A.  Wow — a newly single mom pushing 37, with three active young kids, leaving a seemingly abusive marriage, feeling unemployable after years out of the work force, and you’re worried about having great sex and getting back rubs? The important issue here is not about finding “Mr. Right,” but about making your life right for you and your family.

Please excuse my bluntness, but your rather consuming focus on romance (angular t-square with Neptune at the Midheaven opposite 4th-house Venus, both square 7th-house Jupiter)¹ A t-square is a powerful and challenging planetary configuration where two planets (or sets of planets) are in opposition to each other, and each is also square (at 90°) to a third planet or set of planets. The "focal point" (or focus) of a t-square is the planet at 90° to the others. "Angular" means close to one or more of the four power points of the chart: the Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, and IC. serves neither you nor your children. These powerful hopes and longings (natal Neptune opposite Venus) along with unrealistic projections on one’s partner (each square 7th-house Jupiter and a predominantly western-oriented chart) can (and has) led to disappointment in love and the belief that everything in your life would fall into place if only you could find the right man. These unproductive and ultimately inappropriate longings can and must be overcome.

Recent planetary activity reflects the sweeping life changes you describe: transiting Neptune conjunct Ascendant (dissolving your self-image as well as relationship loss), transiting Uranus square 4th-house Venus (loss of love and home and shift of values), progressed Moon conjunct Midheaven (change of status or occupation and shifts within the home — opposition IC), and transiting Saturn conjunct Moon (facing up to responsibility, leaving the past behind, especially bad habits).² Transiting Neptune conjoined the Ascendant from March 2, 2002 to December 26, 2004; transiting Uranus squared Venus from May 5, 2003 to February 18, 2005; transiting Saturn conjoins the Moon from August 18, 2004 to June 13, 2005; the progressed Moon conjoined the Midheaven on December 7, 2004. Remove those Neptunian rose-colored glasses and get real.

Ask yourself, “What’s truly important here and now?” as you harness the potency of your t-square to concentrate on your kids and career. If you land the “right job” without returning to school, so much the better; graduate school only makes sense if it’s for a specific, well-defined, and well-rewarded purpose. The beauty industry is a good sector for you — positively engaging your t-square as well as your caring, outgoing nature (natal Cancer Moon trine Neptune near the Midheaven, 7th-house Jupiter in Leo) and requiring only limited training.

Your best bet is to continue to care for your children and yourself, developing self-respect and genuine self-love in the process (which is, by the way, not the same as self-absorption). By claiming your place in the world in a mature and responsible way, you may eventually find your Prince Charming and prove your mother wrong. In any case, your rich, full, and meaningful life will be its own reward.