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August 2009
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Boots Hart Astrological Overview Boots Hart provides an overview and synthesis of the major energies, transits and key dates for the month as a whole.

by Boots Hart

Most of us are so up in the air feeling hassled, frustrated, beleaguered or pressed that we’d be plum happy if August could be summed up in a few pithy words amounting to "it’s all going to be just fine."

Unfortunately, life isn’t quite that simple. As August dawns in the wake of the July Solar Eclipse we may be wishing that wishes were horses, but feeling more like horses caught with their knickers down.

Still, all is not dismal! Opening with a Sun in Leo, which means moving from personal/doing mode into emotional I want (my way) mode on August 1st, much can be achieved (even happily achieved) if we just don’t start by insisting on "my choice and my way." Maintaining an open mind will allow Leo emotionalism to really shine as Leo’s compassionate, supportive leadership is in the long run, so very irresistible.

But that must start without presumptions—no assuming you know best, nor that people should just do things your way. In particular, those who "expect" now will fall short, just as those who chose to limit will feel (or be) limited by circumstance. Though not all are in a particularly liberal mood, the balance here is between who I am and what the world needs. And though this may feel like service, it isn’t. All you’re being asked is to figure out what part of your brilliance will best fit the task at hand—which is why you need to size up the task at hand for what it is before deciding on a course of appropriate action. 

And if you can add a dollop of acceptance? Well, that would be really great. Demonstrating you know how human we humans really are wins big points now—just don’t start with yourself. At the moment that will just come off as obsessively prissy-selfish. Anyone for a cup of narcissism?

Fortunately, as Venus enters Cancer on August 1 we’ll all ease into a more receptive mood. Feelings of "spinning" (out of control?) will gently fade, allowing us to better focus (hopefully!) on priorities. And that it would be such a very good idea, what with Mars in Gemini and all.

With Mars about halfway through Gemini, the first week of August will be all about sorting out how we feel about choice. And how choices stand against proven results. Where things won’t work, they must be faced, as the only other choice is to realize that we’re choosing the unproductive. Or outmoded. And why would we do that?

Yet being that we’re talking Mars in Gemini, it’s easy to get caught up in (or abandon one’s self  to) near-endless cycles of thinking about what you think about…about what? About what you think? That’s just the point—temporizing is a choice, in and of itself. And while that may be your gig, you had better know it’s your gig—and this is the moment when you have to deal with the choice you've made.

Meanwhile, whatever else is up, early August is also about wrapping things up. Mercury (thought, communication, everyday activities, attention to method, means and detail) is finishing up its transit of Leo. That which we have set into motion trying to initiate new activities now comes back as "yes" or "no." The "yes’s" represent a door to further developments and the "no’s" mean back to the drawing board. Nothing is a definitive "over and out" or "done and done" here, however. 

Leo is always about the exercise of will, the dealing with what we want. Like. Want to happen. But no matter the direction you point Leo in, life simply comes with no guarantees. You enter a race, but may not win. Your kids may grow up to be people you don’t even like. Or be born with a birth defect. Your garden may not bloom or bear fruit.

The idea of Leo is that we try and then accept that things may not end up fitting our ideal. So what’s the choice? You can accept, or sulk; try again or look for someone to blame. And yet… wherever this sign shows up in your chart (by house or symbol) that’s where you’re supposed to learn how to be. This is the sign of children because even in the adult there are childlike responses to much in life. So what’s your issue? Are you risk averse? Do you hate responsibility or work? Are you someone who always needs to be right?The more married to any of these issues you are, the more likely it is that life will provide you with situations, people and challenges which will force you to learn otherwise—or implode.

The Leo objective is to learn how to contribute, not dictate. Why? Because Aquarius is the polarity here. Our strength of ego and creative urges are ultimately all about the motivation to produce something needed in the greater scope of things—not just to humor ourselves. But to get past ego? That’s the Leo challenge, to be sure—and the challenge of this month, to be sure! Leo asks us to have a preference, own our preferenceand explore/develop our preferences. But ultimately that isn’t about us—it’s about a world just dying to appreciate, applaud and reward us if we will just get off our duff and get our glory out there!

So think this over as you angst about August situations. You can only pick flowers when they bloom. Kids may or may not grow up to be decent citizens. Friends may like your latest salsa—or not. We control nothing other than the quality of our invested efforts.   

And a bit on this polarity thing—it’s so important! It’s one of those "missing" parts of astrology—something we should pay more attention to. For example, to be a successful Taurus, you have to understand and deal with Scorpio. How well do you deal with emotional risk?

Gemini options and choices are genius once worldly Sagittarius application factors get folded in—but not so much before!

Cancer balances the need to build and be secured, but that only works once we accept that life is all about cause and effect. In the end we are respected only to the extent we act with responsible respectability and respectable responsibility. 

