Horoscope July 2023: big relationship changes are coming!
Grace McGrade is an intuitive astrologer and priestess based in Los Angeles. She is the host of the podcast “Bitchcraft: Spirituality for Bad People.” Her sessions include birth chart readings, tarot, energetic clearings and psychic consultations.
July is a month for matters of the heart, as Hot Girl Summer opens with the heart-centred waterworks of Cancer season and Venus Retrograde. We are massively upgrading our understanding of love, and moving into new relationships.
We open the month gliding through the sensitive waters of Cancer season, and we are tender and sensitive, attuned to our own emotional nourishment and eager for introspection. Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is associated with early childhood experiences, emotional reciprocity, and the home. We are softening, and may feel pulled to go inwards, eager to find a sense of safety we can carry with us. Cancer teaches us how to re-parent ourselves, and how to nurture our internal world. The mood is compassionate and careful.
We may be privy to point out lapses in reciprocity, as the first water sign of the zodiac enhances our need to feel cared for. A Full Moon in Capricorn on July 3 prompts us to calibrate our relationship to our careers and long-term goals. We are encouraged to examine the push and pull between our immediate needs for more downtime and introspection, and the responsibilities of the outer world. This Full Moon may call for some tweaks in our work lives, and encourages us to tweak our schedules for anything that isn’t essential. We have been shedding the lower expressions of Capricorn since the pandemic, reexamining our relationship to authority, power and acclaim. This Full Moon is a chance to untether ourselves from unhealthy ambitions that don’t align with our hearts.
Mercury moves through Cancer until the 10th of the month, continuing heart-to-heart conversations and amplifying our sense of compassion. Then it zips through the proud and loud sign of Leo, prompting us to be expressive, particularly in matters of the heart. On the 28th, it enters the focused and intentional sign of Virgo, offering us clarity and focus. War-God Mars enters Virgo on the 10th, giving us the drive to jot off our to-do list and create steadfast plans of action that suit our daily goals.
Venus in Leo stations retrograde on the 22nd in Leo, and we are called to reexamine our relationship to self-love and self-care. Venus in Leo reminds us of our own divinity and capacity to manifest in real-time. Venus stations retrograde about once every 18 months, and we are given a chance to look at what we have been unconsciously pulling towards us. Old relationships are given second chances, and we can anticipate that long-awaited run-in with flames that require resolution.
Venus in Leo retrograde pushes us to look at the principle of attraction, as we begin to actualise how powerful we truly are. This is our call to expunge fears around not being loveable and step outside of our comfort zone. The Nodes of Fate change to the North Node in Aries and the South Node in Libra, facilitating shifts and switches in relationships. Whilst we have spent most of 2023 culminating in karmic relationships and learning hard lessons, we are ready to move towards interdependent bonds. This is a conscious untethering towards relationships that feel like who we truly are. We are looking to connect with others in a more conscious, self-aware way.
Chiron, the wounded healer asteroid, also stations retrograde on the 23rd, in the sign of Aries. Here, we are looking at outdated stories of self that keep us feeling stuck or insecure. We are called to relinquish self-doubt and claim ownership of our wounds, as we churn them into superpowers of compassion and empathy.
Leo season kicks off on the 22nd, and we are bold, grandiose and ready to station centre stage. Our eagerness to feel seen can be tiresome for some, but we deserve it. Leo season enhances our eagerness to play, and we are creative, expressive and attuned to our own divinity. Leo, the sign of the Divine Child, encourages us to explore themes of love and joy, as its rulership is the Sun.
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
ARIES//ARIES RISINGThe North Node of Fate is moving into your sign for the next year and half, inciting an inner revolution and encouraging you to upgrade your understanding of self-love. Additionally, Chiron, asteroid of healing, retrogrades in your sign, illuminating your path towards inner work. The next year and a half will be a period of unprecedented self-exploration. You are being pulled to honour your own gut impulse before adhering to the rules of others. Powerful choice points await. Choose the soul and ignore your fears.
Your ruler, Mars enters Virgo on the 10th, making you decisive and calculated about your next moves. It’s time to draw your laser-sharp focus to your sense of self-worth. What type of bonds invigorate you? How can you approach them fearlessly, brave in your vulnerability, becoming starkly honest about your desires? With the month beginning in sensitive Cancer, unconscious emotional material may make itself loud, and you may find that feelings are incapable of being ignored. Listen closely, as your subconscious is speaking to you. Relational changes are in the cards for July with Venus retrograde in Leo. Incite your own change. Be your own advocate.
