August hosts 16 dynamic aspects: one conjunction, one ESP (Ending Shadow Point), two occultations, three squares, four oppositions, two ingresses, one direct station, and one new and one full Moon. August’s energies primarily (for two weeks – 8/4 to 8/16 embody the Sun’s dynamic vigor. This is a cue to us to operate from our deep centers and put all else in proper perspective. Early in the month (8/2 – 8/4), the Moon shares center stage from her own sign. Nurturance in a pure and wholesome manner can be sought and found. From 8/16 through month’s end, each person will have the benefit of Mercury (thought and communication) and Venus (love and relating) energies to support work on his/her inner self-worth and inner processes.

The August journey begins by picking up the threads of a game already in process. Set your way-back machine to July 13 when a forward moving Mercury trekked past the opposition to Neptune Rx (Your imagination can receive a boost, and can be articulated in transactions that contribute to transformational processes for yourself and others. 4:22 AM, 16:53 Leo/Aquarius.)

8/02 Integrating your intuitive and your unconscious mind is possible, and is an indispensable step in understanding the dynamic energies embracing everyone. Meditation may lead you to heed inner warnings, and also to uncover your own inner serenity that can bring about composure amidst any chaos that others may experience. Mercury Rx opposes Neptune Rx 1:43 AM, 16:22 Leo/Aquarius. Keep your thoughts about current issues in mind, as this situation is likely to surface again on 8/26.

8/04 Conscious awareness of current problems, and plans for how to solve them are all-important. Be realistic, but think with your heart. Egos may need to be soothed. Build your success through self-discipline. West coast: relationships are under scrutiny, and peer reviews cause pressure. East coast: new ventures or love interests may command all your attention. New Moon 12:48 Leo, west coast 8:05 PM; east coast 11:05 PM

8/05 Self control is the issue at hand. You may be asked/expected to put your personal needs on hold while you discharge responsibilities. Not an easy task, but it can be if you remember that your path may coincide with your duties. Release feelings of resentment. It may be your job to take care of others – so take pride in your efforts. Sun conjoins Mercury 4:36 PM, 13:37 Leo.

8/07 Your desire for a practical relationship may be hidden or temporarily diverted while you work on previous obligations. Take care not to rationalize your feelings, go ahead and state your opinions without guilt. Take small steps toward fulfillment. Moon occults Venus 9:56 PM, 19:23 Virgo.

8/08 Time to shed some light on your dreams. Be truthful, and don’t apologize for your hopes - know that they are possible. Nobody has to give up anything for you to achieve them – the Universe has great abundance. The future is wide open. Sun opposes Neptune 9:18 AM, 16:12 Leo/Aquarius.

8/10 Emotions conceal higher directives of the mind/psyche. So the inner abstract world will likely manifest through the outer world of relationships. Care must be taken not to project your fears or longings onto a partner. Clarity can be found through honest dialog. Moon occults Jupiter 12:08 AM, 14:43 Libra/4:43 S, contra parallel Venus 4:11 N.

8/10 Strong feelings of attraction create challenges in consciousness. Compulsive behaviors may make it difficult to keep on track. A good time to work with artistic talents or role-playing to address women’s issues, especially in mature or senior concerns. Venus squares Pluto (m/p Mars) 1:51 AM, 21:58 Virgo/Sagittarius.

9/13 Instead of talking, many want action, and transformation is their goal. Unless thoughtful analysis is introduced, important details may be overlooked. A certain amount of unexpected strength may keep events from moving too fast. Mercury squares Mars (m/p Pluto) 12:41 PM, 9:04 Taurus/Leo.

8/15 Who is really in charge? The period from early July until the end of August has been and will be fraught with questions about leadership. Some emphasize their ideals and attempt to support them with style and persuasion. Learn to separate those who can deliver from those who simply promise. Look ahead to discern and anticipate the possible outcomes. Mercury turns direct 8:51 PM, 8:45 Leo.

8/16 Relationships will be a major issue through September 11. Go with the flow, integrating ritual with education to bring healing and wholeness and balance to yourself and your loved ones. Venus enters Libra 8:05 PM.

