The Space-maker: Astro-Archetype of the Week (July 14 - 20)
He repeated: stress occurs when the course of events does not go the way you want.
Astro-Archetype of the Week (July 14 - 20): The Space-maker
Key Astrological Transits:
July 15 | Sun square Chiron
Mars conjunct Uranus
July 18 | Sun sextile Uranus
Mercury trine Chiron
July 20 | Mars sextile Neptune
Dear ones, this is one of the weeks of this year that we will want to prepare for. We will want to be able to respond. We will want to be able to be shaken up without bursting.
This could be the coolest week for you – something could occur to you that will set or reset your trajectory of your year (or life). Or, this week could bring up an incredible amount of discomfort in your life.
And it’s likely for these changes to feel sudden, disorienting, and have felt consequences for the people all around you.
As I write and post this, Mars is just about conjunct Uranus in Taurus. We’ve already seen an eerily accurate event to this conjunction1 (also conjunct the fixed star Algol – the severed head of Medusa). The RNC is about to take place in Milwaukee, WI, where so many parts of my heart live, create, act, and demonstrate.
It’s Monday when this Mars - Uranus conjunction becomes exact, and the effects will be felt into early next week. Also on Monday, the Sun in Cancer squares Chiron in Aries. These two transits are challenging enough on their own, but the Sun squaring Chiron adds this personally felt ache – a sense that it’s difficult to feel “a part of” – a sense that we don’t belong, that we don’t have a place to feel fully seen and loved. It makes me think of the truism that the most insecure people are the people who spread hatred and ill will the most. It’s our duty this week, and especially Monday, to remind ourselves of how loved we are. We must find evidence for our self-worth and to care for ourselves as we would for one of our dearest loved ones.
Our first task this week: seek the evidence that we are loved and to practice that love with ourselves and others.
I write these energy reports on Sundays – the day of the Sun – the day of joy and recreation and Self. And it seems to me that so many of the astrologers I read post their writings on Saturdays. So, I’ve read hundreds of words on what Mars, Uranus, and Algol could signify for the collective and for us personally. There’s little I can add to all of this thoughtful and deeply intuitive writing, so I want to focus my energy report on how we can use this challenging energy for quick, positive shifts in our lives.
Here are some of the writings I highly recommend for a deeper understanding of this week’s transits: Sabrina Monarch | Jessica Lanyadoo | Adam Elenbaas | The Astrology Podcast
While traveling in Chiang Mai, Thailand last year, I sat in on a Buddhist talk that brought me to heavy tears. I’ll spare you the personal tensions I was holding at that time but I will say I had it in my mind that I was unable to do something because I have a history of stress taking over my body to the point of illness and disease. I had woefully accepted that I couldn’t pursue a profession because of the stress that is known to come with the job. But the teacher David Roylance presented a reading from one of Buddha’s core texts that felt like a big finger pointing at me.
Stress is when things do not go the way you plan.
I asked the teacher if one would benefit from putting themselves into challenging, stressful situations in order to build up a type of resilience. And he said, yes, this would definitely be a strategy to take but it’s with the basic building blocks that Buddha teaches where one should start: loving kindness toward all beings, breathing meditation, and to release the poisons of the mind as best as one can.
He repeated: stress occurs when the course of events does not go the way you want. I started to see the last two (...or three) decades of my life as yoked by desiring too much, by needing things to go a certain way to an inappropriate degree.
I could have had such a joyful time. I could have played with the chaos, followed the waves. I could have gone where the water was flowing instead of scooping and grasping at the water in vain.
And so I am writing here: things will not go as planned this week.
And we can work with this energy, or we can experience a particular panic that the stress ushers on.
Our second task this week: make space. Widen the margins of your plans. Give Mars and Uranus enough space in your life to shock blood back into your life where there might be some atrophy. Remember that the less you plan, the more there is possibility for surprise – and surprise is an essential ingredient for joy.
The Mars - Uranus conjunction takes place in the sign of Taurus – a sign of the body, of routine, of form, of solidification. Mars is our mover; Uranus is our shaker. Taurus would rather stay still, stay put. And so this conjunction is not natural or harmonious. It can be likened to a volcanic or tectonic movement. It can be connected to sudden injury that leads to greater awareness of one’s capabilities. Whatever occurs, the result can be met with flexibility or rigidity. And it’s much better in the long run to be loose, be limp when making impact.
You have a choice, to let the energy move change into your life right away, or to brace yourself for the impact and resist it until it takes another month or year for the change to find place in your life
I’m thinking about the body (Taurus) and how we can create supportive conditions for this week. This week, we want to bounce. We want to make vigorous but safe movements that result in soothing our nervous systems. I imagine deep pressure hugging as supportive, too. Maybe even repetitive bag punching – as long as you utilize padding or other safety equipment. I imagine rocking the spine on a yoga mat would be so helpful for lubricating the spine, nervous system, and all the connective tissues in the back.
And as the Mars - Uranus conjunction begins to separate, the results of this big shake up could very well look like incredible insight and greater awareness of your capacity – especially with the Sun sextile Uranus and the Mars sextile Neptune later in the week.
This gets to be a good week. This gets to be a week where we roll with the punches and feel so proud of how much we’ve reinforced our ability to react with grace and spaciousness.
I have decided to refrain from mentioning the name of the person I am referring to. I believe the more something or someone is mentioned, the more power they gain. Possibly I will adjust this strict decision in the future but, for now, I am doing my best to be mindful to give energy and focus to the people in the world that encourage peace, truth, and love with their rhetoric.