Photo by Anastasia Dulgier on Unsplash
The words of astrological wisdom in this post are thanks to this month’s astrologers and their channels, blogs, websites, and other digital pages who give us such thorough insight into the month and days ahead:
Rick Levine
Chris Brennan
Kelly Surtees
Austin Coppock
Pam Gregory
Acyuta-bhava Dasa
Overview:
It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times—Mostly it was the Worst of Times
As we leave June behind, we have just had our second hit of Jupiter and Pluto connecting in Capricorn. The last time they connected was on April 4th, as the COVID numbers in the US began to spike. In this month’s Astrology Podcast featuring Chris Brennan, Austin Coppock and Kelly Surtees, they compare the spikes of the same planetary combination in 1918 with the spikes in the Spanish Flu. In that year, the second spike, which was the deadliest, occurred with the conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto. When the planets met again in 1919, there was another, less powerful spike from the second, but it was still deadlier than the first. This year, we had a spike around early April and we are now seeing a huge spike as Jupiter and Pluto recently met again June 29/30. The next meeting of these two planets—and the last in this cycle, will be on November 12th, a week after the presidential election in the US. (mail-in votes, anybody?).
Austin reminds us that since Jupiter and Pluto meet once every 12 years, that conjunction does not always bring a pandemic, but there appears to be a connection to the trend. Kelly points out that with Jupiter in Capricorn, the sign where its strength is debilitated, and Saturn being in the sign it rules, which strengthens it, along with a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction on top of it, the issues associated with these alignments could be compounded. (After all, the Black Death had the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the same signs they are in this time around).
In addition to the possible correlation of Jupiter and Pluto to the virus, Austin again brings up the combination of these two planets as a sign of big money, and big, suspicious movements of money and the accumulation of capital. “Jupiter/Pluto is the corrupt bailout signature,” he says. “That is going to happen again.” Back to quarter one, another giant corporate bailout, he notes amid the righteous desire to help people.
Chris reminds us that the 3rd quarter of 2020 is bringing us back to the same energies from the first quarter, as Saturn moves back into Capricorn on July 1, where it was when the virus began to spread and the lockdown began.
Saturn’s conjunction with Pluto in January two days after the eclipse, the first mention of a potential epidemic virus was brought up in the US. I believe it was the first death reported in China. In March, Saturn moved away from Pluto into Aquarius, and connecting with Mars brought us into the need to limit interaction in the community—the lockdown.
Right out of the gate, Saturn moves out of Aquarius and back to Capricorn heading toward Pluto. While they will not meet up again at an exact degree, they will be close enough to influence each other. And we are seeing, as Saturn goes into Capricorn, the increase again in cases. Chris Brennan’s group notes that the closest Saturn gets to Pluto is three degrees away in late September. And then it slows down, and heads back toward Aquarius. Kelly commented that Saturn going back into Capricorn brought the feeling of intensity back—even the no-maskers are starting to tell people to wear masks. “Even though Saturn/Pluto conjunction is not exact, it is close enough that we will feel qualities of confinement, isolation and oppression,” she says.
Pam Gregory reminds us that the last time we had a conjunction between Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn (before 2020) was in 1517 and 1518, which was the beginning of the slave trade in the Americas and abuse of power. She says that when Saturn and Jupiter first met in January, it “struck a tuning fork for the year” bringing out the Capricorn themes of power from the state, top-down authority, and rules and regulations, restriction. However, Pluto deconstructs and reconstructs—as Rick Levine points out. So, Pluto in Capricorn is signaling that deconstruction and reconstruction of the old order, as well as the old structures (statues coming down), old leaders. It means endings and new beginnings. As Levine puts it, “Pluto is the cosmic roto rooter that clears everything out in order for things to flow again.
