As my family and I walk through 2026, we are doing it with deeper intentions. I'm laying out a monthly guide here. This is my personal guide for making 2026 the year of embodied mastery. I'd love for you to follow along if you'd like to be more intentional with your year.
If you have been following along, then you know that I skipped my July writings. Not intentionally, it began with being a little late and then Mercury Retrograde had me setting the intention to just skip through July. July was an extremely busy time at my Practice and in my personal life. A good busy, but one of those busy moments where you just have to let some things fall to the floor because you have to conserve your energy. That just about summed up July. The embodied intention for July was integration and spaciousness.
July was an invitation to stop searching for the next thing that needed to be fixed and to allow the healing we have already done to settle into our bodies.
July asked us to rest.
To breathe.
To make room.
My anchor questions was: what am I trying to heal that has already been healed?
As of the day this is published, the July full moon will be happening in 2 days (7/29). This moon is known as the Mead Moon. I hope we all taste the sweetness of the "honey-moon" this month.
Now we find ourselves moving into August. Things slowdown in August in the small business world. Kids are going back to school, and parents find themselves rushing around to buy school gear and supplies. How is it August already? We have moved out of Mercury Retrograde and right into Saturn Retrograde.
The gardens are overflowing. The sun is still strong, but there are already small whispers that the season will eventually turn. The mornings begin to feel slightly different. The light shifts. The earth offers the first signs of harvest.
August carries both fullness and transition.
It is a month of gathering what has grown, but it is also a month of deciding what deserves to continue growing.
That feels fitting because my theme for August is: Sovereign Creation
Theme: I create because I choose to. I create from desire, not demand, and trust my timing.
There comes a point in healing when the question is no longer:
“Who am I supposed to become?”
The question becomes:
“What do I actually desire?”
So much of our lives can be shaped by demand.
What other people need from us.
What the world expects from us.
What we believe we must accomplish to remain relevant, successful, valuable, or worthy.
We create because something is due.
We offer because someone is asking.
We produce because we are afraid that slowing down will cause us to be forgotten.
But sovereign creation feels different.
Sovereign creation does not come from pressure.
It comes from choice.
It is the book written because the words will not leave you alone.
It is the business offering created because it feels true, not simply because it might sell.
It is the art made without wondering whether anyone will understand it.
It is the life built slowly, deliberately, and honestly.
August is asking us to build or offer from desire, not demand.
To refine one thing deeply rather than scattering our energy across ten different directions.
To stop over-explaining our work to people who were never meant to understand it.
You do not need everyone’s permission to create what belongs to you.
You do not need to defend what your soul has asked you to make.
You only need to decide whether it is true.
August’s full moon reaches her peak at 11:18 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, August 27, 2026. On the East Coast, peak fullness occurs just after midnight on Friday, August 28.
She is most commonly known as the Sturgeon Moon (Dakota Sioux).
Some other names are The Dog Days' Moon (Colonial American), The Hungry Ghost Moon (China), The Blackberry Moon (Anishinaabe), The Fruit Moon (The Cherokee), The Dispute Moon (Celtic).
This name comes from the Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Great Lakes region, where lake sturgeon were historically caught in abundance during the late summer season.
These ancient fish are remarkable creatures.
Lake sturgeon can live for more than one hundred years. Their long, armored bodies have existed in some form for millions of years, carrying an almost prehistoric presence through the waters.
There is something about that image that feels important for August. The sturgeon does not rush its becoming. It grows slowly. It survives changing waters. It carries ancient wisdom within its body.
Each name speaks to what the earth was offering at this point in the seasonal cycle.
Grain was being harvested.
Corn was ripening.
Wild cherries were ready to gather.
Medicinal herbs were collected and dried in preparation for the colder months ahead.
The Anglo-Saxon name Wyrt Moon may be my favorite. “Wyrt” is an old word for plant or herb. Its roots remain in the names of herbs such as mugwort and St. John’s wort.
The Wyrt Moon was a time to gather the medicine that had spent the summer growing.
