Dear Chronogram Reader:
Friday at 4:08 am EDT, the Moon and the Sun form a conjunction in the sign Cancer — also called the Cancer New Moon. This is the last moment of the cardinal grand cross of 2014. All of the planets involved remain in their signs associated with the grand cross (that changes in July). The Moon-Sun conjunction on Friday followed by the Moon-Sun opposition (the Capricorn Full Moon) on July 12 are the last major events emphasizing this potent, assertive, pioneering cardinal cross energy.
Combined with Mercury retrograde, this is the message to complete projects begun in late 2013 and through the first half of 2014 — and get ready for something new. In the current astrological cluster, I’ve recently mentioned Venus square Neptune and Jupiter conjunct Varuna on the Planet Waves blog.
One of the key concepts in this chart involved deception and the honoring of agreements. It’s easy to make agreements and less easy to keep them. Jupiter conjunct Varnua, exact in the sign Cancer on the day of the New Moon, calls for a bit of comment. This conjunction comes up in two important historic charts — the horoscope for the Sept. 11, 2001 incident, and the horoscope for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which started the Vietnam War. So far as I understand them, these were false flag incidents that led to the United States’ involvement in its two longest wars.
An astrologer who goes by the name Eric Starwalker wrote to me and said, “I associate Varuna with the archetype of the archangel Michael. This is an example of the shadow side of the use of the sword in the name of a righteous cause.”
At the current conjunction, we are seeing an extremely serious situation erupt on Iraq and Syria, where insurgencies are now powerful enough that official governments cannot stop them.
The sword of justice can surely be used righteously, and on the individual level it’s up to each of us. Jupiter conjunct Varuna happens about every 12 to 13 years; the current one is square the lunar nodes in Aries and Libra. This emphasizes the idea of a tipping point. On the personal level, the question is: how should I act personally, when I live in a society dominated by fraud, deception and criminal behavior?
The New Moon pattern, early in the water signs, picks up a close trine to Neptune in Pisces, and a slightly less close trine to Nessus. Two powerful goddess figures are in a conjunction in very early Cancer — Iris, the messenger of the Greek gods, and Isis, a revered figure from the Egyptian pantheon.
To me this is asking: do we view Cancerian (feminine) energy as a birthing pod, or do we view it as an active force in consciousness and the cosmos? Has the feminine aspect of nature delegated all responsibility for volition, for action, for vocalization and for initiating the next phase of history, to the masculine? If not, what would it look like? How would it feel? What effort would be made to establish a balance between the forces of nature and consciousness — the very thing that is missing today, as we watch from the edge of the world?
The Moon-Sun conjunction illustrates one version of a point of balance.
