As July kicks off Mercury is still out of bounds, and stays that way through July 7. As I mentioned last month, this period is good for listening to emotional hunches or intuitive hits, and an important time to favor the subjective as part of your thinking process.
Creative thinking could help you get past any mental dead ends you’ve been stuck on. But you have to open that door and walk through.
You just have to watch out for straying too far outside the reality zone. This is fine to do as part of a mental exercise or process, but then you want to bring what you find back down to earth for some reality testing. So this energy is well suited to creative exploration and inner work.
One of the biggest declination transits this month is a three-planet parallel between Venus, Mars and Jupiter. For those who look out for Venus-Jupiter aspects, this parallel could have been a good one to tap into for some of that powerful flow, and Mars is enhancing that energy this time around, which often signals a time for new starts.
But there’s a catch here. Venus is about to go retrograde, so my advice had we talked beforehand would have been to reflect on new starts but to consider waiting until after the Venus retrograde cycle for those projects that might feature Venus – like collaborations or partnerships. Still, this is a catalyzing energy, so while it might not have that “let’s kick this thing off” signal, it could still get the ball rolling in other ways.
This aspect is strengthened by Venus and Mars being conjunct in Leo at the same time. This points to creative flow, eros and flair as important ingredients in the mix.
On July 8 Mercury makes a parallel to Pluto while applying to the opposition. This could signal a transmission from the underworld – some information that we all need to look at but really don’t want to.
There are many big oppositional stories making the headlines. The Ukraine-Russia conflict is one. But on a little bit of a lighter note, I’m thinking about the launch of Meta’s newest app called Threads, an extension of Instagram that’s meant to replace Twitter. This app is released on July 6, with Mercury warming up to that opposition and parallel. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some oppositional style communications from the heads of the two companies. The media has already been fueling those flames with discussion of a “cage match” between Zuckerberg and Musk.
The last declination transit highlight I want to mention this month is Mars contraparallel and opposite Saturn on July 18. Mars-Saturn aspects are usually short lived, but in the moment one of them is hitting your chart directly, you can surely notice them! This one will be especially potent since Mars is contraparallel Saturn at the same time as the opposition.
When you have a declination aspect at the same time as the synergistic longitudinal one, you have a testimony of strength or emphasis.
From there, things get a little diffuse though, because Mars is in Virgo, while Saturn is in Pisces. Mars in Virgo isn’t quite as directly aggressive as say, Mars in Aries, but Mars is Virgo can sure get irritated easily, and let it out through critical feedback. On the receiving end is Saturn in Pisces, which doesn’t approach structure or authority with the same clarity of judgment as say, Saturn in Capricorn or Aquarius.
On the shadow side of potential, this feels a little more like an oppositional dynamic between someone who is feeling a bit down and defeated being jabbed by someone who’s a bit too harshly critical.
On the positive side, these two energies could balance each other out. Saturn can always help temper Mars, and Mars can help jumpstart Saturn out of the doldrums.
Virgo helps pisces stop wallowing in disarray and take that next step of constructive action, while Pisces helps Virgo take the first step toward healing, which is accepting what is just as it is and then applying improvements from that accepting space rather than the disgruntled energetic.
One big picture message is be ready for derailments, and take time to face either what’s blocking you, or what’s irritating you, while cultivating some patience, acceptance, and down to earth practicality.
By July 22, Mars is separating from the opposition and things may start to cool a little from there forward.
Alright, well that does it for this month’s declination report. To learn more about declination, check out my course Intro to Declination. And until next time, take good care.
Declination Dates for July 2023
- July 1 – Mercury out of bounds (through July 7)
- July 1 – Moon out of bounds (through July 5)
- July 4 – Sun contraparallel Pluto
- July 4 – Venus parallel Mars parallel Jupiter (three planet parallel with Venus and Mars conjunct in Leo)
- July 8 – Mercury contraparallel Pluto (and opposite)
- July 10 – Sun parallel Mercury
- July 10 – Mars enters Virgo
- July 10 – Mercury enters Leo
- July 14 – Venus contraparallel Saturn
- July 18 – Mars contraparallel Saturn (and opposite)
- July 18 – Mercury parallel Uranus
- July 22 – Sun enters Leo
- July 24 – Mercury parallel Jupiter
- July 28 – Mercury enters Virgo
- July 29 – Mercury contraparallel Saturn (and opposite)
- July 31 – Sun parallel Uranus
