Mature Saturn makes a proposition to lady Love Venus. What doth he propose? On one hand, if love is grand, commitment. Yet if love is troubled, there's an overwhelming need to dive into the particulars of the relationship. Communication and maturity form the basis for success in heart matters today.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You do something creative with your negative emotions. Before you know it, you've turned something unsatisfactory in your life into a helpful enterprise. Capricorn helps you see things differently.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You may be feeling low on willpower, so it's useless to deny yourself anything. Instead of saying no, decide what you're saying yes to, and move toward that. When inspired, you can move mountains.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You're in a collecting mood again. You're treasure hunting for the perfect addition to your group. Nothing useless, all very useful, if only for their perceived value and for the fact that you love them so.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You can guide someone to greatness. You have the insight — you know what they need to do. Present your ideas in a soft light. Be seductive. Avoid saying anything that would put the other person on the defensive.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). There's something forbidden that you can't seem to stay away from. The very fact that it is off-limits keeps you hovering near. Everyone needs to be a little bad once in a while, and this is your time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (AUGUST 14). You want everything in your life to be quality. So this is your year to make conscious choices, and you choose the best. Your talents are showcased in September. You're the one to pull a project across the finish line in December and your rewards for doing so keep rolling in for years to come. Aquarius and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 25, 49, 11 and 16.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). There's a sneaking suspicion afoot. It's like you are lucky and you don't even know it. Tonight, enjoy the wonderful sensation of having nowhere to go that's better than where you are.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You were meant for a special purpose. It's not so obvious to you now. In fact, the small deeds you're doing are pointing in a direction, adding up to something. It's not your job to know what. Just trust that it is so.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You're willing to be mildly uncomfortable if it makes the other person happy. Unfortunately, the other person may be asking you to become very uncomfortable, and you're just not into that.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Even though you're dealing with people who already understand you most of the time, you still need to use your best communication today. Be thorough, and wherever possible, write it down.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You're wrapped up in the immediacy of the day. But are the needs you are fulfilling really urgent? Is it really necessary to answer the cell phone every time it rings? Rethink your availability factor.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Your agenda is quite different from the one your boss or colleagues have for you. It's a blessing. Before this, you didn't even know you had an agenda. These people are your teachers.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Carl Jung said that nothing influences children more than the unlived lives of their parents. You'll find yourself in the throes of an endeavor that your mother and father would have loved to have experienced firsthand.

ASTROLOGICAL QUESTIONS: "I am an Aquarius who fell for a Virgo. We had a falling out last June. I recently contacted him to say hi after a year of not speaking and was welcomed, then rebuffed. I wanted to make peace with him, and he was uncomfortable by my gesture. This is just one of many rejections I have experienced. Is there anybody who can love me with the same integrity as I love them?"

Let me guess, you wanted to be friends, right? Aquarians often have this friend fantasy about their ex: someone to hang out and watch the game with, chat and nap with. You offer the olive branch hoping for everything to be kumbaya and they're like "see ya!" There's a reason why it didn't work out, hence the "ex" part. Yet for Aquarius, breaking up isn't intractable, because they're good people, right? You remember why you liked them to begin with. Yet he's moved on. You're seeing essential differences of the human heart; not everyone loves in the same way you do. Yet by saying your loving has more integrity than another's, you risk becoming Aquarian superior, believing you're better than another — which is really not love.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: What has Vanessa Carlton learned from love? She's said, “Picking the hardest path reaps the most benefits, straying from the beaten path has always served me exponentially well.” This is reflected by the rebellious planet Uranus, in a pas de deux with Vanessa's Leo sun. Vanessa revisits her love strategy this birthday year, which ultimately leads to a lasting partnership in late 2009.

Holiday Mathis is the author of "Rock Your Stars." If you would like to write to her, please go to www.creators.com and click on "Write the Author" on the Holiday Mathis page, or you may send her a postcard in the mail. To find out more about Holiday Mathis and read her past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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