Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of August 18th, 2025: A systems update with the New Moon in Virgo

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Episode 244In this podcast, New York Times best-selling author and astrologer Chani Nicholas discusses the astrology of the week and what it might mean for us all.The astrology of the week of August 18th, 2025, gives us a double dose of organization. Virgo season kicks off, urging us to plan ahead and triple-check the details. And the New Moon in Virgo helps us make our work, health habits, or schedules more efficient. But as the Moon squares off with the planet of disruption, know that you can’t plan for everything. Try to stay flexible and see what you can learn from the surprises.Ready to dive in?This episode covers:The Sun’s entrance into Virgo on Friday, August 22ndThe New Moon in Virgo on Friday, August 22ndThe New Moon’s whole-sign sextile to Jupiter on Friday, August 22ndThe Sun’s square to Uranus on Saturday, August 23rdThe Moon’s square to Uranus on Saturday, August 23rdThis episode was recorded on 07/09/2025.For more, check out your free daily horoscope on the homepage of the CHANI app — now on iOS and Android.The music featured in the podcast was created by Latashá.

Three things about this week. Organization, time management, and systems updates. Hello and welcome. This is the astrology of the week ahead podcast. I'm your host, your Astro Bestie, Channy Nicholas. In this episode, we are looking at the week of August 18th and the qualities they're in. And can I tell you how satisfying it is when the astrological week lines up with the very thing that's happening, i.e., when it's so clean and clear and efficient, when there is basically one thing happening

so we can focus on using it to the best of our ability. But before we get into all of that, I have an exciting announcement. Palace Athena is officially in the Chani app. Named after the cunning warrior queen Athena, Palace Athena is one of four asteroid goddesses that we find in between Mars and Jupiter. In astrology, this placement represents the keenest creative intelligence and our ability to strategize and to win. So once you're done listening to this podcast, go and read about where Palace Athena is in your chart. Go to the Me tab, read all about it.

There's also a guided meditation for Palace Athena. And there's personalized Palace Athena transits also in the app. I mean, she really couldn't have come at a better time. Enjoy. When I tell you that we are having a very important. restart in an area of our life and that we can serve ourselves so well by getting ahead of the game. This is time to look at our schedules, our clocks, the data we've got, the information we're working with, the ways in which we are organizing everything in our worlds.

this is the week to center that. If and when we do that, we are going to be so grateful to ourselves that we did come September because September is full of speedy, quick, quantum leap changes. September is full of eclipse season shenanigans. September is going to be another one of those wild months where things start to pick up again. And this is our week to get our shit together before all of that happens. And it just so aligns with a new moon in Virgo. And that's all that happens. The sun moves into Virgo. The moon moves into Virgo on Friday the 22nd. Nothing happens before that. You know, like everything's

moving around and things are, but no major aspects happen before that. that. Isn't that gorgeous? Isn't that seamless? Isn't that elegant? Isn't that giving just the right amount of information? It's giving demure. That's Virgo's deal. Virgo is like, look, I don't need to be showy. I don't need to prove anything. It's all in the proof. My work, stands for itself. I did my work. I did it early. I did it thoroughly. It is in me. I am an embodiment of it. I have thoroughly massaged it and integrated it into every fiber of my being. It cannot be separated from me. It is clean. It is clear. It is elegant. It's chic. And that's what this week gives us. So Friday, the sun moves into Virgo, hello Virgo season. Friday, the moon moves into

Virgo. Hello. New lunar cycle. On Sunday, the sun makes a square to Uranus, which is about doing something new. This is a signature of updating and innovating what? Well, the sun's in Virgo, so that would be our systems, our ways of working. Our ways of working. Our ways of streamlining, our ways of collecting data, our ways of researching, our ways of getting our work done. Our systems are in need of an update. But you can think of it like this. As soon as the sun and moon move into Virgo, they are in a square with Uranus. So this new moon is sitting in an exact square to Uranus. It perfects with the sun on Sunday, but we're going to feel it all weekend. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And because it is the major signature of this new moon, and because it is so

brand new, we've never had a new moon in Virgo square Uranus, not in 84 years. So not in my lifetime. Probably not in your lifetime. If it was in your lifetime, you were probably a baby. And you probably don't remember it. So this is brand new. So this is an all new way of doing something, of doing our work. of getting the job done, of working in the systematized way we're working in. The reason why I keep saying systems is because Virgo loves a system. It loves a filing cabinet. It loves a duie decimal system. It loves to know the order of things. Not just because it is a little type A, but because systems are magic. Nature is a system. Our bodies are a billion systems working, together. Again, in such an elegant way. Everything is facility. Everything is for something else.

Everything is part of a whole. There is no waste inside of a really efficient system. Everything gets repurposed. Everything gets reused. Think of like mushrooms and how they break things down and repurpose. Think of all the ways in which nature just blows your mind because it's so elegant and it is so transformative and it doesn't waste a morsel of its own ecosystem. Everything has a place. Everything has a function. Everything has a job. And everything just runs ticitty boo until humans get in the mix and mess it all up. Anyways, or we're part of it. So, you know, our mess is part of how it's going to work itself out. I'm not sure. We're going to have to see how it all goes. but Virgo is the magic of the system.

