By Len Wallick | Edits by Eric Francis
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It’s Monday, Flag Day in the United States. A little-observed holiday, it commemorates a resolution made by the Second Continental Congress to adopt a symbol for the nation which declared its independence nearly a year before. As such, it’s a good day to consider some moments coming up in astrology. Moments which will continue to be symbolic of our period a long time hence.
We stand on the threshold of the Cancer solstice. One week from today, just after 11:28 UTC, the Sun will be directly above the Tropic of Cancer. The Sun enters the sign Cancer at this time, and is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It will be the first day of winter for our sisters and brothers south of the equator, though our idea of winter and theirs are two different things. There are not a lot of snow plows in Australia or South Africa, and they are closer to the Antarctic Circle than they are to the tropics.
We also stand on the threshold of a pair of eclipses on the axis of the opposing signs Cancer and Capricorn, which correspond to the ones at the time of the holiday season about five months ago. The first will be a partial lunar eclipse during the Capricorn Full Moon on June 26. The second event will be a total solar eclipse with the New Moon in Cancer on July 11. Eclipses generally come in pairs and arrive with an acceleration of events, a concentration of energies and a feeling of fate being at work. Eclipses feel like crossing from distinct one compartment of time to another; moving through a threshold or divide.
In the case of both the solstice and the lunar eclipse the Sun will be in meaningful aspect to the planets of history gathered near the cardinal points: the cardinal T-square that is our current piece of the 2012 alignment. Uranus and Jupiter (still in a conjunction) in very early Aries will still be square Pluto retrograde in the early Capricorn — this lasts for a while. Saturn will be direct in very late Virgo, about to ingress Libra and ramp up the energy — currently close enough for nearly the full effect.
With the lunar eclipse, the Moon, the lunar nodes and Mercury will join in.
Thus the cardinal t-square will become a cardinal grand cross, spanning a period of nearly a week. This brings the energy in from all four cardinal points — Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn; plus an eclipse. Here we have one of those zones of time when world events leap off the computer screen and newspaper pages.
This sequence of events includes with it a change of season and moves quickly into the start of a powerful eclipse cycle, directly involving five major planets and both luminaries. It would do us well to prepare to be aware lest the events of that auspicious time render us unconscious in our reactions. Better to be fully present and respond in a manner that will make the most of the opportunity for progress. Eclipses are great if you want your life to move, to change and to evolve. For those who like to resist, they can be painful.
Part of the preparation is to be fully aware and conscious of every day along the way. That will allow us to build tally of context in which the events of the cardinal grand cross may be integrated and understood by each and all. It is in that spirit that this observation of today’s astrology is offered.
With the impending auspicious alignment of so many of the zodiac’s major players it may seem strange to start off with a dwarf planet. On the other hand, given the position and corresponding mythology of that body, it seems entirely appropriate.
Ceres continues its retrograde odyssey. Its time in Capricorn, conjoined with Pluto near the cardinal point of that sign bore witness to the hard place we have come to on our planet of residence. Now in the twenty-ninth degree of the mutable fire sign Sagittarius, its journey has taken on a spiritual element.
Today finds Ceres barely separated from a sextile (60 degree aspect) with Neptune in Aquarius as it applies to square (90 degrees) Saturn in Virgo.
Astronomically, Ceres is part of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It constitutes about a third of the mass of that illustrious collection of rock and gravel that populate the space between the outermost personal planet and the innermost planet of history. As such it symbolically bridges the cycles of human life with the cycles of human culture: the inner planets tend to govern the personality, then comes the asteroid belt, then Jupiter (the planet of world culture) is the next planet out.
Mythologically, Ceres (and her Greek counterpart, Demeter) correspond to that modern concept known as mother earth. Arbiter of the seasons and the nourishment derived from agriculture, her story is integral to the story of all mothers. She is the repository of the cyclical mysteries that surround propagation and sustenance. She is also destined, it seems, to know grief and loss.
