Āyurvedic tips for Summer
Let’s begin with the season. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we can at this time of year start to understand why Āyurveda describes the summer as depleting. The warm, dry, light and sharp qualities of this time tend to leave us feeling burnt out.
Ādāna kāla is the half of the year that runs from roughly mid-January to mid-July and is said to reduce the strength of humans.
In Ādāna kāla the Sun with its hot rays absorbs moisture from the environment. The excessively dry wind by virtue of its absorbing quality further causes dryness in later winter, spring and summer seasons progressively, leading to the predominance of bitter, astringent, and pungent tastes (in the environment) respecitvely and gradual increase of weakness in human beings during these three seasons. – Charaka Samhita Sūtra Sthana Chapter 6, verse 6
In some ways summer season tends to ask the most of us, but it is actually a time when strength is at its lowest and we may find that we need more rest. Summer season is the only acceptable time for naps, according to Āyurveda, and these shorts periods of rest—especially during the hottest parts of the day—can do a lot to hold off the genuine and deep fatigue which can show up at the end of summer.
The specific span of this period will vary by location and depend on when the heat actually subsides. Here in New Mexico and other desert locations in the United States, our seasons match the traditional Indian seasons which include a monsoon, in which the cold, slimy and light qualities are especially amplified. If this is true in your location, also, dietary adjustments may need to be made accordingly. The sweet, sour and salty tastes are recommended at this time to maintain a healthy agni and prevent ama or toxin formation.
Jupiter’s combustion
Last month I went into some detail regarding Jupiter’s transit to Cancer. I also mentioned how it’s results would vary depending on how other transits are interacting with it. For the last half of July and the first half of August, Jupiter will be in combustion by the Sun. This means he’s close enough to the Sun to become affected by his heat. Starting from about the 27th and lasting through the 30th, Jupiter was within one degree of the Sun which puts him ‘in the heart of the Sun’ or kazimi.
A planet within one degree of the Sun is going through a unique purification which is somewhat like a refinement of its nature. It is an excellent time to reflect on and refine your relationship with teachers, knowledge, decision-making and your connection to your body’s innate intelligence—the ‘prajna’ which I went into some depth with in the last article: a faculty which falls under Jupiter’s domain.
Meanwhile, the external manifestation of Jupitarian things in your life may ‘disappear’ during the combustion, or may become a source of stress (i.e. you may feel ‘burned’ in those areas.) This includes marriage and family matters, relationships with teachers or mentors, wealth and finances, among others. It also includes areas of life ruled by Jupiter in your chart, or which your natal Jupiter is influencing.
All this to say that the external benefits of Jupiters exaltation are somewhat stolen by the Sun during this month of combustion, but the internal benefits—connection with one’s deeper knowing, development of wisdom, etc—may be refined.
Any significant stress and/or deeper insight which began mid July can potentially be connected to this combustion, especially if it intensified around the end of the month.
Saturn’s retrograde
Saturn went retrograde in Pisces on July 26th, and will remain so until December 10th of this year. Saturn’s last retrograde was also in Pisces and occured from July 19th of 2025 through November 27th of last year.
This retrograde will bring some inward focus related to Saturn’s significations, house lordship and placement. There is generally a detail-orientation which can border on fixation with a retrograde planet. I’ve mentioned that the Saturn in Pisces placement is a lot about small steps toward a bigger goal, and this retrograde period is an excellent time to get into the micro-steps or minute details which need to be worked out in order to achieve that larger goal. Although these tasks may seem tedious, they may be necessary for the enormous structure that Saturn in Pisces is building to really hold.
Saturn in Pisces has a highly spiritual side, making this time very auspicious for commiting to spiritual practices which involve some discipline and self-imposed limitation. If some self-reflection, deep review and personal excavation is not done during this time, then the more negative side of an internally-gazing Saturn can show up as depression or a psychological dryness.
On a practical level, this retrograde may cause delays related to the parts of life which Saturn rules over such as construction, labor, service workers and staff.