Saturn is restrictions, limitations and boundaries. With Pluto, there can be a reformation of boundaries. Right now we are seeing new boundaries regarding who is permitted to travel into other countries and even from state-to-state based on the COVID response. Boundaries can be social distancing boundaries, and the barriers being set – with masks, face shields, or gloves—and not being able to visit people in hospitals, in senior facilities, in quarantine situations, indoors at restaurants. This combination of Saturn and Pluto could be the beginning of a reconstruction of boundaries—a redefinition of how boundaries are set.
Pluto also represents the deep secrets that have been repressed, the secrets of the rich and powerful, hidden brutality, and it brings about a purging and detoxing process bringing up issues from the past (with eclipses and with Jupiter nearby) and showing a light on them. While this is a global phenomenon, it is hitting the US quite strongly because Pluto was at 27˚ of Capricorn at the time the country began in 1776. And now Pluto is close to that point, and Saturn and Jupiter have already reached and hit upon that point to activate it.
Saturn will not be leaving Capricorn, meaning it will be close to Pluto until mid-December, when it goes back to Aquarius to be joined by Jupiter a few days later. If there is any positive to Saturn in Capricorn, it is that Mars is no longer in Capricorn but just moved into its home sign of Aries, which brings its own issues—it is at a challenging angle of stress and tension to Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn. And, it is going retrograde in September, which means it will be there until January, 2021. It is important this month because it will have an effect on other planets –squaring Mercury on the 8th and again at the end of the month. More on that to come.
Eclipses bring things to a culmination, fruition, a close in the sign and house they fall in and reveal things that are hidden.
When the Saturn/Pluto conjunction first hit with the pile-up of planets in January, it happened two days after a full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer. Right after Saturn re-enters Capricorn this month, the final full moon eclipse in Capricorn occurs for this once-every-9-years cycle (the eclipses, which were in Capricorn and Cancer for 18 months, will be in Sagittarius and Gemini for 18 months and won’t return to Cancer/Capricorn until 2028) Eclipses bring things to a culmination, fruition, a close in the sign and house they fall in and reveal things that are hidden. We will be experiencing a culmination and revelations related to businesses, structures, work, government, rules and regulations—and we have some new alignments to deal with as well. More on that below.
Look for the Silver Lining
Rick Levine also reminds us that this month, Neptune in Pisces is connecting in important ways to several planets and planetary alignments. Neptune brings confusion, and fantasy, imagination, lack of clarity. We don’t know the truth yet, and we don’t really know what to believe, what to do with the situation we are faced with. Fortunately, by August, we may begin to gain some clarity, forewarned is forearmed. Prepare for a month of confusion, but also a time to dream, envision the future and to be creative, meditate and sleep.
Levine reminds us that as we head into July, Mercury, which is retrograde in Cancer, and just met up with the sun there, is now at a challenging angle to Chiron—the dwarf planet known as the wounded healer. This, he tells us, is when “the. Energy is ripe for people feeling sensitive to old wounds coming to the surface, and we can feel like things that are happening are happening TO US, not just happening.” We may be prone to take things personally based on old hurt feelings, injuries or even physical wounds, especially with the sun nearby also in that challenging angle to Chiron.
With Mars in Aries near Chiron, there is more heat in that energy, and we may tend to overreact. And Chris Brennan’s group brings up the eventual square that Mars and Mercury form for a good part of the month. Although Mars in Aries in July is not as bad as it will eventually become, its challenge to Mercury will be a theme. “So even though mars is not setting Saturn and Pluto on fire yet, you will notice Mars in Aries through its effect on Mercury,” he says. This, as they discuss, can bring fighting words, road rage, travel glitches, and busy mail and courier services (with the lockdown returning amid COVID spikes). Kelly noted that while Christmas is normally the busiest time for the US Postal Service and other delivery services, mercury/Mars put them under pressure, and people shopping online has made it an ongoing acceleration of deliveries, which Austin dubbed, “2020—12 months of Christmas.”
