We begin July with Cancer the Crab leading us into emotional waters. Here, eclipse season begins, bringing about significant change and acceleration. Cancer is the Great Mother and the womb. With the North Node in her domain, we’re rapidly evolving into her enlightened qualities, balancing our pragmatism with intuition and sensitivity. We’re learning to better nurture ourselves, express our feelings, and make sure we have our basic needs met, emotionally and otherwise.

First, we have work to do in Capricorn. We’re breaking out of the past—out of outworn structures, systems, conditioning, and beliefs—so we can open our hearts and create a kinder world. Our priorities are shifting as we stop focusing on empty achievement, instead looking toward how we can relate to each other with more compassion and care. We’re learning to establish more safety within ourselves and our world so our tender hearts can open and relax.

As we do this, we’re experiencing creative tension between the past and the future. We’re moving through all we’ve outgrown to make room for new manifestations of our selves, lives, and relationships. While the future is still unclear, fresh energies are vibrating, just before blossom. We’re about to give birth to a whole new paradigm that begins within ourselves. In the meantime, with Mercury retrograde arriving this month, we can slow down. Looking inward, we can work through painful stories from the past, while connecting with our most powerful longings. What do we need moving forward? As we do so, July’s warmth is cradling us, providing gestation for our future lives to bloom.

Total Solar Eclipse in cancer

The Total Solar Eclipse arrives on July 2 in Cancer, opening a richly emotional eclipse portal. The two-week period between eclipses is always a time of karmic compression, eliciting big change as we enter into whole new energetic frequencies. This Solar Eclipse is close to the North Node, and in many ways, it marks a fresh start. We’re now furthering our eclipse journey along the Cancer-Capricorn axis, which will lead us to the new paradigm in 2020. We’re learning to create secure environments so we can be who we are, without fear. We’re realizing repression isn’t a sign of strength. Our vulnerability, genuineness, and emotional depth represent our true courage. They connect us more deeply with wisdom, healing, and each other.

Mercury Retrograde

Mercury turns retrograde July 7 to August 2, moving from Leo back into Cancer. This is a beautiful chance to turn inward for reflection and review. Slowing down, we can integrate the lessons of eclipse season, along with our painful feelings and memories which have been stirred for the sake of healing. The egoic lions within us are moving more into introspection as we learn to tell our stories with depth and genuine-heartedness. We’re using our power to make sure we listen more, holding space for voices that haven’t been heard. On a person level, we’re mending relationships that broke apart because of our emotional fear. We might ask:

Where have we walked away from friendships or partnerships in fear or anger, ghosting or burning bridges? Where have we painfully avoided emotional confrontation? 

Perhaps it’s time to go back and make amends, reconnecting with people we’ve lost or abandoned because of our fears. We’re now learning to step into spiritual warriorship, moving further toward creating a world based on caring for one another, as we establish relationships that are more honest, mature, and intimate.

Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn

On July 16, a Capricorn Lunar Eclipse arrives, supporting us in releasing the past and shifting our focus onto internal security, rather than external. Instead of obsessing over supposed-to’s and empty achievement, we’re looking at our emotional needs, finding that vulnerable human connection fulfills us more than wealth, power, and prestige. Whatever we’ve outgrown—whether it’s a relationship, job, or belief system—we can let them go, moving further into our true selves. As we allow our feelings to arise, without repression or judgement, we can even accept anger, heartbreak, and grief, allowing them wide pasture to move through us without fear. This is part of our process of upending patriarchy—which the planets are continuing to support. We’re undoing emotional shame, which has been conditioned in us throughout childhood. We’re recognizing that our emotions are actually sources of wisdom—bridges that lead us into deeper intimacy and fulfillment, if we allow ourselves to feel.

July Summary

July is a powerful month of emotional saturation, change, and catharsis. Eclipse season arrives along Cancer-Capricorn axis, while Mercury retrograde begins in between the two eclipses. We have the chance now to break free of long-standing ruts, establishing better circumstances for our hearts to open, and for our relationships to deepen and mature. Safety, vulnerability, and introspection are key this month, as we retreat to feel our tenderness, making room to review old traumas and stories so they can heal. We’re upending patriarchy while strengthening our inner feminine—finally learning that emotions are sources of strength, not something to fear or repress. As we do our work and break out from the status quo, and from harmful parental and societal conditioning, we can work together to create a more compassionate world. We can make room to listen to each other, and to allow other perspectives to permeate our hearts. Empathy can take hold as we connect to each other with greater intimacy, fulfillment, and care.

Floating in warm waves, may we relax into safety, allowing our hearts to heal and open wider. May we feel our roots strengthen as we prepare for welcome change, and for higher frequencies to lead us to new selves, and a whole new paradigm.

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