August brings a flooding.

There’s a transit happening in August that I have been keeping my eye on—Mars will conjoin with Jupiter in Gemini. This conjunction will become exact around August 16th but has already been happening since Mars entered Gemini in July.

This August will be the nineteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The nineteenth anniversary of an event is especially significant in astrology because we get the same eclipses every nineteen years. I know that we don’t tend to associate flooding with Gemini because Gemini is an air sign. However, I don’t always read the elements in western astrology as literal manifestations of that element in nature.

Jupiter is a planet that brings bigness. Jupiter’s transits through a sign can feel like a flooding—of information, of happenings, of winds and movement and literal water. Jupiter is the planet of storms. The planet that Jupiter is most agitated by is Mars. If you don’t believe me, just read some mythology. Zeus fucking hates Ares.



In Chinese astrology, August is Metal Monkey month. The year is still Wood Dragon. August brings more water energy—flood energy. Water, in Chinese astrology, is Mercury which is called the Water Planet.

August 2024 is like a flooding. Things are happening! Overwhelm! When we are flooded, we can’t focus. We also can’t lose focus. When I think of flooding, I think of actual floods. I also think of people flooding the streets. I think about informational flows. I think about spectacle and distraction. I think about illness.

The flu season is supposed to be really bad this year. COVID is spreading a lot. That’s a flood that’s already happening and has been accelerating since Mars entered Gemini. Mars tends to conjoin with Jupiter every two years or so. The last time Mars transited Jupiter, monkeypox was spreading in New York. That was May of 2022. The time before that, COVID hit New York. That was mid March of 2020. Before that, Mars conjoined Jupiter in January of 2018 which coincided with the Lassa fever outbreak.

I don’t usually like to make predictions because I don’t like to fearmonger but I also don’t think that this is new information for any of us. Mars is already in Gemini and approaching Jupiter. COVID is spreading strong. Walgreens is testing between 40% positivity at the time of my writing this. Be aware, wear a mask, and communicate. Honor everything you learned from every Mars-Jupiter conjunction through your life and honor what we learned from Katrina nineteen years ago.

The other way of interpreting the Mars-Jupiter conjunction in August is through the lens of friendship. Jupiter is the planet of big storms but also big groups. When the storms hit, we take care of each other. Mars is transiting Jupiter in Gemini this year, the planet of communication. In August, we get a Mercury retrograde from Virgo through to Leo. It just so happens that, around the time our Mars-Jupiter conjunction goes exact, Mercury also re-enters Leo.

The question that I want you to focus on in August is—what big conversations do you need to have with your friends?

I have some big conversations that are top of mind for myself. I need to talk about the role of Chinese diaspora in both maintaining and trying to break neoliberalism. I need to talk about how masks are manufactured. I need to talk about geography and representation. These are all big topics that I feel a yearning in my heart to talk about with real people. I don’t have enough vocabulary for some of these topics. I’m still searching for the right words.

What are some big conversations that you feel ready for?

What are some big conversations that you feel flooded by?

What does overwhelm feel like once your urgency has washed away? What roots remain once a flood has passed?

What historical roots help you absorb the waters that are around you?

August brings a flooding. We need to talk about some things—not just one on one but as collectives. You have enough wisdom for a real conversation. You’ve learned things from every single Mars-Jupiter conjunction that has come before. Floods aren’t new. They have been happening. Most floods are manufactured. A flood is water redirected but water isn’t a substance, not really. Water is a place. Our collectives have survived floods before. Our roots contain real information about how to navigate them.

Have big conversations but never lose touch with your root. Your root is the one thing that helps you absorb water.

Leo

Happy birthday, Leo. What overwhelms you when you think about your ability to shape the future?

I’ve always found it funny that the general zeitgeist of the United States encourages us to live without regrets. I see everyone from rock stars to self help people to politicians echo that devastating mantra—no regrets. This is happening in the land of regret. Everywhere we look, we see histories that are shaped by loss.

Mercury retrogrades into your sign this August. At the same time, Mars and Jupiter collide in your house of the future. You have a big future. What does the wisdom of your regret understand about how you have and will continue to produce history? What does the wisdom of your regret know about your ability to produce the future?

