Neil Spencer

Your Stars August 2010

Posted on 01 August 2010

For modern astrology, no planet is all bad or all good. All have their positive negative attributes. Ancient and medieval astrologers had no such ambiguity; for them Saturn was ‘the greater malefic’ and Mars ‘the lesser malefic’. Jupiter was ‘the ‘greater benefic’ and Venus ‘the lesser benefic’.

No matter how rounded one’s outlook, however, it is hard to see the combination of Saturn and Pluto in much of a positive light. Their cycle, which takes 33-37 years between conjunctions, has unfortunate associations. In the twentieth century, World War One started shortly before Saturn and Pluto met in 1914. Their opposition in 1931 coincided with the trough of the Great Depression.

Their next conjunction, in 1947, coincided with the subdivision of the Indian sub-continent and its plunge into bloodshed. Israel also came into being at this time and was immediately at war with its Arab neighbours.

The next conjunction in 1982 coincided with the oil crisis, as Arab states restricted supply, and with the Israel-Lebanon war. The opposition of Pluto and Saturn in 2001 coincided with the events of 9/11 and the onset of the ‘war on terror’.

This month, on 21 August, Saturn and Pluto square up to each other for the third time in a year – November 2009 and January 2010 being the previous occasions. This is three quarters of the way round the cycle that completes in 2020.

The late Charles Harvey described critical aspects between Saturn and Pluto as indicating periods when ‘there is a need to ‘get back to basics’, a feeling that only some kind of drastic action will suffice’.

On an individual level, Aries, Librans, Capricorns and Cancerians born near the equinox and solstice points are those who are most likely to feel this in their personal lives, but a mood of austerity, focus and touch choices looks likely to be widespread.

Let’s hope that August and the season of Leo also manages to conjure up some hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer by way of compensation.

Leo

One upside to being a Leo is that no matter how hard the wind and rain blow, you’re still the King or Queen of the jungle. This is especially true of August, when you are largely out of the way of the worst planetary weather, and have your birthday Sun (your ruling planet) to help you be effortlessly magnificent. Furthermore, with planets crowding the areas of your ‘scope concerned with social interaction, being a tiresomely bouncy, restless brand of Tigger brings rewards and, most importantly, fresh faces. It’s a time for big hair, loud clothes and noisy parties. Even when party season is over, it’s new people who are those likeliest to float your boat, whether what they are bringing is frivolity or intellectual gravitas.

The new Moon of the 10^th is your personal new year’s day (born then? Auspicious year ahead). The week following is a good time for putting schemes into play; after the 20^th Mercury retrograde kicks in, while the 22^nd and 23^rd, with a waxing Moon in opposition, are days to walk cagily around your other half. .

Virgo

You are likely still in a state of mild shock that certain onerous conditions or bothersome individuals have vanished from your life. It may seem like magic, more likely is that over the last couple of years you have wised up that being pushed around, whether at work or in your personal life, is not to your advantage. Working hard and being dutiful is one thing. Being exploited or taken for granted quite another.

August presents a somewhat chequered timetable for your new phase. The arrival of the Sun in your skies on the 23^rd signals the advent of a pivotal birthday month when the dust of the past can finally be shed. However, Mercury turning retrograde in your skies on the 20^th (for three weeks) is a deadline you’d do well to heed in terms of starting any new enterprise. Retrograde Mercury is, however, very handy for unpicking tangled knots and finishing up old business. Mercury being Virgo’s governing planet, you have a lengthy stretch in which your agile mind and powers of oratory count for double. At the risk of being called a carping busybody, use your influence to further your own ends.

August is also a time when finances can be set straight. Saturn in one’s skies rarely gives much immediate financial reward; ensure that you have been paid in full for work done in the past and review financial arrangements; get frugal, but also get prosperous.

Romance? Something of a wild ride, especially in the first week of the month. It will prove interesting to see who’s coming back for your approval. Under present conditions, however, it would be surprising if you want anything other than an open-ended relationship with anyone to whom you are not already hitched. Avoid the Pisces full Moon of the 24^th-26^th for negotiations or showdowns.

Libra

Although life sometimes seems like a rehearsal for the big night, there comes a moment when the scales fall from our eyes and we realise this IS the big night. This is precisely the point at which you stand majestically poised. You don’t have to throw over your current way of life – indeed, if you have chosen well, you’re due a pay-off – but you can no longer drift. August is a time of – oh, lawks – decision. Get your head around a plan for the next six months (minimum) and stick to it. If you are hitched, the involvement of your better half is required in terms of consultation, but ultimately only you can call the shots. It is, after all, your life, the only one you get this time round.

With that steel-jawed determination in mind, get stuck into the professional project you always promised you would realise. If you are in a compromised relationship, calculate the best way to extricate yourself (clue: playing passive-aggressive won’t work, you have to, uh, break the news that it’s over!). If you are single, then your chances of attracting true love – or something that will suffice for now – are enhanced once Venus arrives in your skies on the 7^th. The weekend of the 13^th-15^th is hugely favoured for any public activity – do your best to be dapper or debonair in some raffish but elegant setting. You deserve nothing less, given that once back-to-school time rolls round in September, you’ll be grafting like a miner.

