As Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard's Almanack, "A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the rider was lost." The Uranus retrograde suggests that to cut down on the number of unpleasant surprises, do the small, prudent thing. Take care of the nail.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your strengths are powerful, so don't obsess over your weaknesses. Manage them instead. Find a workaround for whatever gets in the way of your excellence. Your trajectory will be a slow upward climb.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You're highly motivated by the intrinsic satisfaction of accomplishing your work, and the ancillary prizes, while interesting, have little to do with that drive of yours. You're an emotional asset to the group and a moneymaker too.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). So you've killed a few plants. That doesn't make you a plant killer. There are those who think in extremes. Think more reasonable than they. One example is never a big enough sample pool to make a rule out of.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). What do you do when the cream of the crop turns out to be skimmed milk? Just keep cooking. Anyway, this no-frills version of the recipe will be a lot healthier for you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). When you put more effort into creating and nurturing a relationship, love will be abundantly (but perhaps not immediately) there for you. These things take time to grow.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). People want the inside story from you, if you're willing to share it. Your personal experience is much more valuable than anything that can be looked up on the internet.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You see how beautiful people are when they cannot seem to see it in themselves. Your role will be to give them a clue but not to try and convince them. That won't work. People have to go at their own pace.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). When you get what you're pursuing you're going to feel the same way about yourself as you do now. This is why it's important to get on great terms with yourself. Check in. What would improve the you-to-you relationship today?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Your ideas about who you are and where you're going will be consistently in line with the group's. There's a shared set of values here, along with common goals and similar methods for getting there. You'll get there together.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). When you're giving love that can't be felt and is instead turned back on you, this is not your fault. Those who do not love themselves will find something wrong with anyone who loves them.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). It's a day to set personal boundaries, if only to prove that you can. Without boundaries you'll agree to do things that you don't want to do and then be unhappily looking for opportunities to get back at the one who "put" you in that position.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). If it doesn't have the potential for a little pain, it's not really a risk. But no risk means no thrill. Anyway, you'd much rather do something new and mess it up than repeat part of the mildly satisfying past.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (Aug. 3). This solar return sees you become a master. The talent that's necessary to be a master is one of attraction. The master is more attracted to the subject than others and is thus willing to try harder, make more attempts and experience more failures. The way to mastery is persistence. Virgo and Aquarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 22, 28, 31 and 18.

ASTROLOGICAL QUESTIONS: "My whole family is horrible at giving gifts. Sometimes they cheap out. Sometimes they buy things at the last minute that are so wrong for me that I can't believe my eyes. Once they got me concert tickets to a band in a genre of music I do not and have never liked. Once my mom got me a mat for doing situps. I've never expressed an interest in doing situps. Baffling! Judging from the gifts they give me, they don't know me at all. I'd rather they don't give me anything at all. I'm a Leo,and my 30th birthday is coming up. How can I keep them from ruining it?"

Well, at 30, you've been an adult nearly as long as you've been a child. In theory, you could travel to a remote island with a friend for your birthday, and leave the kinfolk to celebrate you from a distance. Then again, you're a Leo. You're always a child at heart. And you long to be seen for who you really are. So tell your family, in no uncertain terms, what you want. You don't have to be a fiance to register at a department store or online. This is what Amazon wish lists were made for!

CELEBRITY PROFILES: The reigning queen of all things domestic is Martha Stewart, a Leo whose showmanship, style and flair elevate home projects to the level of art. It should come as no surprise that Stewart has natal Venus, which represents love and beauty, and vision-oriented Neptune both in Virgo, the sign of details and perfection. Her communication planet, Mercury, is in Cancer, the sign of the home.

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