Regret is just an emotion. Regret tells us about loss. Your regret doesn’t make you lonely—collectively, we have lost and, collectively, we regret. Your future isn’t a lonely entity either. You have friends. Gather them. The house of friendship is also the house of the future. Friendship is the work of imagining the future together with people. If you can enter into and then exit the emotion of regret together, then you can live together. If you can regret together, then you have a future together.

Questions for Leo for August 2024:
When was the last time you shared regret with a group of people?
When was the last time you made history with a group of people?
What feels big about the future?

Virgo

I wonder what goals no longer feel necessary for you. I remember, back when I was in elementary school, I really wanted to grow up and be a painter. Like, I really wanted to be someone who sells paintings. That goal animated me. I started trying to seek out artists when I was a teen, started talking about art and politics with a group of AAPI artists who were adults but accepted me. I no longer have the goal of becoming a painter but that goal took me through a journey.

Our goals give us motivation. Sometimes, they give us permission. We make friends because we are following a goal or two. Even though goals are not forever, they give us different things. Goals give us direction.

What goals have animated you for the past two years? What places have these goals led you through and what are you grateful to these goals for allowing you to do?

I wonder if you have any goals that you would like to return back to. I wonder if you have any goals that you no longer feel attached to. Your goals can change. They can come back. No one walks in a straight line forever. You can twist and turn.

Questions for Virgo for August 2024:
What goals have animated your body and life for the last two years?
What have these goals given you permission to try?
What goals are you no longer attached to?

Libra

You’re not a passive witness to your own education. You’re an active shaper of what you learn. The same thing goes when it comes to friendship. You get to shape your friendships. You get to set your own expectations and you get to take an active role in telling people what to expect from you.

You’ll never stop learning. What do you want your continuing adult education to look like? What do you want your adult friendships to feel like? Who do you want to learn alongside with?

Take it from a former teacher. Education isn’t really about the subjects that you learn. Well, okay, it is a little but it’s far more about the people you learn with. You can take a class about something practical like woodwork and end up learning about flora or hands based on who you learn with. Friendship is the most versatile educational tool.

Take a class. Your goal is to make some friends, not to download information. Knowledge is only overwhelming when we think about it as information. Knowledge is never only information. It’s most connection.

Questions for Libra for August 2024:
How do you shape your education?
How do you shape your friends?
What do you forgive in your friends?

Scorpio

I want you to take care of your commitments this August. Commitments are sometimes made on paper. We sign a lease, we rent a car, or we take out a loan. Commitments are sometimes made by word. We tell a friend that we’re going to show up to the library on Saturday afternoon so they should come to meet us. We borrow a book and agree to bring it back in a month or two. We promise a friend that we won’t spill their secret to the whole world.

Commitments are sometimes implied or made based on pattern of behavior. We agree to be patient when we are with a lover. We agree to hear our best friend out when they’re going through something. We promise our cat that we won’t abandon them because this is a smaller creature under our care.

We need commitments to just keep functioning. The world wouldn’t exist without them. We don’t always agree on what the agreements we are making actually are. Our commitments can change when our circumstances change. Honoring commitment isn’t about showing up once or twice really well. It’s about coming through most of the time and communicating when circumstances push us to change.

Consider what your commitments are in August. What are you loyal to? What loyalties keep your fire burning so that you are unshaken in your heart? A small fire can keep burning in the coldest of climates as long as it has wood to attach to, as long as it has loyalty to cling to.

Question for Scorpio for August 2024:
What written agreements are you loyal to?
What verbal agreements are you loyal to?
What unspoken agreements are you loyal to?

Sagittarius

Mars is in your house of partnerships. Wherever Mars goes, it tends to show you where you have been compromising too much. When Mars erupts, it does so because we have been giving up too much. The thing about you, Sagittarius, is that you tend to be extremely generous.

You don’t need to please everyone. If you’re living authentically, then you can’t help but piss people off sometimes. You can still build collaborative relationships even when you annoy people sometimes. You get to say no to things even if your no doesn’t make everyone happy.

