Neil Spencer

Your Stars New Moon 1 July 2011

Posted on 01 July 2011

Today’s partial solar eclipse with the new moon makes three eclipses in a row – highly unusual, and a shake-up (if not shake-down) for many Geminis, Sagittarians and Cancerians. The new Moon is at one corner of a square of planets across earth’s skies, what astrologers refer to as ‘A Grand Cross’, though the ‘grand’ refers to size rather it being a swell event. If you are at one corner of a cross involving an eclipse, Saturn, Pluto and Prometheus/Uranus, you’re more likely to be saying ‘Ouch’ than ‘Wow’.

The intrusive ‘outer’ planets (Prometheus. Neptune, Pluto) are in sluggish mood, however, slipping backwards during July. Saturn, as ever, remains the planet to keep one’s eye on, and while the Lord of Karma, as the ringed body is sometimes known, is moving forwards, it’s doing so very slowly, making this a tortuous time for many Librans and Aries, and for anyone born summer-autumn 1981 and 1952, who are experiencing their first and second Saturn birthday respectively.

Mercury is slowing down, ready for one of its thrice yearly retrograde cycles in August; the message here is, if you have something to arrange or sign, sooner is better than later.

Cancer

Speak softly, but could things be looking up? This is, after all, your birthday month, a time of empowerment as the mighty Sun returns to the spot it occupied when you arrived on planet earth. Today’s new Moon is pivotal in two respects. Firstly, it’s a partial solar eclipse, meaning if this is your birthday you’re offered a rare chance to reinvent your act…not immediately perhaps, but over the course of the next six months.

Secondly, a new Moon being stared down by Saturn marks a point of intensity. With Saturn rumbling slowly forwards, projects locked down since January become runners once again. That goes especially for property/home matters and for finding steady employment. For such impersonal issues this is the time to set your shoulder to the wheel and heave, spurred on by your astrologer’s assurance that with Mercury retrograde in August, July is a whole lot easier.

You can play hard at the same time as you graft. Venus sashaying through your skies between the 4^th and 28^th adds lustre to your social life, and turns interested eyes in your direction. A feast at your place, perhaps impromptu, accords with Venusian principles, as does flirtatious behaviour.

Venus’s deeper challenge is to maintain – or find – emotional equilibrium, the point where you give and receive in equal measure, where you are not buffeted by relationships. Tall order, yet July allows you to process any turmoil from earlier this year, and to recapture your more playful side. Emotions of all varieties promise to run high at the weekend of the 9^th, when Venus opposes spooky Pluto. The following weekend, a full Moon in opposition, likewise supercharges social and romantic atmospheres.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to be a full player in matters of social decorum/uproar, to start the dancing and engage in honest, forthcoming debate with significant others, including those with whom you are on the outs. All of which implies leaving your shell and risking the odd jab between the ribs.

Pluto in opposition may, as considered last month, describe more problematic relationship scenarios for June birthdays. For others Pluto’s touch may conjure up issues of abuse, big money, criminality or more fictional transgressors and hellhounds. Fanatics of all varieties are there to be kept at arm’s length.

Jupiter’s involvement with Pluto early in July works to Cancer’s advantage, possibly ushering in a gift horse for your inspection, and highlighting the advantages accruing from your team associations, in work or outside.

Leo

You are on countdown to your birthday month, often a time when the most important action takes place behind the scenes, or in your secret heart of hearts. Today’s eclipse of Leo’s celestial totem, the Sun, suggests something along those lines is going down any time now.

It would be an error, however, to spend too much time in your particular Fortress of Solitude. Mercury in your sign from July 2^nd has a pivotal role to play over the remainder of the summer, as the messenger planet transverses your skies back and forth. Key news and unexpected volumes of e-mails are part of Mercury’s scenario – anything involving being in touch with other people and the world at large. Extra care is needed when making arrangements or promises, which under Mercury retrograde (in August) tend to come back to haunt you. All arrangements and purchases are best done before 15^th, practicality allowing.

Much of the planetary action for the zodiac’s Lions remains in the most public sphere of your ‘scope, the points where you have to deal with bosses, colleagues and consider career-shaping decisions.

Even Leos are not immune from the ‘do as you’re told or else’ atmosphere that prevails under Pluto-in-Capricorn (for years yet!) but other planets hand you a better chance of handling the world of work than certain other signs. Jupiter and Prometheus/Uranus promise encounters with people who can do you a favour, the caveat being that you, as one of nature’s natural-born royals, can’t behave as if they are lucky to meet you! A flexible approach helps your cause (have a plan ‘B’ for August by the way). Events around the 7^th may have a crucial part to play in hoisting yourself up the greasy pole.

