Current Transits for July 99 Current Transits for July 99Here's some of the important astrological news this month ...
Mars enters Scorpio, 7-4
Mercury Retrograde Station at 9Le29, 7-12
New Moon at 20Cn17, 7-12
Saturn square Uranus, 7-17
Jupiter square Neptune, 7-21
Ceres enters Leo, 7-22
Juno and Chiron Direct Stations, 7-22 and 7-28
Full Moon/Partial Lunar Eclipse at 4Aq58, 7-28
Venus Retrograde Station at 5Vi08, 7-29
It's time for a major wake-up call! After a few months of rather aimless energy, we're heading into a period of intense and demanding changes. In fact, the main planetary storm in July lasts over 2 weeks and is the strongest waveform since last January -- and this is just the start! The upcoming eclipses (July 28th and August 11th) promise that changes made now will have important repercussions for many months to come. Generally speaking, this is a time for action and sweeping changes, if that's possible. However, I suspect there's going to be quite a bit of resistance (both internal and from the world around you) to too much change all at once, so your options may be limited at times. It's these limitations and restrictions that give the coming months their stressful mood -- think of it as growing pains. Follow the often compulsive urges that are arising from your deeper nature -- the changes happen below the surface long before they make waves in your regular outer life. Get ready for a momentous time of our lives!
July is a busy month with 2 big aspects, 2 sign changes, 4 stations and a lunar eclipse. Plus lots and lots of squares, T-squares and Grand Crosses. That's why I think it's going to be a challenging, but never boring month. Squares are the "bogeymen" of astrology, rumored to be responsible for every mishap imaginable. But we need these challenges every now and again to kick us out of our ruts. I suspect this will trigger some crucial changes for us that may take many months to assimilate.
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Mars Enters Scorpio, 7-4Mars shifts from Libra into Scorpio on the 4th. Mars has been crisscrossing the Libra-Scorpio border since the start of 1999. He's on his own turf now, having a strong affinity for the willfullness and passion associated with Scorpio. If you've been feeling hemmed in by needing to take others into account all the time, this placement should give you a breather. That's not to say you should simply junk all those social and diplomatic skills you've been practicing this spring. This retrograde period of Mars has been about learning to combine your interests and energies with others -- don't let yourself backslide now. The way Scorpio inflates the emotions, I'm sure you could make a big scene in no time, if you wanted to. Within that realm of being conscious of others, however, you should feel it much easier to get your desires met. The pressure is off -- time to take off again!
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Mercury Retrograde Station at 9Le29, 7-12Mercury is standing still on the 12th at 9Le29, about to go into reverse motion for 3 weeks. Yep, it's another one of those Mercury retrograde periods. Back up your hard drive and put your brain cells in cold storage. When Mercury is going in reverse like this, the thinking mind takes a vacation. Your thought processes are scrambled, words don't come out of your mouth properly, interpersonal communication is "humorous" at best. Make allowances for this mental fogginess and don't make any important decisions that you can't reconsider later. The value of all this confusion is the chance to see the distinction between the inner mental images and models we use to understand the outer world and the actual outer world. Usually, our minds blur the distinction between real things and our "understanding" of them, leading us to think we really know that thing when we really don't -- something I call "the Mercury fallacy." When the thinking mind falls flat on its face while the world simply continues on, it opens a window to see how little you really know, even about yourself. There's more to your own psyche, as well, than meets the mind's eye! It's refreshing to be so open minded, again. Hang in there until August 5th, when Mercury resumes its normal motion.
