Hey loves,
Welcome to the first full week of Virgo season.
Last Friday’s New Moon in Virgo initiated us into the season of the Harvest Goddess, and also into the 2nd eclipse season of 2025. Last week I was on a bit of a writing-roll, and I wrote some bonus articles about the New Moon and her connection to the outer planets as well as some Horoscopes for Eclipse Season - check them out!
This week the sun transits through the Human Design Gate of Intimacy/Sexuality (where the new moon happened) until Thursday, and then moves into the Gate of Aloneness until next Wednesday. The planets are dancing: Venus is moving into Leo and then making aspects with all the outer planets, Uranus is sextiling Neptune, and Pluto is going Out of Bounds….
It’s a dynamic week in the Cycles of Time, for sure. Let’s get into it.
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This Week in the Wheel of the Year:
MEDICINE WHEEL Direction: WEST
WUXING Element: EARTH
PAGAN Season: LAMMAS/LUGHNASSA
ZODIAC Season: VIRGO (August 22-September 22)
I’CHING Hexagram/HUMAN DESIGN Gate:
Saturday, August 23- Thursday, August 28:
Gate 59: Wind over Water “Dispersion (Provoking)”, aka the Gate of SEXUALITY
Friday, August 29- Wednesday, September 4:
Gate 40: Thunder over Water “Deliverance (Liberation)”, aka the Gate of ALONENESS
MOON Phase: Waxing Moon
PLANETARY DANCES:
Monday 8/25: Venus enters Leo (and immediately makes angles with all the outer planets…)
Thursday 8/28: Uranus Sextiles Neptune
Sunday 8/31: Pluto goes OUT OF BOUNDS
The sun moves through the Gates of Intimacy & Aloneness
The Energies of Virgo Season, (through the lens of Human Design/Gene Keys/I’Ching archetypes) meet us in the following order as the sun transits through the sign of the Virgin:
The Boundary Dissolver (Gate 59: Sexuality/Intimacy) >
The Sovereign (Gate 40: Aloneness) >
The Imaginal Cell (Gate 64: Confusion/Imagination) >
The Realizer (Gate 47: Realization)
The Peacemaker (Gate 6: Conflict/Friction) >
The Embodied (Gate 46: The Determination of the Self)
This week we move through the first two, dissolving boundaries between hearts and getting vulnerable and intimate with the world around us… and then recognizing that in order to meet people that deeply, we need our golden bubble of alone time, too!
SEXUALITY/INTIMACY:
From August 23 to 28, the Sun illuminates Gate 59, Wind over Water. This is the gate of intimacy, sexuality, the dissolving of boundaries that keep us separate. In Human Design it’s called the Gate of Sexuality, but that doesn’t only mean physical desire. It’s the deeper drive toward connection, toward breaking through the walls of isolation. In the I’Ching it’s “Dispersion”, the wind stirring the surface of the water, creating ripples that move through everyone around us. These are the days when you may feel called to merge, whether that’s body to body or heart to heart.
The shadow here is that intimacy without presence can feel like flooding, too much too fast. But when we meet each other with awareness, this gate teaches us about trust and the fertile creativity that comes from union. Notice what dissolves when you let yourself really open.
The Gene Key for 59 unfolds from the shadow of Dishonesty into the gift of Intimacy and ultimately the siddhi of Transparency. The teaching is that when we hide parts of ourselves, intimacy cannot bloom. Dispersion dissolves the walls we build, but it can feel terrifying if we’re used to armor. The invitation is to lean into honesty, to risk letting someone really see you. Transparency is the highest octave: when nothing is hidden, connection is effortless.
So this week, notice where you keep a mask on. What happens when you let the wind move through you, clearing the stagnant waters?
ALONENESS:
Over the weekend (from August 29 to September 4) we shift into Gate 40, Thunder over Water. This is called Deliverance in the I’Ching, or in Human Design, the Gate of Aloneness. It’s the counterbalance to all that merging. It’s about rest after labor, retreat after connection, solitude after the crowd. In practice, this gate often shows up as the tension between responsibility to the group and the deep need for personal space.
In Virgo season, it reminds us that service requires boundaries. You cannot keep giving from an empty well. Liberation here means knowing when to step back and fill your own reserves.
In the Gene Keys, Gate 40 is the journey from Exhaustion to Resolve to Divine Will. When we push ourselves past our reserves, we collapse. The gift comes when we learn to pace, to commit only to what truly matters. Resolve is not about working harder but about aligning with what has real meaning. And the siddhi, Divine Will, is the surrender to a force greater than our personal effort.
