3:16 pm AHST 7/9/2021

 6:16 pm  PDT  7/9/2021

 1:16 am  UTC  7/10/2021

New Moon in Cancer

With the Sun and Moon in Cancer, it is a time for healing our relationship to loving, to loving ourselves, to loving others. Cancer is the first water sign of the zodiac, coming after the soul’s exploration of its life force, its I-ness in Aries (Fire) and its relationship to the physical world and the body (Earth-Taurus) and its abilities to think and reason (Air-Gemini). In Cancer we are beginning to learn about our relationship to the environment around us, and specifically those in our immediate world, family friends, loved ones. It’s where we are aware of not just our own needs, but the needs of others to be cared for, so that we are also cared for in more complete  ways than just being with ourselves.

But learning these lessons means that we also explore vulnerability, being open to the rejection or approval of others. And in this chart, Pluto, the force of transformation, widely opposes the New Moon in Cancer, bringing a kind of push to “get it”, to realize that we MUST risk this vulnerability to learn to nurture each other in order for our very survival.

This chart also features a conjunction of Mars and Venus, which usually occurs about every two years. When the archetypal masculine and feminine energies are blended in the cosmos, it is an opportunity for wholeness, to embrace the underlying principles of androgyny, which has ultimately to do with surpassing one’s gender roles that society places upon us, and discovering that all have masculine and feminine energies within us. And that these two are not necessarily polarities but parts of the life force of our soul.

Mars and Venus, due to retrogradation, will conjoin three times over the next year, once on July 13^th, and then again twice in 2022, with the last conjunction being at the same 0˚ of Aquarius as the seminal Jupiter/Saturn conjunction at Solstice of 2020. Three conjunctions within a year of these two planets has not happened since 2015. The cosmic imperative here is that the patriarchy which has ruled our human world for thousands of years is getting another energetic push to awaken to the deeper truth of our innate being: our souls are neither male nor female, but are exploring each and both within physical reality.

That this is a highly charged topic that will meet with resistance worldwide is represented by the configuration of a T-square in this chart, with Mars and Venus opposing Saturn (learning lessons of breaking of established boundaries) while squaring (forming a right angle) Uranus, the planet of revolution. Much of this struggle takes place in the energetic realm of the unconscious, but is working its way upward to consciousness in those who are sensitive to these changes.

This New Moon also forms a harmonious trine to Neptune, the planet of the unconscious and dreams, and so at this New Moon, seeds from our dream world are weaving and planting their way into our daily awareness, inspiring us to become more aware of the needs for nurturance toward ourselves, and toward others. And the trine from Mars/Venus to Chiron the wounded healer, also speaks to visiting those places in ourselves that have been wounded by society’s insistence upon gender role stereotypes, and gives support to greater awareness of the fluidity of our gender definitions. Nurturance, the byword of the sign of Cancer, is not limited to women, or mothers, but is an essential, inherent quality of our animal nature.

This month look to where your needs for giving or receiving nurturance might be tied to a societally programmed gender role, and perhaps can become more balanced so that your inner well of love doesn’t run dry, whether through too much giving, or not enough receiving. Neptune, strongly favored in this chart,  rules compassion for self and others. It can show us a deeper understanding of our relatedness with all of life, which brings the feeling of well-being that emerges from being connected in meaningful and inspired ways to the life force we all share.