Happy Summer Solstice & New Moon!

Summer Solstice and New Moon in Cancer

Celebrate! Midsummer’s Night is here! It’s the longest day, one of the four most powerful points in the solar year. Honor this shift in some tangible way and bring its power into your life – an offering, a prayer, a silent acknowledgement, for this is where the increase of sunlight that has developed from the point of the Winter Solstice now shifts from the yang, outwardly-increasing force to the yin, inwardly decreasing force. The Masculine powers of Light surrender and begin the descent into the Feminine power of the Dark. In the Hindu tradition, the Winter Solstice inaugurates ‘the way of the Gods’ (devayana) and the Summer Solstice inaugurates ‘the way of the Ancestors’ (pitriyana).

We enter the gateway of Cancer at Summer Solstice, and this year the New Moon with Sun and Moon in Cancer at 1º follows close behind on Monday, June 22. We are awash in the sensitivity of a feminine, yin water sign. After the fire of Aries, earthy pragmatism of Taurus, whirlwind activities of airy Gemini, watery Cancer provides a welcome refreshment and solace to our inner life. Giving and receiving emotional warmth, support, and nourishment is the key to aligning with these energies. The South is the direction of summer. Life is at its fullest, our hearts open up in the warmth and relaxation of sunlight like the ripening fruit, and we feel gratitude and love for our families and communities. Our emotional life is accentuated.

Both the Solstice and the New Moon charts are notable for the conjunction of Venus and Mars in Taurus. The Feminine Goddess of Love is aligned seamlessly with the Masculine God of War. A supportive trine from Saturn in Virgo encourages us to redefine our relationship to our inner masculine and feminine. Pluto also wants influence on this gathering of the masculine/feminine archetypes and offers opportunity (with the help of Saturn’s pattern-breaking ability) to purge the old dance of dominance-aggression and resentment-blame. On a personal level, can we balance our needs for intimacy and independence?

Since Pluto entered Capricorn in January 2008, it has been aligning with the Sun Solstice points that heavily influence the next half-year that follows. So, for a year and a half, the transforming energies of Pluto have been metamorphosing our Sun selves – our basic purpose and identity in the world. Don’t cling to what wants to breakdown, self-destruct, and re-organize. Allow this portal to the penetrating power of Pluto to renew, revitalize and permanently alter who you are. Welcome it. Pluto only takes away what no longer serves. Allow whatever part of you is deadened to let go. Here at the Cancer summer point, Cancer and her ruling planet, the Moon, enable us to rebirth our relationship to the Great Mother and the Feminine. She rules the breasts-‘giver of life’ and the stomach-‘assimilator of nourishment’. She governs the home, children, food, our feelings and emotional responses, habits, and imagination. She protects, heals, and nurtures. Reach deeply into her wellspring of healing waters and nourish the child in you. May the summer be blessed.

Astrological Notes by Patricia Liles reach her at patliles@aol.com