August is an active month astrologically, and the New Moon in Leo on the 4th sets the stage for it. It’s likely to be loud, with a lot of over-the-top communications. Some of those communications will be deceptive, but I think we’ll start seeing some real pushback against lies and the misuse of technologies (AI deepfakes, social media, etc.) that support the deceptions. I expect the pushback to get even stronger over the next year and in to 2026.

There will also be plenty of creative, even brilliant ideas floating around, and some of them could be life-changing. Don’t ignore your intuition. When an idea — your own or another’s — sparks your interest, don’t dismiss it out of hand because you’re too busy, or stressed, or whatever. Look more closely. If it’s a good idea, take it and run with it. We are in the middle of a time of intense change and rapid evolution. You won’t be able to avoid change, but you can steer your personal life in a better direction if you are paying attention and being proactive.

Another feature of this month will be the Mercury retrograde, August 5th through the 28th. Mercury Rx can be annoying, but it also has a useful side, and consciously putting that useful side to work will help mitigate any Mercury problems. Here’s a whole post I wrote on how to do that.

I’ll put the technical astrology stuff in italics if you want to skip over it. For the astrologers and budding astrologers among you, here’s what I’m looking at…

(The New Moon in Leo is sextile the midpoint of the approaching Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Gemini. Sun’s sextile to Jupiter will perfect on the 7th, and the Mars-Jupiter conjunction will perfect on the 14th in a tight square to Saturn in Pisces.

The NM is also sesquiquadrate Neptune, which suggests issues with the ocean and/or flooding, as well as deception, misdirection, and drugs both recreational and pharmaceutical. The way through the fog, as always with Neptune, is increased spiritual awareness and practice.

Venus is in the anaretic degree of Leo, square Uranus, and in an approaching conjunction with a stationary Mercury in Virgo, which will retrograde through Leo, stationing at 21° on the 28th. This means it will partile square Uranus 2 more times, and be in orb of that square for the entire Rx period.

Venus will go on to form a T-square opposing Saturn, squaring the Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Gemini mid-month (the 19th). On the same day, there is a Full Moon square Uranus, and Sun conjunct Mercury.)

The month will not lack surprises, reversals, and some dizzying changes. How much upheaval will be happening in your personal life depends on your natal chart, but you’ll see quite a bit of it in the world around you.

The month also brings a lot of supportive planetary energy that will highlight creative opportunities for lasting, beneficial changes. If we pay attention and do the work, we can make some needed changes in our own lives. The outer work we need to do is dependent on our personal circumstances, but there is inner work almost all of us can benefit from.

I always think of the Leo New Moon as the “know thyself” New Moon, since Leo is the sign of personal individuation and creativity. Like all the signs, Leo has a problematic side. Leo’s problems mostly stem from an inability or unwillingness to creatively express all its love, creative ideas, and generosity. This Moon cycle is a good time to look inward and consider how and why we restrict our personal creative expression through negative self-talk and limiting beliefs about both ourselves and others.

It’s really easy to fall into doomscrolling these days, and that almost inevitably leads to a lot of doomthinking. Which is not to say we shouldn’t keep up with and assess — with both mind and heart — what’s going on in the world around us. We absolutely should.

But our minds, our mental and emotional states, affect our bodies and the world around us, and it’s important to regularly re-center ourselves around those things life offers us that fill us with joy, love, wonderment, and a sense of connection to a larger reality outside the boundaries of the material world.

Zeitgeist is one of those German words that requires several words or even sentences to translate into English. “The spirit of the time” is a short version. Anyone who works with subtle energies will recognize the zeitgeist as an energetic construct. We all contribute to it (even though we mostly are not conscious of doing so), and we are at least somewhat affected by it. Spiritual and magickal practices both strengthen our individual contribution to the zeitgeist and also buffer us against the more damaging effects it can have on our personal well-being.

We are in the middle of a profoundly consequential time in human history, riding waves of radical change. Ongoing aspects between the outer planets signify waves of support for evolutionary change, extraordinary breakthroughs in science and technology, and peak spiritual experiences. But we’ll also be seeing reality-shaking events.

The outer planets speak to our evolution as a species over the wide sweep of history, and evolution is often uncomfortable. I don’t doubt that we are birthing new civilizations, but that won’t happen without the death of the old ones.

Change is in the air this month, and it’s a good time to reassess our spiritual practices, looking specifically at whether they still bring us joy and connection, or if they have become rote. We’ll also have opportunities to examine our ideas and beliefs, because some of them may need adjusting in the face of new information we are receiving.

Another item for consideration this month is boundaries. Boundaries are not just what keeps out things/people/thoughts, but also protects what we want to keep within us. Our inner work, the evolution of our soul, cannot take place if our focus is constantly facing outward, focused on the zeitgeist, on other people’s opinions and needs, on our worries about the future. We need to do soul work, and the inner space in which we do that — the alchemical vessel, the inner temple, the cauldron are some of the symbols used for this — also requires strong boundaries.

One of the metaphors I find most useful for setting energetic boundaries is the semi-permeable membrane that confines the contents of each cell and allows only certain molecules and ions into and out of the cell. Keep your boundaries healthy and responsive to both inner and outer conditions.

The Leo New Moon reminds us that we all carry an individual spark of the divine that is carried by no one else. Each one of us has a contribution that we alone can make to our collective reality, and our creative engagement with the zeitgeist will help steer the changes we can bring to the world, as well as nurture our personal evolution.

As always, if you’d like to know how the current planetary patterns are interacting with your personal horoscope and how that’s likely to play out, contact me, and we’ll set up a consultation.

On the National Stage

And you thought July was crazy…

August looks to be a wild ride politically. There are a bunch of powerful aspects forming over the month that are peaking on or very near the 19th — the day the Democratic National Convention begins. There’s a Full Moon in Aquarius, with Mercury Rx in Leo conjunct the Sun, and the whole shebang square Uranus. Then there’s a T-square of Saturn opposing Venus, both squaring a Jupiter-Mars conjunction in Gemini.

Additionally, in a bi-wheel with the USA’s natal chart (Sibly, equal houses), Uranus is square and the Moon is conjunct natal Moon, Mars is conjunct natal Mars, with Jupiter also within orb. Unsurprisingly, these aspects impinge on the charts of Harris, Trump, and Vance.

I may write more about this in a week or so in plain English instead of astrologese. It’s some really wild astrology during an already wild time in the world. But I’m pressed for time right now, so I’m going to post this, and keep a weather eye on the news.

Lammas/Lughnasadh

This New Moon is just two days before what some call the “astrological Lammas/Lughnasad”. There’s a lot of confusion around the dates of the traditional cross-quarter celebrations, vs the astronomical/astrological midpoint dates. So I wrote a FB post to hopefully clarify the issue. You can read it here:
If you don’t have a Facebook account, I’ll probably get it up on my blog in the next few days.

Whatever you celebrate, blessings of the season to you.