AstroCast: June 21 - July 5, 2015

The dominance of fire and air of late gets an infusion of water with the Sun’s entry into Cancer on June 21st.  The Sun in this feminine sign, which is ruled by the Moon, adopts a softer, more nurturing tone that also embraces the feeling nature as the primary source for experiencing life.  With powerful skills of intuition and sensitivity, the Sun in Cancer brings to the table a sixth sense that is able to “see” that which is operating below the surface.  We may be cool, calm and collected on the outside, but if we or those around us are experiencing any kind of inner turmoil, the Sun in Cancer will feel it, and will feel it all the way back through our ancestral lineage, seeing the genetic as well as the conditioned “family” traits that are most likely the underlying cause of our triggered emotions.  Memory and history play such an important role, that it is very much a concern of the present in Cancerean awareness.  Security is also paramount, especially when it comes to loved ones.  Cancer is the quintessential sign of reception and the Sun here takes in everything such that he experiences life as busy, chaotic, and filled with the unexpected.  It can often feel harsh and threatening to the gentle spirit that thrives in an amniotic-like environment.  So much so that his primary concern is to create a safe, protective environment for himself and those he cares about.  The energetic confines of familiarity serves as a buffer to the severe insensitivity of ego-driven mental energies that actively disrupt the extraordinary force of love he perceives enveloping our world.

The moment the Sun slips into Cancer also marks the Summer Solstice, and the placement of the planets at this time set a tone of harmony for the next three months that may influence us here on earth to experience breakthroughs by tapping into our collaborative spirit to co-create a new reality for ourselves.  There are many fronts where agreements on new ideas need to be made to bring us closer together as a world family – from nuclear arms talks with Iran, to ongoing turmoil across the Middle East, to NATO’s relations with Russia, and race relations here at home in the U.S. which experienced yet another tragic loss because of deep fear over the perceived chasm of difference between the colors of our skin.

On June 21st Venus in Leo enters a “shadow” period, the degree space she will retrace three times, between 14° Leo and 1° Virgo, due to her annual retrograde period, during which time we have the opportunity to review how we go about creating with others.  If we pay attention to what is going on around us now in the space of relationships, creativity, and all matters of the heart (which Leo rules), we may find the need to recalibrate them to be in alignment with our soul’s purpose.  What makes us happy?  What is the art of our life and how do we share that with others? Although Venus dips her toe into Virgo for a couple of weeks in late July before returning to Leo, she doesn’t return to Virgo until October 8th so we’ll have a good amount of time to figure that out.  Artistic Venus’s extended stay in creative Leo, in essence may help us remember what it is like to be a kid and recreate, or “re-create” the way she expresses her heart and her joy.

One June 22nd, the aspect driving us towards creative breakthroughs becomes clear with the final passage of the inspirational fire trine between Jupiter in playful Leo and Uranus in pioneering Aries.  After the first exact aspect between these two planets last summer and the second last February, the third passage between these planets, which will be in effect through the beginning of August, should decisively set in motion that which has been developing over the past year.  What new concepts have been added to our philosophical sandbox?  What have we experienced that has been truly exciting or that has expanded our role in life?  Where has there been unexpected beneficial changes or perhaps an increased use of innovative technological solutions?  If we look back at where we were last year to where we are now, we may realize we’ve just been through some kind of wormhole of transformation, and we are now at a whole new level of understanding.  We may have shed old considerations that were not serving us well, and we may feel lighter, happier and more in touch with the revolutionary force of our own inventiveness.

A dreamy, otherworldly perspective may feel like it is actively permeating through our mental processes when Mercury in Gemini has his final square with Neptune in Pisces on June 23th.  The planets of reason and intuition in this dynamic relationship are challenged to work together to shift their consciousness from being dependent solely on data as a way of determining reality to being able to take in the holistic picture with all its nuances.

Mars follows the Sun into Cancer on June 24th and they will stay within spitting distance of each other for the next few weeks, maintaining a high level of physical energy that is keeping us all on the move.  Shifting his energetic expression from data-centric Gemini to home-centric Cancer, Mars here comes to know in the deepest part of his nature where he belongs.  Home is where his heart’s desire is and he will do anything to protect that.  Mars is more sensitive in Cancer as he comes to incorporate others into his field of awareness when asserting himself.  Rather than just acting for self alone, he becomes primarily motivated by the people and causes he cares about, once he overcomes his fear of losing himself as he begins to interact with all that is unknown around him.  Only then can he maintain the still point in the depths of his soul, his true home base, and act fearlessly.

