Leo
While your celestial ruler – the mighty Sun – beats down from the skies of the Lion, until the 23rd, you remain in an almost unassailable position, so make the most of your season. And if your date of birth coincides with the new Moon of August 2, then you can anticipate a fresh and positive chapter unfolding over the coming weeks and months.
There are, needless to say, qualifications to this sunny outlook. The most obvious comes with the full Moon of August 17/18, a couple of days which may tip you Over The Top as the saying goes, and when frank and fearless discussions with significant others are best avoided. Puzzlingly, not everyone appreciates your magnificence then, even – in fact especially – those to whom you are close. On the other hand, a potent aspect involving Prometheus may spell the arrival of a maverick, would-be lover around that full Moon.
Long term relationships and medium term romances are put under a degree of pressure this month from another source, Saturn, which spends most of August turning round from retrograde to forward motion. Saturn has spent the last four months backsliding, a period that has allowed you to postpone decisions about romantic affairs, but with Saturn coursing forwards until April 2017, the need to be certain of your heartstrings is a feature of autumn and winter.
As much may become apparent later in August, when Mars conjoins Saturn (the conjunction is precise on the 24th), a combination that may be exacting – not least for those born in the first week of August. Mars in a fellow fire sign (Sagittarius), however, promises thrills for the footloose and fancy free, both in August and September.
Creative Leo types can also crack on with any projects that were stalled in spring and more extrovert Lions also have licence to swagger around, especially once that Saturn-Mars conjunction is out the way. Your career path looks positive, providing you can accommodate any stubborn female presences in the workplace.
Many Leos have planets in your next-door sign of Virgo, so the kerfuffle going on in that sign over the next two months may be entirely positive. That said, as messenger Mercury is heading for three weeks of retrograde September 1-22, plans are best nailed down as soon as possible, especially those of a financial hue. With Venus and Jupiter holding sway in your money axis this month, raking in more of the folding stuff is on the cards, but with an eclipse of your Sun ruler arriving on September 1, account for every last extra cent, even as you go honky-tonking round the town. Happy Birthday.
Virgo
The Corn Maiden is, among other things, the sign of simplicity. Virgo likes purity, and, rogue members aside, everything tidy and under control. Your horoscope over the next two months is, however, far from simple.
For starters, your planetary ruler, Mercury, will be turning backwards from the start of September, asking you to nail down as many plans and details as you can in August. Secondly, a solar eclipse arrives with the new Moon in your skies on the same day, September 1, adding a further element of uncertainty and wait-and-see to the picture.
Plus, Jupiter will be leaving Virgo’s stretch of the cosmos next month. Plus, Saturn returns to forward motion in mid-August, alongside Mars, and with that pair squaring your Sun, you can expect push to turn to shove, especially since Neptune in opposition is also involved.
Let’s unpick your ‘scope’s multiple agendas in orderly, Virgo-like fashion. The Sun in Leo until the 23rd and the accompanying lunation – new Moon on August 2, full Moon on August 18 – call for a degree of introspection and as much yoga as you can fit in. Some of your schemes remain undeclared and behind the scenes.
That said, Mercury and Venus (from the 6th) in your skies both call for active engagement, a personal make-over, a rethink of your brand perhaps. Venus loves dalliance with others, perhaps romantically, and Venus opposite Neptune, around the 14th and conjunct Jupiter, on the 27th, are both aspects that hum with attraction. Neptune, however, is not the planet of commitment, and you need to draw boundaries and not be mucked about. Stay in charge.
Jupiter in your skies should allow you to do so. Late August is in some respects the summation of the last twelve months, when Jupiter has favoured an expansive, optimistic approach. It’s time to draw together whatever you have been cooking up and present the world with a complete and glorious feast – you may have already achieved as much in the last two or three months. Jupiter also favours travel, education (teaching or learning), freebies, windfalls and pleasant surprises. The last week of August, with four planets in your skies, looks upbeat. Before then, Jupiter opposite Chiron, exact on August 12, offers a healing touch to troubled partnerships, especially for September 16 birthdays.
