We head into July days after the Cancer New Moon on June 28. There is still time to set your monthly Moon intention. Perhaps you want to bring Venus entering the sacral chakra gate, on June 26, into this intention as well. Perhaps with a focus on clearing blockages to your creativity, sensuality, and pleasure. Lastly, we just had the June Solstice, so there is an opportunity to set your three-month intention also, taking you into the September Equinox.
July feels very underworld themed. It’s the height of the light here in the northern hemisphere, yet Chiron and Pluto (our two underworld planets) are activated this month. We also have a celestial world aspect with an engagement with Neptune. We could feel ourselves traveling between deep emotions and deep connection to Spirit. Plus, we’re in Cancer season.
The underworld is misunderstood, even feared, currently. Long ago we turned away from the feminine, cyclical nature of life. We judged the feminine to be dark, negative, something to be feared instead of revered. Here we are, taking another turn away from the feminine, with our wombs being legislated differently again. The underworld IS dark, negative and feminine, but that’s not bad. Whatever we deny in our shadows must get composted. We go into the darkness for renewal, feeling, healing and rebirth.
Death is a necessary part of the cycle of life. The tree that falls, feeds the bugs, who turn it into fuel, for the soil, to grow a new tree, which will in turn ultimately fall too. This is life and the more we embrace that, the sooner we can come into balance again within ourselves, nature and Spirit.
Mars, Sun and Mercury all come into dynamic aspects with Pluto or Chiron, our two underworld planets, this month. This belies an intention to feel our feelings and release stuck energy within, that prevents our empowerment. We may first wrestle with feeling disempowered, until we feel the power we truly all wield. All this within our Divine Masculine, Light and perception-focused planets: Mars, Sun, and Mercury. Seems we need some obvious continued composting of the toxic masculine, high on its power over the feminine. We still all do this within to varying degrees, so address what’s inside to affect what’s outside.
Neptune is activated by Mercury and Venus, offering opportunities for powerful visioning and intuitive messages within our consciousness and Divine Feminine. This is the running backdrop to the highlights below.
July Sky Viewing – all the visible planets in the early morning sky. This won’t happen again until 2040!
Mars and Mercury both change signs – July 5
Masculine Mars moves into feminine Taurus. Androgynous Mercury moves into feminine Cancer. After a journey through fiery, action-oriented, individuating Aries – Mars moves into yummy, receptive, and luxuriating Taurus. Let’s put the masculine on a pause, or perhaps a time out. Bring it back into deeper embodiment. Help it find pleasure in the body, instead of fearing it to the point of trying to control it. This is an opportunity for our personal masculine sides to find pleasure in our sensuality too. Mercury, the planet of our minds, thoughts and perceptions moves into watery Cancer, where the mind can continue to learn about love and feelings.
Full Moon – July 13
The Capricorn Moon opposes the Cancer Sun, at the Full Moon. Contained within this month’s Full Moon energy are some underworld activations of Chiron, our healer. What would your healing do for the generations to come? We don’t give ourselves and our contribution to the collective much credit. Every tear we shed, every wound we heal, every time we find love and compassion for ourselves, we bring this ripple effect to the One.
Mercury and Sun together– July 16
Mercury aligns exactly with the Sun today, in the underworld. Mercury guides us through the watery Cancerian underworld to the other side. And, there always is the other side. Keep feeling and let your emotions come and go. It’s the time to do it.
Venus enters Cancer – July 17
Our Divine Feminine finds home in her Cancerian shell of mothering us. How do we create a safe space for ourselves? As we journey through so many underworld themes in July, Venus entering Cancer is an excellent opportunity to find true love and compassion for all parts of ourselves. If we keep denying or shaming the parts that feel uncomfortable, we just stay stuck, ever circling back to the same lessons. If we find love for all of ourselves, we heal and move into another realm of our evolutionary path. It’s worth the underworld dive.
Sun enters Leo – July 22
We move out of the watery Cancer heart and into the fiery Leo heart. Heart to heart, that’s the journey from Cancer to Leo. From feeling and giving to self-expression and creation. It’s a beautiful journey from giving to others to giving to self. Leo shines a radiant light of self-love, finding truth in we are the divine incarnate, creating life from the light, flowing through our hearts from the Sun.
Moon and Venus meet in the Root Chakra gate – July 26
In our journey down the chakras, we arrive at the Root this month. What wounds need releasing from your root? Is there anywhere you don’t ground and find security in the power of communing with the earth? This month to come provides an opportunity to get more conscious within your root chakra. Let go of any distortions to its full expression.
New Moon in Leo – July 28
We finish July with the Leo New Moon. The Sun entered Leo and now the Moon joins it, in the darkness of the New Moon. It’s the monthly underworld moment for the Moon, ending one cycle and beginning another, in the ever-circling cycle of life. That’s the beauty of the underworld, it brings us to one end and sets us on the path of renewal and rebirth, again.
I’d love to set our intentions for this new Moon cycle together. I hold ceremony in person at True Nature Healing Arts, in Carbondale, Colorado and online over Zoom.
Underworld Aromatherapy – since July is so much about the underworld, let’s use essential oils that supports our journey through it.
- Vetiver, steam-distilled from a root, grabs ahold of our hand and guides us tenderly through the underworld and into our Venus root chakra gate.
- Spikenard, which grows high in the Himalayas, but is steam-distilled from the root, helps us walk between the worlds from the underworld to the celestial world. Spikenard, so famously known to Mary Magdalene as she anointed Jesus’ feet in this earthy essence, helps us be in the heart of Spirit, walking amongst all the worlds simultaneously.
- Black Spruce whose roots grow into the underworld, while its needles soak up the starlight under the dark sky.
Blessings on your underworld July journey
In person, Leo New Moon Ceremony, July 28, 6-7:30 PM, at True Nature Healing Arts. Learn more about it here.