Holding Space for Transformation - Embodied Astrology for Cancer Season (June 20-July 22, 2020)
(Cancer rules the stomach, breasts/chest and the pleura of the lungs. It is a sign that represents foundational nurturing, nourishment and care). Cover Photo: anonymous for the EA Bodies project. This ongoing project wants your participation! Submit your body photos for our Astrology Body research and we’ll pair your photos with astrological writing and give you free year-ahead birthday reports. More information: www.embodiedastrology.com/bodies-project-be-an-ea-model )
Cancer Season begins with the solstice. Following the yearly rhythms of light and heat, we honor the power of polarity and opposition. The warmest days hold balance for the coldest. What is soft will harden over time, what is rigid will eventually ease and adapt, if not it will break and break down. Cancer’s symbol reminds us of the soft, warm, fluid nature of nature. We all begin somewhere. We all need nourishment, nurturing, holding. We also need container, boundaries, form, protections and structure. We need safe spaces that allow for softness. When imbalance arises, rebalance is natural. Softness without boundaries overtakes and overwhelms. Protection without tenderness imprisons.
This year, Cancer Season began with a new moon and eclipse at 0º Cancer, an extremely sensitive and powerful point in the zodiac, one that sharply initiates new beginnings and suggests high public visibility. This eclipse ushers in a season already infused with radical change and social awareness. Though the themes of uprising are nuanced, complex, historic and certainly extend through and beyond astrological interpretation, the symbolism of our current astrology is profound.
(Cancer rules the stomach, breasts/chest and the pleura of the lungs. It is a sign that represents foundational nurturing, nourishment and care). This Photo: Salty for the EA Bodies project. This ongoing project wants your participation! Submit your body photos for our Astrology Body research and we’ll pair your photos with astrological writing and give you free year-ahead birthday reports. More information: www.embodiedastrology.com/bodies-project-be-an-ea-model )
The solstice solar eclipse acts in tandem with the full moon in Capricorn and lunar eclipse on July 4th. These two eclipses strongly aspect the Sun (Sun = lifeforce) in the United States “birthday chart” for the signing of the Declaration of Independence and will also fall into formation with Pluto as it makes a return to the space it occupied when the US identity was founded.
Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun. This is the first time it has returned to its “natal” place in the nation’s chart. Pluto’s symbol holds the shadow, underworld, dying, the transformative processes of death which lead to rebirth and regeneration. Pluto presents a symbol for the cyclical, chaotic, destructive, creative power of life and the forces of life that are bigger than we can possibly control or comprehend. When Pluto makes contact with sensitive points in a chart, it acts to push forward what has been repressed, release forces that have been contained and break down what is no longer effective for the evolutionary potential. A return is a reckoning. A time when we must confront and contend with the past in order to progress.
Mercury stationed retrograde in Cancer on June 17 conjunct the degree of the US Sun. Mercury is the fastest moving planet in our sky. It holds the symbolism of our minds as they orbit around consciousness (the Sun) moving quickly between dark and light and other points of view. As it retrogrades and makes its shift from evening to morning visibility, Mercury reminds us how perspectives shift and change as new consciousness is absorbed and integrated. As Mercury appears to move backward, we hold the symbolism of the mind of a nation searching for meaning and trying to remember or return to what has been forgotten, lost, obscured, ignored.
On June 29th Mars will enter Aries for an extended stay. Usually only 2-3 months in a sign, Mars will spend over 5 months in Aries, the sign of its rulership, due to its upcoming retrograde September-November. Mars in Aries acts to ignite and agitate. It pushes its agenda forward and isn’t afraid to fight for what it believes. As Mars moves into Aries, it also moves into a square aspect with Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn and Mercury in Cancer heightening the potential for violent confrontation and activating battles for ideology and in(ter)dependence.
Cancer Season this year is a pivotal time on Earth. Globally, the volume of the background that is climate change is intensifying, bringing the promise of impending food shortages, land disputes, massive forced migration and economic chaos. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to stoke class tensions and illuminate deeply entrenched racialized oppression and disparity, citizens across the globe are being mobilized to take action and unite together in defense of Black life. As more people learn their histories and become aware of their unchosen complicitness in systems of harm, the structure of these systems are being exposed, as are their fault lines.
The potential in all of this chaos is a majority culture shift. Our vocabulary is becoming increasingly nuanced and articulate. While corporate and governmental powers may still be clawing for control, young voices are fluent and eloquent in declaring need for change and asserting sophisticated understandings of overlapping, interconnected oppressions. Our environmental climate is shaped by our emotional climate. When a world has been shaped by slavery, theft, extraction, and trauma how could we expect that world to sustain anyone?
My hope for Cancer Season and the symbolism the planetary transits outline is that we will continue to see a revolution unfolding. Eclipses point us towards the consequences of past actions and deliver karma to our doorstop. We can clearly see where “the founders” decisions have failed to realize the power of their stated intent for freedom and equal opportunity. We have a chance now to do something radically different. We have a chance to turn power on its head – to defund police, military, and prisons and fund schools, housing, healthcare and environmental sanity instead, to follow leadership of people of color and Black women, to pay into solidarity economies rather than competitive excess. This is a moment that requires us to think courageously and clearly and we have the astrological support to do it.
