Wendy Cicchetti (wendy@twixtearthandsky.com)

Eclipses are extra-powerful lunations signifying accelerated change and growth, and often catalyzing major endings and beginnings. They occur every six months, typically in pairs, but occasionally in threes — as is the case this summer. The partial solar eclipse in Cancer will be followed by a lunar eclipse and then another solar eclipse. As we enter this extended period of potential upheaval and emotional intensity, we can work with the energies of the first eclipse to drop more fully into a felt sense of home — in our bodies and on the planet.

Moon-ruled Cancer is the sign of home, family, roots, and foundation. Cancer represents our physical home, as well as our very first home — our mother’s womb — but in the more universal sense, it also refers to the body as home for the spirit. To do our soul’s work on Earth, we must fully inhabit our bodies. This Cancer eclipse invites us to nurture and care for ourselves in ways that increase our internal feeling of home. Cancer seeks security and safety, and ultimately the only true security is found within, once our higher self is rooted in our physical being. A grand trine in the earth element — Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus, and Venus in Virgo — helps us to ground more deeply into our home planet. Activate the power of this trine by spending time in nature, bare feet on the ground, sending love and gratitude to the Earth.

Cancer rules the watery realm of deep emotions, so heightened sensitivity and reactivity are possible, as suppressed feelings rise to the surface. We may become aware of what no longer nurtures or supports us, or what we no longer truly care about. By allowing ourselves to feel what comes up, we can purge the past and create space for the new. While Cancer tends to cling to the past and resist change, eclipses are all about entering unfamiliar territory and stretching outside our comfort zone. The challenge is to stay open to the intense feelings, let them move through us, and use them as fuel for change.

The house in your birth chart that contains 20° Cancer points to the areas of life that don’t serve your highest good and are ready to be released — making way for a rebirth. An eclipse brings to light what’s been hidden, and the house activated by the eclipse shows where the truth will be revealed through our feelings and intuition. If you have significant points or planets on or near the degree of the eclipse, these changes will manifest more dramatically. Eclipses often stir up themes and issues that were active during the previous set of eclipses — in this case, the Leo lunar eclipse on January 31, and the Aquarius solar eclipse on February 15. Other helpful reference points are the most recent solar eclipses in Cancer: at 19° on July 11, 2010 and at 9° on July 1, 2011.

Amplifying the transformational potential and emotional charge of this lunation, the Sun and Moon precisely oppose Pluto at 20° Capricorn. Underworld Pluto reveals our shadows, and its interaction with this Cancer eclipse brings awareness to distortions and dysfunctions in family dynamics and intimate relationships. We may be alerted to patterns of over-nurturing others, or to ways that we close ourselves off to the care that’s available — to habits of oversensitivity and hyper-personalizing what’s not really our concern, or the opposite extreme of shutting down our hearts and retreating into our shells. The good news is that there’s plenty of power available at this lunation to shift and release deeply rooted emotional patterns.

The Cancer eclipse trines both Jupiter in Scorpio andNeptune in Pisces — a potent activation of all three water signs that points to the higher potential of this lunation. The addition of cardinal Cancer to the ongoing Jupiter–Neptune trine brings a boost of initiative to take charge and harness the power of imagination. “In the most redemptive scenario, we remember and engage our imaginative powers in a fierce and practical way. We harness the power to create and wield symbol and story as tools of deep and wholesome transformation. We inspire a functional vision for ourselves and our world.” (Elizabeth Russell)

This article is from the Mountain Astrologer, written by Emily Trinkaus

PLAN YOUR OWN NEW MOON CEREMONY. Give yourself some quiet time in meditation to see where you need to seed new ways of becoming. List these areas within your life you want to change. What areas do you want to break free from the norm and become more productive and discerning? The NEW MOON is the time to manifest the personal attributes you want to cultivate as well as the tangible things you want to bring to you. Possible phrasing: I now manifest ____ into my life. I am now _______ . Remember, think, envision and feel with as much emotion as possible, as though you already have what you want. Thoughts are things and the brain manifests exactly what you show it in the form of thoughts, visuals and emotions. The Buddha said, and I am paraphrasing, “We are the sum total of our thoughts up to today. ” If we want to be different then we must change our thoughts. “If you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” CONSCIOUS CHANGE is the key.