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New Moon at 20Cn17, 7-12Tough emotions are on the rise as a T-square of Mars, Neptune and Jupiter (one of the big configurations for the entire month) gains strength. It may feel like you're butting heads with the rest of the world, that your desires and ambitions are being thwarted. As long as you operate on a lower wavelength, concentrating on your personal perspective at the expense of a more global viewpoint, this caged in feeling will predominate. The way out is through Neptune in Aquarius, that new, high level energy that we've been trying to come to terms with for the last year or so. It requires a rethinking of your perspectives and priorities (assuming thinking is even possible now with Mercury standing still opposite Neptune), a change from the "usual" way of behaving into a more aware and responsible pattern. There's also a feeling of being "stuck" in circumstances that won't change, while sensing that major upheavals are waiting just around the corner for you. Depending upon your point of view, you may find the staying put more desirable than the changes or vice versa, but it's important to realize that the coming year will stretch your ability to cope and adapt further than you're normally used to. Look deep within yourself if you want to see what's holding you back these days; don't settle for the "easy answers" if you want to really know what's happening. The often surprising answers come from deep inside at the gut level. Get ready for the ride!
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Saturn Square Uranus, 7-17Saturn is square Uranus on the 17th, the 1st of 3 such contacts. The other contacts are on 99-11-14 and 2000-5-1. These two planets are just about as "opposite" as the Saturn-Neptune square we just finished in April. Once again, the "normal" structures of our lives (Saturn) are being challenged by something completely out of the ordinary (Uranus) -- and something's got to give! It's really hard to say what kind of problem will pop up (Uranus is unpredictable -- it's tough trying to predict the unpredictable) or what unexpected door will pop open. About all that can be said, it's probably in some area of your life that's seemed very secure for a long time and now it's completely up in the air. As you try to adapt to changing circumstances, the old "givens" in your life need a lot of stretching to accomodate a larger perspective. Sometimes, that creates much stubborness or resistance to change, a kind of digging in your heels when asked to move. It can also be that current structures are unable to hold the new energy pouring in. Uranus tends to live a high-octane kind of lifestyle, a stressful overload of the nervous system. You can only put so much electricity through a 20 watt lightbulb before it burns out. Watch out for signs of stress and overwhelm the next 10 months. Pace yourself and learn to function faster, smarter and more intuitively in a sustainable manner -- that's the way to take in more Uranian energy. Be open to change and watch out for the weird coincidences that quietly guide you somewhere new. I find it interesting that Saturn and Uranus are at 15 degrees of Taurus and Aquarius today. These two degrees are halfway between the equinoxes and the solstices, very powerful degrees according to many astrologers (they are called "Avatar Points"). This square is also part of the August 11th eclipse pattern. I just get the feeling something big is brewing here...
(P. S. -- the JFK, Jr. plane crash was on the 16th.)
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Jupiter Square Neptune, 7-21Jupiter is square Neptune on the 21st. This is also Act 1 of a fascinating 3 Act play, with the next scenes appearing on 99-10-11 and 2000-3-16. Generally speaking, I'd rate an aspect between Jupiter and Neptune extremely positively, but this one is a bit of an enigma. The square itself is part of a larger pattern called a Grand Cross -- an extremely demanding and difficult configuration. There's another T-square in this chart as well, so there's a lot of tension in the air now. Curiously, Jupiter is almost exactly at the spot where Chiron was discovered in 1977, so there's an "initiatory" Chiron undercurrent to the chart. (At the second square in October, Neptune is at it's direct station, enhancing its power considerably!) Both Jupiter and Neptune have "spiritual" overtones to them, although Jupiter tends more to traditional religious forms while Neptune is more of a lone mystic. Neptune also reigns over developing a sensitivity to the subtle energies about us, especially the ones that are felt in the heart center. There's a clash going on the next 8 months between these two perspectives, as traditional views come face to face with experiences that don't fit into that worldview. Ultimately, the end results are quite positive (assuming you catch this wave and become aware of it), but the initial impact this month may come as a bit of a rude shock. Too many boundary lines in our usual way of dealing with the world are being crossed all at once -- we need to stand back and take stock of the situation first. In my experience, the faster planet (in this case, Jupiter) tends to dominate the first pass of these multi-pass aspects, while the slower, more unconscious planet (Neptune) grows more gradually. We are entering a Neptune initiation, learning to act from the heart, not the head, becoming aware of how the emotions and the unconscious fashion our experience. This could lead to anything from enlightenment to extreme delusion and all points in between. Be prepared to go places within yourself that words can't capture...
