Uranus Plays Trump Card

“Time’s glory is to calm contending kings,
To unmask falsehood and bring truth to light,
To stamp the seal of time in aged things,
To wake the morn and sentinel the night,
To wrong the wronger till he render right,
To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours
And smear with dust their glittering golden towers.”
– William Shakespeare

Today, July 24th, the new moon rises in Leo, inviting us to see our lives and our world in a new light. Several astrological placements are amplifying this effect.

First, Mercury is now retrograde in the sign of Leo. On a personal level, we may find ourselves reflecting on past loves, missed opportunities, and major crossroads. Mercury retrogrades are "check your work" moments – a chance to pause and review. In Leo, this reflection centers on the heart, drawing attention to moments when the calculation of the head may have overridden the knowing of the heart.

Second, Uranus – the planet of disruption, innovation, and upheaval – is one of the slow-moving outer planets that tends to have generational impact. It changes signs roughly every seven years, and each transition brings revolution in the areas ruled by the new sign. Uranus moved into Gemini earlier this month. Gemini governs communication, information, and media, and its influence will be felt by all of us, regardless of whether we have personal planets (e.g., Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars) in that sign. While everyone experiences the influence of planetary transits, our individual natal charts determine how "close to home" these effects are felt.

For Donald Trump – and by extension, those of us in the United States – the current planetary “weather” is especially charged, pointing to the potential for significant upheaval and revelation. Trump is a Gemini Sun with a Leo Moon and was born with Uranus in Gemini. Uranus’s entry into Gemini on July 7 marks the first return of Uranus to that sign in 85 years. (Uranus last transited Gemini from 1941 to 1949, a period defined by global conflict and sweeping change.)

Mercury’s retrograde in Leo (from July 17 to August 11) will affect each of us differently, depending on the house it transits in our natal charts. For Trump, it activates his 12th house – the realm of secrets, fears, dreams, intuition, and the unconscious. It’s also the house of completions and healing.

With the Sun now in Leo, Mercury retrograde in Leo, and Uranus newly arrived in Gemini – where it will remain until 2033 – we’re being offered planetary support to courageously examine our personal and shared past and to make new choices anchored in the heart.