Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of July 22nd, 2024: A vibrant and high-powered start to Leo season

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

Episode 188 In this podcast, New York Times best-selling author and astrologer Chani Nicholas discusses the astrology of the week and what it might mean for us all. The astrology of the week of July 22nd, 2024, supercharges our sparkle and initiates deep discovery. On Monday, the Sun moves into Leo, calling our attention to how we shine and how we lead. Then the luminary opposes Pluto (the planet of underworld journeys), unearthing subterranean power dynamics and revealing any blockages to our brilliance. On Thursday, Mercury (the planet of communication) enters Virgo, heightening our ability to analyze and improve our everyday routines. And later that same day, the Sun sextiles Mars (the planet of action), spurring us to do anything that bolsters our vitality. Overall, this week provides the confidence boosts (and reality checks) we need to kick off Leo season. This episode was recorded on 06/10/2024. For more, check out your free daily horoscope on the homepage of the CHANI app — now on iOS and Android. The music featured in the podcast was created by Latashá.

Hey, I'm Chani Nicholas, and this is the Astrology of the Week Ahead podcast. In this podcast, we look at the astrology of the upcoming week and how it will be landing for all of us collectively. For a more personalized reading that dives into the ways that this week's astrology will play out for you, download the Chaniap. I'm so glad that you're here. I'm so grateful when people tell me that they begin their week with, this podcast. It's such an honor. I love talking about astrology, obviously, but I also think it's so affirming to be looking at the quality of time that we're living in, that we're about to live into, and thinking about how we can most effectively meet the moment, how we can most effectively and through the least amount of stress, move through the bumpy things and also to be

fully open to the blessings that we are about to receive. And astrology is always a mix. There's a lot of things going on all the time because astrology is just a reflection of life. So when I'm talking about these transits for the week of July 22nd, that's what we're doing here this week, When I'm speaking about what's going on this week, I want us to think about the ways in which we can meet the moment, not how we can fear the moment and not how the moment can come and serve us, but how we can be in co-creation with the moment, how we can be in partnership with the moment, which is to say how we can be in co-creation with our life. Life is not happening to us. Life is happening through us and with us. And with this podcast, my greatest intention is that it helps you to meet the moments that are both healing and growth enhancing. And yes, sometimes opportunities for learning new lessons with the greatest amount of calm possible. Because we know that we are actually set up to heal. We're actually set up our system.

are set up to be in a process of growth. If we are in a state of being that helps that growth and that healing happen, if we've put ourselves into a state of being that actually encourages and sets us up for some kind of regeneration. And we can only be in that process once we get to a little bit of a state of calm, once we turn on our parasympathetic nervous system, once we're able to say, okay, I'm going to do a little breathing exercise, I might do a little visualization, I might make sure that I get enough sleep and water and nutrition, I might shut my phone off, I might not go into situations that I know

are going to spike my cortisol in ways that are unnecessary right now, or when I am going into situations that are going to probably do that. I'm going to take a minute to reconvene with my system and to connect with the practices that I can do that help me to be prepared for healing, for well-being, for moving into the world in a way that I'm showing up as the very best leader in this moment that I can be. And that's what I want to talk about this week. And you're going to hear me talk a lot about it over the course of the coming weeks, both in this podcast, but also in your individual readings in the Chani app for each week. Because as you might have guessed, we are moving into Leo season. And if Leo

reminds us of anything, it's that we are here to shine. We are here to lead. In astrology, Leo rules the sun. The sun belongs to Leo. Leo belongs to the sun. They They are one and the same. They are together. They're besties. And anything that happens in Leo is talking about the quality of the sun or we're talking about a place in our chart or in our life that the sun rules. And the sun is a planet of leadership. The sun is the great supreme kind of leader. And anything that happens in Leo, especially when the sun goes back into Leo in Leo season, is going to be emphasizing our relationship with leadership. I don't care if you've got anything in Leo or not. That's not what I'm talking about. You don't have to have anything in Leo.

