Tag Archives: Mars

The Day of Imaginative Revelations: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is July 7
The Day of Imaginative Revelations | Order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

Give the past its place, but not too much of one. Give it enough of a voice that you learn from your experiences. Be sure to claim the knowledge and wisdom you’ve gained. Check in with people you’ve known a long time, if you want to check whether something you’re thinking of, planning or about to do is realistic. And above all else, be strategic with money. You do not need to spend a lot to get the results you want, and it’s likely you could do with spending a whole lot less. As wise old Ben Franklin supposedly said, a penny saved is a penny earned.
— by Eric Francis

Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading — now available for instant access.

Written in the Planets

Mercury stations retrograde in Leo today at 7:14 pm EDT (23:14:20 UTC). It will appear to backtrack into Cancer on July 19, and then finally stations direct on July 31 (or Aug. 1, depending on your time zone). Mercury’s tone in these two signs — Leo and Cancer — suggests you may find yourself reviewing things like how your pride and emotional sensitivity can influence your thinking (or have done so in the past). And by “influence” I mean hijack, sometimes in grand style.

To have Mercury stationing retrograde in a conjunction with Mars in Leo heightens this potential, particularly where matters of ego, over-identification with ideas, and entitlement come into play. You might watch for whether any information or insight along these lines rings a bell right around the time of the exact station. Consider imposing a delay on any emails, text messages or phone calls that deal with sensitive, reactive or potentially inflammatory matters, especially for the next several days. Depending on how the retrograde unfolds for you, you may wish to keep that protocol for the entire process. As always, if you can avoid making any major purchases or repairs for the next three weeks or so, it could save you some hassle. Usually a workaround can be found.

Venus in aspect to some objects early in the cardinal signs appears to be pushing the issue of how you feel about certain matters of sex (notably the more secretive or supposedly scandalous), and how — or whether — you speak about them. Are you facing familial taboos and associated internalized judgment? Is this just a matter of becoming willing to stand out as an individual, or is there a genuine need to understand your situation logically and keep some balance? Notice particularly if you seem to be sentimentalizing sex or relationships at the expense of your true desires and turn-ons, or in contradiction of apparent facts. Why would you feel compelled to do that?

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by <a href=

Anthony Ayiomamitis.” width=”900″ height=”489″ /> Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

New in the Special Readings Series
Magnum Opus on Eclipses, Now Through Late 2020

Eric’s new 90-minute discussion of all things related to eclipses, in any sign — with a focus on Cancer and Capricorn eclipses, from the current pair through 2020 — is available now for instant access. Part audio reading, part astrology class, it offers you a lot of help processing the solar eclipse on July 2 and the lunar eclipse on July 16, and features original music. Hear it as part of the 2019-2020 Astrology Studio for Cancer, or purchase the Eclipses Reading separately for only $33.

Fireworks or Fireflies? Mercury Stations Retrograde

4 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Mercury stations retrograde in Leo this Sunday, July 7, at 7:14 pm EDT (23:14:20 UTC). This means that we’re now in the ‘storm’ phase: the two to three days on either side of Mercury stationing retrograde or direct. Given the astrological location and cultural timing of this event, you’ll want to approach the next several days with increased awareness.

LED hula hoop in lieu of fireworks; photo by Amanda Painter

LED hula hoop in lieu of fireworks; photo by Amanda Painter

Eric has dubbed this the “Anger Management” retrograde, thanks to Mercury stationing in a conjunction to Mars: a fiery planet in a fiery sign.

With Mars relating to such things as desire, ambition and aggression, and Leo often shining through as pride or drama (though it can also manifest as more heart-based leadership), you can probably start connecting the dots. Add in the mental level represented by Mercury — and the ways that our attempts to communicate and be understood often fall short — and frustration levels can spike quite easily in such an astrological environment. Our increasingly digital landscape adds another layer of disconnect — subtleties get lost; buttons get pushed; egos flare up.

Mercury-Mars conjunctions, when working at their best, can describe great mental and physical energy, especially in a fire sign. You can tap this to accomplish much if you have a goal in sight, or an obstacle you need to overcome.

Continue reading →

The Day of the Group Representative: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is July 4
The Day of the Group Representative | Order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

You were born on Independence Day, and for you, the only meaning of that word comes from having your own resources, control of your finances, and the motivation to be a success. You simply must tap your drive, and at the same time, you must be wise with your resources. There’s the clear potential for having plenty of motivation and desire for success, and then making bad choices financially. This is not necessary. You must fully inform yourself, and triple-check your sources; and put a delay in between you and any major moves you want to make.
Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading — now available for instant access.

