The artist is Rinko Kawauchi. Kawauchi’s photography and books are images of the everyday, a mixture of abstract and portraits, that lead us as viewers to larger ponderings about light, memories, time and death. She focuses on the small things that add up to our daily existence, but when we experience them, we often do not notice their awe, or their importance. These recollections become reflective conjuries that we cherish when they reoccur. The smell of pie or bread, an occasional rainbow from a glass by a window, the chirping of crickets, our parents calling us in from a night of play, the feel of cool water on a hot day… These memories become our connective tissue within our lifetime. We feel cozy because they hold familiarity not only to our own timeline but connecting us to similar experiences in others.
Your pondering: As summer is closing and the light begins to shift, now is the time to soak in the days and daily life of summer. My favorite part of summer is the light that filters through the trees, the sparkle of water and that cozy hazy feeling you get waking from a summer nap. What are your small memories that remind you of the “light” in summer?
Solar System highlights
The moon begins this week in Scorpio – follow your passion. Then on Tuesday it moves into Sagittarius – go exploring. On Friday it moves into Capricorn – look at if your structures support your emotions. On Sunday August 18th it moves into Aquarius – daydream. Tuesday August 20th, it moves into Pisces – go with the flow. On Thursday August 22nd the moon is in Aries – a great time to start a project. And we finish with the moon in Taurus on Saturday – a time for enjoying the good things in life.
Mercury is now retrograde until August 28th. Remember this is the universe’s rest-stop on the highway of Life. A great time to recharge, reflect, and redo. Right now, it is in Virgo until August 14th. This aspect is here to teach us how to be precise and direct in our conversations. The challenge is not to come off too harsh. Then it rolls back into Leo until September 9th giving us our second chance to shine in our storytelling skills and to highlight others.
Venus is in Virgo where we can work on being authentic within our relationships and thus ourselves. But again, we have the challenge of being too harsh on others and ourselves. And then Mars is in Gemini making sure our actions follow our words or our thinking.
Jupiter, the planet of abundance and growth, is in Gemini until June of 2025. This aspect is here to help us work with opportunities to grow and succeed through intellectual, verbal, and written pursuits. However, we must also watch its challenging aspects: not following through, gossip, too much information and fickleness. And lastly Saturn is in Pisces until February 2026 teaching us how to be more fluid and inclusive in our structures.
EXTRA
*** Signs with an * it is a big week for you. Leo this is a perfect time to get an Astrological Tarot Reading for your coming year. And Aquarius it is your halfway mark for your birth year, so if you need a Planetary Reading for a check in, now is the time. And I have a tip jar if you want to leave a gratuity for the tarot & art-casts.
**** I am experimenting. I have switched from using the older suits name (pentacles, cups, swords, and wands) to a more elemental way of reading them which is earth, water, air, and fire. Also, I would like to leave the binary and feudal system of the RWS’s court cards. So, the RWS old version is Page, Knight, Queen, and King is changing to Heart (pure embodiment of element), Body (moving the element), Spirit (living the element) and Mind (taking care of the element).
May light be on you, around you, and within you.
Nina
Aries
*High Priestess – The Muse of Sacred Purpose comes when, in this moment in time, you are needed. You may not realize that opening that door for someone reignites optimism in them, or that conversation changes someone’s perspective. You are aligned with your higher purpose even when doing these little acts. This Muse reminds you that these gifts of sacredness, of seeing someone, comes when you are being your most authentic self. You are the change in the world.
Taurus
*Judgement – The Muse of Transformation is assisting your hand, heart and mind to evolve an aspect of your life. These transformation should feel refreshing, uplifting and liberating you from old paradigms. This is a perfect alignment with Mercury’s retrograde aspects of relaxation, review and redo. Take these next two weeks to look at what constructs you have, are they supporting you? Are you getting to the next level with them. Do they uplift you? Time to redesign and refine.
Gemini
Heart of Air – Use this time with Mercury in retrograde to do some investigative work. This muse advises that you need more information before making any decisions during this time. Now is the time to read between the lines, ask more questions, and do a deeper study into what vexes you. The answers and solutions are out there but you will need to do the leg work and keep your eyes, ears and mind open for the information, data and clues.
Cancer
*Empress – The Muse of Creativity is here to inspire you for the next two weeks. She asks what you would like to grow for the next 9-10 months. And with this planet configuration this is a great time to plan more than do. So that means getting ideas for winter projects now. And getting the supplies ready so you have a head start in the fall to just start creating. Also, this muse reminds you to spend some time during these two weeks to nurture yourself. Remember this retrograde is about relaxing, revisiting and redoing and for you less of the latter and more of the first two.
Leo
Ten of Air – So the Muse of Drama will help you navigate these next two weeks. For outside forces are sending some turbulence in your direction. The key to navigating these waves is to follow your instincts. If your inner self says no, then don’t go. This is not a time to push through things. Remember with Mercury in retrograde setbacks are heralds to what isn’t working, and this time is perfect for reworking and reflecting. So, your best maxim is to avoid conflict, this is not the time to make waves.
Virgo
Three of Air – The last two weeks had rough spots and hopefully you remained courageous by being truthful with your part of the creation of some of those bumps in the road. And now the Muse of Healing has come to help you work on healing why those bumps were bumps at all. This Mercury retrograde is in your sign for most of its time, so the spotlight is on you and how you get your ideas and feelings across. The major key is touch versus talk. So, this Muse would like you to find ways to express your affection with less convo and more hugs and hand holding.
Libra
*Strength – These next two weeks are going to challenge you to know yourself, your limits, as well as your strengths. The Muse of Courage is going to stand by you to help. She would like you to spend this retrograde pondering this quote from Brene Brown: “Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” Time to open up.
Scorpio
*Sun – Awesome you all get another two weeks to play in and with abundance. The Muse of Optimism would like to work with you during this retrograde by having you work with the ponderings: What is the best that can happen? And what if you look for the light/lite in situations? So instead of worrying about the worst-case scenario, you look for the best-case scenario.
Sagittarius
Body of Fire – These next two weeks you are blessed with being at the right place at the right time. The Muse of Adventure and Imagination is here to remind you that your timing is perfect for the coming weeks. Even if you are stopped or challenged it has a greater purpose then what you might be seeing in the present. This energy is about forward movement in innovative and creative ways. The keys are following your intuition as well as being motivated for the things that are set into motion during these next two weeks.
Capricorn
Five of Water – These next two weeks the Muse of Spilled Milk has come to help you clean up messes. This energy could be used literally as a time to deep clean your house and/or metaphorically to tidy up your emotional self with restocking your emotional resources and finding time to rest.
Aquarius
Six of Earth – The Muse of Kindness would like you to spend these two weeks racking up karma points by doing small acts of kindness. This is about simplicity not extravagance. Examples are picking wildflowers for your sweetie or bringing home a single Gerber daisy. Opening doors for strangers. Leaving appreciation notes to your server or delivery person. You can even leave anonymous and random good vibes notes in public places.
Pisces
Spirit of Air – The Muse of Flow comes when you need to pay attention to the details to help things move along with ease. This can be reading the fine print, listening to both sides of a story, immediately cleaning up after yourself in the kitchen, spending an extra five minutes getting ready, etc. Spend these next two weeks attending to these small but useful tasks. By taking the time to see and understand the micro, you’ll be able to handle the macro with more finesse.
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