The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year: Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice -- Season of Abundance

 

Summer Solstice 2023

Once again, the Wheel of the Year turns. We are leaving the Spring Equinox/Beltane season behind and coming to a big turning point of Light – Summer Solstice/Lammas. Summer Solstice marks the highest point the Sun reaches in its northern journey. Summer Solstice occurs on June 21^st this year at 10:57 am EDT, when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer. The Sun will seem to ‘stand still’ and stop there for three days (Jung 21 - 23) before it seemingly moves again. That movement will be the first step of its journey South again. Now the North will slowly lose the light, while it will grow in the southern hemisphere where they are experiencing Winter Solstice.

We in the North are at the end of the Yang part of the year – the time and the energy of birth, action and growth. Now we’ll be entering the Yin part of the year at Summer Solstice/Lammas – a time of gathering in, of the harvest, of fulfillment and finally of death.

But for the next three months, before the light fades in Autumn, we are invited into the Garden of Delight – High Summer in the North. In summer, Nature is fully blooming, the heat is hopefully enjoyable, or at least tolerable, and food and gatherings are more abundant. There’s a freedom to summer, the need to be out and about. This is the season of the marriage of Heaven and Earth, when the Earth becomes once again the Garden it was meant to be.

This season starts with Cardinal Water, concentrates in Fix Fire and manifests in Mutable Earth. Cancer asks: What do you need to stay true to your soul’s life? Leo asks: Are you living it deeply, passionately, creatively? Virgo asks: Are you reflecting on what you’ve done and made some plans so your harvest will manifest?

We’re constantly creating new threads in the weaving of our lives. What have you birthed this year? Which threads are you pulling on? 

 

 

I’ve gone back to re-edit and publish a book on Aphrodite/Venus. Because of the renewed interest in the cycles of the planet Venus, I want to share a more in-depth mythological/psychological study of the archetypal energy of connection and attraction. We experience the movement of this planet by observing it in the heavens and feeling it in our body and imagination. To know the ancient stories and symbolic meanings that embody the energies of this planet can only enhance our experience of it.

Doing this re-edit has also made me consider that some of my other writings might need a re-working. Since it’s work I’ve already done in one form or another, I won’t be starting at the beginning. That will leave me plenty of time for loving my new granddaughter!

Summer Solstice: June 21, 2023

The Sun enters the tropical sign of Cancer and begins the season of Summer Solstice on June 21, 2023 at 7:58am PDT/10:58am EDT/3:58pm GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Summer Solstice Sun at 1* Cancer is: On a ship, the sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one. On psychological level, this symbol describes what Dane Rudhyar says is a re-orientation. Of course on a physical level, it describes the shift in the Sun’s path. But on a societal level, it speaks to a needed change, one where we live in harmony with nature and each other-- which is what we modern people do in the summer. But now, it means more than that. There are dire warnings about the changes Mother Earth is going through – warmer oceans, melting ice caps, higher CO₂ levels, stronger storms, polluted waters. We need a new society that understands the realities of modern life – the good and the bad – and is determined to use our resources to heal Earth’s environmental damage as humans once again learn to live in harmony with Her. A society that values Life over Death.

The Cancer Sun’s aspect to Venus in Leo is a 45* semi-square. This aspect shows us where we’re stuck and asks us to stop stubbornly holding onto old desires so we can change our habits, not only for ourselves but for everyone. Most of those desires are for things that our media has convinced us we need to buy to make ourselves happy. In reality, with Venus ending her Evening Star phase, we need to discover new, lasting desires that have nothing to do with buying things to make ourselves feel good. This wisdom aspect of Venus’ journey wants us to listen to our hearts to discover what we value. That is what will make us whole. That is what will make us feel good.

The Solstice Sun forms an inconjunct to Pluto retrograde 29*+ Capricorn, which can help with those necessary personal and societal changes that will truly nurture us. Or it can make us obsess over the need to control things out of fear. Once again, the choice is ours to either accept necessary changes or fight them. Real security (a Cancer need) can only come from within.

