The astrology for this week of July 18th through the 24th of 2022 could have us grumpy and feeling victimized to begin the week only for us to throw off despair at the end of the week as we engage full summertime delights.
And why wouldn’t we feel victimized when it seems as though the powers-that-be are acting out a Keystone Kops rendition or behaving as clueless engineers on a runaway train? Where’s the competence? Where’s the functional?
This past Friday, we learned that the inflation rate in the US eclipsed the estimated inflation increase to 9.1% from a year earlier, the largest increase in 40 years. In June, gas prices in the US hit a record high with the national average being $5.01, significantly higher in parts of California. Gas prices have eased, but food costs continue to suffer from the two characteristics of inflation — rising prices and smaller packaging. In many areas, the red, hot housing market has stalled as interest rates and consequently mortgage rates have gone up.
Although we might feel that we are living in a dystopia as we begin this week, it would be wise to remind ourselves that people who preceded us had been there before. We might want to keep in mind the words that Thomas Paine wrote in The Crisis:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
No matter how pissy we might start this week, we get more energized as the week unfolds. We get fire in our belly this week as first Mercury then the Sun exit Cancer to enter Leo.
The mid-week period may have us trying to push our way through any obstacles. We just have to be wary of the pushback that could entail.
The weekend can be close to idyllic as we concentrate on fun and games. Let the powers-that-be act out their crazy antics. We want none of it. Yes, we’ll play the cards that we’re dealt, but we won’t allow the challenges to overwhelm us or dampen our summertime fun. We are liable to fall into the summertime blues early in the week, but we won’t give it much play this weekend.
Monday, July 18th – Grumpy, Old, Young, Middle-aged – Mercury, Pluto, Moon Void-of-Course, Venus, Jupiter. Monday begins this week with the Pisces Moon trine Mercury and the Moon sextile Pluto in the early morning hours. The Moon then goes Void-of-Course for four and a half hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Pisces and before the Moon enters Aries where the Moon squares Venus early in the day and the Moon conjuncts Jupiter late in the day. Mercury opposes Pluto. After a weekend that might have seemed close to idyllic and a time when we got out of town, whether literally or figuratively, we start the week wishing and hoping and praying that hard cold reality of constant negative bombardment is but a nasty dream from which we shall wake up and find ourselves back in the reveries of the weekend. It just might not be so. Monday and Tuesday are liable to bring out the grumpiness in each of us. Our fuses are likely to be short with any slight annoyance triggering a lash out. We may feel put upon by the incidents occurring in the world that affect our moods, our finances and our good times. We do not have to play the victim card. Too many people have been conditioned into the ‘poor me’ mindset, and while that might benefit the person on the short-term, the long-term consequence of such a disposition rains down continuous misfortune and self-disempowerment. If we go there, these times will only chew us up and spit us out with little concern for the emotional or physical wreckage in its wake. Let’s allow ourselves to be grumpy without it being our accepted constant disposition.
Tuesday, July 19th – Uncomfortable in One’s Own Skin – Sun, Pluto, Mercury Leo. The Moon continues its transit of Aries without making any connections to the planets today. The Sun opposes Pluto, and Mercury exits Cancer to enter Leo [8:35 AM EDT]. Monday and Tuesday of this week are two days when we might have a sense that the powers-that-be are not operating in our favor but rather to their own agenda. Already, popular protests have overthrown the President in Sri Lanka. We have seen the Dutch farmers in mass protest against agricultural restrictions imposed under the guise of the green transformation agenda. The Prime Minister of Italy tried to resign, his resignation refused, the Israeli government collapsed, and the Prime Minister in Estonia resigned. Add to the fall or disempowerment of government leaders in the UK with Boris Johnson’s resignation, the electoral defeats in parliament for Macron in France, et al., and it seems as though the powers-that-be are being rocked by popular demand of ‘enough is enough’. While we are being impacted by the actions of government agencies, we have our individual lives to attend to. We might be grumpy as we start this week with Monday and Tuesday having us raging against the machine. But we might also discover that we are getting more fire in our belly, thanks to the increase in Fire this week, first with Mercury entering Leo today and then with the Sun entering Leo on Friday. No matter how uncomfortable external reality might seem, we are looking out for number one, focusing on doing our thing and enjoying our process.
Wednesday, July 20th – Forging Ahead – Saturn, Lunar T-Square, Pluto, Sun, Moon Void-of-Course, Mercury, Venus. Wednesday has the Aries Moon sextile Saturn and the Moon triggering a Cardinal Sign T-Square as the Aries Moon squares Pluto in Capricorn and the Moon squares the Sun in Cancer. The Moon then goes Void-of-Course for four hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Aries and before the Moon enters Taurus. The Taurus Moon today squares Mercury and the Moon sextiles Venus. We may have great intentions as we start this Wednesday. Perhaps the grumpiness we might have felt over the past two days we have now decided to channel into action. While we can feel impelled to push ahead with our plans, we could experience a pushback. Either our responsibilities may inhibit our forward movement, or our own reticence might have us stalling out. This is a day for us to engage humility, acknowledge the conditions in which we find ourselves, and recognize that these times often experience start and stop scenarios. We might be adamant about what we want to do and how we want to do it, but a better course of action would be to gauge whichever way the wind blows and act in accord with shifting parameters. One of our lessons during this paradigm shift is to realize that we are moving from sequential progression of beginning, middle, end, into asequential reality where things occur in a most inexplicable manner and often with little deference to the ways we want things to be. Increasingly, we have to accept a disposition of going with the flow. Today is one of those days to accept the transformation of varied twists and turns, or just choose to bang our head repeatedly against the wall. Our choice, always our choice.
