We start this week off with a bang! Monday is the Solstice and the second Full Moon in Sagittarius. The Sun leaves airy Gemini for Cancer’s waters, joining Venus and leaving Mercury all alone in Gemini. Get out your flotation devices and get ready to swim again.
This year’s Summer Solstice here in the northern latitudes (Winter for you folks down under) features a mutable Grand Cross with Mercury in Gemini holding down the fourth corner with Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces on the other ones. The only real difference between the Solstice chart and the Full Moon chart is the luminaries have changed signs with the Sun in Cancer and the Moon in Capricorn. However that shifts the elemental balance from equal to weighted far more towards earth and water. The dominant mode becomes cardinal instead of mutable so despite the mutable Grand Cross, we will be more motivated to set priorities and take action.
Poor Mercury in Gemini looks to be in for a horrible, no good, very bad week starting off on Monday with an exact opposition to Saturn and square to Neptune. The Mutable Muddle at its finest. By Wednesday Mercury will make an exact square to Jupiter in Virgo shortly before stepping into an inconjunct with Pluto in Capricorn. Sunday finds it inconjunct Mars in Scorpio, and it won’t be until Sunday evening when a sextile to Uranus in Aries will finally bring relief. The best way to get this week is to keep communications simple, direct and truthful. Both Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Scorpio are excellent at spotting lies, evasions and exaggerations. It probably won’t be a good week for people in denial either, because the further Mercury pulls away from Neptune, the more clarity will return and truth be revealed. The Mercury ruled signs, Gemini and Virgo, are the most likely folks to feel ragged around the edges due to Mercury’s trials this week.
A positive influence is the waxing trine between Jupiter in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn which will be exact on Sunday. This is the last time these two will be trine in earth, encouraging us to make sound, practical decisions based on realistic evaluations of time and energy. Pluto has helped keep Jupiter’s tendency towards excess in check even when Jupiter has been under siege from the other mutable planets in recent months.
Late Sunday night Venus in Cancer will edge up to the Saturn-Neptune square where she will be inconjunct Saturn in Sagittarius before making a trine to Neptune in Pisces the first of the following week. Insensitive people might take the shine off social activities on Sunday. Otherwise Venus quietly minds her own business all of the week.
Early Monday morning, shortly after the Full Moon in Sagittarius, the Moon arrives in taciturn Capricorn where she will await the arrival of the Sun in Cancer Monday afternoon. A midday opposition to Venus in Cancer draws our attention to family matters in a good way. The calm, grounded Capricorn Moon nicely offsets the more emotional Cancer Sun and Venus as we mark the beginning of Cancer Season.
If you have business matters to tend to, Tuesday’s lunar aspects favor those with the Capricorn Moon trine Jupiter in Virgo while conjoining Pluto. Five planets in cardinal signs Monday and Tuesday help us get moving in one direction again rather than feeling so scattered. Very early Wednesday morning the Moon will square Uranus in Aries, marking the beginning of a void-of-course period lasting until Wednesday afternoon when the Moon shifts into cool, detached Aquarius.
Cancer Season is not the Aquarius Moon’s favorite by any means. Aquarius and Cancer have practically nothing in common, and the Aquarius Moon will feel ill at ease until Thursday when she is sextile Saturn in Sagittarius midday and trine Venus in Gemini Thursday night. However she does add more air to the sky and that in turn aids our decision making process.
Friday we start the day with a bracing square between the Aquarius Moon and retrograde Mars in Scorpio though a friendly sextile to Uranus in Aries an hour later will help reduce tensions. After that the Moon goes void-of-course until evening when she happily swims into Pisces for the weekend. Tidy up loose ends before the weekend rather than attempt to start something new.
This weekend we’ll get our first real reminder we’ve left mutable, airy Gemini Season and have arrived in Cancer with our first mutable Moon of this season. The Pisces Moon is greeted early Saturday morning by a trine to the Cancer Sun, followed by a trine to Venus in Cancer midday. That’s a lot of harmonious water energy, folks! We may not even notice it when the Pisces Moon triggers the Saturn-Neptune square late in the day. If you have activities planned for Saturday, they ought to go smoothly though people’s feelings may be more apparent than usual.
Sunday is probably has the best energy of any day this week. The Pisces Moon has a wonderful time dancing with Jupiter in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn before dawn, after which she runs off to play with Mars in Scorpio midday. The only sour note is a square to Mercury in Gemini early afternoon after which the Moon goes void-of-course until the wee hours Monday morning. Don’t let someone’s hurtful words ruin an otherwise very pleasant day. Enjoy!
Most of this week will be spent adjusting to a very different feel to the atmosphere now the Sun and Venus are in cardinal water rather than mutable air. The whole mutable muddle we’ve been living with this past month or so gradually fades into the background this week. It’s time to brush up on non-verbal communication skills and work on improving our emotional IQs again. Obviously there will be some who are going to find this change challenging (all those harsh Mercury aspects) but we’ll get there. Practice patience, kindness and tolerance diligently.
Note: Timing is averaged for EDT to PDT.
Image: The Longest Day © Adam Baker
Libra Seeking Balance 
Pingback: Happy Solstice/Full Moon in Sagittarius! 6-20-2016 | Libra Seeking Balance·