A “Blue Moon” happens when there are two New Moons in one astrological sign. If you recall, the last New Moon in Cancer was at 0 degrees, within hours of the Summer Solstice. This second New Moon, on Monday July 20th, will be at 28+ degrees of Cancer exactly opposite Saturn. As if that weren’t significant enough, we have a comet streaking across our evening sky and every planet is activated and participating in the action. This is a powerful month ahead. A portal opens and we can take a quantum leap.
Where to begin? There is so much happening and I find it all so exciting. After the onslaught of the past six months, we are ready to let go of everything that weighs us down. All we have to do is recognize our emotional burdens and let them go.
This month we have taken a deeper look at the energy of Cancer and the way it can manifest as fear, insecurity and defensiveness in our reality. The USA has a Cancer Sun and our national identity is undergoing metamorphosis. Once we recognize the shadow side of our Cancer personality, we can begin to transmute that energy – lift it into its elevated expression of protecting, nurturing, caring and compassion. We can embody the energy of the Divine Feminine. This is exactly what our world needs now.
Cancer is about feeling. Through centuries of conditioning we have developed habits of feeling. When emotions get triggered, we have patterns of defensive reactions. Emotions are energy tied up in a structure of belief. I have been advocating a thorough inventory of our beliefs and attitudes as well as a review of our life stories. We all love our stories, but within the unfolding drama of our autobiographies lie wounds, victimhood, helplessness, injustice, excuses, blame, resentment and a host of erroneous conclusions we drew from our experience – conclusions about who we are and what our life is all about. This is all excess baggage.
The next four weeks are an excellent time to do this work. Saturn opposite the New Moon reveals this as a karmic moment. It’s mid-term exams on our maturity. Are we prepared? A life review is in order, an honest look at ourselves, recognition of shadow material, observation of what no longer serves us, what prevents us from stepping fully into our spiritual adult selves, fully alive and present to meet the moment. The ego payoff just isn’t enough anymore – the pseudo-gratification of self-righteousness, blame and resentment. So much happiness – unconditional happiness – lies ahead if we stop trying to hold our life story together, stop trying to control our reality, stop struggling against the current. We can learn to love – ourselves, each other, our lives, our Mother Earth in all her glory. And imagine what we could create out of this cradle of love!
Another evolutionary portal opens this month and the entire heavenly host has gathered to assist and celebrate our triumph. And the cosmos has sent us a sign in the form of a comet named Neowise. First of all, how about that name? New Wisdom! Oh yeah! We could use some of that. In ancient times comets used to portend catastrophe. I would say we qualify in that category right now. Click on this link to see an awesome NASA video of Earth and the comet and learn more about it.
Neowise was discovered March 27th, 2020 and named after the telescope through which it was revealed. I’ve been picking the brains of other astrologers and discovered some interesting and reassuring interpretations. There is a growing consensus that this comet is cleansing Earth’s aura! This flaming streak of cosmic energy is gathering all the negative thoughts and emotions – the fear, worry, doubt, grief, anger and suffering we have emitted into our collective aura for the last six months and more. We are receiving a psychic detox courtesy of a ball of rock and ice burning away our karma, releasing us from our past.
This interpretation is strengthened by the Yod that points to the South Node of the Moon. A Yod is a configuration of two planets in sextile – 60 degrees apart – both of which are inconjunct or 150 degrees from a third planet. This is called a “Finger of God.” When God points her finger, we best pay attention.
Sun and Moon at 28 Cancer are sextile Sedna at 28 Taurus and both are inconjunct the South Node. The South Node, you remember, is the repository of our unresolved past – our karma. “Take care of this,” She says. If you recall I wrote that Sedna is the new outer limit of our solar system, therefore, the new boundary of human consciousness. It used to be Saturn, then Pluto, then Eris and now Sedna – out there at the limits of the Kuiper Belt. Sedna tells us we now have permission to expand our consciousness into the far reaches of space. The New Moon is a beginning. We can take a quantum leap! How do we do it? We clean out that South Node.
That’s a big enough job for us as individuals, but totally doable. It’s going to take more time for the collective, but the way the collective heals is through each of us, one by one by one. This New Moon, this singular Blue Moon, with its streaking comet and its Finger of God is bringing us light, hope, purification and a promise of our potential. All we need do is embrace it.
All the other planets bring more gifts. We have a series of sextiles:
Venus is sextile Mars – our feminine and masculine energies are activating each other and working in harmony.
Jupiter is sextile Neptune – our faith, our optimism, our expanded consciousness is working with the spiritual energies of Neptune to form a more perfect union of souls.
Mercury is sextile Uranus – lower, conceptual mind is linked with our Higher Mind. We can receive insight, gestalts, quanta of information and energy to boost our awakening.
Mercury is moving away, but still conjunct the North Node. New thoughts. New information. New vision of the future. New Wisdom! Mercury returns to the USA natal Mercury on August 1st just before the Full Moon in Aquarius. Perhaps we have gained enough resilience to change our collective mind.
Mars is still within Chiron’s orb exposing our patriarchal wounds while Venus is bathing Mars with tenderness.
To assist our shadow work, the New Moon is opposite the Pluto stellium in Capricorn and square Eris. Eris is at work all year helping us see ourselves clearly. Once we stop projecting onto others, we see the source of truth within.
The next step in our awakening is taking responsibility for our energy. We need to integrate more of it and lift it to a higher frequency – a frequency at which hate and violence and this pandemic cannot exist; a frequency at which caring and compassion, joy and gratitude thrive. It will be out of this context of elevated energy that we will create our new world. It emerges through our individual vibration.
We will talk much more about this over the coming months. Right now we have to pass the Saturn mid-term. Get out that journal and write it all down. As you recount your life’s story, look for ways to take full responsibility for all of it. Gather responsibility as you would wildflowers, with a sense of abundance and joy. Own your projections. Release your bitterness. See how you and your soul created it all to bring you to this apocalyptic moment when your True Self emerges.
Make a list of what you intend to release. Go outside after sunset and give it all to Neowise. Send up your fear and pain, your worry and anxiety, your defenses and reactive behaviors. Release it all and bid it farewell. Then safely burn the paper and set yourself free.
New Moon time is about going into the dark, the unknown. It is a seeding time, a new beginning when we can set some intentions. Make a second list of what you want to grow and develop over the next month. Write your intentions on an index card and place it on your altar. If you don’t have an altar, consider creating a sacred space somewhere where you can be alone to meditate, to write in your journal, to be with yourself and your soul. Gather things that have meaning for you – a crystal, a photograph or work of art, a candle, a feather or something you found in nature. You are demonstrating your devotion. At some point over the weekend, light that candle and give your intentions to the Unknown. Chronicle your passage in your journal. Acknowledge every sign of change, every shift of attitude. This will reinforce the process.
The rest of this year is about developing presence so we can live fully in the moment and make wise – Neowise – choices. Make the most of this once in a Blue Moon opportunity.
Ze Unwin
Thank you for this! Printing it out so I can keep reminding myself!