Grace McGrade is an intuitive astrologer and priestess based in Los Angeles. She is the Co-founder of ASTRAL ORACLES, an open-source spiritual community, and author of Palpable Magic; a website exploring prose about sex, love, Los Angeles and the occult.

The Sun is back in its rulership in August, entering the sign of Leo, after a dissociative and emotional July. August is potent with much-needed possibility and joy, as Mercury goes direct on the second of the month, promising a period of energised expression. We enter a period of collective self-ownership, creativity, heightened personality and fun. Sirius, symbolising our soul's essence, rises and sets with our sun through the month of August. Sirius is the brightest star in our sky and urges us to expand the perimeters of our spiritual awareness. We are being encouraged by the heavens to celebrate our individual importance, to step up to our place in the world and command attention. Expect to have epiphanies and a revitalised sense of who you are. Expect to want to shine. Expect to become the love of your own life. During this time, we are collectively experiencing a change in sleep and eating cycles, as we are examining the way we present ourselves, as well as integrating a lot of summer celestial light. What defining characteristics make you who you are? What makes you distinct? How can you bring more of this out? A liaison between Saturn (planet of lessons and restrictions) and our South Node (representing old behaviour), brings us the compulsion to acknowledge our growth and resist the impulse to repeat the same mistakes. With Saturn and Pluto still retrograde, we are still perhaps having run-ins with people from our past. Remember, this season is about following bliss and allowing yourself to be playful, rather than engaging in the theatrics of the past that hold your focus on limitations. What do you want to make bigger, and more theatrical? Leo reminds us that what we pay attention to, grows.