This extra powerful Cancer new moon/solar eclipse and the Capricorn lunar eclipse/Full Moon July 16 spotlight where we are being impelled to release old ways of seeing, being, and relating in order to make space for something new.
July 2 – Total Solar Eclipse/New Moon
12:16 PM PDT (11º Cancer)
The potency of the Cancer new moon is dramatically increased by a total solar eclipse. While eclipses are visible only in certain parts of the world, their effects are felt globally. (This one is visible only in eastern Oceania and most of South America)
In Cancer, this new moon/solar eclipse reminds us to acknowledge our feelings as the communication messengers of our soul. We are invited to heal old wounds, release unhealthy patterns related to home life, nurturing, parenting, family, and extended families of community.
Eclipses
Once every six months the Sun, Moon, and Earth align precisely enough to generate both a solar eclipse at the new moon and a lunar eclipse at the full moon. These energetic alignments signal a time of major endings and beginnings and facilitate shifts in consciousness so we can focus on the path of our soul. How we experience an eclipse depends on how it activates our birth chart, our personal history, and our level of consciousness.
The events activated by eclipses often bring to light circumstances that have been concealed or neglected. With the Moon involved, unconscious behavior and subconscious patterns are exposed. We are also reminded of where we have failed to pay attention to what we need and how we have deferred to others and overlooked our own needs. We may identify where we have given priority to one situation or person, while neglecting other aspects of our life and ourselves that require care and attention.
Eclipse energies can be felt a few weeks before and after the exact day. The impact of an eclipse usually reaches a peak at the time, but the pressure has been building up. We may need the next six months to implement the needed changes. Just in time for the next set of eclipses.
19 Year Cycles
Eclipses occur in 19 year cycles, very close to the same zodiacal degree. There was a solar eclipse at 10º22′ Cancer on July 1, 2000. What was happening in your life at that time? What has changed since then regarding themes that are are being reactivated? How do you wish to advance in the next phase of life?
Our Perception Increases
Our perception of what we really need (and what we don’t need) get clearer around the time of an eclipse. We get a better picture of where we can expand and where we can redefine our priorities and move on.
Although our awareness becomes more acute at the time of an eclipse, the pot has been slowly simmering and is now reaching a boil. We must communicate, take action, and deal with what we have denied, put off, and not honestly or adequately dealt with. Whatever it is, it won’t go away. Trying to hide behind a fabricated cloak of denial and ignorance is not an option.
Cancer Highlights Needs
In Cancer territory the question of needs predominates. The issues that must be dealt with revolve around home, household, family, and nurturing. What gives us life? Where do be best invest our time and energy to support ourselves and our family’s health and well-being? What can we let go of or change to be in more alignment with our current resources and available time? What can we reasonably maintain without overburdening our budget and our emotional capacity to cope? Maybe downsizing will give us more peace of mind.
Drawn to look at our past, it is useful to reassess our life up to this point and give ourselves credit for what we have learned, the courage we have mustered to live through our life challenges, and our current level of emotional, mental, and spiritual maturity. Building from our past, where can we now get emotional and physical sustenance? How can we best deal with the future?
Mercury, Mars, and North Node in Cancer
Cancer is the sign most associated with the feminine, receptive principle and the mother. The Cancer archetype operates and speaks to us through our watery emotions. Feeling awareness indicates what is healthy and what is harmful.
Mercury is in Cancer from June 4-25. Mars is in Cancer May 15-June 30. With the Sun and the North Node also in Cancer, we are being reminded that we all need motherly love, nurturing, and kindness.
Security is a big factor for Cancer. Have you ever held a crab shell? With the slightest touch this thin fragile shell breaks into pieces. To find inner security and to honor our sensitivity, we must to listen to and follow our inner knowing, nurture and take good care of ourselves.
We are being aided to tune into our intuition and inner guidance through subtle sensitivity, receptivity, silence, and stillness. On the elevated vibrations, we can exit our busy mind and feel what brings us a sense of peace, ease, rightness, and relief. As we listen to the wisdom of our higher self, our life flows with more ease and less drama.
