LEO NEW MOON: LIGHT OF LIBERATION

Commencing with the sign of Cancer and the longest day of the year, Summer is the season of light.  Light stands as the ultimate metaphor for spirit, consciousness, love, and other intangible, yet experiential truths.  Here, “light” refers to the radiant energy of the Sun, which bestows not only light for vision, but also heat for warmth, and fuel for growth.  Summer and its attendant gifts reach their apex as the Sun moves into the sign of Leo.  This year, the Sun and Moon rendezvous twice in this sign of self-expression, willpower, love, and creativity. 

In the days leading up to the first new moon, the Moon moves through the sign she rules, Cancer.  The Moon then meets the Sun less than a day after it enters the sign of its rulership, Leo.  With the rapid approach of the Moon, the two conjoin at what is known as a critical degree--0° Leo.  The zero-point of any sign holds a special seed potential, a pregnable gateway from which one may draw additional power from the unseen realms.  With the two luminaries meeting at this potent threshold, suspended momentarily between the two signs of their rulership, the Moon provides palpable access from our individual hearts to the heart of the Sun.   

As the Sun is the planetary ruler of the sign of Leo, in the body, Leo rules the heart and the spine.  Its symbol is the Lion.  Of all the animals included in the zodiac, only the Lion has been granted a dignity of character that is generally reserved for humans, and has been assigned such noble attributes as confidence, loyalty, and autonomy.  These qualities are metaphorically linked to the body parts mentioned above.  While the strength of our spine allows us to maintain a commanding posture, the strength of our heart allow us to maintain a compassionate position.  Within Leo, we discover the intersection of our integrity and our benevolence. Here, the hierarchy of authority is naturally leveled by magnanimous generosity, as the elevation of the confident and civilized ego is instinctively diffused by a fierce and feral loyalty in love for others.  Harmonizing the vertical and horizontal axes of the body, the heart is the pivotal organ to uniting one’s spirit and material bodies, and thus is the key to unlocking one’s fullest potential. 

Symbolically, the heart is the pulse that propels us on our journey.  It is the engine of our willpower, driving us towards realizing our desires.  Likewise, the Sun is the heart of our solar system. The energy emitted by the Sun is the Source of Divine Will, which unlike an omniscient agent of destiny acting upon the Earth, seems rather to become apparent as a constant by which we may measure the motivations and manifestations of our personal willpower.  Like the numeral zero, the heart is the essential reference point, where all matter finds its level and all spirit finds its source.  Each heart-center is the nucleus of a self-conscious unit spiraling through sensation, empowered by the understanding that Truth is Love.  A Fire sign, practice with Leo energy teaches us how to use the precious and precarious power of its element in a manner that allows our inner Sun to shine in a way that is both lasting and nourishing to ourselves and others.

This new moon has an added vitality and volatility.  The former is due to its conjunction with Mars, himself only in the first degree of Leo at the time of the new moon. The latter is due to a loose square with Uranus, whose current position has been serving to destabilize several recent astrological interactions.  Uranus in the Cardinal Fire sign of Aries incites us to revolutionize our identities.  The Sun and Moon in the Fixed Fire sign of Leo reveal a steady mirror by which to see how that chosen identity defines a pattern of behavior that directs our manifestation.  Uranus encourages us to radically revision how we can utilize the raw force of Aries to fuel our Leonine personal power. 

Although Uranus’s unpredictability can be difficult to weather, it proffers the unanticipated aberrations that allow us opportunities to change staid patterns.  Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius, which lies opposite Leo on the archetypal wheel.  The seed of this new moon culminates in a full moon lunar eclipse in Aquarius, with the Sun and Moon at the exact center--the heart--of each respective sign (15 degrees Leo and Aquarius).  When the Moon once again meets the Sun during the August eclipse, they will be in exact trine with rebellious Uranus as well as the traditional ruler of Aquarius, Saturn. 

Earlier this year we experienced a celestial shift, as the nodes of the Moon changed their alignment from Virgo-Pisces to Leo-Aquarius.  The Moon and Sun will both cross over the North Node a few days prior to the eclipse in August.  While the lessons of Leo involved tapping into our creative potential to find our authentic self-expression, in Aquarius we focus that expression outward, as we are called to share our unique gifts with our larger community.  The lesson of this new moon is in the flashpoint, the zero-point, the heart-center.  If we utilize the concept of the Sun as Light--truth, love, spirit--as our constant, we have a yardstick by which to measure the capricious clues of Uranus, and realize the light of liberation through radical self-expression that is, in fact, the seeds of self-revolution.

