Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of August 17th, 2026: Trusting your intuition between eclipses

Starting point is 00:00:00 Multiple things can be true at the same time. We can be in a really messy situation. We can feel a little lost. We can feel like things are a little beyond our control and we're not exactly sure what we should do next. And at the very same time, we can be in the midst of incredible luck and fortune and something good taking place. We can be confused in one area of our life, while at the same time, fully in our agency and able to make use of all opportunities flowing our way. Hello and welcome. This is the Astrology of the Week Ahead podcast. I'm your host, your Astro Bestie, Channey, Nicola in this episode, we are talking about the week of August 17th, which holds within it a multitude of realities. For one thing, we're in between eclipses. Last week, we had the first solar eclipse in

Starting point is 00:01:11 Leo near the South Node in a couple of decades. It was a total solar eclipse. It was sitting with Jupiter and the South Node. It was one of those events that was, astronomically incredible because it's a total solar eclipse. And it was also happening on the same day as meteor showers. So visual, spectacular, amazing moment. And it was also the first of its kind. So we know that whatever happened last week, I'm recording this on August 4th. I don't know what's happening August 17th. I don't know what happened the week of August 10th. But we know that whatever is occurring right now, we are in the midst of a sea change. We are in the midst of a change of leadership. We are in the midst of a really big flux shift timeline jump. And it has a lot to do with leaders because that

Starting point is 00:02:10 eclipse was happening in Leo. The next eclipse is the last eclipse of its kind. It's the last eclipse that's going to happen in Pisces near the North Node. in a couple of decades. So we just begun something new last week and we're going to end something we've been working on for a couple of years next week. So again, we know we're in these crossover moments. Things are beginning. Things are ending. People are coming in. People are going out. The nature of eclipse seasons is that they bring a really big turnover. And so it can be really destabilizing. And but also this week holds within it a very fleeting but very gorgeous moment of luck and help and opportunity. And I want us to embrace it and use it. And at the same time as you might have

Starting point is 00:03:05 noticed in the intro, it's also got a little bit of a confusing tone to it. Let's talk about it. Monday is full of contradictions. On Monday, Mars, who's just moved in to cancer, a sign that Mars does not do well in. Mars is a planet about action and conflict and charting a path in a certain way. And in cancer, it's a little wibbly wobbly because cancer goes sideways. Cancer is about creating bonds and connection, but Mars is about severing things. So it can feel like there's a little bit of an attack on the system. It can feel like there's a little bit of like the calls coming from inside the house.

Starting point is 00:03:47 can feel like there's like a threat in a way to the ecosystem or to the family or to whatever it is that's usually supposed to create safety or a container. Mars there is like a, ooh, what's happening? Is there like a rogue cell that's like attacking other cells? Is there something poisonous in the water? What's sneaky and what's around here? On Monday, Mars and cancer makes us square to Neptune. Neptune is a fog. It's very dreamy. It's very creative, but it's not great if we're trying to get somewhere. And Mars is trying to go somewhere always. And so when Mars, the principle of energy and direction and cutting connects with a fog or with something that creates a soggy condition, I could say, the sword of Mars gets soggy.

Starting point is 00:04:44 or the direction that we're going in, all of a sudden feels confusing. It's momentary. And there's a secondary piece of information that I want us to understand, which is that Mars is going to go from the square to Neptune, confusion, and a kind of feeling of getting lost or being unsure to a square with Saturn. And that is a moment of sticky, grindy, obstacle course. type of astrology. And that's happening on September 1st. So we have a little ways to go. But the point is that we're going from a tricky and confusing situation into a difficult one. It's like, oh, we've hit fog. And now I don't know where I'm going. And then all of a sudden, oh, no, there's a wall. Saturn's the wall. Neptune's the fog. We're going to hit the fog first and then the wall.

