Summer's Here and The Time is Right: June's Astrology Weather

June begins with Mercury entering Cancer on the 1st at 4:55 am, Pacific time, followed by the Sun in Gemini making a sextile (60° angle) to Saturn, 12°24’ Aries, on the 2nd. Loving words can nurture us now. They help us be more flexible and open to stepping into where we need to take action and have courage.

By June 9th, Venus in Cancer conjuncts Jupiter, 25°46’, at 12:59 pm. What a great time for family gatherings, letting ourselves relax and simply enjoying the joys of springtime. Just watch out for going overboard in pleasure! As the song by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir goes, “Sugar magnolia, blossoms blooming. Head’s all empty and I don’t care!” Jupiter and Venus want to have some fun!

Mercury enters its “shadow” (the degrees the planet will move over while retrograde next month) on June 12th, 5:53 pm, at 16°19’ Cancer. Late degrees of Cancer where Mercury travels in late June are the very same degrees Jupiter recently crossed since April. It seems as if the universe is asking us to make sure: Now, have you found opportunities to better heal and comfort your soul? As you sit upon the lap of Big Mama Moon, she asks, are you really sure? Mercury wants you to revisit, review, and reassess how do you take care of yourself along with loving those dear to you?

Mercury. NASA photo.

On June 14th, at 7:54 pm, the New Moon occurs in Gemini, 24°03’. Meditate upon ways to cultivate your natural curiosity in life. Gemini is an air sign so this lunar time stimulates your mind. Imagine life as an open book. Where can you explore fresh directions and learn new exciting perspectives? Venus enters Leo the day before, June 13th, 3:46 am, giving the New Moon time a creative edge. Let yourself shine! “A breeze in the pines in the summer night moonlight. Crazy in the sunlight yes indeed!”

Chiron, the “wounded healer,” enters Taurus June 19th at 2:20 pm. Although small in size, the asteroid carries some punch, showing us in our natal chart where we are wounded and where we can claim the wound to become healers and teachers. Chiron changes sign every two to nine years, so this is a notable event. Collectively, we can find the healer in all of us when we face wounds we may have experienced to our physical bodies in the past.

Solstice occurs when the Sun enters Cancer on June 21st at 1:24 am. Welcome to summertime, Santa Cruz stargazers! Here’s to warm days, sunshine and moments to simply frolic and play. “Light out singing. I’ll walk you in the morning sunshine.” By June 27th, Mars in Taurus sextiles (60°) Jupiter in Cancer, 29°33’, 9:50 pm, easing us even more into a relaxed state of mind. Time to enjoy the flowers, moments at the beach or a stroll through the woods.

Mars enters Gemini June 28th, 12:29 pm, and Jupiter enters Leo June 29th, 10:52 pm. Wow! This summer, the universe puts a big exclamation point on FUN! We all deserve a break! “Sunshine Daydream!” Time to let out the whimsical bard, the dancer, and the artist in you! Ask yourself: where do I benefit from being more creative? Letting myself be on stage? Share ideas and speak words that flow like magic now.

The Full Moon happens June 29th at 4:56 pm, in Capricorn, 08°14’. The same day, Mercury stations retrograde at 26°15’ Cancer at 10:35 am. Mercury will be moving retrograde until July 23rd. And, again, Jupiter enters Leo that night. Capricorn is about climbing a mountain, striving for a great work in your life. Some part of your journey may be coming to a climax now, revealing its glory. But it takes discipline and effort. There may be some reevaluation involved so that you can have the courage to roar like the Leo lion, to lead and have true joy in self-expression. “Blooming like a red rose…Sunshine Daydream”!

Summer Solstice Blessings! June's Cosmic Weather

“Callin’ out around the world! Are you ready for a brand-new beat?!” Welcome to June, stargazers, and what a Gemini season it is at the start of the month! Jupiter, the big, gaseous giant, “King of the gods,” just entered the sign of the twins late last month. So those folks with important degrees in early Gemini in their birth chart may want to seize opportunities for new stimulation, fresh perspectives, growth and expansion. This all depends upon where in your natal chart Gemini lies. Fast-moving Sun and Venus are also in Gemini and Mercury joins them in the sign June 3rd. The first week of the month is especially supportive of engaging in conversation that is constructive to opening our minds and hearts. Think about where you may need to learn something new, explore multiple points of view or take a new class, just to feed your curiosity. The last thing we all need now is boredom!

