New Moon in Cancer: Rolling in the Deep

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New Moon in Cancer: July 18-19, 2012

This New Moon arrives in my time zone just after midnight tonight, straddling a waning and waxing day as she straddles a waning and waxing cycle.

Born in the depths of Cancerian waters, this is no quiet wallflower waiting her turn to dance. This New Moon is a blues singer in the spotlight, ringed with smoky darkness. All eyes on her, she sings her heart out.

So, sure, Adele's Rolling in the Deep is overplayed and much parodied. But listen to that lyric again, with ears tuned to the Uranus–Pluto square triggered again by Mars in Libra. Listen with an awareness of Mercury retrograde in Leo, sextiling Libran Mars as together they form a Yod to Chiron.

This New Moon brings intense tenderness. We might feel lots of past hurt, present hurt, the hurt of the world, the hurt of the ages. Do we drown in it? Or find the fire hidden in the water, reaching for the fever pitch that brings us out the dark?

Cancer is emotional, guarded and a cardinal sign. The New Moon in Cancer is not about to sit still; she's taking action. The lady might sing the blues, but she's no one's fool. Blues music is about roots, loving and hurting, scars and moving on, about life.

Squaring Saturn, this New Moon knows about consequences––the ones that come from what we do, and the ones that come from what we fail to do.

Together, the New Moon and Saturn are sesquiquadrate Chiron, a Finger of the World; again, the wounded healer steps forward, inviting us to create beauty from the inevitable messes of this world.

Chiron squares the Jupiter–Ceres conjunction hanging out with the Moon's South Node and Venus, and together they form sesquiquadrates back to Saturn, another Finger of the World.

We're looped back to matters of the heart, and of the past, shown where we're wounded, and pushed to do something about it.

Where is it time to turn a corner in our emotional lives? Where are we stuck in old patterns––family patterns, ancestral ones, life patterns, relationships––that beg for transformation? Look to where this New Moon falls in your birth chart for clues.

The last New Moon in bright, agile Gemini showed us where to press the reset button in our thoughts. This Cancerian New Moon offers no quick fixes. This New Moon is about feelings, those dark waters we'd rather rise above.

Emotions don't go away when we ignore, resist, explain away, meditate through, repress, or intellectualize them. They go into the body––our body––and stay until they're acknowledged. Emotions want to be felt, and then ... move. Deep feelings don't like to be stuck any more than we do. It's about allowing, processing, letting go. Can we do it?

This New Moon forms creative quintiles with Mars, while Leonine Mercury quintiles Saturn. With these patterns, our emotions can move, take form, and find passionate expression. We can flow with this energy and turn sorrow into treasure gold.

Don't underestimate the things that I will do.
    

Balsamic Moon: Release on the Exhale

Somali woman

Balsamic Moon in Gemini: July 15, 2012

The Balsamic Moon arrives in about twelve hours, just after midnight EDT. This Gemini Moon, nestled among the big Gemini group, has much to tell us about letting go.

This won't be easy, but it's time. Inhale, bringing to mind every idea, concept, thought, meme, phrase, stereotype, and image that no longer serves you. On the exhale, let them go. Repeat as needed.

The Balsamic Moon, at 8 Gemini, it conjunct Ceres, Jupiter, Virgo, and the South Node. This party in mutable Air sparks with energy and connections focused on the feminine, women, girls, mothers, goddesses, nurturing, the Great Mother, the past, ancestors, traditions.

Where have we come from? What images and ideas of women, girls, mothers and mothering did we absorb in our earliest years?

In that heady, unconscious, powerful mix, what is highlighted for us now? What is worth keeping, and what needs to be reforged?

In my morning dream, a father and an autistic baby are in a house. I am with them, in some kind of care-taking role. I answer a loud knock on the door to see a very large, angry woman in a wheelchair with two weedy-looking men. They seem dangerous. I am alarmed.

Kali

She rises up out of the chair, which she no longer needs, and demands the baby, forcing her way in. The father is ineffectual and clueless. I run for help. The woman and henchmen chase me.

Terrified and determined, I run inside an open door to find myself in a building full of steep stairs painted dark red. I run to the basement, staying away from windows so they can't find me. I still need help for the baby. EOD

Yep, I've got my own thoughts and images of the feminine to sort out. It's an interesting process.

lineage

This Balsamic Moon is a half-square away from the Sun in Cancer, bringing light to the feminine. Squared by Neptune and Chiron, inconjunct Pluto, a square and a half from Saturn, the whole Gemini group is under a lot of pressure to change.

