July Heats Up in Cancer and Leo (Planetary movements off the charts.)

Man, the cosmos is on the move in July.  Five planets (plus the Moon, of course) change signs with busy little Mercury switching twice.  If I didn’t know better I’d think they were competing for prime cosmic real estate.

And right now Cancer and Leo are sizzling hot!  You know, the places every planet who is anybody wants to be.  All but Mars, that is; he’s checking out Scorpio.  (Always was too independent for his own good, that one…)  The Moon spent the last part of June in Cancer and Leo, by the way, so skips into Virgo at the first of July.

Oh, and don’t forget the retrogrades.  Mercury stations and goes direct over the first two days of the month (though it remains in shadow for a couple weeks), reducing retrograde energy to only three planets until the 22^nd.  That’s when Uranus makes the “switch,” and we’re back to four.

Are you still with me, or are you getting as dizzy as I am?  (I hear ginger is good for motion sickness, by the way.)

Now back to the planets.  And remember that those with Cancer or Leo as their Sun, Moon, or Rising Sign are most apt to be affected.

Mercury returns to Cancer at 4:45 ET (ephemeral time) on the 13^th.  Here the time adds extra strength to the transformative number 13.  Take a look; 4+4+5=13. And 13 reduces to 4, the number of stability and laying the groundwork to create a strong foundation.  So let your conversations be clear, structured, and strong in ways that matter that day.

Jupiter, now in Cancer, moves into Leo on the 16^th.  This energy, depending on which house it activates in your chart, draws your attention back to yourself.  Leo is the sign of the Self, and Jupiter’s energy will intensify that.  Allow it to motivate you in positive ways to expand in truly courageous ways.  Just realize that this energy also can puff the ego, so guard against things motivated strictly from egoism.

Venus slips into Cancer the 18^th.  This could add some emotion to your relationship issues.  Let love reign supreme. 

The Sun, now in Cancer, fires up Leo starting on the 22^nd.  Since Leo is the Sun’s home sign, this intensifies Jupiter’s action in expanding self-awareness.  But until then, take advantage of this energy in Cancer to prioritize yourself and balance your place within the areas of home and family.

Mars finally leaves Libra on the 26^th after an extended 7-month stay.  (As a Libran all I can say is “Yippee!”)  Look out, Scorpio, here he comes!  Look for powerful energy to activate anything hidden dealing with taboos, issues involving governments or other people’s money.  And as is characteristic of Scorpio, much of this may take place out of public view.  This energy will be intensified by the New Moon in Leo which becomes exact at 22:42 ET at 3° 52’.  Both numbers reduce to 10/1, the number of instant manifestation and new beginnings, fully aligned with New Moon energy.  (There’s also a Full Moon in Capricorn on the 12^th, by the way.)

Then on the 31^st Mercury rolls into Leo, again activating the Venus, Jupiter, Mercury trio.  These three can make beautiful music together when their energies blend.  But guard against being a big mouth or a know-it-all.  Speak your truth with clarity and compassion.

This only touches on the energies of the month.  We’ll revisit certain aspects more in depth as we go along.  Just realize that when a planet switches signs, the energy shifts for each of us.  What does that mean?  Put simply, you feel things differently as you relate one part of yourself to another.  Your focus shifts from one area of your life to another.   Realize that your experience varies, however, depending on your individual state.

Having this many planetary shifts in July falls directly in line with it numerically as a 14/5 Universal Month.  Five is the number of pivotal change (among other things), so expect sudden changes and be prepared to act quickly.  The 14 can draw added media involvement too by the way, so watch for opportunities to use this as a resource.  Heads up for this, though: feeling fragmented and/or unfocused, a lower expression of this energy.

And so we step into a new month.  Greet it with gratitude for all the possibilities it holds.  No planetary movement is to blame for what transpires in our individual lives or collectively.  Energies shift and change in and around us, yet it is our choice how we respond to them.  Use them wisely to propel your life in the direction you most desire.

Blessings!

Rayora Hartman   http://www.numbersatplay.com

 

(Photo credit: “Flame” by Salvatore Vuono; freedigitalphotos,net)

Summer Solstice Meets Retrograde Energy (New or Redo?)

