This is a distillation of August’s astrological events for your Sun sign without references to the Planetary Beings responsible for the relay of information from the Cosmos. It’s much easier to digest the message without a lot of astrological qualifications.

Aries

Though still far off, you sense the electric vibrations of an irregular beating drum. It has your heart beating slow then fast, maybe even has you worried you suffer from palpitations. This irregular beat is testing your ability to improvise, to wing it, to rely on nothing but your wits. One moment bombastic, blurting monologues infused with ideal universal truths and generalities, the next moment crashing to Earth in humble disillusionment and pain. There is nothing you can do but just go for the ride of inflation and deflation.

It’s for a good reason. You will learn to ride the waves of this reality with the same enthusiasm a child body surfs a crashing wave, sometimes hurt and crying with sand in his or her eyes, sometimes elated from being carried by the perfect wave and power of the ocean. Don’t fall for the power play from the outside world, they will betray you with “truths” that are nothing but your fears revealed. Don’t fall for it, they aren’t signs from the universe you are on the wrong track, no need to be superstitious. The right track is being able to turn on a dime, shift your vibe in a second and tune into the coolest station playing on “the universe is my playground FM.”

You choose what you want to hear and hopefully it will be that inner wise Self trying to reach you through the static of you create when you grunt and groan, butting your head against the flow of daily life. If you listen more carefully you won’t have to work so hard.

Taurus

Not quite sure what you have to watch out for more: The cozy, quiet, suspiciously stable comfort you feel right now or the more obvious shocking and erratic behavior of everyone around you.

You’d think the stability and liveliness of your private life would make you feel safe. It’s even one of those times you finally feel that things are finally flowing in a direction you want and the world’s your oyster. Though you can’t pin it down to any specific event, the enemy lurks, not in the outer world but within the most precarious of all places; within the beliefs that drive your decisions and life. For some strange reason, what used to fire the spark of “meaningful existence”” for you doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all flat and honestly you don’t want to go one more day in a Truman Show (movie with Jim Carey) sort of life.

What are you going to do? You are going to keep doing the million and one things you do to survive right now because you can’t stop. It’s just too busy. You are going to have to plough right through a couple annoying obstacles coming up and with the other half of your consciousness, you are going to go through a reality check and a rewrite of the script of your life. On the outside, everything will look the same, but after this month is over, only you and I will know, a new CEO came in to run your life.

Where did this new authority come from? Look to ancient sources of knowledge or messages from foreign lands, it might only be one short phrase, one line of lyric from a song repeating in your head, or a theme running through the reruns you are watching on TV, but the message is there. There’s no excuse, you will be told at least three times. Insert the new program before your joy of life expires. Within it are some cool ways to enrich your physical life. Yes, I’m referring to the money stuff.

Gemini
“I feel pretty. Oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and gay. And I pity, any girl (or boy) who isn’t me today.

I feel charming. Oh so charming. It’s alarming how charming I feel. And so pretty, that I hardly can believe I’m real.”

That about sums up August.

I could go on about the worries and burdens you feel keeping that roof over your head. I could mention those deals that looked so promising that fall through or the ones that when the world comes back to Real Time (this Time concept is up for debate) and out of Summer Time, are miserably less than you imagined. I could mention the sudden changes and out of the blue rearrangement in your work life or somewhere out there in your public life.

But, I won’t dwell on those things. We don’t have to because: “You feel pretty. Oh so pretty, that the city should give you, its key. A committee should be organized to honor thee. “And surely they will, if you sing this song enough times and access the witty and pretty you.

Just one warning: Your partner will be possessed by the “ghost of christmas past.” The truths pouring out of their mouth is a lot of regurgitated consensus reality rules and regulations. It’s a test to see if under all circumstances and conditions, even when the person you love the most is saying the most awful things, that you can still sing?

“I feel pretty, oh so pretty.”