Your birthday month opens on the 23^rd. and with the Sun making telling aspects to major planets over the following week, this is a time to have your sensors fine-tuned to offers and leads. Anything involving overseas travel or international contacts is to be welcomed.

Love affairs and matters of the heart are on a quieter course this month; you look more likely to be dealing with the fall-out from June than blazing new trails, though the end of the moth, leading up to the new Moon in your sign on July 30^th, come laced with promise. The weekend of the 16/17^th is also good for close encounters and existing partnerships alike.

Virgo

Playing the super-sensible Virgo is always a far easier game than being the creative, starring role Virgo. At present, though, you can usefully handle both roles.

You may not have much option about the former; your ruling planet, Mercury, is largely behind the scenes this month, calling for down-time to think alone, and also to get preparations in place for the fretful three weeks of Mercury retrograde that begin at the new Moon of July 30^th; fretful because arrangements don’t conform to even your meticulous planning. A plan ‘B’ for August might come in handy, and caginess about what you promise others in the second half of July.

Planets elsewhere are of the brisk and businesslike variety. Today’s eclipse in the collegiate zone of your ‘scope, the area where you make common cause and are part of a team, may signal a departure from a committee (not necessarily you!). Otherwise July is about pressing on, with both Mars and Venus favouring a high, even pushy profile at work. (Why not?)

If you can fit into your scheme the odd prize –an official affair or some more informal windfall – so much the better. Jupiter remains helpfully sited, giving the go-ahead to any plans involving overseas contacts (maybe with a Taurean) or an entrée into the higher realms of learning and education. The first week of the month is particularly opportune.

The most intriguing developments surround your personal life. Today’s new Moon may awaken passions that have been brewing over the last six months – Pluto lends a ‘now or never’ quality to romances, or at least, a feeling that you have to get to the root of problematical, maybe even transgressive, relationships. The full Moon in force on the 13^th/14^th promises enlightenment here. For singles, Venus promises a fascination or three among your wider circle of acquaintances.

For birthdays at the very beginning of Virgo – 23-25 August – the closing days of July have particular import. Mercury then arrives yet immediately turns tale; take any news with a grain of salt, and since the mysterioso planet Nptune is involved all month, a little confusion in your world is not to be feared, just accepted. Dream lovers, by the way, deserve a little background checking!

Libra

Relentless? Of course it is, even if everything is turning out dandy. Only now is Saturn, Lord of Time, crawling forwards after three weeks just sitting on some of you – notably birthdays circa October 4^th.

Granted, Saturn is something of a repeating record, but it is in the nature of the ringed planet to bang on about the same irksome issues until you take action to resolve them. A new Moon cum solar eclipse will help move things along over the next month – with your active input, of course.

Saturn invariably involves big issues, life-changing events, and if you are not already consolidating such a change, you’ll be likely planning one over the course of the next few months. The good news is that although Librans can be hellish ditherers, once a decision is made, they push it on with bravado. July is all in favour of keen, quick action. If you bear in mind that August is dominated by retrograde Mercury, the quicker you get to action stations the better.

Career is the obvious place to start. Saturn is a planet of perspiration rather than inspiration, but it is also the ultimate realist, and if throwing time and energy at one course of action is getting you nowhere, then reign in and concentrate on what is achievable. Move on incrementally.

The active role of your totem planet, Venus, makes early July a telling couple of weeks, allowing you to spin your reputation while touching base with fundamentals. Venus is not exclusively about romance, but the planet’s brush with Pluto lends the period around the 9^th intensity. It seems you’re about to find what, or who, you really want.

July is far from all furrowed brow, however. Mars enlivens travel prospects and tangles you up with people, possibly lovers, at a distance, or from foreign climes. The season of Leo, presaged by Mercury’s scoot through the Lion, strengthens your social life and makes you a team player. The 7^th and 8^th, when the Moon waxes through the scale’s portion of the evening sky, are also favoured for personal, emotional affairs. Playtime is, in short, available, providing you have those big relentless decisions firmly in your sights.

Scorpio

And exhale! Whatever May and June brought in the way of contretemps, feuds, whirlwind fascinations and sparring with others, July looks a more relaxed month. Your Ruler, Mars, is no longer in opposition. Today’s new Moon, while a partial solar eclipse, is in your kindred water sign of Cancer. You should now be able to negotiate or woo from a position of greater strength.

