The Astrology Blog 1 August 2022
All times in BST
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
J.K. Rowling – b 31 July 1965, Sun 8 Leo
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/J._K._Rowling
“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.”
Wayne Dyer – b 10 May 1940, Sun 19 Taurus conjunct Uranus 21 Taurus
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Wayne_Dyer
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SETTING INTENTIONS
Many people like to plan well ahead, something that I have to admit doesn’t come easily to my own Sag nature. There’s no such thing as “always” with astrological interpretations but I’ve noticed this many times over the years with the fire signs, or those with a lot of fire planets in their horoscope. But there’s a lot to be said for a positive lesson in terms of “setting intentions”. This is a practice that creates focus, not just for our future but in our daily lives too.
There are tons of features online on this subject but they all boil down to the same simple thing – achieving both small and big goals satisfies our taste for success that in turn makes us feel better about ourselves and therefore happier. This is different from an affirmation, which is a declaration aimed at reprogramming the way we think, which carries its own power and therapeutic benefits.
Setting an intention goes further as it’s a commitment to an action, especially something we already know we’ll enjoy or something that we know will make life better in some way. It can turn that “going nowhere” demotivated feeling into definite progress.
The obvious one for me is this weekly astrology blog. I set that intention years ago and, as regular readers know, it’s set in stone. Apart from time out 2016/7, with the tragedy of losing my sister Sue, I can count on one hand the times when I haven’t written a weekly blog during the last 15 years. To be able to pick the blog up again was a massive step in recovery, to a far greater extent than I’d ever anticipated.
This week, with Mercury the mind planet moving into his own sign of diligent Virgo and change loving Uranus playing a central role, feels like a promising time to set your own intentions. Uranus is the rug puller but also has brilliance and genius. He has a way of getting our attention, especially when we haven’t been listening or tuning in, as you will read in the next story.
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK?
Here’s your “at a glance” of the celestial calendar for the week ahead. We can see immediately that Venus and Mars are the lead players as they team up with each other and also with Uranus, and then move on to make other major aspects at the end of the week. This activity is all wrapped around Mercury quietly moving into his own feminine sign of Virgo (masculine sign being his better known rulership of Gemini) in the middle of the week –
Tuesday 2 August
- Mars conjunct Uranus 18 Taurus 00.54
- Venus 18 Cancer sextile Uranus 18 Taurus 13.26
Wednesday 3 August
- Venus 19 Cancer sextile Mars 19 Taurus 03.01
Thursday 4 August
- Mercury ingress Virgo 07.59
Sunday 7 August
- Venus 25 Cancer trine Neptune 25 Pisces 17.45
- Mars 22 Taurus square Saturn 22 Aquarius 20.58
URANUS
From what I’ve been reading there’s been a lot of dramatising or even alarmism about the Mars – Uranus conjunction, but this is not such a rare event as Mars has a 2 year cycle and therefore catches up with slow moving Uranus (84 year cycle) every two years.
So this is not like 2020 when the pandemic was reflected in the Saturn – Pluto conjunction (once every 34 years), the Jupiter – Pluto conjunction forming three times (once every 13 years) and the Great Conjunction of Jupiter – Saturn (once every 20 years). The slower the cycle of the planets involved, the more significant their events.
The only variation in the Mars – Uranus cycle is when Mars goes through his retrograde phase which are relatively rare (once every 25 months for periods of around 65-80 days at a time, so nowhere near as frequent as Mercury for instance, who is 3 times a year for 3 weeks at a time).
So you can see from this list that the last conjunction was actually 19 months ago as Mars had been retrograde Sept – Nov 2020 –
- 13 February 2019 – 29 Aries
- 20 January 2021 – 6 Taurus
- 1 August 2022 – 18 Taurus
- 15 July 2024 – 26 Taurus
- 4 July 2026 – 4 Gemini
From a craft point of view the assessment of any conjunction starts with the respective planets strength or weakness in that sign. In this case we have –
- Mars in detriment (as he rules the opposite sign of Scorpio)
- Uranus possibly in his sign of “fall”. The jury is still out on official signs of “exaltation” for the outer planets but the most popular idea is that Uranus is exalted (strongest) in Scorpio
So neither of these two planets are happy in this sign. This makes sense when we consider that Taurus is Fixed Earth, so Action Man Mars gets stuck here and rebellious Uranus has to explode or implode to get things moving. In other words, the planets and sign are a mismatch.