Clue: Robert De Niro sang that song in the movie, “Analyze That” to get out of jail.

Cancer

Do you wish there was a switch somewhere you could turn off the racket your mind is making. You never realized there was such a swarm of cackling thoughts in your subconscious. Daily events are pushing your buttons and churning around in your head before you go to sleep, and there probably isn’t a lot of peace in your dreams either. I’d suggest a Bach Flower remedy, White Chestnut, because there isn’t much you can do about those monkey-like thoughts let out of the cage of your mind. You are going to have to ride this roller coaster of mental buzz until it stops, sort of like a swarm of bees. I believe you aren’t supposed to run from a swarm, so stay still.

Oh, and another thing you’ll tell me, “I just want and want and want more and more things suddenly. I’ve been bitten by a “buy this” bug.  And you might be embarrassed at how some of those things are just useless and may be even gaudy and you charged them on your credit card. God forbid in this recession. But, you are forgiven. If you heed this astrological advice and change your Fate, and you don’t go out and buy all those things or eat that expensive dinner or take that trip you thought would give you back some joie de vivre, and sit down and have a serious conversation with yourself about things like:

• Multiple partner energy loss; you can’t handle two people, it’s not working.
• Being fickle in relationships, intimate or otherwise.
• Severe energy loss from indulging in gossip.
• Did I mention? Severe energy loss from indulging in gossip.
• This is a warning: you will be betrayed and they will know you spread the word at the water cooler.

You’ll be fine in the end though.

See, you are spending to feel good about yourself again, but your conscience won’t let you until you face your flighty, fickle and gossipy nature. The lesson for August is “watch what you say, even to yourself month.” Gossip can upgrade to insightful life stories, lessons learned and shared. You know the difference.

Leo

They say you can create your reality, but only if you can imagine it. And though Leo usually has no lack of imagination, you are so out of practice (years out of practice in fact) to have things go your way, that your “imagine this great future” program on the hard drive of your brain just can’t churn out anything worth wanting. You feel you can conquer anything right now, but the question is, “What to conquer?” The wheels of your mind are a bit rusty, that’s all.

Keep an eye on the moment you have churned up enough energy to get a glimpse of that “dream.” You will notice right at that moment, a whole bunch of phone calls, distractions, friends, fleeting flirtations come storming into your life and as you sit there hoping there is within the rush, some clue to what you want is in all this; these encounters actually just drain and distract you. On the outside, other people think your life is ideal (if they only knew). It’s weird…just plain weird.

What is particularly strange is that right when those uninvited guests leave, a few will plop a bomb of what appears to be a truth about your past. They don’t know the entire story. What they are telling you are half truths so don’t be fooled. They sound kind of right, but it isn’t the wisdom, it’s just philosophies picked off a grapevine.

Solution: Money will come in spurts, you still have to work hard, and some days it’s for pennies. It will pay off only if you continually – all day- every day, get advice only from your Self.

By the way, once you find that dream, don’t tell anyone. There is a rule of Spirit, a metaphysical rule: You aren’t supposed to tell anyone what you are up to until you have done it. Why? Because for Leo, the approval or even disapproval of your well-intentioned audience privy to your dreams will give you “a dose” of what you want and that is “feedback.” That feedback will insidiously halt the procession of the manifestation of your dreams, like eating a chocolate before dinner.

Virgo

You can feel the stirrings of a new life deep underground but you can’t get your conscious mind around it just about yet. It takes a certain type of “willing” to get the unconscious, conscious. It’s true you ride on the back of your practicality and endless attempts at starting something. This August, is for a more ethereal, more spiritual construction in your psyche, which is just as valuable as any outer manifestation. When you know you can use your “will” and not just rely on following the instruction manual, you will feel an amazing release.

You really are quite tired of following directions. You are weary of them. You are even weary of having to play the authority and voice of reason. People expect it from you and you play the game. You held the rule book. This month a lot of people are going to blatantly NOT follow the rules, right in front of your eyes, they won’t even give you the least bit of attention and definitely will not fall for that deep tone of voice you get when you want to lay down the law. It won’t work anymore.