This week you might feel the pull between showing up for your responsibilities and wanting to close the door and rest. Virgo season whispers that both are part of the cycle. Service requires restoration. True liberation comes when you remember that your worth is not measured by output.
This Week’s Planetary Dances
When Venus crosses into Leo this week, she doesn’t just slip quietly into the sign of the lion. She steps onto a stage already alive with outer-planet tension and immediately begins weaving threads with Pluto, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune. It’s like the goddess of love, art, and pleasure is walking into a council of the titans, each one representing a deep collective shift. The aspects she makes right away tell us that matters of relationship, desire, money, and beauty are going to be pulled into the wider drama of our times.
Venus opposite Pluto in Aquarius
Venus in Leo wants to shine, to love boldly, and to simply be adored. Pluto in Aquarius is reshaping the collective, digging up shadows in how groups hold power, technology mediates intimacy, and communities define value. The opposition presses on questions of visibility and control. Where do you dim your heart to stay acceptable? Where do you crave approval from the “collective” at the cost of authenticity? Love and power dynamics are exposed here, and the lesson is to meet them with courage rather than manipulation.
Venus sextile Uranus in Gemini
Uranus in Gemini is the restless innovator, fracturing old ways of thinking, communication, and connection. Venus sextiling Uranus sparks fresh air into relationships and creativity, the chance to experiment, to break out of tired scripts. If Pluto shows us where we’ve been bound, Uranus opens the window. This can be surprising meetings, flashes of attraction, or creative breakthroughs. It asks us to allow love to move in directions we hadn’t planned, to trust that pleasure can also be a teacher.
Venus trine Saturn and Neptune in Aries
Saturn and Neptune are beginning their long work in Aries, Saturn building bones, Neptune dissolving them. Venus trining both ties the personal to this larger paradox. Saturn brings discipline to love and art: what commitments truly matter, and what boundaries must be respected? Neptune dissolves ego and asks Venus to soften into devotion, compassion, and imagination. Together, they remind us that love is not only performance (Leo) but also practice (Saturn) and prayer (Neptune).
The intimacy of these aspects is striking: Venus is not passing through Leo as decoration but as a catalyst. She ignites the heart of the collective shifts already underway. The invitation is to bring beauty and joy into the very places that feel heavy, uncertain, or in flux. When Venus meets the outer planets, our personal stories of love, desire, and creativity become woven into the broader myth of this era.
Meanwhile, this week Uranus and Neptune aspect each other in a rare sextile, humming in the background of our solar system. Uranus brings disruption, Neptune brings dissolution. Together they create a subtle portal of inspiration, where visions of what’s possible can break through. This is not a loud transit, but more like a quiet shimmer at the edge of perception. Pay attention to flashes of intuition, synchronicities, dreams. They may be whispering a direction you’ll only understand later.
Pluto Out-of-Bounds… WTF is that?
“Pluto out of bounds” is one of those phrases that sounds like astrology gossip until you dig in… then you realize it’s a rare occurrance, and a pretty wild shift in the underlying tone.
Here’s what it means: every planet has a maximum declination, basically how far north or south it wanders from the Sun’s path (the ecliptic). The Sun itself sets the limit — 23°27′ north or south — because that’s the tilt of Earth’s axis. Most planets stay within those solar “bounds,” moving like dancers who keep roughly to the same stage. But sometimes a planet slips past that solar limit. That’s called going out of bounds.
When a planet is out of bounds, its energy doesn’t behave by the usual rules. It’s uncontained, exaggerated, extreme, ungovernable. Think of it as the planet breaking free of the orchestra pit and climbing into the audience, rewriting the script as it goes. For Pluto, the planet of power, death, rebirth, shadow, and transformation, this is a big deal. Pluto is already about extremity, obsession, and the underworld. Out of bounds, those qualities can feel untethered, eruptive, or oddly creative in how they manifest.
In creativity it can spark bold, taboo-breaking expressions that refuse to stay polite. Values and desires are pushed to extremes, asking us to see where we give away power and where we need to reclaim it.
Pluto will slip out of bounds again beginning around August 31, dipping beyond the Sun’s usual declination limits to the south. This out-of-bounds period is expected to last about a decade, extending through November 18, 2035. Astrologer Rosie Finn’s research suggests that this will be the final time Pluto goes out of bounds for thousands of years, making it a truly mythic moment in astrological cycles .
