The incoming kaleidoscopic skies have something for everyone. The Sun and Mars will change signs, Mercury, Uranus and Venus will change direction and ongoing themes, such as the fixed sign squares and mutable oppositions, will see further developments. For those who have been keenly watching the blockbusting brilliance of the fixed sign squares, Venus’s second square to lucky Jupiter will take place on the 22nd. Next, Venus will station direct on September 3rd, positioning herself for her final squares, to Jupiter on September 17th and Uranus on September 29th. More broadly, Mars entered Leo back on May 20th, followed by Mercury on July 10th and the Sun on July 22nd. During their transits of the fixed fire sign, each formed squares to Jupiter and Uranus. Uranus tends to shake things up, and out, where needed. Reviewing what has been revealed since late May and examining the work still undone, as Venus forms these final squares, can put these events into a helpful context. Assisting with assessments, adept Mercury will start its next retrograde on the 23rd, following the Sun’s entrance into Mercury’s Virgo domain.
On August 3rd Mercury crossed the retrograde shadow point of 8° Virgo 00′. This is the degree to which Mercury will return on September 15th, at the end of the retrograde. On August 23rd, Mercury will reach 21° Virgo 51′, the point that he will not move beyond until September 30th, at the conclusion of the retrograde’s shadow phase. Translation, the intellectual abilities of Mercury and the analytic, organizational genius of Virgo are about to deliver their goods. If edits are needed for specific writing projects, Mercury is astrology’s wordsmith. If edits are needed more generally, for routines and situations, Mercury’s retrograde in its home sign, along with the presence of the Virgo Sun, are some of astrology’s most capable assets. Additionally, from Virgo’s opposite sign of Pisces, Saturn, Neptune and a full Moon will lend some perspective. On August 22nd Mars will oppose artistic Neptune, on the 27th the Sun will oppose pragmatic Saturn and on the 30th the full Moon, at the height of Pisces’s creative powers, will synthesize imagination with practicality. These alignments will place particular emphasis on the mutable aspects in one’s chart. Last, and certainly not least, Mars’s move into Libra will escalate the excitement percolating among the cardinal signs.
On April 20th an Aries Libra eclipse cycle began, and on July 17th, under the Cancer Sun, the lunar nodes followed suit. Cardinal signs open doors and prod us onto new paths (sometimes kicking and screaming). When the planet of action travels through Libra, from August 27th to October 11th, the drive to make decisive moves will increase. Helpfully, in Venus’s Libra home, Martian agendas can be expressed with tact, consideration and decorum and action can be taken after carefully weighing pros and cons. Ignition points will include Mars’s connection to the lunar Nodes on October 4th and its Pluto square on October 8th. More immediately, September 1st’s Aries Moon opposition to Mars may give the first hints of what this dynamic transit holds. By September 29th’s full Moon, at 6 º Aries, options should be crystal clear. About that time, Mercury and Venus will be emerging from their retrograde shadow zones, giving everyone abundant food for thought now, as Mercury’s retrograde gets underway and Venus’s concludes.
