New Stories, New Languages to Tell Them In: August 2017 Horoscopes

Aspects (just the major ones, since otherwise this list gets LONG):

• August 2^nd
  • Uranus stations retrograde in Aries, 10:31pm
• August 4^th
  • Jupiter in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn, 11:48am
• August 7^th
  • Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius, 11:11am
• August 11^th
  • Venus in Cancer trine Neptune in Pisces, 9:17pm
• August 12^th
  • Mercury stations retrograde in Virgo, 6:00pm
• August 13^th
  • Sun in Leo trine Saturn in Sagittarius, 1:06pm
• August 15^th
  • Venus in Cancer opposes Pluto in Capricorn, 6:17am
• August 16^th
  • Venus in Cancer square Jupiter in Libra, 10:40pm
• August 20^th
  • Sun in Leo trine Uranus in Aries, 10:22pm
• August 21^st
  • New Moon Solar Eclipse in Leo, 11:30am
• August 22^nd
  • Mars in Leo trine Saturn in Sagittarius, 5:21am
  • Sun enters Virgo, 3:19pm
• August 23^rd
  • Venus in Cancer trine Chrion in Pisces, 10:00pm
• August 24^th
  • Venus in Cancer square Uranus in Aries, 7:32pm
• August 25^th
  • Saturn stations direct in Sagittarius, 5:08am
  • Venus enters Leo, 9:29pm
• August 26^th
  • Sun conjunct Mercury in Virgo, 12:42pm
• August 31^st
  • Mercury (retrograde) enters Leo, 8:27am

Eclipse season means change, big change, radical change, change at the roots of our lives. We are opening a new chapter in how we understand ourselves and our contribution to the collective. We have the chance to uncover our hidden talents, those world-changing creations that are latent within us, and put them to work for the greater good. It will take acceptance, bravery, savvy recognition of when to compromise and when to make our own path, and self-love as the foundation.

The month opens up with a potential surprise when Uranus stations retrograde in Aries. Already the planet of chaos, when Uranus changes direction, it helps to remain open to the possibility that a little bit of a shake-up might be a good thing. There is a productive tension around this time between a growth in our intimate relationships (Jupiter in Libra) and the development of career aspiration or social standing (Pluto in Capricorn). Do the people you keep closest build you up, or hold you back? If you find yourself pining over a new kind of person, ask yourself what they represent that is so attractive to you? What do you want your life to look like?

The opening act of our eclipse show is a Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius on the 7th. Aquarius wants a healthy community and a better world and is willing to fearlessly lead the charge towards liberation. Challenges around the time of the eclipse could illuminate unhealthy group dynamics that are creating collective dysfunction on both a local and a global scale. As the month goes on, each of us will be called upon to identify and correct our role in the dynamic by learning how to honor the forces that drive our hearts.

Expect a lack of clarity in the weeks between the eclipses. The lessons will come when they come – the Moon does not function within linearity or reason, and the contact between Uranus and Neptune as well as Mercury’s retrograde (in its own sign of Virgo) contribute to a certain fogginess. Patience and trust are key, as is a diligence in paying attention to synchronicities and patterns. Be willing to spend some time with the motifs and symbols that pop up repeatedly for you. Follow what catches your eye, and listen closely for what it has to tell you.

The Solar Eclipse in Leo will feel like an explosion of energy and drive towards a form of self-expression that feels authentic and natural. How does this relate to the healing of the collective? Our social space is currently dominated by one particular style of expression that supports the maintenance of power by those who already have it. It’s whoever can talk loudest wins the argument. It’s shoot first and ask questions later. It’s if you can’t get consent, just don’t get caught. We need some alternatives to start taking up some space. We need beauty for its own sake. We need new histories that properly honor those who have fought back against oppression and are still fighting. We need to share our vulnerability so that we can share compassion & empathy. We need to help each other not to be afraid or ashamed. This energy exists to help us stand up for ourselves so that we can be strong with and for others as well.

Two days after the second eclipse, the Sun enters Virgo, planting our feet firmly on the ground and saying, “begin.” The long-haul work of realizing the eclipse’s lesson will involve creating a pathway for the forms of expression we will have uncovered to grow into. Virgo can help us break down this monumental task into manageable pieces, and grant us the stamina to get it done. Saturn’s stationing direct supports the work of making-real with helpful structure, even if it feels restrictive in the moment. Continue to trust your intuition, and hold space around the processes you consider necessary. Venus in Leo will keep us connected to the source of our creativity into September, and Mercury’s retrograde movement into that same sign will remind us to keep circling back to the root, our root, our stories and the ways they tell themselves through our lives.

