
Solstice is upon us on June 20th at 1:51 pm PST/ 4:51 pm EST. This is one of the most important gateways in the astrological year, and it marks a threshold, no matter what hemisphere you are located in. Here in the Northern hemisphere the threshold will mark the highest point that Sun will get in the sky, and the beginning of summer, and in the Southern hemisphere it will mark the lowest point the sun will descend in the sky, and the beginning of winter. Either hemisphere, it marks the beginning of Cancer season, which you can read about here,
With the Sun’s ingress into Cancer, we have a lot of water energy, and a lot of emotions to contend with. Venus and Mercury moved into Cancer and conjoined with each other between June 16-17th, and today we have the Sun’s arrival and the mark of what is to come. Something that was happening around the December 2023 solstice will have a natural conclusion or new gateway. There is no more poetic way to mark this moment than with the Full Moon on June 21st in Capricorn, which happens at 1 degree, at 6:07 pm PST/ 9:07 pm EST. But we’ll get to that in a moment.
Before Sun moved into Cancer on June 20th, it squared Neptune in Pisces at the 29th degree. This is a mutable square with urgency of the critical degree. Neptune is synonymous with spirituality, compassion, big love, confusion, delusion, and victimization. It’s a very watery vibe of a dissolution of oceanic proportions. This is big, deep, and all-encompassing water, but it also includes the void. With Sun’s square here, still in Gemini, we see the face off: The need to have lightness, social interaction, curiosity and ease versus the need to face what’s in the deep ocean, the need to see or understand what’s there. This square is especially pungent as we walk into the solstice threshold, and when we come out there is an emotional imperative to what is safe, what is real, and what did not walk through the threshold with us.Â
We may have lost/left/or walked away from something. We may have realized that something or someone will not come with us. Water energy will make us contend with these truths, whether we want to face them or not.Â
Back to Friday’s full Moon in Capricorn. It’s conjunct both Venus and more loosely Mercury in Cancer, shining the light to a very full Moon in this strategic earth sign. The same 29 degree Neptune, the oceanic vibe I spoke of, will be the filter upon which we may collectively or individually feel this, because it forms and out-of-sign apex to a T Square. This full Moon will have opposing powers that could bring us to our spiritual or loving knees. Capricorn full Moon will have us looking at how hard we worked, how much we did despite sometimes impossible odds– but our feelings will paint a different picture. Relationships, connections, and conversations will be part of this moment, the person we became, or the person we had to be to get to this moment– may be tough to integrate emotionally. We might have residual feelings about the roles we performed, and how that turned out. We might have feelings about where we were going, or the circumstances surrounding this achievement. We find our strength when we scramble, we may have had to go through some spikey territory to get to this full Moon moment.
Full Moons are culminations. The are the pinnacle of an achievement, in a way, or a harvest of something you planted. This full Moon’s ruler sits in Pisces; the sign of endings, dreams, spirituality, and porous one-ness. There is a rebirth here, with solstice, but as we are reborn, things will slip away. What is ready to go, or what has left you during this 6 month journey from December solstice/ Capricorn new Moon in 2023?Â
What have you gained, gone though, and achieved? There is a both/and vibe for every full Moon, but maybe felt a bit stronger during the solar gateways such as solstice. To catch a clue of how this might be landing for you personally, in your newly minted Cancerian season, on June 22nd 6:10 pm PST/ 9:10 pm EST Mercury in Cancer will square the North Node in Aries and South Node in Libra creating another T-square. T squares are known as strong growth aspects that are rather frustrating, such as the one that is created at solstice with the Neptunian apex.Â
If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you may recall that the Nodes are forcing us to contend with a lot of relationship work, helping us untangle our karmic patterns and habits in relationships to understand who we are innately as an identity. We have to learn-- sometimes-- how to be ourselves, and these lessons have been emergent since last summer. With this T-square, we have Mercury, conjunct Venus (the sign of relationships and connections) in Cancer. This means how we think and feel will be the mechanism of this relationship work, and we will likely be put in a situation with another person that has us contending with what is emotionally safe, and what creates the best container for growth. Our need to make everything equal and fair is our Libra South Node habit, but sometimes we do this at a sacrifice to the self (Aries North Node.) Sometimes we need to take care of our wild impulses, and North Node is leading us to our future. Our feelings, and understanding will help us sort this out. But expect this to be deep work that hits in emotional places. There is something to feel into here, and that is for your own creativity, safety, and deep connections. Cancer love is deep, familial, all encompassing love, and it’s something to pay attention to, create from, and protect.Â
What is coming up around relationship dynamics right now? What are your feelings telling you about the safety of these relationships?
What is coming to a culmination of achievement? (this doesn’t have to be something fancy like an MBA, it can be as simple as I survived!)
Are there changes that have happened recently that caused endings?
Are there changes that have happened recently that caused new beginnings?
Have you had to change your expectations around work, home, or relationships?Â
Have you shifted your relationship with public life, or home life, or both?
As you walk into Cancer season, what’s something that you can do to acknowledge your feelings, and honor them?
Another Great text; Words and feelings alive Thanks so much