Hey star-gazers! If the heatwaves have you feeling hot, hot, hot, then don’t expect any air to cool you down in the month of August. We have no major planets in air signs until August 27, though we do kick off the first of August with a major Aquarius Full Moon.
Retrograde Saturn rules the roost at the start of the month, creeping backwards in the transpersonal sign of Pisces. We may feel compelled to rethink our hopes, dreams and creative aspirations, as well as the structures we’ve put in place in our lives to support all those things.
With Saturn, the lunation ruler, in Pisces in aversion to its domicile, Luna is left to fend for herself in matters pertaining to our values, principles and personal causes.
The strong fixed energy characterizing the first of the month will bleed into the next lunation, but at least for the first half of the month, there’s much to be said for staying the course while also making sure that you haven’t become so entrenched in your ways that you can’t change tack if necessary.
Earth prevails this month with both Mercury and Mars in Virgo trining a retrograde Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus. The preponderance of earth energy becomes especially important for concretizing major projects.
With Mars continuing its jaunt through organized, analytical and service-oriented Virgo until August 27, we have a rare opportunity to walk our talk and be especially focused on making things manifest in the world. This isn’t the energy of the risk-taker; this is the energy of the pragmatist. With Mercury spending an inordinate amount of time in Virgo as well, it’s going to be a significant month for us in taking big, bold ideas — as conceived of between Jupiter and Uranus, though filtered through a little fixed earth pragmatism — and making them manifest through Mars.
And, speaking of Mercury, the little grey planet will be turning retrograde from August 23 to September 15. However, Mercury is in its favourite place in the zodiac — in a sign where it has two major essential dignities, one by domicile and one by exaltation. This, oftentimes, can mitigate some of the more challenging effects that planets can experience with the optical sky illusion.
While those with Mercurial placements on the angles might feel this transit more acutely, I’m personally looking forward to the slow-down and symbolic direction shift, which I’m hoping will help me take a more methodical approach to ideas percolating in the background.
Watch what transpires around August 9, since Mercury in Virgo will trine expansive Jupiter in Taurus two more times after that: once when retrograde on September 4 and when direct again on September 25. This could be an especially auspicious time for ventures involving learning, creative arts, or monetary matters.
This is also a period writ large, which commenced back on July 1, when Mercury formed its superior conjunction with this Sun, kicking off its evening-star phase and the waning half of its current cycle. This is when Mercury is at its most mature and most poised for implementation and action, so carpe diem, everyone!
Mercury’s last day of visibility is also taking place this month on August 30. In the lead-up, expect Mercury to slow down and with that some of the opportunities that it brings. This may not be the fast and furious manifestation energy that we experienced back in June while Mercury was in Gemini, but rather the slower, deliberate, considered and measured magician, careful with how he wields his power.
When Mercury disappears from view at the end of the month, we have to be especially careful. Before it returns to visibility on September 13, there can be increased potential for coversion, matters to remain hidden, secrets to be kept, and even information to be withheld from us, so be sure to keep your most coveted ideas to yourself over this period.
Venus remains retrograde this month, appearing to move backwards in the sky until September 3. Significantly, she’ll be disappearing from visibility around August 8, descending into the metaphorical underworld — debilitated under the Sun’s bright beams — until she emerges reborn nine days later.
During this week-and-a-bit, it’s important to be aware that Venusian matters could take on an occluded and sometimes obscuring quality. In relationships, this can correspond to something hidden — sometimes only coming to light later, when Venus returns to visibility. As a result, it’s important to avoid any hasty decisions — not only around relationships, but also in money matters.
On August 13, Venus’s auspicious conjunction with the Sun in Leo initiates a new just-over-eighteen month cycle. Occurring around 20 degrees, fixed sign placements should be especially on their watch.
Venus will also be making the second of its all-important three-peat aspects with Uranus, Chiron and Jupiter this month. Retrograde Venus will be squaring Uranus in Taurus on August 9, trining retrograde Chiron in Aries on August 14, and squaring Jupiter in Taurus on August 22. This is a time where we can get fidgety in our relationships (or our desire for one if we’re uncoupled), so it’s important to channel those amorous impulses into something creative until Venus clears its pre-retrograde shadow and early retrograde degrees. And, in fact, since retrograde Venus is trining retrograde Chiron in Aries, we may be better served by taking stock of how previous relationship hurts could have challenged our independence and personal identity and how we could avoid that from happening again in the future.
In terms of planetary retrogrades, not only do Venus, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto continue their retrograde path, but Mercury and Uranus will join them as well.
Uranus will turn retrograde in Taurus from August 28, 2023 to January 27, 2024, so make sure you return your seat to the upright position and buckle-up for more than a little turbulence. This is a lengthy transit that will likely ask all of us to rethink major changes we made this year that disrupted the status quo. If anyone put their well-heeled and quiet little life on notice for bigger and better things, consider this your joy-ride reckoning.
The Promethean planet was likely bulking up on courage and bravado, feeling the staid and predictable routine that our lives had fallen into crying out for some novelty. Within bounds, Uranus may not be prone to extremes, and in earthy Taurus our restless ways may have been filtered through a little pragmatism, but changes big and small will be put under the microscope. Are you ready to face everything that you gave up? Can you imagine an even bigger, bolder future?
