Happy Leo Season! Sun Opposes Pluto Today and Tomorrow & the Ace of Bolers
Daily Horoscope Check in for Monday, July 22, 2024, Plus a Bit of a Weekend Catch-Up
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Without further ado, here is the daily horoscope.
Good morning, friends!
(This first part is a bit of a “Story Time,” so if you’d like, you can skip it and go directly to “Today’s Transits”)
Whew! Let me tell ya, this weekend was kind of a doozy! Remember I said there would be a twist to your plans, well that sure happened for us. We were supposed to go camping with our family this weekend on my sister’s land and that did not happen due to the stomach bug we were all fighting. I thought that AstroDaddy miraculously avoided the sickness, but last night he got hit with a fever. I’m not too surprised that since he spent Saturday night and Sunday night getting down and dirty trying to clear our plumbing system…our son got sick in the middle of the night on Friday and because he’s a nice guy, cleaned up after himself with paper towels and then…he flushed them! That, of course, clogged the system, but we didn’t know until it backed up Saturday night. After about an hour of trying to break up the globs of paper towel with the plumbing snake that AstroDaddy has (with five kids, we invested in one of these handy tools a few years ago and it has been a life-saver more than once!), he finally called it quits for the night and went to bed. By Sunday morning, we thought the almighty water had worked its magic on the unforgiving wad and broke it down enough because the toilet flushed; we thought we were in the clear. Turns out we were wrong and by Sunday night it was backed up again. This was not ideal. Life gets pretty gory when you have a house of seven, sick with a stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhea and your plumbing stops working. What on earth do you do? Well, here’s what we did. We have a camping potty called a Luggable Loo that we set up and, since we used to live in a cabin in the woods with no bathroom, just a composting outhouse, we put on our old “Homesteader-Wanna-Be” hats and tried to remain calm, telling ourselves things like, “You know how to do this,” and “It’s been worse, just breathe.”
Thankfully, everyone except AstroDaddy is on the mend from the stomach bug; no one is throwing up anymore, it’s working its way out through the other end…and our plumbing is clogged; no biggie.
But, stomach bug and plumbing issues aside, and this is the real fun part for me personally (*sarcastic eye roll), because I threw up on Thursday night, the acidity aggravated a broken tooth that I have and a toothache soon ensued, debilitating me even further. Now, I can’t, in my right mind, head on over to my dentist carrying a very ugly stomach bug; that would be downright mean of me! So, I have to work on this myself until I am no longer contagious, which, according to the internet is two weeks. I am happy to report that through careful dental care, swishing with moringa powder water, using clove essential oil topically and oregano essential oil internally (as a natural immune-boosting and bug-killing machine), blue and red light therapy, a product called Dental Boost (this one is really soothing!), and good old fashioned ice packs and saltwater rinses, the pain has subsided to a minimum and I think I can ride it out until I am no longer contagious and can go to the dentist, but dang it! It has been a lot, y’all, I’m not gonna lie! And I am a mother of FIVE; I’ve seen and dealt with a lot!
All of these fun things led me naturally to take a look at my natal, transits, and solar return charts to see if the signs were there that this craziness would strike, and here’s what I found:
Uranus and Mars conjoined.
That is all…
No, I’m kidding, there is more, that is just where it starts.
This part is going to get a bit Astro-Nerdy, so bear with me.
Below is a bi-wheel (an illustration of two charts superimposed on one another) of my natal chart (middle) and the transits on Thursday, July 18, 2024 (outer), when my kids and I fell ill.
Mars met up with Uranus in my natal twelfth house (9 o’clock on the wheel) of hidden enemies, hospitals, and blind spots, so I already knew that there was the possibility of something gnarly coming out of left field, and since Mars rules my sixth house of health issues (4 o’clock on the wheel), I knew that this could be health-related.
Back in January of 2021 when Mars conjoined Uranus I had two teeth that went psycho, stabbing me with unrelenting pain and I had to get both of them removed.
I slinked by relatively unharmed during the last Mars/Uranus conjunction in 2022, but once Mars ingressed into Gemini, my first house (as you can see in the above chart), I injured my elbow gardening and my finger joints became painfully inflamed due to my newfound hobby of writing (Gemini first house) for hours every day on a platform called Substack, I think you’ve all heard of it! ;) Once Mars moved out of my first house in 2022, these issues resolved themselves and healed.
