August begins under the influence of the recent New Moon on July 24. The lunation had cosmic alignments informing lovely geometric aspect figures composed of the outer planets that have each reached the limit of their forward progress for this year. As they connect by being in the early degrees of the signs, they pause; as in a galactic ballet, they pirouette in place, while also sending polite acknowledgements to each other.
I offer you this visual of the chart for the New Moon on July 24, using Pahoa as the location.
New Moon in Leo
This color-coded chart uses red lines for hard aspects that hold tension and resist change. These are the challenging squares and oppositions. The points are in signs of the same qualities: Cardinal, Fixed, or Mutable signs. Each sign is in a different element, portraying the four seasonal changes of the year.
The planets connected in the blue system have agreement of the same gender, masculine/yang, which are the Fire and Air signs, or feminine/yin, the Earth and Water signs. The ease and flow of the long and short blue-line aspects create a circuit of self-sufficiency within a trapezoid figure.
The New Moon connects the four slowest outer planets by the opposition with Pluto. Pluto ‘brings things up from the deep.’ In our personal lives, contact of Pluto to our personal planets pushes us to grow, using the planet it is transiting as the medium of our process of personal growth. This is an opportunity to transform and transmute by the significations, or things dictated by any planet in your chart near the beginning of Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, or Scorpio, the fixed signs.
Mercury is retrograde until August 10 and will travel in Leo for the entire month of August. Mercury first entered Leo on June 27th. Mercury’s realm is the world of communication, commerce, transportation, and all forms of connectivity with others. Most especially, Mercury is about our words. Words have power to agree or condemn. The vibration of ideas given voice will resonate with influence through the intention set in the Solar/Lunar cycle.
This period of Mercury retrograde in the Fire sign ruled by the Sun, and symbolized by a Lion, illustrates the power to be bold in telling our truth. Or a display of strong and fierce denial is also a Leo reaction. The retrograde cycle falling in the middle of Leo brings up old business, revisits things from the past, and forces review, a change of plans, and a redirection of goals and intentions.
All the outer planets are retracing their previous paths of the last six months. They connect in their new signs just long enough for us to see the trends. Saturn and Neptune are retrograde and again emphasizing the World Point, 0 Aries.
Themes of Contrast
Saturn is pragmatic and realistic judgment, and sharply contrasts its expression in Pisces versus Aries. Pisces is selfless, and people want to merge and blend in harmony. Where Aries, ruled by Mars, has the qualities of both hero and villain, with a strong strain of individuality and single-mindedness. Saturn loves control and concealment. It is a revisitation back into Pisces, blurring perspective, making it difficult to discern the truth.
Compare that energy to Neptune’s idealistic, romantic, visionary, and spiritual tendencies, being so comfortable in Pisces, it is like looking into a foggy mirror. When Saturn interacts with Neptune in Pisces, the themes are seductive, with a result you do not see coming. Their blend of orientation has only the strength of their close passing, as they now retreat for a few weeks. They blend in ways we often cannot see overtly. Neptune has a reputation for deception, cover-ups, and lies. It gets difficult to trust the truth of ‘too-good-to-be-true’ opportunities or rationalizations.
Saturn and Neptune both are O-1 Aries through August, and retrograde until December. Neptune does not retreat to Pisces but does spend 40 days at O Aries, keeping the world waiting to know the dimensions of the collective ideals.
Full Moon in Aquarius
We can judge things more clearly after the Full Moon on August 8. The aspect picture shows the diamond kite figure formed with Mars in Libra opposed to Saturn and Neptune in Aries, as the center spine. The large triangular lower frame connects the powerful transformative Pluto in Aquarius, harmoniously with Uranus of innovative technologies in Gemini, and both in Grand Trine to Mars in Libra. The emphasis on the Air element, mixed positively with the defining Saturn/Neptune in Aries sign of new beginnings.
We see all the Air signs connecting, which is like a power surge, where the intention to be included, to be informed, and participate in the transformational update, is the emphasized message this Full Moon with the Sun in its own sign, opposed to the Moon in Aquarius, energizing events of the previous New Moon intentions.
Mercury retrograde is at its station to turn direct on Sunday, August 10. Mercury opposes Pluto, as a repeat focus, looking for the deeper meaning of facts being offered up for evaluation and scrutiny.
In the middle of the month, Venus brings its sweetness and inclusive openness to join with Jupiter, the gregarious spirit in Cancer, sign of home and family. They spend two weeks together harmonizing the general social atmosphere. They operate outside the outer planet network, giving a rest from the active drama.
New Mood in Virgo
Mercury, ruler and exalted in Virgo, is direct and retracing its path forward in Leo. We begin understanding the information that we have been percolating in these past weeks. Now we can direct our focus to analysis and strategy with the New Moon on August 22nd, at 0 Virgo. Virgo can show the level of scrutiny and analysis, and critical thinking that solves complex problems.
Venus also enters Leo on August 25 and makes a trine, the aspect of full agreement, to Saturn, representing administrative responsibilities. The next day, Venus opposes Pluto and makes soft connecting aspects to Uranus and Neptune. This is a good day to make plans, agree on a path forward, or start the healing process from suppression or injury. Self-worth is a theme of Venus in general, and Venus lights up the stage in Leo, while connecting to greater collective energies on the world stage. We might see signs of compassion, generosity, and humanitarian aid to suffering people. The last week of August brings Venus into the connection with the outer planet system, adding its concern for women’s rights and the protection of family.
Uranus and Neptune come into a sextile aspect on August 28, for the first of several repeats over the next two-year, symbolizing an archetypal theme of awakening consciousness in the collective. New spiritual and cultural understanding develops over the two-year period of this interaction as a backdrop to societal changes.
The next New Moon will be on September 21, at 29.05 Virgo, and is a Solar Eclipse. This is an unusual occurrence to have two New Moons in the same sign back-to-back. The pre-Solar Eclipse resonance will be a palpable energy expressed toward a general need for honesty, reliability, and service.