Weekly Wrap-Up 7.20.24: Mars Made Good on His Promise
Violence? Electricity? Revolution? Instability? Yes to all, and don't get fucking comfortable.
What Has Happened So Far?
Oh, nothing important going on over here, just a little chaos. You?
Like everyone else, I woke up this Friday to a moon in Capricorn and news of a massive technological snafu that grounded planes, wreaked havoc at hospitals, and further muddled the electronic bureaucracy of government agencies. This was the cherry on top of a shit sundae for so many of us in the global West, who began the week fretting about a political assassination attempt, then switched midstream to the existential terror of our nascent fascist movement. Now we get to listen to more excuses from the tech sector about how this isn’t their fault and they aren’t just a bunch of mediocre trust fund babies who have been gifted far more power than they are capable of responsibly wielding.
The violent hand of Ares can also be observed in Tel Aviv and Palestine right now, where a deadly escalation of regional anger and a continued bloody genocide are occurring, respectively. Uranus was Mars’ plus one in Taurus on Monday, and he’s been pretty loud this week in places like Bangladesh and Yemen, where regular people are getting in the streets to rail against all manner of government dictates. Uranus also made a surprise appearance at the ICJ, whose latest judgement pertaining to Israel is a drastic departure from the world’s decades long stance of, “Eh. Let ‘em do what they want.”
If that isn’t enough to scramble your brain, just sit tight - thanks to a ruling class that treats us like meat batteries at the rich asshole barbecue, we’re still collectively roasting and there are still thousands of people affected by deadly weather throughout the southern stretch of North America, as well as the global South. This week came through on my crankier, angrier astrology inklings, no doubt about it.
Let’s see who succumbed to what!
7.15.24 - 7.25.24 Days of Combative Chaos
The conjunction between Mars, boy toy warlord extraordinaire, and Uranus, a big, frozen sky god who loves electricity and upheaval perfected this past Monday, less than 48 hours after an unhinged young man tried to shoot a former U.S. President. This insanely powerful planetary aspect manifested in a couple ways after the incident, and may continue to manifest until Uranus exits Taurus for Gemini in 2025.
Collective, fraught discussion of violence in America!
War god Mars uses combat to solve everything, so it was interesting to see a dissection of American violence take place in tandem with the typical, worn pledges of prayers, thoughts, and shock that, “it could ever happen here.”
Looking back to Monday, it becomes apparent that vastly different conversations were taking place, the tone determined by whichever segment of society was speaking; our bogus government and its attendant punditry did the whole ‘thoughts and prayers’ situation with a dash of outright lying, fringe elements of various stripes concocted conspiracy theories that harkened back to Cold War, moon landing propaganda, and us regular, working schmucks were mostly unsurprised.
Pluto may have had a hand here as well, as he formed a fixed opposition with Venus on the Friday prior to all this madness. Venus rules abundance, beauty, femmes, and leisure, so when she sits tensely across from Hades, Lord of the Underworld and ruler of secrets and history, she excavates some of the more unsavory parts of our past in attempt to harmonize them with our future desires. A Venusian position on the shooting would be to smooth the unrest, harmonize feelings, and send the traditional thoughts and prayers. Pluto wasn’t having it, however - his goal was to dredge up old shadows and force us to acknowledge them, challenging the mainstream assertion that we are not inherently violent via a showcase of our brutal past.
Uprisings against authority and the status quo!
Students in Bangladesh have had enough of an old ruling class that hoards generational wealth, apparently, and have hit the streets in classic Uranian fashion; demanding an end to systems that no longer serve them.
Uranus is also showing up in the American Democratic Party via increasing numbers of legislators and bigwigs who are speaking publicly against the incumbent candidate, which is unique to American history for being so late in the game. Remember that Uranus enjoys electrical fires as a means of burning the status quo - and for a lot of people’s money, Joe Biden exemplifies the political status quo.
Protests against the Israeli apartheid in Gaza have continued to erupt around the globe, and were underscored this week by the ICJ ruling against Israel - an unprecedented step that undoubtedly has a certain ice giant’s fingerprints all over it.
Electrical and technological snafus!
On Friday morning, the world woke up to totally fucked airports, hospitals, and banks thanks to a routine software update by security company CrowdStrike. I neither like nor understand technology, but the level and strike zone of this disruption was impressive…and Uranus is the planet of updates! (No one said the updates would go smoothly, you’ll recall.) Mars is often responsible for things going wrong spectacularly and quickly, so it was very natural for him to zap an old system while he was piggy-backing his sky grandpa. It also makes sense that hospitals and banks would be negatively affected when we consider the attributes of Taurus, home of Monday’s conjunction; practicality, health, and wealth.
Weekend Activities
We have a rare blue moon in Capricorn rising early Sunday morning, and the best word I have to describe it would be gravitational. (Yes, astronomy nerds, I know all planetary bodies are gravitational. I’m speaking in a symbolic, metaphysical sense, of course. Now go back to watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson.) Capricorn is a heavy sign and this, too, a spiritually heavy moon; it wants us to mature, to grow wiser, and to transform in ways that we may have been putting off like distasteful chores.
When the first chapter of this lunation kicked off on July 5th, I wrote the following:
The lunar cycle we are kicking off in Cancer today will last for four weeks, and it will give us an opportunity to work out the real shit for ourselves before Pluto showers us with more spice, politics, chaos, and destruction. Change starts small, the activist buzzkills like to say, and history supports that cliche, too - teams, families, and communities are the oldest survival mechanisms known to gods and men. This is why I’m recommending everybody turn the news off this weekend to ponder deathbed regrets; how can we avoid them? With whom would we spend every possible moment, given the chance to do just that? And if you aren’t doing those things now, what is stopping you? Why should we sit in anxiety, waiting for what Hades has in store - something destructive, deathly, chaotic, anxious, and transformative - when we could make the choice to transform ourselves?
This full moon continues the same story when she rises on Sunday morning and opposes Pluto, only now we are 3/4 of the way through and the magnification will be more intense - which is saying something, because the emotional intensity of regular full moons is nothing to sneeze at. Expect emotionally fraught breakthroughs and a tendency toward extremes, which may cause us to behave rashly or impulsively. E.R traffic has been observed to increase during full moons! Bear in mind that the Mars/Uranus conjunction energy is still radiating towards Earth, so violence and disruption are still possibilities. A few full moon in Capricorn pointers for the next week that I’ll be observing:
Stay away from risky electronics - no, you don’t need to take a crack at rewiring the attic. Or anything, frankly - Mars rules acute injuries, so slow your roll and call an expert if something electric goes haywire.
Park any intense conversations for next weekend - Pluto can reveal betrayals and secrets, as well as previously hidden motivations, the discovery of which tends to make us spicy and combative. The last two weeks have already left many of us feeling shredded, which preps us to have extreme reactions. Give things time to simmer down from spicy to gently warm, then speak to the people concerned.
Have a plan B and C ready for everything - this chaos may not be contained to the most recent tech snafu. We could still see things like power grids, mainframes, and servers succumb to the upheaval of the conjunction, so have a back-up for important meetings and travel plans.
Tune out as often as you can stand - yes, the geo-political landscape is a dumpster fire, but major breakthroughs are not contingent upon our doomscrolling. Netanyahu isn’t waiting for us to take a walk before he signs a ceasefire and U.S. politics will still be an infantile pissing match while we’re away, I guarantee it. Now, get off your device and go outside.
Being able to go back & agree with you as it all unfolded. 👀
Daily walks are essential 🖤🩵