What is your favorite way to say no? I ask all of my clients this question because this question is the beginning of collaboration. For some of us, no isn’t always verbal. No might not be final. No might be a not yet or a maybe not. Find and enjoy your own style of saying no. Your no doesn’t need to always be outright—you can say no any way you want as long as people are listening for your consent.

Practice saying no to those closest to you. You don’t want to do something even though your friend just invited you out? You can say no. You disagree with an idea? Speak up. Overcommitted because you got too excited? You can say no even after you’ve already agreed to do something.

Questions for Sagittarius for August 2024:
What is your favorite way to say no?
When was the last time you said no to someone close to you?
What did you learn from that experience?

Capricorn

August is about negotiating the daily tasks that keep you alive. Who takes out the trash, cleans the toilet, washes the bedsheets, and cooks dinner. Who does the dishes by habit and who tends to forget essential tasks by habit? Negotiating housework is really about negotiating time. People can do great things when they create a good sense of teamwork with their partner or partners on life tasks.

I don’t think that housework has to be completely equal all the time. I don't mind picking up the slack when my partner isn’t feeling it and I appreciate it when they take care of things when I’m not well. However, I like striving for equality with housework as a principle. What works for you in your life? Do you live with people who you plan your future with or are you with roommates who are more temporary?

Housework is a huge deal. If you have ever been in the position where all of the housework is thrust upon you, then you know what it’s like for your own life to grow smaller and smaller while everyone else you live with seems to get freer. You’re the type to pick up the slack when no one else is. Don’t make this a habit. You can’t write that fantasy book you’ve always wanted to write if all of the chores are all you all the time.

Chores are the type of work that no one gives you credit for doing. As humans, we do a lot of chores. Chores are only overwhelming when we feel like we have to take them on alone. You’re not alone. You eat with people and you live alongside people. Split up the work and sing together while you clean.

Questions for Capricorn for August 2024:
What chores do you do alone?
What chores do you do with other people?
Did anything surprise you about your answers to the two above questions?

Aquarius

What overwhelms you about other people?

As an Aquarius, you’re a Saturnian. Saturnians are more restrained when it comes to connection. Being around a lot of people is a lot. That’s why Aquarius tends to be that person who sits and observes when in a group. That’s why Aquarius has the reputation of loving people from a distance.

I think that the heart of an Aquarius is very pure. Aquarius wants the best from people. It wants everyone to behave themselves according to the highest ethics possible and it gets demoralized when it doesn’t see that happen.

What has been feeling overwhelming about the idea of everyone taking care of each other and what might make your feelings about collective care more manageable? What helps you understand what your ethics are and where your limits may be?

In August, your heart is flooded with all of the things that you very rightfully desire from other people—recognition, understanding, and mutual respect. It’s perfectly alright to want things from others. Even when we are disappointed, your desire isn’t necessarily wrong.

Questions for Aquarius for August 2024:
What are your responsibilities to those closest to you?
What do you desire from friendship?
What reminds you about just how much you care about people?

Pisces

The best thing to do in August is to step away from your work for a bit in your mind’s eye. I understand that work is a daily activity. It’s hard to step away completely even on weekends. I’m not just talking about your job but the entirety of how you see your work in this world. There’s always things to be done, more to do. There’s tasks on your calendar, people to follow up with, and spaces to be cleaned.

But try and step away from your work in your mind’s eye. Find a space in your body where you can take a step back and get some perspective about what you are really doing.

Work is a routine. We can’t get anything done by doing one thing just one time. That’s why work is so repetitive. If you want to get something done, you have to do it consistently not every single time but most of the time. Very quickly, work can become a habit—that’s why taking a step back and interrupting that routine you’ve built is so important.

What are you attached to when it comes to your work? What are you no longer attached to but just going through the motions with? What perspectives give you the space that you need to see the purpose for all the work that you’re doing better?

Big conversations about life and purpose, I know. If this feels overwhelming, focus on the questions that you keep coming back to. With big questions, habit keeps you moored. Good questions become a habit when you ask them over and over.

Questions for Pisces for August 2024:
What are you attached to when it comes to your work?
When are you just going through the motions?
What perspectives give you space away from your work?

Aries

August is a great time for setting some boundaries about how you aren’t willing to be talked to.

For example, I set some boundaries recently about not being a private punching bag. I understand the need to vent to a person about everything that is happening but I no longer respond to long, meandering venting where my input isn’t even needed. A conversation needs back and forth. A conversation where one person is spilling their heart out while barely listening to the other person because they are treating that person like a punching pillow isn’t a real conversation.

Sometimes, certain conversational styles aren’t helpful to anyone involved. Sometimes, people imply their expectations of us in purposefully vague ways. Sometimes, people make jokes just to get a rise out of you. We all have wonky conversational habits that come from somewhere.

Just because someone talks at you doesn’t mean that you need to respond. You don’t need to respond to every single email. You don’t need to respond to a text by this or that time. You don’t need to pick up the phone every single call and you don’t need to answer a question just because someone decided to ask you. Every conversation is a two way agreement. You get to decide how to engage.

Questions for Aries for August 2024:
How do you not want to be talked to?
Where do your conversational habits come from?
What questions do you no longer respond to even if the question asker means well?

Taurus

Take a rest—your chart ruler does in August. It moves into your house of joy and into a position of rest.

I think that one of the weirdest things about earth is that it is our world’s storage. We bury things into the earth. We store memories and history in it. Sometimes, we dig through the soil and we find relics that are thousands of years old. We find old bones and old rice from long ago. The earth itself is a history book.

I want you to dig through your storage in August. Where do you store your memories? Do you have a box of old things in your closet or under your bed? Do you scatter your important memories like seeds? I bet, somewhere in the world, an old teacher of yours still has a drawing that you made long ago tucked away somewhere. I used to teach kids and I kept several of their gifted drawings. They’re in a folder next to my old tax forms.

Your body stores memories too. You keep your memories in your nerves and in your spinal cord. You’ve embedded all that you know in the heat of your muscle. You have memories from two years ago, from nineteen years ago, and from seven centuries ago. They live in your movements.

Go into storage. Dig through it. You move into a position of rest in August. When the earth rests, it’s absorbing and compacting.

Questions for Taurus for August 2024:
Where do you store your memories?
Does anyone store your memories for you?
Do you store memories for anyone else?

Gemini

You feel strong in August. You get to be the space dom for a while. You know that person who is always the one to rearrange furniture or clean up or decorate? That’s the space dom. They dominate the space. That’s you in August. You get to decide where to put things and make some real choices about when you will do things. You get to lead big conversations.

Set an agenda. Decide what you want to do. In life, we sometimes have to do things even when no one asked us to, even when no one suggested that we should. We have to do things we want to do just because we want to do them. Give yourself permission to actually carry out an idea that you have even if no one else has had the idea and you don’t know how things will go.

You have more energy in August. I’m talking about physical energy. If you have a project that you’ve been meandering over, do it now. Make a plan. Cancel your plans that you’re only half heartedly committed to so that you can focus. Do things on your own time.

These moments of higher energy don’t last too long. Your motto in August is to just do it. Just do the things that you really want to do. Don’t let your social anxiety talk you out of it. If people around you are operating slower, they might be in a time of rest. You are not. You are in a time of action.

Questions for Gemini for August 2024:
What do you want to start doing?
When can you do it?
What can help you spring into action?

Cancer

How do you know when you have gone through a break with your faith? I’m not just talking about religion here. I’m personally not religious. We use faith to understand many parts of secular life.

We might walk down the street and believe that the sidewalk won’t fall in because we trust that the cement was designed in a way that holds our weight. That would be a belief in infrastructure. We might apply for a program to study so that we can do work we want to do. That would be a belief in education. We might sell a television and accept legal tender. That would be a belief in the usability of currency.

When we doubt our choices, sometimes it’s not that we doubt ourselves. We have simply broken faith with something that we thought we believed in. Something was revealed to us. We realized that a machine doesn’t work as promised. We realized that social agreements can break down.

Most abstract things only exist when a great number of us believe in them. That’s just how imagination works. What are you breaking faith with? What do you still believe in? Your imagination is so powerful that you can use it to change your behavior.

Questions for Cancer for August 2024:
What do you doubt?
What have you broken faith with?
What do you still believe in?