As Saturn and Uranus enter the battle field, we enter some extremely rocky terrain for the summer...
It’s all kicking off this July! We’re now in the most important, most active phase of the Saturn-Uranus square of 2021, the phase of active demolition of the old world order —and any comforting precepts that went along with it.
Back in January-February 2021, it became clear that society is on a whole new trajectory. And it has taken this long for us all to let that shocking fact sink in and begin informing our long term decisions. As the realisation dawns, anger is starting to build.
Expect a super-volatile Summer with the first half of July coming in especially hot and angry.
As Mars and Venus (and later the Sun and Mercury) all pass through the Saturn-Uranus grinder, it’s time to put up a fight, to shake things up and challenge the powers that be, even as they come down hard.
Come Autumn 2021, the tide turns, ready for the massive shift in consciousness that’s about to take place this December 2021.
Key themes for July: freedom; rebellion; revolution; unrest; authorities coming down hard; volatility; shocking surprises; power struggles; spotlight on corporate agendas; facing our own shadow; strong heart energy; powerful desire for love, leadership, honour and chivalry.
Read your star sign’s July Horoscope!
July 1-10 Fixed T-square: Watch out, it’s gonna blow!
The first ten days of July are a real pressure cooker and the lid could well come off. Mars and Venus in Leo clash with Uranus and Saturn in a fixed, intractable t-square formation - and what does not bend, in this case, must break. Things could escalate July 1st-5th thanks to Mars, as tensions reach boiling point, engendering clashes. By the 8th, Venus takes over the fight and it’s relationships that suffer the consequences.
Much of the fluidity and openness of June is starting to fade, revealing resistance, intractability and friction that is the real challenge before moving forward.
Time to grit the teeth and be bold, whatever restrictions, threats and unknowns you face. Mars and Venus in Leo speak directly of the heart and it’s time to honour that vital organ. The desire for honourable leadership, for love and for free self-expression is so strong now, it’s a force to be reckoned with. When everything’s stuck, it takes bold action to shake things loose.
Chiron in Aries - the plight and rage of the individual - is strongly in play in the first half of July, with Chiron square the Sun in Cancer and trine Mars and Venus in Leo. Chiron speaks of a powerful sense of hurt and injustice of the 'little guy' coming to the fore.
Lots of debris is coming up for healing this month so get ready to feel pretty raw. But, in that also lies the opportunity for a breakthrough.
Mercury in Gemini, now direct, is meanwhile going over old ground until July 8th, helping you finally gather those pesky thoughts that were scattered all over the place in June.
More and more information is coming to light but it’s still difficult to assess.
And that’s because master of smoke-screens Neptune is in a repeated hard square to Mercury, constantly obfuscating the facts. Not knowing may drive you up the wall but this influence will start to fade after July 6th and definitely after the 11th, as Mercury changes signs into Cancer.
Cancer New Moon July 10th: The Empire Strikes Back
The first New Moon of Summer, a New Moon at 18:01 Cancer on the early hours of July 10th at 02:16 BST is opposite Pluto.
The Cancer New Moon calls you to dive into the deep. It’s an alchemical, transformative, coercive lunation. Power struggles are a key theme, as is facing the shadow, both individually and collectively.
Pluto is like the Darth Vader of astrology. And Pluto in Capricorn (2008-2024) reflects the current zeitgeist of financial slavery, elitism, corruption at the top and the huge corporate monopolies that rule unchecked by localised governments, laws and taxes. These are the totalitarian tendencies that have been slowly building up since the quantitative easing spawned by 2008 and are now - since the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 2020 - being exercised shamelessly, on a whole new level and with fresh more far reaching intent.
On a more personal level, Pluto is about survival, about facing your fears, entering the darkness and coming out the other side (or not).
Pluto activates your reptilian brain and mobilises your survival instincts - it’s the demon guarding the mystery gates. Hence Pluto’s association with the occult, with power and control and, ultimately, with transformation.
This Cancer New Moon shines a powerful light on how you can protect yourself from forces that may feel inimical to life. Cancer is The Source. The source of life, spirit, nourishment and non-verbal wisdom onto the ages. Cancer goes back to the beginning.
It’s time to dig deep inside for the life-giving waters that you seek. The stark contrasts planted at this Cancer New Moon can ultimately lead to transformation and a new perspective - especially by the Cancer Full Moon in January 2022.
The Sabian Symbol for this Cancer New Moon is “a priest performing a marriage ceremony”, signifying "the ritualisation of productive interpersonal relationships". This suggests that further ritualised procedures are about to be sanctioned in the way we relate to each other in the name of social integration, protection and control. But it can also signify an alchemical marriage, on a personal level, sanctioned by a rite of passage.
A Right Royal Romp with the New Moon Waxing...
Right on the heels of this New Moon, Mercury enters Cancer on July 11th. This puts you on a whole new mental trajectory. New topics arise for consideration and Jupiter in Pisces gives them his royal stamp of approval as he trines Mercury on July 12th.
Jupiter-Mercury on July 12th is a wonderfully uplifting aspect, intellectually, and for paperwork, writing, learning and communications, offering a sense of hope and a more positive, expansive mindset.
