Your August 2025 horoscope has arrived. When it rains, it pours, and sometimes that means good things and not-so-good things all at once. This August, we get to play in the extremes of life. There are tough challenges arriving with the Mars-Saturn opposition on August 8, and there are sweet blessings foretold by the Venus-Jupiter conjunction on August 12. It’s probably one of those things where the bad spoils some of the good, but the good makes the bad less bad. Maybe you couldn’t have had it any other way. There are some views you can’t enjoy without scraping your knees on the way up. Hopefully it’s all worth it at the end of the day?
All of this is going on while Mercury is finishing up its retrograde in Leo during the first half of the month, so yes, this is part of the troubleshooting process, and yes, it’s not hard to imagine a travel snafu in these circumstances. If you’re going somewhere during the first week of August, you might need extra patience to deal with roadblocks and dead ends as they arise, and to not excessively focus on your disappointment. Venus’ square to Saturn and Neptune on August 1 looks especially deflating from an enjoyment perspective, but fortunately that mood doesn’t linger for too long. By August 11, Mercury stations direct, and then Venus and Jupiter meet the next day, so things will start to look up again, and who knows—maybe you’ll be rewarded for venturing within the place that initially gave you bad vibes?
A lot of this probably boils down to whether we feel welcomed and where. What starts as a sort of cold reception at the start of the month eventually leads us to a place where we feel embraced as family. And sure, it matters how we communicate our needs—indirectness could certainly make things messier or harder than they need to be. But when you’re in a place where you’re not fluent in the language or the cultural codes, it’s much harder to be seen in your full expression. When all is said and done, your work this month might be to chip away at the things that deny you the level of connection you’re seeking, or to simply avoid the places where you don’t feel welcome.
Astrologer's note: Below we refer to your signs as “rising” signs, also known as your ascendant sign. Horoscopes are more accurate when read this way—using your birth time and location, you can quickly find your rising sign online (it takes less than 30 seconds).
Aries Rising
It’s okay if life feels complicated right now. Interpersonal tension and relational breakdowns could be occurring because of what’s finally coming together for you in the realm of home, or they could be occurring in spite of it. You’re not the first person to deal with weird dynamics between your partner and your family, and you won’t be the last. Remember that moves and renovations can put stress on the most secure relationships, so you can be completely over the moon about your new sanctuary and simultaneously pissed at the person you’re creating it with. Truth be told, you probably haven’t felt like you’ve had much support since you’ve taken all of this on, but have you really asked? Like, spelled it out? You’re not wrong if you feel like you shouldn’t have to, but people aren’t mind readers, and expecting them to magically know what you need is the beginning of the path toward resentment.
Wherever there’s latent conflict in your life, it’ll peak between August 6 and 8, when Mars enters Libra and immediately runs into an opposition with Saturn. Try not to despair or throw in the towel if it feels like you’ve hit a standoff with no resolution, because the gridlock will start to ease up a bit from that point forward, and with Mercury stationing direct on August 11, communication issues will also probably start to untangle themselves towards the middle of the month. On or around August 12, your housewarming party brings all the guests to the yard, and you get to enjoy some of the fruits of those labors, so maybe the arguing will have to wait. More than anything, try to nip any passive-aggressive behavior in the bud, whether it’s coming from you or someone else. Indirectness will only make things harder to resolve.
The warm hug happening between Venus and Jupiter in your 4th house mid-month could also signal a different kind of homecoming, one that takes the shape of a family reunion or a gift coming down the ancestral pipeline. This is an abundant time for connecting to your heritage, to the land, or to a place you or your people once called home. If you’re fortunate enough to have a trip like that planned this month, it seems likely that you’ll feel the belonging there that you haven’t been getting from some of the key players in your life. Your roots are always there to hold you when you’re feeling misunderstood, and maybe that’s where it all needs to start.
Taurus Rising
Right now, you could probably use a reminder to not burn the candle at both ends, but you might be too busy this month to catch a break anyway. And for the most part, it’s the good kind of busy—but even destination bachelorette weekends, block parties, and jam sessions will wear you down if you’re neglecting key aspects of your self-care. There’s a lot to celebrate right now, but the catch is that you need your strength to show up for all of that. This won’t be an easy equation to balance in August either, especially if work is also piling on by the second. Your best advice? Take care of your obligations first so that they’re not hanging over your head, and try to delegate before things spiral into a crisis. True, that’s gonna require you to be upfront about your needs instead of passive aggressively cleaning the house. But with most of the challenging astrology happening right in the first week of August, preempting your own crash-out will help clear the way for you to enjoy yourself more in the remaining part of the month.
