As a Gemini sage once put it, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you don’t need an astrologer to tell you midsummer ‘19 will be a hotspot in modern British history. Best make that world history, since the provocative array of planets this month is part of a planetary cycle – that of Saturn-Pluto – with a troubling reputation. The last two meetings of the pair arrived in 1947 (partition of India, foundation of Israel) and 1981 (Iran-Iraq war, austerity), while their opposition in 2001 coincided with the 9/11 attack on New York’s Twin Towers (Saturn was in Gemini).
Saturn and Pluto meet again in six months’ time in Capricorn, but both planets are meanwhile in for a battering from opposing planets in Cancer; this month Mars, next month a total eclipse of the Sun at the new Moon of 2 July. This looks very much a seed moment – or a dress rehearsal – for what’s in store at peak Capricorn in 2020.
The horoscopes of both Britain and the Conservative party have strong placements in Capricorn, sign of the establishment. The ding-dong among the Tories chimes precisely with Saturn-Pluto sweeping over their Ascendant (b. November 2, 1867 with 18 degrees Capricorn Ascendant); cue uproar and possible disintegration. When Saturn was here in 1990, Margaret Thatcher was ousted as leader and PM; this time it’s Theresa May who’s been thrown under the bus.
The battle for succession promises to be long and brutal. Mars is in opposition throughout June (from Cancer) – Gustav Holst’s Mars, Bringer of War makes an ideal soundtrack – while Mercury retrograde in Cancer in July means this bout will go the full fifteen rounds, with unexpected reversals and spoilt ballot papers along the way.
Back to June, which has plenty of light and joy to offer away from the clashes of Mars and Saturn (June 13) and Mars opposite Pluto (June 19). It’s the season of playful Gemini; the Sun, a new Moon (June 3) and Venus are all in the sign of the Twins. Party on! The full Moon of June 17, alongside Jupiter in swashbuckling Sagittarius, looks a wild one.
The midsummer solstice on June 21 presages more serious drama, with the solar eclipse of July 2 forthcoming. More details next month. The solstice also means there’s only 182 shopping days until Christmas.
A handful of Geminis: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Alastair Campbell, Bob Dylan, Johnny Depp, Naomi Campbell, Helena Bonham-Carter, Stevie Nicks, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman, Angela Jolie, Annette Benning.
Gemini
The capacity for endless fascination – default mode for most Twins – is well served by June’s stars. Contretemps between you and your better half/ex/sworn foe should be on the wane, now that Mars has moved on. The new Moon of June 3 (Bingo! if that’s your birthday) gives you lift-off, and with fair Venus in your skies from June 9 to the month’s end, spring is in the air, songbirds canoodle and you can pick your way between clothes sales, parties (including your own!), art galleries and piquant social encounters. The full Moon of the 17th is a time to let loose your inner Centaur.
There’s no great price to be paid for your pleasure, other than an awareness that joys can be fleeting, and, since Neptune is involved, events and people may lead you up the garden path and into the fairy grotto to try to sell you a unicorn. Especially around the solstice. On the other hand, with Neptune strong in your career mid-heaven, new professional interests bloom and you can glam up your public image.
The planets looming across your financial axis are not much fun (Mars, Saturn, Pluto), but a combative approach to your financial situation (including tussles with The Man) is to be commended. Happy Birthday.
Cancer
The further you go into June and July, the more curious and eventful things become. On a minor level that involves Mercury, in your skies until June 27, only for the communications planet to return here in the latter half of July, during its retrograde. Time to spruce up your tech and buy your new phone and suchlike before the solstice.
There are louder drums beating during the next two months. After eighteen months of Saturn in opposition almost all of you have had to swallow some stony realities, be they financial, property-based, care of the elderly or care of your own well-being. Saturn’s retrograde means there are no immediate fresh difficulties afoot and you have the summer to sort out those you have encountered. However, Mars in your skies will oppose both Saturn and Pluto at mid-month to nudge you along. Mars’ energy is high burn; good for getting jobs done and grooming your beach body, but liable to flushes of anger. Careful with any disputes; you want justice not revenge.
