Annular Solar Eclipse / New Moon in Cancer: An Ounce of Prevention

Annular Solar Eclipse / New Moon in Cancer:  An Ounce of Prevention

Moon conjunct Sun-  6/21/20 @ 1:41 am CDT

Hygiea

This New Moon at the Cancer Solstice Point is significant in many ways.  Not only does this lunation begin with a Ring of Fire eclipse in a part of our sky that is sacred to many cultures across the world, but it is also conjunct the asteroid Hygiea…named after the Goddess of Health and Prevention of Illness.

Hygiea’s name refers to the Greek concept of ‘wholeness’ as it relates to health maintenance of the body…which has been expanded to include body, mind, soul, environment, and every possible aspect of health.  Hygiea is where the word ‘hygiene’ comes from, perhaps one of the most significant preventative health measures in our human history. 

Every significant celestial event on the Solstice or Equinox points of our Living Sky are potent and signal a shift in our collective consciousness.  The Solstice Points (1^st degree of Cancer and 1^st degree of Capricorn) highlight the extremes of light and dark.  To add to that during this Solstice, we have an eclipse amplifying those themes of light and dark extremes. 

And everything seems to come back to the health of our world...where we have been dealing with the most extreme measures to prevent illness that most of us have seen in our lifetimes.  And how have we been faring so far?  Some countries have been doing rather well with staving off the worst of what this virus might do.  Others, such as Brazil or my own country (the U.S.) are not doing so well…largely because of the failures of politics and misguided beliefs and conditioning (the shadow realm of the Sagittarius South Node that we’re being called to release now, however resistant we may be). 

And so as the shadow of our Moon (emotions, habits, past) brings an annular eclipse to the standstill (solstice) of our Sun (consciousness), what are we being asked to shift now in our understanding of health and wholeness for the next 6 months of our year?  This eclipse takes place in the watery realms of Cancer, where home and family, roots and ancestry are key to our engagement.  It is a sign of emotional bonding and protection.  It asks, ‘how are you protecting those closest to you?’  With Hygiea’s wisdom so close at hand, we are being called to take preventative measures as we make our way through still more tough times ahead.  And though Cancer evokes the care of those closest to home…it also extends to the protection of our nations, where whole countries are called to treat each other as family and care for their well-being. 

This eclipse is also at the Moon’s North Node…an indication that we are to move forward now with a new directive for our Collective Soul’s growth.  At the North Node, which is currently in the last degree of Gemini, we are to take in the medicine of new ideas and network them in new ways throughout our immediate environments.  The combination of this Gemini-Cancer cusp brings up the communication of both our thoughts and our feelings.  It is the cusp where we merge our reasoning with our compassion.  This is what will help us to make this shift into Hygiean wholeness as the Solstice Sun starts moving back across our sky…gradually bringing in more night for our Northern Hemisphere and more day for our Southern Hemisphere. 

Moon and Sun in Cancer 1-  A Change in Direction

The Sabian Symbol for this 1^st degree of Cancer is ‘on a ship, sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one’.  The Solstice degrees bring up turning points in our lives, and this particular Solstice Eclipse is one that will be felt around the world as a need for change.  We have already felt it stirred within this Triple Eclipse cauldron that was lit in the last lunar cycle of the Strong Sun.  And now as we enter the Blessing Moon cycle, we pause for a few days at the Sun’s northernmost declination in our sky, we contemplate what this shift in allegiances needs to be. 

Just as in the Cancer Full Moon hours after the December Solstice of 2018 (in this same degree), there is a palpable feeling of breaking from expectations of what we have always done and choosing a new focus that just feels more aligned to the Soul.  This is a collective choice we’ll be making together, though it all begins within each of us and blooms outward from our roots. 

It is a choice that promotes wellness and wholeness, as Hygiea reminds us.  The shift we are seeding in this New Moon can prevent the kind of illness befalling our former allegiances to failing systems from infecting more of our world.  There is a new way, and it is just forming in this Solstice pause where Moon meets Sun on her North Node.  We’re stepping into the unknown, and yet the calling of the soul of our planet assures us this shift is safer than where we have been. 

