Break-ups, make-ups and chance encounters with old flames – this August’s Venus retrograde is destined to be nothing short of mythological
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinARIES//ARIES RISING
Destiny beckons, with North Node entering your sign this month. It may sound daunting, but you are encouraged to focus on your own development and self-betterment, and to lean into your own innate impulse. You are good at remaining your own person, and all of the signs have something to learn from your steadfast certainty. With the Sun radiating in fellow fire sign Leo, you are given a boon of self-confidence.
With Venus retrograding, you may feel like rehashing it out with an old flame, or perhaps examining new ways to practise enjoyment and pleasure that don’t involve burn out. It’s a good time to review creative projects that have taken a back burner, particularly with Mercury retrograding in Virgo on the 23rd. With some stops and turns, August will have you evolving into a more creative, autonomous and powerful version of self.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinTAURUS//TAURUS RISING
With your ruler Venus retrograding through Leo, you may be reviewing past dynamics with new eyes. You are being challenged to stop renewing relationships that don’t make you feel worthy. With Jupiter in your sign, you are being prompted to approach reality as an exercise in self-worth. Are you putting yourself in the environments, dynamics and situations that you deserve? How can you be more loving, more theatrically kind to yourself?
Jupiter brings blessings the more you practise high self-esteem. Mars and Mercury in Virgo bring you the wherewithal to get things done, sharpen and fine tune your focus towards your senses. With Mercury scheduled to retrograde at the end of the month, try to reorganise. Make your own life simpler. Trim the excess from your schedule, and get grounded.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinGEMINI/GEMINI RISING
In August you will face certain choice points: do you fall back into the vortex of imagined drama, or can you tune your focus towards yourself, sharpening your sense of security? With all of the signs experiencing the romantic revelations that Venus Retrograde brings, you may be looking for answers to the unanswerable. Fated relationships, chance encounters, conversations left unfinished.
Solutions are billowing through the ether, as Leo season will have everyone speaking loud and proud. Your ruler, Mercury, is scheduled to station retrograde in Virgo on the 23rd, encouraging you to clean house. Literally or figuratively, with this transit moving over your sector of home and security, you may be needing to do some deep-cleaning. It’s ample time to Feng Shui your space, making room for greater abundance.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinCANCER//CANCER RISING
It’s time to boost your self-esteem to comical heights, to pretend to be the most confident person in the room, to fake it until you make it. Leo season wants you to come out of your shell with pride, to radiate, to rock and roll. Utilise the New Moon on the 16th to set intentions for high self-esteem. How do you want to feel about yourself? What skills, talents and latent superpowers do you need to take ownership of?
With Mercury retrograding on the 23rd through your sector of communication, you may be inspecting the stories you tell yourself about how reality treats you. Practice pretending the universe is conspiring to shower you in blessings. Pretend everyone is a fairy godmother. Look for the silver lining.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinLEO//LEO RISING
It doesn’t need to be your birthday season for you to command the spotlight. However, this birthday season is scheduled to be an eight-part theatre show, a melodramatic saga of plot twists and heroic acts, particularly with Venus retrograding through your sign. You have the ability to command attention from reality, and you also know how to utilise this attention to attract the things you want. Play with the principles of magnetism, enjoyment and attraction this month. Let yourself experience pleasure and play. When your vibe is high, you are capable of miracles. Expect theatrical manifestations.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinVIRGO//VIRGO RISING
With Mars and Mercury roaring through your home turf, you are feeling animated, energised and bursting with ideas. You may be more combative than usual, particularly with Venus Retrograde in Leo making everyone temperamental. However, this newfound energy will help you declare a clear sense of purpose. Refine your mission. Make moves. Accelerate. With Mercury backtracking through your sign on the 23rd, and birthday season approaching, it is an ample time to revisit any abandoned projects or genius ideas that got swept under the rug.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinLIBRA//LIBRA RISING
With Venus in Leo regressing through your sector of hopes, wishes and dreams, you are called to inspect your self-belief. How gaudy, ridiculous and rewarding can your goals get? Employ your imaginative faculties to set more inspired goals. Believe in Miracles.
The North Node enters Aries this month, pointing the finger of fate into your sector of relationships. Prepare for new contacts, new co-conspirators and new beginnings in your dealings with others. This is going to bring in a slew of new people into your life, both professionally and socially. It would bode well to utilise the beginning of the month for reorganisation, as Mercury stations retrograde in Virgo on the 23rd.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinSCORPIO//SCORPIO RISING
Venus is retrograding through your sector of career and the public, opening doors and anointing your professional sphere with uncommon miracles. It’s time to act like the VIP you’ve always known you are. August bodes very well for making career moves that will achieve incredible recognition. After all, with the Sun radiating in Leo, we are all eager for a little more attention. As the planets place you in professional limelight, with Mars and Mercury in determined and focused Virgo, you are getting shit done. In August you are privy to greater visibility, so don’t hesitate to reach out to friends and expand your social sphere. The occasional communicative hiccup can be anticipated when Mercury retreats back on the 23rd.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinSAGITTARIUS//SAGITTARIUS RISING
Early August you are keen for a getaway, an Irish Exit from your social spheres, an adventure. You are eager for spiritual reprieve from the mundane, driven by romantic notions of uncharted territory. As Venus retrogrades through your sector of higher learning and travel, you are privy to receiving deep and powerful insights about how to become a Jedi master. You understand that when you apply spiritual tools, your material life improves. The more you love and appreciate yourself, the more reality seems to love you back. Allow August to be a gestation from normalcy, and seek out foreign territory. Just ideally do it before the 23rd, when Mercury retrogrades.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinCAPRICORN//CAPRICORN RISING
Venus is retrograding through your sector of sex, death and transformation, encouraging you to delve deep. You are prompted by the celestial bodies to seek out new understandings of intimacy, to divulge secrets to others, and to catalyse your own change. When you allow yourself to be close to another, you allow yourself to be transformed. This is the rich, romantic material of Russian novels and Shakespearean plays. Intense, steamy, erotic. With Mars and Mercury in Virgo, you have a newfound self-awareness that grants you the ability to analyse how you approach love. Be wary of unnecessary dramas, and look out for the occasional miscommunication, for Mercury retrogrades on the 23rd.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinAQUARIUS//AQUARIUS RISING
August is all about love, with the Sun radiating through your sector of one-on-one relationships. With Venus retrograding, your attention is drawn to others. Your focus moves towards collaborators, friends and associates, all as revolutionary as you. You are exploring partnerships, encouraged to ditch the cerebral stuff, and delve headfirst into a summer fling. We open the month with a Full Moon in your sign, illuminating where you may need to detach from other people’s perception. No one incites a revolution by not ruffling feathers. Feel free to go against the grain, and opt for uncommon solutions.
Illustration Gabrielle RosensteinPISCES//PISCES RISING
Having had Saturn in your sign has encouraged you to take inventory of what is a dream and what is a delusion. Mars and Mercury in Virgo this month encourage you to pair your fairytale fantasy with diligent action. Ground, get organised and curate a new routine. You need daily habits that stimulate your creativity, but also serve to give you long-term stability and vitality. As Venus retrogrades through Leo, you are encouraged to embody self-love by quadrupling your self-care.
Your focus shifts to partnerships towards the end of the month, as the Sun illuminates your sector of partners. With Venus still backtracking, and Mercury retrograde, look out for communicative hiccups. Don’t just tell people what they want to hear, be clear, be decisive. Be honest. August culminates with a Full Moon in your sign, helping you to release pent up emotion, and integrate a sense of spiritual peace.