Once the mighty Sun reaches The Crab at solstice, you are, of course, empowered, imminent solar eclipse notwithstanding, June birthdays may be receiving support from an unexpected source, or via the ‘green wave’ that has accompanied Uranus’ arrival in Taurus. Either way, non-orthodox thinking and personalities are in favour.
July’s birthdays are a different story, one to explore next month, but those circa July 17 have Neptune on full beam this month, a cue for hopeless infatuation but a touch of glamour to go with it. At the risk of being misled, ride your luck.
Leo
The storms that rock June’s astrology in mid-month lie thankfully behind the scenes in your horoscope (though if you have planets in Cancer you may find otherwise). In your solar ‘scope the sign of the Crab represents the inner life, the secrets you keep, the regrets and karma you may have gathered along the way, it’s retreat and regeneration.
Putting time aside for the mind-body-spirit axis is time well spent, not least because Mars roars into your skies early in July, and you will be busy doing what you are best at; being regal. Mars, remember, is most concerned with the ‘body’ part of the MBS axis.
Happily, the public realm is also under obliging stars. The season of Gemini – air for your fire – strengthens your involvement in team pursuits; collectives, committees, conferences and general networking. A new Moon there on June 3 is followed by Venus on June 9, which should help you charm your fellow travellers. The first you will likely see of that new Moon is over the weekend of June 8, when Luna is in your skies. A moment.
The full Moon of the 17th is also a swell deal for Leo, being in fiery Sagittarius and next to Jupiter, the planet that is meant to be boosting your love life and lucky wins; here’s an opportune moment to test that theory.
The fly in the ointment is Mercury, which reaches Leo in the last few days of June, only to turn retrograde early in July, heralding interesting news for July birthdays. Decisions and deals are best done before the solstice, before Mercury starts acting funny.
Virgo
The astrological weather in June manages to pack all four seasons into a month. Venus in earthy Taurus until the 9th is the essence of spring, while the Sun overhead in Gemini, along with Venus from June 9, proffers you public profile and a touch of canniness concerning whom you get to shake hands with.
Mars in Cancer is also about summer. The red planet in your networking zone makes for a busy, if occasionally fractious social life – a work hard play hard scenario. The problems arise when Mars opposes wintry Saturn in Capricorn at mid-month, shaking up your more personal life. Relations with a friend, acquaintance or lover may become strained, or you may find yourself in crossfire between a lover and an acquaintance. A summer storm.
The Sun’s arrival at Cancer at midsummer brings a more genial tone. Business is best done well before the end of the month, before your ruler Mercury goes into one of its three week retreat cycles (the actual retrograde stars July 8).
Opposite you remains Neptune, which draws to an apparent halt at the solstice. Much has been written about the distant planet’s powers of beguilement and obfuscation (see last month’s forecasts for example); do ensure that unworthy people are not taking advantage of your sense of duty.
Libra
Two contrary currents run through June’s stars. Here is the season of airy Gemini to delight you with novelties, fresh ideas for the imagination and fresh personalities for the social whirl. Ruler Venus is there from the 9th to make the introductions, and the lunation that begins on June reaches Libra’s skies over the 11th/12th – see and be seen.
On the other side of your Scales is the brouhaha building in the sign of Cancer, at the peak of your ‘scope, the place of career path. Mars here is no great shakes in itself but the red planet’s oppositions to Saturn and Pluto, down at the root of your chart, the place of home and security, raise the stakes. Together with next month’s eclipses, they are part of Saturn’s transformative process, one that reaches culmination in 2020.
You can be sure that plenty of work is involved, some of it on yourself, some in the public arena, and you may be obliged to go the extra mile this summer to keep your project(s) on course. Keep your eye on the prize.
Partnerships, naturally, are one place where Saturn may lean on you. Here you might refer back to what was going on seven years ago, when Saturn was in your skies and Prometheus in opposition. The ‘Seven Year Itch’ is more than just a film title. Prometheus is now in Taurus, for you a zone where money and partnerships meet; a drastic change in who funds what could well be on the cards.
Scorpio
As the zodiac’s two other water signs, Pisces and Cancer, are lit up in June and July, you should be able to conjure up a special summer. You have a potentially entrancing opening week, with Venus opposite you and Neptune glowing from your house of romance. Be among people.