Virgo effectiveness and security depends on not just understanding Piscean fears, illusions and fantasy/escapist tendencies but the vulnerability that implies.

Libras play best for the audience through a courageous owning of self which is the Aries polarity.

Scorpios learn, through the precepts of Taurus, how in the honoring of equal viability lies the key to longed-for satisfaction.

Sagittarius becomes effective once Gemini precepts of choice, priority and consistent day-to-day effort becomes par for the course.

Capricorn achieves long-term goals through recognition of short-term needs, where one serves the other while recognizing the fact that humanity cannot ultimately be regulated, only inspired.

Aquarius achieves results through adding that focus on self which allows them to understand how others focus on self.

And Pisces…Pisces sensitivity is much more positive and potent once Virgo methods and steady application towards a goal get learned.  

With Leo, the willingness to expand on native abilities is tested through Aquarian receptivity and results. Or the lack thereof. But because this possibility of chastisement (or heaven forbid, rejection!) incites Leo vulnerability (read: the Leo lesson), nearly everyone has something Leo in their life they’d prefer to do in secret. You know, to avoid the vulnerabilities involved therein. But that so doesn’t work. Without Aquarian interaction and the experience of critique, which leads to the honing of skills/presentation and ultimate appreciation (and often enough, income!), the Leo thing feels empty. Frustrating. Unsatisfying.

With Sun in Leo from July into August we all go through some of this every year. And what with the solar eclipse having happened in the sign now immediately behind our early August Leo Sun in what astrologers call a "12th house harmonic" position, all the issues raised by the eclipse are taking on something of a Pisces flavor, enhancing yearnings—and feelings of isolation and frustration.

And the answer would be…? Simple—what are you doing about you?  

Once Mercury enters Virgo late on August 2 (UK time), we’re still all wrestling with this particular issue in light of all that’s gone down so very recently. Fortunately, once Mercury has its planetary foot in earthy Virgo, the idea of needing to be right and feelings of exposure ebb as we start thinking in Mercury/Virgo productive, factual and results-oriented terms. This is a time all about finding and implementing solutions—particularly those which are tangible or which produce tangible results. Known for being good at maintaining a status quo, positive Mercury in Virgo plans are measured and pragmatic, neither exhausting resources nor prone to pander to whim.

Of course there is a less preferable side to this combination. Isn’t there always? Mercury in Virgo is also known for nattering endlessly about details which in the big picture mean virtually nothing. It can manifest as obsessing over "why's" and evading responsibility through stalling, defensive-aggressiveness and even screwing up the works (or the relationship!) just so it doesn’t have to deal with its own vulnerabilities, or fears thereof. Virgo in negative mode (in general) is (in)famous for being all complaints and critiques, with no support or suggestions. It can be full of evasion which is so not honest about being evasive. Add the Mercury touch and you may encounter people who don’t get back to you—or who won’t answer questions. When such is the case, ask yourself if they’re feeling threatened or are just so stuffed full of pride they can’t deal with their guilt.

It could even be both—particularly with the Sun still in Leo’s emotional degrees, when the longing for "all things ideal" is so pervasive. So between the two, expect much phrasing in the superlative-conditional: many "if’s" and lots of "try’s". At its best, this Leo/Virgo combination is a dynamo—huge gains can be made and much success can come of risking beyond the norm. But let’s face it—it’s easier to reject, hide or point fingers. (And if you must do the finger-pointing thing, please get a manicure.) 

All this is important…why? Well, because the last of the summer eclipses is going to take place just after midnight on August 6 in the UK (later for those east of Britain and earlier—which is to say late on the 5th—for those west of Greenwich Mean Time).

The first thing to remember is that this is a lunar eclipse. So we know it’s an emotional time and that issues raised by this eclipse will likely manifest with lunar punctually. We also know that issues of the moment deliver "grounding" lessons, the effects of which play out over the next three months.

With that said however, though lunar eclipses may change how you feel about things, they aren’t generally known for "life changing events"…unless you’re someone pointedly affected by the solar eclipse occurring at around the same time. Are you?

And again, polarities count. When the summer’s first lunar eclipse took place at 15 Capricorn (an emotional degree in a worldly/public sign), a lot of well known (public) people passed away. Cancer—the sign most associated with the idea of "coming to rest" at the end of physical life—is Capricorn’s polarity sign. Other Cancerian family/home/housing/lifestyle/heritage/national population/culture  issues also came into focus at that time, but so many famous people passed away during the weeks in the wake of this eclipse that it serves to illustrate the point rather well. 

Now we have a second lunar round, a Lunar Eclipse at 13 Aquarius. This will highlight and incorporate all the Leo issues we’ve talked about, with the emphasis being Aquarian, which is to say societal or social in nature, having to do with groups, systems and all we draw from them. So whether it’s friendships, income, communication networks or power grids—all those are up for highlighting, as are typical Leo subjects like children, athletics, the stock market, motion pictures and personal creativity.

