Love Horoscope for the Week of August 8

The week begins with an emotionally demanding tone which is entirely unlike the usual style you’d expect from Venus in Cancer. Sure, she might be willing to stamp her foot and pout if she doesn’t get her way, but she’s rarely shouty about it. That may not be the case early in this week, as Venus in Cancer is opposite Pluto, with the exact aspect happening on Monday. That’s a time when needs for affection and finance and sugar are all going to be particularly demanding. Be prepared to spend extra time comforting and encouraging your loved ones, and make sure you have an extra pint of ice cream stored away in case you need to hide on the couch and watch Netflix.

Not helping any: the fact that Mars in Taurus isn’t exactly a master of focusing or containing its temper properly, and Mars is still within range of the square to Saturn. This could lend an additional tone of iciness to the week’s proceedings.

Rather than simply fade out as Venus leaves the final degrees of Cancer, it will go out with somewhat of a bang because of this, aided and abetted by two distinct events on Thursday. First, there is a Full Moon at 19 degrees Aquarius. Now if you find yourself thinking, “Hey, that’s dangerously close to the square to Uranus and the conjunction to Saturn, and that might mean that this particular Full Moon is really big and really irritable,” then congratulations, you’ve been paying attention. A lot of tension that has been building for months now will start coming rapidly unraveled. If any tensions have been building up between you and a loved one in the last week or so, Thursday may not be the ideal time to address those issues. Likewise, don’t be too surprised if someone throws a particularly thorny issue into your lap to deal with.

At this point, it sounds like we could all use a change of pace, couldn’t we? Fortunately, the Zodiac is throwing us a bit of a bone this week as (also on Thursday) Venus leaves Cancer and enters Leo. It doesn’t take long studying astrology to learn that Venus in Leo is associated with having a good time and playfulness and romance. None of this is guaranteed, of course — just like everything else in life, if you want to attend the carnival, you need to buy a ticket. But it will help set the tone for the following weeks if what you are looking for is to shake off your burdens and get out and socialize and meet and greet and feel more like a connected person again. A lot of us need that sort of thing lately. So thanks, Venus in Leo!