For some, this might mean starting new traditions (or reviving some that nourish the soul) at home with your family on these high holy days of our seasonal shifts.  That is part of the specific seed that was planted here with my family anyway…a personal call to our roots.  It can also be anything that involves a far-reaching decision on all things related to Cancer energy (such as home and family).  There is a feeling of ‘shifting allegiance’ in the air…where, collectively, we can come together and decide that what we were previously giving power to is unsustainable.  This is a critical choice point being illuminated now, and the shadows of our fears will certainly test us in this eclipse. 

What will become our new focus?  The collective feeling of this New Moon brings its truth to each of us on the personal level too.  Something we upheld in the past is no longer working for us.  There is an imbalance of power there, and we are not wholly embraced in it.  It’s time to replace it with something more helpful (and healthful) that embraces where we are heading now.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Mercury in Cancer, Part Two: The Retrograde Storyline

'Wonder' by Alex Grey

Mercury in Cancer

May 28 – August 4

Part 2 – The Retrograde Storyline (June 18 – July 12)

As mentioned at the end of May, Mercury in Cancer brings us to the watery realms of our feelings.  The Collective Mind has already journeyed through half of this cardinal water sign, connecting us with the limbic functions of our mental processes. 

The limbic system of the brain, like Cancer, is concerned with our psychological responses to emotional stimuli.  It controls memory and guides us toward emotional bonding and the comforts of what is familiar (ie. the mammalian understanding of ‘family’).  During this time, we are more likely to engage with our past, especially now as Mercury shifts into a retrograde perspective.  We have already been challenged to work through some emotional behaviors that come from our early conditioning (especially familial or ancestral habits that have been passed on through generations)…and that work continues, now in even more personal ways. 

Previously, in the first direct pass, we were all emotionally stirred by outside events calling for outward shifts toward more compassionate and caring responses.  And now Mercury moves even closer in…shifting the perspective to what is happening within each of us.

 

Below, I have included the vibrational flow of this part of Mercury’s voyage through watery Cancer.  Because Cancer is ruled by the Moon, she will be guiding the flow of these lessons.  So I have also included her interactions with Mercury.  Moon moves quickly through the signs, so each Moon-Mercury aspect is like a momentary mood that passes through on the day that is listed.  However, momentary as those aspects are, these moods are key to Mercury’s journey through this sign.

6/18:  Mercury stations Retrograde, conjunct Sirius-  Mercury pauses here in the 15^th degree of Cancer to prepare us to retrace our steps.  The Sabian Symbol for this degree is ‘in a sumptuous dining hall, guests relax after partaking of a huge banquet’.  Conjunct Sirius (the ‘Spiritual Sun’), the lesson here is about spiritual abundance.  And yet, as the Collective Mind pauses to ponder the meaning of abundance, we realize we are in a process of revising these ideas.  Abundance has so often been considered a concept that splits the whole of the human family apart into ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.  Overindulgence and greed, which are choices so often applied in the reception of abundance, are what furthers such a divide…but abundance itself is not the problem.  Truly, abundance is meant to be generously shared…creating not a lack but even more instances of abundance.  This is not a concept we are collectively, or even largely, in agreement about right now.  And so Mercury pauses here to turn backwards…we’ll return to this degree later (July 26^th) to integrate the true wisdom of abundance, satiety, and satisfaction.  Our perspective must first shift back to some lessons that Mercury has already covered…though we didn’t quite grasp fully yet.  There is something important to discover from our recent past before we can move our minds forward again. 

6/22:  Moon-Mercury Rx-Sirius conjunction-  Moon joining in this conjunction (on that same 15^th degree) guides us to consider parts of our past that are emotionally connected to the concept of abundance.  This is likely to include the resurfacing of memories from our distant past…particularly early childhood experiences that are connected to home and family.  The mood of the day is nostalgic…but there is good reason for it.  There is something familiar there that wants to return to our understanding. 