But Acyuta-bhava Dasa, in speaking about the new moon in Cancer on the 20th, calls it the transit of the month. It highlights this Cancer/Capricorn theme, as well as the cardinal signs –which are those signs that occur when the seasons are changing—Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn—signs that are pivotal. In July we have key events happening in Cancer (mercury retrograde, new moon eclipses), Aries (Mars in its home sign going retrograde), and, of course, the line-up of outer planets in Capricorn along with the full moon lunar eclipse. Though things are coming that can be mentally and emotionally charged, Acyuta-bhava reminds us that they lead to “pivotal, dynamic and sudden turning points in which confrontation is involved.” And these eclipses on the Cancer/Capricorn axis, tell us to pull away from unhealthy emotional attachment and get back to basics, be practical, and grow the heck up.
Saturn energy (Capricorn) is inconvenience, and Cancer energy is what feels good. If we live a life denying that inconvenience, we start to lose appreciation for the pleasures of life, the blessings. “For the world to be alive, we have to understand the aliveness of the world as a moving relationship between its aliveness and its hollowness,” he tells us. As with the phases of the moon from dark to full, we need to experience abandonment, loneliness, a dark night of the soul. “If we tend to it, that place does not last forever,” he reminds us. “If we stay in it, the light slowly starts to pour forth again.”
As Austin points out, “It is not just happy times that have opportunities; In biographies, you find the best things in people’s lives are a result of what they did when the worst times were happening.” And brighter days come in when the Sun moves into Leo at the end of July.
The Details
July 1
theAs Rick Levine has pointed out, in addition to Saturn moving back into its home of Capricorn on July 1 to check back in with Jupiter and Pluto, Mercury (also retrograde) in Cancer is at a challenging angle to Chiron, the planet of wounding, injuries and past painful memories, but also of healing those issues. Mercury and Chiron meet at a challenging angle now, when Mercury is retrograde, and again after Mercury goes direct. The meaning of Mercury as communication in connection to Chiron not only signals things that may have been said that are hurtful or wounding by us or to us, but also related to forgiving those who hurt us, Levine says, as well as hoping that the person we hurt will forgive us for hurting them.
He reminds us that Chiron is also about learning, because Chiron was a mentor and a teacher. With mercury in Cancer is square to Chiron, we are reminded that we have things to learn that are not necessarily pleasant—about our feelings (possibly from the past), or about our home, family, or homeland. They may not match what we think we know, and that may be upsetting.
Saturn moving back into Capricorn—its home sign—brings us back to stronger Saturn energy, which is difficult, soberingly serious, and hard work. It is a time for the difficult lessons from which we “earn our stripes,” Acyuta-bhava reminds us, and those may involve time, age, death and darkness—the dark night of the soul. As Saturn moves closer to Jupiter and Pluto again, these lessons may see us reviewing our beliefs (Jupiter) and visions combined with an experience of transformation and catharsis (Pluto).
It is a time for the difficult lessons from which we “earn our stripes”
Acyuta-bhava Dasa
Chris Brennan and friends discussed this month back before the year got underway in their 2020 Year Ahead video, where they mentioned the relevance of Jupiter being in Capricorn and the effect of Saturn’s sign and its restrictive themes on the normally beneficial, expansive Jupiter. They discussed how this has a sense of slow, incremental change, that has a delayed benefit. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Kelly said somewhat prophetically, “Not a quick fix or fast solution.” It is also a time for hidden opportunities, making the most out of very little (“frugal,” Kelly said, adding that “with a bit of elbow grease, you can turn something that looks a bit rough or battered” into something upcycled or repurposed. And eventually, Chris said, achieving success with your desired goal.
But an important aspect of Saturn going back into Capricorn until the end of the year, is that it will happily be in its home sign, which is square to (90˚ away from) Aries, Mars’ home sign—where Mars has just gone to spend the rest of the year through the holidays and then some. Both are stronger in their own signs. Brennan and his colleagues point out that while this first phase of the planets being square to each other is not as challenging (because the planets are not at the same degree in their respective signs), it will become more intense as that degree point becomes more exact between them around late August and early September. Watch this space.
