Evolution of Heart & Home: Astrology of 7/17 – 7/23

The eclipses are freshly behind us, but we’re still in eclipse season – that two week window both before and after the eclipses where we’re in a transformative portal and a bit of a time warp! Mercury is also currently retrograde, and this week re-enters the sign of Cancer. Venus in Cancer will oppose Pluto in Capricorn this week, bringing transformation and maturation in matters of self-esteem and love. The eclipses also took place on the Cancer-Capricorn axis, so a lot of what we’re working with at this time is about emotional development and maturity. We may be experiencing new levels of lucidity around how our past experiences and upbringing imprinted us, and how we might like to unravel some of the conditioning we picked up.

Thematically, we are also working with the duality of parent and child, caretaker and the cared for, and the ways that we connect with either archetype. How do we hold space for our own emotions? Do we know how to work on *our stuff* that we’re tempted to project onto another to handle for us? There are opportunities to develop deeper presence with self-care and being our own ally in places we have previously felt we needed another to do that for us (dependence). Alternately, are we able to let people in or are we always projecting the identity of “having it together”? Even if we are successful at playing such a role, it’s possible there are unaddressed/repressed emotions underneath that mask & that allowing another to hold space for us would help us mature emotionally.

Wherever we’re at, this week brings us opportunities to mature and step into our authority in a more holistic sense – working with our feelings and our vulnerabilities keeps us in tune and authentic.

At the end of the week, the Sun enters Leo adding some fire, flair, and romance to our sky… more on this below!

Welcome back! In case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’ve been writing these weekly astrology forecasts for four years now. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the vibe may feel like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox, sign up for my mailing list here.

Latest on the Magic of the Spheres Podcast: I had a fun conversation with Morgan Hopson about cultivating sexiness and eroticism. This is like having an erotic relationship to the fabric of reality and the whole environment, like the way clothes feel on our skin, or the smells we take in around us, or the things that catch our eye in a room and excite us — and not just erotics with a particular person, though these erotic relationships with other people are often extensions of the erotic energy that we cultivate within ourselves. We talked about the importance of value of cultivating the erotic and you’ll find some activating, grounding advice in this episode about how to increase intimacy with yourself and your relationship to the rest of the world around you!

Here’s our week:

July 18, 2019

Venus in 18 Cancer trine Neptune in 18 Pisces: 11:03 AM PDT

• While Venus is also making harsher aspects to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn right now, this trine to Neptune acts like a pressure release valve. We may be experiencing instances where we become more tender and compassionate (or encounter others who are) in the face of harsh judgements we feel toward ourselves and others. This is a kind of emotional healing that is occurring right now.

• We can be drawn to cozy spaces with ambiance that transports us into another realm – or if we enter such spaces, we are more likely to experience the Venus-Neptune field. Beautiful, nurturing, aesthetically exquisite spaces can open our hearts and bodies to heightened feelings and inspirations, downloads of possibility, and effortless sense-making of events that have occurred in the past.

• Small, intentionally cultivated settings like a bath with candles or a mini-altar we set up while traveling can also be portals into the Venus-Neptune space. It’s just some kind of magical nest, no matter how elaborate or DIY.

July 19, 2019

retrograde Mercury re-enters Cancer: 12:42 AM PDT

“There are two kinds of witnessing: compassionate and dispassionate. In compassionate witnessing we observe from a loving perspective. It is like looking at photos in a family album. We are suffused with a kindly feeling with no sense of grasping. We look at let go as we move onto what may appear on the next page. In dispassionate witnessing, on the other hand, we look with passive indifference. We are stolid and unmoved, with no expectancy for what comes next or appreciation of what has gone before. This is like looking at the scenery from a train window. We simply watch it go by without inner responsiveness. Mindful witnessing is compassionate witnessing, a committed presence free of fear or clinging.

Mindfulness is watchfulness more than watching. We look at reality as custodians of its truth. Sister Wendy Beckett says great artists make great paintings because they have learned ‘to look without fixed ideas of what is fitting.’ This is mindfulness. It can be either consciousness without content (pure awareness with no attention to any particular issue or feeling) or consciousness with content (attention without ego intrusions, called mindfulness of the mind).

…Mindfulness is thus a courageous venture because it is trusting that we have it in us to hold and tolerate our feelings, to grant them hospitality no matter how frightening they may seem, to live with them in equipoise. We then discover a strength within us that is the strength of self-discovery. From that self-esteem comes effective relating with others. Because mindfulness leads us to let go of the ego by letting go of fear and grasping, it is an apt tool for healthy relating.” – David Richo from The Five Keys to Mindful Loving

• Retrograding Mercury’s return to Cancer is an opportunity to put more intention and thought into matters of emotional intelligence. We may be learning how to process and understand aspects of our experience which we did not feel like we could grip before. We may notice that we have opportunities to slow down and notice and name how we are feeling instead of bypassing our instinctual emotional responses for lack of ability to contextualize them.

• We can be gaining more discernment at this time about our egos and personalities. We may have become more self-aware, for example, about a particular pattern or trait we are running, and we start to notice it more than we are purely living in it. This element of detachment or analysis allows us to see that we are more than these personality traits that we have. We can loosen some of these traits and let go of them the more that we understand we are not defined by our personalities. We can also intentionally add in certain traits that we would like to pattern into ourselves.

• What is the point of this personality-editing? When we adjust our behaviors, we have different experiences of self and of relationship, and life becomes full of novelty and new possibility. Personality structures often attract the very thing they are defending against. For example, someone with “clingy” or “grasping” type of behavior is terrified of abandonment, but the very clinging they are doing constellates others abandoning them. This person may truly desire intimacy and connection, but their personality traits act as a block until they can be loosened up and altered.