Because Jupiter is aspecting Saturn from Pisces, the positive side of this transit is more likely to come through. As I’ve said before, Jupiter and Saturn associating have the potential to create some very powerful change. Harnessing that energy in the right direction and having the patience to see it to fruition are the main tasks of this time.
Venus in Leo/Virgo
Venus entered Leo to join the lunar node Ketu on July 4th, and moves into Virgo today. Neither of these placements is relished by Venus, since she is uncomfortable in the Sun’s sign and is debilitated in Virgo.
The last month in Leo was made particularly uncomfortable by Venus’s conjunction with Ketu, whose nature is nearly opposite to that of Venus. Venus is connected to pleasure, joy, love and many of the principle drives to incarnate. Ketu is the one planet in the zodiac who is interested mainly in moksha or liberation from the cycles of incarnation. This is why he is the planet connected to monks, nuns, and renunciates of all kinds. Ketu is strong in Leo and therefore imparts more of his flavor to Venus than Venus can to Ketu. During this transit, things connected to Venus such as sensuality, relationship, and enjoyment may have felt tense or conflicted, or may have gone underappreciated.
Venus in Virgo also has a tendency toward various forms of ‘conditional’ love—toward oneself and others. It is a rule-bound placement, wherein the desires and satisfactions of the watery and taste-driven Venus are kept under control inside the narrow halls of Virgo’s organization and cleanliness.
It is a great time to notice your ‘condition’s around love, pleasure and affection, and to attempt to soften some of those. There is a perfectionist flavor to this transit which should not be allowed to take over. Saturn’s gaze from Pisces may intensify the criticism towards oneself and others and can bring a cold, callous energy to Venusian realms, drying out enjoyment and leaving us unsatisfied.
Sun in Leo
We will get a bit of a boost mid-month when Sun enters his own sign Leo. Sun is content and comfortable in his own sign, where his natural attributes of positive leadership, confidence, structure, routine and health are able to express more naturally. Ketu will join the Sun here, setting the grounds for the solar eclipse.
This combination can be positive spiritually—again, for delving deeply into personal and internal questions and connecting with core layers of oneself, but generally comes through as a little intense and caustic, being that they are both hot planets. Ego and issues with power can be a problem with this transit. I recommend tending towards humility and introspection whenever possible.
Eclipses
We will get another round of eclipses this month, with the solar eclipse on Wednesday the 12th, and the lunar eclipse on the 27th. I will write more on this as we get deeper into the month, but for the time being here is a reminder of general eclipse protocol:
10 days before and after a solar eclipse are considered delicate and should be avoided for beginning new endeavors. The same holds for three days before and after a lunar eclipse.
Generally speaking, things begun before an elipse cycle tend to fail, and those begun afterwards (after the delicate window has passed) tend to succeed.
The eclipse days themselves should be handled with great care—especially solar eclipses—as they tend to warp the mind and create a lot of unclear thinking and paranoia.
Solar eclipses are best spent in meditation or solitary practices, while lunar eclipses can be conducive to positive social events and gatherings, although I generally still recommend solo activities due to the emotional intensity present on lunar eclipses.
Fasting can be excellent remediation and a positive use of the cleansing effect which eclipses are already bringing in. There are also specific protective pujas which can be done if eclipses are hitting important planets or areas in your natal chart.
Summing it up
All things considered, this month is really best spent as much as possible in introspection and with quiet discipline and focus on the work that needs to be done. It is not a time for making big decisions or changing course, although eclipses have the tendency to convince us that now is exactly the time for those sorts of things.
Try to remain grounded and focus on the simple, small tasks that need to be taken care of, watching out for the stories that might start to kick up inside you (especially those with the flavor of worry or catastrophization) as we near the eclipse points.
Eclipse cycles, like all difficult transits, always hold opportunities. They can be very productive times spiritually, particularly in light of the other transits occurring within this cycle.
It is an unstable time collectively and politically, so we can expect some events on the world stage to unfold related to politicans and those in positions of power (Leo).