What's Up With the Venus & Mercury Retrograde?

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Astrology Forecast for August 2023

Join Astrologer Rick Levine and Amanda Walsh in our latest podcast episode, as they unravel the cosmic mysteries of the month of August 2023.

On this episode, you'll learn…

🌑 About the most powerful astrological events and aspects happening in August, and how to navigate it
🌒 How the Venus Sun conjunction and its trine with Chiron, and how it can bring opportunities for forgiveness, healing, and empathy.
🌓 About the Venus and Mercury Retrogrades and how these retrogrades can influence communication, relationships, and personal development.

🌟 Explore the mysteries of the stars with Astrologer Connect, your premier source for quality astrology readings.

You can now access Astrologer Connect to unlock the secrets of the cosmos and gain insight into your life’s journey. Visit astrologyhub.com/astrologerconnect and discover how Astrology can transform your life today.

Transcript

[00:00:00]

Intro

Amanda: Hey everybody, welcome. It's so great to be here with all of you. I see some people already in the chat. For those of you tuning into the recording. If you want to be notified when we go live, because we always do the cosmic connection with Rick Levine live. So if you want to be notified when we do that, make sure you hit subscribe on the YouTube channel.

And then also, I think there might be a way to, to tell it that you want notifications. [00:01:00] Otherwise, make sure you're signed up for our cosmic insider, which are, is our free weekly newsletter. That way you're going to get notified when we have an episode coming up. And also when we have a recording for you to tune into, you can do that at astrology hub.

com slash insider. And I am super happy to be here with all of you, Rick, I gotta, I gotta read something that someone wrote in already. Greetings from the foothills of Colorado near Fort Collins. I'm really, really grateful to get to be here for some nutritious brain food from the mystical, magical, brilliant Professor Levine.

How do you like that?

Rick: Oh, I paid that person a lot of money to read those words that I wrote. No, I'm only kidding. I appreciate, I appreciate that. Thank you. Old, old shop blues boy.

Amanda: Yes. All right. And we are diving into the astrology of August. I know that we are already a few days into the month and we just came off kind of like a rip [00:02:00] roaring July.

So Rick, very excited to hear about the weather ahead.

Theme for August

Amanda: What would you say is the

Rick: theme? Well, I think we're at a place where we've gone around just barely going around a bit of a turning point. You know, so many of the months are like this next month is the point of no return. This next month is when it's all going to…

No, pretty much. It's, it's all happened. I mean, I'm not saying it's all happened, but I get the feeling and we'll talk about why that where there's an old phrase betwixt in between. And really those two words technically mean the same thing. Betwixt is kind of an old English way of saying in the, in between things.

And, and the phrase betwixt in between kind of means like we're no longer still there. But we're not yet where we're going. In other words, we've [00:03:00] gone, we've gone around the bend, but, but we still, we're still in between. We're not, we're like in between the past and the future, but we, we don't have enough distance on the past to really see what happened and we don't have enough experience yet with the future to know what's really happening.

And so I think this month is a. It's a bit of a misleading month, and especially in, in the tradition of Rick Levine, the most important day of July was August 1st,

Because the full moon on August 1st, was certainly an important day, and without getting into any of the politics of it, just the fact that that the past president was, indicted for January 6 stuff is in some ways a lot of people have been either fearing that or waiting for that for four months, for a couple, almost a [00:04:00] couple of years now.

And so it seems like we've gone around the bend, but I don't think where we're going is clear yet. And, you know, it's important to understand that Venus is retrograde for the entire month. And Mercury, although it doesn't turn retrograde until the end of the month and we'll get there, we'll drill down on that in a little bit.

Mercury actually turns retrograde on the 23rd. But by, by. today, which is we're recording this on August 3rd. Mercury is already in its shadow, which means that that Venus and Mercury are all in that phase of that one, two, three shadow land. Venus is on phase two going backward through the shadow.

Mercury is on phase one going forward through the shadow. And again, till the 23rd. Um, but what that means is that [00:05:00] both Venus and Mercury are moving relatively slowly and they're not pushing us into new territory. And on top of that, we have Jupiter, which is slowing down to turn retrograde the beginning of next month.

And on top of that, we have Pluto, which is retrograde, Neptune, which is retrograde, Saturn, which is retrograde. Uranus turns retrograde the end of this month on the 28th, so it's barely moving at all. So really, all the planets. Are now retrograde or slowing down to turn retrograde with the exception of Mars, which is just barreling forward.

And so it's almost like the, the, the, in, in Virgo, which is where Mars is while Mercury is also in Virgo and will be retrograding in Virgo. It's almost like the words of anger, the words of making boundaries, the words being, um, Mercury in Virgo. and [00:06:00] just the Virgo energy and Mars in Virgo, it's almost like we're getting ahead of ourselves from how, what we're, what we're doing.

It's going to take a while for everything to catch up. And so I think that, that August is largely this kind of in between state, and it's perfect because it's like midsummer in the northern hemisphere, or, you know, it's like the hottest part of summer in many places. And of course, the summer has already been hotter than than any before.

And so there's this sense of almost like. Take it easy this month. Chill. Don't push so hard because you're not gonna get there. We're not going, we're not going to reach conclusion on many of the things that we're working on until both Mercury and Venus move out of their shadow. On into September and October, really into more like into October.

Retrograde Planets

Amanda: Is [00:07:00] that when most of the planets will be going direct or just Mercury? Well,

Rick: it's the thing about the Mercury and and Venus is that they're really pushing the energy because we notice the faster moving ones changing more than the slower ones. I mean, Pluto, for example, has been retrograde for a month, but it still hasn't even moved barely just over a degree.

