“Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.”

Cordelia in Shakespeare’s King Lear (I.i.73-55)

Horoscopes for 8-5-2025

• Mars into Libra 8/6 6:25 PM
• Mercury direct 8/11 2:29 AM 4°14’ Leo
• Full Moon 16°59’ Leo/Aqu. 8/9

Horoscopes for 8-5-2025

What is up head? The month ahead.

The Leo

I take a handful of various supplements and medicines, Western, Eastern, Holistic, and “other,” each morning. Vitamin C, while the current status is still unresolved, I know if I feel better taking it, I’ll take it. Presence of mind is almost as important as the actual effect of the chemical. One nutritionist suggested that a chewable vitamin was better as the chemicals were more full absorbed through that kind of carrier. But in hurry to hustle out the door to work the other morning, I just tried to swallow the whole handful, which included a gummy vitamin. That did not work. I choked, coughed, coffee came shooting out my nose, and then I spit out that single chewable vitamin. With Mercury heading into un-retrograde motion? Like me, you will be tempted to take a shortcut. I doubt you’re going to try and swallow a handful of dietary supplements at once, and I doubt you’ll choke on a chewable vitamin, but in larger, more Leo-like sense? What’s the chance that you move too fast, try to swallow a whole thing only to gag on part of it? Slow down, you don’t need to choke it all down right now.

Virgo

“No.” It’s a simple, very binary, rather abrupt answer. But the answer is the same, “No.” That’s the short, condensed version, and I’ve found that the short, condensed version is better than one of my typical long-winded answers. The answer is “no.”

Mars exits and Mercury stops its backwards slide, both of these are good for gentle Virgo. The problem and why I keep suggesting the answer is no? This occurs in a way that is good for Virgo, but every other sign, the rest of the 11? The astrological weather, and that pesky lunar phase, none of this is good yet. That means?

Virgo: “No” means “no.”

Libra

A good portion of my youth was spent traipsing around the Louisiana Purchase, up one side, down the other. As such, I spent a number of youthful Augusts in the American West, usually in the mountains. It would rain, most afternoons. The trick was to make camp, set up shelter, either a tent or a tarp, before the afternoon rain. One year, it seemed liked it rained every afternoon at 4 PM. That was rest and reflection time, in the current shelter, and I think we were just packing lightweight tarps, just string it up between a couple of trees. Mars enters Libra. At the insistence of the planet, you can “do it right now” and get wet, or, like I recall, we would see the clouds roll in, pause and string up the tents for shelter, then take a brief rest while that afternoon rain did its thing. With Mars, especially with Mars? Fighting with what can’t be changed? You just get drenched, and in the mountains that can be cold even on a hot summer’s afternoon.

“Are there trout in that stream?”

Scorpio

“You, sir, are a scoundrel!”

It was a Scorpio, in my head, addressing me. Trying to make it sound “Shakespearean,” and that could be a line from a play, but more likely, I’m paraphrasing, or just making something up because it fits. But I’m not really a scoundrel, although, there is at least one, maybe two gentle Scorpios who think that way. This isn’t about that. This is about the errant ways of Mr. Mercury, the subtle Martian shift, and the way this plays out. Not well. Not bad, but not balanced and rhythmic just yet. There are a couple of little jolts, nothing big, and nothing that can’t be surmounted, but there is an accumulation of minor irritants that demand some kind of resolution. Or not. I’m firmly in the “or not” column, but I’m so not Scorpio. Here’s the trick: don’t. Yes, I know you want to, and yes, you’re right, but this isn’t the time.

“You, sir, are a scoundrel!”

Sagittarius

For several years, there was bookstore in Santa Fe, NM — I don’t recall the name (op cit). But the bookstore itself was a tumbled, chaotic mess of old books, used books, out-of-print tomes, local selections, and more. Much more. There was some kind of curation at work, but I could never really understand the way it was stacked up, and how it was sorted. The apparent lack of organization, though, was part of the appeal. I could wander, literally, for days in that store, marveling at old texts, new texts, forgotten texts, classics, and current events, all tumbled together. As a typical Sagittarius? I could get lost in a place like that. I did. Several times. “Just drop me off at the bookshop, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” It’s the chaos contingent, the unstable knowledge base, the way we can’t make sense out of what’s been going on, and instead of trying to follow a logical, and clear, route? Think about that bookstore in Santa Fe, no apparent structure. But it works. How? We’re not sure. By the end of the week, it will make more sense.

Capricorn

It’s — I think of it — digital housecleaning. An agency representative sent me an e-mail, digging deep into my archives, suggesting that I had a link to old material that was no longer active, something about they lost the website, and then, could I please link to their new location. I worked very hard to make this kind of administration easy, so I just removed the first instance of the link, then messed around, forgot about the buried link. I got another message, reiterating their previous missive, so I had to dig in, find a text editor, download, upload, and just pull the misappropriated link. Bug me for a link, or to correct a previous link? In a fit of pique, I’ll just disconnect completely. This week, this next few days, for Capricorn? All about digital housekeeping. Got them old dead links that don’t go anywhere? Delete them.

