Venus and Saturn roll up in a welcome wagon to offer a lucky trine to the Virgo sun on her first full day on the job. There’s an intellectual air sign energy zinging between the love planet and the lessons planet which is swirling up all kinds of speculation for the earthy solar transit — though the message can really be distilled to three syllables: “Get to work.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19). In-person meetings are the best way to go if you can swing it. What happens face to face will be completely different from anything that could transpire otherwise.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The truth about any moment or state is that it is impermanent. Any sense you have of yourself inside that moment is equally ephemeral, so ruminating is essentially useless.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). While it’s true the world wouldn’t run right without give and take, the onus to compromise shouldn’t always have to fall on you. What would really happen if you more often dared to do what you wanted?
CANCER (June 22-July 22). There’s safety and security in feeling you belong and are more or less like the others in the group. However, the ways you are different will not set you apart; they will instead be cause for fascination.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Your talent for persuasion and negotiation gets stronger every time you use it. You’re still learning what buttons to push. Though this changes with every deal, your intuition on the matter gets keener with practice.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The word “yes” — being just what you wanted to hear — will make you smile. This affirmation is cause for relief, relaxation and celebration. It’s also a signal. The real work begins.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Don’t tell all you know or show all you have. A glimpse is more interesting than a reveal, which should be saved until the very last moment for the audience who has earned it. And for the rest — never.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). As the sign of transformation, you welcome the fascinating evolution of your own nature, which often occurs without your control or interference. However, the change is solely your invention today.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Expectation has a way of blinding people to the possibilities outside of what they anticipate. Don’t let this happen to you. Drop your preconceived notions and open up to more mysterious realities.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You are used to obeying the driving force of your ambition. It benefits you to change it up. Give that ambition a rest and it will still be there when you come back to it. Settle into a process. Let that be enough.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Because you don’t expect people to behave like you would, you’ll see their unique gifts and earn the reciprocal attention ignited by the tender power of your quiet observation.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). It feels like you’re giving absolutely everything to love. But if you stop to consider the real-life limits and practicalities, the feeling changes. So don’t stop. If you can’t romanticize love, what can you romanticize?
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Aug. 23). Relationships take unexpected turns — especially ones tied to your livelihood. You’re in for a ride. What you receive will be different and more than what you ever thought you would take away from a situation. Tweaks to your routine lift your vitality. Someone new helps you get unstuck from what held you back before. Leo and Taurus adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 4, 22, 28 and 13.
COSMIC QUESTION: “I’m puzzled. If a birthday falls close to another sign, do you often have traits of the other sign? I feel I am a pretty stronghearted Leo, but Aug. 21 is so close to the cusp that my Leo traits are often overshadowed by unseen forces that stifle my creativity and ambition.”
No one is all one sign. Even though you relate to your Leo birth sign, you also relate to other energies in your chart, the placement of your moon and all of the planets in their various stations at the moment you were born. In fact, every person has every sign represented to some degree in his or her natal chart. When a chart is rendered, each sign of the zodiac rules one house of the chart. These house rulers act as nuggets of potentiality — optional ways of being, attitudes to take and experiences to have regarding each area of our lives. Always exercise your free will over destiny. Astrology is best used as an informative and imaginative tool of leverage, an opportunity opener, an options multiplier and an empowerment — not a rulebook to limit your self-definition.
CELEBRITY PROFILES: Today we celebrate the birth and mourn the loss of Kobe Bryant. The superstar who once helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three NBA championships in a row was born when both the sun and Saturn were in Virgo, suggesting Bryant lifted his superior talent with an unstoppable work ethic. Mercury in Leo speaks to Bryant’s outsized heart and charisma.
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