Planet Waves Inner Space Horoscope for August 2014 | By Eric Francis
August is characterized by new developments in the sky — Jupiter in Leo for the first time since 2003, and Mars in Scorpio for the first time since late in the summer of 2012. Mars holds a long square to Jupiter well into the month, which may feel like people really wanting to push their point of view. The Leo New Moon conjunct Jupiter was July 26. The Aquarius Full Moon is Aug. 10. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the month is Mars conjunct Saturn on Aug. 25, which is (among other things) a push to break free from some of the emotional or sexual congestion that might be represented by Saturn in Scorpio. I suggest you start working that one out as early as you can — get your energy flowing, keep in contact with your feelings, be honest with yourself and learn to say yes when you mean yes.
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Over the next few weeks you will experience the boundaries of a particular relationship agreement. The way it looks is as if you’re discovering aspects of the commitment that you didn’t know existed. You may be doing that by feeling emotions or desires you’ve never felt before, or that seem to contradict a commitment that you now have. It looks like you’re going to try to contain yourself for a while, and try to hold yourself together and hope that nobody else figures out how you really feel inside. That will only work for so long. By the end of the month you may feel an insatiable desire to be known for who you are, the truth may emerge ‘inadvertently’ or you may make a parallel discovery about a partner. It would be altogether wise to devote yourself to living your personal truth right now, today.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Some critical matter in an intimate relationship may come to a head this month. It’s the thing that you’ve been dancing or arranging yourself around for a while. It’s some fairly large, seemingly immovable structure that you’ve assumed as a fact of existence. In order to avoid a crisis (which is wholly optional), that thing needs to be addressed in its various contexts. Be mindful of how you feel, and of what changes you notice as the next days and weeks go by. Whatever this scenario is, it has several ways over, through and around — though of the three, through would be the best option. Here is a clue: Through is not like carving a tunnel in a mountain. It’s not about blasting through a wall. Through takes advantage of an existing passageway, though to find it, you need to shift your point of view somewhat. Key concept: friends first, lovers last.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Spend some time writing this month — a lot of time if you can, a little more than you think you can. Remember that thinking about writing is not writing. Even if you’re the star-spangled Gemini, writing may be difficult for you, because it involves discipline and commitment to what you have to say. Both of those remain true, though remember that nearly all of the best writing you’ve read has been the product of reworking, editing and revision. This is an active thought process that you model on the page, so get used to the idea that through the writing process you will be figuring out what you think and to a real extent, who you are. You can simply journal, or you can select a project you’ve been wanting to do, or a story you’ve been wanting to tell. Get started — the sooner the better.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Let yourself burn with desire, and be honest with yourself about that fact. Be real with yourself about the various nuances and details and remember that as you do this, you will likely encounter judgments that you will need to face consciously, re-adjudicate and let go of. We might ask why such a fantastic and absurd controversy surrounds the sexual reality of the human race. You might ask, but you won’t be asking in theory — you will be asking in the language of hormones, of longing and of a negotiation process that will, with any grace at all, lead you to some profound experiences you’ve never had before. I will tell you this: It’s my assessment that everyone who judges sex, or who attempts to, is wrong. It’s not about the facts; it’s that sex and sexuality exist as biological reality, and as such they are beyond reproach.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The correct response to any insecurity or inner emotional conflict is vulnerability. It’s not your feelings that would hurt you — it’s your response to them. You seem to be working through some titanic questions about yourself, and exploring emotional territory that seems at once entirely new and strangely familiar. A large portion of this scenario involves how you handle anger, which is an extension of the theme of how your parents and grandparents handled anger. Remember as you do this that you are seeking a level of confidence and self-presence that they would have never dreamed of. Remember if you have children that you are unraveling some serious karma before you pass it onto them. And remember that control is not an appropriate response to the fact of change — the most appropriate response would be deciding what you want.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — What are the parameters of your self-concept? How far can you go in any direction, and still think of yourself as yourself? There seem to be two gates, facing one another. One describes a self-critical component of who you are, which may range from perfectionist to paralyzing. The other is about pleasing others, particularly your father, who you may feel you have let down in some way. Fortunately, these boundaries are meaningless because there are about 10 other directions you can travel. You can walk around them. You can reinterpret them and put them to much better use. In other words, you are not constrained by them in any way, and if you explore in other directions you may discover that you are a much larger, more embracing, more self-tolerant person than you ever imagined. You will also have more fun.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Everything does not need to be an emotional crisis — and everything is not about how you appear to others. Both of those themes show up strongly over the next few weeks and indeed into the foreseeable future. You have more emotional grounding than you may think. You can afford to let people, events and your own feelings move you. You can afford to let it out every now and then, and you would enjoy letting it out a little more often than that. Meanwhile, how you appear to others is far less meaningful than it may seem. There are two reasons for that. One is that you don’t actually know how you appear to them, only how you think you do. The other is that people think of you far more benevolently than you might notice. Why exactly should this be so shocking?