This is where the new “you” being born comes to life. This new self is much more playful, much more creative, and much more capable of embracing new opportunities, learning something new, even keeping company with people you used to criticize for their lack of practicality and wasteful habits. You will find the value in a lot of new ways of living out ones daily life, new concepts and views and this new found “will” you have will work a bit like a magic wand. Wherever you focus it, things start to happen. I know this power is a little scary in the beginning.

Don’t worry though, you have great moral strength and good common sense and these powers you have will only make doing things easier for you and everyone else. It’s about time you acknowledged “the force” that is “with you”.

Libra

We don’t need to talk about the obvious abrupt changes going on in your life, you already are aware of them. But, we can talk about a few of the short term obstacles placed purposely by the Universe in your path. You may think these somewhat simple and benign challenges don’t mean much and you can handle them. The subtle thing about these obstacles is that they can make or break how you approach the next phase in your life.

The test is to see if you recognize subtle signs and not need dramatic events to usher you into a new life. If you don’t recognize the importance of these little challenges, your life might just slip right back into a cozy but stagnant ennui. What can you do to make sure this doesn’t happen? There are some new skills you tried out recently though the first attempts at using them resulted in a stalemate you considered a sign of defeat. You even may have superstitiously and lazily considered it was a sign to not continue pursuing that call for new pursuits, activities and communication with “people and places” far away from where you live.

Those places though calling you still seem, so far away, though the internet or phone calls make them seem close. What needs to be done is actually not work related but more fun related, just plain going to a nice place, meeting cool people and having a good old gaudy time, somewhere out of your neighborhood, way far away from the neighborhood.

Seriously, get out of your house. Talk to more than your lover or two year old and mingle with the rest of the world. By the way, living your life through those DVD’s and TV shows you are watching won’t cut the cake.

Scorpio
Should you stay or should you go? All you really do know is that your fine tuned nose for something going bad has picked up the scent of a “fairytale” you wove that has gone out of control and turned sour. You forgot you were telling that story to cope with the flux and change in your life in the past, and to ward off the curious others peering into your private life.

Unfortunately, the Hollywood ending, either glorious or tragic is making it impossible for you to make a real life decision. You have to decide on whether to continue where you are and concentrate on your outer world pursuits or rewrite that script of your family life to include a real life person or opportunity to fulfill your deeper spiritual dreams. Friends won’t be much help. They will most likely tie you down to past facades you had, a past persona which may or may not have been the real you. You tended in the past to only show people what you wanted.

In any case, if worse comes to worse, the decision if left to linger long enough will be decided for you. Maybe your lease will be up, a couple money-making opportunities will show you the next step or your partner’s life will be a decisive factor in your decision.

The only way to make sure you are making the right decision is to choose the place or changes that make it easier for you to expand your outer worldly pursuits, give freedom to your creative works or kids and where your work is meaningful to your soul, this time. Most of the times in the past, your choices were to survive and cope and you martyred yourself. This time the decisions will be based on your terms, it’s your time to shine.

Sagittarius

Are you looking back on the past and wondering what you could have done but didn’t? Well, don’t. You already have suffered enough and now there isn’t much you can do. That regret is what is holding you back from opening completely, to new relationships and opportunities. Those are trickling into your life right now. If you open up to what truly is on offer and don’t try to control what you are getting and giving, your faith in yourself will return as well as a powerful integrity to your words.

You realized a while back that for some queer reason your usually powerful, charismatic, profound pronouncements that moved and motivated those around you, suddenly lost their oomph and fell on deaf ears. What contributed to this loss of effectiveness was the regret mentioned above, some guilt about feeling you were a hypocrite (since you didn’t practice what you preached) and a reticence to open up completely to love when it was offered.

