Aug 2018
Answer the Door
There are three planetary stations in August. Uranus stations retrograde on 8/7, Mercury goes direct on the 18h, and Mars stations direct on the 27th.
Each station is our private appointment with the cosmos. Each is a chance to make closer contact than usual with the forces the planet represents.
When a planet slows down and appears to stop, it’s hanging there in the sky above us, attentive and still. It has honored us with a visit, and is waiting for us to answer the door.
Astronomical illusions
They haven’t really stopped, of course. Planets don’t ever stop moving; the very word means “wanderer,” from Greek planētēs. (And universe, of course, means “one-turning.” Good reminders that the fundamental law of the cosmos is movement). Retrogradation, too, is an illusion, arising from the relative speeds of orbiting bodies.
But astrology confers meaning upon all of these astronomical curiosities, especially the anomalous ones. If
something that usually seems to be headed forward appears to move backwards, that gets our attention.
And when a transiting planet slows down, causing it to spend a long time around a certain patch of our chart, we can infer that the cosmos is particularly intent on teaching us something about that patch.
So identify where in your natal chart these three planets are hovering. That’s where their lessons will show up.
Leaning in
In the case of Uranus (breaking away), because it’s a slow-moving outer planet it will have been active in a given part of your chart for some time now. It spends about seven years in each of our houses, so you may have come to expect surprises in that area.
Where has this mischievous god been pushing you to change? Light a candle to Uranus on Aug 7th and tell him you get the message.
Flash of lightning
The Uranus station will manifest in a different part of life for each of us, but the common thread will be to wake us up. Its intention is to destabilize and revitalize us. Ideally, this happens with a blast of creative juice so strong that our whole life is illuminated, as lightning illuminates the landscape at night.
Less ideally, we will have been resisting the Uranian wake-up call; in which case transits like these are more apt to feel unpleasantly shocking and disruptive. If we’ve been trying to ignore being stuck in a rut, Uranus is likely to feel like a cattle prod, externally (e.g. an out-of-nowhere event) or internally (e.g. impatience or agitation).
Where in your chart does the third degree of Taurus fall? Consider whether there’s been a pattern of nudges and prods in that area.
Watching the mind
On Aug 18th, Mercury pivots direct at 11½ Leo. This is a more frequent planetary station, with much written about it. As with all transits, you’ll get more meaning out of the way it’s triggering your specific 
chart than you will trying to apply its general meanings (see Note #1 from June’s SkyWatch.)
But there is an important general dimension to Mercury stations, one that is usually overlooked. When Mercury is hovering, we have an opportunity to observe the workings of our own minds. Try using the days around the station – in this case, three days on either side of the 18th — to watch your mental process with genuine curiosity, instead of being lost in it. Details in this article.
Mars goes direct
Mars was very active last month (see the July SkyWatch) and is offering us another chance, this month, to learn its key lesson: how to assert without aggressing.
Mars slows to a stop during the last week of August, at 28½ Capricorn. Do you have any planets in the last few degrees of a cardinal sign? This is the degree range that will be especially provoked. But everybody’s chart will be poked into action, so it’s a good idea to prime our attitude in advance.
Private audience
The stations of August are a boon to those who see transits as time-sensitive lessons in consciousness. Uranus, Mercury and Mars will show up in our lives like those gods in myths who sometimes surprised the hero with a house call.
Use this chance to ask your visitor about freedom (Uranus), intelligence (Mercury) and the expression of desire (Mars).