When studying 2022, many astrologers noted the significance of its Sun through Leo cycle. With a Mars Uranus conjunction in fixed Taurus at the epicenter, the next few weeks will see some of the year’s harshest tension among the planets. Given the warrior nature of Mars and the paradigm shifting power of Uranus, it’s not hard to find evidence of their impending conjunction. The uprisings in Sri Lanka and farmers’ protests in the Netherlands are expressions of this (con)joining of forces, particularly under fixed conditions. Now that the Sun and Mercury are in the fixed fire sign of Leo, the pressure on all of the planets in fixed signs will mount. For example, Mercury will square Mars on Tuesday, the 26th, and Uranus on Thursday, the 28th, before opposing Saturn, in the fixed air sign of Aquarius, on Saturday, the 30th. On the Full Moon of August 11th (Leo Sun opposite the Aquarius Moon), the Sun will square Uranus as Venus enters ferocious Leo. In addition to the bluster, two other important trends, Jupiter’s retrograde and Mars’ ingress into Gemini, will begin under the Leo Sun.
The Mars transit begins on August 20th, includes a retrograde and will not be complete until late March of 2023. I’ll cover it in detail in the next post. Similarly, Jupiter’s full retrograde period, including the shadow zones, will take us into mid February 2023. Astrology buffs will recognize this late spring 2023 time frame as the time when Saturn will enter Pisces, after spending a grueling two plus years in fixed Aquarius, square to Uranus. So there’s more than what meets the eye to Thursday’s new Leo Moon, when Jupiter’s retrograde starts.
On May 4, 2022 Jupiter crossed the shadow of this retrograde, at 28 Pisces 48. What that means is that by the conclusion of the retrograde, on November 23rd, Jupiter will be back to that late Pisces degree. At that point it will station and slowly begin moving forward again. On December 20th it will re-enter fiery Aries and on February 14, 2023, move past the 8 Aires 43 point (that it will reach on July 28, 2022). So what begins under a strenuous new Leo Moon, in the heat of a fixed sign battle, will take us back into holistic, symbolic Pisces, before ultimately journeying through intrepid Aries. Reviewing the ideas and intentions that were bubbling in early May of 2022 may clue us into the potential inherent in this retrograde. Jupiter is the planet of gifts and good fortune. Immersed in Pisces and getting a hefty assist from Neptune, Jupiter may emerge with the insight and imagination needed to further and fully grow the inspiration that was seeded in May. If nothing else , the cooling waters of the mutable water sign will bring ease and perspective to a year fraught with hard choice points. Finally, this retrograde will bear the imprint of the Mercury square to Uranus taking place at its inception. So what may at first appear as turmoil and upheaval may in fact be some of the cosmos’ most brilliant codebreaking.