You know, and so, and yet when Mercury, or Venus turns retrograde, Mercury will retrograde, 14 degrees in like 20 days, you know, so, so we really, really notice those. The other planets actually don't turn direct, you know, of course, Venus turns direct on September 3rd. , and, Jupiter is just turning retrograde on September 4th, so it'll turn direct at the end of December.

[00:08:00] Saturn turns direct at the beginning of November. Uranus, it already, it's retrograde now and it doesn't turn direct until January. Neptune turns direct in December. Pluto turns direct in October. And so we're not getting the outer planets moving direct until later on, but when Venus and Mercury turn direct, Mercury, turning direct on September 15th and Venus turning direct on September 3rd, we'll feel that.

But it'll still take a while for them to each get out of their shadow, that area where they go back and forth or fourth and back and forth. Technically, we always say back and forth, but they go forth and back and forth. And Mercury doesn't leave its shadow until the end of September. And Venus leaves its shadow the beginning of October.

So by the time we move into October, even [00:09:00] though the heavyweight planets, the drummer and the bass note of the band are still going to take a while to move into new territory. It's going to feel like we're, we're moving forward again. Um,

Amanda: okay.

Moving Forward

Amanda: And, and moving forward with things that we're working on right now.

Rick: Yeah. Yeah. And actually, you know, even if we go back to, you know, the, even if we go back to the Venus thing, you know, Venus, entered Leo back at the beginning of June. And it turned retrograde on July 22nd, so it was in its shadow for most of June, well, from let's say the 19th of June, all the way through it's turning retrograde and and so we're already feeling that slowing down energy when it comes to.

having our needs met to getting what we want to having pleasure. And it doesn't mean we can't have fun. Remember, when a planet's retrograde, it's closer to Earth and it's louder. But sometimes that makes it more difficult for us to [00:10:00] integrate that energy. And so we are already getting that on Venus. And when Mercury turns retrograde or even as it begins to move through its shadow today.

Through, uh, what did I say? The 23rd of of August. , during this whole period of time, it may feel like things are happening, but they're really just being set up because those things which are happening now in the realms of interpersonal communication or information exchange. Or how we're applying information, things that we learn and that we know we're not going to be done with it until mercury makes the retrograde back through Virgo and then goes forward again and moves out of its shadow again, the end of September.

So it's going to take time. But meanwhile. The heavier weight things, the, the bigger issues that are, that, that are in our lives, whether it's, inflation or economic considerations or [00:11:00] global or national politics or those kinds of things that it's still going to take until the outer planets begin me.

Moving direct, , toward the, you know, the middle end of November, December and January for all of that stuff to begin to move forward. At least that's the way I see it.

Amanda: Okay. So we have this theme of betwixt and between. We're kind of in an in between month. You're telling us to kind of relax a little bit or not, you know, just we're, we're, we're planting seeds, but we're not barreling forward.

Rick: Yeah, I actually think, and I'm not quibbling here on words, I think the seeds have already been planted. That's why, you know, in other words, if we were planting seeds, we would actually be doing something. But I think largely, um, the seeds have largely been planted. Some are still being planted because mercury is still moving direct.

But I think that, I think that there's no [00:12:00] incredible surprises. I know I'm going to eat my words for saying that, because whenever, whenever you say stuff like that, you know, the, the universe is listening, the cosmos are going to hear what that guy Levine said, let's make him eat his words. Um, it just feels like the big events, and again, I have to include.

You know, the multiple indictments on, on the January 6th thing on Trump as part of July, rather than August, even though when I recorded my original YouTube thing, which I recorded before August 1st, that was included in August, but now, because we're already past that, it's almost like. That's part of the stuff that I'm talking about that's already gone down that we're no longer waiting for that shoe to drop or that hammer to hit.

And again, wherever anyone stands on it, we can't undo now that that has been done. And that's the important thing here because, all right, it's been [00:13:00] done. But now what? Well, now we're in nowhere land. You know, it doesn't, on some level, it changes everything. And on another level, it doesn't change anything.

And that's the betwixt and between. I mean, it's, it's not the only thing, but that's, that's the image that I can use to describe what that means. You know, so yeah.

Amanda: Perfect. Okay. Let's walk through the, the

Rick: Oh, I thought we were done.

Amanda: That was just your opening volley, as you like to say.

Rick: I, I do, I do say that, don't I?

Yes. Um, yeah, it's, um, yeah. I, I think that's a war term, but I like to think of it as a tennis term because volley, you know, but that's an opening volley in tennis, I think is called a serve, but let's not go down that. little rabbit hole. That's

Amanda: true. I was always thinking tennis too, but that is a good point.

Rick: Yeah. No, I think it's, I think [00:14:00] that, that when there is a large array of weapons being discharged, that's called a volley. So, and I don't know what that has to do with tennis, if anything, but, yeah,

A Look at August

Rick: so let's, let's talk about the month and we really do, even though it's the third, we really do need to just for a moment, at least, talk about the first.

because going into August, you know, that transition from July into August, so powerful. I mean, with, with Pluto still squaring the nodes and, and, and with, Mercury opposing Saturn. And we had the week before Mars opposing Saturn, this hot, cold, do it, don't do it. And, and, and there was just so much stuff going on with that, with that full moon and the full moon squaring Jupiter.

It's like so much, so much going on. I mean, things just seem to be like really, [00:15:00] really important. And, and yet Neptune in the mix, which is, , you know, at the end of, of Pisces, is being quincunxed by stationary. Venus and remember, Venus just turned retrograde. So Venus is retrograde all month in Leo. And, and I think that that sets up August.