The New Moon occurs June 6th at 16°18’ Gemini, 5:37 am Pacific time. The Moon and Sun conjunct Venus and square Saturn at 18°59’ Pisces. This lunar time is an invitation for all of us to imagine how we might revel in the joy and pleasure of meeting new people, discovering new information, along with new sights and sounds. “It’s an invitation across the nation, a chance for folks to meet! There’ll be laughing, singing and music swinging and dancing in the streets!” But the square to Saturn also asks us to be realistic about where you may be setting a vision for your life and how might that vision now benefit from lively conversation about novel ideas. What a great New Moon for artists and writers maturing into a new artistic voice, “Inspiration, move me brightly”! Any obstacles to your creative muse might just involve waking up to seeing things a bit differently.

On June 8th, Mars enters Taurus, squaring Pluto in Aquarius June 11th. Be careful about being stubborn when it comes to needing “space.”  There may be some power struggles on the table. It’s all a part of our soul growth. Then mid-month, on June 16th, Venus enters Cancer, followed by Mercury into the sign of the crab on the 17th. The cosmic weather moves more in the direction of calming down and settling into the comforts of home, family, and perhaps feeling the simple pleasures of sitting in our gardens or healing ourselves through a nice hike in the woods or sharing music with our lover or close friends. The middle of June offers us a chance to process all the new stimulation of Jupiter in Gemini, which we began to experience just a few weeks before. Have a barbeque at home, invite someone you love out to dinner, nurture and cuddle on the couch or soak it up in the hot tub.

June’s big celebration is the arrival of summer when the Sun moves into Cancer on the solstice, June 20th, 1:50 pm. Cool coastal fog may still be upon us in my hometown Santa Cruz community, but now is the time to dream of those long dog days of summer. Cancer is a feeling, watery sign where we heal ourselves through our deepest bonds of love and friendship we have with our clan, our dearest family. Just following the solstice, the Full Moon in Capricorn, 1°07’, falls on June 21st at 6:07 pm. The Moon and Sun square Neptune at the very end of Pisces, forming a T-square, and the Moon opposes Venus in Cancer. What a perfect time to think responsibly about what kinds of strategic planning we might do, what mountain we are climbing. This is especially so for those wanting to create a life that is both rewarding in terms of achievement, but also supports our home life and our Cancer desire for self-healing. Neptune in Pisces wants a compassionate vision for ways we can achieve and integrate both.

Happy summertime, everyone! “There’ll be swingin’ and swayin” and records playing and Dancing in the street!”

Full Moon in Capricorn and Mars Retrograde in Aquarius: Won’t You Be, Won’t You Be, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

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“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

— Fred Rogers

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Full Moon in Capricorn 6˚28’, 9:53 PM, Conjunct Saturn in Capricorn 5˚49’Rx at 8:34 PM, Square Chiron in Aries 2˚24’at 1:41 PM, Trine Uranus in Taurus 1˚54’at 12:40 PM, PDT, June 27.

Mars station retrograde 9˚13’ Aquarius, 2:05 PM, PDT, June 26.

Yesterday I went to see the new movie, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, about the life and public mission of Fred Rogers, a.k.a. ‘Mister Rogers’, directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville.  It seems that everyone’s favorite neighbor has returned to our collective consciousness. It is not surprising that a film celebrating the strong will and intellect of a man, who successfully fought for justice and dignity for all children, should be popular at the moment. A moment when the right of children to remain with their parents seems at jeopardy and images of broken families saturate the media. I assume most of us feel as I do; I want to act, change, move my magic wand, and somehow reunite the families torn apart at the U.S. national border. Yet how do I find that inner warrior and what path, what part, do I play in the fight for justice? For a better world? For radical change? I don’t have a small Tiger sock puppet, as Mister Rogers had, to help me face such challenges but, well, I try to use this time, a retrograde Mars in Aquarius and a Full Moon in Capricorn, to find my own inner mountain to climb, maybe my own small way of making a difference, a way to make my contribution real.