If ever there there was a time for a new vision for our future, it’s now. The old order is falling apart. It can’t be sustained. Pluto is backing into Capricorn to revisit America’s Pluto degree and complete the demolition of our cultural institutions that begin in 2009. Pluto will be in Capricorn from June 11^th, 2023 until it goes back into Aquarius on January 21^st, 2024, the day after the Sun enters Aquarius. Next year we’ll be entering Aquarius season with the power of Pluto to begin a new evolution.

But until then, we’re still dealing with the power struggle between the old world run by the wealthy elite and the new world of greater equality and freedom. At the moment, instead of dealing with the major crisis of our time – climate change – the old order has reverted to war and domination to try to retain power. Using old behaviors that are set on destruction rather than life. When will we learn that it’s up to us to get our governments to listen to us, rather than to the military-industrial complex?

This year the old structures are lashing out as they begin to crumble. With Pluto’s entry into Aquarius for the past two months, we witnessed the first stages of the fight between discrimination and equality, a very Aquarian project. Look at all the laws being passed by Republicans to deny equal voting rights and abortions, negating LGBTIQ rights as well as environmental laws, and making Christianity-based decisions about our collective life. Now that Pluto has gone back into Capricorn for the next six months, stand back and watch the old regime crumble from within. We are seeing the Christian evangelists vision of The End Times: their need to make society into a good, moral Christian world so Jesus can return to renew it.

Pluto’s retrograde back into Capricorn will test the integrity of our democratic system, especially through Trump’s trial. It will radicalize some of his followers, but if we truly do live under The Rule of Law that we’re all bound to obey, then this test will be the finishing touch of America’s Pluto return. Will our foundation hold steady and true? If so, we will renew our laws to make them more equitable and just, not only to all people but also to the Earth and her resources. What must we shed from the past and our mistakes – our attachment to wealth entitlement/royalty from the defeated British – and what must we save – our belief in living in a world where we have to take responsibility for ourselves and each other. Living as a citizen of a democracy.

Hopefully, we’ll pass the test.

And that will open us up to new ideas, new behaviors, new understandings of what faces us, and calls on us to make a choice about our future. Will we demand action on the important issues? Or will we let manufactured and harmful opposing moral beliefs divert us? 

Venus, Mars & the Moon 

This Cancer Sun is ruled by the Moon, which is a Leo Moon squaring Jupiter conjunct the North Node in Taurus. Jupiter by itself can make any Moon need expand and get excessive. But together, Jupiter and the North Node are aligned with our earthy, sensual nature and can give our Leo Moon, which wants what she wants, an energetic charge to make those changes or relapse back into old habits. As you can see, this a moment of change for all of us. While we relax into summer and all the delights it brings us, we are also charged to change those behaviors that don’t align with our beliefs. It’s time to live up to our ideals.

The Leo Moon is also inconjunct Saturn retrograde in Pisces. Saturn turned retrograde on June 17^th at 8* Pisces, and it turns direct at 1* Pisces on November 4^th. The Sabian symbol for 8* Pisces is: A girl blowing a bugle. Dane Rudhyar says this is “a call to participation in the service of humanity, as an evolutionary crisis approaches”.

Saturn in Pisces places the center of gravity – our collective root chakra – in the realm of the collective unconscious. Jupiter sextiles Saturn, meaning they work together to provide opportunities for us to work things out. If Saturn is the root chakra, Jupiter is a crown chakra portal, for it expands our consciousness to other realms. When they work together, they open us more easily to these other dimensions. Neptune is also in Pisces, bringing us the gift of illumination ("to throw into light, make bright, light up;") or of illusion ("act of deception; deceptive appearance, apparition; delusion of the mind,").

There are multiple dimensions of reality. It’s the one we settle on that’s going to decide if we choose delusion or a new reality. There is an evolutionary crisis facing us. How will we face it?

We might see more religious/political fanaticism in the world; we can also see more true spiritual insight open people’s eyes to our world’s needs. While the clash between the old and the new is playing out around the world, the United States is ground zero in many ways – perhaps because we are experiencing our Pluto return.

