The Cosmic Story: Summer Solstice & Cancer New Moon 2017
Sacred Marriage
The Sun goes into the sign of Cancer at the Summer Solstice, the
longest day of the year, on the night of June 20th--June 21st.
And this year, the Cancer New Moon occurs on the third day when the
‘Sun stands still’ at the Solstice before it turns back South.
So this Cancer New Moon is supercharged with the blessings of the
Summer Solstice, the Marriage of Heaven and Earth.
Summer Solstice, when life is abundant with heaven’s blessings, is
also a time to come home to yourself so that Sacred Marriage can
happen within you as well as out in the world. This is the season to
find your inner Beloved and marry that energy to your consciousness.
You will birth something awesome this next year if you do.
Summer Solstice chart 2017
This year’s Solstice chart has the Sun in Cancer and it’s ruler,
the Moon, in Taurus, the sign of its exaltation. That means the Moon
is very happy in Taurus where it can ground in its nurturing power to
make things grow. The Moon is conjunct Taurus’ ruler, Venus, and
receives a power boost from Pluto in Capricorn as well as a little
magic from Neptune in Pisces. I would say this Solstice chart
invites us to manifest our deepest dreams with love, intelligence and
grace, both for yourself and for the world. We have to birth a new
society that will bring our deepest ideals into reality. We do that
by living those ideals. The American Revolution is in its second
phase: the future is calling our names.
Summer Solstice has always been a time of joyous celebrations, for
the Light is bright, the Earth is fruitful and life’s pleasures are
appreciated, because we know that soon the Dark will Rise, for the
Dark is as important to life as Light. Unfortunately our society no
longer honors the Dark for its true gifts of inner vision,
possibilities and silence; rather we misunderstand it and twist it
into our cruelty to life, our fear of death and our unconsciousness.
So at this great festival of Light – embrace the kernel of darkness
within you, the seed of future possibilities, without fear. Change
is the only constant.
We honor the Great Mother of Life as the Sun rises high in the North,
just as we honor Grandfather Spirit when the Sun travels to the
deepest South. (Happy Winter Solstice to everyone down there!)
Cancer the Mother symbolizes the primordial waters/womb that give
birth to all life. As Above, So Below. Cancer also
symbolizes our emotional bodies, just as our particular Moon (ruler
of Cancer) shapes our unique emotional body. The emotional body
processes the emotional energies that activate and carry us through
life, reflecting how we experience life. Do we embrace life to the
fullest, or try to hold back and control it? Do we meet life as an
adventure or as a responsibility? Do we love to sink into a
depression and stay there or do we let the river of our emotions flow
unimpeded so when we get pulled under by depression, we pop right
back up and take a breath and see what else life has to offer? An
Aries Moon will process her emotional life differently than a Cancer
or Virgo Moon. Their emotional wounds will be different.
This month as the Sun travels through Cancer, most of us will turn
our attention to home, family, nurturing, beach, relaxation –
whatever says mother love and nurturing to you. It’s a
season of self-care and abundance, so don’t miss this opportunity
to pamper yourself in all the right ways. Excess is sloppy and not
really nurturing. Unwind and get centered.
A few hours after the Sun enters Cancer, Mercury, who just raced
through Gemini after trudging through Taurus, leaps into the arms of
Mother Cancer and then dances with the Sun in the early morning.
When I was a kid, early summer mornings were the best – soft
breezes blowing through open windows, bright light filling the room
and best of all, no school! In that relaxed, happy moment, I was
totally at one with the world. That’s what Mercury in Cancer’s
mission is. A dive into the watery depths of life to bring back the
heart’s messages on how to recapture that peace, pleasure and
at-one-ment. The emotional security of home.
Cancer New Moon
Cancer New Moon 2017
This year’s Cancer New Moon slips home on June 23rd during the
window of the Summer Solstice. All New Moons are energetic births and
beginnings, but the Cancer New Moon stands out because Cancer is the
Moon’s domain. The Cancer New Moon re-births our emotional body,
asking us to dig ever deeper to find our true home. To feel most
ourselves.
The Great Mother ocean, symbolized by the sign of Cancer, gave birth
to life on this planet and continues to give birth to each of us on
Cancer’s New Moon.
The Cancer New Moon occurs on Friday, June 23rd at 7:31pm PDT/ 10:31pm EDT and Saturday, June 24th at 2:31am GMT.
The Sabian Symbol for the Sun and Moon at 3* Cancer is: An arctic explorer, following up reports of a unicorn, brings back a reindeer instead. (the Revised Sabian Symbols, Steven D. Eardley) So here we set off to explore the unknown, expecting to find magic. The Unicorn symbolizes the magic of self-ownership, a purity of spirit, for he only comes to a virgin--a woman who belongs to herself. And that leads to infinite possibilities. But expectations can cause trouble, so this symbol cautions us to let go of expectations and see what happens. Reindeer symbolizes wisdom, resourcefulness, cleverness, knowledge, creativity, inventiveness and cleverness. That's the real way to embrace magic!