So far, so sunny. The meeting of Mars and Saturn on August 24 looks something of a crunch point for some of you (especially September 1 birthdays) but as you have endured Saturn squaring you all year, this looks like more of a return of a familiar sticky issue than anything new. The usual Saturn issues apply: property deals, family burdens, intransigent bosses. If so, tough it out. Mars is usually a call to arms so you may be pushed into needed action. Caution needed around sharp tools and blunt instruments. Be deft, and make the make the most of the entirely upbeat pairing of Venus and Jupiter.
Libra
Slow, sure and steady is not really Libra’s way. As a volatile air sign you are more inclined to sudden bursts of activity interspersed with something of a slump. That said, Librans like strategy – they plot and plan. Chess is a game attributed to Libra.
In August you are asked to find the right balance – this is the mission statement of those swinging Scales remember – between action and deliberation. Your horoscope offers plenty of both.
The deliberation part is spelt out clearly by a swathe of planets passing through Virgo and the secretive twelfth house of your solar ‘scope. Many Librans have planets in Virgo, so the passage of Mercury (for nine weeks!), ruler Venus and Jupiter may well prove animating, but with the Sun also here from the 23rd, time spent considering your next move is time well spent. Others may accuse you of being ‘lazy Libra’ – ensure this isn’t so, and that you are deep into your schemes. September opens a very different and entirely upbeat phase across autumn and winter.
August is not only about hidden plans, however. The lunation in Leo – a new Moon on August 2, a full Moon August 18 – is ideal for networking, socialising and being the man or woman around town. Enjoy what summer the climate grants you. The full Moon of the 17th/18th is especially auspicious, being in your fellow air sign of Aquarius, where it conjoins the asteroid Pallas Athene (justice), a promising moment to let your hair down, metaphorically or literally.
Your astrologer has written several times about your being confronted by planet Prometheus, an omen of sudden arrivals and abrupt departures, which to the we earth dwellers has been pretty much stationary over the last month – and in astrological thinking at maximum strength. Although in rewind ,Prometheus remains a potent force, not least for birthdays circa October 17. Sought after or not, independence remains your watchword.
August ends with your celestial ruler, Venus, arriving for a three week stay, the cue for a charm offensive and a refreshment of your oh-so-tasteful wardrobe.
Scorpio
Your ruler, Mars, in Scorpio’s skies is usually a cause for celebration, but the red planet has been a wayward force in the first half of 2016, moving forth and back, so projects and/or a love affair have likely been similarly contrary. Mars moves on, finally, on August 3, so hopefully you have ironed out any rough spots and are perfectly poised to enjoy August’s challenges and enticements – you have both on offer.
Mars sweeping through Sagittarius – your cash zone – over the next two months accentuates your earnings and how you spend them. Saturn in long term residence here doesn’t promise much in the way of favours but with Mars joining the tightwad planet, you should be able to spring some more readies to ease your path. A gimlet eye on your accounts, especially mid-month, is called for nonetheless.
The lunation in Leo – new Moon August 2, full Moon August 18 – is principally about career and the necessity to stay on your professional case through high summer, holidays notwithstanding. The waxing Moon in your skies on August 10/11 is helpful, and not just for work matters.
So too are the planets moving through your zone of collegiate activity, fellow travellers, team members, casual acquaintances and groups. Here it’s hard to be too busy. Arrangements are best finalised this month, prior to the retrograde of Mercury that kicks in on the last day of the month. Venus and Jupiter here – they meet on the 27th – smile on the wheeler-dealers among you, and at least one friendship promises to deliver a rare and bountiful favour.
Whether a friendship can develop into something more intimate is something that August and September may reveal. Aspects across your romance zone are all in favour, the key issues from an astrological view being Neptune – seductive but flaky – and the upcoming solar eclipse on September 1. Intuition, a powerful ally for many Scorpios, is what you should trust, but whatever your instincts say, you shouldn’t have to wait more than a few weeks to find out what your heart, and the other party, is telling you.
