There are talented people who remain under-recognised for years because they assume quality will inevitably be discovered without their participation, yet professional life does not always work that way, and Mercury entering Leo may require you to speak about your accomplishments without immediately minimising them in order to make everybody else comfortable. You can be factual without becoming arrogant, and if you solved the problem, built the thing, increased the result or carried the responsibility, you are allowed to say so in a complete sentence.

Venus begins the week in Virgo, moving through your eleventh house of friendships, networks, audiences, groups and future goals, where it has helped social connections become more useful and enjoyable, perhaps bringing new friendships, smoother collaboration or professional introductions. There may have been a stronger desire to surround yourself with people who are competent, interesting and moving somewhere in their own lives, because the older you get, the more obvious it becomes that friendships influence ambition in ways we rarely discuss.

On August 6, Venus enters Libra and moves into your twelfth house of privacy, rest, subconscious patterns, hidden feelings, closure and emotional healing, which creates a much quieter romantic and social atmosphere. Venus rules Libra and therefore operates beautifully here, but the twelfth house turns its energy inward, which means you may become more private about love, more reflective about an existing relationship or simply more aware of feelings you have not been ready to discuss openly.

For some single Scorpios, an attraction may develop privately or involve someone you are not ready to tell everybody about, although secrecy should not automatically be romanticised because there is a difference between protecting something while it develops and participating in a situation that can only exist if nobody knows about it. If a connection requires endless ambiguity, hidden arrangements or explanations that become increasingly creative, Venus in the twelfth is asking you to examine why privacy is necessary rather than assuming mystery automatically equals depth.

For partnered Scorpios, this can be an extraordinarily tender period for reconnecting away from external demands, particularly if work has been consuming your attention. Private time matters more than impressive plans, and emotional closeness may grow through conversations that would be difficult to have while surrounded by other people or distracted by ordinary responsibilities.

Venus in the twelfth can also help you release an old romantic story, especially one that has continued occupying emotional space long after the relationship itself ended. There is a strange human tendency to keep conducting imaginary conversations with people who are no longer in our lives, often producing extremely convincing arguments several years too late, and this transit can help you recognise when remembering has quietly become rehearsing.