The most impactful transit this month is the ongoing Saturn/Neptune conjunction. (Particularly strong if it’s aspecting one of your personal planets. Not sure? Contact me).
Look around. Neptune is dissolving the Saturnian paradigms and societal structures we rely on to make order out of chaos and meaning out of suffering. Why? To provide the disorientation stress we need to more deeply study the mechanics of ego and see through the veil of separate somebodyness.
Fine. But what happens when there is a dirth of dharmically “cooked” elders with the skills to guide the reorienting process?
Better question: How can I– an elder in training– become a shinier soul-mirror for mind-on-a-countdown?
Post Covid, the situation is urgent. Souls are banging between hard-edged positionality (Saturn) and meaningless malaise (Neptune). What to do?
Step one:
Help folks depathologize their confusion.
“Confusion” is pejorative. It implies that the embryo of our understanding should be further along in its development than it is, and that we know what we should know, and when we should know it.
Offer a reframe:
What if confusion is a womb and premature knowing would deform us?
What if the dead space that surrounds us is actually amniotic fluid and we are curled in a swelling womb of days?
What if our messy, chaotic inner life is the movement of miraculously assembling organs and limbs, and everyone we meet is an unwitting midwife?
Seen this way, it’s clear what fellow embryos most want from us: the sublimity of one who trusts The Mother.
Step Two:
Polish your soul-seeing skills by deepening your awareness of reincarnation in everyday life.
This article should get you up and running:
Step Three:
Become archetypally literate, inspire others to live in a guided universe and, if called, learn how to read birth charts.
On to this month’s transits!
________________
Venus Square Saturn/Neptune
Relational Realism
Relationship is the focus this month. New bonds blossom and flagging long-term unions have a better than average chance at renewal.
The first week of August opens with a dynamically expressive Sun/Mercury conjunction (“Cazimi”) in Leo, as Venus in Cancer forms a challenging square to Saturn and Neptune in Aries. Time for couplings of all kinds to seriously and honestly communicate what they expect from relationship.
Mercury is retrograde until August 11th and remains in the sign of Leo all month, prodding us to embrace a more accurate definition of self-confidence:
The experience of being well-lived by a greater Being.
The second week begins with Mars moving into diplomatic Libra on August 7th. Embedded into a high-flying ‘kite” formation involving Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto until August 18th, this planetary configuration is more than a little auspicious. Provided we do our interpersonal homework during the first week, a completely new set of relationship possibilities comes into view.
Mars Opposition Saturn/Neptune
The Fog of War
At the core of this otherwise opportune Kite formation is an opposition between Mars and Saturn– exact on August 9th. Typically, Mars/Saturn oppositions signal the potential for conflict with authority and frustration with the slow rate of institutional change. Add nebulous Neptune to the mix along with a Mercury retrograde in Leo and we have “the fog of war.”
Pay no attention to the exploding projectiles; this is pure psychodrama. Lacking a clear and holy purpose of incarnation, mind measures forward movement via negation and macho milestones of against-ness: I don’t know who I am, but I’m not that!
Wanna pour gas on the fire of war? Easy. Dodge the dissolving present by being “for” or “against” the bloodshed, then flaunt your aborted self-inquiry!
War or no war, the abundance of sextiles and trines in this Kite configuration signal a better-than-imagined outcome.
Here’s an idea. Ask “Sat NPT” (an imaginary Saturn/Neptune chatbot) “What is war?”
Answer: “Embryos with opinions.“
August 9th Full Moon in Aquarius
Sublimely Providential
This gregarious full Moon blends beautifully into a sublimely providential Venus/Jupiter conjunction on August 12th. Pay no attention to the collective power struggle and scandal in the background. A new life, love or project that begins now carries a strong promise of happiness and fulfillment.
Mercury retrograde in Leo goes direct on August 11th, followed by the Sun in Virgo on the 22nd and the New Moon in Virgo on the 23rd, commencing a period of sober digestion and grounded planning.
August 23rd New Moon in Virgo
Void-gasping Creatures
Trine Chiron and square Uranus, this Sun/Moon conjunction in Virgo supports the beginning of a new project or health regimen. We can even put our eyes on a new diet. In place of humans, what if we saw:
- Void-gasping creatures
- A sky in puberty
- Identity-clouds drifting through a sky of flesh
The month draws to a graceful conclusion with Venus moving into Leo on the 25th. Trine Saturn and Neptune, sobriety and intoxication kiss and make up!
Transits for August 2025
Aug 1st- First Quarter Moon in Scorpio
Aug 6th- Mars enters Libra
Aug 9th- Full Moon in Aquarius
Aug 11th- Mercury goes Direct in Leo
Aug 16th- Last Quarter Moon in Taurus
Aug 22nd- Sun enters Virgo
Aug 23rd- New Moon in Virgo ‘
Aug 25th- Venus enters Leo
Aug 31st- First Quarter Moon in Sagittarius
Coming Up:
Sep 7th- Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
Sep 21st- New Moon Solar Eclipse in Pisces
Hunter Reynolds
linktr.ee/hunterji
Ready for more?
–Learn about the Styles of Awakening online training
–Schedule an astrology reading with Hunter
–Subscribe to Styles of Awakening newsletter (monthly)
–Receive these articles by email as they are posted
Like this article? Please share it with friends.
Get free newsletter & e-book