Starting point is 00:05:40 So we're not going to have a very good sense of direction and we're also in between eclipses. That's the bad news. The good news is that Venus, the planet of unions and the planet of relationships and the planet of values and how we connect is making a sex style with Jupiter, the planet of wisdom and being able to build trust and having faith and having optimism. And so there's something really fulfilling and really fortifying here in terms of our relationships and in terms of being able to be in the right place at the right time. It's also eclipse season. So things are shifting and changing. And you might notice, again, something that seems like a timeline jump. Like, okay, I was going in this direction and then all of a sudden this opportunity came in. And now I'm over here. And the Venus Jupiter helps us to take action. It helps us to

Starting point is 00:06:39 make the most of the good things that are coming through. So I want us to be acutely aware of any and all good things that are coming through. I want us to be acutely aware and on the lookout for all the little positive things that are occurring amidst a moment of like, hmm, that seems confusing, or this is a little chaotic, or there's a lot of turbulence around. And also, I might just not feel like going forth and doing much because that's a Mars square Neptune kind of vibe too. It can feel like a little bit of anxiety because I don't know what to do. But we have to be okay with moments of indecision. We have to be okay with moments of confusion.

Starting point is 00:07:27 Confusion is its own information. If I'm confused, that means I don't have all the data yet. If I'm confused, it means I have to stop and listen. What can I attune myself to? Now, Mars is in cancer. So Mars has to go down into the water, right? Mars has to be like, okay, if I go underwater, what can I attune myself to? Like there's some sort of fable, some sort of magical story about only being able to hear something once you're under the water, only being able to understand the direction once we get to know the current. So if you feel confused or if you feel uncertain about something, I want you to like submerge yourself into your instincts,

Starting point is 00:08:20 into your gut instincts, into the kind of waters of your knowing, if you will, if that's not too woo-woo. I want you to think like, okay, well, what is my intuition saying? And if that feels too hard to get to, then I'm just going to pay attention to my feelings. How does my body feel? What is the sensation? There's other ways of knowing if I am all of a sudden finding myself in a fog and if there's something like, you know, going on politically or in the world that's like, oh, fog of war kind of vibes. And it's like, wait a minute. I don't want to get fooled here. I don't want to fall for the reactionary kind of response that I would normally have or that the setup is trying to get me to have. What's happening in a deeper level?

Starting point is 00:09:12 Because cancer is aware always of what's going on on a deeper level. All water signs are. And so if Mars, the warrior is going to work in cancer, which it can, it's just got to work in a different way. got to make more of an effort to work. If Mars can work in cancer when it's up against Neptune and Saturn, then these next couple of weeks, we're going to have to attune ourselves to our gut. What does our gut say? What does our gut know? What is the wisdom that's in the belly? Because cancer rules the belly, rules the tummy. And it rules the waters of creation. So kind of getting to know ourselves on a deeper level. How can I help myself feel secure in the ways that I can in this moment? Like, I can't always have all the types of security that I want, but I can have emotional

Starting point is 00:10:07 security within myself. How do I help myself locate that? And then what do I do from that place? What do I'm located in my adult self because I'm meeting my own needs? Be a warrior for your own needs, for meeting your own needs. Be the warrior parent that you never had or reparent yourself in a really fierce and bold kind of way. And I think that will help. alleviate some of this Mars and Cancer Square, Neptune stuff that's happening on Monday.

Starting point is 00:10:40 And also, do not over-schedule yourself, people, and you'll hear me go on and on and on about this in the reading for August, in the Chani app, and in this week's reading, and in next week's reading. but I need you to not over-schedule yourself. If you're like, oh, I wonder how I'm going to do all that. You're not. If you're like between now and September 1st, I have a lot to do, then you have too much to do.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Like, can you actually do it all? Can you give yourself? What can you say no, do? What doesn't need to be done right now? What can be delayed even by a day or two? And what cannot be delayed? What do we need to be focused and kind of singularly focused on? on right now. Okay, also on Monday, Mercury makes it trying to Saturn. That creates a helpful

Starting point is 00:11:28 condition for a really good conversation where it's like, okay, this is what we can do long term. This is how we can plan something out. This is helpful for the structure of something. Friday, Venus in Libra wants to be super friendly, wants to be really chatty, wants to be like mayor of mayor town. Know everybody, go everywhere, create. conditions where everybody's happy is making an opposition to Saturn. This is like a tough love type of moment. This is a moment where things get critical. This is a moment where relationships hit that point in their development where it's like, wait, what are my boundaries? What are your boundaries? What are the boundaries of this relationship and this partnership? Where are we going?