I think August begins on a very, very loud note and it's not like it really settles down. But, but I think that we're, I think we would be misled. If we thought that the full moon and the aspects around it, including, yesterday on the second, we had Venus squaring Uranus. And I think that, that all of this is like just, a bit much.

And I said, Venus squaring Uranus. I take that back. I just glanced down. And I normally have my little [00:16:00] cheat sheets in front of me that, that I look at regularly, except when I said that I pulled up, I had, uh, July and so forget that Venus squaring Uranus, what, what I was really referring to is at the full moon.

We had not only the full moon, squaring Jupiter, but also Mars trining Jupiter and just so much other stuff going on. With Mars also making a square and a half to Pluto. Powerful, powerful start. But then the second and the third kind of quiet down a bit. And now as we get to the fourth, we begin to pick up energy that I think builds all the way through the sixth.

And what I'm talking about in particular is that the full moon was square to Jupiter. But it was about five, six degrees away from being exactly square, but moving into it, which means that the sun was moving into that square to Jupiter. [00:17:00] And the sun square Jupiter is exact on August 6th. And I think that this, um, that, that August 6th becomes the next key date in whatever it is that's unfolding.

Now, this is a Sunday, but it's a big day. because not only is the sun squaring Jupiter, but also on the sixth, we have a few other things occurring, including the fact that the moon moves into Aries, on the fifth. And as it moves on through Aries, It's going to reach the point where it lines up with Chiron and trines also trines the sun in Leo and trines Venus in Leo also Venus retrograding now.

And so I think that Sunday the 6th can be a really. A powerful day, a good day, a big day. And, and remember I said earlier when I missed, [00:18:00] mistook my July

forecast, uh, printout where I said Venus was squaring Uranus. Well, the interesting thing is that Venus did square Uranus back at the beginning of July. But now that Venus is retrograding, it squares Uranus again on August 9th. And this is the first of the significant events that we might look to in our own lives.

Looking back to the, Venus square Uranus that happened on July 2nd, and we might think that anything around that, that weekend of June 30th, July 1st, July 2nd, around that period of time, was there anything in our lives that was destabilizing or exciting or attractions that came to us? Venus, the planet of love and attraction and even money.

Did we buy something spontaneously or impulsively, because it's square to Uranus kind of make [00:19:00] something happen in the moment. Well, as Venus retrogrades back into that same square with Uranus, it, that happens on August 9th on the exact same day that Mercury is now making a trine to Jupiter. Remember the, the, sun square Jupiter.

On the sixth expands our confidence to the extent that we may be overstating our position. We may be over exaggerating. We may feel so good. We take a step too far in something or somewhere. But by the time we reach August 9th and that Venus is, is, is being stimulated by the excitement, the high level frequency buzz.

Of Uranus on August 9th and Mercury is training Jupiter now. We get to talk about it. We get, and I think that this is a really good weekend. I mean, obviously there's always room for turning something into a mess by [00:20:00] taking it too far. But I I, I have my hopes up for this weekend. Or, or that I shouldn't say this weekend.

I mean this weekend of, August, uh, ninth, let, let's, uh, Oh, let's see. August is August 6th is the end of the weekend and that's the square. Things are beginning to look good. And then by the middle of the week, August 9th, we're getting these trines, the Mercury trine to Jupiter and the Uranus square. And that might be very exciting and very agitating all at the same time.

So I think that that's a really important key. Date in a key period of time, the middle of the week, or let's say the Sunday, August 6th through Wednesday, August, August 9th. And then it quiets down for a little bit again. And it picks up again on the 12th and 13th because. On the 12th, which is we're back to the following weekend now, even [00:21:00] on Friday, the 11th, we kind of begin to feel the energy because the sun is moving into a trine with Chiron.

That's exact on, on the 12th. And when the sun in Leo trines Chiron in Aries. We may feel very positive about healing something that has been a lingering hurt or, or, or difficulty that we've been dealing with. Um, and there are other things in the, in the chart for that day that say where it's, this is not a get out of jail free day.

Mars is making a quincunx. With, with Chiron on Friday, the 11th. And so we do have a little bit of agitation or annoyance, but there's real potential this weekend, the 12th for healing because retrograde Venus actually comes across the point where the sun is. And remember when Mercury or Venus are retrograde conjunct the sun, [00:22:00] they're between The earth and the sun, because when you look at a chart and see a Mercury or Venus conjunct the sun, it doesn't clearly show, unless you know what to look for, which I'm going to explain in just a moment, you can't, most people won't immediately be able to tell whether you.

that Venus is between the earth and the sun, or whether Venus is on the far side of the sun with the sun between earth and Venus. The same thing with Mercury, because as the planet goes, as Mercury or Venus goes around the sun, it conjoins the sun on this side, and then it conjoins the sun again on the other side.

And it's very simple to tell if Mercury or Venus are conjuncting the sun and retrograde, that means they're closer to earth. Because retrograde planets are always closest to Earth as they are compared to their normal cycle. So what this means is that Venus is invisible when Venus, [00:23:00] when any planets lined up with the Sun.

And we're going to come back to that in a moment and talk about the, the Arab word Kazemi. Because when a planet is contained within the rays of the Sun, it's called Kazemi or in the heart. Of the sun and and and you see when planets get close to the sun, even even on a new moon when the moon is close to the sun, you know, in its orbit, you can't see it.

It becomes overpowered by the rays of the sun. And in traditional astrology, when a planet gets closer to the sun, it loses its power because it falls under the rays of the sun. That kind of extinguish it, make it invisible, overpower it, but when the planet is exactly, exactly contained right in the heart of the sun within, within the sun, that Kazemi gives that planet, temporary [00:24:00] superpowers instead of like being in the king's court, which and being overshadowed by the king.

