Astrological Forecasts

Heads Up!

The Writer’s Astrological Almanac

by Kathy Watts

August 2017

All times are PDT.

August, full of Sun, Mars, and eclipses. How hot is that? We shall see. The month starts on a Tuesday, the day of the week associated with Mars. Now how can that be a coincidence? Not. And, let’s toss in a Mercury retrograde while we’re at it. Ready or not, here August comes!

Tue Aug 01 the Moon starts off in Scorpio but moves into fiery but more friendly Sagittarius in the early morning. The Moon trines Mars at 9:30 pm. Get your list in order, and then blast through it. A short list is fine.

Wed Aug 02 the Moon is in Sagittarius all day. It could be a lunch appointment with your agent or your critique group. It could be a “get that ms in the mail” (which probably means email) day. Uranus goes stationary retrograde today, still in Aries. What else is new? Uranus is retrograde five out of twelve months this year, starting now through the end of the year. Sometimes life is a bit less unpredictable but it can be hard to tell.

Thu Aug 03 the Moon conjoins Saturn in Sagittarius shortly after midnight. It’s nice to have some discipline to your day and work schedule.

Fri Aug 04 the Moon is in Capricorn when Jupiter perfects its square with Pluto. Heads Up. This has been building for a long time, and it will be a long time diffusing, too, if even in our lifetime. Let your enthusiasm for your writing continue to grow, and grow, and grow.

Sat Aug 05 the Moon conjoins Pluto in Capricorn. Don’t let anxiety ruin a perfectly good social time. If you get antsy, though, politely skip out, go home, read and or write.

Mon Aug 07 we have the Full Moon at 15 Aqu. Heads Up. Face your work and face the audience that it is preparing to meet. This is also a lunar eclipse. Be on guard for more emotional responses from people. Maintain some objectivity, and remember that it’s all good character research, right?

Wed Aug 09 the Moon is in Pisces all day. The Moon conjoins Neptune in Pisces at 4:14 pm. Write your ideal scene, sketch out your ideal plot outline, and don’t fret if you lapse into a daydream in the afternoon. Take notes.

Fri Aug 11 the Moon is in Aries all day. It could be a busy weekend. Venus trines Neptune at 10:17 pm. It could also be a profoundly romantic evening. Play Berlioz. Let someone else play Puccini. The big news is that tomorrow Mercury goes stationary retrograde in Virgo. Heads Up to get prioritized and organized. This includes thought processes as well as all things mechanical and electronic.

Sat Aug 12 the Moon is in Aries all day. At 6:00 pm Mercury goes stationary retrograde in Virgo. Heads Up and make it good. Mercury retro in Virgo is prime editing season on my planet, by the way.

Tue Aug 15 the Moon leaves Taurus and enters Gemini at 7:06 am. Heads Up for intensified creative communicating and networking from now until Thursday morning. You may need to make allowances for the Mercury retrograde, but otherwise don’t hold back.

Wed Aug 16 the Moon is in Gemini all day. How is your word count going?

Thu Aug 17 the Moon leaves Gemini and enters Cancer at 9:13 am. Did you get a lot done? Maybe it’s time for a second breakfast.

Fri Aug 18 the Moon conjoins Venus in Cancer. If you’re not in the mood to dress up yourself or your work, consider scrutinizing what could make your work more popular.

Sun Aug 20 the Moon conjoins Mars in Leo. It’s the Sun’s day of the week, by the way. Get passionate about your own stuff and let it shine. It’s also the day before the New Moon, which happens to also be a total solar eclipse that cuts across North America from Oregon to South Carolina. Heads Up. Do you know where your eclipse goggles are? Heads Up for all the usual reasons, plus some.

Mon Aug 21 we have the New Moon at 28 Leo at 11:30 am. Heads Up for conspicuous and hopefully glorious changes in the world, literary and otherwise. If you are in the US and can witness this as a total eclipse, do it! Don’t miss the experience of a lifetime. Can you say bucket list? It’s that spectacular. If not in the zone of totality, if you can observe it locally, protect your eyes. Even a tiny bit of the Sun’s photosphere is bright enough to damage your vision. The Moon kindly goes void of course immediately after. At 1:25 pm the Moon enters cooler, calmer, and probably unfazed Virgo. The royal star Regulus has progressed into the beginning of Virgo (for us tropical zodiac types). Take some time and write your powerful heroine scene now. Also, today is the last day that the Sun spends in flamboyant Leo. Tomorrow the world may seem a bit slower and more mundane if not saner. We can hope.

Tue Aug 22 the Moon conjoins Mercury retrograde in Virgo. Heads Up in the best of ways. Do you have enough red pen and pencils? At 3:20 pm the Sun exits Leo and enters Virgo. Heads Up for a double dose of practicality if not pragmatism. Don’t waste a drop of it.

Wed Aug 23 the Moon is in Virgo for most of the day. You can get a lot done, even if most of it is bits and pieces. At 6:05 pm the Moon enters agreeable Libra. It may be less easy to get much work done in the evening. We’ve had a month of Wednesdays with the Moon mostly in the mutable signs. It’s a good thing that people like to read about people, isn’t it?

Fri Aug 25 the Moon is in Libra when Saturn goes stationary direct. Saturn has been retrograde since April 5, and a retrograde Saturn can sometimes be a kinder, gentler Saturn so it’s easy to lapse and forget to notice. Nonetheless, Saturn is still a guest in the house of Jupiter so all its saturnine claws are not out after it has gone direct. Heads Up anyway. Also at 9:30 pm Venus changes signs, leaving tender-hearted Cancer and entering glamorous Leo. Now’s the time to punch up your work.

Sat Aug 26 the Moon is in Scorpio when the Sun conjoins Mercury retrograde in Virgo. Heads Up. If you were organized before, it may take a bit more effort to stay that way now. Don’t fret if it isn’t easy.

Wed Aug 31 the Moon is in Sagittarius all day. The month goes out on a fiery, mutable note. It’s a good day to submit work and to get good news back from publishers and agents.

To say that changes are in the air is a gross understatement. We are swimming in change. We are saturated in big change. Let these changes take you in the direction that you want to go. The Sun and Mars provide the integrity, self-motivation, spark, and passion to start and not stop until you decide that it is time.

To end the month in Virgo is a great blessing. We can screw our heads back on straight and get back to basics. We can tend to daily matters with skill and precision. The month ends with Mercury retrograde, and this can get us to downshift out of manic city and work at our own pace.

No matter what is happening in the outside world, we control the horizontal and vertical of our own world. Of course we need to interface the two worlds from time to time, but we have some control over that, too.

Hang on, and Heads Up!