Aries Horoscope for August 2017

You are entering into a time of spiritual rebirth, Aries, especially regarding your self-expression and other manifestations of artistic creativity. You will feel this on many simultaneous levels and each one amplifies all the others, and interweaves with them in the deeper meaning that you might apply. When Mercury Retrogrades, that brings up a detail-oriented and introspective time. What is happening over this monthly cycle may be viewed as essentially a transformation of values, in support of activities nearer to your true heart’s desire. It pays to be very attentive to whatever happens to you, including your dreams, and to attempt to decode the events of your life in a way that reflects your evolving worldview. Partners and trusted confidants are helpful in providing new perspectives. These will of necessity involve what is here right before you in the physical plane, and also what is beyond the physical.

The following was written by this month's guest columnist Adam Elenbaas of The Nightlight Astrology School:

Well, it’s that time again. It’s eclipse season, and August is also arguably the most intense and dynamic astrological month of 2017, so buckle up! The month begins with a powerful lunar eclipse on August 7th in your eleventh house of friends, benefactors, and wishes or dreams for the future. Later in the month, on August 21st, a solar eclipse falls into your fifth house of creativity, joy, and children. Traditionally, the eleventh house was called “good spirit,” and the fifth house was called “good fortune.” Both houses were associated with joyful things like friends, children, creativity, recreation, benefactors, dreams and wishes, and even sports and taverns! However, the ancient stoic mindset was such that both the highs and lows of fortune were to be rejected in favor of the inner life of the soul. All this being said, there is oppositional tension all month for you between your personal creative voice and the need for more joy (fifth house) and your practical dreams and goals for the future (eleventh house), between those you collaborate or share dreams and goals with (eleventh) and your own personal pastimes, pleasure, and creative direction (fifth house).

With a lunar eclipse in the eleventh house (lunar eclipses are always Full Moons), you might be experiencing the ending or culmination of a collaboration, of a friendship or an important strategic alliance. It’s often the case that the ending of one dream, friendship, or collaboration is a necessary part of the establishment of the next. So, while this month’s lunar eclipse may signify important culminations or endings in these areas of your life, just remember that the overall tenor of this month focuses on the solar eclipse (solar eclipses are always New Moons), in your fifth house. Solar eclipses bring powerful new beginnings, and this one will be a total solar eclipse, visible throughout much of the United States. In fact, the media is already calling this, “The Great American Total Solar Eclipse” (don’t be surprised when you see powerful events in US politics this month!). This powerful new beginning is taking place within your fifth house, which again is a house intimately related to children, pregnancy, joy, recreation, pleasure, and creativity or the arts. Given the contrast between the culmination in your eleventh and the new beginning in the fifth, it’s safe to say that this month is going to be a time of creative rebirth for you.

Fifth house rebirths can take many different forms. You might be having a child or something deeply significant might be happening related to your children. You might be departing from certain collaborative ventures in favor of walking to the beat of your own creative drum. You might be opening to a new form of creative self-expression, or you might find that your priorities are shifting from long-term dreams and goals to a more immediate emphasis on personal and private joy, recreation, and creativity. The fifth house as the house of “good fortune” was also related to the general need or desire to take life a little less seriously, or to at least participate in life with the recognition that life is ultimately playful and enjoyable as much as it is serious or hard-working. As a child of the Ram, you are prone to adventure, risk, leadership, and courage, but along with these qualities there often comes the great burden of responsibility and energetic intensity. This month’s eclipses may dare you to take the risk of more happiness and less concern about visible or tangible results. Remembering that your inner life is the most important thing you can cultivate, what new direction are you being asked to take right now' Good luck, Aries!