Instead, you're sitting on the king's lap and you are family, you are part of you, you become like at one with the king, the son that is. And so on the, on the 13th, when, when Venus is Kazemi, uh, it occurs exactly at 4 15 a. m. Pacific time. That's a very strong Venus day because not only is Venus aligned with the sun.

But it's also as close to the earth as it gets in its in its cycle this time round. And so Venus is that radio station is coming in really, really loudly. And it's doing it while the sun and Venus are trying in Chiron. And that's what's significant. Again, They're still about a degree apart on Saturday, so the [00:25:00] sun makes the trine with Chiron on Saturday, the 12th, and then Venus makes the exact trine with Chiron on Monday, the 14th, but for all practical purposes, that Venus Kazemi, or the Venus Sun conjunction, is, in fact, trining Chiron, which gives us the opportunity to forgive, to heal, um, it gives us the ability to have empathy for, for other people, even our enemies.

I always love the line, the Oscar Wilde line that, that he wrote. An enemy will stab you in the back, but a friend will stab you in the front because, because it's out in the open and, and, and friends don't hide things. They, they put, keep them out in the open. And so with this Venus sun conjunction, trining, trining Chiron, there's this ability.

to be a friend [00:26:00] to even those people you are an enemy with. In other words, you can say what it is that's on your mind. You can, and that can become healing rather than rather than hurtful. And so, you know, I don't want to, um, overplay this whole thing, but it's like, it's like if we don't use 11th, 12th, 13th, And Monday the 14th, um, to keep reminding ourselves, we don't have to respond the way we normally do.

We, we, we can listen better to others, we can help them understand their own pain, and maybe even help them understand that. our pain because the potential for assimilating that which we have fragmented out because of old hurts or pains or wounds. Um, we can either teach or be taught. And that often begins with a reframing of love and with, [00:27:00] um, and with being forgiven.

or forgiving others, or maybe sometimes even more importantly, forgiving ourselves. So I, I really like that weekend a whole lot. And, and interestingly enough, that is moving us closer toward, um, the new moon. Uh, as we come around through the 13th, uh, by the 14th on Monday, the moon moves into Leo. Remember Venus and the sun are already in Leo.

They've been aligned in, in Leo, by Monday, the 14th and then by, actually by, um, the 15th, we have the, um, sun moving into its square Uranus. Remember, Venus already did that, but Venus is moving backwards. It's retrograding, but now the sun squares Uranus. And, um, and, and I think that now we're looking at Tuesday, the [00:28:00] 15th, and we're also coming into the new moon, which is on, Wednesday the 16th and that occurs at 2 38 a.

m. on the pacific coast. So you can think either late Monday night or early Tuesday morning depending on where you are. But this new moon is also a very interesting new moon. Because it's sweeping through that square from Leo, the moon, Venus, and the sun are all in Leo. The moon is sweeping through Leo and squaring Jupiter in Taurus, fixine to fixine.

And then it's gonna, join up with Venus, and then it's gonna be a new moon, and then it's going to square Uranus while the sun is moving into the square to Uranus. So we have three planets in Leo, the moon, Venus and the sun. And we have two planets spread a little bit wider in Taurus. Taurus, fixed sign, Leo, fixed sign.

And [00:29:00] so we're getting this square between the sun and the moon and Venus, which you're saying come from the heart, have integrity with what you feel and express that. Outwardly with great intention, this is a fantastic new moon for expressing our intentions as long as we're patient, because remember, Mercury is slowing down to go retrograde, it's in its shadow, and Venus is already retrograde, but we have this conflict between the, the, the moon, Venus and the sun, In Leo and wanting to come from our heart, wanting to express our ourselves as true as possible, like the sun does without any consideration.

If someone gets sunburned, or if there's a forest fire, that's not the sun's concern. The sun's concern is to shine. Meanwhile, we have Jupiter and Uranus back in fixed sign Taurus saying, [00:30:00] no, our job is not to shine. Our job is to make sure we get to where we're going. Now, Jupiter in Taurus is going to do that with, with methodical expansion.

It's not going to go too much, too far, too quick, but it's going to do it in a way where it's going to continue to, to grow no matter what's going on. Jupiter's going to get there. Uranus has a hard time in Taurus. It's been there now for about five years, and on some level we're used to it because Uranus and Aries love the idea of change.

When Uranus moves into Gemini in a couple years, it's gonna love the idea of change. But in Taurus, Uranus doesn't like to change. And so Uranus is trying to hold the status quo until it can't hold on anymore. And then It explodes. And that's what we've been seeing in this past, you know, few years is rather than easy change.

We've been growing by by explosions by stops and starts and, and, and, and breakthroughs that are happening that seem very [00:31:00] Less than graceful is all I can think of. And I think this, this new moon exacerbates that, but at the same time, there's two other things that are important. And one of them we talked about, and that is all those planets in Leo, the moon, Venus, and the sun are all making trines with Chiron, which is.

Chiron was the original mentor, the original teacher, you know, taught Hercules, Asclepius, all these magical, you know, things that these gods, the Olympian gods needed to know. That's why, you know, Chiron was granted immortality because of his ability to heal and to teach. That's good news. The other good news is we're seeing something else building and that is a grand earth trine, because remember we have Jupiter.

And Uranus in Earth sign Taurus, and Jupiter's mid Taurus, like 14, almost 15 degrees of Taurus. Uranus is kind of like two [00:32:00] thirds of the way through. It's at about 20, it's at 23 degrees of Taurus, but we have Mercury slowing down to turn retrograde and Mercury right now is at 19 Virgo Earth sign. Mars is at 22 Virgo.

