Weekly Gimpses. The Astrology for the week of the 23rd - 29th of August.

Sun Moves to Virgo. Focus on what you can control.

We move away from the firey sign of Leo into earthly practical Virgo season on August 23rd here in Australia, but rather than being a typical Virgo period of organisation and focus; this season will be marked with periods of confusion, uncertainty and worry both on a collective and individual perspective. The theme this month, from my view, is to try not to push against the tide of confusion and misinformation that will be prevalent but to learn to go with the flow. Resist the temptation to correct and prove a point- a proposition that does not fit naturally for Virgo, but one in which Virgo's opposite sign of Pisces has down pat. Astrologically each sign's opposite sign has much to teach the other by way of polarity, and this month, the ruling planet of Pisces, Neptune, has a strong influence on how Virgo season may play out. The aspects Neptune makes along with the full moon in Pisces on Sept 20th emphasise the polarity of balancing order and chaos, criticism and compassion, and perfection and wholeness.

In the southern hemisphere, we are moving into Spring, which I feel is beautifully fitting for Virgo, even though most of the information you will see out there is about Virgo's association with the fall/ autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.

I often think of the Persephone Myth at this time, a time when we have been in the darkness. We are now re-emerging into the light and bringing forward the gift of new growth, hope and excitement for the beginning of a new season. It is true, the flowers will grow, the lambs will be born, but the feeling of hope or renewal and rejuvenation may be a little harder to come by.

As the Sun starts to shine through our windows, we now see the residue of the build-up of dirt culminated over the winter months and set about cleaning the windows so we can see the blossoms of new growth and the Sun shining through. It may feel like a time for a serious spring clean in our life, which is very fitting for Virgo season. However, no matter how much we clean, organise and plan, we may feel both collectively and personally that there is a veil of fog around us, hindering us from moving forward as productively as we would like to.

Virgo energy often gets a bad wrap in popular sun sign astrology for being the detailed, overly organised and nit-picky, critical zodiac sign. It is true, Virgo expressed in its most unconscious manifestation can very well behave like this, but at its core, Virgo is a sign that wants to improve. This energy has a critical eye, and they view the world from the lenses of being able to see what is wrong, with a genuine desire to improve it.

Virgo is a sign most willing to grow within themselves, always looking for a way to better

themselves and the environment around them. Considering this, this is the season to look at improving our lives on a practical, everyday level. This includes our health, our daily routines, the little details and of course getting organised.

Virgo is also all about being of service. As the energies feel scattered and confusing this month, attending to the areas of our lives in which we can genuinely serve others selflessly is an ideal expression of Virgo energy.

This Virgo season may see us not being as able to be as organised as we have planned. The same day as the Sun moves into Virgo, we experience our second full moon in Aquarius. The moon will sit next to expansive Jupiter in opposition to the Sun, just as it moves into the sign of Virgo. Jupiter in Aquarius inflates everything and heightens our emotions with a tendency to go over the top and potentially escalate differences and bring turbulent undertones to the surface.

From Aug 24th and up to Sept 11th, our energy may feel scattered and confused as Mars opposes Neptune, with its focal point occurring on Sept 2nd. We may all be feeling as though we have no idea what is going on like we have brain fog and no idea what is true and what is not anymore. This could manifest on both a collective and personal level. It is not a reasonable period for making any significant decisions and indeed, I would try to avoid signing contracts if you can. This energy puts a veil over our traditional organised Virgo energy. Where our heads may be willing, our energy may not be able to match our desires to sort, sift and organise our lives.

The fog lifts slightly around the time of the new moon on the 6th, which will bring us a glimpse of clarity and focus with a short period of being able to execute and make plans for the future. But pretty shortly afterwards, from around the 12th the Sun will be in opposition to Neptune, which can confuse our self-expression. This energy culminates on the 14th and subsides by the 22nd. It may feel similar to the beginning of the month, where we experienced that brain fog and confusion as though we are once again having to shift through and decipher what is real and what is not. This period will accelerate and perpetuate the misinformation and confusion that the state of the world seems to find itself in. Rather than battle against this and find yourself in a no-win fight with someone, you will be better off using this time for self-reflection, accessing your imagination and creativity and paying attention to your dreams. Neptune's influence often has us looking to escape reality and dive into altered states of consciousness. Rather than reaching for the bottle, deep mediation for healing on both a personal and collective level is an excellent way to use this energy positively.

Our tendency to worry and to imagine worse case scenarios is heightened during this period. Rather than worrying about things you cannot control, focusing on areas you can control is an excellent way to work with the energies at this time. Doing what you can regarding getting your ducks in a row and attending to the details of life will make you feel better in the short term, at least. As mentioned earlier, it may be harder to get going than what we are used to. We are still best to avoid significant decisions and contracts; however, attending to those things that can stave off unnecessary worry will be a great survival tool for this period.

Virgo season offers us an excellent time to begin a new health regime and take stock of our physical and mental health. If you have been putting off getting that niggling pain seen to, this is the time. This is the time to get moving if we have been sitting on the couch just a little too much during lockdown. Clean out the fridge and fill it with healthy food, spend some time with your pets, or make an effort to serve others in a way that does your soul good. Learn to meditate and send positive love and energy out to the world.

