The Energy of July 2023
Saturn, Neptune and Pluto continue their annual phase of retrogradation. In the case of Pluto, this takes him back into the sign of Capricorn where he has been since 2008 and provides opportunities to revisit power struggles and control issues in big institutions, big corporations, governments, banks. Personally, this is an opportunity for each of us to revise our responsibilities, examine any issues we have with the authority figures in our lives, but most importantly to revisit our goals for the future.
July’s Full Moon in falls Capricorn on 3rd, asking us to plan for the future, to look for practical ways to move forward and reach our goals. The Sea Goat likes our lives to have meaning, to be future-focused, so this is a good time to journal, to dare to dream of a better future for ourselves and our planet. Having the Sun in Cancer at this time adds an emotional perspective, helping us to get in touch with our feelings so that we can determine how best to ensure that our long-term goals are in alignment with our needs.
Mars enters Virgo on 10th. Mars brings a surge of energy and drive wherever he goes, and in Virgo this energy centres around work, health and service. Virgo energy can be overly critical, so guard against over analysing every detail, and particularly resist the urge to be overly self-critical.
One day later, Mercury enters big-hearted Leo which is a great energy for countering Virgo’s picky, nervous energy. During this time our thoughts turn to having fun, to expressing ourselves with confidence, for creative writing, music, art – all done with a pinch of Leo’s signature flair. The Sun joins Mercury in Leo on 23rd, our annual invitation to shine, to add a touch of colour to our lives – both metaphorically and literally. This is a wonderful time for enjoying ourselves, for expressing ourselves with confidence, and for being generous-hearted.
July’s New Moon is in Cancer on 17th, inviting us to use our intuition in the process of dreaming our future into being. Getting in touch with the energies of our personal Moon sign, intuiting how best to feed these energies so that our receptive yin energy is truly nurtured, and our lunar light both fills us and shines brightly out into our world.
The Lunar nodes carry a new story from that day onward into early 2025. The new story is related to finding balance between the Aries-Libra polarity – our individual drives and our interpersonal relationships … which is always a tricky dance. These areas are seeking more balance now, asking us to find a middle path between the self-interest of hot-headed Aries and peace-loving Libra’s stance of balance, having consideration for others, and seeing both sides of every situation.
Just a few days later, Venus stations retrograde until she turns direct again in September. This biennial period of introspection echoes the energy of this month’s Nodal shift, bringing us an opportunity to look more deeply at how we give and receive love in relationship, including how we have done this in the past, and invites us to clear out old energies, old habit patterns, in order to set in place more nurturing energies as we evolve and go forward.