Context

The notes of chaos and instability that have characterized the summer continue for the first part of the week, but subside as we trundle into the second half, which holds some unexpected inspirations.

Things begin with the Moon traversing the rocky hinterlands of Capricorn, where she  has a pow-wow with Pluto.  Meanwhile, the Sun in Leo trines Uranus, touching off the Uranus-Pluto square and another round of instability.  Wednesday, however, hosts an inspring Full Moon in Aquarius and Thursday sees the Sun complete a sextile with Jupiter in Gemini. Meanwhile Venus finally crosses out of the degrees of her Spring retrograde, tackling new territory for the first time in months.

Further Friction

The Moon’s pass through Capricorn on the Monday the 30^th and Tuesday the 31^st sees it trigger the Uranus-Pluto square again.  Meanwhile, the royal Sun in Leo completes his trine to a retrograde Uranus in Aries, kindling enthusiasm for change and strengthening revolutionary programs.

Here we see both sides of the Uranus-Pluto square activated, the Sun harmonizing with revolutionary Uranus and the Moon on pragmatic Pluto’s turf.  Expect another round of idealistic fervor and pragmatic retrenchment, and further renegotiation between the center and the periphery, the collective and the individuals comprising it.

Though the early week does ping the square that’s roughed up this season, it should be less intense than the clashes of the last two weeks.  This is less about unleashing chaos than dealing with what’s already on the march.

Threads

This week Venus hits the same degree that she turned retrograde in, way back in May.  Not only that, but she makes the same trine to Saturn which she made then.  By celestial coincidence, Venus and Saturn have returned to exactly the same degrees they occupied at the very beginning of Venus’ retrograde.

You may have been feeling this coming.  What’s between people is coming to another critical point, a border.  Like most borders, this is one has a checkpoint.  Here you and the ones you’ve brought with you will need to take a look in the mirror and acknowledge what can be seen.  On a certain level these connections are flesh and blood, a shared umbilicus.  These bridges come under question, the nutrients and toxins they convey measured, scrutinized.

Yet no man and no relationship is an island.  If you look a little closer, you’ll see a webwork of cords reaching out toward an extended spiderweb of people.  If Venus in Gemini taught nothing else, she taught us to remember the full array of relationships that make us human.  Like a spiderweb, these cords allow us to be supported across many a personal abyss.  Yet we can get tangled in them, bound by the very patterns we’ve spun.

Venus and Saturn’s return to their starting positions is a call to untangle the threads issuing from you.  Unwind, sort, prioritize and in some cases snip.  The heart’s living, blood bearing silk is your own to weave, so take responsibility for the status of your tapestry.

Full Moon

The first night of August sees the Full Moon in Aquarius opposite the strong Sun in Leo.  This lunation beams a variety of lessons down on sliver rays.

Here we must learn to embody the ideals whose torches we carry.  It also asks our finest performances to be something more than a matter of pride.  It asks that we expand the personal til it touches something bigger.

The Full Moon in Aquarius places the Sun in Leo’s personal focus in a larger field, revealing not one star at the center of everything, but a vast number of stellar furnaces,  each independent and interdependent.  It asks us to recognize that our individual light only extends so far, and that the fundamental architecture of our universe is crowd of radiant points.

This Full Moon is amplified by strong aspects from both Uranus in Aries and Jupiter in Gemini.  The imperative to make radical changes, to begin anew is strengthened here.  The personal is not extinguishes in this vision of the collective, but instead renewed, drawing strength from context, empowered by not being alone.

There is both spirit and idea here, the necessary machinery to launch phoenixes skyward.  This inspiring lunation should provide a fine contrast to the last month’s forced calcinations and deep nigredos.  Launch your heart into the soul’s dark night, finally revealed amidst silvery beams.  Soar above the Summer’s hard terrain, survey it from above and see it anew with the spirit’s penetrating eyes.  The story unfolding beneath you may be different than the one you’ve been telling yourself.