To understand August’s role at the close of summer, we have to first understand what is coming during the fall season- this helps us place August as an important timestamp at the beginning of a larger series of events. During the second half of the year, we will experience a tough triple retrograde- two seasonal Mercury Retrogrades and one bi-annual Mars Retrograde- collectively running from September 2022 to January 2023 (but really March 2023) in an overlapping series that never gives us a break in their intensity. August is the month before the overlapping triple retrograde series, so it sets us up for the people, situations, and themes that are ultimately going to get evaluated.

August is about shaking up static energy or false security in our lives.

Something unexpected may rock your world or create the perfect opening to make a radical change depending on how you look at it. You may wrestle with feeling torn between accepting the change and feeling liberated to make a wild move versus trying to cling to a familiar safety zone and do what has traditionally been expected of you. As you respond to the element of surprise, here’s some questions to consider in August:

• Where are things stuck? How can tension and frustration inform you about what you’re ready to let go of?

• Where do you need a radical wakeup call? Where could healthy unpredictability, surprise, or change do some good?

• How could an unusual or shocking proposition open you to previously unconsidered pathways?

• In what ways are you being your own jailer? How can you be your own liberator?

With these big picture patterns in mind, let’s look at the day-by-day breakdown of our planetary playbook to see when and how it’s all going to unfold…

8/26-28 THE USUAL OR THE UN-USUAL? Venus wrestles between rule-following Saturn and freedom-loving Uranus, so you may feel torn between convention and innovation in a romantic relationship or financial strategy. Go with the grain, or against it? Meanwhile, the Virgo New Moon asks you to consider the practicality of whichever direction you choose— one idea may seem more appealing than the other, but can you actually pull it off? The full story may not actually unfold until next month in September, but you could be setting the stage now.

Wondering how to navigate the changing times?

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