CANCER NEW MOON: The Dance of Duality

Shortly after the Sun’s transition into the sign of Cancer on the Summer Solstice, the Moon follows suit. The two conjoin on Friday, at which point the lunar cycle begins anew.  The Moon is powerfully potent in Cancer, for it is the sign she rules.  The Moon and Cancer, the Crab, are both intimately linked to the element of water.  Yet, for the northern hemisphere, this is the season of greatest sunlight, tied symbolically through the properties of heat and light to the element of fire.  Earth’s two luminaries, Sun and Moon, have long been seen as a binary pair, an active and receptive partnership that reveals to us the dynamic dance of light and shadow.

Qualities defined as receptive are associated with the “feminine” nature.  Cancer, ruled by the Moon, more specifically represents the Mother principle.  Over the course of our lives, we receive invaluable intuitive information through the inward channel of feeling.  Understanding the bodily signals that create our emotional reactions, “gut” instincts, and potential psychic premonitions is a key part of realizing one’s proper role in the larger web of relationship. Mythically, the idea of the Mother is linked with the home, the abode where one’s psyche feels safe to move inward to negotiate this vulnerable terrain.  (For more on the Mother archetype, see “Summer Solstice: Receive and Radiate.”)

In contrast, as the center of our solar system, the Sun is the literal and figurative star of the show.  All light emitted from the planets and moons is reflected from the Sun. Its immense power and incredible constancy provides an apt metaphor for that in us which is eternal--spirit. Yet, though all planets receive light, something more is required to sustain life--water. It is the Moon, regal queen of the waters, that renders our sunlit planet habitable for humans by patterning the pulse of our rhythms and reminding us also that we must rest.  Closer to Earth, and therefore closer to the human experience than the central Sun, the shifting phases of the Moon became associated with the malleable mask of the individual personality.  In an archetypal sense, the Moon represents the reception of our adopted heritage, while the Sun represents the action of authoring our history.  Together, the two feed and nurture all life on Earth through context and content.  Here is the deeper meaning to the marriages of the sign of the Crab and the season of the solstice, the Sun and the Moon, fire and water. 

        Glyph for the             sign of Cancer

The cryptic glyph for Cancer has several interpretations. However, one may find it is quite reminiscent of the “tai chi,” known more commonly in the West a the “yin-yang.”  In both symbols, two waves arc outward, and with an eye on the other, each crest enfolds inward to form a single circle.  It is a potent representation of the concurrent realities of unity and duality that define human the experience on Earth. In order to embrace such a paradox, one must transcend simple logic and accept that a more intuitive acumen is required to fully appreciate the mystery of life.  Astrology teaches us that when we realize that everything in our solar system is one light, the burden of resolving the paradox of duality is relieved.  As such, it is quite natural that when the Sun is at its maximum strength during the summer solstice, so too does the Moon find her greatest power.  She is but a mirror to reflect what the Sun radiates, a celestial intimation that our personalities serve to reflect our inner spirit.

Emotions will run high during the Cancer new moon.  All growth implies tension, and at the start of summer the intensity of light illuminates our interior landscape while we are simultaneously drawn to outward celebration. In this manner, we may feel we unwittingly expose intimate aspects of ourselves.  Not only are Sun and Moon in Cancer, but Mercury will be conjunct the two, with Mars not too far off.  As Mercury rules our mind and Mars our vitality, our thoughts and energy levels will be heavily influenced by emotional moods. To top things off, Venus will also be making an exact trine to Pluto. Venus, the magnetic planet of love and connection naturally attracts energy.  In harmonious aspect to intense and complex Pluto, aspects of our shadow selves that appear reflected in our relationships may surprise or disturb us. Occurring at the same time the Sun and Moon are at their apex in Cancer could lead one to feel emotionally overwhelmed.  All these emotional energies are bodily signals of inspiration and information to be consciously utilized to the advantage of our spiritual evolution.