Starting point is 00:12:15 What is this amounting to? What does this mean? What did you say? What's the way that we can get everybody's needs met. And that's really, Venus is very concerned with like, well, this is what I need and this is what you need and how can we do it? And when it meets up with Saturn in this kind of harsh oppositional way, there's a feeling of like, okay, I need to weigh this and I need to weigh that. And momentarily, it can feel like a little bit of a bummer. So Friday also feels like we've reached our limit with something. And look, it's eclipse season. So we need to be very conscientious of our limits. Do you You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of power surges and power outages and fluctuations in terms of our power sources. So limits are a good thing to know about. Limits are a very important thing

Starting point is 00:13:04 to respect. And if we feel a little aggravated, then maybe we want to think, like, have I gone over my own limits? Have I not adhered to my own boundaries? Am I not respecting my own no? let alone everybody else's, right? I need to be able to pay attention to mine in order to pay attention to yours for the most part. On Saturday, the sun makes a conjunction with the South Node where last week's eclipse took place. So it feels like we're revisiting that eclipse point. It does feel like another moment of a power outage or a power surge. So again, it's a really good time to get grounded.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Speaking of, after that, the sun moves. in to Virgo and it's Virgo season. Virgo season is going to bring us our last eclipse in Pisces. This is a very important eclipse that's going to happen. Next week, we're going to be closing a story. It's the final chapter on a story that has been occurring, taking place over the last couple of years. There's going to be some kind of closure next week. There's going to be some kind of wrap-up. There's going to be some sort of exclamation point at the end. of a sentence that comes at the end of a chapter that's at the end of a book of our life. Okay, besties, we have an announcement.

Starting point is 00:14:30 Look, every day all the time, we want to make the Chani app into the very best app that you could possibly have on your phone. We want to make it better and better. And this week, we are lunching frequencies. Frequencies are sound therapy sessions. designed to help you no matter what kind of activity you are doing, whether that's like you need to focus and get some work done or you need to go to sleep. It doesn't matter. We have one designed for every single thing that you could need. In the Chani app, you'll find four targeted categories of

Starting point is 00:15:06 frequencies. Focus and flow, ground and soothe, manifest and grow, unwind and rest. Head to the audio tab now to explore all of these frequencies and let us know how they feel for you. And if you're new to the app, please use the code, Fuck AI, to get 30 days of absolutely free premium content in the Chani app. Because we love you, but we love data centers. And so we wanted to bring you a code for eclipse season and a code that reflects some of our core values and principles as well. We love community.

Starting point is 00:15:45 We do not love robots. And we are not robots. We are actual live living human astrologers that put all of this content together for you. None of it is generated by AI. I can assure you that. I'm here recording all the time. I promise. It's me.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Listen to my voice. Okay. Now it's time for a question from the audience. Hey, Channy. I love your work. Thank you so much. It really helps me get through my weeks. And I find it so fascinating.

Starting point is 00:16:16 So one of my questions is you've talked about the rulers of signs. And I'm wondering if you can go into more specifics about that. What are the rulers of the signs and what exactly do they mean? Great question. This is a foundational philosophical understanding about astrology at large. If we understand the rulerships for the signs, we start to understand. the logic around which astrology is coded. So the sun and the moon are luminaries. They only rule one sign. All other traditional planets rule two signs. But the sun and moon are really

Starting point is 00:17:05 special. They are our life's purpose. Both of them have something to do with our life's purpose, but the sun is like the spark of the divine that lives within us. It is, we could say our identity. It is our solar force. So it's our conscious identity awareness. It's how we project ourselves. You could say out into the world, it's how we shine to be really simple. It rules Leo. So the sun is a leader. Leo is a sign of leadership because the sun rules it. So because the sun rules it, it has a lot to do with being the center of attention because the sun is the center of our universe. Because the sun and its light and its heat, it gives us all of life. So it's a generative source of information in our chart. Our sun is a generator.