Hey, it’s Summer!   For those of us in the northern hemisphere, at least.  Those of you in the southern half of the world mark the beginning of Winter, but you’ll excuse me if I focus on what’s outside my front door right now, won’t you?  So yeah!  It’s Summer!  Time to swim the river, bury my feet in the sand and watch the Sun dance through the sky till 9 or 10 at night.  I feel like Snoopy, spinning in dizzying circles around my dog house.  Don’t bother me with details; it’s SUMMER!

Isn’t it funny how the Summer Solstice tends to have such an uplifting effect on people?  And if you ask me, the whole planet could do with an extra dose of uplifting about now.  This year has been I-N-T-E-N-S-E so far.  This intensity is due largely to the unusual fact that since March at least part if not the whole month we’ve felt the energy of four planets in retrograde at the same time.  Yowza!  This phenomenon rains on us through July, by the way, so don’t put your umbrellas away just yet.

While the Solstice marks a time of new beginnings, retrogrades usher in periods of review and redo.  June continued to see Saturn and Pluto in retrograde, joined by Neptune and Mercury (and Chiron, by the way).

Let’s start with good ol’ Mercury.  We can count on Mercury to retrograde about 3 times a year. Yet this one has been one of the strongest I’ve felt.  Agreed?  That may be thanks in part to three X-Class solar flares firing off in rapid succession from the Sun that first week.

Mercury really doesn’t need help to scramble communications and fracture our techno-inundated world.  But these flares definitely gave it a boost, in my view.  Plus, Mercury retrograded in the sign of Cancer (though now in it’s home sign of Gemini again), so strong emotions tended to be intensified along with it.

Has it been more difficult to communicate clearly lately?  Are people not hearing what you say or completely misunderstanding you?  Is your tongue tangling when you speak or thoughts jumbling in your brain?  Mercury stimulates mental energy.  During this retrograde, it’s wise to reconsider before speaking.  Writing may prove the best avenue for expression.  It bypasses the pitfalls of uninhibited speech that in this energetic setting can lead to misunderstandings and intense emotions.  And know that this, too, shall pass or at least start to lighten up July 1.

Let’s face it, when your mind throws you out of balance, it’s tempting to over-indulge in some outward behavior to mask our fears and/or feelings of inadequacy.  You buy ice cream by the gallon, join in all-night parties, or watch movies for 10 hours a day.  Or perhaps the opposite is true.  You sensor everything you consider doing for fear of getting out of control.  All the while, that old feeling that you’re never good enough lurks in the background.

If any of this sounds true, you are experiencing aspect of the Saturn retrograde now in effect.  Saturn is still in Scorpio, so secrets of all kinds come into play.  Taboos may show up in extreme forms, and puzzling or revealing issues around a death or other people’s money can arise.  It can feel like the world is conspiring against you and your desires, that everything you win requires struggle.

Yet the underlying message of Saturn is to take responsibility, stay organized, include some structure, and follow through to reach the next step in any project or maturity level. Pluto’s retrograde in Capricorn underscores this.  This is the planet of upheaval, reversals, transformation, and beginnings.  Capricorn governs the House of Work/Career.  Never is the public face versus private face more evident than in a Pluto retrograde.

For example, you may feel revered in one moment and reviled the next.  You keep your chin up when the world’s watching to mask your inner turmoil.  You want to keep your inner upheavals private so make light of things when in public.  This can shut other people down, adding to your tendency at this time to withdraw and shield your own inner world from view.  In truth, you are being called to learn and implement forgiveness on deep, deep levels; to get honest with yourself and others; to learn once and for all that you, not anyone else, are in control of how you choose to act and respond to life. So guard against being two-faced in any form.

Neptune retrograde in its home sign of Pisces emphasizes this even more as barriers between “me” and “we” feel virtually nonexistent.  Pisces is a very sensitive sign, so sensitivity in all areas becomes heightened.  This can lead to the tendency to take the blame for everything.  If you catch yourself apologizing to everybody for everything from the price of coffee to the current weather conditions, trust me, you’re experiencing Neptune retro energy.

The key here is not to get a thicker skin or a heavier mask, but to realize that the state of the world is not your fault.  You may feel like crying at every sad news report, but know that it’s likely your hyper-sensitivity at the moment that intensifies your reaction.  Everything feels tragic and monumental.  Recognize that this is an illusion.  Allow yourself to gain clarity in not only your own illusions but those of others.  Let this energy assist you in identifying how your own intuition can strengthen you own course, while guarding against chasing unrealistic fantasies.  (Unless your next project happens to be creating a stellar sci-fi movie, that is.)

