Leo is such a glamour-puss. So what’s this about the perm?
The sun has entered the second decan of fiery Leo, August 2-August 12 and tonight’s full moon, 3 August, is in Leo’s opposite zodiac sign; Aquarius, the water-bearer, the cloud bearer.
This is a strange, dreamy, quirky, quixotic and steamy combination. Maybe in a good way but not necessarily.
It might mean a few nights of oppressive humidity over the next two weeks.
It might mean getting frazzled.
It might mean steam coming out of your ears. Like this little lioness with a rather enviable perm.
The Major Arcana card associated with Leo is Strength: physical, mental, moral, emotional. Fortitude which demands patience. Nothing much can be achieved without the ability or willingness to stand and endure.
Centuries apart:
“Here I stand. I can do no other,” Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”-Martin Luther King.
He was a Capricorn native. But we are more than just our keynote sun sign. We encompass the whole zodiac
Strength from The Gilded Tarot Royale: Ciro Marchetti
The second decan of Leo is associated with the Tarot’s Six of Wands, the 6 Wands; a card of action, vision, passion ,courage and superb self-discipline. This is what it takes to enter the arena – any arena. Riding high on the accomplishment of a great effort. But there are no short-cuts. No escaping the Herculean labour to be done. This is dedication to excellence; the attribute of the zenith of the sign of Leo.
The Six of Wands From The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Tonight this energy is tempered by the quirky, remote, cerebral Moon in Aquarius. The corresponding Major Arcana card here is The Star: inspiration, a vision, recovery, the application of reason, but this can also be the card of social revolution.
The Gilded Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
The Star
Bridging water, land and sky
Cloudy, cool Aquarian eye
Reasons, gauges Rain assuages
Pours, refills an empty jar
Learning, thirsty, takes us far
But Hope outshines all other stars
Katie-Ellen
A very different mood. May steam be expected, and will it be steam coming out of someone’s ears? It may be best to keep your head down and just get on with your own thing, always assuming it’s not against the law, of course.
The Minor Arcana card corresponding with the degree of tonight’s Full Moon in Aquarius is the solemn yet benevolent Six of Swords; a road to recovery, new learning and discovery, charting new waters, leaving behind the past and with it any vain regrets.
The Legacy of The Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
The next two weeks look unsettled and a lot of us are likely to be feeling more jumpy than usual, even given all the anxiety of recent months . This is a time for staying extra cool, calm and flexible and avoiding risk and conflict. This is a time for focusing hard on work and personal projects, but not for making sudden moves or big changes.
There’s plenty to push our buttons right now. Leo says we can put our energies to plenty of good uses, doing our own thing, and Aquarius says we can keep our cool, even if others are losing theirs.
Today 22 July, we leave the zodiac sign of Cancer, the mysterious and elusive Crab in the Starry zodiac sea, the sign of the zenith of the summer, and we move into the astrological sign of Leo the celestial lion. Most of us know our zodiac or sun sign, but what does it actually look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it? It’s time to roll out the red carpet for the star-lion, Leo…
The Lady and the Lion. Perhaps it is Una. Or perhaps her name is Leona or Leonora, for the lion is also the lioness. Her hold on the leash could not be lighter. She is controlling the lion, but only because it is allowing it, not fighting her restraint, signifying that the lion is also a part of herself. This is just as one would imagine, a very welcome card of better health, signifying recovery if someone has been ill.
Astronomy
Leo is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and one of the 88 modern constellations recognised by NASA today, between the neighbouring constellations of Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east.
Leo is the 12th largest constellations, and one of the most easily recognizable due to its many bright stars, and a distinctive shape suggesting a crouching lion, apparently facing right.
The bright light in the sky beneath Leo as seen in the photo below is Jupiter.
Wiki
The best time to see the Lion is Spring in the northern hemisphere, from around the March equinox. In early April, the constellation Leo reaches its high point for the night around 10 p.m. By around May 1, Leo reaches his high point for the night around 8 p.m. local time In early May, the Lion begins to set in the west around 2 a.m. local time and by June, Leo is descending in the west in the evening, drifting progressively westward.
By late July and into early August, the Lion is beginning to fade into the sunset, returning to the eastern sky and visible before dawn around late September or October.
Look out for the Big Dipper, Leo is below it. You are looking for a backwards question mark pattern called the Sickle; and you can see its curve outlines the Lion’s mane.
Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, or Alpha Leonis, ‘The King Star,’ is the heart of the celestial lion, a sparkling blue-white star at the bottom of the backwards question mark pattern. Regulus, means “little king” or “prince” in Latin. The star’s Greek name, Basiliscos, has the same meaning, while the Arabic name is Qalb al-Asad, meaning literally “the heart of the lion.”
Mind Boggler -Leo’s fifth largest star, Epsilon Leonis, 247 light years from Earth, is 288 times more luminous than the Sun, four times as massive and has 21 times the solar radius.
A triangle of stars in eastern Leo represents the Lion’s hindquarters and tail. The brightest star of the triangle is named Denebola, Arabic, meaning the Lion’s Tail.
There are 15 stars in Leo with 18 known planets between them, but none of the planets is in a habitable zone.
The Leonids are meteor showers associated with the constellation of Leo. They peak around November 17-18 every year, and there is another minor shower, the January Leonids, peaking January 1 – 7.
Leo the Lion has since ancient times been associated with the sun and royalty, ruled by the sun in astrology and is one of the oldest constellations collectively recognized with many ancient civilizations agreeing on perceiving it as a lion.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians recognized a constellation similar to Leo as early as 4000 BC. The Persians knew the constellation as Shir or Ser, Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (“the great lion”), Syrians knew it as Aryo, and the Turks as Artan.
The story goes that the ancient Egyptians venerated Leo because the appearance overhead of this constellation used to coincide with the annual flooding of the Nile River, the lifeblood of their agriculture and indeed, the nation entire. Marking the end of drought, desert lions would arrive at the river, driven by desperation, and their appearance was welcomed as a certain sign that the floods were shortly on their way. The Egyptians accordingly honoured the lion with festivals, and even today many statues of lions can be found along the course of the Nile River, proof of their reverence.
It’s thought that the lion-headed fountains commonly designed by Greek and Roman architects equally symbolized the life-giving waters released by the sun’s presence in Leo.
Herakles’ first labour was the killing of the Nemean Lion. This terrifying lion lived in a cave in Nemea, a town located to the south-west of Corinth. It was a man-eater, dining on the local folk, not OK, and a few had tried to kill it, only to find to their (terminal) horror, nothing could pierce the lion’s hide, it was so preternaturally tough.But someone must have survived to tell this tale, for Herakles, being forewarned of this additional teensy problem, managed somehow to sneak up on the lion asleep in its cave, and strangled to death the uber-kitty; poor puddy-tat.
Herakles then rather disrespectfully, I can’t help feeling, if undeniably pragmatically, skinned the lion with its own claws, and wore its skin as a cloak, making himself even more ferocious in appearance, as well as presumably, and even more importantly, arrow-proof.
This fixed fire sign is known for its pride, ambition and determination, warmth and generosity of spirit, not to mention, charisma, but above all, Leo is known for bravery; the lionhearted one, the divine expression of physical, mental, and emotional fortitude, which is a very great virtue. Leo parents are typically devoted, but they rule their households, no question about it.
Courage takes many forms. There is the courage of initiative, the will to advance, engage and attack. There is moral courage, proceeding in the face of fear, “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”
And there is the courage to endure, to withstand, and the fortitude that quietly says to itself, “I will keep smiling, and tomorrow I will try again”. No banners and no accolades.
Leo can be its own worst enemy; hasty, arrogant, reckless, self-centred, headstrong and careless, and for these reasons, unless these subjects learn patience, consideration and self-control, they are not necessarily always as lucky in life as they could be, or as they, and the great, shining Leo truly deserve, proud and thirsty children of the sun.
What is astrology and why do astrologers study the Moon?
‘Astrology’ comes from Greek and means ‘the study of the stars.’
Humans have been studying the Moon since at least 25 000 years ago. This is only natural. It is the closest celestial body to Earth, exerting visible effects on the tides, and on every living thing that depends for its way of living on the behaviour of the tides, and possibly a whole lot more besides, though this is debated, e.g.; crop growth, hormonal cycles and moods.
It’s about the search for meaning and planning on earth using clues in the sky. Astrology began as humanity made conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by paying attention to astronomical cycles. They did this largely for practical planning purposes, for example:
When would the wild cattle- the aurochs migrate – and they could organise a hunt?
When would the salmon or other fishes spawn?
When would the rains come – and possibly floods?
