Hi and welcome to the Stella Starwoman July AstroUpdate! And a special welcome to our new subscribers.
I’m over in the UK ‘summer’ and it is FREEZING and we’ve had FLOODS and RAIN and MORE FLOODS and I’ve spent a whole day pumping water out of my parents’ house. And the computers have crashed at National Westminster Bank meaning people can’t get at their money or pay their bills and employees and my website has been out of action for over a fortnight due to a server problem. Gotta love the Pluto-Uranus square. Anyway astrology is all about ups and downs so hope you are surviving and thriving and keeping your sense of humour.
Magic & Manifestation Book & Card Deck
I’m delighted to announce that my new book The Seven Secrets of Magic & Manifestation based on the course I’ve been running for the past four years has now been launched along with a companion Magic & Manifestation Affirmation Deck featuring the beautiful illustrations from the book. You’ll be able to order copies of the hardcover book and affirmation cards from my shopping cart after August or just head into your local book store (both products are distributed by Brumby Books). The book and cards are a joint venture between myself and talented Australian designer Cristina Re (also an AstroUpdate subscriber). The book and cards are stand alone products – in other words you can buy and use them separately.
Ritual for the Festival of Imbolc
Celebrating the Return of the Light
Many of you have written to say how much you’ve enjoyed the rituals featured in the last two AstroUpdates, so here’s another one! Rituals are designed to mark the passage of time and help us celebrate and understand our part in the universal cycle of life. The final day of July marks the eve of Imbolc, a traditional pagan festival meaning ‘in the belly’. In the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from sight but sensed by our intuitive vision, there are stirrings of new life. The seed that was planted at the winter solstice in June is quickening and spring is just around the corner. 'Oimelc', an alternative name for the festival, means 'milk of ewes', for it is also lambing season.
To celebrate the gradual return of the light and the lengthening days, light a blue candle and place it in the main room of your house. Blue represents peace, wisdom, communication, truth, patience, health and calm. Fill a small bowl with water and add a pinch of salt for protection and purification. Follow this with a few drops of your favourite essential oil – something calming like lavender is a good choice. Tie together small bundles of herbs and starting at the front door of your home, dip the bundle of herbs in the water and gently wipe them over the door frame. Continue to do this to all doorways and windows in the house visualising the protection and peace spreading from the front door to the rest of your home. When you have finished, leave the bowl of water out overnight to anchor the protection and let the bundle of herbs dry before burning it with your blue candle.
Spend as much time as possible during the cold days of winter with your family and loved ones enjoying the peace, comfort and nourishment of a safe, warm and loving home.
Featured Sign-Cancer
From the 22nd June to the 23rd July the Sun travels through cardinal water sign Cancer. Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac with keywords “I feel” and “I fluctuate”. Cancer’s symbol is the crab, an instinctive creature dwelling in the watery depths in the safety of its shell. Cancers are extremely sensitive. They love to mother and nurture others and have a strong attachment to home, family, community and tradition. At best Cancers are in touch with their feelings and display kindness, love and compassion. They are highly emotional, usually love food and have a reputation for taking care of friends, family and workmates. Negatively, the Cancer individual can be moody, dependent, illogical, manipulative and insecure. Cancer rules the stomach, breasts and solar plexus. When Cancers are out of balance they suffer from mood swings, digestive upsets, water retention and breast problems. The Cancer colours are silver and pastel shades and those born under this sign often love old jewellery, antiques and lingerie. Cancer’s greatest lesson is to live in the present rather than the past and to deal with feelings of fear and insecurity.
July New Moon & Full Moon
The July full moon falls on the 4th in earth sign Capricorn and with the moon conjunct powerful Pluto activating the Uranus-Pluto square, we can expect some unexpected emotional outbursts. Uranus is travelling alongside the asteroid Pallas Athene in Aries helping us speak our truth and stand up for ourselves. Watch out for tactless remarks! And with Mars and Saturn the ruling planets of Aries and Capricorn both in Libra, sign of love and partnership, be particularly careful of criticising your loved ones. Jupiter and Venus are travelling together in Gemini at this full moon, a combination which will enhance healthy relationships, but reveal the flaws in unstable ones. Triangle situations are possible.
The July new moon falls on the 19th in water sign Cancer. The Sabian Symbol for this new moon (27 degrees Cancer) shows a violent storm in a canyon filled with expensive homes. The power of nature can lay our carefully accumulated material possessions to waste, forcing us to find deeper levels of meaning in life. The keyword for this new moon is ‘catharsis’ even though Cancer is a sign that thrives on emotional and physical security. The challenge over the coming month is to build a sense of inner security in order to weather changes to your material world.
Jupiter into Gemini
Over the past couple of months we’ve spent a lot of time looking at the recent solar and lunar eclipses plus the Venus retrograde cycle and its transit to the Sun. There has barely been time to cover another extremely important event that has slipped by almost unnoticed. In mid-June, Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, shifted from earth sign Taurus to air sign Gemini. Jupiter will be in Gemini until June 2013 offering those with planets in the air signs Gemini, Libra and Aquarius special opportunities to achieve their potential and achieve recognition over the coming months.