By July 13th, Mars and Venus conjunct in Leo for a lusty embrace - the signature of immense desire. You’ll want to go big and indulge your senses - and why not? This aspect only comes around once in a while. Passions are raging large but Saturn is a party-pooper, fighting tooth and nail against the slightest whiff of joy. Uranus creates a rebellious buffer zone and you might just get your fun.
The desire for human self-expression chafes against heavy social restrictions and other obligations now but the middle of July promises some dramatic moments.
An intense, stationary Chiron brings all kinds of poisons, hurts and injustices to the fore for clearing at this Cancer New Moon. Uranus is also on hand at the time of the Cancer New Moon, by sextile, to help you break new ground. This wave crests and breaks on the 15th, as Chiron stations retrograde, a moment of deep vulnerability.
Also on the 15th, Neptune trines the Sun, injecting the New Moon with a more inclusive, romantic spiritual perspective. Neptune is also quite the escapist and very good at shutting down the rational mind and sending you to La La land. As the Moon waxes, the Sun perfects his opposition to Pluto on July 17th, a point of heightened crisis, when the intensity peaks. By July 20th, it’s time to speak up and communicate some harsh truths, both healing and revealing, as Mercury squares Chiron and sextiles Uranus.
Full Moon Aquarius July 24th: Techno-Saga, Act One
July 2021 culminates with a Full Moon in Aquarius on the 24th - one of two this summer - we have a second one, a “Blue Moon” in Aquarius in August. So whatever comes to culmination this month, watch this space! There will be an Act Two down the line.
The Sun enters Leo on July 22nd and will soon start picking up on the revolutionary Uranus-Saturns square where Mars and Venus left off. The Saturnian bonds are felt strongly by this point, starting to press down on the heart. Venus enters Virgo right at the start of Leo season too, July 22nd, and immediately opposes Jupiter, at the unstable zero-Pisces, wanting to let off some steam.
The run-up to the Full Moon of July 24th could be super-volatile when appetites - and markets - could swerve in any which direction with extreme ease.
The July Aquarius Full Moon (01:26 degrees), arrives at 03:36 BST on July 24th, sandwiched between the two astrology baddies Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Aquarius. These guys are are obsessed with power and control and are just starting to unfold their plans after joining forces in early 2020. The Aquarius Full Moon starts to elucidate these darker themes that were seeded in our world last year.
Messenger Mercury is also involved, as he trines Neptune and opposes Pluto right at the Full Moon. Expect subversive words and power-struggle-ridden exchanges, touching on taboo subjects. Neptune’s involvement is insidious once more, making it hard to get to the bottom of things. But this is a wonderful aspect for creative writing and inspiration of all kinds.
The Sabian Symbol of the July 24th Aquarius Full Moon is “an unexpected thunderstorm”. Something is brewing! The sudden, threatening nature of this event can also be liberating, helping us build greater resilience, or, as the symbol continues, “develop the inner security…to meet unexpected crises”. It seems like there is a perfect storm building this summer. [*]
Jupiter back in Aquarius at a Critical Degree: One Last Wickedness
As July flows into August, there is a rocky transition moment. Jupiter backtracks into Aquarius on July 28th, whilst Mars, at the other end of the zodiac, leaves Leo and enters Virgo on the 29th. The two cross paths mid-transition at the most unstable, anaretic 29th degree of Aquarius and Leo.
July 28th-29th is a critical moment, of frantic activity. Events could hit from left field, or rapidly devolve and unravel. It could also be a “last call” or last ditch attempt to get something through.
Crucially, next month’s Blue Moon Full Moon falls on that very same 29th degree.
It seems there is an important lesson here that we keep struggling to learn. With Jupiter back in Aquarius, it is very likely about the use of science and technology and the importance of freedom, community and equality.
With Jupiter the slower moving planet, and sticking at 29 degrees of Aquarius till August 6th, the transition into August is a particularly precarious time. Jupiter in Aquarius is largely about the rapid scientific progress we have made this year, as he literally raced through the sign, only stopping to go retrograde once he’d changed sign already, in Pisces - a rare event. This means that there was never room to just stop, think, and examine our actions.
Starting on July 28th, with Jupiter retrograde back in Aquarius, it’s time to revisit and review our progress with the benefit of hindsight.
2021, with Jupiter in Aquarius, is a year of great scientific leaps, technological breakthroughs, experimentation and growth of knowledge. At the same time, it is Saturn who is bringing up the rear, doing the slog work and the tedious drudgery of scientific research right at the heels of our great Jupiterian leap of faith. And Saturn won’t deliver his verdict until March 2023, when he moves from Aquarius into Pisces.
July 29th is a highly unstable moment. Steer clear of the madness, if you can, as Mars and Jupiter oppose.
Also on the 29th, Venus squares the Lunar Nodes, placing humanity at a crucial crossroads, both for our economy and our human interrelationships. With the North Node in Gemini pointing out the way, open communication, dialogue, transparency and multiplicity on all levels is the key out of this conundrum.
Also on the 29th (yes), Mercury changes signs into Leo. That’s important in itself as Mercury, having been retrograde in June, prepares to join the Sun for his superior conjunction in early August.
A stark moment of clarity is fast approaching. Stay on tiptoe.
As if you could do otherwise...
[*] Sabian Symbols from Dane Rudhyar's An Astrological Mandala
(NY Vintage Books 1974), pp.123 & 249 respectively.
Image by Cindy Tang from Unsplash
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