Midsummer by any other name

Today is Monday, August 8, 2011. The Sun is at the Leo midpoint, which is a kind of special event; it is the Midsummer holiday, generally celebrated some time the first week of August. In Gaelic it was called Lughnasadh. It also goes by Lugnasad, Lúnasa, Luanistyn, First Harvest or Second Planting. The Catholics used to call it Lammas, for whom it was the festival of the wheat harvest (with a traditional date of Aug. 1).

It has a lot of names, for a holiday mostly remembered by witches and a couple of astrologers. It’s one of the four cross-quarter days, the midpoints of the turning of the seasons. The seasons come about 12 weeks apart, and when half of that time has gone by, we arrive at a seasonal midpoint. These tend to have modern holidays piled onto them, with the notable exception of Lughnasadh.

This is an agricultural holiday, which comes with the reminder that our study of the zodiac has its roots in understanding the seasons so that food could be dependably produced. We might take this for granted now, but it was only recently that understanding the basic movements of the Earth was a matter of survival. We owe what we know to the ancient Chaldeans, who invented the tropical zodiac (for more on that, check out this article from earlier in the year on the 13th sign hoax).

Lughnasadh has the first hint of autumn, much like Imbolc, the Midwinter holiday, has the first hint of spring. It’s true you may be ear-deep in snow when the Sun reaches the Aquarius midpoint in early February, just like it’s still pretty darned hot in much of the Northern Hemisphere at the moment, but we can easily feel how summer is at its peak and will gradually ease into fall.

The day arrives with some particular and peculiar astrology. There’s an imaginary line dividing Leo and Virgo, where Mercury is dancing around right now. Right opposite that is an imaginary line (the same one, really) dividing Aquarius and Pisces, where Neptune is dancing around. Mercury is about to retrograde back into Leo, and Neptune has just retrograded back into Aquarius. The two planets make an exact opposition from Leo to Aquarius today at 10:22 am EDT.

Mercury and Neptune are different kinds of planets; Mercury takes 88 days to go round the Sun and Neptune takes about 12 years to go through one sign. They are now in a direct dialog; the implication of this is to be discerning. We could hang a big “slippery when wet” sign on the world. Carry a little salt in a pouch and throw it on the floor if you think it’s slick; if you meet someone who thinks they’re slick, feel free to be salty and down to Earth.

The chart offers a remedy to the viscosity of Neptune: precision of thought and speech, but with an open mind. In particular, if you think someone may be trying to deceive you, remember what they said before. Look to the past — particular in writing — for reference points for what you say now. Take the opportunity to reinterpret your past perception, if necessary. Make sure you don’t contradict yourself and if you need to do so intentionally, make sure you account for it. This precision comes in the form of an odd point I’ve mentioned a few times, called Transpluto. It’s one of nine hypothetical planets that exists in astrology; most astrologers don’t use any of them. I use them occasionally, though I cast Transpluto into every chart. It moves VERY slowly; it’s been in Leo since the 1930s and is about to ingress Virgo, briefly, for the first time in centuries this year. More on that another time.

Transpluto cautions against self-judgmental thoughts. One of the ways it feels is when the mind starts going off on an obsessive, paranoid, self-defeating loop. This may be complicated by the presence of Neptune, which (when opposite Mercury) can have the sensation of not knowing what’s true and false.

One last thing. This morning, the Moon makes a conjunction to Pholus, one of the Chiron-like centaur planets. Pholus (remember him from the Rupert Murdoch and News of the World charts) is about the uncontrolled release of something: substance, thought, emotion — really it can be anything. So, be aware of this. Work to minimize differences, definitely avoid arguments, take your space if you need it without defending yourself, and err on the side of being extra-specially ethical.

Note to Leos: Your birthday report will be out a little later in the day — watch this space, or subscribers watch your email. Note to All the Signs: We’re still offering the Mercury Retrograde Report (one of my favorite 12 sign reports ever; this one came in on a beam of light) and the Midyear Report also offers 12 signs of astrology for one low price. And if you’ve read this far, here is the August monthly horoscope (premium content), available for just a click.