cancer – Joan Porte

Full “Moonth” in Cancer January 15

“Every ‘Moonth’ the Moon travels around the Earth through the whole circle of the sky. The Moon’s Old English name was Mona from that name we acquired the word ‘month.” The Old Lady’s walkabout was 29 ½ days. If you have the patience to watch her journey night after night in a single month you will see that the road she travel is the same one she traveled last month and she will be found there the next and the next and the one after that. As she walks the Road in the Sky she stops to visit friends and family, i.e., she meets up with the stars that live alongside the Road. Her visits are brief for she has a long way to go – clear around the sky – so she must hurry on.”

I love that quote from Wendy Ashley’s “Paleoskies.” Wendy is an astro-anthropologist who watches the planets (from the word wanderer) make their seemingly endless journey around the skies. She is part of wonderful movement to bring us back to the sky – to make us remember what is going on in the universe as we busy ourselves with our “important” Earthly work.

This week, on Jan. 15, the Moon will have “walked” furthest away from the Sun – and thus we will have a “Full Moon.” Freed from the Sun’s brilliance the Moon shows us her full light. This Full Moon will be in Cancer. The Sun is in the opposite sign of Capricorn. This is a typical Mommy – Daddy battle. Cancer is the sign of the nurturer – vibrates to the fourth house -typical assigned to Mother, home and roots. Capricorn is the taskmaster – the uber-father.

This is a perfect time to work on the balance between how you are nurturing themselves – and others – and how much you are being too hard on yourself or others. I always say Capricorn is where we “should” all over ourselves. “I should be doing this – I should be doing that – I am not good enough.” Cancer is the active but nurturing Mom that offers us that other cup of tea to relax.

So at this full Moon time think of the balance you are or are not striking between those two in your life. We often forget that we can have the second cup of tea!

Have A Watery Solstice.

The Summer Solstice is by nature a watery event because the Sun is moving in the Cardinal, water sign of Cancer. This year we have an abundance of other planets and asteroids in water signs. Mercury and Venus will be in an exact conjunction in 22 degrees Cancer at the Solstice. This is a great time for writing love sonnets and poems if you are so inclined – or just putting pen to paper or ink to paper if you are more artistic. The wordsmith-ability of Mercury combined with the artistry of Venus makes this a perfect time to communicate with words or art.

Other bodies in Cancer will be Vesta and Ceres. The first is the goddess of devotion and the later is the goddess of nurturing and they are both in the sign of mother. Once you put the sonnet down you can work on finding the cause that you can devote yourself too. What feeds your soul? What feeds your desire?
Hey why not combine all of these water signs and sit down and make a list of things that you need to do or want to do – that will nurture your spirit.

Cardinal signs are the doers, the leaders, the ones who get things done. The Sun energy and all of these other very powerful planets and asteroids should give you the energy to take on these projects. Where am I go – what do I want – what feeds me?

Neptune is, of course, still in Pisces, it’s natural ruler -and Saturn is in Scorpio — water, water everywhere. Once you make that list – use these two to put some structure – some design behind your spiritual, devotional practices.

The Solstice is a time for new beginnings! Enjoy

Jupiter Moves into Cancer For a Thirteen Month Run

on June 26. What does it mean for the largest planet to be in the most motherly and nurturing sign of Cancer?

At its best this transit will help with intuition, imagination, and our sense of compassion. It is a great time to find where you need to work on your compassion – you know normally the person you want to smash over the head – take a breath and think about how you can find something good about them!

This is also a great time to save your money – in other words – nurture your assets. Check your home as well – what improvements do you need to make?

If you know where your natal Jupiter is in your chart you will see when this transit will really resonate with you. For example, mine is in the 11th house in Leo. When the Jupiter in Cancer activates that I should be making time to find out how my friends do or do not nurture me – and how I care for them. (The 11th house is the house of social contacts.) It will also be a good time to do some heavy networking.

Jupiter will move into Cancer while in the 9th house. So start making your plans for that international trip you have always thought about. Too expensive? OK then go to all of the foreign restaurants and movies you always promised yourself. Remember, Cancer is nurturing and Jupiter is expansion!

Happy Solstice….

The Summer Solstice is here but what does that mean? Simply, it is when the Sun moves into the sign of Cancer, or Moon Child, if you are more PC. What does that mean exactly? Well let me illustrate this with a few charts. The symbol for the Sun is the circle with the little dot in the middle. OK, on the first chart, cast for 1150 AM Eastern time today shows the Sun 29 degrees into the sign of Gemini. (Each sign is 30 degrees.)

The second chart is cast for 2:00 PM Eastern today. Look! The Sun is now at 0 degrees Cancer. The Solstice will take place around 1: 15 PM – when the Sun moves into Cancer. Anyone born this morning will actually be a Gemini Sun person – this afternoon will see the birth of Cancer Sun people. This only happens on the Solstices and Equinoxes.

So, you ask, if there are twelve signs why do we get so involved in just the 2 solstices and 2 equinoxes? Well, because that is when the Sun moves into Cardinal Signs. Astrological signs are divided into Cardinal, the movers and shakers, Mutable, the more complaint -some say vacillating signs, and Fixed, the stubborn more stable signs. Cardinal signs, Libra, Aries, Capricorn and Cancer, because they are the more active ones – because they are leadership signs, if you will, contain a great deal of energy and thus give a boost to the whole chart.

So when you start to enjoy the summer remember that it all starts with the Cardinal energy of Cancer.

Happy Solstice! What does that mean anyway?