Well, this time, Mars and Uranus recently conjoined on July 15, 2024, as you all know, and then Mars sauntered into Gemini on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
My kids and I got sick on July 18 and the tooth pain started the day after. On Thursday morning, July 18, 2024, Mars was at the tail-end of Cancer at 28° and the Moon was conjunct my natal Neptune at 19°Sagittarius while squaring Saturn at 19°Pisces (who has been steam-rolling my chart since he ingressed into Pisces in the spring of 2023) squaring my natal Neptune and opposing my natal Saturn. During Mars’ exact conjunction to Uranus, he began the out-of-sign opposition to my natal Sun, and now that he is in Gemini, the opposition is full-on, creating a struggle and need to fight for health and vitality. The sign Gemini is ruled by Mercury and in my natal chart, Mercury is in Scorpio, a sign traditionally ruled by Mars, and Mars is in Virgo, one of Mercury’s signs. Astrologers call this situation where two planets are in each other’s signs, mutual reception, and I do believe that because of this mutual reception between my natal Mercury and Mars that this is why, whenever I have health issues, I make it through. So, whenever Mars travels through Gemini, he brings up health issues that I need to deal with and because these two planets work together in my natal chart, I find a way to handle them. It’s not fun. It’s often painful. But it does make me appreciate the uncomplicated days when my health is thriving and unafflicted.
I am not surprised that concrete events are happening in my life, since my chart is being slammed by Mars and Saturn, who are activating my natal configurations.
Additionally, the transiting Moon on my natal Neptune, in this case, can indicate a weakening of my family, my children, and my body and this is made even more likely since the transiting Moon was squaring transiting Saturn at the same time.
Bravo, if you followed all of that!
Now, for the horoscope…
Okay, let’s get into…the astrology
(All times are in Eastern Time unless otherwise noted)
Over the weekend many things happened. Let’s recap a bit.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
On Saturday, Mars made a sextile (60°) to Neptune and the Moon formed a sextile to Saturn right before Mars ingressed into Gemini. What this means is that there was an opportunity for compassion, care, and service on Saturday followed by a renewed sense of energy and innervation.
Sunday
Then on Sunday, the Moon in Capricorn perfected her second Full Moon at 6:17 am ET at 29°Capricorn 08', resetting the lunar cycle and thus something within ourselves. It’s not hard to miss the strong red line connecting the Moon on the right to the Sun on the left in the chart above!
Full Moons always represent a culmination of something or a turning point where something ends and ushers in a new chapter; it’s like the peak of the journey, the max output of fruit, reaching the summit, graduating, crossing the finish line, etc…all of these things are followed by the waning phase of the moon which is about the journey back down the mountain, the ripening of the fruit so that it bears seeds, the cool-down, beginning your life as a graduate, and what to do after the race has finished.
Sometimes the Full Moon energy is so obvious because we literally celebrate something with a party or the ceremony, and it’s exciting and a bit wild, and other times it is a lot more subtle and we can’t even tell what it is that has reached its peak.
The house in which the Moon is full in your natal chart can shed some light on which areas of life the archetypal symbolism may show up.
Here are some questions to ponder during this second Full Moon in Capricorn, representing the resetting of a much longer cycle since the two New Moons in Aries back in the spring of 2023, which offset the New and Full signs; this second Full Moon in Capricorn is bringing the lunation cycle back in sync where the New and Full Moon will be in the natural opposite signs until the next double New Moon (which will occur in August and September 2025 in the sign of Virgo, and the second one, will be a Solar Eclipse!).
What are you celebrating today? What are you ending? What has reached its fullest potential? Which archetype fits your life right now?
Brief Full Moon Horoscopes
Briefly, below you will find the house that this Full Moon is occurring in according to your rising sign. Find your rising and read the house topics associated with this Full Moon. You may notice a celebration or an ending involving one or more of those topics.
Aries — tenth house of career, praxis, and the mother.
Taurus — ninth house of foreign travel, higher education, and beliefs.
Gemini — eighth house of shared resources, inheritance, debt, and death.
Cancer — seventh house of marriage, partnerships, and legal matters.
Leo — sixth house of stress, health issues, employees or co-workers, and pets.
Virgo — fifth house of pregnancy, children, creativity, and recreational activities.
Libra — fourth house of family, roots, and property.
Scorpio — third house of siblings, communication, and local travel.
Sagittarius — second house of money and possessions.
Capricorn — first house of self, health, and character.
Aquarius — twelfth house of blind spots, large animals, hidden enemies, and mental health.
Pisces — eleventh house of friends, allies, groups, and wishes
I hope that over the weekend you all had a happy Full Moon!
