Astrology of August 2009 by Henry Seltzer (www.astrograph.com)

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The Astrology of August features Saturn, along with Neptune and Uranus, representing numinous outer-planet energies that speak to the contrast between the obvious manifest material world and the unseen world beyond this earthly one. The current cycle was kicked off last month by the Solar Eclipse of July 21st, which featured by aspect both Neptune and Uranus. Jupiter and Chiron were also exactly conjunct at this time and quite close to Neptune as their triple conjunction of the last few months begins to fade. This remarkable configuration repeats at the end of the year and bespeaks the spiritual possibilities inherent in our earthly situation, no matter how dire things may seem, and also the pain of recognizing how far we are from this simple yet illusive truth as we play out the actual situation in which we find ourselves.

The August 5th New Moon and Lunar Eclipse, the last of the three eclipses of the summer timeframe, has Mars in Gemini almost exactly square to Saturn. With our forward-going energy at this time we will feel the impact of limitation and restriction, and yet we will also profit from the lessons of Saturn, lessons that are slow but sure. It is only when we face challenges it seems that we grow as individuals, and there is plenty of growth indicated by the circumstances of 2009, as we are already seeing and as we will continue to see right through to the end of the year, and beyond.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition that was exact last November at the time of the election is becoming active once again in this late summer timeframe, before really heating up in September. What might this powerful configuration mean for us, both collectively and individually? Individually we must accept that the structure of our lives as we have known it is changing forever in the dawn of this new era, represented by these last six months of the year and on into the next. The out-moded structure is yielding to the new. The old structure has sustained us but it must now be allowed to breathe or it will suffocate us instead. On the collective level we are being asked to make way for the new. Wherever the forces of status quo are being Marshaled to hold back the tides of change they will be forced to yield. Dylan might have said it best back in the raging sixties: "Get out of the road if you can't lend a hand, for the times they are a'changing."

The New Moon of Thursday, August 20th, strongly features both Uranus and Neptune, as the New Moon opposes Neptune, and Mars squares Uranus almost exactly, initiating another roller coaster ride that takes us into the following month. These outer planet energies motivate for change, each in their own way, both by sudden epiphany (Uranus) and by slowly dissolving the existing barriers to spiritual enlightenment (Neptune). Of course Pluto in early Capricorn is also powerfully constellated through the entire year, and will be squared by Saturn in September as we work our way into an even more transformationally oriented 2010. Stay tuned, because in many ways we ain't seen nothing yet.

Transits to the U.S. Chart

Coming soon.

August 5th Full Moon
This third eclipse of the summer is another powerful one, with Sun and Moon opposing each other across the Leo - Aquarius axis, near the midpoint of each of these Fixed signs. The Sun at the Leo midpoint signaled the ancient pagan holiday of Lammas. Along with the Cardinal signs' initial degrees, whose passage by the Sun is recognized as the Solstice and Equinox events, the midpoints of the Fixed signs form a 8-fold division of the Zodiac and for that reason they were celebrated as "cross-quarter" holidays by the pagans. The gathering of energy represented by the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune triple conjunction comes later in the sign of Aquarius but still receives added emphasis from this extra-powerful Full Moon. Mars is in a tight square with Saturn, meaning that whatever we dream or visualize must be grounded in concrete practicality, perhaps painfully, in order to be actualized.

August 13th Last Quarter Moon
The waning quarter is traditionally a time of recognition of where the impulse from the New Moon finds its potential and also of where that potential fails to manifest. This is even truer with this particular Last Quarter Moon, since it includes Saturn in aspect with the Sun and Moon. The Sun also opposes Jupiter exactly at this time, so this configuration includes both a flash of optimism as well as the sense of limitation represented by Saturn.

August 20th New Moon
This late Leo New Moon represents the push-pull of both Neptune and Uranus on the one hand, and Saturn on the other. The New Moon opposes Neptune and is inconjunct Uranus. Mercury conjuncts Saturn, just as Saturn is drawing closer to its opposition with Uranus which perfects in September. These energies are antithetical, indicating where we feel the impulse to go beyond existing limits and where we strongly feel those limits themselves.

August 27th First Quarter Moon
The First Quarter Moon is traditionally a time when the rubber meets the road with respect to the impulse from the New Moon. This is the test of viability of whatever was initiated at that time. In this case the Sun has changed signs, having entered Virgo, so that the basis for that impulse to unfold has shifted to a more detailed and grounded modality. All the personal planets in fact have changed signs since the time of the New Moon one week ago. The Sun in Virgo is drawing closer to Saturn, eventually to conjunct it almost exactly at the time of the New Moon in September, on the 18th.