Posted on July 1, 2024 by Henry Seltzer of ASTROGRAPH.COM
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July is indeed an intriguing month, with plenty of outer planet input into what could pass for our simple daily lives if we were not better informed. The antics of numinous Neptune just as the month begins are but one example of its hidden complexity. On the 1st, Neptune is lying dead still in the sky in the last degree of Pisces, preparing to station to retrograde motion, exact on the 2nd. This standstill in his apparent motion makes Neptune especially powerful now, as all planets are, especially outer planets, when they station. Because this happens in the final five minutes of a degree of Pisces, at 29° Pisces 56’ we find Neptune extremely close to the Aries Point of 0° and in fact we can think of Neptune as stationing on the cusp of the Aries house, rather than being strictly a Pisces element. Of course, Neptune additionally rules Pisces, so this is a little complex. Not only that, but the Capricorn Full Moon that takes place on July 21st, does so at 29° Capricorn, therefore precisely sextile to this highlighted position of Neptune. We will have more to say about this very intense Full Moon in a moment. The other principal lunation of the July month is the dynamic Cancer New Moon on the Friday of the month’s first weekend, the afternoon of July 5th. Cancer is another sign, along with Pisces, of emotional impact and inner work. This New Moon is another strong astrological event, with transformational Pluto very much involved, and takes place at 14° Cancer 23’. This, too, turns out to be quite a special placement, being the tropical degree and minute of Fixed Star Sirius, of Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius has the keywords: passion, creativity, and enthusiasm. This is incidentally quite close to the Sun’s degree in the birthday chart of the United States, from 1776, which we celebrate as Independence Day. Could it be that the U.S. itself is going through some profound changes at this time?
The lunation that comes along as a fulfillment of the Cancer New Moon of July 5th, namely the late Capricorn Full Moon of July 21st, is an important lunation with connections to all the traditional outer planets. Because taking place in the final degree of Capricorn, being the second Capricorn Full Moon of the summer, this Full Moon makes a close conjunction to Pluto in the first degree of Aquarius. The late-Capricorn Moon also makes a strong sextile aspect to retrograde Neptune in the final degree of Pisces, and a trine aspect to the Uranus/Mars midpoint of 28° Taurus, Uranus being at 26° Taurus while Mars is at 0° Gemini. The trine from the Moon to that position of Mars is about a degree and a half, and Mars is additionally quite closely trine to Pluto in the same degree, namely 0°, of their respective signs. Mars-Pluto suggests that internal passions, such as anger, might arise and need to be watched carefully. That all these outer planets, as well as Mars, are factors in this Full Moon implies that a certain degree of transformation is in the air, which echoes themes from June and from earlier in July.
All this emphasis on Pluto, including the Full-Moon Mars at 0° of Gemini in partile or same-degree trine to Pluto at 0° of Aquarius, also brings up the ongoing Pluto square with Haumea, the Nature planet and Kuiper Belt Object currently located at 0° of Scorpio. Only discovered and named in this century, Haumea, along with its KBO planet twin Makemake, represents “profound connection to Nature” and to a species of natural law, to right action, right relationship, and truth-telling. I have been discussing these new 21st century planetary archetypes in various forums including these blog pages. In their long alignment, the Pluto- Haumea square stretches back to early 2023, when it was closely configured in the New Moons of February and March, and then on ahead to the end of the year, after mid-November. This very interesting combination of KBO planets gives us a read-out on the deceptive, contra-moral and relative un-hinged times that we are currently living through, especially in the U.S. There is a tendency in politics now to say whatever you can get away with, facts be damned. There is amassing a ton of evidence for this issue of trying to tell the truth – or refraining from doing so, going out on that limb of lies – becoming a significant motif in all kinds of ways as we peruse the current headlines. In our private lives as well, there is the temptation to see what we can get away with and the countervailing tendency to adhere to an internal moral code that derives from deep inside oneself and from nowhere else.
In mentioning Mars’ ingress into Gemini in trine with Pluto, which takes place on July 20th, we might note that there are personal planets changing signs all through the July month, Mercury into Leo, and opposing Pluto in early Aquarius, on the 2nd, Venus into Leo, and herself opposing Pluto, on the 11th, and Mercury into Virgo on the 25th. Regarding this latter ingress, Mercury in Virgo stations retrograde on August 4th, at the 4-degree mark, and subsequently re-enters late Leo for a re-run through its last decan, on August 14th then to return to direct motion at 21° Leo by the end of August. The upcoming Mercury Retrograde will be an opportunity to re-think many of July’s happenings from the contemplative attitude that Mercury in backward motion generates. This is an especially important Mercury Retrograde period because originating in the Mercury-ruled sign of Virgo, and on the same day as next month’s Leo New Moon, and because Mercury will be aspecting Pluto by quincunx as it transits back across the 0° mark of Virgo.
In closing, we might want to reflect on where our lives are currently taking us, including the life of the culture that surrounds us in which we have our social existence. There seems to be a general consensus that we live in extremely dire times. And this in particular may be coming home to us quite dramatically over the course of these summer months, beginning with the recent June lunation cycle and continuing into July and August, and then November, when Pluto and the Pluto- Haumea square are entirely prominent. We can see rather clearly, I think, where we as a society are threatened, not least by the climate crisis, with more evidence piling up every day, and yet also by pure materialism over and above common-sense morality and faith in anything non-physical. I frequently say that in this regard Astrology itself and the fact that it actually works can lead us to the realization of the mystical and the non-physical as showing up right before our very eyes, throughout our everyday lives. The catchphrase “as above, so below” is more than a simple equivalence. When thoroughly examined it has the power to ignite a philosophical revolution of values that may yet save our beleaguered civilization.
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