Week of July 4, 2022
Hello, welcome to Astrology Alchemy. I'm Sheila Bélanger, your host for this podcast. alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation. Spiritual alchemy is the process of pursuing the gold of your true nature by transmuting the unrefined limiting parts of yourself in this podcast, I'll offer you inspiring insights from current astrology cycles that support your path of turning your personal lead into gold. More resources are available at the website: https://ontheedgesofchange.com.
Hello, and welcome to the podcast for the week of July 4th, 2022. I'm your host and guide Sheila Bélanger. Here's a quote from the poem I'll give you at the end of the podcast: “you have to be careful telling things.” I particularly chose this poem as you'll see that what I'm gonna talk about this week is really an alignment with what's happening with it [poem].
This being “Independence Day” in the United States on this Monday, which is a deeper invitation to be independent from ways of thinking, old ways of speaking, old ways of listening that are too small for what your soul wants you to be. That's kind of the big theme for me right now with my people-- is listen to what your soul wants you to be and let go of the too-small ways of being.
So Tuesday, July 5th, the planet Mars enters Taurus. Now Mars is that very active yang archetype Warrior-Warrioress/Advocate who wants to go. It's a “Vroom Vroom” kind of character. Let's just go. And it's been in its favorite sign of Aries since May 24th. So before I talk about it, going into Taurus, just pause and think about the last six weeks. Maybe you felt like someone lit a fire under your butt, okay. Like, okay, let's go. And part of it can definitely be the profound outrage that people feel no matter where you are on the political spectrum about what's happening and the conversations that are getting so overheated and fierce and the anger and the rage, that's just exploding. That's one way of expressing what's happened in the last six weeks, but also the healthy expression of Mars in Aries has been activating your courage, your capacity to be an advocate, to stand up for what you care about, what you believe in to take action with awareness.
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Now we're finishing the last six weeks of Mars inAries, and we're going into a very different kind of energy. Mars enters Taurus, and it will be there until August 20th. Whereas Aries is a fire sign of intensity and let's go, Taurus is a grounded earth sign and says, whoa, slow down people. Let's get real. Let's get grounded. Let's assess the situation. Taurus is very sensual, very grounded and very real. And Taurus is so gifted at tracking how you're spending your life energy and saying, is this worth it? Is this what you really wanna do?
So there's a quality when Mars goes into Taurus of moving more slowly and more deliberately and watching where you wanna take action. But with some consideration, now you can still see some unhealthy unconscious expressions, always with Mars, because depending on how an individual or a collective attunes with an archetype, it can be very unhealthy or it can be very healthy.
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Unhealthy Mars is violent, rageful and pissed off. You know, it's, it's going from zero to 60 with your anger, without any thinking. Where you can get pissed off with Mars in Taurus is what I call boundary violations, where you feel like somebody or something is encroaching on your territory or trying to take from you. And there's a lot of taking going on right now. And there has been for hundreds of years by colonial dominator patterns in our cultures. So this is an opportunity in the next six weeks to slow down and be deliberate with awareness. What do I wanna take action on if something's pissing me off? How do I wanna address it with awareness?
Now on that same day, Tuesday, July 5th, Mercury also changes signs. It goes into Cancer and will be there until July 19th. The sign before Cancer is Gemini. Mercury entered that on April 30th, but it had a retrograde phase where it went backwards and then forwards again.
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So there's a longer time since Mercury entered Gemini. Usually Mercury stays in a zodiac sign for a couple of weeks. Now what's the difference?. Gemini is very active, curious, diverse. Let's try this. Let's try that. Mercury is the Communicator-Storyteller archetype. It has everything to do with how you think and how you express. It loves being in Gemini because that's its favorite sign. It's the energetics of just, we could try this. We could do this. How about we talk about this? How about we try that? Which is very great, but it also is exhausting. And one of the deepest challenges when Mercury is in Gemini is that you got too many things that you're juggling. You know, you got too many irons in the pot, too much going on. You can't follow through. Now Cancer, the sign that Mercury's going into, is a water sign of deep feeling and connection and bonding in a heartful way. Coming home to the hearth, whether it's external, it's internal. It's with family and loved ones and Mercury will be there for a couple weeks.
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And so you might find that you're more interested in thinking and communicating about your feelings and what really opens your heart. And what's important.
And this is significant to mark because Mars and Mercury changing signs on the same day, they're both leaving yang signs, Aries and Gemini and moving into yin signs Taurus and Cancer. So we might see this kind of tidal shift of, oh wait, slow down. Let's get grounded in feelings. There’s nothing wrong with Aries or Gemini. They have their own gifts, but sometimes they move really fast and they're not grounded. So notice if you feel attuned with that shift in the next couple of weeks.
There's a lovely balance between Mercury and Mars. Now it's called a sextile, Mercury sextile Mars, which just means that the Communicator-Storyteller in you and the Advocate-Action Taker in you, They're really aligning with each other. So you can really open your heart and speak what you need to speak.
On Friday, July 8th, Mercury squares Jupiter at 8 degrees of Cancer and Aries. Again, we have the Communicator-Storyteller in this sign of the heart, of emotional sensitivity of wanting to speak and express our feelings. But there's tension with Jupiter, the Teacher-Guide-Wise One (but also in its wounded side, the Dogmatic One, the Pompous One). Jupiter is in Aries, this fire sign of action-taking and going for it. Where the tension between planets in Cancer and Aries come in is this: I'm sensitive Cancer. I wanna trust my feelings. Cancer, the crab I'll come out. Maybe I'll go back in. Aries is just like a red sports car, just going full throttle. Okay. So sometimes the tension when planets are in Cancer and Aries is having to really adjust action and energy.