Venus’ collaborative spirit has been affecting the Jupiter/Uranus trine from the beginning of this period, being within five degrees of a conjunction with Jupiter in Leo, a divinely beautiful coupling indeed in the night sky, and a trine to Uranus in Aries.  While this trio remains within the five-degree orb of this configuration through mid-August due to Venus’ upcoming retrograde period, they meet in a sweet spot June 28th through July 1st when Venus has her exact conjunction with Jupiter and trine to Uranus.  The great strength of Venus’ feminine force is her insistence on collaboration and she brings this to the Jupiter/Uranus drawing board to remind them that two heads or more are better than one in the process of creating solutions.  Venus’ imprint has been feminizing the Jupiter/Uranus aspect all year, having been conjunct with Uranus and trine Jupiter in early March, and in late April she formed a mini-grand trine by sextiling them from their mid-point in Gemini.  Brilliant women have been breaking out everywhere, in science, technology, politics, industry and the arts.  They are speaking out to change the way we view their participation in life and their professions.  Rather than being a mere distraction, they are a dynamic creative force breathing new inclusive life into these public arenas that are as stale and dense as the air in a patriarchal cigar club.

Venus’ message is incorporated into the complex Full Moon on July 1st in patriarchal Capricorn opposite the Sun in matriarchal Cancer.  The archetypes of father Sun and mother Moon in each other’s skin so to speak forces them to feel each other from the inside out in order to overcome their polarized projections of each other.  At higher levels of abstraction, this is not just about how men and women relate to each other.  It is about the feminine and masculine psychological traits within each one of us, the different functions of the intuitive right brain and the reasoning left brain, as well as the spiritual anima and animus Jung spoke about.  Where do we need balance between being giving and receiving?  How much do we intake contributions of others vs. how much we outflow our own self-interests into the environment?  As the quintessential restless feminist of the sky during these volatile times, Venus could tell you just how imbalanced the world is with respect to the dire lack of collaborative feminine expression that is allowed in the power centers of society.  As if to underscore her passion for transforming this scenario and the muscle she is willing to put into making it happen, both Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn are closely aligned with this Full Moon bringing in a fearless assertion of authentic power to the table.  While this Full Moon dynamic is potentially atomic in force, it is diffused by an extremely tight, harmonious alignment with mystical Neptune in Pisces, whose presence here takes the theme of this current lunar cycle – to listen – to a higher level.  We must become whisperers of our own soul to find the inner balance we seek between the divine feminine and divine masculine. Neptune’s cosmic connection to the lights in the signs of the tribes – familial and societal, will help us tune into the esoteric bloodline of our past to hear the whisperings of the ancient master teachers instilling in us our soul’s purpose.

The Venus/Jupiter/Uranus configuration again comes into play July 2nd through July 5th when Mercury joins the group at its midpoint from his position in Gemini.  Thus the Full Moon is infused with the expanding and awakening force of Jupiter/Uranus that is triggered by the archetypal energies of love (Venus) and perception (Mercury).  Perhaps we will gain a radical new philosophy of how to perceive love.  Rumi Scholar Coleman Barks talks about the 13^th century Sufi mystic and poet’s transcendent concept of love, which to this day is not truly understood by most.  According to Coleman, “[Rumi] says fall in love in such a way that it frees you from any connecting.  This is not about relationship…  The love he’s talking about is a kind of friendship.  It’s a weather you walk inside.  It widens out to become a region that you live in.  He says it includes what anybody says.  Amazing.  Everything is part of this love atmosphere so that the human beings in it become love.  It’s difficult to talk about.  You have to hear his poems to sense what he’s trying to do with that.”

Oh Beloved,

take me.

Liberate my soul.

Fill me with your love and

release me from the two worlds.

If I set my heart on anything but you

let fire burn me from inside.

Oh Beloved,

take away what I want.

Take away what I do.

Take away what I need.

Take away everything

that takes me from you.

                                      Rumi

Here’s the data (using Pacific Time and planetary positions rounded to the nearest whole degree, unless otherwise noted):

June 21st – Sun at 0° Cancer at 9:38 a.m.

June 22nd –  Jupiter trine Uranus at 20° Leo/Aries at 6:43 a.m.

June 23rd – Mercury square Neptune at 10° Gemini/Pisces at 11:09 a.m.

June 24th -Mars at 0° Cancer at 6:33 a.m.

June 28th -Venus trine Uranus at 20° Leo/Aries at 11:26 p.m.

July 1st – Venus conjunct Jupiter at 22° Leo at 12:51 a.m.

July 1st – Sun trine Neptune at 10° Cancer/Pisces at 2:10 p.m.

July 1st – Moon opposite Sun (Full Moon) at 10° Capricorn/Cancer at 7:20 p.m.

July 2nd – Mercury sextile Uranus at 20° Gemini/Aries at 11:50 a.m.

July 3rd – Mercury sextile Jupiter at 22° Gemini/Leo at 5:54 p.m.

July 5th – Mercury sextile Venus at 24° Gemini/Leo at 1:19 a.m.

“Looking into the ocean of love, my heart suddenly dove in, calling out, ‘Find me!’”

                                                                                                                Rumi