So Mercury is moving toward Mars. And they are trining from earth sign Virgo, the Jupiter and Uranus in earth sign Taurus, and they're all moving slowly, toward trining Pluto, which has retrograded back into earth sign Uranus. Capricorn. And now Pluto as of at a later degree, it's at 28 and a half degrees.

And, and Mars will get there and complete that, but Mercury will almost get there. And then it turns retrograde and Jupiter and Uranus won't get there for a while yet, but we have this feeling. That this earth trine is giving us a, a sense of [00:33:00] practicality. It's almost like it's feeding into these retrograde energies by saying, you know what?

You don't have to be in as much a hurry as you thought you had to be in before because there's solid stuff that is happening and you need to build on it rather than sprinting toward the finish line. That's still so far away that if you sprinted, you're going to exhaust yourself before you get to it.

Amanda: I love it. And I'm taking copious notes and I can't wait to go back over some of these things. And what is the date of that though, Rick? So we were at the 15th and 16th. We have this new moon

Rick: and the sun's. Mars makes it. Yeah. The new moon is on the morning of the 16th.

early morning. But the sun is squaring Uranus late on the 15th. So we're getting this buzz, but at the same time that we're getting this buzz from the new moon squaring Uranus, breakthrough, break up, crash, bang, invention, holy shit, I didn't expect that, you know, all that kind of stuff. At [00:34:00] the same time, Mars is moving into its trine.

From Virgo to Uranus in Taurus, and that's exact also on the 16th. And so we're getting by, you know, by the 15th, 16th, by, by midweek, we're getting this kind of excitement and buzz. And yet something, because Mars is trining Uranus, something saying there's stability here. It's Mars in Earth sign, Uranus in Earth sign.

And so, so that's exact. The Mars trine Uranus is exact on the 16th. But the other parts of that trine, the moon swings through there pretty quickly. And then Mercury, does make its trine to Uranus, also right, right in there as that showing, oh, Mercury, Mercury, Mercury.

Actually turns retrograde before it gets there, because Mercury turns retrograde at 21 degrees of Virgo [00:35:00] and Uranus is at 23. So here we have a bit of frustration again, because it's like, whatever the breakthroughs are, the agitation, the feeling like everything's going to happen, um, by the 23rd, we realize Mercury's turning backwards.

It's not going to happen.

Amanda: and this wait is where does this Grand Earth trine that's built? Well, the Grand

Rick: Earth Trine is subtle because it never really completes. Ah, Mars is the thing that completes it the most because Mercury doesn't move through those degrees. It gets really, really close and then it backs away.

But Mars, on the other hand, makes its trying to Uranus. which is at 23 degrees from Virgo to 23 degrees of Taurus. Mars does that on the 16th. And then Mars trines Pluto at 28 degrees, on the 24th. So from the 16th to the 24th, Mars is like, there's a term in horary astrology called the [00:36:00] translation of light, which happens when the fast moving like a moon moves from one aspect to another and things change.

Well, here. Mars is Uranus at 23 degrees of Taurus and Pluto at 28 and a half degrees of Capricorn. That's like a five and a half degree orb trine. I mean, it works, but it's, they're slow moving planets and it's going to take Uranus another year and a half to get exact to that trine. Meanwhile, Mars being the fastest moving planet right now is the planet that completes that trine even though Mercury is in the mix because it's in Virgo near Mars, and even though Jupiter, expansive opportunistic Jupiter is in the mix because it's at 15 degrees of Taurus, but it's Mars that makes the trine with Uranus in Taurus on the 16th and the trine with Pluto, um, in Capricorn persons On [00:37:00] the 24th.

And then Mars moves into Libra on the 27th. So Mars is the active player here. And, and yet they're all trines. And so we might think that that's good, but it really means that that energy of Mars is flowing. And of course, when Mars is flowing, I mean, on one hand, it can be the absolute creation of negotiated boundaries.

And on the other hand, it can be outright assertion or aggression. So it's hard to say which way this will turn. But the dynamic here is that that grand trying suggests that what's happening through this period of time has more stability than it might feel like it does in the moment.

Amanda: OK, great. I love that.

So there's a sense of practicality. We're not in a hurry. There's solid stuff happening. We're building, but we don't need to sprint. It's like we're building towards [00:38:00] something more long term.

Rick: All of that's true. But remember that Mercury is stationary on the 23rd, right? And so, um, and, and so as we look at the 23rd, which is a middle of the week as a Wednesday, that actually, um, that grand trine is incredibly active because Mercury is at 21 degrees only two degrees away from making its exact trine with Uranus at 23 degrees.

And, and yet it kind of puts a hold on the thing. And yet Mars is only one degree away from its exact trine to Pluto, which is exact the following day on the 24th. And so the 23rd becomes a And a turning point. I'm not talking like a major everything shift, but it is an important event where it's like something's got to happen, but nothing [00:39:00] happens or or something that happens turns into nothing or that moment becomes so important.

It sets the stage for you. what unfolds after Mercury turns direct again and then moves back to that point later on. But that Grand Trine is really active through that week and through the 24th. By the time we get to the 25th, we run into a few days of, I think, a little bit more stressful tension. Venus, retrograde Venus, makes a half square to Mars.

You know, here we got, you know, kind of arguing or inconsistent goals amongst partners. We can still be very creative, but it's a little bit tougher to find that place of cooperation when Venus and Mars are making a half square. That's on the 25th and by the time we get to the 26th, then we'd already be feeling this on the 25th.

Um, because, um, oh, because the sun. Mercury moves into Virgo [00:40:00] on the same day that Mercury turns retrograde that would remember back to the 23rd on the 23rd. That's a Wednesday. Mercury is stationary retrograde, but the sun enters Virgo just before Mercury makes its technical station. Why is that significant?

