Crunch Time

The third and final month of Spring continues to offer a great push forward.  Before eclipse season and Mercury retrograde in July, take advantage of this full steam ahead energy. Plant and tend to all relationships and endeavors you want to grow.

June veritably drips with abundant opportunities to build the life you desire from the ground up.  You really don’t have to look that hard; simply be open and open minded to what is around and available to you. We feel this overflowing energetic generosity from Day 1 of June as Venus in Taurus (love, money and relationships) aligns beautifully with Transformer Pluto and Taskmaster Saturn, all three in earth signs.  This troika leaves more than just a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow.  Take their cue:  build baby build. The Moon joins the trio throughout June 1^st, glowing in its most favorite placement adding extra special devotion and dimension to your efforts.  Any significant events occurring the weekend of June 1^st and 2nd are marked for success.  Enjoy. 

The week that follows, June 1-6^th is a notably creative and fertile time, particularly around the Gemini New Moon on Monday, June 3^rd.   Harness new beginnings by hand writing 3-5 wishes and either planting them in the ground or releasing into a moving body of water with an outlet such as a river, stream or ocean. 

This New Moon prompts us to talk, think through and process emotions out loud or on paper.  The Gemini Sun-Moon challenges Neptune in Pisces, and requires extra focus to discern reality from illusion:  how life actually is versus how we want it to be.  So pay attention to sly tricksters and spin doctors, those telling you what you wish to hear.  This New Moon is loaded with illusion, sidetracks to denial that lead straight to delusion down the road if you aren’t grounded. Look at evidence right in front of you:  the nuts and bolts, facts and data of your current situation.  Evidence might deflate your big ideas but at least you know exactly what you are working with to achieve your goals.  You don’t want to be that dreamer believing he can buy a mansion with only has $1,000 in his bank account…

So ask the hard questions now.  You will easily find the answers.  Gemini rules communication and information gathering; while Venus in her home sign of Taurus, aligned to Pluto-Saturn, provides a plethora of useful resources.  Sure, that shiny red sports car is sexy.  Just make sure you go beyond looking under its hood.  Ask:   what kind of safety record does it have?  What warranty does the dealer offer?

Asking in-depth questions to ALL relevant real-life circumstances is vital now.  The Gemini New Moon is mercurial, fast energy; while the lower side of Neptune in Pisces rules fantasy, the invisible man behind the curtain, the puppeteer pulling strings we cannot see.  The key is discernment:  what is real vs. what is spin.  So slow down and tune in.  Take 24 hours to sort things out and review your options.  Listen to your intuition (Neptune in Pisces’ higher dimension).  What does your heart say?  Your internal GPS?  If someone or something cannot wait a single day or two while you talk it over with a trusted loved one, that tells you everything you need to know.  What they’re offering is most likely not the right path for you.

All that glitters is not gold, as gilded tombs do worms unfold. – Shakespeare

The good news is that on Wednesday, June 5^thMessenger Mercury enters compassionate Cancer.  Not so fast, it says.   In nurturing Cancer, Mercury likes to take the slow, scenic road.  Prods us to take it easy and follow the path of least resistance.   Our mind is in absolutely no rush.  We want to feel our way forward, to touch the fabric of our lives, to run our hands and fingers through potentials, across the essence of choices, allowing the full range of our senses (including and especially our SIXTH sense) to guide our next move. Most notably, Mercury in Cancer gives full weight to our feelings and emotional instincts.

Nurturing and compassion steer our thoughts.  Soft and tender, we consider what is best for our children, family, our own best interests and self-care, and yes, our nation as a whole.  Over the next few weeks, the balance of June, Mercury joins Motivating Mars already in Cancer.  From June 9^th through 16^th, the tight troika of Mercury-Mars-and lunar North Node (our directional calling) greatly emphasizes home, food, family, our actual Mother or those people, pets or prospects we mother, and our family dynamics.  Particularly highlighted this week is our heritage:  family beliefs, myths, inheritance, both psychological and genetic.   We examine myths perpetrated on us from birth, imprints we did not invite or ask for, that have pushed us in certain directions we otherwise would not have chosen.

The Cancer trio directly opposes the Lunar South Node-Pluto-Saturn, setting off a tug-of-war, either an acute internal struggle or steep external conflict we must delicately navigate.  Mid-month finds us becoming vividly aware of how our family systems function (or don’t); how systems or beliefs have impacted us for better or worse; we may feel a rising us vs. them sensibility; gain a clear insight of what must be preserved at all costs and what must be overhauled, purged or released, for our own good or the greater good and well-being of the whole. 

As you wade through this unmistakable week, be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Helping us juggle relationships and resources, Venus enters flexible Gemini on June 9^th.  We find alternative solutions to what otherwise can feel like do-or-die situations or stark black and white choices.  Gemini Venus offers skilled versatility, key in mid-June, allowing detached, cooler heads to prevail in what can be otherwise emotionally charged days leading into the Full Moon on June 17^th.

Conjoined to Generous Jupiter in Sagittarius, this Full Moon wants freedom, adventure and to feel awesome and boundless.  Any legal matters brewing will come to a head this week.  Deals are sealed.  The need to follow your own path, break away and be true to yourself above all else is crucial.  It is crunch time.

Honesty is not merely the best policy now; it is the only policy.  The Full Moon shines a glaring spotlight on the need to be absolutely, 100 % your own self.  Conformity is a thing of the past.  So turn down conformity in favor of being a pure individual.  Why?  Because you now understand the real cost of going along simply to get along; the true price of following the herd mentality, be it that of your family, workplace, friends or community.   Regardless of others’ opinions, needs or desires, you must honor the acute drive to live your own life.   Those making the hard, difficult choices now to be true to themselves will avoid the inevitable consequences awaiting the less bold and brave.

Walking away from all that is familiar or known is not for the faint of heart.  So as you face what may feel like immense tasks ahead, take one day, one hour even, at a time.  Be very gentle and forgiving with yourself.  Break down your to-do list into small, manageable pieces.  Above all, ask for help.  You may be surprised how willing people are to lend support, resources and time.

A few days later, the tide turns.  Literally.  Neptune, God(dess) of the seas, turns retrograde in its own sign of Pisces.  The effects are so subtle we are not immediately aware of the inward pull.  Neptune aligns helpfully to the Lunar North Node in Cancer and Saturn in sturdy Capricorn, sharpening our intuition.  We know, and feel, exactly what we need to function optimally (at best) or for self-preservation (at a minimum).  Pay attention to your internal GPS, otherwise known as soul insights.  If you let go and let God take the wheel, divine steering delivers you to the most advantageous destination.  Set aside your inner control freak.  At first glance, it may not seem as though your prayers are being answered.  However, in time you will know that the best thing that ever happened to you was not landing that guy/gal, job, or wish…

The very next day, June 22^nd, is the Summer Solstice.  The Sun enters the sign of Cancer the Crab at a world-attention getting degree.  Challenging healer Chiron for the remainder of June, the Sun (our will) calls us to attend those less fortunate, to be earth angels for those in need of nurturing and empathy, and most definitely to heal our deepest wounds.  Feed the poor, tend the sick, hug and hold the despairing.  These are not clichés.  For there are no clichés where there is hunger and need for well-being.  In this season of warmth and sunshine, be the answer to the question and the solution to the problem so greatly needed by our planet now.