weekly astrology forecast | July 1st to July 7th, 2024 - reality checks as our relationship to reality shifts, the conversation changes, power struggles, taking care of ourselves and fresh starts with home and family

Another important week folks. 

Let's unpack it!

TUESDAY - Neptune stations retrograde, Mercury trines Neptune and enters Leo, Venus trines Saturn, Sun squares the Nodes

WEDNESDAY - Mercury opposes Pluto

FRIDAY - NEW MOON IN CANCER 

SATURDAY - Venus squares Chiron

On TUESDAY - Neptune, at the very end of the very end of the zodiac - turns around. His path to Saturn in Aries cosmically determined to change our relationship to reality BEFORE their big meeting starting next summer and culminating in February 2026. 

With Neptune retrograde - the illusion/uncertainty fades. 

Remember Saturn has just stationed retrograde in Pisces last week. With Saturn - the planet of reality and what is normal in the sign of Pisces (nonreality) - we have been kind of 'normalizing' non-reality for some time now.

This can show up as normalizing addiction or normalizing escapism or normalizing spirituality (spiritual bypassing is extremely common right now and most people doing it cannot tell they are doing it) or normalizing mental problems/decline or normalizing self-sabotage. 

 

Saturn and Neptune both retrograde in Pisces can be SOBERING. 

Here is a reality check. HERE is what we have. HERE is where we are.

This is only a bad thing if we have been counting on something being more fantastical or idealized than it actually is - think about the wake-up call of the United States DEMOCRATIC party ... and the country. Saturn in Pisces has been quite literally saying, "the leader is in decline", but somehow, it would seem, although it's all been fairly obvious (and I am not just talking about Biden here, but I am talking about him) - somehow, with Pisces, they have deluded themselves that what is happening isn't really happening.

 

With both planets retrograde we put our rose-colored glasses in the drawer. 

Some kind of reality check is possible/likely. Dreams we have outgrown/don't line up with anymore will begin to dissolve. The grip of addictions/escape tendencies can lessen (or increase for a bit depending on our natal chart, but this is always a good time to deal with them in a different way). The illusion/delusion is POSTPONED.

This is a particularly good time for Pisces rising people to reinvent themselves (gain stability/reality check). Pisces Suns to be more practical/taken seriously and for all of us to see, without those rose-colored glasses, what is actually happening in the house Neptune rules in our natal chart. 

With Neptune retrograde, the tide that has been making those stones at our feet appear bigger and more colorful than they actually are ... goes out. 

We can find ourselves going back over Neptunian subject matter - art, music, our spiritual practice, healing, people and places that are behind us or that have been put away, addictions, vacations - good to travel to places we have been before, movies, our escapes/self-sabotaging tendencies, health and especially mental health issues. Progress here can get held up or reverse course. We missed something and need to go BACK. Neptune will move from 29 to 27 degrees Pisces before stationing direct on December 7th. 

Mercury, at the very end of Cancer is trining this retrograde Neptune, so this "backtracking" might involve conversations/information or plans pertaining to family, home, mom, maternal story lines, real estate, food, home business, family business, the way we take care of ourselves and other people. It can also be family or a home situation that brings the 'reality check'. 

After trining Neptune, Mercury (communications, information, our mental processes, siblings, local community, commerce, transportation) says hasta-la-vista baby, to emotional Cancer and hello to fiery LEO.

 

Leo is the space we carry what 'makes us special'. It also speaks of our relationship to special/to royalty/to the king. With Mercury (communication, intellect) here, it will be easier to put our 'special' into words and to connect with the ideas and conversations that will push forward whatever we are most passionate about.
 

We will want our words to be heard and appreciated now. Even the most reticent among us will want an audience. Our thinking/ideas (Mercury) can catch fire now (Leo). Or we will want them to. 

 

Leo is a fixed fire sign, so words can burn and words can dig us even more rigidly into our positions. With Leo there is great opportunity for win-win and also for 'nobody wins'. The energy is excellent for teaching us how we express what we are passionate about. It's very supportive of 'top of the mountain' heart-filled type of proclamations and proposals. 

 

Do people listen to us? Does what we say matter? We will care about this now.
 

Speaking from our hearts will connect us to other people's hearts. Encouraging words will matter. This is very powerful energy. Leo is our superpower and should be used wisely. People will hear us with their heart and well as their head. This gives the potential for hearts to expand as well as to be broken into little, tiny pieces. 

Keep this in mind. Leo season being colored with verbal power struggles/endings. Mercury will be in Leo until July 25th.

Venus in Cancer is trining Saturn in Pisces. Money/our relationships/our self-esteem are wanting for us to take them SERIOUSLY. We are reminded of our responsibilities/obligations. This is almost certainly tied into the outer/middle planet retrogrades. 

We could make a commitment (Saturn) within a relationship (Venus) now. We could make a commitment with our money. We could make a commitment to valuing ourselves. We could commit to the hard work of being more beautiful (ie Venusian) or birthing something beautiful. We could beautify (Venus) our career (Saturn). We could take seriously the need to beautify our home. This would be a great time for cosmetic changes within a home or family business. Spruce ups now will pay off over time.

Mentors (Saturn) and muses (Venus) can show up. 

This is also the day the Sun in Cancer squares the Nodes of Fate. Decisions/paths forward are made through home and family. Situations that have moved out of balanced can be re-balanced as we TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES and the people in our homes/families. Maybe the rebalancing comes as we ask others to be a little, or alot, more self-sufficient. Maybe as we put ourselves first. Certainly, as we take NEW ACTION. What do you need to feel safe and secure? To be nourished?

With the North Node in Aries - the best path forward will require us to TAKE INITIATIVE/start and move in a NEW direction.

On WEDNESDAY - Mercury, in Leo now, immediately moves into a square with a retrograde Pluto in Aquarius. Maybe our "loud and proud" or need for appreciation/attention gets us into a power struggle. We can get obsessive. Something can feel like life and death. There might be DRAMA. Especially within group or tech situations or our natal Aquarius house theme. Anytime the sign of the people (Aquarius) is powered up by an outer planet and the sign of the king (Leo) an inner planet - there could be challenges to power. With Mercury/Pluto secrets could come out/important news discussed.

On FRIDAY - we have our annual New Moon in Cancer at 14 degrees. Collectively this is about a fresh chapter for home and family. The Moon opposes Ceres in Cappy - our other 'mother' archetype. 

This will need its own post and that post is next!

On SATURDAY - now it is Venus's turn to square Chiron. This is pain connected to self-worth and relationships and finances. This is feeling vulnerable and not safe/secure. Old, likely familial, wounds around being able to take care of ourselves or be ourselves are TRIGGERED. We have three inner planet squares to Chiron this month. This is the second. If you have a health situation going on, this will be a process. We will talk more about this in the New Moon post. 

xo all