Your Week Ahead: June 28 to July 4, 2020 – The Sleeper Must Awaken

Astrologically, this is once again a packed week, resulting in a culminating and potent Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn, the third eclipse we’ve had now in immediate succession. Starting the week however, is a nice sextile between Mars newly in Aries and Saturn in the first degree of Aquarius. This aspect is also lighting up the Aries Point, which was very energized in last week’s Solar Eclipse on the first degree of Cancer on June 21.

We’re in eclipse season folks. Let’s get to it. Let’s get in it. Stuff is coming up in ways that feel chaotic and restless. Events seem to be put on a fast track as if the “moving walkway” just got turned on high and we’re losing our balance along with all our luggage and lattes. Thankfully, we have Mars sextile Saturn to hold onto. This is a good “work hard get results” aspect and it will encourage us to get things done, focus and even ground ourselves amid somewhat disorientating circumstances.

Next up is a mixture of big aspects. June 30 and July 1 we have the second of three conjunctions of Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. Think anywhere from global transformation to exaggerated pandemic fear based rhetoric to applying wisdom and knowledge to a process of deep cathartic renewal.

In my opinion and analysis, if you fear death (and our mortality has certainly been thrown at us in a multitude of arenas), ask it to come closer. If you fear the unknown, bring the unknown out of the shadows and acknowledge it. Draw out a chair and say to it, “Have a seat! How’s it going? Is there anything you would like to show me? Would you like some dinner? How about a drink? What’s your favourite colour? Black? I knew it! Mine’s blue. Like the colour of the sky just before the Sun rises “blue”.”

There is a moment here to really investigate fear, death, and transfiguration. At the same time of this conjunction, the Sun and retrograde Mercury make a conjunction of their own. This is inward clarity, perhaps seeing something from a different perspective and keeping it mum for the moment. The big reveal might come later.

The Sun/Mercury retrograde conjunction in Cancer will, at the same time, make a sextile to Uranus in Taurus. This is going to take that insight and spark of clarity to perhaps an even higher potential of fantastical potency and unpredictability. Thoughts rushing around, words flying here and there. Please, do your best to write some of this stuff down! You might be laughing so hard at what you learn that you want to ensure that the next day, you didn’t just dream any of it up.

Before you laugh too hard, let me just slow you down just a wee bit and say that the Sun/Mercury retro conjunction will also square Chiron “The Wounded Healer”. Have fun with it but understand that what you might learn can also be uncomfortable to process. This may be about you or about a situation you’re involved in.

With everything else happening in the sky building toward the July 5th Full Moon Lunar Eclipse, just be cautious about letting loose a verbal hurricane on someone. It will be easy to do. And with so many others going through profound changes and upheavals, a lot of people are still operating in psychological lockdown.

We’re in a vortex of energy as these eclipses deliver messages left, right and centre. Mercury in its backward motion is probably manifesting as “I don’t know how to deal with this yet” mode. Saturn will reenter Capricorn on July 1 in its retrograde journey and will add some of its energy to the eclipse as well. This could help to harness some maturity and self authority, or it could feel like limits being imposed on us.

The more we strive to anticipate issues related to directing our own life’s purpose, the less others will find they have a chance to do it for us. As we pass over the Lunar Eclipse on July 5, we’ll feel calmer and resilient. Take a breath, because the Sun is moving toward an opposition to Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn in the next couple of weeks. And we’ll want to have all those notes ready and proofed.

All of this will move us forward, just in time for the second New Moon in late Cancer on July 20. Indeed, we may find our landscape looking significantly different heading into August. More on that in the weeks to come. In the meantime, make peace with where you are now. A lovely quote I found a few months ago to recite before you go to bed: “I forgive everyone for everything.” Let people off the hook; the world needs less hooks.

For the third time in as many weeks, the 7 of Cups appears yet again. Well, it does appear that good things come in three’s. At least it does if you view this card well. It’s ripe with possibilities! Our dreams are stirred. We are excited and moved yet again by all kinds of potentials moving before us. Our vision board has awakened. This week’s reading will be interpreted as a block of thought – meaning, all three cards in one.

