August 2025 News & Views. Part 2.

Mercury Leaves Retrograde Arc;

New Indian Astrology Classes

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Mercury-Budha Leaves Retrograde Arc (Shadow)

June 30, 2025. Mercury enters Retrograde Arc (Shadow)

Tropical. 04° Leo 14’. Sidereal. 10° Cancer 07’. puṣya

(This is the degree where Mercury stations direct.)

July 18, 2025. Mercury-Budha stations Retrograde (vakra).  

Tropical. 15° Leo 34'. Sidereal. 21° Cancer 27’. aśleṣā

July 31, 2025. Sun-Surya Mercury-Budha Inferior Conjunction(cazimi).         

Tropical. 09° Leo 00' Sidereal. 14° Cancer 53' puṣya        

August 11, 2025. Mercury stations Direct.         

Tropical. 04° Leo 14'. Sidereal. 10° Cancer 07’. puṣya

August 25, 2025. Mercury leaves Retrograde Arc (Shadow)

Tropical. 15° Leo 34’. Sidereal. 21° Cancer 27' aśleṣā     

(This is the degree where Mercury stationed retrograde.)

Now that Mercury went direct on August 11, there will be 3 instead of 4 retrogrades (Pluto, Neptune, Saturn) until Uranus stations retrograde on September 6th so there will be 26 days when the Retrograde Parade decreases until the autumn when it starts again.

What follows below is adapted from other newsletters about Mercury, but the dates and degrees are different.

As we see above, Mercury stations direct on August 11, 2025, but it will stay in the retrograde arc or shadow until August 25, 2025, when Mercury crosses the degree where it stationed retrograde. That means that if you have a planet, point, or angle around that degree you may be especially affected by the current Mercury retrograde cycle. Otherwise as a general rule, the three weeks of the retrograde (though often bringing petty disagreements due to lack of clarity or inability to listen to others, communication and transportation delays, and other slowdowns) was the perfect time to review situations, revise projects, and even getting counseling for a situation you want to change.

This Mercury retrograde period was especially challenging and continues in that vein due to the fact that Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto were retrograde, Mars conjoined Ketu-South Node on July 20, 2025, and Mars will be opposite Saturn and Neptune on August 8th and 9th. The good news is that Mercury's direct motion causes it to speed up, and can restore better communication, clarity, and more ability for understanding and listening to others. Many of the snafus that you may have felt under Mercury Retrograde will begin to clear up, but may still linger until Mercury leaves the retrograde arc (shadow) on August 25, 2025.

As I said above, the fact that Mercury will station direct and ultimately leave the retrograde arc, or shadow, is a mark of optimism. That means that even though the world will continue to be tense, and especially the markets will go up and down, sometimes, over a period of one day it will rise, and the next day it will fall, and so on. On a personal and professional level we can aim for clarity, better communication, and sound business judgment. Use these next few weeks to increase communication, and to try to resolve differences with people close to you personally and professionally. Some of those differences may require honesty, and each party agreeing to disagree and not to blame but to just move on and think about the positive connectivity that you share. Other differences you may have may be trivial and in retrospect seem very silly.

It's important in that if you have a planet, point, or angle in between Tropical. 4° Leo 14’-15° Leo 34’ or Sidereal. 10° Cancer 07’-21° Cancer 27’, where Mercury retrograded, you may have felt this particular Mercury retrograde more than usual. Because retrograde and direct stations are points of power and intensity, often powerful events occur around the station both in the world or your personal life, and even if that Mercury did not hit a significant planet, point, or angle in your chart, it will still travel through a particular house. (In this case it is where tropical Leo and sidereal Cancer lie.) At least there is more opportunity for negotiating on a direct Mercury, though I would suspect that things will begin in a new direction and will really take shape after August 25, 2025, when it leaves the retrograde arc. You can also look at this to measure things in your own life that you would like to be started, resolved, or even ended so that you can move forward. The good news is that we won't have to deal with that pesky Mercury retrograde again until November 9-29, 2025.

