The Return of Magic

The July 2007 Forecast

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Past forecasts

J uly’s list of planetary events is the shortest I’ve seen in a while, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t significant. They are. In fact, we have the opportunity to dig deeply into this month’s “cosmic meal” (tipping my hat to the Cancerian love of food) precisely because there’s not so much going on. Let me hasten to say that how much you have going on in your life is not dependent on planetary activity. You get to choose that. This planetary reality permits me to go into greater depth on what is occurring and present a more profound preview of events to come.

Mercury Reconsiderations

            The Mercury retrograde (in effect until the 9^th) blind-sided me somewhat. Even though I knew what to expect from one perspective, we have to consider all viewpoints. First, I failed to recall that Mercury is another standard-bearer for upcoming significant events. Second, because it is the first time in a while that we’ve had anything important in the cardinal signs.

            Mercury important?! Well, while it’s true that some folks live in fear of Mercury retrograde, it is generally considered a fast, neutral planet and doesn’t register on the radar most of the time. However, it plays the same role in June-July of this year as it did in August 2005: It’s the trailer for your life over the coming fourteen years. It is giving us a preview of what’s to come — the universal force, the challenges we’ll face, and how well prepared we are to deal with them at present.

            To get a feel for this, think back to 2005. What was going on in your life in the summer of that year? Look for the ways that the following two years played out your experiences of that summer. If you’re like the other people I know (including myself), you became aware of a challenge or problem in your life, and you came up with a solution to that situation. You began to pursue that, and then things got REALLY complicated. Maybe you bit off more than you could chew. Now, as we leave this pattern behind, you can probably say that you’ve learned something, but the jury’s still out on to what extent your efforts have been effective. It will take time to determine what you have accomplished, but it doesn’t necessarily look right now like it’s going to be what you set out to do.

            This is the scenario within which we enter the next chapter of our lives. We could call it the cardinal chapter.

Start Thinking Cardinal.

            Let me explain. We can think of the zodiacal signs as being organized into three sets, each representing a different universal force that we have to learn to use if we want to flourish in life. Over the past 9 years, we’ve been dealing by and large with two sets of these signs, the fixed (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) and mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). One set of signs, the cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) has been left out of the loop, after many years of emphasis during the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

            There are big changes afoot in the universe very soon, and one of them is the entry of Pluto into Capricorn next January. As always with the “heavyweight” bodies (don’t let the astronomers tell you otherwise), Pluto will shift our focus not just into its sign, but also into the other signs of its cardinal set. This will dramatically change our yearly rhythm, the dilemmas we experience, and the way we need to respond to the universe to get the most out of our experiences.

            It will be quite a shift. Imagine — something you haven’t had to deal with (much) since 1997 is coming back into your life. The key is understanding the universal force behind the mask. How much you feel the new energy will depend on the planetary placements in your natal chart (and of those around you).

            The cardinal force is also called the initiating force. The initiating force is the energy we use to start something new, to blaze new trails, to pioneer an idea or effort. It takes us into situations and experiences we’ve never had before and demands that we draw upon our inner self-confidence and wisdom to forge ahead.

            Certainly, we can see this happening in the world around us. We’re facing more than ever before the fact that we are killing ourselves, our planet, and our co-inhabitants. We have to think about the world in a new way or die.

Mercury Is Our Window on This New Future.

            What I didn’t remember is that this Mercury retrograde gives us a window into the future and begins our preparation process. It will be good to take note of your experiences before, during, and after this Mercury retrograde period. Specifically, the bracketing dates are May 31 – July 24, but the dates of the most critical events are likely to fall in the period June 15 – July 9.

            So, even though Mercury makes few contacts to other planets during this time, it is still very significant because it allows us to peek into the future and begin to prepare, even if in the subtlest of ways. Because Mercury is in Cancer for the entire retrograde, expect its messages to come in emotional ways. Our experiences and reactions to them will have an emotional tone, and we may tend to overreact. Given how much emotional response is disparaged and suppressed in Western culture in general, it is important to give our feelings their due and learn how to better manage them, so this is a time when valuable insights can be gained.

            In addition, it is possible, even likely, to misinterpret our experiences because of old emotional wounds. If we can observe our actions and responses dispassionately, we can learn from them and repattern our old and outdated strategies.

Mars Ups the Ante.

            What makes this Mercury period even more important is that its retrograde, as in 2005, tracks over the same portion of the zodiac that Mars later covers during its retrograde. Yes folks, Mars will be at it again November 15 – January 30 (2008). Its transit of early Cancer retracing Mercury’s retrograde zone will bring back to us any residual situations that remain unresolved when Mercury returns to forward motion on July 9.

            Given the pattern that’s coming, this is going to show us situations and issues that we will be dealing with for a very long time — the full time that Pluto is in Capricorn — in some fashion.

            The full range of Mars’s travel through its “hot zone” is from September 16 through April 4 (next year). I will address the deeper meaning of this retrograde in coming forecasts.

Pluto’s Ingress

            All of this would not be so significant to us if it were not for Pluto’s ingress into its new sign. This is incredibly important, as it only changes signs about every 14 years during this part of its cycle.