6/26:  Moon-Mercury Rx opening sextile-  Virgo Moon provides an opportunity to clean up something that has been clouding the mind.  Moon and Mercury are in mutual reception (Moon in Mercury’s sign, Mercury in Moon’s sign), so there is a solid understanding between the mental functions of feeling and reasoning.  Make use of this good rapport by getting your thoughts, and priorities, in order.

6/28:  Moon-Mercury Rx opening square-  Libra Moon may have us feeling wide open to the emotional states of others…while Mercury Rx in Cancer already has us wrapped up in our own private and personal feelings.  This dynamic can create some frustration…be mindful of your own ways of communicating how you feel, and try not to take it too personally what others might say.  The initial instinct will be, of course, to take it personally.  Acknowledge where and why it hurts…but don’t cling so tightly to it that it causes you to react from that hurt.

6/30:  Moon-Mercury Rx opening trine-  Scorpio Moon is not usually known to lighten things up…however, in this trine (in combination with the other Mercurial aspects of this day), it just might.  This water trine provides an easy flow of emotional release.  Maybe we’ll cry…or maybe we’ll laugh…or maybe a bit of both. 

6/30:  Mercury Rx sextile Uranus (part 2 of 3)-  All sextiles provide a good rapport between planets that can lead to harmonious opportunities.  However, sextiles are subtle…and we actually have to respond to that subtle opening to reap the benefits.  Our first chance was on June 5^th, when Mercury was in direct motion.  Did we catch that glimpse then of what we’re returning to now?  A new idea, an unusual perspective we hadn’t considered, or maybe even a slight shock that provided a peek into what is usually unseen?  If you missed it then, it’s coming up now in a new way.  Perhaps you’ll catch the opportunity now that Mercury is closer to Earth and getting even more personal.  And with Uranus in this sextile, it just might surprise you.  Be open to the weird. 

6/30:  Sun conjunct Mercury Rx (Interior Conjunction)- The Sabian Symbol of this 10^th degree of Cancer is ‘a large uncut diamond’.  The theme of this New Mercury is that of a diamond-in-the-rough.  The thoughtseed forming in the Collective Mind is strong (diamond comes from the Greek word for ‘invincible’) but has yet to show its full brilliance.  The best way to express this energy is to recognize the value inherent in yourself, others, and the situation we find ourselves in…emerging as if a latent potential is about to be revealed.  Shake off the illusion that you need to appear perfect before stepping forward with your idea…even a rough-cut diamond is still a diamond.  As the rest of this process unfolds, we’ll be challenged to break away from self-limiting constraints and shine.

7/1:  Mercury Rx square Chiron (part 2 of 3)- This is, perhaps, the crux of that challenge.  There is a clash between the Messenger and the Wounded Healer here…one that we first encountered on June 5^th as well.  This time, it may get even more personal through the retrograde perspective.  Squares are dynamic aspects that can’t be ignored…and this may come across as an internal monologue that exacerbates the wound (though it may also start with words expressed externally).  As before, the necessary action that this square means to inspire is greater awareness of how we can communicate healing rather than more wounding. 

7/4:  Moon-Mercury Rx opposition- The mood of the day is tense as we try again to find some balance between objective (Capricorn Moon) and subjective (Cancer Mercury Rx) viewpoints.  This aspect creates a dynamic pattern called a T-square with Mars and Chiron in Aries, pooling all that tension into a desire for action (Mars) and the call of the wound (Chiron).  The discomfort of ‘who am I?’ and the frustration of ‘what can I do?’ may spur us to act first and think later.  We are building toward the clarity needed…but we may not be fully ready until after Mercury starts getting some forward momentum in direct motion over a week from now. 

7/8:  Mercury Rx square Mars- This dynamic feels like a clash between what we are thinking and feeling and what we desire.  Mercury is still in a revisioning process, bringing us backwards to rediscover some important messages from our recent past.  Mars is moving forward in his own sign of Aries at this time…there is a lot of force here pushing us to move ahead and cut all ties with that which is holding us back.  Keep in mind that Mars will eventually go retrograde in this fire sign later…so it may be wise to heed Mercury’s retrograde call and slow down to consider things we may have missed.  However, squares with Mars are often the most difficult to slow down in.  Squares are much like Mars energy, making that desire to take action that much stronger.  Just try to be careful with your words (both internally and externally expressed)…otherwise the frustration of this energy may have you saying things you’ll regret.

