July 15, 2023 | by Daniel Giamario |
Image credit: Stellarium
The Cancer New Moon is exact on Monday, July 17, at 11:32am PDT. The dark of the Moon lasts about three days, with the first visible tiny crescent New Moon not appearing until Tuesday evening at dusk. Soon after is the remarkable Lunar alignment with Mercury, Venus and Mars. TOTAMS will present a seminar about this on July 19: https://turningoftheages.com/event/venus-and-mars-cycles-and-the-great-saga-2/
The New Moon degree is 24Cancer56. Any New Moon is the yearly seed planting of intentions for that Mystery School of Life. Cancer is the Mystery School dedicated to providing responsible and personal nourishment to a seed, all the way to its maturity. It’s an authentically hierarchical capacity, as in parent/child, teacher/student or therapist/client categories of relationships. TOTAMS refers to Cancer as a Householder or Culture Bearer Mystery School of Life.
This New Moon window has a number of extraordinary features:
Cancer New Moon opposite Pluto
This New Moon has a Plutonian flavor. At 8:05pm PDT, less than 9h after the exact New Moon, the Cancer Moon will exactly be in opposition to Pluto, now at 29Capricorn13. Oppositions are aspects of consciousness. In this particular case, the shadow of Cancer stands revealed. This Shadow is for example: clannishness, over-giving, hierarchical co-dependencies and cultural conservatism.
Not to be ignored either is how this New Moon’s opposition to Pluto is closely related to the Pluto/Mercury opposition on the U.S. birth chart, with Pluto at 27Capricorn32Rx and Mercury at 24Cancer11Rx.
Sun Square Eris
Also on July 17, is the square of the Sun with Eris. At 7:37pm PDT, the Sun is at 15Cancer15 and Eris is at 25Aries15. This square is certainly involved with the New Moon opposing Pluto configuration explored above.
Eris can be seen as a kind of synthesis of Gemini and Scorpio. She is an agent of chaos, and a trickster version of an underworld goddess. What is seldomly clear is whether it’s necessary chaos, or intentionally created chaos. A suggested strategy is to invite her to the “party.” Her greatest reactions erupt when she’s not being invited or recognized!
Another Out-of-Bounds Moon
Yes, yet another OOB Moon. At the New Moon, it is 26N01 declination. The day before, it was at a max of 27N51! See our updated Out-of Bounder Survey included in my article about the previous New Moon here: https://turningoftheages.com/far-out-of-bounds-gemini-new-moon-at-the-galactic-edge-and-a-fun-survey/
Nodal Axis ingresses Aries/Libra
Most noteworthy, on Monday, July 17, at 12:59pm PDT, the Lunar Nodes leave the Taurus/Scorpio axis, and precess into the Aries/Libra axis, where they remain for 18 months, until January 11, 2025. From a global perspective, the year and a half movement of the Lunar Nodes though a pair of signs can be seen as an indicator of where global humanity is coming from and where we are moving toward. The previous time when the nodes were in the same place was December 25, 2004, until June 21, 2006.
The 19-year timespan can be imagined as great inbreath and outbreath of the Spirit of collective Karma. The greatest significance of this Nodal axis is that when the North Node reaches 0Aries, it is the center point of a Lunar Standstill season. That will be January 11, 2025. The greatest extent of the Lunar Standstill rapidly approaching is between the June Solstices of 2024 to 2025.
Mark your calendars for August 27, when TOTAMS is offering a special seminar about the Aries/Libra Nodal axis to go into this in much greater depth!
Sabian Symbol
Last but not least, here is the Sabian Symbol for the New Moon, the 25th degree of Cancer, as interpreted by Dane Rudhyar. It seems quite fitting, especially given the Pluto and Eris involvment. Form your own conclusions!
“CANCER 25°: A WILL-FULL MAN IS OVERSHADOWED BY A DESCENT OF SUPERIOR POWER.
KEYNOTE: The response of spiritual forces to the integration of personality through positive will-full endeavors.
We are dealing here with a man who uses his will and positive imagination in facing his life problems. To him comes a pentecostal descent of power. He receives the ‘mantle of power,’ the grace (baraka in Sufi philosophy) or the Providential assistance which can make him a true leader in his culture.
In this fifth symbol we witness a more transcendent expression of ‘success.’ It is not merely external success (as is given by society to its prima donnas), but a spiritual response, a sign of inner strength and uncommon ENDOWMENT.”