Written in the Planets

We’re now entering the ‘storm’ phase prior to Mercury stationing retrograde on July 7. This is the 2-3 days on either side of a station retrograde or station direct, when communication, technological gadgets and life in general can often seem especially disruptive. If you can slow down your general pace of thought and action, you may find it easier to navigate any hiccups you encounter in the next several days. If you’re in the U.S. and celebrate Independence Day, please be especially careful with fire, alcohol, travel and your temper.

Several of today’s exact aspects appear to describe a certain theme: how you experience and express caring, especially when you meet challenging situations. For one, Venus in Cancer is making an opposition to the centaur Pholus in Capricorn. When faced with a potentially out-of-control situation, what do you do with your concern about it? Do you let yourself spiral off into worry, or do you figure out how to meet it with empathy-in-action? The same questions apply if you’re confronting the result of generations’ worth of cause and effect that have rippled down through the years to this present moment. You have a choice in how you channel your emotional responses.

The Cancer Sun opposite the centaur Hylonome suggests a similar dynamic: some form of caring self-expression in response to a “cry of the poor,” particularly when that cry is emerging as a result of institutional (such as governmental) systems, policies and structures. If you’ve been watching the news, you know there are very real opportunities for this. Meanwhile Mars, newly in Leo, is conjunct Varuna — an object that carries the keyphrase “the great equalizer.” True courage — which, like the word’s root, comes from the heart — may be the greatest equalizer of all. As Bayard Taylor once wrote, “The loving are the daring.”

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

New in the Special Readings Series
Magnum Opus on Eclipses, Now Through Late 2020

Eric’s new 90-minute discussion of all things related to eclipses, in any sign — with a focus on Cancer and Capricorn eclipses, from the current pair through 2020 — is available now for instant access. Part audio reading, part astrology class, it offers you a lot of help processing the solar eclipse on July 2 and the lunar eclipse on July 16, and features original music. Hear it as part of the 2019-2020 Astrology Studio for Cancer, or purchase the Eclipses Reading separately for only $33.

Written in the Planets for Thursday, July 4

We’re now entering the ‘storm’ phase prior to Mercury stationing retrograde on July 7. This is the 2-3 days on either side of a station retrograde or station direct, when communication, technological gadgets and life in general can often seem especially disruptive. If you can slow down your general pace of thought and action, you may find it easier to navigate any hiccups you encounter in the next several days. If you’re in the U.S. and celebrate Independence Day, please be especially careful with fire, alcohol, travel and your temper.

Several of today’s exact aspects appear to describe a certain theme: how you experience and express caring, especially when you meet challenging situations. For one, Venus in Cancer is making an opposition to the centaur Pholus in Capricorn. When faced with a potentially out-of-control situation, what do you do with your concern about it? Do you let yourself spiral off into worry, or do you figure out how to meet it with empathy-in-action? The same questions apply if you’re confronting the result of generations’ worth of cause and effect that have rippled down through the years to this present moment. You have a choice in how you channel your emotional responses.

The Cancer Sun opposite the centaur Hylonome suggests a similar dynamic: some form of caring self-expression in response to a “cry of the poor,” particularly when that cry is emerging as a result of institutional (such as governmental) systems, policies and structures. If you’ve been watching the news, you know there are very real opportunities for this. Meanwhile Mars, newly in Leo, is conjunct Varuna — an object that carries the keyphrase “the great equalizer.” True courage — which, like the word’s root, comes from the heart — may be the greatest equalizer of all. As Bayard Taylor once wrote, “The loving are the daring.”

The Day of Emancipation: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is July 1
The Day of Emancipation Order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

It is a fact of your reality that you have little choice but to be exactly who you are. Yet in order to do that, you need to know what you are not, and drop it like ballast from a balloon. There is some old story that is clouding your perception, and some old commitment that is blocking your ability to move effectively in the world. With a little thought, you will be able to determine what this is. Whether you have the power to let go of negative attachments — well, that, you will see. That would be good, since much better possibilities await you.
— by Eric Francis

Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading

Written in the Planets

You might consider today how your closest bonds and pairings support your creativity, your mind, your emotional wellbeing and your sense of yourself as a whole and interdependent (but not codependent) being. There are many ways this can happen; usually we look for our relationships simply to make us feel good — and that’s an excellent sign. Sometimes, though, our most effective relationships — even if short-lived — are the ones that spur us to reconsider what we’re doing, or to realign with what matters most to us, or to grow. And often growth comes about in challenging ways.

