This Month in Astrology – August 2017

Love, creative expression, entertainment, and pleasure are the biggest themes of your life this August, dear Aries. This month may not be the ideal time to make long-term commitments, but it has all the potential to be a spirit-feeding, pleasurable time in your life. At the very least, you'll put plans in place for bringing more playfulness into your world. The Solar Eclipse on the 21st can affect you in various ways, as it occurs in your sector of romance, hobbies, creativity, and children. This eclipse acts to usher in change and new beginnings in one or more of these areas, and your life may feel as if it's been turned upside down, likely in a very positive way. You might commit to enjoy or express yourself more often, and since this eclipse affects you for half a year, this is just the beginning.

Since the New Moon, in a rather rare turn of events, occurred in this same sector of your solar chart last month, you've certainly been entertaining ideas for more recreation, romance, or creativity in your life. However, if you've lacked some confidence or haven't found the right channels for going after your heart's desires, August will take you there. Confidence is on the upswing, although a deep feeling of lack may be a catalyst for new beginnings for some of you.

Issues with friends that were left hanging or unresolved may blow up around the Lunar Eclipse on the 7th, giving you just the right motivation to make necessary changes and resolutions. This can be a good time for announcing or revealing a relationship or creative project. It might also mark a turning point in a friendship or project. However, with Mercury retrograde from the 12th forward, keep your cool and take your time with important decisions. Mercury's retrograde affects your work and routines most, however. You may need to spend time revising and reviewing certain projects, or a previous health issue may crop up again.

Venus spends most of August (until the 25th) in your sector of home and family, and this feels pleasant and warm. Activities with family or around the home are favored. Particularly from the 9-11, relationships with loved ones can improve with loving or compassionate listening and care. During this same window, you're growing and improving your relationships, love life, and creative life. You seek meaningfulness now, and you're proud of what you're producing and sharing. Someone may inspire you to be the best you can be.

Around the 14-16, you may be dealing with fears of being made irrelevant or dealing with the pressures of competition in your work or with your reputation especially, and this interferes with your increased desire for personal time this month. Look for ways to compromise rather than jump into actions that are driven more by fear than by realism. Thankfully, a Jupiter-Pluto square that's been driving and pressuring you since November forms for the last time on August 4th. This helps relieve you from tension, and as Jupiter and Saturn move towards a sextile exact in the last week of August, you'll find it natural to embrace a more moderate and comfortable pace. Phew!

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st is creative, romantic, and proud. You might begin anew on creative levels now. Fortunately, it's tied to advantageous and supportive aspects that help you achieve your goals in the months ahead. You'll find it easier to tune out distractions as you pursue heartfelt projects or relationships. Self-discipline improves. Creative projects that require a practical touch or detail work benefit most. Laying down clearer boundaries with a child or friend/lover can be helpful as well.

This is also a good time for forming or strengthening alliances. The practical side of partnering is emphasized. A partner could play a vital role in helping or motivating you to bring more order into your life. Some of you may be considering ways to strengthen your legal position in a business or venture. This can be a time for finding more joy in life from simplifying or some clever downsizing.

Your personal life, home, and family are in sharp focus this month, dear Taurus. With Mars in your solar fourth all month and a Solar Eclipse occurring in the same sector on the 21st, your domestic life is especially busy. Projects around or on the home are favored, and so are activities with family and loved ones. Because the energies centered on this sector of your solar chart are so dynamic, you'll want to do something special, take action, and make changes. In fact, changes in your family dynamic or home life are necessary--and may be a long time coming--as the Solar Eclipse ushers in powerful energy for new beginnings in your personal life. This can also be a time that you indulge in a luxury item for the home, or when money comes through to fund a project.

Uncertainty or lack of structure in your career can seem to undermine your efforts to improve and enjoy your family and home life. However, in truth, your personal life and public life shouldn't be vying against one another, and that's what the current set of eclipses are helping you to see. It's all about balance. If you can let things flow instead of pushing for direction, you'll be able to see this not as a hurdle but a call to see things more clearly.

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th gives you a window into your heart when it comes to where you ultimately want to head in your life. People are noticing what you do, but don't let that idea intimidate you! The truer you are to yourself, the greater the opportunities.