This aspect between the Moon and Saturn retrograde asks us to accept responsibility for our lives and to develop some emotional maturity. It’s time to grow up! Saturn in Pisces is taking us on a deep dive into the collective unconscious, opening our reality to the deep wounds in our collective psyche. Isn’t it time to heal our collective trauma and get on with creating a more healthy, united world? Instead of wallowing in our old trauma, we can embrace the lessons we’ve learned and move on to our grown-up responsibilities to our community and the world.

At Summer Solstice, both Mars and Venus are in Leo being squared by Uranus in Taurus, challenging us to let go of our pride and self-centeredness and wake up to a bigger point of view – the Earth’s point of view and her creative genius. Leo’s energy is a conduit between heaven and earth – our personal creative genius. The Pluto in Leo generation is especially called upon to grow up and show some wisdom. We have to respond to the world around us. We can keep buying things we don’t need to feed our weak sense of self or we can begin to create out of our higher Self.

With the Moon, Venus, Mars, Pallas and Black Moon Lilith in Leo, we have access to a very creative force this summer, especially since Venus goes retrograde in Leo on July 22^nd.

The signs are all here. We have to step forward and engage in the world if we want to create a better world. We can stop supporting the corporations who continue to pollute our world. We can stop supporting politicians who are much more concerned with corporate profits than with feeding the hungry and helping children and elders.

Of course, it’s time to take action as citizens, instead of wasting our energy on being the consumers they’re turned us into. Don’t forget that after 9/11, George Bush told us that our response needed to be – to buy more things! To become even more entrenched in a consumer society. Instead of asking us to become engaged citizens.

If we really want a different society, we can only make it happen by engaging in those issues that are important to us. We the people vastly outnumber the wealthy elite, who aren’t so different from the British monarchy that the American Revolution fought against. We are living in revolutionary times, but unlike those people who stormed the Capital on January6^th in a push for more patriarchal domination, we have to create a peaceful transition to a new world. This is where women can lead the way.

The good news is that after the wrecking ball comes renovation. It’s a good time to begin envisioning who we want to be as a person and as a nation in the future. With the Solstice’s Leo Moon just barely visible in the evening sky, along with Venus and Mars, let your visions be creative, loving, life-giving and beautiful. Why not?

Cosmic wisdom says we needed chaos to destroy the old regime of patriarchal power – which is still here and thriving. But as these old structures fall from grace, we’re going to re-define and refine the foundations of what the Founding Fathers left us.

One thing needs to change. We need our Founding Mothers as well – that Cancer mothering and nurturing energy that promotes life. Ben Franklin should have enshrined a Council of Grandmothers in the Constitution, just as the Iroquois Confederacy had in place. He embraced everything else about the confederacy of Indian nations, except the Council of Grandmothers, who made the important decisions for the tribes. We need some wise women for the job – maybe instead of the Supreme Court.

Venus in Leo: June 6^th to October 8^th

The Summer Solstice season will be infused with big magic from Venus’ long stay and retrograde in Leo, which is the big news of this season of the Wheel.

Venus is going to be in Leo from June 6^th to October 8^th, rather than her usual 3-4 weeks, while she retrogrades through Leo and goes from being an Evening Star to a Morning Star. On the way, Venus kisses/conjuncts the Sun on August 13^th while retrograde at 20*28’ Leo. She then starts a new Venus Star Point as her Evening Star phase ends and she soon appears as a Morning Star. 

 

With Leo’s energies filtered through Venus’ power of connection and attraction, we will have many opportunities to do what we love, create beauty and harmony, shine out our own beauty, connect with our tribe and create something amazing. The work for this summer can be to find contentment and joy, and express gratitude – and to play! Venus in Leo is dramatic and playful, generous and expressive. If you channel her energy into your relationships, your surroundings, your self-worth and your artistry, you will find that contentment and joy. For Aphrodite/Venus entices us to live life fully. And that’s the energy of Summer Solstice season. The Marriage of Heaven and Earth. The season of Love and Light and Abundance.

The second half of Summer Solstice season is the cross-quarter holiday of Lammas, the first harvest. I’ll save more information about Venus’ retrograde and the start of her new Venus Morning Star Point on August 13^th until that newsletter at the end of July.

