Just to be held by the ocean is the best luck
we could have. It's a total waking up!
Why should we grieve that we've been sleeping?
It doesn't matter how long we've been unconscious.
We're groggy, but let the guilt go.
Feel the motions of tenderness
around you, the buoyancy.
By Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
In honor of this Cancer New Moon, which is also a Solar Eclipse, I want to invoke water. My dictionary offers this definition: invoke - to call in prayer or as a witness. Yes, that is about right?prayer and witness. I want to pray with and for water and I want to be a witness for water, water in me and around me. I want to witness how water teaches, how water behaves, how water gives. I want to witness how the water in me also teaches, flows, and gives. Water is precious. It is important to be aware of, to witness in fact, how we treat water. I also believe that our capacity to identify with water and to be in relationship with water will determine the quality of our lives in the world we are creating. If we can invoke in prayer and witness the wonder of water, we will enhance our ability to live sustainably on this earth in joy and compassion. It is that important.
I want to invoke water and I am frustrated by this medium of writing. Instead I want to sit beside water and listen. I want to lie down and travel into the water of my own cells. I want to feel the weight of the organs in my body and the rhythm of my pulse as blood flows through my veins. I want to smell rain and taste spring water flowing from the ground. I want to sit silently by the ocean and weep. This Cancer Moon pulls on me like the tides. I want to ?feel the buoyancy,? as the poet Rumi has written. So I invoke and offer this invocation to you. How will you witness water?
A Solar Eclipse is an opportunity to release old ways of seeing and open to the next way of seeing. The opportunity to awaken is always present, yet eclipses can give us an extra push. I?ve noticed that life seems more intense lately. The stakes seem higher. That can create stress but also excitement. What new leaps of consciousness are coming? How can we live the lives we long to live? How amazing will the dream become? All of these feelings and thoughts become an invocation as well. What will you allow to happen next in your life?
The Sun and Moon come together at 19� Cancer at this New Moon. The only aspect they make is an encouraging sextile to Mars in Virgo. Three planets in Virgo, the sign of holistic healing, support intentions for bringing order and health into our lives. Mars helps us to act on the New Moon intentions. Saturn is finishing its two and a half year transit of Virgo. (Due to retrograde motion, Saturn entered Libra in October 2009 and went back into Virgo in April 2010.) We can look back over Saturn?s transit through Virgo to see the ways we have responded to the lessons of this sign. Healing has been one of them.
Venus and Chiron. The third planet in Virgo is Venus. Venus helps us to soften the hard edges, to invite in beauty. Venus is opposing Chiron, the shaman and healer, at 0� Pisces. On May 3 astrologer Mary Plumb wrote beautifully about Chiron?s entry into Pisces on the same day of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, ?April 20 was Chiron?s entry into Pisces, the day of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. Chiron is the shamanic journey, the wisest teacher, and the traveler out of ordinary time. Pisces?s greatest strength is to open the doors of perception, and, if conditions are lined up, can bring a glimpse of interconnectedness.? She went on to wonder what this wound on the ocean?s floor has to teach us. Venus touches this wound. Aphrodite, Venus?s Greek counterpart was birthed in sea foam. Again, it seems that the question, ?How will we witness water?? is important to what we need to learn at the moment. Venus is the teacher. This goddess offers us a heartfelt response to immense pain. Perhaps it is time to ?let the guilt go? so we are free to act.
The planets and their dance become the co-conspirators of our intentions. The dance this month continues to build on the lessons of the t-square of planets at the beginning of Cardinal signs.
The Cardinal t-square with Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter and Pluto. A t-square is a powerful triangle of planets occurring in 3 out of the 4 signs in the same modality (Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable). A grand cross fills in the missing sign and so may provoke a resolution of tension or may simply add another element of stress. We begin the month with a t-square that will be filled in by the transiting Moon in Cancer the evening of August 6. Throughout the month, we will feel the building momentum of this energy, which may climax in the first week of August.
To recap the energies of these transits:
Saturn opposite Uranus. These two have been opposing each other since November 2008 from the Mutable signs, Virgo and Pisces. Finally, this very long-lasting transit will complete this month when both will be at 0� of Cardinal signs. Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Libra. Essentially we are being asked to integrate revolution with responsibility, not an easy tightrope to walk.
Pluto in Capricorn. Since 2008 Pluto has been uncovering dysfunction in our systems of business and finance. Infrastructure seems to be crumbling. In spite of fear, true healing and power will emerge. Our work is to be ready to transform.
Jupiter in Aries. Jupiter moves more quickly than the other planets in the t-square but has a great ability to inflate experiences. Jupiter entered Aries in June and will station retrograde exactly square to Pluto on July 23. This is a time for transformative action.
The Full Moon on July 25 will be one of several crescendos this month. In addition to the t-square, there are two other configurations called Yods in the chart for the Full Moon. An apex of a Yod points to a planet that is under stress to understand the incomprehensible. One apex is the Sun; the other is Chiron. Full Moons are usually illuminating; this one may be even more so. Chiron points to shamanic healing lessons. The Sun to lessons about purpose and life-force. In addition to the two Yods, another configuration called a Mystic Rectangle is forming. This involves the Sun and Moon opposition forming encouraging sextiles to the Jupiter/Uranus and Saturn opposition. A Mystic Rectangle was described by Dane Rudyhar as a symbol for "practical mysticism". The feeling is that the stressful opposition of Uranus and Saturn is getting help from the Sun and Moon to bring resolution or understanding.
When Mars enters Libra on July 29, the planet of action and reaction will join in with the energies of the t-square, culminating with a square with Pluto on August 3. Libra is the sign of diplomacy. Mars is often the planet of war. Tension may arise from those diverse impulses.
The perhaps tempestuous month ends with Venus moving into Libra, a sign of rulership for the planet of harmony. Waves calm a bit, although Venus is no pushover. After a month of deep experience, will the abiding lesson be that letting the ?beauty we love, be what we do? is a more profound act than we could have ever previously known? May we be a witness to such profound acts of love.
Dates important to our stories: *
July 20 Chiron re-enters Aquarius
July 21 Saturn enters Libra
July 23 Jupiter turns retrograde
July 24 Jupiter 3� Aries squares Pluto 3� Capricorn (first time)
July 26 Saturn 0� Libra opposes Uranus 0� Aries
July 27 Mercury 29� Leo opposes Chiron 29� Aquarius
July 29 Mars enters Libra
July 30 Mars 0� Libra opposes Uranus 0� Aries
July 31 Mars 0� Libra conjunct Saturn 0� Aries
August 3 Jupiter 3� Aries squares Pluto 3� Capricorn (second time)
August 3 Mars 3� Libra opposes Jupiter 3� Aries
August 3 Mars 3� Libra squares Pluto 3� Capricorn
August 6 Venus enters Libra
August 7 Venus 0� Libra opposes Uranus 0� Aries
August 8 Venus 1� Libra conjunct Saturn 1� Libra
August 9 Venus 2 � Libra opposes Jupiter 2� Aries
*These dates are not a complete list of transits for the month, but rather are times when the themes of these stories are stronger. Each aspect between planets carries its own energy of harmony or conflict. These are:
Conjunction ? merging
Sextile ? encouraging
Square ? challenging
Trine ? harmonizing
Opposition ? confronting
Quincunx ? perplexing
Find out how the story of the stars relates to your life, visit www.starsdanceastrology.com to learn more about receiving a reading from Teri Parsley Starnes
No comments:
Post a Comment