The Full Moon in Capricorn, 6˚28’ conjunct Saturn, may bring limitations, and, depending upon the House location and aspects the Moon makes to your natal chart, may not be the easiest of Full Moon celebrations. The Moon also forms a trine, 120˚, aspect to Uranus in Taurus, earlier in the day (or night, depending upon your location!), so, with effort, new directions may awaken in us, but strategy is in the planning. Also several hours before, the Moon will form a square to Chiron in Aries, a wound in action or lack of assertion in the past may be in memory and up for release so the inner healer may open as part of the plan, the strategy. Strategy is a great Capricorn word. I believe being open to seeing limitations or obstacles as just one inevitable part of long-term change can be a possible strategy for this particular Moon time. Taking it in as part of our overall strategy for our future might help. I also think it is instructive to look at these signs  – Capricorn and Aquarius – in the example of Mister Rogers’ birth chart and see if it might give us some clues.

I can’t help thinking the current popularity of the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, is somehow reflective of the astrological moment. The planet Mars is stationing and turning retrograde as I write, the afternoon of June 26 (PDT), at 9˚ Aquarius. In Fred Roger’s birth chart, Mars is in Aquarius, 16˚ 11’ (if we use the 8:20 AM birth time - see below - Mars is in the 10th House - House of mission)  – fixed, air energy – the sign ruled by both Saturn and Uranus – can be the rebel and revolutionary fighter, stubborn advocate for ethical treatment of the outsider, the underdog, while also holding firm to what one believes is right despite the status quo, or perhaps I should say, what appears to be the status quo. Mars in Aquarius is about ideas, revolutionary ones, and defending those ideas and putting them into action. It may not always be about justice; my own father’s natal Mars in Aquarius contributed to him becoming a cutting-edge artist and designer in the 1960s, helping to create a radical new vision in the world of design. Much of what we consider “retro ‘60s” today in terms of design came, at least in part, from my Dad’s and other artists’, willingness to think and act differently about art and design, to be the “outsiders.”

A number of astrologers have discussed the birth chart of Fred Rogers, ‘Mister Rogers’, and so I don’t wish to repeat what has been said. There are just a few points about his birth chart that I find useful for considering the current Full Moon and for this time of turning inward as we consider what Mars retrograde in the weeks ahead may mean for us. Fred Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1928. His chart has been given an A Rodden rating because the birth time is based upon family memory. The time widely accepted and used to prepare his chart is 8:20 AM. Accurate timing of birth is critical to a proper reading and Rogers’ chart is a good example of how radically different a birth chart can be if time is set differently. Other astrologers have discussed at length Rogers’ Pisces stellium, a number of planets are in the water sign. Using the 8:20 AM time, his Pisces Sun, along with his Pisces Moon, 11˚ 56’, Venus, 2˚58’ and Mercury, 2˚ 02’ gifted Rogers with the creative vision and imagination to access the world of a child, while also seeing the Divine expressed in all beings (Rogers was also a minister, musician, artist and deeply compassionate - his compassion for all animals led him to become a vegetarian in midlife). Rogers’ natal Sun is at the critical degree 29˚ 42’ Pisces – very close to Aries, so close this Sun, on the cusp, could be interpreted as Pisces with a spice of Aries flavor. If he was born later that day, he would be an Aries. His Sun is conjunct his 3˚09’ Aries Uranus. Mild-mannered Mister Rogers, loving visionary Pisces, created alternative worlds of fantasy to reach children, but he was also a passionate fighter.