Sextile Uranus, sextile Mercury and trine Mars, in this moment, change can happen swiftly, unexpectedly and completely. Uranus and Mercury are both retrograde with this Moon (Merc turns tonight), and both in Fire.

With this Balsamic Moon, eureka moments can arrive with a suddenness and clarity that take our breath away. These are good days to expect the unexpected, and open to experiences of surprise, intuition, and new influence. Time for minds to open.
    

Fire Dance: Mercury and Uranus

the heart of the fire

On the Way to the Balsamic Moon, Some Retrogrades ... 

The Moon is waning, hard to find because she's smaller and rising closer and closer to dawn.

She's also just entered Taurus––earthy, sensuous, practical and stable, which is a good thing, since the next few days offer some interesting sky changes.

"There is a Chinese curse which says 'May he live in interesting times.' Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history."

––Robert Kennedy, Cape Town, 1966

There's no clear reference showing that living in interesting times actually is a Chinese curse. What's intriguing about this quote, often requoted today (I've been saying it myself), is that Kennedy made it popular in the years we're now revisiting astrologically: Then, Uranus and Pluto were conjunct, now they're squaring off.

As we move toward the shadowy time of the Balsamic Moon, two events will grab our attention. Uranus turns retrograde early tomorrow morning and Mercury turns retrograde late Saturday evening (both EDT). Both planets are in Fire, Uranus doing his slow burn through Aries and Mercury blazing through passionate Leo.

Uranus turns retro

Uranus, like the other outer planets, spends a fair amount of time retrograde. His turning emphasizes his presence, and allows him to revisit the early degrees of Aries. He'll move back to 4 Aries, and turn direct again in mid December.

Retrograde planets focus energy inward, suggesting we'll experience inner revolutions and upheavals. At the same time, Uranus is widely opposite Mars, widely trine Mercury, and square Pluto right now––a whole lotta energy packed into one pattern, with the potential for explosive action.

Uranus brings the shock of the new, and this morning we're reading reports of a new moon discovered for Pluto. Offering exciting new information on how complex Pluto's system really is (presence of Uranus) and alerting scientists that exploring Pluto will be riskier than expected (square aspect), this discovery brings Pluto into the public eye.

Mercury goes retrograde Saturday night, suggesting the weekend might not go exactly as planned. Quelle surprise. With Mercury retrogrades, looking for the silver lining is vital. Mercury in Leo, the sign of the heart, of the Sun, of our core self, invites us to explore our inner creative fire.

What lights us up, sustains us, keeps us going? If you've been looking for your bliss, in Joseph Campbell's phrase for the thing that points us at the right doors and then opens them for us, this is the time to connect. Uranus pushes us to become who we truly are, no matter how oddball that looks to the outside world, and Mercury in Leo connects mind and heart with passion.

first Mercury–Uranus trine

These two planets dancing in Fire will trine each other twice this summer, on July 25 and August 18. Retrogrades are about inner experience, yet the power of these fiery energies could lead to public eruptions––creative, passionate, revolutionary, and possibly angry, disruptive, and destructive.

Anything in our charts in early Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) will be powerfully affected. Planets and points in early cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) will have their toes in the fire. Stuff in the early fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) will feel the energy through the connection to Mercury.

OK, anything in early degrees catches some heat from these two. Since Pluto and Mars are part of this dance, and with lots of everybody else hanging out in the early degrees of other signs, we'll all just party down with this energy.

Traditional astro advice for Mercury retrograde is to move slowly and don't start new stuff. During this particular Mercury retrograde, we'll want to pay attention to that advice, especially if what we want to start is an explosion.

At the same time, the coming weeks are likely to bring inner conflicts, turmoils, passions, creative drives, desires, and rages into the sharp focus.

While the Moon wanes, let the passions getting in your way burn themselves out. This is release time; we need to use it.

The New Moon in Cancer of July 19 will invite us to connect deeply with our emotional core. Clear directions for creativity, desire, and personal expression will help manifest our dreams.

These weeks seem likely to be a rocky, fiery ride––passions are, after all, things we feel strongly about and modern culture mostly expects us to sit on our emotions. At the same time, this double retrograde offers an opportunity to connect with "the brain in the heart." If we come out on the other side with a clearer vision of the bliss we want to follow, it will be awesome.