It’s not like any summer we can remember. As an unsteady world tries to grapple with uncertainty, a storied series of transits is upon us.
These are the notorious Mars squares. From the first week of August to the last, the warrior planet, at his fiercest in Aries, forms back-to-back 90-degree angles to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto: the stars of the 2020 stellium.
The Rumpelstiltzkin exercise
We get set up right out of the gate, when Mercury opposes Pluto and Saturn on the first of the month. This is our invitation to name the main themes of this turbulent year. Naming something is the first step in the process of grappling with it.
There’s no better way to prepare for the Mars squares than to use the Mercury opposition (Aug 1-3: on the Full Moon, no less) to get ourselves conscious of what’s been going on. That is, not just to notice it, but to consider it. (1)
As the month begins, take a moment to think about (Mercury) the deeper meaning (Pluto) of the events
since January. Both in your personal reality and that of the wider world.
Ego up against it
The square from Mars to Jupiter is the first in the riff of triggers. It contributes a boost of bombast, confident and impulsive. We need to think through our actions, because Jupiter will amplify them. If we guard against the tendency to overreach, this can be a period of productive growth.
It’s the societal implications that are causing the most buzz among astrologers. The group mind is less capable than the self-aware individual is, of maintaining a sense of proportion when ambitions (Jupiter) and testosterone (Mars) run this high.
By the second week of August, Mars will be in the vicinity of Pluto’s degree in Capricorn. This square is a clash between the planet of self-assertion and that of death/ rebirth. Ideally, the ego becomes a channel for something that needs to be overhauled.
If you’re feeling obsessed, take care. You’re being driven by something more powerful than a willful impulse.
For the whole second half of August, Mars hovers around Saturn’s degree. What we want – or think we want — comes up against some form of blockage or resistance.
Tectonic month
Uranus is also active, shaking the tectonic plates beneath us (Taurus). Our best bet is to make an ally of 
unpredictability.
The only thing as obdurate as a fixed sign is another fixed sign. For the first ten days of the month, the Sun and Mercury in Leo play provocateur, squaring Uranus in Taurus, waving their red cape at the bull.
On the Ides of August, right smack dab in the middle of the month, Uranus stations retrograde. If we weren’t habituated to mass disruption by now, this ought to do it.
The point of all this instability is liberation, though it’s hard to see when we’re in the middle of it. On 8/15, as close to 7:28 am PDT as you can get, light a candle to the god of sudden change.
Tell him you know he’s just trying to set you free.
Note
1). Con (with) – sider (the stars) originally meant: To align with the cosmic dimension of something.
