Two weeks have passed since the second exact square between law-revering Saturn in Aquarius and table-flipping Uranus in Taurus — but these planets move sluggishly. With Mars now in Leo, juggling torches from yet another fixed sign, the backyard BBQ is just heating up.
Mars opposes Saturn on July 1st, threatening to scorch all the scaffolding we currently abide by. Mars’ square to Uranus on July 3rd doubles the voltage and rattles us free from our paths of least resistance. Whatever change you’re inciting, tolerating or resisting in your personal life, or whatever change you’re shepherding, witnessing, or shrinking from on the collective level — it’s coming to a flashpoint.
Like striking flint against steel, this astrology is fire by friction. But that doesn’t have to mean it’s totally destructive. Nature incinerates itself as part of its regular grooming. As devastating as wildfires have become in this advanced stage of climate crisis, fires also release nutrients from the earth and stimulate new growth. The trick is in their containment.
The last time Mars spattered lighter fluid over the Saturn-Uranus square was in January. Sparks that flew then may resurge now. Consider what feels combustible in your life, and what resistance emerges as you attempt to maintain stasis. What unhelpful patterns or habits could use a little razing to the ground? What practices can you rely on to curb the fireworks, or create a safe container?
Mars, Saturn, and Uranus are all planets of resistance. While Saturn tends to resist change, Uranus resists the status quo, and Mars resists anything blocking its flight path. With this in mind, resisting resistance may simply invite more struggle. See “what not to do” when you fall into quicksand.
The call here isn’t to topple your containers, but to make your containers more elastic. Identify the practices or people that help you plant a ring of rocks around the flames. Ultimately, fire is a purifying force. It’s vivifying and vital. Now: how will you wield it?
For more on Mars, Saturn or Uranus in the current sky, or in your natal chart, download the CHANI app.
An earlier iteration of these horoscopes was released when Mars entered Leo. We are elaborating on them now as we enter the period that was previously alluded to. Your horoscopes are meant to be read as inspiration. If you know both your rising sign and sun sign, please read both horoscopes. You’ll know which one resonates more for you from week to week. Take what works for you, and leave the rest. If you want to share this work, please credit the source by quoting it and providing a link to this post and website. Thank you for your support and for spreading the work around. We really appreciate it and you.
The original version of these horoscopes were written by Thea Anderson. They have been edited and expanded by Eliza Robertson.
Aries & Aries Rising
With Mars igniting the square between Saturn and Uranus, toss a match into your passions and watch the fireworks. As creative beings, we need fuel. Folks may marvel at the sophistication of a ceramic vase without realizing the heat required to forge it.
Whatever feverish effort consumes you now, it begets works of art you’ll want to show off. Pour equal parts sweat and courage into your creative process, and there’s no limit to what crafts or compositions spring from your kiln.
On July 1st, the fire extinguishes slightly, and what’s left is lackluster. What feels like a kill-joy and how can it be reckoned with? Perhaps the work’s not as fun as it used to be, or you feel thwarted by creative blocks or naysayers. Mars favors a razor sharp line, but the artist’s way resists linear logic.
A creative breakthrough glimmers on the horizon when Mars squares Uranus on July 3rd. Neither Uranus nor Mars are known for their self-restraint, and what unfolds carries a high voltage.
Now probably isn’t the time to bet the farm, as you won’t be able to predict or control these wildcards. However, the disruptions that surface may be exactly what’s needed to snap you out of a dry spell.
Don’t be afraid to rip up first drafts and start anew. Every minor demolition paves the way for work that is exponentially more sturdy.
Taurus & Taurus Rising
As Mars exacerbates the tension between Saturn and Uranus, get ready to kindle home and hearth in a warrior’s camp fire. Playing host to such an undomesticated force does require elbow grease. Yet once directed to productive aims, Mars is delighted to shove up its sleeves.
Slash through languishing home-repair projects. Bid farewell to toxic cohabitants, roommates or pests. Wielded wisely, Mars’ flames will brighten the rooms, simmer the stews, and warm the souls in your abode. Every home needs a power source.
On July 1st, friction around a certain living situation or family dynamic can no longer be ignored. Whenever lineage and home is rocked, it’s unmooring, especially when professional pressures culminate at the same time.
Consider the albatrosses you wear around your neck and who put them there. Are they always bestowed from outside sources, or do you have some agency in feeling this overworked?
Come July 3rd, you’re the one embodying the wrecking ball, demolishing any structures or shackles keeping you stuck. This sort of leveling is crucial to excavate the worn out patterns in your professional and home bases. Forge new tools and you’ll solidify your foundation for years to come.
Gemini & Gemini Rising
As Mars plays with matches in Leo, you’re ready to turn up the temperature in your daily exchanges. Worry less about niceties or etiquette. People pleasing isn’t part of Mars’ behavioral imprint. Instead, you’ll want to slice through to the heart of every matter, and right now, you’ve got the unthrottled determination to do so.