Use this month’s powerful energy to make changes in your own life! The eclipses ask us to continue to lean into softness, tenderness and emotional literacy and to let go of striving, performing, and trying to meet the destructive demands of white supremacy culture. Mercury’s retrograde in Cancer is an excellent support for engaging conversation with friends and family around sensitive issues. Talk to your people about racism and oppression. Talk to your employers about reparations. Write letters, make phone calls, volunteer to phonebank for new leadership. As Venus turns direct, consider how you can use your money and resources for impact. Buy from Black-owned business, give donation to mutual aid funds, involve yourself in local leadership to divest from policing and invest in community healing. As Mars moves into Aries consider what you’re willing to fight for because this is a moment that will define the rest of your life.
Want to work with all of this through ritual, meditation, and embodiment? You can now access the Cancer Season attunement ritual which includes a guided journey and visualization, a somatic movement practice that explores the Cancer/Capricorn polarity and balance in the body, a discussion of the Cancer Season charts, guidance on applying current astrology to your own chart, and a community discussion and Q&A with the workshop participants. 100% of the proceeds for both the live ritual and recording will be donated to the Justice for Black Girls initiative.
Excerpts from the Cancer Season attunement ritual make up this month’s podcast. Listen here to learn more about how I interpret this astrology and work with an embodiment practice to support you through the month.
If you’d like to join me for a live online attunement ritual, tickets are available now for the Capricorn Full Moon and Lunar eclipse with special guests Ramon and Michelle Gabrielloff-Parish on July 5th and the Leo Season solar attunement ritual on July 21 where we’ll work with honoring and integrating Leo’s energy and calling in our intentions for the month of Leo season from July 22-August 22. Registration for these events is offered fully by sliding scale donation. 100% of my lunar attunement proceeds are donated to communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and to initiatives celebrating BIPOC healing, liberation and resilience.
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These horoscopes are sign-specific for the month ahead of CANCER Season (JUNE 20-JULY 22, 2020.) Check your sun sign to understand more about your inherent nature and ego, your rising sign to understand more about what's going on in your life right now, and your moon sign to understand more about your relationships and emotional landscape. Horoscopes are poetic pieces of mystical suggestion. Take what works and leave the rest. Use the affirmations as questions, metaphors, and reminders.
ARIES
Your roots and bonds assist you in anchoring your intention.
Ground yourself in what you love to clarify your direction.
Your personal power and sense of self is evolving.
Remember, your healing happens together and
in tandem with the healing happening around you.
Listen to the Aries horoscope for Cancer Season here
TAURUS
Set your sights.
Attune your senses.
Your manifestation power is strong.
Awareness is key.
Take time to listen, so you can hear.
Listen to the Taurus horoscope for Cancer Season here
GEMINI
Scarcity thinking has no place in the new world vision.
And, there is urgency for action, severity in mistakes and preciousness
in what we seek to support, preserve, protect.
You need to act with utmost integrity and alignment now.
Ensure that your motivations are grounded
in what is sustainable, connected, collaborative.
Listen to the Gemini horoscope for Cancer Season here
CANCER
The ground beneath you is rich, fertile, vast.
You are supported by generations and millenia of ancestors and allies.
You are held. You are loved. You are wanted. You belong.
Please know and remember this.
Hold this knowing in the center of your heart as you relate, act and express in the world.
Listen to the Cancer horoscope for Cancer Season here
LEO
Seek guidance in your actions.
Seek support for your intuition, expansion, perspective.
You can serve the needs of the collective,
our greater awakening and spiritual necessity,
when you release neurotic obsessions and fixations on perfection.
Listen to the Leo horoscope for Cancer Season here
VIRGO
The serious, important work you’re here to do
requires your playfulness.
The urgency for you to speak out and participate
needs you to have a sense of humor about it.
Let go of constant striving for perfection.
Be present and enjoy (y)our imperfect evolution.
Listen to the Virgo horoscope for Cancer Season here
LIBRA
The world needs leaders who can follow,
and followers who can lead.
May we flock and flow together, joyful in our sharing of space.
How do you lead in your life?
How do you determine direction?
Include others in your decision-making,
let it be a group effort and family affair.
Remember, all points of view are needed for 360º.
Listen to the Libra horoscope for Cancer Season here
SCORPIO
Come back to your senses. Literally.
Listen through your sensitivity. But, don’t take anything personally.
What you attune with doesn’t need your judgment or preference.
Just your presence.
The more expansive your perception, the deeper your insight will be.
Listen to the Scorpio horoscope for Cancer Season here
SAGITTARIUS
Excavate, uncover, expose.
With gentleness, compassion, care.
Any discomfort in contending with what has been hidden
is a necessary rite of passage and bridge to healing.
Listen to the Sagittarius horoscope for Cancer Season here
CAPRICORN
In anyone you relate with, recognize yourself.
When they’re delightful, recognize your delight.
When they’re infuriating, recognize your fury.
The lessons presented now in your relationships are pivotal, powerful, essential.
Don’t mistake the teacher for the teaching.
Listen to the Capricorn horoscope for Cancer Season here
AQUARIUS
It’s time to reorder and reorganize your life.
Listen to your body and the messages it's giving you.
Include your joy and creativity.
Consider the power of your intent, thoughts, words and actions.
Listen to the Aquarius horoscope for Cancer Season here
PISCES
You are powerful.
You are creative.
You are generative.
Be intentional with your power.
Be collaborative with your creativity.
Be joyful with what you generate.
Listen to the Pisces horoscope for Cancer Season here