Aquarius

“I cannot heave/My heart into my mouth” Part of the opening quote, but more to the point? It’s the exact opposite of the sentiment for this week’s Aquarius nonsense. None of this is bad, but there’s a great groundswell of emotional upheaval, and there’s that sense, a sentiment, a singular element that feels like you’ve got deep connections that must be expressed. Only? Borrowing from that character, Cordelia, yeah, it is a tragedy, and doesn’t end well for her, but the idea is that an emotion is too great to find voice, that, whatever it is? That quote can’t quite evocatively convey the correct content. Neither can Aquarius. You lack the ability to convey exactly what it is, the feelings are so deep, so strong.

Pisces

Over more than three decades, I’ve looked at a lot of charts. Natal charts, predictive astrology, and I’ve incorporated more than one school of thought in my body of work. What I’ve noticed, more than one Pisces chart has a smattering of early Aries in it. If you have that early Aries in natal form? Problems still abound, and there are no easy solutions, see below. But if you are more on the pure Piscs form? Then there will be sudden, dawning clarity. In a mediative moment, I’ll get a clear image of an answer to an un-asked question. I’ll get dramatic schematic guides to the next few days. For the pure Pisces? This works well, and the images, directions, solutions, and possibilities are limitless. Unless? Unless there’s that tiny bit of Aries. That gets flummoxed. The rest of pure Pisces starts to enjoy clarity of vision, clarity of purpose, clarity of motive. Think that last one is most important, understanding what the motivation is.

Aries

This isn’t going to clear up anything. Factoring in Neptune on this mix? That compounds and complicates the confusion. Instead of expecting anything to clear up, immediately, or otherwise? Look forward to the confusion and chaos, understanding that it’s part of the required process for Aries. I can’t make this any easier, but I can tell, you are supposed to be confused, and I can suggest that there’s still another set of false starts underway. No one, especially me, likes to go back and start over, and yet, there’s something about renewal and rebirth that starting over offers up to Aries. There isn’t actually a lot of clarity, but there is a greater deal of obfuscation, and that, in itself, might not be bad. Depends. Understand that there are always options on new starts, and that’s one to explore. Understand, as well, that which might be occluded? Obscured from sight? It will come clear — eventually.

Taurus

I was in a bookstore, and I picked up a copy of poetry by Charles Bukowski. I’m unsure of the author’s place in the canon of American arts & letters. I would suppose, the easiest way to suggest it, he was “street” before “street” was a thing, or even remotely cool. Doesn’t much matter, taken in context, his works speak for themselves, a raw, underbelly of post-war americana that had all the glitz and shine knocked off its exterior. Made for interesting reading, and makes for a perfect style – in the moment — for gentle Taurus. Part of this is the way I would read that book of “American Poetry,” picking it up, and letting it fall open to a random page. But part of this is about how I arrived at that book, as a purchase, in the first place. I was wandering in a bookstore, it caught my eye, and leafed through the pages, landing on a semi-erotic poem about a woman from Texas. Random, unconnected, but the symbolism, to me, is quite clear. I hope this message is good for Taurus, too.

Gemini

Minor league baseball is fun. The games aren’t as tense, the scores and plays greatly vary, and an August setting, in the twilight hours, makes it that much more fun. The wind was whipping in from the east, and the season’s sparse dirt cover for the painted field was starting to wear thin — this isn’t like pro ball where new dirt gets shipped in every day. But that wind? Almost howling, kicking up little dirt devils, that’s what made me think of the current state of Gemini. The winds, bent around the stadium and stands, would twirl and dance, creating tiny twisters. For a second or two, a column of red playing dirt would extend upwards, in a clearly defined spinning shape, like a miniature tornado. Dust devils. During the game itself, that wind robbed at least two home runs, but also assisted when one long ball got snatched from the reaches of the outfielder. For Gemini, these temporary conditions can go either way, an impediment or a little lift. Depends on how you play it, Gemini, depends on how you play it.

Cancer

It was advertising, and the link-bait? “What is the future of tequila?” One need not be psychic or visionary to understand what tequila does. The future of tequila? White people who can’t dance, dancing. Innocent young people making foolish decisions, and not to put too fine a point on it? Tequila can take a good person, and turn it into a bad situation. It can also take a bad situation, and make it way worse. I dated one Virgo who suggested tequila helped soothe a “rough and chapped mind.” Look at her taste in dates, proves the point. What is the future of tequila? I don’t know. What is the future of the moon children, Cancer? Maybe don’t involve any libation or lubricant that is know to cause problems. To be honest, I’ve got one fishing buddy who can clearly drink the stuff — but I’ve long suspected he has a heritage that supports the lifestyle. For the rest of us? Stay away from known problem causes.