Summer Solstice astrology

Summer Solstice: The Turning of the Wheel

Summer Solstice 2014 Art by Lynn Fogel

Gorgeous art by Lynn Fogel

While custom dictates the Northern Hemisphere celebration of the Summer Solstice and the first day of Summer on June 21st, the use of the tropical zodiac places the entry of the Sun into the sign of Cancer on the longest day of the year.

Cancer is one of the “cardinal” signs – the signs that are directed towards action and leadership.  Each of the cardinal signs marks the turning of the seasons: from the Summer in Cancer we move into the Autumn of Libra, followed by the Winter of Capricorn and the Spring in Aries.

During the solstice the Sun appears to stand still as it beams its nourishing light across the northern Hemisphere.  The energy of the Sun feeds us and is crucial for our vitality, and the Summer Solstice offers a peak of creative potential.

The chart for the Solstice can reveal a great deal about the next three months, and this year the Solstice chart is marked by Uranus, Pluto and Mars, locked tightly in an energetic alignment that continues to foster the completion of a breakdown of the old order (Pluto in Capricorn) and the beginning of something entirely new in its place (Uranus in Aries), facilitated/aggravated by Mars in Libra.  (You can learn more about the Uranus/Pluto square in the sidebar of this blog.)

The sign Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and the Solstice Ruler adds its own mark on the Summer Solstice.  This year the Solstice Ruler is exactly conjunct the South Lunar Node, the point marking the past, suggesting that unresolved issues are likely to take center stage now.  With Mercury retrograde as well as several other planets ([…]

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By |2021-06-18T18:13:42-04:00June 21st, 2014|Holidays|6 Comments
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Chart for the Summer Solstice, 2012

by Lynn Hayes

image by Visual Alchemy.  The Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) occurs in the tropical zodiac at the exact moment when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer.  This coincides with the longest day of the year and the most fertile season in agrarian cultures in the northern hemisphere.  (Of course for my Aussie and Kiwi friends as well as those in southern Africa the seasons are reversed and the Summer Solstice occurs in December with the entry of the Sun into Capricorn.  If you’re curious about astrology in the southern hemisphere, check out this article.)

Cancer is the sign of nurturing and is ruled by the Moon, yet at the Summer Solstice the Sun is at its peak in its rulership of the sky.  Even when the Sun is at its most strong, its brilliant rays need to be filtered through the lunar light of emotion and instinct, symbolizing the need for the uniting of male and female energies in order for each to truly be expressed.

This Summer Solstice follows a New Moon in which the energies of the Sun and Moon are fused in a fresh new evolutionary cycle, and the New Moon was in Gemini, the sign of duality.  Are you sensing a theme here?  Dark and light, good and evil, Sun and Moon – balance and integration is the key.

That will not be easy during this Solstice season with Uranus nearing its first exact “square” alignment to Pluto.  This is a planetary cycle of change and transformation during which very little will be left unchanged.  We are birthing new paradigms now – any cultural dynamics that no longer serve the modern world will crumble and fall away.  This will lead to much fear and hysteria, but to […]

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By |2018-06-11T11:09:00-04:00June 20th, 2012|Holidays|3 Comments
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