by Silvianne K. Delmars | July 19, 2024 |
This week’s astro update begins on Sunday, July 21, with the Full Moon in grounded Capricorn, and ends on Saturday, July 27, with the last Quarter Moon in beauty-loving Taurus. Here are the highlights (all times in PDT).
Sunday, July 21
This powerful, out-of-bounds Capricorn Full Moon, exact on Sunday, 3:17 am, at 29 Capricorn 09, will have its fullest observational rise on Saturday evening. The bright Moon hangs about 30 degrees further along the ecliptic from the stars of the Archer constellation, drawing our attention towards Galactic Center, at the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Take advantage of this 3-day Full Moon window to honor any creations seeded during the New Moon that may now be coming into bloom. Use this energy of celebration to propel you forward over the second half of this nurturing Cancer lunation cycle. The great transformer Pluto, in the first degree of Aquarius, will encounter the Moon just a few hours after the exact Full Moon point, urging us to face our hidden personal and collective shadows, as they are illuminated by the Sun’s compassionate light.
With communicator Mercury in enthusiastic Leo squaring change-agent Uranus in earthy Taurus later the same day, the powerful transformational energies of last week’s Mars Uranus conjunction definitely continue in force. Time to invoke and encourage new ways of thinking, sourced in our own deepest version of truth, and to put energy into what fosters our creativity and brings us joy.
Monday, July 22
The Sun enters Leo early this morning, marking the onset of this seasonal zodiac sign. Imbued with the glorious fullness of late summer here in the northern hemisphere, this fiery zodiac archetype admonishes us to revel in our own creativity, enthusiastically embracing the exuberance of being.
And, the opportunity and imperative to also gaze into the hidden depths continues to be emphasized, as deep-diving Pluto stands opposite to the Sun later in the evening. How else can we bring the richness of all we are to the manifestation of our creative vision?
Mercury reaches its maximum elongation in the evening sky today. Look for it low on the horizon, along with evening star Venus, just newly visible in the west after sunset as she rises tentatively from her underworld journey behind the Sun. Although not visible to the naked eye, asteroid Vesta is there, too, (meeting exactly with Venus tomorrow), calling us to practices that foster deep self-love, sourced in awareness of ourselves as sparks of divine light, here to share the gift of our unique beingness.
Wednesday, July 24
Very early in the morning on Wednesday and Thursday, the waxing Moon will be traveling with Saturn in the southern sky, with Fomalhaut, the brightest star in the Fish constellation, not far away. Saturn has been traversing numinous Pisces since March of 2023, finally ending its journey through this last sign of the zodiac in February 2026.
The Moon activation, so prominently visible this month, is an opportunity to check in with grandmother Saturn and ask her to share much needed wisdom at the mid-point of this nearly three-year journey. How can we continue to unfold our sense of the sacred, sourced in watery Pisces’ feeling of Oneness with all that is, into grounded, practical, everyday manifestation? And are we brave enough to practice a deeper, more authentic self-compassion, as we learn to turn Pisces’ gifts inward, as well as outward, in service to the world?
Thursday, July 25
Mars and Jupiter in Gemini continue to be visible in the early morning sky looking east this week, along with the Pleiades and Aldebaran, the Royal Star known as the Eye of the Bull constellation. I’ll have more to share next week, as they make a spectacular rendezvous with the Moon. But in the meantime, be sure to tune in now as you can – who knows what messages await in the pregnant stillness before dawn?
Early on Thursday morning, further emphasizing the Piscean themes of dissolution and numinous transformation, the Moon will meet-up with invisible Neptune, hanging out in the very last degree of its resonant sign. As the Moon and Pisces team up in this powerful anaretic degree of the final sign on the zodiac wheel, there is an opportunity to call upon vast cosmic powers, as we participate in accessing an undreamt-of future, alchemically perfumed by the distilled essence of all that is dropping away.
Mercury, in the Hermes evening star phase of its 4-month Aries overstory synodic cycle, is making its fifth sign change today, entering into the sacred earth sign of Virgo. Spontaneous Aries is opening itself to learning a more nuanced, introspective form of processing information, as it delves into the Virgo gift of perceiving and co-creating with the sacred patterning embedded in the fabric of the natural world, on all levels. A great timing for creating simple ceremony, invoking and honoring the messages longing to be expressed by the sacred priest/priestess within!
Friday, July 26
Our attention is once again drawn to Chiron, the healer/teacher archetype, as he stations retrograde at 23 Aries 32 early this morning, before being activated by the Moon late in the evening (or early the next morning depending on your location). Once again, we feel the echoes of April’s powerful New Moon solar eclipse in Aries, exactly conjunct Chiron at 19 Aries 24, as we seek to uncover, acknowledge, and transmute the poison of thousands of years of dominator culture into the healing elixir of heart-centered peace.
As Chiron prepares to spend the rest of the year revisiting the ground he has trod since the eclipse, before turning direct on December 29 at 19 Aries 00, we have an opportunity to continue our personal and collective self-reflection on the many ways the warrior archetype, in men and women, has been perverted and subverted to serve the agenda of greed and tyranny so rampant at this turning point of human planetary history. Can we open our hearts wide enough to drop all the old stories, let go of the ancestral, inherited enmities, and bust the programmed false dichotomies, so we may restore Aries to its rightful role as defender of a higher, more life-sustaining Cosmic Order?
Saturday, July 27
The beauty-loving Taurus last quarter Moon, exact at 05 Taurus 32 late this evening, squares the Sun in Leo. We have arrived at the second decision point in this lunation cycle that began with the New Moon in Cancer two weeks ago. Time to evaluate the harvest from the intentions we set then. What seeds of self-nurturing and care for others grew successfully, nurtured by our care and attention. What do we look forward to gathering and enjoying as the harvest nears? What didn’t grow so well, and what can we learn from the process, as we look ahead to its culmination next week?
With Pluto in Aquarius still opposite to the Sun in Leo and squaring this 4th Quarter Moon, we feel the need to be brutally honest about what hasn’t worked as we put our energies towards Taurus enjoyment of what we do have. In order to experience the deepest ecstasy life has to offer, we must find the courage to dive past our desire for superficial comfort, no matter how much our ego minds may resist, to bring up the richness that lies in the deep, fertile ground below.
Are we feeding our true creativity and sense of enthusiasm for life? Are we able to fully inhabit our bodies, enjoying the elemental pleasures of incarnation here on this garden planet? Are we opening ourselves up to the widest possible vision, daring to create from an entirely new blueprint? And are we willing to go to the edge of aliveness, to do whatever it takes to make all this happen? This is the challenge, and the potential, of this last quarter Moon, so beautifully activating the cross of healthy self-exploration on the astrological wheel, as we continue to navigate the unpredictable waters at the heart of this unprecedented Turning of The Ages.