Here’s an exercise using the 7 of Cups as a guiding post while working with the 2 of Swords and 8 of Swords as indicators of what we’re working with – in this case, internal narratives. On one half of a piece of paper, write down a few of your long held dreams or goals. Write a couple new statements too if you want. Then, on the other half, beside each point, write down the first thing that comes into your head about why it hasn’t come about or what could be holding you back. Don’t think about it too much, just write. We want first reactions here. No one but you is going to read this, so leave the guilt at the door, as well as any self-judgements about being immature or irresponsible.

Do this for each statement or intention. What do you notice about them? What do they say about where you are currently? Do you feel like they reflect what you really believe is the case about the stated intention or dream? Do you feel like this is really your own voice saying these things or are they the voices of obligations or of authority figures, or perhaps someone else’s opinion of what you should be doing?

This layout can ask you to go deep into the narratives we have internalized. It’s important to understand that many times we think we want something only to discover that it allows us to stay within a safety setting and to escape from facing something that could be an obstacle to achieving a much more authentic expression of who we are. We may be placing ourselves second or third because that is what has become the pattern, along with all the reasons and justifications for why that came about. Then the pattern evolves to be the norm because it has remained unchallenged for various reasons. One day, we find ourselves very unhappy, stagnated and unfulfilled, and often have no idea why.

With the statements and reactions you’ve written down, see if you can rewrite any sentence of resistance into one of allowing and welcoming. For example: If you wrote, “I would love to have an art studio where I could paint and feel inspired.” Your corresponding reaction might be, “I don’t have enough time and I’m always asked to do varying things for others while being a parent on top of it. When I do find any quiet time, I’m always interrupted and I can’t think let alone create anything. I don’t find myself supported but I’m always supporting others. How can I ever paint?”

This would be an example of how we shut down a potential based on what others expect. They may have different narratives which follow different criteria for solutions which often serve their personal perspective on what makes them feel safe, including continuing the status quo. We also fill in the blanks of many unknowns as we anticipate what others might say to our dreams. It keeps us locked up, unable to move, unable to address anything with others, and so fear takes over and closes us off from joy.

Since this is antipodal to our hearts purpose, we cannot hold these two swords, as depicted in the 2 of Swords, up forever. Energy is movement, and so something gives. We must confront any notions of being held back by acknowledging our fears and rewriting the resistance we fear might take place.

If we rewrote the sentence above to something more like, “I tend to all my tasks well. I enjoy knowing that I make time for all the important areas of my life that need my attention. I guide and nourish many aspects of my day as I move in tandem with others around me. Since I am open to helping those around me, others enjoy knowing that they are supporting my happiness when I need support. I can communicate freely about my needs. Sharing what is important for me feels deeply rewarding. I care about my well-being because when I tend to filling my cup, I only have more to share with others. I find time to be alone, to be quiet, to think and feel inspired. I have set aside this time for me to let my creative self be free and to come out and play. I look forward to seeing how I can take steps to make this possible now.”

It may feel awkward to say these things at first, and we may rewrite any resistant statements as we find our bearing. However, the confusion will lift and we will gradually take off the blind fold. We will see that no one is holding us back. It is only the statements reoccurring in our minds and the attachments to the labels we have absorbed and identified with that have kept alive the illusions of restriction. Move past your story. It’s not as important as you think. Be kind to yourself and to others. Shifts require loving attention, even in our firm commitment to them.

Here, we have an opportunity to reconnect the dots and pick up the pieces of an important puzzle. It is about asking questions about the psychological boundaries we are experiencing around us. It’s a time to be curious about many paths and many potential outcomes. Sometimes information is given to us or revealed in such a way that allows the subconscious to throw on to our stage a sudden array of creative endeavours. With retrograde Mercury conjunct the Sun on Tuesday, and both sextile Uranus, we will be feeling an “aha!” moment that could yield very significant changes in the days and months to come.

“I’ll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”

– Leto Atreides, from Dune (1984) by Frank Herbert, David Lynch

We may laugh when we acknowledge how old some of these old voices and memories are. It’s okay. We’re not judging ourselves here. We are only moving through different layers of awareness as the universe takes us on a journey of participation and co-creation, past what we’ve known and past what we feel comfortable with. We can let the tethers of those fears drop down around us as we reveal to ourselves that they were simply excuses to keep us from progressing forward.

Now – we’re on our way.

Thanks for reading, and I wish you a wonderful week!

Daniel Palmo

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