Friday at 4:08 am EDT, the Moon and the Sun form a conjunction in the sign Cancer — also called the Cancer New Moon. This is the last moment of the cardinal grand cross of 2014. All of the planets involved remain in their signs associated with the grand cross (that changes in July). The Moon-Sun conjunction on Friday followed by the Moon-Sun opposition (the Capricorn Full Moon) on July 12 are the last major events emphasizing this potent, assertive, pioneering cardinal cross energy.
Combined with Mercury retrograde, this is the message to complete projects begun in late 2013 and through the first half of 2014 — and get ready for something new. In the current astrological cluster, I’ve already mentioned Venus square Neptune and Jupiter conjunct Varuna.
One of the key concepts in this chart involved deception and the honoring of agreements. It’s easy to make agreements and less easy to keep them. Jupiter conjunct Varnua, exact in the sign Cancer on the day of the New Moon, calls for a bit of comment. This conjunction comes up in two important historic charts — the horoscope for the Sept. 11, 2001 incident, and the horoscope for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which started the Vietnam War. So far as I understand them, these were false flag incidents that led to the United States’ involvement in its two longest wars.
An astrologer who goes by the name Eric Starwalker wrote to me and said, “I associate Varuna with the archetype of the archangel Michael. This is an example of the shadow side of the use of the sword in the name of a righteous cause.”
At the current conjunction, we are seeing an extremely serious situation erupt on Iraq and Syria, where insurgencies are now powerful enough that official governments cannot stop them.
The sword of justice can surely be used righteously, and on the individual level it’s up to each of us. Jupiter conjunct Varuna happens about every 12 to 13 years; the current one is square the lunar nodes in Aries and Libra. This emphasizes the idea of a tipping point. On the personal level, the question is: how should I act personally, when I live in a society dominated by fraud, deception and criminal behavior?
The New Moon pattern, early in the water signs, picks up a close trine to Neptune in Pisces, and a slightly less close trine to Nessus. Two powerful goddess figures are in a conjunction in very early Cancer — Iris, the messenger of the Greek gods, and Isis, a revered figure from the Egyptian pantheon.
To me this is asking: do we view Cancerian (feminine) energy as a birthing pod, or do we view it as an active force in consciousness and the cosmos? Has the feminine aspect of nature delegated all responsibility for volition, for action, for vocalization and for initiating the next phase of history, to the masculine? If not, what would it look like? How would it feel? What effort would be made to establish a balance between the forces of nature and consciousness — the very thing that is missing today, as we watch from the edge of the world?
The Moon-Sun conjunction illustrates one version of a point of balance.
Do we view Cancerian (feminine) energy as a birthing pod, or do we view it as an active force in consciousness and the cosmos?
For me it feels like all of the above, as a cauldron, that births, initiating action as a result, and is influenced by the brain center we are living out of or making decision from. I feel as though I move as an orbit in different ways depending on what part of my brain is enacting my nervous system.
Has the feminine aspect of nature delegated all responsibility for volition, for action, for vocalization and for initiating the next phase of history, to the masculine?
NO.
I feel in my body that the feminine characteristics of movement are often different than the masculine characteristics and when looking through an exclusively masculine lens, feminine movement, as measured in terms of progress, may not be discernible to a nervous system looking only through a linear or sequential order of operation model. The feminine often moves in spirals, just like nature.
If not, what would it look like? How would it feel?
Yummy spirals, sans dizziness.
What effort would be made to establish a balance between the forces of nature and consciousness — the very thing that is missing today, as we watch from the edge of the world?
Occupy the still point, where energy gathers or moves in towards, organizes itself based on your body-mind-heart-spirit coherence, and then spirals out into action, based on that coherence. It’s easier said then done but worth the risk of trying and the effort of recruiting and maintaining patience, for the benefits to reveal themselves.
My experience is that for the creative process to work, as a process of transformation-transfiguration, it needs to be as centered in the constructive end of the spectrum as it is the destructive, and therefore able to occupy every point within the spectrum.
Amanda, I loved your view of “ ritual creates a fantastic container for transformation”.
Diva Carla, I loved your view “The Divine Feminine is on the move” and not being distracted by that “first apple in the garden”. Years ago I wrote a poem called The Apple is back on that Tree and it ends with:
“I put the apple back on that tree.
The snake and I are going to find our true homes.”
Eric, thanks for asking the questions.
Thanks Eric. . .. I didn’t realize (or had forgotten) that Varuna had been conjunct Jupiter in the 9/11/01 disaster at 11+ Cancer. Recently I’d been intrigued by the fact that the north node in the JFK assassination chart had also been at 11+ Cancer, pointing to the possibility of JFK’s murder leading to some future opportunity which, as it turned out, showed up as Jupiter in the 9/11/01 chart.
What if now (with the New Moon in Cancer [conjunct the U.S. Sibly Jupiter], with it’s trans. Jupiter conjunct trans. Varuna in Cancer), we are being invited (if not knocked up the side of the head) to consider viewing the Big Picture from a feminine, nurturing, emoting, family oriented point of view? The Iraq-Syria situation expresses these attributes (feminine, emoting, etc.) in the extreme negative due to the long suppression or lack of acceptance and respect of these (feminine) modes.