Sagittarius
A fellow Sagittarian, ‘Little’ Richard Penniman, once famously declared ‘I’m ready ready ready to rock and roll’. One part of your horoscope is wildly in accord. A lunation in your fellow fire sign of Leo – new Moon August 2, full Moon August 18 – plus Prometheus in Aries and Mars in your own skies comprise a fire sign trio that’s all too ready to cut loose and have a wild old time.
You may as well follow suit and party hard in August, but don’t get too impetuous where long-term decisions are involved. Saturn, the abiding presence in your ‘scope, turns back to forward motion in mid-August, and will be demanding a few Big Decisions from most of you over autumn and winter, perhaps even this very month if your birthday is circa December 1.
As your astrologer has pointed out previously in 2016, Saturn’s touch is rarely light, and is prone to asking uncomfortable questions about property, career and long term relationships – matters that deserve serious consideration now and in the months ahead. You need to be clear about your intentions, since decisions made under Saturn stretch way into the future. Don’t wing it.
The conjunction of wayward Mars and Saturn on August 22 may well force your hand; it isn’t a free and easy moment for many of you, especially those born in 1986 or 1956.
However, your current ‘scope is a thing of several parts. The energies of the Leo Sun are all for a good time, a holiday, or a plunge into matters of mind and education. Mars is an energy planet also, and once you are past the 22nd will lend you pedal-to-the-floor acceleration (don’t crash!).
The other big feature in your stars is the stellium of planets now gathering at the peak of your solar ‘scope, the place where you carve out a public role for yourself. Your ruler Jupiter has been here these last eleven months – very helpful in terms of your career profile though not always without challenge.
You should expect more challenge and opportunity to arise in August and September, though there’s a decided ambiguity to events, firstly because Mercury goes retrograde in the first three weeks of September (offers turn flaky, or aren’t what they seemed) and the eclipse of September 1 may also require a rethink of your plans. There is, in short, no rush, except how to locate a taxi to take you to the next venue. Rock on.
Capricorn
An emphasis on earth signs is always good news for Capricorns, and the pile-up of planets in Virgo fits that bill nicely. Jupiter is the main planet to consider. The giant of the solar system finishes its transit of Virgo in August and early September, asking you to bring a project or two to fruition. A creative enterprise – art, publishing, a dissertation or degree – fits the frame, but an epic journey may also apply. New horizons, whether geographical or in your understanding of the world, are the keynote to events. In career terms, you may be about to surprise a few people.
That Jupiter is joined by Mercury, Venus and, after the 23rd, the Sun, underscore the theme. Push hard to reach completion and/or to broadcast your talents before mercury enters one of its pesky retrograde phases at the end of the month, after which you can fine tune completed projects and future plans. Public profile is one of this autumn’s developments.
An outgoing, even breezy attitude isn’t the only strand in August’s scope. Your ruling planet, Saturn, returns to active service at mid month, albeit in a hush-hush zone of your solar chart., where it is joined, not for the first time this year, by Mars. Plans for what lies two years down the turnpike, when Saturn reaches Capricorn, are one thing you can usefully cook up over autumn and winter. An engagement with your past – not necessarily a comfortable one – is another. The meeting of Saturn and Mars at August 22 may bring your personal history into painful focus as ghosts of the past come out the metaphorical closet.
Other issues look easier to handle. The lunation in Leo – new Moon August 2, full Moon August 18 – falls across your financial axis, but most Capricorns need no advice on making ends meet – it looks more a case of counting the bullion in your vault to make sure it’ all still there.
August’s stars also offer comfort and thrills for the romantics among you. The minor planet Ceres has just shifted into Taurus and your zone of love affairs and pleasure, where she will be for some six months, while asteroid Vesta – a sexy brand of goddess – is in your partnership zone for three months. Both these celestial bodies promise action of the most pleasant sort.