Until the 11th, playful or creative communications, learning, flirtations, and engaging learning experiences can figure strongly. Mercury's retrograde turn on the 12th can introduce some complications getting your intended message across. August is a powerful time for getting in deeper touch with your innermost needs and desires, but it's not always a straightforward process. People from the past can be a theme now, whether it’s about someone reconnecting with you or thinking (obsessing) about the past. Slow down a little, give people space, and then talk things through from September 10-29. There can be some backtracking affecting your romantic relationships and creative projects, but it also gives you the chance to rethink certain plans.

Venus is in your communications sector until the 25th, boosting the pleasure you take in connecting, sharing, and learning most of August. You may be verbalizing your affections very well now, or there can be a focus on loving chats and sweet talk. Some of you will find or enhance love through the phone or chat lines, or with fellow students or in the neighborhood. It’s also a favorable time for pleasant relationships with siblings. Particularly around the 9-11, you can enjoy an excellent rapport with friends. Your conversations are revealing.

Resentments and frustrations tend to rise to the surface more easily around the 14-16. Be conscious of inclinations towards mind games or other forms of manipulation and avoid them if you can. Attempts to over-manage your life can only lead to stress. Fortunately, you're battling these pressures less and less this month. In fact, you're slipping into a more moderate, reasonable way of approaching your relationships, work, and leisure time.

August can be an important time for boosting your feelings of security, and possibly more freedom or enjoyment on the home front. Some of you could be moving to a larger space or freeing yourself of clutter so that your living space feels larger. If you're in need of a fresh start with family, the cosmos are supporting you. Helpful aspects imprint the Solar Eclipse on the 21st, and since the effects of this eclipse last for months to come, the changes you make in your personal life will have long-lasting, positive effects on your life. This is an excellent time for applying yourself to a meaningful project or endeavor. It's also a good time for launches of long-term ventures or laying the foundation for a major project or business. Taurus is a sign very capable of making plans years in advance and eventually putting them into action successfully. There can be a sense of accomplishment from taking care of important details.

There is super energy for attractions and flirtations in August, particularly in the first two weeks, although things may slow down mid-month. Creative, romantic, and recreational activities are in stronger focus in the last week of the month, but you may not see forward motion on these matters until September.

You are better able to manage your time, and you find work or your routines more rewarding now. This is also an excellent period for sensible fitness and health programs. You may be handling financial matters, especially debts and taxes, logically and realistically now, although you may want to wait until later in September--after Mercury's retrograde--to make big money moves. Two eclipses occur in August, and while these do prompt significant changes, you'll need time to sort things out before pushing ahead with new plans.

August can have a busy, sometimes maddening pace, dear Gemini, as your desire for variety increases and you seek out more mental stimulation and contact. It's a time for reaching out to others and enjoying the connections you're making. Many of you are all fired up over a new or renewed personal interest. In fact, this is a powerful time for new beginnings on the lines of communicating, learning, and commuting. There can be many errands and daily comings and goings to deal with now. For some, communication or transportation breakdowns prompt new beginnings, and while frustrating, new worlds can open up as you come at the world differently and discover new channels for expressing yourself and connecting with others.

Your mind is curious, excited, and hungry, and opportunities to feed it are likely to pop up when you need them most. Improved connections are in store as transportation and communication channels open up for you, although this can result from a challenge. It's time to diversify! Your success may depend heavily on others and word of mouth this month and next.

You can be exceptionally busy in your daily life as this theme builds, and around the Lunar Eclipse on the 7th, you could be feeling a little overwhelmed if your schedule is packed, and you have too little time to feed your desire to escape and explore. Even so, with a plan to find a better balance, your confidence builds, and little can stop you from finding inspiration and enjoying new interests and projects. This can also be a time for an unveiling or culmination of a project or learning endeavor.

Venus in your solar second house until the 25th tends to stimulate your desire nature, largely for material things and pleasures. You can be filled with creative ideas for using your natural talents in satisfying ways or for making money and doing business. Intuition runs high for creative and visionary business ideas, particularly around the 9-11.

However, around the 14-16, there may be a clash of values with a special someone, or issues of possessiveness can arise in a relationship. If you feel others have been controlling you or your money, then frustrations can emerge now. Or, if you've been overly attached to someone due to fear, this problem can reach a peak. Fortunately, love relationships become steadier and more straightforward this month due to Saturn's direct turn on the 25th and a fabulous Jupiter-Saturn aspect that helps you balance fun and responsibility. Realistic expectations of projects and people lead to happier moods all around.

