Section 1: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others

Virgo Rising:

Modest, unobtrusive, and often rather quiet or shy, you are a person who is content to be in the background or to serve as an assistant, in the supporting role rather than in the lead. You are quite humble in your own assessment of yourself and you have a very strong perfectionistic attitude, with a tendency to be overly self-critical. No matter how well you do something, you always see the flaws in it and how it could be improved. Often you will simply refuse to attempt something because you feel you cannot meet your own high standards.

You have an eye for detail and get upset when something is not done just so, usually something others consider rather inconsequential or trivial. You are hard to please and your relationships with others may suffer because of this. You also have refined sensitivities and are very discriminating and particular in your choice of foods, clothes, friends, artwork, etc. Order in your environment is very important to you.

You step into situations rather cautiously, and not without realistically assessing all of the risks and potential advantages involved. Unless something is a safe bet, you are unlikely to dive into it. You tend to underestimate your own capacities and to lack confidence and trust in life, which inhibits your spontaneity. Worrying is a bad habit of yours. On the other hand, you rarely fall flat on your face and what you do, you do very well.

Others see you as a self-sufficient and rather self-contained person. You have a strong sense of propriety. Politeness, good manners, and correct behavior are important to you. Your clear, cool, objective and nonemotional attitude is apparent to others first, and though you are really quite helpful and caring, you do not radiate much sympathy so that others may not see the helpful side as readily. You may seem more businesslike and factual, and also more conservative, than you really are at heart. You are the person others might go to for technical advice or an unbiased opinion, but not for emotional support.

You are keenly observant, intelligent, and have a great desire for learning and for self-improvement, but you are not especially ambitious and are often satisfied in a rather simple, unglamorous position in life.

Section 2: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation

Sun in Leo:

Proud and intensely individual, you really want to stand out, to be the very best you can be, and to be recognized and appreciated for your unique contributions. Doing something well and being respected for it is extremely important to you, and you cannot tolerate being in the background, taking orders from others, or being "just one of the team". You must put your personal stamp on whatever you do, and direct your own course in life. You need to have a place where you can shine, express yourself creatively, and be the one in charge.

You have big dreams and the determination, spirit, vitality, and enthusiasm to bring them into being. You also have a noble, romantic heart, and a love of the dramatic, colorful, and extravagant.

For you it is true that "all the world's a stage" and you secretly (or perhaps not so secretly) desire to be the Star or Hero in the play. You want to be great, and to receive the love and applause of an adoring audience, even if the "audience" is just one other special person. You need someone to believe in you and your dreams. Though you appear radiantly self-confident and independent, you are actually very much dependent on the affirmation, love, and recognition of others. You cannot bear being unnoticed or unappreciated.

You also love wholeheartedly and generously and really know how to make the person you love feel special. You love the magic of "being in love" and know how to keep the romance alive in your relationships. You are also immensely loyal and will defend your loved ones and stand by them to the end - as long as they never offend your pride or betray your trust. However, you like to be the strong one in a relationship and you really do not share the leading role very easily. Ideally you need to find a person who is as strong-willed as yourself, but who will not try to dominate or compete with you.

Your strengths are your zest and love for life, your creative power, and your warm and generous heart. Your primary fault is your tendency to be very egocentric, so concerned with the impression you are making and with your own creative self-expression that you forget there is another, larger world that does not revolve around you.

Section 3: Mental Interests and Abilities

Mercury in Cancer:

You are highly interested in inner, subjective, and personal issues, and your thinking is based more on feelings, intuition, personal experiences, and prejudices rather than reason or logic. Intellectual abilities and accomplishments without heart or soul mean little to you. You are empathic and would be an excellent counselor, for you are a sensitive listener and deeply interested in a person's feelings and inner life. In addition to psychology, you are drawn to education, art, poetry, music, or mythology. You are not especially confident about speaking in public, but will open up and share your thoughts in small, intimate groups. You enjoy keeping a diary or personal journal and reading the chronicles of others' lives and personal development.

Section 4: Emotions: Moods, Feelings, Romance

Moon in Virgo:

You are very sensitive, cautious, and shy about showing others your feelings. Though you may love and care for someone a great deal, you rarely express those feelings openly and freely. Very often your love for someone will be expressed by trying to help them, doing something tangible to benefit them, or serving them in some way.

It is also difficult for you to receive warmth, affection, or appreciation, for you often feel that you don't really deserve it or that "they don't really mean it". You can therefore seem rather cool and aloof, much more so than you feel.

A deeply ingrained critical attitude often makes you difficult to live with. You need to learn to be gentler and less of a perfectionist with others and with yourself.