The universal start time of 11:51 AM for the June 21 Solstice echoes the 13/4 numeric vibration of this Universal Month.   This number encourages transformation through challenge and creativity.  And the number 21 offers freedom through truth.

Remember that the Solstice itself marks a midway point, a time of integration.  It’s a time to review your choices and decisions so far this year, assessing and integrating the past six months.  It’s a time to balance your inner feelings with your outer actions as you set a course for the next six months.  It’s a season to process and digest life, allowing it to feed and strengthen you for what lies ahead.   It’s a time for honoring the natural cycles of all things, and the part you play in that.  Allow yourself to become consistently more responsible where it counts and free in ways that feed your spirit and creativity.  And in so doing, herald the light within and without.

Blessings!

Rayora Hartman

http://www.numbersatplay.com

 

(Photo credit: “Sun Sky” by samarttiw; freedigitalphotos.net)

 

Gemini Turns Volcanic (aka, Yellowstone)

My stars!  I never intended to be gone this long.  Did you miss me?  Yes, I’ve been vacationing, bit by the travel bug and drawn away by family events.

It’s been an interesting and enlightening month under Gemini’s influence, I must say.  But then, that’s what Gemini’s all about: information, communication, and seeing all there is to see.

For us that meant visiting my mother, attending a nephew’s wedding, meeting up with my sister and son’s families to explore Yellowstone National Park and the Jackson Lake area in the Grand Teton National Forest, with stop overs to visit my brother’s family, another son and a sister-friend before heading home.  If you think that’s a run-on sentence, you should have been on the trip!  It just ran on…and on…and on.  No lie, it took me nearly a week to settle back into life at home once we returned.  Whew!  I think my brakes are still smokin’.

Would I do it all again?  Not on your life!  Not that way, anyway.  But, as we say, it was “an experience.”  And that, my friend, is the fuel that spurs our personal evolution on this planetary journey.

We played in Gemini energy the whole trip.  Short distance travel (we stayed within two states of home, after all), adventures, romance (I did mention a wedding, remember), siblings, relatives all are connected to the 3^rd and 5^th Houses in astrology.  Not only were we astrologically in Gemini, but we had two Gemini Sun signs in the travel group.  (Would I make this up?)  So as the Sun, natural ruler of the 5^th House, journeyed through the sky in the sign of Gemini (whose energy colors the 3^rd House), we bridged these Houses dealing with all sorts of family issues along the way (yup, 4^th House = family and deep contemplation).   Are you still with me, or did I lose you at the last truck stop?

We played with Cosmic Law and Murphy’s Law all along the way.  We laughed, we cried, we prayed, we swore (well, I did anyway…once or twice) and all the while we marveled at the beauty and complexities of nature and the family unit.

Few places on the globe match the complex natural environment of Yellowstone.  It simmers and seethes, pools and flows, demonstrating power and majesty at every turn.

Yet don’t our family lives often do the same thing?  The inner power stirred by unseen forces, bubbles, flows, or explodes to the surface.  These occurrences, so daily, create new and potentially magnificent landscapes over time. We change, for better or worse, and so does the world around us.

More than once we mentioned the absurdity of traipsing around the recessed crown (caldera) of a mega-volcano.  Yet life in general can feel like that as well, can’t it?  Our sense of calm truly must come from within, for the externals seethe and pulse with uncertainty near and far.  We watch, we see, and if we are wise we learn to remain calm and choose a wise course of action.  Yet forces we don’t understand still churn beneath the surface as our lives evolve from day to day.

Some may say that tourists walk in blissful ignorance through Yellowstone’s expansive reaches.  Yet daring to step beyond the bounds of safety is part of what life here on planet earth calls for.   To dare to live, with the guidance afforded us by earthly and divine forces and our own inner knowing, is what the journey is all about.  It’s that thing called “experience.”  And only as those experiences mature and take their place in the larger picture do they reveal their true worth.  For no experience, no encounter is wasted, worthless or colorless, no matter how it feels in the immediate moment.  It’s simply part of our personal journey through the rocks, rims, forests, jungles, and plains of life.

And so it is on beautiful planet Earth. 

Till next time…

Rayora Hartman  http://www.numbersatplay.com