Mercury's retrograde, occurring from August 12th to September 5th, is a time for slowing down and reassessing matters -- letting your heart catch up with your mind and looking at the world a little differently so that you gain perspective. Slowdowns in your home life or revisiting old problems with family may be in store for you now.

You could find that pairing up with someone to get a job done is very satisfying now. A partner or a relationship can inspire you to reach new heights or to learn a new skill. You have more confidence in your creative efforts, hobbies, or romantic pursuits now. There can be satisfying progress made in a friendship, community project, or team endeavor. Those of you beginning a new course of study are in particularly good shape for success.

The final Jupiter-Pluto square occurs on the fourth. This aspect was responsible for struggling with the level of intensity you want from your relationships in the past ten months. Sharing and power dynamics may have been tricky if you weren't sure what you wanted – or what others wanted from you! The pressure to do too much too soon dissipates now as you ease into a more stable period. A hobby might become a business or a fun relationship moves to a new level.

Major themes in your life this month are business, money, security, learning, and connecting, dear Cancer. August is a time for taking charge of your finances and generating new ideas, budgets, or plans for better management of your resources, money, and talents. You'll also focus on learning new things and improving your communications. Pay attention to important advice or newfound knowledge, but aim to put big plans into motion after Mercury's retrograde that lasts from August 12th to September 5th. Independent or competitive activities are highly favored in August, more so than cooperative ones, although you're also very well-liked.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st happens in your solar second house and Mars charges through this sector all month, making you intent on bringing your recent ideas and endeavors to life and building or developing these projects. With this strong emphasis, many of you will be wanting to see tangible results, but you're also very willing to put in the necessary time and energy to achieve your goals. While the month can be intense at times, you're moving towards a more patient and moderate approach to life that truly works for you!

Around the Lunar Eclipse on the 7th, you may need to deal with funding problems. However, great energy is with you for new sources of, or increased, income from your own efforts not only this month but on some level in the coming year as well. For some of you, this can be a financial wake-up call. A payout or issue of debt, significant gift, or bonus may be part of the story. For others, it can be about awakening to previously hidden desires or a stronger desire for intimacy. You might reach a turning point in a partnership, and a decision about merging your resources can be a pressing matter.

With Venus in your sign most of the month (until the 25th), knowing and attracting what you want comes naturally. People seek out your company and desire you more than usual with this transit! Particularly around the 9-11, you are presenting an especially charming, slightly mysterious aura that draws people in. This same period is also good for enjoying more flexibility and freedom in your relationships. You can be enthusiastic about a person, an idea, or a feeling, and this kind of connection to something higher than you can be highly motivating. There can be a sense that you're growing and heading in the right direction with business or family – or both. There is contentment now, as well as a feeling that you're on top of things, particularly on financial and domestic levels.

The 14-16 has a way of pulling up underlying tensions in close relationships, however. Someone may be resentful of your good humor or the attention you’re receiving, and it could be due to fear that you're happier with others or drifting away. You may be dealing with touchiness, but intense feelings that emerge now can be very revealing. Even complicated interactions can teach you a lot about yourself and your needs. As well, excessive competitiveness in relationships tends to tone down by scores as the month advances.

While Mercury is retrograde from the 12th and eclipses tend to be better for reorganizing than pushing ahead with new decisions, the Solar Eclipse on the 21st is all about recognizing the need to make changes or clear the slate in some way. You have an exceptional sense of what is truly valuable to you, and also of your capabilities.

There can be great prospects involving your income, family or home life now, possibly through increased resources available to you for making improvements. Or, work and home life combine in wonderful, constructive ways. There can be more power and resources available to you for establishing yourself in a home or through long-term business endeavors. Family can be more supportive of your work, or your job works well around your family life so that you can enjoy both more thoroughly. You'll find that the major key to happiness at this time is moderation.

August is a powerful month and is particularly useful as a time for starting anew, dear Leo, whether this is about reinventing yourself through a new image or beginning a brand new path towards more personal fulfillment. A strong drive to take the driver's seat in your life overcomes you, and you're taking the necessary steps to get ahead. This is more about you personally than it is about your professional life which may take a backseat temporarily. Personal goals are in high focus.

You recently enjoyed a New Moon in your sign, pushing you along a new path, and this month another New Moon occurs, again in your sign (this doesn't happen often - we typically get one a year, and you have two in 2017). This New Moon is a Total Solar Eclipse, and it packs a whole lot of punch. It's a time for turning over a new leaf.

