Summer is wrapping up as August is coming to a close. Leo season has kept the energy of high summer with intensity and gave us drama, extremes of passions and bursts of luxury. We also felt dignity in hardship and pride in any unexpected challenges. We’ve come out the other side better than we went in. We’ve come out with more creative ideas, more self-awareness and more confidence. Now we need to summon our strength and our abilities a calmness inside and out permeates.
A mass of planets are moving into Virgo. By the beginning of
September all quick moving planets would have located there. And on
Saturday 31st, both luminaries, the Sun and Moon, will give extra power
to all things Virgo. An analytical approach, a sense of organisation
and order, as well as service and everyday pleasures in clearing out old
stock will replace our desire for entertainment and games.
Self-realisation looks different as we prepare ourselves for the change
of season. A melancholy peplos will cover our moods. We’re becoming
practical and mastery. The Sun is still high in the sky. So let’s go
outside and let’s get to work.
The full moon in August is a full moon in Aquarius. She invites us to release all barriers to complete our creative projects, publications, plans, and engage with others. We can ask for help or just another opinion. An extra set of eyes can offer a different perspective or might help us suggest something that will reveal answers and solutions – sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden. In any case, it points us to open up to others and join groups of like-minded people. Barriers to participate in the community, teams or organisations will be blown away. As we stand still under the Sun in Leo, these are projects, goals and inventions that come from the heart. Friends and relatives are part of our special path in life. Forward movement will happen with the assistance of others who divinely have turned up for our benefit. Accept the editor’s input and be grateful. It will be a happy surprise.
The aftershocks of July with its retrogrades and eclipses still reverberate as we enter August. We are still feeling the retrogrades creating confusion, and the eclipses sending dramatic messages uprooting us and tearing up old structures. Anything unforeseen is possible. So the month finds us suspended and motionless but in a halo of wisdom, not taking anything for granted, but instead seeing the world from another perspective. We maybe having had to deal with a sudden turn of events, and holding space for us and others. Mercury’s shadow period will last for a couple of weeks into the month and the eclipses could be sending a second wave of messages, urging us to follow new paths and finally conclude with situations that no longer serve us. While this is going on we can only surrender serenely to events using our restrictive circumstances, or necessary pause, to gain a new point of view and drill down to the absolute fundamentals of life. Reflect and meditate on what matters to us. What are the thing we most value? Change is inevitable and this voluntary, or involuntary, suspension will help our decision making when things pick up and energetically start moving again.
But before that happens we are reminded by the Devil that we still have some work to do. And it’s work that goes inside us. It’s personal, it’s about us facing our demons, our self imposed limitations, our fears and nightmares, anything that might be an addiction. An addiction which can be substances, inter-dependency to others, negative self-talk or simply bad habits. Anything and everything poisoning our existence that we fear is larger than us becomes pronounced. This darkness in the background that naggingly won’t allow us to enjoy a fulfilling and joyful life with others and in ourselves has to be dealt with now. The Devil card reminds us that if we want to move on and out we need to face up to it – whatever it might be. We can not hide, and it won’t be to our benefit anyway. Now is the right time to face darkness and resolve personal challenges. We have to go through to go out. So that the month promises to be very active with people and things, and in a way that would benefit us and those around us. There are going to be some tough moments in August only because we absolutely need to finish off projects, personal or professional, and move on. Once this is done, there’s no turning back.
Ultimately, this will
give us the World. The World which contains all the elements – fire,
earth, air and water as represented by the images depicted in the
four corners of a lion, an ox, an eagle and an angel – our own
contribution as we create our path in life. We are not passive in the
happening of the World rather we rise and participate in creating it.
The Universe is with us and Luck is on our side. Work is paying off.
The time has come to celebrate our accomplishments. The end of August
culminates with another new moon that will find us in a totally
different place to that of when we started the month. We are now
encircled in garlands of success and flying up in the air with
emotion and joy.
All three cards this month are heralding change in its different forms, and demanding that we pay attention in specific areas of life. First, accepting and observing, taking our time and not reacting to events. Subsequently, dealing with honesty and integrity any negative influences or obstacles that bound us to an unhealthy situation. And finally, change is coming by reaching our goal. We have achieved what we set out to do. And quite deservedly we are ecstatic about it.
To sum up: The Hanged Man teaches us about the metamorphosis which is under way and the Devil what we have to do in order to achieve our highest purpose. There is vitality and evolution with great rewards. The recurring theme of August is bondage and liberation. Breaking old patterns too. We are all evolving.