Your favorite part of August will probably occur in the lead-up to the Venus-Jupiter conjunction on August 12. There will be opportunities to gather with loved ones, voice notes gushing with sweet affirmations, and potlucks where the eating will be good. In general, your local sphere will be an abundant place to play and explore this month, so maybe this is your sign to be a tourist in your own backyard this August?
You might also be in the midst of drafting a brainchild that is near and dear to your heart—maybe writing a novella, or launching a podcast, or creating content that feels satisfying to bring into the world. If that’s the case, it would make sense that you’re feeling a little stressed with a big project on your plate. The full moon in Aquarius on August 9 is definitely pumping up the visibility factor for you, but you will be equally aware of what aspects of your work you’re feeling very over and done with.
On August 23, the new moon in Virgo kicks off a new creativity process for you—one that will ask you to show up with a radically different form of self-expression and bury the remaining dregs of shyness and humility that have kept you playing small. At the end of the day, this is about you cultivating the confidence to really go there and own what you’re all about—to, as they say, dance like no one’s watching.
Gemini Rising
There’s always a different way to get to where you’re going. Maybe your internal GPS system just needs a bit of patience while it’s recalculating its preferred route. As you make your way through the tail end of Mercury’s retrograde, a signal that got scrambled last month becomes clear again as Mercury stations direct on August 11. Maybe you’ve been reworking some material that you weren’t happy with initially—writing that needed a second pass, audio that needed to be rerecorded, ideas you nearly forgot about that were ready to be resurrected—or maybe you’ve been quite literally on a trip down memory lane, revisiting old haunts, conversations, and friendships that popped back into your life over the last couple weeks. The old can become new again, and a detour can become the new plan. With so much novelty to explore and potentially new options to consider, it makes sense that you may have needed a minute to pause and reconsider. Trust that you’re arriving right on time.
There are also some tense aspects and contradictions forming between Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in August. On one hand, you might be coming into some cash or acquiring other forms of riches and treasure in the days leading up to August 12 (maybe this is your sign to attend that estate sale?). On the other hand, there’s notable tension between the artist and the peanut gallery. Even if that material you’re remixing isn’t met with the warmest approval, it probably matters more that you create the thing that’s most authentic and most alive to you. Besides, maybe the integrity of your self-expression is the thing that’s going to be most lucrative for you at the end of the day. If you’re a parent or you work with kids, brace yourself for potential tantrums or acting out, particularly between August 6 and 8, when Mars and Saturn are marching into opposition.
On August 9, the full moon in Aquarius brings this standoff into even sharper relief. This lunation lands in your ninth house of philosophy, politics, knowledge, and travel. Wherever there’s tension arising in your world this month, it may be an opportunity to clarify what you believe and what kinds of principles you’re willing to stand by. You may also come to learn that one particular door is now closed to you, like a trip you were thinking about taking or an educational program you were considering. Given all the Mercury Retrograde weirdness, it wouldn’t exactly come as a surprise if you run into some travel issues or have to pivot in a new direction. The mandate of the month: do what you do best and remain flexible.
Cancer Rising
This month, you’re getting your motivational cues from the flowers that insist on flourishing through cracks in the cement. You’re an oyster forming pearls around the grains of sand that make their way into your shell, a diva that thrives best under pressure. With Venus and Jupiter forming a conjunction in Cancer on August 12, there’s a lot of sweetness that’s finally within reach, but it won’t come without significant strain either. Mars and Saturn oppose each other on August 8 in a tense T-square with Venus and Jupiter, creating the adversity that complicates the celebration. It’s a bit like throwing a wedding where part of your family doesn’t approve of the union, or having your personal life blow up a bit while you’re walking on stage to receive your Oscar. Even if you wish there were certain people who were celebrating this win with you, even if you’d rather certain things not suck the air out of the room while you’re taking your bows, don’t let anything rob you of the flowers you deserve.
