As we head into the final week of July, it’s a good time to start preparing for August, a potentially difficult month.

Spend this week shoring up your alliances, wrapping up as much business as you can, and finding ways to put new projects on hold until the end of next month – and there will be new developments, with the New Moon in Leo on Saturday.

The August StarGuide Forecast is prepared, so now would be a good time to have a look at your personal transits for next month. You’ll also get my notes about where Mercury retrograde will fall in your chart, as well as the positions of the Full Moon on August 13 and the New Moon on August 28, which will be particularly significant, as it represents a big green light for whatever was stalled during Mercury’s retrograde phase.

Meanwhile, this week is a bit chaotic, with a “which way am I suppose to go” feel to it. To help make sense of it, I’m going to address the astrological aspects out of order.

On Wednesday, the Sun in Leo trines Uranus in Aries, and then Venus enters Leo on Thursday and trines Uranus on Sunday. These are the most positive energies of the week, and they’ll be active at the New Moon on Saturday. Leo rules the heart. Opening your heart without fear to let in new opportunities will yield results. This is especially true for love, but Venus also is associated with finances and other goodies. When we’re in a state of fear and mistrust, our hearts are closed. It’s like trying to receive a FedEx delivery without unlocking your door.

The big challenge this week is going to be cultivating courage and trust. You need only look at the latest news headlines to know that there is some very weird energy in the astro-sphere. Pinning down astrological markers is a tricky business, but I’d put my money on the close square between Uranus and Pluto. We’ve been talking about this for years, and while the first exact contact doesn’t occur until next June, the two planets are retrograde and tracking just over a degree from an exact square for the next few weeks. The most notable keywords for this aspect are “revolution” and “rebellion.” But with Pluto in Capricorn, revolutions will be met by powerful forces backing up the status quo. There is no question that the next three years are going to be tumultuous. Events to date are just a taste of what’s to come.

We also have two major inconjuncts on Thursday, which tend to irritate and grate on our nerves. The Sun’s inconjunct to Pluto on Thursday pits individual will against the master plan of authority. This could manifest as anything from a clash with your boss to new stand-offs in the global hotspots of revolutionary activity.

The inconjunct from Venus to Neptune is problematic for love relationships, all the more so with Mercury in opposition with Neptune the same day. Don’t be surprised if someone hears something you didn’t say and vice versa. Mercury is slowing down to station retrograde on August 2, but it will seem like it’s already “in reverse” by the end of this week. My standard advice applies: If you have a misunderstanding, forgive and forget, and don’t assume it’s the other person’s fault. Although you intend your words to have a certain meaning, the other person may interpret them entirely differently, and both can be valid. That’s the mischief of retrograde Mercury, the Trickster.

Not to forget Ceres, the largest of the asteroid goddesses turns retrograde at 0 degrees Aries on Tuesday. What I see as most significant in this shift is that she won’t add her weight to the Uranus-Pluto square until next January and February. When that happens, we might see widespread protests over environmental issues or, worse, food shortages.

Saturday’s New Moon incorporates all of the week’s aspects, so everything I’ve written above applies to the next two weeks in general. This New Moon is the first in nearly three months that isn’t an eclipse, and it takes us into new territory beyond the issues we’ve been dealing with over the past two years. Those of you who ordered your StarGuide forecast for July or for the entire summer know exactly where this New Moon will land in your chart and what sorts of new developments you might experience. (The StarGuide Summer 2011 Forecast is still on sale and runs through September 23.)

Remember, Mars also enters Cancer next week – the day after Mercury turns retrograde – so this is the last week of relative calm (emphasis on relative) in which we can tie up loose ends. After that, it’s anybody’s guess what we’ll be dealing with.

Wishing you a strong and open heart,
Pat