Weird as the weather has been this year, June leaves no doubt about the season. We’re ramping into an indulgent, kick-back-and-throw-off-cares mode that feels like summer….even in the Southern Hemishere.
Let us count the ways:
Good vibrations. The month launches with sweet, lovey-dovey moments, “please sir, may I have more?” hugs and kisses, escaping to water or the front of a streaming screen, daydream believing, wishing on stars, making art and music and magic galore. As if the long Memorial Day weekend is in effect through the following Sunday.
Then, poof! We shake the clouds out of our heads and remember, briefly, who we are, what we’re about, and what else we want that hasn’t come yet. Briefly. And then back to…
Lazy hazy daze. Wandering and wondering in confusion. What is real? Did I really hear that? Am I making this up? Have I been fooling myself? What’s on Netflix? Are those wine coolers? Pass me one.
Basking in it. Midmonth our interactions shift to fun in the sun as Venus enters Leo and walking center of the universe mode on June 12. She loves that sign’s fire and fun and radiates its qualities to us on earth: Warm-hearted, showy, dramatic, encouraging gregariousness, generosity, strutting our stuff and lazing in the sun.
Everybody’s Doing the Retromotion. You know how a retrograde can slow things down and make us turn around or go inward? Imagine what might happen with several doing this at once. Or just wait and live it out.
Three outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto) are retrograde as June begins. We go increasingly low and slow as two more planets join the line-up. Neptune starts his annual reverse voyage June 18, and Mars in Aquarius begins his reverse march June 26, to continue till August 27.
Because Mars rules our drive, actions and tempers, his retrograde will draw the most attention, inviting opportunities aplenty for do-overs (and expressing irritation and anger at recent events). Watch for puzzle pieces rearranging (or appearing), motivations changing, machinery breaking, and men surfacing from the past.
The combined effect of five retrogrades is a journey in time/space, pushing us back in time and deeper into ourselves, facilitating our processing and assimilating the chaos of the year. Read more in the retrograde guide I wrote for Astrology Hub, which you may download by registering here.)
Meanwhile, back on Earth. June won’t be all lounging and lazing and contemplating, of course. Other highlights:
Shape-shifting alert! Adjustments in the relation between our personal and greater power come when Mercury and the Sun square Pluto June 8 and 11. Our thinking is up for refocusing and reprioritizng (perhaps due to unusually candid or harsh remarks). We may also adjust our concept of where we place power. The Serenity Prayer comes to mind. (“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”)
This attitude adjustment guides whom we choose to receive our nurturing, nesting impulses and how we got about expressing them, when Mercury moves into Cancer on June 12. In the sign of mothering he inclines us to warm, fuzzy conversation, sharing tales of woe with eyes welling in empathy, and conveying actual, palpable emotion and affection.
We’re in little danger of suffocating, though, with Mercury sextiling liberating Uranus at the Gemini New Moon on June 13. it’s a gabfest in high gear, hosted by the cosmic messenger, and he and the cosmic quick-change artist are shaking up any wallowing, self-pity or empathic overload.
Communication flies. We’re pushing for what we want and yet circumstances aren’t yet right to close the deal. Hang tight. Communication flows and grows and blossoms into telepathy and channeled guidance June 19 and 20, with Mercury forming a grand trine with expansive Jupiter and magical Neptune.
That trine permeates the solstice chart, when the Sun enters Cancer on June 21, and colors the entire season. This is a formula for manifesting: think and it is given. So … be mindful. Desires are likely to mushroom especially around the 25, when Venus squares Jupiter and they egg on each other’s most indulgent tendencies.
They do have limits, for a change. When Mars goes retrograde on the 26th, the shift will come with the push off a wall, much like swimmers push off the edge of the pool while doing laps. Watch for indications of parameters, constraints or obstacles, which continue as factors while Mars scurries backward.
They loom large and inescapable with Saturn attending the Capricorn Full Moon on June 27. We may be in summer slowdown mode, but that won’t stop report cards about how we’re handling commitments and responsibilities. They may be want your heart wants, too, as this Moon has us evaluating the staying power (and desirability) of what we’re building. No summer romances this time around; we’re looking for stable, durable relationships capable of sustaining us in the long run.
Surprising turns toward that goal occur at the month’s end, when Venus squares Uranus. She’s pushing for what she wants, he lobs lightning bolts and bam! Breakthroughs, breakouts, breakups, just plain breaks in situations, logjams, our thinking, you name it.