Scorpio

Unless you have escaped to some palm-fronded beach, you have to jump through the hoops at work and put a glad face on it. The Sun is at the peak of your ‘scope and you must likewise shine in public. The new Moon of the 10^th relaunches your career, in however a low-key way. Furthermore, with Mercury now occupying the sector of your ‘scope concerned with colleagues and group associations, ensure you are in the loop with what factions and plotters are up to at work. You don’t have to become embroiled yourself – as likely is that you act as a mediator.

Amid all this, the three planets occupying the most obscure sector of your ‘scope this month ask for down-time and seclusion – whatever it is you do to recharge your physical and spiritual batteries. Come September you will need all the energy you can muster.

Romance; impatient as you might be, others appear to need time to ascertain their feelings. Give them apace to do so. The full Moon of the 24^th-26^th looks promising for a passionate moment.

Sagittarius

Mixed messages. Saturn’s shift of sign changes the rules of engagement at work. You are moving out of a long period of pressure when you have had to salute the company flag more often than a freewheeling spirit like you probably cares for. Raise a cheer. With Mercury at the top of your ‘scope, however, and about to turn retrograde on the 20^th, ensure nasty little chores and details are out the way and that everyone in your professional realm who expects to be informed is fully briefed. That way, you’ll be able to sit back and watch as those around you lose their heads later in the month.

The rules of personal engagement are also up for re-examination, thanks to mammoth oppositions across the axis of your chart concerned with romances. A sticky situation may need you to take evasive action – we all know how you hate to feel fenced in. Better to keep options open than try to force issues – even seemingly intractable scenarios in your love life can shift given a little time (a month or so). The catch is if money is involved. Here, you will have to tough it out for now. On no account abandon your principles and go underhand.

Points of pressure – and opportunity – are around the 17^th and 27^th, though if you’re free and single, all month is good.

Capricorn

Wondering when the cosmos is going to cut you some slack and let you freewheel a little? The chance of temporary escape is certainly in the air – the month of Virgo that begins on the 23^rd is very sweetly starred for downtime, especially since with Mercury in retrograde, you’ll be away from the petty bureaucratic torments that accompany it.

There is no dodging your ruling planet, however, which is on an inexorable march across the roof of our ‘scope right up until new year, a period when your formidable executive powers will be put to the test. As much might already be apparent, since Saturn is already squaring up to other planets, emphasising your split loyalties between work and home/family. It is, of course, a balancing act, though in August you might have to give your work more of your time and energy than you care for. With both Venus and Mars dominating your professional profile, you can, at least, present yourself as the noble public servant and ultimate safe pair of hands. Any family turmoil promises to calm down this autumn.

Love and marriage? It looks hard to fit such matters into the schedule. Partnerships are where you can find an outlet for all the pent-up energy you can’t express at work; warn them that you may have to vent. Single? Anyone attractive at work? For all, the weekend of the 20^th/21^st has a lustrous quality.

Aquarius

You’re at the beginning of a bold new two year cycle, so start as you mean to continue. You are coming up for air and nourishment, coming into a lighter, more visible phase when your passions will be less cloistered and your aims clearer. At one level it’s an educational phase, when you learn more about the world and your place in it – not necessarily in a formal way, though institutional education may well have an important role.

With Saturn playing co-operatively in your affairs until 2012, you can also put trade and property affairs on an even footing, not least in August. New developments surrounding joint finances need a brisk assessment, however, since once Mercury goes retrograde on the 20^th, it’s a matter of mulling things over rather than instigating new deals – those will have to wait until September.

All deals involving your other half, should you have one, even if it’s a business partner rather than a married one, need adroit handling. You are halfway through your personal year, and with the Sun in your complimentary sign of Leo; you’re slightly on the back foot for now. The new Moon of the 10^th signals a new phase with significant others, especially for Feb 6^th birthdays.

For footloose romantics the situation is more open-ended. An ongoing conjunction of Venus and Mars helps you locate individuals to pursue and to tumble into holiday flings. The period around the 19^th-23^rd might be something of an eye-opener, or entrancement.

Pisces

It’s a jumble of a time alright, and if you have managed to extricate yourself from a phase that’s been in operation the last two and a half years, then congratulations. More likely is that the overlap between past and future is still in progress. August brings clarity, though Mercury acting in a wayward manner from the 20^th and for three weeks thereafter means you may have to wait until mid-September before you can truly act on affairs belonging to a curious mixture of your heart and your finances.

Proceed as fast as you can in the run-up to the 20^th in any case. Negotiate like crazy, keep records of what others promise, when and where. Clear, clean organisation is an issue and a potential advantage now.

