Weekly Love and Sex Horoscope: March 17-23

Mercury should not get short shrift in a love horoscope. Although this planet doesn’t receive the attention lavished upon sexy Venus and Mars, a relationship is not going to last without communication. Erotic draw may get you into bed with another warm body, but eventually the excitement of novelty wanes, and the faults of your beloved come into clear focus. Many courtships last no longer than three months because the two involved parties don’t know how to talk about their needs.

Mercury entered Pisces on Friday. The last sign of the zodiac is not Mercury’s ideal placement, as the communication planet’s words get muffled in metaphor. How can you speak directly, when your verbiage flows down the wrong tributary, missing your target completely? Mercury’s opposition to strict Saturn on Monday does bring some much-needed structure to communication. Saturn’s job is to pin Mercury down, to make him precisely define his words. This is a good time to emotionally communicate your needs as carefully as you can, so there is no way you can be misunderstood. Without conscious intent, you’ll just find it more difficult to get your point across.

Friday’s Libra Full Moon follows the Sun’s ingress into Aries on Thursday. The Aries Sun represents the Self’s agenda; the Libra Moon symbolizes the needs of a relationship. When the “I versus Us” conflict comes to a head, Libran themes such as imbalance and lack of fairness are highlighted. This lunation is especially powerful, as it is squared by Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto brings power struggles and intense emotions that make relationships especially challenging. This Libra Full Moon can be healing — if you use excavated secrets and raw feelings as a springboard to regenerate a stagnant partnership.