You know, most planets, in a sign are at home in their domicile, or if they're opposite that they're in their exile or detriment, um, planets are exalted, you know, when they're in a certain sign, but if they're in the opposite sign of their exaltation, they're in their fall. Well, it turns out. That Mercury is at home in two signs in Gemini and Virgo.

So this Mercury station period that begins on the 23rd, is powerful because Mercury is at home. But Mercury is in its fall in Pisces. How can you think logically when you're in [00:41:00] your imagination? You can't. So, Mercury is in its fall in Pisces, which means that it's not only in its home sign, it's also in its exaltation in Virgo.

Mercury loves being in, in Virgo, and yet the sun moves into Virgo kind of reconfirming the power of Mercury at the moment that Mercury stations retrograde. So that August 23rd. I, I think we begin it with a bit of confusion because, Mars moves opposite Neptune, on Tuesday the 22nd.

We may not quite know where we are or what we're doing. Venus' Square, Jupiter, again, exaggeration, overdoing. That's Tuesday the 22nd. By the 23rd, the sun moves into Virgo. Mercury stations. And then on the 24th, Mars trimes Pluto. We're back in our power. We're back in our power now. And then by the 20, um, the 25th, which I [00:42:00] just mentioned, um, that would be Friday.

That's the Venus, uh, semi square half square to Mars. bit of conflict. And yet this is all feeding into the fact that once the sun moved into Virgo on the 23rd, once the sun moved into Virgo on Wednesday, the 23rd, it's already within range and picking up an opposition to Saturn. At four degrees of Pisces.

So by the time the sun reaches exactly four degrees of Pisces, it will be exactly opposed Saturn. And that happens on August 27th. And that is a bit of a reality check. That's a tough day. For someone, I mean, look, Saturn is good news. If you've been doing your homework and you've been studying and you've had integrity and you've been disciplined, Saturn, Saturn often gets the bad rap, but [00:43:00] Saturn brings the rewards.

If you've been doing, if you've been doing well, if you've been doing it, right. More often. because we're human, we've screwed up in one way or another and Saturn lets us know where that has happened. So when, when the sun opposes Saturn as it does every, every year for a couple of days, we may see what in our life has come to fruition.

And we also see what hasn't and what hasn't come to fruition. This is where we need to prune. This is where we need to cut back, or if we're not paying attention, this is where reality does the pruning for us and cuts back for us or take something away, or it gives us a reality check or throws a wall up in front of us saying that we can't go through this path until we've done the work and we can climb over the wall that is on.

Um, Sunday, the 27th, when that is exact, the same day that Mars [00:44:00] leaves, um, uh, particular and focused Virgo and moves into more equanimous, uh, maybe not equanimous. What's that word? I don't know. The, the word that has to do with, creating equality, balance, harmony, and Mars moving into Libra is a bit tougher to manage because remember now Mars is opposite its home sign, Aries.

So Mars in the sign opposite its domicile is in exile. It's in its detriment. It has a harder time finding its stuff. But when it does, that's when it's gold and Mars in Libra to me always reminds me of the true meaning of martial arts because the word martial is Mars and the word art is Venusian, Venus's art and and martial arts is basically.

Establishing, um, assertion or aggression with grace [00:45:00] like a dance and so the thing and it's not just the actual martial arts of Taekwondo, or whatever, it's really when you think about it, this is the sign of the diplomat, the person who you. Instead of getting angry, stands in the middle of whatever the conflict is and figures out a way to negotiate a harmony or a balance.

So as Mars moves into Libra, even though it's in its detriment, even though it has a harder time expressing there, if we can remember what it's, what it's role. can be in Libra, every one of us, each and every one of us have the ability to become the in betweener, the, the, the, um, betwixt in betweener, the, the negotiator, the harmonizer, and this doesn't mean just denying conflict.

It means becoming aware of it so that we can [00:46:00] find the fulcrum point. You know, Libra is the only sign in the zodiac that's not animated, that's not alive. Every other glyph, you know, Aries, the ram, Taurus, the bull, blah, blah, all the way around. Every other glyph is, is organic and animated and Libra is not.

And, and we think of Libra, the scales, but Libra is really the fulcrum. It's the point at which we create balance. I think it was Archimedes who said, give me a lever long enough and a place to balance it and I can move the world. And so that's what our goal becomes when. When Mercury is retrograde in its exaltation and domicile, when the sun is in Virgo, and now by the 27th, when Mars moves into Libra, the energy changes, we have our work to do.

And of course, this is also bringing us up to August 28th. 8th, when Mars makes a square and a half to [00:47:00] Jupiter, we have to be careful about our newfound power during this period of time on the on the 28th, the moon is moving through late degrees of Capricorn lining up with Pluto and and kind of reemphasizing that grand shrine.

But now Mars has moved into Libra. Um, and and so this is the 28th. Very important, but it's easy to overdo. You know, we're feeling so confident in our our ability to negotiate the peace or the balance or the harmony that we may take it Too far. And also on the 28th Uranus at 23 degrees of Taurus stations to begin, its, uh, four, five month retrograde period.

Um, that's on August 28th, on Monday. Um, and, and although, um, the moon, the, although the month the moons, although the moons. Ends kind of with a bit of a [00:48:00] softening of the energy. I think it gives us one last kick because as it came in on a full moon in Aquarius, it goes out. with a full moon in Pisces. This is technically one definition of a blue moon, which is not an astrological term.

It's just a calendrical term when there are two full moons in the same month. And there are different ways of, of defining that blue moon, but that's one of the more common ones. And because there was a full moon on August 1st, and then there's a full moon again. Um, at 6 35 PM on August 30th, that'll be either on August 30th or August 31st, depending upon where you are on the planet.