Isis and Osiris: The Divine Couple

Since Summer Solstice is considered the Sacred Marriage of Heaven and Earth, I thought about which Goddess energy was a good mentor for this season. Obviously, a goddess who has a divine partner. And so let’s look at Isis, Mother Goddess, Lady of Magic and Divine Partner.

 

Isis and Osiris

In Egypt, Isis was called Au Set. She is identified with the star Sirius, whose rising before dawn in mid-June heralded the rising of the Nile, the source of Egyptian life.

The story of Isis and Osiris begins for us (although you can go back further to the beginning of creation) with the sun god Ra, who got so inflated with his power that he refused to let any more gods be born of his mother Nut, the Sky Goddess. Separated from her husband, Geb, the Earth, she was in labor for millennia with five children, until the moon god Thoth, whom Nut created with Ra, gambled with his brother Ra and won from him five days, in which the five gods in Nut’s womb would be born. (See The Passion of Isis and Osiris by Jean Houston)

 

Sky Goddess Nut

Osiris was first-born, then came Horus and Seth, and finally Isis and Nephthys. While Isis and Osiris were married, both lovers and partners, Seth and Nephthys, while also married, were often at odds, since Seth was jealous and so angry. Horus flew in his hawk form from one end of the Earth to the other, observing the beauty and laws of the Earth.

Isis and her husband Osiris were given the land of Kemet or Egypt to rule. They taught the people to till the soil and plant seeds and to harvest the grains, and taught them to gather together animals into herds to be domesticated. Isis taught the women to weave baskets of reeds to gather in the harvest, to grind flour and bake bread. She also taught them to harvest cotton, to spin and to weave cloth and to plait hair. She taught them how to press flowers for fragrant oils, to crush malachite into a fine green powder to go with the kohl that made their eyes beautiful. Isis made the sistrum and rattled gourds to set women’s feet dancing, their bodies swaying and their hearts beating; she taught them chants and prayers to offer to the gods.

Isis gave women the knowledge of counting to understand the cycle of the Moon as well as their own menstrual cycle. She also taught them the names of the stars. She gave people medicines for healing most ailments, the herbs for and knowledge of childbirth, and the making of protective amulets.

Osiris, meanwhile, showed people how to harness the cows to pull the plows that created furrows for the seeds. He showed them how to stomp grapes into wine and how to brew barley into beer. At night, he taught the people the music of his Mother, Nut, the Sky, with reed pipes and drums and the lyre.

Together, Isis and Osiris taught their people the gifts of civilization. They often traveled up and down the Nile, bringing the gift of abundance to their people and teaching them the holy, peaceful ways of community and the divine. They gave them the gifts of Ma’at, the gift of truth and justice. They were the Divine King and Queen of Heaven and Earth.

 

Susan Seddon Boulet ~ Isis and Osiris
 

While their love story has many twists and turns, for Osiris is murdered by his brother Seth and becomes Lord of the Underworld, Isis remains on Earth, to guide us in the magic of being a woman. She is the Goddess of Life, and through her union with Osiris, the Queen of the Dead. She is a mistress of Magic, especially the magic of the Word. Which makes it more disgusting that we called a group of terrorist men Isis, stealing her powers by invalidating her name. A typical patriarch ploy.

Here are a few of her titles, which tell us about her powers. She is called:

Mistress of the Cosmos, Ruler of the House of Life, Almighty Lady of Wisdom, Establisher of Justice, Champion of Righteous Law, Giver of the Gift of Abundance, Inventor of Agriculture, Inventor of the Loom, Source of Healing Herbs, Owner of the Throne, Magistra of Fate, Restorer of Life.

With so many gifts to share with us, Isis is a wonderful mentor to guide us this Summer Solstice Season. Jean Houston’s The Passion of Isis and Osiris, Merlin Stone’s Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, and Normandi Ellis’ books on the Egyptian gods will give you more information to play with.

