An August Month of Slowing Down to Look Within

The August month arrives in the wake of the Cancer lunation cycle from the previous month with the especially powerful Full Moon from July 21st that featured a highlighted presence of transformational Pluto. There is quite a lot of change going on right now, both in our individual lives, and, as well, in the life of the collective around us. Certainly, the presidential race here in the U.S. has shifted dramatically since that recent Sunday. As August gets underway, this cycle has a few days left to run, leading up to the Leo New Moon of August 4th, and the simultaneous retrograde of Mercury that same evening. These astrological events are really both happening all during this upcoming Sunday, since Mercury standing at a virtual stand-still in the early morning New Moon configuration already has the retrograde characteristics of missed connection, mechanical breakdowns, and meditative review and questioning of where it is that we are currently heading in our lives.

It is an interesting question to raise as well, as to whether the strong presence of Pluto that we see going into this month might continue as a theme throughout, and the first positive evidence on this issue is that the lovely Venus in this August 4th New Moon configuration lies at 29° of Leo, therefore in close minor aspect, a quincunx, to the 0° Aquarius position of the Lord of Death and Rebirth. Neptune too, at 29° of Pisces, remains in sextile to Pluto, making a yod to Venus. Also, we find the new 21st century Nature planet, Haumea, having proven to be quite potent in chart work, at 0° Scorpio, still in her long running square with Pluto. Interestingly, expansive Jupiter at exactly 15° of Gemini in the Leo New Moon configuration, makes close sesquiquadrate aspects to both Pluto and Haumea creating a sesqui-yod to Jupiter from the powerful energies of Haumea and Pluto. Therefore, this August month of Mercury Retrograde seems to be a continuation of the strongly transformational characteristics of the previous month of July. For better or for worse, you could say that we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Speaking of the potential upside, what we can do, entirely to our benefit during this Mercury Retrograde that is almost upon us, is to take a good hard look at what is going on for us below the surface layers of our psyche. The inner world is difficult to access, and yet our dreams can help to take us there, and our intuition, plentiful in this time of Uranus sextile Neptune, strong Pluto, and Mercury Retrograde. The timing of the retrograde basically embraces the whole August month, from the 4th to the 28th, with the two-week period of the post-retrograde shadow that follows, as Mercury gradually straightens out, finishing by September 11th.

The First Quarter Moon of the 12th, what Rudhyar called a “crisis in action,” pits the Leo Sun against a Scorpio Moon, or outer versus inner realities. It might be that what we feel on the inside is not a graceful match with our surface world agendas or its logic.

The other major lunation configuration of this exciting and consequential August month is the Aquarius Full Moon of Monday the 19th, which is also, incidentally, the start day in America of the Democratic National Convention. Retrograde Mercury conjuncts the Sun in this Full Moon, so that the unusual may take center stage. The killer aspect in this Full Moon is a partile T-square from Sun and Moon in their opposition both in square with Uranus at 27° of Taurus. Then too, Jupiter in this Full Moon exactly squares Saturn in Pisces, signaling political changes in the works and the collision of the ideal versus the practical. There could be surprises, and unexpected realizations, and we won’t really know what these might be until we get there. The 3-degree gap to the following signs of Virgo and Pisces is also evident, which again stimulates the Pluto- Haumea square that remains active through to the end of the year. It’s an exciting and, as well, a fundamentally introspective month that we have going.

With all the tension in the world scene right now, including the viciously divided polarity of the political parties in this country, and the wars raging in Europe and the Middle East, it is easy to yield to the temptation to curl up into a little ball and hide under the bed. But subtracting yourself from the action will not ultimately help the world, or even yourself. We must somehow nevertheless get going, whistling through the darkness as we can muster it, and proceed just as though the Universe was right there on our side, guiding us on. As indeed it is.