July begins with Cancer the Crab leading the way, making sure that our foundations are in place. It’s important that we have a strong sense of home, which includes family or close friends, to feed our sense of security, belonging, and safety. We can eat well, create coziness, and draw our loved ones near.

From here, July opens into a critical month astrologically, as the transits of 2021 and 2022 reach a crescendo. On July 31, Uranus, planet of shock, invention, and sudden change, will join with the Moon’s North Node, which represents our highest evolutionary potential. All month, we’ll feel the tension building. On both collective and personal levels, we’re ready for significant breakthroughs that release us from old, stuck patterns and catapult us onto more elevated trajectories. If we cling to outworn beliefs, relationships, or mental frameworks, this transit could feel painful. It’s time to release the past and open into our freedom and inventiveness.

The future is beginning to arrive, and the more we embrace newness, the more this transit will feel like a miraculous shift. Frustrations with our governments, ignored environmental crises, and economic disparity will break open as people rise from the ground up in powerful rebellion. Uranus represents chaos, but also humanitarianism and activism. Unconstricted by space and time, he helps us to jump timelines so we can shoot ahead with vision and electricity.

Before we experience the release of the Uranus-North Node conjunction, we first visit the underworld. In the beginning of July, the Sun and Mercury draw closer to squares with Chiron while the Sun opposes Pluto, exact on July 19. In the first part of the month, the planets are shining light on our wounds, and we may feel extra vulnerable or triggered. But we’re ready to face painful truths, storylines, and cyclical patterns, transforming them from the inside out. With Uranus leading us to liberation, anything is possible. We can expect the unexpected to show up like fireworks, abruptly changing our lives.

JULY Transits  

MERCURY ENTERS CANCER

Mercury enters Cancer from July 5 to July 19. Our minds and communication are becoming more emotional, sensitive, and possibly defensive. As Mercury joins with the Sun in Cancer, they’re beginning to form a clashing square angle to Chiron, the Wounded Healer, and we’re ready to face our shadows and heal them. Difficult but intimate conversations are likely. The key is to relax, own our fears and tenderness, are adjust our stories around who we are so we can heal our long-standing wounds.

MARS ENTERS TAURUS

Mars moves into Taurus on July 5 until August 20, helping us slow our roll and embody more pleasure. This is a marked change of energy after Mars crosses the anaretic degree of Aries on July 4, fueling passions, anger, and even violence. From here, we can feel our attractions to beauty and peace while tending our gardens, both literally and internally. We can take our time to cook good food and treat our bodies to decadent care. This can be a summer of laziness, steadiness, and sensuality.

THE SECOND EXACT PLUTO RETURN OF THE U.S.

July 11 marks the second exact Pluto Return of the United States—this time in retrograde. Pluto is completing his cycle for the first time since the birth of the nation. As the planet of death and rebirth, Pluto is provoking massive transformation in the United States, triggered by crisis. The final conjunction arrives in December. All year, we’ll witness profound challenges that result in far-reaching change.

CAPRICORN FULL MOON

The Capricorn Full Moon arrives on July 13, forming a wide conjunction with Pluto while activating almost every planet. So much is transforming in our lives and coming into new alignment on all levels, personal and public. New friendships and relationships could form that hold magic while remaining grounded. It’s important that we act from integrity, owning our truth and resolving to work through unhealthy patterns and beliefs. This way, we can easily tap into creative inspiration and spiritual connections, undergoing deep internal shifts that affect our lives for the long haul.

SUN OPPOSITE PLUTO

The Sun exactly opposes Pluto on July 19—a transit that’s been building all month. We may feel struggle or conflict as our egos feel threatened and vie for control. The highest potential of this transit is to surrender and embrace our fears—allowing them to rise in our bodies without repressing or altering them. Fear of fear is what causes us harm, not the fear itself. If we relax with our scarier feelings, we can shed old skin and step into higher elevations of self. Otherwise, manipulation, stubbornness, jealousy, and other shadowy manifestations of self are possible.

CHIRON RETROGRADE

Chiron turns retrograde from July 19 to December 23, 2022. This is a good cycle for going inward and reflecting on how far we’ve come with our healing. What mental or health-related wounding are we working through that needs closer attention? What triggers or vulnerabilities are standing in the way of a more holistic life and better-flowing relationships?

LEO NEW MOON

The Leo New Moon arrives on July 28, inviting us to see our spontaneous, creative selves with fresh eyes. We can speak to our inner child and make sure their needs are being met. Are we being playful enough? Enjoying our lives? No matter what’s happening in the outer world, how can we be sure to keep our hearts open? How can we offer our visions with generous expression, while feeling irrepressible joy in all that we do?

URANUS CONJUNCT NORTH NODE

Uranus joins with the Moon’s North Node on July 31, closing the month with a much-anticipated transit that will likely bring liberation and sudden change. Innovation is often sparked by this conjunction, which changes our lives in significant ways. It’s time to free ourselves from the past and embrace our future lives, relationships, and communities. Any clinging to the old will feel especially painful as the lightning bolts of Uranus strike and alchemize us. Perhaps we’ve been feeling pain and frustration around regressive patterns popping up in our personal lives or the world at large. This conjunction could provide a longed-for breakthrough that will help us dislodge from all that we’ve outgrown once and for all.

JULY Summary

July is not a month to take lightly. We’re ready to experience profound transformation within our mental patterns, communication, and sense of self, as the Sun and Mercury square Chion and move closer to an exact opposition with cathartic Pluto. A powerful Capricorn Full Moon ignites this Plutonian shift, and we won’t walk away the same. We are ready to transmute all facets of our lives as we learn how to step into our power. By the end of the month, Uranus meets with the North Node, and we are ready for liberation. Profound shifts on a personal and collective level are likely, sparked by shocking events, innovation, and our willingness to leap into the future. Rebellion permeates as the people revolt, unwilling to carry the weight of governmental failings, environmental disasters, white supremacy, and patriarchal oppression any longer. Change is inevitable, and if we celebrate the possibilities of freedom, egalitarianism, and creating a more enlightened society in harmony with the Earth, we can fast-forward into a new world. That, of course, begins within ourselves. Luckily, the planets are ready to help us shed old skin in preparation for an imminent breakthrough.

JULY ASPIRATION

As the sun warms our skin, may we leap into our future selves like diving into a cool lake. May we embrace change and rebel against old patterns, breaking out of our cocoons as we finally learn to to be free.

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