Buckle your seat belt: we have an extraordinary number of potent astrology events in the second half of June! Headliners include two powerful “seconds”: the second of three eclipses, and the second of three world-shaking Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions.

We also have 3 planetary stations: Mercury and Neptune turning retrograde, and Venus turning direct. As it that wasn’t enough, we also have an impactful Summer Solstice chart. Strap in!

This forecast covers this half-month’s most important astrological events. For bonus events, check out my award-winning This Week in Astrology audio podcast and YouTube video forecasts — updated weekly!

Click astrology graphics to see larger images. Some resource links may occur more than once. This is because many people link to a specific day’s forecast from social media, and might not see an important resource link elsewhere on this page.

6/18 (Thu)

Mercury Retrograde

Mercury turns retrograde today at 12:59 AM EDT at 14°45′ Cancer. It will backpedal for 3-1/2 weeks until 7/12, when the winged messenger turns direct at 4:26 AM EDT at 5°29′ Cancer.

Mercury retrograde is ideal for introspection. With this retrograde taking place entirely within Cancer, consider how things are going with your home, family, and security. And how are you dealing with your emotions and shadow work?

Aspects

Mercury Square Chiron

The theme of shadow work gets additional emphasis by Mercury’s square to Chiron, the Wounded Healer. This pandemic has certainly given us no end of challenging emotional catalyst!

As of 6/15, according to Wikipedia, over 433,000 deaths worldwide have been attributed to COVID-19, including 117,000+ in the U.S. People are justifiably concerned about their health and the health of others. Many are mourning the death of loved ones.

There’s additional stress caused by the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. Half of those in the U.S. earning less than $40,000 per year have lost their jobs.

Note: In the following paragraphs, and other sections of this June 16-30 forecast, I’ll be discussing Black Lives Matter and social justice. It feels important to correlate these movements with the current astrological energies.

At the same time, I must acknowledge that I’ve had no significant personal involvement with these movements so far. And I’m a 60-year-old white man who has benefited from plenty of white privilege.

However, I’ve started listening to podcasts such as NPR’s Code Switch and It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders on these matters. And I’m reading How to be an Antiracist by Ibram K. Xendi. (After that, I plan to read his National Book Award winner, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.)

I’m striving to be antiracist in my thoughts, words and deeds. If you feel that I’m falling short, please let me know!

People of color have been disproportionately impacted by this crisis. On a percentage basis, they’ve been dying in far greater numbers, and have suffered many more job losses. Those jobs that remain often can’t be done at home, and expose them to the general public. This increases their chances of catching COVID-19.

Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S., energized by the murders of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and many others by the police, have spread around the world. For the first time, a majority of U.S. whites now support the BLM movement. And large numbers of whites, newly awakened to the pervasiveness of systemic racism, are participating in BLM protests.

Chiron is well-suited to represent these themes. He represents wounding, as well as mentoring and healing. I, for one, will be using this Mercury retrograde to learn more about systemic racism and social justice. This will help me understand how I can best support healing in these areas.

Shadow Work

I started this section by mentioning shadow work. This is the process of facing and healing your emotional and psychological wounds. You might get triggered by some of the situations I just mentioned. Or your catalyst might be something else.

We all have plenty that we could get upset about these days! But you’ll most effectively support peace in the world around you when you hold peace within you. As within, so without.

If you don’t already have a quick and effective way to process and heal your emotional wounds, check out my free Healing Invocation. It has helped thousands purge their pain by delegating their healing to their higher selves.

Mercury Conjunct Vesta

Mercury makes one other notable aspect as it turns retrograde: a conjunction to Vesta. This is the asteroid goddess representing selfless service to a higher cause.

This aspect is also timely. Many major corporations are now pledging significant support for social justice causes. And many citizens are contributing their valuable time and energy to participate in peaceful protests.

Is there a worthy cause you feel drawn to champion? This Mercury retrograde is a great time to clarify your thinking about what it is, and how you’ll support it.

The Usual Mercury Rx Prescription

Make sure you’re understanding and being understood. Back up important data. Double check any travel plans.

It’s best to delay important new beginnings and major purchases until Mercury turns direct on 7/12 at 4:26 AM EDT. Even better, wait until after the New Moon on 7/20 at 1:33 PM EDT. (To maximize your chances for success in important matters, choose an optimal starting moment using Electional Astrology.)

6/20 (Sat)

Summer Solstice

The Sun enters Cancer today at 5:44 PM EDT. For starters, this radiates the energies of home, family, security, emotions and shadow work for the next month.

