Michelle Williams and Luke Kirby in Take This Waltz

The day of the year set aside for lovers by the makers of greeting cards falls, in the northern hemisphere, during the grimmest month. Where is the erotic promise in February’s pale days and cold rain?

But not this year. This year, February looks fabulous. It looks sexy, fecund, inspiring. A sweetscented posy of snowdrops, a young lamb curled in the hay, a golden candle at an iris-blue window, a tender caress under a warm blanket.

This month promises romance, music, love.

Jean Marais and Josette Day in La Belle et La Bete

Neptune,the planet of ideal love, Venus, planet of real love, Mars the plan of action, are all in Pisces, a place where anything is possible, where no rules apply. In boundless Pisces, love is all around.

This is available to everyone.

And with Mercury Retrograde, we might as well all stand still and feel the swelling music. (Thank goodness the Rx problems were solved here.)

Then something magical happens at the New Moon, which is so close to the end of Aquarius that it slides into Pisces. Something dies and something is born on the same day. And Mars and Venus embrace just a few days later  at the very beginning of the entire zodiac.

New love, new self-knowing.

Yin and yang like a Chinese lock, clicking into place. Two halves make a whole, and open a door. For each of us this fiery door opens onto a different vista, but that vista is grand, sweeping and glorious. Finally we are getting a glimpse into a possible future after years of struggle.

Pictures this month are from the most romantic movies. This is an acknowledgement of Mars, Venus and Neptune in Pisces. If you choose to do nothing during this Mercury Retrograde, you could get into bed and stream them onto your laptop. Make sure you bring a box of tissues because most of these films will leave you in tears. But what’s a romantic movie without catharsis?

To read your horoscope, click here.