The AstroEssence: Attention is on health, and that covers a lot of ground, depending on your focus: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual. We are likely to be critical of what we see (Jup in Virgo) especially in terms of externals, of the health of the social order (Jupiter again), but what we need to know is that what we’re seeing, and the origin of our focus, is really us, at a personal level; what we complain of, admire, or desire in matters of health and see in others (Hygeia in Libra) are really statements about ourselves and our responses and reactions to our environment (Sun in Leo). It may be dismissed as simplistic, but what we see out there is definitely what we’re carrying inside, so that externals guide us as to our own need to modify, clear, and make healthy (Perfecting today: Sun sextile Hygeia and semi-square Jupiter)

Today’s word image is a red flower and a stone. What kind of impulse do you have to interact with the two? Is the first thing you think of to smash the flower with the stone? To move the stone so the flower may grow and expand? To put the flower in your hair and the stone in your pocket? To leave them just as they are? To wonder what those two things are doing there? If the flower is ‘new growth’, a chance to ‘blossom’, that needs nurture and space, and the stone is your in-built Saturnian need to aggress, to stop or contain something, then your response to this pair should tell you something about how you’re treating new creations and fledgling projects and energies, and what rules or boundaries you may be imposing on them.

For those born with the Sun at 6 Leo: The health of your primary relationships may be paramount this year, through to your next birthday, with a need to do what’s smart and practical calling the shots. You may be tempted to keep secrets or bury less-than-pleasant factors under the rug, but that will only foster guilt and tensions that may keep even the most inevitable-seeming positive things from happening. Talk it out, this year, and think before you speak; these should be your mantras. Good luck, Leo, and Happy Birthday!