More importantly, the Sun’s entry into Cancer marks the Summer Solstice. This gives us a snapshot of the astrological energies that will influence the coming three months.

Badass Stellium

The highlight of the Summer Solstice chart is a Stellium (3 or more conjunct planets) with Pallas Athena, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto.

The two most important players in this Stellium are Saturn and Pluto. As I noted in my Spring Equinox forecast (whose relevant sections I’m incorporating here), the full-year Saturn-Pluto conjunction set the stage for COVID-19 and its titanic global effects. Pandemics, global financial downturns and widespread fear are all associated with hard aspects between these two challenging planets.

These two mighty planets can also set the stage for powerful new structures, such as the recent global upswell of support for Black Lives Matter and social justice.

For a deep dive into these Saturn-Pluto effects, read my January 12 forecast for the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. And listen to the free MP3 from my 2020 forecast lecture, linked from that post, for an in-depth historical overview of Saturn-Pluto hard aspects.

This Stellium also includes Jupiter. The triple conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto – which criss-cross each other all year – is the signature event of 2020. One effect Jupiter has on Saturn-Pluto is to further amplify their challenging effects.

But all is not gloom and doom, Jupiter also represents hope, joy, luck and celebration. If these energies don’t seem strong right now, they await your discovery when the time is right. You can always find rays of hope, even in the darkest times.

Finally, the asteroid goddess Pallas Athena can also be associated with battle. But she’s also known for her skills in strategy, diplomacy and politics. We can all make good use of her talents during this challenging time!

Aspects

The 6/21 Solar Eclipse lines up just nine hours after this Summer Solstice! So consider all of the Solar Eclipse aspects to be part of this Summer Solstice interpretation.

6/21 (Sun)

Solar Eclipse in Cancer

Today’s Solar Eclipse is the second of three eclipses in June and July. It lines up at 2:41 AM EDT (0°21′ Cancer).

Like any Cancer New Moon, this Solar Eclipse supports new beginnings in the areas of emotional expression, home, family, security, and shadow work.

Aspects

The luminaries squeeze in for a selfie with the North Node of the Moon. With the Sun and Moon only about 1° from this “Destiny Point”, this is a great time to clarify your life purpose … and pour new energy into making it real!

With the North Node in Gemini, what new learning would serve your highest good? Is there some message you feel inspired to communicate? Would it align with your soul purpose to connect with some of your siblings or neighbors?

The luminaries’ broad conjunction to Vesta suggests selfless service to a higher cause. Is it time to get involved in the resurgent social justice movement? Or is there some other cause that resonates with your heart?

A tight quincunx from Aquarian Saturn encourages innovative adjustment in response to challenge.

Finally, the Sun and Moon’s loose squares to Juno and Chiron indicate relationship wounding and healing — a theme shared by all three eclipses. A great book that has helped many challenged couples co-create win-win outcomes is Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships, by Marshall B. Rosenberg

Sabian Symbol

This Solar Eclipse’s Sabian Symbol is, “On a ship the sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one.” Here in the U.S., elements of this symbol are happening both literally and figuratively. Confederate flags, long a prominent presence at NASCAR races, have just been banned at their events. And Confederate monuments, which “flag” our racist past, are coming down all over the South.

The U.S. and the world are sailing a new course toward greater racial equality and social justice. The new flag hasn’t been raised yet. But there’s still time – eclipse effects can last up to 12 months!

6/23 (Tue)

Neptune Retrograde

Neptune turns retrograde two days after the Solar Eclipse, on 6/23 at 12:32 AM EDT (20°57′ Pisces). He’ll turn direct again on 11/28 at 18°9′ Pisces.

Personal planet retrogrades, such as the current retrogrades of Mercury and Venus, are quicker and impact us in more obvious ways. But the retrogrades of outer planets like Neptune last about five months. Their direction doesn’t have a significant impact on their effects as transiting planets.

But their themes are worthy of contemplation, especially when they change directions. How are you doing with your spiritual awakening practices? Are you expressing your inspired creativity? Are you doing dream work, or operating consistently “in the zone”?

How about Neptune’s low side? Are you having any issues with substance abuse? Are you getting so lost in escapist activities that you’re neglecting important matters in the physical world? Are you drifting aimlessly, or playing the victim in a relationship?

Focusing on Neptune’s high side can weaken the lure of its low side. If this strategy isn’t sufficient, especially in areas such as substance abuse, be sure to seek professional help.