Cancer and Food Addictions
The stellium of planets in Cancer brings our attention to the various manifestations of food addictions, as well as the cultural attitudes concerning the role of food in our lives. Food additions often stem from using food as a way to give and receive love, thus the term ‘comfort food.’ However fake foods packed with sugar and processed ingredients that may please our tongue are toxic to our body. Since the North Node entered Cancer in November 2018, there is a proliferation of programs on health, the healing role of food, and the diseases caused by over-consumption of unhealthy foods. To deal with food addictions we need a deeper examination of our attitudes and programming in relationship to what we put in our mouth and why.
Addictions are feed by lies that we tell ourselves. Addictions are also cries for help, not for judgment or punishment. We already feel bad about ourselves. We know that what we are doing is detrimental to our well-being. Addictions are a sign that our soul is calling out for our attention so we can find beneficial healing and self-care strategies. What are we missing? What are we missing out on?
The Sun and Moon at a Solar Eclipse
The Sun symbolizes the active, yang principle of consciousness. The Moon symbolizes the receptive, yin principle. We are learning to consciously express and shine the light of our sun sign and to listen to and feel and honor the subconscious energies of our Moon sign.
At a solar eclipse, the light of the Sun is blocked by the Moon, bringing to feeling awareness the needs, desires, and motivations of our emotions. The Cancer eclipse illuminates emotional wounds and conditioning that we need to address. When we pay attention, we can see how and why we deny our feelings and neglect our needs by giving them low priority. Eclipses urge us to see unconscious patterns that control us so we can advance into making more conscious choices.
The Cancer archetype is ruled by the Moon. Both embody the feminine principle of impermanence, feelings, and needs and how they change. Evolution is the nature of our personal, collective, and cosmic realities. Eclipses helps see how we need to change to advance our evolutionary process.
Cancer evolves by learning to trust and thus be available to receive. To do so requires releasing oneself from dependency, neediness, and taking care of everyone but ourselves.
While the there is a stellium in Cancer, we need to ask ourselves — What feeds us? What kind of support do we need most right now? How can we create a more healthy home life and be mutually supportive of each other?
July 7 – Mercury Goes Retrograde
at 5º Leo. Mercury turns direct July 31 at 24º Cancer.
A planets’ influence is heightened when it slows down to change direction (stations retrograde). The planet goes backward and then retraces its steps, crossing the same section of the zodiac three times.
Mercury stations at 5º Leo, backtracks until July 31, when it stations direct at 24º Cancer. It will reach 5º Leo again on August 14. Mercury is retrograde for about three weeks 3-4 times a year. This retrograde period gives us time to slowdown and process the impact of the 2 eclipses.
Mercury and Mars Conjunct
June 18 at 22º Cancer
July 8 at 4º Leo
September 3 at 11º Virgo
Mercury and Mars closely interact from mid-June to early September. Their three exact conjunctions encourage assertiveness and truth-telling. They can also trigger defensiveness, misplaced aggressiveness, and misunderstandings. To best use this combination of energies, we need to pay attention to where others are coming from, not jump to conclusions, and speak only for ourselves. The right use of courage must be combined with caution, curiosity, listening, and speaking from our heart.
When Mars squares Uranus July 11, stay centered to avoid emotional reactions fed by fear, disappointment, sadness, or shame.
July 8 – Chiron Turns Retrograde
at 6 degrees Aries. Chiron goes direct December 12 at 1º Aries.
July 8 Chiron takes its yearly turn retrograde at 6 degrees Aries. It then backtracks until it goes direct December 12 at 1º Aries. It reaches 6 Aries again on April 4, 2020.
Chiron represents how we must heal a core wound in order to tap into our core soul gift. Our healing journey prepares us to be an example for others and to teach those who face similar challenges. Aries and its ruling planet Mars encourage us to take charge of our own lives, to develop our will, courage, and belief in ourselves. Our passion for life leads us to tap into love to transcend fear. Directed by intuition and compassion, we can transcend guilt, shame, blame, and hatred.
Chiron squares this solar eclipse, challenging us to upgrade our expression of the misunderstood masculine and become spiritual warriors that support life, the planet, and all living beings.
Healing signifies wholeness and holiness, which we experience as we cultivate our personal sovereignty, live from the sacredness of our soul, and become the hero or heroine in our own lives.
References
Austin, Stephanie, Cancer Solar Eclipse, http://www.EcoAstrology.com, June 30, 2019.
Collis, Diana McMahon, Cancer Solar Eclipse — July 2, The Mountain Astrologer, June/July 2019, p. 85.