            When a slow-moving planet enters a new sign, we feel it on a very deep level. We feel inspired by the highest, finest qualities of that sign’s energy and we make a pledge to accomplish something during its sojourn. It is something that comes from our core, and we can’t help but respond to it. However, fulfilling that pledge can be a bit dicier, because we then get to learn how to play out those energies in the real world. The learning curve can leave us feeling overwhelmed, even betrayed, by our own inner guidance system.

            Think back to 1995. This is when Pluto went into Sagittarius. What did you take on then? If you’re like me, it’s easy to identify and to see how my path to now has been my best attempt to fulfill my then-projected goals. As far as those goals were concerned, I fulfilled them and went far beyond them, to places I never dreamed possible. There were some unexpected twists and turns on the way, and some ideas I pursued didn’t pan out, but I learned vital lessons in the process.

            Although Pluto has not yet entered Capricorn, we can already feel the wave of the future coming in to shore. Chances are good that you have a fairly good idea of what you will pledge to accomplish from this new energetic perspective, even though you will doubtless refine your ideas over the intervening months.

            If Mercury and Mars give us a heads-up on the changes to come, it is to our benefit to pay attention. Take notes on what happens and search for the threads of meaning that flow through events. Use that as a springboard for your new goals and direction.

Venus Becomes Our Teacher and Guide..

            About every 18 months, Venus spends about 44 days in retrograde (backward) motion. This is happening from July 27 – September 8. We experience this as a time when value is emphasized in our lives. The ultimate value, says Venus, is love. Among the types of love, self-love is the core of all ability to love. Until we love ourselves, we cannot love another.

     The process of learning to love and feel love is Venus’s domain. During its retrograde, as with the other retrogrades, Venus will speak more loudly to us than at other times. Physically, the planet Venus is closest to Earth at this time. As it retrogrades, Venus appears to fall into the Sun. The Sumerians wrote about this as the "Descent of Inanna". To learn more, see my article called "Queen of Heaven".

     What we can say with certainty about Venus’s retrograde is that we will learn something new about love. What that is depends on the stage of development we are in when the retrograde comes. This is not necessarily a painful experience, although many people experience emotional pain during this time because of our very human tendency to become attached to each other rather than to love freely.

     True love is free and permits comings and goings. It is unconditional (even though expressions of affection almost always require setting some conditions in adult relationships.) When we become attached to each other, we are expressing our fears and need for security; this is not love. Inevitably, our spirit seeks to redirect our expression back to true love, and it does so more forcefully during the Venus retrograde.

            The result is that our relationships will come up for renewal and renegotiation during this time. Venus has been sending us signals about what will arise since June 24, so now is a good time to observe how our relationships are working for us and those at the other end of the equation.

            During the retrograde, it may seem as though we are forced into situations where the truth must come out before it is “time” for it — or it may bring out a truth long overdue. It is affecting people the most who have planets in the last half of Leo and very early Virgo.

            (Here’s the backstory: Venus retrogrades tend to pound over the same turf [with slight shifts] time and time again, and this is the case now. Virgo gets it this year, just as it did in 1999. However, it snags only first 3 degrees of the sign this time, so it is treading backward mostly through Leo. Venus has started every 5^th retrograde in the sign of Virgo since August 25, 1911. It has only two more retrogrades in Virgo to go before it begins this pattern in Leo [on July 22, 2023]. This means that, if you have planets in Virgo, every 8 years you enter a steep learning curve about love and value. This is also true of people with planets in the signs Aries, Gemini, Scorpio, and Capricorn, which get the Venus retrograde in the intervening years.)

            Venus interactions with other planets during this time make this a critical retrograde. It tangos with Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Pluto, with the Sun and Moon to juice it up. This suggests that Venus will take us through the finishing-off process of the old fixed pattern that has been with us since summer 2005 (mentioned above).

            This finalizing will emphasize relationships and negotiations about money, as well as other things of value. Important dates for this thread in your life will be:

            The good news about this Venus period is the opportunity for clarity and harmonious resolution of issues in our relationships. Events on July 14, 24, and 31 also play an important role in our process.

            Venus also has to do with other things we value — money, property, possessions. With the emphasis in Leo/Virgo, the challenge is to find a way to fulfill our heart’s desire that also fulfills our desire to contribute. This is the golden combination that creates happiness. When we are happy, we live in a magical land from which all miracles come. This is the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage, where we “marry our self”. This means to be acquainted with and to love our self. We can tell when we love our self, because we feel complete self-acceptance and self-respect (the foundation of all real love).

Bye-Bye, Fixed Force! (For the Most Part)

            I’ve been mentioning the fixed emphasis that we’ve had since mid-2005 (and to varying degrees since 1998). The fixed signs bring to us the stabilizing force, which we use to either sustain or destroy the structures in our lives. To determine what to do, we test (and feel as if we are being tested) their robustness. We take what we have begun inside our heads and hearts and put it into real-world form. (To learn more about how we use each of these forces, read my book, Born to Be Together, which has a section on how we use them in our personal life and relationships.)

