Summer Solstice, Mercury Retrograde in Cancer, Sun in Cancer: 6/20/13 - 7/22/13, Mercury Retrograde: 6/26/13 - 7/20/13




“Shall we go for a swim?”  If a friend asks you that question, you could say, “No,” if you weren’t in the mood for a swim, or if you didn’t know how to swim, or if you happened to be by some icy or shark-infested water.  But when the bulk of the Solar System asks you that question, you will be getting in the water, like it or not, seemingly safe or not.  We will all be going for a swim this summer, & we’ll be learning some new strokes & techniques for better swimming this month.

The metaphor breakdown:
All things watery symbolize the emotions.  We will be learning about what makes us tick emotionally this month.  Then we’ll have plenty of opportunities (i.e. there will be some nice, gritty salt rubbing into some raw & nasty old wounds) to learn how to work with our emotions better throughout the summer.
From another perspective, water is profoundly cleansing, clarifying & reflective.  Many things dissolve in water, so that they can combine in new ways, or be carried away.  Hence, profound transformation & letting go is possible in the coming months.  The reflective capabilities of water allow for new insight & perspective - the ability to see what is right in front of your face (often those things that everyone other than you can see).  The clarifying aspects of water can simplify heretofore complex or murky issues.  All of this is possible this summer, so long as you (insert descending cello notes here for dramatic effect) take responsibility for your emotions, exercise compassion for yourself & others, & dig down to the heart of matters to reach the Truth.  How’s that for some summer fun?  Whoopee!

The Sun enters Cancer, & ushers in Summer on the evening of 6/20 (10:04, PDT) & the morning of 6/21 (1:04 EDT).  A chart cast for this day affects not only the Cancer solar month, but also the entirety of summer.  It is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year - classically, a good time to honor the apex of light, fire, & esoterically, masculine qualities.  However, the strongest element with the most momentum in the Solstice chart is water.  Put those two elements together, & you’ve got Hot Water, so you can expect to get cooked - this is a good opportunity to bring things to fruition if you harness this energy consciously.

Operative in this solstice chart is the Big Astrological Event of the summer that all of us astrologers are clucking about - the Grand Water Trine.  Grand trines have an unstoppable momentum.  The element of water will give this summer a sense of really getting swept up.  Emotions can run wild with this configuration, so the Mercury retrograde that begins on 6/26 will help you in deciphering the seemingly secret code that is your emotional/mental patterning.  More on that below.

The grand water trine involves Neptune & Chiron in Pisces (rather than releasing your wounds themselves, you can release their grip on you or your reactions/resistance to them), Saturn in Scorpio (take responsibility for what matters most), & a stream of various planets in Cancer (various lessons in nourishment & the cyclical nature of life), most potent of which will be Jupiter in mid-July.  At the Solstice, we have the Sun & a Lilith in this spot, suggesting both extreme light & extreme shadow.  Further potentizing this configuration is the slow movement of the three main planets involved.  This gives our water wheel a slow pace, but a great force.  Expect things to change radically, but exercise patience.  A good rule of thumb: You will never be the same again after this summer.  Sure, that’s always true - we’re always changing, but thinking in those terms will help you seize this energy more effectively.

Grand Water Trine deep sea probes:
If you were to be “never the same again,” what would you want that change to be? (Hint: think of an evolution of your current state)
What emotions & emotional patterns of response are you hanging on to that are holding you back from evolving?
What nourishes you?  What places are nourishing to you?  Which relationships are nourishing to you?
Do you acknowledge & nourish your sources?  (Hint: support that/those which support/s you)
What do you have to be grateful for?  What does gratitude FEEL like in your body & mind?
Are you owning your emotions as created by you, or are you blaming other people, society, or institutions for how you feel?
How are your emotions affecting your body?

The full moon in Capricorn is just a few days later, on the morning of 6/23.  Most of the configurations from the Solstice are still in effect.  The great tool here is the Moon, powerful through the Sun’s presence in her home sign, & placed in grounding, steady-as-she-goes, eye-on-the-prize Capricorn.  Anyone who’s ever swam at the seashore knows that you need to pause every so often to see where you are in relation to the land, lest you get swept out to sea.  This full moon in Capricorn reminds us to check back in with objective reality, rather than getting lost in the sea of our personal perceptions:
What are the actual facts & train of events in the situations & relationships you’re in?
How do things look different if you take away your interpretations of those facts?

