#371-"What if There is No Need to Change?"--Week of June 29, 2026

A brief note. These episodes are prerecorded during a five-week period away. I am not tracking current events in real time. Hold what I offer here alongside what you are actually living. This is the last episode in this batch — I will be back in real time with you for episode #372.

Feel First, Then Offer

This is not a quiet week. Two major planetary shifts land on the same day. Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer. Jupiter enters Leo. And Mars makes three significant contacts by Sunday. The week carries considerable activation and asks for both presence and discernment.

Key Cycles This Week:

Monday, June 29: Mercury turns retrograde at 26 degrees of Cancer and Jupiter enters Leo. 

Mercury retrograde in Cancer begins three weeks of review in the realm of feeling, memory, and belonging. Not a time for new initiatives or major decisions. A time for revisiting what was left incomplete, feelings too large to be fully processed in their first arrival, emotional truths moved past too quickly.

On the same day Jupiter enters Leo, where it will remain until July 2027. For a full year Jupiter amplifies creative expression and authentic visibility, asking where you are playing smaller than your actual gifts require. The tension between Mercury turning inward and Jupiter expanding outward is worth sitting with. Feel first. Express from that ground.

Wednesday, July 1: Jupiter in Leo squares Chiron in Taurus. 

Jupiter wants to expand into visibility and creative offering. Chiron in Taurus holds the wound of unworthiness in its most embodied form. Their square asks where the wound of not-enoughness contracts around the very expansion being offered. The elder wisdom here: you do not have to be fully healed to offer what is genuinely alive in you.

Friday, July 3: Mars conjuncts Uranus in Gemini. 

The week's most electrically charged moment. The Action-Taker meets the Awakener at Gemini speed. On the eve of July 4th in the United States, when the mythology of independence and the reality of what this nation is becoming sit in painful contrast, this conjunction is not subtle. Mars conjunct Uranus can bring liberation and volatility in equal measure. Breathe before acting. The insight is real. It does not require urgency to be honored.

Saturday, July 4: Mars in Gemini sextiles Neptune in Aries. 

The day after the electric conjunction, Mars finds the Imaginal Field of Neptune. Action in service of vision. On a day carrying its own complex collective weight, this sextile offers an interior alternative — quiet creative engagement, movement toward what is genuinely envisioned rather than performed or demanded.

Sunday, July 5: Mars in Gemini trines Pluto in Aquarius. 

The week closes with depth and purposeful direction. Mars in easy flow with the Transformer brings action that serves the larger restructuring rather than merely the immediate impulse. A good day for intentional engagement with what has been activated through the week.

Larger Frame

The thread holding this week together: feel first. Let the retrograde revisiting and the wound Chiron holds be real and present. Then let Jupiter in Leo remind you that what is alive in you is not meant to be indefinitely contained.

The healing is not a prerequisite for the offering. They happen together. That is the nature of genuine initiation.

Reflection Questions

1. As Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer, what emotional truth is asking for more honest attention before I move forward?
2. Where does the wound of unworthiness contract around what Jupiter in Leo is beginning to offer, and what would it mean to share what is genuinely alive in you without waiting to be fully healed first?
3. In this week's activation and acceleration, what helps you feel the difference between inspired action and reactive urgency?

Podcast poem: What if There is No Need to Change? by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

If the themes of this transmission are resonating — the healing of our relationship to body, earth, and what genuinely nourishes — I want to let you know about two upcoming offerings rooted in exactly this territory.

On July 11 I am offering a free Earth element taster workshop, Root in the Sacred. And on July 16 the Root in the Sacred group coaching begins — a deeper container for those ready for sustained work with the Earth element, with the body, with what it means to belong to the living world on your own terms.

You can find details on both at ontheedgesofchange.com under "What's Open Now."

