As the editor of the Astrology Arizona newsletter, I compose an overview of each month. Today we take a look at the primary factors for the month.

The Overview for August

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In 2024, the month of August puts the focus on the area of our charts where we have Gemini, Leo, and Virgo. This month features Mercury retrograde, showing we have returns, reviews, rehearsals, and research to do! If something hasn’t been moving forward, this may be the time when things change. If something has been moving forward and slows down, do whatever else is needed to support the project when it’s time to speed up again.

Due to the inner planets transiting Leo and Virgo and Mars cruising through Gemini this month, we now have all the planets in half the signs. This shows a split between what we’re experiencing (Aquarius through Virgo) and what we are learning about, which involves the Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn sectors of our charts, since there are no transits in those signs. If you have a planet or two in that span of signs, those parts of you are the solution to the bigger lessons people are learning.

Because the inner planets are all in a phase of opposing Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter these next few months, we’re coming to a time of the year when we get intense awareness through these oppositions. When the inner planets occupy Aquarius through Taurus and conjunct the outer planets, it’s time to pull the energies inward, and when they’re between Cancer and Sagittarius the energies are more expansive in the outer world.

This month features some planets in forward motion and others either retrograde or slowing to go retrograde in a few weeks. While the first 4 days of August are still under the influence of the July 5 New Moon at 15 Cancer and the following Full Moon at 30 Cancer/Capricorn.

These hold sway until the August 4 New Moon at 13 Leo with its favorable sextiles to Jupiter which will bring a month of high productivity and relative stabilization. One of the major factors occurring at several key points are the multiple Yods, or Fingers of God, created when planets go through 29-30 Leo and 1-2 Virgo making quincunxes to Neptune and Pluto. This shows the first week of August with Venus Yods, mid-August with Mercury retrograde Yods, and late August with the Solar Yods.

All of these bring a “multiple expansion through multiple sacrifices” to the nozzle planet, in this case Venus, then Mercury, then the Sun. Here we must remember Mercury made its first Yod around July 24 through 28, will make a second Yod from August 12 through 17, and a final Yod between September 7 and September 10, with the final one focused on late Leo rather than early Virgo.

Pluto leads the outer planet occupied span through early 2025. July began a long run of oppositions to Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus with the oppositions to Saturn and Neptune by Venus in August a harbinger of Solar and Mercurial oppositions to those Pisces planets in September. The oppositions to Pluto by Mercury, Venus, and the Sun helped us see to the core of things, and uncover hidden agendas, corrosive attitudes, and underhanded methods which will help us anticipate the intensity of Mars opposed Pluto three times later this year, in early November, early January, and late April 2025.

Now that Jupiter’s in Gemini, it gives a Gemini backdrop to planets we have in Sagittarius and Pisces, as well as the houses where these signs are on the cusp. Jupiter in Gemini will bring new information and perspectives to those things it rules. Still, the conjunctions to Jupiter when it was in Taurus rule the coming year until the conjunctions with Jupiter in Cancer in June 2025.

Saturn is now retrograde and tracking the path it traveled between late April and early June. It will be occupying its 2024 Shadow zone between 13 and 20 Pisces through February 2025. We have begun to receive the promise of that which nourishes us “at the end of our day of labor,” and August is about a return to “taking a walk with our wisdom” to receive a blessing we’ll carry into the future.

By mid-month we’re all going to be revising some ideas, preparing for a social rebirth in late August or early September. In any case, the primary Saturn theme for the rest of this year and early 2025 is going to help us finish some things, forgive some things, and bless some endings.

The Spiritual Field

We continue to be blessed by the closest Neptune sextile with Pluto in 30 years, with Uranus joining the “three note chord” by the Summer of 2024. With Uranus in late Taurus, Neptune in late Pisces, and Pluto in late Capricorn/early Aquarius, we will have a very strong “double sextile/trine” which should favorably impact all planets we have in the last 7 degrees of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. The Spiritual Field represented by these outermost planets is helping stabilize our late Earth and Water sectors in the spiritual sectors of their signs.

This is preparing us for an entirely new experience of Spirit and Life in 2025 when these Spiritual powerhouses shift out of Earth and Water into Fire and Air, joined by Saturn when it enters Aries creating a “three note chord” of harmonic consciousness. That means 2024 and 2025 will spiritually harmonize planets we have in the late degrees of the Earth and Water signs, while in 2025-2026 they will do the same for planets we have in the early degrees of the Fire and Air signs. This was discussed in greater depth in the AAZ April master class on long wave political cycles of change by Tony Dickey and Gary Lorentzen.

