When you think of ‘taking care of your home’, what do you think of? Vacuuming? Putting on a new roof? Cooking for the people you live with? How often do you extend the definition to include taking care of the Earth itself? After Jupiter ingresses Cancer today at 9:40 pm EDT, you may find your definition of ‘home’ and your sense of how to care for it expanding.
Another word for ‘taking care of the Earth’ is ‘stewardship’, which for some Christians — including some who are fairly far out on the fundamentalist/evangelical end of the spectrum — is a primary tenet of their Christianity.
“We think that the earth is a very cool place to live. And we think that we as Christians should take care of it,” says one environmentally focused Christian website. It continues, “We show our love for neighbors by helping to keep this place wonderful because we all live here and share it.”
“We all live here and share it” — and that includes all of the animals and plants, the fungi and bacteria and so on. All of us together form this interconnected web of relationships, which is one definition of ‘ecology’. ‘Ecology’ is also the scientific study of all these relationships between organisms and their environment. But the word comes from a Greek word meaning “house, dwelling place.”
That brings us back to Cancer, the sign of the home and ‘taking care’. With the entrance of Jupiter that idea of home gets to expand to include the very planet we live on, its very soil and air and especially its waters, and all of its inhabitants.
Jupiter in Cancer becomes a ‘spirituality of caring’, with a deep sense of justice. To care for the Earth — our home — does not need to be a political crusade. It can be as simple as bringing an extra bag for picking up litter when you take your kids to the beach.
yes, michele — i think i simply copied the wrong number from eric’s post yesterday. they were rather close together. 🙂
marymack — around here they are also called “steamers” at restaurants, and they are an important part of the local fishing economy — as well as an important filtering organism for the ecosystem as a whole.
bringing it all home … like a musician. you all turn me onto my own song that brings me to my home.
mm
ps: never heard of soft-shelled clams before.
3:26 a.m. EDT is was the Moon’s ingress into Aquarius. 🙂
Lizzy, love the crow story! Amanda, thanks for your tribute to Jupiter’s entry into Cancer and a reminder that the earth is our home. It occurs to me that Sedna’s move into the next degree of Taurus (see previous thread for details) is part of the vanguard leading to Jupiter’s ingress into the water sign, the one that represents our (greater/expanded) home. Astrology can be subtle but it can also be in your face, can’t it?
be
CORRECTION: Jupiter does not enter Cancer until 9:40 pm EDT today. I’m not sure where I got the 3:26 am time, but I should have verified it. My apologies!
Can I chalk that up to a little Mercury storm? Sorry for any confusion…!
Although I am a conscious steward of the earth and my little piece of it, my stewardship seems to be expanding to a historic house during this aspect, and bringing my 5th house creativity to it. *giggle*
Amanda (and Eric): Thank you for bringing it all back home like a great musician.
Amanda: Thank you for an excellent photo rendition of a challenging subject.
All of it.
And I do not feel assailed.
Lovely piece and photo. Scary bugger, wouldn’t what *that* coming for me if I were a soft shelled clam.”…bringing an extra bag for picking up litter when you take your kids to the beach”. Yes, lovely. The care is in the details and paying loving attention to things, nature, people, animals
Yesterday I had the privilege of having a close encounter wth a crow. I’m on the top floor and crows circle around and settle on the rooftops near me, but they keep away from people. Yesterday pm I was working at my computer when a large crow alighted on the top of my terrace trellis, almost exactly opposite me, just a few feet away. And he just stayed there and moved his head from side to side, looking at me. I thought, oh my gawd, he’s going to open his beak any minute and start talking, and then they’ll carry me off in a strait jacket. I felt nervous but thrlled and fascinated, and maybe I’m imagining it, but his eyes looked kind. Needless to say I reached for the crow totems after he/she? flew off.
Happy Jupiter into Cancer, everyone, may it bring us all some joy and relief from hard times.