Astrology of 6/28 – 7/4: Mars, Pluto & Under Pressure

This is an intense week with Mars in Cancer forming an exact opposition to Pluto in Capricorn – this kind of steamy emotional pressure cooker forms out of it. Many of us are probably already in the midst of the pressure cooker vibe – nonetheless, we can still be emotionally centered. We may find ourselves giving up, changing course, or feeling freshly inspired and motivated post-breakthrough. Here’s a breakdown of the transits, and I hope it may be an emotional resource for you.

Before we get into our week, first an announcement! I’m excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with my friend and colleague Ichrak Dahou of Atlas Astrology to share a wealth of information with you on what you can expect from the Eclipses of August of 2017, including the lunar eclipse in Aquarius on the 7th and the solar eclipse in Leo on the 21st. Sign up for our mailing list to receive communications about what eclipses are, why they matter, and what’s special and relevant about this upcoming eclipse season. In July, we invite you to attend a webinar on the August eclipses with us to resource yourself with information on what to expect and how you might make the most of these transits. Tickets will go up shortly – until then, sign up to learn more: http://eepurl.com/cT1_dX

(Top image: Stephanie Bayles)

June 28

Mercury in Cancer conjunct Mars in Cancer: 12:51 PM PDT

• Mercury now catches up to Mars, and will pass Mars and make aspects to Pluto first (last week, Mars was ahead and Mercury was following.) The shift is subtle, but a new relationship between the will and our conceptual mind is forming.
• Some emotional patterns with this transit escape words; it’s like waves washing over – how do you even begin to say how you’re feeling? Alternately, some previously unconscious emotions are coming up into more conscious awareness and there is something startling about these kind of emotional realizations.
• One of the greatest sources of unrest and tension here could be not feeling like one has people to talk to or close people who get it, who can empathize. In terms of managing the pressure cooker of some of these transits, talking about feelings with other people where there is that trust is a definite resource not to overlook.
• Remember there are two parts of the crab (Cancer) we want to think about here: the soft gooey inside and the crusty exterior. Cancer energy loves being soft and gooey but when it doesn’t feel safe or loved it goes into a protective mode. Being in one state all the time and not switching between them fluidly and cyclically like the moon phases depending on the situation can be a source of problems within the Cancerian reality.

June 29

Mercury in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn: 5:34 PM PDT

(Image: Hugues Jean Francois Paul Duqueylard)

• The expression or verbalization of fears (sometimes by another); fears coming to a head within consciousness. The initial realization of this content can create anxiety, doubt, insecurity; but it’s at a peak moment of transformation.
• Modulating vulnerability: feeling as though being vulnerable makes one able to be attacked; overpowered; destroyed even; while the other extreme of never being vulnerable is a different kind of self-destruction. The heat of this particular issue can come to the surface.

• The dynamic tension between pure emotion and the parts of self that regulate that and wear a mask as to “have it together”. When a person does not integrate both within themselves; they may attract the other in the mirror. So, someone who is very emotional and crying may be interacting with someone stern who says, “keep it together – stop it” and basically just tries to quell it. Or someone very serious is told to loosen up by someone else. When both polarities are integrated in one person; a person is simultaneously aware of their insecurities, fears, doubts, emotional needs, and is an inner-parent to that vulnerable self-aspect.
• This same transit can ask us to toughen up and get it together in some scenarios, while asking us to let go of trying to control things in other scenarios. It can also be an opportunity to develop emotional responsibility; which is to make constructive supportive decisions that truly take care – versus suppressing emotions in the name of responsibility; or forgetting responsibility in the name of pure whim.

(Image: Henn Kim)

• Take good note at this time of who you perceive to be too emotional and immature, or too rigid and overly-boundaried, and see why these characters may be constellating your outer life and what role you’ve been playing within it.

June 30

First Quarter Moon in Libra: 5:51 PM PDT

The Moon in Libra will be squaring the Sun in Cancer and forming a balsamic phase conjunction to Jupiter in Libra.

• This Moon in Libra conjunct Jupiter can relate to consulting a teacher, guide, or confidante for help relative to something that is developing internally (Sun in Cancer). There is both the wisdom that can be shared from the other; as well as the harmonization with one’s own truth that occurs when one is mirrored by another person.
• With Moon-Jupiter, this other mirror could take the form of a strongly opinionated or bombastic individual; or the form of an individual with cultivated taste and aesthetic who is very cultured (Libra) and exudes sophistication and diplomacy.
• Take note of opportunities to meet friends of people you already know or your own inkling to gather people together. Social circles expand via shared connections and bonds. This type of introduction builds on connections already established and relates to a sense of extended family.
• In alignment with our more intense Pluto transits (and this First-Quarter Moon makes a t-square with Pluto!), this can relate to the role of diplomacy and grace when it comes to de-escalating pressure or creating communication between conflicting sides. Overly emphasized; pleasing others and keeping peace at the expense of one’s inner experience is part of the pressure cooker we’re talking about. So let’s cut to one very basic truth: everyone is involved and interconnected. What goes against your basic dignity and respect is ultimately not for the dignity of all either. Even if it’s awkward or uncomfortably honest, being true to one’s likes and preferences, yes’s and no’s, is a way to be in integrity in relationship. It creates informed consent and decreases resentment. The kind of connection this creates can be startling in how much it opens the hearts of the parties involved! And sometimes it’s stickier than that; especially when it is a different choice than cultural conditioning which demands other masks of people when relating, which we are finding at any rate, to be unsatisfying. The tension, and ultimately the magic, is in honesty within relationship by also being honest to one’s internal harmony and resonance. Likewise, read other people’s honesty with you as a symbol of respect and trust, a gateway to real relationship.