8/19 A harvest of ideas about others’ well being, and how to initiate help for those less fortunate. An interest in spiritual or mystical topics can open people’s minds to higher possibilities rather than the usual emphasis on the physical limits of every day living. Alternative healing techniques can be very successful. West coast: group support of an individual’s growing healing abilities. East coast: your growing talents can be communicated through writing or speaking, and further developed by education. Full Moon 26:50 Aquarius/Leo, west coast 10:53 AM; east coast 1:53 PM.

8/22 Analysis and discernment of spirit are available energies throughout the next month. Growth and development are possible to further your goals. If you are not clear about your path, now is the time to focus on what you wish to accomplish. Sun enters Virgo 5:46 PM.

8/26 It is a time for action to support your enhanced imaginative powers, and to undertake to achieve your goals through an enterprise involving others in related fields. Use your aptitude for thinking outside of the box, and your experience with these energies during the past month and a half to broaden your inventive projects. Mercury opposes Neptune Rx 1:30 PM, 15:43 Leo/Aquarius (contra parallel 16:15 N/S), m/p Mars.

8/26 Same theme as the last aspect, but different emphasis: challenge to mystical, spiritual or truth issues that you and others previously accepted as truth. The universal mind is non-judgmental – but the subconscious mind makes judgments based on past experience. Habits may be changed through retraining the subconscious – aligning the above issues with "outside the box" possibilities. Mars squares Neptune Rx 12:44 AM, 15:41 Taurus/Aquarius.

8/29 Further continuation of the above theme: honor your responsibility to your higher self by being firm and decisive in supporting the truth that you have discovered. Leadership abilities may surface, as those less qualified are eliminated.

8/31 The structure of loving relationships may be probed and evaluated, seeming to eliminate the spontaneous passion and romance. Give service to the analytic, knowing that it will pass; leaving a stronger relationship, complete with the emotional fulfillment that comes with time. Sun opposes Uranus Rx 8:01 PM, 8:47 Virgo/Pisces (Sun = Venus/Saturn).

Demeter (aka Ceres), the goddess of fertility, and her daughter Persephone (aka Kore), are associated with this month of harvest. August 1^st is the cross-quarter festival of Lammas (aka Lughnasa), the eighth station of the year, and the time of the first harvest (grain). In ancient times, a Loaf Mass was celebrated, using consecrated bread made from the first-ripened corn.

Among the gemstones associated with August are Amber and Topaz. Amber is known as "the Gold of the Sea", because this fossilized resin from the once prolific, now extinct species of Conifer, Pinites Succinifer used to wash up in great numbers on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Amber produces a charge of negative electrons when rubbed, and generates heat; actually, amber takes on the temperature of the wearer. Associated with the Sun, amber, an organic substance also produces sparks of light. It is said to effect relief in sore throats and to stop nosebleeds. Topaz (aka Peridot) was known to the ancient Egyptians as the "Stone of Strength", the stone of Ra, the Sun god. The color of Topaz can be changed by heat; and with heat, pressure and friction, it exhibits strong electric phenomena. In medieval times Topaz was used to heal women’s illnesses, and to promote peaceful sleep. First discovered at the Isle of Topazos in the Red Sea, Topaz was acclaimed for its gift of good health, wisdom, and the protection against a violent or sudden death.

Aug 3 is the Hindu festival, Raksha Bandhan, commemorating a battle between gods and demons. Sachi, wife of Indra (king of the gods) tied a blessed thread of protection to Indra’s hand, which helped him to conquer his enemies. In honor of ancient tradition, modern-day threads are charged with sacred verses (Mantras), and tied between the hands of loved ones. The protection thread on one hand is for saving the wearers from sins, and on the other hand heals them from disease, and they all generally remove fears, and help people to bond.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on August 4, 1792, at Field Place, near Horsham in Sussex. He wrote "Prometheus Unbound"; and his wife, Mary Shelley, born on August 30, 1797 wrote "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus". Both were rebels against English politics.

August 6 marks the current Heliacal rising of Sirius, at 14:08 Cancer, declination South 16:43:05. Since Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens, its rising just before the Sun allows it to be seen in a "daylight sky". In ancient times, this marked the beginning of the ancient Egyptian year, and occurred at the inundation, or flooding of the Nile, and the annual coming of Hapi, the fertility god/goddess (depicted as a green being with a pharaoh’s beard and the swollen breasts of a mother).