Aquarius
7Thanks in part to the hoopla about the Age of Aquarius being upon us (though no-one knows the date of its arrival), Aquarians are painted as full of ‘harmony and understanding’. Nice work if you can get it, as the saying goes, but a notion that is likely to be put to the test in August, by a lunation in Leo, your complimentary sign, beginning at the new ~Moon on August 2.
The Leo Sun in opposition puts you on the back foot where one-on-one relationships are concerned, so simmer down if provoked. That applies especially at the Aquarius full Moon in your skies on August 17/18, an almost-eclipse, which is best reserved for me-time rather than partner-time.
The month looks chock full of issues with Significant Others in any case. A swathe of planets in Virgo (your solar eighth house) turns up the temperature in any mutually shared bedrooms – with Venus here for most of the month, the Aquarian sex life looks promising – and asks you to be clear about the resources you share with others; most obviously money matters, mortgages and who owns what. Jupiter here over the last year has hopefully boosted your joint accounts, and the giant planet’s final few weeks here is a good omen for wangling more capital. Any financial issues, however, are best sorted promptly, since Mercury in the same zone will be retrograding in September, when you want to be fine-tuning, not initiating.
Money matters are made more complex by Neptune in your zone of cash-and-spend. Neptune is a confuser, meaning you should be crystal clear and hard-nosed with any contracts and obligations. Leave nothing to optimistic chance.
Away from such murky and perhaps secretive issues, your ‘scope is brightening up. Mars – at last – has got out of Scorpio and the pressure of carving out your career path lifts. That the traditional ruler of your sign, Saturn, turns to forward motion mid-month is in your favour, with teamwork and fellow travellers under emphasis in the next two months in particular. How – or if – you fit with your network or team is a pertinent question, and one that should be illuminated by the conjunction of Saturn and Mars around the 22nd. Is it harmony and understanding with your team? Or is an unnecessary load being placed on your capable shoulders? Consider carefully.
Pisces
The annual lunation in Leo – new Moon August 2, full Moon August 18 – has a simple message: job, duty, efficiency. If you are on holiday that translates into fine tuning your health and body. If you are on the work treadmill it translates as getting stuck into mundane tasks with no prevarication.
Other planets suggest you are entering the next phase of your career or vocation, or picking up a thread that was in play around your last birthday. Saturn – the taskmaster – resumes forward motion in mid-August after several months backsliding, hence issues concerning your status and/or property matters are back on the agenda with some force this autumn. Saturn square one’s Sun is often an uncomfortable transit, the trick being to be thorough and consistent about the job and making your public mark in the world. That Mars conjoins Saturn on the 22nd repeats the message and may involve a contretemps with the powers that be. Stick to your guns, prove yourself.
The other major theme in your ‘scope involves partnerships, crushes, romances, friendships, business alliances and other one-on-one relationships. The opposition of the Fishes’ ruler, Jupiter, over the last year is something your astrologer has written about several times. Jupiter is a planet of solutions, and in opposition can signify either the blossoming of a beautiful romance or a welcome release from an outworn relationship. In August the giant planet is joined by Mercury and Venus and, after the 22nd, the Sun, all in Virgo.
This pile-up, which is opposite dizzy Neptune in your own skies, suggests you either get your man/woman (worth an extra effort!). Wedding bells may be ringing (or something less dramatic like co-habiting), not least around the 14th, when Venus meets Neptune, and the 27th, when Venus meets Jupiter. Alternatively, you get cold feet about the nuptials – stop the wedding! What’s difficult is hanging on pointlessly to a stale partnership.
Let’s not forget that Neptune, pointlessly cited as Pisces’ ruler (nowt wrong with Jupiter) is a very deceptive energy, so if you are unsure, sit on your hands and wait for the two eclipses of September to pass by before committing yourself.
The full Moon of the 18th is in a secretive, highly personal zone of your chart, but then moves onto Piscean skies for the weekend of August 19/20, when you can blag the limelight if you choose, or simply dream away.