However you think about it, you might have an encounter today that helps you to see things from this perspective, or similar. It’s possible you’ve already had such an experience sometime in the last few days, as Venus in Gemini has moved into an opposition with the Galactic Core and the centaur Ixion in Sagittarius. Notice in particular what people are showing you about your power to choose.

If you’re seeing something that looks like a ‘second chance’, how might you prefer to choose this time? What might feel like a truer, more authentic, or more holistic way of relating? If you find yourself sliding into frustration or critical self-talk about your choices and tendencies, consider that a hint to look for the grace in the situation, such as gratitude that you’re able to see it at all. As a spiritual being having a physical experience, a little self-forgiveness can go a long way toward learning the lessons we keep repeating.

Later this evening, Mars joins Mercury in Leo, which suggests getting fired up in spirit and body. Then the Moon enters Cancer (at 9:24 pm EDT), on its way to tomorrow’s New Moon and solar eclipse. What intentions would you like to set for your next 6-12 months, and what can you do in the next couple days to put energy toward them?
— by Amanda Painter

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

New in the Special Readings Series
Magnum Opus on Eclipses, Now Through Late 2020

Eric’s new 90-minute discussion of all things related to eclipses, in any sign — with a focus on Cancer and Capricorn eclipses, from the current pair through 2020 — is available now for instant access. Part audio reading, part astrology class, it offers you a lot of help processing the solar eclipse on July 2 and the lunar eclipse on July 16, and features original music. Hear it as part of the 2019-2020 Astrology Studio for Cancer, or purchase the Eclipses Reading separately for only $33.

The Day of the Sensitive Receptor: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is June 25
The Day of the Sensitive Receptor Order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

What might seem like a challenging or stressful situation in terms of your career path has the potential to serve as a spur that drives your development. You’ll need to engage with it actively: take that course, seek out the promotion, start your own venture — and make it your own. If you’re bored, irritable or restless, check whether you’re angry. You might not need more stimulus; you might need to address a situation you have not considered before. Though the idea may seem scary, it’s a necessary step toward acknowledging your true capability and sense of purpose.
— by Amy Elliott
Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio ReadingWritten in the Planets

Written in the Planets

Today’s the last quarter Moon: a square between the Moon in early Aries — conjunct Chiron — and the Sun in early Cancer. This indicates at least a couple of things. One is that you may notice an emotional or intuitive sense of some Sun-Chiron themes.

Included could be such things as: the ways your self-expression has in the past been damaged or stunted; issues around your father, particularly how well he was or was not able to be fully himself; other struggles around expressing your identity, including but not limited to your sexuality; how you balance your emotional/receptive and physical/active sides. Other minor objects in the aspect pattern suggest some possible tension between how you feel compelled to express yourself now and the prevailing story you tell about how your relationships came to be the way they are. Is it possible that leaning into the expressive side could actually help you to integrate the rest of it?

The other thing to know about this last quarter Moon is that it’s the final Moon phase on the way to next week’s Cancer New Moon and total solar eclipse. That happens on Tuesday, July 2, and is the first of a pair of eclipses this summer on the Cancer-Capricorn axis. I’ll have more about the solar eclipse chart in the coming days.

In the meantime, continue to keep a finger on the pulse of your frustration, anger, resentment and desire, as Mars in Cancer is still in a square to Eris in Aries. Have you been able to express those emotions constructively? Or is it proving difficult to own your reactions and be direct with the other people involved? Being honest with yourself about this first may make it easier to communicate more effectively with others.
— by Amanda Painter

Did you know that Eric Francis recorded insight-rich videos for all 12 signs, specifically investigating Mars interacting with some of astrology’s most influential planets this season? His Call the Astrologer readings are available individually or as a 12-sign set to share with your loved ones. Check out samples here and here.

The Day of Romantic Exaltation: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is June 22
The Day of Romantic Exaltation | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

You’ve been through some unusual events the past year and a half, by which I mean on a lifetime scale. The thought of another year may be filling you with a sense of both optimism and some concern about repeat performances of some challenging situations. You are well past most of them, though one particular scenario involving your family will benefit from your sustained attention. Do not get dragged in; take it to therapy. It’s time to learn this lesson and move on.
— by Eric Francis Coppolino
Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading

Written in the Planets

Myths involving both Mars and Eris don’t get a lot of airtime; usually we hear about Mars on his own (whether as fighter or wooer), and Eris on her own (sowing subversive discord with the golden apple that catalyzed the Trojan War). Yet Mars and Eris were siblings, and she is said to have accompanied him on the battlefield, which gives a major clue to their shared energy. Today the planet Mars in Cancer squares Eris in Aries, the final stage of this season’s often-challenging (and at times combative) Mars aspects.

