its worth in strictly quantitative terms, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Share your ideas with your friends, and you might be surprised by the ways they blossom into useful, real-world projects.

When people behave in ways that bother or inconvenience you, you tend to want to know why — and, without any actual information, it’s easy to come up with all kinds of theories, most of them not particularly generous, to explain why others act the way they do. But today, remind yourself that you can’t really know what’s going on in anyone else’s head. Most people are dealing with more than you can gauge from the outside, and the only way you’ll learn is by actually communicating.

You tend to feel most comfortable when you have a clear plan to follow. This way, you know what to expect, and it’s easier to tell if you’re staying on track. Today, though, as conditions change and you encounter unexpected roadblocks, you might just have to wing it. It can be tempting to cling to your ideas about how things were “supposed to” go, but keep an open mind: Some of the best opportunities are the ones you never could have foreseen.

You don’t do well with ambiguity — at least, not when it comes to relationships. You can’t stand guessing where you stand with people; one way or the other, you want to know. Today especially, uncertainty is likely to put you on edge, and the stress of not knowing what’s going on could lead you to lash out. If you find yourself trying to guess how someone else feels or wondering whether or not they’re upset with you, stop trying to read their mind and open up a conversation instead.

You’re thoughtful and observant, and you aren’t afraid to turn your powers of perception on yourself. You’d rather see yourself clearly — flaws and all — than make excuses for your shortcomings, and for the most part, you understand yourself well. Even so, your perspective is limited and there are things you don’t see — from faults that have managed to slip past your critical eye, to talents you’ve undervalued. Others sometimes see these parts of your personality more clearly than you do, so today, let the people you trust help you know yourself better.

Sometimes it feels like your life is all thought and no action. You worry that, for all the time you spend ruminating and planning your next steps, relatively few of your ideas end up coming to fruition — but remember that this isn’t a bad thing. You need space to dream, without the pressure of action. Today especially, don’t worry so much about doing something with all of your ideas. For now, simply having them is enough; you can figure out the action steps, if there are any, later.

Most of the time, you’re vigilant about maintaining your boundaries. It’s not that you don’t want to get close to people, only that you’re careful not to let other people’s moods hold too much sway over your own. Today, though, it might be impossible not to be affected by how the people around you are feeling. Your instinct might be to protect yourself by closing yourself off — but don’t. The more you allow yourself to feel compassion for others, the closer your relationships will get, and these bonds will ultimately make you stronger, your life better.

In general, you probably take a relatively laidback attitude toward your goals, enjoying the process and trusting that success will come in its own time. Lately, though, you’re hungry for tangible results. You want to hit milestones and see measurable progress; you’re longing to have something to show for all your efforts. Let this impatience motivate you, but don’t imagine that you need to rush, or that your work up until now has been in vain. It’s all building toward something greater, and your challenge is simply to stay the course.

You want others to see you as competent and dependable, a person who others can rely on no matter what. But while this is generally a good way to live your life, remember that nothing is absolute: Every so often, there are good reasons to change your mind, to walk out on a project before it’s completed, to let people down. Sometimes it proves impossible to do exactly what you said you would; today, do your best to follow through, but remember that changing your mind once in a while is normal, and it doesn’t mean you’re unreliable.

Some people seem scared to express any thoughts that are too offbeat or controversial, but you tend to lean in the opposite direction. You’re often more interested in sharing your more unconventional ideas; it’s hard to see the point in speaking up if everyone already agrees with you. But today, try not to get so fixated on being surprising and provocative that you end up saying things you don’t really mean. Do your best to simply tell the truth, even when it’s not exciting or original.

In theory, you enjoy working closely with others, but in practice, collaboration often seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. Today, especially, people are likely to frustrate you — maybe your work styles and personalities don’t mesh as naturally as you wish they did, or maybe part of you feels strangely competitive. But remember that collaboration doesn’t need to be frictionless to be worthwhile; sometimes, the extra effort is what generates the best, most surprising results.

Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.