The New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse in Cancer (21 degrees) is exact at 7:48pm PST on Thursday July 12th. The Sun and Moon in Cancer call us toward nurturance and sensitivity, but not before we confront what Pluto, exactly opposite the new moon, dredges up from the depths of Capricorn. Pluto in Capricorn evokes abuses of power large and small, and all the contortions of patriarchal energy that wind their way through the collective.
No one is spared the oppressive forces of a sick patriarchy, of unbalanced masculinity that has bought in to the delusion that we are separate, that it’s possible to rend the masculine from the feminine. We are all victims. And we are all culprits. We can’t get outside of culture, we can’t escape the paradigms in which we are seeped. If we try to cut off our past, we’ll have nothing to stand on.
This eclipse calls on us to examine our own souls; external abuses of power are easy to find and are often such spectacles that they effectively distract us from more subtle currents of power coursing through every soul and every moment.
But divorcing ourselves from power altogether is no remedy; self-sacrifice is not love. Cancer-Capricorn together creates healthy boundaries, healthy self-respect, the ability to stand up for those we love, and to be firm at times. We’re not seeking to be spineless, sappy, nice, walk-all-over-me goo, but to merge the disciplined, structured, responsibility of Capricorn with the sensitivity and compassion of Cancer. And the concern that both of them have for security, financial as well as emotional.
The Sun and Moon in Cancer complete a grand water trine, connecting Jupiter in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces in harmonious flow, increasing the emotional volatility, but also the emotional intelligence on offer at the moment. Feelings are potent, and have been in the days leading up to the eclipse. Be tender with yourself, allow yourself the time and space necessary to feel your feelings through. Uranus, Venus, and Saturn also form a grand trine, in Earth, offering practicality and grounding and the cool, rich, soothing energy of the Earth.
Thus major planets in all the yin signs, are closely configured in harmonious aspects, enticing us within, to rest in our internal power, the power that is quiet and still, that effects change through love, that empowers external action from within, through effortless effort, and the energy of being.
These auspicious Earth and Water trines can help us to realize that maybe there is another way. Through preparing our consciousness by caring for ourselves, processing our experiences, untangling our inner knots, steeping in our own Being, and cultivating love and compassion, we attract circumstances and opportunities that resonate, and we intuit the right moments to act, making our actions more effective, and offering an easier way.
There is much energetic assistance as we come face to face with the shadow side of Capricorn within our own lives and the collective. Perhaps we have the resources now to fathom just how deep the controlling nature of the dominant paradigm extends. Perhaps, if we lean into Earth and Water, and connect to the deepest, most ancient parts of ourselves, we will see with clarity how we’ve been brainwashed by the structures of thought shaped by patriarchy, by thousands of years of control and oppression. Maybe we will glimpse the tangled web of values, beliefs, assumptions, patterns, that we’ve internalized, that control us from within.
And maybe, just maybe, we will extract ourselves, little by little, from these tangled chains. And maybe, just maybe, we will be just a little bit more free.
Even as emotions run high, lean into your innermost resources, the cool, powerful forces of water and earth, the forces within you that are beyond language or thought but that if we’re sensitive enough and quiet enough we can feel and rely on. The power within us that will always defy the contorted powers of abuse and control. The power of knowing you are a divine soul that can never be overpowered, can never lose, and can never die.