Jupiter enters Cancer on 6/25, where he’ll be swimming about until next summer.  On the low end of the Jupiter in Cancer spectrum, we may experience emotional overwhelm that leads to excess, especially with food & sugar (sugar cane grows in the tropic of Cancer).  Also watch out for instances of cancer affecting either you or those you love.  The disease of cancer is ruled by the sign of Cancer.  Jupiter makes everything it touches Bigger, so that’s a potentially troublesome combination.  On the high end of this spectrum, we are strongly encouraged & enabled to follow our heart in expansive ways, & to reap major rewards through doing so.  Also, Cancer is an incredibly resilient & cyclical sign.  One of Jupiter’s keynotes is Faith.  If things are looking down in the coming year, trust that they will come back around in some way or another.  The golden rule with Jupiter is trust in an ultimately positive outcome, & focus on the positive potentials in the meantime.  The trick is you need to be flexible & unattached with your definition of what positive is & could be.

The very next day (6/26), Mercury stations retrograde in Cancer until 7/20.  But the past week has already been quite wonky with all of this planetary shifting, & Mercury appearing to just barely move at all.  These directional shifts are like the moment before a ball tossed straight up in the air shifts from upwards to downwards motion.  For a magical moment, the ball is still, weightless - neither acted on by the force of the throw, nor the force of gravity.  It’s free.

On 6/26, Mercury is free, & you better believe he likes it that way, that sneaky trickster.  He has no obligation to us, either externally (normal motion & smooth functioning of communication & transportation) or internally (retrograde motion, & rethinking of communication & transportation).  This is the time to really let go.  Let go of how you think things should be or develop, of how you think you should feel, & especially of how you think others should feel.  Do that, & this retrograde will go a lot smoother for you.  I hope you heeded last month’s advice, & have already backed up your computers & phones, & tuned up your bicycles & cars.  Speaking of cars, anybody want to buy a 2004 Chevy Cavalier?  I’m selling one... Really.

Evolutionary questions for Mercury’s retrograde in Cancer:
What happens if you simply witness my emotions when they occur, rather than suppressing them or acting on them?
What is your diet like?  Do you need to rethink WHAT, HOW & WHEN you feed yourself?
Who nourishes you?  Whom do you nourish?  Are those healthy relationships?
What are the cyclical patterns in your life?
At what stage are you at in those various patterns (building, apex, decline, death, rebirth)?

Other events of note:
Venus enters Leo on 6/27 until 7/23, highlighting the arts, creativity, & joyous times with friends.  Throw a party, & attend some art events, such as my last art show in Seattle before I relocate to California, up at the Columbia City Bakery 7/1 - 7/27, with the Columbia City arts walk on 7/18.  Do buy my art, & in so doing be a keeper of some particular magic (that is why you read this blog - to feel connected to the flowing & mystical side of life in this regimented & binary world).

The Sun will activate the Pluto/Uranus square in the first few days of July, so try to keep your cool as emotions will run extra high, anger will be easily ignited, & patience will be tested.  What’s good about this tense configuration is it adds some imperative to change & grow.  A grand trine can move freely without obstruction, but it can also create unchecked growth, with an attendant complacency towards any other potentials.  This square offers some much needed perspective, incendiary insight, & reality check to this summer’s emotional wash.

Saturn stations direct on 7/7 (7/8 for eastern folk), which means some things that have felt stuck, or have been in the behind-the-scenes planning phase since February will get moving in the coming months.  Hopefully, you’ve worked on increasing your sense of personal power (& the limits thereof) in that time so you can set appropriate boundaries & act from your true strengths.  Hint: Be clear about what is your responsibility, & what is someone else’s responsibility, & act accordingly.

The new Cancer Moon is on 7/8, with a massive stellium in Cancer.  The message here is: Emotions are a source of information.  Allow your feelings to inform you rather than direct you.  Cancer is largely about digestion.  Take your emotions in, process them, & see how they transform.  Then you can turn what’s useful into new energy, & eliminate the waste.

Mars enters Cancer on 7/13 until 8/29, activating another T-square in the ongoing Pluto/Uranus configuration in late July.  Let’s just say anger & frustration will be coming up, which you may experience in yourself or in those around you.  Feeling depressed?  You’ve probably got some suppressed anger, so this just might be your opportunity to clarify exactly how you feel thwarted from getting what you want, or how you may be holding yourself back from getting what you want by holding onto old angers.  Hint: anger is a secondary emotion.  First comes fear.  What are you afraid of?

Well that should tide you over (pun unintended but duly noted) until next month’s posting, in which I’ll discuss the most exciting & rare Grand Sextile.  Due to Mercury’s retrograde & my impending move to Oakland, CA at the end of July, there is a possibility that next month’s posting may not occur, or may occur late or early or inside out or upside down or backwards.

For more personalized insight, you may go here to schedule a private astrological consult, or an Alithesis healing session in Seattle until late July.  In August, I’ll be available for phone consultations & Alithesis house calls in the Bay Area.  By September, I’ll be practicing in Oakland, CA.  Until next month’s posting, enjoy reconnecting with your heart.  Please forward this posting on as you see fit.  Thanks for reading,
rae13diamond {at} gmail.com