The Cosmic Story: July and the Sign of Cancer, 2022

 

The Cosmic Story: July and the Sign of Cancer

 

With Summer Solstice just past, we’re already beginning to lose the light here in the northern hemisphere! While summer is just beginning for us, we’re entering the Yin phase of the year – with the declining light, we begin to shed what is no longer serving life.

The ancient Romans saw July as the Month to Savor what we have sown. It is a time when the fruits are ripening and ready to pick and enjoy. The abundance of our harvest refreshes us, but the cycle of the year is turning and we begin the slow decline of light and growth this month. The ancient Romans celebrated the death of Adonis in July, the young lover of Aphrodite, who is killed by a boar (the wild, primitive Mother). It was a time of gain and loss, but with the promise of rebirth to come. The women in both Greece and Rome would honor this god of growing and dying by planting red anemones which only last a few days, and by expressing their deepest feelings of grief as they mourned as a community and hoped for rebirth.

So July became a time to enjoy the abundance and beauty of life as well as acknowledging that after abundance comes decline and death.

The sign of Cancer

 

 Astrologically, the water sign of Cancer symbolizes the Divine Mother’s womb out of which we birth our conscious emotional body and our home ground. As the second cardinal sign which begins with Summer Solstice, this season symbolizes a new cycle of emotional security (Mark Jones) that is vested inside ourselves rather than in the outer world.

Cancer is concerned with our family of origin as a matrix for our individual growth as a soul. Did we receive the emotional nurturing we needed as children to feel emotionally secure in ourselves? Or are we still looking for that security outside ourselves and from others?

Since I have a Cancer Moon, I have a strong connection to mothering (being a singe mother of 4 kids + the whole neighborhood!) and have had to learn to be emotionally secure in myself, since I wanted to raise good, conscious adults. 

 With my grown children scattered all over the world, I resigned myself to the thought that I probably won’t have grandchildren living near me. But something magical happened this year. Pluto opposed my Cancer Moon all last year, with the third pass on Christmas Day. I was alone last Christmas for the first time in my life and I felt it was time to give up my desire to have my children around me. A month later one of my sons told me he and his brother were going to buy me a house, so they would all have a home to come back to visit. I’m moving into that home in mid-July. Sending deepest love and gratitude to Michael and Gregory!

While I always hoped I was doing a good job as a single mom, you never know for sure. I guess Mr. Pluto gave me the thumbs up! This is just a reminder that heavy energy like Pluto’s brings us the evolutionary rewards we have earned.

Due to my move, this will be the only newsletter I publish until the end of July.

Cancer Astrology:

The Cancer New Moon occurs on Tuesday, June 28^th at 7:52pm PDT/ 10:52pm EDT/ 3:52am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Cancer Sun & Moon at 8* Cancer is: A group of rabbits dressed in human clothes walk as if on parade. It seems that all life stretches to grow in consciousness, imitating those mentors who seem to already possess what we want to learn. The image itself speaks to having some fun while we’re doing it.

This Cancer New Moon squares Jupiter in Aries, challenging us to be brave and to figure out what we really desire. And then we have to find ways to nurture ourselves with it.

Another big energy at this New Moon is the ongoing Saturn in Aquarius square to both the lunar nodes and to Uranus in Taurus. We have to stretch beyond what we’ve accomplished and push for more growth. We have to leave our old communal stories behind and create a new story that is inclusive and sustainable.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade, as well as the equally stupid ruling on guns and religious schools, we are seeing the potential curbing of many of our civil rights here in the US. It is a call for all of us to engage in our government, which isn’t perfect but which we can make more perfect if we take our role as citizens seriously. We have to engage in our communities and bring our gifts and knowledge to them if we want change.

The other New Moon energy is Mars in Aries conjunct Eris, the warrioress who protects the truth of the heart. With the masculine doing energy of Mars, we can stand in our heart’s truth.

 

The Gene Key for this New Moon is #52: the shadow is stress (we can all relate to that!), the gift is restraint and the blessing is Stillness. Find that stillness within yourself and ask yourself: What do I desire most?

We are in the midst of a planetary transformation of human consciousness. Each one of us is important to that transformation. So do the work and find your center. Stay grounded in your body – we are here to embody spirit. That’s where you’ll find your emotional security. And if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it.

The Capricorn Full Moon occurs on Wednesday, July 13 at 11:38am PDT/ 2:38pm EDT/ 7:38pm GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 22* Cancer is: A young woman awaiting a sailboat. What are you longing for? Where is spirit sending you? What new experiences are you opening to?

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 22* Capricorn is: By accepting defeat gracefully, a general reveals nobility of character. I would hope that some of our world leaders would actually have this nobility of character. Defeat, just like ‘failure’ is only momentary. It’s what we do with it that matters.  Maybe it's time to get on that sailboat and explore new ideas, new places, new people. 

Moon over Cancer Waters

This Full Moon is engaging all the outer planets and a few inner ones.

