Mercury and Pluto are working at cross-purposes today, making it seem as though certain activities are in the do-or-die category when they are actually in the no-biggie category. The question is, "What really matters?" The answer is, "If it matters to you, it matters." However, the wise person will question that continually.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). The spirit of adventure is rather obviously alive in you. You'll raise eyebrows and get other kinds of attention from people who wish they had the guts to take on life the way you do today!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You don't get to choose your family, your colleagues or your neighbors. When you can be friends with someone who also happens to be a person you didn't choose, it really feels like the universe is on your side.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You'll make something interesting happen socially, something that no one was expecting. Because of you, the other person feels empowered to take a risk. This is getting good.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). If one person is calling all of the shots, no matter how brilliant this person may be, the situation will not be as stable as a scene with a few diverse leaders who can balance one another.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). There is magic in your writing. You can really use it today in a number of possible directions. Writing things down can make them more real, easier to let go of or harder to forget.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You can't be completely known, because you're not one definitive way. Different environments and people pull out new sides of you. Today it will feel like you're deciding who to be with every little choice you make.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). No one likes to be criticized, but right now you really want to know you've been seen, that others are trying to understand what you do. If they have a critical opinion, it will ultimately inform and help you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). The events you'll deal in today may only be important to the players involved. Outsiders wouldn't understand. There's a good feeling attached to knowing you are on the inside.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). There will be a great level of complexity to your dealings. There will be rules to follow, stated and unspoken. The more sensitive you are to the latter kind, the less you'll have to abide by the former kind.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You may not be in the mood to "be yourself" today, and if you want to be someone else for a while instead, you'll find a way to do this playfully and ethically.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Destroying someone's illusions is just as damaging as destroying personal property. To respect a person is to respect the mythology that the person lives within.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). There's pleasure in work and work in pleasure. Right now it will be easier for you to extract the joy from difficult endeavors than it will for you to take the difficulty out of joyful endeavors.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (March 23). It's not enough to know. This year you'll act on what you know and greatly benefit from this, too. Sometimes it's better to live through it than think through it. Love will surprise and change you in April. May is for reconnecting relationships and healing family karma. August brings a financial breakthrough. Gemini and Pisces adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 2, 14, 33, 38 and 27.

ASTROLOGICAL QUESTION: "An astrologer told me that activity affecting my fifth house was going to change my life in the next year. What did she mean?"

If you look at a horoscope chart as if it were the face of a clock, the fifth house is at 5 o'clock. It's the only astrological house that has that kind of correlation, and I've often thought about why this is. The answer that popped into my head was a lyric to a country song: "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." I associate the fifth house with how we want to spend our free time. Follow your bliss and it leads straight to your fifth house. This house is ruled by the sun, so it stands to reason that this is where your passion lies. What gets you fired up may be a sport or a creative hobby or your true love. Have you ever gotten so totally swept up in a person or project that you completely lost track of time? You were having so much fun that — oops! — five hours passed and it felt like only five minutes. That's your fifth house whispering sweet nothings in your ear. This life change you're in for will make it seem as though time is jumping forward, so hold on tight!

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Happy birthday to Perez Hilton, who started one of the most popular celebrity news blogs in history. If you think gossip is child's play you might be interested to know that the celebrity gossip king was born when the sun, Mercury and Venus were all in Aries, the sign of fresh, youthful excitement. Perez also has natal Saturn, the planet of lessons, in Leo, the sign of entertainment.

To write to Holiday Mathis, visit www.creators.com/author/holiday-mathis and click "Contact."