August 11, 1914 (Laredo, TX) was the birthday of Jose Silva, first to popularize mind-science, and the frequencies (alpha, beta, delta, and theta) and use of brain waves in meditation and healing.

Do remember the annual Perseids meteor shower, this year will peak on August 12/13 in the constellation of Perseus (declination +31 to +59), touching Aries and Taurus. The Perseids are unusually bright, and sometimes they explode and leave trails. The lesser Kappa-Cygnids meteor shower (bring your telescopes) will occur early on Aug 17 in near perfect conditions, appearing close to the ecliptic north pole in Draco. These showers also have a tendency for explosive components. Both of these showers will be visible in the northern hemisphere. Scientists speculate that meteors are the vehicles for life to be distributed throughout the universe. Meteor Showers are traditionally considered a gift of Light from the gods. Focus your consciousness on them, even if you can't see them – and accept the gift of Light.

On August 12, 1831, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, principal founder of the Theosophical Society, was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Ukraine. She was largely responsible for introducing Eastern religious philosophy to the Western world. Through her voluminous writings, including The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled. Her merging of science, religion and philosophy and the mantic arts are still a source of inspiration to philosophers, scientists, writers, artists, and truth-seekers the world over.

"[Astrology is] The Science which defines the action of celestial bodies upon mundane affairs, and claims to foretell future events from the position of the stars. Its antiquity is such as to place it among the very earliest records of human learning. It remained for long ages a secret science in the East, and its final expression remains so to this day, its exoteric application having been brought to any degree of perfection in the West only during the period of time since Varaha Muhira wrote his book on Astrology some 1400 years ago." Theosophical Glossary, page 38, H.P. Blavatsky

August 15 is the Christian celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Orthodox Church it is called the Dormition of the Theotokos. Church tradition accounts say that since she was the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, she was taken up into heavenly glory, body and soul (known as translation) when her earthly life was over. August 15 also marks the Jewish holy day, Tisha B'Av, the culmination of a three week period of increasing mourning, in remembrance of the day (the ninth of Av) when the First Temple was destroyed.

The Native American’s had three names for the August full Moon: Green Corn Moon, Sturgeon (fish) Moon, and Red Moon, referring to the haze in the air from burning fields after harvest.

An old Germanic folk belief said: "men who hate cats will never get a wife." This comes from the myth of the most revered Teutonic goddess, Freya, sister and wife of Odin, who protected love and marriage and made them fruitful. She was associated with the sign Leo, but rode a chariot drawn by two cats, her favored animal. The domestic cat is one of the ancient symbols for the fourth sign, Cancer, which precedes the Sun’s entry into Leo. Freya commanded the Valkyries, and often fought alongside Odin. Odin’s nine-day ordeal on the world tree, Yggdrasil runs from August 17 through the 25^th, and describes his process of collecting the knowledge of the runes.

August 23 is the day sacred to Nemesis, Greek goddess of Justice. The goddess of righteous anger, who first emerged from Chaos. Her festival was called Nemesia. She defended the belongings and memory of the dead from all insults, and avenged all those who despoiled their reputations or their property. There is an asteroid called Nemesis #128, its meaning is that which shows one’s vulnerability.

August 29 is sacred to Urda, the eldest of the three Norns of Norse mythology, who represents the past. Werdandi (present) and Skuld (future) are the remaining two Norns. The meaning of asteroid Urda #167 is mortmain (the oppressive influence of past events on current decisions. Synonyms: dead hand of the past), or the ability of the past to influence the future. August 29 is also the date that commemorates the birth of the Lord Krishna, and is a day of spiritual joy. Worship is done in the late evening hours, as Lord Krishna was born at midnight, symbolizing the Light dispelling darkness.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth, -
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?

Watch for Roxana’s book: Hope is the Core – Studies in Higher Consciousness. Soon to be published. Check out some excerpts on the web site below.

Roxana Muise, PO Box 3948, Lacey, WA 98509-3948 USA

Phone: 360/456-7836 - Email: roxana@entheos1.com

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