This week, Venus stepping into Leo and immediately opposing Pluto in Aquarius is already a dramatic meeting, but with Pluto out of bounds the charge is amplified. Because Venus in Leo wants love and beauty that shine, and Pluto in Aquarius is digging in the collective shadows, the friction between them can feel volcanic. A small encounter might erupt into obsession, or a passing spark could feel like life and death. The gift is that out of bounds Pluto can strip away distortion and push us toward intimacy, art, and value systems that are braver and truer.
I’ll be writing a longer article about Pluto out of bounds as part of my upcoming “Big Picture” series, exploring how this wild energy is shaping the larger cycles we are all moving through.
How This Week Could Show Up for You
Intimacy and merging (Gate 59):
Feeling drawn into deeper connection (sexual, creative, or emotional)
Walls or defenses dissolving, for better or worse
Honesty and transparency bringing out trust and nourishment.
Solitude and restoration (Gate 40):
Craving alone time after intense connection.
Recognizing that withdrawal is not rejection but replenishment.
Discovering the intimacy of aloneness, and meeting yourself without a mask.
Learning that true service requires restoration and boundaries.
Waxing Moon / Virgo season:
Energy is building slowly, momentum increasing each day.
Refinement, small daily acts, and tending details matter more than leaps.
Noticing where routines and practices need adjusting.
Venus enters Leo, and immediately aspects the outer planets:
Pluto in Aquarius: power dynamics in love, approval vs. authenticity.
Uranus in Gemini: surprises, breakthroughs, fresh creative sparks.
Saturn in Aries: love and beauty ask for structure and commitment.
Neptune in Aries: dissolving ego in relationships, opening to devotion and imagination.
Overall theme:
It’s a week of paradox. We move between intimacy and aloneness, discipline and delight, refinement and rebellion.
The heart asking to shine more bravely while the soul calls for quiet replenishment.
The Intimacy of Aloneness: A Ritual for this Week
In the company of others we reveal fragments, reflections, the curated versions of ourselves. But in solitude, these masks loosen. The raw pulse of our own being rises to meet us, asking nothing but our attention. Aloneness is not the absence of intimacy but its root, especially in Virgo Season. The sovereign harvest goddess reminds us that true alone time is the wellspring from which connection with others gains its authenticity. Because until we know the taste of our own depths, we cannot truly offer them in an intimate way.
In this space of aloneness, there is a subtle tenderness, a kind of devotion that comes only when there is no one left to impress. We begin to notice the small currents of our inner life — the thought that drifts in like a bird across water, the ache that lingers behind the ribs, the quiet joy of simply breathing. The intimacy of aloneness is a remembering: you are never really alone, because within you lives an entire constellation of stories, sensations, and soul. To rest here is to be accompanied by yourself in the most complete way. It is to trust that your own presence is enough.
Find a place where you can be alone. This could be a room with the door closed, a stretch of field, a quiet corner of the woods. Leave your phone outside the space. Bring nothing but yourself, maybe a candle or a cup of water.
Sit. Let your body arrive before your mind catches up. Feel the ground holding you. Notice your breath, not trying to change it, just greeting it as an old companion.
Now, close your eyes and imagine gathering back the pieces of yourself you’ve scattered into the world. The parts performing, the parts in service, the parts waiting for someone else’s approval. Call them home. See them stepping through the door, one by one, until you are whole again.
When you feel yourself gathered, place your hand over your chest or your belly, wherever your body wants to be met. Whisper to yourself, “I am here.” Let the words echo. Say them again. Feel how the truth of them changes with each repetition.
Sit in that intimacy. Notice what arises when there is no one else to tend, no mask to wear. Stay until the aloneness becomes not emptiness but fullness, not absence but presence.
When you are ready to close, thank yourself for showing up. Blow out the candle if you lit one. Step back into the world carrying the remembrance that solitude is not withdrawal, but a deeper kind of union.
Have a gorgeous week ahead, with others AND with yourself, friends.
xxo,
Alison
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Cycles of Time is a weekly forecast that explores at the energies of the upcoming week through the lenses of astrology, the Pagan Wheel of the Year, the Daoist 5-Element Cycle, the Indigenous Medicine Wheel, and the 64 gates of the I’Ching/Human Design/Gene Keys/ mandala.
Each of these ancient, cyclical systems have the potential to connect us deeply with the changing seasons and also with the wisdom of our global ancestors. Viewed together, they reveal the profound interconnectedness that human beings have always held with mother earth. Thanks for reading & listening!
-Alison
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xox,
Alison