The Capricorn Moon is conjunct Pluto, mirroring his ongoing disintegration and transformation of our society. The Cancer Sun is conjunct Mercury and Ceres, asking us to consider what makes for a better, more emotionally secure world. The Full Moon also squares Eris in Aries, continuing to fortify us with the bravery to stand up for our heart’s truth.

This Full Moon also has a beautiful connection to Neptune in Pisces, helping us encompass the whole world in our hearts. And it is in a mentally invigorating connection to Uranus in Taurus, opening us to Mother Nature’s evolutionary genius. 

 

The Gene Keys for this Full Moon are:

1. For the Capricorn Moon, #61 – the shadow is Psychosis (either disenchantment or fanaticism), the gift is Inspiration and the blessing is sanctity (entering the Unknown).

2. For the Cancer Sun, #62 – the shadow is intellect, the gift is precision, and the blessing is impeccability (a bow to don Juan!)

 

I’m reading Jane Goodall’s book, The Book of Hope: A survival guide for Trying Times. I’ve been told that listening to the audio book is even better, since Ms. Goodall narrates it. She tells countless stories about the good work people are doing to restore the environment. Nature is resilient and if we allow Nature to teach us how to do it, we can restore what we have sullied.

So stay hopeful, which mean get to work on what you hope will happen!

Both Saturn and Pluto are already retrograde and Neptune is about to join them on June 28^th. When planet go retrograde, they work on an inner level. So work on your dreams, play with your imagination and sort through the delusions that hold your mind captive.

Jupiter will go retrograde on July 28^th at the Leo New Moon. I’ll be writing about that in my next newsletter.

We certainly live in trying times, but we chose to incarnate now. This is what all the past years have brought us to – a clear and present danger that we have to face. Call on Eris, the warrioress who defends our hearts, to give you courage and strength. Do not fall into despair. You don’t have to do it alone. Find your tribe and work together to create a better world for us all.

Summer blessings,

Cathy

 

Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith

Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything --
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker --
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing --
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet --
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(West Wind)

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius Full Moon and Summer Solstice.

The Wheel of the Year

As we approach Summer Solstice here in the northern hemisphere, we are experiencing the full extent of sunlight for the year. Summer Solstice this year occurs on June 21^st, when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer.

As the Wheel of the Year turns, we are moving from the energies of Spring Equinox to the emerging energies of Summer Solstice. Let’s look back at what the cosmic energies of this Spring tell us.

The Aries New Moon was conjunct Mercury and Chiron, planting the seeds to reclaim our own Minds – to understand who we are – from the collective miasma (bad smell) of our corporate society. Then on April 12^th, the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in Pisces opened a connection to Spirit and the needs of both humanity and the Earth. The Libra Full Moon of balance and responsibility to Self and Other was squared by Pluto in Capricorn – challenging us to see what is happening in our world – the dis-information and delusions, the gender and wealth inequality, the dominator war in Ukraine, the move on the part of Republicans to take away our freedom and our votes, the worsening climate crisis, the murder of our children. The breakdown of our civil society.

Then began eclipse season with the North Node in Taurus and the South Node in Scorpio. Our cosmic instructions are to release old emotional trauma (Scorpio) and come back to the intelligence of our bodies. To stay in the present and Be Here Now. Taurus Solar Eclipse was conjunct Uranus, hopefully shaking us out of our complacency about the issues facing us personally, as a country and as a world. At the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse, also conjunct Uranus (opening us to Earth’s creative genius), we were offered a chance to release our old traumas and let go of our old stories.

With Saturn in Aquarius squaring the lunar nodes in Taurus (NN) and Scorpio (SN) at both eclipses, we are challenged to look at what’s going on in the world with objective eyes and arise to stand by our values and to speak our truths. What are we dedicated to? If we want to be the change we’ve been waiting for, we have to engage in our society in some way. First, we have to align ourselves with our inner truth so we bring a calming energy into play. Then we have to really understand that if we want to live in a democratic and free world, we have to engage in it to keep it viable. We can’t sit back and let ‘them’ take care of things. It is up to us to become good citizens and help renew our democracy.

 

 

Mercury went retrograde during May to return to those truths as it trined Pluto in Capricorn from Taurus three times – the third and final time on June 10^th, the day after the January 6^th committee broadcast. Mercury trine Pluto – revealing what is hidden so we can talk about it. The message, at least for Americans, is clear: since Pluto is in its first return in the U.S. chart, what is being revealed is the need to renew our government in ways that make sense to our modern age. Our task is to do it peacefully. It’s time to put down our guns and turn them into plowshares.

The Gemini New Moon was interesting because it didn’t make any aspects to other planets, so it offered us an opportunity to align with our pristine Minds so we could come to our own realizations about what we see going on in the world.

As the last energetic pulse before Summer Solstice starts a whole new season, the Super Moon Sagittarius/Gemini Full Moon on June 14^th offers us a chance to change our perspective and find our inner truth. Super Moons occur when the Moon is at its closest to the Earth, so its pull effects us more than usual.

Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon

This week’s Sagittarius Full Moon occurs on Tuesday, June 14^th at 4:51am PDT/ 7:51 am EDT/ 12:51pm GMT.

 

 

This late Spring Full Moon shows us how we use our Mind – both the logical mind and the intuitive mind. The truth is: What we believe shapes our vision of reality. And as we’ve seen in the past 7 years, ‘social reality’ is much harder to perceive than ever before. The initiation is to find our soul’s truth.

With the lunar nodes in Taurus and Scorpio, we have to deal with the trauma of living in environmental crisis. Despite everything that’s going on, the climate crisis is the most important crisis we face. It’s been over 60 years since we collectively became aware of what our consumer, war-like society has done to the Earth. We are at a tipping point and if the citizens of the world do not rise up and demand change, our children’s future is stark. 

 

 

This Gemini-Sagittarius Full Moon calls us to examine our beliefs and think of new ways to face the reason we’ve all incarnated. We are here to raise humanity’s consciousness and our initiation is to deal with our innate selfishness that won’t sacrifice (to make sacred) for the good of all. We have to shift our concerns from our individual welfare to our collective welfare. Our initiation is to know we are all one.

This Full Moon in Gemini-Sagittarius is all about the journey to our higher truth. How we use our ‘mind’ to shape our world determines how we’ll act in the world. If you stay focused on the darkness and chaos, you will see the world as a deeply dangerous place. If you stay too focused on the light, you can’t see the truth of the world. Our task is to see both light and dark in a balance.

With Neptune in Pisces squaring this Full Moon, we can get lost in more delusions and let petty tyrants rule our world. Or we can open our imaginations and find ways to dissolve old patterns of belief that no longer serve us individually and collectively, and re-imagine what we want to create.

Jupiter, the ruler of this Sagittarius Full Moon, is in Aries, ready to help us stand in our own power and beliefs. Mercury, the ruler of the Gemini Sun, just returned to his own sign of Gemini, with our mind refreshed and renewed. Mars in his own sign of Aries is conjunct Chiron, giving us the energy to become who we were born to be. 

 

Venus and Uranus have just met up in Taurus, urging us to embody ourselves; to use our senses, our instincts and intuition to show us what is real and then to use our minds to figure out what we need to do about it.   

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 24* Gemini is: Children skating over a frozen village pond. Dane Rudhyar says of this symbol: the use of inhibiting circumstances for the development of character and a transcendent approach to the environment. So instead of complaining about what’s going on, it’s up to us to develop this time to develop our character.

 

Mountain Bluebird

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 24* Sagittarius is: A bluebird perched on the gate of a cottage. Rudhyar states: the reward that meets every effort at integration into a social environment for those who remain true to their own selves. This is the ‘blue bird of happiness’ we’ve all heard about and it is a sign of good luck. What happens if we’re just ourselves?

As we understand what the Cosmic Story has been telling us, it is up to us to find ways to incarnate what we know into action. That’s what Summer Solstice is bringing our way.

Summer Solstice: June 21, 2022

Summer Solstice occurs on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 2:14am PDT/ 5:14am EDT/ 10:14am GMT.  This chart is set for Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

This year when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer, the Aries Moon is in a waning square to the Sun. The waning square indicates a ‘crisis in consciousness’ – a time of maturation and awareness of what you’ve already created and imagining what you want to create in the future .  It's a time to slow down and reflect and recharge.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 1* Cancer is: On a ship sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one. Rudhyar states: A radical change of allegiance exteriorized in a symbolic act: a point of no return.

As the Wheel of the Year turns at the Solstices and Equinoxes, we are energized to act.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 4* Aries is: Two lovers strolling on a secluded walk. Rudhyar states: in order to respond fully to the potentials released by a sense of identification with a greater Whole, human beings need to be whole ourselves. First we have to Be whole to create wholeness.

As you can see, we keep coming back to two issues: how do we unite our inner feminine and masculine energies (Yin & Yang) to become whole in ourselves, and then how do we act out of that wholeness for the good of the Whole?

As Cancer is the sign associated with Motherhood, we know that a mother will do anything to protect her child (as that mother in Uvalde did). Perhaps we need to stop supporting patriarchy and start working to make sure that all our people are safe and protected (Aries is the protector!).

This next season until Fall Equinox will be a time to think about our new allegiances. This is important because on the U.S.’s Election Day, November 8, 2022, there will be a total lunar eclipse in Scorpio involving wonderfully disruptive Uranus, and you know that means there will be dissension about those elections results. The only way to stop the take over of our democracy and change it is to engage in the system.  Transformation from within and without.

 

The inner chart is America's 4th of July natal chart.  The outer wheel are the progressions for November 8, 2022.  

 

 

On Election Day, we’ll see America’s 4^th of July progressed Moon almost on its natal degree in Aquarius once again. We the people (Moon symbolizes a nation’s people) are remembering our freedom. If we want it.

I hope the blessings of Summer Solstice will bring you joy and abundance just as they bring you the responsibility to grow your ‘garden’ well.

Cathy

 

 

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(American Primitive)