Summer Solstice 2011

The first day of summer in our Northern Hemisphere is arriving on June 21st, The Summer Solstice. This marks the gateway for what transpires over the next three months as the Sun rides high in the sky with blazing warmth.  Of course in the Southern Hemisphere it is just the opposite as they approach their winter months.

Let’s take a look at the chart for this year’s longest day of the year:

This is quite a complex chart with the Sun at 0 degrees of Cancer near the zenith of the chart (for Washington DC) making many aspects which are both flowing and full of opportunity, as well as challenging and highly stressful.  The chart itself has a full-on Grand Cardinal Cross in it.  What does all of this mean?

A Grand Cross is a configuration involving planets in opposition and square to each other forming a definite cross.  This cross dynamic is in Cardinal signs implying that much activity is going on at cross purposes to each other, and that the real challenge is to unify and pull it all together.  The attempt to maintain and hold control is seen by the hard square between Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn.  In mundane astrology this would imply the old guard of status quo power taking a hard and oppressive line.  Opposite Saturn is Uranus in Aries which, with its square to Mercury, implies new thought and radical actions taken in a new direction and speaking out about it.

We can certainly see on the world stage this dynamic tension being acted out through what has been dubbed ‘the Arab Spring’ (that would be Uranus in Aries), and the old tyrants trying to squelch these uprisings through force and violence (that would be both Saturn and Pluto).  There are plenty of other blog sites to educate you on political and economic astrology, one of my favorites being Stars Over Washington.

I’d like to focus on that Mercury in Cancer, rising behind the Sun in Cancer which is always the focus of every Summer Solstice chart.  The sign of Cancer is the key here to what is now needed.  What does Cancer primarily represent?  Nurturance!  In the Northern Hemisphere the month of June is when high growth of plant life is occurring.  This is when plants need a lot of water, cultivation, and good compost feeding.  Good parenting is a Cancer goal.  Mercury in Cancer is thought and communication that nurtures.  That’s one way to look at it for sure.

I just had a highly-evolved male client in my office yesterday who has Mercury in Cancer near the top of his chart.  He was a single-parent who loved the process of raising his children and helping them to grow into strong, independent adults.  He now loves to teach by nurturing the mind and heart of his students.  He likes to have a re-pore and relationship with his students and is therefore more suited to mentoring and tutoring than working with a class of 100.  He enjoys the up-close and personal approach.  He’s such a great example of how to think and communicate with Mercury in Cancer.

With Pluto opposing this Mercury in the Solstice chart there lies the possibility of realizing that knowledge is power that can be passed on from individual to individual, just as I am doing on this blog.  There is also the potential for sharing information that has been held secret and occult which is also what many people are now doing via the web.  We can find out so much now via the search engines supplied on the inter-net (Mercury square Uranus).

Of course the opposite is also going on which is the attempt to sabotage communication, or use the power of propaganda to keep people in line and in fear (Saturn square Mercury).  The ‘big brother’ control police are making huge efforts to squelch freedom of speech and thought by either telling lies that front as ‘truth’ or simply snuffing out the truth-tellers.  (Pluto opposite Mercury, and both squaring Saturn).

How much can Uranus in Aries actually accomplish given the dark forces on the planet that have been accumulating economic wealth and power over others for a long, long time?  When Pluto was in Sagittarius, for example, they had 15 years to gain control over all of the media, and almost succeeded if it hadn’t been for the inter-net and free-speech radio stations, etc.  Now with Pluto in Capricorn there is definitely the movement afoot to gain world control of all governments as various strategies of sabotage and manipulation of economies are put into place. Control of all institutions would be a Pluto in Capricorn agenda.  Thankfully, when the inter-net was formed Neptune and Uranus were conjunct in Capricorn implying that it would be next to impossible to stop this web from expanding to universal proportions.

