The
Cosmic Story: Cancer Summer Solstice Solar Eclipse,
June 20 – 21,
2020
The
Sacred Marriage of Heaven and Earth
Birthing
a New Story for Us.
Sunrise on Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Welcome to Summer 2020!
Just in case you haven't
realized it yet, there is going to be a new normal in the
years ahead, because we're writing a new story. And that new story
begins with this Solstice's Cancer Solar Eclipse on the Global Axis –
the zero degree points of the four cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer,
Libra & Capricorn.
This Solar Eclipse occurs about
8 hours after the Sun enters the sign of Cancer on Summer Solstice in
the northern hemisphere and Winter Solstice in the southern
hemisphere.
A solar eclipse is an
extra-potent New Moon because it's aligned with the Earth – so it
feeds into Earth's energy grid even more than a regular New Moon
does. And because the Moon is far away from Earth at the moment, the
disc of the Moon won't completely cover the Sun, so we'll see a ring
of fire around the dark Moon. (Perhaps the fires of transformation
if we allow it?) This solar eclipse will be seen in Asia and the
Middle East and parts of Africa.
This is the second eclipse of
the season, a solar eclipse book ended by two lunar eclipses. The
first Full Moon lunar eclipse occurred in Gemini & Sagittarius on
June 5th, this New Moon solar eclipse occurs in Cancer on
June 20th - 21st, and there's another Full Moon
lunar eclipse in Cancer&Capricorn on July 4th – 5th.
These eclipses occur because the planes of the Sun, Moon and Earth
are aligned. So they transform us on a cellular level.
Three is the number of process.
There is a re-alignment happening to our consciousness, a process
that is moving us out of a patriarchal paradigm into a new
partnership paradigm where everyone is equal and yet still an
individual. We are entering the headwaters of the Aquarian Age.
The first lunar eclipse
energized us to examine our limiting beliefs, open to new
possibilities and then to let go of the toxic masculinity of
patriarchy and become spiritual warriors who stand up for our
beliefs. This solar eclipse will be a time to plant a new vision of
life. And the second lunar eclipse will release the last toxic bits
of patriarchal congestion within us and hopefully energize a new
sense of communal responsibility – we are here to take care of each
other. That we belong to each other and to Mother Earth and Father
Sky.
But first, let's remember to
celebrate Summer Solstice (hello to my friends down in the southern
hemisphere where you're celebrating Winter Solstice).
The
Wheel of the Year: Litha – Summer Solstice
As
the Sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse
us.
As
Nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless
us
Let
all things live with loving intent
And
fulfill their truest destiny.
We've come halfway around the
Wheel of the Year, from Winter Solstice and the re-birth of the Light
to Summer Solstice, the marriage of that Light with Earth. Summer
Solstice is the longest day of the year, just as Winter Solstice is
the shortest.
On Summer Solstice, the light
triumphs and yet it also begins to decline into the dark, for after
the 'sun stands still' for 3 days, the Sun will begin to move back
south and so the days will grow shorter and nights longer.
Sacred Marriage
Summer Solstice is the symbolic
Sacred Marriage of Heaven and Earth, when the Sun's light brings
forth the Earth's fertility. The creative fires of life have a home
here on Earth, shaping it and us to grow and evolve. Our souls
incarnate here on Earth to understand and develop our human nature
infused with our spiritual essence – we are spirits having a human
experience. But it's so hard to remember sometimes – hard to take
our stand in life based on our Soul purpose. But if there was ever
a time when all of humanity was ready to accept and live out that
promise, it is NOW. We have been given a magical opportunity to
evolve.
Mother Earth has stopped our
world and sent us to our rooms to mediate on our lives. Will we
allow the powers-that-be to resume their destruction of our home and
our people for money and power? Or will we unite and change our
society so that 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' becomes
our main concern, rather than consumerism and human and environmental
destruction?
With the Sun at it's most
northern limit, we can imagine it as the circle of the Sun over the
cross of matter/Earth – and we get the symbol for Venus, the
Goddess of Love and Wholeness. At the Summer Solstice, Love becomes
our mission, our purpose, and our initiation. That means seeing
life through the eyes and heart of love and connection. If we're
connected, we feel each other's pain and suffer together. When we're
connected we celebrate and rejoice together. When we know that we
are one people and one world, we can do anything.
Each of the cardinal signs
change the seasons for us. As we travel from Winter to Spring to
Summer to Autumn and back to Winter, life moves and changes. These
turning points are always a time of change and choice.
And this year, those changes and
choices are more important than ever. So at this moment, with the
Sun in the sign of Motherhood, nurturing, family, home and our
emotional body, we each have to choose what will nurture us
individually and collectively.
Imagine that the Great Mother,
the best mother, the loving mother, is holding you in her arms. And
asking you, What do you desire most?
We have an opportunity to
re-imagine the Future, to take it away from a vision of capitalist
corporate world domination to a community-based, environmentally
sound sustainable life-style that offers us new ways to be and grow.
The economy is a tool of life – not the center of life.