Uranus will occupy the third decan of Taurus for the rest of this year through early July 2025. This is a Capricorn sub-influence with an added dose of Saturn, so there’ll be more structure and discipline and less micromanagement of details. The Cosmic Awakener promises us a new life and a “genuine rejuvenation” and life renewal as a result of what we go through in August and September.

We’re moving through an individual and spiritual awakening which will have us all feeling renewed by October. We just began a new 2 year cycle where we have 27 Taurus in our charts due to the newest Mars conjunct Uranus which happened in July. This new awakening should help us adapt to circumstances and offer our wisdom to our world in subdued ways.

Neptune at “the end of the end” of Pisces is giving us all a sense of vast feelings and finality. We’ve been in a purification process since December and now move into an oceanic feeling of dreaming the future we want to see become manifest. This year we experience the vast unifying field as we prepare to move into a more fiery collective energy in 2025.

With Pluto in early Aquarius, we are living on the cusp of historical change. As it just went stationary retrograde at 3 Aquarius, we’ve begun a wild ride into a time of defiance, rebellion, with many refusing to follow what they believe to be authoritarian control systems. Be open to “regrasping past experience” and see it from a different angle of understanding due to a “sharp self-examination.” Be fearless in making the decisions you need to make.

We also have several long wave Aries cycles in play. Jupiter launched a major healing and mentoring cycle when it conjuncted Chiron at 15 Aries on March 11, 2023. That began a long wave Chiron cycle which will last until the Summer of 2036. And we just finished a 2 year Mars/Chiron cycle and began a new one at 23 Aries.

Not all Chiron cycles are the same length. When Chiron transits between Aquarius and Gemini, it moves relatively slowly and has conjunctions with Jupiter about every 13 years. However, it can take 19-20 years for the next conjunction after Gemini or Cancer. That means once the conjunction at 16 Gemini happens in the Summer of 2036 we won’t have another conjunction of Jupiter and Chiron until the Spring of 2056 in Aquarius, which will launch another long term “expansive healing/mentoring” cycle.

Mars

Mars is still fast in motion, but has now begun to slow. The slowing will continue until it goes retrograde at 7 Leo in early December, but we can still get a lot done quickly in August if we catch the rising tide of Mars’ conjunction with Jupiter this month, turning the corner of the closures shown by Saturn in Pisces, as well as the new transformational ideas shown by the squares to Saturn. Be optimistic, precise, and allow “your will to wholeness” to break up old complexes. Mid-month is breakthrough time!

This month Mars activates the house(s) where we have 8 through 28 Gemini. From August 1 through 4, Mars is in the Gemini decan of Gemini, ruled by Mercury with an extra dose of Jupiter. From August 4 through 19, Mars is in the Libra decan of Gemini, ruled by Venus with an extra dose of Mars. From August 19 through 31, Mars is in the Aquarius decan of Gemini, ruled by Saturn with an extra dose of the Sun.

Between August 1-10, Mars will prove agitating to those with planets between 8-14 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. Between August 10-20, it will have an agitating effect on planets between 14-21 degrees of the same signs. And between August 20-31, it will have the same effect on planets between 21-28 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces.

As I’ve offered before, when Mars is within a degree of forming or separating from a hard aspect with a planet, slow down and show deliberation and caution in how you use force. Hard aspects to/from Mars always require that we moderate or antidote impulsiveness and impatience.

Sign Focus

This month the sign focus shows a preponderance of Gemini, Leo, and Virgo. The month begins with Mercury in Virgo and Venus in Leo. Shortly thereafter, Venus leaves Leo and enters Virgo, while the planets from Mars on out stay in their signs. The last shift is the last week of the month, when the Sun enters Virgo and Venus enters its home sign of Libra.

So the first week is mainly Leo, the second week is mainly Virgo, and the last week is mainly Virgo with the appearance of Libra. Add the constant presence of Mars and Jupiter in Gemini and you can see the span between mid-Gemini and Virgo is the main focus of activity this month.

We’re Actors On A New Stage With A New Set – The Bigger Picture

We’re still in the initial years of a new era in human evolution. The Grand Mutation of Jupiter conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius began a new 20 year Aquarian Era in December 2020, as well as a new 200 year era, moving global energies out of Earth and into Air. We’ve begun to grow beyond the materialism of the past 200 years and have entered two centuries of Air emphasis, with its qualities of relatedness, receptivity, versatility, movability, lightness, and cooperative ideas, visions, and ideals.

