Skywatch is posted! And the Leo/Aquarius polarity

Skywatch for August is posted here, and here's a snippet on this month's eclipse cycle along with news for the first week of August:

August begins with the first of a pair of Leo/Aquarius eclipses, this one a Solar Eclipse with the New Moon in Leo, opening a doorway to self expression and a healthy ego (Leo).  (You can read more about this eclipse here.)  The Sun, Mercury and Venus are all in Leo now, facilitating and encouraging the development of the Self, but the South Node, pointing to the past and what is comfortable is in the midst of all the Leo energy which suggests that the ego is holding us back at this time. 

The North Node, the signpost to the future, is in Aquarius where it has been locked in a conjunction to Chiron since May or so and this conjunction will remain in effect for another couple of months as Chiron (now retrograde) makes a station before turning direct again and moving on.  Aquarius, as the polar opposite of Leo, calls upon us to surrender our personal goals and dreams for the sake of the collective.  It tends to be rather impersonal and cares not a whit about the ego.  Social justice and individual liberty for all is the realm of Aquarius, and the tension between these two dynamics will be in play for quite some time but has been highlighted by the Leo Eclipse of August 1.

On August 4 an opposition from Mercury (communication) in Leo to the Chiron/North Node conjunction continues to call our attention to this dichotomy.  Mercury in Leo tends to see things from the perspective of the ego, and Chiron, in its role as the Wounded Healer, may put us into situations where the pain of the ego is revealed. Look for arguments and hurt feelings caused by a lack of sensitivity. Suppressing the ego is not a useful way to manage this polarity - instead we must recognize the needs of the ego but balance them with the needs of our communities.  A trine from Venus (relating to others) to Pluto (transformation) that day will help to smooth the way by making it easier to recognize the deep changes that are needed in order to improve communication in our relationships.

On August 5 Venus enters Virgo which begins to lessen the strong and fiery Leo influence and turn our attention more towards serving (Virgo) the people around us.  Mars (energy, inspiration) is moving into position to oppose Uranus (revolutionary thinking) the following day, and this could create energy imbalance, recklessness and the potential for accidents caused by carelessness.  An opposition from Mercury (mental function) to Neptune (dreams and illusions) can confuse the issues and prevent us from seeing clearly.  This can be a volatile combination making this a good day to be as conscious as possible!

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