Enough for now. Despite the issues facing us, we have our Earth Mother’s support to live fully this summer. The more we see Her beauty and feel her delight in life, the easier it will be for us to sacrifice (to make sacred) our unhealthy, unsustainable lifestyle. Once we commit to a simpler life, we’ll find joy and contentment.

May you have a blessed Summer Solstice season.

Cathy

What We Want

What we want
is never simple.
We move among the things
we thought we wanted:
a face, a room, an open book
and these things bear our names--
now they want us.
But what we want appears
in dreams, wearing disguises.
We fall past,
holding out our arms
and in the morning
our arms ache.
We don't remember the dream,
but the dream remembers us.
It is there all day
as an animal is there
under the table,
as the stars are there
even in full sun.

~ Linda Pastan ~

(Carnival Evening)

The Cosmic Story: Beltane and the Taurus/Scorpio Lunar Eclipse 2023

 

The Wheel of the Year: Beltane

The Spring winds are still blowing swift and cool, but the Sun is warming the air, rain is falling, coaxing the forsythia, daffodils, tulips and azaleas to blossom. The trees are already unfurling their green leaves or opening up their blossoms.

The Wheel of the Year has moved six-weeks further into the New Year, grounding in the season of Spring. The Spring Equinox winds have given way to Beltane’s beauty.

Beltane arrives in the middle of Taurus, officially on May1^st but astrologically when the Sun hits 15* Taurus, which is on May 5^th this year. May 5^th is also the Scorpio Full Moon lunar eclipse, which occurs a few minutes before the Sun hits 15*. So like the first Aries New Moon which occurred the day after Spring Equinox, we have a major alignment of the new season with the lunar cycle, and an eclipsed lunar cycle at that.

This all points to major shifts and changes during this flowering Beltane season. Since Beltane ushers in a season of growing warmth, color, light, fragrance, beauty and sensual energy, don’t fight it! Let your body feel the energies rising, and listen to what it tells you about life. That’s what Beltane’s gift to us is. To experience the pure beauty of life, whether in a flower or a child, in a beloved animal companion or a friend or lover.

It’s time to experience the enchantment of life as Nature comes awake again, because this is the energy that will fuel us through the rest of the year. Aphrodite, who is the goddess to call on this Beltane season (May 5 – June 21), is the enchantment that radiates from things and beings and enraptures the senses with its smile. This is the way to experience the beauty and charm of this season of Beltane: a time of flowering and extraordinary growth as Nature slowly unfurls herself, trailing beauty wherever she goes.

 

 

Beltane is a magical time, when the veils between the worlds are thin (as they are at the opposite gateway of Samhain), and the powers of life return to us (for more on Beltane). The more open you are, in your body, your mind, your heart and your imagination, the more you will gain from this bountiful season. When we align ourselves to Earth’s biosphere, we align with her energy and her purpose. Right now, as Spring is grounded in, her energies of life and growth and passion are strong and growing. And they are available to us – if we attune to them.

Beltane occurs while the Sun rises through the signs of Taurus and Gemini. Fixed sign Taurus is the time of embodiment. Mother Earth takes the fiery life energy of Aries’ Sun and uses it to create Nature’s bounty. In a slow, sensuous dance, Sun in Taurus adorns Mother Earth in beauty, warmth and fragrance, grounding in life. When the light grows as the Sun rises even higher North in the sign of Gemini, the rhythm of life quickens and life spreads out and thickens. Vines grow longer, fruits start to emerge, flowers blossom in profusion. People and animals go out into the light and mingle. The light urges us to connect and communicate, to explore and to be curious.

Gemini is a mutable sign, a liminal time of transition between the season of Spring Equinox and the season of Summer Solstice. By the end of this Beltane season, we will have come halfway around the Wheel of the Year, from the birth of the Light at Winter Solstice, to the full Moon fullness of that Light at Summer Solstice.

While our world seems to be in crisis, (out of chaos a new form arises) the best thing each of us can do is learn to take care of ourselves, so we can help others in the future. A good way to do this is to learn to ‘know yourself’ (journaling, therapy, astrology, meditating) and then to attune to Mother Earth and her seasons. When we ground into the cycles of nature, we learn to understand how to live in balance with nature and ourselves.