While retrograde in Sagittarius Ceres’ sextile to Neptune holds the promise of reconciliation born of forgiveness. In the Greek mythology, it was during a visit to earth that she had a had a rather unpleasant encounter with Neptune’s counterpart, Poseidon. It was a rape. To make matters worse it took place while she was mourning estrangement from her daughter, abducted by Pluto. It was a bad scene all around.
Now, with Ceres in the sign of cleansing spiritual fire and Neptune in the sign of the collective, comes an opportunity for reconciliation. Can we forgive each other? Can we forgive ourselves? Can we recognize that all human beings are one just as the dry land of Ceres and the Oceans of Neptune constitute one planet? Can we channel the fire of our furious anger to burn away the ephemeral while sparing the eternal truth?
The test will come when the Moon reaches twenty-eighth degree of Cancer as this day is drawing to a close, forming the apex of a yod. This aspect is part of today’s experience of awareness as a step towards the solstice and the eclipses.
In astrology, the Moon is where our emotions and subjective being find connection with the cosmos. Cycling rapidly through signs and phases it represents the fluctuations we experience living one day at a time. In a quincunx (150 degrees) to Neptune, Luna expresses the degree to which our immediate emotional devotions can be averse to longer term ideals constituting the dreams to which we aspire.
In simultaneous quincunx to Ceres there is expressed the paradox between providing nourishment and security for ourselves and loved ones and existing so as to contribute to the long term sustainability of life on earth. In both cases it is a question of finding balance while under pressure and awash with conflicting emotions. That will not be easy, but if we can use this yod as a first step towards formulating the need for that balance in our thoughts, we will have made a good day of it.
We can also make a good beginning of it. For today is also the first full day of Venus in Leo. Touching on this transit, we will conclude, leaving space for further observations as it progresses.
First of all, there is the Moon. Still carrying the experience of the yod, it will follow Venus into Leo before this day is done. Thus Luna will connect today with our immediate future. For just as it closely followed Jupiter into Aries and Mercury in to Gemini, the Moon persists in trying to tell us something. Something that, appropriately, we can only apprehend intuitively. Something which is emerging into the conscious. Pay attention to what comes up from within you this evening.
Second, Venus is slowing down almost imperceptibly on a daily basis. Its apparent daily motion is nearly ten arc minutes less than it was at the beginning of the year. Finally, Leo is a fixed fire sign. During the next four weeks both the element and the quality will place Venus in a unique position to inform the momentous aspects to come. The first one is tomorrow, which may bring solutions to a few of the pressing problems faced by the world.
Offered In Service. Edits at 10:30 am ET by Eric Francis.
Patty,
Exactly! Beautiful! Thank you!
Two red-tail hawks swooped low over my car hood and led me up the hill yesterday. It was an electric moment when I thought they were trying to speak to me. All week I had been listening to the kildeer at lunch, joyfully listening to their songs (they sound like sea gulls).
Venus and the moon conjunct in Leo…something is beginning to commence.
be,
my vision of when I was just born/young (having come as a seed of light from elsewhere) and living in a “tide-pool” on the shores of Atlantis also includes the amazing Aviaries that we cultivated. Birds are often forgotten as they are not tied to land as we are…perhaps a new beginning is in the air.
Fitting too this day as we offer our flag symbols of community to the winds.
xo
PS I have given much time this day to further study of Ceres and Ceres in my chart (Ceres in Cancer, Moon in Aries, as close to a square as not-quite-comfortable). It is stimulation to this kind of exploration that makes PW especially important to me. Thank you.
Eric,
LOL! I have written (well) instructional manuals for computer programs and related materials……perhaps I should view both screenplay writing and astrology as not so difficult as I have perceived. š
xo
hypnotic,
Thank you for the complement (on behalf of the team).
Yes, so far as i can tell, i do exist. Hopefully still useful too.
Fraternity brothers with Socrates.. Wow Len, you ARE decrepit.
But at least you do exist.
For a while there your writing was so remarkably alike that of Eric Francis, I was beginning to wonder if we were being duped by Eric writing under an assumed identity.
Nice work guys…
š
There’s this little thing called the Elusinian Mysteries but Socrates swore me to secrecy back when we were fraternity brothers (at Eye Felta Thigh) so i’ll never tell.