And, of course, Saturn being back in Capricorn, is bringing the gang together again (with Jupiter and Pluto), back to where they were in early 2020, when the world unexpectedly turned upside down. As Pam Gregory says, look back at what was happening in January because we are revisiting that time. Saturn is about lessons, and this is when Saturn makes sure we’ve learned our lessons well. [Be responsible (Capricorn)! Stay home (Cancer & Capricorn), and if you can’t stay home, wear a mask! (Saturn)]
July 4th
U.S. Independence Day
Today is not just the 244th birthday of the US, it is a day when the third eclipse in five weeks takes place. Why not? Everything else is out of the ordinary.
The timing of this eclipse on the birthday of the US is meaningful for changes in America. Though it is a penumbral eclipse (only partial), it is also meaningful because it is the last lunar eclipse in Capricorn this decade, and it is almost exactly (at 13˚ 37’ Capricorn) opposing the location of the sun in the birth chart of the US, which was at 13˚ 19’. As Pam Gregory points out, the moon’s path will be principally in North America, and she notes, “Where the path falls tends to manifest the themes.”
The sun usually represents leadership, and when we have had a lunar eclipse at or near that degree before, it has been significant for the US. In 1963, the year JFK was assassinated, the eclipse was at 14˚ of Capricorn. In 2001, there was a lunar eclipse on the 5th of July at 13˚ 39’ of Capricorn, just prior to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. While she stresses she is not suggesting these events will happen again, they do represent important events in US history that illustrate the significance of an eclipse like this one to the country.
Pam talks about another key planet in the current chart—in Capricorn, too—that will have an effect on the US based on its connection to the US birth chart. In 1776, the planet Pluto was at 27˚ of Capricorn in America’s house of money and values. In 2022, Pluto will return to that exact degree of Capricorn for the first time since the Declaration of Independence was signed. We can see some of the same themes coming back to the country as Pluto moves closer to that point, and it has gone as far as 24˚ 59’. However, Jupiter and Saturn have already activated the 27˚ point and Saturn will be there on July 30th. Both Saturn and Jupiter will hit it again in November and December. This point in Capricorn brings up issues around the US economy and our values, as well as rebirth, Pam says. “Pluto is about top-down power, control, and deep secrets that have been repressed for a long time. It is about might makes right, brutality, and secrets of the rich and powerful,” she explains. This full moon shines a light on anything that needs to be purged from the country as we deconstruct (Pluto) the old order (Capricorn)—and not just the US, but other countries as well. “Structures of society that gave it order are being challenged,” she notes.
The timing of this eclipse on the birthday of the US is meaningful for changes in America.
Pam adds that on an individual basis, the eclipses have been in Cancer and Capricorn for the last 18 months and we should look at what the main theme of those past 18 months have been about in our lives to see what may be now at a turning point.
Chris Brennan suggests looking a little bit closer, saying that the lunar eclipse is the culmination of something that happened 6 months ago. The solar eclipse that happened in December began the development of the theme that is culminating now and coming to fruition. If you know where Capricorn falls in your personal chart, something initiated 6 to 18 months ago with those eclipses can bring something to completion and wrap up those Capricorn themes before the next eclipse cycle in November and December.
And when the cycle closes with a lunar eclipse, especially in Capricorn as Acytua-bhava Dasa points out, since it is a cardinal (pivotal) sign ruled by Saturn, which represents winter, time, death and realizations, it is a final turning point. You can never go back. And while it may be a difficult lesson of life, it is what it is. At best, we are wiser for the wear and we may have a moment of meaningful insight when seeing things laid bare before us.