On July 1st, a barrier that appears impenetrable looms in your path. It may come in the form of a schoolmarmish teacher or mentor, who interprets any attempt to update the curriculum as an existential threat.
While the temptation may be to burn all these dowdy systems to the ground, you have more to gain by recalibrating your studies with prudence and patience. That’s not to say you shouldn’t insist on justice or progress — but check your own ego as you do so. Mars will have a way of inflaming it.
Around July 3rd, you will be tested on your prudence concerning which social media dogfights you step into. Uranus in Taurus will play the invisible hellion on your shoulder, egging you on when it may be more advisable to save certain sentiments as drafts.
After sitting with the matter, carve out a novel solution — one that combines courage and contemplation. This sort of action or non-action establishes peace in your section of the world once again.
Cancer & Cancer Rising
As Mars fires up your cash reserves, you’re revved up and ready to claim what’s yours. Securing the bag was never so thrilling, and prospects for earning have you eager to multiply and conquer.
Then on July 1st, the engine stalls. If you don’t want to burn through your hard-won resources, pause to consider what’s a gamble. This is about gains in the aggregate as well as the long term. Sharing is vital — with your co-conspirators as well as your wider community. Collective wealth can be nurtured when you distribute the risks as well as the bounty.
July 3rd introduces a wildcard in the form of group activity or friends. A situation or person you perceived as reliable may prove more volatile than you had wagered — at least in the current moment. How you absorb these disruptions will inform the support you feel comfortable giving and receiving down the line.
As new information arrives, potentially from left field, you’ll have more room to address your concerns. Build a sustainable inner fire that allows you to keep the cauldrons bubbling and the cups brimming over.
Leo & Leo Rising
When Mars activates the friction between Saturn and Uranus, your personal engine of ambition is firing on all pistons. Summon your battle cry because this is all about what you can achieve. Your will is iron-hot at the moment, and sparks fly if anyone or anything thwarts your path.
But what if your red-eye momentum is what punctures the chink in your armor? As Mars opposes Saturn on July 1st, your wick runs dangerously low. To avoid burnout, or cope with it, grant yourself a generous padding of rest and patience. There are limitations to operating by blunt force alone, and it can be difficult to pivot in the face of unexpected challenges.
Unanticipated events will rear up around July 3rd in particular. What you perceive as a clash or tension may tear a hole in the fence wide enough for you to shimmy through. Such cuts may feel confronting at first, especially if they unfold in public, but they could provide just the breakthrough you’ve been clamoring after.
The path forward will involve a certain degree of ingenuity, or turning the box inside out. Remember to incorporate rest into your action plan, for you’ll need your lion’s nap before you can think like a visionary.
Virgo & Virgo rising
As this week’s astrology burns hotter, get ready to rumble behind the scenes. The warrior planet casts its aim on the part of your life that’s hard to detect for the uninitiated. Yet you know full well what fire can be kindled when you withdraw back to self. Intuitively, you also know that going at this speed is not sustainable or desirable.
On July 1st, it becomes clear that to temper the heat, you’ve got to walk over coals to reach the bottom of a lingering irritation. Reacting from this place of frustration can burble up all sorts of shame and guilt — but getting a bit mad is part of the journey to self-actualization.
July 3rd brings a breakthrough moment, though nothing about it is as neat or succinct as a cartoon lightbulb. You may find yourself clashing swords with teachers, curriculum creators, or a whole learning tradition. Harvest the energy from this heat but practice awareness in equal measure.
It’s unlikely the whole infrastructure needs to burn, but if it does, remember to return with your cleanup crew. While your sandals may get singed from these firewalks, you emerge more aware of your sacred flames and how to keep them burning.
Libra & Libra Rising
This week has you mixing, mingling, and working feverishly to advance your agenda among friends. Your boldness is a fire that gets stuff done — with no small dose of showmanship. While your instinct is normally to collaborate with other people, Mars in Leo inspires you to go it alone.
This rare taste of foregrounding your own needs could feel ecstatic at first, but it may also ruffle the manes of friends or allies who have come to expect the opposite from you. The first few days of July could feel especially turbulent, as Mars surfs the tsunami waves spewed by Saturn and Uranus.
Mars’ opposition to Saturn on July 1st may install a difference of opinions in terms of how you make merry. While social dynamics beckon, you don’t feel ready to settle into the fun just yet. The responsibilities you’re carrying feel too burdensome.
July 3rd brings a pivot or breakthrough, though that doesn’t mean everything will be easy. An opening appears, though it may involve Wile E. Coyote-ing your way through a wall.
Pause to assess how much you want to carve a solo path in a room full of friends. While you could encounter idiosyncratic individuals who hurl a surprise or two your way, you of all people know to forge a path between two divergent forces. When in doubt, return to your powers of equanimity and compromise. True allyship is forged in these trenches.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising
Rest defies you this week, until you conquer your work goals in flames of glory. Harness and direct this energy to catapult your endeavors to the champion’s podium. This is the time for taking action and culling what doesn’t work. Go for the top prize, and all eyes will be on your mission as you cross the finish line.
