Fireworks in the Leo Sky
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Housecats and thunder
I grew up on a Midwestern farm where summer storms were electric, exciting, and powerful. A hot, sunny morning could give way within hours to a black, menacing sky—and then, the fireworks started. Lighting strikes lit the sky and thunder shook the air. With a little luck at all, some big, fat raindrops would quench the thirsty fields and give a little relief from the oppressive humidity.
That’s more or less the effect of the Sun’s square to Uranus this week (July 29, 4:13 pm PDT), as the languid season of the lion is enlivened by the planet of sudden change and awakening. Like fireworks that drive a skittish housecat under the bed, this week’s astrology might be abrupt and startling – but sometimes, that’s what it takes to wake us from our torpor.
We are fires of passion
The Leo New Moon (July 31, 8:12 pm PDT) is in a close square to Uranus as well, on the Sabian Symbol, Glass blowers. I love what Blain Bovee wrote about this degree, and it seems especially apt for the New Moon square Uranus:
So much is ordinary, conventional and distilled down to the lowest possible common denominator like faded kitsch matchbooks in a dusty gutter. So much is nebulous, exquisitely alive and pulsing like mud patties squeezing through a child’s fingered grip.
The glass blowers symbolizes this: we are a craft, a work of art fashioned and being fashioned. We are raw imperfections of material, deft and skillful as we breathe life into symbols we live by; resilient enough to start over when the brittle shards of failure shatter on realities far greater than our own; we are a fire of passion that heats cold realities into workable ways.
That happy-looking cluster of the Sun, Moon, Venus, and Mars in Leo is also in good aspect to Jupiter in Sagittarius in the New Moon chart. My friend Dana says she’s been telling people born in late July/early August that they’ll rarely get a better Solar Return chart than they’re having this year, with that tremendously positive and creative Leo/Jupiter vibe. This week, we can all enjoy it, regardless of when our birthdays fall. We are a craft, indeed; we are fires of passion, exquisitely alive, works of art.
A haunted retrograde
This week also marks the end of Mercury’s rather haunted retrograde into late Cancer, which began on July 7. Mercury stations direct (July 31, 8:58 pm PDT) at 24 Cancer, within spitting distance of an opposition to Pluto and awareness of deep forces and hidden motivations. Mercury stations on the Sabian Symbol degree, A dark shadow or mantle thrown suddenly over the right shoulder. It speaks of shouldering the load and working your way doggedly through the fearful shadow.
What did you discover about yourself and others in the past three and a half weeks? Did you think you were finally moving ahead prior to the retrograde, only to find yourself pulled back into yet another emotional challenge? Mercury offers the gifts of perception and integration. Now, it begins the climb up out of the abyss, and will pull itself to the edge of the crevasse on August 11, when it reenters Leo’s cheerier realm.
Strange bedfellows
Venus and Uranus are extremely strange bedfellows. Venus is partial to good manners, symmetrical forms, and ease; Uranus has no time for politeness and favors shocking language, asymmetry, weirdness, and causing others discomfort. So when Venus and Uranus meet in a square aspect this week (Aug. 2, 2:59 am PDT), don’t expect social interactions to go smoothly, relaxation to come easily, or displays of excess and luxury to make you popular. If Venus in Leo is growing a little too self-infatuated, expect Uranus in Taurus to puncture the bubble of self-regard with well-chosen barbs. Leo dislikes criticism—and Taurus, while not excessively critical, has no patience for any kind of hubris or bullshit. Our Leo selves will be brought down to the earth by Uranus this week, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Leo is at its best when it’s grounded in reality—and if we refuse to poke fun at ourselves, we can count on others to do it for us this week.
Venus is the planetary symbol of pleasure, things and people we like, tastes and sights and smells that please us. Its transits are fast but can sometimes trigger long-lasting consequences. When Venus meets Uranus, tastes can change in a moment. What appealed to you yesterday might leave you cold today—which, clearly, has interesting implications for relationships.
©2019 April Elliott Kent
