Lift up your shackles of guilt and work chain -- you're going free, babee!

Hallelujah! I was starting to wonder how much you could take of Saturn pressing down his burdens on you day after DAY. Also, how much longer you could go without enough sleep.

Talk about being on a work chain. Poor Aquarians the world over have hardly had a moment to look up for months now. One job gets done, only to be replaced immediately by ten more. All due yesterday, and all of insane importance. Plus, if you've had a demanding boss or client, well...I shudder to think. He or she has probably been utterly impossible.

Because of what's going on in your fifth house, many of you will have been experiencing these demands from a child. Still your boss - but a boss at home, not at the office. Of course you can't resist your child or newborn - who could? But it would be nice...just...to...get some SLEEP.

Whether the pressure is coming from child, baby, boss, client, or your own self-imposed deadlines (many Aquarians are freelancers and creating their own thing) the work has been endless. Not only have you been up for all hours, but you haven't had your usual relief of friends and parties since the end of MAY.

Since May 17, to be exact. That's when pleasure planet Venus went retrograde in your fifth house of fun. Imagine a film of all your friends, parties, and love affairs, being played backwards -- all the way back into the projector. That's kind of how this planetary energy would play out on a screen.

Well, I am happy to tell you that the first chapter of your relief opens Tuesday, June 29, when Venus goes direct. There will still be a ton of work, but it becomes more fun.

This Venus flip can also bring back into your life an old lover or a very old intimate.

You may find yourself worrying about such a situation around the full Moon on Friday, July 2 -- covering the July 4 weekend as well. Just by virtue of your old friend's presence, a threesome energy may arise.Whether it's in your family home, or a menage a trois in your swinging bachelor(ess) pad, it's going to be an interesting weekend!

And essentially, good for you, Aquarius! Because it gets you back into the world of relating with others, pulls you out of your slave routine, and makes you remember fun, pleasure...and SEX.

Remember this as you start to get irritable and worried with the full Moon on July 2. You're only feeling that way because there's been no room for anything else for so long.

But - as I began your horoscope - you are breaking free very, very soon.

And you have so much to be proud of, dear Aquarius! Not only have you managed your work and kept your cool, you have planned your escape -- very, very well. Soon, many of you may be moving far, far away from all this. If not literally, as in relocating, or changing jobs, then in other forms which are just as self-transformative.

Make "Change" your middle name. Better yet, put it on your passport to remind you it is part of who you are! You were BORN with this.

As I relate to the children of your tribe, the ruling planet of Aquarius is Uranus.

This is from my chapter for Aquarian kids -- AND FOR YOU, AFTER JULY 16.

Your Ruling Planet: WILD AND WEIRD URANUS

Uranus is the star of extremes and change. He is your SPIRITED BORN-FREE planet.

Uranus is definitely the rebellious oddball of the solar system. It is the only planet that lies on its side instead of standing straight up. Probably to get a totally different worldview, like yours!

Its magnetic field is also different from every other planet's. It's not in the center, but tilted at 60 degrees. It goes through forty-two years of daylight and then forty-two years of darkness through its eighty-four year orbit around the Sun.

It is all blue. Electric blue. Interesting again, because Uranus rules electricity. Electricity and all things that SHOCK. Like sudden insights, flashes of intuition, inspiration, and yes, YOU, interesting Aquarius!

It was discovered in 1781, when revolutions were all over the place. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution -- Uranus changes things, for sure!

To get the whole book, click here.

So, dear Aquarius, you can expect your own inner revolution to start around the new Moon of Saturday, July 17. A completely new routine starts, and kicks off the rest of a great summer!

With sexy Mars and charmer Venus in your whooping it up in your seventh and fifth houses you're going to be looking fantastic, making new contacts like crazy, and generally having a ball. Enjoy!

E-mail this horoscope to an Aquarius or Aquarius Jupiter you care about - if you want him or her to do well this July!

Your days to push the envelope: Saturday July 3 and Sunday July 4.

Also the days the Moon is in the SAME SIGN as your Jupiter sign. Consult Jupiter for more on this, and on how to be successful in the world at large.

P.S. Dear Reader, Happy Summer! It is - finally - here!

