Stargram
Week of June 21
This sun’s own hour calls out to you
To know of wisdom’s words:
‘Absorbed in this world’s loveliness,
Feeling the self in you, hold fast to this:
The human I can lose and find itself
Within the cosmic I.’
[From Calendar of the Soul, June 16 – 22]
Dear Friends,
Only a few hours of spring remain! At 0825 UT on Sunday morning, the Sun will reach its northernmost point in relation to our globe, thereby ushering in the glory that is summertime. As the Sun ends its northward climb, it appears to stop—the word ‘solstice’ means ‘Sun stop’—as if to take in the importance of the moment. From Robert Powell:
What was the significance of the alignment of a massive temple, such as the one at Karnak, to face the setting Sun at the summer solstice? It was experienced that, at the times of the solstices and equinoxes, unique conditions prevailed by virtue of the Sun and Earth entering into a special relationship with one another. At such times, it was felt that the possibility arose for impulses and revelations from the cosmos to be transmitted to receptive human minds below. This was especially felt to be so at the time of the summer solstice. In the hermetic tradition of ancient Egypt, it was imagined that, at this time, the Sun became ‘enthroned’. . . . According to this imaginative picture, the sublime Sun-god, ascending his throne, would send down [light and life] from above. . . . The place of enthronement—the Sun’s location in the zodiac on the day of the summer solstice—was the part of the zodiac where the Sun-god became exalted each year. [Hermetic Astrology, vol. 1, pp. 12–13]
At the summer solstice, the forces of creation that have streamed from the Sun toward the Earth since the vernal equinox are replaced by something else. Thereafter, until the autumn equinox, the Sun collects the zodiacal forces that manifest on Earth as perfection and ripening.
Attending this moment in time on Sunday are two other planetary events: the First Quarter Moon (5° Virgo) and the entry of Mars into the zodiacal sign of the Bull: In creative world existence. The position of the Moon today bears the memory of the first conversion of Mary Magdalene. From Estelle Isaacson:
[Jesus] looked at Magdalene and began to speak. Magdalene looked up and saw his intense gaze turned in her direction, and was both puzzled and captivated. . . . With a powerful voice that penetrated her heart, he said, “No longer forsake yourself for the things of the world, for you are a child of your Father in heaven, and He calls you out from the world to come to Him! You cannot return to your loving Father if you are weighed down by the things of the world. Turn away, lest the evil one—the prince of this world—take hold of your heart!”
Magdalene did indeed feel a tremendous force weighing upon her heart. It clutched at her breast. She burst into tears, feeling the encumbrance of her worldly life all around her. [Through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene, vol. 1, pp. 58–59]
Taurus and Mars are united in a shared connection with the larynx: The Bull provides the formative forces for its development, while the Mars chakra is the spiritual organ of the throat region. We are accustomed to speaking about our thoughts, feelings, grievances, etc. What if our voices could become instruments of the spiritual world and the human world simultaneously?
On Wednesday—Mercury’s own!—our cosmic messenger (ever fleet of foot) leaves Gemini and knocks on Cancer’s door: Warm soul life. At its best, this combination manifests as selfless thinking. As the sign of motherhood, Cancer confers a willingness to sacrifice for whomever (or whatever) is in its care. Within the Christ chronicle, we find Mercury in the first degree of Cancer at the birth of the Baptist, who—in the same manner in which a mother tries to clear the path ahead for her young—embraced his role as the forerunner of Christ.
The Sun (9° Gemini) and Neptune (9° Pisces) will be positioned ninety degrees apart on Thursday. This aspect has the capacity to open our hearts to cosmic inspiration (it was present during Juan Diego’s first encounter with the Virgin of Guadalupe)—as well as rendering us susceptible to delusion. Neptune has the effect of ‘washing away’ anything that we have regarded as ‘rock solid’: our ideals, our concepts—even our sense of self. (The Sun was square Neptune as the Titanic, on 14/April/1912, struck the iceberg that— just 160 minutes later —would sink her.
The chart for this tragedy is quite interesting. The Sun-Neptune square highlights the prevailing delusion that the Titanic could not sink. She set sail when the Sun was in the last degree of the zodiac, thus representing the end of an old era—and the start of a new age that was reckoned to be less vulnerable. In the chart, we also find Pluto (the Deep) about to dip below the western horizon; the ship would soon follow. Lastly, we find the Moon (ruler of the tides) at the exact nadir of the chart in the sign of Pisces: the zodiacal sign with a relationship to our oceans. Did the Moon draw her down to the ocean floor?
A blessed week to all!
~ Julie H.