Consider that the word solstice translates to “sun standing still,” that the Mother principle is an energetic container, and that the Moon is a metaphorical mirror.  If emotional waves rock you, be still. If unexpected lessons arrive, be open. Allow yourself to feel vulnerable, knowing you can call upon the Mother archetype, if not in physical form or through personal integration, then in communion with the natural environment.  Play in the hot sun to burn through the layers of emotional debris inhibiting your connection with your inner knowing and external relationships.  Bathe in the cool waters to cleanse and renew you in body, mind, and spirit. Witness the abundance around you. Use the steady light of the Sun and the faithful mirror of the Moon to locate the place of unconditional love in your internal abode. Let your radiant joy and love shine through the mask of your personality--celebrate the dance of duality!

SUMMER SOLSTICE: Receiving and Radiating

Along the annual path of the solar cycle, four events distinguish themselves as seasonal reference points. These events are the natural result of the interplay of Earth’s rotation around its axis with its revolution around the Sun. While Earth’s orbit around the Sun occurs on a relatively flat plane, our planet’s axis is tilted so that our Earth’s equator is not parallel with the plane of its orbit.  The two equinoxes (in Spring and Autumn) are points of equanimity, when the Earth’s equator receives the most direct angle of sunlight, resulting in roughly equal periods of day and night.  The two solstices (in Winter and Summer) are the points of extremity, when the angle of Earth’s equator relative to the Sun’s rays are the most extreme. The solstice in June is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, when the Sun’s path tracks highest in the sky.  It is celebrated as the first day of the summer season.

In Astrology, the summer solstice coincides with the Sun’s movement into the sign of Cancer.  A water sign, Cancer has been designated as a “feminine” sign, meaning it has receptive qualities. Water is symbolic of our inner knowing, including our emotional makeup, primal intuition, and potential psychic sensibilities. Cancer has long been associated with the Mother principle.  The mother’s ability to connect and communicate with her child in pre-speech years provides the iconic image of intuitive ability in the human consciousness.  Corresponding with the time of year when the natural environment is swelling with ripening fruit, it is easy to see why our ancestors associated this season in the yearly cycle with the qualities of pregnancy and motherhood.  

The symbol for Cancer is the Crab, keeper of the threshold between the sea and the land, water and earth.  Although it may not be immediately apparent, this representation also has symbolic ties to the Mother archetype. The developing fetus lives in an aqueous environment, brought into earthly form by way of the Mother.  Additionally, the Crab is known for its tough exterior and its soft underbelly, much as the “maternal instinct” implies twin aspects of defense and nurturing.  Cancer contains a multi-layered symbolism that is a dense expression of the unity that suffuses our dual reality, for it is in the season that as the Sun reaches its fullest power, so too does the Moon. (For further discussion on this topic, see my Cancer New Moon blog appearing later this week!)

In springtime, the heightening solar energy is fresh and invigorating. In contrast to the inspired and industrious activity of this earlier season, summer affords time to relax and enjoy. The extended daylight hours and warmer temperatures simplify certain aspects ofdaily life. If our season of sowing was well spent, there follows a celebratory respite in which we may watch our intentions organically strengthen their foundations in co-creation with the external world, to blossom authentically into manifestation.  In the lunar cycle, the summer solstice corresponds to the full moon--the phase of culmination and completion. With the additional light to our advantage, it is an excellent time for witnessing one’s self and one’s place in relation within the whole of creation.  This information is invaluable in helping us to “course correct,” should the manifestation of our efforts not align with our envisioned intention.

Mirroring the movement of the physical Sun, summer is a time when our internal fire is also strong.  It is a time that encourages us to both receive and radiate--allowing the light to penetrate our shadow selves to illuminate the internal energetic structures that shape our behaviors.  This is the symbolic essence of the Cancerian lessons of the home and heritage--that the clarity and integrity of our inner light emerges from a secure internal foundation, one that houses both healthy channels and sound supports.  So exposed, emotions may run high at the time of the summer solstice.  Cancer teaches us the importance of feeling these emotions (as she deftly navigates her watery terrain), while maintaining appropriate boundaries (symbolized by her hard shell). 

The Summer Solstice provides a container of nurturing in which we may relax in the arms of Mother Nature and embrace the lessons of vulnerability that will lead us to our most authentic self expression.  When we embody the mother archetype in relationship with our self, we are able to shine a light on the darkest aspects of our shadow and maintain a compassionate perspective in view of our faults and missteps.  By endeavoring to honor this principle, we can approach ourselves with honesty and foster creative solutions to the setbacks we experience, knowing we are fortified by our own internal knowing.