Your keyword for this week’s astrology seems to be ‘energy'; specifically, staying conscious of how you express it. Though it might be necessary first to realize that you need to express anything at all.
The Sun, from the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck.
Aspects suggest it will be extra-important not to sublimate, repress or ignore whatever is trying to push through you and out into the world. That is not the same as simply flinging your energy out willy-nilly or excusing explosive behavior as ‘just how I am’.
Think of it more as staying attuned to what a clear ‘yes’ and clear ‘no’ feel like for you. When you can do that, you can make decisions and take action in a way that not only feels emotionally freer and karmically cleaner, but that also allows those around you to respond with greater clarity.
Astrologically, we’re looking at a set of squares and sign changes this week. First up, Venus in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces, and Mars in Cancer squares Uranus in Aries, both exact Monday — and both have been in force for days. Eric mentioned that Venus-Neptune “is the aspect of not knowing how you feel, but thinking you know. So it’s wise to interpose a delay between feeling and being certain that’s where you’re really coming from. It will take time to figure out.”
Mars-Uranus squares can get explosive and rebellious regarding restrictions, especially with Mars in emotional Cancer: the more you try to side-step how you’re feeling, the more likely it is you’ll put yourself in a corner and then lash out against the constraints. If you notice explosiveness seems to keep happening ‘to you’, that could be a signal to get real about your own frustrated ego energies. Again: take time to figure out your emotions, and what they’re actually about.
Yet as the Sun and Mars make squares to Uranus, they simultaneously make trines to Chiron, which opens the potential for healing that can emerge from any situation. Remember that when you need it.
On Thursday, Mars enters Leo (a fiery planet in a fiery sign), and the Cancer Sun makes its own square to Uranus in Aries.
Leo is a much more comfortable sign for Mars: enthusiastic, ambitious, dramatic, passionate, courageous. With that much energy coming through, it’s good to remember how to be flexible.
Lust, from the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot deck. This card corresponds with Leo.
And that necessity seems to exist, in the form of the Sun square Uranus. There’s a real caution here regarding sudden upsets, accidents and things breaking down — whether that means your car, or a relationship (thanks to ego conflicts).
The key is to find intentional, constructive ways to break your routine and try new things — before push comes to shove. Consciously expressing this energy can help you to avoid accidents, and might lead to new discoveries.
Finally, on Saturday, July 22, the Sun ingresses Leo — the sign it rules, and the heart of the season. Astrologer Isabel Hickey says something about solar Leo that fits particularly well with this week’s overall picture:
“Leo is the sign of self-consciousness, as Cancer is the sign of instinctual consciousness. Whether Leo people are constructive or destructive in their approach to life depends on who drives their chariot; self or Self.”
Really, that is the question to ask yourself no matter what sign your natal Sun is in, and you don’t need to wait until Saturday. Who is driving your chariot?
How aware are you of your needs, desires, frustrations and impulses — and your ability to express them constructively — as you roll through this week? Here’s why it matters extra: the Sun enters Leo just one day before the first of this year’s two Leo New Moons, which is on July 23. The corresponding Full Moon is the Aug. 7/8 partial lunar eclipse. Our second Leo New Moon will be the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse.
In other words, we’re not only arriving at the heart of the season; we’re about to enter the lunar cycle that directly feeds into (and intersects with) the upcoming eclipse zone. You don’t need to play Apollo and drive the Sun’s chariot across the sky, just your own. The more conscious you stay of what you need to express, the looser you can hold those reins and enjoy the ride to the Aug. 21 eclipse.
Thank you, dear Amanda! xxx
Excellent advice, Amanda. Many thanks.
Thanks Amanda, great overview.
One note: the partial eclipse comes in August.
Ooh, thanks for that…fixed
Thanks — I truly did mean to type “Aug. 7/8″!