Starting point is 00:18:04 So Leo is a sign that is ruled by the sun. And therefore, it gets a. It gets a general. It gets its qualities and its nature to a large extent from an understanding of the sun. Cancer is ruled by the moon. The moon is changeable. The moon appears different every single day. The sun never does. The sun is in different parts of the sky. But the sun's light and heat definitely changes, especially if you're in the northern or southern hemisphere, if you're not along the equator. Then the sun is going to move through different parts of the sky. We're going to have different length of days. But the sun, unless it's an eclipse, which is why eclipses are important, the sun doesn't fluctuate. Not like the moon. The moon is always fluctuating. And so the description of cancer

Starting point is 00:18:51 being moody or being changeable is because the moon changes all the time. Mootiness is from the moon. And of course, during the full moon, we know that emergency rooms tend to fill up. I don't think that's a wife's tail. I think that's like a real thing, at least from the ER doctor. that I know. But I think there's stats on that. Anyways, we know that teachers will report, like, their class gets super wild or agitated. We know that humans get activated around a full moon, that all life gets activated around a full moon, because there's light at night. And so during a new moon, there's no light. There's such a waxing and waning of the moon, the tides shift, things change. That's the nature of cancer because the moon rules it. It's also our,

Starting point is 00:19:38 closest planetary body. So it's about being local. It's about being right there. So the moon and cancer are about local things. The moon is also about the body. So the sun is the projector of light. It's the engine of light or it's the one who brings light forth. But the moon reflects that light. So if the sun is the soul and the divine spark, then the moon reflects that. And our bodies are our home to our soul or to our life force. And so the moon represents the body as it's related to our soul's energy and force and light and generative powers. Our soul needs something to express itself through and that is the body. And so that is the sun and that is the moon. The moon is related to what's local, what's physical, and what's material. In a lot of ways in astrology, you'll look to things

Starting point is 00:20:42 that are connected to the moon for a physical manifestation of bounty or of fortune, let's say, or of wealth. So the moon is related to, in a way, material wealth in different aspects in terms of like traditional astrology. So the sun is like the soul, the divine mind, the divine spark. The moon is the embodiment of that or it's where that lives. It's the body. It's also, of course, our emotional life. It's our history. It's our recorded understanding of self, family, right? Like the body keeps the score. The moon is the principle in the chart that holds the emotional memory of you, the people that birthed you, the people that birthed them. If it's the body, then my body holds the record of my mother's body and her mother's body and back and back and

Starting point is 00:21:40 back. And so the body is the vessel through which the divine spark can live out its mission or its creative potential or however you want to say it. But it's also the record of the generations that I am connected to in terms of lineage, in terms of ancestry, in terms of physical manifestation of all the people that got me here. And maybe all of the people that I bring forth or not, right? It's all going to tell us a record of that. So that's just Leo and cancer. Then we go to Mercury and Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo.

Starting point is 00:22:20 Mercury is about the individual accounting of things, the little bits of information. So with that, Gemini is the journalist. Gemini is the information gatherer. Gemini is the one who's curious and goes out and seeks information. And Virgo is the other side of Mercury. And that side of Mercury is about integrating the data, making use of it, putting it to work, putting it to use, making it be of service. But both signs are ruled by Mercury.

Starting point is 00:22:53 So both signs are about individual little, pieces and what do I do with this piece of knowledge and that piece of knowledge and this part of the system and that part of the system and ooh this herb does this thing and so if I mix it with that thing it will do this thing or this piece of information means that what if I add this with that does it add up is the accounting correct mercury is the counter the a counter the translator the messenger the scribe and also the magician both of those sides. are double-bodied signs or mutable signs. And so they are also looking to things that happen on the margins and in liminal spaces. Like what happens where ecosystems meet each other?

