June brings with it lots of retrograde energy … so this is a month where we have to look backwards to go forwards! Mercury and Saturn are already retrograde, and as Mercury turns forward mid-month Neptune turns backwards followed soon after by Chiron. So, June looks like it’s going to be a time of internal seeking, but there will be plenty of lightness as well, with the playfulness of Venus joining Jupiter in Leo.

A word on ‘retrogrades’ …. planets don’t actually go backwards during a retrograde. Astronomically, a retrograde is when, due to the elliptical nature of our orbits, a planet appears to be going backwards relative to the Earth. Astrologically, retrogrades are times when the planet’s energy is more inwardly oriented than outer-directed, when we subject our life to review, reflection, and re-thinking, before we move again with a renewed understanding when the planet turns forward. The time at which a planet is in the process of (apparently) turning around is called the ‘Stationary’ point’, and at this time its energy is exacerbated.

We start the month with Mercury having just gone past the Sun in its retrograde motion. This is when the impact of the Mercury retrograde period begins to reach its peak, so don’t forget to do all that double-checking for the next two weeks, and do give a bit of leeway to those Virgos and Geminis who’ll be having an especially challenging time! The retrograde ends on 12^th June, and then we’re in what’s called the ‘shadow period’ until the 27^th June when the mercurial planet gets back to 13 degrees Gemini, the point at which it started the retrograde. The shadow period at the end of a retrograde is all about integration, about taking on the learnings from the internal processing of the retrograde. What are the realisations you had during the retrograde? What flashes of insight occurred? This is the time to get them into action, to manifest that intuitive brilliance in the world.

On the 12^th June Neptune begins its retrograde period, which goes through until 19^th November. So, just as Mercury turns forward, and we might have been ready to welcome a bit of clarity back into our lives, Neptune turns backwards. Neptune is ethereal and otherworldly, it is spiritual and ideal, it blurs the boundaries of everything it touches, including the intellect and thought, and it both creates and shows that all is illusion.  So, this is a time when the subconscious mind takes over; a great time to take note of dreams and intuitive insights … they probably have something especially important to say at the moment, especially at the Stationary point when it is turning.  But, Neptune is quite nebulous, and the risk when it’s in retrograde is that we can get lost in vagueness and delusion.  It is especially important to stay grounded during this time.  This is really important … during Neptune retrograde, we have to do the work to keep our feet on the ground, otherwise we risk being lost in its dreamy clouds of elusiveness and self-delusion.

And then on the 24^th June Chiron begins its retrograde period, which goes until 28^th November.

Chiron’s energy is all about healing, and its purpose is to restore wholeness. The way Chiron does this is that it reconnects things that have been hurt or broken, so that they can be repaired and reintegrated. To do this, Chiron reminds us of the earlier time when the thing got broken, so the healing can happen. While this energy often brings pain, the beauty is that, if you allow it rather than fight it, you come away more integrated, more whole in that area than you’ve ever been. So, when Chiron stations and then retrogrades, this healing energy is accentuated. This will be felt especially by those who have a planet that is at or in aspect to 21 degrees of Pisces (where Chiron is when it turns), but we will all be experiencing this one way or another. Whether in our everyday life or our fantasy and dream world, old hurts will be being triggered, and the opportunity will be there to bring the pain to the surface in order to do the healing work. But, it doesn’t happen on its own … we have to be prepared to do the work.

Saturn is still retrograding too (until 2^nd August), and goes back into Scorpio on 15^th June. Saturn is the planet of sorting old stuff out, retrogrades are the time when old stuff gets sorted out, so a Saturn retro time is like a karmic washing machine! Scorpio is the energy of secrets, of desire, and of unconscious drives and urges, so as Saturn moves back into Scorpio, we have a chance to revisit any places where we may not have been completely honest with ourselves and others about what we want to build for our future. This is a time for greater awareness about what is really driving us, a time to remove the veils we have been hiding our desires behind. As Saturn moves forward in early August, we can bring that new awareness and honesty to the world we are forming.

Mercury is square Neptune again on 24^th June. As it goes forward again, Mercury comes back into square with Neptune. So the communicative, intellectual energies of Mercury will be challenged by those imaginary and illusory energies of Neptune. This is a time when it’s hard to be sure what is truth, and especially difficult to communicate our own truth. Use this time to focus internally rather than expect that you’ll be able to communicate effectively. And take time with anything that involves thinking or communicating, this is not a time for jumping to conclusions.

As I mentioned, the feminine, connected, indulgent Venus moves into Leo (6^th June), where it’s as playful, romantic and dramatic as it gets. It joins up with Jupiter and forms a Trine with Uranus at the end of the month, suggesting that we should go into July with a creative, playful and an ‘expect the unexpected’ festive vibe. Until then, there’s lots of inward seeking to take care of!

But of course, none of this is causal, it’s just a taste of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things …

dramatic as it gets. It joins up with Jupiter and forms a Trine with Uranus at the end of the month, suggesting that we should go into July with a creative, playful and an ‘expect the unexpected’ festive vibe. Until then, there’s lots of inward seeking to take care of!

But of course, remember that none of this is causal, it’s just a taste of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things …