New Moon in Cancer: It is what it is because of the way we were.

But we can create change

Sabian for 11 Cancer: A clown making grimaces.

In just a few words, the Sabian Symbol for this New Moon gives much to consider. Clowns are for dramatics of some kind. They convey messages from behind concealment (makeup). Regardless of the message they are trying to convey they rely on their audience's ability to pick up on empathic cues. There may be a laugh in the joke, but there are also laughs to be had (if laughter is what the clown is trying to evoke, that is) in the way the joke is presented and the type of physical animation used. It's all about timing and how emphasis is placed.

But, it's also about deliberately orchestrated facial expressions and the use of “masking” (makeup) in an effort to obtain a reaction or convey a persona. So, if you just caught a whiff of the potential for “emotional or empathic manipulation”...yeah. You betcha.

These days call for very high levels of emotional intelligence. This summer's ecliptic cycle takes us all up a notch in regard to that kind of development. So, yup. Even if you think you have this empathy and emotion thing all figured out...brace yourself. There's always more to know. There's always room to grow.

During the “Great South American Eclipse” Saturn Rx is still dissolving into the South Node, sextile Neptune Rx and semi-sextile Jupiter Rx in Sagittarius. Chiron (Aries) is semi-sextile Uranus (Taurus). Mercury, Mars and Juno are all lined up in early Leo within orb of a triple conjunction which falls in waxing square to Uranus in Taurus. Matter of fact, Juno is only minutes away from making this square. Mars will create his own square with Uranus on 7/10. But, Mercury? He won't quite get there anytime soon. He turns Rx on 7/7 at 4 Leo 28. He will not find Uranus until after exiting his Rx shadow. That occurs just after Uranus himself stations Rx and August's Full Moon in Aquarius. Uranus Rx is nothing to really panic about. Happens once a year, every year. But, at his station points it feels a lot like Mercury stationing Rx. So, even though Mercury's Rx will be over and he will be out of his shadow in August, know it'll still feel (during that week or so all this goes down) kinda Mercury Rx-y.

Then, there's Venus. Bless her butterfly heart. She is the only planet in an Air sign. We do have Pallas in Libra. But, other than that, we are all pretty much gasping. She takes a deep breath and dives into the seas of Cancer on 7/3.

By the way, this New Moon is the first of two we will have in the month of July. We have 2 eclipses...a Solar and a Lunar. Then, on the last day of the month we also have a 2^nd New Moon. That one falling in Leo. But, let's pull back a bit and envision the next two weeks between our Solar and Lunar eclipses before getting too far ahead of ourselves.

As I said, following this New Moon, Mercury turns Rx on 7/7.

Venus in Cancer squares Chiron in Aries (as he stations Rx) and sextiles Uranus in Taurus on 7/8.

Mercury (newly Rx) and Mars meet again by conjunction. This time in Leo on 7/8 at 4 Leo 26

The Sun opposes Saturn on the nodal axis under our First Quarter Moon in Libra on 7/9. The Sun then finds Neptune by trine as Mars in Leo trines Chiron in Aries on the 11^th. Then, prior to our Full Moon (LE) in Capricorn on 7/16, the Sun opposes Pluto on 7/14.

To me, all this alludes to a time in which personal reflections occur. We re-think things over. Re-calibrate how we feel about them. Realize ways in which we could do things better and perhaps even start to create small changes in our lives that reflect our higher level of emotional wisdom as well as our reformed personal truth or general life philosophy. Jupiter turns direct in August, btw. So, it all funnels together in divine orchestration. As we change our mind, our truth and philosophies change. When Jupiter turns direct we will naturally begin to incorporate these new mentalities along our journeys forward.

Mercury's retrograde in most general terms takes us back to our earliest development. Perhaps tossing some metaphorically “back into the womb” in so far as memory. Some? Even further back reaching to past lives and what you. But, what we will be discovering is how our core or root “family” dynamics, our cultural influence and the ways in which we process emotional/intuitive information have played a part in the way we think of ourselves, express our identity and even who it is we think we are in the first place. We will be uncovering some personal core conditioning by way of memory. When Mercury clears his shadow and squares off with Uranus in August, if anything we personally uncovered during the Rx is in need of reform? We'll know and also be given (??Ha! Squares don't give, they force) the opportunity to take baby steps into any reform or self-evolution we have chosen.