Rick Levine also points out that this eclipse will be a reality check, important to the US, that denotes a break from the past. “We may be nostalgic for the past that we never really had,” he notes, since the sun and mercury in Cancer (across from the moon in Capricorn) may see us basing the past on memories that may or may not be exactly what happened.
However, he also points out that this full moon eclipse is challenging Mars and Chiron and at an angle to Uranus suggesting a very likely potential for something sudden or unexpected to happen. (The story of 2020, right?)
July 7-8
Here is where the first stressful angle between retrograde Mercury to Mars becomes exact. Mercury is in Cancer—the sign representing home, family, parents, emotions, and comfort. Mercury, Acyuta-bhava notes, is very emotional and moody in an environment that can be charged with emotional intensity or even an element of aggression with this tense angle to Mars in Aries. While Mercury in Cancer may allow empathy for what others are feeling, there is also potential for reactivity, he adds, and particularly while driving (Mercury rules short distance travel). “If there is traffic and people are angry,” he says, “now is not the time to flip someone off.”
This is also a time to be aware of your own emotions and to reflect on them (Mercury retrograde). Instead of “pouring gasoline on the fire,” take time to reflect on what you are feeling fired up (or passionate) about.
Austin Coppock points out that while this is an exact square between Mercury and Mars, they “pace with each other and hang out together square (90˚) for a lot more of the month than we prefer, until the 27th,” the delineations of which could be verbal attacks, the weaponization of words, and aggressive conversations. Kelly, however, offers a positive view of this connection by saying “Some of us are not outspoken when it would serve us to do so, and a dynamic aspect like this might prompt you to say your piece—it can make you so frustrated that you do not hold your tongue.”
Mercury’s connection to transportation prompts Austin to add that plans for summer travel can be thwarted (and obviously upsetting). Kelly notes that Mars can also put pressure on Mercury issues. The postal service is a mercury issue—involving both transportation and communication–and Kelly reminds us that there has been pressure (Mars) on the postal service (mercury) reported in the news (mercury). In addition, she makes a good point by saying, “The Christmas period is usually the busiest time of year, but April and May was as busy as Christmas—when they do not normally plan to staff at high level.” So again, Austin puts it all together by proclaiming 2020, the 12 months of Christmas. He also reminds us that with or without the post office, mercury at this difficult angle to mars can be the delivery of bad news, whether it is economic, regarding the recovery, or some other issue related to home, family, the home country.
Rick Levine talks about the stressful Mars/Mercury aspect in connection with Venus, which is still in the informative and sociable sign of Gemini. “We are overwhelmed with information and cannot keep up with all the information coming from all directions,” he says. “Yet we kind of like knowing more than we used to, but still, we are annoyed that we cannot keep up with it,” we are annoyed at what we are hearing—whether it is individually or collectively. With Mars, it could also be rebellion, he adds.
Levine also looks at an angle not used by most astrologers—the sesquiquadrate or sesquisquare, which is a 135˚ angle that brings stress and challenges. Venus in Gemini is forming this angle to Jupiter and Pluto between the 8th and 9th, and Levine says it can connect to how the news is being handled regarding the virus (and spikes being connected to Jupiter and Pluto), and it can also be the magnification (Jupiter) of things that have been hidden (Pluto), bringing them to the surface, into our awareness, and into the news (Gemini). Perhaps the fact that Venus is involved, this news could relate to a woman (Ghislaine, maybe?)
JULY 11-12
On the 11th, Rick Levine talks about Chiron going retrograde, with Mercury turning to go forward (direct) the following day. Also on the 12th the Sun in Cancer will be 120˚ from Neptune in Pisces—forming a trine, a harmonious angle. Levine makes a connection to several aspects of late involving water signs and the planets in them—such as sun and mercury in Cancer, last month’s Mars and Neptune in Pisces—a theme he called “waterworld,” and he says this is a replay on that. As a reminder, water signs and the planets that rule them (such as the moon—Cancer, Neptune—Pisces, and Pluto—Scorpio) are associated with emotions and feelings, as well as water-related themes.