Aries Beauty Recommendation: Joanna Czech The Soothing Serum
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
TAURUS//TAURUS RISINGCancer season encourages you to have heart-to-heart conversations, as the Sun illuminates your communication sector. You are encouraged to trade stubbornness for empathy, and whisper sweet omissions of unconditional love. With your ruler, Venus, stationing retrograde this month, you are examining what relational patterns you took on from early childhood. You may be unconsciously operating in survival fears, afraid of making bold moves that shake anything up. Remember, fortune favours the brave, and the only way to fall in love is to take a risk. July acts as a cosmic exit valve for repeating family dynamics, as you learn that you must fall in love as if you’ve never been hurt. The only way to find happiness is to risk being completely open.
As Venus retrograde falls in your home sphere, you may feel called to spruce up your living quarters. Try and simulate the feelings you are seeking in your own space. Buy Egyptian cotton bed sheets, and opt for some mood lighting. Anything with a flair of the theatrical that enhances your romantic mood will assist you in pulling the right things towards you.
Taurus Beauty Recommendation: Boy Smells Herbaceous Scented Candle
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
GEMINI//GEMINI RISINGJuly stimulates your need for variety and change, as Mercury, your ruler, zips through three signs. You are very mobile this month, eager to experience a variety of people, places and things. Cancer season calls you to inspect your self-esteem, and take inventory of your talents and resources. Diabolical summer plans require handsome funds, so try to make a plan that is equal parts cautious and creative.
You are examining lovers past, present and future, when Venus stations retrograde towards the end of the month. Be wary of reassessing rather than repeating comfortable dynamics. You are encouraged to move towards friendships and relationships that suit autonomy and interdependence, rather than the sticky toxic bonds of the past. July is a month for relational learning, so put your best foot forward, and welcome change.
Gemini Beauty Recommendation: Byoma Creamy Jelly Cleanser
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
CANCER//CANCER RISINGHappy Birthday, late Cancerians! The first half of the month is all about you, and letting yourself feel adored. It's the summer of love and lovers past, with Venus retrograding through the sign of Leo. This is a chance for you to set intentions around your spending, and unearth latent talent. It’s time to imbue your self-esteem with greater confidence, and look for all the ways you are beautiful.
A Full Moon in your house of partnerships on the 3rd encourages you to release any connections that are creating power imbalances or dull your sparkle. You are looking for equals, not to be dictated or strong-armed into making decisions that don’t feel right. The remainder of this year is about learning how to have sovereignty in relationships, free from guilt, control or shame. Set intentions for what you wish to invite towards you on the New Moon in Cancer on the 17th. Emotional reciprocity and mutual caretaking is a must.
Cancer Beauty Recommendation: Pleasing Hand + Nail Balm
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
LEO//LEO RISINGHappy Birthday, early Leos! We begin July in Cancer season and you are in a dreamy state of seamless synchronicities. Meaningful coincidences, instant manifestation, you can choose to live in a personal heaven or hell of your own design. With a generous bundle of planets entering your sign this month, you are getting exactly what you dish out – and fast. So tune into your heart. What do you desire most? What direction do you want your life to take? Surely a high trajectory towards the stars.
Discipline execution awaits when Mars enters diligent Virgo, as you commit to looking and feeling good. With Venus stationing retrograde in your sign, you are privy to double the blessings, so long as you monitor your thoughts, words and actions. You are the resident superhuman of the zodiac this month, as your manifestational ability reaches quantum peaks. Radiate what you wish to bring towards you.
Leo Beauty Recommendation: Vyrao Sun Ræ Eau De Parfum
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
VIRGO//VIRGO RISINGCreative visions and ideas have been percolating in your subconscious, perhaps even coming to you in dreams. With a plethora of planets in Leo last month, stationed in your sector of isolation, you may have felt withdrawn. An exit valve arises when the Full Moon on the 3rd lights up your sector of self-expression. Churn these powerful feelings into art, and let yourself express. With Mars entering your sign this month, you are given a boon of personal vitality, athletically navigating next steps that put you in the receiving line for assured success. Your introspection and indecision is replaced by certainty, and the zest to accomplish.
Virgo Beauty Recommendation: Isamaya Beauty Liplacq 2.0 in ‘Metal’
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
LIBRA/LIBRA RISINGJuly is your cosmic call to reassess the way you relate. With Venus stationing retrograde, and the South Node of Fate entering your sign, you are forced to leave the indecisive situationships of late in the past. If you are on the fence about companions, or they you, it’s time to move towards something new. With the South Node in your sign, you are expunging codependency, over-reliance on others, and tit-for-tat antics.
