For those of you on my mailing list, unfortunately the mailing service is down and the individual copies will go out soon. Meanwhile you can read the whole article here. An excerpt for the first few days of the month:

As August begins, five major planets plus Chiron are in retrograde motion, including Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and most recently, Venus. This is a strong retrograde period in which we find ourselves going back and re-doing anything in our lives that is not complete. The Venus retrograde period will be particularly interesting because having already passed a conjunction to Saturn it will retrograde back to conjunct Saturn twice more while Saturn is in a trine formation to Pluto. This dynamic provides a hint that between July and mid-October when the cycle completes is a time of rebuilding and transforming our relationships. The associations that we build now will serve us in our personal and evolutionary growth, and relationships that do not meet that criteria are likely to fall by the wayside. The trine between Saturn and Pluto suggests that this process will take place in a manner that is smooth and without crisis, but any time Pluto is involved there is a letting go and a regeneration of something new and improved.

The end of July witnessed a square of Mars to Saturn, and this influence will be in effect for the first few days of August. Mars is the planet of aggression and war; Saturn is the planet of restriction and blockage. When these two face off it can get a little wild, and news from the last week of July was full of car crashes and mysterious explosions. On August 1 Mars is quincunx Pluto. The quincunx is a relatively minor aspect that creates dissonance and stress without evoking a conflict that will release the energy of the two planets. It is not always noticeable, but in light of the current stress from Mars to Saturn this quincunx to Pluto will add intensity to the propensity for conflict and frustration that will linger for the first couple of days of the month. On August 3 when Mercury makes a sextile (harmonious aspect) to Mars it will be easier to understand and express (Mercury) that frustration which will help to facilitate productive changes.

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