August begins with Mercury grinding to a halt and then turning on its heels in the sign of Virgo. As it does, it meets with Venus, the planet of love and beauty, whose energies will come to the fore. Virgos will feel Venus’s love-and-beauty energies most strongly, but everyone will be affected to some extent by her themes of love, beauty, pleasure, money, art, attraction, and relationships. In our incredibly hectic, stressed-out world, perhaps we need this gentle reminder to engage with our lives in more heart-centered ways.