Levine tells us that this trine between the sun and Neptune is the beginning of nostalgia from the past for the feeling of being home and feeling secure. “Neptune, which allows the dreams, the visions, the fantasy to come into play, is really healthy, but we have to always keep in mind the fine line between what our dreams our, what our hopes are, what our wishes are, what the fantasies are and what reality is,” Levine notes. And he says that on the 12th we can lose that a little bit, and we need to pay attention, since those illusions and visions can become more important to us for a few days than what is happening in the real world. And between Neptune’s illusions, and Mercury retrograde stopping to change its movement back to a forward trajectory, the miscommunications and misunderstandings can also be stronger and more likely. Mercury in Cancer is also playing on the theme of home and family.
JULY 14-15
Get ready for some familiar themes as the sun in Cancer connects with the Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn trio across the way in Capricorn, ruled by the heavy, dark, burdensome Saturn. Acyuta-bhava Dasa notes that between now and the 21st the sun “will illuminate things that are more secretive, more emotional and more vulnerable related to home, family, the past ancestry and home country.” The sun’s energy in Cancer sees the world through the lens of mystery, nostalgia and memory, and it focuses on the fact that things may feel weighed down. We need that, he says, because “if the weight of the world does not crush us, it creates a need for the silver light to pour through the cracks so we can see again the shimmering in the dead world.” He encourages us by pointing out that as silver (or imagination and fantasy) comes through these yearnings, spiritual alchemy occurs—we need to see the brokenness before seeing the light, imagination, play and fantasy. This is the kind of sun that will ‘illuminate emotional truths that will help us see the world in the silver light of the moon.”
As the sun hits these three planets in the opposite sign of Cancer, it will bring out the “emotional truths, ancestral truths, soul truths that you can understand through dreams, memories, reflection, moods and atmospheres.”
Rick Levine calls these oppositions a “dance we are doing with extremism.” Jupiter brings out hope and optimism. The next day, Pluto is opposite the sun and there is “an element of unrelenting control—dominance and submission—which combined with the activity happening in Aries at the same time—Mars meeting up with Chiron—makes it easy to lose control and to lash out at the wrong target. He warns us that at this point we should not deny. “It is important that we keep our feelings present, but that does not mean we react on every feeling that we have. We have to find ways to do it.” Now is not the time for immediate gratification or doing something impulsive that feels good in the moment—in anger or passion—because to gain the most from this time period of Mars energy, we need to “be able to sustain and endure…if we are going to gain the most from it.”
This is intensified because when Mars and Chiron meet, it hits a penetrating point that brings up past painful memories, and wounds, that feel “so sensitive that rather than staying with the vulnerability, rather than expressing how we feel, it is easy to strike back, to be angry, or to lash out even if the target of our assertion or aggression is incorrect.”
Pam Gregory notes that Pluto and Jupiter are headed back to 22˚ of Capricorn, where Pluto and Saturn met in January with other planets. “We can go back to January and ask what was happening with those planets” she says, but it is also a preview of some strong and dynamic energy that autumn holds, especially when Mars reaches 22˚ of Aries and reaches the challenging 90˚ angle from Pluto in mid-August.
The sun does not connect to Saturn until July 20th when we also have a second new moon in Cancer, which Acyuta-bhava Dasa says is the transit of the month.
JULY18
Venus is at a difficult angle to Saturn bringing us to a time when we may need to face consequences. The feeling is that we may have taken a bridge too far and we are “glossing over some of the negativity so we could hold onto whatever our current position is or was.” It is a bit of a reality check from the idea that we let our hopes and expectations go beyond the limits.
JULY 20
There is so much at this time in the cardinal signs of Cancer, Capricorn and Aries that there are not only mentally and emotionally charged turning points, they can be very sudden and involve confrontation, like the Mars energy in Aries and Mercury in Cancer. The strong solar eclipse in June was also in Cancer, and we are still dealing with changes in the home or home country—with newness and pivoting from past emotional states.
