Streamline
Last week’s Cancer New Moon called attention to home and family, and at this week’s Scorpio First Quarter Moon (July 25, 2023, 3:07 pm PDT), it’s time to start shoring up the foundations of both. Appropriately, the Moon at 2º43′ Scorpio is on the Sabian symbol 3 Scorpio, A house raising.
It’s also the First Quarter in a Lunar Phase Family cycle that began at the Oct. 25, 2022 New Moon/Solar Eclipse at 2º00 Scorpio. In that eclipse chart, Venus was snuggled only minutes from an exact conjunction with the Sun and Moon, with all three of them square Pluto. Likewise, this First Quarter follows a Cancer New Moon (July 17) that featured an opposition to Pluto and Venus stationing to turn retrograde. It’s a First Quarter Moon that is a call to action in two lunar cycle stories about power and love, control and self-acceptance.
Where do we go from here? The only place we can go: forward. Note the Sun’s Sabian symbol at the First Quarter, 3 Leo: Woman having her hair bobbed. It’s a symbol I associate with modernity and a radical shift in perception. Years ago, I remember my hairdresser mentioning that she could always tell when a customer was moving on from a bad breakup: she would ask for a drastically short haircut. After the intense events of this past week, it’s time to similarly streamline – the better to change with the times and move ahead.
Mercury Calling
Mercury makes a conjunction with Venus this week (July 27, 2023, 8:16 am PDT). Mercury moves quickly, like the minute hand of a clock, and acts as a trigger for events that have been building for awhile. And when Mercury connects with another planet by conjunction, it gives it a voice.
Astrologers note that when Mercury or Venus is retrograde, they may summon people from your past. I certainly think that’s possible as Mercury conjoins retrograde Venus. These ambassadors from the old days needn’t actually show up at your door or in your email inbox; sometimes, it’s just their memory that comes to visit, bringing the past along with them.
One day recently, my phone pocket-dialed a dear old friend of mine. We hadn’t spoken in a while, even though I think about calling her pretty often. She rang me back, and when I explained what happened we shared a laugh. I promised to call later when the timing was more convenient. “That’s okay,” she said, “It’s just really great to hear your voice.” That’s exactly how I felt, too. Even a brief hello from an old friend can warm a heart that didn’t even know it was feeling chilly.
Oh, mischievous Mercury – if we won’t pick up the phone ourselves, it seems, he’ll just dial it for us.
Follow It
At Mercury’s trine to the North Node (July 27, 2023, 9:47 pm PDT), be on the lookout for a message, invitation, or piece of information that tells you you’re on the right track. The North Node is the symbol of the brass ring that, if we reach for it, almost invariably leads us in a gratifying direction.
This is a fleeting, minor aspect, but worth your attention. The message it brings might appear in an email, a text, a social media post, something you hear on a podcast or watch on TV. And with the North Node passing through Pluto’s fires this week, your focus is clear and your eyes and ears are open in a whole new way. Something you couldn’t recognize or imagine just a month ago is suddenly sticking out with blinding clarity. “Here’s your next thing,” it says. “Here’s the direction that leads to happiness.” And so…follow it.
A Dark Start
Pluto squares the Lunar Nodes this week for the first time since January 2015. Thanks to the Nodes stationing quickly, back and forth, Pluto catches them three times: the first was last week, on July 22, and the next two on July 25 (2:21 am PDT) and July 28 (11:38 am).
The North Node is around 29º Aries, the degree of last April’s Solar Eclipse. That eclipse – the first Aries Solar Eclipse since 2006 – triggered an earthquake fault in our charts that had been relatively dormant for years. Pluto’s squares to that eclipse point are a wake-up call for the new sign polarity, Aries and Libra, that the nodes entered on July 17. This wake-up call could come from tumult in an important relationship or a loved one facing a serious problem, pressuring us to move forward on our own or to be a defender and champion of someone we care about.
The North Node is, ultimately, a point of growth and of satisfaction, but it’s getting off to a little bit of a dark start with this Pluto square. Things should lighten up a bit in the coming weeks, but Pluto’s message is that we shouldn’t expect this North Node in Aries journey to be easy or without risk. After all, that’s more or less the point of Aries – to help us develop courage and forge our own path.
Magnifying Glass
Peer through a microscope at something ordinary. Removed from its larger context, something like pollen, or cells taken from your cheek, becomes art. It’s true that you lose the bigger picture as you zoom in, but isn’t it amazing to see its individual components in such detail?
Mercury, the planet of perception, puts on its magnifying glass when it enters Virgo (July 28, 2023, 2:31 pm PDT). While it’s in this detail-loving sign, the everyday becomes extraordinary.
Mercury will spend an especially long time in Virgo – it won’t enter Libra until Oct. 4 – thanks to a retrograde period between Aug. 23 and Sep. 15. Mercury is especially strong in Virgo, so use this powerful retrograde time to your advantage. Turn the magnifying glass around and view yourself in detail. Which of your habits and routines could be altered to make your body healthier, your work more streamlined and useful, and your spirit more grounded?
Writing and images © 2017-23 by April Elliott Kent
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