My brother-in-law John called on the phone this morning. He had read the post about me carrying a “corporate flag” (logos in place of stars) in the local 4th of July parade, and remarked: “We’ve forgotten about the stars. Instead, we obey institutions, who pretend to give us guidance, and we are entrained to obey them. We need to put the stars back on the flag.”

BINGO!

I forgot to mention when we talked, that the word “dis-aster” literally means, “to turn away from the stars.”

So, to the stars for these two weeks. Here’s a chart for today:

These are big weeks, in fact huge. And it started over this past “Independence Day” weekend, when, for one thing, unusually large shootings erupted nearby, in both Indianapolis and Chicago.

What was going on astrologically? Well, the Sun started to move through the r/evolutionary, ongoing Uranus/Pluto zone, triggering first Pluto at 12° Capricorn over the weekend, beginning Friday, and will trigger Uranus at 16° Aries today through Wednesday.

Yes, Sun hit 12° Cancer (opposing Pluto, squaring Uranus) on Friday, July 4th, and intensified all weekend. Keep in mind, that it won’t hit the 16° marker until Wednesday, July 9th, so these three days (Monday through Wednesday) feature more extreme volatility for those who do not know how to center themselves within. If you do know how, now is the time for continuous practice.

Meanwhile, Jupiter, which has been in the sign where it is exalted, emotional, home-loving, my- country-right-or-wrong Cancer, since June 2013, will shift signs, into Leo, next next Wednesday, July 16th, again to stay for one year in its twelve-year cycle through the zodiac. As usual, this can be good and bad, evolved or not. Leo: positive — courageous, generous and open-hearted; negative — arrogant, big, overweening ego. Which shall it be? We shall see.

Meanwhile — and this is really a doozer! — two far-off planets, Saturn and Uranus, which have opposite meanings (Saturn wants to hold in form, keep existing structures in place, the status quo; Uranus wants to explode, bust through all boundaries) are both about to turn to go in opposite directions! Saturn to go direct, Uranus to go retrograde. The dates are July 20 (Saturn) and July 21 (Uranus). July 20 is also the date that went viral due to a supposed occult numerological message hidden in a speech by IMF head Christine Lagarde.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYmViPTndxw]

True? Who knows? There certainly are a lot of enormous global financial changes in the works, including rollout of the new BRICS Development Bank and the new Chinese Bank of Development, both to rival the World Bank.

When a big outer planet turns, to go either forward or backward, it appears to stop in its slow-moving tracks for a few days. It’s during that stoppage that the planet’s action tends to be most intense. So, with both Saturn (turns on 20th) and Uranus (turns on 21st), the intensity period lasts from the end of this week through the end of next week.

What can we expect? If you look at both these planets together, it looks to me like a swirling mass of chaotic confusion. Saturn trying patiently to get something structured into form as we move forwards; Uranus rebelling, throwing wrenches in the works, trying to go backwards.

Both of these planets turn at the same degree! — 16-17° in the two signs ruled by my-way-or-the-highway, impulsive, warlike Mars: Saturn in Scorpio, Uranus in Aries. And as they turn, they are 150° from each other, or “inconjunct,” a geometric angle, or “aspect” that is midway between “difficult,” and “easy”, requiring a process of continuous subtle adjustment.

Now let’s add one more factor to both these planets, Saturn and Uranus: by the 22nd, Mercury will go through the same area of the zodiac now being traveled by the Sun (see above). First it will be at 12° Cancer, triggering Pluto in the Uranus/Pluto square, and move towards Uranus over the next few days; by July 24-25, Mercury will be at 16-17° of Cancer, triggering the Uranus end of the Uranus Pluto square and also trining Saturn.

In other words, by about Friday, July 25th, Mercury will be in what I have learned to call — have learned because I personally have four of these configurations in my own chart — a triangle of continuous growth with Saturn and Uranus. The square provides the fuel, the friction, the trine or sextile provides the ease, and the injunct provides the need for continuous subtle adjustment.

Interpretation? Indications are for a very rocky start, with chaotic swirling and explosions (both Saturn and Uranus, planets with opposite meanings, turning, but in opposite directions), but perhaps, just perhaps, if we keep communicating (Mercury), we will begin to make sense of the changes and both provide a structure to accommodate them (Saturn) while giving rein to inevitable starts, stops and unpredictable backlashing (Uranus) — and all the while observing a communicative process of continuous subtle adjustment (the inconjunct).

And of course, as usual, the more conscious we are of the extreme push/pull factors in this intense two-week process, and especially, of our part in it, the better.

BTW: I brought up the world financial scene as an example, writ large, of processes each of us will be undergoing, especially if we have planets in our natal charts between 12-17°. Do you?