Aries
On your marks. A new Moon in a fellow fire sign is always good news for the Ram, and the Leo lunation that starts on August 2 is no exception. It aligns sweetly with Saturn, the hard-ass planet that is just waking up in Sagittarius. Get to the venture of your choice – anything creative fits the bill, as does a stalled romance, an educational project (as student or teacher) or a more heavyweight concern like property – and put your foot to the floor, so to speak.
Fire energy also comes in the guise of your ruling planet, Mars, which after several months sunk in a somewhat secretive zone of your ‘scope returns to more active service in the skies of the Centaur, which it visited at the time of your last birthday. The red planet’s meeting with Saturn on August 22 is a moment of potential denouement, when you get a far clearer idea of what lies ahead in the autumn and winter. Birthdays in earliest April should be on particular alert.
At the same time, the Leo Sun makes a strong aspect to Prometheus in your own skies – the solar system’s maverick, Prometheus has been forceful in your ‘scope this summer, perhaps challenging your stable regime, perhaps introducing you to an odd but thrilling person, a potential lover even – here, mid-April birthdays are those primarily in the frame. The full Moon in Aquarius on August 17/18 may do as much for all of you, and the waning Moon in the Ram’s skies on August 21/22 makes this an intriguing week.
So much for the fire energy rippling round the zodiac. The other dominant theme comes from the earth sign of Virgo, a less exciting place for most of you (though not if Virgo is prominent in your birth chart). For Rams, Virgo represents sensible rather than adventurous behaviour, and the pile-up of planets there – Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and, after the 23rd, the Sun – asks for attention to mundane work matters, your routine, and the mind-body-spirit nexus. Your body is, indeed, your temple just now. Mercury here will turn tail into retrograde at the end of August, no biggy but a cue to get a move on, whatever you are planning. On your marks.
Taurus
When the asteroid Ceres was discovered in 1801 she was not considered an asteroid but a planet, a status that astronomers have recently returned to her, albeit as a ‘dwarf planet’. Whatever her status, Ceres, named after the Roman goddess of fertility, nature and nurture, is in the Bull’s skies for the next six months; a positive omen, not least for all you Taurean growers and gardeners.
August emphasises all your earthy qualities – practical, sensuous, creative – as your fellow earth sign of Virgo is under massive emphasis. Jupiter is now completing its year-long passage through Virgo, and accompanied by your Venus ruler, Mercury and, after the 23rd, the Sun, this aggregation shines on all your enterprises, no matter how optimistic.
In part Virgo energy is about sheer pleasure and delight – wining and dining on the terrace, pursuing romance and sharing life’s joys with your partner is you are fortunate enough to have one. As related in previous forecasts, partnerships, romantic or business, have been under some pressure this year – January and February, June and July – thanks to warrior Mars in opposition. The red planet has now moved on, promising a more equable situation (though a red-blooded lover may have come along for some of you).
Mars now joins Saturn in Sagittarius, which in your solar scope concerns both intimacy in partnerships and the complex matter of resources shared with other people. Their conjunction on August 22 highlights finances and may present you with a tricky balancing act about who pays for what. If so, there’s no easy way to solve the problems other than being hard-nosed and ultra-realistic about it. A touch of personal austerity may be called for, along with a plan for, say, the next eight months, until Saturn draws to a halt.
August is a good time to apply your ingenuity, with Mercury on your side – quick action is favoured since the planet of cognition and arrangements will spend the first three weeks of September in retrograde – a time for fine-tuning, not initiating a new venture.
Meanwhile you have a lunation in Leo to handle – this arrives every year so it is hardly exceptional, but touches on matters of home, hearth and family. The new Moon of August 2 favours any adjustments to Taurus Towers that you wish to make, while the full Moon of August 18 brings career matters to prominence, if only briefly.
At the other end of that nourishing Virgo energy lies Neptune in the zone of teamwork and groups, a good omen for networking and team building, providing you are confident that your team is, indeed, on your side – Neptune is flaky. Taureans, however, are not.