We’re still "under the beams" of the Solar Eclipses we experienced in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 and these “cosmic recyclers” continue to remove what we no longer need in our lives. Take note of where you have 1 Cancer, 24 and 13 Sagittarius, 20 Gemini, 11 Taurus, and 2 Scorpio, since we’ve all had t let go of many things related to these sectors the past few years.

The May 2022 eclipses with Sun in Taurus have shut down old value systems in that sector, as well as the Scorpio sector via the May Full Moon Wesak Festival eclipse. The Scorpio Solar eclipses are already leading us to say goodbye to the past, giving up some old ideals. You can find out more about Solar and Lunar eclipses by going to my numerous articles in the archives on how eclipses work.

The April-May 2023 eclipses have begun to work their magic on our Aries and Libra sectors for a long time to come. The Solar eclipse at 30 Aries as well as the October 2023 Solar eclipse at 22 Libra are also shutting down parts of our lives where we have those signs. We now have the Solar eclipse at 20 Aries added to the list, as well as the late March Lunar eclipse which is shutting down parts of our lives where we have early Taurus and early Scorpio.

As we study how successive Eclipses have affected various areas of our charts and lives, we can get a sense of the utility of these “Cosmic Recyclers” in removing what we no longer needed in those areas, creating a void which attracted new life experiences. They invite us to look back, and then forward, to see the continuity of “letting go, taking in, letting go, taking in” across the years.

Primary Action Beats for the First Half of the Month

August begins under the influence of the July New Moon at 15 Cancer, showing that we’ve been focusing on “materializing the spiritual” in our lives. The subsequent Full Moon at 30 Cancer/Capricorn has given us a sense of what we want to preserve and the decisions required to make that happen. Because of the configurations, we’ve all been “escaping from a narrow destiny” in some way as we’ve identified a unique way for us to give our wisdom to our world.

The first week of the month features Venus square Uranus, allowing us a bit more freedom of expression and breadth of vision, and Venus moving from Leo to Virgo on August 4, showing those Venusian Yods I mentioned are active August 3, 4, and 5. We also see that the New Moon at 13 Leo is on the 4th, followed that same evening by Mercury going stationary retrograde at 5 Virgo! The week ends with the productive Sun sextile Jupiter on August 7, with Mercury conjunct Venus at 4 Virgo the same day, leading us into several weeks of getting over our preconceptions and prejudices.

The first week of August has the Moon transiting between Cancer and Virgo, and then between Libra and Capricorn the second week of the month. The second week of August also features Sun quincunx Saturn and Mercury retrograding back into the Yod with Neptune and Pluto described above. Again, this will profoundly affect planets we have in the last degrees of Capricorn and Pisces with the focus in late Leo. Anticipate what’s coming and share generously to release forces in the future.

As the first four days of August are under an “Old Moon,” seek to bring things to completion and close out old areas, preparing for a burst of new energy after the New Moon gives us renewal in our mid-Leo sector. By contemplating how we’ve made it past some intense dramas last year, we can be productive in our “transmutation of life into mind” and build some great renewing thought forms. All in all the aspects indicate a lot of adjustment and sacrifice, but also a new time of getting over old ideas and seeing the beauty in roundabout approaches as well as the memories which return with Mercury retrograde.

The energies dramatically shift at the end of the second week, as Mars conjuncts Jupiter just as Mercury makes its Yods. This activates the double squares and sesquisquares from Mars and Jupiter to Saturn and Pluto, activating an “8 Pointed Star of the Need for Right Action” between August 14 and August 24 due to the number of frictional aspects made in that span.

Primary Action Beats for the Second Half of the Month

The last half of August shows Mercury at its slowest in the third week of the month and then speeding up after the Inferior conjunction on August 18, marking the true beginning of a “new day of labor.” Let your inward-turned reflective mind recapture old love, creativity, or heart expressions, preparing to offer your world whatever message you have to deliver once Mercury goes direct on August 28.