You're receiving an extra shot of energy and boost in confidence in August. For one, the Solar Eclipse in your sign happens on the 21st. This eclipse acts as a powerful slate cleaner. Something new begins, and it can feel much like a new chapter in your life story. You are ready to kick bad habits, start fresh, and present a more self-assured "you" to the world. However, this can emerge from a feeling that you're very much not in control or in charge, so there can be some discomfort involved. The eclipse receives incredible support, suggesting that efforts put forth now lead to successful, rewarding changes. For another, Mars is in your sign all month, stimulating your courage and bravery, as well as some healthy me-first energy, which of course you should practice in moderation. You're getting several boosts pushing you into the driver's seat. You feel driven this month, although where you're headed may not be exceptionally clear just yet!

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th is a relationship wake-up call. There has been a tremendous focus on your personality and your needs, wants, and plans. This eclipse pushes for the realization of a partner's role in your life or your own relationship needs. This cosmic push does come at a time when Venus is moving through your privacy sector and heading into an opposition to Pluto, suggesting that you may be dealing with problems from the past that are re-emerging in relationships, as well as with issues related to over-work or perfectionism. Fortunately, there can be a project to focus on with a special person that strengthens a bond this month. August is better for personal announcements and celebrations than for relationship ones.

Finances need a second look with Mercury traveling through your values and resources sector virtually all month and retrograde from the 12th forward. There is a theme with money and business this month that involves looking to past projects for inspiration. You'll have to take a new approach to these ventures or ideas after dusting them off, but they can be true gems. Saturn's direct turn in the last week of August helps, but it won't be before September 9th that you feel ready to push business forward. Focus on refining and editing.

The eclipse set in Leo/Aquarius is still relatively new to you and will evolve until the final eclipse in the set occurs in January 2019. This is a period for discovering your independence, relationships needs, and what makes you shine. It's a time for turning points related to personality and partnership. There can be a temporary feeling of being invisible that motivates you to change your approach to the world. In the coming weeks and even months, you have take-charge energy and vitality for beginning brand-new projects, initiatives, and personal plans. There are pleasant and sudden events or surprises as your life moves forward in significant ways. Travel, education, legal matters, or publishing can be big players.

August is an assertive, active, and enterprising month. Mars is handy to have in your corner as it increases your drive and energy levels and is particularly effective with Venus helping to smooth over rough edges from August 26th forward. This can be an especially active time for educational or travel pursuits. Self-promotion or publishing may be in focus. Your desires are loud, and you're ready to pursue them directly. You exude even more strength, dynamism, and dominance than usual. Of course, you should be careful with this -- try not to take things too far. You receive cosmic help with this goal particularly on the 20-22, but you have support for most of the second half of the month -- you're finding ways to let your confidence and initiative work for you rather than against you.

August brings a mix of introspective and sociable energy to your world, dear Virgo. Huge stirrings are happening inside of you, but you're also managing to get out and about and divide your time well. While you are in social demand this month, a part of you is likely to remain a little reserved or withdrawn, and this is healthy and necessary! Mercury spends virtually the whole month in your sign, but turns retrograde in Virgo on the 12th, giving you further reason to reflect and rest rather than push big decisions. If others are misunderstanding you in the second half of August, you may very well find new ways of expressing yourself that work and satisfy to boot.

Your mental energies are quickened with Mercury in your sign, favoring any task that involves getting your point across effectively! However, from the 12th forward, it's time to slow down on a mental level. Edit, refine, reflect, and refocus. Allow time for your heart to catch up before moving projects forward. Chances are good that they can wait.

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th gives you a push to take better care of health, routines, and work. If you've been feeling unhealthy or if you've been slack with routines, work, or fitness, you'll feel particularly uncomfortable with the situation now. A powerful realization of the need to pick up your socks, so to speak, overcomes you now. A deadline or upcoming event may be the trigger. New information coming to light, or strong feelings and epiphanies now, lead to significant adjustments.

Friendships can be lively and smooth this month, with the possible exception of the 15-17 when others may find you withholding or unavailable. Address excesses in your social life, particularly if these are draining your resources, whether this is energy or money! Dividing your time between friends and lovers may be an issue for some of you. For others, you may be struggling with whether to go a project alone or involve others and delegate tasks. A particularly advantageous time for enhancing or attracting relationships is the 9-11. Others are attracted to your ideas and your intelligence. There is a need to nourish both the inner and outer life now, and you tend to see people as the means to feed your well. What you begin at this time may slow down, however, once Mercury retrogrades on the 12th, so aim to take things slowly.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st reinforces a need to look within. August is important for seeking out a balance between doing and resting, and slowing down can, in fact, benefit you. The Sun moves into your sign just a day later, on the 22nd, and while you receive extra attention, you're nevertheless still feeling hesitant about throwing yourself into new situations.

