Aries Horoscope for August 2023

This is a month of miracle and wonder for you, Aries, when you look at it right. You may have long been aware of certain needed changes, and the first half of August could be the right time to make them as you are well-supplied with an unusual degree of courage for sudden departures from your pre-existing plan. These may involve shifting values, alteration of your career situation, or finding a better match between what you do and what you feel entirely called to do. There could be ideals of service to others or to the surrounding collective. In the timing of the August 1st Full Moon, there could be a new vision for what you are about, and likely one involving important partners. With the Leo New Moon of August 16th you are making a tremendous fresh start in your creative self-expression, with a surprising degree of intuitional information available to your inquiring mind. Yet with the Mercury Retrograde period looming, starting on the 23rd, and the retrograde shadow period that follows, you will want to take your time researching your possibilities, watching and waiting until the end of September to fully act.


The following was written by our resident monthly columnist Elodie St-Onge Aubut of Ninth House Astrology


The month of August begins with a Full Moon in Aquarius, midway through the thirty-day lunation cycle from the Cancer New Moon of two weeks back that, being located in your Nadir sector, initiated a fresh look at your home and family and your psychological roots. Pluto and Neptune were additionally featured in the Cancer New Moon, implying personal transformation in a spiritual direction, a factor that continues in the Aquarius Full Moon. You might be ready to shed certain habit patterns that have outgrown their usefulness in your life, so that you are letting go of some things to make room for others to flourish. Because Mars, your ruler, was opposed to limiting Saturn in the recent Cancer New Moon, there might be a feeling of a slow-down, extending into the current month, when Venus is also retrograde, and therefore more introspective, in your sector of self-expression and romance.

The Full Moon in Aquarius on August 1st shines a light on your collaborations and your roles within a community. The sign of Aquarius is known for its humanitarian qualities and its desires to better the world by implementing new perspectives and innovations. In order to do this, Aquarius sometimes needs to exclude itself from the group, preferring the position of outsider, rebel and pioneer. At the beginning of August, you too could feel a little bit like an Aquarius, questioning your social participation, your place in the world and your desire to stand outside of something in order to better understand it. Saturn in Pisces transiting in your soul-sector is bringing attention to the aspects of yourself that need more time alone. The opposition between Mercury in Virgo and Saturn in the Full Moon configuration could find you more reflective or quiet than usual for these first two weeks, although with Jupiter also in this picture, there is a boisterous quality as well to your somewhat internalized stance.

From the 6th to the 7th, there is a square between the Sun in Leo and Jupiter in Taurus that carries an energetic and inspiring momentum for personal projects. Leo Season emphasizes a need for playfulness, creativity and pleasure. Children could also feature more prominently at this time and if you don’t have any, it could be that your own child-like nature is awakened by the season.

Venus is still moving retrograde in Leo all month, and forms a square with Uranus in Taurus from the 8th to the 10th, which may highlight money-making ventures that require a certain amount or risk. Your resources, finances and material reality could feature more prominently at this time and it may be wise to stay flexible and open-minded about your options without jumping to conclusions. Venus will form one last square with Uranus at the end of September when she is out of her retrograde so things may continue to take shape in the following weeks offering more substantial insights as to where things are heading.

On August 13th, Venus retrograde conjunct the Sun in Leo which signals the halfway point of her retrograde cycle. Venus's significations like love, money, relationships, art, beauty and pleasure are thought to be undergoing a moment of purification as she sits on the solar throne. Although these themes are somewhat exaggerated at this time, there is also a need to redefine desires in order to align more authentically with the heart.

The Leo New Moon arrives on August 16th and the Sun and Moon form a square with Uranus in Taurus, a close semi-sextile with Mars, your ruler, and a trine with Chiron in your sign. It is possible that you might feel the need to more completely explore the depths of your psyche in search to better understand feelings of lack from the presence of early childhood trauma, if any. Because Leo corresponds to your sector of creative self-expression, this New Moon also brings a new cycle of growth for personal projects, creativity and autonomy. You may feel a renewed sense of power and potential especially if you have been actively working to empower your personal visions and passions without letting other people’s opinions get to you. The more autonomy you have to do what you want at this time, the better you will feel.

The week of August 22nd brings an important shift in the month beginning with the Sun entering Virgo on the 23rd, and Mercury stationing retrograde in Virgo on the same day. The First Quarter Moon in Scorpio takes place the very next day, on the 24th, and brings with it a shift in perspective that allows more scope to the unseen and the unknown. The Mutable sign of Virgo is associated with the end of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, a period when things are in a state of flux requiring more flexibility and adaptation to bridge the old forms with upcoming new ones.

The Sun in Virgo forms an opposition with Saturn in Pisces from the 26th to the 27th which takes place on your mind-body axis and emphasizes the need to tend to both your inner and outer worlds. It's a good time to deal with accumulated stress from the first half of the year by adjusting your diet and your daily habits.

The Pisces Full Moon arrives on the 30th, closing on a busy month for you internally and allowing you to take stock of the new pathways emerging in your life. This Full Moon could illuminate an important contrast between activity versus passivity and your need to find an equilibrium between both modalities.

The Mercury Retrograde period of time is necessarily reflective and introspective, and may help you in sorting out your priorities with a focus on health and your day-to-day routines. Mercury will be retrograde in Virgo until mid-September, and then recovering for the remainder of the month, right up to the Full Moon in your sign of September 29th.