He Huffed And He Puffed And He Blew The House Down! Saturn And Mercury Go Retro!
On 7/13, Saturn in Aries turns retrograde while aspecting Uranus in Gemini and the already retrograde Pluto in Aquarius. Then on 7/18, Mercury joins the retrograde party!
NOTE!!! I posted a bonus episode about Venus on the podcast last week, you can find the podcast on any of the usual platforms or even here at PiscesMoon Astrology.
“But I am not sure what this self is. For the moment I seem to be busy tearing down what I was.”
— Anais Nin
Just a reminder—If you’d hit the little heart, leave a comment, and/or restack this column, that’d be super! THANK YOU!
What I’m looking at in the sky this week
This week I’m looking at Saturn turning retrograde in Aries, while he’s conjunct retrograde Neptune and making aspects to both Uranus in Gemini and retrograde Pluto in Aquarius. This is a lot of power and a lot of retrograde energy. Later this week, Mercury will join the party by turning retrograde in Leo. This week is a lot! I’ll do my best to break it down. I’m guessing this is another week for a bonus episode on the podcast. So keep an eye out there.
The only other thing happening in the sky this week (isn’t that enough?!) is Venus in Gemini making a sextile to Mercury in Leo. I’ll touch on that when I discuss the Mercury retrograde. Think nostalgia…Oh! And maybe finishing up story lines with past loves. Whew! This week is so much. Follow the podcast. I’m pretty sure there will be additional info over there.
(To get additional information about the areas of life that will be most impacted, check to see where this energy is happening in your natal chart. This week we’re looking at Aries, Gemini, Aquarius, and Leo. Link to free natal charts at bottom of page.)
Here’s the chart for 7/13. To get the most out of this forecast, find Aries, Aquarius, and Gemini in your natal chart. See what houses will be most impacted by this week’s energy.
There’s so much going on with the really big energy this week that I hardly know where to start. But since Saturn’s turning retrograde on 7/13, let’s just jump in with that.
Saturn rules structure, boundaries, ambition, hard work, sticking to a goal until it’s completed, age and death. He’s also duty, responsibility, and tradition. Fun guy, right?! Reviewing this list, it’s easy to see why Saturn rules serious Capricorn. But many people forget that he also rules Aquarius, the sign of innovation and a certain kind of humanitarianism. Consider how little progress would be made if the inventors and scientists dropped projects once they weren’t new and shiny anymore. Saturn won’t let that happen. So interestingly, Saturn rules both the past and the ability to move into the future. But the one thing that unites both of Saturn’s signs is the ability to put in the hard work for as long as it takes to succeed.
Saturn doesn’t like being in impulsive, act-now-think-later Aries. In addition to this uncomfortable placement, he’s traveling with Neptune whose energy is opposite Saturn’s. Neptune is the dissolver. Just imagine what he does to all those sturdy Saturnian structures. And while Saturn wants clarity, Neptune is about illusion, delusion, and confusion. These two planets are not happy bedfellows
To top all of this off, we get the retrograde.
Saturn retracing his steps forces us to reconsider our boundaries and how we’ve structured our lives. It’s very important to look at what house Aries occupies in our natal charts. Are we looking at boundaries we’ve set with our family (4th house)? Or our partners (7th house)? Our bosses (10th house)? Friends (11th house)? Wherever Aries falls in the chart, work (Saturn) needs to be done.
We may find that boundaries we’ve set have slipped over time and need to be re-established. But before doing that, we’ll need to consider what adjustments might need to be made. Can we loosen them up a bit, or on the other hand, do they need to be tightened? And here’s where the Neptune problem comes in. (Everyone knows I don’t like Neptune.) He makes things difficult to see. He’s the ruler of the ocean, remember. We think we’re examining the issues before us, but our vision might be very faulty. Like the old game of diving for pennies on the bottom of a swimming pool, we may find that what we think we’re seeing clearly isn’t quite in focus.
Sound challenging? You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!
This week, as Saturn begins his retrograde, he’ll be making positive aspects to both powerful Pluto and rebellious Uranus. We’re very lucky that these are good aspects, but these three heavy hitters all affecting us at the same time is a whole lot of energy.
With Saturn in me-first Aries, I think a lot of us will be required to consider our own sense of personal power. Pluto isn’t working against us, so while we’re in the process of restructuring our lives, we need to consider how we’ve let go of the reins in some area. As we rebuild the structures of our relationships, it’s important to reclaim or redefine our power.
But Uranus is also in this mix. He demands that we build a foundation that will support our most authentic self. The rebel planet encourages us to break free of any chains that bind us to other people’s opinions or to traditions that don’t serve us. This is interesting because Saturn rules tradition and the things that have stood the test of time. These two planets in a harmonious angle require us to really look at each area of life and make choices based on who we really are, not on the persona others need us to be.
Feel like enough yet? Remember Mercury? Yup! He’s turning retrograde in Leo on 7/17, and he’s in a perfect sextile with Venus in social Gemini.
Of course, everyone should expect all the usual Mercury retrograde glitches—car troubles, email snafus, miscommunications, travel plans delayed, tech going haywire. Yes, all of that! But the sextile to Venus brings in some different and kind of nice energy…well at least most of it.
Let’s get the potentially problematic out of the way first! Expect communication from old lovers. Venus is in a Mercury ruled sign and the ruler is going over old ground…that’s the return of the ex for sure. Of course, depending on where these planets fall in your natal chart could change this for some of us. Maybe an old supervisor reaching our (10th house) or a long lost friend (11th house), it’s really important to check your chart. BUT, I’d still expect an old lover. The energy is so perfect for that.
And now that I’m thinking about the old lover showing up, it dawns on me that we might be more susceptible than usual. A Mercury retrograde/Venus combination has feels like nostalgia. It’s a kind of looking back to the past and feeling a lovely warmth. This isn’t looking back with regret, but rather with a sense of joy.
But be careful if that old lover appears! It would be easy to wear the rose colored glasses of nostalgia and forget why you dumped that person in the first place. And, Venus will be moving to square-off with Mars, so I’d expect a blowup as soon as vision clears a bit. But who knows? Sometimes the battle clears out the old stuff and true love blossoms.
We have so much retrograde energy right now. It’s time to examine and re-create our lives. It’s going to be a lot. But if we embrace the energy, we’ll be living more authentically than ever when we come out the other side. Of course that won’t be for a bit, Chiron hasn’t even started his retrograde yet. That happens on 7/30. It’s going to be a giant retrograde party! What (exhausting) fun!
Here’s to a week of tearing down and building up in the most authentic way!
“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
— May Sarton
You can get a free birth chart here: Free Chart. To get a chart in the style I use, choose the Extended Chart option. After entering your birth data WITH EXACT BIRTH TIME, click on the Zodiac and Houses option, and choose whole signs.
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