So I do appreciate this time of year even though I generally don’t like August. It’s an identity crisis, you know, the last decan of Leo: it’s summer, but it’s not fall, but a lot of things we identify with summer are going, specifically the summer abundance: the abundance of heat, the abundance of sunshine, the abundance of fruit, the abundance of bugs, of sweat, of celebratory activities, festivals, etc — all this frenzied stuff of summer. The beach will grow colder and quieter, the nights will come sooner and bring with them the coolness, school will start and so will all the bullshit that comes with school starting, like lower speed limits, people blocking the road to get into Starbucks to get their overpriced diarrhea shakes, and the weekdays growing quieter as the sound of children is gone.

There will still be thunderstorms though. There will still be sunshine and warm days. There is still fruit: in fact, this last decan of Leo is when the grapes come in, and the party is about get started because autumn is also a time of abundance, just in a quieter, more thoughtful way.

I figured out something this year: having A/C means my loud neighbor won’t be on her porch blathering about her stupid job for the entire neighborhood to hear. I have inadvertently won the noise way, and now I can work from home in peace even though that too is coming to an end.

The forecast

Venus is in early Leo, and I dig it. When the Sun is in early Leo, it makes a weird grand trine with my natal Sun and Moon and that’s a lot of drama, but Venus is subtle. It’s a like a glow, a sort of essential perfume I get to wear, and it’s a good time for it because I’m seeking out my abundance in the less usual suspects. Venus is making that trine to Jupiter in Aries, so yes, this could make merriment easier or seem more abundant, it could be because you and others are simply too lazy or too self-interested to make a lot of work for other people. So yeah: it’s not only a good time to go on vacation, it’s a good time to chill if your work depends on a lot of those folks who are on vacation because sometimes you just need some downtime at work to do the very Mercury in Virgo business of catching up on stuff, organizing things, cleaning your desk, and focusing on what needs to be done right now.

And why right now? Because it’s not time for future things for most of us. Scorpio is for planning, and Sagittarius is for visions, Capricorn is for grand designs, Aquarius is for predictions, and Pisces is for blasting off into Lalaland, but Aries through Virgo is time for looking around you and figuring out what to do with what’s here, because the time for thinking about the next crop isn’t when you have a field in front of you ready for harvest.

Do you feel it?

So I basically hated that Mars/Uranus/North Node conjunction. It was perhaps the first time in a long time in which I experienced a full, unrelenting, unwarranted panic attack that lasted for days. And I knew there was nothing to panic about. The world was crazy. Driving was crazy. Shopping was crazy. But I wasn’t crazy, right? I was just a victim of circumstance? But what do you do when Uranus throws you a curve ball?

You make changes. You can try to tough out a Uranus transit, but what you’re supposed to do is make changes, and hopefully wise ones. I’m still caught in a grand square with the Sun, Saturn, and Uranus in the fixed signs, and this will affect my thinking and particularly the way I approach transformation, so I have to change.

I let go of processed foods. I let go of a lot of plant foods. I let go of mind-altering substances. I even let go of coffee. I am letting go of artificial light after dark. No TV (once Better Call Saul is over, which is tomorrow night…sigh…if you’re interested in a television show that actually depicts law practice as it is, watch that show). I am letting go of my sunglasses so I can see the sunshine. I am going for walks every day, and at least once a week, I find a way to be completely immersed in nature, and for Cook County’s many forest preserves, I am grateful, because sometimes all you need is a walk along a river in a forest.

And sometimes, you just need time to focus on what works for you and not what works for the rest of the world. And for that reason I am thankful that smaller, higher brows are coming back into style because incidentally, that’s what I have, but big brows don’t work on deep set eyes. But the more I casually surf for articles on attractiveness, facial harmony and sexual dimorphism, the more I come away with the idea that it might not matter much overall – you can find many articles citing one study or another study, some including you in the desirable category, others excluding you. But what I always come back to is that a lot of whether someone finds you attractive or finds your looks pleasing or not has a lot to do with what they see in the mirror.

North Node in Taurus, Venus in Leo: take care of yourself

In the end though, the bottom line is health, and not in a Virgo way, which is finding the problem, isolating the problem, and solving the problem, or Scorpio, which is healing, but a continued vitality with the promise of fertility — that’s Taurean strength, the attractiveness that one possesses because it’s the part within one’s control and can be preserved if it’s made a priority. Taurus is the sign I would associate the most with indulgent self-care: while Libra can be vain and likes to be pleasing to look at, it’s not necessarily with the same toil that Taurus can put forth. Who will stick to that diet and exercise routine, provided they actually start? Who will not only invest in skincare, but go through the ritual daily? Who will make sure they get their 8 hours of sleep?

When the North Node in Taurus squares Venus on August 25th, remember that nothing happens overnight. You may actually find that you’re annoyed with things that get in the way of your self-care routine or your ability to relax and enjoy yourself, whether it’s having to work on the weekend to having a too-tight pair of jeans. However, the frustration may be with the world in general – if you live in a country where the emphasis is more on trends and less on natural beauty, you might just let Uranus lead the way, say Fuck it, and shave your brows off entirely.

But do you want my actual advice that is not at all me saying “do whatever the fuck you want” again?

Avoid social media next week. Just ignore it until September 1st. By then, Venus will have transited out the square with Uranus and the North Node. Even if you’re the type who is normally impervious to seeing facetuned upperclass teens hawking overpriced chemical goo claiming to fix all your acne problems so you don’t have to change anything about your lifestyle or diet to cut it off at the source, it’s a good idea to not indulge. Influencers obviously exist outside of your phone, but they don’t have to occupy space in your mind if you don’t look. With the Sun entering Virgo, it will be easier to scrutinize what you see, but more exhausting because it’s just crap, a lot of crap you don’t need, but that’s the beauty of the Earth signs: Taurus gathers, Virgo sorts, and Capricorn discards what has no purpose.

Starting this week, try a social media cleanse. Just look at it less and less for the next couple weeks, and when you can orient your attention toward yourself and your own experience again, it will feel like coming home to a long lost friend that you can just be yourself with — and that is one of the Taurus gifts and Leo shadows: the ability to be still only with yourself in the real world.

Try it. It’s a beautiful world out there, and there’s some summertime left to enjoy.