It is the Summer Solstice! Yippee! Ok so what does that mean exactly? It is defined in astronomy as the time when the Earth tips on its axis and the Northern part becomes closest to the Sun. For those of us in the Northern hemisphere it brings the onset of summer. It is also the longest day of the year when we have the most sunlight. Astrologically, it is the moment when the Sun tips into Cancer. As you can see in the chart below – the Sun, signified by the blue circle with the dot in the center is in zero degrees Cancer. This will happen at 7:30 AM Eastern on June 21, 2010.

The word solstice comes from the Latin – sol – Sun -and sistere – to stand still and it does look from our vantage point on the ecliptic that the Sun is standing still in the sky. (Yes, I know it always stands still but they didn’t know that when Latin was all the rage.) We know now that because of the way we are tilting it appears that the Sun is static. The science has changed but not the name. For about three days it seems that the Sun has nothing better to do than pour a heavy concentration of its light right on our little heads. Summer is a time of fire, when the sun is growing our crops and providing the food that will nourish our bodies throughout the rest of year.

Cancer, however, is a water sign and tells us that it is the time for home and the enjoyment of friends of family. Summer is the traditional time for family picnics and reunions enjoyed under the warming rays of the Sun – usually by the water. The United States, a country “born” under the sign of Cancer – July 4, 1776 instituted a day of outdoor family celebration right at this time of sun and water!

Later, as the Sun moves into fiery Leo, we will experience the full intensity of the Sun as we move into the “dog days” of summer and finally earthy Virgo takes over in time of the harvest.

What is the “best” way to celebrate the Summer Solstice? Any darn way you please. However, if can incorporate water and fire elements into the day you will be very satisfied I am sure.

This year, Juno, the goddess of loyalty and partnership, will be in conjunction with the Sun as will Mercury. However, this Sun-Juno combination, which is normally of time of committing to someone else, is opposite a Pluto-Ceres conjunction. Pluto is the great transformer – the slow and grinding changer. Ceres is mother Earth. (HMMM Pluto and Ceres are in conjunction in the 6th house of health and physicality and the Earth is erupting toxic oil into the Gulf. Think about that one for a bit.) Add to this mix that the Sun-Juno sisters are in the 12th house – the house of the great cosmic unconsciousness – the house of karma. Can you see what is happening?

A Pluto opposition is a demand to change. Pluto is opposing the Sun – our life force – and Juno – loyalty and commitment and it has karma thrown in. So we will see a time when people are questioning their commitments to others and if it is a karmic commitment – people who came together “like magic” in this lifetime there could be some debt paying to one another. Ceres and Juno in opposition cause “female problems,” i.e. mothers and daughters questioning their relationships. Children particularly from other marriages will be chafing under the rules of the “new mommy.”

So while we are playing on the beach this summer, look out for the sharks. No, not those sharks – the ones that will crop up from the dance of the stars over head!

Happy Solstice all!

Thanks for the Cancer scare

The question arose – what is going on in my own chart. There is no harder animal to interpret than my own chart! Right now I have transiting Juno in conjunction with transiting Uranus (both in my 6th house – the house of health as well as day to day work) opposing my natal Vesta which is in the 12th house in Virgo. Uranus and Juno are now in Pisces, the ruler of the 12th house (the keeper of the keys to the secrets of the universe) – – so this seems pretty significant.
To make matters more interesting, my natal Saturn/Juno conjunction in my 2nd house (the house of self worth and self possessions) is making a flowing aspect to the charming duo of transiting Uranus/Juno (I know that is a lot to picture but go with me here – Vesta on one side – Uranus/Juno in exact opposition and Saturn and natal Juno in between them.)

I was having a tough time with this until the universe handed me a very unique gift. Last Friday, I received a letter from the Virginia Hospital center which what I thought would be the mundane results of my yearly mammography…basically; everything is fine see you next year. This year the letter was longer and started off with, “We need you to come back for further analysis…..” Oh dear not what I was looking for! Hey thanks Uranus – you love to shake things up don’t you and there you are in my house of health. Isn’t it good enough for you that I fell flat on my face two darn times this past month???

Ok so now the mind goes in 1000 directions. Somewhere between, oh this happens to everyone occasionally and Lordie I am dead – my mind suddenly clicked on this question. How would I live my life if I knew I had cancer? What would I change? How would Cancer give me the license to be more authentic? Suddenly, I understood my planetary conundrum… Vesta is the burning heart’s desire –what we want to dedicate ourselves to. Mine is natally in the 12th house so my search for my universal truth is very important to me in this life. However, with Juno, the asteroid that shows where we dedicate ourselves to something else – where we stick to “other” sitting next to Uranus, that trickster in the 6th – the question was now clear. What parts of my life am I still too worried about what others think or how I can fit in with other people’s wishes and desires – to the neglect of my own search?

A cancer diagnoses would give me a license to be more authentic. But why did I have to lean on such a crutch? Why couldn’t I be more authentic just for the heck of it – on my own strength and willpower?

I was comforted in the few days before my follow up tests by the fact that the Uranus/Juno transit was making a harmonious relationship to my natal Saturn/Juno in the 2nd house. This is just a good lesson I said – and this will help me rely more on myself image and stop trying to see reflections in others. I kept repeating that as I waited yesterday first for the results of a second mammography and then when the technician said the Doctor wanted to take an ultrasound. I waited and repeated —. This is just a lesson to say live more authentically – live for self and say that is how you will build your self worth.

After three “lovely “ hours I heard the Doctor say that the ultrasound showed that there was nothing there – just some anomaly of the way mammography’s read certain tissue. As I thanked him for being so diligent (a sharp-eyed radiologist caught my sister’s cancer in very early stages years ago) and then melted off the table – I thanked the universe for the outcome and the lesson. Just one thing – hey Uranus can you move the heck out of my sixth house? You made your point OK?