Not every plant was harvested. Only what was ready. Only what would be useful. Only what could be preserved and carried forward. Perhaps the August moon asks the same of us.
What have you been growing? What is finally ready to be gathered? What needs more time? And what have you continued tending simply because you once planted it?
The Sturgeon Moon reminds us that longevity is not created through constant urgency.
It is created through instinct, patience, adaptation, and knowing when to move.
Although we survived Mercury Retrograde (some of us better than others), Saturn remains retrograde throughout August.
In astrology, Saturn is associated with time, responsibility, discipline, boundaries, maturity, and the structures we build our lives upon. Unlike the quick disruption commonly associated with Mercury retrograde, Saturn retrograde moves slowly.
Its lessons are not usually loud. They arrive as questions.
Is the life you are building sustainable?
Are the responsibilities you are carrying truly yours?
Are your commitments aligned with the person you are becoming?
Have you created a structure that supports your life.....or one that quietly consumes it?
Saturn retrograde is often understood as a season of review.
It asks us to look again at the foundations beneath our goals. This does not necessarily mean abandoning what we have built. It may mean strengthening it. Simplifying it. Repairing what has been neglected. Or becoming honest about what was created from obligation rather than desire. I like to imagine Saturn as an old craftsperson standing beside us, quietly examining our work. Or in my case, as an old Sage weighing my life's wisdom and the herbal work that flows through me as a result of those moments of expansion and experience.
Not criticizing. Not rushing. Simply asking: “Are you building something that will last?”
That question belongs beautifully within August’s theme of Sovereign Creation.
Creating because I choose to does not mean creating recklessly. Sovereignty is not impulsiveness. It is authorship. It is accepting responsibility for what we create while refusing to build an entire life around someone else’s expectations.
Saturn retrograde reminds us that slow creation is not failed creation. Reworking something is not moving backward. Taking our time is not evidence that we lack ambition. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is refuse to rush what deserves to be made well.
August Herbal Ally: Damiana (Turnera diffusa)
Now, if you know me at all you will have heard me say that damiana is one of my non-negotiables. I had a unilateral hysterectomy in 2018 and damiana has been my constant companion and sacred ally since that time. I use her for her powerful hormone balance. She truly supports the hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats that can come prior to and during menopause.
Damiana is also often associated with sensuality, desire, vitality, and pleasure. It is for this reason that I have chosen her for August. Desire is much larger than sexuality. Desire is the force that pulls us toward life.
It is the quiet voice beneath obligation that says:
I want this.
I miss this.
This makes me feel alive.
Many of us have become so accustomed to responding to the needs around us that we no longer recognize our own desire when it speaks.
We know what our families need. We know what our clients need. We know what our businesses need. We know what must be finished, answered, shipped, scheduled, cleaned, paid, and handled. But when someone asks, “What do you want?” we become quiet.
Damiana invites that question back into the body.
Her energetic medicine is desire, creativity, and embodied choice. Creation fueled by pleasure, not pressure. Damiana reminds us that wanting something is not selfish. Pleasure is not frivolous. Desire is not a distraction from meaningful work. Sometimes desire is the compass pointing us toward the work that is actually ours (the most meaningful work).
Before creating, writing, planning, or offering something this month, I want to sit with Damiana and ask: “What do I want?”
Not what would be most impressive.
Not what would receive the most approval.
Not what everyone else expects me to make.
What do I want to bring into the world?
Damiana’s whisper for August is: “Create what makes me feel more alive.”
Although passion doesn't make the things we do more valuable or more important, it does reveal what someone has already devoted their life to.
August's Crystal Allies: Sunstone, Citrine, and Golden Labradorite
This month I am pairing Damiana with three stones that support creativity, confidence, abundance, and the courage to follow desire.
Sunstone carries the energy of warmth, vitality, joy, and self-directed leadership. It reminds us that we are allowed to take up space within our own lives. Sunstone does not ask us to become louder simply to be noticed. It asks us to stop hiding our light from ourselves. This is a stone for creating without apology. Its question is: “What would I make if I were not afraid of being fully seen?”