Efforts to improve family life, particularly on the level of structure and order, resume full force in the last week of August. It's a powerful time for organizing your things. Much of August feels like you're doing preparation work or laying down foundations. Make it your goal to be patient and enjoy the process.

The state of your inner world is especially active and at times chaotic this month. Try to treat this period as a time for gathering your energies and closing those ventures that no longer serve you well.

You have wonderful cosmic support for home and family life, security, comfort, and finances in the last week of the month. It's also a time when you're coming into your own, seeking out more from life, but also asking what you can do to make life more rewarding.

Big changes are in the works for your social life, hopes, dreams, or community involvement this month, dear Libra. August is potentially powerful for payoffs from recent career or business efforts, networking, and connecting with friends. There is still the need to process recent events and get your footing, but you're also in a very sociable phase that's excellent for you. Taking some educated risks can expand your world now.

Eclipses this month pull up important themes revolving around friendships, group connections, long-term goals, romance, and creativity. The Solar Eclipse on the 21st brings a charge of energy to friendships and group associations. Some of you may have been pursuing a project on your own, and you now recognize the need to delegate tasks, collaborate, or start something brand new. The change is likely to be an empowering one, even if you resist it a little at first! With eclipses, sometimes we have to let go of something before we fully embrace moving on.

You've been wrestling with the desire to spread your wings and an equally strong urge or need to stick with what you know or at home this year, and solutions to this dilemma seem to emerge this month. The desire to have more control over your family and home environment continues, however, and you may need to loosen your grip for your sanity! The 15-17 can pull up this recurring theme. You may be dealing with personal insecurities and fears that undermine your confidence and performance, or that are preventing you from enjoying the work you do. Try not to shoulder all of this alone.

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th opens your eyes to your feelings for someone or a current creative project. This can be an exciting time for love, creativity, and fertility. Emotions can be overflowing as you explore your feelings.

This is a super month for appeal on a professional or public level. You'll benefit most from this on the 9-11. You may be giving generously of yourself or your services, and this boosts your reputation and appeal. People are receiving you well, and possibly speaking highly of you as well. Take note of ideas that come to you now for future projects, but save them for future use. This is a month for making some bold moves, but not for pushing an idea or project that's not ready to launch.

There is certainly a theme of networking and the support of friends in August, but also a lighter underlying theme of introspection, preparation, and attention to physical and emotional needs that will grow further in September. Mercury's retrograde from the 12th on suggests a need to look back, reflect, and reconsider certain plans before moving forward with them.

As the month advances, pouring your energy into a special project can be consuming in all the right ways. The focus is on order and organizing, and this can be very satisfying. In fact, many of you will be putting significant projects or ventures into motion in the months ahead, and laying down the foundation begins now. You're also in a great position to expand your social contacts or improve a particular friendship. Some of you could partner up with a friend. The Solar Eclipse on the 21st has the effect of pushing you forward courageously with new initiatives or in your social life. You're willing to put in the effort for a friendship to work, and the same applies to your studies and communication projects. This is an excellent time for productivity.

This is one of the most ambitious times of the year for you, dear Scorpio, with Mars at the top of your solar chart all month and a Solar Eclipse occurring there as well. August is about starting anew and making some waves. Several strong influences are occurring in your chart that point to increased commitment to realizing success. You are particularly determined, ambitious, goal-oriented, and desirous of taking charge of your future. You seem to need more order in your life, and it's an excellent time for achieving this. This theme is with you for some time, in fact, and it's only just beginning to take flight, helped along with the Solar Eclipse on the 21st. Success may be about career, reputation, or simply staying on top of things. Whatever your particular definition of success at this point in your life, you are hungering for it!

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th brings an epiphany about your domestic or personal life that pushes you to make significant changes, however. With so much attention to your responsibilities to the outside world these days, it's time to give your personal affairs their due consideration. This is also a time for recognizing your love for family or other special people in your life. If home life is out of balance, you're ready to do whatever it takes to make it more comfortable.