From the 15th, Mars moves into Libra, accentuating a need to beautify, bring more harmony into our lives and focus on relationships. Using the Sun in Virgo and Mars in Libra is an excellent time for reorganising and decorating areas and parts of our lives, such as our homes. This may well provide a perfect distraction from all the heavy energy we have all been experiencing for a long time now.

The full moon in Pisces will occur on the 20th of the month, just before the Sun moves into Libra, offering us an opportunity to collectively and individually balance and combine the Virgo Pisces polarity where discernment and positive analysis meets compassion and humility.

If you are interested in booking a chart reading for yourself, head to www.aspectastrology.com.au/ bookonline.

Full Moon in Aquarius. Take Two. Make Way for Change

This full moon occurs at the very end of Leo season and just before the Sun moves out of Leo and into Virgo. In Australia, the full moon will occur on August 22nd at 9.58 pm. This is quite a potent and special full moon for a variety of reasons. The moon in Aquarius and the Sun in Leo will be in opposition in the very last degrees of the sign, 29 degrees in fact, it is considered quite potent and named the anaretic degree. This represents a culmination, a crisis or climactic point as the energy is about to leave the previous sign, so all that has come before it is heightened and emphasised. This is particularly potent as I feel that this full moon somehow represents one of the major themes we have had playing out all year. The energy of the Saturn and Uranus square has been wreaking havoc on all of us with its stop-start, stop-start, freedom vs responsibility, rebellion vs status quo energy. This second full moon similarly represents this vibe in Aquarius in opposition to Leo. As discussed last time, this energy is about my needs vs the collective needs, but the power is emphasised even more in this full moon.

This moon is making a conjunction to the planet of expansion, Jupiter, whose primary motto is "Go big or go home". Jupiter expands everything it touches, and in this instance, it will help to over emphasise the importance of the messaging of this full moon. On a personal level, if you have had differences in opinion with your loved ones, especially around political and ideological ideas, this full moon has the potential to blow things up out of proportion, to accelerate and ignite passions and arguments. Be aware of this and remember the Aquarius Leo polarity is all about honouring the self and the other, my needs and respecting the needs of others, whatever they may be. The energy is rife for blowouts, so attempt to maintain your truth and keep an open heart and mind out for the opinions of others.

At its core, this full moon is the second attempt to remind the world of the plight of many doing it much harder than we are. We have all been so parochial dealing with ourselves, our communities, countries politics. We may have forgotten about the rest of the world. it is time to shine a light on and awaken to the needs of others, to think and act globally and not so selfishly. It might be a fantastic opportunity to use this full moon to meditate and send love and healing to the rest of the world.

Setting the scene in the backdrop, we are about to have all the outer planets retrograde as Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, joins them at 14 degrees Taurus on August 20th, just before this full moon. When planets turn retrograde, they turn the energy inward. The personal effects are to make us look within, review, re-imagine. For the fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, this will kick up a theme of looking for a change, for freedom to break

away from the old ways of doing things and liberating a part of your life that no longer serves you. We touched on this theme during our first Aquarian full moon; perhaps this was a time to think about some of these themes in your life; this full moon is asking us to act. To make some choices around the parts of our lives in which we feel we are being held back, where we cannot be our whole authentic selves. We will feel this not only on the personal level but very much across the collective as well. We have had nearly two years of the Saturn ( Lock-down) in square to Uranus ( Rebellion), and this full moon may well manifest as a crisis point. Don't be surprised to see more protests against lock-downs, against vaccines, against anything where people feel their freedom and freedom of choice is being compromised.

With this extreme Uranian energy at play, we should also expect some sudden and shocking changes or disclosures, things that will literally demand more equality, more fairness, a breaking down of the old guard for the new to emerge. Alternately there could be major changes or disruptions to technology and how we use it or major changes to the systems designed to serve us- political educational, whatever it is, this energy and culminating with this full moon may shine a light on where these systems are failing us.

Aquarius rules groups, communities and with Jupiter in Aquarius sitting next to this full moon, we may see the expansion of revolutionary groups making their messages heard in a big way. At a personal level, we can think about our 'tribe' and the groups we are part of. Are they serving our authentic selves? If not this full moon, offers us the opportunity to find like-minded groups, people with whom we connect with for a cause but who also connect with us on a heartfelt level ( moon opp sun in Leo) , but in true Leo Aquarian polarity the challenge is to find your tribe but not to

close your eyes, ears of hearts to the rest of the world.

I actually feel quite emotional as many thinking about these themes and the state of the world. I do hope that these posts can give you something to think about that you may not other wise and a way in which you can use the energies of the planet and the moon to make change in your life and in the life of others.

Remember to subscribe to my newsletter, my you tube channel and check out my new weekly posts, and please provide feedback if you like. The new Moon in Virgo will be on the 6th. If you are interested in having your own reading, please follow the links to book on my web site.

Meanwhile be kind to yourself and be kind to others.