Here’s why you might want to tell your partner “I love you” for the first time today

This summer is quite busy, astrologically speaking. Several planets are in retrograde, including Mercury, and we also have two upcoming eclipses, including a solar eclipse today, July 2nd. Mars enters Leo on July 2nd, too, adding to the already intense astro cocktail.

Mars was in Cancer for the last few months, creating an atmosphere of emotional defensiveness, emotional healing, and a tendency to be covert about what we want. Mars entering Leo brings a whole new energy to the collective, which you might find exciting.

Mars in Leo is all about generosity and love. As a collective, we’re shifting our attitudes and becoming much more giving, much more confident in our actions. Instead of mumbling, “But I love you silly, why don’t you see me?”, we’re now sending a thousand roses to our latest crush.

Granted, we might not all be living a Love Actually romance, but the energy is available to us. Generosity of the heart, the art of giving, the art of performing—it’s all around us. The energy is creative, which is what happens when you start tapping into your heart: you’re creative, generous, loving, confident, and shining.

This shift of energy is pushing us to live more authentically and confidently, too. We’re going to turn inward, allowing us to fill up our own cups and then have more love to give to others. If you’ve been fearing rejection and authenticity in the last weeks, this is a fresh breeze allowing you to live more truthfully.

Another very sweet side of Mars in Leo is that there is a tendency to build others up; the energy is more supportive, more cheerleading—but also more obnoxious, maybe. Leo is all about spontaneity but also all about ego, which means that for the next six weeks, battles of ego and petty tantrums are to be expected.

The advice is this: focus on expressing yourself, expressing love, individuality, creativity, and authenticity. If you focus on what fills your cup, you’ll find it easier to not fall for attention-seeking, competing, and wanting to fit in.

Personal truth is an important part of this transit, and if you don’t put enough focus on this, you’ll find yourself doing the exact opposite: competing for attention and losing yourself in relationships and activities that don’t fulfill you just so that another person/external situation can fill you up. So avoid that, or you’ll find yourself feeling empty.

For more astrology from me, check out my website.