All that is relevant to this eclipse even if it occurs after. It all weaves together and with the “threads” found in your personal astrology creates the entirety of the individual tapestry.

The New Moon itself loosely makes a Cardinal Cross with Chiron in Aries, Pallas in Libra and Saturn in Capricorn...all of which also pulls in the nodal axis. As Saturn sits on the South Node and in sextile to Neptune (who very loosely trines this New Moon), we are charged with the task of reflecting upon our own past in effort to glean understanding from a “grown more wise” perspective and encouraged to forgive, accept, release, reform and clarify as necessary. We can discover personal shortcomings and limitations. And, of course, with Chiron's involvement this can also include experiencing triggering. Yet, the triggering acts as catalyst to point us toward things we may need to heal in effort to feel more whole and capable. It helps to remember that all that is in Leo in uncomfortable square to Uranus but is also trine Chiron in Aries. It IS uncomfortable. Something may trigger you in a way that it strikes directly at your core. But, there is opportunity to heal with Chiron. There is also opportunity to perceive of the “core” instigator that lies within our personal foundations and our likely former unwitting adherence to it. As Saturn erodes on the South Node in aspect to Neptune, we are being given perfect opportunity to absolve old ways of operations, learn and forgive ourselves (or other if appropriate) of our shortcomings/personal handicaps and declare a new path forward under a newer and wiser sense of self.

The New Moon is supported by Uranus in Taurus. Unlike Juno, Mars and Mercury in aspect to Uranus, the waning sextile from Uranus helps more than it unsettles. We can use this energy for detachment and employ it in personal observational efforts so that we can look at emotional and “core” territory from a grounded and sturdy position. It's funny, but I come from a family mix that is heavy in Neptune/Moon energy. My Moon resides in Pisces in square to Neptune, for example. I was a very sensitive child surrounded by likewise emotionally sensitive folks. I can remember in times of personal emotional turmoil being advised to let the emotions “roll off like water off a ducks back” and to pretend I had a Teflon coating that helped me to do that. At the time, I found the advice confusing and insulting. First, I didn't understand that I could control emotions and didn't understand that I had the ability to set emotional boundaries. Second, my emotional system was so permeable to influence from outside energies but I never in my youth ever considered that all that I was feeling was not mine. In fact, I thought how I felt WAS ALL MINE in my young reasoning and folks who told me to “let it roll off,” in my opinion, were merely suggesting my denial of that. I'm also 4^th generation co-dependent. This is one thing I learned during the last set of eclipses in Cancer...not so ironically. It changed my entire life after decades of misunderstanding myself this realization (and a few others) helped all that click into place. If I could go back and tell the childhood version of myself ONE thing, it would be “get yourself some books on Astrology to go along with that telescope you were gifted because there are things within you and your family's makeup that runs the risk of mucking up your life for about 3 decades and study up on this thing called hormones because, for you, they are only going to make things a lot worse (my Chiron in Aries in the 4^th house a placement that through my own observations has shown me can be indicative of hormonal imbalance and influence within the emotional system as well as Chiron in Cancer or in aspect to the Moon).” Sincerely it would have been nice to know. But, with a 2^nd house Moon in Pisces, I had declared right to ownership over the strong influence of what I felt and dug my heels in in regard to not denying or suppressing it.

Yet, with time, I learned what boundaries were. I came to a more clear understanding of why it was I felt everything so acutely and...quite frankly...got really tired of putting the pieces of my life back together after allowing my acute emotions, anxieties and tendencies toward codependency to continually wreck it (my Mars/Uranus conjunction in Libra opposes that 4^th house Chiron which I'm sure is energy that inspires someone to receive the label of “hot mess” because I surely was one in my youth).