But this full moon is incredibly potent because it is Conjoining Saturn that that remember we had the sun opposed [00:49:00] Saturn just a few days ago on August 27th. And on August 30th, the sun is still opposing Saturn, but it's 3 degrees away and waning and into that the moon comes into Pisces. lines up with Saturn and then creates the full moon by opposing the sun.

And again, I think this is the last kick of August, which is another round of that reality check, um, that we really have to figure out what's going on. Um, and I, and I think that we have the tools to do it, although. Without isolating all of these separate aspects, there are a number of quincunxes, which are annoying and irritating and can't find resolution.

And there's a number of sesquic squares, which are that high frequency conflict of the square, but you know, even maybe even stronger. And so I don't think it's a comfortable ending to the month, but, but I think by the end of August, I think we have a sense. Of where we are and where [00:50:00] we may be going and I sure hope so because we've been in the dark It feels like oh since march of 2020

Amanda: Wow, so you're saying we have a sense of where we're going from that time that started in 2020, or are you just kind of joking?

Rick: Well, sometimes it's hard to tell, even as I speak it, it's hard for me to tell whether I'm joking or not. Because, you know, Freud wrote a really, not a very well known book, but a very powerful book called Wit and the Unconscious. in which he makes the claim that, um, that wit is often the way in which the unconscious expresses outside of the normal rules of what the conscious mind will allow.

That's why we can say something that makes people laugh and get away with it. Even if it's, or even if we said it straight, we would have been kicked out of the party or the room. So, I'm not sure is, is the real, is, is the real truth. I think that there is the beginnings of resolution. I don't [00:51:00] think things are going to happen overnight though, because remember, even though, um, uh, Mercury and Venus, Um, are still both retrograde.

They're both getting ready to turn direct. And as they do, it's going to still take a month for them to travel through old territory again. But as they do, I think there's things that are going to happen. We're going to feel familiar. It's going to feel like it may be things begin to fall into place and make sense in September.

And obviously there's a whole bunch of other different energies that we'll be dealing with. But I do think that. That by the end of August, we may have some more sense of where we've been and where we're going, even though it's not 100% yet.

Amanda: Okay, well, sounds like a lot going on. You think I should attempt to summarize

Rick: what you just said?

Before you do, [00:52:00] just a very quick sentence. I think that you just nailed it exactly. It seems like there's a lot going on. And I think the key word here is seems. Because that's why we're betwixt in between, because even though there's a lot of things going on there, they're either the planets are moving slowly or they're retrograding or they're getting ready to retrograde and, and, and, and the rest of the story is not yet being told, but, but, but it feels like a lot's happening, a lot of noise.

Right.

Amanda: A lot of noise that won't be resolved until like September, October is what I was hearing. Yeah. Okay.

Summary

Amanda: So you're saying take it easy. Don't push. No conclusions again until these planets get out of their shadow from the retrograde. That's Venus and Mercury especially, right? Which is happening in

Rick: September.

Well, again, they're the ones that are the most obvious.

Amanda: Right. The ones that are the most obvious. Okay. So [00:53:00] essentially, we're between places in this month. And we have some like numbers or dates on the calendar to highlight that includes August 6th, and it's kind of like the 6th through the 9th. You said the 6th is a key date.

A big day. A good day. We may overstate our position and we may take a step too far. So just have that in your mind. Um, and then that's. That's this whole weekend. Things are looking good. It's exciting. It could be agitating. And this is basically the sixth through the ninth. Yeah. And then we have a tiny little quiet period.

And then the energy picks up again around the 12th and 13th. And the thing you highlighted around this period of time is that it's great for healing. forgiveness, empathy. We don't have to respond the way we normally do. So keep that in mind. If you're having some of those old aggravating hurts, you don't have to do what you always [00:54:00] do.

There's an opportunity to really move beyond this pattern, whatever that is. Um, lots of listening, you said, so you may have more capacity to understand someone else's point of view and your own point of view, like why you feel the way you feel. Um, the 15th and the 16th, we have this unexpected events, new moon, this new moon energy.

You may feel like you really want to express yourself, your heart very boldly, but that there's this energy around methodical expansion. So yes, expression that Leo heart based expression is

Rick: yes, but remember on those days that Uranus is really being played not only by the square from the sun, but the trying from Mars.

So, even though there's this methodicalness, there's also a bit of, of craziness of let's, let's, let's light the fire right now. Let's, you know, let's make it happen. Yes.

Amanda: Okay. And then we have this grand [00:55:00] earth trine building energy and this is the 16th through I kind of I had the 24th at first and then I put the 27th because

Rick: something else.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it hangs. Yes.

Amanda: And you said Mars is basically translating light during this time. Well,

Rick: it's that again. That's really a phrase that's used by horary astrologers. But Mars is the key thing that's moving the energy from the wide trine from Uranus to Pluto, which is going to get closer and closer over the next couple of years.

And that's going to be hugely different than the Uranus Pluto squares that we had back from 2012 to 2015, which was incredibly interesting. tense around the world that when the Uranus trines Pluto and this Mars moving through first the trine to Uranus than the exact trine to Pluto in some ways is translating the light from one of the planets to the other in a way that we have not seen yet.

[00:56:00] Okay,

Amanda: so around the 16th to the 24th, there is again this reminder, don't be in a hurry, solid stuff happening, stability. Okay, and then the 23rd is another important turning event. This is

Rick: something… That's the sun moving into Virgo, the Mercury stationary retrograde, and Mars trining Pluto.

Amanda: Yeah, right. 25th and 26th, some stressful tension.

