THE MOOD: The Power of Heart Work
July makes a grand entrance: as the cosmic curtains part, Mars appears on stage, royal and radiant in Leo. Feelin’ itself to the max, Mars wants nothing more than to make a big, splashy show to the roar of ardent applause. Following Mars' cue, nearby Venus in Leo pumps up the crowd, ebullient in sweet charisma. Everything they do asks us to see them and love them spectacularly. As we watch this scene, we may feel ourselves inspired to lead with open hearts and relish in our pure, extraordinary selves -- for we are, too, special beyond belief.
However, the drama darkens when Mars and Venus are joined on stage by players that don’t play: Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. Standing off in a fixed t-square early in the month, Saturn and Uranus tamper the Leonine mood. Saturn demands work, rules, and reformations that cater to the crowd, not bend to the whims and whimsies of individuals on stage; Uranus wants to break free of the play itself, ready to create mayhem so that the actors pay attention to the needs of the “real,” material world instead. Will these characters be able to make it work, or will all devolve into chaos?
As we witness this scene, we are pushed to recognize -- and perhaps reckon with -- how we can shine through our individual skills, actions, and talents while contributing to a more visionary, equitable, and environmentally just future for all. If we’d rather be in the spotlight than share the stage, however, we may find ourselves mired in toxic individualism, narcissism, and attention-seeking that encourage widespread vanity. This drama asks some hard questions that will be difficult to deflect: Where is your heart in the struggle? Will you share your specialness in order to create something larger than yourself?
By mid-month, we receive a tender intermission from these dramatic pressures as the Sun, Moon, and Mercury move through Cancer, trining Jupiter and Neptune and offering moments of nourishment and respite. We’ll need it for the rest of July, when the drama climaxes and the cosmic cast calls for even more fluorescent clarity regarding who we are and what we are all about. The Sun interrogates Pluto on its uses and abuses of power, casting a light on things that we have hidden off-stage in our lives; Venus questions Jupiter about boundaries, examining and fine-tuning how our hearts work -- and sometimes don’t -- within our own personal dramas.
By the end of the month, Venus and Mars have exited stage left to enter Virgo and Jupiter moves back in Aquarius. As these planets take on analytical, hardworking, and levelheaded personas, we get the sense that the drama will soon fade, the curtains will soon close, and we will soon find ourselves standing outside in the warm summer night, figuring out how to get home. Before we know it, we will be asked to integrate everything that we have witnessed on stage into the daily realities of our lives and into the sweeping realities of our shared futures. But for now, as we watch the final moments of the scene, we will relish in the present, wholeheartedly imagining who we are and who we will become.