The ability to “Stand back” and observe emotional influence at this Moon instead of becoming immersed in and controlled by it is gifted to us all by way of this sextile from the New Moon to Uranus in Taurus. Yet, that same gift of Uranus energy is also going to be the catalyst that spurns us in thought and deed by way of his square to Mars and Mercury. It's like he is sitting up there saying, “Hey human, watch this (detach/observe). Whenever you are unsettled by something like this (as he provokes our thoughts and actions by way of square to Mars/Mercury) your historical reaction to it has been a personal disservice. You can control that you, know? You can respond more wisely, maintain your sense of self-worth/stability and stop allowing this spot I'm poking to control you. You can understand and learn to take the wheel now. It might be uncomfortable and unusual but you are worth the effort. We can implement the changes slowly and incrementally. Baby steps are fine.”

On individual levels, we are being given a chance at a fresh start that is led by a higher level of emotional intelligence. On a collective level? As many are not engaged consciously with the emotional body, it gives plenty of chance for folks to spin out. Yet, it is wholly possible to avoid that spinning out on a personal level by way of an emotionally detached form of self-observation, an awareness and acceptance of your value as a human, grounding and a willingness to learn and subsequently implement necessary changes in our methods/thinking which illustrates a gentle and strong sense of self-respect. As this Lunar Phase progresses toward our Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn mid-month, we can collect these somewhat self-destructive or unwittingly controlled/conditioned responses for release/reform. Yet because the energy is jangly and uncertain simply due the effect of the ecliptic and since all of this will be felt on very personal levels, it is best to traverse this territory of early July while wearing that duck's Teflon coating or better yet...crawling around in the hard shell of the Crab.

This New Moon brings the advice of the 10 of Cups. Happy and blissful enough looking card. What it is most easily discernible in my opinion is that 10's denote the ending of a cycle in relation to the suit. In this case, Cups. So, as I said, we all reach the end of a stage of development in this area in some way. We each will level up from where we are. Then, as the door on this chapter of our development closes, a new one opens. A Solar Eclipse opens an entrance wormhole in the house it falls in your chart. That door will relate to the planet that rules that house and any other spots in the chart that may fall in close orb of the eclipse. The house and the planets involved gives you an idea of the intensity you will feel in relation to this eclipse (more aspects and more tightly woven into your chart the stronger the influence). Of course, those with energy concentrated around 10 degrees of our Cardinal signs, as well as our folks with heavy Moon energy influence will feel this the strongest.

My experience with the 10 of Cups tells me that it is much about closure or seeking of the same. Which...can seem confusing advice to be given under a New Moon as that is the time we plant seeds of intentions and relate this type of lunation to fresh starts and new beginnings. Yet, the advice of the 10 heralds that this is the beginning of the end. A new cycle does commence following the 10 of any suit. But, in effort to walk through the doors opened by this eclipse, we have to close the doors behind us and glean the lessons of our previous journey first. In approach, we yearn for this fresh start and are given the opportunity to begin to close up shop on the old way of existence in effort to get to those blank pages in our future. By doing this, you can create a more healthy existence on deeply personal levels. AND IT MATTERS. Because it is the individual who is an integral part of the collective. Therefore, individual healing (Chiron in Aries) in turn bears impact on the collective sphere in essence not only healing you but helping to also heal the whole of us. That means, valuing yourself enough to work through these things and doing the personal work involved with the excavations we are presented with isn't selfish. It is a way to assist our existence as a collective community.

Remember, this is a blanketing energy that promises to raise all of us to newer and wiser levels. So, even if you are the most emotionally wise and mature person in the world, you will be still be called to level up even if that is “leveling up” by further developing your abilities to model to others healthy ways to deal with the emotional body or providing support/nurturing/protection to those who are just encountering these types of growing pains or that may be vulnerable in some way.

Step into this eclipse with a willingness toward absolving issues of your personal past and seeking closure. Let this be the beginning of the end of denying the importance of emotional influence, unhealthy or non-existent coping mechanisms, resorting to aggressive and violent means of dealing with others, thinking and action controlled by unconscious core conditioning and the beginning of co-creation of a more truly nurturing type of collective existence. Changes like this often are catalyzed by extreme circumstance when Uranus is in play. It will likely be uncomfortable. But, a commitment to personal development (Juno in Leo), realization of your personal value and adherence to acting and making decisions in a way that is self-respectful (Uranus in Taurus) will help you navigate the more uncomfortable and patience taxing circumstances that catalyze an awareness of the need for change.