Gemini
Let’s accentuate the positive. The season of Leo is resolutely on your side, with the new Moon of August 2 and the full Moon of August 18 both hitting a sweet spot in your ‘scope, emphasising your mobility and love of exploration, and the conviviality of friendships and siblings. For some of you too – notably birthdays circa June 15 – planet Prometheus has recently added a dash of professional adventure and/or a brand new sidekick.
Can your astrologer eliminate the negative? Of course not, but forewarned is forearmed, and you have already had a taste of what Mars in opposition might bring. The red planet was in Sagittarius in March through May, a transit that may have brought a dashing romantic interest – if so, you can rekindle the flame in August and September – or a lot of arguments with a partner or friend, in which case you might keep your head below the parapet during August.
Saturn, an altogether more stern opponent, resumes forward motion in mid-month, and the encounter of Mars and the Saturn around the 22nd may signal a fiercer reckoning with an opponent, rival or significant other. Or there may be a professional challenge, asking you to stand up to a bullying boss and/or accept a new professional challenge. If someone is determined to fall out with you, however, you may have to let the association go. Saturn often means travelling lighter.
Altogether easier is the month’s other dominant planetary situation, a pile-up of planets in Virgo at the root of your solar chart, a place of home, hearth and family. Jupiter and Venus are, however, kindly planets, and now emphasise the joys of home and clan, and the possibility of expanding or relocating Gemini Mansions.
Your ruler Mercury is also in Virgo during August, and will be turning retrograde at the end of the month, so whatever your plans, professional or personal, set them in motion as soon as possible. You can cross ‘t’s and dot ‘i’s in September. Alternately, you can sit on your hands until late September when Mercury moves forwards once more, by which time the eclipse of September 1st is well out the way and Jupiter has changed sign to a far more amenable position – more of which next month.
Professionally you can put quite a spin on your wondrousness in August and September, providing you don’t fall for your own hype. If challenged, you have to be able to deliver!
Cancer
Work, paid or unpaid, is an insistent theme in your August stars. Don’t blame your astrologer, blame Saturn, the taskmaster planet that wakes up mid-month to ensure that you have a pile of duties and tasks on your hands right the eay through autumn and winter.
That side of your ‘scope is further accentuated by Mars moving alongside Saturn on August 22, when the list of ‘things that must be done’ may prove somewhat overwhelming. Pace yourself, and maintain your health schedules with the squeaky clean thoroughness of a Virgo.
Talking of Virgo, August sees a pile-up of planets in said sign – good news for Cancerians, for whom the Corn Maiden represents friends, siblings and communications. With Jupiter now completing its transit there, alongside Mercury, Venus and, after the 23rd, the Sun, energy invested in internet, social media and old-fashioned writing is energy well spent. Ditto efforts to meet with brothers and sisters, even estranged ones. Your immediate circle has much to offer just now. Be aware, however, that the annoying three weeks of Mercury Retrograde are in operation from the end of the month.
Somewhere in the neighbourhood there may even be a romantic attraction to pursue, should you be looking. After what may ve been a somewhat dramatic birthday month your love life looks relatively calm (even for birthdays circa July 5, who are handling Pluto in opposition) though one notes that the asteroid Juno, goddess of marriage, has just begun a promising three month sojourn through your ‘scope’s zone of pleasure and flirtation. With Juno aligning to Neptune in the ‘get me out of here’ zone of your ‘scope, you may even, whisper it quietly, be able to grab a holiday.
Whether you can translate your work duties into money, and your footloose attitude into love (or reasonable facsimile thereof), depends in part on your agility and openness to fresh offers. The new Moon of August 2 is in your zone of ready cash, and comes with few complications. The full Moon of August 18 likewise accentuates resources – those of less immediate availability – and again looks straightforward. The weekend of the 14/15th, when Luna, your ruler, is in opposition (and alongside Pluto) may prove more difficult when dealing with significant others. Take it easy.