So create the vision and imagine
planting it in Mother Earth's Garden. Feel it, think it, imagine it,
trust it. That's the vision you have to hold for yourself and the
rest of us. And as we join our highest good with everyone else's, we
will evolve. We will change the quantum field of possibilities and
take back our world.
That's the magic of Summer
Solstice. In ancient times, it was when the Faerie Folk came out to
play in our world. This is the moment when magic happens and the
world becomes bright and fruitful for all of us.
Summer
Solstice Cancer New Moon Solar Eclipse
This Cancer New Moon solar
eclipse occurs on Saturday June 20th at 11:41pm PDT and
Sunday June 21st at 2:41am EDT/ 7:41pm GMT. Although the
western hemisphere won't see the eclipse, we will still feel its
effects for months to come.
Annular Solar Eclipse
At the moment of a solar
eclipse, the Sun's light is hidden and our world is placed in shadow.
It is at this moment that we see our collective shadows – our
bigotry, our misogyny, our greed, our childish need to bully and
dominate, our fear of death.
This is an important eclipse on
the World Axis which herald's big world events. The Sun's light gets
hidden and the world goes quiet and things change. The last time this
eclipse series occurred was in 2001, months before 911.
Before that, it seeded the 80s Iran-Contra scandal, the 60s Kennedy
assassination and before that D-Day. It signals a big change for the
world, which shouldn't surprise any of us.
But it doesn't have to be scary
or disastrous. If we take it as a reminder to stand up for what is
just and right, follow our hearts and NOT follow some leader who
tells us to 'go out and shop', we will be using this energy wisely.
This isn't about keeping the economy going. This time it's about
helping to heal Mother Earth and her children. This time, it's about
writing a new story for the world that brings us freedom and growth
and balance.
We are learning the lessons of
family and society. The past few months have taught us a lesson in
being home: with ourselves, our work, our families. What have
you learned about life? Have you noticed how clear the skies are?
How there's not as much noise pollution from planes and cars? Have
you re-examined your priorities about your life? Or have you worried
about getting back to the old job, the old routine?
Cancer is the realm of the
Mother, the great mysterious force of creation. The Divine Feminine
wants to birth a new world for us – that's part of her purpose.
This is a time for our souls to awaken. The Great Mother wants to
calm our fears, feed our strengths and nurture our imagination of
what's possible. Let Her!
The Woman Clothed with the Sun
Of course, many people have
negative mother complexes – the 'I'm not good enough'
complex that keeps us from fulfilling our life's purpose. Our
initiation at this time is to learn to love ourselves with all our
imperfections. Just as the Great Mother of creation loves us.
During eclipse season,
especially with two lunar eclipses, things get amplified. So there
will be many mood shifts – Cancer can get moody and emotional. Like
the tides, emotions can shift and change from day to day. The lunar
eclipses are bringing up old wounds that have been repressed and
ignored. Now is the time to let them all go. That's the old story
that taught us about life. You don't need that story anymore.
This is something everyone is
experiencing. So don't pick on yourself. Confusion, conflicts and
sensitivity are up now. So try not to create conflict. Watch your
words. Stay centered and don't do anything impulsive for awhile.
This can be a time of great healing. Do it now because there is
still a lot of intense transformation coming this fall and you want
to be in top form for it.
That fear of being unloved is
Cancer's hard shell. Cancer crabs have to protect their soft and
juicy bellies. But with this eclipse, it's time to look at our
Shadows around the ideas of mother, home, family, security country
and Soul. It's time to learn to mother ourselves and each other, to
allow ourselves to be nurtured by the Great Goddess – Mother Earth,
Mary, Sekhmet, Aphrodite, Isis, Selene, etc.
Once we find that Cancerian
mother-love and self-love, we can tune into what Cancer's other
creative treasures mean in a new world. Mercury will be retrograding
in Cancer and will help us re-define what those treasures mean to us.
So let go of any past negative feelings about mother, family,
security, home and country, and look at them again with new eyes.
Mercury retrograde and the Sun
in Cancer are resonating with the Capricorn stellium of Saturn,
Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn square Eris in Aries. These energies
have been de-constructing our social order, getting rid of what no
longer serves life. Saturn retrogrades back into Capricorn on July
1st to finish up that deconstruction until it returns to
Aquarius on December 16th, 5 days before it joins Jupiter
on Winter Solstice. So trust that heaven's story is aligned with
Earth's realities and leave fear and doubt behind.
Cancer is so creative. It's the
kind of creativity that is useful and needed. It's the little things
that matter in life, like a well glazed bowl or colorful flower
bouquet. They're more necessary to a good life than a picture of a
Campbell soup can in a museum or a statue of a war hero. Be creative
now.
Earthship, Taos, NM
Home can be a place or it
can be a centeredness within yourself. There is a longing within each
of us for a home we can't remember but know in our hearts. Go to that
home. That goes for the issue of security too. It's time to
learn to feel the inner security that can never be taken away from
us. Family can mean your family of birth or it can be your
tribe which can include both family and friends as long as it is
loving and supportive. Your country and how you feel about it will
vary according to how well you think your leaders are taking care of
their responsibilities. But you can love your country enough to
stand up to change it by being a responsible citizen.
