Cancer Solstice 2014

On June 21st here in the Northern Hemispheres we come to what our ancestors called the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Today in the 21st Century we include our Southern Hemisphere neighbors and know that this is actually their longest night of the year. It is most assuredly a great turning point in the Earth’s rotation around the Sun and Cancer represents that part of the Zodiacal belt which describes a new beginning of either increasing darkness or increasing light depending on where you celebrate. So please do celebrate!

It is a good time to bring together family and friends for some sort of ritual, ceremony, and then good food, music, and merriment. Celebrate the life you have and the lives you share your life with. Be thankful for all that nature provides as the great gifts of love from the creative force overriding us all!

We astrologers also use these quarterly turning points in each year to look at the next three months ahead. So let’s take a look at this Solstice Chart.

We see Sun at 0 Cancer conjoining Mercury still Retrograde in Gemini (Please see my Mercury Retrograde article). We see that Venus is actually rising ahead of both in Taurus indicating a time of leading with the heart and holding fast to one’s values. Venus is in a nice sextile to Jupiter in Cancer bringing opportunities for love and connectedness especially within family contexts. Again, family has taken on many new meanings indicating that whomever you feel most ‘at home with’ is family.

Mercury Retrograde and then the Sun rising after Venus indicate a need to continue to reflect, to think carefully and cautiously about what matters and then communicate clearly from that more reflective place.

The kicker is that this Sun/Mercury is also in a quintile (72 degree) aspect with Uranus in Aries next to the Moon/South Node also in Aries. That aspect indicates further high voltage and even trigger happy energy that can turn destructive if not handled creatively. In fact you can see that Cardinal energies continue to prevail in this star map for a while longer. The Moon in Aries has already reached Last Quarter to the Sun and thus a crisis of consciousness is unfolding.

We know there are many, many crises unfolding on the planet in mass scale events. It is a rocky time for millions of people. Pluto in Capricorn continues to indicate vast control issues by powers of state and oligarchies even as Uranus in Aries continuing its square to that Pluto symbolizes both revolts and whistle blowers. Jupiter in Cancer has been blowing up all of this bigger than life, and Mars in Libra has been the catalyst for tremendous action which has often taken treacherous turns for the worst in spite of the need for greater diplomacy and negotiating skills.

Children in Detention Center

Many who feel they have no recourse for freedom are willing to fight to the death while others, like the children now pouring out of Central American countries towards US soil, are willing to risk their lives just to find a parent who has been gone too long after fleeing poverty and abuse. Yes, it is heart-breaking to see all the troubles of the world that this Grand Cross has shaken loose.

Yet much light has been shed on what ails us as a species, and with that light has come some great awakenings and new fresh ideas and innovative people to help solve some major dilemmas, like the 19 year old boy who has a solution for cleaning up over half the Pacific ocean of its plastic. Another great movement that strikes a chord for me is the movement to end violence against females, and this seems to be a global issue which implies that tremendous awareness of what is right and what is wrong is on the rise with enough strong souls willing to take some action towards righting the wrongs. I’m sure you can think of dozens of other such issues coming to the foreground now.

The final Solar aspect in this chart that I would like to mention is the flowing trine between Sun in Cancer and Neptune in Pisces with a gradual trine from the Sun also to Chiron in Pisces. Dreams are still alive and the high road is to hold fast to a spiritual vision of a world where beauty, serenity, and loving compassion survive and thrive. Healing emotional wounds is also a possibility here and bridging towards oneness and greater unity. The down side of this trine is further escapism into fantasy and the identification with being a victim or savoir, neither of which really serves us at this stage in our evolution. This watery trine also mirrors our need to see this planet of waters as important for the survival of us all. Water. Pure water. We need to heal the toxic waters around us and in us. We need to protect our waters.

Let’s now look at the time frame of changing energies out of this Solstice map:

Pluto will continue to stay Retrograde until September 23rd, just after the Autumnal Equinox.
Neptune in Pisces will remain Retrograde until November 16th.
Chiron in Pisces will remain Retrograde until late November.
Saturn in Scorpio will remain Retrograde until July 21st when it will then move forward into the last decan of the sign before entering Sagittarius on Christmas Eve. In this chart it is inconjunct (150 degrees) both Uranus and the Moon in Aries indicating all the adjustments necessary both psychologically and physically. For many these are literally life/death issues. Freedom IS a constant struggle on this planet it would seem.
Mercury in Gemini will stay Retrograde until July 2nd.

Other changing energies ahead in this next three-month period include Jupiter leaving Cancer, where it has been for the past year, into Leo on July 16th. I will be writing an entire article on Jupiter in Leo, but know that more FIRE is coming. Rather blazing fire I might add. This will be great for some and very difficult for others.

Mars will finally leave Libra, where it has been for nearly 8 months now, and move into Scorpio by July 26th, where it will be until September 14th. Note that both Mars and Jupiter shift from Cardinal signs to Fixed signs. If things haven’t shifted yet the fixed energies will lock horns in even more intense and dramatic ways probably. Mars and Jupiter will continue to square each other from the end of July into mid-August. Ouch. For some this could turn into the long, hot summer all right. Mars will also join Saturn by August 25th in square to Venus in Leo. These are further indications of difficult times with climate change (heat and fires?) and possibly economic issues which are problematic for many.

In conclusion, this map indicates the further unfoldment of crises continuing as one era and age begins to collapse prior to another beginning. We who follow the stars and their cycles know that everything is cyclic and beginnings and endings are a part of all the rotations through time and space. Living each moment as an opportunity to love and share light is one way to handle such inevitable changes. Zero degrees of Cancer is truly a beginning point each year in connecting with one’s innermost feelings, ones family, and ones kinship with all of life. Let that be enough!