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Ceres Enters Leo, 7-22Ceres moves from Cancer into Leo on the 22nd. At first glance, this is an odd placement. We normally think of Ceres as the all-giving Mother, while Leo is the self-absorbed egotist -- how do you combine those two? We get lazy with our symbols, all too many times, hanging onto one main image and spacing out the subtleties and nuances. Two ideas associated with Leo are the heart (both the physical organ and the chakra) and the archetype of the Divine Child. You can't have a Great Mother without a Divine Child. This child needs to be supported and sustained while it's growing up, preparing to become a Hero of sorts. As individuals, we need to feel supported by our world, to feel a part of a great web of interconnections with everything about us. Your uniqueness consists of the roles you play in this web -- your distinctive way of receiving, transforming and giving -- not in being an "individual" separate from the world. This awareness changes life into a creative art form, a constant act of love becoming form. Granted, it's not easy to live such a poetic image -- the first baby steps are apt to be clumsy. For now, this Child is cared for.
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Juno and Chiron Direct Stations, 7-22 and 7-28Also on the 22nd, Juno reaches its direct station at 26Sc07, preparing to resume normal motion. Practically in the same place and time, Chiron goes direct at 27Sc35 on the 28th. I've been treating these two bodies as a pair all year, since their retrograde cycles are so closely intertwined. In a nutshell, they are talking about relationships, good and bad. As we live out our emotional soap operas, we tend to drag others into our plots. All too often, we are acting out this inner script instead of truly engaging the other person. We reduce them to the role they play in our story, considering only their effect on ourselves. Juno has different ideas about how relationships should be. She wants to be seen and treated as an equal partner, someone with an inner vision of her own. She desires love to be a source of strength and support, not a battleground in her own home. Chiron is more than happy to shed some light on the mysterious emotional quagmires that make our relationships not work. (And he's certainly more gentle than Pluto, who's also in this picture!) It'll take several more months before this all gets straightened out.
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Full Moon/Partial Lunar Eclipse at 4Aq58, 7-28We're entering eclipse season -- a lunar eclipe this morning and a crucial solar eclipse on August 11th. So you can expect the next few weeks to set the tone for the rest of the year. This chart is a toss-up -- do you concentrate on the good planets in this storm or on the difficult aspects that connect them? There's a Grand Cross containing planets that bestow great benefits to us and a good measure of personal/spiritual insight into ourselves. However, these "blessings" are delivered with a spiritual two-by-four, like a Zen master whacking his disciples into wakefulness with a stick. Powerful currents are being unleashed in our lives, flowing in from the unconscious into daily life. Your world may get quite crazy the next few weeks, as many of the props and givens of our lives are challenged or blown away. Rest assured that anything impermanent now was inessential to who you really are. We are being thrown back on such a deeper level of our being that we may not even know it exists yet. Such a leap of faith is extremely frightening, I'll admit. But spirit has bigger plans for us. Trust the process, no matter what...
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Venus Retrograde Station at 5Vi08, 7-29Venus reaches her retrograde station at 5Vi08 on the 29th, about to go into reverse motion. What Mercury retrograde does to the thinking mind, Venus in reverse gear does to the feelings, instincts, emotions and aesthetics. I generally think this cycle is more difficult than Mercury's, simply because it's harder to compensate for impaired instincts than a foggy mind. At any rate, this is a time to concentrate on the feeling side of life. You may find your gut level instincts and urges are "off" in coming weeks, that your usual way of getting through your day isn't working somehow. You may be attracted to people, things or situations that normally wouldn't catch your eye. You probably have these feelings often, without being aware of them, but now you are extremely conscious of this other side of yourself. Take time to get to know this other side. Most of our exaggerated or extreme likes and dislikes come from this region of the psyche, and usually they operate autonomously from the ego and in a very unthinking fashion. It's amazing how much these old patterns can muck up life simply by following what feels good! Venus turns direct again at 18Le47 on 9-10.
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