Starting point is 00:23:40 Well, all kind of life flourishes. It's not just one type of ecosystem. It's like a combination of ecosystems. That's what Mercury loves to look at and loves to understand because it is a planet that is also essentially the queerest planet we have because in the traditional system, Mercury can either be part of the day team or the night team. It's the only planet that has that kind of dual role. So both Virgo and Gemini have that kind of non-binaryness to them, as do all mutable signs, Pisces and Saj included. But there's this feeling of like, oh, what if I mix this with that? And that is the magician's type of work. It's also the translators work, right? It's this language into that language. It's not a one-to-one. It actually

Starting point is 00:24:30 takes an understanding of both languages and both cultures and how do we translate one thing to the other. So that's Gemini and Virgo sharing a ruler, sharing Mercury as its ruler. Venus rules both Libra and Taurus. So through Taurus, Venus is very concerned with the earthly manifestation. of beauty and the earthly manifestation of union and of a kind of sensual pleasure. Sensual is Taurus. Pleasure is Venus is pleasure. Venus is going to have a good time. Venus is going to make things beautiful.

Starting point is 00:25:11 Venus is going to make things so that there can be union occurring. It's going to create a space so that elements can come together. When I think of Taurus and Venus, I think. of like orchards. I think of gardens. I think of places where you can smell, you can eat, you have cool shade. You have just like so much abundance and beauty that your whole body relaxes. Venus is a benefic planet. So it relaxes us. It wants to help us to open, to receive, to also give and to attract like a big old sunflower and the bees coming or an echinacea flower or a butterfly, you know, bush thing and that all the butterflies come.

Starting point is 00:26:00 Like that's the essence of Venus and Taurus. It's just resplendent. It's just not trying to be anything but what it already is. And when it does that, all life is attracted to it that is for it, if you will. Venus and Libra is really oriented towards balance. and justice, Libra is an air sign. So it's a sign that's really interested in communication and ideas. So both Venus through the lens or through the style of Libra and Venus through the style of tourists, both Venus is love beauty. But Venus and Libra is going to be much more communicative,

Starting point is 00:26:42 much more focused on relationships, much more focused on the social aspect. And of relationships and of connection and of symmetry, Venus is always interested in symmetry because it is a planet that's interested in beauty and also, again, creating conditions where we can open and relax. But because Libra is also about the scales, right, we're always weighing things. We're wondering, like, oh, what do you want? What do I want? What would be equal and fair here? And so Venus rules both Taurus and Libra, and you can see how it shows. up in kind of different ways for both, but they're both connected. They're both about creating harmony. It's just that Taurus's way is doing it through the senses and doing it through the earthly realm.

Starting point is 00:27:29 And Venus and Libra's way is about doing it through relationships, through conversations, through ideas, and through understanding one-to-one how things balance out and work out. Jupiter rules both Sagittarius and Pisces in the traditional system. I know. Some of you are like, Neptune rules Pisces, but for thousands of years, is Jupiter ruled Pisces because we didn't know about Neptune. And I want you to understand that you don't have to believe this, but I want you to understand that in the traditional system, there's an entire logic and symmetry to all of this. There's a reason for these planets ruling all of these things. It wasn't arbitrary. And it's beyond the scope of what we're going to get into now,

Starting point is 00:28:10 but you can look up something called the Thima Mundi and understand in a deeper way how all of these pieces really fit together and become this, like, gigantic teaching tool. So Jupiter is a planet of faith, of trust, of morals, of values in a way that's like, what do we value and how do we codify it? So it's about laws, religion, spirituality. What are your beliefs? And so through both Pisces and Sagittarius, we can see this really clearly, right? Both are signs that are about our belief systems. Both are signs that are linked to some kind of like spiritual quest, some kind of adventure, some kind of desire for a greater understanding of the world at large. Both signs are opposite to Gemini and to Virgo in the fact that Gemini and Vergo. In the fact that Gemini and Vergo,

