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by Terry Lamb, M.A.

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New to astrology? Read on and ignore the technical bits. There's plenty here for you too! Why don’t I write horoscopes for each sign?

IMAGINE A WORLD where there is nothing but Saturn to create change in our lives. Saturn is a planet of change, to be sure, but it happens methodically, laboriously, and according to plan. If we make the wrong plan — oh well!

Lucky us, we have other means of change as well, brought to us by the planets beyond Saturn. The first of these agents of change (if we ignore the catalyzer Chiron) is Uranus. Uranus brings to us extraordinary means of change. It can completely change our life in the blink of an eye. It can “sweep your house empty of its furniture . . . clearing you out for some new delight” (to quote Rumi).

It’s a good thing, too. Although those “in the know” usually think of Uranus with some trepidation, it is the Cosmic “Refresh” button. What would life be like without this means of change? It is extra-ordinary — beyond the ordinary. It pushes us through our expectations to a miraculous way out of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We become so accustomed to the unusual that we don’t even notice it unless it grabs our attention through mishap (also brought to you by Uranus). However, we have the extraordinary at our disposal every day: air travel, high-speed internet, Twitter, a random act of kindness. We may yawn at their mundaneity, but they are Uranian experiences, permitting us to transcend the limitations of humanness.

Inwardly, this is also true. Personal growth would be a drudge, incomprehensibly gruelingly slow. It would be like having no retrogrades (yes, that bad). Retrogrades and Uranus take us up one level (or more!) in one fell swoop. They allow us to cut across the wheel of karma, to cut to the chase, to transcend our human-as-animal nature. We could say that our ability to use Uranus energies is one of the things that make us human-as-god. To cut across the wheel of karma is to rise above the realm of cause-and-effect, which we can only do when we understand the relationship between our actions and their consequences.

Your Awakening Starts Now.
As Uranus makes its retrograde station on July 1, starting its five months of (apparent) backward travel. During that time, Uranus assumes a more prominent role in our lives, letting us know how well we’re doing as making use of its energies in our lives. To use them well, we must awaken to new possibilities and be flexible in adapting to new conditions.

Uranus introduces elements of chaos into our lives, but even chaos follows the laws of the universe, so Uranus’s effects are often as predictable as those of any other planet when free will is factored into the equation. (That is to say that the other planets’ effects are often as unpredictable as Uranus’s.)

Just as with the rest of the planets, our experience of Uranus’s energy is intrinsically linked with our expectations of it. If we expect it to be an unruly, completely unpredictable element in our lives, we won’t strive to understand it or decipher its messages. Our picture of the future is changing as July opens, and Uranus challenges us to push beyond customary ways of seeing things. We can think of it as the great rescuer from the conventional. We now have the chance to renew our lives, to reinvent them, and to rewrite our story, dispelling old myths about how it has to be.

If you can determine what thread(s) in your life are timed with Uranus’s actions thus far, you can focus on those activities more fully and anticipate when they will reach turning points of development. Key dates in the Uranus cycle are March 12, June 16, July 1, September 16, and December 1 and 14. The culmination of the cycle occurs on September 16.

Saturn-Uranus Watch
If you recall, Uranus has been interacting with Saturn since last summer, and we will begin to feel this intensify once Uranus turns retrograde. However, it will not be at its most powerful until the fall. The first two contacts occurred as the US economy tanked and Obama was elected. In the coming months we will see how well the Obama Administration (Larry Summers and Tim Geithner) are doing at setting economic policy and establishing regulations to prevent future such downturns.

In our own lives, Uranus frequently is experienced as events beyond our control that we have to figure out how to deal with, such as the impact that the economy or political changes have in our own lives. There are other, more subtle lessons that Uranus opens us to as well, such as self-esteem, learning to listen within, or valuing insight as well as thought. By questioning our assumptions, we can find new ways out of our dilemmas. Intuition will support logic in finding successful outcomes.

July’s Flavor of the Month
There are more interplanetary contacts in July than in any recent month. This occurs as Mercury and Venus gain normal speed and the celestial bodies stretch out throughout the Zodiac. This brings perspective and increasing clarity, in the form of reduced false idealism and higher levels of rational thinking, as we begin to see all the facets of the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius that began in January. As this aspect took shape, newly elected President Obama took office and began a sea change in politics. Dreams of an idealized expression of government were pinned on him, but in May people began to see more and more the shortcomings of their idol, and that their social and political ideals may not be fulfilled as they had hoped.

