Part of the likely complications of August, have I said AUGUST IS HUGE, yes, yes I did - will relate to the upcoming MERCURY RETROGRADE, so let's pull this apart a bit.
On Monday, August 5th, 2024, Mercury stations retrograde at 4 degrees Virgo.
Mercury goes retrograde (from our point of view here on Earth) three, and sometimes four, times a year. He is retrograde (moving backward) for about three weeks and then stations direct and starts moving forward again, so he covers his retrograde degrees three times.
Mercury/think Hermes here - is "the Messenger", the "Trickster", the "Cosmic Magician". He rules the signs of Gemini and Virgo. Collectively this is about our - words, communication, ideas, thinking, siblings, early childhood education, our local community, commerce, tech devices, transportation, our daily life, our service, our health, our work, our pets. Mercury retrograde periods are times to slow down/to look within. Anything started with "re" becomes the most effective use of our time.
Re-thinking, re-evaluating, re-flecting, re-peating, re-unions, re-novations, etc.
Mercury retrogrades are re-curring opportunities to shift out of old mental patterns. We are often asked to pull back from the world and face our shadow self in some way. When we’ve exhausted the possibilities for what we can gain by projecting our shadow self onto the external events and people in our lives, we are ready to face them within our own mind (and, in this case, since we end up in Leo, in our own heart).
On a practical level we see things that were concealed when Mercury was in direct motion. Maybe because we were going too fast to notice them or maybe we took a wrong turn two miles back and need to change direction. Maybe other things have to move into different spaces, so we can line up with them LATER. These retrograde periods are always useful/always needed even when we appear to incur delays, re-dos and roadblocks.
The gist of this particular Mercury retrograde, since we go from Virgo back to Leo - the service person/servant to the king - may be about looking at the 'royal roots' (Leo) of our problems (Virgo). On the one hand - any sense of entitlement that is keeping us stuck. On the other hand - the freedoms we have traded in for safety/comfortable servitude. The Neptune/Pluto sextile happening at the same time - which is a rarely exact generational aspect and exact at exactly the moment it is for a reason - a time to RE-IMAGINE POWER.
Mercury will get all the way back to 21 degrees Leo when he/she will station direct on August 28th and then will travel 21 Leo - 4 Virgo AGAIN before she starts covering new ground on September 11th.
This entire cycle actually started with Mercury direct and at 21 degrees Leo, the first time, back on July 16th, so the stuff from July 16th - August 5th is getting a re-look/re-vision from August 5th - August 28th and then from August 28th - September 11th we have made the re-visions and are moving forward - older and wiser.
And because this is not a linear, strictly literal thing (life on planet Earth) and also because these degrees carry much older stories than the summer of 2024 - we are also relooking at/re-visioning MUCH OLDER SITUATIONS through the multiple reactivations of these energies. Make sense?
A couple things we always want to look at with Mercury retrograde is WHAT ASPECTS, ie CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER PLANETS, HE IS REPEATING and if there is anything his backtracking allows him/her to SKIP or postpone. This stuff matters.
So, we look back - what has Mercury done from July 16th - August 5th - and will those aspects be repeated when he starts backtracking?
The repeating aspects are:
Mercury trine Chiron (July 18th - 23 degrees Leo/Aries, August 23rd RETRO 23 degrees Leo/Aries, Sept. 2nd 22 degrees Leo/Aries FINAL/power degree and where Mercury sextiled Mars 11 days earlier)
Mercury square Uranus (July 21st, 26 Leo/Taurus, August 18th RETRO 27 degrees Leo/Taurus, Sept.7th 27 Leo/Taurus FINAL and all conjunct Algol and conjunct Uranus/Mars back on July 15th)
Mercury inconjunct Pluto (July 26th, 0 degrees Aquarius/Virgo, August)
The aspects Mercury will skip or postpone are:
Mercury square Mars (postponed, and then we get two opportunistic aspects instead of one challenging aspect) - if Mercury had continued on into Virgo, at some point, since Mercury travels about twice as fast as Mars, he would have caught up with Mars in Gemini through a tense square, but this NEVER HAPPENS. Instead, they meet through an opportunistic sextile at 22 degrees (power number/highest energy/beauty) in Leo and Gemini on August 24th with Mercury still retrograde and then they meet AGAIN on September 11th - yes, the date Mercury stations direct! - at 4 degrees Virgo and Cancer. This is a BIG deal. Instead of getting the square we get two sextiles, so there is something about working (ie re-working) the process of the Mercury retrograde that changes the challenge into an opportunity or multiple opportunities!
So, what does all this mean?
Since we are going from Virgo back into Leo, let's start with that. Usually, we move from Leo into Virgo. In Leo - we create something, we follow our heart, we shine, we love, we stand out. Then we take this Leo creation into Virgo and we edit it, we refine it, we get down to the details/the practical nitty gritty. We get rid of the fluff - we make it better. Virgo is where we start to pull other people into our story through service. So, now we have to stand this whole Leo/Virgo thing on its head and make it a Virgo/Leo/Virgo thing. We are reverse engineering something.
