Astrology Hot Zones for August 2004 - Saturn Yods and Productive Crosscurrents

by Robert Wilkinson

To follow up on some previous postings, crosscurrents this month occur mainly from all the oppositions, which continue to polarize some things while fracturing others. This month Venus finishes traversing the "Yod" span that Mars activated early June and the Sun vitalized in July. We've now been squeezed into a narrower focus, having had to sacrifice everything we can't take into our new duties and sense of purpose.

This time of "expansion through sacrifice" was illuminated and vitalized the first half of July, so reflect on how you adjusted, shifted focus, released whatever you had to, and materialized the spiritual in a way relevant to your life and purpose. The first three weeks of August finishes the activation of the powerful Saturn-Pluto leg of the Yod, or "Finger of God" set into motion December 2003 by Saturn‘s quincunx to Neptune. Through August we are all definitely in the hot zone for multiple sacrifices with maximum productivity, so try to see that every way you’re being forced to adjust or let go is squeezing you into a clearer focus around your higher purpose.

With Venus, the last of the inner planets doing its conjunction with Saturn, we should be very clear about what works for us, and which obligations and responsibilities left over from last year's cycles are toast. We all experienced a sense of division and splitting in July, along with finality and productivity. This month continues that vibe, with more of a sense of the coming adventure later in the month.

Heavily aspected periods during the first half of July include the July 30th Blue Full Moon conjunct Neptune, always bringing dreams come true for some, and fogs and mists of misunderstanding for others. This will influence the first half of August, bringing the focus on launching a vision, or new way of life and being. This was awakened in 1999-2000, set in Divine Mind Spring 2001, and set as a pattern affecting all of us by early 2002.

The primary rough waters in August involve the oppositions between Mercury and Uranus, with Mars and the Sun opposing Uranus beginning the middle of August. The Mercury aspects challenge us all to bring our pioneering instincts into practical focus, move from merely anticipating what’s coming into accomplishing whatever is needed to ground the new revolution in our lives, and synthesize the many into the whole. Usually this would indicate a time of people being high strung, nervous, wired, explosive, or trying to find ways to express their uniqueness or genius. It is a time when innovative ideas will arise. Just make sure they’re practical, and the details are taken into account.

Mars opposition Uranus followed by the Sun indicates a need to act on our higher law, showing our dedication and special talents, taking nothing for granted, not pushing when hanging back a little would do the trick, and finding channels for our best self expression. We will be challenged to demonstrate our sticktoitiveness, being alert to shifting implications of what’s happening, and bringing our long range higher self into concrete practical manifestation. Especially the last 10 days of the month, find your inner values which life will accept and reward, make no alibis when action is required, develop your social intuition, and be wholehearted in pursuing the goals that are meaningful to you personally.

As with last month, any sense of doubt is probably just a mental habit of distractibility. Don't allow your own or other’s skepticism to blow things out of proportion. If you've been practicing how to resolve the Gemini-Sagittarius opposing forces in your life, this increases the momentum of breaking free from old things and people who kept you at odds with yourself, or divided you from your inner power.

As a result of the Venus opposition Pluto from mid-April to late July, we had to eliminate obsessive-compulsive people from our lives, and let go of that which we no longer valued or could not hold on to. We went through the retrograde period of reviewing and reworking our values and relationships in May-June. We moved out of the instinctual into a more objective point of view, and saw how to get out of "the woods," moving toward a more sophisticated way of relating to others, as well as ideas. Now it's time to play!

© Copyright 2006 Robert Wilkinson. Last update: 8/27/2006; 10:50:53 AM.