July 2014 Astrology Trends
Mercury turns direct in Gemini July 1, allowing us to breathe and move forward. What a relief after a Mercury retrograde that should have come with orange hazard cones for many of us.
The Capricorn full Moon occurs on July 12. As we lead up to this full Moon, think about what you need or would like to clear away so you can be free to express the many gifts you have to give the world. Capricorn is the sign of the builder and each of us has purpose inside us--things that delight us to dance out of bed in the morning. What would you truly like to build? Even if you just do the imagination work at the time of this Capricorn full Moon, it will be powerful energy to help shift your life toward your destiny. If you can take action on the twelfth--any small action--you will add oomph.
Late in the evening (10:23 PM MDT) on July 12, Mercury will move into Cancer, so the mood will slow down after the twelfth and communications will become more reflective and sentimental again, and you may return to focusing on family or home--although nothing as chaotic as the retrograde period in June. If your mind does not happen to fall on family or home matters, you may also find the latter half of the month to be a nice time to focus on creating or enjoying music.
The most intense days for this influence appear to be July 19-22, when the energies will be expanded to help you transform whatever you may need to adjust or release (which may be adjusting or releasing the way you think about something--or learning some new mental habits).
Another influence that supports a shift right around this time period is Jupiter moving from Cancer into Leo. Jupiter is a planet that kicks off activity in our lives often, expanding opportunities and providing beneficial expansion in the energetic arenas it travels through. For a while, it has been traveling through the energetic arena of family and home (Cancer), but now it will move into Leo--which means to look for opportunities in leadership or in looking at the big picture; with children and playfulness; in storytelling and drama, and in the movies--or in any area where we "shine" like the sun (the planetary ruler of Leo). Our passions may take center stage instead of our sentiments.
In the deeper, spiritual sense, this means to look for opportunities to understand identity and the space from which identity springs. If we expand a spiritual practice of identifying with source energy instead of identifying with our personalities, I think we'll live happier and more fulfilled lives. Consider the teachings of Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle, for example.
The new Moon in Leo on July 26 offers a lot of extra energy to this Jupiter influence, as well. It's as if the whole last few weeks of the month are asking us to shift into a sunny, fairly social mode, and I would recommend doing so with much heartfelt love, something that a higher-vibration Leo energy can well accomplish. Lower vibration Leo energy can be fraught with conflict, but high-level Leo energy is some of the happiest and warmest feeling energy around!
Learn Tarot
Sometimes, students and clients ask me how I came to be comfortable "doing tarot" when I used to be an engineer. Purportedly, an engineer is more respectable in younger people's eyes. I admit when I was younger, I cared what other people thought of me, too. Now, I have escaped that need and I am comfortable living according to my own preferences. I feel I can make up my own mind about what I like and what is meaningful to me. I like how Susyn Blair-Hunt answers this question in her book, so I will use an excerpt that explains succinctly why tarot is so popular.
In today's world, with so much going on around us, it's easy to get stuck in life's chaos. We operate on a physical plane, giving so much credence to science, physics, and the tangible, which dulls our instincts. Unable to access or even trust our intuition, we can be overcome with fear at any given time. Fear is the great paralyzer, and, as portrayed in the Devil tarot card, can undermine our progress, or make it impossible to connect with our spiritual selves and higher planes of being.
This is where the art of divination becomes essential. If we can gain affirmation and a sense of what is to come next or realize where we need to make changes, we can release our fears and relax. Once we do, spirit will always bring us the answer we seek. Tarot's ritualistic aspects can loosen the grip of fear created by misunderstandings or spiritual shortsightedness, guiding us forward in the most effective way possible.
Excerpt from "Tarot Prediction & Divination, Unveiling 3 Layers of Meaning" by Susyn Blair-Hunt.
Learn Astrology
Defining the 12 Signs of the Zodiac
In western astrology, there are four natural elements that are defined: fire, earth, air, and water. Each of these elements can operate in one of three ways: initiating (cardinal), consolidating (fixed), or alternating (mutable). In addition, the signs are considered to have an attribute of either feminine or masculine. Instead of referring to gender, feminine means a sign exhibits receptive qualities and masculine means a sign exhibits active qualities. You would think by now they'd come up with a more neutral way to say this. Made up of an element, an operation, and other attributes, each sign is a phase of experience.
ARIES: cardinal fire (masculine)
TAURUS: fixed earth (feminine)
GEMINI: mutable air (masculine)
CANCER: cardinal water (feminine)
LEO: fixed fire (masculine)
VIRGO: mutable earth (feminine)
LIBRA: cardinal air (masculine)
SCORPIO: fixed water (feminine)
SAGITTARIUS: mutable fire (masculine)
CAPRICORN: cardinal earth (feminine)
AQUARIUS: fixed air (masculine)
PISCES: mutable water (feminine)
The set of signs of the zodiac is a cycle of experience, and we are thought to incarnate through the various sun signs to complete a cycle of experience. Each sign is needed for our spiritual evolution.
Meditation
Even a little house contains many distractions that can disperse a person's attention to the point where they feel they have holes in their psychic energy. You look around and observe the physical objects in one room for example... From the inevitable clutter that comes from item packaging when you bring home a purchase (sitting near the trash and recycling bins) to iPods; tablets and smart phones placed on counters and their attendant chargers; electronic kitchen devices and groceries for the week's planned meals sitting about; books and blankets by the chair; crafts that you have planned and all their supplies; gifts for loved ones waiting for birthdays and cards for friends; televisions and magnetic to-do lists; things you are selling on eBay as you "downsize." These are just a few of the things to notice as you look around the room you inhabit.
It's difficult to know what to do first in a free moment...
"Knowing everyone's birthday is not the same as feeling the wonder of birth... [U]nderstanding the principles of aerodynamics has nothing to do with the experience of flying. If at times you feel numb or distanced from the essence of what you know, perhaps your mind is too full. Perhaps, like a bowl too full of fish, your deepest thoughts have no room to move. Information is not wisdom. If you cannot speak when your mouth is stuffed with unchewed food, how can you think clearly if your mind is stuffed with undigested information?" ~Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
A free moment is an important place to fully inhabit.
The ability to develop stillness deep inside is part of wisdom traditions throughout the globe, and if you have a preferred spiritual tradition you can likely learn paths to stillness via your particular spirituality. However, the important elements of stillness are paying attention to the moment (the present moment, as Eckhart Tolle calls it), and becoming aware of the experience of each action and interaction.
Inhabiting the moment means directly having the experience instead of analyzing or categorizing it. We can start with breathing and slowing down. We might need to release the information that has built up in our minds, often around the past or the future. Past stories we are telling ourselves. Future demands or plans--which are also stories we are telling ourselves. Outside influences are stories other people tell to elicit a response of some sort for reasons that often make very little sense. Are these stories even true? Sometimes people repeat things unconsciously and have no awareness about what they are doing. It's unnecessary for us to propagate this energy. I find in my meditation there is a lot to let go.
"Any story told twice is fiction" ~Grace Paley
Simply by allowing space for intentional silence and breathing--it needn't be formal--I am able to improve my life and patch holes in my energy. It's an important practice for me, though, because when I ignore the integrity of my psychic energy space, soon I feel overwhelmed and then I begin to feel unwell.
I wonder if this informal stillness practice would free up some space for you.
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Thank you for enjoying July's newsletter! You can contact me anytime via email:
domikajama@gmail.com for consultations. Visit me at
Intuitivemoon.com.
Be well!
Blessings,
Dominique