July 2

Mars in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn: 4:58 AM PDT

• This is like a Full Moon between Mars and Pluto – you might feel the heat, the emotional temperature, rising! It might be easy to find things to be upset or resentful about. At the same time, it would be vitalizing to find positive outlets and to transmute this energy: cooking big meals with people you love, gathering, dancing, sex, being out in nature.
• This transit makes things run hotter – watch for rage, anger, and other kinds of explosions (at least there will be fireworks for the 4th of July to take some of the heat!). The nature of these outbursts often has to do with the lid being kept on too tight, so it may be important to have ways to release pressure rather than thinking it will go away on its own. It’s not likely to go away on its own – if anything it will just be there waiting for the perfect trigger, making people more irritable and more reactive.
• Mars and Pluto here will not really like emotional or energetic limitations: being too scared to do something, too insecure to do something, too tired to do something, etc. At the same time these limitations may come into awareness; riling up the ego for a fight. There can be an athletic conditioning to this (a transformation of the will and increased strength), and some rallying of energy. This may be a inner dynamic or an outer one constellated between two or more people. This is a climax point that can signify giving up on a particular venture or rallying the will for one. Feel into whether endurance and perseverance or giving up and letting go is more empowering within a given situation.
• This can illuminate our defenses – like something psychologically is getting past those defenses that were before unconscious.
• The consequences of being in a fear mentality are different than the consequences of being emotionally centered despite a variably threatening environment: there can always be something or some potential unknown to be afraid of, but the preoccupation with fear again, has consequences. Use this Mars-Pluto full-moon-esque energy to deeply center yourself amidst a fast paced or high energy outer world. The emotional alignment of being at peace creates and radiates more peace, and resources us with a clearer space to act from.

July 4

Venus enters Gemini: 5:12 PM PDT

(Image: James Zanoni)

• My Gemin-influenced / Pluto-in-the-3rd-house friends are amazing text-conversationalists and emoji-magicians… (emojis are like our modern day hieroglyphics!) They are quick, clever, and tend to show me new strings of words and pictures and ideas to convey any particular message … sometimes their word play becomes a pillar of conversation itself; we’re just riffing and being silly, sibling like. Venus in Gemini is a bubbly, effulgent energy in the same way – generating new communications and naming new things. Does Venus in Gemini talk about deep stuff too? Sure; but the conversation might not linger in any one particular place. There’s always a new spot to jump to. Don’t take it personally or be quick to think it superficial!
• Gemini as an energy (like all the mutables) cannot be pinpointed. If you try to pin it down, it just shapeshifts: try to grab some air in your hand right now. Venus, the realm of the heart, is often a place that we want constancy and loyalty. But Venus in Gemini learns about its inner values through a variety of different experiences where it can be different people. Venus in Gemini highlights this love language of flexibility; wherein one can access many different facets of themselves through the interaction with a variety of mirrors. Or, one connection is multi-faceted and open enough that boredom never occurs, there is always a freshness and effulgent creativity.
• I’ve been made more aware, as the months have past, of this cultural zeitgeist about Gemini being the worst sign. I’m personally not amused! haha but I will say on this that Gemini has a rap for lying. If we want to be more realistic and compassionate about this we may note that self-constancy is not held as a premium for the Gemini archetype. Gemini is capable of loyalty in love or in the heart; but it would rest well on the freedom to shape shift, for one to not get locked in to a particular identity; when Gemini is many. We may take care not get possessive (shadow side of Venus) to the surface (Gemini), in which we take what is happening there or what is being said there as the bottomline reality. It takes multiple shakes of the order to see what remains every time the order is shaken up.

Mercury in Cancer square Uranus in Aries: 5:51 PM PDT

• Now that Mercury has opposed Pluto and helped us become more aware of, and perhaps integrate, our shadow, we also meet the force of liberation… how does this new awareness set us free? If we are trying to control things or keep things the same, how nervy and short-circuity are we getting? (Pluto asks for change.)
• Not all new awarenesses can be integrated right away; some new awarenesses also break up the pre-existing cohesion (Cancer, think water molecules that stick together) and as a result can create both insecurity and the potential for radical new ways of thinking, epiphanies.

May you experience the best of tidings this week… thank you for meditating on the planets with me! I love and read all of your comments so please let me know how your week is going! Sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox. As some of you know, I’m writing a book about the yogas of a personal astrology practice. It will be released when I hit my first Patreon goal. You can contribute here.

~Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She also enjoys kundalini and ashtanga yoga, hiking and creative writing.