Once we get past August 11, 2025, when Mercury goes direct, get used to moving ahead with plans that may have been put on hold, or that may have slowed down. You can start making those plans once Mercury is direct, and once Mercury leaves the retrograde arc on August 25, they will begin to manifest. Look at the area in your chart that is framed by the degrees of the retrograde and direct station but also look at where tropical Leo and sidereal Cancer lie in your chart. Remember Mercury stays in that sign and house(s), and the house(s) in your chart for a longer period than usual due to the retrograde. 

According to the tropical zodiac, Mercury is in Leo from June 26-September 2, 2025. According to the sidereal zodiac, Mercury is in Cancer from June 22-August 30, 2025.

The influence on these areas where tropical Leo and sidereal Cancer are located, is very focused and requires us to pay attention since Mercury retrograde represents delays, technical difficulties, miscommunication and other annoying things that concern the area where Mercury is located. Mercury direct straightens this out and sets you again on a fast forward path.

Since retrogrades are a period of reflection and revision, and since the planets slow up, think about what you realized or worked on over the last month or two and get to work on now realizing those goals and plans. This area of your life might have become unpredictable, may have slowed down, or taken an unexpected turn but now they will straighten out and move forward. 

Scroll down for whichever system you use.  

Read if you use sidereal Indian astrology. If you have a planet, point, or angle in your chart between Sidereal 10° Cancer 07’-21° Cancer 27’, where Mercury retrograded, it will hit those degrees three times when Mercury is direct, retrograde, and direct between the retrograde arc period of June 30-August 25, 2025. If you have something on one of the stationary degrees, it will be there twice with the station being very potent but just for a day or two, since Mercury moves so quickly. Whatever the planet, point, or angle represents, or whichever house the planet rules, may have slowed down, reviewed, and revised, but ultimately reinvigorated and reinvented slowly after August 11, 2025, when it goes direct and at a faster pace after August 25, 2025, when it leaves the retrograde arc. General descriptions of the grahas (planets) are as follows:

Sun. power, vigor; Moon. maternal, mind; Mars. strength, courage; Mercury. speech, learning; Jupiter.  knowledge, wealth; Venus. love, happiness; Saturn. sorrow, fear; Rahu. intensity, compulsion; Ketu. extremes, spirituality; Lagna. destiny, vitality. If you want to use Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and other angles, you can look below at tropical Western astrology for their keywords.

Mercury stays in sidereal Cancer between June 22-August 30, 2025. The house that Cancer occupies is the area that may have been slowed down, reviewed, revised, but ultimately reinvigorated and reinvented slowly after August 11, 2025 when Mercury goes direct and at a faster pace after August 25, 2025 when it leaves the retrograde arc and after August 30, when it leaves Cancer. If you do not know which house sidereal Cancer occupies, look at your lagna (ascendant), or Moon, or even your Sun (if you do not know your ascendant or Moon), and just count from there. General descriptions for bhavas (houses) are as follows:  

1. appearance, destiny, temperament, personality, constitution; 2. Money, family life, food, speech, early childhood; 3. Siblings, Fine arts, courage, desires; 4. Mother, happiness, real estate, vehicles; 5. Children, romance, investments, speculation; 6. Open enemies, work, competition, obstacles, illness; 7. Marriage, partners, contracts, passion; 8. Life and death cycle, research, accidents, other's money, inheritance; 9. Father, teacher (guru), religion, higher learning, opportunity; 10. Career, status, public recognition, reputation; 11. Profits, rewards, gains from work, awards, older siblings; 12. spiritual practice, secret enemies, foreign travel, debt, confinement.