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You have a way of telling yourself no, and it would be helpful if you could hear the other voices that may be speaking up with a more liberal point of view. The answer to some questions is yes, to others maybe and to still others no. However, there is a special problem with saying no when you mean yes. The pressure of desire and eventually of needing that thing starts to build, and it can build to the point of exploding. You want to let the pressure off way in advance of that. But more to the point, I suggest you ask on whose behalf you’re saying no; whether you’re trying to be loyal to someone; whether you are frightened of something; or whether you’re trying to protect your image. With that information in hand, think again.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — How wide can you stretch your horizons before you lose sight of the ground? Jupiter in Leo says you can see a great distance in all directions, though the most important direction you need to see is within yourself. Your charts describe a global quest of some kind, the desire to open up your wings and fly, or to spread your angel wings and experience yourself in some kind of supernaturally brilliant form. Even if you think this involves going to another place, or searching the world for the right place, those would only be tools to help you see and feel who you are. So, there is indeed a quest, and it may involve ‘the world’ in some way, though as I read your charts, the bottom line is that the world is your place to experiment with self-understanding.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Central to one’s growth is to be able to commit to a point of view, including in writing, in public, or where you can be held accountable, then to be strong enough to change your position if you want to. It is not moving a mountain and it’s certainly not being hypocritical. You can always say, “I thought of something else,” or “this fact came into my awareness,” or “I now see this differently.” The human experience is all about change. The experience of a human mind is all about taking in new information and new sensory data. The mind is not a fixed entity, but rather a mobile one. This goes along with identity being flexible, and gender, and one’s political point of view. You may change your mind about something extremely important this month, specifically, yourself. So keep that mind open.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — You may feel a growing, increasingly powerful need to assert yourself over the next few weeks, though I suggest you do it as gently as possible. Part of that means starting early rather than waiting until there’s some factor you cannot stand anymore, then you explode. Keep people up to date on the news, and moreover, remember the ways in which you have the power of choice in your own life. This also involves your privilege of asserting yourself as a sexual being. Hardly anyone likes to talk about this; men get blamed for desire and women usually send out a press release claiming not to have any, but this is obviously not working for you or for the world. Remember that honest desire takes many forms that veiled or cloaked desire does not, so be open to some surprises.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Mars in Scorpio and, more significantly, the Mars-Saturn conjunction of Aug. 25, make sexuality a core theme of this month — for everyone. Yours is the sign for whom sexuality is the most intimately related to your relationship to the universe, to God, to your higher self or however you choose to express that. In essence, sexuality is intimately involved with your true religion, and is profoundly influential in your worldview. Yet religion itself has made it nearly impossible for anyone to express this with a clear conscience. I suggest you start there — make sure that you have identified any presumed ethical or moral issues around sex, including what may have been installed into you by prior generations. What they may not have known, or told you, is that your sexuality is the most powerful tool for personal transformation, introspection and cosmic contact that you have. You are here to tell the rest of us.