Planets & Transits
New Moon in Leo August 12, 2026
The New Moon arrives in Leo August 12 at 8:36 PM UTC, and with it comes a singular...
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- Written by: Pam Younghans
The week of August 3 to 9, 2026 brings a powerful convergence of cosmic energies as Chiron stations retrograde in Taurus for the first time since 1984, inviting humanity to confront deep wounds around resources, the environment, and our relationship with the natural world. We are also navigating Eclipse Season, with a Total Solar Eclipse in Leo just ten days away, amplifying the sense that events are unfolding with karmic speed and consequence. Adding further intensity, Mars goes out of bounds this week, acting as a wild card that can inspire courageous action — or unleash impulsive, aggressive behaviors. Astrologer Pam Younghans guides us through these extraordinary celestial currents in her weekly forecast.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
August opens with the Sun deep in Leo and Jupiter riding alongside it — a week of amplified self-expression, creative momentum, and a certain fearlessness that can feel either liberating or reckless depending on what you do with it. The Moon moves from the dreamy tail end of Pisces through Aries and into grounded Taurus and airy Gemini, shifting us from introspection to action to curiosity. Mercury stays in Cancer, slowing our speech and asking us to feel before we speak. Venus steps from practical Virgo into diplomatic Libra on the 7th, rebalancing how we relate to others after weeks of discernment.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun sits deep in Leo this morning at 9° 44', radiating the kind of confidence that makes you want to show up fully, to be seen. But there's a brake on the accelerator: Mercury in Cancer is still moving carefully through emotional territory, asking you to feel before you speak. Venus has slipped into Virgo, where she turns discerning and particular about what—and who—deserves your energy. These are not the planets of recklessness. They are the planets asking you to be intentional.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun sits at 8° Leo this morning, bold and unapologetic, while Jupiter—the planet of expansion and luck—hovers just behind at 6° Leo, amplifying everything the Sun touches. This is not a quiet day. The two largest forces in our solar system are nearly conjunct, meaning they're moving together through the same degree of the zodiac, and they're asking you to take up more space than you usually do. Meanwhile, Mercury in Cancer is still processing, still turning things over in its careful, feeling way, even as the Leo energy around you says: decide. Move. Show yourself.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
August moves through two distinct energetic zones. The month begins deep in Leo season—the Sun at 8° Leo on the first, pulling us toward visibility, generosity, and creative risk. Jupiter amplifies this Leo influence from 6° to 13°, making this a month when ambition feels natural and self-expression has permission to take up space. But the month's bones shift on August 24th when the Sun crosses into Virgo, trading Leo's heat for Virgo's discernment, and what blazes early in the month quiets into something more measured and precise by month's end. We are being asked to both shine and refine.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Full Moon in Aquarius is precise and unblinking tonight, sitting at 23° and staring directly across the zodiac at the Sun in Leo. This is the moment of maximum illumination — what was hidden becomes visible, what was brewing becomes undeniable. The Sun blazes at 7° Leo alongside Jupiter at 6° Leo, a conjunction that amplifies everything: your pride, your creative fire, your need to be seen. But the Moon in Aquarius pulls the opposite direction, toward detachment, toward the group, toward what transcends the personal. You feel the tension. It lives in your chest right now.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Full Moon in Aquarius pulls everything into sharp relief today, asking you to see what you have been avoiding. The Sun blazes in Leo at 6 degrees, amplified by Jupiter sitting right beside it—a doubling of warmth, generosity, and the need to be seen. But the Moon, now full and bright in Aquarius, stands opposite this heat with cool detachment, with objectivity, with the voice that says: step back and look at the larger pattern. You are caught between the desire to perform, to lead, to matter greatly, and the simultaneous pull to dissolve into the collective, to question whether any individual drama is worth the cost.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Full Moon in Aquarius arrives today and it is luminous and unforgiving. The Sun blazes at 5° Leo while the Moon glows opposite at 6° Aquarius — a perfect opposition that splits the sky between individual will and collective belonging, between the heart's demand to shine and the mind's need to question everything. Mercury sits in Cancer, still processing feelings, still trying to translate emotion into words that make sense. This is not a gentle moment. This is a moment of revelation.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Full Moon in Aquarius arrives on July 29, 2026, and it carries the weight of a genuine reckoning. The Sun at 5° Leo and the Moon at 6° Aquarius sit in perfect opposition — not just across from each other in the sky, but also in temperament. Leo wants to shine, to be seen, to express what makes you distinctly you. Aquarius wants to dissolve the personal into the collective, to think beyond the self, to question whether your spotlight serves something larger than ego. This is the Full Moon of illumination and friction, where what has been building in shadow suddenly becomes impossible to ignore.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun blazes at 5 degrees Leo, just steps away from Jupiter, amplifying everything: your desires, your visibility, your need to be seen. Mercury sits in Cancer, asking tender questions. This is the tension of the day. Emotion wants softness. Reality wants results.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun and Jupiter sit almost on top of each other in Leo this morning, both at nearly 5 degrees, radiating a confidence and generosity that feels almost too easy. But the Moon in Capricorn, waxing toward fullness, throws a wrench into that simplicity. These two energies are pulling in opposite directions, one toward expansion and visibility, the other toward restraint and delayed gratification.