Rogers’ natal Sun was colored by the close conjunction with fiery revolutionary Uranus in Aries, a sign ruled by Mars. Mister Rogers’ had the solar identity of both the mystic and the warrior, one who fought for the outsiders, the ones most vulnerable in the collective (if 8:20 AM is used as the birth time, his Sun / Uranus conjunction falls in the 12th House). When Uranus by transit opposed Rogers’ Natal Sun and Uranus conjunction, in 1969, he made his famous defense of PBS broadcasting and children’s educational television in front of a U.S. Senate Committee during the congressional hearing over federal funding for Public television. Working together with his Sun/Uranus conjunction, Mars in Aquarius in Rogers’ chart forms a sextile with natal Saturn, at 19˚ 04’ Sagittarius, providing strong, solid convictions and faith in what he held sacred: all children should be honored with utmost respect, always cherished for what made each of them unique: “I hope that you'll remember…Even when you’re feeling blue. That’s it’s you I like” and “There is only one in this wonderful world. You are special.” Looking at Rogers’ Midheaven (using the 8:20 AM birth time), the sign Capricorn suggests Fred Rogers was seen as a parental figure, a wise one, an elder in the community, in the “neighborhood.” He certainly had a strong sense of ethics, holding firm to them in times of battle, and gently, but boldly correcting mainstream attitudes toward racial segregation by offering to soak his white feet in a kid’s bathing pool with the feet of his black neighbor, Officer Clemmons, at a time when many across America forced blacks out of public pools for whites.

Capricorn is often seen as the rigid face of patriarchal authority, but the sign is also one of structure, tradition, and morals. The current Full Moon in Capricorn conjunct Saturn is telling us “Ok, time to get real”: what do we hold high in terms of our ethics?  What structures and goals do we strive for? What obstacles are worth tackling? With Aquarius Mars retrograde, we might also reflect what or whose battles are worth the fight? Saturn’s transit in Capricorn touches us individually depending upon the House(s) Capricorn occupies in our birth chart and also the natal placement of the planets Saturn aspects. The House(s) reveal the arenas or places these questions may be playing out for each of us. In any case, however, I believe the Full Moon conjunct Saturn shows us how to be mature, to grow, by giving us these obstacles so that we might find the right path, the one worth the climb. How do we become the elder in the House(s) where Capricorn graces our charts?

Most recognize the Full Moon as a phase of fulfillment and making manifest what has been in process for us as Saturn has asked us to plan and work diligently toward our goals (again look to the House placement to reflect upon where in your life these plans are in process). Saturn may offer us obstacles to make us question our path. Saturn also may make this Full Moon seem like things are worse than they are; a bit of a downer. But the gift Saturn gives is time. Be patient and try to see frustrations or blockages as just one more avenue to help us see what really matters or perhaps the ways we really can make a difference. Saturn in transit in your 4th House and building that new home? What additional work needs to be done? What is it that is going to give you long-term happiness and a feeling of accomplishment in that home? In the 7th House or aspecting Venus? Do restrictions or frustrations in relationship help us better understand commitment or our needs for security? It is not easy to deal with the disappointments of Saturn and they may very well confront us. But one of the gifts of a Saturnine nature or the sign of Capricorn is endurance. Again, let’s consider the wise Mister Rogers with Capricorn at the most public arena of his chart, asked by the U.S. Senate Committee to not read his prepared speech, so carefully worked out, but rather to openly speak his mind. Instead of falling under an unseen obstacle, Rogers waits, gathers his thoughts and speaks slow, patiently, with wisdom – and with grace.

Under the current Full Moon, Saturn’s potential for blockage will be compounded by Mars appearing to move retrograde (Saturn is also retrograde at the moment). I think it will help to recall how retrograde motion allows us fresh opportunities to reconsider, rework, reprogram, reconstruct our sense of action in the part of our chart we find the sign of Aquarius. Time to process through our own Martian desire to be warriors for what we believe needs to change beyond the status quo, for those outsiders or underdogs we wish to aid, and, maybe most important, for the rebels in ourselves. As a fixed energy, Aquarius can also be stuck or rigid in terms of the ideas we hold true, what opinions we value. In the retrograde period, we can wrestle with perhaps the ideas or notions we need to reprogram to move us collectively into a productive future. What cause, what outsider do you seek to protect? How can we all work together and fight for radical change? What strategies and goals are worth our time and effort?

Blessings to everyone on this Full Moon in Capricorn!