Thursday, July 21st – Doing What Can Be Done – Mars. After a day yesterday which could have had us caroming from one frustration to another, this Thursday offers us the ability of taking things step by step. The Taurus Moon conjuncts Mars today. Part of the human condition is a characteristic of stubbornness, whereby once we determine what we want we can be persistent in trying to achieve our goal. Similar to a horse with blinders on, we are liable to go straight forward in the direction of our goal. Such behavior could have worked for us in times past, less so during these disruptive times when things change in virtually a nanosecond and change in the most unexpected ways. This Thursday calls for us to focus on the details and attend to the specifics. We might prefer to concentrate on the big picture, our view of the ultimate achievement, but to do so would close us off to the many variables we could encounter along the way. It would be far better for us to keep our head down, do what we need to do, take things step-by-step, and accomplish many mundane tasks rather than taking on too great a project. This Thursday can prove to be the most effective and productive day of the week. We just have to be certain that we don’t get in our own way but keep on track with our obligations and daily affairs.
Friday, July 22nd – Will He, Won’t He – Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, Moon Void-of-Course, Sun Leo. After what might have been a rather placid Thursday, Friday ramps up the energy. The Taurus Moon conjuncts Uranus, the Moon squares Saturn, the Moon sextiles Neptune, and the Moon trines Pluto before the Moon goes Void-of-Course for five and a half hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Taurus and before the Moon enters Gemini early on Saturday morning. The Sun exits Cancer and enters Leo [4:07 PM EDT]. Last year’s nemesis of the Saturn Uranus square is engaged with the theme of old and new back in play. Although each of us is going through our own struggles with our old and our new, we are certainly seeing the whole realm of old and new playing out on the geopolitical level. With the US going through its Pluto return, the US is going through a major transformation. The days of American Exceptionalism may be over as under the guise of diversity, equity and inclusion our society reaches for mediocracy over the meritocracy of excellence. While the western nations have held sway over global interests, the unipolar world is dissolving and transforming into a multipolar world. While Theodore Roosevelt asserted a foreign policy of ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’, present western interests seem to affirm international interaction as largely ‘shot loudly and waft a twig’. Despite sanctions imposed upon the Russians by the western nations, these sanctions have proven largely ineffective as many western nations have done end runs and skirted the sanctions to get their necessary procurements. The sanctions have also proven ineffective as Russia shifted from western nations customers to other trading partners. Sanctions on the Russians have also proven to be self-sabotaging as they contribute to the high increases in various consumer costs in the western nations. The speed of this metamorphosis from a unipolar to a multipolar world may be ever more evident on this Friday, the 22nd of July, when the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that transports natural gas from Russia to Germany is scheduled to come back online after routine maintenance. If the Russians decide not to turn on the pipeline flow, the consequences for the European nations, for their economies and their citizens, could be drastic. Although it is hard to imagine that Russia will go to such an extreme and deliver severe hardship to the peoples of the western European nations, there can be little doubt that the Russia incursion of Ukraine has escalated into a Russia NATO confrontation. Let’s hope and pray that wiser minds hold sway, even if such a hope would demand close to a miracle. We are in a paradigm shift, and each of us needs to see where we have been and imagine where we could eventually be both as an individual and for our society.
Saturday, July 23rd – Dodged a Bullet, Party All the Time – Sun, Jupiter, Mercury. Saturday has the Moon entering Gemini where today the Gemini Moon sextiles both the Sun and Mercury both in Leo, and the Moon sextile Jupiter in Aries. Mercury trines Jupiter. Whether we are truly aware of what is going on in the world, willing to accept or discredit the official narrative, or are totally oblivious to the geopolitical shenanigans, this Saturday is a day when we personally may feel as though we have dodged a bullet and are ready to put on our party hats. Although prices are liable to stay high with volatility of both increased costs and lowered costs, people have a very short memory. If we feel that prices have stabilized or trending downward, we can have a sense that things have normalized. Oh, those rose-colored glasses. This Saturday is a day when we could be feeling upbeat, ready and able to spread our wings, and looking to reach beyond the far horizons. With the Sun and Mercury both in Leo and both positively aspected by the Moon today, we are in fun mode, out for good times with good friends. We are likely feeling upbeat, confident and optimistic that we can make better days through better ways in the days ahead. No Eeyores or Debbie Downers for us today. No parade rainers are likely to dampen our spirits. This Saturday is one of those days when we can have all flags flying, feeling exuberant and enthusiastic about our future prospects. Here’s to the good times today and in the days ahead.
Sunday, July 24th – On Laurels. Sunday continues with the Gemini Moon, but the Moon makes no aspects today. There may not be a great deal of heightened energy today, and we might be riding off the surf of yesterday’s waves of energy. The unaspected Gemini Moon today allows us a blank slate. We may be more interested in trying various diverse activities with a desire to do a little of this and a little of that with neither time constraints nor time commitments. Variety is the tenor of this day with an appreciation that variety is the spice of life. This weekend is a time for us to fully enjoy ourselves and engage in fun summertime activities. This week has had both Mercury and the Sun enter Leo with it now being the time of the season for fun and games. Let’s all en joy good times today whether with good friends or solo and embrace the lyrics of the classic country song:
“Make the world go away
And get it off my shoulders”.