Virgo is the magic of our systems, internal and external, when they're working in the way that they were meant to. Because everything flows, everything hums along, everything gets done. We can relax into the way that something works. We don't have to fret. We don't have to worry. I think Virgo only worries and frets when the system isn't allowed to function as it's supposed to. Because when you look at how a forest does its job,

it's not stressing out. It's just doing its job. All the trees are talking to each other through the root system. The myceliums are all in their situations, the bugs and the leaves and the animals and everything. Everything has a purpose. All of those are part of a bigger system. So if we're worried and we're stressed and we're, you know, agitated, it's because obviously we live in systems that don't work for most of us, for 99% of us. And I would argue they don't work for any of us because there is no such thing as thriving in isolation. That's just a delusion. So we're here to say no to that delusion. This is also a Newman in Virgo that is. That is also a newman in Virgo that is not sitting in opposition to Neptune. Couldn't think of it. I always forget Neptune because

it's like such a foggy planet. What is it called again? It's not sitting in a whole sign opposition to Neptune because Neptune is currently in Ares. So it's not in an opposition to Neptune. It's not in an opposition to Saturn. It is not even connected to Pluto, because Pluto has moved into Aquarius and Aquarius and Virgo don't have a relationship. It's sitting in a whole sign sex style to Jupiter, which is really nice. And it's sitting in this agitating, aggravating, activating, action-oriented square to Uranus. This is about updating what doesn't work now so that we can be more efficient and more internally, externally organized. Again, not to be really controlling about life, but to allow life to hum along and everything to sort

itself out and do its job and to function as it's supposed to. It's actually exceedingly relaxing when everything works, when the drawers are organized, when the papers are filed away, when all my little jobs are done, I feel wonderful. And I know I've got to get up and do it again the next day, that's just the system of life. So where is Virgo in your chart? Go listen to your reading in the Chani app and figure out where this new moon is happening. The thing I haven't said yet is that in one month from this new moon, there will be a solar eclipse in Virgo at the last degree of Virgo. And that is going to be a different kind of setup. That is going to be where things get a little bit more wild, a little bit more chaotic. That is where things are going to be a little bit more crunchy.

There's a lot of work that we are going to get done in the next month. And a month from now, that eclipse is sitting in an exact opposition to Saturn. And that says, ooh, something big is due. That's a little yikes. Like we get called to the principal's office kind of vibe. or things are due earlier than we thought they were going to be and we got to work. So the efficiency and the streamlining is, yes, for things to hum along and for us to relax and just like let things work as they're supposed to. But it's also a precursor and a thing that we can do to be proactive before we really get into eclipse season.

Eclipse season is always a rapid series of events that brings openings and closings, beginnings and endings. It's a flip of the script that we're like, oh, wow, an unforeseen event or a faded type of event. It's a time where a lot of shadowy material gets stirred up. That's very, very activating. So this is the new moon that's happening in the same size. as the next solar eclipse will happen in. So this is the same part of your chart that's getting activated by the South Node in Virgo, that's getting activated by eclipses.

Again, this is not an eclipse, but it is the prep for eclipses to come. This is our like, hey, I know not a lot is going on right now, but you should pay attention to this moment so that you can get. get ahead of the game and feel like you are as organized as possible going into eclipse season because eclipse season is going to kind of throw everything up in the air and things are going to land in much different ways. And again, we're going to be like, whew, glad I, glad I sorted out a bunch of stuff and didn't have things flying about the cabin. Everything was locked in and secured as much as it could be. This week's question is all about Holstein houses, which I

know is a contentious issue out in the world. Why? Because a lot of different house systems have been more popularized on the internet before the Holstein houses reemergence or renaissance, we could say, happened. Whole Sign Houses is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, house systems, ways of looking at our chart. So I love whatever you use, whatever works for you, great. I know that our app is in whole sign houses because we are a traditional astrological company. I am a traditional astrologer. Everybody on the team works in that way or views astrology through that lens. Working with whole sign houses is a way of seeing your chart. so that every sign is a house. It's a very elegant way of looking at your chart. It's a very seamless

way of looking at everything. Now, the sky is big and messy and it doesn't fall neatly into 12 different components no matter what house system you use. So there's not one house system that's better than another. There's just different ways of looking at yourself philosophically or looking at the sky or looking at this great art form that we're all working with and the philosophical kind of paradigm that we're working within. Holstein houses is much more similar to how Vedic astrology or Indian astrology or Joytish looks at house systems as well. They use the sedereal zodiac. We use the tropical zodiac. So there's differences. Again, there's a lot of different astrologies. There's a lot of different ways of looking at our chart. I think all of them are gorgeous.