The upside is maybe that the most difficult aspects of the month happen up front, with the first week of August being potentially the most upsetting to you personally. On August 1, Venus squares Saturn and Neptune, which can contribute to feelings of being rejected or unwanted, or like your public image is giving you dysmorphia. This is also the sort of thing that can make it harder to enjoy where you’re at, so maybe lower your expectations during those first few days so you can (hopefully) be pleasantly surprised by that trip you’re not that excited about. But fair warning, family drama is likely to peak between August 6 and 8, so if you’re traveling anywhere with the clan, keep your peacemaking skills (and your audiobook) ready for battle.
Between August 9 and 11, the full moon in Aquarius plus Mercury stationing direct in Leo help resolve a financial matter that’s been up in the air lately. If you’ve been in prolonged talks these past couple weeks about your compensation, expect a resolution sometime mid-month. There are probably certain aspects of your job description that are in the process of shifting, which will naturally implicate money matters as well. But this could also be a particularly satisfying time to do a closet cleanse or reorganize your belongings in some other way, and to donate the things you no longer need. Sometimes actively moving resource through the channels of reciprocity creates more momentum for abundance to reach you in new ways. It’s never a bad idea to lighten your luggage when you’re on the move.
Leo Rising
Life’s been serving you a whole lot of “hurry up and wait” this summer, but you will have your liftoff from the tarmac. It just won’t happen on your exact preferred timeline, or with your original itinerary intact. The big news for you this month is that Mercury stations direct in Leo on August 11, resolving the deliberation process of the last couple weeks and freeing you to move forward again after getting lost in your own labyrinth for a bit. But before that happens, there’s a Mars-Saturn opposition on August 8, which cancels one of your existing flight paths (or, at best, creates a massive frustration on a big travel day). This can be literal or metaphorical, just so you know. The first week of August might be an especially annoying time for you to be in transit. And also, keep an eye on the larger implications—the roadblocks that stand in your way as you try to get to where you want to be in life, the philosophical dead ends that make it harder for you to justify whatever it is you’ve been doing or thinking.
Maybe what’s holding you up is your own lack of decisiveness. You can’t always play by the rules or defer to authority—there is such a thing as asking for forgiveness, not permission. You could definitely make things needlessly complicated for yourself by tying yourself into rhetorical knots around why it’s okay for you to go for what you want. This is sort of like how it can actually be dangerous to drive too cautiously, to go too slowly on the highway, or to get overly gun shy about making that left turn in heavy traffic. Obviously you don’t want to be reckless, but moving with confidence is also part of being a safe driver. Can you own the part of you that knows exactly what you’re doing?
Right after Mercury’s direct station, Venus and Jupiter conjoin in Cancer on August 12. This is sort of like an affirming fairy godmother finding you in your sunken place, a silver lining within the crisis, a secret handshake with yourself that you’re going to have your own back even when no one else will. You might have to be the one to free yourself mentally before you can move forward, or give yourself the validation you can’t seem to get from anyone else right now. A weird, but maybe effective, question to ask yourself right now is: What are the good things I’ve gained because of my suffering?
Virgo Rising
Who knows how anything actually works, but let’s assume that healing is a spiral. Does it really make sense then to be beating yourself up about being “back here” again? It’s called a pattern for a reason, and pattern recognition can only happen with enough repetition. And if you’re willing to be fair to yourself for a second, there’s something different about the way you’re processing old material right now. Introspection hits different with the South Node in Virgo this year, and your ruling planet Mercury is currently retrograde in your twelfth house until August 11, which makes this an especially active time for your inner churning. It’s probably painful to be holding on to so much that’s gone unexpressed, but all those letters you never sent are living rent-free in your mind for a reason. If you’re not willing to let them see the light of day, burn them and be done with them.
Though there’s a lot you can accomplish here by simply escaping to the woods for a week, the first half of the month could also be an important time to check in on your wellbeing. There’s a full moon in Aquarius on August 9, which creates dynamic tension with Mercury’s direct station just two days later. New information could come to light mid-month regarding a health matter, or maybe a faulty diagnosis from your past will be corrected. Until it’s clear what this is about, assume it’s worth seeking a second opinion and doing your due diligence.