Even with all of your attention to game plans, career, and responsibilities in August, your social life is also moving forward. Venus harmonizes with your sign (until the 25th) and both Neptune and Chiron in your romance and creativity sector. It's a good time to stoke the fires of a current romance with activities that take you away from the routine as well as to meet new people in different places than your usual stomping grounds. There can be pleasure, motivation, and possibly even love connected to schooling, travel, or online activities. The 9-11 is fabulous for exchanging ideas with friends and forgiveness or more romance with a lover. It's also a fruitful time for meeting people, but Mercury's retrograde from the 12th forward can mean that new relationships might slow down very quickly. Something may be left up in the air. The retrograde can point to some distance in current friendships as well, but it's temporary. When it comes to friends, you may be taking a trip down memory lane now.

The 14-16 can pull up some fears of loss. Conflicts with others may seem to be a difference of opinion but are likely more about the fear that you've lost power in someone's eyes. Watch for obsessive thinking if it's preventing you from expanding, exploring new ideas and experiences, and reaching out.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st can push a matter that's been teased since the last New Moon on July 23rd, likely related to your reputation, life direction, social status, or career. In the weeks and even months following this lunation, you're getting major attention. This is a time for entirely new direction or a brand new outlook on your goals. It's a great time for getting your financial affairs in order, and this can tie in beautifully to the whole "turning over a new leaf" vibe of this eclipse season. Your efforts to organize your affairs can lead to an increase in income or the discovery of resources you had forgotten about or didn't know you were entitled to. Delays with money are likely to lift from the last week of the month forward.

The month ahead is excellent for opening your mind to new ideas, dear Sagittarius, and your heart to new experiences. August is a period for finding more meaning in your life. You're trying new ways of approaching the world around you, exploring beyond your usual bounds, and breaking out of the normal routine. This can be about physical or mental travel. For some of you, publishing can be in focus. You are expressing yourself in new and exciting ways, finding additional audiences, and otherwise expanding your reach.

This can also be a major month for a loan or other form of support to come through for you. There is certainly more emotional bravery with you, in addition to the physical and mental courage. You are attracted to new experiences, people, and places all month, but in intimate relationships, this theme only emerges in the last week of August. In fact, your feelings run deep and intense for much of August, and you take great pleasure in exploring a particular topic or relationship more deeply.

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th can bring a learning or transportation matter to a head, and a turning point in your life. New avenues for communicating and commuting can lead to fabulous improvements, ultimately. For now, it can be a bit chaotic, however, as you adapt to the changes!

From the 12th, there can be some battle with disorganization or fuzziness on facts as Mercury retrogrades at the top of your solar chart. It would be wise to double check your communications since your voice comes across loud and clear (and this applies to the written word as well!), but the chances of being misunderstood run high. Watch for slowdowns or miscommunications this month, particularly on the job. However, don't pass up on opportunities to redo, review, and strengthen plans and projects. Simply save new beginnings for later. In fact, looking to past ideas and projects can be useful now.

You more readily accept and enjoy your deeper feelings with Venus in your intimacy sector until the 25th. The 9-11 is particularly excellent for self-understanding and intimate expression. A creative approach to relationships and business works wonders now. This is a time for naturally drawing success and resources to you. Helping others or sharing with people can feel especially good. Promotional and marketing efforts may be particularly fruitful. You might be attracted to a new line of study or feel motivated to explore a topic more deeply.

Around the 14-16, however, avoid extremes and pushing too many of your usual boundaries temporarily, but don't back away from a chance to explore some of your deeper feelings, fears, and insecurities. Tensions surrounding money, ownership, or intimate relationships can emerge. Identify areas where you may be acting compulsively or possessively, and aim to release some of the control, as these may be preventing you from growing, improving, learning, and exploring.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st brings desires to expand and grow to a turning point and helps clear the path for new beginnings. In the coming weeks and even months, energy levels smooth out, and you find a fabulous balance between responsibilities and pleasure. Becoming fired up about an idea, belief, topic, or course of study motivates you to pursue a new path. Your hunger may be for more knowledge, experience, or variety, but whatever it is, you instinctively know that you have to stir things up or make changes so that you can find your way. Shared activities can be especially fun and productive.