A few things happened after the Full Moon on Sunday, the Moon entered Aquarius and met up with Pluto retrograde and trined Mars in Gemini who in turn made a trine to Pluto as well. You can see the trine (120°) relationships between these planets illustrated by the dark blue lines in the above chart. At the same time, the Sun perfected a trine to Neptune in Pisces retrograde. So what do we have going on here?
Well, when the Moon meets up with Pluto who is traveling retrograde back to the degree at which the Moon just left and experienced her peak fullness during the Full Moon just hours before, we have a crisis moment when we are faced with something painful, dark, or disturbing in some way that brings up fears, anxiety, or intense feelings where we may question our survival, and our strength to face whatever is coming up (did I mention that on Sunday I came face-to-face with a copperhead snake outside my backdoor!!!? Moon conjunct Pluto!). Then the trine from the Moon/Pluto combo over to Mars in Gemini, who has just stepped foot into Mercury’s realm, for he rules Gemini, is ready to fight for the facts, the truth, and the picture that the data supports. Mars brings the force of action like a knight charging in on his horse and lancing the villain with his sword, which in this case is probably more like an encyclopedia or a very detailed bibliography backing up his list of facts (I let out a small scream and ran, like a little girl back into my house after I saw the snake!). Armed with information Mars slays the anxiety, slays the fear, and slays the spider that dared creep out from behind the curtain (or in my case, the snake)! This transit gives us the energy to fight our fears with knowledge and information. (It’s so funny editing this because I wrote this passage hours before the snake incident happened. I did muster up the courage to take a video of the snake to show my kids and AstroDaddy, so they would know what a real-life copperhead looks like. Seriously, this weekend has been a lot!)
The Sun in a trine to Neptune really wants to numb the pain and in my case, this was so true with my toothache. Our ideal dreams may come into the spotlight that would make us feel at home and at peace, especially since the Sun on Monday has to face Pluto in Aquarius retrograde himself, so a light is being turned on illuminating our anxieties, fears, and deep truths, but the trine to Neptune is like applying some painkiller before the procedure begins. The trine from Mars to the Moon and sextile from Mars to the Sun indicates that “the surgery” is easy and quick and goes according to plan, or whatever actions you needed to take to deal with whatever came up.
Also on Sunday, in the afternoon and early evening, Venus in Leo made a sextile (60°) to Jupiter in Gemini, and Mercury in Leo perfected a square (90°) to Uranus in Taurus.
Venus sextile Jupiter means that there was the potential for harmony as the two benefics are working together right now to try and make things better.
Mercury square Uranus means that there was a surprise message or a surprise thought or idea that popped into your head that may have caused a bit of trouble. Perhaps the message wasn’t a great one to get or disrupted what you were doing and it kind of pissed you off, or perhaps the idea that you got was a good one, but it needs a lot of work to flesh out. Whatever the case, communication could have suddenly been off or disrupted in some way.
I know in the States the surprising news on Sunday was that Biden dropped out of the presidential race. (There is a lot of astrology to support this and I feel the need to go into it, but it will have to be in the future when I’ve recovered. I thought he would drop out or be forced to drop out in August, so I was off by one month). I also just found out this weekend, sadly, that Shannen Doherty died nearly a week ago on July 13, 2024, which I had not heard until then. RIP, Brenda Walsh.
So, that is our recap! I would love to hear about your Full Moon escapades and if they were as exciting as mine. :D Oh, and I completely forgot to finish my poem for the Lunar Poetry Ritual. I will post my poem when I have the desire to finish it, but if you have written a poem and want to share it, you may do so in the comments of the word list post here, or you may share it with me privately by emailing astromommyastrology@gmail.com. Thank you!
Today’s Transits, Monday, July 22, 2024
Early in the morning at 3:44 am ET, the Sun entered the sign of Leo and officially began “Leo Season!” Happy birthday to all my Leos out there!
The brave-hearted Leo energy is creative, loving, artistic, and youthful and represents the time in the solar year when it is the height of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere), the flowers are blooming, the garden is beginning to bear fruit or is already in full swing depending on your location, but it’s on! Leo season is about passion, zest for life, and courageously shining your light.
The Moon in Aquarius made a favorable trine (120°) to Jupiter in Gemini at 4:42 am which is an awesome transit and means that today is going to be hopeful, full of opportunities, and people could be in jovial spirits. We may reap many rewards today as the Moon makes this trine bringing people together easily and effortlessly with confidence and optimism.
Oh, but at 5:38 am ET, the Moon in Aquarius opposed Venus in Leo, meaning that, even though we are feeling optimistic and positive, things still could be a bit tense in our relationships right now, or with our finances. Perhaps we have to decide between family and taking care of our bodies and money or a relationship. We may feel a tug of war between doing something with someone we love and doing something for ourselves today. Does what we want to do benefit everyone? That may be the thing that tips the scales.