And yes, don’t worry, it gets much better for you in the second half of August—Mercury stations direct on August 11, and the new moon in Virgo on August 23 looks set to shake you out of your rut. But before that happens, you might also have some financial strain to contend with. Mars opposes Saturn on August 8, highlighting any real or perceived sense of lack that’s preventing you from moving forward. Money stuff may figure largely into the decisions you’re making right now, and it might be the sort of thing that forces your hand to do things a bit differently.
Maybe this is something you’re not meant to hold alone? There’s a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in your eleventh house on August 12, which is a sign that your community can raise you up this month. Even with some of the more challenging stuff that’s going on, there is something celebratory about this alignment, or at the very least, supportive. You might be enjoying some sort of shared victory, launching something to enthusiastic applause, or having an unexpectedly good time on a group trip (that maybe you overextended yourself financially for). If you need it, this might also be a good omen that a crowdfunding campaign can help you through this tight spot. You can get by with a little help from your friends.
Libra Rising
What they don’t always tell you about “making it” in the world is that your best work will probably stir up some polarizing reactions. Though the spotlight shines this month on your genius, it also intensifies any sort of latent oppositional energy that may have already been forming beneath the surface. Got a nemesis in your line of work who hates to see you coming? Expect some stink eye while you walk up to collect your flowers. Clashing with your business or romantic partner while you’re about to do your big one? Of course. Or maybe you’ll need to break a contract or let go of a major client in order to claim a win that’s at your fingertips, which surely everyone will not be happy about.
Your biggest lesson this month is probably to avoid getting overly tongue-tied in apologetics and to just go for what you want, but that might be easier said than done. On August 1, Venus squares Saturn, which brings your rejection sensitivity to a peak and intensifies any bad feelings you may be having around what this effort might cost you. On August 6, Mars enters Libra and immediately hits an opposition with Saturn on August 8, which is probably when direct conflict with others will be at its most acute. This is one of those crashes you can’t necessarily avoid, and will probably make worse if you try to go about things indirectly. Your task? Say what you mean with your whole chest, avoid second-guessing your own instincts, and don’t sacrifice your sanity for the sake of not hurting someone else’s feelings.
Things start to ease up around mid-month. Mercury stations direct on August 11, and then Venus and Jupiter conjoin in your eleventh house of public acclaim on August 12. Something you’ve been working on will be ready for its closeup around this time, or you might be receiving some positive attention for another reason. It will probably be obvious at this point why it mattered that you took the extra time to crowdsource people’s opinions, reconnect with friends you haven’t spoken to in awhile, or integrate your audience’s initial reaction. It could simply be that you changed your mind about who your work is actually for, and started creating for the people who love your authentic voice. You get to enjoy the praise that’s coming your way, even if it’s not completely unanimous.
With so much focus this month on your accomplishments, it does seem like that momentum will probably overshadow other aspects of your plans. Maybe you’re not traveling this month for leisure necessarily, but to speak at a conference or accept an award. Interpersonal conflict and miscommunication is more likely to mess with your trip than a flight delay during the first half of August, so try to be intentional about how you dialogue with others.
Scorpio Rising
You’re poised for a bit of an uphill climb this month, and also, it’s entirely possible that the view might be worth the extra trouble. Still, assume you’re operating on hard mode and adjust accordingly. With your ruling planet, Mars, spending most of the month in a compromised state (after it enters Libra on August 6), you, too, might feel as though you’re swimming against the current. Mars and Saturn will oppose each other on August 8 in two sectors of your chart that raise red flags for burnout, so this is your official heads up to take care of yourself in August. You might be more prone to illness and physical exhaustion, and this also raises the potential for some good old self-sabotage and excessive anxiety. Second-guessing your every move is a good way to ensure you won’t feel confident about any decision you make. At worst, you might get trapped in a mental jail of decision paralysis, spinning in circles and obsessing over the calculus of how to make everyone else happy but yourself. The full moon in Aquarius on August 9 emphasizes your home and family life, and potentially locates that call from within your own house.