Taurus has a huge link to nature, produce and stability so this is sadly the stuff of natural disasters in terms of “out of our control” earth moving events, such as earthquakes or landslides. At the moment the top headline in the news are the wildfires raging through California, which have so far destroyed 52,000 acres of land, including forests and homes.
Uranus is displacement – literally (evacuation of California residents, Zelensky calling on residents of Donetsk to leave their homes and escape, just too horrific to imagine) and psychologically – eg when you hear yourself saying things like don’t take your bad mood/bad news/disappointment out on me!
Or when what should be a relatively minor event takes on huge significance. If a setback devastates us and overshadows everything else in our life for weeks on end (excluding bereavement), then it is probably disproportionate to the event. And when something is disproportionate then it usually means that it’s about something else, some trigger for old trauma. The pain, anger etc were not placed where they belonged at the time, so these feelings are still homeless and always looking for somewhere else to go.
In our day to day lives Uranus is quite simply the X factor, totally unpredictable but guaranteed to throw unexpected spanners in the works and upend the best laid plans. As I have natal Mars at nearly 19 degrees of Taurus this particular conjunction with Mars was always going to be one to watch (ie Mars Return AND Uranus transiting natal Mars for the first of three times) and in the run-up so far all I can say is that I’m hearing my own words, ie I always say Uranus is unknowable but you will know when he arrives!
Amreen Choudhury is a regular contributor on my Facebook group page The World of Astrology and last Thursday she’d posted how she was feeling the Mercury square Uranus, which was very powerfully aligned with both the New Moon and a stationary retrograde Jupiter all happening within about three hours of each other. For Amreen this took the shape of an exploding blender and a faulty kettle suddenly filling the kitchen with smoke. Uranus rules electricity and explosions of all kinds.
On that thread I added –
Similar stories here – my Mars is at nearly 19 Taurus – and Uranus starting to make presence felt. I have food (Taurus) poisoning that started last night, been lying in the aircon all day unable to eat a thing, a sudden gust of wind last night took my swing seat into the air off the back balcony and dumped it in the garden – thank god the dogs weren’t in the line of fire – and I brushed against a picture and it fell and smashed the glass. Let’s hope that’s it at least for today!!
Then yesterday (Sunday) I posted my update –
Back in the land of the living after the food poisoning episode, driving home this afternoon – bang! Hit something in the road, don’t know what, flat tyre …. a couple of hours later, in the garden, another bang, this time from inside the house. A shelf had collapsed in my bookcase in the study …. ok Uranus, I know you’re there lol!!!
This morning (Monday) got up to find another comment from Amreen –
Wow! Uranus is really letting his presence known to you repeatedly! That’s insane! Perhaps gently speak to Uranus to find out what he wants – I did that recently with Saturn.
The idea that this could be something more than a string of unfortunate Uranian events really resonated with me. I started to write a reply – keyboard wouldn’t work. Of course this was down to flat batteries but, again, interesting timing, no such thing as coincidences? I instantly remembered that the first thing I saw on the floor from the collapsed book shelf, and obviously the thing that had made the most noise as it was the only thing that was broken, was a keyboard. It’s a small attachable one that I used to use with a tablet so that I could type properly when away from my desk. And at the same time I also remembered that the last time I’d used it was 2016 when holed up in a hotel in Ioannina (2 hours away), where my sister was in hospital.
I changed the batteries and then consciously put the question out there, Uranus what do you want? The answer came back instantly – to stop being so busy, recharge your batteries and write your book, or even books! I then remembered Amreen had included in her original post the point that Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, planet of communication, including everything to do with books/writing.
I had already picked up all the fallen books last night and put them in a pile against the wall. Two of the books however I had put on my desk. I then saw this morning that these were called Higher Vibrational Living and The Wisdom of Near Death Experiences. Synchronicity is one of the ways in which meaning arises for us.
One of the books I want to write includes Sue’s story and my take on bereavement/the links to astrology. I have the sign of Aquarius on the cusp of my 3rd House, where we locate all Mercury concerns and also siblings, and this House is therefore co-ruled by Uranus in my own horoscope, who in turn is conjunct my Moon in the 9th, where we locate publishing and everything to do with education and the higher mind.