It’s time to infuse your own timeline with glamour and inspiration, so much so that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. The only person living your life is you. Fortune favours the brave, and if your soul is crying out for more depth – listen. Your needs will be met. Advancement begins with independence.
Libra Beauty Recommendation: Aesop Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
SCORPIO//SCORPIO RISINGJuly throws you into the limelight, firing off your sector of career and visibility. It might be time for a social media revamp, as Venus retrogrades through your public sphere. Abandoned creative projects may make a welcomed reappearance. With your ruler, Pluto, revisiting the ranks of Capricorn, your ambitious thirst for power is under inspection. Do you want to change the world, or do you want it to change you? Look for answers on the Full Moon on the 3rd. With the South Node moving out of your sign and into Libra, you are catapulted out of indecisiveness and thrown into action. Your next steps are clearer, more defined, and categorically bold. Look for co-conspirators on your quest for truth. Avoid drama. Greatness awaits.
Scorpio Beauty Recommendation: Vieve Soul Shadows in ‘Noir’
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
SAGITTARIUS/SAGITTARIUS RISINGEven steadfast adventurers need a resting place, an intermittent recharge after their life long quest. Cancer season illuminates your desire for intimacy and safety in an ever-changing world. Whilst you see life as an array of boundless experiences, ripe with potential, July has you seeking something more familiar. It is a romantic month, with Venus prompting you to inspect how you share your life with others. You are eager to find someone who you can relay tales of conquests towards greatness, and swap stories of surrealist landscapes. That person is out there, and with the planets moving us towards karmic contacts and away from the parasitic bonds of the past, love awaits.
A trip could be in the cards as Leo illuminates your sector of travel and long journeys. Make sure you bring your favourite companion, and be bold and generous in your omissions of the heart.
Sagittarius Beauty Recommendation: Santa Maria Novella Gelsomino Eau de Parfum
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
CAPRICORN/CAPRICORN RISINGA Full Moon on the 3rd of the month unearths clear knowings. You are aware, now more than ever, about which mountains need climbing and which need to be steered clear of. With research and reassessment, your mission consolidates. You are clearing the way for new traction up unprecedented heights, as Pluto dips back into your sign, ensuring that the changes you make are lasting. This transit means the rubble of distraction from your purpose in the world at large.
Cancer season bestows a warm glow in your partnerships, as the Sun radiates through the emotional waters of the Crab. Even CEO’s need TLC. Let yourself be vulnerable, and seen. Venus retrograde regresses through your sector of sex, doubling down on your region of intimacy, encouraging you to take a relationship to the next step. Intimacy is a spiritual experience, so let yourself expand through the medium of love, and surrender.
Capricorn Beauty Recommendation: Sitre Care + Intimacy Oil
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
AQUARIUS//AQUARIUS RISINGYour internal software is being reprogrammed, with Uranus and Jupiter in your sector of home. Expect sudden insights about how you were raised and how it affects your ability to express love. These realisations free you from the mistakes of your predecessors, as you concoct innovative ways to express care.
With Venus retrograding in your sector of partnerships, long lost friends, lovers and colleagues may pop up in your reality like holographic inserts. Keep your eyes peeled for repetitive dynamics, and try to examine what situations are reeling back to you. Your close confidants are your divine mirrors, and show you what is unexpressed within yourself. Opportunities to repair and replace relationships are on the horizon.
Aquarius Beauty Recommendation: Phlur Missing Person Eau de Parfum
Illustration Gabrielle Rosenstein
PISCES//PISCES RISINGYou are learning how to pair the transcendental, the mystical and the spiritual with action. This month, confidence and colleagues come to your aid. You are being encouraged to surrender to the care of the right people. To let yourself care and be taken care of, but this time, without the delusions of grandeur of the past. Your capacity to dream is your gift, and Mars in Virgo this month is encouraging you to find confidence that can help inspire action.
As Venus retrograde anoints your sector of daily routine and wellbeing, inspired mediums of self-betterment may help you pull blessings towards you. Think about the little tweaks you can make to your day-to-day to inspire greater health and confidence. Dietary adjustments, exercise, the rules are clear for July: the better you treat your body, the better reality treats you.
Pisces Beauty Recommendation: Forage Botanicals Rested Resilience