And that view that might be worth the extra trouble? That’s thanks to Venus and Jupiter conjoining on August 12, creating an extra special experience for you on the road or in your studies. This is the sort of combination that could send you on the trip of a lifetime but also send you back to your hotel room while you battle out a case of traveler tummy. You might legitimately be celebrating a big educational milestone while you burn the candle at both ends, or maybe just running yourself ragged doing 22,000 steps a day trying to take in everything there is to see. And to be sure, you will probably love where you are in August—the people you meet will feel like old friends, and you will enjoy a sense of home away from home. Still, taking care of your mental and physical health should be your top priority right now, no matter how inspired you feel with the pulse of adventure.
Mercury also stations direct in your tenth house of career and visibility on August 11, concurrent with the Venus-Jupiter conjunction. If there’s research, scholarship, or some other kind of intellectual property you’re getting ready to publish, this will be your moment to finally release those revisions into the world, or at least make up your mind about the direction you want to take. On August 23, the new moon in Virgo lays a new foundation of being honored by your community and lifted up by the people in your orbit, so this is not the time to play small about what you bring to the table. For every hater who has something negative to say, you have 10 fans singing your praises. Do it for the people who love you back.
Sagittarius Rising
This month, you might be more focused on getting your bag than winning the entire world’s approval. And honestly, as long as you fly right by the standards of your own integrity, that’s probably the better move. With Mars spending most of August in your eleventh house of community and allies, it might be a losing battle trying to shoehorn a consensus out of everyone, and there might be more than the usual share of passive-aggressive grumbling coming from the peanut gallery. Around August 8 in particular, the futility of group harmony will feel insurmountable as Mars hits an opposition with Saturn, and you might have to find a way to move forward without it. Meanwhile, Venus and Jupiter are moving toward a conjunction on August 12, bestowing you with a generous dose of funding and/or less tangible forms of support from others. This could easily be one of those things where if you take what’s being offered to you, some people will have something to say about it. But then again, were they ever going to come through for you like that?
All of this is also happening alongside Mercury wrapping up its retrograde on August 11, plus a full moon in Aquarius on August 9 that potentially brings a writing project to completion, plus a new moon in Virgo on August 23 that helps you turn a bold new leaf professionally. If you’ve been working on any creative projects or academic undertakings, this is probably going to be an important milestone of a month for you, one that coincides with you submitting a proposal or clarifying your thesis in spite of the controversy it inspires. And yes, maybe there’s even some grant money in it for you too.
Mercury’s direct station on August 11 also untangles any travel itineraries that got knotted up during the retrograde of the prior couple weeks. You may have had to remain light on your feet as plans changed and pathways got rerouted, but hopefully you preferred the experience you actually ended up having? If you felt the call to revisit a place you’ve been before, to dig through your old mementos, or to re-conceptualize your entire travel philosophy, the time you took to do so was meaningful and important, even if it’s not immediately apparent why. Some journeys don’t take you from point A to point B—they just loop around through enormous stretches of time.
Capricorn Rising
The pressure is on this month, and that’s why it’s extra important that you avoid enduring things in silence. You probably have a partner in crime who is really in your corner right now, and willing to come through for you in ways you may not know how to ask for. But if you can ask for it, that would take some of the onus off others to psychically intuit what you need.
Much of what you’ll find stressful about this month is described by Mars opposing Saturn, which peaks in intensity on August 8. It might feel like there’s pressure coming from multiple directions, with job demands piling on top of family obligations, or the weight of parental disapproval stressing you on the path to individuation. It’s one of those times when you’re gonna do what needs to be done, but you can definitely make it harder on yourself by caring too much about what everyone thinks. Rather than hyper focus on why you feel like nothing you do will ever be good enough, notice who’s by your side and ask them for a more loving and accurate reflection of who you are. The Venus-Jupiter conjunction on August 12 delivers a warm hug in the form of shared celebrations and close relationships that uplift you—and maybe a reminder to save your smiles for the people who matter most.
It seems like some of that work-related stress could also involve some financial considerations, like where to reallocate parts of the budget or how to source your funding if any recent curveballs threw that into question. The way forward will be made more clear after the August 9 full moon in Aquarius and Mercury’s station direct on August 11, so if you’re reading this in early August and wondering how you’re going to make sense of this equation, give it at least a week.
And in general, things do start to ease up from that point forward. Certainly with your money situation in flux during the first half of August, it might be better to wait until mid-month to make any important purchases or plunk down any deposits. There’s also a new moon in Virgo on August 23 that opens up some interesting new directions you can take with your studies, research, and travels, so it might be worth waiting to commit to any future trips until you’ve fully sensed the lay of the land. What emerges out of this moment might be more exciting than whatever you previously had planned.