Isn't it time for us to take a breather from this time of madness, of difficult personal exchanges, and of too much to bear?

How often have you been able to make a wise decision when stressed?

Research has proved that anxiety and stress inhibit the brain's ability to function. We cannot think clearly and effectively when the brain is being short ciruited with anxiety.

I'm not talking about instinctual survival-based decisions - for immediate preservation of life - I'm talking about longterm life choices. These cannot be made during crisis. We have been living in a state of crisis-simulation for almost three years now. Complete with bright kid-friendly colors telling us HOW MUCH IS RIGHT. It has become harder to THINK.

I prefer, instead of Code Yellow; Code Orange; Code Red -- Code Linen; Code Off-White; Code Putty, myself. (Thank you, Saturday Night Live.) You need to take care of yourself, dear reader. (No matter how much success you may be having.)

You, and all that is inside of you.

I would like to share with you something that has always renewed my breath - and delight! About the choices we have, if we can but choose them...our various, incredible routes...Travel with me as you read this...enjoy the journey with me.

Extracted from one of my very favorite books, Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino. (Born a Libra, and yes, LIBRO in Italian means book!). Translated from the Italian by William Weaver.

In Esmeralda, city of water, a network of canals and a network of streets span and intersect each other.

To go from one place to another you have always the choice between land and boat: and since the shortest distance between two points in Esmeralda is not a straight line but a zigzag that famifies in torturous optional routes, the ways that open to each passerby are never two, but many, and they increase further for those who alternate a stretch by boat with one in dry land.

And so Esmeralda's inhabitants are spared the boredom of following the same streets every day.

And that is not all: the network of routes is not arranged on one level, but follows instead an up-and-down course of steps, landings, cambered bridges, hanging streets.

Combining segments of the various routes, elevated or on ground level, each inhabitant can enjoy every day the pleasure of a new itinerary to reach the same places. The most fixed and calm lives in Esmeralda are spent without any repetition.

A map of Esmerelda should include, marked in different colored inks, all these routes, solid and liquid, evident and hidden.

It is more difficult to fix on the map the routes of the swallows, who cut the air over the roofs, dropping long invisible parabolas with their still wings, darting to gulp a mosquito, spiraling upward, grazing a pinnacle, dominating from every point of their airy paths all the points of the city.

Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone.

"But which is the stone that supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan asks.

"The bridge is not supported by one stone or another," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form."

Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: "Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."

Polo answers: "Without the stones there is no arch."

Water (a city of water!) is ruled by the Moon, and this July we have TWO full Moons. The second full Moon is called a Blue Moon. A month with two full Moons, a rare event, is always a dramatic month.

Tending to your Moon - that is, your inner needs and emotions - will help you to remain calm, to stay in touch, and allow you to make clear and good decisions.

For your inner child needs, read the horoscope for your Moon sign.

For example, if you are a Sagittarius with a Taurus Moon, read the Taurus horoscope.

Consider your inner child's needs to be Taurus (you need home comfort and security. Think how a cat is if you take them out of their home. Cats are ruled by Taurus.) Even if you are a rock n roll, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants Sagittarius!

If you are a Scorpio with a Libra Moon, consider your inner child's needs to be Libra (you need love-love, harmony- harmony, beauty-beauty everywhere.) Even if you are a independent proud I-can-go-without Scorpio!

And so on.

Read my astrology book for young'uns, and you'll remember your original Moon needs as a child. Trace the cause of what makes you inexplicably nuts on any given day NOW.

Here are some excerpts.

I also recommend - of course - Linda Goodman's Sun Signs. Her sections on the Child for each Sun sign are still the best around. She wrote her books for grownups though. When I was a kid, her book was the only one available for me to read! I've had countless people tell me they wished there'd been an astrology book for them when THEY were kids.

Now there's mine, and it is the only astrology book for kids (and inner kids) in print AT ALL, and I am asking you to help me keep it in print! Otherwise, there will be NOT A ONE. (It is in its third edition from Penguin USA, thick color pages, spiral bound, beautiful illustrations, with a poster.) It is also an amazing gift. Only $10.99.

You can buy it here.

Take care of yourself.

P.P.S. For an individual reading, please go to PRIVATE READINGS.

Until next month, dear reader -

Madalyn

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