When humans lived in the jungle, being ultra-aware of your surroundings meant the difference between eating lunch or being eaten for lunch. Today, good listening skills may not be a matter of life or death, but current position of Mercury to Uranus suggests that relationships, transactions and general logistics will unfold with greater ease for those who listen well.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You're doing what you intended to do! You'll get proof. The people you wanted to reach are paying attention, and you're connecting with them. As you achieve goals, you'll make new ones, because now you know more.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You hope to know the heart of another, but each heart is a unique, vast and mysterious emotional expanse — it's hard enough to know your own! Any connection we make, however brief or tenuous, is very much worth the effort.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). This is a day when patience is required. No one can learn everything at once. Information takes time to sink in and even more time to become applied knowledge. And the wisdom to predict patterns takes the longest time of all.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You do the work as well as you can, because it matters now and may matter in ways you cannot see yet. Even if you don't feel like you're exerting influence, people are watching you for tips and cues they can follow.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). There's only one battle that deserves your energy today, and you'll know exactly which one that is. Handle this one thing and the others will either fall in line with the solution or become nonissues — not your problem to solve.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You don't expect things you want to come to come to you easily. You'll do the work that's uncomfortable, but not unsafe. Avoiding some kinds of pain keeps life good, while avoiding other kinds keeps it small. You know the difference.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). The design of social life is an art. You're so good at figuring out the conditions under which people talk, work, play or get along well. But it does take practice, and nothing that works once is guaranteed to work every time. Keep experimenting.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You'll hear the words, but they make no sense on their own. You'll be intrigued enough to listen with your deep emotional intelligence to try to break the code and get to the true meaning.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You're fair. You have taste. They'll ask for your assessment and advice. They'll ask you to mediate, judge and critique. It's work! And to appreciate the contributions of others without having to rate them — that's a day off!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You will feel pulled to demonstrate your value, but resist that impulse. If you have to prove yourself, perhaps the other person isn't observant enough. When it's really a match, you don't have to do somersaults for them to see you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Negative space can be seen. It is the area around a subject, helping to define its shape. Negative space can also be felt, as you'll notice today when there's not quite enough of it to get clarity.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You can be the glue that brings everyone together and gives them a reason to stay connected. But today, you'll be the grease that has everyone moving easily. You keep small differences from grinding the whole thing to a halt.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (Sept. 13). It's your Year of the Coin in which your "riches," whether financial, emotional or relational, seem to have a beautiful symmetry and weight, a specificity that tells you where they are from and a size that allows you to invest in the increments that best suit you. More highlights: Close time with usually distant friends, success in games and sports, a remarkable healing that opens up a whole new world. Capricorn and Aries adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 10, 3, 34 and 1.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: In a move of efficiency meets entertainment savvy, Niall Horan recently invited his fans to finalize the setlist for his Dinner Party tour. The chart-topping One Direction star was born under a Virgo (efficiency) sun and when the moon and Venus were in Leo, indicating a natural-born entertainer. Virgos are naturally inclined to help others and often do so quietly, which has been the way for many of Niall's charitable efforts, which include supporting autism awareness and organizing benefit events for various causes.

For more Holiday magic, visit HolidayMathis.com. To find out more about Holiday Mathis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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