Aquarius Rising
Things are feeling particularly climactic for you right now, and maybe you’re not yet at the point where you can appreciate the silver linings because the obstacle is loudly demanding to be dealt with. It’s one thing to understand intellectually that rejection is protection, but for now, there’s still the matter of deciding where to go from here. The path forward is likely unclear at best. This isn’t going to be one of those things where the detour is clearly marked with neon flashing lights, and that’s probably because you’re not going where lots of people have gone before. Part of the burden of being a trailblazer is that there isn’t going to be anyone up ahead of you to tell you what to expect, so don’t get too hung up on the reality of what it means to be making it up as you go along.
Things will feel particularly crunchy during the second week of August for you (especially between August 6 and 11). Mars will enter Libra and quickly hit an opposition with your ruling planet Saturn on August 8 just as the full moon in Aquarius is popping off on August 9. Then, on August 11, Mercury stations direct in Leo, your opposite sign of relating and partnerships. In plain English, you might be running into a dead end or significant frustration that will have big implications for your life, particularly when it comes to your intellectual, academic, spiritual, or travel-related pursuits. And this is likely coming at the conclusion of a long back-and-forth you’ve been having with someone else, one that may have involved a misunderstanding or someone changing their mind or a contract being renegotiated. Needless to say, this could be a challenging time to be in another country or to communicate easily with others, but this could just as easily look like getting news that some future travel you were looking forward to won’t be possible.
Rather than focus exclusively on the doors that are currently closed to you, try to see this as information that you can use. Besides, everything isn’t terrible—Venus and Jupiter conjoin on August 12 as some of the more difficult astrology starts to wane, and this signals some potentially positive news for your wellbeing, like better work-life balance or a cozy co-working situation or a pet to melt your heart. Even if all is not going entirely according to plan, you’re probably part of a good team you can commiserate with, or maybe this alternative plan will be better for your health in the long run. Don’t make your Ls bigger in your mind than your Ws.
Pisces Rising
Right now, there’s very little that’s capable of derailing your joy train, but money stress could definitely be the dark cloud getting in the way of an otherwise picture-perfect day. Mars and Saturn opposing each other in your financial houses on August 8 spell out the potential for credit issues, loans being denied, or other kinds of assets being generally difficult to access at the moment. Will that stop you from relishing the abundance life is offering you in less tangible ways? Probably not entirely, but you’re still a person and you still need to eat, as much as you wish you could subsist on good vibes alone. It might be that what’s needed currently is some flexibility and quick thinking regarding your work situation, which thankfully is supported by Mercury wrapping up its retrograde on August 11. If you’re in the middle of a job transition, things should start to stabilize after mid-month, but this could also be indicative of you changing things around in terms of your schedule, workload, the types of services you offer, etc. Where there’s an obstacle, there’s also a way around it.
As for the abundance, Venus and Jupiter conjoining in your fifth house on August 12 brings the kind of sweetness you won’t mind relishing, a cherry on top of the sundae you’ve been enjoying these past couple months. Though this moment could come and go as simply a time of peak enjoyment, this could be an especially fertile time for your creative projects, your love life, your social calendar, or your play dates with the kids. You might be living it up at the club or reliving your own childhood through the kids’ first Disney World vacation. You might have more space in your life to pour into your hobbies, and maybe you have so much creative energy and inspiration you don’t know where to put it all. Maybe all the good times are what led to the budget shortfall in the first place, or maybe there’s a financial opening within the creative opening too. You will find whatever it is you need at the crossroads of all this tension.
Having lots of fun while your wallet suffers is also the kind of combination that points to potentially being on a trip this month, but that might be a good sign that at least you’ll be enjoying yourself and feeling the romance. Speaking of which, there’s a new moon in Virgo on August 23, which sets off a new train of events in your partnership house while this love spell is occurring. Whether you’re committed or single, this could be the beginning of a wildly new patterning around relationships for you, a way of breaking your own mold and elevating your standards. Your bliss sets the bar, not the other way around.
Enjoyed your August 2025 horoscope? Look back on July 2025's horoscope to see how things lined up.