Somewhat astonishingly, we’ve nearly arrived at summer solstice. On Wednesday, within hours of one another, the Sun and Mercury ingress the sign Cancer. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the week when the days are longest and the nights are shortest. The Sun seems to be at stasis.
This is called a solar analemma. It’s a composite photo of the Sun, taken approximately once a week, from the same spot, for one year. The lower left of the infinity is the Sun at winter solstice, when the Sun is low in the sky. The crossover points are the equinoxes. The top right is the summer solstice, when the Sun is high in the sky. Photos and composite by Anthony Ayiomamitis.
As of this moment, the Sun is about to conclude its rather eventful run through Gemini. Speaking of, on Saturday, I completed the Gemini audio reading. This is a masterpiece of laid-back, useful, informative, plain-talk astrology.
So, first a bit about changes of season. One of the most useful astrology books I ever read was The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley, which is really an explanation of his astrologically rich tarot deck. He has a lot to say about this.
When the season changes, there’s a surge of energy from the Earth. If you’re sensitive, you’ll notice it with your senses, and can feel it with your body. Seasonal changes keep nature and our lives flowing. Nearly everyone who grew up where there are noticeable changes of season, who then left for a while, misses the seasons and is happy to have them back.
In the solstice chart, the most interesting feature is that the Sun is in Cancer, and Mercury is half a degree behind, still in Gemini. It’s as if there’s a secret waiting to be revealed. And that is the quality of the next few months: something obvious, thinly veiled, lurking just off stage.
Mercury is in the somewhat humorous “bathing beauties” degree from the Sabian symbols. The official title of the degree is, “A parade of bathing beauties before large beach crowds.” Everyone is witnessing a meaningless, if mildly amusing, form of pageantry. The degree’s interpretation concludes, “The show is over. Now comes the moment of decision.”
Decisions are important. Without them, nothing except calamity moves life forward. If you wonder why people are so dependent upon disaster, maybe that’s because they’ve thrown away their power of decision.
There’s not much else that’s especially foreboding in this chart. In fact it offers an optimistic perspective, with warm placements: a conjunction of the Moon and Venus in Taurus; these are trine Pluto (the Moon is exact), which is infusing the sensuality of Taurus with deeper meaning.
Mars in Cancer is offering relevant passion and feeling. Saturn is standing guard over the Galactic Core, making a trine to Eris. There is connection and flow between what’s radical and disruptive, and what is stable and spiritually grounded.
The only clue we have that something big is coming is that we’re all aware there’s going to be a massive total solar eclipse later in the season. Even if you’re really good at reading charts, the power of that eclipse is not hinted at in the chart for the season in which it occurs.
If this chart is saying one thing, that thing is FEEL. One of the effects of sitting at the bottom of the digital ocean is numbness. We tune into our devices, which are extensions of our bodies. Then the feedback is so intense, we tend to cut off and numb out.
This chart is saying get back into your feelings. Yes, it seems dangerous now, with the world the way it is, but that’s bullshit. The real problem is the fear of what will happen when we turn off the denial and allow something real to come in.
For those wondering about that eclipse in August, it will be one thing if you’re in denial, and quite another if you’re awake, alert and paying attention.
Thanks for this great piece, dear Eric, and truly wonderful Monday morning horoscopes.
“Decisions are important. Without them, nothing except calamity moves life forward. If you wonder why people are so dependent upon disaster, maybe that’s because they’ve thrown away their power of decision.” True – though sometimes it’s only calamity that cuts through criminal greed and indifference. As with the tower block in London. An action group formed by inhabitants of the building had been campaigning for several years, knowing how very dangerous the place they were living in was. Not only were they ignored, the owners went on to cover the building with cheap, inflammable cladding.
It was a conspiracy of profiteers, Lizzy, and I expect the damage to be so severe as to render it impossible to determine whether or not the cause was deliberate. After a lifetime as a tenant (homosexuals were not eligible for mortgages when I first applied – unless, of course, you were rich enough not to need one) I have come to the conclusion that the government should own and build homes for the people and that their “rent” is considered as mortgage payments which they carry forward from property to property throughout their lives. At the end of life they will have paid enough “rent” to own their last place of residence, the government will have received back its original investment plus some nominal interest, more homes can be built, and there will be a lot less worry about homelessness among retired people.
Curiously, Margaret Thatcher used a shadow of this idea when she privatised social housing and gave large discounts to existing tenants calculated on how long they had lived – and therefore how much rent they had paid – in the property they were now being invited to purchase. It worked a treat – many former working-class Labour party supporters suddenly discovered the delights of owning their own home at a substantially reduced cost and were able to invest some of the proceeds into the stock market. Life is grand when you own your own home. It seems it can be even better if you also own someone else’s.
“It seems it can be even better if you also own someone else’s”. Ha ha! Yes, indeed, dear Geoff.
Thank you, Lizzy. It’s been a tough few months. I hope you recover from the appalling news surrounding recent events in Britain and I hope Britain recovers from the no doubt appalling news following its Brexit negotiations.
ExitBrexit!
It really has . Thank you, dear Geoff. Had an email from my sister last night (who lives in London), saying how distressed she is by what’s happening. Hope you’re doing ok, dear. I feel almost a little bit hopeful about the Brexit negotiations – as everything is up in the air right now – which is not always a bad thing. xxx
There’s always Estonia, dear Geoff!:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/estonia-e-resident
Well, my tree said Go West. Of course, if I keep going west for long enough I will eventually reach e-stonia, although I do rather wonder whether that country would have adopted the internet with such gusto if its name had begun with any other letter rather than ‘e’. Thanks for the information, Lizzy, I shall look into it at leisure.
That seems like an excellent option, Geoff…of rent as mortgage payments…for themselves, rather than for private landlords.
Thank you for your comment, Steve, much appreciated.
In the UK, ownership of land and the houses subsequently built on it often devolved to the feudal lords who supported their king in battle, with the help of the conscripted peasantry of course.
It has always seemed unfair to me that this process should have included the right for these fortunate land lords to be able to live off the labouring class in perpetuity under the threat of homelessness.
https://www.facebook.com/linda.rock.792/posts/1480792318609561
Am unable to open the link, Linda. It’s been a long time since I used facebook.
Maybe this link works ,for you Geoff ?
Papering Over Poverty : Jonathan Pie
https://youtu.be/cft52h89roU
That’s great, Linda, many thanks. Jonathan Pie is my new humour hero. He’s so full on the truth it almost defies the description of satire.
If you’re reading this, Lizzy, I think you’ll enjoy this as much as I did, assuming you haven’t seen it already.
Happy Solstice everyone – wishing you all a good new season.
“He’s so full on the truth it almost defies the description of satire.” Yes love him too, Geoff and Linda! Posted this on my fb page, too – this is one of his best yet.