Starting point is 00:29:11 are ruled by Mercury and they're about all the little bits and all the little pieces of data. If you look at the other side of the equation, we've got Saj and Pisces and both of those signs are concerned with the Gestalt. They're concerned with the big picture. They're concerned with the totality. They're concerned with the biggest understanding, the greatest horizon. They are the forest, whereas Gemini and Virgo are concerned with the trees. How many do we have, what do they look like up close, what little bugs are living in them? You know what I'm saying? So it's like the micro to the macro. Jupiter through the lens of Pisces is about the unification of all things. It's how we're all interconnected. It is, again, an understanding of faith and

Starting point is 00:29:59 belief in something bigger than ourselves. And Jupiter through the lens of Sagittarius is really inspired. All fire signs are about inspiration and about action. And, you know, and about being able to move in whatever direction they feel so inspired to move in. And so Jupiter through the lens of Saj is like on a major quest and cannot be tethered. Do not try to rain in those wild horses. And Jupiter through the lens of, or we could say in Pisces, as a ruler of Pisces, is much more about like being this, right? It's about understanding that we are one, everything is in us. Everything is us. We are part of the great. The great is within us. All things are connected. I'm simplifying a lot here. But just to say, both signs are about faith. Both signs are about

Starting point is 00:30:54 what we believe in. And they just have different styles of how they do that. Saturn, you're really going to not believe me about this one. Saturn is the ruler of both Capricorn and Aquarius in the tradition. system. Again, for thousands of years, Saturn ruled Aquarius. Now, I know you're going to say, but Aquarius is such a, you know, outlier kind of sign. I want you to understand that Saturn is the last known planet to the ancients for a very long time. It was the last planet that you can see without a telescope. And Saturn has that feeling of being at the very end, being at the very outskirts of things. And so in terms of it being a ruler of Aquarius, it is about being on the margins. Saturn is the end of the line. And Aquarius is the one that lives on the margins. It's the one that

Starting point is 00:31:56 lives on the edge of society. So it can look back and see how everybody does everything. It does not want to be part of the pack, but it does want to understand how the pack works so that it can understand how the system works so that it can make a fair assessment of things. Capricorn is a lone goat, right? So both signs have this kind of like loner quality to them, not that if you're a Capricorn, you're a loner. But we're understanding that this is the last planet. And both of these signs have a kind of distant quality to them. All Aquarians are accused of being removed, of being a little cool, right? Saturn's far. It's not close to the hot sun. It's far away. And Capricorn is, you know, really in need of solitude. It's really in need of being able to

Starting point is 00:32:49 scale the heights and also dive to the depths because, remember, it's the seagote. It also has a fish tail. So it's not all about ambition and accomplishment. It's about the ways in which they need to traverse and that you can't do that in a pack. You have to do that kind of traversing on your own. So there's a remote kind of quality to both of those signs. Again, it doesn't mean you're a remote type of person if you have your son in those signs. But the sign in of itself has that remote kind of feel because of the fact that it's related to the planet, the planet informs how we understand the sign to a large degree. That was a lot.

Starting point is 00:33:31 I hope it helps. There's obviously a million other things I could say and that a lot of really gorgeous astrologers could add to this. It is a conversation you could have for a lifetime because everything I just said you could unpack in all of these other different ways. But for now, I hope that makes sense. I hope it helps and I hope it illuminates something about the nature of our system here. Sending you so much love, so many blessings. Look, next week,

Starting point is 00:33:57 we've got the big, huge last lunar eclipse in Pisces, last eclipse in Pisces near the North Node for a couple of decades. Come back and we'll talk about what that means for you. Sending you lots of love, many blessings. Bye for now.

Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of August 17th, 2026: Trusting your intuition between eclipses

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