Eclipse season

Moon-ruled Tamuz makes the month intense

ARIES / TALEH

Planetary ruler Mars in Leo through mid-August boosts your confidence and your charisma. With Sun in Leo after July 22 and Venus after July 27 your fiery energy burns brightly, but careful that Mercury’s retrograde through Leo July 7-19 doesn’t inspire hot-tempered words and ego-fueled quarrels. Jupiter’s retrograde in Sagittarius enlarges the ideological basis for these conflicts; but is what you believe now the same as it was a year ago? The cardinal sign drama of the lunar nodes squaring your Sun through June 2020 impels you to initiate a profound, systemic change. You’re nearly halfway there so don’t despair.

TAURUS / SHOR

Ruling planet Venus enters traditional, family-oriented Cancer July 3rd, focusing your energy on home matters. Mars square your Sun and Uranus and makes for power struggles when immovable object meets irresistible force July 10-11. A surprising intervention seemingly out of nowhere July 24 as the last quarter Moon in Taurus drops like a Deus Ex Machina from the rafters, offering a way out of the corner you may find you’ve painted yourself into. The way out is a learning curve straight up: it will take tremendous sustained effort, but achievement of this kind never comes without a huge energetic expenditure.

GEMINI / TEUMIM

Ruling planet Mercury’s retrograde July 7-31 from Leo to Cancer refocuses attention upon family matters, asking you to hone your nurturing skills at least as well as you’ve honed your communicative expertise. Become a fluent interpreter of your partner’s love language. Are your needs and their wants getting lost in translation? Ask for the resources you need, and you shall find, but stop expecting others to read your mind or guess what’s best for you. Jupiter’s opposition through November is giving you a good workout, stretching your endurance and expanding your comfort zone, building muscles of resilience and ingenuity.

CANCER / SARTAN

The solar eclipse/new moon in Cancer July 2 reveals a new perspective on an old situation. Tender, empathic Venus in Cancer July 7-26 accommodates the vast swath of human fragility, of which you are a part. Compassion is piqued and pushed to the limits at the Capricorn lunar eclipse July 16, when you can’t help but think: is there a cost-benefit ratio to my empathy; and if so, what are the numbers? Mercury and Venus in Cancer duet between soothing lullabies and sensual love songs at the last quarter Moon in Taurus July 24 inspires domestic tranquility.

LEO / ARYEH

The solar eclipse July 2 and the lunar eclipse July 16 bookend how closely tied your subconscious/unconscious mind is to your physical health and overall well-being. In your heart you know the truth which is that you can’t control a chaotic universe with an infinite number of moving parts. Just how okay you are with that humbling reality is tested this month. Sun in Leo after July 22 builds confidence from the ground-up: new Moon in Leo July 31 consolidates your will, aligns your drive and poises you to pounce upon the prey of your goals and aspirations.

VIRGO / BETULAH

The universal laws of reciprocity rule in your favor. You get by with a little help from your friends this month and you’ve got a lifetime of good will in the bank: this isn’t about a quid-pro-quo. Those who know your heart may rush to defend it from short-sighted critics and unappreciative climbers. The square from Jupiter through November creates an opportunity to re-mix the cocktail of hard work and good luck, diluting it with a dash of intuitive inspiration from Neptune’s opposition and rimming the glass with the salt of prophetic vision: cheers and bottom’s up!

LIBRA / MOZNAYIM

Your Sun squares the solar eclipse July 2 and the lunar eclipse July 16, illuminating a reexamination and redefinition of “safety” and “security” in both your private and public lives. Harmonious partnerships, shared responsibilities, relationships and diplomacy have been your currency and stock in trade; now you’re being challenged to stretch your comfort zone by flying solo on occasion. When given the chance to declare your own sovereign ideals and intentions without the cover of a crowd at your back, you may surprise yourself and others with what emerges. Taking leadership initiative is important now: your courage inspires others.

SCORPIO / AKRAV

Mars in Leo square your Sun, prompting a battle of wills between the angels of your better self and your personal demons which feed and are nourished by fear and insecurity. Cut off their nutrient supply and bet on your higher self to win the prize you seek. The solar eclipse/new moon in Cancer July 2 stimulates compassion; Moon in Scorpio July 10-11 dives deeper into the realm of empathy to discover surprising solutions to vexing relational challenges, empowering your perseverance. Put some elbow grease into playing the long game that lies ahead: You’re playing to win.

SAGITTARIUS / KESHET

Retrograde Jupiter is camped out in the middle of Sagittarius where it will be until mid-August. If you feel stalled or even moribund it’s just because you’re being asked to revisit progress you thought you’d made back in April. Those successes were learning experiences as well as triumphs; for more peaks in the future please ingrain the life-lessons delivered gently enough this time around before the next déjà vu moment pops up again in late October. Mars in Leo all month gives you plenty of energy: use it for good even if you feel you’re slogging through mud. Overcome!

CAPRICORN / G’DI

Full Moon/lunar eclipse in Capricorn and the mini eclipses of the Moon’s occultation of Saturn and Pluto all happen July 16. These celestial occurrences happen at the closes point to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 2020, and occurrences this month set expectations of how that massively powerful confluence plays out in your life next year. Gathering wisdom and fortitude is your job now. Your entire sense of well-being, including your mind-body connection and physical health, will reflect the dynamic dance between the need for structure and order and the imperative to destroy in order to recreate anew.

AQUARIUS / D’LI

Mercury retrograde in solar opposite Leo July 7 invites you to use “‘I’ Language” to describe your feelings about shocking information dumped into your lap. How you choose to handle surprising revelations will set the tone for future confidences and intimacies. If you can handle the relatively light stuff, you can be trusted with the inevitable heaviness as well. Sun in Leo after July 22 personalizes humanitarian urges, prompting you to use resources and influence to help deserving others. A little humility goes a long way right now, as you’ll be lauded for making the difficult seem casually easy.

PISCES / DAGIM

The fish swimming in opposite directions encounter a sea change this month. If you want to get to fertile spawning waters, you’ll have to cooperate with yourself. New Moon/solar eclipse in sensitive Cancer July 2 stimulates your own empathic powers; the separating square from Jupiter makes space to see viable reality take shape beneath the cloud of optimistic confusion which obscured it last month. Venus trine Neptune June 18 is a triumph of the heart; July 19-22 inspires a new appreciation for tangible bottom-line bird-in-the-hand resources. You will find them tastier and more satisfying than spun-sugar fantasies.

Writer and multi-media communicator Lorelai Kude began her career as a professional astrologer in the 1980s. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and a master's in Jewish studies from Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union, where her thesis topic was astrology in Jewish cultural history. Find more of her work at astrolojew.com.