Astrologically August starts out with a few busy days. The last week of July has set the pace, when Venus turned to retrograde motion on 25th July and Uranus followed suit on the 26th. We now have five planets in retrograde which includes all the slower heavyweights, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. This is a clean up operation. Whilst going “backwards” a planet is re- treading past territory and this gives us the call to attend any loose ends, details or unfinished business with the issues that each planet represents. The slower – farther from earth – the planet is, the more thorough that process has to be. That’s quite a workload right now!
The second Full Moon of July on 31st in Aquarius put the focus on our relative position within the greater scheme of things. It may well have highlighted our role in the community or made us consider what we bring as an individual to contribute to the bigger picture as a whole. Where we aren’t satisfied, or remain unclear or just not matching up to our own ideals, will all be given an overhaul in the coming weeks and months.
As August gets under way, Saturn, known to some as the “Lord of Karma” reaches the point where he turns to go forward once more, having been retrograde since March. He has travelled back into Scorpio as far as his position last December, so there has likely been some harsh lessons and thwarted plans during this time. Saturn’s role is to constrain or provide structure, discipline and substance to our lives. It is through learning from experience, over time, that we really get the chance to develop our endurance and resilience and also we’re frequently compelled to yield to forces of time and the limits of physical reality whenever Saturn in involved. These experiences can be frustrating, but also potentially enlightening and ultimately liberating gifts to our lives. By November Saturn will reach the point he had progressed to before turning back. We can then start to really move away from the lessons of the last 2-3 years into a new phase with Saturn staying in Sagittarius during the next couple of years.
The main planetary activity is around 28 degrees of the fixed signs for the first week of August as this is where all the action takes place. Whilst Saturn is changing direction he is in a challenging aspect with both the “feel good” planets – Venus and Jupiter. Anyone born between 20th – 23rd of January, April, July or October will be strongly affected as will anyone with a late degree ascendant or personal planet in late Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius.
As Venus goes backwards she links up with Jupiter for the second time this summer on the 4th. This puts the focus on love, relationships and money but this time round with Saturn involved, it shows up where we feel things are less than satisfactory. This is the time to make adjustments, re-negotiate the contracts and ask how we are making boundaries or limitations that don’t do us any favours. It’s not all bad though. This is our opportunity to firm up where we let things slide or were a bit unclear to begin with. We can set out something more solid and reliable now. Maybe less exciting, romantic or adventurous but certainly more likely to withstand the test of time and serve us well in to the future.