7/9:  Moon-Mercury Rx closing trine- Pisces Moon brings the mood of this day to a more harmonious place.  You may experience a flow of creativity underlying all of these watery feelings.  This will be a welcome vibration within such a dynamic month…you may just want to play some music, relax, and recharge.  There will be some subtle healing vibrations occurring over the weekend…much needed as the harshness of squares dissipates slightly.

 

7/11:  Moon-Mercury Rx closing square- Aries Moon will bring up a quick version on this day of what was previously felt during the Chiron-Mars squares to Mercury Rx.  Frustrations may flare again, but this too shall pass.  You may want to find an outlet by talking it out with a trusted friend.

7/12:  Mercury stations Direct- Mercury pauses to shift back into direct motion on this day, focusing on the medicine within this 6^th degree of Cancer.  The Sabian Symbol here is ‘game birds feathering their nests’.  It’s a very Cancerian degree to begin with…evoking feelings of home, family, and the preparatory protections that this water sign is known for.  In all the tumult going on at the beginning of June, when Mercury first entered this degree and began the Prologue portion of this journey, we were bound to miss some of the lessons inherent in this degree.  Now we return to them and give them a much more concentrated focus…shifting our perspective again toward what we can do to provide a better environment for new beginnings to grow.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse/Full Moon in Sagittarius: The Edge of our Shadow

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse/Full Moon in Sagittarius:  The Edge of our Shadow

Moon opposite Sun- 6/5/20 @ 2:12pm CDT

'Chrysalis' by Kim Francis

This is a year of awakening to our responsibility; our ability to respond to each pressing call of our Earth.  We are transforming every single aspect of what defined us into what we will eventually become.  This is the Chrysalis of Transformation, and we’re in it…parts of us fighting against what is emerging, and parts of us imagining the new expression into being.  Make no mistake…it’s not gentle and beautiful what transpires within the chrysalis, not to the Caterpillar anyway.  Every cell fights against the inevitable transformation…as if battling a virus…until, eventually, that internal battle fades away to reconstruction and rebirth.

But this is a much longer process than that of the Butterfly.  This is a call that includes our whole human collective…all of our ancestral past and all of our descendant future converging into this extended turning point of present alterations.  It is like that process, though, of Caterpillar to Butterfly…in that the human identity (like the Caterpillar) was fixed on consumption, growing bigger and bigger, and eventually there was this call to stop all that consumption and go inward. 

Inside Humanity’s Chrysalis is a series of Dark Night of the Soul events.  We are faced with the worst of our shadows and challenged to bring it all into the light.  We are no longer able to escape the dark underbelly of what we have all allowed our collective identity to become.  Attempt to brush one instance of it aside because it’s too uncomfortable to see, and it will come back at us in still more powerful and more excruciatingly painful expressions.

Haunted by how Humanity’s past keeps playing out in our present, we cry out for justice…for drastic change…for healing that doesn’t just mask the symptoms but gets right to the roots of our sickness.  Together, we reveal the diseased root present in our human-made systems…we call it out and we disentangle it from our natural roots so we can finally BREATHE the whole of Humanity on this Earth.

A Reflection from the Gemini-Sagittarius Lunar Nodes:  The Calling of our Collective Soul

“Diversity is the lifeblood of the rebirth of consciousness around an idea.”  I said to my friend Amanda in her Astrology Hub podcast in early May.  The whole of the conversation was about Rites of Passage, and it was meant to inspire, ‘like seeds on the wind’, the honoring of the sacredness within the liminal movements of our life transitions.  We talked about how we’re in the thick of a collective Rite currently, moving through the ordeal of it together, and calling upon the Heart and Soul of Humanity.  But we also talked about our personal and societal Rites that integrate our unique experience within the larger group.  I feel this idea, honoring the liminal magic within the larger Crisis Acceleration of our time, is a rebirth of consciousness that encourages the diverse beauty and power within all of Humanity to thrive.  I feel it in my bones, my blood, my heart, and my soul.  And I have a feeling you’re feeling it too if you’re reading this.