By 8:22 am the Aquarius Moon forms a semisquare to Neptune in Pisces retrograde indicating a false hope or not being able to achieve an ideal situation or, as in my case, the toothache throbbing again. It’s a frustrating aspect that means we try to make something happen but it doesn’t resolve. With Neptune this may be like trying to escape the pain in your tooth, but you can’t, or trying to cut through the fog of a situation with logic and reason, but you just can’t quite make it to the core. The semisquare (45°) requires that we practice patience for it is always about something not going our way or experiencing delays.
Later on Monday night at 10:44 pm ET, the Moon in Aquarius makes a sextile to Chiron in Aries meaning that we may have wounds we need to heal and the Aquarius Moon has a solution! It is up to us to be open to it for it to happen. The sextile is of the nature of Venus and thus brings friendship and harmony between the planets and a willingness and an opportunity to work together toward a common goal; with the Moon and Chiron, this is toward emotional or physical healing or the acquisition of knowledge through a combination of logic and intuition.
We end the night with the Moon perfecting frustrating aspects to the nodes which get us nowhere so there may be a restless feeling in the evening. After that, in the wee hours of tomorrow, technically, the Sun in Leo perfects his opposition (180°) to Pluto in Aquarius retrograde meaning that we have to courageously face our fears of survival or face our fears of change, transformation, and deep inner growth with the strength of our spirit, our internal and eternal light that shines like a never-dying star. Every year when the transiting Sun opposes Pluto it is an intense time that illuminates dark realities, anxieties, and hidden agendas, and forces us to dig deep within and find the nuclear power within ourselves to keep going. It is the scene in the Hero’s journey when the hero or heroin has to face the darkest and deepest shadow work, and it is often punctuated by a scary scene of great tragedy, turmoil, and pain as the hero has to sometimes literally transform themselves into something new to overcome the darkness and the fear.
It is that moment in childbirth when the baby’s head is going through the bones, aptly named “transition,” when the mother often fears she won’t live to see her newborn; she throws up, purging her insides as the rush of anxiety shakes through her soul, but somewhere deep inside she knows what to do. She has to surrender to the flow, and at the same time, muster all of her strength to push through the fear and succeed in her mission to bring forth her greatest creation.
This is a really intense transit that we go through as a collective every year, so if you are feeling some things, questioning some things, feeling fear, anxiety, and a bit overwhelmed...take a deep breath. Remember you are not alone. We are all here, cheering each other on as we all push and scream and bring our babies into existence. We can do this. Surrender and let nature do its magic.
The Tarot Card
Let’s see what the cards have to say…
What is the guidance for today?
Ace of Bolers
On this card, we see a Boler leaning against a stone gate. Climbing up the boler is a flourishing green vine. Beyond the gate, the path opens up, although we can’t see where it goes.
The Ace of Bolers is about a new beginning, a new profitable idea, or the repurposing of something tangible and useful; for example, the wheel on this card is acting as a trellis for the growing vine, perhaps not the intended purpose of the wheel, but a useful one for the plant.
As the guidance for the day, I feel this is showing us that opportunity is right in front of our faces. Something great is available that represents a fresh, new idea, a profitable business, or a new purpose for something in our lives. We may have already had the spark of inspiration or the idea pop into our heads over the weekend or it is coming in one day, one week, or one month. Something new and useful is on the horizon that will be profitable—this could be a new job, a new career, or a new business, but something is growing and change is coming. All you have to do is step out onto the path and begin the journey!
What do you think? I would love to know if this resonates with you. Please leave a comment.
I hope this is helpful!
Until tomorrow,
AstroMommy
Thank you for reading or listening to the daily horoscope!
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Glossary of Astrological Terms
Today’s card was pulled from Today’s card was pulled from The Buckland-Romani Tarot Deck, available on Etsy (this is the deck that I have). Buckland Romani Tarot Kindle Book (this is the book I have). Buckland Romani Tarot: Gypsy Book of Wisdom by Raymond Buckland (on my wishlist), and The Master Romani Tarot: Divinatory Journeys of the Buckland Romani Tarot Cards by Tamara Von Forslun (also, on my wishlist).
Amazing and challenging time for you, Monica! Your children couldn't ask for a better example of the strength and wisdom required to successfully forge ahead through daunting difficulties. You are phenomenal in still writing a fantastic astrological interpretation! 🩷🧡🩵💜💙💚💚💚💚💚