For the most part, August is more a month of keen observation than of bold moves, dear Capricorn, but this doesn't mean you'll be inactive. Shared finances, loans, support, intimate relationships, and deep personal changes are in sharp focus much of the month. There is likely to be an emphasis on deeper, more meaningful relationships with others or getting in deeper touch with your inner desires, fears, addictions, and vulnerabilities. If there are any insecurities about your ability to stand on your own financially, they are likely to emerge around the 7th. However, don't let these hold you back from pursuing who and what you want.

There are several significant astrological events for you this month. The final Jupiter-Pluto square happens in the first week of August, and then Jupiter harmonizes with your ruler, Saturn. These point to the very real probability of crystallizing lessons and resolving difficult problems, particularly related to overreaching! You'll find that you're getting back to your moderate self now. A Lunar and Solar Eclipse happen in August, and they're pushing you to figure out matters related to money, boundaries, support, and ownership. Both the Sun and Mars form a trine to Saturn, reinforcing this theme of making things work. Last but not least, your ruler, Saturn, turns direct on the 25th, and this is the final direct turn for Saturn before it enters your sign in December.

A revelation about financial matters emerges around the 7th. Changes in income sources may be part of this package. Whatever happens now nudges you along a new path towards a more organized, settled, and secure way of living.

Most of the month, Venus graces your partnership sector, and smoothing over close relationships is in focus. There can be an excellent psychic rapport with someone, particularly around the 9-11. This is also a time when opportunities emerge to gain a fresh new perspective on important people in your life. Solving problems or absorbing research keep you happily occupied.

The 14-16 is tricky. You may feel put upon or frustrated by a person's behavior. Instinctively you may toughen up and resist, but you'd be wise to work on releasing tension and learn more about yourself through questioning your reactions. Be kind to yourself by letting go of pressures and negative thoughts. Easing up on the impulse to try to control someone may feel a little scary at first, but can be the best thing you can do for yourself and your relationships.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st impacts you for weeks and even months to come. Fortunately, it's tied to aspects that work particularly well for you in areas of intimate relationships, support, finances, and career. Learning more about your motivations and inner desires can help you envision your goals more clearly, and this, by extension, assists you in building life strategies. You are projecting your value and worth in favorable ways to those in authority or associates.

Teaching or guiding may be connected with your work now, and work done behind the scenes can begin to pay off. You're getting to a very healthy balance between optimism and practicality. Pacing yourself comes more naturally now. You may be joining with people who further your career or personal interests, and through their support, faith in you, or wisdom, you are encouraged to reach your highest potential.

Since the North Node entered your partnership sector in May, dear Aquarius, themes related to independence and companionship have been building in your life. This month, partnerships are in strong focus. You get a chance for a new beginning or a cleaning of the slate. A Solar Eclipse prompts you to take a closer look at relationship needs and lacks. You're starting anew, whether you're in the market to begin a long-term partnership, to enhance an existing one, or to go solo. This is a big theme for the coming year or two, and the wheels are set in motion now, although you've been feeling stirrings of this since February. Other people in your life, and particularly those closest to you, have much to show you about the direction you need to take. This may not be explicit, and in fact, can come through your reactions to people's actions, but the message will nevertheless be clear if you choose to listen to it. For some, a relationship crisis of sorts prompts a new beginning or approach.

The Lunar Eclipse in your sign on the 7th brings big epiphanies and may be a cosmic push to change gears in a relationship or to reassess relationship needs. This can also lead to an emotional renaissance of sorts in which you discover how you actually feel about a matter. This eclipse can also catapult you into a position in which you are quite suddenly making executive decisions.

From the 12th, Mercury retrograde in your solar eighth house suggests a possible delay or dilemma related to support, debt, income, or an intimate relationship. This may not resolve until September, but your workarounds can be creative and useful.

Venus spends the first three and a half weeks in your work and services sector, and while all sorts of feelings and action can surround relationships in August, this transit suggests that your heart isn't completely caught up, so give things time. It's also indicative of warm, pleasant energy related to daily routines and work. You may be finding ways to enjoy your job more thoroughly. The 9-11 is an opportunity period for discovering a great buy, a new technique, or relevant and useful health program. You're taking a visionary, intuitive approach to business, money management, and work and you can enjoy fantastic success.