And your soul is what wants
to awaken within you and stretch its wings. Because Psyche/Soul is a
butterfly, an angel, a soaring phoenix who wants to fly free.
This New Moon Solar Eclipse on
Summer Solstice is a magical time and it is your chance to plant the
seeds of your soul's flight into the future.
While we've been using the
internet to connect, there's nothing like the real thing. The Gene
Key Code for this New Moon is 15 – work in small groups and 10 –
just BE. Sounds like a plan.
The Sabian symbol for the New
Moon Solar Eclipse at 1* Cancer is: On a ship the sailors lower
an old flag and raise a new one.
What better symbol than this to recognize that the old order is gone
and a new one is arising. A ship sails over a vast ocean of depth
and mystery. There is no solid ground, only a container for our
hopes and vision. So sail on! A new world awaits.
The
strongest aspect to this New Moon is Saturn retrograde in Aquarius,
which is exactly 150* away, forming an inconjunct. The question of
how we use our technology to connect is very front and center this
solar eclipse. Can we grow our tribe over the Internet and keep it
as real as when we're physically present? Probably not with
everyone, but it's certainly one way to get to meet people you
otherwise wouldn't meet.
The
Sabian symbol for Saturn retrograde at 1* Aquarius is: An
old adobe mission in California.
This image presents us with the idea of a spiritual, idealistic
combination of social forces that can change the world. Bringing the
ideal into 3D reality.
Saturn
inconjunct the New Moon indicates that we need to be responsible for
our tribe and make sure we're not excluding people who need us. While
not everyone is in our tribe, everyone deserves to have a tribe. We
need to grow up and recognize that others have the same needs as we
do. That's why it's so important that we speak and communicate
kindly, even when we speak our truth. We have to stop the bullying
and threatening that goes on when someone expresses their opinion –
patriarchal toxic masculinity on display. So we have to stop being
judgmental and accept people for where they're at. The only way to
change someone's mind is to change how you act or speak your truth so
well that they want to listen. That's what conversations are all
about – having different opinions that are listened to and met with
your own view of things. It's to help you sort through your beliefs
so you really know your truth.
Mars and Neptune in Pisces
squares this solar eclipse, challenging our ideals and our
determination to take care and protect those we love.
Other
Astrological Happenings
Right around this eclipse, we
have 3 planets stationing to reverse direction. Mercury goes
retrograde in Cancer on June 17th – 18th, the
solar eclipse occurs on June 20th – 21st,
Neptune goes retrograde on Tuesday, June 23rd, and Venus
turns direct on June 24th – 25th. And Mars
enters Aries on June 27th, where it will retrograde and
stay in Aries for 6 months rather than 6 weeks. This is the time for
us to learn courage and refuse to buy into the fear mongering of the
media.
Alchemical Hermes/Mercury
Mercury
goes retrograde on June 17th
at 15* Cancer, repeating its retrograde in another water sign. The
Sabian symbol for 15* Cancer is: In
a sumptuous dining hall, guests relax after partaking of a high
banquet. To
me this image suggests the Grail Castle – each guest gets what they
desire most. And isn't that what this solar eclipse is asking us to
decide? While Mercury retrogrades back through Cancer until July
12th,
ask yourself what you need for a plentiful life that includes other
people's needs and desires.
Venus Star Point Mandala
Venus turns direct on June 24th
at 6* Gemini. The Sabian symbol for 6* Gemini is: Workmen
drilling for oil.
What have we discovered during this Venus retrograde that can power
us through these transformative times? What values have we
discovered within ourselves? What kinds of conversations have we had
about what is happening in the world? Venus says, “Be
authentic and live from your deepest values.” But we have to value
ourselves first. We have to have self-worth. Venus in Gemini is
slowing down at the solar eclipse, bringing us into our hearts. In
her Morning Star phase, She confronts us with the questions, “What
do we want to create? What can we bring forth? What are we willing
to stand up for?”
Neptune turns retrograde on June
22nd - 23rd at 21* Pisces. The Sabian symbol
is: Under the watchful and kind eyes of a Chinese servant, a
girl fondles a little lamb.
There are too many ways we can interpret this image during the COVID
virus, so I'll leave it to you to think about.
This
is a time to remember who we are: that we are souls having a human
experience. Otherwise, the old dragon of unconsciousness will keep us
sleeping through the biggest evolutionary change humanity has gone
through.
The
world is full of paradox, most especially at times of collective
transformation. So stop using your intellect and dive down into your
imagination like a child would. Listen to the promptings of your
heart and put yourself in the sheltering arms of the Great Mother,
who births each new age.
Meet
the mystery of Life with courage and enthusiasm. You are Safe!
Bright Blessings for Summer
Solstice!
Cathy
Cutting
Loose
Sometimes
from sorrow, for no reason,
you sing. For no reason, you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing a world
where you go where you want to.
you sing. For no reason, you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing a world
where you go where you want to.
Arbitrary,
a sound comes, a reminder
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past trouble.
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past trouble.
Certain
twisted monsters
always bar the path -- but that's when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here on earth, again and again.
always bar the path -- but that's when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here on earth, again and again.
~
William Stafford ~
(The
Way It Is)
