Big news: August is eclipse month. The first arrives on the 12th, a total eclipse of the Sun at 20 degrees of Leo. This one is sure to unsettle the horses, so to speak, as it will be partially visible across a large swathe of Europe, including Britain. Eclipses happen at least twice a year but pass most of us by because they go unseen. When they are visible, they feel more personal.
The second eclipse is on August 28th, a partial eclipse of the Moon in Pisces at 4.54 degrees. A parting shot across the Pisces-Virgo axis – from hereon, the eclipse pattern shifts (backwards) to the Leo-Aquarius duality.
Celestial Timetable for August
- The Sun is in Leo until the 23rd, thereafter in Virgo.
- The New Moon is in Leo on 12 August with a total eclipse of the Sun.
- The Full Moon is in Pisces on 28 August at 04.18 GMT and is partial lunar eclipse.
- Mercury is in forwards motion. In Cancer until August 9th, in Leo until August 25th and thereafter in Virgo.
- Venus is in Virgo until August 6th, thereafter in Libra.
- Mars is in Gemini until August 11th, thereafter in Cancer.
- Jupiter is moving forwards in Leo.
- Saturn is retrograde in Aries.
- Prometheus is in Gemini.
- Neptune is retrograde in early Aries.
- Pluto is retrograde in early Aquarius.
Leo and Leo rising
Oo-er! A total eclipse of your ruling planet – the Sun – in its own sign! Should you be scared? Of course, not – Lions don’t do fear – but a little awareness won’t go amiss around mid-month, especially if the 12th is your birthday. It might be helpful to think of a solar eclipse as a super-powered new Moon, a time when you can effect change, wipe the slate clean if needs be, and begin again, whether with a project or a relationship that’s become mired.
Lending major support to that notion is Jupiter, just getting started in its transit of your noble sign and especially strong in your life in the next five months. Jupiter is about enlargement, presenting you with a fuller, richer (perhaps literally) picture. The astrological lion can be an obstinate creature, but your horoscope favours change rather than sticking things out. The lunar eclipse late in the month at full Moon is less consequential but may spring a surprise involving a partner. Happy Birthday.
Virgo and Virgo rising
You might think of the eclipse in Leo – therefore in your solar twelfth house – as a lot of noise being made upstairs or by folks next door. It isn’t aimed at you personally but it’s unsettling and not good for the beauty sleep, especially if you have planets in the Lion. Best to take things easy where possible and clear the air ready for the lunar eclipse that arrives with the full Moon on the 28th, especially if you have a birthday then. A shake-up of your personal partnerships is one message you could take, a re-adjustment in a marriage, and/or an event from six months ago coming home to roost. On the other hand, blink and you might miss it.
The lunar eclipse and other planetary events bite hardest for August birthdays. Planet Prometheus – Uranus if you prefer – is now rolling through the early degrees of Gemini at the peak of your ‘scope, bringing with it fresh options in your career (words sometimes used to describe getting the sack!) and to new faces in your career. With Mars rumbling through zone of teamwork, a bit of a fracas down at the mill/data centre may be in the works.
Libra and Libra rising
On the 7th your ruler Venus arrives in your skies of r its customary three-week transit. This is obviously a good thing, an encouragement to sport your best togs, and turn up the ‘charm’ dial to eleven. However, Venus is unusually busy, making multiple aspects to other planets, thereby bringing diverse issues – and people – into your world. Precise alignments to Mars, Pluto, Prometheus and Neptune at the time of the solar eclipse on the 12th promise surprises in your social life, including pushy, won’t take no for an answer types. No need for feuds. Helpful offers are just as likely.
The situation is at its most complicated with partners and lovers. Venus and Neptune in opposition can describe fabulous infatuation, unhealthy sexual obsession, a passing dreamboat and all points along the way. Your friendship network is the place to keep your flighty feet on the ground. If in doubt, seek advice.
Scorpio and Scorpio rising
Your horoscope looks a little…unbalanced. Nothing to get alarmed about, but there is colossal emphasis on Leo and on career matters and whatever life you have in the public eye. Jupiter’s new position here for the next eleven months, and the next five in particular, should bring the so-called great and good within shoulder-rubbing distance and promises some mind-stretching conversations along the way.
How you interpret a total solar eclipse here, at the peak of your ‘scope, is another matter. The downfall of a princeling perhaps, the head honcho at work being summarily removed, creating a vacancy you may fancy filling yourself, the re-arrangement of the hierarchy…keep your eyes peeled.