So stay true to the season (although down in the southern hemisphere, you’re celebrating the Dark and Samhain), and celebrate life. Life returning in beauty and freshness.

Aphrodite, Goddess of Beltane

Aphrodite the earth-born Kore is also sea born, as becomes an island Queen, but more than any other goddess she becomes Ourania, the Heavenly One. . . She is the only goddess who in passing to the upper air yet kept life and reality. . . .As man advanced in knowledge and in control over nature, the mystery and the godhead of things natural faded into science. Only the mystery of life, and love that begets life, remained, intimately realized and utterly unexplained; hence Aphrodite keeps her godhead to the end.

I’ve been working on my book on Aphrodite, the Solar Feminine goddess who initiates our souls to help us discover what we love and are here to create. So I’m excited to share some of what I’ve learned about this ancient and powerful Goddess. And why Aphrodite is the Goddess to call on to guide us through this beautiful season of embodiment and growth.

In earlier Athenian myths, Aphrodite was called Aphrodite Urania, the eldest of the Fates. This is the heavenly Aphrodite, the one who speaks to us about the Cosmos, daughter of Uranus, the god of Cosmic Laws. In most ancient cultures, there is a trinity of goddesses who control our individual fate – the Spinner, the Alloter and the Unturnable/Death. Our modern culture tries to forget that we all have a Fate, but we’re beginning to remember that we all have something unique to add to life, perhaps laid out in our natal birth charts.

 

 

If Aphrodite is an older version of this archetype of Fate, then love must be an intrical part of working out our fates here on Earth. For Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love, of Connection and of our body’s Wisdom. These are the tools of Fate - that we find ourselves through love, through our connections to people and animals, and most especially through our inner Wisdom. If Free Will also asks us to accept our Fate – to meet what comes to us in the best possible way, rather than rejecting what comes-- then honoring Aphrodite and her gifts might make that acceptance sweeter and easier to deal with. Love and beauty, truth and great sex can do that!

Aphrodite of the Greeks, Venus of the Romans, is one of the most vibrant archetypal images of the Goddess that has come down to us from antiquity; the aspect of the ancient Goddess that was never totally forgotten, the form of the Goddess written about and romanticized down through the ages until She truly embodied 'the mystery of life, and love that ‘begets life'.

Aphrodite is the Goddess who combines the spiritual and natural worlds, spirit and body. She does this through Her essence. She embodies the energy of connection, for She brings everything into relationship, from electrons to people. As Goddess of Beauty, she connects us to Truth, which is the ultimate reality because Beauty is the true reality of a person or thing. She is the Goddess of Love, love that is rooted in the body and which is playful, sensual, and erotic. As Goddess of Sexuality, she engenders all physically passionate love: non-marital and marital, heterosexual and homosexual. As Goddess of Wholeness, she drives our individuation and awakens Psyche within us.

She is Aphrodite Ourania, Queen of Heaven, who was in the Beginning and who created all the worlds. She is that spiritual Love we call compassion, the love which unites us in our humanity and makes us all One. She is the Wisdom that teaches us greater consciousness, in her role as Soul/Psyche’s initiator. Her energies fill us with longing to connect with ourselves, with others, and to create Life!

What makes Aphrodite fascinating is that she is liminal. Liminal means pertaining to a threshold, a boundary. What this means is that Aphrodite bridges physical reality and metaphysical belief. She opens us to our imaginations and our inner visions and then generates the passion to manifest our intentions.

Aphrodite is also the flower maiden, for her sacred space is a garden, where we work with nature to create beauty, pleasure and peace. Aphrodite brings together the wild and the tame to open us to the wonders of life, just as she unites people and animals in the pleasures of sexual union.

Starhawk wrote that Beltane is a time when ‘sweet desire weds wild delight’. This is Aphrodite’s gift to us as Spring deepens and blossoms. While Spring is a time of youth and innocence, each year we can become young again if we let ourselves merge with these energies. We just have to take Aphrodite’s bath and renew our virginity, our wholeness and our bliss. So let Aphrodite guide you for the next six weeks. Take delight in the sights, sounds and smells of Mother Earth renewing life and let your own body be renewed.

