Welcome to the sweet sweat of August my babies and the lion’s heart of Leo season.

The month kicks off with a full Sturgeon supermoon in Aquarius on August 1, giving us all the space cowboy objectivity we need to navigate the romantic unruliness of this Venus retrograde and to stand firmly in our own weird, prioritizing radical individuation over clamoring adoration.

In addition to Venus backpedaling in Leo we have four additional planets beginning or continuing their retrograde this month including communicative Mercury, strict daddy Saturn, doom and gloom Pluto, and fast and loose like lightning Uranus.

The new moon in Leo on August 16 is an auspicious time to circle up your lion pride and speak aloud your wildest wants. Saying it is the first step in making it and being surrounded by a community of hype offers both affirmation and accountability.

In terms of the body and in relationship to strength, Leo rules the heart as well as the spine, a helpful metaphor for standing tall and speaking up as we continue to examine our understanding of wealth and worth and our roles in romantic relationships. Leo reminds us that we both have enough, are enough and always deserve more.

August 23 marks the onset of Virgo season (hallowed by thy name) and the beginning of Mercury retrograde. Mercury will be backspinning in its home sign of Virgo until September 15, again, there is no celestial malevolence at play here, rather an opportunity to reflect and fine tune. Virgo teaches us that right is better than fast, a second edit warrants first place and it behooves us not to be punishing perfectionist but prepared pragmatics.

We are blue moon blessed this month my babies, with a second full supermoon in Pisces beaming on and closing out the month on August 30.

Your August 2023 horoscopes can be found below, read for both your sun and rising sign. Shine on, ask for what you want, take no s–t, fear no man and pattern yourself after the apex predator that rules and roars with magnanimous distinction.

This month, Mars, your ruling planet is marching forward and well aspected in Virgo, the sign of of ritual refinement. Mars gets a bad wrap for being hot blooded; picking fights, starting fires and stealing cars. Yet, in the sign of Virgo, Mars is offered the directive to serve and shape. At its worst Mars in this mutable sign starts wars over trivial details or burns out when plans fail but at its best, it can operate like a blessed blacksmith, applying firepower to pure purpose. Forge your weapons carefully, Aries.

In terms of the body and in relationship to strength, Leo rules the heart but also the spine.

This Venus retrograde has been particularly hard hitting for Venus ruled Taurus as it moves through the fourth house of home calling you to question who, what and where makes you feel safe and nourished. Resist an overhaul of your face or space during this transit and instead opt to renovate the unfinished basement of your ancestral traumas and childhood triggers. Metaphorically replace the foundation, install a skylight, plant a Peace Lily and marvel at how your demons tame and lions quietwhen given the attention, sunlight and fresh air they’ve been asking for,

Mercury, your ruling planet is going retrograde in detail oriented Virgo this month, Gemini. During retrogrades we do well to do like the planet in question and slow our proverbial rolls, take our time and take stock of how information and exchange define and affect us.

Hot take; not knowing it all doesn’t make you inferior, it positions you to operate as both teacher and student, sage and scribe and as the sign of duality, somewhere in the middle, between heaven and hell, trash and transcendence is just where you like it.

During the first phase of August, planetary energy is concentrated in your second house of self and substance, assets and aesthetics, Cancer. Venus retrograde invites you to dig deep into how you feel about the skin you are in and the money you make.

Self-respect is reflected not just in embodied confidence but earning potential. Reframe, refresh and replenish accordingly. Sure and shine yourself up in time for the full blue supermoon in Pisces on August 30. This lunation activates your ninth house of philosophy and higher learning; believe yourself capable and anything is possible.

Happy birthday to you lions! While the sun never sets on a Leo. it oft sets fire to you. Your solar return is bringing it; the full moon in Aquarius on August 1 is begging you to trade likability for authenticity and to shake from your mane anything and anyone that wants to keep you in a cage rather than on the stage you were born for. Edging towards the middle of the month, the sun and Venus in your sign form a square with wild out Uranus and more is more, extra gauc Jupiter in Taurus. This activation could send you sailing into uncharted territories; swim towards the strange, buoyed by the belief that change is good and you are built for breakthrough

You’ve got both Mercury, your planetary ruler and Mars, planet of will and war in your sign this month, Virgo. This double teaming is an intense one; Mercury is cerebral and Mars confrontational but it is possible, and wildly beneficial to marry and manage the power of both. How can you be both bold and tactful? Where can you take a stand and can you steady yourself with eloquent evidence that supports your position and your demands. You don’t have to go to war in order to win.

You have a hard time drawing a hard line, Libra and with Venus, your ruling planet taking its sweet a– time retrograding through Leo you could be struggling more than ever to determine the shape of your desire or the quality of your relationships. Clarity comes correct and lion hearted with the Leo new moon on August 16, helping you intuit and identify anything; a lover, a social engagement, a purchase or a job that doesn’t register as a strong “f–k yes” in your central nervous system. If it ain’t lighting you up it’s keeping you down, baby.

There’s a bit of a calamitous energy for you in August, Scorpio. All signs and stars are pointing towards vocation and career but with Venus retrograding through your tenth house of legacy the focus is not only on how you can make more but on how you can invest in yourself more fully. Long game versus cash grab. As a fixed sign, I don’t have to remind you not to settle but I can gently suggest that you hold on to or hold out for the kind of position that brings you peace of mind and plenty of coin.

It’s a push and pull for you this month Sagittarius between ambition and foundation, the fourth house of home and the tenth house of vocation. To quote a cringe-worthy angel statuette in my mother’s bathroom, “to succeed you must have roots and wings.” To this end,stay tethered and stay dreaming, archers. What holds you down isn’t trying to hold you back.

Normally a staunch strategist, the heart forward, now means now, kid energy of Leo season may have you feeling foot loose and fancy free, Capricorn; calling in sick to work to go skinny dipping and getting extra sprinkles on your twist cone. We love to see it. There’s a dense concentration of planetary energy in your ninth house of travel, expansion, higher learning and highest calling this months. An impulse trip to a far away land or a silent wilderness retreat may be just the disruptive vantage you need to see yourself clearly and set your next course accordingly.

The sun shining and Venus retrograding through your opposite sign of Leo may have you feeling more hot and bothered than you’re comfortable with Aquarius. This may manifest as an increase in libido and/or temper flare ups, think uncharacteristic bursts of affection or dips into the depths of petulance. Enjoy the ride, tone down the tantrums and ready the lube.

Astrology 101: Your guide to the stars

Themes for you this month Pisces are rituals and relationships. The sun in Leo shines through your sixth house of health and habits, heralding a time to ground yourself in your physical form and take pride in the ways your body has carried you through space and time. Thank it out loud and with copious cups of lemon water. When the sun moves into your opposite sign of Virgo, your seventh house of partnership is highlighted. Whether its chores or the challenges of romantic relationships, few but you possess the power to transform the mundane to the mystical.

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.