Your August horoscope is here!
+ Our fave mocktails for Dry July • Why mid-career women are leaving corporate America for entrepreneurship
Nonalcoholic drinks that taste better than the real thing
Are “mocktails” still a thing? With non-alcoholic — simply called “NA” — booze and beers now available at mainstream retailers like Target, the current trend of not drinking is considered common and, dare I say it, cool.
Unlike the cigarette-and-beer stance of our youth, those healthy Gen-Zers show less interest in drinking alcohol than previous generations, perhaps finally normalizing life without the sauce — and its socially acceptable sobriety terms.
For us Gen-X GALs who put down our cosmos for fewer headaches, this news directly benefits our health as well. During perimenopause, our livers, in charge of breaking down alcohol and metabolizing hormones, may be less effective, therefore eliminating alcohol at a slower pace — and also causing more intense menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats, and mood changes.
Fast lives and slow livers have no time for the burdens that booze can create, especially around the hectic holidays. Yet, as the NA beverage industry grows 30% year over year, more options on the shelves mean more bottles you need to try. To save you precious time and money, I decided to share my favorite NA drinks — along with a violet Midst Mocktail that I crafted — so you can keep your well-earned cool, and rightfully so.
In confidence: The easiest (and most discreet) nonalcoholic drink to order at a bar or restaurant
If I learned one thing in AA, it’s to protect my sobriety at all costs. My go-to NA drink in the wild is soda water and bitters on the rocks with lemon or lime — which looks like a refreshing cocktail when you simply don’t want to (read: you never need to) explain yourself.
When hosting, this simple mocktail can be dressed up with a rosemary sprig for the holidays and a variety of other flavorful garnishes like orange peel, festive berries, or a splash of cranberry juice. I recommend ANGOSTURA Aromatic Bitters for its 1824 recipe of herbs, fruits, and spices. While the concoction is 100% vegan, kosher-certified, and sodium- and gluten-free, it does indicate “alcohol” as its base ingredient, with 45% alcohol by volume.
Since most drinks include only a few drops (two for taste, about six for oomph), many compare this amount to cooking with alcohol and find it safe for their personal health choices. (This is a big discussion amongst sobriety and pregnancy circles, and one that I feel can only be determined by the individual.) For those who swear off alcohol in any form, NA bitters can offer a similar experience, albeit rare in public settings, making soda water with a twist your best option.
Happy August!
By Mandy Wilde
This super-summer month asks us to consider what deserves our light and what we’ve simply been performing for an audience out of habit. Leo season turns our attention toward the heart, the seat of courage and unguarded warmth. It also turns us toward the upper back and spine, the architecture that lets us stand at our full height.
August is a month for tending the muscles that hold us upright, both the literal ones along the spine and the emotional posture that decides how visible we’re willing to be. The heart wants exercise beyond romance alone. It grows stronger through bold declarations and generous applause for other people’s wins.
August opens with the eclipse season in full force and brings about swift changes! Are you ready?
Key Astrological Dates for August 2026
August 6 Venus enters Libra
August 12 New Moon in Leo (solar eclipse)
August 15 Mercury conjoins Jupiter
August 17 Venus sextiles Jupiter
August 22 Sun conjoins South Node
August 25 Mercury enters Virgo
August 27 Mercury cazimi in Virgo
August 27 Full Moon in Pisces (lunar eclipse)
August 31 Jupiter trines Saturn Retrograde
Aries (March 21 – April 19)
August highlights your fifth house of joy and creativity, Aries. This is the corner of your chart that governs play and what makes life feel worth living beyond everyday obligation. Your heart is encouraging you to let a creative risk get the recognition it’s been asking for. Early in the month, Mars, the ruling planet of Aries, squares Neptune Retrograde in its own sign. This brings about a stirring tension between something happening at home and the deeper question of who you are becoming.
