A Powerful and Confounding August Brings Redemption

The Astrology of August features Mercury, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The meditative retrograde of Mercury continues through the third week of August, taking into account the two weeks of escaping its retrograde shadow. Uranus and Pluto also remain prominent. This is partly based on the configuration of the mid-July New Moon, which triggered yet again the Uranus-Pluto square, now less than a degree apart, and growing even closer as we head toward September and the next exact hit, the second of seven over the next few years. The lunations of the current month are involved as well, since the August 1st Full Moon sextiles Uranus with the Sun in trine, as Saturn makes a quintile aspect to Pluto. We also find that Venus opposes Pluto and squares Uranus at the time of the August 17th New Moon.

Uranus with Pluto provides us with visions for a better future for ourselves, startling realizations that can seem overwhelming until we decide to take action and do something about it. Pluto with Uranus has the tendency to mow down existing structures, which comes with its own form of intense emotion in terms of fear of the unknown, but which serves us by allowing those parts of ourselves that have become stultified and lost in a rut to become refreshed once more in a new morning of possibility.

These feelings are further complicated by the presence of Neptune, also highlighted in these summer skies and triggered by the current lunations and by Mercury as it stations on August 8th. Neptune symbolically represents the sea and this important astrological archetype is prominent now for good reason. It may be taken quite literally – indeed our oceans are in trouble, and we very much need our attention called to it – but also this numinous symbol can be taken figuratively to be the ocean of connection between us as members of the human family. This is a further dimension of our modern day experience that is deeply beautiful and idealized as well as confusing to our earth-bound intellect.

The zodiacal degree that Neptune occupies at the time of the mid-July New Moon, and for the first half of August, the third degree of Pisces, has the Sabian Symbol: "A petrified forest." This refers to both the illusion of life-like growth where there might in fact be none, and as well an overdependence on things as they are or were, a frozen and non-productive state of being that can be mistaken for becoming. We can continue the breathing in and breathing out of a constructive form of existence, but only when we allow our conception to remain flexible, to grow and transform with each passing day.

Chiron is importantly added to this picture, located in Pisces a few degrees away from Neptune and strongly aspected by Uranus, Pluto, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, the latter two at different strategic times in these current cycles. We thus can sense another layer of additional meaning and another take on our presently somewhat dire situation.

With the cosmic energy active in us now of Chiron, the Wounded Healer, we are encouraged to recognize that – vital though our spiritual progress might be for our survival – we have a certain fear of that progress. We might even be able to attune to intimations of where in our bodies that fear could be lodged and whence derived. When we have the courage to follow our intuition to the ultimately possible depth of its revelation we can begin to discover where we are stuck.

The cosmic forces that conspire within us now are at times in seeming conflict with the wishes of our little minds although possibly simultaneously perceived to be in sync with higher goals. They are our friends and our support even though this can often take the form of tough love.

We can and will prevail, both as a culture and as growing individuals, and over seemingly overwhelming odds at that. This is true as long as we can continue in the courageous task of placing our meditative mind directly on increasing our understanding of our purpose here and of the true challenges that we face.