As noted, the third week of August begins with Mars conjunct Jupiter and square Saturn, leading into Venus square Jupiter on August 18, with August 19 bringing Venus opposed Saturn, Sun square Uranus, and Jupiter square Saturn three hours after the Full Moon at 28 Leo/Aquarius! This is a VERY intense period, so be flexible, be ready to get a broader view, renew what needs renewing, and find a justification for some cherished ideal you have. Allow the genius of this period to come forth as smoothly as possible, with humor, optimism, and precision in steering the explosive energies to productive ends.

The third week shows the Moon moving Capricorn to Aries, and from Aries to Leo through the end of the month. The third week begins with the Sun making the Yod to Neptune and Pluto, illuminating the adjustments and sacrifices we went through when Mercury and Venus made the same Yods. The Sun enters Virgo on August 22, the same day it quincunxes Pluto and Venus squares Mars, ending the August run of squares, semisquares, and sesquisquares. I suspect we’ll be seeing a changed landscape by the end of August, so regard it all as a heart strengthening exercise.

Besides what I just mentioned, the last week of August brings Mercury trine Chiron, Venus quincunx Chiron, Mercury sextile Mars, Mars sextile Chiron, Venus trine Uranus, Venus opposed Neptune, and Mercury going direct on August 28. This is favorable for any planets we have around 22-26 degrees of the Fire and Air signs as well as 24-30 degrees of the Earth and Water signs.

The last three days of August show Venus slipping into her home sign of Libra where She immediately trines Pluto, bringing understanding and harmony to those seeds of the transformation of our world from past to future. However, the month ends with two major events impacting the entire last week of August and September/October! On September 1, Uranus goes stationary retrograde at 28 Taurus and Pluto retrogrades back into 30 Capricorn for the last time! This promises major renewals and important decisions involving power players in projects which impact a great number, whether they know it or not.

As Chiron is bringing us all “concentrated doses of spiritual energy” all month, cultivate receptivity to spiritual ideas and ideals. We are all being “molded by transpersonal forces,” to whatever degree we are open and receptive to the influx of those forms of “spiritual protection.” Those who put forth effort will find spiritual rewards streaming in!

Evolutionary Development

This is the thirteenth month of the North Node in Aries era! This is a time of our greatest development being served by self-initiated activity (Aries) shown through our balanced response (Libra) to an ongoing transfiguration toward an ideal. So we grow through focused action and demonstrate it through expressing our Archetypal Self, whether in the world of inner space or outer affairs. We build through Aries and release through Libra, so adopt a pioneering attitude that is expressed with grace and diplomacy.

The first part of the month we grow through seeing how to concentrate to see “the whole picture” to move our destiny forward. Growth is also in the receptivity to Wisdom forces blown in by the spiritual winds of renewal. This lasts through the entire month, so use the spiritual connection to kindle the “fire of renewal” and give new hope where it is needed.

Our wise friend Saturn continues to teach us through the vast feeling experiences from its time in Pisces, and now we’re seeing what is to be perpetuated into the new era in 2025. We are still learning disciplines of forgiveness and compassion, and this month continues our reward and nourishment “after our day of labor.”

The Sun in Leo is a time to see the Light of new “radiations of heart energy” and releases of our creativity, spontaneity, and playfulness. Take a look at your life and find ways to play! This is the “burst of energy” which will be shaped into “significant form” in Virgo, so we’re already getting a dress rehearsal for the Light we’ll experience in September. Mercury retrograde will give us a look back and give us a new angle on the message we are here to offer our world, so expect returns in the early Virgo and late Leo area of your chart.

We are in our fourth year of the new Aquarian era, with a new iteration of that future-oriented energy set into motion in February. Jupiter in Taurus helped us get a new grounded expansive view of how to sustain the Aquarian unfoldment into the future which is finding forms of expression while Jupiter is in Gemini. We’ve all entered a new land. Let go of the lesser, accept the greater, and the new land you’re in is going to be far more enjoyable than the old land you’ve had to leave.

Because we’re in the fourth year of a new 20 year and 200 year cycle, remember a new era has dawned. Have courage and take the initiative to leave the Earth and fly free into the Air of what’s opening as the Grand Mutation expands its promise into the Divine transfigured ideal of a more just truth and future. This month brings stability and expansion of new Aquarian expressions. As always, lighten up, play a little, and be willing to explore new arenas of effective activity where you can work and play with other Light Spirits, and take heart as we navigate the dawning of the Pluto in Aquarius era.

We have now collectively transfigured into a greater vision of the one Light/Life we all are together. Continue to find your heart strength and new forms of genuine happiness appropriate for who you are now, and who you are becoming relative to just a few months ago.

