The Grand Sextile of July 2013 – A rare opportunity, but will you take it, and how?

Now we have a beautiful planetary alignment coming up in the next few days, a very rare Grand Sextile forming in the skies above us ringing the earth. How rare are they? Well since the year 1900, this is only the 3rd one involving the major planets, Sun to Pluto. The previous ones occurred on 31st March 1954 and 21st July 1995. Grand Sextiles are made up of 6 or in this case 7 planets all at around 60 degrees to each other forming a star of David pattern.

So how are they made up? Well within this structure we have two Grand Trines, this time in Water and Earth and three oppositions. It looks pretty and the easy aspects, trines and sextiles allow the energy to flow without any hindrance, so if you set your mind on practical (earth) or emotional (water) desires, you should be able to achieve much in these areas of life. I have already looked before at the grand water trine that can solidify dreams and ideas into a more solid and practical form, and it is joined by a grand earth trine connecting Venus in Virgo to the Moon in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn. Grand earth trines are quite enduring and stable and this one is aimed very much at transformation, materialism and especially relationships with Venus and the Moon present. There are chances to build powerful relationships and change or regenerate something into a more beautiful form, but the problem as with all grand trines remains, things will look so easy that you may not act to take advantage of the possibilities that exist while it is active.

Now opportunities do present themselves galore in this structure, and the motivation is here. If there is going to be any action, then it is here within these set of oppositions that we will see it. The thing is that these three oppositions are quite stressful ones and they will present their own set of problems to overcome. To start off with, we have Saturn opposed to the Moon which blocks emotion and may cause some suffering, heartache and loss. This opposition is across Taurus and Scorpio so we will have to balance here what we want to keep (Taurus) against what we have to let go (Scorpio).

The second opposition sees Venus and Neptune at odds across the chart. This is an opposition of idealism, of wanting things so perfect (Venus in Virgo needs things to be just so) that they never really achieve the state that you wish them to be, or you may be fooled into thinking they are, or worse still you may be dishonest to get the perfection or relationship or possessions you desire. There is great creativity here to make inspirational designs and think up concepts of wonderful beauty and grace, and there is also overriding feeling here that you could provide some service (Venus in Virgo) and make sacrifices (Neptune in Pisces) in giving your time up to help others.

The third of  the oppositions has Pluto in Capricorn opposing Jupiter and Mars in Cancer. This could be very troublesome as Mars will fight against the controlling influence of Pluto, and Jupiter in the mix could blow things up completely out of proportion. Will someone or something prevent you from taking a chance or a risk that you think is worth taking? If you can harness this cardinal energy, then the sky is the limit and you can transform existing structures into something dynamic and strong.

Outside of the grand sextile, Uranus squares this very difficult Pluto opposition to Mars and Jupiter, bringing in unexpected and rebellious energy and elsewhere the Sun on the 29th July will square the Moon and also Saturn which is difficult, harsh and potentially upsetting in itself, someone or something may block your progress and stop you in your tracks, completely putting the brakes on the free flowing nature of the trines and sextiles in action.

In summary, I can see a big emphasis initiating ambitions, creating relationships, helping people out and controlling the emotional direction of your life although there will be some potential roadblocks that you will have to overcome along the way. I do think there could also be a great amount of trouble directed at you too if you do decide to take things into your own hands and people object to your methods, especially if you do things in a less than honest manner. The choice is yours to use the beneficial elements here and plough on regardless being straight with yourself and with others to make some positive and lasting changes to yourself and other people, or to succumb and get sucked in to taking the least line of resistance. Remember in life and in Astrology too, taking short cuts or gaining advantage by deceiving rarely ever works out in the end.

I think this going to be a few very interesting days to get through, and I would be fascinated to find out about your personal experiences of this very rare formation in the skies as it begins to form…