Great craftsmanship comes from practice, experience, careful attention and acquired skills. Great art comes from pain, truth, calamity, mistakes, more pain... and a rather twisted and personal way of using it. The square between Mars (the planet of action) and Neptune (the planet of inspiration) suggests you should try and turn that pain into something beautiful.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You keep stepping forward, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but ever forward. As long as you don't stop, you'll eventually get there. Persistence will win out.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). If home is where the heart is, yours isn't so much an actual place these days. Rather, it's a circle of people you give your love to. Your affection is abundant, your efforts selfless, your attention addictive.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). What you need to learn now can't be studied; it must be observed. As you watch those who have the quality you want to attain (quietly, without judgment) you'll pick it up, as if by osmosis.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You've loved and lost, but worse than that, you've loved and not had that love returned. These are the rites of passage that all great lovers experience. Be proud of the scars on your heart. They've made you extraordinary.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). When a baby cries in public, any mother within earshot is activated to care and act. This is how a soul's cry is to you, except the soul's cry can't be heard with your ears. You hear it with your heart, and your heart reaches to respond.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Success is pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. Essentially, break the big goals down to small chunks and get to work. Also, a mentor will significantly help your chances.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You're a true friend and a stellar partner, which you'll prove in today's interactions. If you feel pressured to prove this too often, consider that the relationship may be unbalanced, and think about how you might restore equipoise.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Your charms are working today, perhaps even better than the other kinds of intelligence you were born with. If you're not giving the perfectly correct answers, you're giving entertaining ones.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). With creativity you will solve the problems that can't be solved with money or might. The trick to getting into a creative mindset is in freeing your mind from the perception of boundaries.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). The outcome you desire will be achieved through persuasion — but if your subject feels manipulated, the effect will be lost. Effective persuasion hinges on attraction, which you should build first and foremost.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You'll plan your day well, although it may seem that there's a distraction monkey on your shoulder ready to bail on any task that doesn't promise instant gratification. If you're to achieve your goal, he must be ignored.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). One small gesture will be the start of something consequential. The initiation move will have the kind of domino effect that people make videos about, the collapsing pieces spiraling in an intricate design.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (May 11). This year is marked by a sense of stability. In relationships and in your projects, stability is the guiding tenet. Turmoil gets settled; injustice is made right. July through September represents a thriving time for your family. August is for adventuring. Be a little selfish, because your happiness will benefit all. The Gemini and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 13, 19, 1, 44 and 11.

ASTROLOGICAL QUESTIONS: "I had a friend who did a tarot card reading for me five years ago. Her reading perfectly matched everything that was happening to me at that time. I became convinced there is correlation between the physical and astral worlds. This reading stirred my interest in astral projection, numerology, tantra, chakras and, of course, horoscopes. Sometimes it's difficult for me to make decisions in life. The negativity that pools around my soul drains energy from me. Holiday, is there a force field to protect me from darkness and help me walk in a better light?"

Yes. All you have to do is ask to be protected. Here's a simple mental exercise in buffering yourself. Imagine you are breathing in pale blue light and breathing out dark smoke. Let the white light build into a bubble around you. Go about your day being aware of your bubble. That's it. Do not get involved in anything that makes you feel weird. Stay in control. Never give your power over to anyone. You are the primary force in your life. Accept only studies that enrich you, make you feel lighter and brighter and add beauty to your experience in this lifetime.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: The dating life of Sabrina Carpenter is a hot topic these days, but the Disney artist is too busy with a hit song on the radio and a sold-out tour to be distracted by much. The triple-threat star of "Girl Meets World" and "Just Dance Kids 2" has her sun, Mercury and Saturn all in Taurus, the sign of the voice. Mercury is in artistic Pisces, and lucky Jupiter is in high-energy Aries.

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