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July Horoscope
The Sun/Moon interplay starts this new cycle in sensitive Cancer, the first of the water signs, connected with the constant fluid movement of our emotions. This lunar month sees the New Moon in 9 degrees Cancer completing the missing angle of a grand square, a powerful configuration of planets in the cardinal sign that has been in place since 2008. The New Moon squares Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Libra opposing each other. The Moon also opposes Pluto in Capricorn, slowly moving through the sign in 13 years, representing a time of radical deconstruction, of a collapse of all weak, obsolete and corrupt structures. Together with Uranus, Saturn and Pluto, the Moon forms a Grand Square (see fig.). This is the moment when the shovel turns the turf to bring to light new nutrients to fertilize the fresh beginning heralded by Uranus in Aries.
From the perspective of the Moon in Cancer, the grand square appears to be imparting an intense energy to the Sun/Moon conjunction, occurring briefly in Cancer, a delicate area in the zodiac, as the Moon quickly passes through the first decade (the first 10 degrees) of the sign. The emotional charge is very high, on these days. We can all feel it, but it is not easy to express, there are no words, everything is about feelings. This configuration represents the end of the gestation period of something that wants to emerge in the collective psyche.
Cancer—representing the tenacity of attachments to people, memories, places, emotions—is that place in the zodiac chart in which it is hard to let go and move on to a new situation. Since Cancer represents family, tradition, belonging to a tribe, a community, a nation, it is very territorial. Therefore, Cancer is bound to what we consider to be our roots, the source of all the energy that pushes us forward in life, that make us confident that we will grow strong and that we will be able to fulfil our aims, and realize our deepest aspirations.
To get the picture we must see Cancer as complemented by the sign Capricorn, which signifies the opposite of roots—branches, one’s place in the society, career and achievements. The two see them as a dynamic duo, as the constant flow from winter solstice to summer solstice, from the minimum of light to the brightness of the summer.
The New Moon is facing all this, like all of us are facing something similar in our lives—feelings alternating between expectation and anxiety. This situation has been protracting for quite a while, but we are now at the climax. Saturn, retrograde since January, is now moving direct, getting definitively out of the opposition with Uranus, the dies are cast, from now on the two will move separate ways, at different rhythms.
Saturn directs mirrors to those aspects of our collective and personal lives in which we will feel as if an obstacle has been removed, an inner obstacle that has been preventing us from making impulsive, impatient, rushed choices. Now, while Saturn regains terrain reaching back in mid-September, to the place where it started to retrograde at 17 degrees Libra, there is still time to confront any intractable problem, decision or a situation, with no more confusion and hesitation, but hopefully with wiser attitude and wider perspective.
From now on things will start to happen, to be on the move, not necessary in an easier way but it will be clearer, more consistent and manifest. Relationships that are proving to be inadequate to our needs in any field of life—friendship, marriage, work—will break down and/or be reshaped and formed in new, deeper and more meaningful ways. All this is in order to give space to the New that is emerging, which needs the right conditions and an adequate structure to manifest itself through.
The lunation in Cancer is also a Solar Eclipse, and this in a way is a double new beginning. Both the Sun and the Moon are passing through a phase of darkness and regeneration, which enables them to become the symbolic recipients of a new stage of integration and growth of all our projects, with the Moon bringing nourishment to all facets of the zodiac in the next 28 days.
The receptive, feminine sign of Cancer will be highly empowered. And in synchronicity something similar will also be likely to be happening in our psyche: we will start to value more the imaginative, sensitive part of our self. For example, in the face of an external threat, there will be an inner response determined to protect and to consolidate the seeds of change. This is likely to be about one’s roots and about a potential uprooting of oneself from home and family, ceasing to cling to the old, familiar and exclusive; and embracing the new and the inclusive. From now on all that is decaying, and connected to an old worldview, will slowly give way to the new—but not without a period of deep introspection, experimentation with new formulas, rules and ideas on how we can live on this planet, as well as lead our personal lives in a state of constant of flux.
In the art world this is mirrored by the many artists who are working on the subject of identity, belonging, gender and cultural integration, in a world in which all kinds of boundaries are becoming extremely fluid, challenging individualism, nations and cultures. Transitions are not easy, unsettling and require an inner adaptability, an awareness and a respect for others, in the making of a new sense of identity, not bound to places, races or religions, but to a deeper and larger concept of consciousness.
“I use art to awaken consciences,” says Ingrid Mwangi an Afro-German artist from Kenya who in her very intense performances seems to be looking for ways of communicating in a new language. Sometimes the performance becomes one nearly neurotic episode, as if she was on the verge of becoming another person. “Born in a society, where hope deteriorates into fear … part of what I am and what I do involves my partner, my children, my mother, every person whom I depend on. Instead of self-indulgence this is rather an exercise of inclusion…[and] because it is performed with our two bodies, mine and [my husband] Robert’s, [it] becomes [both] social and human,” says Mwangi. To reinforce this idea she and her husband now perform as one artist, calling themselves IngridMwangiRobertHutter.
Her statements contain all the elements of this Cancer New Moon as part of the cardinal grand cross: the family tree, caught between the inclusive Saturn in Libra and Uranus encouraging collective growth, and facing Pluto reflecting the perception of “hope deteriorat[ing] into fear”.
This sensitive spiritual vision imbued with the desire of transcending individual narcissism brings us back to the lunation chart that mirrors this praiseworthy intent: Sun and Moon trine Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, to reflect the dialogue between the collective waters of the unconscious and the individual emotional field. There is the need and the opportunity for all of us to heal old generational wounds and to recognize that at a deeper level our roots are all running in a common ground.
Because this new Moon in Cancer is completing the Grand Square, we can see it is also as reflecting an important stabilizing element in our lives, because it is only when we are connected to our guts, and not overwhelmed by feeling, yet aware of our fundamental needs, that we can nourish and receive nourishment, love and respect. The lunation is at 9 degrees Cancer and will touch different areas in our personal charts, this is where we can expect to find more emotional stability to be more confident; to not to over identify with collective anxiety; and make the choices and changes that are needed in that area of life described by the house the New Moon falls in.
The sextile of Jupiter from Taurus is a symbol of confidence in the natural resource that each one of us can count on to get on with his or her life and expect to find the emotional nourishment we need to live a fulfilling life.
This can all feel very naïve in the face of the dreadful situation the world is facing, but it is crucial not to become cynical and disillusioned, fanatic and obsessed, or lose oneself in ideology and delusional visions. The mirror in the sky above us is offering a map we can use to navigate this harsh reality, well grounded, with open eyes and open hearts.
