The heat of fixed fire sets the tone this month. The Sun is in Leo for the first part of the month, as it always is in August; this particular August, Mercury is in Leo, too, for the second part of the month.

But there’s an awful lot of Virgo going on as well.

Conscientious and demure

On the 17^th, Mars enters Virgo. Venus follows it on the 21^st. Then the Sun on the 23^rd and Mercury on the 29^th. At the New Moon on the 30^th the Sun and Moon share a Virgo degree: 6°47.

All this emphasis on mutable Earth makes it easier for us to access the practical virtues: streamlining our methodologies at work, making ordinary tasks more efficient, and adhering to protocol.

Analysis and criticism could be raised to an art form this month, so let’s make it constructive.

If you’ve been thinking of beginning a course of healthy self-improvement, there’s no better time than on the New Moon at the end of August, which will serve to extend all that Virgoan energy. Projects begun on the 30^th will carry Virgo’s dedication to detail through September.

Double station

The most unusual planetary event this month is a double station. On August 11^th, Jupiter pivots direct at 14½° Sagittarius (6:38 am PDT). A few hours later (7:28 pm PDT), Uranus pivots retrograde at 6½° Taurus.

Both are mental planets, although not in the same way that Mercury is mental. Jupiter governs the part of our mind that seeks big, broad truths; Uranus is the part that propels us into the unknown.

Both are planets of freedom.

Make the leap

Jupiter is the galloping horse within us, jumping over fences along the way. Especially wild and restless now — because it’s in its ruling sign until December — Jupiter inspires us to leap out of confining situations and narrow ideological perspectives. It inspires grand gestures, whether appropriate or ill-considered.

If you know what house of your chart Jupiter is currently transiting, you’ve probably already felt the growth spurts in that area of life. You may also have experienced Jupiterian bloat and over-confidence.

At the planetary station on the 11^th, those who do rituals will want to set their intention to grow consciously, as the deep psyche wants to, rather than self-indulgently, as the ego wants to.

Shatter complacency

Uranus represents freedom of a more disruptive kind. It governs the craving – often unconscious — to break out of prisons we may not even realize we’re in.

As a transpersonal planet, it is likely to show up as external events that catch us by surprise, forcing change upon us. Masquerading as outer circumstances that deeply inconvenience us, Uranus is easy to misinterpret. We tend to forget that, like Jupiter, Uranus’ job is to liberate us.

So we blame the event for our discomfort, or dismiss it as a fluke.

Track your transits

This makes it all the more important to identify where in your chart Uranus is passing right now. In the area of your life indicated by its house placement by transit, pledge to go along with what Uranus is trying to tell you.

Of course, a deeper part of you already knows.

Our souls know that complacency is deadening. Let’s thank Uranus for giving us a friendly nudge into unexplored regions.