On the 14-16, however, you can be particularly sensitive to imbalances in your work or working environment if you've been doing far too much for others and not getting enough appreciation for your efforts. You may have a tough time understanding some of your deepest emotions, particularly when relating to people involved in your daily routines. Events or feelings emerging now can be quite revealing. If tensions seem to rise out of nowhere, remind yourself that they’re real and part of you, and aim to work them out. Otherwise, you'll just keep meeting the same problems again and again. With so much going on below the surface, you're not always aware of how your feelings affect your actions, but you have an opportunity to see this connection more clearly now. As the month advances, you'll find it easier to pace yourself and to let go of unreasonable expectations.

Progress and self-improvement are in focus in August. Problem-solving is simpler this month, particularly when you pair up to find answers. You seem to need to stay active with people in your life, or else tension builds. However, there is refreshing honesty and openness in your relationships which you appreciate.

With the Solar Eclipse on the 21st and its effects with you for up to six months, new energy is brought to an existing partnership, a new partnership comes into your life, or an alliance is made in the months ahead. This is a time for repairing your relationships and for reminders of your need for closeness. It's also excellent for forming business or working alliances. This eclipse supports creative enterprise and collaboration. Others appreciate your realism and reliability and are drawn to you.

From the 25th, a friendship gains more clarity, and a venture or plan that you may have shelved begins to move forward. There can be excellent opportunities to learn and team up with others through study groups or friendships based on shared beliefs and interests.

Work, health, and service matters are in strong focus for you in August, dear Pisces, taking center stage particularly in the first three weeks of the month, but never falling out of focus. Attention to detail on the job can reap the rewards. You're also changing things up along these lines with a Solar Eclipse prompting a new beginning and assertive, go-getter Mars charging through your sector of habits and routines all month. Organizing the little things in your life will go a long way towards feeling confident and accomplished. You can work longer hours than usual, or push harder in health and fitness routines.

While the Solar Eclipse on the 21st can bring new energy into your daily routines, and new work or work projects altogether for some of you, it can also temporarily drain you if you are pushing yourself beyond your limits. Using the messages to slow down delivered by the Lunar Eclipse on the 7th will help prevent this energy dip.

You have all the power you need to make important changes to your habits, working life, daily routine, and any job you do or services you provide in August (and beyond). This can be about reorganizing your life, eating and exercising better, managing your time more productively, and working on the details of work, projects, and plans.

The Lunar Eclipse on the 7th illuminates a private matter - something that has been left unresolved and now needs settling. The revelations you have now can illustrate the importance of making more time for spiritual, imaginative, and reflective activities so that you don't lose the motivation and spark you have for your work. If you've been ignoring your needs for rest and reflection, you could be feeling especially drained and sensitive around this date.

You have Venus supporting your sign most of the month, and you're in particularly good shape on the levels of charm, creativity, and romance. You are a magnet right now, particularly around the 9-11, for people and good favor. During this same window, if you have the opportunity to work on a budget, work project, resumé, or whatever else that helps you advance your practical goals, do so, as you have special insight into practical affairs at this time. You can be filled with ideas and are especially open to making changes that contribute to growth and progress. An intimate relationship might blossom, or you come to a pleasing agreement with a partner.

While personal magnetism is particularly strong until the 25th, committed relationships may be a little distant or complicated from the 12th forward. Mercury's retrograde occurs in your partnership sector, and as the ruler of both your partnership and home sectors, you may experience some delays in these areas of your life. They're temporary, though, and can lead to clever workarounds. As well, watch for tension and power plays or mind games around the 14-16. If you're spending far too much time and energy on trying to figure out friends, consider ways to detach yourself enough to unwind.

After Jupiter's final square to Pluto on the 4th, you'll find it far easier to enjoy the benefits of its transit to your intimacy sector, particularly as it moves towards a sextile to Saturn on the 26-27. Your expectations, both of your finances and the people in your life, even out. You can see improvements as you let go of unhealthy expectations and pressures.

The Solar Eclipse on the 21st brings a push to move forward with new and improved plans to take good care of your health and work. Supportive aspects around this time leave their positive stamp on this event that will touch your life for many months to come. This can be a fabulous time for hobbies as well. Motivation comes from a clearer end goal or a sense of purpose and meaning. Look for new ways of approaching your work or services, making or handling money, and improving health. Alternatives can be introduced now that lead you to rethink old problems and concerns and manage your life far better.

Even with Mercury retrograde, the last week of the month holds a lot of promise for your financial picture as you instinctively know what to cut out of your life to succeed. There can be psychological discoveries that help liberate you from difficulties of the past or from attitudes that have been holding you back from moving forward. You also enjoy strengthened relationships with friends and associates.