Thoughts on Approaching the Cancer Solstice

Dear Friend and Reader:

Recent events have lots of people wanting to retreat into a metaphorical shell of some kind; to protect the tender parts of ourselves with some form of armor, or to turn the hard parts of ourselves toward the world.

Two crabs connecting; photo by Amanda Painter.

Yet what the world needs most is for us to stay present in our sensitivity and our vulnerability. I don’t mean we should offer ourselves to be taken advantage of. Rather, I mean staying in touch with the places within that feel deeply, while still engaging with the world fully, may actually be the strongest way to stay whole.

The world needs our wholeness right now. Even if you feel broken, lost or ‘not quite ready yet’, those feelings are part of the sum of who you are — along with whatever else they might be masking. Your awareness of yourself in whatever form you currently take and your ability to express that awareness are incredibly valuable.

It’s easy to think that only the ‘heroes’ of our world are looked to as shining examples of strength, bravery, problem solving or worth. But if you’ve ever witnessed someone speaking their truth, even if it meant standing in their pain to say, “Here I am, in all my imperfection and unknowingness,” you know how inspiring and empowering that can be to others.

So please, do not retreat into your shell like a crab and hide under a seaweed-covered rock. Yes, the Sun arrives in Cancer for the solstice in less than a week on June 20 (at 6:34 pm EDT / 22:34 UTC), and you might be feeling that urge. But Cancer is also a cardinal sign: a sign of initiative, leadership and taking action in the world.

The first step for action to occur is showing up for yourself, with all of yourself: your dreams, desires and goals, along with the fears, doubts and obstacles that go with them; the places that have been hurt and compromised, and the places that feel beautiful and strong. Who cares if you need to come at things a little sideways sometimes? All that matters is that you are out there, moving, bringing your sensitivity into contact with others.

Together we grieve, and together we are stronger. As we care for others, we show them how to care for us in turn. And when we molt — allowing the softness of a fresh, tender self to meet the world — we are in the moment of greatest potential for growth.

