An eclipse is a super powerful New or Full Moon. They wake us up, shake us up and accelerate major changes. Eclipses are dramatic and bring news of life’s big events; births, marriages, divorces, promotions, and major moves. Eclipses can assist us in doing the things we never thought we could do. We all feel the energy of the eclipse but only those of us with a planet or angle within a couple of degrees of it will experience the full force. Look where you have 20 degrees of Cancer; that’s where the story is unfolding.

Compassionate Cancer is the archetype of the great mother and healer. A deeply sensitive and nurturing water sign, Cancer is motivated by emotion rather than logic; it feels its way through things. Ruled by the Moon this sign is associated with home, family, and security.  Its flaws are its claws; it values safety and shelter over change and the unknown.

      “No one ever went insane from facing their problems; only by running away from them.” Jo Coudert

Deep, dark Pluto, the lord of the underworld, and the planet of birth, death, and rebirth, is exactly opposite the eclipse, turning up the intensity. A New Moon is a new beginning, a fresh start, but Pluto’s involvement demands that something must be purged, released, and transformed before we are free to follow our dream. Cancer rules the family; Pluto is associated with a deep wound. We all carry within us generational patterns, not only from our immediate family, but from our ancestors as well as our karmic past. Growing means dying – to some aspect our ourselves.

The Sun and Moon in Cancer make a supportive trine to both Jupiter in Scorpio (recently turned direct) and Neptune in Pisces, giving us the grace and good will to do the necessary healing. There is also a grand trine in earth, joining Venus in Virgo, Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. This aspect helps us anchor the internal changes that we need to make.

“When nothing is certain, everything is possible.”

We are in the season of eclipses and retrogrades. Four planets are currently retrograde; Saturn, Neptune, Pluto plus Mars which is also Out of Bounds or as I like to say, “off his meds.” Plus, Mercury will turn retrograde July 25. The energy is swirling, things are falling apart, coming together, breaking down, breaking open. What a juicy time! A door suddenly opens, a window appears where there was a wall, a curtain parts to reveal a secret room. Yes, there is chaos, but there is also magic and synchronicity.

Don’t be so quick to judge or condemn what is going on in the world and in your life. The story hasn’t ended; it’s only just beginning. This is a season of purging, preparing and planting new seeds. Anything is possible if we remain open, curious, and kind.

There is another eclipse (a Full Moon one) on July 27 with the Sun in Leo and the Moon in Aquarius. Mars in rebellious Aquarius plays a major role; it’s conjunct the Moon and opposite the Sun. This is a powerful opportunity to make an evolutionary shift. Use the energy between the two eclipses to clean up unfinished business, let go of what is already over and make way for the new. Above all, radical self-love and radical self-care.

“Broken and broken again on the sea, the moon so easily mends.”