Cancer - June 21st-July 21th

January represents your solar 7th house, which equals relationships and significant others which may be a focus and you may well need to give ground as they could be necessarily directing your life, notably true if born after June 30th.

However, Mercury in your sign from the 8th to the 27th will affect all of you and implies that communications with significant others will be vital this month and potentially pleasing around the 8th and 24th. After the 27th, communications will need to be of necessity a little deeper, with inspiration being in the air on a very intuitive level around the 28th.

From the 14th, when Venus moves into compatible to your sign Pisces, for all born up to July 14th there is delight through overseas connections and travel and a great love of learning, and romance and creative fecundity are part of the picture. Your ability to harmonize with others should not be under-estimated after that date.

Mars in Virgo all month is in sextile or useful relationship to your Sun, particularly notable if born July 12th to 17th, and this will activate your intellect in a very powerful and decisive way. It gives courage and you will be restless, and energy will be directed in a constructive and positive direction. However, from the 24th, Mars moves retrograde and will be affecting us all in an unusual way for several months. Mars moves retrograde not that often, approximately once every two years, so it is a significant shift. For your sign, it will mean that from the 24th your observations, perception and consciousness will become a little more still and reflective. You may feel a little paralyzed and actions and activities may be reduced of necessity. There is a sense of watch and wait and also a sense of needing to review one’s ideas, desires and actions. There is a paralysis that is rather necessary. We will all to some extent be put on hold in some context and this may very well link to your professional direction.

However, Jupiter is well-disposed toward those born June 22nd to 24th as he has been for two months now. This has brought the benefits of friendships and group activity very much to your door. Sociability has been yours and there have been opportunities to intelligently grab, for progress in life, particularly when it comes to working as a leader or for the greater good.

Saturn has been challenging however for those at the other end of your sign, late Cancerians born after July 18th-19th. He is currently bringing challenges, possibly from the domestic or family front and it is a time when hard work is necessary. It is also a time not to give in to negativity or to see the cup as half empty and to acknowledge the need for measured and austere behavior, discipline and patience. Facing facts and responding to them intelligently rather than in defeatist way is the path to take. Have courage, belief and know that when you do that you have to do, it will stand you in very good stead in the future.

Uranus by contrast however is creating some turmoil and chaos for the very same group that are being benefited by Jupiter, those born June 22nd to 24th, hence this is a rather interesting time but ultimately very awakening. While Jupiter holds your hand there will be sense that you don’t quite know how to react to the need for change and the need to break out of certain moulds. The hunger is there and the confidence from Jupiter is there, but there seems to be no roadmap and all is quickly changing. By the time you get to the end of next month you will be out of this particular maelstrom and you will see that the last year, or at least since March 2011, has been a rather revolutionary period, and now with Jupiter on your side, you can rubberstamp the necessary changes; and they may not be as you thought.

Pluto is opposing the Suns of those born June 29th to July 2nd. This once every 248 year transit, which was under way on and off last year, and will be until the end of this year, is profound and quite life-changing. It brings an evolutionary journey of the soul, particularly vis-à-vis relationships with others which may have gone through, or be going through, a rather dramatic period. It is very important during this time to not allow others to overpower or coerce you in a way that is not comfortable, and equally power struggles that you create need very careful handling. Having to look into the underbelly and darker side of the human condition is part of this particular transit and journey and it is also possible that you have to face some of the more uncomfortable truths of life, and this has a sense of destiny about it. One thing you can know, is that if you are conscious (and the secret of successful living is always being on a conscious level) and aware of deeper motives and determined to avoid misuse of power, then you cannot go far wrong. Keep your dignity and draw intelligent boundaries.

Finally the full Moon is in your sign on the 9th, directly affecting all those born around July 11th, brings a somewhat significant period or showdown with someone that is necessary and can clear the air, or at least it speaks truth to you.

Thought for 2012: To nurture others is to nurture yourself.