This disillusionment is reflected in personal lives as fears and anxieties about the future — of the economy, the world and its problems — and it takes shape as lost retirement funds, cutbacks that stymie careers, or home foreclosures. It follows the timetable of the triple conjunction, which was highlighted in May and the first half of June.

The Sun and Mercury, followed by Venus and Mars, move through Cancer and Leo, leaving the slow-movers behind but begin to reconnect from across the heavens. They light up the slow ones each in their turn, bringing the full phase of each of these planets’ yearly cycles. This started in June with the Sun’s opposition to Pluto at the time of the solstice. This was when Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei began his brutal crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations against the re-election of President Ahmadinejad.

This month they sit between Pluto and the Aquarian trio, making a series of quincunxes that in mid-month create a disjointed yod. (See Chart A.) The dominant quincunx is Cancer-Aquarius, but Mercury reaches back to hook up with Pluto as well, picking up Leo-Capricorn.

Enter the Social Reforming Charismatic Statesman.
Cancer-Aquarius wants to build a World Family. It can also be expressed as the Social Reformer. We are challenged to incorporate these archetypes into our consciousness when this quincunx is formed. Leo-Capricorn is a leadership quincunx, requiring the blending of inspiration with structure. Its archetype can be called the Charismatic Statesman. (President Obama’s chart carries this quincunx as a strong feature.)

Quincunxes also contribute to our nearly full awareness of what’s really going on in our lives and what we need to do to meet our current challenges. Quincunxes require intense processing of information, because one occurs on either side of the opposition of the planets involved. We are either reaching out toward the opposition or integrating the culmination of awareness that we experienced at the opposition. We may feel as though there is too much to know and integrate. We feel pulled in two directions as we encounter new hurdles that must be jumped in order to reach our goals.

Quincunxes also tend to generate in us immense longing for completion in the area where the opposition occurs. We often feel pressure to fulfill an obligation that we took on unconsciously when these two planets conjoined at the beginning of their cycle. We might ask, “Am I on the right path to accomplish my goals? Did I do enough? Too much? What must I do to integrate the new information into my plan for success?”

Because we are not yet at the peak of the cycle, we feel in between, our world full of ambiguity. When we reach the opposition, we know our position and feel more secure, even if it’s not to our liking. Even though ambiguity is difficult, it is where the creativity is. If we can live with the indefiniteness of our situation, we can tap those creative forces and use them during the rest of the planetary cycle. With so many quincunxes in July, we have lots of opportunity to be creative. See the “in-depth” section below for details.

Eclipses Our Saving Grace?
What will give us a sense of the earth beneath our feet are the eclipses, which begin to occur in Cancer-Capricorn for the first time since 2000-01. Eclipses in these signs are powerful, in part because these signs have to do with life and death. When the eclipses are in Cancer-Capricorn, we may feel threatened and question how we can survive.

I have found that, unlike other planetary phenomena, eclipses are felt as much as six weeks prior to the actual event. Eclipses occur every 5½ months, usually two in succession; however, this time we have an unusual three, two weak Lunar Eclipses and one very strong Solar Eclipse. The eclipse period extends from June 22 through August 20, and we have seen many stunning and unexpected events so far, from the Iranian people’s movement to the death of Michael Jackson. These eclipses also make significant contact with the chart of the United States. The eclipses in July occur on the 7th (lunar - Chart B) and 21st (solar - Chart C).

In esoteric lore, Cancer and Capricorn are considered the signs through which souls enter and exit the realm of Planet Earth. If this is so, some people are choosing this time to take a sudden exit, and we can only speculate on many souls of significance are entering Earth’s energy field at this time. This time of exit is also supported by Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune, which are all planets that are involved in liberating the soul from the body.

The Planets in Aquarius Change Partners.
Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune have been in a tightly bound triple conjunction since about the beginning of April. Jupiter is the fastest moving of the three, and it passed Chiron and Neptune at the end of May, just that the latter were turning retrograde. Now that Jupiter has turned retrograde as well, it is backing over them and it will make a second of three conjunctions with both planets. This reinforces the deep processes of healing that we began dealing with primarily in May.