Because Neptune can make things feel blurry, lean more into your natural instincts. The Solar Eclipse on August 12 cracks open a fresh and possibly unexpected creative beginning. Confidence builds around whatever you are building, so let yourself believe in the biggest version of it. Later in the month, you are asked to release an old habit of performing your joy for other people rather than simply living it. By month’s end, the structure your dreams have been missing finally arrives, steady enough to hold whatever you have been imagining into something you can actually build.
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
August is rooting itself into your sixth house of routine and wellbeing. Taurus, this is the part of your chart that governs the small daily rituals that keep a life running well. You can look forward to a wonderful and practical month. All those little acts of care finally pay off with a real sense of ease. Your neck and throat are activated this month, so notice if tension begins to gather there when something goes unsaid. It is your sign to release it in the form of singing out loud to your favorite songs or speaking what’s really on your mind.
As the Solar Eclipse happens in your fourth house of family and foundation, expect a fresh start with someone you consider family. Around the 17th, a bridge forms between your home life and your habits, and small daily choices start to expand what feels possible domestically. In the last week of August, romance and creative joy get a boost, and something you’ve been building or someone you’ve been dating comes into sharper focus. The Lunar Eclipse lights up your friendships and the goals you hold for your future, inviting you to notice how far you’ve grown and whether the people around you are growing right alongside you.
Gemini (May 21 – June 20)
The Sun’s placement in Leo this month lights up your third house of communication, Gemini. This is home turf since Mercury rules both this house and your entire sign. Your hands and shoulders carry the tension this month, so shake them loose when a message or decision has you gripping too tight. As the Solar Eclipse lands in this same house, expect a sudden shift in how you connect with the people nearby, siblings, and neighbors. This could also look like the daily chatter that makes up your world. Around the middle of the month, home and family get pulled into focus, and Mercury threads real confidence into a domestic conversation you’ve been avoiding. Venus drifting into Libra lights up romance and creative expression, a natural high for you this month. Late August, you may notice a sharpening of the mind and your own words finally land with others the way you meant them to. The Lunar Eclipse falls in your tenth house of career, asking whether the reputation you’re building still fits the person you feel like today.
Cancer (June 21 – July 22)
The Sun spends most of August in your second house of money and self-worth, Cancer, so questions of value, both what you’re paid and what you believe you deserve, sit close to the surface. Your stomach carries this month’s signal, so trust the gut feeling that tells you when something is worth more than it’s being offered. The Solar Eclipse happens here too, introducing a new relationship to your own resources. Around the middle of the month, confidence swells around your finances. Later, you’re asked to release an old story about scarcity or what you think you’re allowed to want. As the month turns, your attention shifts into sharper, more practical territory, and a conversation or piece of writing finally comes together the way you’d hoped. The Lunar Eclipse falls in your ninth house of travel and belief, illuminating whether the worldview you’ve been holding still fits the person you’ve grown into. By month’s end, steady news arrives connecting your finances to your long-term reputation. Note that this is the kind of alignment that rewards patience.
3 more reasons why I believe entrepreneurship will rise for women
Women in their 30s and 40s are facing a complicated conundrum right now. Three new studies and stories from Fast Company help explain what I’m getting at.
1. “Why mid-career women are leaving corporate America for entrepreneurship”
by Krystal Duarte, PhD, and Lisa Kaplowitz of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, is based on interviews with 13 women entrepreneurs in New Jersey.
The interviews found that mid-career women aren’t leaving corporate jobs because they lost ambition. They’re leaving because of “caregiving strain” — the impossible math of doctor’s appointments, aging parents, and kids, layered onto workplaces built for people without those realities. Entrepreneurship wasn’t about working less. It was about working on their own terms (aka our raison d’etre at The Midst). As one woman put it: “Freedom gives you power.”
You’re invited: The Midst L.A. with Justina Blakeney
More speakers to be announced!
Woot, woot! Thanks for sharing the mocktails piece! 😘