Acyuta-bhava reminds us that “the sun represents clarity and truth,” and it is delivering insights as it faces Saturn, the Lord of Darkness. “Things may be really hard or difficult or serious this month, but it does not mean we can’t fill them with a nurturing” energy—like Chicken Soup for the Soul. It is a time when we are forced to become emotionally mature and face illusions to get real. It is a time to begin to understand or see something that moves us forward in life, Acyuta-bhava tells us, and we will get through the dichotomies.
He also points out that it can be a difficult time for leaders, kings, CEOs, fathers, and heads of state. “The sun represents that central figure,” he tells us, and possibly could result in the death or ego, or the authority figure. “Anyone who is a central head of an organization, or president, or king, and it can be potentially difficult karma around fathers, fathering and things like that.”
Kelly Surtees notes that the opposition of the sun to Saturn in Capricorn on the 20th spotlights the pressure of the Capricorn symbolism and the return of Saturn to Pluto. “In looking at Saturn/Pluto, we are looking at the whole structure of civilization and brutality of societies and things won’t get solved. People will suffer, and this giant thing makes you feel powerless, and it makes you feel very small because Saturn and Pluto are immense and powerful. Pluto is evolutionary. The power of the environment to force change means we need to adapt or perish.” If we are not able to make a difference, she says, it can feel crushing.
laastRick Levine tells us that the moon lines up with mercury the day before the new moon, so it can bring emotional thoughts, conversations, nostalgia and perhaps some news about home, family, parents or something that touches the heart. The new moon on the 20th, he adds, is the other shoe dropping. “It is the feeling like we extended too far” and the same feeling caused when Venus was at a very difficult angle to Saturn on the 18th. Now the new moon is opposite Saturn, and it is time to “let go of the fantasies that were not working that cannot be carried into the future.” It will be deep and emotional as we plant the seed for what we want to see flourish in the weeks ahead. “The moon is at home in Cancer,” he tells us. “So, the sun and moon in Cancer is very powerful, but we are at a transition point.” In Cancer, we feel protected and safe, but as he points out, the new moon at the last degrees of Cancer moves into Leo only three hours later, and we move into new territory. In spite of the fact that there is not much time to work with this new moon, and we may feel things are not changing, or we missed our chance to plant seeds related to home and family, it will all unfold over time.
Levine adds that during the new moon, the sun will be opposing Saturn within hours of that alignment, and we will feel the resistance of authority. “We feel like there is a checkmate, or stalemate, and that nothing will work.” The result, however, is just delayed (Saturn does that, but it builds things slowly over time).
On a lighter note, Pam Gregory tells us that with the sun and moon together in Cancer, there could be thoughts of finding a new home or a new country to live in. With Jupiter at an angle of opportunity to Neptune, it could bring out bigger dreams for a new place you want to live and a longing for a new home (or family?).
Austin Coppock reminds us that when the moon quickly leaves that Cancer energy and goes into Leo, it brings a happier time, when, a few days later, the Sun moves into its home sign of Leo on July 29th .
JULY 26-27
Chris Brennan points out that Mars in Aries gets to the point known as its shadow period, when it slows down to turn retrograde. Austin notes that the good thing about Mars in Aries in July is that it is not at that point until the last few days. So Mars going forward in the first 15 degrees of Aries, gives us “the opportunity to hash shit out and move on,” Austin says. Kelly notes that the first 15 degrees of Mars in Aries is productive, and a time to take action. But after that point, Austin says, “complicated multilayer stuff starts stacking up.”
Kelly points out that “With Mars in Aries for six months, you will get a bit of a master class in that part of your life”—the part of your life that Aries rules in your birth chart. At that point, the problems, roadblocks, and other things needing attention, as well as your own power, will be part of the lessons for the second half of 2020.
