The final week of August arrives with a curious geometry: the Sun pushing through late Leo into Virgo, its light squared by Saturn overhead, forcing radiance to meet restraint. Mercury hovers in its retrograde shadow, tangled between Jupiter’s excess in Pisces and Neptune’s fog at the zenith, so the week is set for crossed wires, promises grander than substance, and the familiar theatre of leaders saying more than they mean – or meaning less than they say.

Mars pressing hard against Mercury suggests quarrels will be quick to ignite, whether in parliament or in the family kitchen. We’ve seen this before: August 1914 bore similar martial echoes as Mars squared the solar fire and Europe stumbled into chaos. This week carries nowhere near that scale, but the same pattern warns us how fast small sparks catch when the air is dry – and there are enough fires blazing as it is. Watch for diplomatic rows, sharp reversals in trade talks, and yet another escalation in the endless violence and drama of borders.

Venus passing through Cancer’s zenith reminds us that the quieter story is domestic – food, housing, security. With Uranus stubborn in Taurus, shocks to supply chains remain likely, echoing the harvest shortfalls of 1816’s “year without a summer,” when volcanic ash dimmed the skies and crops across Europe failed. No volcano this time – but wildfires, shifting weather patterns and erratic markets may create a modern echo. Expect further headlines on shortages, Hunger, famine, price hikes, or sudden shifts in public sentiment about who is responsible.

Neptune’s heavy veil across the zenith is not only your personal confusion but also plays out in the geopolitical theatre. Expect announcements drenched in grandeur but light on truth, – just as leaders in the 1930s delivered speeches to inspire nations while sidestepping the reality of looming crisis. Illusion is power this week, but its half-life is short. You’d almost suspect them of doing it on purpose to mislead you.

And still, Jupiter high in Pisces offers the temptation to expand, to imagine, to declare new visions. To still believe we can fix it all somehow. For artists, thinkers, or anyone brave enough to dream, this is fertile ground. For markets, politicians, and armies, it may be fertile nonsense. The contrast is sharp: history rewards those who harness Jupiter’s optimism without letting it devour Saturn’s discipline. Time to make the ‘vision’ work.

For the individual and the collective, the task of this week is clear. Step carefully between grand promises and blunt realities, don’t be lured into shouting matches simply because the air is thick with them, and remember that what looks inevitable on Monday may be a ghost by Sunday – laugh at it. The kindest way through all of this is to temper clarity with compassion, holding firm when history repeats its harsher notes, and finding gentleness where the world insists on noise.

Last night, for us here in the northern hemisphere we had a clear night
The stars, the constellations were visible in all their glory.

There is, of course the ongoing problem of light pollution.
If you are lucky enough to live somewhere without streetlight or industrial light and can see the night sky free from any artificial light – it is magnificent.
We were lucky last night and could see – Orion with his belt, the three stars – as he points out the blue star Sirius.
The Great bear – Ursa Major also known as the big dipper.
The Pleiades – tiny hard to spot, easier to see with your peripheral vision.
Cassiopeia – the zig zag form in the sky, any beginner can find it, always there, always beautiful.

Some constellations are really hard to spot and harder to learn about as the ‘drawings’ of them always include lines that are not in the sky, I think we would seriously freak out if there were lines in the sky. What is worse are all these baroque drawings all over them – making it impossible to see the true formation and pattern of them – and also nobody tells you where to look – this annoyed me as a child as I could never work out what was what – yes i even looked at the stars and looked them up in books as a child!

Astronomy and astrology used to be one science – and before that we looked up at the stars, because we could see them, aside from our fire or lamplight there was nothing to dim the view. Now we never look up, we don’t see the stars anymore. We have lost something magnificent.

The constellations used in the zodiac are even harder to spot as they are of different sizes and shapes as they rise and fall in the sky – as all the other stars do – while the world turns and the night sky spins above us. Considering todays light pollution most have become impossible to see in their entirety.

Usually we are left with just a view of the brightest stars, or planets, which we can see with the naked eye. The sad thing is most of us do not even know which ones they are, or even if they are stars or planets.

So I was pleased we were able to see a sky peppered with stars last night as it was clear enough, and if you shielded your eyes from the worst of the city lights it was worth looking up to see them there

leading the way