• To change a personality trait, we have to be aware of it and have ideas for what alternatives could be. Mercury retrogrades are great times for accelerated learning in areas of refinement, like self-help books or reading about psychology or relationship. Pay attention to what you’re wanting to learn more about or refine, what questions you have, and the doors of research and synchronicity open to the curious seeker.

July 21, 2019

Venus in 21 Cancer opposite Pluto in 21 Capricorn: 1:32 AM PDT

• We can be experiencing transformations in how we feel safe in relationship with others. This looks different to each individual depending on where strengths and weaknesses are. But here are some examples: learning how to care for ourselves more and projecting less need onto others, allowing ourselves to be more transparent/vulnerable, holding other people with more care, being more tender with ourselves, taking the leap to get proper assistance in our transformation (seeing a therapist, coach, etc.), unhooking ourselves in the places we get addicted to pain, drama, or intensity for the sake of intensity, developing healthier or more adaptive boundaries.

• We may be letting go of wounds/fears we have in love – releasing them by forgiveness or acknowledging that things have changed with time.

• Power and authority issues can come up in relationships. It can be worthwhile to note any ways that we either project power onto others and defer, or allow others to project power onto us and defer to us. Some situations this may feel more appropriate than others. However, in certain situations we may realize that these projections are not set in stone, and that we have more choice in the situation.

(Image: Giulia Rosa)

• Venus-Pluto can constellate compulsion around pleasure, love, and beauty. These compulsions can be so intense that we end up having to evolve or become more conscious in some way. Repressing our particular kind of intensity doesn’t work, but neither does running into compulsive situations with abandon. We are learning how to be in relationship with our drives and power. If you want evidence of this, look into the biographies of particularly inspiring, magnetic, or profound people. Much of their magnetism or allure is the result of their coming into relationship with their own power, often transforming and growing through significant obstacles or hurdles along the way.

Sun in 28 Cancer conjunct retrograde Mercury in 28 Cancer: 5:34 AM PDT

• As the Sun and Mercury align, think of the quality of looking at the Sun. One thing (the Sun) appears to us so brightly and intensely while other things are blinded out of view. During Sun-Mercury conjunctions, certain messages and communications come in that become the center of our attention, while other parts of the story only come into view later. We can both be mindful of what the messages are at this time, as well as patient that more will come to light soon.

• In Cancer, these messages can be around our interior/inner life, home life, our family life, our vulnerabilities and our defenses.

July 22, 2019

Sun enters Leo: 7:50 PM PDT

• Leo Season begins! Following the connection we’ve made with roots, family, home, and our feelings in water sign Cancer, the fire element gets turned up with Leo. It’s a playful time. 

• While not an earth sign, which normally correlates to the embodiment, Leo has a connection to the fun we can have with our bodies through things like dance, or physically adorning ourselves with costume, jewelry, new hairstyles, etc. Think of how vision or spirit shines through the body, when it comes to Leo. The joy we connect to shines through us.

• Generosity of spirit is a major Leo theme. When we are in tune with our connection to fun and playfulness, we have the capacity to brighten other people and invite them into the fun. 

• Leo can also have to do with the masks we wear in order to not be vulnerable – how we put a side of ourselves forward that we want other people to see but would not like them to see what we deem as less magnificent or more mundane parts of ourselves. This is one face of the Leo lion – and there is usually a kitten behind that lion. We may think of ways to share love with both the lion and the kitten faces in this scenario, without needing to privilege or shame one of them in comparison to the other. 

• Leo Season can highlight or magnify importance and value we place on romance. Romance in the most direct or obvious sense, as well as “romancing” life and our friendships. In one sense, romance is about placing attention and boldness onto the other – making displays, being generous, and generating a playful, spontaneous field. Romance can be, and often is, actively created. It gives birth to experiences and feelings which would not exist otherwise. Experiment with breathing creative life into ordinary situations. Leo takes pleasure in lighting others up – how making jokes gets people to laugh, their faces and whole bodies in reaction. Our confidence feels boosted as others wake up and respond to our bold playfulness. In a more intimate sense, Leo is also a very sexual sign, enjoying creativity in that domain as well – with a similar quality of feeling boosted as one arouses others.

• Leo Season is a great time to have fun with playing with others and discovering how others respond to us, and being generous in our responses to others.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! I really appreciate you being here with me as I know that if you connect to this writing we have likemindedness and that is so special. Please share this article with a friend who you think would resonate!

Please let me know what you think in the comments – truly I want to know so leave a note! I love you and you are tribe to me, thank you for finding your way to these words and resonating with them in whatever ways you have.

If you would like more personalized guidance, I would love to read your natal chart and transits for you! If you would like me to explore the themes in your chart, book a reading with me here.

I meditate on charts before the reading and combine my knowledge of astrology with my clairvoyant abilities to offer you some insights about themes you are working with in this life based on prior lives, and what is the evolutionary purpose of this lifetime. I recorded an episode on my podcast recently titled Befriending your Intuition and Clairvoyance if you’d like to learn more about my relationship with clairvoyance along with tips for increasing yours!

I can work with your specific questions and shed light on ongoing issues or patterns you would like to shift, as well! Book with me here.

I’m also becoming increasingly expressive on instagram and love connecting with people there, so go find me there @sabrinamonarch and say hello!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She is a novelist and is currently pursuing her masters in Philosophy. She also enjoys kundalini yoga, meditation and ashtanga yoga.