Uh, there's goals, harder, harder, oh, inconsistent goals with our relationships, our partnerships, maybe harder to find a place of cooperation. 27th, I have reality check in all bold. Um, this is good news. If you've been disciplined, if you've been doing the work, what has and hasn't come to fruition, this might be a time to cut back.

Rick: Right. And by the way, someone posted and I was going to say this, but I didn't have the exact date in my head and I just checked in, on the 28th, which is a Monday, [00:57:00] that's actually the date of the hearing that was established today in the indictment of Trump. So that date, whether we like it or not, regardless of where we fall on any spectrum, that's going to be a big day one way or another.

Well,

Amanda: and it speaks to what you said in the beginning, which is there's a little bit of an echo from the beginning of the month at the end of the month. Yeah. Right. Sounds like, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Equanimity was the word you were looking for.

Rick: Yes. And thank you, Daryl, for posting that. Yes.

Amanda: Mars, moving into Libra.

So become the negotiator, the harmonizer, find the fulcrum point, where we create balance. And then on the 28th, be careful about newfound power. It's easy to overdo. Don't take it too far. And then the month ends sort of softly, but with one last kick and that's one last reality check, but you reminded us that we have the tools to.

And we could be starting to see some resolution some [00:58:00] beginnings of resolution.

Rick: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, actually, sometimes I feel like I'm quibbling over words, but it's not really resolution. It's. clarity. There may not be resolution. You know, I can become more clear about something and you can become more clear about something.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that we've resolved whatever it is between us. Right.

Amanda: Okay. All right. So it's a big month and rick, thank you for that incredible overview. I mean, I feel, do you all feel like you have some tools to do this month really well?

Closing

Amanda: It's three months until we're going to be doing our chart reading extravaganza live again with Rick and that's going to be the third installment in this series and it's going to be you actually going through the harmonics.

So we did the class around the harmonics, but this is going to be

Rick: harmonic aspects, not the harmonics,

Amanda: just the harmonic aspects. But then this is going to be you actually doing the chart reading demonstration so people can see how [00:59:00] you're reading the charts. Exactly. Via the, well, with the harmonic aspects as the main focal point.

So that's happening. We don't have anything open for that yet, but just like mark it in your

Rick: calendar a couple of other things to mark in your calendar is that I will be the keynote speaker at the Canadian astrology conference in Calgary, and that will be. In mid September coming up pretty quickly and you can Google it and find out more information on on that.

I'll be doing the keynote talk there and doing a half day workshop and then in October, mid October, the I think 14th, 15th, 16th. Um, I'll be back at Omega Institute with the lovely Rachel Lang, and we're going to be doing a thing on manifestation with Venus, a lot of ritual, and though you can find information on that online too.

And then just a last pitch on Goa, India, [01:00:00] and that's a 10 day retreat. December 6th through the 16th, there's still about a handful of openings that will fill up. And if you're interested, check out heavenandearthworkshops. com. And thank you for the opportunity, Amanda, just to mention those things along the way.

Amanda: Oh, amazing. Yes. And all just to be able to be with Rick in person, it's a whole different level. So any, well, I

Rick: would say the same thing about being with Amanda in person. Uh, I remember the first time we were in person together, we went out for a quick bite to eat that lasted about two hours. If I heard correctly, Oh my gosh,

Amanda: it was the best.

I will never forget that was the best in Chicago. Yes. Uh, okay. So I think that's it. I'm trying to think if there's anything else that we want to make sure you all know about. Oh, Rachel Ling is going astrologer here coming ou

for and she's incredible. Do you? I love Rachel Lang.

Rick: Yeah, Rachel. [01:01:00] Rachel is one of those people like you. The first, I met her at an astrology conference many years ago and it was just like, boom. It was just like, wow. And, and we've been talking about doing something together for years. And finally, when we pulled this off at Omega, we were both, we're excited about it.

Usually

Amanda: it would be fun, fun, like. Duo panel event on the cosmic connection

Rick: too. I, I'm sure that she'd love to also. Yeah. And actually maybe even before the Omega thing, we could do something and talk about Venus or what we're gonna do and some other things. Rachel has brought, Rachel has a master's degree in theology.

Mm-hmm. And um, and she's. Just she's, she's a really good astrologer and really comes from the heart. She's a, she's just a really dear person. So I really respect her. She's written a

Amanda: bunch of books and I mean, she's just super cool. She was one of the first astrologers I interviewed ever in like 2015.

I didn't, I didn't even know who all of you were at that point, but I knew she [01:02:00] was definitely someone special.

Rick: Yeah. Most of us still don't know who we are.

Amanda: That's true. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. It's been really fun to see you in the chat. If you are catching this on the recording, please make sure that you subscribe to the channel.

Give us a thumbs up. It helps us get the word out even more. Also, you'll know when we go live. So we do do the cosmic connection live. So if you subscribe to the channel, you'll get a notification. You can hop on. But,

Rick: and Amanda, um, uh, should we announce, and if we shouldn't, it's too late that we're going to be moving from Thursday to Wednesday.

Ooh, yes.

Amanda: We're going to be moving from Thursday to Wednesday, starting on the next cosmic connection, which will be not next week, but the week after. Right. So yes, we've been on Thursdays for a very long time. So it's a good thing to say. Yes.

Rick: Um, all right, everybody. We're moving from Thors day, which is Jupiter's day to Mercury's day, Woden's day.

I think that sounds

Amanda: exciting. I think it's going to be a whole new [01:03:00] energy for the show. Yeah. Yeah. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being a part of our community. Thank you as always for making astrology a part of your life. Rick, you're amazing. Thanks for

Rick: joining. Thank you, Amanda.

You're amazing too. I love being here.

Amanda: Take care, everyone. We'll see you next time.