Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turnin’- July 2021
Outside of the “fireworks” and conflagrations we see throughout the first week of July, once the New Moon in Cancer occurs on July 9th, it’s smooth sailing throughout the rest of the month. With two noticeably distasteful exceptions, when we see our annual Sun/Pluto and Mercury/Pluto oppositions on July 17th and 25th respectively. July is much easier than June, and August will see a similar pattern to July, rough in the beginning, then fairly chill through the rest of the month. Makes me think of floating lazily down a river in a tube. Our favorite beverage in hand. Our friends and family along for the ride.
I must warn you though, that in both early July and early August, there are some rapids we must first encounter before we get to the good parts of our “rivers of life”. THEN we get to relax. Adrenaline in the early parts of July, Tryptophan in the latter. Still going to be a trip to remember.
The transits I like the most in July are the Moon, Venus, and Mars conjunctions in Leo, on the 12th and 13th of July, all opposing Jupiter during the second, third, and fourth, weeks of the month. Oh Romeo, Romeo…where art thou Romeo? Although this July, I would suggest a more Leonian end to the story rather than the well-known Scorpionic death scene as written. How about proclaiming your love in verse or sonnet? Tell them you love them in a full-throated song or soliloquy. Balconies are big in July, as are stages and screens. Bring in the extras. The bigger, the better.
The Mars T-square to Saturn and Uranus the first few days of July has us confronting several distasteful events and situations, to the point where, by the time we get to the Mercury/Neptune square and Venus/Saturn opposition on the 6th, we may be wondering how the heck we got to where we are now? “Wait a minute…I don’t want to be doing this”, a common phrase to be heard. “No way! No how!”
Fortunately, the Moon/Mercury conjunction in Gemini on the 7th gives us a few keys for changing our courses of action; the Venus/Uranus square on the 8th allows us the opportunities to make a few changes now that we have the keys; and the coming New Moon in Cancer on the 9th sets off a two-week cycle of growth and sustenance. Many a folk will be changing their tune by months end. And most will be for the better.
Jupiter is still playing an important role this month, as it does throughout 2021, as he retrogrades back into Aquarius on June 28th, that he might tie up a bunch of loose ends which have occurred since early December 2020 up through mid-May of 2021. We now have until the end of the year to do the deeds left undone. Deeds involving the balancing of the rights of the individual with the rights of the community or collective. Who should lead? What does leadership look like? And most importantly, where are we being led?
Notice how many rulings there have been from our Supreme Court lately with Jupiter in early Pisces? We can expect to see many of these issues re-tried and re-adjudicated, from different legal perspectives, as the rest of 2021 unfolds. Hopefully, the wheels of Justice will grind a bit more quickly as we move through the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction of 2022 and experience the joining of State and Spirit once again.
Prayers of guidance and compassion can be a wonderful thing in July…well, at least until Jupiter gets back into Aquarius, at the end of the month. Thereafter, until the end of the year, intellect and ingenuity hold sway. Do you think robots will ever be taught to pray? To acknowledge the divine. When that takes place, there will be hope for us all.
On the Presidential front, I find the comparison of Presidents Biden’s and Putin’s birth charts to be extremely interesting. Both were born with 4 planets either in, or close to, the 12th house. The chance of this happening randomly is about 20,000:1. When we talk about the 12th house we are talking about deep-seated psychological issues, especially ones that were perpetuated by our parents in our formative years. In classic Astrology the 12th house is the house of hidden dangers, from others, and from ourselves. It used to rule things like insane asylums, prisons, monasteries, and such; those places we go, or are placed, because we are deemed different from others. The 12th house is also highly associated with back-room antics, hidden enemies, and things best left hidden from sight due to the disruptive nature of the issues and information found there. That is, if you rely on the ancient definitions of the 12th.
I have come to see the 12th house and have used it as such in my chart readings and consultations, as the place where we can stand up and stand out and rise above the fray. The place wherein, once you have come to terms with that which has been repressed in the 12th, you are no longer bound by the past. Especially parental pasts. It is where we, having traversed all the other houses (i.e., activities) in that big wheel in the sky, can now decide to “jump off the wheel” as I like to put it, and not have to go back and repeat degrading patterns and poor habits we have developed in this life and often from our most recent past lives too. It is where we separate from the pack and step out on our own unique, sometimes dangerous paths and rise above the limitations and restrictions of this particular life cycle. The 12th is where we make the choice to return and repeat the old wheel patterns in our lives or shift our trajectory on to a completely new cycle that manifest as we come across the Ascendant into the 1st house.
I first started looking at the 12th house this way ever since I learned about Michel Gauquelin’s studies on Astrology back when I was a young Astrologer thinking I understood what the houses meant. Michel, thinking he was going to prove that astrology does not hold up to scientific rigor, collected and analyzed over 24,000 birth times of various groups of people, only to find that planets found in the latter half of the 12th house, and the latter half of the 9th house, would indicate one’s profession. And the findings were way above any statistical norms.