With Mercury retrograde coming right after a powerful New Moon in Leo we get some kind of new start in one area of our life. Then we get a kind of hold-up/backtracking, maybe with this new whatever this is or maybe in another area of life since Mercury starts his retrograde in a different house in your chart. Either way it is certainly not full steam ahead.
In the middle of the month when Mercury retrograde is squaring Uranus there will be CHANGES.
For example - here in the U.S., Trump announced Vance as his Vice Presidential nominee at the Mars/Uranus square (this is also the energy that played a big role in Trump's shooting as it applied). He is said to have made a fast decision after weeks of deliberation and called Vance just hours before the public announcement. Then they had their first rally as a team on July 20th as Mercury squared Uranus. I wonder how that really went between them!
Maybe near the middle of August as Mercury retrograde squares Uranus - with Mercury EXACT on Vance's Ascendent and Jupiter/Mars EXACT on Trump's 10th house Uranus - Trump changes his mind.
About Vance!
Is that even possible? I don't know, but I suspect anything is possible at this point.
Interesting that Vance has become known for a disparaging 'cat-lady' comment with his natal Venus (lady) conjunct his ascendant (the way he comes across/dawns on people) in Leo (cats!). He made the original comments during a Tucker Carlson interview on July 29, 2021 during an EXACT Mars/Jupiter opposition with Mars on his ascendent - and his Venus! - and Jupiter on his descendent and now we have the Mars/Jupiter conjunction in the middle of August, yes, at the time of the Mercury retrograde square Uranus, at 16 Gemini so tightly conjunct Trump's chaotic Uranus!
Will the cat ladies get their revenge here?
16 Gemini is tightly conjunct Vance's natal Phaethon who was the son of Sun God Helios/Apollo who crashed his father's chariot and almost burned the Earth to ashes. Astrologically Phaethon (we talked about his mythology HERE) is likely to represent something like 'assuming responsibilities we are not ready for or being over our head'. Vance having this in his 10th career house tightly conjunct Trump's chaotic Uranus in Trump's 10th career house is not giving me a good long-term feeling if they stay together, win and Trump ages out of his career.
Anyhoo, ENOUGH politics! We will look at that stuff in its own post.
August is all about the MUTABLE signs and changes for the FIXED signs. This means nothing is solid/written in stone. Even things that are signed, sealed and delivered, well, somehow they aren't.
Know this going in.
We have that lovely New Moon in Leo this weekend that is just begging us to FOLLOW OUR HEART. That's good. And we know, because we have the benefit of astrology, that OUR HEAD will be backtracking to catch up with our heart LATER. We know things are in flux and CHANGING.
The good news - situations in August will not be stuck/stagnant.
Saturn has finally broken his strangle hold on 19 degrees Pisces. We should have a clearer knowing of what is and what isn't our responsibility. Don't take on any additional burdens right now unless there is no other way. With August designed to totally change things up for a good many people, this would NOT be the time to be making commitments and if someone/something is making one to you, well, there is that whole 'not written in stone' thing going on.
If you are prone to anxiety and racing thoughts or rumination have a list - Virgo LOVES lists and Mercury is still direct at this point and in his/her home sign - of what you can do when this happens to center yourself. Get outside. Walk in bare feet. Get into water. Listen to music. Practice mindfulness. One of the great things about having Saturn in Pisces is that taking things like relaxation and sleep and music and connecting with others seriously - will PAY OFF for us.
Remember the repeating aspects - multiple trines to Chiron. This is multiple opportunities to heal very old wounds. Multiple squares to Uranus - our thinking changes, plans change, ideas pop into our heads out of nowhere, break-ups, breakthroughs, breakdowns. Uranus is barely changing position, so if you had something around July 21st or even back on July 15th with that Mars/Uranus that shook you up, well, that situation can get re-shaken.
EXPECT BIG SHIFTS THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH. We can't plan for every eventuality, but you can lighten your load a bit. Have enough food in your house, etc. Stay flexible. Prioritize your health.
August's mid-month IMPULSES will be taken seriously. There are so many aspects happening at so many degrees and in so many signs I can't imagine anyone who will be unimpacted.
Mars and Jupiter meeting on August 14th shows a need for us to be fast on our feet with something. Words are quick/sharp/sarcastic. Then Mars squares Saturn on the 16th - reality checks, road blocks. This is the same day Neptune is sextiling Pluto - God/our past/everything we can't see is working WITH power. Or are we totally being gaslit here?! Then Jupiter catches up with Saturn - exact on August 19th - and our overly optimistic plans are going to get tested. Structures can break down. This is also the day of the Aquarius Full Moon which is EXACT on the United States natal Moon and there are multiple T-Squares (have I said this is all happening during the Democratic National Convention?!).
And keep in mind both Mars and Jupiter are answering to a retrograde Mercury!
WTH is going on. I will do another post about mid-month. I have some ideas. And the asteroids are amazing.
By the very end of the month it will be more about compromise and partnership - mending burned bridges maybe? - as Venus enters Libra and trines Pluto. But we need to get through all this other stuff first.
Back with that New Moon post next!
xo all
please excuse any typos or nonsense, no time to proof just yet and wanted to get this up
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