Auspicious August?

Capricorn

The question, as always, is how much of a burden you are prepared to shoulder and to what end. The march of the Goat’s planet, Saturn, across the roof of your horoscope, makes the nature of your professional quest an all-consuming question this autumn. You are certainly in a position to make your mark, and if you are still on the foothills of Mount Capricorn, then the next six months is a time to throw all your energies into The Job and emerge triumphant at a new peak.

On the flip side – and even Saturn has a flip side – comes the question of whether all the outward status and success for which you strive amount to what your fellow Cap Humphrey Bogart once termed ‘a hill of beans’. When, in short, does your hunger for public approbation become oppressive?

It’s a question you alone can answer. At least you have Jupiter, ‘the greater fortune’ to help you decide. The large and ‘lucky’ planet remains in spiffing position for you, favouring you not as grim career politician but expansive lover and bon-viveur. That particular role becomes almost irresistible in the last week of August, when Venus and next month’s new Moon complete a triangle of earth signs. You look like a world-beater then.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First there is the annoying matter of Mercury retrograde to contemplate – helpful to you principally as a time to re-examine finances, and go into your wall safe to ensure your portfolio of bonds and real estate investments is paying off. Since today’s new Moon makes strong contact with the root of your ‘scope, domestic issues and home security are up for a review.

Relations with principal players – spouses, lovers, business partners, ex’s, enemies – have been tested (perhaps not so sorely) over the last month. Six weeks of Mars in opposition, beginning on the 4th, is no recipe for smooth relationship sailing, but you can get issues out in the open and strike the correct balance with whichever other half is in question. It might be an idea to tread warily around the 10th/11th however, when it would be easy to overestimate your power or to use it inappropriately. Your ability to keep everyone happy is undervalued by others (it’s one reason you carry that professional burden – to be godfather or mother) but at mid-month it’s likely to be tested.

The month of Virgo, opening on the23rd, oils your wheels and enhances contacts with far-flung places and people. Away you go!

Lucky Days: 1, 2, 9, 10, 29

Yucky Days: 3, 4, 17, 18, 25

Fashion Icon: Kate Moss

Colour: Navy

August is a month of extremes. For starters, there is another Mercury Retrograde arriving on the second day of the month, stirring up trouble in all matters of communication through the end of summer. You’ll feel the chaos at first in your travel zone, until Mercury backs into your sector of resources and transformation on the 8th. Your inherent organization will pay off in spades this month, while everyone else loses their mind from the chaos. The Full Moon on 13 August takes place in your money sector, and it can bring unexpected expenditures, so don’t panic if your bank balance suddenly seems to dwindle. You’ll replenish it in no time because that’s just how you roll, Capricorn. The Sun and Venus move into your travel sector during the final days of August. You’re better off waiting until Mercury goes direct on 26 August before booking any extended or complex itineraries that the Mercury Retrograde could botch. The New Moon on 28 August is the best time of year to plan your travel plans for the next six months.

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Duly July....

Capricorn

Making progress? Since the month of Cancer, your opposite sign, marks the halfway point between birthdays, today’s new Moon is an apposite moment to assess whether your Grand Plan (all Capricororns have one) is on schedule. With the Sun in opposition until the 23rd, you are likely not at your most empowered – run down and in need of a holiday is more likely. Plus even a minor eclipse like today’s throws an element of uncertainty into any equation, especially one involving your beloved other half or tennis partner.

July’s is, though, a chequered planetary picture. Saturn, only now starting to inch forward (from our point of view on planet Earth) asks you to be clear about the next six months of your professional schemes, since almost all of you, and certainly January birthdays, will be feel the pressure to move up a gear and/or cope with the machinations of power-crazed bureaucrats. Those of you born around new year’s eve are those being leant on most heavily in July, and with the same birthdays also in firing line of the eclipse, it could mean quite a shake-up.

For all of you, the full Moon in your skies on the 14th and 15th should make the deal involving both job and partner/ex that much clearer. This isn’t the moment for rash decisions (not that Goats make too many of those) as emotions invariably run high with full Moons, but it does mark a high tide in your affairs, a point where you know exactly what or who you are up against.

Though there is an element of adversarial politics in these stars, there is also support and enticement. The presence of Jupiter and Venus in the relationship zones of your ‘scope is positive news for singletons, who may wish to break the ‘no rash decisions’ rule and jump into a romance. At the least you have relationship options. Those of you already in tandem are granted the opportunity to enrich your association, perhaps by pursuing a new mutual interest, via pregnancy/children, or by a romantic gesture.

The chance to make money, a subject dear to Capricorn hearts (if only because you tend to be surrogate banker round these parts), is also on the cards. The alignment between Jupiter and Pluto (both money planets) on the 7th is one signal. Mercury spending two and a half months in your resources zone is another – that the messenger planet goes backwards in August makes July the time to set affairs in place, August the time to tweak them.

Lucky Days: 4, 5, 13, 14, 24

Yucky Days: 6, 7, 20, 21, 29

Fashion Icon: Sienna Miller

Colour: Tiffany Blue

July is one of the most dramatic months of the year by far. On 1 July, the New Moon Solar eclipse in your opposite sign of Cancer amplifies relationship issues. Whatever comes to light now remains in effect for the next six months. All of the questioning and deliberation about whether to stay or go will reach a fever pitch this month, and you'll be forced to make some heavy life decisions once and for all. When Uranus goes retrograde on 9 July, expect a slowdown in your domestic world. And to add more fuel to the emotional fire, the Full Moon on 15 July is in Capricorn. This is sure to bring dramatic closure to all unfinished business that you may have conveniently tucked away or compartmentalised. Mars activates your work sector all month long, making it difficult to remember it's summer and the living should be easy. You'll finally get a little playful reprieve at the end of the month on the New Moon in Leo on 30 July. Let this sexy New Moon set the tone for an amazing August and fabulous fall.

Your July Monthly Forecast: Most of us are good at talking. Few of us, though, are quite so skilled in the art of listening. There are times when we simply cannot hear what we are being told. We are too wrapped-up in our emotions and opinions - our passions and our prejudices. When, though, we can find some way to go beyond these, and to pay close attention to the people near us, we can make the most amazing and potentially profitable discoveries. In July, someone wants to let you know something. Ask the universe for what you want and you could actually get it.