As long as you understand what it is you're using and why you're using it and how it works. I have gotten readings from every different type of astrology out there and all of them were beneficial to me. I loved and got something really deep and profound from every different astrological system that I've been, you know, lucky enough to receive a reading about my chart about. I love every single different house system. I love every single different way of looking at our astrological chart. I love every single different astrology. I might not totally philosophically resonate with it, but I think everyone has its own gem and has its own beauty and has its own elegance. I mean, every single astrological tradition has its own

wisdom. And I think it's about going to the person that's deeply rooted in that tradition or deeply rooted in that way of seeing that you get the most from. I'm deeply rooted in traditional astrology because my main teacher, Demitra George, taught it to me and it made the most sense to me and it actually radically changed my life. Learning traditional astrology changed the trajectory of my life because it was the first time and I had studied astrology for so long, like decades. It was the first time I felt like I really actually, actually fully understood it. And that's the thing.

Each astrological system will make sense to different people. And it's our job just to find whatever it is we resonate with. that was a really long-winded way of saying, this person wrote in asking if working with whole sign houses will change the attributes of their sun sign or the, I think they meant the significance of their sun sign and no. And no, it doesn't change the attributes of your sun sign at all. It might shift your son from one house to a different one. And this is a thing. Like people get really upset. People get really upset when they look at their chart and their planets are in different houses. I get it. My whole chart changed when I used whole sign houses. And I was like,

wait a minute. I thought I knew myself as this kind of person. And you're telling me I'm this kind of person. But part of it is because I didn't actually understand what it meant in traditional astrology to have the sun in this house as opposed to having it in this house. And because I have the sun and other planets really close together, it gives me the feel of having it in the house I thought I was had it in. So there's, again, all of these different components that are at play and working. One of the things that were taught in a modern pop astrology, not modern astrology, but modern pop astrology, is to pay so much attention to the sign, which is a beautiful entry point, and it definitely tells us a lot, but it's about so much.

Our astrology in your chart is about so much more than your sun sign. And so if I tell you to read or listen to your horoscope through your rising sign, I'm not diminishing the power of your sun or the power of your sun sign. No one in nothing can do that. That is in and of itself exceedingly important. the sign that your moon is in, exceedingly important. The luminaries, the sun and moon, exceedingly important. Nothing can diminish their importance. But the rising sign tells you when exactly you were born and it sets up the entire system of your chart. I kind of say this in

every single ask me anything. So a lot of you are probably getting sick of me saying it. But here we are. A lot of the questions kind of revolve around this because we're taught to look at ourselves through our sun sign or through signs, which, again, it's one lens. It's one little scope and it's kind of narrow. And so I'm asking you to broaden your scope of understanding when I say the whole sign houses tell us where everything is in relationship to your rising sign. And some people might think that that's a simplistic way of looking at it because it makes every sign a house, whereas quadrant-based house systems will cut things up in different ways. And some people have like three or four signs in one house. And it makes things look very different. So my invitation to you is this. Really deeply learn about what it means in whole sign houses to have your son in this house. and then really deeply learn what it means to have it in the other house.

And instead of trying to fit it into make sense to you, see what each system is actually telling you. Stop reading into your chart and read out of it. I had that piece of advice when I was an actor, when I studied acting. My acting coaches used to say, stop reading into the script. Read out of it. Stop making everything about you and how you think it should be. instead read what is actually there and see what else you can learn about this character.

So instead of you trying to make your chart fit into your idea of who you are, what your life should be, it might be telling you something else. It might be telling you like, hey, yeah, I get that you're good at this, but you actually need to go over there in order to feel like you're living a life of purpose in order to feel like you're successful. in order to feel like you really landed it this time. So that's my invitation to you. Play around with it. Don't get too stuck in any kind of house system.

Of course, if you're in the Chani app, you're going to just be learning about your chart through Holstein houses. And I promise you it is compatible with other astrologies. I know my chart in a lot of different systems. And I can be like, yeah, that totally makes. sense. I don't need to see it through that lens because I get the same information through this system just in different ways. But I can see how those things resonate. And that doesn't mean that

everything resonates, but it means that the specific constellation that I was born under is what it is. And then when we landed inside a house system, it might fall slightly this way or slightly that way. But the planets are still configured in the same way. And so play around with the what the planets themselves mean as they're speaking to each other, and what that means as it falls in different houses, either in Holstein houses or in a different house system. But don't throw it out just because it's foreign to you. Know that it's rooted in a deep, deep, long tradition and history,

as are a lot of different house systems. And it's just a way of seeing yourself. And all of it has some wisdom for us to glean. All right, y'all, thank you so much for joining. Come back next week. We're going to talk about Venus moving into Leo. Just because Leo's season is over on Friday doesn't mean the drama has stopped. Venus and Leo is going to carry us through a couple more shows.

And then we've got a clip season. Baby, we've got eclipse season. Not for a little, like not until September 7th is the first eclipse. But again, this one's going to get us prepped. Next week, we'll talk a little bit more about how to, but the next one is going to land on the 7th of September. So that will be a lunar eclipse in Pisces, big, huge feelings and insights and intuitions. Come back. We'll talk all about it and then some.

Bye for now.