July New Moon Eclipse

A New Moon with an eclipse is a watershed moment. For awhile the solar consciousness on planet Earth is shadowed by the Moon. Here is our time for deep aloneness, for a step down into the darkness of our personal unconscious: the inner child, her relationship/role with her mother, the tone/mood of her early home-life. And from here we do not turn back, but face forward.

This New Moon finds the Sun and Moon conjunct at 20 degrees Cancer (1:40 PM MDT). The chart in general is a powerful one, but that has been the case now for the past month. As has been the case with the Cardinal Cross dominating (see last blog), the call to action continues. Cancer is one of the four Cardinal signs and at the time of this New Moon the Sun/Moon conjunction will be in exact sextile to Mars in Virgo. Yet another mention that action is the key. In this case with Virgo's calm, methodical, rational steps toward manifesting your intentions.

Meanwhile the rest of the New Moon chart is pointing to Pluto, the focus of what's left, at the moment, of the Cardinal Grand Cross, a T-Square. And outside of that Venus, also in Virgo, is making a trine aspect to the Pluto. So we have the intensity of Pluto in the T-Square making this lovely connection to the planet of, well, love. And Cancer, our New Moon focus, is all about love, especially maternal love.

So I chose to make my Soul Speak card about Water and Love and Mother. I couldn't help thinking about the oil spill in the Gulf and how Mother Earth must feel watching Her creatures of the sea struggling for life. Those are 2" sea turtles, behind the Mother Mary, heading out for their lives in the ocean, by the way. Without ranting about profit-taking vs. "do-no-harm" I tried to express in symbols that Love is the Pearl of Great Price (the prize that comes from diving deep waters), not bragging rights in the boardrooms of big corporations.

So as we ponder the meaning for ourselves in this New Moon I'll suggest some possible directions. What do I value in terms of what lasts, what I can take with me? How sound are my roots--my emotional ones? Am I still blocking and ducking encounters with my shadow, my inner child? How can I use my imagination to re-shape my vision of what is possible, both for myself and for our Earth society? to heal my old wounds? Am I taking full responsibility for my own nourishment? Am I loving my home, my location?

Yes, love can feel like a hurt sometimes. When the heart opens really wide it automatically makes a deep commitment to nurture and protect the loved one, especially when they're children. For me this New Moon will be about allowing that hurt, rejoicing really, in acknowledgement of my heart's willingness to feel all the faces of love. In that way my daughter and my granddaughter, Emma, have been my life's greatest teachers. I am still learning that it's not each of them, that are my Pearls of Great Price, but my own open heart.