Friday is Aphrodite/Venus’ day. Take time to delight in life each week!

Natalie Merchant has just written a song about Aphrodite where she calls on her for help.  This is another aspect of Aphrodite -- she helps those of us who ask!

The Astrology of Beltane’s Season: May-June 2023

Taurus is the fixed Earth sign of the zodiac. It roots in the new energies of the year. It is the sign of embodiment and when the Sun moves through Taurus (here in the northern hemisphere) our senses wake up after a long winter’s sleep. This is the time to give form to, nurture and develop the vision that has been percolating within us since Imbolc (February 2).

As our senses awaken, we look at the pleasures that life affords us. Massages, delicious foods, fragrances, beautiful fabrics and art fill us with possibilities of enjoyment. Think of the Tarot card of The Empress – she who fills the land with abundance and beauty. This is the power of Taurus – to build, to shape, to make the Garden. This leads to Taurus also ruling over material resources, wealth, security and contentment. 

 

We just had a solar eclipse on April 20^th at 29* Aries, a critical degree of completion, linked to the Taurus North Node. This second Aries New Moon shifted the lunar cycle so that for the next 18 months or so, the Full Moon in a sign will come before the New Moon. This shift gives us a different perspective on our lives, crossing from one sign to the next within a cycle.

That solar eclipse was squared by Pluto at 1* Aquarius, pushing us to evolve our relationship to Earth and each other. Here in the US, if corporations can be protected under the law as ‘individuals’, Mother Earth should also get that right as She already has in other countries.

We’ll be feeling this solar eclipse energy for the next year as Pluto moves back and forth between Capricorn and Aquarius, hitting 29* Capricorn squaring the 29* Aries Solar Eclipse. What new energies do you want to cultivate since Aries is the sign of new beginnings. If you have planets at the end of a cardinal sign or the beginning of a fixed sign, you’ll be dealing with power – either your own or others.

Speaking of Pluto. Pluto turns retrograde on May 1^st our official Beltane, and will back up into Capricorn again on June 11^th to continue to deconstruct the old framework of our world’s governing structures since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008. We now have a bookend for its time in Capricorn – another bank failure. Let’s see if it’s dealt with differently. Hopefully, things are changing. Look at old patterns that you take for granted and know that by 2024, things will probably look different. Change is evolution, and that’s what Pluto brings us.

2023-2024 are transition years as Pluto returns to Aquarius on January 24, 2024 until September 2, 2024, when it will return for its last look at Capricorn (during the U.S. presidential election) before heading into Aquarius for good on November 20, 2024 until January 20, 2044. Hopefully, Pluto in Aquarius will unite us as we deal with the most important issues our world faces – climate change, freedom and equality and peace.

Taurus-Scorpio Lunar Eclipse, May 5, 2023

 

 

This Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio/Taurus is a South Node Eclipse, so watch for things in your life to come to a completion. All Full Moons are about a culmination, but with the South Node in Scorpio, this is about shedding old skins, letting go of a past cycle and moving on from past traumas. Understand what the trauma was about, and work to heal it now. Look for old secrets, deep wounds, compulsive patterns. What habits and patterns do you need to move away from? 

 

 

This Lunar Eclipse is especially potent as it occurs on the power gate of 15* Taurus, Solar Beltane, with the Sun conjunct Uranus, the planet of change and awakening. When we let go of something, we need to fill that empty space with something new or else the old patterns creep back in. To help you fill in the blanks, go out into Nature and feel your body. Work to release any toxins your body is dealing with. Clean out and give your body a break. Awaken to your senses and connect to Mother Earth’s energies. Uranus in Taurus opens us to revelations about our embodiment, so let this energy help create new patterns and behaviors. Also, expect the unexpected, especially if this Lunar Eclipse aspects any of your natal planets. It’s hitting my Sun/Venus conjunction in Taurus, and I’m paying attention!

