July is a tough month, have you noticed?
The Capricorn Full Moon, on July 13 at 11:37 a.m. on the West Coast, will be accompanied by a couple of tense aspects, with more to come later in the month.
Whereas the sign of Cancer, where the Sun remains until July 22, is like the tenacious nurturance of a mother bear, its opposite sign, Capricorn, is similarly about protection but with a sterner tone. Capricorn is the cardinal earth sign, ruled by Saturn. Its key words include structure, effort, achievement, status. Capricorn is parental, like Cancer, but potentially more authoritative, less sweet, as in: let’s climb this mountain and get things done. Let’s face stone-cold reality.
When the Moon is in Capricorn, it’s time to take responsibility for our emotions, and all the more so when the Moon is in its full phase, a time of maximum brightness and culmination.
The July 13 Capricorn Full Moon will be moving toward a conjunction with powerhouse planet Pluto, meaning that there are numerous potentialities for this lunation, all spelling intensity. Pluto is often said to be the archetype of “transformation” and “rebirth,” to which my reply is that before something is reborn, it must first be released, or die. A Moon/Pluto conjunction may mean emotional reactions are extreme or obsessive, or that we excavate unconscious material, bringing it out of the shadows and into the light, where it can be dealt with. Out in the social and political worlds, the Capricorn Full Moon with Pluto may mean (more) public revelation of secrets held by governmental or corporate authorities. It is a good time to try to remain calm, and to stay alert.
At the July 13 lunation, the Sun will be conjoined by fast-moving Mercury, both in Cancer. Mercury, the winged messenger, in Cancer, nurses long-held emotional memories, even grievances. Think of a Cancerian crabby person holding tight to words spoken and heard long ago. (I plead guilty of this as a person with Sun and Mercury in Cancer.) The past never fully fades. At the Capricorn Full Moon, with Mercury in Cancer, memories and emotional perceptions are maximally illuminated. It is a good time to be careful what you say, and to heed a good mindfulness meditation slogan: don’t believe everything you think.
During July, Mars is a key player, increasingly so by the end of the month, and here’s why. Mars is the planetary force of action, initiative, immediacy, people moving headstrong to get what they want. It had been in its home fire sign of Aries since May 24, reaching its final 29° Aries on July 4, the day of a disastrous massacre in Highland Park, Illinois. On July 5, Mars ingressed Taurus, the slow, fixed earth sign, having to do with pleasure, comfort, and material security. Taurus is one of Venus’ home signs. In traditional astrology, Mars does not go easy in Taurus.
Mars in Taurus, from July 5 to August 20, is time to slow down, to batten down the hatches, take stock of needs, maybe even lower our expectations. Mars is moving to join up with the major transit of 2022, the conjunction of outer planet Uranus with the Moon’s north lunar node, all of them in Taurus. We will see, by the end of July and the first few days of August, how all of this plays out.
The Moon’s lunar nodes are the invisible points where the Moon’s orbit intersects with the Sun’s apparent path across the sky, and these pairs of signs change every about every 18 months. The ascending or north lunar node is symbolic of personal and collective “futures,” and I put quotes around that last word, because time is not entirely linear. The north lunar node is currently in Taurus.
Uranus, the archetype of cataclysm and rebellious breakthroughs, has been in Taurus since 2018 and will perfect its conjunction with the lunar north node on July 26. Then Mars in Taurus will join Uranus and the north lunar node on August 1. There may be unexpected shocks and dramatic events, small and large, at that time, and yet the Taurean imperative is to ground oneself securely like a rock. So what we have are very divergent energies: slow and steady versus sudden and unexpected. That is tense, to say the least.
July is a time to hold tight and take refuge in whatever helps you to feel safe, while remembering that whatever is going on, within or without, all cycles come and go. There is always at least the possibility of maintaining inner contentment, and even actual joy.
Blessings for the Full Capricorn Moon!
~ Sara
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