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Highlights for June 28-July 4, 2021: A Decision and a Roar

A Decision and a Roar

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.

Pressure

It’s a light week, astrologically, and all the notable activity brings us cheek to jowl with Mars.

Exhibit A: Back at the very end of March 2020, Mars, planet of action, made a conjunction with Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, shadowy henchpersons of restriction and powerlessness. We know how that one ended up – with everyone locked down in our houses, preoccupied with toilet paper.

As Mars opposes Saturn this week (July 1, 2021, 6:08 am PDT), we’ve come 180 degrees. With vaccinations available, society and the economy are creaking open like a rusty gate. Now when I take a morning walk, I pass neighbors without masks. We smile and say good morning, like in the Before times.

And it feels a little weird, to be honest. I’m out of practice with playing a Leo in real life. And you know, I don’t feel all that friendly. In fact, I feel pretty anti-social – which is what happens when you take a planet in effervescent Leo and show it the forbidding face of Saturn. Mars in Leo wants to have fun and attention and applause – but after all these months off the stage, it’s hard to get back into character.

Bloody, bold, and resolute

At each Last Quarter Moon, we naturally review and reassess the past and its lessons, examining our missteps, making adjustments as needed. Introspection is the watchword of the Last Quarter Moon – but this one is in Mars-ruled Aries (July 1, 2021, 2:10 pm PDT), and introspection is not Aries’s style.

As the culmination of the June 10 Gemini Solar Eclipse cycle, this Last Quarter can be seen as an opportunity to decide which of many Gemini New Moon possibilities deserve to enter next week’s Cancer New Moon incubator.

Gemini season is delightful in its abundance of ideas, offers, and invitations. But its frustrating to decide which, if any, of them to commit to.

In this, Aries excels.

So if you’ve been sitting on a decision since around June 10, here’s the clarity you’ve been seeking. Thanks to Aries, here’s the moment of decision. And because of the nature of the Last Quarter Moon, we can feel confident that the decision is founded in real experience and learning. It’s a decision that might feel impulsive in the moment, but which, on reflection, has been coming for awhile.

In fact, this Last Quarter Moon is descended from the Aries New Moon of April 5, 2019 (15.17 Aries). That was a pioneering, entrepreneurial New Moon with the wind of Jupiter in Sagittarius at its back and many big, even overinflated, dreams. But it was also square Saturn and Pluto, aforementioned shadowy henchpersons of restriction and powerlessness. The things we dreamed of back then were never going to come easily. In fact, it’s taken the feisty determination of Aries to get us this far, through the frustration, restrictions, and psychic muggings of the ensuing 27 months, with any of our pioneering spirit intact.

The decisions we make at this Last Quarter Moon are not necessarily the final word. But they’ll define our battleground for resolving the larger Saturn/Uranus battle that we’ve been fighting all year, and will continue to fight through the end of December. In fact, it almost doesn’t matter what decisions we make – what’s important is the willingness and courage to make them at all.  To be bloody, bold, and resolute, and shoulds be damned.

Should

The past fifteen months have been eye-opening. Mars is the planet of survival, of competing for resources, of projecting strength and warrior spirit; its long, embattled journey through Aries last summer and fall found many of us at each other’s throats.

Now, with Mars in Leo, you’d think we’d be having more fun. In a way, our survival as a society depends upon it. It’s worth making an effort to show more goodwill, to allow fun and joy back into our lives, and to play with others. You might say we should do all these things.

But as Mars squares Uranus this week (July 3, 2021, 6:39 pm PDT), we’re fed up with “should”s. Should or should not wear masks, get vaccinated, go on vacation, shouldshouldshoulddoasIsay. Especially if you have planets halfway through Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius, the ongoing square between Saturn (rules, authority) and Uranus (rebellion) may have you fantasizing about running away from home, tossing a match over your shoulder as you go, without so much as a backward glance at the resulting conflagration.

Leo has many reputations – playboy, party girl, shameless attention hog. But Mars in Leo reminds us that its totem is a lion – and when a lion is angry, when it’s been kept in a cage too long, when it’s been pushed too hard, it roars. A Leo’s roar is scary. It even scares the Leo.

This is a volatile week. A lot of us are on edge. So let’s take it easy with the “should”s.

Writing and images © 2018-2021 by April Elliott Kent

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1 comment to " Highlights for June 28-July 4, 2021: A Decision and a Roar "

  • Linda Keaford

    Thankyou for your insightful sharing. Now the cat comes out of the bag! Your artwork and collage are wonderful!

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