This Triple Eclipse Summer opened with the Gemini New Moon on May 22^nd.  A few days later, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota by extreme and brutal restraint from multiple police officers.  The collective response that has swelled around our world since then, which is part of a larger call affirming that Black Lives Matter, has spread like seeds on the wind of this Gemini Soul Calling through the Heart of Humanity.  This is the Second Wave of this Rite of Passage we are going through now.  This is the crux of the Ordeal we are facing, and this is where community support is most crucial.

The First Wave of these larger Rites move us through the Separation phase.  In that time, Covid19 quite literally separated us in many ways.  The dark underbelly of that separation began to quickly reveal itself in the systemic inequality of class division…where those who have been long oppressed by the faulty privilege of White Supremacy in our societies suffered (and still suffer) most in this pandemic.  The unrest we are seeing in this Second Wave was already stirring in that forced isolation period.  And now, as Retrograde Season and Eclipse Season call our attention to the mistakes and shadows of both our recent and our historical past, we move in a collective effort to clear this karma and reassess the path forward into our future. 

You see, the Soul of Humanity IS moving from adolescence into maturity…it’s a Rite of Passage that is demanding our acknowledgement as we move across this threshold.  We, all of us, are not only here to witness but to engage and participate in this Rebirth of Humanity’s Voice and Identity.  There are many efforts to strangle this Voice, to keep us from moving across this threshold.  Because the true separation is from the control of a diseased and dying patriarchal world view.  Those that benefitted, still benefit, and cling to those benefits will not ‘go gentle into that Goodnight’.  Like the Caterpillar, they will fight against the imaginal cells creating new structure and new identity until they finally have to ‘give up the ghost’ of our consuming past. 

And we hear the tortured cries of these restraints, strangleholds, and fearful suppressions in ‘I can’t breathe’ seriousness. 

I can’t breathe in this isolation.  I can’t breathe the same air as my fellow humans.  I can’t breathe in public without this mask for protection.  Those all sound like complaints brought up because of Covid19, right?  But these are the very valid and life-threatened complaints of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer and Transgendered members of our society.  And when George Floyd echoed the dying words of Eric Garner from 2014…I can’t breathe…many more of us could see that the ‘power over’ chokeholds snuffing out the very people that need to rise, survive, and thrive in this larger human and civil rights movement are a clear and present danger to the emerging consciousness of our own Humanity.

'I Can't Breathe' by Hippy Potter

This IS a movement of Love, as well as a Revolution of Consciousness that moves through much larger cycles.  The current manifestation of it has grown up from the Uranus-Pluto Conjunction Revolutions of the 1960s.  That seed sprouted in the powerful, revolutionary turning point of the 7 Uranus-Pluto squares of our previous decade (2012-2015).  These outer planets are change agents…the Planet of Awakening and the Planet of Alteration.  And in 2013, when Black Lives Matter was written into a message of Love from Alicia Garza to the Black Community…it was in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman who murdered Trayvon Martin in 2012.

2012 was a momentous year for many reasons, but it was not only the start of the 7 squares previously mentioned…it was also the year of Venus’s last visible transit across our Sun in this lifetime.  In that time, Venus was retrograde in Gemini.  Right now Venus is retrograde in Gemini for the first time since then.  Just two days ago, Sun and Venus Rx met in Interior Conjunction…echoing the kind of Consciousness that was raised in our Collective Heart 8 years ago. 

And at the time of this particular Full Moon Eclipse, the Gemini Sun is in the very same degree Venus was in during that powerful 2012 Transit (Sabian Symbol for this degree:  ‘a woman activist in an emotional speech’).  None of this is coincidence…this is all part of our cosmic storyline.  The time to ‘grow up’ in our understanding of what it means to be human is NOW.