Impact on Your Natal Chart

Planets are most powerful when they change directions, and Neptune stations retrograde near 21° Pisces. This means that any sensitive points in your natal chart between 18° and 24° of a mutable sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) will be strongly affected by this Neptune station.

6/25 (Thu)

Relationship Grand Trine Peaks

Would you like your important relationships to smoothly integrate harmony, stability and variety? You have support from a Grand Trine that started on 6/7, peaks today (6/25) and ends on 7/6. It includes Venus, Juno and Saturn.

Venus represents relationships, and is in diversity-loving Gemini. Juno represents committed partnership, and is in the harmonious sign of Libra. Finally, Saturn represents stability, and is in paradigm-shifting Aquarius.

This flowing aspect pattern will give you a certain amount of these energies for free. But trines tend to be lazy, and this Grand Trine is only moderately strong. So “mine the trine” with focused effort – one of Saturn’s specialties – to enjoy the greatest benefit!

Venus Direct

Venus turned retrograde on 5/13 at 21°50′ Gemini. She turns direct today (6/25) at 5°20′ Gemini.

As I noted on 5/13, Venus retrograde is a great time to contemplate how her three primary themes are expressing in your life. How are your most important relationships going? How are you doing with your creative expression? And how’s your financial situation?

Venus has been retrograde entirely within Gemini. Do you enjoy enough variety in your relationships? Do they give you enough intellectual stimulation?

Are you craving more diversity in your creative expression? Regarding money, would it help to have additional income streams? If you have a retirement fund, is your diversification appropriate for your risk tolerance?

When she turned retrograde, Venus also made significant aspects to Vesta, Neptune, the Moon, Uranus and the North Node. To learn about the themes associated with those aspects, click here.

Now that Venus is direct, you can begin taking action on the insights you’ve gained in all these areas. If the change involves release or adjustment, you can start as soon as you like.

If a change involves a major new beginning, wait a few weeks if possible. Major new starts have the best support when Mercury is direct and the Moon is waxing. That setup won’t arrive until July 20 at 1:33 PM EDT. (To maximize your chances for success in important matters, choose an optimal starting moment using Electional Astrology.)

6/30 (Tue)

Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction

Note: I chose not to reinvent the wheel when I wrote this. So I borrowed heavily from my 4/4 interpretation of the first Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. I deleted sections that are no longer relevant, and have added new material relating to Black Lives Matter and social justice.

Titanic extremes – good or bad – can be fueled by a year-long Jupiter-Pluto conjunction (24°53′ Capricorn). I’ll eventually include Saturn, who’s energetically conjunct these two planets, in this interpretation. But let’s start with Jupiter and Pluto.

This Jupiter-Pluto conjunction came into orb (close enough to connect energetically) on 1/29/20, and will remain in orb through 1/7/21. Their first conjunction was on 4/4. The second is today (6/30), and they’ll conjoin once more on 11/12.

Pluto, as we’re currently seeing with the coronavirus crisis, can bring death, transformation, and (eventually) rebirth. Jupiter, our solar system’s biggest gas giant, is all about e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n. So he can take whatever Pluto’s doing and makes it truly gargantuan!

Help From Renn

Renn Butler masterfully lays out these Jupiter-Pluto possibilities in his wonderful book, The Archetypal Universe: Astrological Patterns in Human Culture, Thought, Emotion and Dreams. As always, I feel blessed to draw from his masterwork on planetary combinations, with his permission, to share these archetypal possibilities.

First I’ll share the most compelling ideas from Renn’s Jupiter-Pluto section. Then I’ll add in the most important themes from the multi-year Saturn-Pluto conjunction, as well as other planets who make strong aspects to the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction.

The bottom line is that we’re really looking at 2020’s most important astrological event: a Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto Triple Conjunction!

