12:57 pm  AHST  07/05/2024
    3:57 pm    PDT  07/05/2024
    6:57 pm    EDT  07/05/2024
   10:57 am   GMT  07/06/2024

This New Moon in Cancer brings us to a time of great turbulence in the US, its occurrence being only a degree away from the Sun’s position in the birth chart of the US (July 4^th).

In many ways, we’re still suffering from the intense effects of the April 8 solar eclipse chart [shown] which spread its shadow over the US. This rare alignment took place when the Sun and Moon were EXACTLY to the minute conjoined with Chiron, the planetoid symbolizing the opening and awakening of our collective wounds. These kinds of moments of precision are exceptional, and very meaningful to astrologers. Mercury was retrograde in that chart, and the minor planet Eris was almost precisely conjoined with Mercury (by 3 minutes of a degree). This was a precursor to trouble and disruption (Eris) and duplicity around things such as the rule of law (Mercury). Also Jupiter which governs law, was forming its once in 14 years conjunction with Uranus (upset and big changes). (See my posting for that eclipse here.)

Destiny opened a door, or one could say Pandora’s Box was opened at that eclipse, and now we are compelled to scrutinize what is occurring in the US. Karma is rearing its head, asking us to look at what choices have been made, and are being made, and based upon what beliefs and tenets? In a few days, the Sun will form a square (challenging 90˚angle) to the April eclipse degree, which will re-activate the energies of that chart.

Looking at this present New Moon chart, [ left] we can see that Chiron, the wounded healer, and Eris, the goddess of strife and upset, are only 2 degrees apart, heading for a conjunction less than a year away, in May of 2025. The last time these two conjoined was in 1972, before either of them had even been discovered. In that year there was a terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics, with terrorists demanding the release of Palestinians and others in jail in Israel. This ended in tragedy. Also in 1972, the Watergate Scandal occurred. Before that, their conjunction was in 1917-1918, the ending of WW1 and the beginning of the 1918 Pandemic. Prior to that their conjunction was in 1864, when the US was mired in its deadly Civil War.

Astrology is the study of cycles, both personal and global. If we can place the recent events of the US Supreme Court¹  in context with these cycles, we know we are in the midst of a cycle of Great Change, one that is necessary for us to undergo. Eris as a goddess has a directive to expose that which is corrupt, and when she joins with Chiron, this is an archetypal moment of exposure to what we’d rather not face, but is impossible to hide. It is a calling for healing. We are at such a crossroads. (By the way, the minor planet Eris also has a small Moon called Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris and the archetype of lawlessness.)

Chiron/Eris are in a square (90˚ angle) to Venus in Cancer at this New Moon. Venus is in a strongly feminine placement that is being challenged by this ongoing conjunction. Here is a symbolic alignment signifying that the rights of women, Native people, people of color, and the Earth herself, are all bearing the brunt of the patriarchy’s desire to rule the world. Nurturance has never been more important for our global healing.

Neptune, the archetypal force of the unconscious realms of dreams, inspiration, visions, as well as delusions, had just gone retrograde the day the landmark decision of the Court was released. When a major planet goes retrograde, its effects are intensified. This, I feel, actually does not bode well for the permanency of the ruling. Neptune’s influence often fogs up our vision, creating nebulousness. As I mentioned in the last posting, Neptune had almost gotten to the Aries point of zero degrees, (a mere 5 minutes of a degree away) before stopping and going retrograde. This will be a major, once-in-164 year occurrence, which will not be exact until April of 2025. The Aries point is the beginning of a whole new cycle, and the ending of an old one as well.

This is a time of disillusionment, a breaking with the old systems that perhaps we once relied upon for truth and security. This is a necessary step to tread; we must heed Eris’s finger pointing to where hypocrisy and corruption dwell, in order to make the kinds of changes that are pivotal and ground-breaking, that can create order and maintain balance in a rapidly changing world. Neptune is also the source of our visioning, the deep well of inspiration that holds the dream of a reality where we co-exist and live cooperatively. When patriarchy and colonialism no longer rule our ways of organizing our selves and our resources, that dream becomes possible.

1 The Trump-appointed Court has ruled that a President has total immunity from persecution for crimes committed, paving the way for Trump’s escaping responsibility for the Insurgency of 2021.