Tuesday night brings us a Solstice New Moon.
June 21, the date when the Sun entered Cancer, is almost a week behind us. Yet this New Moon at 7° Cancer remains in the first decan of the Moon’s sign, which is a very nurturing place.
Austin Coppock named this decan “Mother and Child.” Its tarot card is the 2 of Cups, often called the sweetheart card. Here we’re face to face with a loved other–which could be an aspect of ourselves we have perhaps neglected or not appreciated as much as we might.
Several ancient texts offer images for this decan that include illness or deformity, linking a need for nurturing to the love already present in this pair bond.
If we recast the idea of illness to a lack of capacity of some kind, the link to mother and child is easy to see. Even the most robust infant needs ongoing care to survive and thrive. Relationships, too, need tending. They don’t generally do well without it.
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We find ourselves, at this New Moon, in the warmth of the Sun, reminded we cannot really go it alone. We need family, whether the family we were born into, the family we raised, the family we’ve found and nurtured, or the family within our own psyches.
To move through the world and our lives in good ways, we need healthy families.
Since most planets right now are in the later degrees of their signs, we find the Sun and Moon alone together–except for Jupiter and Venus, also at 7° of Aries and Gemini respectively.
The New Moon squares Jupiter in Aries. A drive to move, accomplish, and achieve comes into the mix. Jupiter in Aries is expansive, seeking wisdom in new places, reaching for new goals, including new members in our idea of family.
This is a square, a challenging aspect, although Jupiter’s challenges tend to be supportive rather than limiting. These two energies might show up in various ways.
We might feel the need to achieve so that we can support and protect those we love. We might resist calls to do more, saying we have enough and family time is more important.
We might pause at this New Moon to acknowledge and appreciate all we have already accomplished, and then rest in the nurturing waters of the Cancer New Moon.
Venus in Gemini is too close to aspect the New Moon itself. Instead, a tight sextile to Jupiter brings Venus into the picture.
This Venus is bright, clever, and full of curiosity and fresh ideas. “Why can’t we have both?” this Venus says. “Let’s consider the possibilities from all angles.”
Venus rules the first decan of Cancer, which is reflected in its relational focus. Realizing we need others, and they need us, is a Venusian thing.
Jupiter in Aries is Fire. The New Moon in Cancer is Water. In the Greek system, fire and water make steam. This helps get work done, from cooking to building to driving vehicles.
It can also create a steamy atmosphere in which emotions (Water) are expanded in the heat of Fire and become explosive.
If strong, volatile feelings come up during this time, shift the focus to nurturing self care. This New Moon includes too much creative and supportive potential to waste it in “letting off steam,” much though we might feel we need to do it.
Instead, I’ll return to a theme I’ve shared before that comes from the Irish tradition, but has its roots in Indo-European myth. This theme is called Fire-in-Water.
There are Irish tales in which creative, poetic fire can only be found in water. Hazel nuts filled with the fire of inspiration fall from a magical tree into a river, where they are eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge, a Jupiterian fish in size and wisdom.
When the Salmon is caught and cooked, whoever has the first bite gains all the wisdom held within the fish.
Looking at the New Moon through this lens, we see that entering fully into our emotional life can become a path to creative inspiration. The Jupiter square becomes an invitation to seek the Fire in Water of our own lives.
In other words, sometimes we need to rest, rebuild, restore, and enjoy time with those we care about. The time of rest is exactly what makes new creative growth possible.
The time ahead is intense and challenging. Mars moves inexorably to square Pluto, an aspect already in play that becomes exact on July 1, which is still within the New Moon phase.
This is an aspect of power plays, manipulation, hidden motives and desires, and the difference between what we see and what is really true.
Mars pushes forward, energized, direct, active, and fast. Mars can be courageous and is also singular–the goal must be reached no matter what.
Pluto is slow, subtle, deep, and piercingly perceptive. Pluto knows secrets. When the face we show the world is a mask for other things, Pluto knows. Pluto understands foundations, what is buried, what we prefer not to show, or perhaps prefer not to see.
The Mars–Pluto square brings these two into a direct and challenging connection. It could be explosive, literally or figuratively. It’s the key aspect pattern for this waxing lunar cycle, as it comes exact just before the Full Moon.
This challenge is what the New Moon can prepare us for, if we allow it to. Rather than letting steam build up, we can instead relax in cooler, calmer waters that shelter and replenish us. Not to hide from the world, but to prepare for it. Nurturing ourselves so we can rise again to meet whatever comes.
Which circle of loved ones are you called to focus on now? Family, friends who are like family, our own inner life–all are worthy of our care and attention.
Who needs support that we can offer? Who offers support to us that we can gratefully receive? Which parts of ourselves are feeling neglected or overworked and in need of care?
This New Moon time is excellent for becoming more aware of how we feel, what we feel, and what we need, especially if we understand that care and support are foundational for connecting to our creative sources.
We want to feel ready to engage with the world from a strong and caring place. This New Moon in Cancer can help us get there.
Title adapted from Thomas Couillard