Let’s start with some positive potentials of the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction:

• great resources and potential
• titanic evolutionary forces
• the capacity for enormous success
• empowerment through education
• intensive urges to improve
• the recognition that power either benefits all or none
• an ethic of “right makes might” (as opposed to “might makes right”)
• dramatic opportunities for regeneration and transformation
• beneficial destruction
• heavy experiences with a positive outcome
• the long trip into and through the underworld of the psyche
• triumph through facing death
• intense idealism
• the faith to move mountains
• empowered activism or philanthropy
• the urge to share one’s transformative experiences with the larger culture
• the power of truth

Obviously, this Jupiter-Pluto conjunction has plenty of upside potential! But we’re also wise to stay alert to its darker possibilities:

• extreme material or spiritual ambition
• a tendency to feel high and mighty, which threatens those in authority
• an obsession with glory and greatness
• political drama
• delusions of superiority
• opportunities to abuse power
• runaway power trips
• inclinations to act as a law unto yourself
• the power elite
• plutocracy
• obsessive righteousness, fanaticism and overkill
• misplaced moral urgency
• religious or other dogma
• ideals of betterment and progress as a reason to dominate other people and nature
• stupendous waste of shared resources

So the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction can be used selflessly and/or selfishly. Earth is a free will zone, so we each get to choose how we behave on this spectrum.

The Saturn-Pluto Conjunction

The same is true for the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. A year of Jupiter-Pluto might seem like a long time. But the Saturn-Pluto conjunction lasts nearly four years! It came into orb on 1/31/18, and won’t wrap up until 12/18/21.

If you can spare a few minutes, I strongly encourage you to read my deep-dive interpretation of the January 12 Saturn-Pluto conjunction. You can also listen to a 28-minute MP3 of me interpreting it, excerpted from my 2020 Astrology Forecast Lecture. This free MP3 contains lots of additional information about this momentous event!

Drawing from that forecast, here are the potentials of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction that feel most important during our coronavirus crisis. (I once again acknowledge drawing from Renn Butler’s The Archetypal Universe, as well as Richard Tarnas’ masterwork Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View.)

• profound discipline, strength and endurance
• heroic self-control
• the capacity to bear down with great force and pressure on difficult situations until they’re resolved
• a deep sense of responsibility
• challenges which lead to an urgent reformulation of priorities
• a need to cut your losses and deepen your commitment to the important things in life
• profound feelings of powerlessness … but with the resolve to continue!
• feelings of anxiety and fear
• negative or threatening forces
• a perception of irrevocable pressure and change
• profoundly weighty events of enduring consequence
• the irrevocable termination of an established order of existence
• displays of personal and collective determination
• unbending will, courage and sacrifice in the face of danger and death
• the transformation and forging of enduring structures, whether material, political or psychological

Aspects to the Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction

Saturn

Three planets make important aspects to the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. We’ve already discussed Saturn in terms of his conjunction to Pluto. But Saturn is also conjunct Jupiter and Pluto, and influences this conjunction because of his proximity.

The fact that Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto criss-cross each other throughout 2020 emphasizes how tightly integrated they are this year. Saturn’s influence is well-represented in the discussion of the Saturn-Pluto Conjunction above, and needs no more elaboration here.

Pallas Athena

That leaves two more planets that add their influence to the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. Pallas Athena is only about half a degree past Jupiter and Pluto! She’s a renowned warrior goddess who sprang fully armored from the head of Zeus. If you want to use warlike terms, she could represent our battle against the coronavirus, or against systemic racism and social injustice.

However, Pallas is also known for being a master of strategy. With no vaccine to prevent it and no medicine that can cure it, we’re ill-equipped to wage a traditional battle against the virus. So Pallas reminds us that we have to be clever to prevent it from spreading.

Strategy is also essential in the Black Lives Matter movement. This movement has unprecedented momentum, and, for the first time, is now supported by a majority of whites in the United States.

Often, momentous social change seems to take forever to happen. But once we finally reach the tipping point, reality can shift with amazing speed.

It seems to me we’re at such a tipping point now. If the leaders of this movement skillfully use Pallas Athena’s tools – strategy, negotiation, diplomacy and politics – there will be less need for battles in the streets.

Eris

The final important aspect to the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction is Eris, who makes a tight square from Aries. She’s best known as the goddess of discord. Snubbed from attending an important wedding attended by many Greek gods, she crashed the party and tossed out an apple marked “To the fairest.” The resulting brouhaha escalated into the Trojan War!

On one level, Eris warns us against sowing unnecessary discord that could make our challenging situation even worse. But even this seeming villain has her upside. Sometimes, when it’s time for a big change, we need someone to upset the apple cart and shock us out of our status quo.

In the case of Black Lives Matter, the “apples” have been the unjustified police killings of so many blacks, caught on video for the whole world to see. Discord can be a powerful motivator for change!

A Necessary Corrective

So now we know what all the planets in the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto Triple Conjunction are bringing to the party. Here’s what I make of all this:

The coronavirus pandemic could act as a necessary corrective for humanity. It has accomplished something extraordinary – you could even call it miraculous — that has never before happened during my lifetime.

