℞ Mercury is Retrograde from July 18th to August 11th

July 27th/The week ahead: New Mars. Mars enters Virgo this Monday (28th), this shifts our energy towards these matters. We are more prone towards nitpicking, focusing on details and towards engaging in arguments or discussions. Mars will be in Virgo until September 13th. The week can be colored by this change in mood, with people acting more finicky and argumentative now.

July 27th: Mars is about to change signs, so today we can feel more tired than usual. It is a nice day to take things slowly.

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August 2025 in Astrology

Figuring out what a month is all about is the root of making these predictions and, frankly, one of the most fun parts of the process to me. Looking at August, I see quintessentially a time of information warfare.

We end July with Mars entering the sign of Virgo, Mars here fights with words and information. But along for the ride, Mars will make a series of aspects in the early days of August. First, a trine to Uranus, then an opposition to Saturn and Neptune, followed by another exact trine to Pluto.

Mars will trigger all of these planets, bringing to life their respective aspects and trends.

With Saturn-Neptune, we are fast approaching a year since I’ve started discussing it, I published my text about it last September. As mentioned multiple times, this aspect promotes a moment of cultural change in the world, with some old things being outcast in favor of new trends. It also promotes hard truths coming out into the public, as well as taboos being broken or discussed. We’ve seen this through these early months of 2025, and this trend will continue.

On Uranus and Pluto, both planets are trining each other right now, so Mars will form a grand trine with them in early August. With the earth signs in emphasis on this grand trine, we will see much in regards to the economy and the stable aspects of life.

Great announcements can happen now, as well as major ups and downs. I tend to believe that early August could be a time of economic conflict, and maybe trouble, but it will mostly deal with fluctuations. Long term, much will tend to fade away. I say this based on Mercury retrograde happening alongside these other transits.

Another Uranus-Pluto-Mars thing can deal with institutions and established bodies/councils around the world. Blockages, restrictions and reforms could be triggered now, specially by conflict or strong declarations.

Events in August 2025

  • 28/07/2025 10:30 Mars in Virgo
  • 08/08/2025 22:52 Mars Opposing Saturn 07°07’16” Virgo 07°07’16” Pisces R
  • 09/08/2025 03:55 Full Moon in Shravana 22°46’57” Capricorn
  • 09/08/2025 18:13 Mars Opposing Neptune 07°37’31” Virgo 07°37’31” Pisces R
  • 11/08/2025 03:30 Mercury direct 10°02’00” Cancer
    • 18/07/2025 00:44 Mercury retrograde 21°21’37” Cancer
  • 16/08/2025 16:23 Sun in Leo
  • 20/08/2025 15:50 Venus in Cancer
  • 23/08/2025 02:07 New Moon in Magha 06°10’00” Leo
  • 24/08/2025 03:15 Sun Square Uranus 07°10’36” Leo 07°10’36” Taurus
  • 28/08/2025 20:15 Uranus Sextile Neptune 07°13’07” Tau 07°13’07” Pis R
  • 30/08/2025 07:16 Mercury in Leo

Mercury is the fly in the soup of August, to make a somewhat gross analogy. Mercury starts the month retrograde, turning direct on August 11th. As such, it will tend to trigger many reversals to world matters started during the retrograde period.

We will tend to see new information coming up, circumstances changing, and reversals happening because of this.

The Full Moon this month happens in Shravana nakshatra, which relates to listening, getting information and discovering things. It perfectly matches the themes of Mars in Virgo and Mercury being retrograde. Which is why I see August being all about information coming out and triggering conflict.

Specially in the days around the Full Moon, information can come out and cause shock.

The New Moon this month happens on Magha nakshatra, which relates a lot to power and great institutions. But the most interesting point of this New Moon will be a Yod, formed between the New Moon and Pluto, Saturn and Neptune.

A Yod basically deals with two planets forming a sextile (about 3/11 signs apart) to each other, all while forming a quincunx (about 6/8 signs apart) to another planet.

In our case, the Sun and Moon at 6° Leo will be quincunx to Pluto at 7° Capricorn and Saturn at 6° Pisces, and also Neptune at 7° Pisces.

The Yod is know as the finger of destiny and it relates to chaotic situations coming into play. As such, the end of August can be a time of great tension and conflict.

Funny enough, the month will start and end with the same points being triggered, first by Mars and later on by the New Moon. To me, this points to a time of conflict and revelations. The main thing I see deals with information coming out, things being revealed and overall intellectual conflict. But I wouldn’t rule out violence and physical conflict in some parts of the world.


Summary

Mundane

Looking at August, the month will highlight two important aspects of 2025: the Saturn-Neptune conjunction and the Uranus-Pluto trine. The month will start with Mars in Virgo triggering them, and it will end with a New Moon in Leo doing the same.

