No matter how much this month strains logic and credulity, you’ve got critical thinking at your disposal – and chance after chance to clear up confusion and call out lies.

Remember that. Write it out if you need to.

But before those tools arrive, the month prepares you with reminders you of own worth and validity. How much you’re valued, and how brightly you shine are burning questions in the first four days.

Fallout from last month’s Mars/Uranus conjunction raises them. No one is inclined to put up with being ignored. Relationships that do not sufficiently see you snap; the need for recognition and appreciation could free you from situations and retool your desires, when Venus squares Uranus August 2. A rekindling follows of your unique spark, your self-expression and your right and ability to enjoy life, at the Leo New Moon August 4. (Giving up lies you’ve been told about romance – or yourself — may be a factor, with Venus inconjunct Neptune).

The one-two enhances your self-esteem and confidence and leads to tools for safeguarding them. Boundary-drawing and analytical thinking take over the social vibe as Venus leaves high-drama Leo that same day for the practicality-focused mode of Virgo (till August 29), which approaches life as improvement projects.

Our minds are already in this mode, with Mercury also in the sign, and just as Venus gets in the door, he stations retrograde.

Mercury’s retrograde lasts from August 5-28 and takes him from the beginning of Virgo and back into Leo, which he re-enters August 14. For most of the month, we’ll all be going over recently traveled territory; use it to take a second, cooler look at what you come across.

Details take prominence during the Virgo span. Watch for missed or misunderstood information, do-overs in conversations and paperwork, and opportunities to clean up habits, health issues and unfinished business. Relationships, desires and self-worth (from the recent one-two) especially factor in when retrograde Mercury and Venus meet August 7. That meeting has the feel of a baton passing; mind and desires get on the same neatly organized page, and desires stay under Mercury’s guidance as he does clean up work and she moves ahead, evaluating everything she encounters and identifying how to make it better.

His switchover to Leo is sandwiched between two moments of adjustment. Mercury’s inconjunct to Pluto August 14 revisits their contact at the end of July and takes another pass at an interplay between the spoken and unspoken. Once back in Leo, he repeats his July 25 inconjunct with Neptune, planet of illusion (to put it politely). The cosmic fog machine will be running high; this time, you might catch a deception or delusion that slipped by before.

For more on Mercury retrograde, read my guide at OMTimes.

As if we don’t have enough complications, Mars’ conjunction with Jupiter has us in a wind tunnel of talk and data and papers and lies, peaking August 14. Thinking will be incredibly scattered. Don’t expect the tunnel or the noise to scale back until Mars confronts Saturn two days later.

Midmonth begins a revving that combusts before the month’s end. It requires responsible action and forces both accountability and pushback against authority, as Mars squares Saturn August 16.

Whatever’s been flying around the wind tunnel could settle a bit. Go with your instincts; they’ve got super powers from Neptune and Pluto making a drive-by sextile (minutes away from a direct hit).

Conversations pack a wallop when Mercury squares Uranus August 18 and pushes out unexpected takes on recent shockers and shakeups. You know what’s right; you know what’s you, with the Sun conjunct Mercury.

Hold tight to your certainty. It’ll help you navigate the tremors and lightning of August 19, the action day of the month and one of the most jam-packed days of the year.

One factor is the Aquarius Full Moon, with Mercury opposite the Moon and all three players t-squaring Uranus in Taurus. It’s blowing the lid off reactions and emotions percolating in response to the disruption and chaos that’ve been rampant. (Didn’t think July’s Mars/Uranus conjunction affected you? You may be surprised.) Something will give, dramatically, especially if a part of you has been philosophical, looking at the big picture, while another has been barking, “Hey! What about *me*?”

The other is the first of two squares between Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces. (The second comes on December 24.) This has the potential to contain the every-which-way communication blizzard coming off Jupiter, but that may swell before it dies back. The reason is that Jupiter is receiving pressure not merely from Saturn, but also from Venus in Virgo. She is joining the impact, opposing Saturn and squaring Jupiter, resulting in a T-square to Jupiter.

Venus’ presence is unleashing the paradox of insatiable but healthy desires, clustered with demands for improvement and boundaries and awareness of commitment issues. (Is someone not being mature, maybe?)

The T-square’s pressure will be on Jupiter, demanding sanity, responsibility and dialing back rhetoric and playing fast and loose with facts. If you’ve been brainstorming options in the past few months, you could narrow them down now. (With revisiting likely come December).

The aftermath has you heading more into Virgo mode. Answer the push to call out deception and adjust your own fantastical thinking and callout deception when the Sun inconjuncts Neptune August 21.

Then settle into your most powerful critical (or earth mama) ways as that ball of fire shifts into Virgo the next day and immediately inconjuncts Pluto. Want to cut out a habit? Change your diet? Ruthlessly clean house (including internally – this aspect supports therapy)? The incentive is there. You’ve got the drive to go for what you want, too, with a square from Venus to Mars pushing him to get going already.

Helpful information surfaces by August 24. Retrograde Mercury’s sextile to Mars makes it possible to pick up data and/or unfinished matters and move them along, and to implement ideas you didn’t, or couldn’t, earlier.

No need to rush it. Give in to the sensation of being suspended in time, which comes from Mercury crawling toward his direct station (where he arrives August 28). As he approaches, Venus slips in important business. Her trine to Uranus August 27 causes insights and breakthroughs to erupt in relationships (in some cases, the next stage in developments at the beginning of the month).

The aftermath is less than comfortable, putting us to a challenging examination of reality vs. fantasy. Thank (?) her opposition to Neptune, her higher counterpart in love and creativity.

The pair stands watch as Mercury stations direct. Before he moves noticeably, Venus is out the door August 29, back in her intellectual home of Libra and immediately trining Pluto. Our relationship mode turns more cordial, cooperative and conciliatory, at least on the surface, with attention to word choices and how they land.

This time around, though, Pluto’s touch adds intensity and meaning. It heightens awareness of what’s at stake and what’s most important. And it cuts out some battles and probably some relationships.

Little feels settled, though, at least now for now. The end of the month has us tingling with nervous anxiety and impulses to push against the chaos. Claim Virgo mode. Find your boundaries. Safeguard them.

Re-blogged on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Kathy Biehl. Do Not Copy.

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