Also, Leo is a sign that's in your chart because you have all 12 signs in your chart, because your chart is the entire sky. It's not a list. It's the entire 380 degree circumference of the sky. So you have Leo somewhere in your chart. And that's what we talk about in the readings, that is and what that means to have planets be going through Leo. So this week, we're focusing on leadership and I want you to also be focusing on your personal power and agency because as soon as the sun moves into Leo, which it does on Monday, and even before that, it's making an opposition with Pluto. And Pluto is a planet of subterranean power. Pluto speaks about what's underneath the

surface. And so we can show up anywhere and people can judge us any way they want and have no idea what's happening underneath the surface. It's really up to us to know who we are, behind the mask, behind what we look like, behind how, you know, people perceive us. It's really up to us to be like, I understand who I am, no matter what the world thinks of me, and I understand my power, and I understand how to use it. And this week begins with that note, begins with the note of like, this is you, this is how you shine. And this is the power. These are the reserves of power that you have access to always. Do not listen to the world when it tells you you are or are not powerful. Are or are not because the world will tell you're powerful because of what you have in a worldly,

sense or that you are not powerful because what you don't have in terms of what the world deems worthy, powerful, an asset. So I want us to focus on our inner reserves of power and what we want to do with those reserves. And if we have one billion examples of how not to be a leader in this world, which I think we do, then it's up to us to be like, how do I recreate leadership for myself? What kind of leader do I want to be? No matter what anyone else is doing, no matter how anybody else is showing up, like people could be showing up as their worst self. How do I want to show up? How do I interrupt meeting people in that place of devolving and diminishing. returns and instead come from a place where I am very certain of my power and very aware of my

impact and then I just move from there no matter what anybody else is doing. It's a simple recipe, but it's really, really difficult to practice. So I also just want us to give ourselves a lot of room to practice that. I mean, we're going to have a lot of opportunity to practice it because it's Leo season and all of the wild things that are going to happen in Leo season, especially in August. And but also, this week, that's what happens. Like, the main thing that happens at the beginning of the week is that the sun moves in to Leo and it makes an opposition to Pluto. So I want us to be excavating and getting down to our power sources and our reserves, our reservoirs of power. Okay. Also, on the world's

stage, I do think that leaders, far and wide, will be going through it. And there's just a lot to say about unearthing subterranean power dynamics and coming to understand something that was far beneath the surface because we're dealing with Pluto. So you're like, oh, that's what's really going on underneath everything. Got it. It can also spell out like power grabs and so. So, something funky going on in the realm of leaders and leadership. So on the world stage, I expect some shenanigans. We're also coming off of a full moon. Like there was a full moon on the 21st of July. So I don't even know when you're listening to this. You could be listening to this on the 21st, like moments after the full moon is happening and happened. So we're beginning the week already maxed out a little bit.

And depending on how full moons impact you, if full moons are something that makes it hard for you to sleep or not, you might need to very quickly get back to whatever kind of schedule helps you to sleep, helps you to get back on track. Because those full moon points in the month can be times where things go a little haywire and, you know, get off track a little bit. So that's another kind of level to this week. we're starting out maybe a little wired already. Again, depending on how a full moon impacts you. But that full moon is sitting in opposition to Pluto. So this is something that's been going on over the course of the weekend as well. It's not like it's brand new on Monday. It's just that because the sun has moved into Leo, now it's really fully about leadership and about our own

personal power and how we shine and how we can help ourselves get down to the roots of the issues that impede us from being in our kind of full wattage and our full shine. The only other thing that really happens this week is that Mercury moves in to Virgo. And this is really potent and powerful because Mercury belongs in Virgo. So our ability to clock what is wrong, what needs an edit, what is incorrect is most likely heightened. And but also, Mercury will station retrograde on August 4th. And it will be retrograde until August 28th. So we're moving into a Mercury retrograde.