We now navigate the cosmic time-space between endings and beginnings so bless and forgive much to flow down the time stream. The past is over and we all have begun our trek into a new world of new potential, new adventures, and new ways to enjoy being ourselves while doing our work of Destiny. Open to the abundance of the process of growth, since we are all on a rocket ship to the stars!

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Since I also include this in the newsletter, I’ll offer it to you here:

PLANETARY MOTIONS IN AUGUST 2024

(All the degree values listed in the next three sections are computed the same way Sabian Symbols are read; we always round up. 9+ = 10; 19+ = 20; 29+ = 30)

SUN – 10 Leo to 9 Virgo
MERCURY – 4 to 5 Virgo, then back to 22 Leo
VENUS – 26 Leo to 3 Libra
MARS – 9 to 28 Gemini
JUPITER – 15 to 20 Gemini
SATURN –19 to 17 Pisces
URANUS – 27 to 28 Taurus
NEPTUNE – 30 Pisces (all month)
PLUTO – 1 Aquarius (all month)
CHIRON – 24 Aries (all month)
TRUE NORTH NODE – 9 to 7 Aries

SIGNIFICANT ASTROLOGICAL OCCURRENCES IN AUGUST 2024

(Bold entries are the ingresses, stations, and lunations. Non-bold are significant aspects.)

NEW MOON; July 5; Sun and Moon at 15 Cancer
FULL MOON; July 21; Sun 30 Cancer; Moon 30 Capricorn
VENUS SQUARE URANUS; August 2 at 27 Leo/Taurus
NEW MOON; August 4; Sun and Moon at 13 Leo
VENUS ENTERS VIRGO; August 4
MERCURY STATIONARY RETROGRADE; August 4 at 5 Virgo
MERCURY CONJUNCT VENUS; August 7 at 4 Virgo
MARS CONJUNCT JUPITER; August 14 at 17 Gemini
MERCURY RETROGRADE RE-ENTERS LEO; August 14
MARS SQUARE SATURN; August 15 at 17 Gemini/Pisces
MERCURY RX SQUARE URANUS; August 18 at 28 Leo/Taurus
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION OF MERCURY/SUN; August 18 at 27 Leo
VENUS SQUARE JUPITER; August 18 at 18 Virgo/Gemini
FULL MOON; August 19; Sun 28 Leo; Moon 28 Aquarius
VENUS OPPOSITION SATURN; August 19 at 18 Virgo/Pisces
SUN SQUARE URANUS; August 19 at 28 Leo/Taurus
JUPITER SQUARE SATURN; August 19 at 18 Gemini/Pisces
SUN ENTERS VIRGO; August 22
VENUS SQUARE MARS; August 22 at 23 Virgo/Gemini
AAZ MEETING; August 24
VENUS OPPOSITION NEPTUNE; August 28 at 30 Virgo/Pisces
MERCURY STATIONARY DIRECT; August 28 at 22 Leo
VENUS ENTERS LIBRA; August 29
URANUS STATIONARY RETROGRADE; September 1 at 28 Taurus
PLUTO RE-ENTERS CAPRICORN; September 1
NEW MOON; September 2; Sun and Moon at 12 Virgo
MARS SQUARE NEPTUNE; September 2 at 30 Gemini/Pisces
MARS ENTERS CANCER; September 4
MERCURY SQUARE URANUS; September 6 at 28 Leo/Taurus
SUN OPPOSITION SATURN; September 8 at 17 Virgo/Pisces
MERCURY ENTERS VIRGO; September 8

Again, please consider joining Astrology Arizona to get all this and a lot more delivered to your email inbox at the beginning of each month. Members get to advertise their business on our website for free, there’s free access to the fantastic documentary Changing of the Gods, and discounts on recorded talks as they are available.

I want to welcome all to drop by our Astrology Arizona Facebook page and join the social media initiative going on there. Please feel free to contribute a topic, ask about a topic, or anything else related to our new group. See you over there!

I also highly recommend joining our group and coming to our zoom presentations, since we have some of the best astrologers anywhere giving talks about all kinds of great astrological topics. We’ve had “Evolutionary Configurations,” “America at the Crossroads,” “Using Planetary Hours in Charts,” “Outer Planet Cycles and How The Past Affects the Present,” “The Three Part Self,” “How Our Chart Expresses Our Spiritual Potential,” and more.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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