I will be at Psychic Sister in Olympia, WA on Sunday, August 6th from 1-6pm to give personalized readings on the impact of the eclipses and the astrology of the coming months. If you’re not in Olympia or that time doesn’t work for you, I am available to schedule phone or Skype readings — please contact me using the “Contact” page on this site or by emailing fourfootedstargazer at gmail dot com. When I read, I am guided by the tarot to intuitively explore your natal chart and deliver an overall message regarding your development into the next moment. Eclipse season is a potent time to check in, and I would be honored to guide you through it.

ARIES/ARIES RISING

In the first half of the month, pay close attention to who is supporting your big dreams and who might be having a hard time handling the heat of your fire. There is potential for growth in both your career and your relationships, but it is necessary that they work together, not against each other. Create space for yourself around the solar eclipse on the 21^st. Fierce creative expression is the name of the game – what happens in the second half of this month can set you up for a year of unapologetic truth-telling, the kind that moves mountains. The trick will be channeling the energy that comes through in a way that is sustainable for you. Look to intellectual and exploratory structures such as academic study, political or legal activism, or long-term travel plans to help you do so.

TAURUS/TAURUS RISING

For you, this month’s ruling cliché is “the personal is political.” The primary interplay is between your home and family life, the site of self-care and nourishment, and your social or career activities, what you do to further your highest ideals in the world beyond your front door. Speak from your big, strong, wide-open heart, even when your tongue slips and words get garbled, and defend against anyone or anything who would compromise the solidity of your foundation, which is the real source of your power. Home is where you get to be your whole self without fear or shame, and anybody who can’t handle that does not get a free ride on your big, strong, and outstandingly comfortable shoulders. Let intimacy with those who feed and nourish your soul carry you through the radical changes you are experiencing in your innermost self. Even the strongest bulls can’t hold it all alone.

GEMINI/GEMINI RISING

At your core, dear Gemini, is a deep and wondrous curiosity about whatever is directly in front of you at any given time. The challenge of this month is: what do you do with what you learn in your constant explorations? How can you amass all of that practical wisdom into a broader inquiry that supports the health of your communities and the world at large? What is the global relevance of your local detective work? Here’s a clue: joining together with others of a similar ilk to share what you’ve learned and hear their contributions is a solid start. Mercury’s retrograde may wreak a bit of havoc in the order of your home and miscommunications with family members or housemates are possible in the second half of the month, but Venus warming your second house brings a possible financial boon, possibly in the form of a gift, inheritance, or settlement of a debt.

CANCER/CANCER RISING

Never forget, Cancer: you are your own greatest asset. You carry within you everything you need, safely cradled inside your iron-clad shell. This month will be an opportunity for you to share some of your softness and strength in the interest of supporting a spiritual transformation in your community. As the sign most closely related to nurturance and (re)birth, you have a deeply important role to play in ushering us through these eclipses. But it’s not all about what you can do for others – you were not made for sacrifice. You should receive honor for your ability to hold space, and be supported in turn through a coming back into yourself and the realization of your strength. Beware of relationships that take your emotional energy without giving back. If your commitment to another comes at the expense of yourself, you’d be better off on your own.

LEO/LEO RISING

With so much activity in your sign this month and last, no one would blame you for wanting a break. Unfortunately, August has you working overtime once again fanning the flames through your fearless self-expression, especially in the realms of art or intellectual labor. It’s hard work, so I hope you take extra care of yourself this month whenever you can. Your closest relationships may be the site of power-struggle, which can be either a positive fuel for your fire (if you are working together with others for a shared goal) or a negative energy leak. Love might take a position on the back burner in order to support your evolving relationship with yourself. Your greatest opportunity this month lies in learning to balance devotion with independence and inspiration with determined action.

VIRGO/VIRGO RISING

You’ve been getting a lot of attention recently, humble hardworking Virgo, and this month finds you grappling with your own visibility. The bulk of the planetary action is going on behind the scenes, in the most private part of your chart, so it would be appropriate to withdraw this month in support of your inner work. In eclipse season, though, we deal in opposites: this private place interacts with a role you take on in your day-to-day life, which entails service to a greater good, the good of the collective. Integration of these two parts of yourself, the wildly creative inner child and the service-oriented (dare I say perfectionist?) adult, is the way forward into an authentic expression of your whole being. With your ruling planet, Mercury, retrograde in your very own sign, you’ll definitely want to be very patient with yourself, but know that you are moving towards a greater sense of presence and effectiveness in your personal creative practices as well as in the work you do in your community.