Transcript

0:07

Hello, welcome to Astrology Alchemy. I'm Sheela Bélanger, your host for this podcast. Alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation. Spiritual alchemy is the process of pursuing the gold of your true nature by transmuting the unrefined, limiting parts of yourself. In this podcast, I'll offer you inspiring insights from current astrology cycles that support your path of turning your personal lead into gold. More resources are available at the website ontheedgesofchange.com. Hello, and welcome to episode number 371 of the Astrology Alchemy Podcast. This is for the week of June 29th, 2026. I'm your host and guide, Sheila Bélanger. So again, just a reminder, this is the last of my pre-recorded podcasts that I did during a five-week period that I'm completely away from cultural connections technology. I have not been tracking current events in real time, so what I'm offering you here, hold it in your heart alongside what you are actually living in the moment. I will be back in real time with you for episode number 372 Phrase from this week's poem: What if there is no need to change? This is not a quiet week. Two major planetary shifts land on the same day. Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer, and Jupiter enters Leo. Plus Mars, freshly arrived in Gemini, is very busy. Makes three-- it makes three significant contacts by Sunday. The week carries considerable activation and asks for both presence and discernment. On Monday, June 29th, Mercury turns retrograde at twenty-six degrees of Cancer, and Jupiter enters Leo. Mercury retrograde in Cancer begins three weeks of review in the realm of feeling, memory, family, and belonging. This is not a time for new initiatives or major decisions. It's a time for revisiting conversations left incomplete, feelings too large to be fully processed in their first arrival. Emotional truths move past too quickly Many of these things occur now in our times. So let it be slow. Let it be interior. Go within as Mercury symbolically turns backwards And on the same day, Jupiter enters Leo where it will remain until July of 2027 Jupiter in Leo amplifies creative expression, authentic visibility, the generous offering of what is genuinely alive in us. For a full year, it will be asking, where are you playing smaller than your actual gifts require? Where is the fear of being seen keeping something alive in you from finding its full expression? The tension between Mercury turning inward and Jupiter expanding outward is worth sitting with. Feel first, and then express from that ground On Wednesday, July 1st, Jupiter and Leo squares Chiron in Taurus. And by the way, shout out to my Canadian listeners. Happy Canada Day, eh. Just days into Leo, Jupiter meets the wounded healer in the square. Jupiter wants to expand into visibility and creative offering. Chiron in Taurus holds the wound of unworthiness in its most embodied form. The places where the body, the physical self, the sense of having genuine value has been most deeply hurt Their square asks, where does the wound of not enoughness contract around the very expansion Jupiter is offering? For many of us, particularly those whose bodies or ways of being have been systemically devalued, this is not abstract. It lives in the gut, in the nervous system Jupiter square Chiron offers this. You do not have to be fully healed to offer what is genuinely alive in you That is the elder wisdom that this square carries Okay, fasten your seatbelts. On Friday, if there's probably no seatbelts, Friday July 3rd, Mars conjuncts Uranus in Gemini. This week's most electrically charged moment. The action taker meets the awakener in the sign of the quickened mind. Oh. Sudden impulse, unexpected breakthrough, the will and the awakening force moving together at Gemini speed And here on the eve of July 4th in the United States, when the mythology of independence and the reality of what this nation is becoming sit in sharp and painful contrast, this conjunction is not subtle Mars conjunct Uranus can bring liberation. It can also bring volatility. Breathe before acting. Feel before speaking. The inside is real. It does not require urgency to be honored On Saturday, July 4th, Mars and Gemini sextiles Neptune in Aries. The day after the electric conjunction, Mars finds a softer contact with the imaginal field of Neptune. Action in service of vision, movement that feels meaningful rather than reactive. On a day carrying its own complex collective weight, this sextile offers an interior alternative, quiet, creative engagement, movement toward what is genuinely envisioned rather than what is being performed or demanded And on Sunday, July 5th, Mars in Gemini trines Pluto in Aquarius. This week closes with depth. Mars in easy flow with a transformer brings action that is not only quick, but genuinely purposeful. The capacity to move in ways that serve the larger restructuring rather than merely the immediate impulse Let Sunday be a day for intentional direction, letting what has moved through the week find some grounded, purposeful form And lensing back on this week. Mercury turning inward. Jupiter expanding outward. Mars electrified, then vision, then purposeful, all within six days. Pace yourself, my dears. The thread holding it together, feel first Let the retrograde revisiting and the wound Chiron holds be real and present. And then let Jupiter in Leo remind you that what is alive in you is not meant to be indefinitely contained That healing is not a prerequisite for the offering. They happen together. That is the nature of genuine initiation Here are some reflection questions for you As Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer, what emotional truth is asking for more honest attention before you move forward? Second, where does the wound of unworthiness contract around what Jupiter in Leo is beginning to offer? And what would it mean to share what is genuinely alive in me without waiting to be fully healed first? And thirdly, in this week's activation and acceleration, what helps me feel the difference between inspired action and reactive urgency? So the podcast poem is actually a prose poem, and it really delights me to offer it to you because it's really just like be who you are. It's called What If There Is No Need to Change by Araya Mountain Dreamer What if there is no need to change? No need to transform yourself into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving or wise How would this affect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better or different? What if the task is simply to unfold? To become who you are already are in your essential nature gentle, compassionate, and capable of living fully and passionately present What if the question is not, "Why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be?" But, "Why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?" How would this change what you think you have to learn? What if becoming who and what we truly are happens not through striving and trying, but by recognizing and receiving the people and places and practices that are for us the warmth of encouragement we need to unfold? How would this shape the choices you make about how to spend today? What if you know that the impulse to move in a way that creates beauty in the world will arise from deep within and guide you every time you simply pay attention and wait? How would this shape your stillness, your movement, your willingness to follow this impulse to just let go and dance from what if there is no need to change? Consider that this week And I wanna remind you, if you're finding what I'm offering resonating for you, I am offering a couple of events to help with the healing of a relationship to body, earth, and what genuinely nourishes. On Saturday, July 11th, I'm offering a free earth element taster workshop called Root in the Sacred. Lets you kinda check out the work I'm doing with this element. And on Thursday, July 16th, the six-session Root in the Sacred group coaching begins. That's a deeper container for those ready for sustained work with the earth element, with the body, and what it, with what it means to belong to the living world on your own terms. Both of these offerings are listed on my home page, the website ontheedgesofchange.com, under What's Open Now. Thank you so much. You have been listening to the Astrology Alchemy podcast with your host, Sheila Bélanger. Resources are available at the website ontheedgesofchange.com. Thank you for listening. Bless your alchemical journey to embrace the gold of your true nature