The Great Mother
This Cancer New Moon is very juicy. The Great Mother is cooking up a
sweet and spicy stew for us. Its taste is fiery, bold, rich and
sweet – a truly subtle blend of spices. Just what the Mother
ordered to nurture our emotional bodies so we can embrace this
summer’s Great American Eclipse that occurs on ‘the heart of
the lion’. So we can embrace our soul’s work in the world.
As a base note, the bone broth has been cooking since the mid-60s –
an initial blast of evolutionary fire sustained by an ever growing,
awakening consciousness. It’s been deepening ever since, and took on
a new depth and richness in the last 5 years. The multiple flavors
add zest while the chaotic undertones add excitement. This stew is
cooking!
Nested within this soupy broth, the Mother added a magnificent
contradiction: How to bring light and dark, sweet and sour, fiery and
cold together? Or Heaven and Earth/ Neptune and Saturn? How to get
down to business, how to re-imagine a society, how to contribute to
society as spiritual beings? This past year she’s had to separate
out the truth from the lies, what is unhealthy from what feeds the
soul. Skimming off waste so the true taste can shine through.
The stew is thickening. Now it’s time to bring in the big taste
that will bring it all together. Pluto bursting out through Jupiter
in Libra has been exposing all the ways we are not a fair and just
society everyday in the news; it’s also been bringing out the
peacemakers and justice seekers to rectify imbalances. Uranus
beaming through Jupiter offers its unique take on the world. This
big taste has to be added with a light hand, or instead of being the
perfect blending agent, it could tip the scales into something too
hot or too bland. Don’t take your individual mandate too
far in either direction. We’re meant to work together on this new
creation.
The fires of Saturn in Sagittarius, Uranus in Aries and the Leo North Node bestow the gift of transformation on us. Let your passionate inspiration and vision come through in your creation.
That’s where the personal planets make all the difference. Know
yourself and how you uniquely express these universal energies. Then
see how those birth energies are influenced by these added textures.
As mentioned, Mercury slipped into Cancer just after the Solstice, so
the Mind takes on a watery depth, dispersing through the stew to pick
up intuitive clues about our emotional state. Since Mars is also in
Cancer, just beginning to connect with Jupiter before hitting Pluto’s
power and then Uranus’ awakening, expect some hot and spicy
exchanges, especially with family and friends – probably about
politics. Try to listen, because the other person probably won’t.
Mars in Cancer can steam up quickly
and first the Moon and then the Sun and Mercury will gather
steam as they move through the
sign and connect with Jupiter, Pluto and Uranus. There’s a need
to protect your people, not just yourself. Fiery, revolutionary
energy is around for this 4th
of July. This must have been what our forefathers and foremothers
felt like before the Revolution. Dissatisfied and electrified and
listening to what their emotional bodies needed. Freedom from
tyranny.
Venus is in her own sign of Taurus, bringing music and laughter, art
and dance, love and sensuality to the mix. This goddess holds
ancient wisdom and we need to embrace what she brings to our lives.
It is our creativity, our enjoyment of life, our love and self-worth
that make life rich and fulfilling – just like the Mother’s stew.
As in the Solstice chart, Venus is offered Pluto’s powerful
energies as well as Neptune’s creative imagination to do her part
in making this life, and stew, worthwhile. She’s also resonating
with the new lunar nodes in late Leo, offering her gifts and talents
for our much-needed Self-expression.
All in all, the Mother is offering us deeply satisfying nourishment at this Cancer
New Moon. She can help us re-birth ourselves through a deeper,
fuller connection to our soul’s desires. Help to strengthen our
emotional body for the work ahead – it’s time to bring your new
form into the world, a form that is juicy with life and light and
love.
Because these Cancer planets are re-activating the deep energies of
revolutionary awakening, remember that these emotional energies can
scare you as well as enliven you. Try not to retreat behind Cancer’s
hard shell when you fall into fear. Just let it flow out of you and
acknowledge the experience. Don’t hold onto the emotions; rather,
ride the waves. Fear and guilt are society’s control mechanisms.
Let them wash through you and free your heart. It is magnificent!
Let it do its work of nurturing the seed of light within you.
Blessed Be!
Cathy
In Praise of the Earth - John O'Donohue
Where there is no
vision, the people perish.
-- Proverbs 29:18
In
Praise of the Earth
Let us bless
The imagination of
the Earth.
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind
of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the
emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the
stillness of land.
And how light knew to nurse
The
growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision
of color.
When the ages of ice came
And sealed the
Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the
Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the
return of the sun.
Let us thank the Earth
That offers
ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space
open
To infinite galaxies.
Let us salute the
silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime
stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
The wonder of a
garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black
infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the
silent, slow nurture
Of the seed's self, coaxing it
To
trust the act of death.
The humility of the Earth
That
transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.
The
kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn
forms
Into the final stillness.
Let us ask
forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For
our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.
Let us
remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of
seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The
warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed
sureness of the moon.
That we may awaken,
To live to
the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And
incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
~
John O'Donohue ~
(To Bless the Space Between Us)
