On 28 September Mars enters Leo. The drive to act does not get stronger, it gets more exposed: for a few weeks you fight in the open, on equal terms, instead of behind the scenes.

What is happening

Leo is fixed Fire, the sign of high summer, the moment the fruit is ripe: not the blind flare of Aries, but a steady flame that stays at the center and lets itself be seen. With Mars here energy recovers warmth and confidence, and the fighting often happens in defence of someone else or of a principle, with an appetite for the grand gesture. The Sun is at home in the same sign, and that strengthens everything: you act with more conviction, less fear of being noticed.

The flip side comes from the sign's dignities: Saturn and Uranus are in detriment, so these days you find it hard to be cautious or diplomatic when something touches a nerve. Neptune is in fall, which turns an annoyance into a matter of principle: you risk turning a small spark into a fire, especially when your own prestige is on the line.

How to use it

Use this stretch for the battles that deserve to be fought in the open: defending someone publicly, backing a cause with your face showing, taking a stand instead of hiding behind half-words. Mars in Leo gives you the confidence to do it with more authority than usual.

Where it pays to slow down is the reaction to questions of precedence: who was right first, who deserves more credit, who was treated with less respect. These days anger flares fast exactly when your pride is on the line, and the higher the position you react from, the more disproportionate the reaction can look. Ask yourself whether you are defending a principle or just your image.

Where you feel it most

If your Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Mars is in Leo, or in one of the other fixed signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius), you feel this transit directly: more combative than usual, and touchier if someone questions your worth. For everyone else, what matters is the house of your birth chart this Mars falls in: that is where you act with more energy and more public exposure over these weeks.

Want to know which house it falls in and what that means for you specifically? Calculate your birth chart: all it takes is your date, time and place of birth.