Illustration by @kyinskies
By Mystic Sandwich aka Andrea Javor
@mystic_sandwich
The astrological energy this summer may not be light, but it’s ripe with opportunities for inner work and evolution. As of late June, Mars is retrograde, and coming up, there is a New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse in Cancer on July 12th, and Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius on July 27th.
Mars is retrograde throughout July and August, bringing any misuses of Mars energy to the fore: aggression, anger, egoism. Take the opportunity to transmute your own use of Mars energy into a higher form, toward compassionate action, assertion, initiative. Work to express your anger truthfully and with compassion, and to use your energy wisely.
Eclipses are super potent lunations that block the flow of light offering a reset on the energy signified by the eclipse. They mark significant shifts, endings, and beginnings, and connect to stories that unfold over the course of each eclipse cycle which lasts approximately 18 months.
The Cancer eclipse is opposite Pluto and coincides with a Grand Water Trine and a Grand Earth Trine; offering a look into power dynamics while holding us in an intimate watery embrace and grounding us to Earth. It takes courage to confront power dynamics, whether within or without. Water helps us to be sensitive with ourselves and others, and Earth helps us stay practical.
The Aquarius eclipse is conjunct Mars and is bound to reveal with more clarity and intensity what Mars retrograde wishes to teach us. With Mars on the South Node, we’re asked to release misaligned uses of Mars and Aquarius energy: selfish isolation or checking out, being too much in the head, deferring to thought and dogma rather than reality, prioritizing the group to the expense of the individual, groupthink, conformity or misdirected rebellion.
Aries
Aries are known for their forward movement; their initiative and impulse. But with Mars, your ruling planet, moving backwards this summer, if you continue in this way, you will meet with frustration, confrontation, and perhaps even illness or injury. It’s in your nature to go go go until you collapse. Now is the time to break this habit, and take rest before burning out. The Cancer eclipse highlights family dynamics, and work-life balance. You may confront power struggles in your career, whether from within or without, which offers an opportunity to grasp the deeper currents at work–what motivates you and others–and to clear out selfish uses of power. You’ll transform your career by owning your own internal sources of power and using it for the good of others. The Aquarius eclipse will show you your misuses of energy, and catapult you toward truer self expression and warmth.
Taurus
Mars retrograde in your career house suggests this is not the time to push forward, but rather to slow down, consider the work you’ve done so far, think about how you use your energy, contemplate the way you express anger or frustration. This is the time to refine the way you take action, it’s not the time to act. The Cancer eclipse mid-month activates your mind and reveals to you the bedrock of your beliefs if you are brave enough to look. One of the fastest ways to evolve is to grasp the assumptions underlying thought pattern and to release those that–now that they are in the light of day–are starkly false or misguided. As your worldview evolves, so too will you. While we’ve been working with Mars retrograde since late-June, the Aquarius eclipse at the end of July will shine a light on this story making it more obvious. Your work at the end of the month is to SEE; to gain insight into the particulars of what Mars retrograde wishes to show you.
Gemini
This summer is more conducive to inner rather than outer journeys, and to learning and growing through slowing down, getting quiet, listening; contemplating yourself, your beliefs, your past, and your ways of engaging with the world. You are an expert learner. Learn to learn by going within rather than (or in addition to) taking courses, reading books, and talking with others. The Cancer eclipse brings up themes around money and resources. There is a potential new beginning when it comes to valuing yourself and providing for yourself, if you take a good look at how you share, and the psychology underpinning your relation to money. The Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month activates your mind, and may reveal the specifics of what Mars is showing you about how your beliefs affect your actions.
Cancer
There is an incredible opportunity for you this month to end a chapter and begin a new one. Mars retrograde in your eighth house, brings you face to face with your karma, as the effects of past actions now deliver consequences in the realms of shared resources (space, energy, money, etc.), intimacy, and death (metaphorical or figurative). With Mars in this area and Pluto opposing you, you may be tempted to see others as the cause of your pain, and the ones who hold the power over you. Own your own power, Cancer. No dynamic is cause by one person alone. Be accountable for your role in creating the dynamics within your relationships. If it’s time to move on, do so; don’t get stuck in victimhood. The New Moon in your sign is super charged this years as it’s also an eclipse. It offers you a rare opportunity to shed some layers and move up a level. The Aquarius Lunar eclipse punctuates Mars’ work on your eighth house and likely coincide with an event that makes the Mars story more obvious and presents a clear opportunity to release, walk away, and move on.
Leo
Mars is retrograde in your seventh house giving you the summer to consider how you engage in relationship. When there is friction, or confrontation, or argument, what is the pattern? Are you able to communicate your feelings and needs with respect? Are you able to honour the individuality and beauty of the souls you are close to? The New Moon eclipse in Cancer shines a light on your unconscious, perhaps revealing to you some aspects of yourself that had until now been hidden. As the shadow arises, harness all the compassion you offer to others and give that to yourself. Witness yourself without judgement. That’s how we become more whole and heal. Finally the Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month highlights the self-other polarity and offers you a chance to hit the reset button on relationship dynamics. Commit to yourself and your own development and your relationships will flourish.