The Mars Square:  A Call to Action

The Divine Masculine planet, Mars, is in a strong square with our luminaries during this Full Moon.  This creates an aspect pattern called a T-square, where the planet at the apex (Mars) carries the brunt of the oppositional tension and is spurred into action.  Mars is the battle-ready planet of action and drive, so he prefers the dynamics of the square to get things moving.  However, Mars is extremely forceful at this apex…and can incline some rage and emotional outbursts within the collective. 

The degree of Pisces that Mars is in (Sabian Symbol:  ‘a flow of inspiration’) is essentially an inspiring and creative degree.  However, Mars can just as easily incline temptation toward more aggressive and destructive expressions while under the stress of a T-square.  The call with squares is always about taking necessary action to address the tension, often in effort to bring about balance or justice between opposing forces.  We might want to check in with our agitation before acting upon it…to find the underlying inspiration that needs to come out and flow. 

Mars does have his signature all over this eclipse series (Saros Series 111).  Even the very day of the last time this eclipse happened (May 26, 2002), the Odyssey discovered ice deposits on the planet Mars.  In this eclipse's 1984 occurence, we identified the 'enemy' we were battling, and the AIDS virus was given a name (though so many still assumed the 'enemy' were a group of people).  But the protests and riots that we see in this time were also strongly apparent in another eclipse of this series in 1966…with eruptions of anti-war protests, the launch of the Black Power Movement, and many civil rights events.  Even in my own city of Omaha, there were what were called ‘race riots’ that year. Currently, our city is under a strict curfew to try to control what has emerged after George Floyd's death, and what has been exacerbated after James Scurlock was shot here last weekend. 

  

In this current call to action, the raging stress of Mars themes demands justice.  The unrest is palpable.  The long history of inequality that is systemic in both our societies and in our beliefs has brought the world to a fever pitch…and our actions must address the shadow we’ve been largely bypassing.

Eclipse at the South Node:  The Shadow Work

This Moon carries the shadow while near her South Node in Sagittarius during this penumbral eclipse.  Eclipses at the South Node carry quite a bit of heaviness from our past.  You’ll see shadows of our collective past resurfacing as well as ghosts of your own personal past casting some shade over your emotions.  Why?  Because they have yet to be released fully…they need some closure from us.  So whatever is coming up for you, there is some karmic residue there that needs your attention.  It is time to clear it out so that it, and you, can move on.

The Moon at this time is in a degree (Sabian Symbol:  ‘seagulls fly around a ship in expectation of food’) that calls attention to our complacent opportunism toward convenience and privilege…which keeps us in invisible chains to societal structures and belief systems that keep feeding our unchecked consumption, but hold us back from our true freedom.  Sagittarius is a freedom-seeking sign, and yet the Moon right now shows us the full expression of where we have been led astray from that inner sense of freedom.  And the penumbral shadow of the Earth on Moon’s surface shows us the last grasps of the more subtle forms of slavery that persist in our modern age.

The gift within this shadow is a remembrance of who you really are, what your truth is at a more primal level.  In addressing this search for truth, we may help to bring it out collectively as well. 

Sun-Venus at the North Node:  The Light Work

As mentioned previously, the Sun is at the degree of Gemini which recalls the Venus Transit of 2012 (‘a woman activist in an emotional speech’)…bringing to light that the AIR of our communication (Gemini) needs to be in balance with the Fire of our beliefs (Sagittarius).  How we respond with our voices, and what we say, is important in this time.  But it is even more important to listen, with our hearts open, to those who are needing to speak to heal the emotional trauma of their cause. 

Be present in witnessing and listening to different perspectives than your own.  Understand that the pain erupting in this time is not a mistake.  It is part of a healing process that happens when we go through these collective Rites of Passage.  Sun and Venus invite us to support each other.  Gemini is the sign of the twins…the siblings.  And our brothers and sisters are hurting.  May we all be there for them and respond with love.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Art by Keetatat Sitthiket

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
1967