There are drawbacks of course! Neptune lends the picture enchantment but illusion – rather like A Midsummer Night’s Dream (don’t be the fool with the donkey head). Your Scorpio instincts are called for.
Your ruler Mars is at war with Saturn this month, and while your sign is not directly in firing line, you might find yourself mixed up in a falling out between siblings or friends. Or you could find yourself in an ideological dispute, a social media fracas or an uproar in academia – something of an information storm seems to be raging around the 17th. The ‘good’ side of Mars is the encouragement to explore the world of ideas and to nail down where justice lies in any dispute, a strand that continues in eclipse-laden July.
October birthdays are still being stared down by planet Prometheus, in opposition from Taurus. The planet of revolution is full of surprise, but when the light bulb goes on over one’s head, or a bolt from the blue strikes with a cry of ‘Eureka’, you know you’ve tangled with Promethean energies.
Sagittarius
The Sun in opposition (from Gemini in your case) is not always the strongest month in one’s year, but when it’s accompanied by Venus, as in June, then the world becomes a more charming place. You can bury the hatchet with those with whom you are on the outs, air kiss glamorous strangers, and be provoked by a fashion parade or a painting.
In short, it’s all to play for, with a new Moon on June 3 to help you on your way and a full Moon on June 17 in your skies alongside ruler Jupiter, making the weekend of the 15th one to get on a roll. A complicating factor comes from Neptune, currently strong in the depths of your horoscope, at best adding lustre to your family life (including ancestors), at worst fogging your skies with disinformation and downright dishonesty.
The stormier aspects of the planetary picture are mercifully oblique for the Centaur, the month’s Saturn-Mars opposition laying across your financial axis, both ready cash and joint arrangements. With eclipses forthcoming here (and a Mercury retrograde), the best plan is to ensure that is fiscally shipshape before the solstice and thereafter to monitor events – sometimes it’s better to do nothing, as long as you are informed.
You may have to wait until the season of fiery Leo arrives before full order is restored, meanwhile enjoy June.
Capricorn
It’s halfway through your personal year – six months before and after your birthday. Consider progress in 2019 and decide what you want to have achieved by year’s end. Ruler Saturn in your sign is your lodestone, and by December the ringed planet will be back where it is now (at 20 degrees Cap, fact fans), and you will; be poised to take another decisive step into the future in 2020, that most Capricorn of years.
In June Saturn gets a bumpy ride thanks to warrior Mars in opposition – exact on the 17th, a heavy week for you – a transit that also zaps your birthday Sun, both likely to bring flak from a significant other, whether your partner, ex or sworn foe. Your usual line of defence – stonewall – should work but given that Cancer is hosting a pair of eclipses in July, the issues could be bigger than a spat. People frequently make wholesale changes under Saturn, and you should take events this midsummer seriously. Given Capricorn’s cautious nature you’ll want to plan in advance; six months should be enough.
Any chance of moonlight, love and romance? Mars in opposition isn’t that way inclined. Venus in Taurus until June 9 is wildly in favour. Then there is planet Prometheus, also lurking in the Bull and with Christmas birthdays most in its sights. Here’s a planet that can turn your life upside down and not need six months to do it. All you have to do is face the music and dance.
Aquarius
When it comes to personal relations, your sign has a reputation for being somewhat chilly, as a little remote from those things called emotions that so exercise the rest of the zodiac. However, June is all set up for passion, whether the heavy breathing romantic sort or for a proud display of your talents. Your fellow air sign Gemini is lit up by the Sun and Venus, a cue to get the heck out of the house and engage with fellow human beings/kindred aliens (delete as appropriate).
Alternately you can throw yourself into painting a new canvas, dashing off a volume of poetry or winning a final in your sport of choice. As long as you are projecting yourself onto a bigger stage, you’re in accord with your stars.
The infrastructure and wellbeing routine that allows you time for personal pursuits may present you with glitches. Mars encourages an all-out attack on an untidy study or back-dated paperwork, but the red planet runs into heavy traffic at mid-month (opposing ruler Saturn); watch out for summer colds and the like.