LIBRA/LIBRA RISING

The first half of August might find you uncharacteristically craving solitude. With Mercury’s retrograde cycle influencing your deep inner life, there is an opportunity to unearth the parts of yourself that may have gotten buried along the way when you were focusing on making sure everybody else was having a good time. Give them some air time, and listen to what they say. They might just lead you to a new project or opportunity that gets you back out there — the 21st would be an excellent time for a celebration with your community. Love, recognition, and support will come for you after you build the structures in which it can happen. Don’t let any drama distract you – it all just feeds your commitment to yourself and to those people who help build you up.

SCORPIO/SCORPIO RISING

For you, dear Scorpio, the division between public and private has to do with those things which are innately with you versus those things which you have built for yourself. This month could have you letting go of old stories around responsibilities you supposedly bear to others based on unchosen associations like blood or proximity in favor of devoting yourself to the bold creation of a life in which you don’t have to be afraid or ashamed of setting boundaries. It might feel at times as though the weight is all on you as Mercury’s retrograde makes communication with friends & community members somewhat dicey, but the fact is that in this moment you don’t need anyone else to engage in the spiritual work of healing your generative powers. For now, grant your focus to the realization of your dreams. The folks who count will be there on opening night.

SAGITTARIUS/SAGITTARIUS RISING

I’ll just say, Sag, you’ve been deep in it for the last couple of years, but this month has the potential to bring about some milestone revelations. Perhaps the strongest will be the solar eclipse on the 21st, taking place in your very own house, the 9^th, where you are encouraged to show up for your own journeys of discovery with your whole heart. There’s a chance for an emotional debt, perhaps between you and a friend, to be settled near the middle of the month, which clears some space for you to fill with the wave of creative energy which will be coming over you about a week later. First, though, you’ll want to think about cultivating a spirit of generous curiosity regarding the everyday. It might seem a bit mundane compared to the high abstractions with which you usually concern yourself, but an open and inquiring manner will serve you well this month as you work through the many small and large disruptions that signal the coming of something entirely new.

CAPRICORN/CAPRICORN RISING

The energy of the eclipses this month affects you in a way that is primarily financial but also emotional: specifically, you could be moving away from one means of making money for yourself and moving towards a jointly- or collectively-held financial arrangement, which can open up more room for you to do the kinds of work that make you feel connected to your heart. With Venus gracing your 7^th house of relationships, this could easily look like a romantic partnership that becomes a financially supportive one as well, though it could also be a new business partnership or collaboration. Is this humbling for a Capricorn? We all know how you like to be in control, especially when it comes to the material. With Pluto transiting your 1^st house of self and Saturn in your 12^th house of self-undoing, you’re in the midst of a long period of deep, sometimes painful, inner and outer work to establish your identity. Don’t try to do it alone – that’s not what we’re built for. Accepting help now will only make you stronger.

AQUARIUS/AQUARIUS RISING

The eclipses this month occur along your axis of self and other, with movement towards the other. New love is certainly a possibility this month, but Mars’ involvement as well as Mercury’s retrograde in your 8^th house might create confusion around roles and boundaries. If a new relationship presents itself, make sure you are clear with yourself and the other person from the very beginning about what you are and aren’t able to give. Don’t let a relationship distract you from the inner work that needs to be done, because you could also use this energy to settle dualities within yourself around how you demand or make space for your whole self to show up in the world versus how you work to accommodate others. There is support for your self-expression this month. Don’t be afraid to take up space. It’s your will that creates change. Don’t be afraid to use it.

PISCES/PISCES RISING

Dear sweet Pisces, talented dreamers, it’s time this month to come outside and share some of what you’ve found in the light of day. If others don’t appreciate the important role you play as the gateway to the unconscious, it’s because they don’t know just how much you accomplish in there. Show them! Show your art, your mystical writings, the fruits of your spiritual journeying, whatever form they take. Our world would be so much healthier if more people understood the value of what you do, and this month you are being called to advocate for yourself. Ask yourself, how do you turn your innate spiritual connectedness into a world-building practice? How would your creativity nourish others, and how could you let it? Your inner light can guide the way in the outer world, too, and we are in dire need.