Summer Solstice Eclipse

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Summer Solstice, Cancer Season begins, and Solar Eclipse today.

Today is Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, the turning point when the Sun leaves Gemini and enters Cancer (2:44pm PDT), the longest day of the year when the light peaks and sun stands still (from sistere in Latin). This year we have an annular solar eclipse happening on the Solstice.
At 11:41pm we have a new moon and solar eclipse at 0º of Cancer. We recently had a lunar eclipse (and full moon) in Sagittarius on June 5, and we’ll have one more in this cycle, another lunar eclipse on the Capricorn full moon on July 4. Eclipses are always cosmic activators, shaking things up. They often bring about dissolution and collapse or initiation in the aftermath of an eclipse portal, bringing us transformation of some kind, revealing what has been hidden or occluded. As this cosmic power surge disrupts the natural flow, we can spend some time in meditation, contemplation, or reflection, listening within for any insights or understanding revealed. This eclipse is occurring alongside the North Node of the moon, bringing an element of rebirth and evolution as we are able to see more clearly into our shadows. Cancer is a cardinal water sign ruled by the moon. The Cancerian themes, exaggerated today as the sun enters the sign and there’s a new moon and eclipse there also, include ideas about home, place, roots, stability, family, ancestry, nurturing, and being nurtured. If you have your chart handy, look to 0º Cancer to see the area of general personal impact for you.

Mars in Pisces makes a connection through sextile to retrograde Jupiter in Capricorn, bringing a potential boost to confidence and courage, and positive, successful actions. Mars and the Moon make a square, which may intensify passions, conflict, and creativity. On Monday night Neptune turns retrograde in Pisces until November 28. As the planet of consciousness, Neptune rules psychic sensitivity and soul.

As always on Solstice, make a date with the sun, bask in the warmth, then at sunset say goodby as it sets and disappears to be reborn in the sky on Winter Solstice. Late tonight you can light a candle and offer eclipse blessings. Bow to the golden light that burns inside your own heart.

Black Lives Matter.
For my white readers, I recommend the work of Rachel Cargle and participation in her curriculum called The Great Unlearn, which you can find on her Patreon page (with membership as low as $5 monthly). You can also make a donation for her work at Paypal.me/rachelcargle. Follow @thegreatunlearn on Instagram. Additionally, see some of my past instagram posts on resources for anti-racism education.

Cancer / Capricorn … Full Moon & more

Moon-ruled Cancer season began on Summer Solstice, June 21, and during this sun cycle we have more access to our feelings and ability to value those feelings. Cancer rules the breasts and belly, rib cage, body fluids… and like the Crab, temperamental Cancer turns inward, retreating inside its shell and putting up defenses if threatened or to hide sensitivity. This sign is associated with the mother, with nourishment and nurturing, home and security. This Cancer season could bring up thoughts and feelings around family and home, or some nostalgia and sentimentality, as well as sensitivity and the well known tears that are inevitably stirred up in each of us while the sun inhabits this sign.

In Cancer season we all cry freely, we express our heartache and anguish, we tend to our hearts. 

Neptune, the planet of mystery, illusion, and self-sacrifice, turned retrograde (in Pisces) on June 18 (until November 24). It is Neptune that brings us fantasy, deep dreams, imagination, as well as delusion, deception, and victimization. During Neptune's station, and throughout the retrograde, you may feel brain fog or confusion. This cycle could lead us to see through the illusions and get deeper insight, but we should guard against numbing out and hiding from the truth or reality. 

A week after Neptune, Mars turned retrograde (in Aquarius). This happens about every two years. If you recently felt your brain fog morph into a sense of hitting a brick wall, that's pretty in alignment with the current energy. While retrograde, Mars expresses energy differently and it is typical to feel fatigued, exhausted, drained energetically, a bit aimless and less direct, less passionate and lower sex drive. Those who are Mars-ruled may feel less aggressive or able to express frustration more calmly, with a newly found sense of passivity, while everyone else will seem a little more impulsive, impatient, and quick to anger. 

This sets the stage for Wednesday June 27, when Cancer Sun opposes Saturn and the Full Moon in Capricorn. This full moon (9:53pm PDT) will have a serious tone. Saturn symbolizes time, the father, parents, authority, government, patriarchy, ancestors. It presides over hard work, discipline, responsibility, karma, and fate. Saturn will bring up a lesson for your consideration or will call attention in a particular way on this full moon. Cancer and Capricorn are polar opposites on the zodiac and we'll feel this polarity. The expression of Cancer is nurturing, receptive and emotional, while Capricorn is stern, reserved and disciplined. 

There may not be a celebratory feel to this Full Moon, but there will be opportunities. Make space for remembrance, let yourself rest deeply, feel good about your hard work and efforts while acknowledging your mistakes, get quiet, call on your ancestors, feel your feelings.

Tend to your heart.