I do suggest we pull up some different versions of the Ceres myth.
There are alternate realities and modern readings of the story.
Dear me Len, I didn’t know about Ceres being raped. This knowledge makes it easier to understand her fury and vengeful act of withholding the crops as she did. Good grief, this news is very illuminating. Thank you for explaining. I do like the vision/suggestion you give us of reconciliation and forgiving too.
Like Morgana, I too feel blessed to have you navigating us through these times. There is a small concern about Venus entering Leo; this is where Mars parked for so long, about 22 days I believe. Of course, it is also the degree of my personal Pluto, so probably not a problem for the rest of the world.
Thinking of it being Flag Day and an opportunity to reconcile, someone asked about whether BP might turn out to be a company with a conscious; something hard to envision today. Knowing that would take some dramatic astrology to bring about I thought about the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, the every-20-year event that would happen in 2020 at 0+ Aquarius.
When Pluto gets to 27+ Capricorn it will be the start of the U.S. Pluto return In Feb 2022, it will pass over 27 Cap 33, once, twice, three times begore reaching 0+ Aquarius in March 2023. It then retrogrades back into Capricorn, much like Uranus will do and Saturn did after entering Aries and Libra respectively.
When it gets to 27 Cap 53 and stations direct, it will be only 20 minutes shy of its exact natal position in the U.S. (Sibly) chart. That touching of the degree where Jupiter and Saturn met (0+ Aquarius) then returning to the degree of the U.S. Pluto and stationing seemed symbolic of a joining, or even a reconciliation perhaps. I don’t know if BP would be part of the picture, but maybe. . .
The Sabian symbols were the reason I believe it could happen. That the Gulf Coast could be “reborn’ if you will. The Capricorn 28 symbol is “A Large Aviary” and the Aquarius 1 symbol is of an old adobe mission, of which Rudhyer says “. . speaks of the projection of a noble ideal into concrete forms of beauty and significance, . .”
Of course, that is almost 15 years down the road and we still have to get through this cardinal cross upon us, and the big t-square and 2012, so a lot of trial and tribulation to get from here to there. But it’s a worthy dream (day-dreaming Aquarians take note) and something to focus on when dealing with 90+ degrees and all that jazz.
be
It’s not easy writing astrology. I say that having written everything except screenplays and computer manuals. First you need to understand enough astrology, then have an idea to write about. Presentation is tricky because we have to appeal to people who have little to no prior exposure, and people who start to panic when they see the word ‘degree’ or ‘aspect’. But we cannot write below the level of people who know what they’re taking about. The only place that has solved this riddle of multilevel writing are journalists, so that is why I prefer a journalistic rather than academic presentation. We have basic rules about defining your terms and what the writer presumes a reader knows. When I edit, much of what I do is edit in backstory, definitions and boilerplate ideas, such as how an eclipse feels (without prejudicing one about the experience).
One challenge is presenting the technical stuff as relevant — or allowing it to tell a story that we then relate to our readers. This is more like writing fiction than nonfiction because of the selective nature of what is used, and the human mind’s need to have a cohesive narrative. So we need to constantly adapt and reflect on the process to make sure that we’re framing the issue in a way that is cohesive, accurate and relevant. Then, in the end, the language needs to be tuned up to make sure that we’re speaking in a way that is understandable.
Many more people are drawn to astrology than seek to understand how it works; and there is a presumption that it’s a lot harder than it really is. If you have an open mind, there is a way to approach it such that it’s approachable; the energies are all natural sources of ideas, made of natural cycles. The question at the end of the day is: do we give our power over to astrology, or do we use it to inform of us of where our power is. This is the ethical dimension…many, many readers want to be told what to think, or what’s going to happen, and as an editor I don’t ever want to play into that soft spot in human nature.
Thank you for your labors Len.
Once again my thanks go out to Fe and Eric who help me out tremendously when my words don’t come out so good.
Today I want to express verbal thanks for the amazing resource that is Planet Waves. We are blessed to be navigating times like these with such food for thought. Om mani padme hum.