This Lunar Cycle
On the outskirts of the great Taurean outdoors, where the Bull freely grazes from flourishing pastures, the exalted Moon meets the Sun. Adept at expressing a plethora of colors, shapes, and sizes, Luna revels in the lavishness Venus’ realm has to offer. In Taurus, Aphrodite’s seduction embodies a perpetual outpouring of alluring impressions. Copiously demonstrating the quintessential creative principle, wildflowers, plants, and trees contentedly reveal their beauty.
The fixed nature of this consistent proliferation is blessedly embellished by Jupiter, who partnered with the Taurean assembly when he entered on May 16. Promising a mushrooming effect during this new lunar cycle, Zeus’ support brings an inner conviction and aplomb bordering hubris, as his confidence is linked to Rahu. The hungry head of the Dragon, keen to further magnify Jupiter’s assets, might be a delusive force to be reckoned with. In true Jupiterian spirit, however, a leap of faith is sometimes necessary to discover new truths.
“The imagination, backed by great expectations, can bring about almost any reality within the range of probabilities.” ― Jane Roberts (Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Rahu in Taurus; Mars in Cancer)
Venus attends to her guests from her Cancerian harbor through a balanced sextile aspect. With the help of Mars, emotional and psychic undercurrents erode the narrow path of the all-too-familiar. Untaught instincts flow through the heart of any matter and are more likely to inform our behavior during this lunar cycle. Theoretical or analytical inclinations are politely asked to take a backseat.
Mars, immersed in the Crab’s bath, is not here to use his strategic skills for logical reasoning. Here, he acts as the power behind a deep underwater current, driving unreflective desires and intuitions. Cognitive thought is gathering dust on a forgotten bookshelf as the intricacies of the subjective experience take priority over a cold reality reduced to objective facts.
“It is very important that you understand the true innocence of all feelings, for each of them, if left alone and followed, will lead you back to the reality of love.” ― Jane Roberts (Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Rahu in Taurus; Mars in Cancer)
With the notable exception of Pluto, all of the planets reside in feminine Earth and Water signs, bringing forth the receptiveness needed for empathic intercourse. Earthy patience proficiently cradles all the emotions that come rushing in. Marked by the signature of a phlegmatic temperament, this lunar cycle is an invitation to turn to a quiet place and replenish your innermost space, the nothingness from which all comes.
“Gather a shell from the strewn beach
And listen at its lips: they sigh
The same desire and mystery,
The echo of the whole sea's speech.”
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Sun, Moon, Mercury in Taurus; Venus in Cancer)
Neptune, in a sextile to the King and Queen of the Zodiac, inundates their fertile turf, swallowing up past and future in the timeless present moment. If you decide to set any intentions during Luna’s rebirth, allow your magical Yin power to rise to the surface. No grandiose actions are needed to create a ripple effect of valuable change in your environment. Spend some time gardening, feeling the soil’s soul with your bare hands and feet. If your body feels grounded, you will radiate peace.
“You are so part of the world
that your slightest action contributes to its reality.
Your breath changes the atmosphere.
Your encounters with others
alter the fabrics of their lives,
and the lives of those
who come in contact with them.”
-Jane Roberts (Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Rahu in Taurus; Mars in Cancer)
Mercury, still slow after recently stationing direct in Taurus, is making a tight sextile to Saturn. Gently, he tests the boundaries of the well-known territory. In Pisces, the limits are being pulled farther into the horizon. Piercing through superficial appearances, Saturn soaks reality with wonder and a thousand different undefinable moments of this-is-not-its. Hermes’ usual curiosity is tempered as he’s willing to accommodate the general mood. Picking up things without being fully able to grasp them, he continues to regain his strength.
Only Pluto, in the masculine sign of Aquarius, can disrupt the seamless flow of Yin. Still, given this particular setting, the God of the Underworld might unwittingly assist in our awakening to wholeness. The realization that what’s out there corresponds to our inner world.
Through a square aspect to Jupiter, however, the cosmic meaning of assistance may be felt on a more personal level as a crisis, opening a wound previously consigned to oblivion. Alternatively, the predominant aura of unity and cohesion may lend itself to overreaching or overextending ourselves. There’s the lurking danger of becoming overbearing or interfering in other people’s affairs.
The first words of a new chapter, written in Taurean sand, are quickly wiped away by the warm breath of the Twins, as the Moon enters Gemini less than three hours after conjoining with the Sun. Not long after, on May 20, at 8:32 am PT, Warrior God Mars finds his legs and dries his armor in the blazing flames of Leo. Ready or not, Ares will find himself opposing Pluto while being dominated by a square from Jupiter.
“Absence is to love as wind is to fire: it extinguishes the little flame, it fans the big.” - Umberto Eco (Mars opposite Pluto)
This extraordinary Hulk moment will last about three to four days and may help you discover a strength you never knew you had. One archetype depicting this configuration could be the mystery of hysterical strength when a crisis gives rise to superhuman powers. Without hesitation, Mars, in an inferior position to Jupiter, will remove any obstacles that hinder Jupiter’s agenda. It’s an opportunity to do what you believe to be right and stand firm even if others mock or criticize you for it.
There is that leap of faith again…
Keep in mind that in this particular lunar cycle, our faith and self-empowerment are informed by subconscious Yin-intuitions. Pluto’s wider square to Mercury is a subliminal reminder that our intellectual qualities, while useful elsewhere, might disempower us and block the bridge to a deeper understanding of who we are. Experience the power of receptivity and let Jupiter and Pluto deliver their riches in whatever form you resonate with most.
Thank you for reading! I’m wishing you all a fantastic month, and I’ll be back with my “Chart of the Month” in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to comment or if you have any questions.