Could this square be interpreted as a sort of sibling rivalry — possibly for someone’s attention? Do you feel as though some facet of yourself is jockeying to be expressed more strongly than another? Or like you have dual urges: to be direct and assertive on the one hand, and to be indirect and passive-aggressive on the other? Is some situation triggering a sense that your identity or security is being threatened?

Even though Mercury in Cancer is right in the thick of it, and also square Eris, it may hold a key to navigating these dynamics. Consider speaking in “I” statements about how you feel (not how someone else has “made you” feel), while staying sensitive to your environment — which includes the feelings of others.

With the Cancer Sun exactly opposite the centaur planet Pholus today, the ripple effects of how you present yourself in the world could reach far. The more you can think a few steps down the line in terms of possible consequences (or understand the sequence of events leading to your current position), the better position you’ll likely be no matter who you encounter or what the situation. A little empathy and understanding often go a long way, whether you offer it to another or to yourself — which, to be honest, can be a great starting point.
— by Amanda Painter

Did you know that Eric Francis recorded insight-rich videos for all 12 signs, specifically investigating Mars interacting with some of astrology’s most influential planets this season? His Call the Astrologer readings are available individually or as a 12-sign set to share with your loved ones. Check out samples here and here.

Children dance to music after lunch Wednesday at the Portland (Maine) Expo. Photo by Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

Cancer Solstice Calling

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

On Friday, at 11:54 am EDT / 15:54:07 UTC, the Sun enters Cancer for the solstice: the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s one of the year’s four major, seasonal turning points, by which ancient cultures once organized their practical lives and their understanding of the cosmos.

Children dance to music after lunch Wednesday at the Portland (Maine) Expo. Photo by Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

Children seeking asylum dance to music after lunch Wednesday at the Portland (Maine) Expo. Photo by Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

Most modern cultures have become rather detached from this rhythm — thanks to things like electric lights and other industrial and agricultural innovations obviating our complete dependence on seasonal shifts; along with what we’ve gained in that, there have surely also been losses. Astrologically, the Sun entering Cancer also signals us to be aware of the Aries Point: those first degrees of Aries — extended to the other cardinal signs (Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) — that describe events and issues where the political and personal weave together.

Continue reading →

The Day of the Spark: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is June 19
The Day of the Spark | Order Your 2019-20 Gemini Reading | All Other Signs

Do not let push come to shove over joint financial, investment or taxation situations. Be proactive, and take steps to secure your best interests and protect your assets, now and in the long run. Proactive begins with having full knowledge of what are in truth your affairs down to the last detail, and ensuring that the numbers add up. The more you know, and the sooner you know it, the more likely you are to avoid confrontations and work toward mutually beneficial solutions.
— by Eric Francis Coppolino
Hear Eric speak about your year in-depth in your 2019-20 Gemini Astrology Studio Reading.

Written in the Planets

As Mars and Mercury in Cancer oppose Pluto in Capricorn today, they also start getting into range of Eris in Aries. Mars, Mercury and Pluto are all making squares to Eris. One interpretation: this looks like a reminder to notice whether any of your emotional reactions to authority figures are being fueled by feeling left out or pushed aside. Even if that does not describe the reality of the current situation, consider asking yourself if something similar from the past is being triggered or echoed by your responses.

The Gemini Sun is also opposite the Galactic Center and a centaur planet called Ixion. How you encounter things that are ineffable or spiritually complex, or the vast spectrum of humanity, or second chances to behave ethically, could emerge as themes today. It’s also possible that you may find yourself entertaining two very different perspectives on whatever it is you’re facing today. Can you recognize your role in the causes and effects of the circumstances of your life, and what it means to learn from those experiences?

Finally, note that we’re getting closer to the solstice: the Sun enters Cancer on Friday. And the day before that, on Thursday, Mercury enters its pre-retrograde ‘shadow’ or ‘echo’ phase. As busy as your mind — and therefore, your life — may be, it could feel helpful to look for this past month’s loose ends and start tying a couple of them up.
— by Amanda Painter

Did you know that Eric Francis has recorded new videos for all 12 signs, specifically investigating Mars interacting with some of astrology’s most influential planets this season? His Call the Astrologer readings are available individually or as a 12-sign set to share with your loved ones. Check out samples here and here.