We have now completed the first spiral of Cycles of Healing (32 articles), laying the groundwork for linking the new moon with the Great Year Ages and all that involves. This second spiral will look at the new and full moon charts. If you are new to Western Sidereal Astrology, please read this article. I am using charts drawn up for Washington, D.C. and use sidereal whole sign houses. If you want to know how to use Cycles of Healing with each new moon for deep healing, read this article.
The forecast, as always, will affect individuals with natal planets or points in aspect to the planets and points covered below. To determine if these aspects will affect you personally, check your sidereal natal chart (the common tropical chart degrees will be way off and therefore useless – not apples to apples). To calculate your sidereal degrees, subtract 24° from your tropical degrees; this will be close, not exact, but good enough for our purposes. Sidereal astrology is where the planets actually are if you take the time to look up at the night sky.
The New Moon is 16° 53’ Cancer and is exact at 4:45 pm EDT, nicely coinciding with the celebration of the first fruits of harvest: tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, okra…. Many herbs flower now so we can use them for our most potent medicines. All the abundance of the Mother becomes apparent now. We give thanks for Her bounty.
The sun and moon are conjunct in the constellation of Cancer, 9th house. The fun and potential adventure of summertime is upon us. Summer is a magical time for many when the memories of lazy childhood days-without-school, and Cancer, as the High Fruitful Mother, embodies the energy of home, memories, and comfort.
What do you recall about your magical childhood summers and how can you embody that today? Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine perfectly captures the poignancy of summer as does Whitley Strieber’s recollections of his childhood in The Secret School in different ways. Both of these books help me to remember, through feeling, the often dismissed importance of childhood magic. August itself is a magical month with its golden light, and heat-drenched days, with the drone of the cicadas easily whisking one off on a journey toward… mystery.
For more information about Cancerian energy and to work with the new moon healing cycle, read the Age of Cancer article.
Asteroid Yoko is exactly conjunct the sun and moon. Memories of a time when we were slighted, not respected or outright persecuted for being our authentic selves may come up at this time. It so, take the opportunity to fully feel into these memories, release and learn from them.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the North Node are all in 10th house Leo. Fun, creativity, entertainment are highlighted.
Mercury at 10° 34’. We will be urged to express ourselves creatively, maybe even flamboyantly, in ways that can bring us to public notice. Be bold and colorful. Communicate authentically from the heart. Experience some summer movie or concert fun and conviviality with friends.
If Mercury is about communication then it is also about being receptive, and in Leo, we may have to tone it down a notch to hear the quiet voice of the Divine. When we star gaze the heavenly spheres communicate to us. August 11-13 is the height of the Perseid meteor shower (from July 17 – August 24). Make the effort to get out to a natural spot with little light pollution and enjoy communion. Look to the northeast after 10pm local time. After midnight is when the majority will fall with August 12th being the prime viewing time. This type of event can give us a feeling of our place in the universe, how special it is to stargaze, and how healing starlight actually is.
Mercury opposing Neptune at 17° 20’ in 4th house Aquarius may bring messages through dreams, dreaminess, or confusion through inappropriate idealism. Watch the tendency to numb out and escape through substances and choose not to. We use this energy most appropriately to express our ideas creatively, directly and openly.
Venus at 2° 30’. This can auger well for an enjoyable social calendar, which benefits our career or public personae in some way. We balance this by keeping aware of our values and aesthetic sense and keep congruent. It may be time for us to lead the way and be in the spot light for a time. We make choices that we will be happy about for the rest of the month and on into the year.
Jupiter at 28° 20’ is getting ready to enter Virgo mid month, just after the Perseid meteor shower. Now in the last degrees of the constellation of Leo, Jupiter has been encouraging us to expand our inner life through authentic, creative expression. What we have developed throughout this last year in this regard will soon be put into practice in the outer world. How this manifests will be very individual. Quincunx Uranus retrograde at 00° 25’ Aries 6th house, we are ready for some enlightening inner discoveries that may suddenly change our day-to-day routine – how we live our life. We take care to watch our health at this time, and always, so that we are grounded, balanced and prepared for what comes our way. The suddenness of Uranus needn’t have us loose our center. We can enter into the revolutionary energy with joy when we know who we are.