And as of this moment and for the past couple of days, whenever you're listening to, this, Mercury's already been in its pre-retrograde shadow. So you might be like, Mercury already feels retrograde. And I think that we blame way too much on Mercury retrograde. I think that it's kind of like a catch-all for anything that goes bad. And that's a bit of a bummer because that's not really what Mercury retrograde's about. I'm not going to say things don't break during Mercury Retrograd because they do. That's part of the thing. But it's not the reason why everything is hard in the world. Obviously. I mean, astrology is not the reason why things are hard in the world. Usually it's systems of supremacy that we live within is the reason why everything is hard in the

world, but I digress, kind of. Every mercury retrograde has a different quality and sometimes different qualities to it, depending on the days that we're talking about. This mercury retrograde starts in Virgo. So it's got some kind of strength to it. It's also going to be, again, extra critical or extra good at being able to help us edit things out and figure out what's wrong. Now, Mercury is also stationing retrograde eventually in that first week of August. It's stationing retrograde with Venus there. It hasn't happened yet. But the beginning of this Mercury retrograde, I think, is going to be really helpful. It's going to get weird once it retrogrades back into Leo. Again, I'm talking about August astrology.

But I just want us to know that like the beginning of this Mercury and Virgo can be super powerful. So your writing projects, you're speaking your research projects, all of those aspects of life, the particulars counting things, making sure things are working, the systems of our lives are functioning well. This is a really powerful time to focus on that kind of stuff, those areas of our life. anything that needs a ritual and a rhythm. And our lives in general benefits so greatly from ritual. I know I talk about this a lot, but it really is the thing that helps our systems internally function as well as possible. And if your internal systems, like your brain and your digestive system, et cetera. If they're working really well, you're going to feel better, you're going to be more

positive, you're going to feel more hopeful, you're going to be able to catch the opportunities when they come. Because, you know, for instance, if we're not sleeping well, which there's a million reasons why we wouldn't sleep well, but if we're not trying to help ourselves curate a sleep routine that will eventually help us to sleep well, if we're not doing that or if we're not getting any quality sleep, then our brain is just not functioning in the way that it could be if we were. So Mercury in Virgo is a great time to look at all of the systems that we have in place in our daily life. And because Mercury is in its pre-retrograded shadow, it's excellent at being like, oh, this isn't working. So pay attention to what isn't working in your life

and what might eventually get a little too wobbly for the entirety of the situation? What might eventually break? Start to look at that now, start to figure that out now, and see if you can put in some kind of cushion, see if you can put in place something that can catch the breakdowns before they get too intense. The other thing that happens on Thursday is that the sun in Leo makes a sex style to Mars in Gemini. And this is really great because, again, both planets are about some kind of leadership. Mars is really about taking action, the kind of courage that we need, the energy that we need to be spurred into action. And in this formation, a sex style that's a nice, exciting kind of vibe.

And there is, again, an encouragement to move into our leadership, to move into a place of vitality, to move into the places in our life where we have or feel a lot of our own personal strength. Doing things that encourage our strength to come forward. Doing things that help us to engender a trust in ourself, a confidence in ourself is really what this astrologer. is about. So whatever happens on Monday or over the course of the weekend that feels like a little too funky or a little too deep or just like a little too intense, by Thursday it does look like we have some kind of signature of triumph or of courage or of taking an action that engenders more positivity in our life or more strength to come forward or more of our own creative genius to

come forward as well. Thank you all so much for leaving us reviews in the app store. They mean the world to us. We read all of them. They really do impact us as a company. And I know that your time is valuable and precious. So thank you for spending some of it giving us some love. I wanted to leave you with this one. It's called the astrology guide. I've been interested in astrology for a very long time. This app is one that is accurate, easy to use, and affordable. I normally don't buy anything on this subject, but this was an exception. The information is right on target with great suggestion on how to make a life that you want. Thank you, Chani.

I appreciate your hard work and dedication to a demographic that to many people is misunderstood. All right, y'all. Look, come back here next week because we're going to be. going to talk about the beginning of Mercury Retrograde and the new moon in Leo, which again is another beautiful invitation to move into our courage and leadership. I'm sending you so much love, many, many, many blessings. Bye for now.