July
Changes—
July 22
Mercury retro
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JULY 2005 RETROGRADE WATCH  by Maya del Mar First, I’d like readers to dip into the Archives, and read the Retrograde column for January 2005. I wrote there about the huge earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in Indonesia at the end of last December. At that earthquake, the operative aspect was Saturn opposing Chiron. It was set off by an out-of-bounds full moon in Cancer. Well, this month, we have another Saturn-Chiron opposition, now set off by a full moon in Capricorn, encompassing the identical Capricorn-Cancer polarity. And again, the moon is out-of-bounds. This is the second full moon in Capricorn, and it strongly emphasizes the Cancer-Capricorn polarity—the major polarity in the U.S. chart. We also have a prominent Juno, being stressed for most of the month, in an earth sign. In her childhood, Juno was raised by the Four Seasons, and she is strongly associated with weather and earth events. She, too, was important at the tsunami event. Ceres, too, was involved then. She had just entered Scorpio, the sign of crisis, birth, and death, and Pluto’s sign, and she is still in Scorpio. Now she just turned direct at the end of June. Ceres in Scorpio can, literally, be the mother of destruction. Mercury does connect with all kinds of movements. This month he squares Juno, and at Full Moon, Mercury is stationary-retrograde, an unstable position. Major earth movements commonly occur when a planet is stationary. At the tsunami, Mercury had just turned direct. Whereas at the tsunami, Neptune, God of the Oceans, was the planet which left its mark on the Indonesian area, now we have Pluto, God of the Underworld, traversing vulnerable areas. The West Coast is perhaps the most vulnerable area right now. Mt. St. Helens seems a particular target, southern California next. The pinpointed date is July 21, around Full Moon, most likely in the early morning. It is prudent to be prepared for earth shakeups, no matter where we live. Earth is on the move. With that, let us launch into Mercury’s retrograde station. Mercury is the only planet (or asteroid) which changes direction in July, and also in August. This makes it highly featured. Mercury’s station is exact on July 22 at 11:00 p.m. EDT. At this moment, Mercury in Leo is part of a fixed sign T-square, which is a stressful formation. Fixed sign squares can be like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, especially when one of them is Taurus. Somebody or something has to give, but it will do so only under great pressure. Mercury is at 21 Leo (conjoined Bush’s Venus, his desire nature). It exactly squares Juno at 21 Taurus, and opposes Moon at 25 Aquarius. Exact squares tend to act quickly and forcefully. Mercury and Moon are in the 6th-12th houses of re-alignment. Juno is in the 2nd house of money-resources, the natural Taurus house, which adds to the Taurus influence. In past issues, I’ve talked about the lengthy Mars in Taurus period as relating, among other things, to the current shaky economic situation of the U.S. Mars enters Taurus before the end of the month, on July 28, while Mercury is retrograde. Moon is close to the U.S. Moon in Aquarius, speaking to the independent natures of the people of the U.S. We’ll be having that independence on our minds with this retrograde. Juno conjoins the U.S. Vesta. The U.S. Vesta in Taurus refers to the material values of this nation, and its facility at attracting money and resources. There are other strong influences now. Vesta is opposing Pluto, repeating the theme of transformation of investments of all types. Saturn is opposing Chiron in the first degree of Leo and Aquarius, a momentous opposition. Read General Influences and Daily Guide for discussions of this opposition. Re-alignment is the general action here. Rising in Washington DC is 29 Pisces, a Black Hole degree. Black Holes are energy vortexes, and they can suck up great quantities of energy. Read the Daily Success Guide for the last half of July to get a better fix on the climate of this Mercury station time. It is a very dynamic period. Mercury turns direct on August 15 at 9 Leo, conjoined Bush’s Mercury. The retrograde will have surely changed his thinking. Interesting that Mercury retrogrades conjoining a Bush planet, and turns direct conjoining another. Want to know the planetary retrogrades for the year, in advance? Maya's handy, printable 2005 Retrograde Guide shows you at a glance the upcoming retrogrades for this year, and how to best apply your energies during each period. Available exclusively as a Premium Subscriber bonus. |