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Hello! Here’s a little overview of the upcoming summer astrological highlights for the next three months. I don’t fully interpret everything that’s coming up, but this should help you to be prepared and proactive from now through September. Keep checking back here or follow my public FB posts for more detailed and nuanced offerings as the season progresses.
July 5 is the Cancer New Moon. This occurs the day after the big Independence Day holiday in the US.
The Sun & Moon will be conjunct exactly in the middle of the sign Cancer. The Sun is always in Cancer on the 4th of July, but we don’t always get the Moon in Cancer that day. Notice whether you feel even more family-oriented than you usually do on this holiday, or more sensitive and empathetic, or even possibly more defensive.
It could also be interesting to track whether any of these themes are more pronounced this year compared to others on a local or national scale, given that it’s a presidential election year. I’m also wondering, in what ways do traditions feel nourishing? I what ways do they feel rigid?
On July 20 we get the second Capricorn Full Moon of the season. This one occurs on the Sun’s last day in this sign. (The first Capricorn Full Moon took place the day after the solstice.) Perhaps it’s not “technically” a Blue Moon, which is two Full Moons in one month, but it’s kind of an astrological Blue Moon. As it approaches, notice the ways it may feel similar to or different from the first Capricorn Full Moon.
The Sun enters Leo on July 22. We enter the heart of the season, and the sign ruled by the Sun itself. Leo is a “fixed” sign. Fixed signs come at the middle of each season, “fixing” it in place, so to speak. It marks peak summer in the Northern Hemisphere (winter in the Southern Hemisphere).
Now, I want to detour into some detail for a moment.
During July, first Mercury, then Venus, and then the Sun will be opposing Pluto in Aquarius briefly as each of them enters the sign Leo. Mercury does so on July 2, Venus on July 11, the Sun on July 22. If there’s any palpable effect, it will probably build, peak, and dissipate over the course of just a couple/few days on either side of those dates. I’m mentioning this because these three bodies describe such personal facets of our psyche: the Sun describes identity, consciousness, and our very life-force; Mercury describes thought processes, communication, and transiting short, everyday distances; and Venus describes relating to others, receptivity, and emotional connection.
Pluto, on the other hand, describes very impersonal forces — the kind that compel us to change, or to face external changes that we can’t ignore. These forces can take the form of such things like hormones and DNA if we think in terms of the body. Pluto forces may look like lust or obsession or seemingly karmic-level encounters if the energy expresses through certain relationships. It can look like something breaking down at a very foundational level, or like something driving us forward with a deeply existential level of need.
Pluto aspects — especially oppositions, when a planet is precisely on the opposite side of the zodiac — can also manifest as power struggles.
With Pluto in Aquarius, I’m keeping an eye on group function and dysfunction themes, collective humanitarian themes, and technological themes — including the Nantucket sleigh ride of AI that we all are suddenly finding ourselves on. (Google that phrase if you’re not familiar with it.)
I have some additional thoughts brewing about that last bit. For now, I just wanted to mention Mercury, Venus, and the Sun making these oppositions through July because this is the first time we’ll be experiencing these dynamics between such personal planets and Pluto across the signs Leo and Aquarius. So this is a change in flavors for these energies and dynamics.
For the past 16 years these opposition encounters between the personal planets and Pluto have happened across Cancer and Capricorn. We’re still in the early stages of getting a feel for Pluto in Aquarius. So if you make notes on your calendar for July 2, 11, and 22 to pay particular attention to what emerges in your life and psyche, I hope you’ll message me and let me know what you notice.
Moving on with the brief overview of the season:
August 5 heralds Mercury stationing retrograde in Virgo, the day after the Leo New Moon. Virgo is the second sign Mercury rules, associated with service, analysis, organization, teaching, and because it is an earth sign, bringing ideas into tangible, physical form. This Mercury retrograde will likely be a useful review phase regarding anything relating to those themes.
I’ll have more to say about this closer to August. For now, just mark your calendars to try and get any major purchases and similar actions made before then if possible.
While Mercury is retrograde we’ll get a Full Moon in Aquarius on August 19. That’s the Moon moving through Aquarius opposite the Leo Sun.
And then just three days later, the Sun enters Virgo on August 22 — signaling the last month of the summer season here in the Northern Hemisphere.
On August 28, Mercury will finally station direct, in Leo. Speaking broadly, those three weeks of Mercury retrograde describe taking a journey from the head to the heart. As Mercury stations direct, we get an opportunity to bring forward with us what we’ve rediscovered — whether it’s compassion, courage, or a clearer understanding of what truly fires us up — and, ideally, put it into service of the highest good for all.
Just a few days after Mercury goes direct, we’ll have the Sun and Moon come together for the Virgo New Moon on Sept. 2.
With Mercury about five days into direct motion when the New Moon arrives, life should be starting to sort itself out if it got at all wonky. You may find this a particularly useful New Moon for mentally processing and emotionally integrating what you learned during Mercury’s retrograde, especially if you learned any important information on August 28 itself.
Using the New Moon this way should also put you in a good position for the next big events of the astrological year: a pair of eclipses straddling the September equinox.
I don’t know about you, but this spring kind of felt like one long, three-month eclipse season. It was intense, and it feels strange today to be looking ahead to the next pair of eclipses. I don’t expect this pair to feel quite the same — partly because each eclipse pair has its own themes, but also because the fall eclipse season will not be showing up with the other major astrological events we experienced this spring.
Even so, just for reference:
We’ll have the first eclipse, a partial lunar eclipse on September 17, arriving with the Pisces Full Moon.
A few days later, on September 22, the Sun will enter Libra for the equinox. That’s equal day and night everywhere on planet Earth.
And then, on October 2, we’ll get the second eclipse. That will be an annular solar eclipse arriving with the Libra New Moon.
I’ll have much more to say about those events as we get closer. For now, just mark your calendars, balance your beach time with some time getting things in order prior to Mercury’s August retrograde, and enjoy your summer!
Thanks so much for watching/reading, and please be sure to let me know if you have any questions. In case you’re wondering, I am not taking the summer off from giving astrology sessions and soul work sessions. So feel free to message me if I can support you in that way this season.
With love,
Amanda
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