Chances are, the story goes like this: You discovered something hidden in your nature in late January-early February, which you felt inspired by and dedicated yourself to. After that (for some in late April), you had magical experiences related to your new path. When you took on this path, you had to clear the way for it to be fulfilled, and that cleansing process began in May. This will continue through the rest of the year, peaking in mid-August but not completed until the end of the year. We will continue to work with the process or project that we committed ourselves to for the rest of our lives; others we will complete in 13 years (until the next Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in 2022).

Jupiter makes one more contact with Chiron on December 7 and with Neptune on December 21. By then, we will know what we have dedicated ourselves to, perhaps sooner.

July In Depth

July 1-2
Uranus rules as it makes its station. Its energies would dominate longer, but they are crowded out by others, principally the eclipse on the 7th. Observe what you experience now for clues about events in September and November (see dates listed above). Also on the first, we get Mercury trines and Venus squares to the Aquarian triple conjunction. This makes the day feel very packed with events as we grapple with many shifts in our inner reality. Mercury’s square to Uranus today creates tension, anxiety, and scatters our focus. However, a trine from the Moon releases the pressure through our feeling side. Follow your instincts and don’t expect to follow a plan today.

July 3-6
Mercury enters Cancer and Venus enters Gemini, both leaving signs of their dignity. However, Mars rules the day as it squares the Aquarian planets. This creates the opportunity, if not the need, to continue the rapid cleansing of old impulses. Unreleased emotions may come out as body responses, particularly inflammations and viruses. Accidents due to lack of focus are also possible — pay attention and don’t multi-task with physical activities now. What else do you need to do to complete the cleanse?

July 5-7
These are the days when the Lunar Eclipse will be felt most strongly. We may feel as though some big is about to happen — and it may. If the eclipse falls within three degrees of anything in your chart, you will feel its effects. This is a weak eclipse, but it is also a Full Moon, and it will open the door to new possibilities for the next six months of your life.

July 8-10
We still feel the eclipse, but Jupiter and Neptune conjoin commingled with the Moon on Friday (the 10th). We get one more reminder of the tensions of earlier in the week as Moon contacts Mars just before it moves into Gemini on the 11th. If any significant events take place today, take note of them, because they are seed events for our long-range future.

July 11-23
Mercury catches up with the Sun, and we enter the “sloppy yod” period. (Chart A) Mercury quincunxes the planets in late Aquarius on the 15th, followed by the Sun on the 17th-18th. Mercury enters Leo on the 17th and quincunxes Pluto on the 18th; the Sun follows suit on the 22nd and 23rd.

July 19-21
Although we have been feeling its shadow for a long time, the powerful total Solar Eclipse is strongest on these days, actually occurring in the evening of the 21st (so is not visible in North America). This eclipse contacts the charts of Iran in many ways. It is possible that there will be a strong reaction to the inauguration of President Ahmadinejad, if it occurs near this date. Certainly, there is a power struggle on the Supreme Council between the clerics there, whose differences have long been hidden from the public. This is a period in which to remain alert, as we may tend to be more easily distracted.

July 22-25
When the Sun enters Leo, the emphasis dramatically shifts, and we can already feel the tension of the coming oppositions to the planets in Aquarius. Jupiter’s 2nd of 3 conjunctions with Chiron today adds fuel to that fire. What more do we need to heal in order to fulfill our purpose?

July 26-28
If you use the Mean Lunar Nodes, they move into Cancer-Capricorn today. This shifts us into a focus on our basic survival needs. We are now willing to take care of those repairs and other tasks around the house that might leave us compromised in an emergency. Venus trines the Aquarian planets as she squares Uranus from her position in Gemini, her last contacts before she enters Cancer.

July 29-31
Mercury approaches and finally perfects the first oppositions to Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune. Observe carefully to get a deeper understanding of what you’re building with your dreams and how you can reach them. We will become more empathetic towards those we have been critical of as we see things from their perspective. Venus enters Cancer on the 31st.

As we deal with the meandering energies of July, it helps to remember that the shortest path to our goals is the zig-zag path. This certainly describes our lives on Planet Earth, where retrograding planets are part of the norm and life is full of plot twists. Our new chapter starts now!

Significant Planetary Events

Jupiter, Chiron, Neptune, and Pluto are retrograde. Mercury and Venus are in rulership. Mars is in detriment.

All dates are based on Pacific Time.
Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging/intense
Events in bold are more significant.

© Terry Lamb