Reclamation, Reorientation and Regeneration: Part 1

After May’s exhausting eclipse tunnel and the Uranus/Pluto square, June and July’s astroscape looks eventful, yet simultaneously soothing and restorative. Much of this is brought to us courtesy of a planetary ingress into Cancer replenishing our hearts and souls with calm, cleansing water in abundance.

Key Dates

June

1 Mercury crosses Cancer Aries Point

4  Venus crosses Cancer Aries Point

7 Neptune turns retrograde at 5 Pisces

8 New Moon 18 Gemini

10 Black Moon Lilith crosses Cancer Aries Point

11 Saturn trine Neptune

19 Sun conjunct Jupiter in Gemini

21 Solstice Sun crosses Cancer Aries Point

23 Full Moon 2 Cancer Aries Point

26 Mercury turns retrograde

27 Jupiter crosses Cancer Aries Point

July

2 Cardinal T Square Sun/Uranus/Pluto

8 Saturn turns direct

14 Grand Trine in Water Jupiter/Saturn/Neptune

18 New Moon in Cancer

The 0 degrees Cancer Aries Point

As you can see from the key dates, in June, the Aries point at 0 degrees Cancer is triggered no fewer than six times. Why is this significant? You could call the Aries Point the One World Point, because it reminds us that we live in one world, where individual lives intersect with the larger collective world in which we live. It’s interesting that astrology sees the connection between our private or individual existence and its connection to the larger public life a lot more clearly than we do. One of the great issues of our times is that we tend to see ourselves as separate from the world in which we live. In June, we’re steadily moving into one of those extended moments when we’ll be able to see and feel the connections, where the level of energy increases quickly.

The Aries Point is also related to the first degree of the other three cardinal signs—those signs which, with the entry of the Sun, begin the seasons: Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, usually referred to as the World Axis. The cardinal points are where the Sun reaches a seasonal turning point, making a 90-degree angle to one of the tropics or the equator, and enters a cardinal sign. The master point is presumed to be the Aries point, where the Sun crosses at the beginning of the astrological year, and where the Western zodiac (the tropical zodiac) is reckoned with the Eastern constellations (the sidereal zodiac).

Basically, the cardinal points are a highly sensitive energy structure, shaped like a cross. It is now clear that this cross, whose action and influence was long a mystery, may be so sensitive due to its proximity to the Galactic Core. The cardinal points are sensitive whether the Sun is there or not. They are so predictable that, when activated by planets or planetary events, they will often respond with a worldly event or chain of events that affects many people.

Events involving the Aries Point, or people with it prominent in their charts, have impact. Their lives can affect many people. They have a connection to the public and the public has a connection to them. This is the degree of the zodiac bearing the message: ”The personal is political”. By extension, the first degree of any of the cardinal signs, the degrees the Sun crosses on the first day of any new season, have a similar feeling and effect. From late 2008 onwards, with Pluto in early Capricorn and again in March 2011, with Uranus in early Aries, the Aries Point axis has been popping up as particularly influential. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami which is still contaminating the seas with nuclear radiation occurred exactly as Uranus crossed the Aries Point.

The Sabian Symbol for O degrees Cancer says:

On a ship the sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one. The nascent desire to align oneself with a larger and more significant life trend.

Themes of Water World 2013

The 0 Cancer world axis is in the element of Water, so June 2013 emphasises the water theme of this year—a theme of making contact with your feeling body without being overwhelmed by it. That’s always the thing about emotions .When astrology emphasizes the water signs, you will feel more and more deeply, and need to guard against soaking up psychic manipulation like a sponge. The watery realm of feeling, of emotion, of body sensation, is different from the realm of intellect, concept and mental control. What happens on the level of water can subvert or perhaps submerge what we experience in the mental environment, so in June, July and August, experiences and events will have a deeper emotional tone than usual.

In addition to describing the emotional realm, water sign energy also reaches into behind-the-scenes, where-on-earth-did-that-come-from communication. It’s also good for empathy and understanding what others are going through by feeling it rather than needing to have it explained.