Partners, lovers and ex’s still feature strongly on your astro-radar nonetheless, and you can usefully forget any idea of browbeating them into submission. More likely is that they have valuable information – or material valuables – to share. Flip back to June’s forecast for a long-term assessment of what Jupiter in opposition might entail over the next year, but the essence of things is co-operation rather than bulldozing your way along, or – another Scorpio scenario – having nothing whatsoever to do with people with whom you are, whether you like it or not, attached.

For the footloose and fancy free, July looks promising, with attractive types (possibly Cancerian) calling you from afar. Links with overseas, romantic or otherwise, beckon rewardingly now. The 9^th and 10^th – Moon in Scorpio days – hand you a weekend to conjure with and practise your particular brand of emotional voodoo.

While feelings and relationships are a big part of the month’s terrain, there are interesting developments at the peak of your chart, the place you let the world know you’re in business, and where you can win acclaim. Mercury, the communications planet, makes an annual appearance at this point of your ‘scope, but since this year the quicksilver planet spends two and a half months going back and forth here, your career path is unusually highlighted. Since mercury spends august in retreat, best get every scrap of administration made in July if possible.

The annual arrival of the Sun at the pinnacle of your chart on the 23^rd opens a period of greater challenge in your professional life, though here it’s August and October that promise the most decisive phase, difficulty coming entwined with opportunity.

Sagittarius

Being a noble Centaur has its drawbacks, one of them being a slightly cavalier attitude to money. Vulgar stuff! Yet even a Sagittarius is not immune to the necessity to have enough cash to pay one’s way. That is pretty much the message from today’s partial solar eclipse, which arrives in the zone of your ‘scope concerned with assets, mortgages, bequests and other securities. At the very least a quick audit of your situation is called for, but the chance to settle money affairs on a longer term basis is also there, not least where it involves your porter or ‘ex’.

Part of July’s job, however, is to handle the fall-out from the eclipses of last month, which impacted on your personal situation and partnerships of all varieties, romantic or economic. With Mars in opposition all month, a few full and frank exchanges may be in order, either that or a compulsive affair. One way or another, you are unlikely to be left to your own devices by those confounded Other People, and may have to tread carefully with more belligerent types. Pick your arguments carefully, as you may fined yourself outgunned.

July is not all labyrinthine relationships however. Mercury broadens your outlook – it’s a good month for those cross-continental treks, or a quick trip to the seaside – and makes any educational enterprises partcularly rewarding. Self-promotion comes easily, with your more outre ideas and schemes in favour – the rest of the world will catch up with you sooner or later.

Whether you can also solve problematical living arrangements is a puzzle that not even your astrologer can solve. Neptune’s reversal over the root of your horoscope adds a touch of confusion and mystery to familial and domestic matters. Here, patience is likely better than a quick fix, especially in the last few days of the month.

Capricorn

Making progress? Since the month of Cancer, your opposite sign, marks the halfway point between birthdays, today’s new Moon is an apposite moment to assess whether your Grand Plan (all Capricororns have one) is on schedule. With the Sun in opposition until the 23^rd, you are likely not at your most empowered – run down and in need of a holiday is more likely. Plus even a minor eclipse like today’s throws an element of uncertainty into any equation, especially one involving your beloved other half or tennis partner.

July’s is, though, a chequered planetary picture. Saturn, only now starting to inch forward (from our point of view on planet Earth) asks you to be clear about the next six months of your professional schemes, since almost all of you, and certainly January birthdays, will be feel the pressure to move up a gear and/or cope with the machinations of power-crazed bureaucrats. Those of you born around new year’s eve are those being leant on most heavily in July, and with the same birthdays also in firing line of the eclipse, it could mean quite a shake-up.

For all of you, the full Moon in your skies on the 14^th and 15^th should make the deal involving both job and partner/ex that much clearer. This isn’t the moment for rash decisions (not that Goats make too many of those) as emotions invariably run high with full Moons, but it does mark a high tide in your affairs, a point where you know exactly what or who you are up against.

Though there is an element of adversarial politics in these stars, there is also support and enticement. The presence of Jupiter and Venus in the relationship zones of your ‘scope is positive news for singletons, who may wish to break the ‘no rash decisions’ rule and jump into a romance. At the least you have relationship options. Those of you already in tandem are granted the opportunity to enrich your association, perhaps by pursuing a new mutual interest, via pregnancy/children, or by a romantic gesture.