In astrology Jupiter represents our yearning for meaning in life and our desire for expansion and growth. But Jupiter’s true purpose is to inspire us to embrace a belief system that gives meaning to life. Gemini is the whiz kid of the zodiac ruled by the planet Mercury whose role is to relay messages from the unconscious to the conscious mind. If you've recently started to feel an impulse to reach beyond your present boundaries, you're feeling the effects of Jupiter's move into Gemini. When the urge to expand meets the urge to communicate, we exchange lots and lots of words - written words, spoken words and words of many languages. In next month’s AstroUpdate we’ll take a look at the sort of things to expect as Jupiter moves through Gemini.
Vesta – from Asteroid to Protoplanet!
In Roman mythology, Vesta was the goddess of the hearth and the only deity worshipped in every household. Vesta’s temple was extremely important in the state religion, having its own college of priestesses known as the Vestal Virgins. Early in the 19th century, a lump of rock in the asteroid belt was named after Vesta; in the 1970s, astrologers began to take more interest in the asteroids and more recently, Vesta made a spectacular comeback when observations from a NASA spacecraft showed that this huge asteroid is actually a battered protoplanet left over from the early days of our solar system. With a diameter of about 530 kilometres and an orbital period of 3.63 years, Vesta is the brightest visible asteroid when viewed from Earth.
In Roman times, the Vestal Virgins were put to service in the temple for thirty years and tended the sacred temple flame. In return for their faithful service, they received rights denied to other women of their day including financial independence, the right to own land, travel in a carriage and secure priority seating at major sporting events. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth, a symbol for home and family life. She is closely linked to the Greek goddess Hestia who in ancient Greece was the embodiment of an internal and sacred space symbolised by the sacred flame. Hestia’s flame offered stillness, quiet and solitude in the midst of everyday life. This meditation and silence can open the gateway to creative power and potential via our own kundalini flame.
NASA’s discovery this year has symbolically enhanced Vesta’s status and we certainly need more of the gifts she offers. In our busy world, a warm, nurturing, peaceful and loving home and time for reflection, solitude and the cultivation of inner peace have become luxuries rather than essentials. We eat at our desks, spend less and less time at home and are constantly connected to others by 24/7 mobile communication. Our spare time is taken up with socialising and second jobs, leaving no time for the inner world, no time for family and no time to deal with anxiety, terror and despair. No wonder anxiety and panic attacks are on the increase. No wonder mental health, allergies and sleeping and eating disorders have become major issues. No wonder we spend thousands of dollars on retreats, detox programs, meditation classes, special foods, drugs and alternative therapies. Vesta’s solution is to spend more quality time round the hearth with the people we love. Anyone who has sat round a camp fire gazing at the stars or gathered with friends round a pot belly stove has experienced the magic of Vesta. But as Vesta makes her astrological presence felt, will we heed her message?
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Home is where the warmth of the heart (or hearth) is.
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Time spent setting up a loving and nurturing home results in better mental, emotional and physical health and an increased sense of belonging.
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To identify and honour our inner flame we need to take the time to listen to the messages from our soul.
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To cultivate inner peace we need to spend time in non-action. Constant action unaccompanied by reflection leads to a cold, empty and unfulfilling life.
The position of Vesta in your natal horoscope will show how and what you need to feel fulfilled and nurtured and how to keep that inner flame burning brightly.
July Moon Calendar
Launch projects at the New Moon, bring them to completion in the period from just before the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase and wind them down and reflect on developments in the week before the next New Moon. The period between the New Moon and the Full Moon is the waxing moon (moon getting bigger and fuller). The period between the Full Moon and the New Moon is the waning moon (moon getting smaller and thinner).
You can use this moon table to select the most favourable days to slow or increase hair regrowth. Full instructions can be found in my Lunar Hair Care guidelines at www.stellastarwoman.com/files/LunarHairCare.pdf but to get you started I've marked the best dates for waxing/shaving to slow regrowth in yellow and the best dates to cut hair for thicker, lusher growth in green. If you‟re serious about Lunar Hair Care - order your own Moon Calendar from the Stella Starwoman Store then you'll know exactly what time of day the moon changes from one zodiac sign to the next.
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Date |
Sign |
Element |
Moon Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
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1st |
Scorpio |
Water |
|
|
1st-3rd |
Sagittarius |
Fire |
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| 3rd-5th | Capricorn | Earth | Full Moon 4th |
| 5th-7th | Aquarius | Air | |
|
7th-9th |
Pisces |
Water |
|
|
9th-12th |
Aries |
Fire |
Third Quarter |
|
12th-14th |
Taurus |
Earth |
|
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14th-17th |
Gemini |
Air |
|
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17th-19th |
Cancer |
Water |
New Moon 19th |
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19th-22nd |
Leo |
Fire |
|
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22nd-24th |
Virgo |
Earth |
|
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24th-26th |
Libra |
Air |
|
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26th-28th |
Scorpio |
Water |
First Quarter |
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28th-30th |
Sagittarius |
Fire |
|
|
30th-31st |
Capricorn |
Earth
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Thanks for being part of AstroUpdate. If there‟s something you‟d like to see featured, or have something you think would interest others, please contact me at stellaw@ozemail.com.au
PS – Don‟t forget to check out your July Monthly Stars at www.stellastarwoman.com to see what‟s coming up for you this month.
Happy Stargazing
Stella Woods www.stellastarwoman.com