New Moon in Cancer, Nodal Change + Venus Retrograde

When on the precipice of change, do you feel free or fear?

If you’re not sure, you’re certainly about to find out, as the cosmos gears up to deliver some gargantuan shifts and changes, which will propel you into the next chapter of your being.

But in order to take a courageous leap forward, you must first be willing to entirely let go of the past. And thus, the astrological transits throughout July onwards will be pulling at the roots, unearthing that which has long been buried and ignored. That which has been holding you captive for far too long.

What arises may be deep seated emotions, tied to memories long surpressed.

Yet, the initiation into this cosmic shift - the New Moon at 24° Cancer on July 17th (7:31pm BST) - is asking, nay demanding, that you feel your feelings, no matter how challenging they are. Thus, can you learn to sit in the discomfort of grief, shame, anger, and sorrow, in the understanding that they are all valid emotions, merely serving as messengers, asking that you have the willingness to listen.

With Pluto Rx in Capricorn heavily weighing in on events - courtesy of an opposition to the Sun-Moon conjunction and a square to the Lunar Nodes - this may at times feel like a purge, as you clear emotional blockages which have been causing stagnation and pain within your life and body for some time.

Whilst confronting, know that what emerges from the depths, is in need of healing and integration. Therefore, can you take your pain and transmute it into your personal power. Can you look at what hurt and understand what it taught you. Can you find acceptance for the things which have at times felt unacceptable.

If so, this could be a transformational time, whereby you find balance within yourself and your emotions, developing your sovereignty in the process.

With Saturn in Pisces opposing Mars in Virgo conjunct (a soon to station retrograde) Venus in Leo, you will be called to step into your personal authority with the willingness to finally see things from a higher perspective, acknowledging that everything - even the hardest things - has served you on your evolutionary path.

Including the heartbreaks which served to break you open.

Now with the finger of destiny angled towards Mars and Venus during this lunation - courtesy of two inconjuncts from Pluto Rx and Neptune (in Pisces) - it’s time to heal the wounds that have blocked your authentic, heart-centred, self-expression.

Something which Venus’ station retrograde on July 22nd will be heavily focused on, as it transitions from 28° back to 12° on its forty day journey through the sign of Leo - with the Sun moving into the sign on the same day.

What arises during the New Moon in Cancer will merely be a prelude to this period, highlighting where the hurt still lays, dormant, but dangerous. Thus, during this transit you will be offered the time to heal what hurts and to acknowledge for yourself what needs to change.

As Venus last stationed retrograde in Leo back in 2015, you may do well to recall the landscape of your life during that time and consider who you were then, by comparison to who you are now. How has your heart evolved. Have you become cognisant of your patterns since the years have passed. Perhaps developed a deeper understanding of yourself. Become more whole.

Or do you still require closure in regards to certain relationships/experiences. Are there still things in need of processing. Things which have been hidden, even from yourself.

When it comes to who/what you want to attract, are you really ready. Do you truly feel worthy. And if not, what gets in the way and what are you willing to do about it.

As Venus encourages you to search for clarity, having you ask questions which have perhaps long been left unanswered, you may have to prepare to be confronted by the truth. Yet your willingness to do so will serve you well, as by the time the planet stations direct on September 4th, whatever’s blocking out the Sun will need to have been removed, in order for you to come into alignment with your heart’s truest desire.

So, know that your healing will be your heart-opener during this time.

In the midst of all this, on July 18, the Lunar Nodes will shift signs onto the Aries-Libra axis, only further emphasising the importance of clearing through the Venusian wounds of times gone by, in order to evolve into the individuated, empowered Aries archetype.

Having last traversed this axis from December 2004 until June 2006, you may wish to consider the energetic themes of that time, as anything unresolved may permeate over the next eighteen months of its journey.

However, relationship dynamics will most certainly be at its core, giving rise to the question of balance, when it comes to self and other. Asking if you’ve learnt how to give to others without depleting yourself. If you’ve come to understand that avoidance of conflict externally, only creates it internally. And that conformity is the denial of your individuated birthright.

With Aries at the helm until January 25th 2025, you will be encouraged to develop a clear sense of self, as an independent, autonomous being, understanding that you are the co-creator of your life and as such, the power to take action, create change, and manifest magic is purely in your hands.

Hence, this period may ask you to have courage in the places where once you were ruled by fear. It may ask you to step more fiercely into the limelight, in order to take charge of your life and your dreams. And it may ask that you forgo your comfort zone, or your liked persona in order to do so.

As this is as much a collective journey as a personal one, this will be a period of evolution for society as well as for yourself. Therefore you may come to see the rise of aggression, impatience, self-centredness, and war - within yourself or the world - as the energetic balance is negotiated over time.

Remember that the only true power is that which you foster within yourself. Therefore, this journey will pull focus on the balance of power, teaching that when the more heated qualities of Aries are utilised to fight for those of Libra - such as equality, justice, and peace - they can be beneficial, rather than bruising.

Know that by the dawn of 2025, your relationship to relationships, along with your own sense of self, may just be radically redefined.