The sign Cancer arrives late June through July, a time of year when summer is brand new and still fresh; the days are long and lush, the air soft and fragrant and the earth is pulsing with new life. June is a generous month; school is out, camp begins, and vacations are planned. There are roses and peonies, strawberries and cream, swimming and softball; life slows down, spirits are high and summer seems endless. It is around twilight, the most elegant time of the day, when day and night merge like two rivers and the stillness itself become a song. ”I wonder what it would be like to live in a world that was always June.” –L. M. Montgomery

“The House of Belonging is an ancient Celtic metaphor for the body as earthly home for our souls, as well as for the deep peace and feeling of safety, joy, and contentment found in intimate connections with people, place, and houses.” –Sara Ban Breathnach (Moving On)

Cancer is a water sign motivated by emotions rather than logic which makes it intuitive, compassionate, romantic and domestic. Sun and Moon are in the sign of the Great Mother; this caring sign gives shelter and protection; it nourishes and heals. What nourishes you? What feeds your body and your soul? Where is your own house of belonging? This time of year inspires us to rediscover life’s joys and explore what brings us true pleasure and contentment. Use the energy of the New Moon and the great mother to initiate a program of self-healing. Give yourself the gift of down time, soul time, less stimulation and more solitude. Cancer is gentle; go slowly. Remember, it’s not about perfection; it is about wholeness.

“When you learn to love and let yourself be loved, you come home to the hearth of your own spirit. You are warm and sheltered. You are completely at one in the house of your own longing and belong.” –John O’Donohue (Anam Cara: The Book of Celtic Wisdom)

The sign Cancer is associated with the feminine. In the chart of the New Moon several asteroids (minor planets or planetoids associated with the feminine) make their appearance reminding us to connect with our feminine nature and our feelings. Venus, the planet and goddess of love and beauty, is conjunct Juno (the Greek Hera) the goddess of marriage and equal partnerships. Juno is also the goddess of abundance and money, a reminder that money emerges from the feminine principals. The asteroid Ceres (the Greek Demeter) is conjunct Vesta (Hestia) goddess of the hearth, home and the sacred flame. The last time these two asteroids came together in Libra was 1705! “This rare alignment of Ceres and Vesta in Libra, the sign of equality and balance, signals a collective readiness for a more holistic, co-creative relationship with the feminine, with our fellow humans, and with earth.” Stephanie Austin (The Mountain Astrologer)
“And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” –Anais Nin

Along with this healing, feminine energy we have pushy Mars; the god of war is opposite rebellious Uranus and both planets are still at odds with Pluto and Jupiter. The pressure that we’ve all been under is still strong; something is ready to break: break down, break through or break open. As Pema Chodron writes in her book, When Things Fall Apart: “Reaching our limit is not some kind of punishment. It’s actually a sign of health that, when we meet the place where we are about to die, we feel fear and trembling. A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling but take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.”

There’s also a delicious trine between the New Moon (in Cancer) and inspirational Neptune (in Pisces). Plus Saturn (in Scorpio), Chiron (on Pisces) and Jupiter (in late Cancer) are still blessing us with a forgiving grand trine. All this water helps to wash away what is old and ready to release and anoint the new life that is coming into form. Take heart and take care. Be generous with yourself and others. Create a house of belonging that includes radical, exceptional, exquisite, delicious self-care, self-love and self- acceptance.

“At Midsummer nature spirits are visible and magic is most potent.”

Peonies, by Mary Oliver
This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open —
pools of lace,
white and pink —
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities —
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again —
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden, 
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?