In general, however, you are at one side of the month’s more problematic aspects. An exception is maverick Prometheus, newly installed near the root of your ‘scope and with January birthdays particularly in its sights. Any exciting ideas about reinventing your career (or even your home) should be respected, though acting upon them is best done either in the first few weeks of June or in August, by which time July’s Mercury retrograde will be out the way. Oh, and there’s Neptune in your cash zone – don’t get dipped, read the small print.
Pisces
Obviously, you are multi-tasking like crazy and juggling a dozen different projects, but to what ends? Pisceans can be admirably diffuse but even you, no especially you, need boundaries. Your astrologer mentions this because Neptune is sitting stationary in the middle of your skies, Neptune, planet of all and everything; movies, dance, ether, oil, crime and the religious life, the list goes on. Neptune inclines to the visionary rather than the practical, great ideas that never come to being.
Focus, then, on what’s possible rather than desirable. Fortunately, Neptune’s vagueness is tempered by planets in Capricorn and Cancer, an axis which provides the month’s drama. Cancer, a kindred water sign, has prime spot in your solar ‘scope as the place you create, show off, party, and win honours. Mars there in June is all for razzmatazz and enjoyment, though the red planet’s clashes with Saturn at mid-month call for maximum diplomacy among friends and lovers. It may be an argument between your friends rather than a scrap of your own. Unlike Neptune, Saturn likes boundaries; you may have to spell them out if you are not to be rolled over. In all events, this is a month to keep peace in the valley.
Back to the first part of June, when the merry season of Gemini rules and sounds the call to domestic duty. The full Moon of June 17 arrives next to your traditional ruler Jupiter on the roof of your chart, the place where you put your name in lights. Jupiter is currently in retreat and going over professional ground from earlier in the year but returns to lead you to glory in autumn, but this full Moon promises a chance to get some airtime, some profile.
Romance? Mars and the Sun are all in favour. Might as well be upfront about what you have in mind.
Aries
Take your pleasures where you find them. Venus in Gemini from June 9 should find you wandering through the ‘hood glad-handing pals and mwaa-ing with the best of them. With the new Moon in the Twins (June 3) and a full Moon in fiery Sagittarius at the 17th, your social life deserves all the time you can spare.
Better that than fret professionally, where there are rumbles of thunder overhead. Nothing too alarming – Saturn is in retreat and the pressure pertaining around your birthday has eased. However, your hot-blooded ruler, Mars, opposes Saturn in June – and squares your Aries Sun – a recipe for aggravation, with the world of bosses likely involved. Play a straight bat and avoid entanglements; the forthcoming parade of planets in Cancer during June, complete with a retrograde Mercury, means delay and obfuscation are your friends. Let the clouds roll past.
Home and security – the business of Cancer and your fourth solar house – are under emphasis this month and next. Mend the roof while the sun shines. Endure the builders if necessary.
Other ongoing strands in your ‘scope include Jupiter, currently in retreat but still splendidly sited in fiery Sagittarius and as summer wears on more forceful in your outlook; think international (and act local natch). Neptune is also prominent this month, sited, for Rams, in the zone of mind-body-spirit; a moment to reconnect with your personal path.
Taurus
It’s a little early in the year to be talking of harvests, but your birthday month should have seen you pick up some approbations after the long haul of Saturn over the last eighteen months. Saturn in a fellow earth sign rewards the effort you put in for the long haul.
In June, Saturn, now in retreat, is buffeted by warrior Mars, a contrary to-do but one you can use to your advantage. Planets in Cancer mean deals are there to be made, abrasive characters can be won over, deceitful types sniffed out, long lost cousins relocated. The major caveat is that you get a move on as a retrograde of Mercury snaps in early next month. Clear the desk before the solstice.
Ruler Venus in your skies for the first none days of June likewise obliges you to enjoy life in the here and now, especially when romance is in the air. For the rest of June Venus is active in the zone of cash and assets, along with a new Moon, a full Moon and the Sun. All good here providing you are watching the cashflow. You’ll be wanting to spend as well as acquire. The full Moon of the 17th helps bring clarity to finances, especially those that you share with your main squeeze or ex. Here, it could be time for an overhaul of who pays for what.