The chance to make money, a subject dear to Capricorn hearts (if only because you tend to be surrogate banker round these parts), is also on the cards. The alignment between Jupiter and Pluto (both money planets) on the 7^th is one signal. Mercury spending two and a half months in your resources zone is another – that the messenger planet goes backwards in August makes July the time to set affairs in place, August the time to tweak them.

Aquarius

The major challenge is to maintain momentum. Even if you are planning a summer of nothing-in-particular, the planetary picture remains sunny and opportune. Last month’s eclipses marked a point of closure on troubled romances and emotional upheaval (if it doesn’t feel that way, make it so), while planets passing through Gemini have hopefully brought a more joyous, creative here-and-now into being.

That mood can prevail in July, when Mars, so often the antagonist, plays the role of boisterous party animal and sports champion. A concentration on physical effort and tangible, material outcomes (building the gazebo for example) fits in with the dynamic of the month.

Saturn, now once more on the move, remains perfectly sited for practical matters, property deals and prosperity. Keep in mind that for the next six months Saturn, your ruler, favours all dealings with officialdom and hierarchy, and all matters relating to money and property. Just add will power and guile.

Relations with significant others – partners in marriage, crime and bridge, open enemies, ex’s, major allies – present a more tricky prospect. Mercury in opposition for nine weeks turns up the importance of open dialogue with such people, but with Mercury going backwards in August, there’s an element of mistrust, mistake or downright duplicity involved. Don’t assume the arrangements and understandings you reach now, especially in the latter half of the month, are necessarily shared. Double check details.

The opening at the 23^rd of the month of Leo, your opposite and complementary sign, further emphasises the importance of keeping things crystal clear with the major players of your life. Best not expect to have the upper hand. Leo’s is also the month when you risk being worn out; factor in some healthy activity.

Home remains a place of peace, prosperity and contentment and if not, Jupiter is all in favour of a domestic shake-up or even complete relocation.

Prometheus/Uranus, a plenet sometimes touted as Aquarius’s ruler, lays emphasis on bright, bold ideas. You rarely march to the beat of the public drum, and for now, the most radical of your notions are the ones to run with.

Pisces

Keep going while the going’s good. The month of Cancer, in place until the 23^rd, puts the summer Sun in your favour, and while today’s partial eclipse may call for an adjustment in one particular friendship (or romance), July’s stars smile broadly on both matters of the heart and creative projects.

Most obtuse are issues relating to home, domesticity, and family. A pair of eclipses in June were a clear signal that there is, to use the old school report formula, room for improvement. The presence of forceful Mars in July signals a cut-and-run approach is one way out of any impasse, or the cue to get in the builders or evacuate a troublesome flatmate. Keep things on a practical level – merely getting angry about your situation doesn’t improve it. The involvement of Saturn, the planet that solves problems with money and organisation, promises to reveal a way forward surprisingly soon, though little happens without your active input. Early July is helpful for doing deals, especially those needing a touch of ice.

Little chance of sang froid around your personal life. If you are committed, you are asked to renew your commitment. If you are footloose, the beams of Venus shine on your most flirtatious, winning ways. In all events, July is something of a Piscean party. Your ruling panet, Jupiter, remains keen to introduce you to people who entertain, educate and perhaps even remunerate you. Benefits come from social circulation. Taureans and Cancerians make promising playmates. If you’re looking for key days to impress, the 19^th and 20^th, with the waning Moon on your side, look good.

The last few days of July bring a change of atmosphere that specifically involves birthdays circa February 19^th-20^th. Neptune, a creative but confusing bundle of energies at best, then opposes a stationary Mercury. Take note of events then but place no great credence in their outcome, since Mercury shortly turns backwards and what formerly looked copper-bottomed and silver-lined is apt to evaporate early in August.

Aries

Feeling stumped? Or just tired out? July’s planets offer you a mixed picture of opposition and opportunity. Today’s solar eclipse cum new Moon should help get things moving on the domestic front, if only because a situation has become intolerable and you have little option but to shake things up, perhaps removing a co-habitee who has become, shall we say, a tiresome lodger. An alternative scenario would be to follow the leadof Venus – which spends the month traversing this same sector of your ‘scope – and offer an olive branch. Or to simply brighten up your beautiful home.