As all self respecting astrologers do, I timed the moment of getting the answer, 07.39. The chart had Moon at nearly 18 Virgo in the 2nd (the Taurus house in the natural sequence of things) and therefore applying immediately to a trine of Mars and then Uranus, who are both at 18 Taurus conjunct the North Node also at 18 Taurus, all in the 10th House (career, purpose).
The 10th is also authority and I think I need an agent, someone who will buy the risk rather than wanting me to self publish. So I’ll put that thought “out there”, and keep you posted!
VENUS, MARS & URANUS
When the love planets come together by a harmonious aspect this is good news. It indicates being in alignment with your other half/those closest to you, and is propitious either for meeting someone or for moving a new romance to the next level, including commitment. It’s also a great picture for job finding or money making.
BUT on this occasion we have Uranus in the mix too, by far the most dramatic bit being the Mars – Uranus conjunction which is exact as we tip into tomorrow, but has been in play for several days now and will continue to be the main hallmark of the week –
Tuesday 2 August
- Mars conjunct Uranus 18 Taurus 00.54
- Venus 18 Cancer sextile Uranus 18 Taurus 13.26
Wednesday 3 August
- Venus 19 Cancer sextile Mars 19 Taurus 03.01
So the hallmarks of Uranus are unmistakable – suddenness, the unconventional, the unusual, surprises, the “last thing I expected” type experiences and deciding to take some risks rather than always playing it safe. Great for breathing new life and some excitement into your relationship or for meeting new people, or for hearing news about engagements, weddings etc. “Up for anything” Uranus also rules groups and is great for adventures, doing things differently, getting involved with things in your community and anything that involves collaborative creativity.
The flipside is that Uranus is also about splits (including psychological ones, like displacement as outlined above) and is known as the divorce planet. So the alignment of these three planets can also bring news about couples splitting up or the discovery of affairs. Uranus just loves to raise eyebrows. Flipside also includes accidents so when it comes to risk taking don’t do anything crazy! Personally I’d give the bungee jumping a miss right now.
The Venus and Mars links to Neptune and Saturn respectively at the weekend may be linked to events unfolding in the first half of the week, or they may be about different threads running through the weave.
If you have planets or Angles at or very close to 18 degrees of Taurus/Scorpio or Cancer/Capricorn then the first half of the week is likely to be the most important for you. If you have planets or Angles at or very close to 22 degrees of Taurus/Scorpio or 25 Cancer/Capricorn then the second half of the week is more important, especially in terms of outcomes.
If you have Mars conjunct Uranus in your own horoscope, in any sign, then this is also likely to be a time of change for you. Similarly out in the world watch for news with those who have natal Mars conjunct Uranus, regardless of sign eg Johnny Depp 1 – 3 Virgo, Rihanna 29 Sag – 0 Capricorn, Sarah Jessica Parker 11 – 12 Virgo to name three.
And no, Mars square Saturn is not a great outcome, it’s the stuff of brick walls and speed bumps. It’s traffic jams or delays. It’s tiredness or cancellations. It’s trying to fix the unfixable. It’s having to accept that a plan/desire is being denied to you, either permanently or for the time being.
So don’t try to force anything or orchestrate anything, just let matters unfold. Next week is the one to watch in terms of finales. I just hope that Panos turns up this afternoon as promised to fix the aircon in my front room that “suddenly” stopped working last night! I’ve noticed many times that when Mars is being picked out in my own chart, not just with Uranus, that I need work(Mars)men(Mars) to do the jobs beyond my own expertise.
MERCURY INGRESS VIRGO
Thursday 4 August
- Mercury ingress Virgo 07.59
Mercury will be travelling through Virgo between 4 – 26 August. First aspect won’t be until 16 August with the trine to Uranus. For now note that this is an analytical combination and favours attention to detail. Virgo rules health and also rules work, not of the burning ambition career kind but of the daily wage kind, the things we do to pay the bills, to keep body and soul together.
But it’s also the sign of skills and crafts, so if you want to make a career change or learn something new now’s a great time to get started. The sign of Virgo often points us to what we’re good at, how to enjoy and benefit from our natural talents. Locate 0 degrees of Virgo in your own horoscope, clock the House position and watch that space,
Until next week, with love from Greece
Joanna