COVID-19 has presented humanity with a global mortal threat. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, industrial world or developing world. The virus couldn’t care less about your religion, your sexual orientation, or the color of your skin.

The previous paragraph appeared in my 4/4 Jupiter-Pluto forecast. Now, more than two months later, I’m seeing these words in a different light.

The color of your skin does matter. Systemic racism has existed all around the world for centuries. Because of this, people of color are less likely to get quality healthcare. They’re more likely to live in crowded conditions, where social distancing is difficult or impossible. They have greater health challenges, which makes them more likely to die from COVID-19.

With a virus like this, what happens to any of us can happen to all of us. To ensure our own well-being, we have to make sure that everyone else also gets their needs met. (This bounceback effect also extends to all other living beings, including the planetary ecosystem. The pandemic and Black Lives Matter currently dominate the headlines, but the environmental crisis hasn’t gone away.)

It would be great if all the harm caused by millennia of patriarchal dominator culture could be cleared with the snap of a finger. Instead, it appears that the whole stinking mess has to be flushed up, made conscious, and collectively cleared.

That’s what I believe is happening right now with the Black Lives Matter movement. If we want fresh clean water to flow through our pipes, we first have to scrub off the toxic sludge that was layered on by past generations.

Shadow Work Opportunities

As we deal with the toxic service-to-self aspects of our civilization – in the world around us and in ourselves – we”ll experience challenging feelings and thoughts. Some of us already have effective tools and techniques to do this essential inner “shadow work.” Others will learn how to do shadow work using simple, DIY tools such as my free Healing Invocation.

Spiritual Awakening and Service

Some will discover that each layer of shadow work, effectively done, automatically opens them to a new level of spiritual awakening! Encouraged and excited by this newfound bliss and ecstasy, they’ll feel called to establish a deeper spiritual connection. They’ll unearth, perhaps for the first time in their current incarnation, an ever-present peacefulness inside themselves – burning warm and steady, like an unquenchable fire.

They’ll learn how to seamlessly merge their human self with the higher self that created them. They’ll discover that this makes harmony, flow, ease and grace their “new normal”. (Thousands do this every day, quickly and easily,  using my free Embodied Awakening Invocation.)

Once they awaken enough, they may have a realization that’s first shocking, then comforting. At the soul level, they chose to be on earth at this time – even knowing in advance what a mess it was going to be! They came not to simply survive … but to serve.

They knew in advance that it would be a high-risk operation. Many light warriors come to earth, fall under the spell of spiritual amnesia, and never remember their missions. They get plenty of hints and nudges, as well as more dramatic wake-up calls like the current pandemic. But earth is a free will zone. Each human gets to choose whether to awaken … or continue their spiritual slumber.

A Tremendous Opportunity

The coronavirus has given us a tremendous opportunity, individually and collectively. At the very least, we can tune into the calm spiritual core that will help us navigate these troubled times more smoothly. Many of us will awaken to the service we came here to perform. And, by deepening our divine connection, we’ll receive the ongoing intuitive guidance we need to fulfill our mission.

The particulars of each person’s mission are unique. But they’re all being coordinated by an overarching divine intelligence toward one glorious outcome: a new Golden Age on earth. And the coronavirus, followed by the Black Lives Matter resurgence, are exactly the catalysts we needed to get it rolling!

How We Can Support the Shift

I’m convinced that the global shift to higher consciousness is happening now. If enough of us act as if that’s true – by treating each other with more love, compassion and generosity – the world will become a much more wonderful place!

That’s our choice with the titanic energies of the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction, the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, and their collective Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto Triple Conjunction. The awesome potency of all this astrological power could result in a totalitarian hell or a utopian heaven. It’s our choice.

Every thought you think, every word you speak, and every action you take is a choice for one or the other. It’s a U.S. election year, but your most important vote won’t be for president. With mankind’s fate in the balance, what future are you voting for with your thoughts, words and actions?

Whatever your Sun Sign, my forecasts can help you make the best use of the current astrological energies.

All dates and times are in the U.S. eastern time zone. Events are most powerful on the dates listed, but their influence will be active for at least a week before and after.

Everyone is affected by these global transits. However, you’ll be most powerfully impacted when moving planets activate sensitive points in your natal chart. Discover how these transits will personally affect you by booking a session with me.

Learn more about my Astrology+ sessions.