Early evidence of sky-monitoring appears as markings on bones and cave walls in the Neolithic period 25,000 years ago, recording the movements of the sun, and the moon and its influence upon tides and rivers. This led to the creation of the first written calendars in the Bronze Age 3,300 – 1200 BC by the Sumerians in the ancient Near East.
Symbolically, because it has no light of its own, The Moon represents our shadowy side, our deepest instincts, our dreams, hidden health, and the impulses that drive our behaviour whether or not we are consciously aware of them.
The Moon Headlines July 2020
July 5: Full Moon in Capricorn (a lunar eclipse)
July 12: Last Quarter (Waning)
July 20: New Moon in Cancer
July 27: First Quarter (Waxing)
The July Full Moon is nicknamed the Thunder Moon. This name comes from the indigenous American Algonquin people in the areas first colonized by the Pilgrims. This time of year was associated with powerful thunderstorms in the northern forests.
What do the moon phases mean symbolically?
A Full Moon occurs when the Moon is in opposition, meaning it is on the opposite of the Earth from the Sun on the same celestial longitude and we can see the entire lit portion of the Moon.A lunar eclipse only ever happens at full moon and suggests mysteries, hidden truths or sometimes danger. A Full Moon is traditionally the optimum time to take stock and evaluate, or to gather, collect, harvest or cash in on something. Emotions may be especially intense.
A New Moon occurs when the Moon is between the Earth and the sun, and we can only see the side that is in shadow. Traditionally, this is a time to clear away what is no longer wanted, make a wish, and start something new.
What does this potentially mean for you and me this month?
Full Moon in Capricorn:
Tarot card: The Devil
From the Gilded Royale Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Themes: authority/ lack of authority/power/powerlessness/obsession/addiction/attraction/desire/sexual chemistry/compulsion/ anger/ fear/ excess/ getting carried away/duty v violence
Tweeted today
#Tarot COTD The Devil. Sexy beast? Can be. And it can mean PARTY but this is a party that brings trouble. Drugs. Chaos. Lawlessness. This card in Tarot equates with Capricorn. Tomorrow’s full moon lunar eclipse is in Capricorn Sun 5 July.
We think of the current trouble in London, block parties out of control, neighbourhood’s terrorised, police and police vehicles attacked; last night in Hammersmith, police running away again, seven officers hurt but no arrests, sent in without protective gear. Doubtless there will be more such behaviour tonight.
The last lunar eclipse was the full moon on 5 June and public events got pretty intense. This month’s eclipse full moon may look reddish —the reason it is often referred to as an ‘umbral’ (umber) or as a “Blood Moon”
During lunar eclipses, we are encouraged to let go of whatever is no longer serving our best interests. This is the time to release, get rid, clear out and say goodbye to things that no longer do us any good. A little of what you fancy does you good, but overdoing it does just the opposite. Some places and people do you good, others mislead you or drag you down.
Focus on practical matters. Live and let live. This energy demands more give and take. Perhaps more give and less take. Take it easy round other people at this time.
New Moon in Cancer:
Tarot Card: The Chariot
From the Gilded Tarot Royale, Ciro Marchetti
Themes: ambition, determination, effort, focus, self- discipline, co-operation with others, aggression, or lack of effort, lack of focus, no direction
The imagery on this card makes me think of Cleopatra, and her partnership with Julius Caesar who bequeathed his name to July.
Around the New Moon on 20 July, your best well-being is symbolically focused on home, family and close friends. Your own nest is probably best right now. You may be feeling extra moody, more up and down than usual. Try to stand back a little and don’t let it get on top of you. Switch off the news if that’s what it takes to get a better night’s sleep. Life has been slow but it is going to speed up again before long. Let it find you in the best possible shape.
Advice card
The Magician
From The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Themes: the Self, Knowledge, Skill, Communications, Self-Control, Self-Mastery
Things could continue tricky in July for many; on the world stage and potentially in domestic life. But the appearance of The Magician, drawn upright, and not reversed, means that it is certainly not all bad news in July.
The Magician is ruled by Mercury, planet of communications, media, commerce, trade and travel.
Mercury went retrograde on 18 June. You may have noticed any number of hopefully minor annoyances in connection with this; losing stuff, miscommunications, things breaking down.
But Mercury goes direct again after 12 July, which may indicate a lightening of mood, and perhaps represent something of a liberation. Things may noticeably start going a bit more smoothly, fewer blips and glitches. Likewise, in respect of the covid crisis, The Magician (because it represents the Number 1) is reflecting a wider reduction of the 2 metre social distancing rule, to a 1 metre rule, which would be beneficial to the retail, beauty and hospitality industries.