This is also the Buddha Full Moon, Vesak, when the Buddha was born, achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and later died. The fact that this Full Moon engages the energies of both groundedness and transformation tells us a lot about how we can be spiritual beings having a human experience. What the Buddha taught us is that our culture and all its trappings are just that. Traps that do not nourish our soul’s essence. Once we can step away from all those made-up desires that our culture offers us, we can find our own wholeness. 

 

Mercury went retrograde on April 21 at this same 15* Taurus and will conjunct the Sun on May 1^st, so our mind knows that it’s time to listen to our body as well as listen to the Earth. Taurus is the sign of our foundation, our grounding. As the old world collapses, it’s a great time to take back our authority. At the Lunar Eclipse, Mercury conjuncts the asteroid Vesta, our inner priestess who guards our fire, our energy and our creativity. Taurus rules money and resources, so think about money and finances and how these issues might change for you. Put some cash aside. Find new ways to deal with the details of life before we head into the summer. This Mercury retrograde has been all about the details. Mercury turns direct on May 14^th at 6* Taurus.

Jupiter at 25* Aries just conjuncted Eris on April 23^rd, the dwarf planet who is the warrior of the heart. It’s time to fight injustice and not be afraid to follow your heart. Jupiter will be finishing up its time in Aries and will go into Taurus on May 16 for a year – going retrograde at this same 15* Taurus of solar Beltane and the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse on September 4^th. So Taurus will be highlighted for the year, and since Jupiter expands whatever it touches, we’ll be dealing with issues of beauty, nature, money and resources.

Jupiter in Aries squares Mars in Cancer at this lunar eclipse. Mars is the ruling planet of this Scorpio Lunar Eclipse (along with Pluto) as well as Aries, so where have you neglected to take care of your body, your family, your sources of nourishment for body, mind and Spirit? Jupiter expands things, so watch out for Mars anger, especially around family and self-care issues. Cancer is the sign of our soul, what makes us uniquely ourselves. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself now.

Venus, the ruler of Taurus, is in the last few degrees of Gemini, opposite the Galactic Center. It also squares Neptune in Pisces, opening us to other dimensions of reality. What do you need to communicate and to whom? What are you listening to? What is your truth? What do you really love? Venus, like her sister Aphrodite, rules beauty, love, money, the Arts and our inner Wisdom. In Gemini, she likes to talk and explore and satisfy her curiosity. See who and what you link up with in the next week.

Venus leaves Gemini for Cancer on May 7^th, where she’ll stay until June 5^th, when she enters Leo. She is an Evening Star now, but once she enters Leo, she will quickly descend in the evening sky and disappear for 15-23 days in the glare of the Sun before she re-emerges as a Morning Star. Venus goes retrograde on July 22, 2023 at 28* Leo and will turn direct at 13* Leo on September 3^rd and will finally leave Leo on October 8^th. As you can see, Venus retrograde lets Venus linger in Leo for four months, where she’ll spark your creativity and sense of play.

Venus in Leo is warmhearted, generous and playful and just wants to express herself in many ways. Girls just want to have fun! She is the Queen and enjoys her pleasures and her power. This is the time to honor our solar Feminine nature. More on this in my Summer Solstice newsletter.

There’s a Taurus New Moon on May 19^th at 28*25’ just a few days before the Sun enters Gemini on May 21^st. Gemini is a mutable sign, a transitional time between late Spring and early Summer. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, which will move out of Taurus and into Gemini on June 11^th, just an hour after Pluto moves back into Capricorn, forming a trine with the planet of evolution. Can you see a pattern here? It’s time to change how we think about our lives and our world. As the early feminists found out, the personal is political. If we want a better world, we have to step up, speak out and do something about it. Once you know what is important to you, you will want to make sure that those governing us don’t take away our rights.

Saturn turns retrograde at 8* Pisces on June 17^th until November 4^th. It’s a great time to ground in your spiritual practices this summer.

This is a time to relax and enjoy life. Even in the midst of chaos. Ground into yourself with breath-work, meditation, some form of qi gong or yoga. Relax and enjoy the Garden!

Blessed Be!

Cathy

In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again

Navajo Blessing Way