Much love and gratitude,
Michelle
Chart of the Month
Born two days before a Solar Eclipse in Aries, Dolores Cannon, was a hypnotherapist specializing in past life regression. Her passion was the paranormal and the unusual.
Her birth chart has an A rating, but I have my doubts about the rounded time. If she was born 15 seconds earlier, her rising sign would have been Leo.
Typically, I don’t use ambiguous charts, but there are too many pearls packed in this one for me to let it go. I’ll try not to refer too much to house placements and hope to demonstrate how much information we can extract from the planets alone.
“To stop learning is to die.” - Dolores Cannon
Dolores saw herself as a reporter, researcher, and investigator of lost knowledge, which certainly fits the picture Mercury is describing in her chart. Mercury in solid sign Taurus speaks to Dolores’ inquisitive personality and her ability to speak and write clearly. In her books, she open-mindedly describes the hypnotherapy sessions she conducted, without prejudice. Dolores never tried to convince anyone.
Hermes, the curious and skillful messenger of the gods is moving slowly in this chart. About to turn retrograde, Mercury displays some exceptional qualities. While Dolores had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Mercury’s boundless curiosity remains grounded in solid Earth. Ruled by an exalted Venus, who always strives to integrate and harmonize diversity, and making a tight sextile aspect to an exalted Jupiter, Mercury is about to move into a remarkable benefic enclosure. At a time when past life regression was nearly unheard of, Dolores constantly needed to expand her mental horizon. New concepts were introduced to her by the subconscious through her hypnotherapy practice, which often challenged her belief system and forced her to expand her way of thinking. The sextile aspect between Mercury and Jupiter, both at 12°, in Taurus and Cancer respectively, clearly illustrates this pattern.
“There are no limitations, unless you create them yourselves. Anything is possible. You are only limited by your own imagination.” - Dolores Cannon
There’s more! Only four days after Dolores’ birth, Mercury stations retrograde just as the Moon, exalted in Taurus, translates the light from Jupiter to Mercury, and then to Venus. It's no wonder then, that this extraordinary Hermes has so many interesting stories to tell.
Strikingly, regardless of whether Mercury would be in the 10th house or the ruler of the 10th, depending on the rising sign we go with, Mercury blesses Dolores’ reputation. She talked at length about Nostradamus and extraterrestrials without any retaliation from Wikipedia so far!
“It has been said that once the mind has been expanded by an idea or concept, it can never return to its original way of thinking.” - Dolores Cannon
The dynamic of expansion and contraction, of breaking limits and integrating new information is also described by the whole sign opposition between Jupiter and Saturn. Incremental expansion can be associated with this planetary combination, as well as a talent to come up with innovative, revolutionary methods. She and her husband Johnny got first introduced to hypnosis in the 1960s when it was commonly used to stop habits like smoking. One day, they were asked to help a woman who was suffering from Nervous Eating disorder. Midway through the session, the woman unexpectedly began describing scenes from a past life. Surprised and fascinated, Dolores and Johnny continued working with her and were able to regress her through five different lifetimes.
Thanks to this experience, they wrote their own set of rules and experimented further with enthusiastic dedication. Investigating all the minute details of what people under hypnosis were telling her, about their clothes, food, buildings, and so on, Dolores gradually became aware that the information she was receiving about past lives, different periods in time, and a variety of other topics were not actually coming from a place in the conscious mind, but rather from the subconscious mind.
“Truth, it might make you sad. But somewhere deep inside of you, you know that it is truth. If you can but open yourself up, you know when things are true and when they are not. For this is available to you.” - Dolores Cannon
Eventually, Dolores established her Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique℠ which attempts to enable direct contact with the subconscious mind of any individual for answers, thereby providing the basis for healing.
“You make yourself sick. If the mind is powerful enough to make yourself sick it's also powerful enough to heal you. First, we got to find out why. Why did you do this to yourself? What were you trying to tell yourself?” - Dolores Cannon
The concept of the subconscious which was so central in Dolores’ technique, is nicely illustrated by the pending solar eclipse in her chart. The Sun, shedding light and clarity over all things, is symbolically understood as the organ of consciousness. The pending concealment of this numinous light seems to make room for another dimension of reality, the hidden realm of the subconscious. The Balsamic or Dark Moon is considered to be a mysterious lunar phase, sometimes describing people who have easier access to psychic abilities. Much like Dolores, Dark Moon individuals are often ahead of their time or may simply feel a little out of sync.
In Dolores’ chart, the Dark Moon in Aries points to other-worldly content, expressed in a way that is appropriate to Mars. Nocturnal planet Mars has a distinct preference for physicality and functionality. Things need to make sense for Mars. How to let otherworldly things make sense? In other words, how are the mysterious contents of the Dark Moon processed in Dolores's psyche? Mars attempts to explain the Dark Moon’s unusual, ineffable experiences within a theoretical framework. The result is an impressive philosophy. Eccentric, yet following a certain logic, Dolores unified and translated her findings into a modern cosmology. The subconscious spoke to her in a Mars/Sun way. This is the kind of experiential field she’s able to tap into with other people.
Mutual receptions often play a prominent role in the natal chart, and Dolores has one between the Sun and Mars. They swapped houses. Mars is in the Sun’s temple, Leo, and the Sun is in Aries’ temple, Aries. That allows them to work well together. Strength, courage, confidence, and passion are seen as the most wonderful values through the eyes of Sol and Ares combined.
“Parting message: Don’t be afraid of shining a light. Don’t be afraid of being powerful. Don’t be afraid of being more special.” – Dolores Cannon
May these values support you and guide you through this eclipse season!
Much love and gratitude,
Michelle