What’s especially important to take note of is the trine between Mars and Uranus while both planets are direct on August 16. This aspect could give us all one last innovative push towards creative genius and taking calculated risks before the planet of madcap ideas goes retrograde. Just make sure that any bold actions are well-thought-out so that any Uranian reversals during its lengthy retrograde don’t catch you entirely off-guard.
The Leo New Moon also taking place on August 16 picks up on the theme of fixity, extending some of the Aquarius New Moon’s early-August drama. Under this lunation, a powerfully domiciled Sun helps us to assert our creative identity, desire for the limelight, and bold self-expression.
Venus is both retrograde and combust under this signature — she’s deep in the underworld, undergoing her metaphorical transformation. This may not be the ideal time in which our relationships get a clear and transparent view on how we can effectively bring our solar potential to bear on them, but it’s nevertheless significant for the way we transmit our personal brand and impact others.
Jupiter and Uranus continue to form a sign-based square to this lunation, extending the themes of freedom, liberation and a desire to break free of old routines. As we contemplate a new solar destiny, this square could asking us to extend our thinking to new pathways for finding freedom, security, and longer-term stability in our lives.
The Sun enters Virgo on August 23, changing the tenor of the balance of the month. Gone may be our spotlight-seeking selves, looking to be seen in the world. Instead, the waning of days of summer may be calling to our own interior harvest. What have we manifested in the world to-date? How has that all-important list of hopes, dreams and even New Year’s Resolutions fared against the celestial tides?
This coincides beautifully with Mercury’s direction shift. The Sun, answering to the planet of magic and alchemy for the duration of its stay in the sign, is going to be vital for transforming our solar path and reorienting our solar destiny.
On August 27, the God of War enters the sign of the scales, but don’t let the Venusian domicile ruler fool you into thinking this is Venus solely in her peace-loving and diplomatic incarnation. Earlier this month, Venus was reborn as the morning star — Lucifer by her Latin AKA, Ishtar according to her Mesopotamian appellation. This is the Venus that goes after what she wants and uses her Libran skill set to get it.
Mars is considered to be in the place of its detriment in Libra, where it has to work doubly hard to temper its natural predisposition to unbridled passion, ambition and take-no-prisoners determination. Mars, however, can sometimes act and react without forethought; considering the feelings of others isn’t always on his CV.
Though Venus and Mars will share a little something in common, both being externally focused and channeling their energies to desire and acquisition, it’s to the Libran will of Venus that Mars will need to bend over the course of its stay. It vacates the rental room and hands back the keys on October 12, returning to one of its homes and where it feels most at ease in intensely focused and surgically precise Scorpio.
Mars, however, can lend us aid during its Libran sojourn, permitting us the opportunity to employ airy, intellectual adeptness and aw-shucks charm to get what we want most.
Finally, the Pisces Full Moon taking place on August 30 is among my favourite lunations this year. Hopefully it allows us all to slip away from our busy lives if only for a fleeting moment. Put your cell phones on silent, lock your doors, light some candles and enter the depth-defying realms of Pisces where dreams can and really do come true.
As Luna slides in for her jaunt and builds to a dazzling crescendo, her co-presence with the modern ruler and sextile to the traditional ruler of her temporary domicile reminds us that the key to seeing really is believing.
Uranus, having turned retrograde the day before, also sextiles Neptune in a sympathetic and easy aspect that’s bound to have everything turning up roses for a time. This is the signature of confirmation: that our biggest, boldest changes were really worth the sacrifice.
This lunation also has Mercury in opposition, strongly domiciled in Virgo, but appearing to move backwards in the sky. The little grey planet is in its own mood-killing mode of reality check, which could smatter our parades with a little rain as some of us overanalyze the consequences of our courage.
All signs, however, point to a regenerative lunation, channeling our energies into taking stock before taking action on the next leg of our individual journeys.
Saturn, which is still retrograde and creeping ever backwards to that ingress point from back in March of this year, is furthering the theme of do-overs, second chances and building back better than ever.
Under this lunation, we can all afford to be dreamers, letting go of our Saturnian pasts, our failures and dashed hopes, and the Mercurial thoughts that seem to plague us like the Nine of Swords. Instead, embrace the sympathetic sextiles — we have so much retrograde energy in the sky that it practically begs us to buck in the face of any regrets. What happens if the structures in our lives changed? What happens if we felt through life more and thought a little less?
As we close the month with so many planets inviting us towards introspective reconsideration, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to imagine what a new reality could hold if present limitations were no obstacle?
So, with that, I hope you enjoy the astrology of August and make sure you dream a little dream for me!
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*DISCLAIMER: All astrological forecasts are for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. Any decisions that you might make as a result of reading this or any other astrological blog entry are YOURS ALONE and the creator of this blog will not be held responsible! For any legal issues, see a lawyer; for medical ones, consult a physician. None of the information in this blog constitutes actionable advice from a licensed professional. Once again, this forecast is for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
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