            There will of course be times when the fixed force will be in focus, but not with the power of the past two years. Until the end of August, we will be completing our work with the life patterns and situations that arose then. The critical shift takes place when Saturn enters Virgo, on September 2. Although Saturn does not always carry this much weight in determining the emphasis in our lives, it does this time.

A Peek Ahead at Saturn in Virgo

Once it moves into Virgo, it will increase our focus on the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) and its universal force — the integrating force. The integrating force has to do with creating wholeness, or in Murphy’s Law terms, completing the other 99% of the job. Integration is an often overlooked part of the process, yet it is the most satisfying and creates a firm foundation for our next new adventure. Since Western society doesn’t care about personal satisfaction or fulfillment, it demands that we always move on before full integration takes place, but we do so at our peril. Not only does it leave us feeling empty and rushed, it weakens our next new endeavor because the foundation is not complete.

            Saturn always finds our weaknesses — a necessary process in order to become truly strong. During Saturn in Leo, we’ve been finding the ways that we separate from each other because of social prejudice. This has been coming out in terms of almost purely social issues on the political scene: immigration, women’s rights (right to choose), property rights (individual vs. corporate), educational segregation, poverty. It has even become evident that terrorism is spurred as much by economic inequities as by religious differences. Recent research shows that population growth occurs only in societies where women are subjugated to men; its primary causes are not either economic conditions or lack of available medical birth control (as quoted by Thom Hartman).

            Saturn in Virgo will focus us — is already focusing us on — you guessed it: HEALTH CARE!! This is not the only thing of course. Internally, we will be learning about forgiveness, the antidote to Virgoan discernment (or criticism in its negative form). However, the growth curve extends over the entire time that Saturn is in Virgo (until July 2010). The key to forgiving others is first to forgive ourselves. When we bear a grudge or carry a prejudice, we haven’t forgiven our self about something. This must take place first before we can let go of this draining burden and move on.

Other Changes to Look Forward To

            Besides Saturn’s momentous move into Virgo and Pluto’s into Capricorn, in December Jupiter also enters Capricorn. This will “juice up” our experience of Pluto’s new energy input into our lives, lending optimism, perhaps even foolishly. There’s no doubt that this will be a powerful time, but we will also be discovering wise limits to our endeavors.

            All of these planetary performances interconnect in ways that will stretch new muscles in spirit, mind, emotions, and body. They promise an exciting new adventure and a pronounced shift away from a reality that may by now feel confining and boring. They bode well for greatly needed changes in the world of culture, politics, and leadership. The most profound and robust change occurs when everyone is carried along by its roots (that is, everyone understands why the change is needed and supports it). While we can’t expect everyone in the US to go along with anything, the required sea change may be at hand.

            More locally and worth noting, Jupiter is near the end of its retrograde by the end of the month. Until August 6 we can put the finishing touches on something we’ve been getting ready to launch since the end of November last year.

Completions

            Even if we don’t always get what we want, we get what we need. As we head toward the end of two major planetary epochs, it helps to write down a few of the more memorable things that we wanted but were prevented from accomplishing that worked out better for us in the long run. (I can think of a few situations where getting what I wanted would have been a disaster!

            Helpful insights into the value of Saturn comes when we examine our life in terms of 10s. Look back what your life was like 10 years ago (1997). Capture in your memory (or on paper) as much as you can about what you were doing then. In particular, what were your goals and dreams? Have you been able to make substantial progress toward those goals since then? If you are using Saturn well, the answer will be “yes”. Look back 20 years and do the same; then 30 years. Every ten years, we can see how we have built on the foundation laid 10 (20, 30) years before. We can do this every year to capture the value of each year in our life.

            I find this time fascinating as I feel the magic of the shift in energies. Its grandeur is awesome and its promise tremendous. May you also experience the specialness of this time.

Significant Planetary Events

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

Venus conjoins Saturn	22°24' Leo	July 1
Mercury ℞ sextiles Mars	5°04' Cancer/Taurus	July 1
Venus trines Pluto	27°08' Leo/Sagittarius	July 8
Mercury returns to forward motion (stationary direct SD)	2°51' Cancer	July 9
Sun trines Uranus ℞	18°34' Cancer/Pisces	July 11
New Moon	21°41' Cancer	July 14
Mars squares Chiron ℞	14°11' Gemini/Leo	July 14
Venus enters Virgo (fall)	0°00' Virgo	July 14
Mars sextiles Uranus ℞	18°24' Taurus/Pisces	July 20
Mercury trines the Moon’s North Node (3rd of 3)	8°59' Cancer/Pisces	July 21
Sun enters Leo	0°00' Leo	July 22
Mars squares Neptune ℞	21°10' Taurus/Aquarius	July 24
Venus begins backward motion (stationary retrograde (S℞)	2°46' Virgo	July 27
Mercury trines Uranus ℞	18°13' Cancer/Pisces	July 28
Full Moon	6°31' Leo/Aquarius	July 29
Mars squares Saturn	25°53' Taurus/Leo	July 31

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging/intense

Events in bold are more significant.