As much as the stars are positioned this month in a way that favours a balance between work and play, there is more weight on the playful and creative side of life’s fence. This is something that whether you are aware of it or not, you have been preparing for since as far back as September 2024. This is when Mars, the planet of passion and the warrior planet of the cosmos returned for what is normally a six week visit to a playful and creative part of your chart. Mars did eventually leave and return to your busy work sector, but not until two months later and then, in the New Year came back to spend another three months here. Then, in April Mars once again left a playful and creative part of your chart and returned to your busy work sector, exactly as he had done six months earlier. By the time Mars left your work sector last month, he had spent nine months going backwards and forwards between the most playful and creative part of your chart and the busiest, something that has prepared you for a month that is a balance between the two. Mars could never be in both places at the same time and instead swung from one side of life’s fence to the other. However, while a retrograde phase is keeping Mercury in your busy work sector for the whole of July and on 23rd July the Sun will leave a playful and creative part of your chart and join him there, Jupiter will stay on. This is just the first full month of what Jupiter is working to make your luckiest year for love, matters of the heart and all things fun, playful, romantic and creative in over a decade. A month where the busy and playful sides of life’s fence are both powered up is something that you have spent nine months preparing for. Meanwhile, Venus is sticking close to Uranus and especially in the early part of the month, when within the space of 48 hours, first Venus on 5th July and then Jupiter on 7th July will leave your communication sector and return to focus on home, family and/or property matters. For Venus, she will do this once a year, but for Uranus this is the start of a major new chapter that won’t run its course until 2033.
Because the Sun will always spend the first three weeks of July in your romantic sector, the solar spotlight is always on matters of the heart and all things romantic at this time of year. However, this year the Sun is not on his own, with Jupiter in the first full month of a 12 month visit. Jupiter had been here for 11 days by the time the Sun returned last month, putting the solar spotlight on the early days of what the planet of luck and expansion will be working to make a lucky year for love. While the Sun will have left by 23rd July, with Jupiter here until June 2026, at a point in the year when the focus normally shifts off matters of the heart, things are just getting started. In addition with Venus, the planet of love held back by a retrograde turn earlier in the year, by the time the Sun leaves she has yet to return. It is at the very end of the month that on 31st July, Venus will finally return to your romantic sector, kicking off what she will be working to make the most romantically charged weeks of any year, this time in the early months of your luckiest year for love in over a decade. Meanwhile, while the solar spotlight doesn’t shift onto your relationships until towards the end of August each year, Mars’ return to your relationship sector last month has the planet of passion and the warrior planet of the cosmos firing things up for the first time in two years. With Venus and Mercury not returning until September, Mars will have moved through by the time they return, though with a chance to benefit from the pathways he is creating now. However, until she leaves your communication sector on 5th July, Venus will be in harmony and working with Mars to get the most out of the final days of her mission to give your heart and your relationships a voice. Having the Moon in your relationship sector until 2nd July will help with that, while its return from 27th July to 29th July will ensure you are emotionally engaged and aware as Mars moves into his final days before leaving early next month. Moving through your romantic sector from 23rd July to 25th July, the Moon will return just as the Sun is leaving, with these romantically charged lunar vibes able to capture his influence.
While on face value it appears to be business as usual on both sides of the financial fence, which means a huge amount of focus on the income side and nothing on the other side, zoom out and you will see that the whole dynamics of this financial year are preparing to shift. It is not until Mars returns to your financial sector on 7th August that you will have the first planetary activity on this side of the financial fence since September 2024, but things are getting into position. This is the side of the financial fence where it is more about what you do with and how you manage the money you have and while Mars will kick this off with a bang, for now it is just the Moon’s monthly visits that bring a chance to check in. You will get two chances this month, first when the Moon moves through from 2nd July to 4th July and when it comes full circle from 29th July to 31st July. Each time this will sharpen your financial instincts and ensure you are emotionally and intuitively engaged and aware, as well as a chance to check on money matters. It is in between those two visits that there will be some real change on the income side of the financial fence, with the planets there going into review mode in order to make way for the other side of the financial fence to become the most active during the final five months of the year. There are five planets in your income sector as you move into the new month and they all have the brakes on as they prepare to turn retrograde. It begins with Neptune’s retrograde turn on 5th July, for the first time here in 150 years, followed by Saturn’s retrograde turn on 13th July for the first time here in three decades. This will see both retrograde back out later in the year, only to return again in the New Year. The next to turn retrograde is Chiron, followed by the dwarf planet Eris on 31st July. These are the planets that have been here for years and will always spend the second half of each year in retrograde motion. By the time the Moon moves through from 16th July to 18th July, something that every four weeks can sharpen your nose for money and act as a trigger, there will be planets in retrograde and direct motion, giving you access to both new and untapped income potential.