How could it be that a house that has historically represented restriction and isolation from society be a place that defines what we choose to pursue as a career or profession? The answer that I came up with for this question shows me that humanity is, relatively speaking, on the right course. The history of humanity has been barbaric, ecstatic, and ever so revealing, of a species that is slowly learning how to get along with each other and be more tolerant of those who do not fit into the majority. Years ago, if you were different, in almost any way, you would get the classic 12th house actions of isolation, indoctrination, and segregation.
Yet, as humanity has been evolving through its paces, Man has embraced these distinctions and differentiations more and more, making the age-old reactions to foreigners and different drummers less palpable and less prevalent. This easing of societal “definition” has inadvertently led to the raising up of the individual, the celebration of diversity, and the diminution of personal punishment and restrictive tenants, thereby raising the activities normally associated with the 12th house to a more refined level. When a person has a planet, or two, or three, in the 12th they have chosen a life where some of the lessons in life will surround these issues of being one of the herd, or not, and having to deal with the consequences of these decisions. It is society that has allowed astrology to upgrade its observations and definitions of the reactions and interactions of humanity, even as the discovery of new planets, from an astrological perspective, have shown that this would, and will, continue to taking place.
Anyone who chooses to have 40% of all their lessons this lifetime, as both Biden and Putin have chosen, to involve activities about overcoming the limitations, restrictions, and repressions of their lives, deserve respect. And a decent amount of awe. In some cases, we are talking about the Shamans of the world, in other cases, we are talking about the psychopaths of the world. There is a fine line when it comes to societies definitions of the difference.
For Biden, the four planets involved are all personal planets, Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. In Putin’s case, the four planets are two personal and two cultural, Sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Neptune. Both Presidents are beholden to immense public scrutiny. Both are attempting to overcome a very convoluted early life. Although it is Putin who holds the bigger world stage.
Biden has a bunch of dangerous transits coming up. In some Astrology circles they are compared to what happened to President Kennedy with transiting Mars, Saturn, and Uranus, forming a series of fixed grand crosses to all his Scorpio planets. However, I do want to point out how Putin has transiting Saturn conjunct his natal Lunar North Node three times starting in the Spring of 2022, with transiting Jupiter squaring all his Libra planets in the 12th at the same time, which is likely going to clip his wings tremendously. Makes me wonder if either of these guys will be with us come 2023. Can’t say I want Harris as a result. Her Saturn on the U.S. Moon is going to hurt.
We must remember that transits of Saturn bring you your “just reward”. What ever that may be. If you have spent the last Saturn cycle screwing people over when Saturn hits you North Node you get screwed yourself. If you have spent the last 30-year Saturn cycle doing unto others as you would have then done unto you, you get rewarded. It’s as simple as that. Obviously, I am not privy to all that either Putin, or Biden, have done, although I can probably go out on a limb here and say Putin’s reward is going to suck worse than Biden’s. This is backed up by Putin having his Lunar South Node conjunct Pluto in the 10th, which is a classic definition of someone who has had extreme power in past lives, not just this one, and someone who must now reap what he has sown. Biden doesn’t have as many power issues in his chart, although his Neptune in the 10th, does insulate him from many of his Scorpionic 12th house dastardly deeds. Where you find Neptune in a chart is where one can mesmerize and obfuscate. When one finds Pluto is where one must come to terms with the power of life, death, and resurrection.
Biden had transiting Saturn conjunct his natal Lunar North Node in 1977 when he made his disastrous remarks about children growing up in a “racial jungle”. He also had it happening in the early part of 2007, during another transit of Saturn over his North Node, when he thoroughly botched his then short-lived presidential campaign with remarks about President Obama that were seen as racial. With his North Node in Virgo, which is ruled by Mercury, both events were marred by what he said, not so much by what he did. Now in the early 2020’s, half-way through the 2007 Saturn cycle, and one and a half times after the 1977 conjunction, he finally achieved what he set out for way back when. Persistent bugger.
Putin on the other hand, with his North Node in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn and Uranus, received his rewards through the actions of others. When transiting Saturn conjunct his natal Lunar North Node in 1993 it was when he learned much about state sponsored repression under Boris Yeltsin’s heavy-handed control of the country. Monkey see, monkey do. In the early 90’s Putin was still quite new to politics. In 2022, when Saturn comes around again, that can not be said. The Piper always gets his due. Time always tells.
Not too long ago I posted about how the coming Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Taurus in early 2024 was going to bring us an “upgrade or die” scenario wherein there will be sudden huge leaps in tech hardware that will instantly label many of our current tech products outmoded and unusable. Thus, come 2024 and 2025, the need to invest in a bunch of new tech products and infrastructure very quickly, with the main point being here to hold on to, and maintain, the tech products you have now. Avoid buying any new stuff now through 2024, for come then we will be forced to do so. This evolution may be as big as the end of electricity, and ALL of it’s infrastructure, and will be fully implemented into society, by the time Uranus gets to the end of Gemini in the early 2030’s. Do watch for when Jupiter enters Taurus in the Spring of 2023, and up until the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in the Spring of 2024, for insights into which actual business entities will be the ones to roll out this new tech. Those companies will make for some VERY lucrative investment opportunities.
O.K. Getting back to real time and the transits for July 2021. Hey, what can I say, I have Sun, Mercury, and Neptune conjunct in Scorpio in the 3rd. It’s easy for me to slip into the other worlds. Makes me think of Zoot. Remember the saxophone player from the muppets? Being a saxophone player myself, and one prone to visions, I used to laugh my ass off when I used to hear that phrase; uh, oh, Zoot’s “skipped the groove again”. The trick is what happens once you get back.
In July… we come in like a badger, ripping into whoever gets in our way. Mid-July we are more like turtledoves, cooing to our hearts content. Except for the 3rd weekend in July, on the 16th and the 17th, when we see the annual Sun/Pluto opposition, which is more like a scorpion or puffer fish. The third full workweek in July brings out the peacock in all of us, especially male peacocks, and their grand displays. The Mercury/Pluto opposition on the 4th weekend of July turns us all into screeching primates. Just watch for the ones that like to fling their poo. And the last full workweek in July turns us all into sheepdogs and work horses. Get your cowboy/cowgirl on toward months end.
The progression of the inner planets through the signs for July are as follows, starting with the Sun moving from Cancer to Leo on the 22nd. You do not want to mess with Mother Nature in July, or big Mama. The mothers in all of us are on a roll in July, lots of food and lots of protection. Don’t go dissing anyone’s progeny now, or their favorite recipes, or you will feel the wrath of Mom. Once the Sun enters Leo on the 22nd we all get to accede to the demands of the feminine. And willingly, too. The knights in shining armor at month’s end bring many a smile to the maiden’s fare. Mercury moves from Gemini to Cancer on the 11th and then into Leo on the 27th. After an extended period in Gemini, Mercury now gets to succor and implement all those ideas we came up with in May and June. Once Mercury enters Leo on the 27th, we are ready to take the information and events of July to a higher level.
Venus starts off in Leo as July begins, moving into Virgo on the 21st. The ability to attract support in the first part of July leads to some excellent actions come the latter part of July. Do not try and do it all alone the second half of July. Trust in the power of Virgo to bring us plenty of folks who are willing to help. And do not offer more than you can deliver in the first half of July, for you may be put to task to manifest the delivery of said promises during the second half of July.
Mars in Leo throughout most of July gives us the courage and the stamina to stand up, and stand out, or to make fools of ourselves if need be. Whichever gains our goals. Just remember the old saying, “pride comes before the fall”, for when Mars enters Virgo the last few days of July, many may trip and stumble. Those who have kept a lid on their narcissism in June and July, will reap what they have sown.
One of the more obvious cycles that is playing out in 2021 is the movement of Jupiter into, and then back out of, Pisces, from Aquarius. Jupiter moved into Pisces mid-May for a 2 1/2-month foray. This gives us a very insightful look at what will come forth, when Jupiter stays in Pisces from early Winter of 2021 through the late Spring and again in the late Fall of 2022. The Aquarius/Pisces cusp is where we deal with the heart attempting to keep the head in check. Aquarius is the head thinking it’s way through a situation, in a cold, calculating fashion, with little concern for the outlier. Pisces on the other hand, is often about bringing the outlier into the fold, whatever the sacrifice or subterfuge. Jupiter in Pisces can be the Martyr for the cause, or the con artist out for a buck. Yet, more often than not, he is genuinely concerned about his soul and leans into doing the right thing.
All jacked up from his transit through Aquarius in 2021, Jupiter, the moral compass of the Zodiac, has been showing us where society went a bit overboard with the rights of the collective, versus the rights of the individual in 2021. Cue all those Google, Facebook, and You Tube, restrictions, the Covid lockdowns, and all those law enforcement issues recently, along with a slew of other obvious avenues of note. All classic Aquarian issues, stirred up with the super juice of Jupiter. We have been seeing these last two months an increase in the voices of individuals over the cacophony coming from the collective. Although by month’s end the collective will be wanting to wield that heavy hand of the law again. Watch what sort of things get proposed at month’s end and on through October. You think 2020 was eye-opening. Wait for what August and September have in store for us. The long hard slog of 2021. Enjoy mid-July. We will need the rest.
It is not until the last week in July that we see any flies in the ointment this month, when we must face the Mercury/Pluto opposition on the 25th, Mars having the time of his life in Leo opposing Jupiter on the 29th and then immediately having his wings clipped when he enters Virgo later the same day, and thirdly, the Moon/Uranus conjunction on the 31st. All three of these transits can rattle our cages a bit and will help to trigger early August’s Sun and Mercury T-squaring Saturn and Uranus. Still, not so much of a bang in early August. More like a whimper. Reminds me of a hamster exhausting himself on a hamster wheel. More in my August report.