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Read if you use tropical Western astrology. If you have a planet, point, or angle in your chart between Tropical. 4° Leo 14’-15° Leo 34’, where Mercury retrograded, it will hit those degrees three times when Mercury is direct, retrograde, and direct in the retrograde arc period between June 30-August 25, 2025. If you have something on one of the stationary degrees, it will be there twice with the station being very potent but just for a day or two, since Mercury moves so quickly. Whatever the planet, point, or angle represents, or whichever house the planet rules, may have slowed down, reviewed, and revised, but ultimately reinvigorated and reinvented slowly after August 11, 2025 when it goes direct and at a faster pace after August 25, 2025 when it leaves the retrograde arc.  Below are some keywords for the meaning of the planets and angles:

Sun. vitality, individuality, ego; Moon. emotions, habits, conditioning; Mercury. communication, intelligence; Venus. love, beauty, creativity; Mars. physical energy, aggression, courage; Jupiter. expansion, abundance; Saturn. limitation, disciplined, fear; Uranus. originality, independent, rebellious; Neptune. spiritual, immaterial, imagination; Pluto. intensity, power; North Node. power, place where you must strive; South Node. place where it is easy, habits; Ascendant. personality, destiny; IC. home, family, mother; Descendant. partnerships, contracts; Midheaven. career, father

Mercury stays in tropical Leo from June 26-September 2, 2025. The house that tropical Leo occupies is the area that may have been slowed down, reviewed, revised, but ultimately reinvigorated and reinvented slowly after August 11, 2025 when Mercury goes direct and at a faster pace after August 25, 2025 when it leaves the retrograde arc, and after September 2, 2025, when it leaves Leo. If you do not know which house tropical Leo occupies, look at your ascendant or Sun (if you do not know your ascendant), and just count from there. General descriptions for houses are as follows:  

1. personality, body, appearance; 2. finances, possessions, values. 3. communication, siblings, short journeys, learning; 4. family, mother, home; 5. children, recreation, entertainment; 6. health, service, pets; 7. marriage, contracts, partnership; 8. business transactions, sexuality, life and death matters; 9. higher education, travel abroad, publishing, law; 10. profession, status, father; 11. gains, friendships, hopes, dreams; 12. compassion, spirituality, limitations, solitude.

Vargas (āṃśas), or Divisional Charts.

Eight virtual classes.

Date and Time: Wed. evenings 7-9 PM Eastern Time.

Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 8, Oct. 22, Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3, Dec. 17 

Register: ronniedreyer.com/product/vargas

Early Bird pricing $280 through August 30th. After that $320.

Presented as a live class every other Wednesday, except for the first two classes. Everyone receives the recording the next day if you cannot make the live class. Discussion board will be open for Q and A and review in between classes. This class is appropriate for those with basic knowledge of Jyotiṣa. Email me if you wish to confirm if you are at the correct level. Register here. You can also pay in installments through paypal online.

Syllabus below. Some of the Navāṃśa portion may be review but I am sure that I will add information that is new to you or looked at from a different angle since every teacher draws on different texts as well as information culled from their own teachers. We will focus on interpretation and forecasting through vargas, though we will go into some more thoroughly than others. We will always relate each chart back to the rāśi chart and show many different chart examples.

Weeks 1 and 2. Overview of 16 ṣoḍaśavargas plus 4 Tājika Vargas; General concept of ṣadvargas (6 vargas: rāśi, horā, dreṣkāṇa, navāṃśa, dvadasāṃśa, and triṃśāṃśa), saptavargas (7 vargas: plus saptāṃśa ), and daśāvargas (10 vargas:plus daśāṃśa, śodasāṃśa, and śastiāṃśa), and their importance in ṣadbala; Constructing Navāṃśa, vargottama, and correlation with Nakṣatra Pādas and sounds, Interpretation of Navāṃśa for dharma and marriage and timing of events; Ātmakāraka and kārakāāṃśa (where Ātmakāraka is placed in Navāṃśa); Chart examples.