By the time Mars begins to move forward again around election day in the US (early November), we will see something that happened in late July come to full fruition. At the same time that happens, the final Jupiter/Pluto conjunction will be occurring.
Mercury is also forming an exact 90˚ angle (a square) to Mars at this point. Acyuta-bhava says that this is when something we learned around the beginning of the month will come around full circle with a theme of intense mental energy. As Kelly pointed out regarding the time Mercury and Mars were at the same challenging angle earlier in the month—when Mercury was retrograde—this is a good time to overcome fear of speaking, but now the results can be better because mercury is moving direct (forward). And, again, it could mean the delivery of bad news at this time, possibly economic bad news, Austin says.
This is also a time, according to Rick Levine, when we are asking “What do we do with what we know? What do we do with our anger?” And, he says, we will be shifting gears by directing animosity at anyone who did not tell us the truth—friends, family, politicians, religious leaders, and even ourselves.
There are other planetary connections on the 27th. Jupiter is at an angle to Neptune, which can mean a positive opportunity, but at the same time, Venus is at a challenging angle to Neptune and an uncomfortable angle to Jupiter. Rick Levine describes the meaning behind this crazy triangle as, “This works. It doesn’t work. I don’t know if it works.” A ball of confusion that he says there is no easy way around. The sun feeds into this dance of uncertainty, he tells us, because it is in Leo and is saying, “Here I am, things are out in the open, and the heart is being expressed,” but in a difficult angle to Neptune, there is some level of fantasy and we can’t quite figure out what is real.
JULY 30
Rick Levine talks about Mercury in Cancer being exactly opposite Jupiter, which has separated a bit from Pluto. This begins the same pattern that the sun went through when it was opposite Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn. Expansion, intensity, and restriction or delay in communications this time. Mercury is also at an angle of high potential to Neptune, and the Moon entering Sagittarius is at a challenging angle to Neptune, the “Dear Mr. Fantasy” of the Zodiac (some may remember that song from the group Traffic: “Dear Mister Fantasy play us a tune, Something to make us all happy, Do anything, take us out of this gloom”…a fitting sentiment [lyricfind.com]).
Rick’s read on what this planetary geometrics is telling us is, “What is true? What are we being told? Do we believe what we are being told? What are we telling others? Do they believe us? What is truth, what is reality, what is fantasy, what is made up?” (Do you sense a theme here?). He tells us that we can begin to find the reality behind it all, and we will, but we are not going to do it in July. “There is really a story, and we won’t get the truth that we need to get no matter how hard we try. But it does not mean we give up.”
“This is a time for going deep,” Levine tells us, and we are on a personal vision quest. He suggests we make a vision board, use our imagination, and let it come out into the open. “We still have the opportunity and the hope that is cooking with mercury coming into the mix. It is a very important day and very important to be aware of our dreams.”
The awkward angle between Venus and Jupiter is all about an inability to bring out optimism or confidence into what is happening. It then makes the same angle to Pluto , and it becomes a deeper, darker issue to deal with that we can’t see clearly. “It is that fantasy,” Levine points out, “the thing we know that we want, that we like, that we are attracted to, and it is out here somewhere, but we cannot bring it into focus or into line with where we are going.” It is a frustrating feeling, but he tells us it is very significant, as we end the month feeling annoyed at everything and everyone.
The saving grace is mercury at the angle of probability to Neptune, bringing the power of dreams and visions, and the sun forming the same kind of angle with Chiron, which brings us the possibility of finally getting what it is we could not get—a clear understanding, the elusive breakthrough we have been struggling to get. It is important to learn from this, Levine says. We begin to see inklings of where to go, how to get there, and they will begin to gain movement, he tells us. But we may not find the clarity we want until the winter solstice in December, when Jupiter and Saturn meet up in Aquarius. And that will bring us into the years ahead.
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