August 2013 horoscope - Leo

I follow the sidereal calendar; this is the monthly solar horoscope for birthdays from 16^th August to 15^th September or Leo Ascendants and Moons

By Louise Gilbert

Happy birthday Leo! For the past few months, your circle of friend and acquaintances expanded with newcomers from all directions, cultures and walks of life or, equally, you may have felt like joining a club or an interest groups with a diverse range of people. There certainly was some sort of movement within your friendship group and the people you surround yourself with which first and foremost opened your eyes and mind to something that’s different and new and secondly, changes in this area ensure you are centre stage! Perhaps you currently find yourself as the group leader or maybe you are the one organising all the get-togethers, ensuring the social calendar remains full to the brim. As a result, you have been quite busy, mingling your way through those hot June and July nights. If you are single, then August is still a good time to meet someone special.

One of the areas on your life that could also see some improvement are your finances. The way you reach out to people and communicate with the masses is expanding and you may find yourself with a lot more work or rather eager new business contacts that help you fill your bonus pot. As head into August the stellium in Gemini in your 11^th house of gains, profits and bonuses supports that.

The stellium of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury is connected to the ongoing Grand Trine in air together with Saturn and Neptune. During these times, we tend to be highly idealistic, we intellectualise situations and issues but we are also more social during this time. We formulate our ideas, develop connections and expanding our mental faculties with greater ease. All of the airy Gemini energy opposes transformative Pluto, who, in your 5^th house of fun and romance has changed the way you feel about and experience love as well as how you present yourself.

So, with Pluto in the mix too, we now have a Kite aspect. The influence of the Kite pattern is similar to Grand Trines but where a trine is easy and we might not even notice it if we don’t pay attention, the Kite motivates and opens up potential. The vocal point of the Kite is, again, in Gemini, your house of hopes, friends, the masses and gains. A lot is happening in this area, new people are coming in and your social scene may become more international by the week. This is a fun time!

Mercury then changes signs on 5^th August 2013 and moves into Cancer just before the new Moon in the same sign on 6^th August. This continues your annual wind-down phase just before your birthday. I don’t think the party invites start drying up but you feel like you need to have some time to yourself and with planets now gathering in your house of behind the scenes activities, your ideal place to be is now likely to be at some beach where you can look out onto the see and review and digest the past year. For Leos, whenever the Moon is involved and especially this month in your house of meditation, loss and liberation, there is usually an urge or a longing to get away from it all for a while and have a break even if it’s just in the form of daydreaming. The 12^th house is not a tangible house, it has more to do with our fantasies and intuition.

This new Moon is in the nakshatra of Aszlesa, ruled by Mercury. It’s the intimate connection and embrace. It’s where we find emotional strength to defeat your enemies. It’s also a time when we are emotionally needier than at others times and with Mercury, the ruler of this nakshatra in the same sign of Cancer, you or others in life may speak before they think and react to events more emotionally and even harshly with Saturn eye on this new Moon. If can, take a step back.

Once the Sun moves into your 1^st house of self on 16^th August, you’ll be back to your old self and a lot of what you desire, you can now attract to you. Ensure that this is what you do instead of running after it – you have Neptune, the planet of illusion in opposition, in your area of committed relationships, so sometimes with this transit, you think you want something which then turns out to be a fata morgana. You may also need to be aware of false business partners who promise quick money-making schemes that sound too good to be true. On the other hand, it may be that you have to look after a partner or someone else close to you as they need your moral support. It can mean the end of a spell or an illusion in a certain relationship for better or for worse or your partner is physically not there because he is travelling with work or abroad / far away for some other reason or he is somewhat absent-minded. It can mean the end of a certain idea of how the relationship is or should be. In any case, there will be an element of realisation to do with relationships around this time.

The full Moon on 21^st August is in your area of committed relationships and around this time, you will really see where your partner needs your help. He or she may have lost a little bit of direction recently and is looking to you for guidance. Nothing wrong with that, just don’t let anyone victimise you. If you are single, this can be a highly romantic time for you and whatever began 18 months ago in February 2012 reaches a conclusion now and moves on to the next level.

The month ends with all planets, not counting Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, spreading out in six subsequent houses. Vedic astrology calls this Kal Sarp Yoga when all the planets are hemmed between Rahu and Ketu or the Moon’s nodes. When you read about this yoga, I’m not surprised that some people get the fear of god when reading about this yoga. However, awareness always goes a long way and with this combination, there is a rather deep and complex compulsion across the axis of the nodes – Aries and Libra. So, the end of August seems to be a time where we do a lot of subconscious processing of the past, we’re more withdrawn as we work on unresolved emotions. There is a lot of growing beyond unhealthy relationship patterns and, for you Leo, how you communicate in relationships especially.  

Have a great month, Leo!

Monthly forecasts are very broad, so get in touch if you are interested in an individual chart reading. In readings, I use the Indian Dasha system in individual forecasts which is known for its accuracy. You can also follow me on Facebook, Google + and Twitter, see you there!