The Daily Astro for July 17, 2012  

The Moon remains in Cancer today.  Without going into too many details, the next few days are going to be a little challenging.  Early today the Moon/Jupiter aspect may make us feel optimistic and may fuel our visionary abilities, and when Mars also aspects Jupiter it puts a fire under us to get a move on, but after 10:30 AM EST, Moon/Mars/Uranus/and Pluto get together and mix it up, with Mars acting as trigger to set off a chain reaction that revs up through Wednesday, when Mars opposes Uranus. Mars/Pluto (today) and Mars/Uranus (tomorrow) aspects are classic indicators of people losing their temper, outbursts, accidents, road rage incidents, violence and unrest.  Don’t get into it with people who seem on the edge (yes, that includes you Aries types—even you might have a tough time with this Mars-o-rama). With Mercury and Uranus also retrograde, there may be “hidden triggers” that wobble into play. Throw in the asteroid Eris (think discord) in uneasy aspect to Jupiter/turning retrograde during this period and big things can happen, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, freaky weather, and all manner of explosions, both natural and those aided and abetted by the human race.  It’s probably best to look at this scenario as being similar to Tower energy in the tarot. It’ll take down anything that needs to crash-and-boom, toppling whatever’s rotted from the inside or no longer serving the purpose it was designed for (the charter’s being revoked)!  Mars/Pluto is relentless and “always gets its man” and Mars/Uranus brings in an element of chaos and revolutionary ideas acted upon, but both help us get rid of things/ideas/situations that we should have dumped long ago. We open the doors to a new life that doesn’t look anything like the old one.

Sabian Symbol for today’s Sun:  “Guests are reading in the library of a luxurious home.”

Kozminsky Symbol for today’s Sun:   “A marksman having failed to hit the bull’s eye on eight shots strikes it in the ninth.”

The Sabian Symbol keyword is “Repose”.

The Kozminsky Symbol keyword is “Undaunted”.

I particularly like the contrast between the Sabian and Kozminsky Symbols for today. The Sabian Symbol features a group of presumably well-heeled individuals reading in elegance and comfort in the library of a fancy home.  This degree evokes relaxation, illumination and a feeling of being “lost in time” or absorbed by ideas and concepts. There’s a bit of stuffiness here as well, with extremely civilized people doing extremely civilized things. The Kozminsky Symbol has an entirely different vibe. I’m picturing a dedicated marksman showing up in that quiet library and playing William Tell with an apple on the head of one of those characters lounging around in the study.  The Kozminsky Symbol really echoes today and tomorrow’s “aura” of something relentless being triggered, and it only needs one draw of the bow to set it all off. Mars, as noted above, is that trigger, and with Pluto and Uranus in the mix, it can be quite explosive—picture blood all over the velvet fainting couches in that fancy library!  Mars/Pluto can be the marksman, the assassin, the death-dealer, the warrior on a quest. And Mars/Uranus will open your brain one way or another!

Born on July 17:

Xianfeng (Chinese Emperor), Isaac Watts (preacher/hymnist), David Hasselhoff, Donald Sutherland, Phyllis Diller, Art Linkletter, Diahann Carroll, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Spencer Davis (Spencer Davis Group), Mark /Burnett (reality show producer), Tash Hamilton (Atomic Kitten), Gale Garnett singer), Daryle Lamonica (football star), Pat McCormick (comedian), David McCullough, Erle Stanley Gardner (“Perry Mason” creator),Phoebe Snow, James Cagney, John Jacob Astor, Mandy Smith (formerly married to Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones), Alex Winter (“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”), Belinda Carlisle (GoGos), Angela Merkel, Nicolette Larson, Lucie Arnaz, Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Mike Vale (Tommy James & the Shondells), James Purdy (writer), Red Sovine (country singer), Acquanetta (actress), Ryohei Hirose (composer), Gerald Gallego (California serial killer), Guru (rapper), Tom Fletcher (McFly), Tim Brooke-Taylor (Goodies comedy troupe), Warda Al-Jazairia (Egyptian singer), Shmuel Yosef Agnon (writer), Marcel Dalio (actor in Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” and “Rules of the Game”), Wong Kar-Wai (director), Letsie III (King of Lesotho), John Ventimiglia (actor), Roger Garaudy (writer/Holocaust denier), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh), MIA (rapper).

“Tarot Enhancer/Antidote:   8 of Swords/Tower

“Tick Tick Boom”.  I swear this was a random 2-card pick!  Here’s an “8” card (the Symbols are for 26 Cancer and 2+6=8, echoing the theme—I associate 8s with power, strength, and Plutonian energy)–plus the Tower, already mentioned in the astrology section as the “all fall down” card. It looks like we’re all going to be enlightened (and maybe rudely awakened) by discovering the way we’ve entombed ourselves by the decisions we’ve been afraid to make or have put off. It all comes out in the open, leaving us feeling strangely revealed/strangely relieved. This combo also gives me the sense of the infrastructure of the modern world crumbling, needing to be replaced with something that liberates us rather than ensnares.

 –Valerie Sylvester, July 16, 2012–