Yours & truly,

Moonshine Horoscope for June 16, 2016, #1104 | by Len Wallick

Aries (March 20-April 19) — You will look back on this time and see how many things were working in your favor. Whether hindsight reveals that you were one of those things is something you can determine now. Everything you have been through for the last five years or so has prepared you to be your own most serendipitous supporter. By now, you know your needs like the back of your hand — especially when it comes to sustenance. You have also come to learn something of your value to others in relationship. Over the past two years, especially, you have made great strides finding your place in a changing world. Now, the idea is to get everything working together. One fringe benefit of supporting others is that they often feel more inclined to support you in return. While that is not the reason to help people, there is something to be said for remaining open to receiving from others as you evolve and grow.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — To find harmony on the outside, you must first establish it on the inside. Indications are that you have nearly completed your journey towards inner harmony. What’s more, it appears as though you have achieved your current state of personal attunement largely on your own terms. That’s all very good; there are a few steps left for you to take, however. Part of the process will be learning to walk the line between affirming yourself (which is also very good) and over-focusing on congratulating yourself (which can get stuck on the level of ego, rather than healthy self-esteem). Another crucial element in your current state of development would seem to entail tying up some loose ends with one or two close relationships. In order to negotiate any closure you need with a special other (or others), be sure to bring your whole self to deal with them, and do it sincerely — remembering that they, too, are a whole self.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — What success consists of depends on who you are, and what you want. In nearly every case, however, winning has more to do with surpassing yourself than overcoming others. That would appear to be especially true for you now. No matter how well you have achieved your ambitions in the past, the new level of aspirations now within your reach will require you to somehow do and be better than ever before. There should be no doubt about your ability to step up. As a matter of fact, meeting and matching new challenges should be easy as pie for you. What may not be your piece of cake is facing limitations, especially those of your own creation. Acknowledge how you might be holding yourself back, and you will be taking the first and most important step toward propelling yourself beyond your personal best. You’re bound to discover a whole new you on the other side.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — A great deal of what life has to offer is available to those who simply show up at the right place. Often, however, the very best of what life has to offer is claimed by those who show up at the right time in that right place. You have always understood the value of timing, but it may have been a while since you last practiced its fine art. Has it been eight or nine years or just a matter of days since you were at the top of your temporal game? In the end, how long it’s been does not matter. What matters is that you now become consciously aware of having regained your smooth, natural feel for the moment. Sure, there may be some rust to polish off, and more practice might be needed to be confident of your quips, steps or rhythms. The main thing, however, is to believe in your ability to seize the day. Unless there is a good, solid reason, hesitate no more.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Being comfortable in your own skin is half the game right now. That’s because wherever you choose to go, there you will be. The same principle applies to whatever you choose to do, and whenever you choose to do it. You are the common denominator in your life for every moment you live. Of course, that’s true for everybody. For you, however, your own presence at every occasion in your life is something more than just a pithy precept. It’s a cornerstone waiting to be laid. It’s an epiphany waiting to happen. There are two big reasons for that. First, every day really is the first day of the rest of your life. Additionally, your relationship with the universe really does imply that the majesty and magnanimity humanity has always imagined of lions is implicitly part of who you are. All you have to do is allow that part to live through your every action and you will not only be comfortable but beautiful in your own skin.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — One reliable test of character is what a person does when nobody else is looking. You know good and well that’s one test you can pass with flying colors. Your innate connection with how the Earth constantly changes yet stays consistently itself means that you need never wonder what to do when left to your own devices. What’s potentially at question, especially now, is what you do when others are watching. Recent events may have made you less than confident about your conduct being witnessed. Either that, or you may needlessly be putting pressure on yourself to be perfect. Yet, you have no reason to be anything less than self-assured in the public eye. You know yourself to be the equal of every circumstance you have ever encountered in solitude, and there is no reason to believe that being in the spotlight will reveal you to be anything less than your best.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Think of your life up to now as having been a period of preparation to stake out your place in the world, and you will have an appropriate mindset to deal with both your inner and outer environments. What you lack is not knowledge. You have learned much. Neither are you likely to be wanting for skill. Just being alive at this time means you have, at the very least, successfully completed an apprenticeship of sorts. All that you have taken into yourself is now ready to come back out with a style and flavor uniquely your own. The question you now face is finding the place where what you have to offer will be valued sufficiently to support both personal mastery and public acceptance. That place could be where you already are. If you can bring yourself to at least look elsewhere, however, the odds are you will be very glad you did by this time next year.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Vindication can be yours. That’s true whether you are living through a time of trial or living the proverbial “life of Riley.” Either way, there are some open questions regarding both past choices and present viability. Perhaps paradoxically, the answers to those questions will not matter as much as how you answer them. It will not help your cause to be defensive. Indeed, it is essential for you to know there is nothing that needs defending. Neither will it do for you to conceal anything. As a matter of fact, being absolutely and convincingly transparent will be your best practice for now and the foreseeable future. Most importantly, you need to feel secure enough to understand that the true power of your present position lies in the certainty that you have earned distinctions that cannot be lost and achievements that can never, ever be taken away.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — The fact that you can’t control everything does not mean your life is out of control. More than nearly anybody else, you know uncertainty is your friend (and you probably know it now more than ever before in your life). It’s not so much that any other circumstance would be better than yours is now. On the contrary, it appears as though you have at least some enjoyment in direct proportion to how hard you have worked and how much you have evolved since this time last year. Nonetheless, you are very likely now ready to take on anything that comes your way — and to find within yourself not only a way to survive, but also a way to thrive. The degree to which you can be open to what the future will bring is the extent to which you will now be able to begin shaping a future you can gratefully call your own. Let the world watch out: here you come.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — In all likelihood, your life over the last seven or eight years will make a lot more sense if you can look back and see it as a journey. It might be fair to say that your voyage started with a struggle against some things. It might also be accurate to say that sometime along the way you put the struggle against those things behind you, and started striving for something instead. Now, it appears as though the struggle and strife part can be over, but only if you let it go. In large part, your good fight has been won. Just remember, your victory has not brought you to an end. Make peace, not war, in order to remake yourself. If peace means stability at this time, the best way to find it is to be stable within yourself. Settling down need not mean settling for less. Neither is it necessary to confine yourself. Rather, seek to define yourself anew. Then, endeavor to live according to your own, hard-won definition.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — The world can be a serious place, as the most recent public events continually seem to attest. You are very capable of responding by being every bit as serious in turn. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there is another, more private potential within you. It’s an alternative form of response, which you might be inclined keep private because it may rub some people the wrong way. It’s about creating warm, sunny play out of the cold clay that the world can sometimes hand you. Your funny flip side is anything but flippant, however; neither is it crazy. Even so, as you have undoubtedly found from experience, it takes courage to risk showing it. Now could very well be one of those times when your potential to dare making fun out of what’s serious might be thankless but certainly not useless. At the very least, try taking yourself less seriously for your own sake.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — One of the best products of human civilization might very well be the road. Open roads, especially, do more than create a means of connection from one place to another. In practical fact, highways are a place unto themselves. It appears high time for you to consider a road trip so that you can reacquaint yourself with the unintentional potentials to be found while traversing vast stretches of pavement for their own sake. The season beginning with the Sun’s ingress to Cancer this year is all but a written invitation to travel at least far enough to rediscover where the flow of traffic ends and the flow of life begins. Allow yourself to wander, if only to reassure yourself that you are not lost — even after all the detours your life’s aspirations and efforts have taken since the last time you found some privacy on a public thoroughfare. You just might find yourself more at home on the road right now than anyplace else.

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