Another Cancer attribute is the instinctive understanding between what is inclusive within a family (blood related or otherwise) boundary and what is not. What if we could understand this instinct as an affirmation and clarification to the world that a specific group NEEDS (another Cancer trait) this clarification, and needs to express it via a boundary line, and needs to have the rest of the world RESPECT that family distinction. After that, after all the emotions have had time to return to a “normal” expression, after recognition that ALL families are equal and deserve respect for their uniqueness, then we can go for a more balanced (yin-yang) approach at integration. Right now we have the negative feminine, a result of the feminine trying to imitate the masculine, which is grotesque.
Perhaps with Neptune now backing off the trumpet blowing (degree), and Mars mellows out in Venus’ sign of partnership as he conjuncts Ceres and Vesta, Isis can pick up the pieces and re- assemble Iris’ rainbow message which Chiron can then use to bridge over troubled waters with Saturn, things might look and feel a lot different.
be
Diva Carla – thank you for everything you wrote! Very inspiring, and I found a lot of echos of my own thoughts as of late. Something I come around to often is the importance of owning and learning about the shadow side of the feminine, specifically in terms of how the energy constellates (feels!) in each of us. The feminine is not all just divine love and nurturing. It can be wrathful. But more than that, it is full of natural upheaval – which is not an inherently malicious force. The wolf attacks its pretty because that is what it needs to survive, not because it is evil.
I’ve also been thinking about the “Cancerian” function a lot. I tend to look at the Cancerian archetype in terms of ego and identity formation. So in that sense, it is very much both birthing pod and an active force in consciousness – and more specifically, how we identify ourselves within and orient ourselves to the cosmos. It is very much a crisis in action (first quarter square Aries to Cancer on the cardinal cross) that can enhance or totally screw up how we relate to people (Libra), and thus the way we take responsibility for our lives and our actions (Capricorn).
So with Cancer as ego-identity (in the psychological sense, not the pop culture “your ego is so overblown” sense), one of the things that I think is important is the remembrance that ego identity can and is meant to change, alongside changes in consciousness. Rather than getting stuck in hiding within the crab shell or birthing pod, we wear our armor (as seen in The Chariot tarot card) while it suits and serves, but are then receptive to changes so that we can initiate new cycles of identity – and at many points in that journey, there is a need to retreat or “hide,” which is a necessary part of the journey of integration, but then we come out again, and wear the armor, and process with our family or tribe. But clinging to identities out of security…well, that seems pretty problematic.
So what does a more balanced Cancerian adventure look like to me? Opening to and allowing for change in our personal (national? Collective?) identities. Remembering that the moon cycles quickly and that therefore changes in our emotional landscapes change quickly too – and that that’s natural. It seems that we cling so much to beliefs and identity that the only way to evolve is through crisis. Waiting til something hurts enough to make change. I wish we could recognize that pattern and change it, and it seems like many people are at least at the personal level. My number one go to for embracing and assisting processes of change – especially during personal and collective rites of passage – is ritual. Self-generated and group ritual creates a fantastic container for transformation, and I’d love to see more reclaiming of ritualistic practices in our culture.
If Cancer marks the point of ego/identity formation, then Leo is where/how/why we express that ego and our process of differentiation. With Jupiter moving from Cancer to Leo, I’m looking forward to playing with the expressions of my beliefs, keeping in mind that things do change and that change is something that can be celebrated and danced through, or at least harnessed and worked with, rather than avoided.
“Has the feminine aspect of nature delegated all responsibility for volition, for action, for vocalization and for initiating the next phase of history, to the masculine?”
This is the defining question of our era, and one we must face and answer. As a question it explains the last 5000 years. Since the Goddess cannot be conquered or destroyed, she must have abdicated. This is the shadow of the story of Lilith, who left Paradise rather than be considered less than and subject to the Man and his male god. Honored as an act of personal integrity, the mess of history still playing is the consequence.
The Divine Feminine is on the move and showing up both lovingly (sexual awakening, places like planetwaves, and awakened women and men stepping forth as leaders), and wrathfully (earthquakes, hurricanes, melting ice, and the effects of inbalance and disrespect for the way nature works). And yet, it will be so easy to snooze, enjoy the ride, have a great orgasm, and abdicate the work that needs to be done. It’s tempting and seductive as that first apple in the garden.
So let’s answer these questions, and they are big ones.
“If not, what would it look like? How would it feel? What effort would be made to establish a balance between the forces of nature and consciousness — the very thing that is missing today, as we watch from the edge of the world?”
My own image that speaks to these questions is the Circle of Women, doing our work, our ceremony, and the Circle of Warriors protecting this sacred space. It’s a metaphor that speaks to our distinct energies and powers, and how we can bring these powers together to work for life.
On a practical level, it looks like my young neighbor, permaculturist and worker with the consciousness of nature, running for local selectman in my town. It looks like Marianne Williamson running for Congress. Both lost this time, and both raised their voices and dared to be visible.
Establishing a balance between the forces of nature and consciousness… I’d like to hear more about what this looks like to you, Eric. Consciousness as we know it has evolved in the Separatist and Conquest paradigm of the last couple of millenia. I feel Consciousness is now hungry to remember what it was like to be in rhythm and concert with the Consciousness of Nature. That’s the next evolution. Reclaiming the personal ownership and agency of our sexuality is the fastest way to tap in. Our bodies know we are within Nature, our minds build the walls of separation.
What does this look like “workboots on the ground”? We each do the work inside ourselves, and do the work in the world that is important to us. Some teach, some plant, some march, some run for office, some go to jail. As we go, we extend our hands and bring two others along on the journey. What amazes me is that critical mass necessary for transformation is incredibly small compared to the whole. There is hope, even if the consequences of the past are unavoidable.