Isabel Hickey’s astonishing, pioneering and penetrating insight into consciousness is so remarkable; being a Sun in the last degrees of Leo (the Aries decanate) herself. Gemini on the 8th house cusp with the Moon in Cancer therein. Scorpio rising with the ruler Mars in Scorpio in the 12th. She was able to communicate some very deep psychological & spiritual truths. In the INVOLUTION reading, Eric said you’re turning out to be quite the amazing astrologer as well. This Sun in Cancer season was so revealing in the illumination of this consciousness for me. Appreciate, very much the added insight, as I can go into manual override, and thus lose my battle against the Serpentine Fire (Earth Wind & Fire). I need to get her book.
Oh, thank you, Glen! Yes, Hickey did some incredible, pioneering work. It’s a pity that Pluto was not better known in her era, and that Chiron had not been discovered yet. I think that could have rounded out her research and delineations quite beautifully. But other astrologers picked up that torch and have carried it quite well — I certainly stand on the shoulders of giants, and am still learning.
….Sooooooo much still to learn!
But yes, this Cancer season has been a fascinating one!
Amazing again Amanda! Thank You. I originally meant to find your post where you wrote of being aware of provocation and ended up ‘here’ instead. Together, they reminded me of some comments I’ve read concerning the subject of our “ego” that have been expressed involving various topics. To me, they all involve our consciousness and the games we like to play on ourselves with it.
A long time ago I learned to look deeply at any word with an “e” at the beginning, Like “e”go and “e”motion. I translated the “e” to mean consciousness itself, my “I”, revealing an awareness of self in expression. As wise Glen shared of Isabel Hickey, which self? Do I express as a big “I” or a little “i”? To me, our ego is not inherently ‘bad’ or ‘negative’, as some of us would judge it to be, as a result of the messes we can get ourselves into with it. However, all our unattractive attributes, natures and foibles are a direct consequence of our choosing to direct our “I am” on the level of identifying ourselves with our biology – the separated self, as pictured in the little “i”. It’s a stick with a dot floating above it, separated from it, where the big “I” is integrated. Self and self have become one.
In this article you have shared about our expressions and I’d like to add that there are those of us who can read energy whether it’s being actively expressed (vocalized) or not. Thoughts have energy and emotions have energy. Every single one of us are radiating energy of our self expression every single moment. We can be alone at the top of a mountain and we’re still adding to the mass consciousness of our collective Humanity.
Which brings me to the sign of Cancer which is also the sign of our mass consciousness, which you called our “instinctual” level and our need to use our Self awareness (Leo) to rise above it in order to pass through what has been called the Capricorn Gate of Initiation into the upper or higher or more refined levels of Self awareness. It’s due to this activity that I have been observing going on, that I’ll use the example of a herd of cattle for our mass consciousness in an attempt to give a head’s up warning. If we’re aware enough to realize we’re driving our chariot, then be prepared to get a firm grip on our horses. If the goal is to turn the herd and getting it going another direction, then all I need do is startle it.
My senses are telling me, that We, as Humanity, are being set up by the higher realities. Our Souls understand what it takes to get us to change, a lot better than we do.
“If the goal is to turn the herd and getting it going another direction, then all I need do is startle it.
“My senses are telling me, that We, as Humanity, are being set up by the higher realities. Our Souls understand what it takes to get us to change, a lot better than we do.”
Sue Edwards: that is a striking thought. I’ll be pondering that.
And for sure, thank you for the reminder that we are radiating (expressing) our energy all the time — and that expression can be quite strong to many people. Kind of like how the Sun itself does not need to erupt with coronal mass ejections (CME) just to warm our little planet and foster biological life (or to overheat us, or burn our skin). And some of us are less aware of just how much energy we’re shooting out (without speaking) than others are, or we sometimes have a hard time containing/buffering it when containment might benefit all involved.
I’d say that I let slip with a bit of a “personal energy CME” two nights ago when I was caught off-guard by some news, and was too tired and hormonal to catch myself. Oops! Such is being human.
And yes, the ego is not inherently bad at all — without a healthy sense of ego, it can be difficult (or impossible) to do things like make art and let the world see it; or ask for a raise; or simply walk into a room and feel like you belong there and have a right to exist.
As always, thank you for the food for thought, Sue!