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- Written by: Pam Younghans
This week's skies build toward a powerful Full Moon in Aquarius on Wednesday, July 29, igniting the far-reaching energies of the "cradle" configuration formed by Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto that is reshaping our world. The lunation arrives with the Moon just two degrees from Pluto and the Sun nearly touching Jupiter, amplifying themes of legal and ethical confrontation, revelations of corruption, and a dramatic struggle for power. Grounding, self-care, and an open heart will be essential companions as we navigate these intense and history-making energies.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun sits squarely in Leo this morning, joined by Jupiter in the same sign — a doubling of fire, warmth, and the impulse to be seen. This is not subtle energy. Meanwhile, the Moon in Sagittarius at 23 degrees approaches fullness, which means it is pulling away from the Earth, getting brighter, more insistent, ready to illuminate what has been building beneath the surface.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun deep in Leo this week is joined by Jupiter in the same sign, a conjunction that pulls the spotlight toward authenticity, creative risk, and the courage to be seen. This is a week of amplification—not everything that glitters needs to be gold, but everything that matters wants to be known. Mercury still moves through Cancer, keeping our words rooted in feeling and memory.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
Mercury sits in Cancer, asking us to speak carefully about what matters emotionally, while Mars travels through Gemini with restless, scattered energy—wanting to move in ten directions at once. Venus in Virgo is deliberate and discerning about what stays and what goes. You feel the pull between boldness and hesitation, between expansion and refinement. This is a day that rewards both your ambition and your discrimination.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun has just stepped into Leo, and it brings Jupiter with it — the planet of expansion and visibility walking hand in hand with the planet of creative self-expression. This is not a subtle entrance. Mercury in Cancer is still speaking from the emotional center, asking us to feel our way toward clarity rather than think our way there. The day carries the weight of depth and the brightness of emergence all at once.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun ignites at 0° Leo this morning—the exact moment of the Leo solar threshold—while Jupiter sits only four degrees behind, amplifying everything the Sun touches with brightness, generosity, and appetite. Meanwhile, the Moon's angle to the Sun creates friction. Not the bad kind. The clarifying kind.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
On July 23, the Sun leaves Cancer and enters Leo. After a month of turning inward, tending to what matters most, and sitting with our feelings, we are about to step into the light. The shift happens at 4:41 AM EDT on July 23rd, but you will feel it building all through the 22nd—a quickening, a readiness, a sense that something private is about to become public. The Sun at 29°54' Cancer is in its final hours, like someone standing at a doorway they've been meaning to walk through.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Moon in Scorpio at the first-quarter phase is asking hard questions, demanding that we examine what we said we wanted at the New Moon and whether we actually mean it. Mercury still moves through Cancer's tender waters, speaking in metaphors and memory, while Mars cuts through Gemini with restless curiosity. We are caught between...
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun sits at the last degrees of Cancer today, burning through the final days of its seasonal reign. Mercury moves alongside it, both planets still in the sign of home and interiority, still asking what we need to feel safe. There's a tension here between wanting to stay close to what's familiar and being called to show up, to balance, to consider what someone else needs.
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- Written by: Clara Corwin, InnerSelf.com
The Sun sits at the final degrees of Cancer today, pulling us deeper into the waters of what we actually need — not what we think we should want. Mercury moves through Cancer alongside it, slowing our thoughts down, making us deliberate and feeling. A First Quarter Moon in Libra faces off against this sensitive stellium, demanding we translate our inner knowing into something other people can understand. The tension is real. We are caught between the urge to retreat and the obligation to show up.