With that in mind, August will tend to be a time of revelations, conflict, surprises and twists. Specially after Mercury turns direct, on the 11th, we will see many reversals in regards to previous declarations or actions. We can also see many fluctuations in the economy, specially early in the month, with panic causing temporary turns.

With Mars in Virgo, and other points of this month, I see a lot of conflict about information coming up in August. This can deal with leaks, hacks and information being pushed out in clandestine manners. Things coming out this August could cause shock and awe. We will also see conflicts between past and future, with old ways being put against new ideas, as well as generational conflict.

After August, September will either continue or intensify these current trends, as next month we will have the final Eclipses of 2025. These are likely to trigger more shake-ups as well.

Personal

Early in the month, we should remain mindful about communications and travel, as Mercury will be retrograde until the 11th. Mercury retro is no reason to panic, but remember to double check travel plans, luggage and any important messages you send out.

Mars triggering Uranus and Pluto will stimulate our desires for change. We could be craving bold statements or big turns in life. For some, August-September may be months of major change.

With change, we always have to be careful about making informed decisions, and not throwing the baby out with the bath water. And I believe this month is great for this. A lot right now deals with information, so discovering and exploring will help us make informed change and informed decisions.

Book Review: “The Nakshatras Illustrated” by Marc Boney

My opinion summarized: Don’t buy it.

I’ve never done a book review before, so pardon my french and any possible errors. Also, if you want me to do other book reviews or recommendations, please leave a comment below.

I must have read, at least, ten books by Marc Boney. His books are not really books, but collections of essays, which is akin to me just dumping some of my blog posts and calling it a book. Still, I tend to like his books. They are informative, fairly good and interesting. But this is not the case with this one.

The proposal of the book is illustrating the nakshatras through birth charts, and explaining their meanings and expressions. An excellent idea. But with a subpar execution.

For most of the book, he is just quoting other authors, then giving basic explanations that add nothing of value. It is like reading someone’s kindle notes, instead of an actual book. Considering that, on his introduction, he specifically mentioned his goal of adding “something original and of value to the existing literature“, it’s a complete failure.

What’s the point of reading a book that is mostly a patchwork of quotes? Just read the original books from where the quotes came from. That’s my opinion.

Another trend in the book is pivoting. He will write shortly about the nakshatra in question, then spend the rest of the time discussing anything else in the chart presented. Yogas, other placements, dashas, really anything else. Except the subject of the book, which was supposed to be about nakshatras.

On the Ardra chapter, his Taylor Swift section is the most glaring example of this trend. He spends multiple paragraphs discussing the chart, her life, a special yoga there, what he thinks of her; and then he comments on Ardra as shortly as possible.

He mentions the stormy nature of her relationships, and how that turned into gold and success through her music, a typical Ardra theme. Thank god! By that point I thought he wasn’t going to say anything about Ardra, by the sheer amount of pivoting and stalling involved.

But more can (and should) be said, if your proposal is discussing nakshatras:

  • Ardra deals with controversy. Taylor, as any massive celebrity, is no stranger to this; facing criticism and backlash. Her VMA’s episode with Kanye West was both an example of controversy, and the Ardra trend to turn tears into gold, as her career only rose after that event.
  • Ardra is witty, cutting, provocative and kinda sarcastic. Her style of writing, mocking her detractors or rivals illustrates that tendency.
  • Ardra deals with a strong sense of justice, and this can harbor a desire to “destroy” things or people they deem unfair. Her conflict with the industry, and powerful players, about her masters is a great example of this.

Through countless other examples, it feels as if nakshatras are just an excuse, as he talks mostly about other chart factors and interpretation points. It sounds like he didn’t know what else to say about nakshatras, so he went into his comfort zone, focusing on his knowledge of yogas and other factors.

In other instances, his examples are just kinda bland and boring. His Purva Bhadrapada chapter was that for me. I like my weird examples, and this nakshatra has a lot of them. Dozens and dozens of interesting, weird and bizarre stories. What did he choose? A movie star and some woman he watches on TV. Boring, I want to go home.


If you want a book on yogas and how to interpret a chart, this is an OK book. If you want a book on nakshatras, this is a bad book. He has the knowledge to back up an interesting book on interpretation, but that is not what he sold.

You can’t sell X, and deliver Y. If I randomly inserted a brownie recipe in this post, no matter how great my brownies are, it would be a bad post. I proposed a book review, I have to deliver a book review, not a brownie recipe.

Similarly, Boney proposed a nakshatra book, he delivered a collection of random interpretation points and yogas. It’s a bad book.

I wish he had named it “Secrets of the Nakshatras”, as it would align with my personal pet peeve about the word secrets always being followed by the most bland, cliché and common knowledge in astrology.

Anyway, I want my money back.

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