Ruler Mars is in a most helpful position over the next six weeks, emphasising any international contacts you have, the rewards of travel, and the joys of intellectual pursuit. There’s a reward in there somewhere, perhaps at the time of the lunar eclipse of the 28th.
Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising
The Sun alongside ruler Jupiter in your ninth solar house – the zone of Sagittarian adventure and derring-do – is the stuff of which dreams, and sometimes realities – are made. A total solar eclipse here on the 12th emphasises the possibilities available to you and also those that are disappearing. This eclipse is essentially a super charged new moon, so the usual nostrums about ends and beginnings, worn out phases and new chapters apply. It’s an ideal cue for those of you wishing to make an escape, to embark on a new mission or in some respect wipe the slate clean and start again. Decisions you have dreaded taking look simpler and more urgent now. If you need someone to hold your hand while you take them, Venus is on standby to assist.
The Sun’s shift into Virgo on the 23rd puts your professional status on the line over the next month but more important is the lunar eclipse opposite, where a decision about where you live, or with whom and on what terms, may finally need to be taken.
Capricorn and Capricorn rising
There is not too much certainty in play, thanks principally to those two eclipses. The solar eclipse in Leo impacts your finances. Yes, you could see the whole pile vanish in an instant, but that is most improbable (you are a Capricorn for heavens’ sake) and more likely is that someone comes to you for a handout. Allow a couple of days after the eclipse before any major investment.
Dealing with a significant other – a partner, friend or enemy – needs careful handling given that Mars is in opposition for a six-week stint from 11th. It could be a hot attraction or an open enemy (or a combination of the two) – either way your touch needs to be deft. On another front entirely comes Venus atop your ‘scope, initially for three weeks, but the planet will return for another spell in October. Venus in Libra is a charm, one that can help you climb to professional success or plunge into an office romance. If the latter, keep in mind there’s not much privacy about Venus in the most public area of your horoscope.
Aquarius and Aquarius rising
The cosmic clock is striking half time, this being six months since/before your birthday. August could turn out more important than your birthday itself, given the total eclipse of the Sun in your partnership sign of Leo. Eclipses are too slippery to call as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but they are powerful markers of ‘before’ and ‘after’ moments. Look upon August’s as a supercharged new Moon, a turning point, most likely in a significant relationship – a departure perhaps, but maybe an arrival or a major shift in how a relationship is arranged.
The exact birthday opposite which the eclipse falls is February 7, but your horoscope is freighted with planetary indicators elsewhere. Jupiter in opposition , currently leaning birthdays between January 6 and February 1 – is a promising omen for an encounter with a swell type, and being opposite Pluto signals an intensification of emotions. It also knots with Venus in Libra and Prometheus in Gemini, which looks like a scenario/love affair about to take off. Add to that the arrival of the lunar nodes across your relationship axis and it looks like significant others will be taking up a lot of your time.
Pisces and Pisces rising
There is work to be done. With your ruling planet, Jupiter, now lodged in your sixth house of steady graft, you profit from being industrious and precise in your dealings with the world. As much is ever true, of course, yet more so – the days of dreamy Pisces are definitely past.
Elsewhere in your horoscope romance calls in the shape of r4ed-blooded Mars in fellow water sign Cancer, in a place of high jinks and furious creativity. Hard work and hard play then. At the 23rd the Sun movies into opposition from Virgo alongside Mercury and on the 28th comes a partially eclipsed full Moon in your own skies. A full Moon in the Fishes is always carrying an element of happy lunacy for you, but this is also a signal to release some angst and flow onwards. With Mercury in opposition, it’s good to talk, and talk…
Aries and Aries rising
The month of Leo is most often a pleasantly hot spot for the Ram, with the Sun (a body ‘exalted’ in your own skies) powerful in its own sign of ye Lion. Plus, this year it’s joined by jolly Jupiter, forming a set-up ideal for swell living, dazzling ideas and sporting glory. The snag, of course, is that a total solar eclipse is also involved, bringing a strong streak of game-changing unpredictability with it. It’s a case of wait and see, but it should at least provide an uplift for those of you who have felt the cold hand of a Saturn transit on your shoulder (just ask N. Farage of Clacton, b. April 3rd).
More reliably upbeat is Venus, strong in its own sign of Libra, in opposition until early September, there to send its siren love calls and to ginger up any romance that’s been in the doldrums. Pay attention to close(ish) encounters since Venus will be back this way in October to resume dialogue. Also, potent this month is ruler Mars, passing the root of your ‘scope at the eclipse and ready to uproot your domestic agreements or to demand you finally fix the leaky roofs while the Sun is shining.