Uranus is the great awakener and it is in a waxing square to Pluto for many years to come implying a crisis in action. It is certainly posing a great challenge to secrets held by the powerful elite as well as hoarding of all power.  Uranus represents the urge for freedom of individual rights, and with it’s square now to Mercury it represents a crisis in consciousness over freedom to think as one sees fit, and freedom to talk about it.  The whole idea of a free society based on by the people, for the people principles is truly at stake now.

So what do we each nurture in this coming time?  It will be as varied and multi-layered as each of you are!  The under-lying principles, however, will be the same.  Love is the real driving force behind true nurturance.  A good parent loves their child and wants the best for them so that they can grow strong as individuals knowing and expressing their true gifts.  A child can be anything at all that you want to see nurtured like an art project, a business, an organization, etc.

With Neptune, Chiron, and the Moon in Pisces trining the Sun in Cancer there is a great potential to get in touch with all the highest and best qualities of supporting what we love by raising our level of consciousness and compassion for ourselves and for others.  Jupiter in Taurus mid-way between these watery energies says that much solid growth can now occur.

To illustrate these themes I’d like to refer you to a marvelous gem of a film Sweet Land, A Love Story directed by Ali Selim and based on the short story A Gravestone Made of Wheat by Will Weaver.

You know how easily images can convey truths, and this film does it in spades.  It is a story of immigrants, which is still a timely subject.  America has been called both a bread basket and a melting pot.  America is a Cancer country with Moon in Aquarius. The potential for growth and freedom are embedded in this nation’s birth map.  This film tells the story of a German mail-order bride named Inge who arrives in Minnesota (a grand bread basket state) expecting to marry Olaf, a Norwegian settler with a good piece of land that he works hard to farm.  A simple tale.  A not-so-simple context within which the tale unfolds.

She arrives without the proper papers to enable them to marry and then she must deal with all the ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry of mostly men who judge her because of her nationality.  This takes place in 1920 right after World War I when Germany was the bad kid on the international block.  Sound familiar?  Today the bad kids include Muslims and Mexicans here in this country, and of course African-Americans filling our prisons to over-flowing, as well as Native-Americans ignored and shoved aside mostly, and on and on this list can go in this great land of plenty.

The dark side of Cancer is tribal consciousness that is ‘us versus them’ in it’s stance.  They are the outsiders.  They don’t belong.  They are our enemy.  Cancer can also be so incredibly meddling in the affairs of others without pausing to consider that they are probably no different inside than we are.  America does have a penchant for poking its nose into other countries’ affairs as if America knew what was best for them, not bothering to find out anything at all about their beliefs, culture, or customs.  It’s called smother love on a grand scale and it can be devastating in its application of snuffing out uniqueness.  One size does not fit all!

So this film says so eloquently in a small encapsulated version what can go horribly awry when love does not include compassion.  Thankfully, the outcome will warm your heart and you’ll have a renewed faith in the human spirit to rise above bias and bigotry.  Like I say, it’s a little gem of a movie.

For me this Summer Solstice chart gives the challenge and the solution all in one!  We can include our time-honored traditions and customs as long as they encompass change, innovation, and are always, always heart-based.  We can allow for individual, state, and national differences as we work together towards a world that doesn’t leave out anyone as less than anyone else.  No scapegoating allowed.  Is it hard work?  Of course it is.  It requires getting conscious and it requires weeding out our dark thoughts of fear and hatred.  It requires taking positive action to right the wrongs that are apparent, as Olaf does for his neighbor in the film.  It requires speaking your truth simply and clearly, as Inge does in the film.  It also requires the ability to have a change of heart, as the self-righteous minister finally does in the film.

Let’s take another look at the Grand Cardinal Cross:  Saturn in Libra says structure your life based on the Golden Rule; do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Uranus says move forward with your new ideals for a better world for every single form of life.  Pluto says over-haul your deeply entrenched traditions so that all organizations you are involved in serve the greater good of the whole. Finally, the Sun and Mercury in Cancer say to nurture and love what is near and close to you so that life can continue to prosper and thrive anew.

Have a blessed Summer Solstice!