A note about Monthly Messages: as in any month, the trends we outline for this month upcoming are just that — trends. These trends are based on a variety of influences that include astrological influences, the collective consciousness, and extrapolation from numerous outcomes gleaned from potential futures based on the point from which we give the initial message. As with everything in life, all this is subject to change, and of course, choice. We attempt to outline trends that show the influences that will affect the greatest number of people, but there are always those whose experience doesn't fit within what we map out. We encourage you to use this information as a roadmap of possibility in order to better understand your personal experience as well as your experience within the context of the greater world around you.

In this month, time again seems to speed up. The seeds you have been sowing will find fruit in the harvest beginning this month – in other words, the inner work, external projects, and anything else begun earlier this year (and even back into late 2009) begins to bear fruit in some tangible way starting this month.

The first several days of August will feel much like the latter part of July – unsettled, anxious, chaotic, moving. But by August 6 things begin to calm down. The energy smooths out. You feel a sense of flow, of “rightness” about yourself and the world around you. This does not mean, necessarily, that you won’t continue to be barraged with sensory information about the suffering of the world, but nerves are not as raw. Your emotions are not as much on the surface. You feel a peacefulness and even, perhaps, a glimmer of what inner quiet feels like.

For many this month, what has been on the inside becomes what is on the outside. Again, inner work bears fruit here, and you begin to see how your own inner transformation changes the world around you. Personal interactions become a little easier as a result, as those in your sphere sense the changes within you as well as your newfound sense of peace with your Self. Those who feel this palpable change are likely those who – ironically, perhaps – have been having the greatest amount of inner difficulty and tension these past several months. If you have felt the struggle within yourself, knowing, perhaps, that you have been making strides and realizations, then this is the time to see how all that work begins to pay off in positive ways. This is no time to rest on your laurels, however, as energies later in the month, beginning around the 23^rd, move you into a new cycle of growth, but the peacefulness in the middle of the month can help you realize how far you’ve come and how your work helps you on all levels.

On a wider level, again the energy this month is all about gathering momentum for what is to come in the future. Some of the dynamics we’ve illustrated on a personal level have applicability on a larger group level as well. You can look toward group movement (moving toward the eventual evolution of the group in its purest form) occurring this month in various groups, from families, companies and communities to socio-political groups like countries. Understand that any one individual’s needs and desires may be swallowed by the group’s evolution, as each of these groups has the capacity to act as a sovereign entity. This may be dismaying and upsetting to individuals who become heavily invested in a particular movement pf the group concerned. All of you are part of groups of some sort: your success this month (and into the future, as August is merely a beginning of a new way of interrelating on a group level) depends on your ability to sense and understand the dynamics of the group as a whole rather than your individual thoughts and desires. Notice this is no small task; as humans you of course will have individual desires and will potentially have difficulty allowing the varying perceptions and desires of others within your various groups.

To assist with this process of releasing attachment to individual desire within the context of any group (this works for groups of any size and configuration), we offer the following meditation practice:

Imagine that you are sitting opposite the group you have in mind. You are approximately the same size, both energetically and spatially. It is as if you are sitting across from a mirror image of yourself, but one that just happens to contain the hearts, minds, and sensibilities of the group you have in mind. Don’t worry about logistics; all can be contained within the space needed.

As you sit across from your group, bring your attention to your heart. As you do so, begin breathing intentionally. With each breath, send some of your own heart-energy across the space between you to your group. Imagine that your heart energy makes connection with the heart of the group. Now, with each breath, pull some of that group heart-energy back across into your own heart space. You now feel and sense the connection between you at this most basic level.

As you sense the connection between yourself and your group, say these words in your heart: We are one. We support one another as best we can. We connect through Love.

Use this meditation daily, especially if you are feeling conflict with your group, or conflict within it.

Other things to watch for this month: 

• A sense of ennui, especially in the middle of the month. Having had the initial rush of connection where things begin to make sense on a large-scale basis, you find yourself wishing for repeated "high" experiences. Distraction and ennui results when you find you are unable to duplicate that high.
• Feeling disconnected from others, especially on a universal basis – this especially occurring toward the end of the month. This is necessary as you begin to again separate and move away for a time from the connectedness and again into a space of separation. While this is part of the human experience, having sensed a connection already on a deep and intrinsic level, you may find the shift to separation disquieting.
• Increased desire to connect in a tangible way to nature – gardening, hikes, beach time – becoming almost desperate by the 29^th or so if not sated before then with plenty of outdoor connection time. This is to assuage the increasing sense of separation with your fellow beings and should be honored if you wish to keep a sense of equilibrium.

Practices to engage in this month: 

• If you haven’t been consciously and regularly finding connection to nature, this is the time to begin. Take walks; meditate on a flower; take up gardening; enjoy the fruits of your own garden harvest; commune with animals; be with others or alone in nature.
• Journaling your emotional journey. By taking pen to paper with intention of chronicling your inner journey, you open yourself that much wider to the depths of your experience.
• Look for signs and omens. This could be the ever-popular 11:11, nature signs, shapes or forms that you notice, or anything that seems to speak to you with some intention and meaning. You need not know what the message is, but making yourself open to there being a message at all will create a sense of comfort that will be useful to you in the days ahead.

As you move through August, feeling your own momentum gathering, pay attention to that which you desire to create. By being open to the energies around you and engaging in your own inner work, you make yourself available to the ongoing evolution of the species.