Lunar News: Full Moon in Capricorn
A child of about five carrying a huge shopping bag filled with groceries
Full Moon at 18° Capricorn on July 10th at 2:37 PM MDT
Sabian Symbol: A child of about five carrying a huge shopping bag filled with groceries
Did you know. . . the Lunar News playlist is a horoscope for all 12 signs for this lunation
The Capricorn full Moon reminds me that, even though the Sun is shining hot and intense, in six short months winter will arrive, and it’s already making me nostalgic for this summer. This syzygy occurs toward the last leg of Cancer season, too, which further intensifies this sense of ending. The energetic frenzy of the Summer solstice has dissipated and this full Moon heralds to us the coming of the season of waning light. I might be sounding excessively doom and gloom, and, of course, we still have several weeks left of white hot heat, but there is a tinge of doldrumic bitterness with the Moon in Capricorn opposing the Sun in Cancer. It’s the first nag that this season cannot and will not last forever; it’s a reminder to soak your moments up.
Capricorn is a sign primarily focused on time. It has a long-term understanding of reality and is always planning for the future and ensuring dreams and visions are brought about with purpose and longevity. The Capricorn full Moon is about the cyclical nature of time and the seasons and so of course it’s going to put a pall, briefly, over our enjoyment of the summer by reminding us that winter soon awaits us. This constant reminder of the end and of legacy, however, is the perfect antidote to a nihilistic and meaningless life. We understand things in contrast and an awareness of, and even meditations on, death and finality pushes us toward savoring all the moments we have left before the end. To become truly timeless and eternal is to be attuned to the present.
After the intensity of the spring and all of its planetary ingresses, the current celestial configurations are relatively quiet by comparison. This is a narrow window of time without a lot going on and we can make the most of it by surrendering to peaceful contemplation of our Time and how we enjoy it and use it.
Lunar Cycle Transits:
July 12: Saturn stations retrograde at 1° Aries
Pisces Revisited. After a brief introduction to his new home for the next three years, Saturn realized he forgot something in Pisces. Just now realizing what it is he left behind, Saturn’s now turned around and is making his way back over that sacred border, plunging back into the netherzone of Pisces’ spiritual torment.
Saturn’s journey retrograde will provide us with structured reflection on the lessons we’ve learned and integrated since—well, since spring of 2023, technically, but more specifically since the spring of 2025. This is the last stint of Saturn transiting the last little bit of Pisces that we’ll have for another 30 years, so we can make good use of this retrograde to review how much we’ve matured and what kind of upgrades our lives have gone through over the last three years. However, this past winter and spring we had quite a flurry of upset and action in the last few degrees of Pisces due to the North Node ingressing into Pisces, the Venus-Mercury combo retrograde, and Neptune’s and Saturn’s conjunctions to all of these things making everything harsh and confused. It was an unsettling time of relationships tested and broken down, and of zealous idealization running amok. We experienced some harsh reality checks, but once Venus and Mercury both went prograde, and after Neptune and Saturn left Pisces, we had no option but to move on with our lives. Saturn’s sojourn back to this area of Pisces will provide us the opportunity to find resolution with all the drama from the first few months of the year.
In our personal lives, we’ll have the chance to more fully come to terms with our unmet expectations from early 2025, but since it’s Saturn managing this work, we’ll have to take responsibility for all that we did, or didn’t do. Saturn seeks retribution for our wrongdoings and so we might face difficulties during this retrograde period that won’t let up until we figure out what the right thing to do is and do it. On the mundane level, we’re already starting to see a little bit of walk-backs in certain political arenas (American) and I expect there will be more to come.
Saturn will be retrograde through Aries and Pisces from July 12th until November 27th.
July 15: Moon conjunct North Node opposing Mars conjunct South Node
Today is complicated and marked by irritation, arguments, accidents (not super likely), and anger boiling over. The petty upsets will pass quickly and after about a day you can expect to work things out, but the irksome feelings will leave you feeling exhausted well into several days later.
With the Moon opposing Mars, we’re all feeling a bit aggravated by the smallest of things and it’ll make our personal relationships more inflamed than usual. It’s best to avoid picking fights or getting into small confrontations today because they can easily be blown out of proportion. The Moon in Pisces takes things extra personally and heightens our emotions, which is irritating to Mars in Virgo trying to be pragmatic and staying focused. Discordant domestic issues will appear today, as well, and they are likely making larger problems that have been brewing undetected rise to the surface. There’s a delicate balance to be had here with not letting things get to you and then reacting from a momentary bout of irritation and taking the time to figure out what you’re feeling, the source of the upset, and how to deal with it yourself or with another person.
The complicating factor with this particular opposition is it is conjunct the lunar nodes. The Moon is conjunct the North Node, giving us an irrational longing/demand to be taken care of (in particular ways idiosyncratic to us individually). Mars, sitting on the opposite end of the wheel is conjunct the South Node, which is driving us to give up on everything including our personal relationships and connections. It could manifest as us feeling like the only solution to our disagreements and fights is to give up on one another, but doing so will only exacerbate our problems. To further complicate things: today, Mars is only applying a conjunction to the South Node. It’s still 3° away and won’t be exactly conjunct until July 20th.
The TL;DR of it all is this: July 15th small annoyances and skirmishes with our loved ones will start to surface. We are probably going to feel unneeded resentment towards those who are closest to us for reasons that are well within our control, but we feel like projecting it onto others and becoming the victim. If we avoid doing careful self-examination, things could really blow up in the following days and we’ll decide nothing is worth anything and give up by July 20th. Try to get curious about yourself, realize what is within your power to correct when it comes to your emotional needs, and don’t take it out on your loved ones. Destroying your relationships this week isn’t worth it.
July 17: Mercury stations retrograde at 15° Leo
This Mercury retrograde is considerably less dramatic than the last one through Aries and Pisces. We can expect the typical Mercury Rx shenanigans to show up in our lives such as travel delays, crossed wires and misunderstandings, and technological breakdowns. In addition to all that, there will probably be some power struggles and ego trips and a shattering of illusions when it comes to our own pride and sense of self. It’ll be a purification by fire (literally, when Mercury is “in the heart of the Sun on July 31st), though, and our awakening will burn bright within our hearts. This retrograde will be much more focused on our self-expression and how we understand the value of our contributions through our interpersonal interactions. You can only know your value if you are brave enough to question your worthiness.
July 22: Sun ingress into Leo
A new solar season is upon us bringing inspiration and creativity overall. This is the first Leo season without the strange and disturbing square from Uranus in eight years. This liberates us from unexpected conflicts and petty struggles against destabilizing accidents and upsets. During Leo season we can expect major waves of inspiration, which the Sun-Mercury conjunction will bring. The world feels bold and colorful this month and encouraging of us to pursue our largest creative goals without fear. Bravery and heroism are the big themes this month, but sometimes this courage shows up in areas of life where we least expect them to be.
Venus square Mars
This square increases sexual tension for some and is somewhat destructive to relationships for others. It is generally not recommended to get into any serious entanglements at this time because the attraction you’re feeling toward someone right now is not really built on anything substantive.
This is the first really difficult pattern Mars and Venus have had between each other since last December when they met in an opposition. And since both of their retrogrades finished up earlier this year, we might now be feeling stable enough in our relationships and this square is going to put our connections through their very first test. Strong partnerships that are honest and understanding will likely not find any friction today, and could, even, feel a little excitable. Partnerships that are imbalanced, however, could really suffer from even the smallest of confrontations. The lesson here is to understand where you need to compromise, either in your demands or in your responses to your lover’s requests.