If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget about it. This is real astrology for the real world, not some mystical mumbo-jumbo psycho-babble word salad. If it's real astrology for yourself that you want, you can get it by phone or in print. And if you need help deciphering the astrological glyphs in the graphics accompanying this article, see Astroglyphs: Astrological Symbols Guide. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT, aka GMT). Also please be aware that, while I never change a forecast once it's published, I do post errata to acknowledge typographical errors and the like.
PLEASE NOTE: This month’s forecast incorporates elements of (and refers to) my complete 2012 World Forecast Highlights (34 8-1/2 x 11” illustrated pages), focused, amplified and elaborated with details for the month as appropriate. If you’d like your own copy of the full 2012 World Forecast Highlights, it’s available in hard copy by mail ($75) or as a PDF document by email ($50). Orders may be phoned in (toll-free from anywhere in North America to 800-527-8761) and charged to any major credit card. PayPal orders may be placed direct from your own PayPal account page to rnolle@astropro.com – or by using the AstroPro PayPal order page.
It is the future that creates his present.
All is an interminable chain of longing.
-- Robert Frost
My forecast this time around looks short, but it’s really quite complete if you follow the links in the text. (For even more complete coverage, refer to the full copy of my 2012 World Forecast Highlights.) The reason for the apparent brevity is my having lost a couple weeks in June due to medical issues and a 10-day hospital stay. I’m back at work and catching up, but you just don’t get ten days back!
Some of the major themes for July are mainly Max-centered; that is, focused on planetary cycles in which the planet in question if making its close approach to Earth. Any such cycle makes the planet bigger, brighter and more prominent in our skies – and therefore in us, our lives and the world at large. For July, Mercury, Venus and Mars all remain in their Max phase.
Of these, Mars Max has been in effect longest (since October 28, 2011). It comes to a close this month on the 12th, as the Red Planet resumes its normal rate of apparent movement. Anyone following the news during this Mars Max has seen ample evidence of my Mars Max forecast: a surfeit of "clashes, crashes, fires and explosions" and "a spike across the whole spectrum of violence, from the individual to the collective, from domestic, school and workplace violence to mass murder and spree killings all the way to suicide bombings and other terrorist atrocities." If you haven’t seen evidence of all this in the news during the current Mars Max, then you just haven’t been paying attention. Watch for a return to a more normal level of mayhem after July 12, when the current Mars Max comes to an end. I’m not saying peace will break out all over and the lion will lie down with the lamb, mind you. Humans are still hierarchical social predators after all. This is not a break-through to Utopia, only a return to normality.
While Mars Max winds down this month, two other Max cycles remain in effect throughout July. One is the 2012 Venus Max, which began on March 27 when Venus reached maximum elongation east of the Sun (its greatest eastward advance from Sol). The current Venus Max comes to an end on August 15. Surprisingly to some, despite all the economic and astrological headwinds (a Saturn Max in effect for part of the Venus Max cycle in the latter category), markets and economies have teetered mightily but avoided collapse under this Venus Max – a cycle that tends to coincide with better financial/economic fortunes after all. (Major US indices are currently positive for the year!) As Venus Max ends, instability tends to grow: be ready.
Last but not least in the Max catetory – and also in effect all month long – is the current Mercury Max, which began on June 30 and continues to August 16 (including the July 15-August 8 lesser Mercury retrograde cycle). Forget all the Mercury retrograde nonsense you’ve been taught. This cycle means an emphasis on all things mercurial – thought, planning, commerce, communication – and things don’t go wrong on their own. Pay attention, follow-through, keep your eye on the ball. You’ll prosper, probably at the expense of the sleepwalkers and Mercury retrograde fatalists. Be especially diligent around July 15 and 28 as well as August 8 and 16 (give or take a few days).
Max cycles aside, the other big month-long focus - really, the most important of all in a true historical context - is the Uranus-Pluto square, one in a set that doesn’t conclude until 2016. It’s been in effect off and on since 2011, and per my annual forecasts it signals a social response (e.g. anarchy and revolution) to fundamental political, technological, economic and social change. You’ve seen it in the Arab Spring, in the Occupy Movement and more – and it’s only just begun. Remember: this is not just a "Great Recession" or Depression we’re going through: it’s the start of a whole new historical epoch, unprecedented since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The transition, as described in my annual forecasts, began in 1980 and reaches critical momentum in 2020.
Last but not least, there are the enhanced storm and seismic indicators this month. None rises to the level of an eclipse, let alone a SuperMoon, but there are a few periods in July when news-making strong storms with high winds and heavy precipitation as well as moderate-to-severe seismic activity (Magnitude 5+ quakes and volcanic eruptions) appear to concentrate. These include the beginning of the month (carrying over from the end of June) through July 6, and July 15-24. Heads up, be ready! (You should know the drill by now: a go bag at the ready, batteries and bottled water, canned and/or dried foods, etc.)
Acknowledgments
All astrological charts as well as eclipse and astro-locality maps are calculated and produced using Esoteric Technologies’ Solar Fire Gold Version 7.0.8 Sky map images are screen captures from the Pocket Universe app for iPhone.
SPECIAL FEATURE: This month's birthdays of the famous and infamous (with astrological birth charts)
