July 12th ~ 19th

The Judgment: Shock brings success. Shock comes: oh, oh! Laughing words: ha, ha! The shock terrifies for a hundred miles. And he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice. 

Thunder Repeated: The image of Shock.Thus in fear and trembling the Superior person sets their life in order and examines themself.~ The I Ching (hexagram 51) 

With Saturn sitting on my Mercury, I’ve been inundated with Saturn/Mercury chores and duties. This morning I was tasked with having to get documents notarized, copied and mailed at the local post office; emailing and texting the appropriate parties; getting the right information to and from the correct sources… and doing the laundry. But in my to and from from laundromat, to notary, to post office, to laundromat… there was a bit of excitement. Not unusual in New York City in the Summer time. It can get pretty hot here, and muggy, and miserable. And so are some of the people. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of that happening today, with people getting impatient, and one man threatening to beat the crap out of someone else at the bus stop. Summer in the city combined with a Mars/Uranus conjunction can be filled with land mines! 

Hold on to your hats everyone, the next Mars/Uranus conjunction will perfect on July 15th, but some of you might already be seeing it in and around you in your daily activities. And perhaps beyond that. Even in the sign of tranquil Taurus, Mars/Uranus weather can be volatile. And the days and even weeks leading up to it can carry their own level of anticipatory volatility. 

Mars/Uranus can be potentially explosive, and is associated with accidents, fires and explosions. This was certainly true the last time Mars was conjunct Uranus in Taurus. On August 1, 2022 the McKinney fire in California appeared to explode into the biggest wildfire of that year. Beginning on July 29th, by the time the 1st of August rolled around 51,468 acres were burning or had been burned with 0% containment. 

Uranus in Taurus will often point to environmental concerns, which was certainly true at the time of the Mars/Uranus conjunction in Taurus in 1936 with the dust storms billowing across much of the US and Canada. But this was also the impetus for alleviating the plight of the displaced farmers, and as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Congress established the Soil Erosion Service which is now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

Mars is a catalyst. And when joined with erratic and unpredictable Uranus a lot of energy can be stirred up, which can lead to impulsive actions, indiscriminate mayhem and even potentially dangerous situations. Combine these two with just the right sort of incitement, and people can be all out combative and aggressive. On January 20, 2021, during a Mars/Uranus conjunction, President Biden was sworn in on the steps of the Capital Building, where just a few weeks before rioters had broken into the building, ultimately defacing and desecrating the premises. Presidential historian, Michael Beschloss stated at the time: “Biden will face a series of urgent, burning crises like we’ve never seen before,” as he took office in the wake of intense political division and an epidemic in which 400,000 people had died. 

But Taurus is a sign of peace. And Mars/Uranus can also be about new beginnings. And it was at the Mars/Uranus conjunction in Taurus on March 16, 1940 that the great Winter War between Finland and the USSR came to a close. But this was only after the death toll in Stalin’s USSR had reached astronomical heights, especially in comparison to the amount of casualties in Finland. And it was this which contributed to Hitler’s decision to invade the USSR. 

Also, close to that date, on March 19th, 1940.  James Cromwell, the US Ambassador to Canada, became the first official representative of the United States to condemn Nazism, stating that Hitler’s Germany was openly trying to destroy the social and economic order on which the government of the United States is based. 

Mars/Uranus can be treacherous, but it can also give us the courage to stand up and stand out. To be free to live your own life, to cry out for freedom and civil rights. It is a restless aspect. It is excitable. But in an atmosphere in which many are feeling stuck, Mars/Uranus can be just the catalyst to get us un-stuck, and to see things in a whole new light.  

Jupiter’s sextile to the North Node continues this week, trying to get us all in alignment with our true path and purpose. And sometimes a little bit of shock and awe can get us back on track. In the Judgment of the I Ching’s 51st hexagram, the Arousing, Thunder, we are advised, that when a person has learned within their heart what fear and trembling mean, he is safeguarded against any terror produced by outside circumstances. And so we are advised: 

Let the thunder roll and spread terror a hundred miles around: he remains so composed and reverent in spirit that the sacrificial rite is not interrupted. This is the spirit that must animate leaders and rulers of people ~ a profound inner seriousness from which all terrors glance off harmlessly. 

For this week’s horoscopes, click below:

HOROSCOPES