The North Node at 20° 08’ is continuing on in Leo, so we still have permission to explore, have fun and enjoy what life has to offer through creative insight and expressive authenticity. The NN is our destiny point, our compass. We each have an individual NN in our natal chart, but the transiting NN is also important to fine-tune our trajectory month by month.
Mars is 5° 57’ Scorpio 1st house, and will be through with the shadow period (back to the place on the ecliptic it was before retrograding) August 21st. Mars squares Venus, grist for the mill between what we desire and what we value. We need to create congruity between the two if we discover disparity. While Mars continues through Scorpio, we may feel antsy or edgy and want to get out there and do something! Getting enough physical exercise will help balance this energy and help us to be able to side step unnecessary conflict and argument. We may want to push ourselves forward. There is nothing wrong with that as long as we are not stepping on toes, and we take the time to see things from other’s perspectives.
Retrograde Saturn, at 15° 47’ Scorpio 1st house, goes direct on August 13, and out of its shadow period mid November. There’s a lot of convergent energy around the Perseid meteor shower and Saturn going direct is a powerful energy shift. We have been reflecting on our discipline and patience since the end of March. When Saturn goes direct, it will be time to put this into practice if we haven’t already. Saturn in Scorpio demands that we move steadily toward our deepest truths and embody authenticity. Anything less and we will run into ‘issues’. These issues signal an opportunity to evaluate our choices, attitudes and direction and see if we need course correction.
Dwarf planet Eris is still conjunct Uranus, but the repercussions from this alignment will be felt for years. Eris is the Goddess of Choices. Right now in the United States we are facing some tough ones. For the first time in our history we will be able to vote for a woman for President. The other choice is possibly to go the way of Germany when this conjunction was last in effect, that being to Hitler’s Third Reich. However there is a third choice that some people are contemplating, that of voting for a third party, which we actually do need in America. By way of showing the danger of such choices, let me include here a recent message from a dear friend. Dan writes:
“Let me share a story. I’ve often supported third party candidates in hopes of effecting a change from our two-party system to something better. I will never do it again. In 2000, when I lived in Florida, I voted for the Green Party candidate in hopes that Green Party votes would hit 5% of the total, qualifying that party for federal funding. That misguided effort contributed to Bush winning Florida and therefore the presidency. If I and about 600 other voters had not thrown away our vote like that, we would not have had eight years of Bush, the Iraq war, more tax cuts for the rich, or the destabilization of the Middle East that resulted in the rise of ISIS. I still haven’t forgiven myself for that mistake. The lesson is clear: if you fear the election of Donald Trump, don’t take chances with the presidential election. Yes, do support third party candidates in local elections and start building the ‘revolution’. But PLEASE don’t play games with the future of all of us and our children. Trump is too dangerous.”
This story perfectly illustrates the dangerous choices Eris presents to us. It is not Her fault when we choose to support our egos, our greed or our temporarily misguided ideals. We, as Americans, must delve deeply into our hearts and minds to make the choice that is least likely to cause, as in Paris’ case in the original story of Eris, an analogous 10-year Trojan war, and the untold suffering of many. Those in the rest of the world will equally be bidden to bow to Eris’ power. This is a dangerous time for us all, but specially for our children and grandchildren who will have to live with our choices longer than we will.
Read more about Eris here.
A rare unaspected retrograde Pluto at 21° 39’ Sagittarius 2nd house could bring us an intense, transformed vision of security through cooperating with the natural world and gaining self-reliance. Keep your eyes open for such opportunities this month to move beyond fear and embrace life as an adventure. If something is trying to leave our lives this month, specially if we associate it with security or financial supportiveness, let it go without struggle. It will be for the best even if we cannot see it at the moment.
I hope you all have a blessed month. Enjoy the summer beauty and Her Bounty.
Please visit Western Sidereal Astrology for information about my Astro-readings via video chat. If tarot is more your thing, visit my Tarot page here.
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- Full Moon in Sidereal Aquarius August 18, 2016 - August 18, 2016
- Lammas New Moon in Sidereal Cancer August 2, 2016 - August 2, 2016
- Full Moon in Sidereal Capricorn July 19, 2016 - July 19, 2016