The situation with significant others – partners or enemies (and sometimes they are synonymous) – also gets a none too gentle shove with this eclipse. Saturn in opposition presents us with people who are needy and/or authority figures who torment us. As Saturn is retracing its steps from last autumn, the scenario prevailing then is back for resolution, either by careful negotiation or by acknowledging that a relationship has run out of road.

Saturn also represents the kind of work that requires endless graft, usually of the sort that promises long term pay-off. Here, other planets are in co-operative mood. Mercury, the great communicator, and Mars, your high energy ruler, both favour open dialogue, creative expression and zipping around the neighbourhood meeting and greeting. A break from Saturn’s chain gang enlivens and renews your spirit, and for romantics among you, promises encounters of an engaging sort.

The month of Leo, beginning on the 23^rd, offers a favourable few weeks for adventure, holidays and social activity. Your most fiery side finds a welcome response from hereon, with those of you born close to the spring equinox especially favoured. Prior to that comes a full Moon in your career zone, on the 14^th/15^th when a twirl in whatever spotlight you can find is in order, and when the more tiresome issues you face come to a mini-climax.

Taurus

In your comfort zone? Most of the credit for July’s promising picture goes to Jupiter, planet of largesse, windfalls and and a sunny outlook. With the giant planet helpfully aligned to power planet Pluto early in the month, some of you (notably April birthdays) can pull off a smooth transition to a new way of life, engineer extra cash in the bank, or land a free air ticket to an exotic location. With Jupiter, one lives in hope.

Three weeks of your ruling planet, Venus, in co-operative mood is another cue to fancy your chances, whether it’s a business deal or a proposition of a more romantic nature. Fine company, with a smattering of power-brokers thrown in, is part of July’s picture. While work looks to be of the steady, routine variety (at least if you have some), breakthroughs arrive via who you know rather than by graft alone. International connections work in your favour.

The month of Cancer – water to your earth – also inclnes the action towards social rather than official connections, with the full Moon of the 14/15^th a particular chance to shine. The weekend of the 23^rd/24^th, with the Moon in your skies, looks hot for parties or lazy days on velvet lawns. Leo’s month in the Sun, starting on the 23^rd, turns the spotlight onto domestic and family matters. Since Mercury spends nine weeks in this area of your ‘scope, there appear to be issues to resolve, with August (with Mercury retrograde) insisting you fine tune arrangements/colour schemes that you institute in July.

While Jupiter is the planet of easy rather than hard-earned money, Mars in your financial zone suggests extra cash from commercial acumen, car boot enterrprises and similar one-off events. Taurus is, after all, the sign of economics, banks and stock exchanges. A little future-trading of your own making should serve you well. Romances and partnerships, oddly enough, seem entwined with the economic programme, either because you have to thrash out a just steelement between your and your preferred squeeze, or because the girl/guy from the accounts department suddenly starts looking very cute.

Gemini

The Twins is not normally reckoned a confrontational sign – tricksy, sly even, but aggressive? Hardly. With warrior Mars marching through your skies for the rest of July, however, that can change. A more insistent, less easily satisfied Gemini is on hand to pursue your objectives (including romantic conquests), but do mind that no-one gets injured by that acid wit and cutting commentary you can, on occasion, summon up.

Your verbal skils and powers of persuasion are, however, a central feature of July and the rest of the summer. Mercury, your sprightly ruling planet, spends a lengthy none weeks plying back and forth in the communications zone of your ‘scope, favouring talkathons, teach-ins, learn-alongs, showers of phone calls and e-mails and all the dashing round that you can fit in. Since Mercury is on go-slow retrograde in August, however, July is the time to make arrangements and clear your desk.

Love affairs and ongoing partnerships received something of a test over the last month, when you and your partner sign of Sagittarius both experienced eclipses. Here consolidation is the nature of the game for those of you who haven’t just reached the end of the line with you know who. Saturn demands realism and pragmatism to keep affairs of the heart running smoothly, and makes it hard to pretend that everything is hunky dory if it isn’t. A little soul-searching may be in order around the 6^th. For singletons, a thorough programe of search and disover is in order prior to the more intriguing developments promised in August, which looks more fruitful.

Neptune remains the imponderable element in your ‘scope, particularly for those born 21-23 May. A new public persona seems to be under construction, but its precise shape is likely to remain uncertain until next year, when Neptune returns to the apex of your solar chart. Still, if you find yourself on the receiving end of applause, give a big wave of acknowledgment and fnd out why the cowds are cheering later.

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