The New Moon that arrives in Cancer on the early morning of Tuesday, June 25th, later morning for the east coast and Europe, is another powerful lunation, at 4° of the sign. This lunation follows in the wake of the previous and quite strong Gemini New Moon from the end of the previous month, and the recent and extremely potent Cancer Solstice of June 20th, which was filled with outer planet combinations. This time, too, the stars feature a wild and potentially difficult set of outer planets in combination with the Sun, Moon, and Mars, with a sense of respite also highlighted by the presence of the softer and more optimistic Jupiter in early Cancer. This is the sign where he is exalted, for greater effective agency, and Jupiter is also emphasised by being less than a degree away from conjunction with the Sun and Moon. Also featured in this planetary configuration is the close square made by Sun–Moon–Jupiter to Saturn and Neptune, closely conjunct in early Aries, plus the potent inconjunct (quincunx) aspect made by the New Moon and Jupiter to transformational Pluto at 3° of Aquarius. This is once again a heady stew of transformational energies that presage passions running high, with difficulties, dangers, and disruption in the offing, and therefore with every reason in the world for exercising caution and keeping one’s head on straight, despite everything.
Saturn and Neptune, closely conjunct within a degree, are closing in to nearly exact over the next few weeks. They are also closely sextile to Pluto, Lord of Death and Rebirth, so that their combined planetary archetypes are extremely emphasised now and over the following thirty days of this Cancer lunation. These fundamentally antithetical archetypes in collision could highlight the division of spiritual versus practical realities as partially resolved and also partially exacerbated. Noted astrologer Rick Tarnas mentions “red states and blue states” and also states of mind, where neither side can recognise any value whatsoever in the other’s point of view.
Mars at 4° of Virgo is also highlighted in this New Moon, being closely sextile the Sun, Moon and Jupiter, as well as inconjunct to Pluto, and to Saturn–Neptune, creating a series of yods, to Mars as focal point, with Pluto and Saturn–Neptune, to Pluto as focal point, with Sun–Moon–Jupiter and Mars, and to the new 21st century KBO & Nature planet Haumea, with the position of Uranus, quite close to the 0° mark of Gemini, and Saturn–Neptune. The yods to Mars and Pluto, which were also featured in the Cancer Solstice, indicate the potential for passions and buried anger to overflow and bring simmering conflicts to conflagration.
Because all these outer planet alignments also emphasise Pluto–Haumea in a close-forming square, there is a mission of truth-seeking that underlies all of the above. I have been researching Haumea as a Nature planet, along with Makemake, in support of natural law, right action, and truth-telling. In the square with Pluto, this seems to have the effect, recurring over these coming days and weeks, of bringing the actual truth of the matter into the light. This is despite political propaganda and outright lies, which apply at both the collective and individual levels of our lives. May it be so!
Trickster Uranus, bringing surprise events and unexpected enlightenment, is also quite interesting in this New Moon, located at 29 ½ degrees of Taurus and preparing to enter Gemini by the 7th of July. At that point, about 12 days further into the Cancer lunation cycle, Saturn and Neptune in their close conjunction at the beginning of Aries will stand at the effective midpoint of Uranus and Pluto, so that all of these outer planet combinations are therefore even more greatly emphasised. This upcoming timeframe is thus strongly transformational and culturally significant. As for this present position of Uranus, currently about half a degree away from that Gemini ingress, there is a preliminary shadow of that dynamic outer planet combination already evident in the skies and the zeitgeist. Uranus is now being sextiled by Mercury in the final degrees of Cancer, to within about a degree, bringing greater consciousness to all these archetypal influences, as well as boosting our independent process of deep intuition.
In any case, we must not, amid all these storms, lose our basic sense of self and our realisation that the cosmos is fundamentally beneficent. There is always a bright side that we can focus on, upholding our faith in the power of the universe – and of our higher self – to have our back. This is solace that we urgently need, as we negotiate these difficult upcoming times of confusion, conflict, and potential victory.