Weeks 3, 4, and 5.  Construction and deeper interpretation and forecasting techniques using horā, dreṣkāṇa, dvadasāṃśa, triṃśāṃśa, saptāṃśa, daśāṃśa, śodasāṃśa, and śastiāṃśa with numerous chart examples. In terms of health, we will look at the importance of the Sarpa (Serpent) Dreṣkāṇas, the lord of the 22nd Dreṣkāṇas, and the lord of the 64th Navāṃśa in terms of health.

Weeks 6 and 7. Construction and deeper interpretation and forecasting techniques using the balance of vargas, focusing on the tājika vargas (Pañcāṃśa, Saṣṭāmśa, Aṣṭāṃśa, Ekādaśāṃśa), caturthāṃśa, Viṃśāṃśa, caturvimsāṃśa, Bhāṃśa, khavedāṃśa, Akśavedāṃśa,

Week 8. Preliminary research on twins; their relationship to vargas in ways you may not consider. People are under the wrong impression that twins only show up in the śastiāṃśa (D-60), which is NOT true at all. It can show up in any of the other divisionals and we will look at examples of this. This is important for practicing astrologers since in the era of in vitro fertilization, many multiples are being born.

August Lunations: Full Moon and New Moon (Times listed in GMT)

This month's lunations occur as follows:

August 9, 2025. Full Moon. 7:54. Tropical. 16° Aquarius 59’. Sidereal. 22° Capricorn 52'. śravaṇā

August 23, 2025. New Moon. 6:06. Tropical. 0° Virgo 23'. Sidereal. 6° Leo 15'. maghā

If you have any planets, points, or angles around those degrees (I would take a one-two degree orb) then whatever is represented by that planet, point, or angle, will be prominent and important until the next lunation, meaning that if something in your chart is conjunct this month's Full Moon on August 9, 2025, it will be prominent until next month's Full Moon (Lunar Eclipse) on September 7, 2025. If something in your chart is conjunct this month's New Moon on August 23, 2025, it will be prominent until next month's New Moon (Solar Eclipse) on September 21, 2025. 

The New Moon represents beginnings and can help you to institute a change you have been thinking about while the Full Moon is an accomplishment or culmination and gives the push to continue on that path. If you have planets, points, or angles conjunct this month's lunations, you will feel a need to take action with either something new (New Moon) or the manifestation of something you have been working on (Full Moon). Of course, the houses that these lunations fall in, will highlight those areas of life as well.

If your birthday is between August 8-10, then the Full Moon is in your solar return (varṣaphala), the annual birthday chart, or close enough that it will be important for the year ahead until your next birthday, meaning that it may be year when things you have been working on will manifest, or feel like they are moving in the right direction, so continue with whatever is fulfilling you. Set your intentions high and gather your confidence since this is the year when things will take place. The Full Moon on your birthday is important since the year ahead will be even more significant than usual. make sure that you are prepared to make those changes that come with manifesting your hopes, otherwise they can pass you by.

If your birthday is between August 22-24, then the New Moon is in your solar return (varṣaphala), the annual birthday chart, or close enough that it will be important for the year ahead until your next birthday, meaning a change is bound to happen, so work on that change. It could be a physical move, job change, relationship change, or simply working on yourself to integrate new patterns and habits into your life. Expect a great deal of transformative experiences that will make you want to change or take a step in a different direction. Take your time but do head in that direction, since otherwise it will happen to you whether you initiate it or not.

The August lunations also occurred on the same dates and degrees in 1987 and 2006 so think about anything important that might have occurred in that birthday year. Although other planets will be different from those years, it still may indicate the area of change or importance in those years. (Scroll down for more Celestial Events.)

Horoscope Consultations.

