by Robert Phoenix

for all signs…

July is the month that we here in the good ole USA celebrate the day we declared independence from England. It is a significant time of year to look at the chart of the USA and how the planets affect us as a whole.

The United States is a Gemini rising country with a Cancer sun. One of the hallmarks of a country that has a Cancer sun is its ability to nurture the many on many levels. This ranges from the prodigious amounts of food grown from the emerald central valley of California, to the stands of Maple in Vermont, The USA has grown food for not only it’s own people but for also the mouths of the world. It’s also been a place where people can come to live out their dreams of prosperity and a better life. The ability to nurture grow and support has been deeply woven into the tapestry of American culture and history, from the immigrant waves that crashed upon Ellis Island to The Lost Boys of Sudan, who have found refuge here. “Bring us your weak, tired and huddled masses,” is the clarion call for a country with a Cancer sun.

July 1776

Now the forefathers were probably not unaware of the astral significance of July 4th, 1776. For many of them, the esoteric arts, (like astrology) played an important role in their rituals, calendars and cosmologies. No doubt, they mapped out that date as one that they felt would best serve and preserve the constructs of their vision for as free and open a society as they could envision. By choosing that particular date and time, astrologically, just with the national ascendant and sun by themselves, they were hardwiring the two critical components into our collective tabula rasa; a safe haven, home and sanctuary for the world, coupled with a sense of ingenuity, inventiveness and duality as expressed by the rising sign of Gemini.

With Gemini rising, the U.S. is fascinated with information and all things trivial — from the lives and loves of Brittney Spears to games shows like Jeopardy, to gadgets, electronic games and computers. The ability to innovate and find ingenious solutions is all part of Gemini resting on the ascendant. In addition, with a thirst for knowledge and innovation, Gemini also represents the dual nature of the self in all of its delicious contradictions. This is why we can be a country that’s equally obsessed with both porn and religion, mysticism and science, puffed with self importance and yet ready to come to the aid of the suffering at any given time in any place in the world where tragedy strikes. These contradictions in being are not the unresolved components of a collective psyche that struggles with its bi-polarized seizures of self expression. In all of our unexplainable and often bizarre extremes, acted out in a dizzy and dichotomized dance of Apollonian and Dionysian opposites, we are one giant contradiction that confounds, infuriates and charms the rest of the planet.

The founding fathers understood the implication of this schizophrenic alignment and cast it upon our social DNA so that we could constantly learn from our errors and express the dual poles of self, all while encouraging a national genius that would bring the “New Atlantis” into the modern age.

July 2008

Pluto in Capricorn is making its presence known in the eighth house of the American chart. While it was in Sag (up until a couple of months ago), dwelling in opposition to it’s rising sign, we had to deal with extremism of faiths from all corners, scandals in sports and the first overseas conflict of any note and length since the war in Vietnam, supposedly based on a clash of ideals and culture vs. political powers. As Pluto makes it’s way through Capricorn in the country’s eighth house, it’s a time of reckoning and karmic balancing as the eighth house stands for all things dark, sexual, powerful, forbidden and occult. Saturn is “Chronos” the lord of time and there is a time of paying debt and dues that’s coming our way. The economic indicators reflect this in the price of oil and the soaring cost of food. We will witness an economic scandal like no other. It will be felt like a massive quake in all sectors of society and not just in this country but the world over and while this may look like disaster looming on the horizon, it will really be an opening for the people of the United States to re-create themselves in a fashion that reflects the values upon which the country was founded. It will be a pivotal time in our history and one that will shape generations to come. With our clever ascendant, we will no doubt find ingenious ways to adapt and innovate through the powerful and, in some ways, prophetic days to come.

Along these lines and very important are the retrograde motions of both Uranus and Neptune. Uranus is in Pisces and Pisces is ruled by Neptune and Neptune is in Aquarius and Aquarius is ruled by Uranus. Got it? What does that all mean? I’m glad you asked, grasshopper, because Neptune/Pisces rule all things fluid and liquid…yup, you guessed it, black gold, Texas tea, O-I-L. When both planets go retrograde the supply and demand will be erratic to say the least.

It’s also a new moon in Cancer on the 3rd, which will be a fine day to spend with family and friends. This 4th is more sentimental than most. Expect many tributes to our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, neighbors and friends…all fighting abroad. The tone will be more patriotic than in other years, but the real key is to focus in and meditate on the qualities of freedom, independence and liberty in your own life and how to exercise them to the fullest.

Let’s take a look at all of the signs in July.

for your sign…

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces