The Sun enters cardinal Cancer at 7:09 pm EDT on Wednesday, initiating a new season. Concurrently, the Sun will appear directly overhead at the northern latitude named the Tropic of Cancer. The Sun reaches zenith at the Tropic of Cancer when Earth returns to the part of its orbit where the Northern Hemisphere is tilted as far in the Sun’s direction as it will get. That means the world’s northern half is getting more solar energy at this time of year.
That’s how a Cancer Solstice is the first day of Summer above the equator and the first day of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the Sun’s relative position will be the same for everybody over the next few days, fundamentally connecting your existence to all other beings. Through that connection, it will be plain to see that you are not only one with all things but also in a position to set an important example for others who lack the same awareness.
Cancer is a cardinal sign, as are Libra, Capricorn and Aries. When the Sun passes the point of cardinal entry, a new season begins. As each season begins, the Sun’s position holds a common experience for each and all of us at the same time. For a few days on ether side of the Cancer solstice, the Sun is as far to the North as it will get.
The Sun’s northernmost elongation does not look the same everywhere. Above the northern latitude known as the Arctic Circle, it means the Sun climbs higher in the sky than at any other time during the annual period of round-the-clock daylight. In Antarctica, the Cancer Solstice is the mid-point of continuous night. For the rest of us, however, the solar ingress to Cancer is most plainly marked by where the Sun is at dawn and sunset, holding the same position for a few days before changing direction.
Regardless of how it looks, it all amounts to the same thing, a turning point for everybody together, all at once. From such solar turning points, initiating each season with common and concurrent experience, astrology derives the symbolism that applies to any phenomenon taking place in the early degrees of cardinal turf. In order to meaningfully connect with each other during this crucial time in our history, we must first connect with astrology’s cardinal symbolism. That’s the importance of this particular Cancer solstice, it gives us something plain to see that will prepare us for a planetary alignment nobody will see, but which will just as surely represent the beginning of a new historical season that will last for a long time.
Most of us will never see any of the solar system out past Saturn, but we know all those objects take a long time to make a single orbit of the Sun. Those long orbital periods correspond to slow movement through the zodiac circle of signs. Hence, the outer solar system represents cycles of history that go on for many years. So it is that Pluto is still early in its Capricorn season in spite of having made its cardinal ingress in 2008. That means Pluto’s archetype is just beginning to work its compulsory metamorphosis through the material milieu upon which empires are founded only to fall. Meantime, another outer planet in another cardinal sign is symbolically pushing Pluto to get on with it.
Uranus first crossed the Aries point in 2010, immediately triggering the contention inherent between cardinal expressions. That contention is symbolized by both the spatial and temporal relationship between cardinal signs. On the calendar, seasons initiate as far apart as time allows. On a chart, cardinal signs form a cross, a shape holding them as far apart as space allows. Now, finally, in 2012 the galvanizing archetype of Uranus is working through the primal assertiveness of fiery Aries while retrograde Pluto backs in as close as their separate cardinal proximity will allow: a square aspect, a separation as plainly felt as the Sun is seen.
Astrology interprets objects in a square aspect as tension felt internally, requiring the conscious application of action in order to achieve resolution. When objects that evoke epochs form squares from the places where seasons initiate, the clear implication is that we are all having the same experience on the inside at the same time. While inner experience is no more easily seen than Uranus or Pluto, the results of all of us together feeling the need for resolution simultaneously cannot help but be plain to see. It connects all beings through a need to act with awareness that our current period of history has gone as far as it’s going to get, and that a change of direction is in order.
It is with exquisite timing that Uranus and Pluto will exact the first of six square aspects just days after Wednesday’s Cancer Solstice. It is as though the Sun is preparing us to enter a season of our own making. The fact that Uranus and Pluto will repeat an exact square so many times means that their relative position will be continuous for everybody over the next several years. Even though the corresponding events will not look the same everywhere, it will amount to the same thing, a turning point in the history of the world. Unlike the turning of solar season, however, the result is not a foregone conclusion, but something to be determined by all of us together acting at once.
This is where you come in. By being conscious of the big picture through astrology, you have the opportunity to set an example for those who will be looking for one to emulate. If you have ever asked how you came to be here at this time, that will be your answer. Your purpose is to emulate the Sun, setting a standard for others that will be plain to see. Clearly, there is work to do, and you are among those who must do it for the sake of all.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Diva Carla: You are most welcome. It is gratifying to know my descriptions are clear so that you can correspond the fundamentals of tropical astrology (the Sun’s relationship to the surface of the Earth) to real world events that are plain to see.
liminali and pam: Thank you.
be: Thank you. You are never too late and always very welcome. There is, however, one aspect to the Cancer Solstice Sun not on the Serennu list. On the day of the annular solar eclipse (May 20, 2012) asteroid Cuno (minor planet number 4183) made a very close pass by Earth. It waved at me when it went by and i’ve been tracking it ever since. Cuno will oppose the Cancer Solstice Sun to the degree from the first degree of Capricorn. True to your genius, that opposition reinforces your reading of the Cancer Solstice astrology. As to Burney, been tracking that one too. i believe it has to do with the essentially human activity of naming things, and in the first degree of Virgo it will be very active in sextile to the Cancer Solstice Sun. Bless you, be! Thank you so much for Dane Rudyhar’s cogent insight reaching us through the years at this intersection.
mystes: Good to know you intend to settle down happy. By the way, Hades is not an asteroid, it’s a Uranian, a calculated point not really there. It moves about as fast as Pluto.
Thank you, Pam. Yes, it’ll do for a couple of years. It has been 30 years since I’ve had 24 foot ceilings. And that was in Mexico, so a *very* different architecture. This place manages to be spacious and cozy at the same time!
Be, much appreciation for your tracking the Cancer/Kallinectes prime degree activity. Hades, huh? (I’ve been, it’s not that bad.) How fast does this asteroid move? And when will it be opposing Pluto? One wonders. . .
I also note that Sisyphus is in the final degrees of Cancer. Thank you, sir… please feel free to roll on up to Leo.
( Back in a flash… )
M
Hi Len,
Hope I’m not too late to “Leave a Reply” but something strikes me as a little odd. For the last few years the Cancer Solstice Sun has made tight aspects to other astro symbols occupying the 0 or 1st degree, or 29th degree of the current sign they reside in. For example, in 2008 the Sun at Solstice opposed Pluto at 29 Sagittarius, squared Requium at 0 Libra and Industria at 1 Libra.
Then in 2009, the 0 Cancer Sun was conjunct Vesta at 0 Cancer, and trine Pandora at 0 Pisces. In 2010, the Summer Solstice Sun was square Uranus at 0 Aries, as well as Jupiter and Hekate at 1 Aries, and trine to Chiron at 0 Pisces. Last summer the Sun at 0 Cancer was trine Neptune at 0 Pisces, conjunct Achilles and Hades at 0 Cancer, and opposite Atropos at 0 Capricorn.
This year though, Hades is at 1 Cancer and the only other object listed at the 0 degree (Serennu list) was Burney making a sextile to the Sun at 0 Cancer. Burney! Come again? What to make of Burney with no symbolism other than it was named after a young girl who suggested Pluto as the name for the newly discovered planet way back when. From obscurity and innocence to celestial fame that little lady’s last name is now playing a support role in this season’s quest for consciousness.
Dane Rudhyar reminds us in his Sabian Symbols book, An Astrological Mandala, that the Sun will occupy the “most glorious hour” for the “individual” at 0 Cancer, as from this point forward the “collective” will gradually overcome the individual and “at the end the state will overpower the person” as it moves toward the Winter Solstice in December.
He brought to my attention that as individuals we express the “yang” energy but as part of the collective we express “yin” energy. How appropriate then that a young girl would assist (sextile aspect) at this turning point from yang to yin, from individual to collective.
The symbol for this event is “On A Ship The Sailors Lower An Old Flag And Raise A New One. (Keynote: A radical change of allegiance exteriorized in a symbolical act: a point of no return.) Rudhyar refers to it as “REORINTATION”, implying the stabilization of energies. As you say “fundamentally connecting your existence to all other beings.” We may not see it but before the summer is over we will certainly feel it. This could be a big clue my friend.
be
mystes, wishing you a long long stay in your beautiful appartement: years or decades rather than months…
Solstice dreamin’
http://youtu.be/1qKLrRmRYcE
Powerful and Lucid. Len you explain these complexities so I can understand them! Thank you.
Your purpose is to emulate the Sun, setting a standard for others that will be plain to see.
Today I started a painting, a spiritual self-portrait of myself as the Sun. On the outside that is. On the inside I am a galaxy.
Solstice!
mystes: Thank you for your kind words and updates. It appears as though you do have things timed rather well. Thank you especially for the confirmation that midsummer night dreams are going around your neck of the woods as well.
P. Sophia: Thank you for kindly accepting the service of this offering.
Jann: It gives me joy to know the words worked for you. Thank you for your kind acknowledgement.
A portal, a threshold to a new season…opening wider each time the Great Awakener and the Great Reducer square and connect. Thank you ever so much, Len, for weaving together a magnificent large tapestry, an astrological big picture – for words that bring light like the Sun. Maybe, just maybe we can rekindle the “awesomeness” of living together on this island planet. Much gratitude for brightening a day that started out in gloom.
JannKinz
Len, thank you, Eric and all PW writers and bloggers who are contributing to this work and service. For consciously raising our consciousness, through intuitively interpreting these astrological aspects which broaden our cosmic vision.
I absolutely believe I am responsible and a valuable player in this unfolding, as we all are. The knowledge and understanding are here, heart is open…tapping into the ineffable for expression is my prayer.
‘It is as though the Sun is preparing us to enter a season of our own making’…a turning point in the history of the world’…the result is not a foregone conclusion, but something to be determined by all of us together acting at once.’
Thank you, Len… as luck would have it, I am just skirting the edges of work (employment) obligations as each of these — New Moon and then Solstice — come into play. Haven’t looked at the sched for the 23rd (when Plu/Ur square, right?)… oh wait, Sat. is clear for now. Good.
It is very helpful to have the times of these transits – and of course your gentle encouragement to stay awake is invaluable.
(The move is still underway, tho I have most of our stuff in the new apartment. I lovelovelove this place! and my dreamstates have been very active here. Not always pretty those dreams, but the feeling of happiness is suffusing even the strangest imagery. The period between Solstice and Fall Equinox (2012) is preparatory for resuming my literary and cognitive work – getting this base established is the project till Fall.)