This is an astrology column that deals with home and, as such, with issues of security, personal comfort, and emotional growth. Events that develop this August, as well as in the autumn, promise to push these themes from the individual level to the collective level. That is, what we were previously responsible for on our own will be something we need to embrace together, for real.

Inside every issue of security or safety is the experience of fear. If not for fear, there would not be a question of safety. Fear can have real sources in the present; it can have imaginary sources; it can have origins in the past that are essentially emotional habits. Yet all of these things are weaker with the help and support of other people.

I believe that our notion of home is entirely too narrow on the one hand (within our front door) and entirely too wide on the other (the proverbial homeland or nation). America’s blessing of wealth gives most of us the prerogative to deny the existence of our neighbors and fellow community members. We deny their needs and are perhaps surprised when they deny ours; it should come as no shock that so few people feel they have their needs met.

There is no room for quiet desperation this month, or ever. Fortunately, each of us holds the answer to this problem; we need only reach out sincerely, when we are in need and when we have help to offer. Please remember this as the events of August unfold.

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Renewal is a powerful idea and a weak word, but I don’t know what else to use here to describe what you have available to you, and what may be pouring into your heart and home. It’s all the sweeter for having endured so many months of sheer anxiety where all matters of love and comfort are concerned. What you’re being offered now is no ploy; it’s a moment of respite that can open the door to many others. But to paraphrase Anais Nin, there must be no mockery; you must lay your head down and be at rest.

Taurus (April 19-May 20)

You’ve come through an initiation, and no small one at that. Did you ever imagine it was possible to be reduced to such levels of self-doubt, or to be so oriented on the past with no way out? Yet there was a way out, and you found it. You need at this point to maintain the faith that the dimension you just left has closed and is sealed, that the thoughts and feelings you experienced there have been left there. Though you may hear echoes, they will grow fainter; feel the warmth of your blood. Listen for now, for the sound of life.

Gemini (May 20-June 21)

If at some point in the next few weeks you discover you don’t feel welcome in your own space, you really need to ask why. There is nothing to take for granted here, no assumption you’re being forced to make; there is merely a situation to deal with, and deal with it you will. As a child, it is true, you were powerless to effect change no matter what the domestic circumstances. Now you have considerable intelligence and experience to bring to bear on the situations you face. There is nothing to endure; just make decisions.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

About time, isn’t it? It’s fabulous not being given a promise or a ray of hope but rather a result, a gift, or a direct offer. It may be true that you have a few remaining causes for concern in your life, ones that you would prefer to do without and that you know could be solved if you could only figure out how. But these things will work out in their time, and that time is near. There is a whole way of life with which most of us are not familiar, and it involves enjoying the moment you have, and letting your worries be.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)

Imagine you pulled down a wall in your house and discovered an entire suite of rooms that were exactly the way they were left two centuries ago. Imagine those rooms were the remnants of an ancestral home you had never seen, that of your direct predecessors. And imagine that you could observe their influence on your life, how the way they lived affected the way you live, feel, and experience reality. In any event, this is a great month to go exploring in the attic or contacting old relatives. Even antique shops will do.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)

Much of Europe is seized with the impetuous desire to get out of the home for a month in August; this particular horoscope is read mostly in America, where people tend to have exceedingly little vacation time. But I suggest you figure out how to get yourself up and away. You don’t need to do things lavishly; a simple change of scene will get you quite far and indulge your yearning for movement. While you may not attach any professional aspirations to your trip, I see travel spurring the re-emergence of an awesome business idea you forgot about several months ago.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

Think of your home this way: You can live leaning toward the past, or you can live leaning toward the future. In either case you need to live now, but the overall tendency to go one way or the other from now is an important orientation. The past, it is true, is something of a mine field; the pain of your early family and the emotional burdens you may carry are showing up as quite pronounced. But there is far greater power in what you have the potential for creating in your life. This is the true gift of being a Libra: you recreate the world with your dedication to love and beauty. That is your true power.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)

There is a direct relationship between one’s personal space and one’s psychological health. I am inclined to add spiritual health with the intention of taking this comment beyond the day-to-day and into the long-term growth process of your life, but in either event I’m talking about the health of your psyche. Despite so much else happening in your outer spaces, your inner space is calling you home to your soul. Take that space; indulge that need; invite into your home only those who are fully willing to promote love, wellness, and authentic peace of mind.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)

I am fully aware of and will be the first to empathize with your powerful desire to break any and every routine in your life. For someone as adventurous as yourself, you manage to put up with the day-to-day quite well; but then, you are dedicated to your cause, and no matter how expansive life’s possibilities might be, you would still feel like you had far greater notions. Even if you must stay where you are, begin working your miracles right where you stand, right where you call home. Change is good, change is necessary, and right now there are few limits.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

I suggest you avoid any and all confrontations that appear to involve religion. They may happen inside your front door, or they may simply feel like that’s where they are happening, within that inner sanctum of emotional space that is your true home. Religion is not something to debate -- not, at least, on the level of your deepest beliefs. Some kind of movement in this general subject area is inevitable. I suggest you keep your thoughts in writing, and if you want to meet the world on the level of ideas, share what you’ve created. But maintain the sanctity of your space, your ideas, and most of all your feelings.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

You may feel like you’re in a no-win situation: the right thing, in terms of following your nesting instinct or your desire for security, somehow feels wrong. This is not true, strictly speaking, but some element of the picture is wrong. Your job is to discover what that is. It is likely to be a false value you hold. That value could relate to the way you were made an alien in your early home environment, something you still carry today; it could involve an unreasonably high expectation you have; it could involve a person who does not belong in your life, but who you have not asked to leave. Suss out the truth, and do what you know is right.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Uranus in your sign has delivered the one thing that Uranus never fails to provide -- the unexpected. An image that has appeared in your charts for August is the presence of a child, or your return to a childhood home. If you can head that way, that is the direction to make your movements. A third possibility that does not exclude others is adjusting your present home-space to perfectly accommodate the child inside you, who has very specific needs right now. Wherever you are, that young one needs to feel like he or she belongs. Listen carefully; not all kids speak loudly.

Eric Francis is a horoscope columnist, investigative journalist and counselling astrologer. His monthly and annual horoscopes are now free. If you don't want to wait a whole month, you can get his subscriber-only horoscopes every Monday and Friday by subscribing here. As a subscriber you get horoscopes, astrology news and articles twice a week by email from Eric, plus access to our subscriber-only website. Check out the details here or call us toll-free on (877) 453 8265. Thank you.