Many Aquarian abstract ideals—things like freedom, anarchy, rebellion, elitism, egalitarianism—are also likely to be highlighted, emphasizing the Aquarius need to know, and underscoring the polarity issue, the need to be involved. Aquarius and Leo fuse through individual effort in a social, societal, marketplace or systemic setting which requires involvement. You have to be informed. You need to know "how." And no one can learn for you. That’s the Aquarian challenge—and thus the challenge posed by wherever Aquarius is positioned in a horoscope, whether by symbol or house. 

And a word to the wise here. If something does go wrong, appeal to others using simple (or if appropriate or advisable, formal) manners. Manners count under Aquarius as part of the testing of one’s Leo ego structure: do you know your boundaries? Are you willing to negotiate as part of a solution which satisfies all parties?

Just understand: in the bigger (worldly or life) sense this picture isn’t lunar. It’s solar. That means the events of recent weeks will continue to evolve—in your world or as part of your psyche—for a  three full years. And it’s a cinch you don’t know yet what the real outcome will be. 

But at the moment? No question—we’re either cheering or feeling frazzled. That’s why a world-weary, over-stressed, put-upon, frustrated and impatient you may be so tempted to point fingers (remember that manicure?). But that isn’t the most productive forward path. Remember, the stress is your stress. Nobody causes it—stress is your reaction to an inability to flex or accept someone else’s right to be who they are and simply have some opinion other than yours or that you fantasized for them. What a shock, I know. 

Look…there are a zillion reasons why at this moment you may need comforting. Support.  Understanding. The recent solar eclipse has raised huge issues—many stemming from long forgotten/ignored childhoods. Those hurts are valid. The longings? Also valid. The feelings of vulnerability are entirely understandable. But in your life, you have to decide what to do about your issues. And maybe you’re having a problem just so you can get involved. Or maybe when you go to look for help you discover no one’s offering that yet. Maybe the pain of the moment is really opportunity in disguise. That too would be Aquarius/Leo…and Cancer/Capricorn. After all, only through facing ourselves do we ever really achieve anything. With this eclipse having a Sun in Leo conjunct Kassandra (disbelief) and the eclipse Moon conjunct Psyche (trust), we want to trust and rely on the known. Change sounds like a particularly dirty word. But change may be exactly what’s needed—particularly as it applies to our expectations and directed efforts. 

All this bubbles around until Jupiter in Aquarius inconjuncts Saturn in Virgo on August 19. Notable not merely on its face but as an echo of the Jupiter/Saturn Taurus synodic conjunction of late May 2000, here Jupiter (expansion) presses to "adjust" (inconjunct) life’s Saturn quotient—the status quo, the current pace, and those means and methods which aren’t working any more.

Jupiter is in Aquarius, and this entire synodic cycle is Taurean. Therefore, the ultimate issue is security and satisfaction. With Jupiter in Aquarius there’s a distinct need and structural challenge being posed—one that is further emphasized by Uranus having been part of the originating synodic construction. The whole of this just-over-19-year-long cycle (2000-2020) is about shifts in what we think security is. Where satisfaction comes from. Hence—yes—the economic collapse. Metaphysically, that is a splendid example of just what this cycle is about. And that it was triggered by a Leo solar eclipse should give us all pause—and not just for financial reasons!

What happens now is part of the 20-year overhaul of what the Taurean word meaningful really means on a global and individual basis. Along the way, ego (Leo), morality (Scorpio) and ethics (Aquarius) are also in for some testing. And alteration, speaking of adjustments. This is not about martyrdom, but it is about perspective. Those willing to own the truth now (and their part in perhaps having compromised said truth) will in time emerge in the pristine clear so long as they 'fess up and clean up their act. But those clinging to "me-mine-most" old school concepts? They’re going to find this month particularly trying.

And what if you can’t tell one from the next? Best advice: judge from results. The harder a time you’re having, the more confined you’ve become, the more grief you’re getting or the more pressured is your life, the more likely it is that you’re relying on an outmoded (or overly self-oriented) modus operandi. Change, or be changed—that’s the choice. 

Moving on…recognitions and efforts to improve accelerate as the Sun moves into Virgo on August 22. Have you been feeling somehow like a spectator at some giant play? Well, play time is over—time to move on! Now necessity generates motivation, which (whether with a smile or sigh of resignation) begets activity. And once Mercury enters Libra on August 25 simultaneous with Mars entering Cancer, the idea becomes all about getting those concrete results up and running. Those who recognize cause/effect will now focus on quality while owning up to what they don’t know. Asking for information will garner positive support, so don’t be shy! 

Boots Hart, CAP

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