In my 2013 forecast, I described this year as Water World. The Year of the Black Water Snake has already taken us on an extended voyage in Pisces’ realm during February and March. This is a year when we’re literally being replenished by the Water element making the transition from logic to feeling based living. By June, no fewer than 5 outer planets will be in Water signs:

• Saturn and the North Node of Fate in Scorpio Fixed Water
• Neptune and Chiron in Pisces Mutable Water 
• Jupiter in Cancer Cardinal Water

At a personal level, the surfeit of Water can make you drown in feelings. Your emotional intelligence will be tested over and over. You’ll be shown that you are constantly floating in a tide of change and flux and you need to learn to swim. This is the year when you learn how to surf the tsunami of change. It brings an energetic shift on a huge scale, either deepening emotions, sensitivity, empathy and family ties or inducing even more addiction, disassociation and alienation, depending on individual choices.

The 2013 master classes of Saturn, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter are teaching us to:

• Clear personal and global shadow material;
• Acknowledge the true condition of our lives;
• Survive and thrive in a world turned upside-down;
• Co-create instead of waiting for magic;
• Cultivate inner authority;
• Stand for who we are in the world;
• Suspend disbelief, develop our intuition when the signposts disappear;
• Edgewalk in the midst of upheaval and transformation.

In an unusual confluence of outer planets in water signs, Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio flow together to form a swirling inundation of personal reclamation, regeneration and reorientation . The water signs all bring different qualities to our lives—Pisces turbulence, calm, transcendence or delusion; Cancer, the longing for home, roots and security; Scorpio still waters run deep.

June’s headline billing goes to Jupiter, who enters Cancer on June 27 to stay until July 17 2014. The last time the Great Benefactor was in the Crab’s domain was between 13 July 2001 and August 2002 and it’s worth a look back in your own life to spot which issues came up for you back then.

The Grand Water Trine, 2013

Jupiter represents expansion, growth, success, opportunity and our ability to extract an overall meaning. It is a nudge to go bigger, bolder, wider and further than before, to challenge us to see further and dream beyond what we have previously dared to imagine.

Jupiter has long been hailed as the epitome of optimism in the sign of Cancer and is said to be exalted in this sign, meaning that he functions here exceptionally well, with a supremely nurturing and protective presence. When Jupiter enters this sign there is the opportunity to increase our understanding of emotions and the private sphere. Enlarging our family could become a meaningful task, as could the pursuit of nurturing and caring for others. Whilst Jupiter in Gemini expanded us on the intellectual and social levels, Jupiter in Cancer extends our feelings. Community involvement, compassion and empathy will increase. The protection of children and the vulnerable could be on the agenda. Watch for a building global movement against Monsanto and GM crops and an international refusal to poison the world’s bees.

The shadow side of this once-in-12-years transit could be moodiness or emotionalism, increased calls to find meaning through clannish or nationalistic tendencies

July 17 and the days which follow bring a Grand Trine in Water between Jupiter/Black Moon Lilith/Saturn/Neptune/Chiron. The emphasis will be on finding constructive ways to achieve social justice, human rights and equality between men and women. This will not be all sweetness and light although surprising new ways of compromising then finding radical solutions will seem to emerge spontaneously. If you have planets or points in the first 10 degrees of a Water sign (Pisces /Cancer /Scorpio) or any planets between 2-6 degrees of any sign, you will benefit from this softer climate. These areas of your life will undergo a very welcome regeneration.

Cardinal T Square, July/August 2013

On 22 July 2013, there is a Full Moon, just as the Grand Cardinal Cross is approaching. And on 29 July 2013 and days around, Mars forms an exact Grand T-square with Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto! This continues into early August, and will affect masses of people and the charts of many world powers. Expect significant historical events to occur around this time frame of July and August 2013.

Remembering and Healing

What we are really uncovering in the second half of this year of physical creation made manifest, is the unfolding, the remembering of our spiritual selves with all our gifts and talents in the physical world. These gifts are not only those of deliberate intentional healing, but also those that are intrinsically a part of each of us, yet currently not actualized; those things that we perceive as potential talents, but that we haven’t necessarily explored so far. The full breadth and scope of our presence on this planet at this very critical time is to inspire the healing of the original wound: separation from Source.

In Part 2 of this article, posted on July 1, I will look at the Grand Trine and the Cardinal T square in more depth as they are two of the most significant planetary influences in 2013.