Virgo
Mars is retrograding in your sixth house, encouraging you to rest, do less, and attend to your health. If health issues arise, or if you’ve been putting off getting something checked out, do it now. Listen to the subtle messages of your body before they have to get loud. Attend to minor aches and pains. Refine (or adopt) a physical practice. The Cancer eclipse mid-month highlights networks, friend groups, and organizations. With Pluto in your fifth house, honour your own uniqueness, your means of self-expression, and your individuality even as you engage in social life and participate in groups or causes. The Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month brings more focus to your health, your schedule, and your desire to be of service. Seek to unite these themes with your spirituality; stay connected to your Self and inner resources even as you engage in mundane everyday life. This will give you more energy, power, and inspiration.
Libra
Play, recreation, pleasure, sports, games, creativity, sexuality. These are easy to neglect but are just as important as any other area of life. As Mars backtracks through your fifth house, you have an opportunity to consider how you engage with these areas of life. Do you take time to play, to laugh, to have fun? This would be an ideal time to return to an activity or hobby that you used to enjoy but have set aside. The Cancer eclipse in your tenth house lights up your career–specifically the work you feel called to, whether or not you earn money from it. This magic can help you align more fully with that work. With Pluto opposite the New Moon, attending to power dynamics at home will take you further in your career. At the end of the month, the Aquarius eclipse calls on you to release recreational habits that waste your energy (partying or drinking too much, gambling, playing too many video games. etc), and embrace your social life.
Scorpio
Mars is your ruling planet, meaning you will feel its backward movement more than most. This summer is not the time to push, to work hard, to make things happen. It’s the time to find a different way, the way of the water coursing down the mountain, taking the path of least resistance; allow things to happen, work internally to attract what you desire, do less, try less, push less. The Cancer eclipse may reveal to you some of your own until now hidden beliefs around power. Perhaps you want power more than you realize, or maybe you avoid it, assuming it’s negative. Power is only negative when used for selfish gain, then it contorts the soul and causes pain. Own your own power, and vow to use it for the good of all. The Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month brings the attention to home and family. Consider how you’ll move forward in this area come September when Mars is going forwards again.
SAGITTARIUS
Mars retrograde in your third house suggests backtracking or slowing down when it comes short distance travel, vehicles, siblings, and communication. Ripe with opportunities for facing your own frustration and anger, keep in mind that the universe conspires to frustrate you so that you can change the way you respond when things don’t go as planned. The Cancer eclipse mid-month is an opportunity to release greed or scarcity consciousness; to see that humans need not compete with one another. When we cooperate, there enough for everyone; when we share, we all benefit. The Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month brings the Mars story to a peak, asking you to release misuses of Mars (holding onto anger, controlling others, pushing, forcing) and embrace joy, intuition, play, and adventure.
Capricorn
Mars has you backtracking over how you manage your finances, and asks you to look at how you value yourself. Income may slow down temporarily, in order that you consider how you earn: do you push, do you work really hard, do you make it happen? We’ve been taught that working hard is good, but this summer, the astrology conspires to have you consider that perhaps there is another way; an easier way, a gentler way. Try it as an experiment: see what happens when you simply allow. When you attract abundance rather than making it happen. The Cancer eclipse offers you a new beginning in relationship if you reconsider how you use power. Do you manipulate or control others? Most of us would say no, but yet most of us do indeed manipulate and control in subtle ways that take great awareness and self-knowledge to see. SEE IT. Accept your innate power and vow to use it for the good of all. Vow to allow others their own freedom and their own power. The Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month asks you to open your heart and share yourself and your resources.
Aquarius
Mars is retrograding through your sign so YOU are bound to be the one backtracking, going within, reconsidering, and coming face to face with your own anger, frustration, and use of will. I won’t lie, it’s not always a pleasant transit, but it’s ripe with opportunity to transmute your use of Mars: to release patterns that do nothing but waste your energy such as holding onto anger, checking out, living in your head, rebelling in a reactionary way, falling into group think, going against the grain out of habit rather than principle, forcing things through rather than going with the flow. The Cancer eclipse offers you a new beginning in health, daily routines, and work–should you work with Mars, and acknowledge your shadow when it arises. With Pluto in your twelfth house opposite the eclipse, you may see that you desire power and engage in power plays more than you realized. See it to release it. Finally the Aquarius eclipse at the end of the month is a super potent opportunity to hit the reset button on all these themes and come into yourself and your relationships more fully.
Pisces
With Mars retrograde in your twelfth house, you may discover that you have some deeply repressed anger or frustration. Such a discovery is good news! Seeing it, means you can address it and let it go. And when you do so you will feel so much lighter and have more energy at your disposal! Work on expressing rather than repressing your anger. The Cancer eclipse offers a new beginning when it comes to recreation, pleasure, children, and creative-self expression. There is a need to address power dynamics within your social networks and society at large. Forget about what others want of you; now is the time to embrace your own unique and creative way of being and expressing yourself. The Aquarius eclipse shines light on the Mars story, revealing more of what has been until now unconscious. Such a purge can propel you toward being of service and engaging in your everyday affairs with more energy and enthusiasm.
Andrea Javor is an astrologer, writer, and yoga teacher based in Vancouver BC. Her offerings include private readings, event readings, workshops, and yoga classes. She’s passionate about using yoga as a tool to understand astrology in a deeper, more embodied way. Currently she’s studying Evolutionary Astrology in the tradition of Jeffrey Wolf Green. For more information, see her website,www.mysticsandwich.com/.