Taurus and Taurus rising
Your horoscope is flashing contradictory signals your way, notably from your fourth house of hearth, home and family, where the total solar eclipse of August 12 arrives. This could get painfully literal, with the electricity supply failing or some other part of Taurus Towers dropping into disrepair. Or it could be a signal that the family is no longer in a happy place and must be reconvened under your banner. Or that it’s time sone, even yourself, moved on. All scenarios come double by the presence of Jupiter in= Leo, alongside that eclipsed Sun. Things may not happen this very month, but the realisation that you are realisation that change is overdue may be brought home.
Even horoscopes as loaded as this are not all one thing. Mars, arriving in the zone of journeys at the eclipse, is keen to get you out the house across the rest of summer. The Sun’s move into fellow earth sign Virgo on the 23rd has the same idea and brings with a frisson of romance – only a frisson mind, you may have to wait a few weeks until your April birthdays especially, this is a season of deep and lasting change – not that you will be able to effect your Venus ruler moves into prolonged opposition for the full monty. The Sun’s precise alignment with Chiron on the 23rd brings a brief but profound insight into illness and healing.
Gemini and Gemini rising
For April birthdays especially, this is a season of deep change. Not that you can get everything done in one go; the main thing is to recognise where change is called for and put in place the mechanism to realise it. Such is the message from planet Prometheus, still in the early stages if its transit through the Twins.
Said planet is making some hefty alignments in August’ with Mars in your cash zone, with ruler Mercury in your zone of learning, and with fair Venus in your zone of graceful, romantic living. The areas of life most affected are therefore personal rather than professional and career oriented, with one important exception, more of which later.
At the heart of August’s astrology is the total eclipse of the Sun in Leo on the 12th, an event that leans mostly on matters of friendship and sibling connections. Friends will arrive and friends will disappear as a song by a venerable Gemini has it. You gotta roll with it as a less seasoned Gemini put it.
The month’s second eclipse arrives at the 28th, when the full Moon at the peak of your ‘scope is partially eclipsed while opposite ruler Mercury. This is the zone of public achievement and could signal a change of career status or shift to another profession, perhaps one on the back burner for a considerable time.
Cancer and Cancer rising
One doesn’t need to tell a Cancerian to hold onto what they have. it’s sign to which parsimony and hoarding some naturally. There is some fine tuning to be done on the financial and resources front in August, nonetheless. A total eclipse in your cash zone may not see your loot siphoned off but it does suggest a rethink in how you manage financial affairs, not least because the presence of Jupiter here suggests there is more money to be made!
Fortunately, concurrent with the eclipse Mars arrives in the Crab’s skies to lend you the vigour and self-confidence to put your personal world to rights (a better paid gig perhaps?). The red planet is with you for six weeks, during which you can also turn your attention to home and hearth. Here, Venus currently holds powerful sway, meaning you can decorate in the most tasteful style and/or bring any quarrels within the family/tribe – or even disputes with officialdom.
The partial eclipse of your ruler, Luna, on the 28th, looks a light-hearted affair by comparison, it’s in fellow water sign Pisces and highlighting your most optimistic, idealistic side of your nature. Enjoy!
For 200 years astrologers have turned to Raphael’s Ephemeris to discover where planets, eclipses, lunations and more are going to be in the year ahead -the booklet was first published in 1819 as The Prophetic Messenger. In the years before computing, you couldn’t draw up a chart without its guidance, its planetary motions, tables of houses and the rest. Though there were alternatives in book form, Raphael’s is pocket-sized, compact, and familiar. In 2025, however, the Ephemeris didn’t appear until the year had begun.
Now it has a rival, thanks to bookseller and publisher The Wessex Astrologer, who recently launched an annual ephemeris of their own, The Pocket Ephemeris for Astrologers 2027. It’s marginally larger (A5 size) and the data is beautifully presented with a keen eye for what we planet-plotters want. Instantly indispensable in fact. You can find out more here: https://www.wessexastrologer.com
Readers often ask if I give personal readings. I don’t. My primary jobs remain journalist and writer. By contrast, Pam Carruthers, webmaster, fellow astrologer and a long time friend, is a professional certified astrologer who uses both western and vedic astrology for individual clients.
Pam, who is based in Eastbourne in the UK, has an international clientele. She works online via Zoom. She is a gifted astrologer and teacher and offers Astrology Life Coaching based on your birth chart. This is ideal for those who want to work at a deep level. She also uses Chiron in her consultations and offers two excellent reports to buy. Another service is an intuitive method to find a birth time if unknown.
Pam Carruthers at Healing Stars >