Just after midnight last night PDT, the Sun moved into the relative position of 0-degrees of Cancer, we hit the longest day in the north, shortest in the south. Equinoxes and solstices are the marker moments of the solar year in western astrology, as we follow the Sun in the west (eastern or Vedic astrology is lunar based). These markers also denote the beginning of the seasons, and our seasonality is crucial to us. Without that tilt of the Earth, and the shifting way we relate to the Sun, there would be no dynamic cycles that have resulted in life itself rising up and flourishing.
The very first humans who gathered in community many thousands of years ago created what was the beginning of a devotional relationship with the world around them. How they did this is that they looked up. Once hunter/gatherers could store food, community members refrain from those activities, and specialize. Shamans arose, and part of their specialization was to create context for communities in how we related to the Earth, her cycles, and the ways in which we are profoundly connected to those cycles. These four pillars of our solar year – equinox/solstice/equinox/solstice – told people what to do. When to plant and when to sew. Devotional gratitude for life itself was poured into these moments, and the first spiritual practices were born.
The pineal gland in our brain is light sensitive, and regulates our sleep cycles by virtue of our daily relationship with the Sun. The Sun rises, our brains respond to the light, and we wake. The setting Sun takes that light away, and we move into rest. Take this binary code and apply it to the entire year. The Sun’s light increases, and we move toward the abundance of spring and summer, the decreasing light brings winter, and rest. All such cycles replicate each other, and our daily rhythmic pulse also relates to our yearly solar cycle. This solstice is one of those pulse moments, where we celebrate the most light in the north, and down under where it is the least, we acknowledge that when the light diminishes on the outside, we must find it within. We may live in a modern age, but we are still creatures of the Mother Goddess Earth, constantly in relationship with Father God Sun. When we consider these moments in a devotional way, we are tapping into something that is very primal and built into us as human beings.
This solstice also means we are entering the Cancer mansion, where self-care, nurturance, and preparation to move out into the world is the name of the game. Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and we are moving from a mansion that focused on intellect and ideas, and into a season where we must move from how we feel. Interesting that on the first day of the Cancer mansion, our emotional bodies are getting a bit of a deep dive with a Trine from Venus to Pluto. That brings a depth of feeling on a day where our conscious awareness will be getting used to a much more emotional passage. Feelings could run deep today, and there is room for lots of erotic passion, and intense experiences led by love and intimacy.
The Moon is in Aries today, bringing a big contradictory energy against all that inner depth and intensity courtesy of Sun in Cancer and the Venus/Pluto Trine. Aries Moon is a masculine, fiery energy that demands movement, and which would feel held back by any extraneous feelings. A Conjunction from the Moon to Jupiter increases that optimistic and confident sense of get-a-move-on today. Throw in a little agitation to the Nodes of the Moon, and we are likely to be busy, active, and a little bit on fire with the desire to get things going. Expect lots of passion today, and strong desires to make things happen, and not in a superficial way. Happy Solstice, and have at it!
