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July/August 2011 Astrology Forecast
Surrender this Summer

by Mark Dodich

Mark Dodich

The tone is definitely shifting this summer, but don’t expect to figure it all out right away. The best plan is to simply surrender yourself into the summer experience, then wait until autumn for understanding.

You are still feeling the backwash of June’s eclipses. They activated your mental abilities to remind you that it is time to think outside the proverbial box. You are still coping with the need to change your way of thinking about life priorities, but this can send your brain into what an auto mechanic friend calls vapor lock.

A solar eclipse on July 1 shifts your attention to your emotional needs. Your long list of things to do melts into the need to take care of your feelings and desires. If you are willing to make room for heart centered activities, your ”to do” list stands a better chance of getting at least the basic priorities accomplished.

This continues through most of July as relationship planet Venus moves through feeling-oriented Cancer. If your emotions are not happy, they will self-defeat your mental priorities. Make time for activities and relationships that nurture and support your overall well-being. Don’t wait for the time to open up — schedule it.

Adding to the emotional emphasis of summer is fantasy-filled Neptune testing the waters of dreamy Pisces since early April. But this divine feminine vibration has just been teasing you to provide prophetic insights into her grand entrance into the psychic sign next February.

Beginning Aug. 4, Neptune returns to Aquarius where it has been since 1998. Think about your spiritual path and how far you have come since the late 1990s. What are you ready to release between now and 2012? Go off on a vision quest to get a glimpse of the incoming energy that is being prepared for you just beyond the veils of this world.

To keep you from floating off into the ethers, benefic Jupiter recently moved into grounded Taurus until June 2012. Jupiter provides help and blessings if you are willing to transform your belief system and take a risk on bringing your dreams into mundane reality.

Taurus is associated with durable goods, sensual pleasures and manifesting your dreams in the material world. It may be time to replace your furniture, go off to a spa or start a savings account for future travel.

Expansive Jupiter in Taurus helps you bring your utopian dreams into a workable form in the world as it is today. You receive abundant help if you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get to work, dealing with your practical realities in a humble, nonwishful thinking way.

Yes, it is important to hold the higher vision for a new and improved life. But Jupiter in Taurus is generous in the pragmatic here and now.

In the spirit of dealing with current realities, there is yet again another Mercury retrograde cycle to deal with from Aug. 2-26. It begins in “clean your closets” Virgo and moves back into “I just want to play” Leo.

August is the classic mixing business with pleasure kind of month. You will feel better if you prepare yourself for autumn well in advance. And you will feel even better if you make space for creativity and playtime.

As we look forward into autumn, you will hear a lot of talk in the days ahead about Comet Elenin. It will be passing through our neighborhood at a modest, yet not scary close distance by early October. Please do not be drawn into the fear-based websites and hoax emails that you will be seeing. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) pass close to planet Earth every month (for a list of NEOs, search on www.jpl.nasa.gov). NEOs do not cause polar shifts or earthquakes, and they are not long lost planets such as Nibiru. (Of course, there are big planets already in play such as Uranus and Saturn that do affect earth shifts.)

Comets do have a reputation for bringing changes in world leadership, especially kings and dictators, but that already seems to be a fact of life in 2011. Comet Elenin has not been around for 10,000 years, so it will be interesting to see what new information and ancient insight it distributes to us from the outer realms of the cosmos. Certainly it will be valuable to tune into what this ancient body brings to us — just avoid buying into fear-based commentary.

Mark Dodich has been a professional astrologer and intuitive consultant since 1980. His specialties include natal astrology, relocation astrology maps and seven ray spiritual purpose astrology. Receive his free Astromark newsletter and download a free Basic Astrology Primer at www.astromark.us or call 503-252-1558.