Summer Solstice, First Quarter Moon in Virgo

An image of the sun taken with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager which collects images in several wavelengths of light that are invisible to the human eye.  Credits: NASA/STEREO

Today, Wednesday is the First Quarter Moon with the Sun in the last degree of Gemini and the Moon in the final degree of Virgo. Tomorrow the Sun will move into the sign of Cancer, marking the beginning of Summer and the celebration of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.

Do you remember our discussion about Beltane, at the beginning of May? That was 6 weeks ago and marked the midpoint of spring, the previous celebration in our wheel of the year. Today’s post will cover symbolism pertaining to both the First Quarter Moon, which will be in effect for this week, but also for the Summer Solstice which will say something about the rest of the summer.

Let’s continue from where we left off last week. Mars and the South Node conjoined in Aquarius. This week, at the other side of the zodiac in Leo, Venus and the North Node are also conjoined. One of the themes I already mentioned was letting go of pent up anger and rage. Venus suggests that a good way to do this is through creative outlets; getting paint to canvas, pen to paper, hands to clay, singing, dancing, fucking. Whichever way you prefer to express yourself should now feel energised and can act as a healthy and productive way to process some anger that may have been lingering in your body for some time.

On a more subtle level, Mars and Venus symbolise each of our feminine and masculine sides. An opposition between two planets describes the peak point of tension in the relationship between the two. The Nodal axis is representative of what feels destined.

A possible outer manifestation of this energy is described above in making some wild love or art. A potential inner manifestation is exploring themes of self love and self acceptance. In some circles this is called the sacred marriage, the bringing together of the masculine and feminine aspects of oneself. This may come with a realisation that most – if not all – of our relationships act as mirrors to who we are, what we desire and what we like and dislike about ourselves. Mars and Venus are now encouraging us to first find this place where we can safely explore our inner lover and then try and express what we have found through our favourite creative outlets.

Of course, the creative process itself is usually an act of self exploration and vice versa. Bringing yourself, the raw experimental self, your unmanicured, don’t-feel-ready-for-the-world self out into the open, might feel terrifying and dangerous but the astrology suggests myriad unexpected and wonderful things can happen this summer should you have the courage to do so.

The Milky Way. NASA.

The other major aspect involves the Sun and Moon and a few other lesser known points.

At the moment, directly across the zodiac from the Sun, is the centre of the milky way; our galactic center. That means that right now the Earth lays between the Sun and the center of our galaxy. When you look in the direction of the Sun you are looking directly away from the centre of the milky way. If the feeling of contact with God had to have a place in astrology I would say that it is here at the galactic core. Of course, if God is not your thing, then that feeling of awe and wonder at the overwhelming size and mystery of the universe is a good enough placeholder. The G.C. is like the Sun of our Sun, it is the thing that everything in our vast galaxy revolves around, it’s the closest thing we have to home outside of our own backwater solar system.

Back in our little solar system we have Vesta nestled in the last degrees of Sagittarius with the G.C.. One of the very first asteroids to be discovered, the 4th in fact, first seen in 1807. Vesta asks us to hold space for that which we wish to devote ourselves to. The toxic end of this is the workaholic, that doesn’t hold space for anything but the job. The healthier manifestation is consciously creating an opening inside oneself that allows what we want to enter our lives. Alternatively we can devote a part of ourselves to those people around us who need a space to grow or heal.

The other point is Pholus, the second ever centaur object crossing the orbit of Saturn to be discovered, back in 1992. Pholus can symbolise huge effects from the smallest of causes. It can also represent the sudden release of pressure. It’s when you didn’t realise that such a small action would have such massive consequences.

If we combine these three energies together, as they are combined in the chart, we seem to get an interesting symbolic result. The astrology suggests – to me at least – taking the time out of one’s day to create space within oneself in devotion to the mysteries of the universe, should produce some – to put it mildly – interesting results.

Any kind of devotional activities should be particularly powerful now. Whether it be consciously watering your plants compared to doing it on auto-pilot, or taking the time out to really connect with someone rather than texting 5 people at once. Or as we discussed above devoting some time to bridging inner exploration with outer creative expression.

At this point it is worth reminding you, dear reader, that we are still under the spell of Jupiter trine Neptune. This has been making waves in the background for over a month and continues now as Neptune is in the process of beginning its annual retrograde cycle. Unlike inner planet retrogrades which noticeably shake things up, the outer planets each spend about a third of the year in retrograde motion and require a little more awareness to really experience.

Neptune retrograde represents a time when deep inside ourselves changes in our subconscious take place, these can rise to the surface as realising where we are in denial about particular aspects of our lives. When Neptune is changing direction – as it is this week – it is a good time to take note of your dreams. This is the most easily noticeable way in which the subconscious mind communicates with the conscious, rational mind.

As well as being given a chance this summer to let go of that raw anger that may have cooled to simmering depression over the years, we are also being given a chance to explore our inner selves from many angles. As discussed in last week’s post, the coming months offer a time to figure out what we really want and who we need to be in order to move towards that. This also seems to be a process of realising that often, what we really desire can be actually be found inside ourselves. This can be worked towards should we decide to devote our energy to quiet self-enquiry as well as worldly exploration. Listening to the more subtle signals coming from deep within ourselves will be equally as important as confronting the obstacles along the way in figuring out who we are in relation to our society, our environment and our world.

The Earth and the Moon as seen from Mars. Courtesy of NASA.