Murky matters of the heart will have to proceed as you find them. Two major planets are edging back into your skies, reviving issues and crushes from earlier in 2010, and there is no need to pre-judge who is dependant on/has the bigger crush on whom.

The full Moon of the 24^th is in your skies – an especial big deal if your birthday is circa February 19th/20^th, for whom it marks a point of closure. The emotional temperature are high for all Pisceans around the 24-26^th, so avoid irreversible dramatic gestures. The month of Virgo, being your opposite and complimentary sign, is often a crucial one in your year, and as much remains true in 2010. Compared to the last three summers, however, you’re in a far more empowered position. Patience.

Aries

If you are sailing on an even keel, quietly prospering and still entranced by your partner of choice, then congratulations. You are probably born in April. As likely, especially if you were born in March, is that these are odd, unsettling times when you are uncertain if you are making progress or just kidding yourself.

Either way you are at the start of a crucial few months, as Saturn gathers speed in your opposing sign of Libra, obliging you to re-evaluate what you want and how the heck you are going to get it in these straitened times. The picture is complicated, partly because the month of Leo – a fellow fire sign, is helpful in all matters to do with recreation, holidays, self-expression, children and meeting people to whom you are attracted, perhaps compulsively.

You are unlikely to be on your own in any case. Whether that’s a good thing is an open question. As Saturn, Venus and Mars (your planet) are all in opposition, significant others are a source of both support and angst. Whichever it is, they are currently unavoidable, making the issue how you deal with them. You can and should be open in displaying irritation and impatience, but the surge of power you have experienced this summer is now in ebb tide and won’t be fully operational again until 2011, drat it.

If you are single, however, you’re likely in a thrilling, entangled multiple-choice situation. Make the most if it, especially at the brilliantly starred weekend of the 27^th-29^th, when all Rams have a high visibility.

Taurus

Know any Virgos? Three planets in your ‘scope’s ‘health and efficiency’ zone suggest you emulate some of their better qualities; their willingness to run errands, obsess over details and adopt a healthy lifestyle (you can skip the hypochondria). As there’s a workaholic tendency in August’s planets, you might also factor in some down time, whether it’s a holiday or the place you find nourishment for your inner Bull.

By comparison to some other members of the zodiac, change is an option rather than a necessity. Much hinges around work (or the lack of it); the period around the 20^th looks good for news of a cherished project or hoped-for promotion. Thereafter you’re into the month of Virgo, which being a fellow earth sign is favourable to your cause. With Mercury simultaneously turning awkward, however, your legendary patience will be required to make the most of it. Keep in mind that you get two bites at any particular cherry, however, be it a date or a business contact.

For romance, the first seven days of August have a touch of stardust about them. Retrograde planets give affairs of the heart a slightly obsessive quality, however. If you find yourself in your personal Groundhog Day, remember that the only way Bill Murray got out of his was to achieve personal perfection. Well, you can try.

Gemini

This looks more like it. Although you are heading for a predictable morass once your planet, Mercury, turns retrograde on the 20^th – cue your best-laid plans having to be altered – in other respects August is a promising month. All creative projects, however you care to define them, are much favoured; it’s time to start your masterpiece, to undertake an intellectual quest or chance your heart in a romantic adventure.

Romance is never risk-free, however; it involves opening yourself up and being vulnerable, but the only way to have this particular experience is to try it. With Saturn, Mars and Venus all highlighting personal desires and private passions (including hobbies and pet projects), August looks good for acts of heroism and brazen showing off. The weekend of the13^th and 14^th is especially sweetly starred.

One particular viper lurking in any love affair is money, and here you cannot afford to be sentimental or stoop to being devious. Finance always equals power, but providing arrangements between you and your other half are just and open, your relationship follows suit.

Cancer

The most difficult decisions are now the ones to resolve. Your timetable is complicated – more of which in a moment – but the issues you have to handle should be clear. If they include property and home – always subjects to alarm a Cancerian – then don’t be bullied into accepting any scenario you know you won’t be able to stomach. Unsatisfactory flatmates or lodgers, building mayhem, over-stretched investments and the like are to be avoided, or at least postponed for a month or two. Any deal you enter is likely to be long term, so avoid going for a quick fix. You can, however, upgrade and beautify your manor or throw out any flatmate from hell).

At the other end of the uncomfortable planetary alignment now in operation are your career prospects. This summer has hopefully shone a light on how you might pursue a more unorthodox professional path, even if the opportunity to do so doesn’t become fully operational until 2011, when the planets now at the peak of your ‘scope return there.

Mercury’s retrograde turn come the 20^th makes the following three weeks less than ideal for any bold new initiatives, but you can’t simply put everything on hold until mid-September. Painstaking, detailed research and the completion of overdue red tape is a good way to use the time.

Although hard-nosed realism and hard work is the way forwards now, you do get some light relief along the way, especially the weekend of the 6^th and 7^th, while the full Moon of the 24^th shines a light on all matters involving overseas people and deals.