Welcome to August, my friends, and the season of the lion’s heart, Leo. This month is eventful, with retrogrades underway and many lessons to be learned.
Sunday, August 4th is a powerful day this month, welcoming Venus’ progression into the sign of Virgo, a sign of strict and careful service, a new moon in Leo, and the start of Mercury’s retrograde.
With Mercury and Venus in Virgo, there is a general tendency toward criticism and a temptation to focus excessively on the pragmatic to the detriment of the joyful.
Keep in mind that what is perfect for one may be a failure for another.
It’s a question of balance, my friends. And when asked, choose and put into practice the immortal words of musician Nick Cave, quintuple Virgo: “I feel compelled to discover, enhance, and promote the beautiful things in the world rather than obsess, worry, and fret over the worst things. I believe in creation rather than destruction, compassion rather than cynicism, mercy rather than aggression, friendship rather than hostility, truth rather than lies, and love rather than hate.”
Things start to improve and stabilize around August 19 with a full moon in space cadet Aquarius. Amidst the thoughtful but necessary routine of Mercury retrograde, this future-focused full moon calls us to look up and reach out.
Leo is concerned with being the star, while Aquarius seeks to understand how we all fit into a constellation of interdependence. A better life through community activities.
Can dig.
Leo season ends on August 22, handing over to Virgo. This will be followed by the end of Mercury retrograde on the 28th, but keep in mind that even though we have entered an earth sign, we are not out of the woods yet, as the shadow period will continue to confuse us until the first days of September.
The release and polishing will be facilitated and encouraged by Venus’ entry into the sign of orgasms, Aperol spritzes, and Libra’s ice-cold manicures on August 29.
Read on and be sure to consider both your Sun sign and your Rising sign. Good luck, stay warm, stay humble, tell the truth, be kind.
Leo season lights up your fifth house of pleasure, Aries, and with your ruling planet, war daddy Mars, hanging out hard in the talkative climes of Gemini, you might find that wordplay is your favorite sport.
It’s tempting to act like a rebellious young man in these last days of summer, but if you don’t get back to work, you’ll regret it. I encourage you to experiment with a strategic reward system rather than your characteristic reckless abandon.
Stability can be fun, I promise you.
Venus, your ruling planet, spends most of this month in Virgo, the sign of its fall.
Venus is in the mood to indulge, but in the sign of Virgo, the planet of indulgence trades whimsy for caution and tuxedo jackets for work boots. I know it sounds awful and smells like bran, but you can use this energy to your advantage, Taurus.
Use Virgo’s insightful gaze to reevaluate your relationship with luxury. Are you spending emotionally or intentionally, and for what purpose?
Life is richer when you’re in the red.
With your quick and mercurial mind, you’re not usually what kids would call “relaxed,” Gemini, but unwinding and resetting can and should be your main aspiration this month..
The Sun in Leo and Mercury’s retrogression in Virgo highlight/hit hard the areas of your life related to self-expression and family origins.
From whom did you inherit this tendency to imagine the WCS? Think of the deep, rebellious satisfaction one can feel in being an unrepentant optimist.
The past is dead, my mutable babies, but how you rise above it may be your last and greatest act of creation.
Ahoy, you bright moonbeams. The Sun in Leo amplifies the area of your chart related to value and wealth, Cancer.
How easily and often do you trade what you know you deserve for what you hope will satisfy someone else? It turns out that relationships can be mutually beneficial and not some weird martyrdom saga—shocking, I know. In fact, if you’re clear about your own worth and direct about what you won’t accept, your soft power will inspire others.
Win-win, baby.
Happy return of the sun to you, Leo. The new moon on August 4 will serve as a sort of birthday baptism for you, after which you may become painfully aware of who and what you would rather not drag into your next year of life.
Bonus Round: Dive naked under the dark sky of your new moon, and as the water washes over you, ask yourself not only what you need less of, but also how you can give more to the people who support you and guide you on the right path.
With Venus in your sign and Mercury in lunar motion, questions about who you are and what you fear are paramount, Virgo.
What are you holding on to that is holding you back? As author Mary Anne Radmacher reminds us, “Courage doesn’t always roar; sometimes it comes in a quiet voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’”
I cannot conjure up a more positive or appropriate sentiment for you this month than this sweet commandment.
The new moon in Leo lends its leonine light and power to your 11th house of community and causes, Libra, while the density of Virgo’s energy will have you digging deep into the esoteric realm of spirituality and the unconscious.
In conjunction and in conversation, this energy pushes you to consider the role you play in the world at large and whether that version of you is authentic or just appeasing.
Be brave enough to step outside of the character you have created so that you can assert yourself as you are.
Why be a “yes” man when saying “no” can be so satisfying?
The Sun and New Moon in Leo activate/agitate your 10th house of public perception, Scorpio.
When Mercury retrograde dips into the lion’s den mid-month, you’re being called to reflect on the dissonance between the image you project and the inner truth of who you are. We know you’re a badass, Scorpio, but you’re also so much more than that.
Consider displaying confident tenderness rather than fearful boasting.
For part of this month, Mercury retrograde moves down, or backward, so to speak, in your ninth house of travel and philosophy, Sagittarius.
Movement is now stillness—not stagnation, mind you—the teeming becoming of what happens when you slow down long enough to empty your mind and steady your breath.
Messages from the universe can only be known when you are clear enough to receive them, and she has something to offer you.
You’re more of a thinker than a burn-it-all type, Capricorn, but Leo season is here to shine a light on your eighth house of sex, death, finances, and radical transformation.
When it comes to a water house like this, intuition trumps logic as the law of the manor. Thinking over reason, feeling over numbers, sensitivity over strategy, my horned and excited friends.
You might be a little terrified by what the abyss whispers to you, but it’s even scarier to refuse the call.
The Leo sun shines its powerful light on the areas of your life that concern relationships, partnerships, handshakes, matching tattoos, and other blood oaths, Aquarius. If I had to prescribe a pop song for you this month, it would be “Open Your Heart,” a pleading hit by Madonna—the Leoest of all Leos.
May I humbly suggest that you uncross your arms, soften your gaze, and live for a moment in the possibility that letting someone in might support rather than subvert who you are?
Stop denying us the supreme pleasure of loving you.
Leo season activates your sixth house of ritual and responsibility, Pisces. While boundaries are notoriously difficult for water signs to contain or maintain, this month is an invitation to create routines that serve you and engage in conversations that strengthen you.
There are as many ways to feel full as there are ways to feel empty. Instead of setting limits, you might think of them as boundaries—less like limits than limits you can’t afford, but more like limits you can leave to your imagination when you’re feeling good.
Give yourself the gift of wholeness.
Astrology 101: Your Guide to Discovering the Stars
Astrologer Reda Wigle irreverently studies and reports planetary configurations and their effects on each zodiac sign. His horoscopes incorporate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience.