August will be your wonder month, dear Taurus, a month you waited to see, but didn’t quite know that it was on the way. From the minute the month opens, you will have happy, positive days to work with to push your desires forward and over the top.

This month will emphasize your personal life, but there will also be incredibly happy moments for getting praise and attention for the work you’ve done over a long period, and for the reputation you’ve built in your career.

On August 1, the Sun and Saturn will be in perfect alignment, and this will bring opportunity to your living situation, and also bring support from your family. If you are moving into a new space on this day, you will love it and remain there for a very long time. On the same day, your ruler, Venus, in Leo, will signal Uranus, the planet of surprise, so August 1 would be a wonderful social day – a day you can invite friends over – and on other fronts, a day when things are likely to go your way. Venus is your ruler, and until August 5 will be in your home sector. If you need to add touches to the look of your home, you will find them. Those purchases will make a big difference to the beauty of your home if you buy them in the first days of the month.

The following day will be even more important, for August 2 brings the new moon in Leo 11 degrees in your fourth house of home and family, and opens a portal of two weeks of opportunity. This new moon will also get help from Uranus, so breakthroughs regarding your living situation are likely to come in the form of an unexpected happenstance. If you are looking for a new place to live, you will find yourself at the right place at the right time, able to find a beautiful space that speaks to you. Don’t settle on a space you like but don’t quite love – this new moon is one of the finest of 2016 – and when you see the right apartment or house, you will know it. I always say until you hear bells and see lightning (so to speak), keep looking. It was just like that when I found my current space, and I have been there for years. Saturn will help not only the Sun with his gifts of practicality and longevity, but Saturn will also help the new moon. Moving can be stressful, so it’s good news that you will like where you are headed.

This is also the time to review contractors’ estimates, interview possible roommates, or to talk to a landscape artist about redesigning your property to make it more beautiful. If you need new furniture, by all means search for what you need – you are likely to find some gorgeous pieces that fit right in, possibly at a bargain price. If you love art, browse art galleries now.

If you have to renovate, order specific repairs, bring in the maintenance men to roll up your rugs or a different crew to help paint your space, wash windows, clean upholstery, this new moon will be your time to get things started. You don’t have to complete your domestic project now – full moons bring completion – but all new moons (like this one) are when to plant seeds for the future. Not all new moons are sweet as sugar, but this one on August 2 is in every way, with no difficult planets trying to steal its thunder.

Not only is this time a grand time to sign a lease or close on a house, it’s also the time to find a solution to one of your parents’ needs. Your mother may need help with her checkbook, or with bill paying, or your father may ask you to help him find a specialist for a health concern. These are just examples, but things like these can be easily solved with a solid new moon like this one will be. Your parents, and those you think of as parents, come under the fourth house of home, which will be so very energized now. If you were adopted and would like to find your birth mother and father, you can start the process on August 2 or soon after.

Another dazzling day to pay attention to will be August 16, when the Sun will be in what astrologers call a trine position, meaning a position of supreme harmony. The Sun rules your fourth house of home, so again you are about to get lucky with any home-related goal. For example, if you will be looking at spaces to lease or, if you need to sell, you too will be happy with offers you receive. Opportunity will come in an odd, offhand way, when you are not thinking about your home, property, or family-related goal, but on something else. You will find the right solutions not only with your own property, but in regard to a vacation home too, whether near your city or in regard to one to rent or buy in a foreign country. (Uranus often points to overseas locations.)

August 16 be an ideal day to buy electronic items like a new laptop computer, a smart phone, or new headphones. Do not wait long – Mercury will retrograde starting August 30 until September 21. It is never wise to come up to close to the start and end dates either, so leave lots of space around those dates. Your best time to shop for electronics, including digital and electrical appliances in the kitchen, will be August 16 and August 21-22, but no later.

Home-related changes usually are accompanied by high spending, and this month Mars will circle back to Sagittarius and cause you to seek a loan or mortgage, or put more than usual on your credit cards. Taurus is a realistic sign, and one not given to reckless spending. It appears you have planned for the higher than usual spending this year that started as long ago as March, but that abated a bit in June and July. Mars was retrograde from April 17 to June 29, a frustrating situation that did not allow for easy progress. Now Mars is moving ahead, and you’ll be happy with your level of productivity. Chances are, you will spend wisely.

One day is not good for buying or selling, however, and that will be when Mars will align with Saturn, August 24. Do not close on a house that day, sign a lease or any contract, or buy anything expensive. Mars will push you to act quickly, but Saturn will put the brakes on and say – “Stop! Wait a minute! Consider what you are doing!” It’s a push-pull, hot-cold day, so you are best to stop and think. The slower moving planet – that’s Saturn – will win out.

This is an exciting month, for your next moment to look forward will involve your career at the full moon August 18 in Aquarius 26 degrees will brilliantly light your solar tenth house of honors, awards, and achievement. This full moon will be a big moment in your timeline, as you only get one full moon a year to light your professional sector. You will be in the spotlight, for sure, for this full moon will crystalize weeks, months, or possibly years of work that you’ve done in masterful style. You may get a sudden offer from another firm, open the doors of your own business, or create a high tech / digital / medical / or telecommunications product that will be enthusiastically received.

This will be your career moment of reward, dear Taurus, and you deserve every bit of the applause that is due to come your way. Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, will be in elegant angle to that new moon, suggesting unexpected professional accolades and publicity will likely be yours. Whatever comes up for you in your career won’t be entirely planned but rather will come out of the blue. A full moon has a plus or minus four days of influence, so pick out your outfits – all eyes will be on you for possibly as long as a week (two days prior to the full moon and four days after).

Now we come to two outstanding five-star days of August, so important and positive that I included both dates in my book, The Year Ahead Forecast for the Second Half of 2016 into 2017. Before I tell you about them, you need to know that Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, will conjoin two different planets on the two following dates. (That is, one each day.) A conjunction in astrology is very powerful – the most powerful aspect you can get, for conjunctions plant a seed for a cycle that is starting up. This suggests these days aren’t just for a day, but for longer time into the future, assuming something special happens on one of these two days.

The first day to circle on your calendar will be August 21, when Mercury will conjoin Jupiter. (That is West Coast time, but for East Coast, for New York, for example, or countries in Europe, this conjunction takes place August 22. In Asia, it is August 23.) Mercury is the natural ruler of your house of true love, and Mercury brings news and as well as quick travel, so either may happen on this gorgeous day, which falls on a Sunday but that will spread sunshine over the entire weekend, as well as on Monday, August 22. See if you can design a little trip that would include August 21-22. This same house of love rules children and pregnancy, so if you hope to conceive, this date would be ideal to visit a fertility specialist. If you have children, you can plan a fun, out-of-the-ordinary outing for them.

Your fifth house, so beautifully lit, is about to have a party of celebratory planets – Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter will soon welcome the Sun, and also the annular eclipse of the Sun, a new moon both in Virgo on September 1. Jupiter is about to leave your love sector on September 9 after having spent more than a year in that part of your chart. When a big, heavy-duty planet is about to leave, an entourage of happy planets give him a blowout party, and with the solar eclipse coming September 1, this party will certainly light up the night sky. That eclipse will be a new moon, suggesting fresh starts, so if you haven’t met your one-and-only yet, this eclipse might well bring that person to you. Eclipses are very powerful, some of the most dramatic tools the universe uses to create change and progress. You have nothing to fear, for you have all good things to anticipate!

Your creativity is also covered by the fifth house, so you will be quite a dynamo at this time, on August 21-22, so I suggest you get your presentation of your new idea ready to give on this day. As said, Mercury is involved in this configuration, and also rules, not only love, children, conception, and birth, but also all artistic expression you create or support for others. For example, if you represent an artist, you are part of the support staff of that artist, and so you would benefit from the August 21-22 moment as well.

ALSO, there is one more bonus from actions you may choose to take on this day – Mercury also rules your house of earned income! Money is likely to be directed to you too, and it is not money won or given to you, but earned. This is all good news!

You really have won the cosmic jackpot, because your ruler, Venus, will be in Virgo, the most perfect place for you, for Virgo is a fellow earth sign and Venus will tour Virgo from August 5 to August 30. This is a good time to shop for new things for the coming season, and women readers might want to think about shopping for new cosmetic colors, too. Both sexes should think about trying on new, more modern reading glasses. What better time than when Venus is protecting you?

As the month draws to a close, Mercury will begin to retrograde from August 30 to September 21. Mercury retrogrades every 12-½ weeks, every time Mercury wanders 27.5 degrees ahead of the Sun – that’s when the mighty Sun pulls him back. Mercury is well spoken and acts as the Sun’s agent, so he has an agreement with the Sun to be at the Sun’s side. Mercury reminds us that although we all would like to continually push forward into new territory, meet new people, and start new projects, there is equal value in going back to what was completed in the recent past, and polish up the projects you thought were finished – but that others feel were not. Mercury rules Virgo, the sign known to stretch for perfection.

This month Mercury is in Virgo, so the message is underscored – go back to old projects and make them better. Mercury retrograde in your love sector may bring back an old flame back that you might be happy to see. If you are so inclined, you will have the opportunity to find out if you can both make a go of it again. With Venus in divine-for-Taurus Virgo until August 30, your charms will be evident, and you’ll be catnip to admirers.

If you have been meaning to lease, buy, sell, renovate, or do repairs, schedule the painters, do a thorough cleaning, change your decor, or rent a beach cottage, you will have your chance at the graceful and encouraging new moon, August 2. Saturn will be on hand to coax you to do all you can to improve the value and beauty of your home. With Saturn so prominent at the new moon, any changes you make, you will like and live with a long time.

The full moon of August 18 will bring important, positive, and exciting developments to your career. News will arrive suddenly, with no warning. Every indication is that you will be overjoyed with the changes that come to you, and the fact that you don’t expect them will add to the thrill. Prepare to be decisive – a clear yes or no will be expected from you. If you have been having job interviews, talks will come to culmination, so by all means, stay in town and not on vacation near this full moon. It appears VIPs behind the scenes have been impressed with your performance – now you will reap the rewards.

If you were not privy to certain information going on behind closed doors, and you wish you had been invited into those talks, information will surface now. The fact that you may be moving house at the very start of the month may be related to upcoming career changes, or it may be that your rising status will allow you to upgrade your living standards. If you need to discuss money on any important matter, including your salary or fees, do so on your best day, August 22. Make no agreements when Mars conjoins Saturn, August 24, when you might overlook one or two sensitive details that could cause you to suffer a loss.

Next month, we will have two eclipses, September 1 and 16, putting an emphasis on your love life and your friendships. As you see, you are in the path of vast and improved change on all the important points of life – home, career, friends, and romance. This month, on August 5, Venus will enter the wildly compatible sign of Virgo until August 29 and will get the party started by lighting your house of love and fun.

Mercury will join Jupiter on August 21-22, increasing your chances of finding true love or coaxing you to celebrate the love you have now. This day will also be wonderful for talks about having a baby (especially with a fertility specialist) and for presenting a very creative idea that others will be so impressed with they will call you a rock star. This same day is excellent for seeing more earned income. All around, it’s hard to beat this day – but you can and will, on August 27.

Love-me planet Venus will join good fortune Jupiter, on August 27, a glorious five-star day for your love life. This is a weekend date, so by all means plan to be out and about – Venus will help you find love. Spend time fixing up your appearance now, for it would be hard to go wrong when Venus has her once-in-twelve years meeting with Jupiter in Virgo in your house of love and fun, in perfect angle to your Sun in Taurus. This aspect is as rare as diamonds.