Looking at this year’s June Solstice point and the sign of Cancer
Solstice has arrived and with it the promise of a new summer (and winter in the Southern Hemisphere). The Sun is at its most northerly point in the sky for a 3-day period (Solstice means, “solar standstill”) and brings to the seasonal point of the astrological sign of Cancer.
This June solstice involves Jupiter moving into its own standstill on June 20th, stationing retrograde at 2 degrees, 11 minutes in the sign of Pisces, marking its own maximum in 2021, as it draws itself back into the sign of Aquarius at the end of July. Mercury stations direct on the 22nd in the sign of Gemini, completing its journey of moving “backward” for the second time this year.
At the solstice, the Moon will be at its waxing gibbous phase in the sign of Scorpio. This gibbous phase symbolizes shamanically the time of Beltane when many flowers are in their prime and the first signs of fruit begin to show. Abundance and beauty are abound and it is the phase for enjoying and savoring the pleasure of life. Adding the sign of Scorpio to the mix, allows for an opportunity for greater feel for vitality, passion and depth of complexity of our core nature.
We’re also just a week removed from the second of three Saturn-Uranus squares in 2021 (nearly a 4th one taking place in 2022). This is the time of release of build from those two planets, perhaps creating space for surprise breakthroughs and disruptions in our life, in order for us to have more awareness of what our societies need to do have long-term sustainability on Earth.
Beyond this, every major seasonal point is a time of ceremony and honoring of turning of the Earth’s great wheel and how intimately our lives shaped around it. The June Solstice is no exception. Many temples and sacred sites have been commemorated and celebrated with the two solstice points all across the globe, especially in the northern latitudes. It is the longest day of the year for half of the planet and over 85% of the human population.
The June and December Solstice points mark the polarity of Cancer and Capricorn, respectively, intimately showing us through nature itself ways to responsibly nurture, love and build for the long-term future. Since we are here in the time of June Solstice and for about 30 days the seasonal time of Cancer (not the constellation that astronomically bears its name).
The sign of Cancer connects us symbolically to the experiences of creating safe spaces, nurturing family and community and opening our hearts to compassion and empathy for us as one human tribe. But there is a side of Cancer that is more limited (as all signs have a version of this) that subscribes to tribalism, where compassion and empathy only extend to traditions of immediate family, community and cultural identity and has led to toxic bouts of nationalism and isolationism in the centuries and even today. But there is an evolving Cancer that is more deeply connected to Gaia as a symbol for the land, air and water we share and that all living upon the planet are members of a global family, no matter a person’s origin.
In this transitionary time between the onslaught of a pandemic with its the impact in all sectors of life and an emerging new age of humanity, the role of Cancer (like all signs) is coming into a deeper inquiry of itself as an archetype within us all. We are in the process of sorting it all out and with that sorting, we can encounter revelations about ourselves as we see more and more of the underlying tides of centuries and millennia that got our civilization to this moment.
With the June Solstice this year, we also celebrate Juneteenth as an official holiday in the United States. It is a taste of the spotlight in the waning days of the Sun in Gemini as a free-electron spirit transitioning into creating a future with a healthy Cancer. Saturn (in Aquarius) and Uranus (in Taurus) squared each other on the 14th, just days before the passage of Juneteenth in congress and signed by President Biden. This development truly celebrates the Solstice and the time of maximum light. It is a breakthrough and a burst through past limits of what can be accomplished.
Learn more about the June Solstice point through the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School here and Cayelin Castell’s recent video about it here.