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Okay. So Mercury in Cancer: I wanna open my heart and speak what's going on, express my feelings. Let my words help me connect more deeply with someone. Jupiter in Aries: I've got some ideas, new ways to go. I've got things I wanna grow and learn. Let's go, okay. They don't have to be at odds with each other, but be aware as we come into the end of the week, that both energies are in you and in the world. And consciously how it can be really healthy is to say, gosh, I wanna expand and grow (Jupiter in Aries). I've got something unique and different that I wanna go forward in or teach others about. But I wanna do it in a way where my words are connected to my heart or my actions. And my thoughts are connected to my heart. That's the Mercury in Cancer part. So notice where that comes in for you on Friday, July 8th, around that time.
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Also that same parallel journey of balancing sensitive heart and fiery action- taking is repeated because that same day, Friday, July 8th, the Sun is square Chiron at 16 degrees of Cancer and Aries. Now the Sun is that solar energy, that archetype of the Hero, the Heroine and the Conscious Self, the conscious identity, who am I? The Sun is in Cancer right now. So there's this awareness about who am I in my belonging, who are my people, who are my tribe? Who's my family, my friends, my extended community? Where's my heart? Where do I really belong emotionally? And really shining the light on that.
There’s tension with Chiron, a square means there's some tension. They're 90 degrees away from each other. Chiron is an asteroid -comment. That is the Wounded Healer archetype. The Shapeshifter, the Shamanic One. And whenever Chiron is at play in a cycle, it invites you to really deepen in your awareness of how your healing journey is not just for you. It's also for your ancestors, your descendants and the world. But it also challenges you: Chiron challenges you not to unconsciously take on others' wounds, especially your ancestors blindly, because that doesn't help. So when the Sun squares Chiron–this is a great place where the archetype of the light and the awareness, the Sun is in the sensitive heart, is shining the light on the Aries energy of healing.
When Chiron is in Aries, some of the deepest healing is about dare I be myself? Is it okay for me to be me? And this isn't about being narcissistic. This is about being really aware of what holds you back. What are those toxic smallness patterns like I can't be me? I can't do this. I can't say that. The Sun in Cancer can effectively support you. Well, trust your heart. You can do that. Your heart might say:, are you unconsciously carrying ancestral patterns and family patterns that you really don't have to, you could let go of?
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So just be tracking that same energy at the end of the week, something in Cancer, squaring something in Aries, both are holy, but balance, sensitivity and fire, you know, heart-ful sensitivity and taking action.
And then finally on Sunday, July 10th, the sun is sextile the planet Uranus at 18 degrees of Cancer and Taurus. Here's again, the Sun with awareness, with shining the light, coming from the emotions and the heart and the wanting to belong in a harmonious relationship. Sextile means the two planets are 60 degrees away from each other. They're working harmoniously with Uranus, the archetypes of the Maverick, the Change Agent, the Awakener (or the One who stirs things up and will not follow the status quo).
Uranus is in Taurus. Now it has been for a number of years. Taurus is a grounded earth reality. How I work with my resources, how I feel safe in a physical way, whether it's food or money or shelter. Uranus in Taurus represents a couple of years of just relentless destabilizing of our old sense of what security is no matter what you choose in the physical realm. And it's about waking us up to what true security is. And also calling us as Mavericks and Change Agents to address the profound, harmful, and violent inequality in our world. Whether you're looking at money, you're looking at water, you're looking at land. You're looking at safety on the streets. Uranus is just ripping us open to say it doesn't work. The status quo doesn't work. Not everybody's safe. Not everybody has the resources they need.
So the Sun is in Cancer in harmony with that planet (Uranus). So we might find at the very end of the week, where there is this really strong, emotional strength and power to say, this is not right. Whether it's something in your very personal life or you feel called to be activists more on the streets because everything that's been coming down, particularly in the United States, but all over the world. Notice how there's really deep support this week to be guided by your heart and your emotional belonging to yourself. First of all, get grounded, be in your center, be in alignment, have your resources inner and outer, and then take that action. Be a Change Agent in a grounded way, Uranus in Taurus.
So those are all energies that are present for us this week. And again, it's a fine way to step into the week where the United States is celebrating Independence Day and yet so many are not independent, so many are not free. And so the archetypes are helping us say, okay, what really is liberation? What really is a way to communicate with strength and in a new direction and in a liberating way, whether you choose to look at that on a personal level and or a collective level?
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So here's a poem for you to help you support recognizing what kind of communication is really in alignment with who you really are. What stories do you wanna tell and whom do you wanna be in communication with? The poem is called: You Have to be Careful Telling Things by Naomi Shehab Nye.
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So thank you dear ones, as always for your continued support of this podcast. As I said before, please keep telling your friends, go ahead and give me a rating. Hopefully it's good one. Spread the word. Remember that you can listen to this podcast on the website, on the edges of change.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A reminder every month I do an Inner Astrology workshop where I take a current cycle and help you deepen into how to navigate with it. Including group process, guided imagery and deep support for you. You can come to it live, or you can catch the recording. Next one is Saturday, July 16th. It's about Jupiter in Aries seed, a new phase of courageous authenticity, Saturday, July 16th, 9 to 11 AM Pacific. Go to my website on the edges of change.com and sign up. Thank you so much. Bless you.