A powerful partial lunar eclipse in Capricorn is all consuming in July. It releases old ways of doing things, dissolves outward structures and embedded situations, and takes us by surprise regardless of what we know, and how we are anticipating it. With cold Saturn sitting in Capricorn – his own home – and his mate power-player Pluto visiting, and stationing there comfortably, it’s rumoured to be a tough time. So we are reminded of love, a personal love and a universal love, taking chances, forgiving and looking after the things that really matter. Those things we value most, the people around us, our relationships and our own health are intertwined and demand prioritising. Whatever the limitations or the hurt, we will be called to rise above the mud and trust our intuition, and be willing to forgive others and ourselves. We will find peace and compassion in others. Our strength will come from keeping the channels of communication open and being present.
We are at the throws of a new moon in Cancer, water element, and a full moon in Capricorn, earth element. So the power of the two elements merging and creating something more complex than the original is especially potent at the moment. In many ways they compete and destroy. An intensity that we feel in the air, we can taste and touch. It signals the fullness of life. Water and earth make everything grow. Luscious plants, solid trees, cosy mushrooms creating colonies. Let’s not forget the power of togetherness. Water and earth will nurture and build. Everything is expanding and multiplying.
Much anticipated July
is upon us. With fear and some weariness, we are told to expect
nothing less than life transformative events. Astrologers,
lightworkers, intuitives and everyone striving to uplift life’s
frequencies is aware of the two new moons and the two eclipses that
fall in July. A full solar eclipse at the new moon on the 2 July,
falls in Cancer, and it’s visible mostly in south America,
especially Chile. It heralds openings and opportunities. It’s a
bringer of news, events, people, situations and opening of newness
with enhanced energy. A partial lunar eclipse follows on the 16 July,
falls in Capricorn, and it’s visible in Europe, Africa, the Middle
East and Asia. This is when things fall apart, get released, crumble,
deteriorate, get expunged, go away for ever. It’s an emotional time
for everyone.
But there is more: Pluto, God of power and poison, ruler of Scorpio, is waiting for us in Capricorn where the lunar eclipse action takes place. Expect this eclipse to have very strong Scorpionic vibes of merging and releasing. Pluto is stationed nearby Saturn, God of time and boundaries, and together they bring a very heavy structural energy that is consuming and overpowering. Moreover, they are retrograde. Jupiter in Sagittarius is retrograde. And so is Neptune in Pisces. These are big slow planets. Their impact is inescapable and profound. But fast moving Mercury is retrograde too, meeting Mars back and forth in his travels and taking his message with him, broadcasting it loud and clear. With Venus staying at home in Cancer, the energy feels further reactive.
So what does it all mean? This is the cosmic picture. But I think the cards will bring a bit of clarity in the visual realm: as depicted with the Nine of Wands, we find ourselves at the end of a battle. Indeed we are more than half way through the year. Things have concluded. It’s not all over yet but nearly. We are upright. We haven’t fallen, but the trauma of events, conflicts and challenges we had to overcome is visible. It’s not an open wound. It’s a carefully bundled trauma. We are looking around us, taking stock, and also looking to the past. The deep past and the immediate past is still fresh in our minds. It looms big. The wounds haven’t healed yet. Some are quite sweet, the pain reminding us of achievement in battle. The exhaustion is palpable. We still are not sure, however, what will come after the battle.
No worries. Here comes the Ace of Swords to tell us: go for it. You can do it. Opportunities and options are there for the taking. A noble cause will inspire and fortify your resolve almost immediately. From now on expect the pace to pick up. Once the debris has cleared out and the poisons have left us, there’s no looking back. Things will happen fast and unexpectedly. Anger and action that comes from the heart will dominate. Feelings, our sense of initiative, ideas, thoughts, concepts, our ability to deal with challenges comes to the forefront. Cosmic forces are within and without.
And finally, we are not going to be let down. The King of Swords brings in some objectivity to the whole situation. Not only that, but the card tells us that we have achieved mastery in at least one area of life. Where the battle was, where we fought and gave it all, that’s the area where we became masters. It’s a card denoting an intellectual significance to a situation, justice and knowledge. We are now confident that we have gained those hard fought gifts and our lives are imminently much richer and healthier, away from negativity, poisons and restrictions. Despite those outward heavy structures, ultimately all victory will have to come from us. And not only we will survive, but we will find ourselves in a much better place than we were before. The King of Swords is not just full of confidence and authority but he has mastered decision-making as well. By the end of July we should have taken important decisions to act upon.