Citrine is often associated with creativity, abundance, confidence, and personal power. Its energy feels expansive, but not forceful. Citrine reminds us that abundance is not only what we accumulate. It is also the richness we feel when our outer work reflects our inner truth.
It asks us to create from fullness rather than scarcity. Not: “I must make more or I will fall behind.” But: “I have something meaningful to offer.” Its question is: “What becomes possible when I trust that there is room for my work?”
Golden Labradorite carries an energy of illumination, intuition, and inspired action.
It bridges the inner vision with the courage required to bring that vision into form.
Inspiration can be beautiful, but without trust, it often remains an idea.
Golden Labradorite reminds us that creativity requires participation.
We must eventually place our hands upon the vision.
Write the first sentence.
Make the call.
Open the door.
Its question is: “What vision am I finally ready to trust?”
Together, Sunstone, Citrine, and Golden Labradorite create a beautiful current for August:
Joyful confidence. Abundant creativity. Intuitive action.
They remind us that our creations do not need to be forced into existence.
They need warmth. Attention. Trust. And enough devotion to be made slowly and well.
Candle Color: orange is the color that I have chosen for August. Orange is traditionally associated with creativity, motivation, confidence, enthusiasm, and joyful action. Light your candle each time you sit down to dream, create, write, or simply reconnect with yourself.
Reminder: August is a month of ripening.
The gardens are heavy with what they have been growing. Herbs are gathered and dried. My herbals tinctures are mixed and slowly becoming the medicines that will get my family and my community through fall. Seeds begin forming inside flowers that only weeks ago were in full bloom. The earth does not apologize for taking her time. She does not produce everything at once. Some things bloom in spring. Some ripen in summer. Some roots deepen underground for years before their medicine is ready. There is wisdom in this. Maybe living the season looks like gathering herbs from your garden and preparing them for winter. Maybe it looks like returning to a creative project that you abandoned because life became too loud. Maybe it means simplifying an offering in your business instead of creating something new. Maybe it means sitting outside with a cup of Release and Surrender Herbal Tea and remembering what pleasure feels like when it does not have to be earned. Perhaps August is not asking you to do more.
Perhaps it is asking you to choose more deliberately.
To stop giving equal energy to everything.
To notice what becomes more beautiful when you slow down and tend it deeply.
You are allowed to create because you love the process.
You are allowed to make something that does not immediately become a product.
You are allowed to change your mind.
You are allowed to keep parts of your creativity private.
You are allowed to build a life that feels good from the inside, even when it does not make sense to everyone watching from the outside.
August’s Practice
This month:
Build or offer from desire, not demand. Before saying yes, ask whether the opportunity expands you or simply adds another obligation.
Refine one thing deeply. Choose one project, ritual, offering, skill, relationship, or area of your life and give it your undivided attention.
Stop over-explaining your work. Let what you create speak for itself. The people who resonate with it will feel it.
August’s Anchor Question
What wants to be created slowly and well?
Do not rush to answer.
Let the question follow you.
Carry it into the garden.
Sit with it beneath the Sturgeon Moon.
Hold it while drinking your tea.
Notice what continues returning to you when the noise becomes quiet.
What belongs to you will not always shout.
Sometimes it waits patiently for you to finally choose it.
My personal vow for August: I create because I choose to. I follow what makes me feel alive.
May August remind you that your desire is worthy of being heard.
May you create from pleasure instead of pressure.
May you trust the slow work.
And may you build something that feels unmistakably, beautifully yours.
With love,
Mandy 🖤
I have a great pull toward making my monthly embodiment available to those who wish to make the most of each month. Those who wish to do the work of passionate healing in their own lives. It doesn't matter what time in the month that you are finding this message, you will still benefit from the ritual of healing. This will include all of the tools that you will need to journey through August. Click this link: Embodied Mastery August