Your reluctance of course is mirrored in the Sagittarius cliche of: “not wanting really to be tied down. ” Deep down you know the “grass is greener on the other side” right? Well, I’m not going to fight with that one. Maybe it is. But, you can’t continue with only half of your heart involved and a bunch apprehension and fear. Reboot your faith in any way you can. Erase your hard drive and start exploring the grand vistas of this lifetime in the best way you can.

Capricorn

You may look the same on the outside, but with what you’ve just been through and will continue to go through for quite a while now, you know very well, you will never be the same again. Even though you plugged that hole in the boat, just the fact that a hole so big could shake a rock like you, make you even shed a layer or two of that cool crusty exterior, has got you in a state of eternal vigilance from now on.

It’s made you brutally honest and very present, something a bit foreign to a Capricorn nature who loves history and embellishing the past. What’s going on is a type of engagement with the present flow of events, even a renewal of faith, in something other than the marketplace and status quo. There is a romantic air about, almost a pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit that floods you psyche. You entertain new ideas, find joy in humor and banter and almost flirt with a wry smile to passers-by.

This is your attempt at reinventing yourself, your work and your skills. Embrace the new technology, one day it too, will be history. And let the romance infuse your business deals and partnerships. It is almost a type of Renaissance but not with great works of art, but with great works of digital technology. You will learn to weave the warp and woof of a designer Cyber cloth. Bring your stuff online or at least part of it.

Aquarius

Despite the fact that you’re cash flow is tight and you might be living on a lot less than usual, you seem to be a in a strangely good mood. It just might be because you are being mercifully uplifted by a bunch of planets that are buoying you. Though you are somewhat floating in the air, it kind hurts a bit.

The pain is probably because a part of you is desperately trying to get your attention. I really don’t think anything I say here will be adequate enough to get your attention if the universe itself hasn’t already. If you know what I’m talking about, Bravo! You passed the test. The universe is getting you drunk and watching if you can drive home safely.

When you get home, you get your trophy. If you passed, the trophy is companionship and a warm embrace when you walk in the door. If you didn’t pass, you go home alone. It’s time.  It’s time to partner up. And just to be sure you remember: Those buddies and friends aren’t enough. You need a real one-on-one partner business or otherwise, not drinking buddies and online chats. If you can’t pry yourself away from the keyboard, at least type in Meetup.com or something like that and get the online offline.

Pisces

It’s sort of sweet what is going on. There is a renewed faith, even though you can’t quite keep the connection stable just yet. There are still a few kinks to work out but you are plugged into your multi-dimensional Source again.

There is quite a bit more activity, visits and encounters filling your home with calls and communications. There appear new interests or a new renewed creative Muse; it depends on your temperament. If writing is your thing, it will bring speed to your pen, if tinkering with cars or mechanics is your thing, then you solve the problem of that transmission you have been trying to fix for a decade. Whatever your niche, your cohorts arrive and pass on by to see how you are faring.

A few unfortunately will not have your best interests at heart. You might be surprised by the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide theme running through your lot of friends. One moment they love you and the next, pure envy and passive-aggressive insane reactions. They were always that way Pisces, but you never embraced something enough to want it so much and do it so well, to give them cause to be envious. You are going to just have to deal with that vibe, and any other strange behavior that comes your way. A few will be left by the roadside for you to continue your journey alone for a while. It will be a bit harder this time to find someone, only because now you consciously know what you want, whereas before you dreamed them into being something they weren’t.

There are quite a few lightening rods being shot from time to time this month from the good old Planetary Gods, they just want to keep you on your toes. You like it now, don’t you? You like the excitement of not knowing, the unknown, and the possibility of bringing those childhood dreams back to life. Go for it!

For those of you who know your Ascendant, you can read that sign as well.

For those of you who want to know your Ascendant, you can go to Astrodienst and download or view your Natal chart. The website offers a variety of free applications and charts.