I am available for consultations and tutoring sessions via phone or zoom. I record the consultation and email you the mp3 and mp4 file, which you can easily download onto your computer or device. If you wish to gift a horoscope reading to someone, please make sure the person you are gifting would like to have one done before purchasing. If you would like to purchase a reading for yourself or someone else, please make payment at www.ronniedreyer.com/services. I do not have a scheduler at the moment, so once you make payment I will reach out to you within 24-48 hours with available dates and times. I accept paypal, credit cards, venmo, or checking account on my website. If you have special circumstances that require a lower rate, just email me. When you make the payment, there is an opportunity for installment payments available through paypal. If you prefer zelle, send payment to ronniegaledreyer@gmail.com.

I am mostly booked at least two-three weeks ahead and have a reduced schedule during the summer. My next availability is Saturday. September 13, 2025. Appointments do go quickly, so if you would like to book a reading, please keep that in mind. There is always a waiting list in case someone cancels.

. Phone or Video Initial Consultation. (Up to 90 minutes with opportunity for email questions after). $345.

. Phone or Video update for the year ahead if you already had a reading with me. (60 minutes with opportunity for questions after). $250

. Additional people you want to look at in the context of your reading. $50 for each additional chart. 

. Compatibility reading for an hour. $250. (60 minutes with opportunity for questions after). This is NOT an individual reading but a look at the relationship and timing for the relationship. 

. Choosing an Auspicious Date for an event. $250 for research and consultation.

. Astro*Carto*Graphy or locality readings or "Where in the World?" $250. (60 minutes with opportunity for questions after). Finding the right location and best timing for work, love, finances, health, etc. You must provide places that you are interested in. 

. Combination of initial reading and Astro*Carto*Graphy reading. $400. (120 minutes with opportunity for questions after). 

. Answering one specific question or examining one topic or area. $215. (60 minutes with opportunity for questions after). This is NOT a horary chart but an examination of only one specific area or question. Only for people who have had an initial reading. 

. One hour Tutoring sessions in Indian Astrology or Astro*Carto*Graphy. $125 for one session. $300 for 3 sessions.

. You can also book an emergency reading if you have had a reading with me before for $600 and will be booked within 5 business days.

Upcoming Webinars and Conferences

For Registration and Information www.ronniedreyer.com/schedule



FOR PURCHASE. Thursday. August 7, 2025. 7:00-9:00 PM EDT. Big Apple Astrology Meet Up. Virtual or in person at NY Theosophical Society, 240 East 53 Street, NYC.

Nodal Conjunctions. See above for more information. Order recording at www.ronniedreyer.com/schedule..

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Wednesday, September 17, 2025, 8 Wednesday evenings. 7-9 PM Eastern time

Indian Astrology Course: Divisional Charts (Vargas and Amshas).

If you cannot attend live, get recordings the next day.

Early Bird Rates available through August 30th.

Info and Reg. www.ronniedreyer.com/product/vargas

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Sunday. November 16, 2025. 1 pm. EST. OPA Webinar.

Astro*Carto*Graphy Secrets Revealed.

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Thursday. November 20-Monday. November 24, 2025.

Maharishi Parashara Virtual Vedic Astrology Conference. Speakers include Sanjay Rath, Sarbani Rath, Komilla Sutton, Dr. Dennis Harness, Joni Patry, Alan Annand, Freedom Cole, Narasimha “PVR” Rao, Ksanati, Ronnie Gale Dreyer and others. 

My lecture. Friday. November 21. 10:00-11:30 EST.

Powerful Women: Charts of the Rich, Famous and Influential

Info and early reg. parasharaconference.com. DREYER is my discount code.

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Thursday. April 16, 2026. 7-9:30 PM EDT. Astrological Society of Connecticut.

Webinar. Venus Rising: Exploring the Goddess, Planet, and her Cycles

www.myasc.org.

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Thursday. September 3-Wednesday September 9, 2026. UAC 2026.

(United Astrology Conference). uacastrology.com. My lectures:

Sunday. September 6th. 11:00-12:15.

Astro*Carto*Graphy in Action: Timing is Everything

Monday. September 7th. 4:30-5:45.

Magnificent Venus Cycle and a Preview of the Upcoming Venus Retrograde.

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