On July 1st, the urge to climb the ladder flames out. It doesn’t seem possible (or wise) to operate on adrenaline alone. After all the forward momentum, your agenda gets shaken unexpectedly. Sweat and confidence have delivered you this far. What knowledge have you gained to spur you onward? What foundations have you neglected in the process?
Partnership dynamics present their own plot twists on July 3rd, as Mars butts heads with Uranus. Consider what space you require to swing your Scorpion tail, and respect the space required of you in return. A breakthrough could be imminent, but the path through the thorns is booby-trapped. Ingenuity and attentiveness are helpful allies.
As the tension between Mars, Saturn and Uranus takes hold, redirect focus to your base. Your home life, family, or deeper chain-links of lineage could be agitating for nurturance. These are the root systems that enable you to do all that spectacular striving. Keep them hydrated.
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising
While Mars in Leo initiates you into the sacred fires of knowledge and adventure, this week introduces some obstacles. It can be frustrating to be halted when you’ve journeyed this far. But like any heroine’s journey, there are sometimes barriers that cannot be bulldozed. They have something to teach us.
Around July 1st, you’re forced to pause before the great iron gates. Something or someone in your environment presents a wall, or a message comes through that temporarily rattles your confidence. Like trying to find your path out of a corn maze, it will require some ingenuity to skirt around these obstacles.
Two days later on July 3rd, information arrives from left field, and your own engine of innovation will start to pur. This might be a time where you have to make a mess before you can identify the structure or order that suits you. Consider radical acts of calendar clearing and prioritize the work or health rituals that keep you sound.
The way out is unlikely to be predictable or linear, but nor is the road to getting wise.
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising
This week, accounting and contracts wait as you go it alone in the only way Mars knows how: via action and instinct. Burn through vagueness and all parties will benefit. Collaborations may get steamy, in both fun and toughening ways, but the fires you’re asked to hop over may provide the initiation you’ve been seeking.
Toward July 1st, however, you run out of lighter fluid. Where to go when war tactics have taken their toll and the collaboration is duly threatened? The risk, as ever, is burnout, or anxiety that your candle will run out of wick. Fears around scarcity could get activated, so drink generously from your inner wells of logic to separate fearful thinking from legitimate concerns.
July 3rd brings disruption of another flavor, which may take the form of a creative project, recreational activity, or a situation that involves children. Again, the ambient mood could feel a bit turbulent or raggedy, especially if the above themes involve money from outside sources.
If you want another to invest in you, subvert the impulse to fight for only your own goals. As surprising developments arrive, you’ll be grateful for the time you took to assess the situation. It’s not about winners vs. losers but recalling that you both have something to share. Not only that, but the disruptions that ensue have potential to metamorphose into long-awaited breakthroughs.
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising
The warrior planet wants to nab the trophy at all costs, which could involve confronting “the other” — lover, collaborator or partner. It can get heated fast. This intemperate fire is good for hashing it out, addressing a simmering conflict, and burning pretense to the ground.
Yet, pause on July 1st if you don’t want to douse hot sauce all over your most important relationships.
This commercial break is an opportunity to stop and see where irritation and irritability have scarred a close bond too deeply. The aim was never to burn bridges you hold dear, but to reinforce them. Adjustments are required now, especially if you feel caught off-guard by an unplanned development in your union.
July 3rd presents an initiation of a more homegrown variety, as Uranus in Taurus wages rebellions in your place of home and family. There’s a chance you’re yearning for more space or independence, or you’re receiving such demands from a family member, live-in partner, or roommate. A request for space is not a rejection or an abandonment. It’s an expression of a personal need.
Return to your willingness to fight for (and not against) the trust of another — even if this means granting everyone in the picture generous margins.
Pisces & Pisces Rising
This week, the warrior planet snips away any hindrances to health and job responsibilities. If there’s work to be done in terms of slashing, culling, or excavating gems from the mantle, now is the time to pull out your scissorhands. Mars is all too happy to scare off the enemies of efficiency.
On July 1st, a sore spot inflames under the pressure of your daily routine. Has the practice of conquer first, think later worn the system out? Consider how overwork exhausts even the most optimal machine.
July 3rd meanwhile brings minor rebellions or outcries in the form of conversations, call-out campaigns, or neighborhood protests. Consider what stakes you have, or want to have, in these situations before you wade into the center of them.
If unexpected breakdowns occur, know that a breakthrough is just around the corner. Confronting the problem with new insight will lead you to claim victory on the systems that keep you humming along.
This week Mars opposes Saturn and squares Uranus prompting slowdowns and u-turns. We’ve got you covered with journal prompts in the CHANI app.