This card is likewise reflected in the opening up of overseas travel,expanding beyond the travel corridors originally mooted by our own as well as other governments.
On a personal level, The Magician is the ultimate card that says ‘a man.’
If single, you may meet someone new, but this seems more likely to happen after July 12 than before.
The Magician is also you, yourself, and the things you can or will do. It is the card of personal will-power, and the drive to do, learn, execute and manifest. The Magician has skills. He or she works hard to develop these skills or know-how. The Magician watches and learns, and is curious, and ready to put in the effort to achieve his/her goals. The Magician initiates, creates, practices, polishes, and then is ready to seek out opportunities.
Allied with the passion of The Devil, and the self-discipline of the Chariot, The Magician is a route map, and a recipe for progress.
There will be more public disorder on the streets of London tonight, highly likely. Watch out for that Devil and take it easy.
Torching – or smelting? Firing or igniting? Today is the last day the UK can apply to the EU for a Brexit Extension, ending at midnight, or strictly speaking, 11 PM on UK time. There is no sign that the British government is going to do that, which means the UK remains on track to complete our departure from the EU on 31 December, deal or no deal.
A ‘No Deal’ exit from the EU is looking like the most likely outcome at this stage. Though what exactly is meant by that? This was a question I have put to the Tarot more than once during the Brexit process starting 2016, and the answer was never clear-cut or rather, shall we say, it was not so simple. Those readings can be found here in the archives.
It will probably be a ‘No Deal Brexit’ in terms of there being no over-arching, top-cover deal. But that does not mean there will be no deals.
Will that be bad news? Those who think so will continue to think so, and those who feel more positive about it, will likewise continue to do so.
Only time will tell. All I can do as a card reader is share what I have been shown via the Tarot, repeatedly since 2016, and if it seems too bright and fluffy to be feasible given the current state of affairs globally, this can’t be helped.
There are rules in this work. I am not free to faff about and sing fa-la-la. Right or wrong is not for me to know. Not at the time of looking. I must only look and share what I see. And what I keep getting is one of two cards.
This one:-
The Nine of Coins or Pentacles from The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Keywords for this card: Abundance, luxury, self-sufficiency, financial independence.
And this one:-
The Six of Swords, Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Keywords for this card: Transition, change, rite of passage, recovery, uncharted waters
Recently tweeted
Britannia, coming decade: hard work, ramping up production, some sectors happier than others, a picture of anything but decline despite current crises: Invention, manufacturing, #Fintech, hospitality, food, health, design, luxury services/goods. IMG Legacy #Tarot @Jefferson_MFG
Future face of Britannia, drawn again & again since 2016. Prosperity, hard work, some sectors happier than others, but broadly, a picture of anything but decline, notwithstanding unsettled times right now. Invention, Manuf, #Fintech, hospitality, food, luxury goods. Legacy #Tarot
It’s a funny thing, I follow a number of manufacturing accounts on Twitter, and the picture, while not always rosy, is far from being the desert void void or doom-fest one might easily imagine, given the sheer dearth of investment reportage on mainstream media.
Manufacturing Tweets from The Jefferson Group, tweeting @Jefferson.
I have collated here just some of their tweets for this month alone, investments and other UK manufacturing industry announcements, June 2020
Statement from the Jefferson Group: “To answer a few critics, yes, we are biased. We post positive news about new factories, investment and job creation. We are biased for a reason. The Mainstream Media gives undue prominence to negative news about British manufacturing and this needs to be counterbalanced.”
Manufacturing News – selected highlights
25 June: The European Space Agency has selected Leicester for its new space tech incubation centre. Expected to create 2,500 jobs, the £100m-plus Space Park Leicester development has already attracted global companies including Lockheed Martin, Thales, Airbus and Hewlett Packard.
BREAKING: INEOS to unveil new Grenadier on July 1st. The 4×4 will be built at a new factory in Bridgend (image) as part of a £600m investment programme set to create 500 jobs.
NEW FACTORY: British pharmaceutical giant 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗭𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗮 set to build new 96,000 sq ft production facility at its Macclesfield campus in Cheshire.
British electric bike manufacturer @VoltBikesUK re-shores production to the UK with opening of new factory in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire https://bit.ly/2NzzInD
27 June American aerospace giant @MoogAircraft, headquartered in New York, is building a new £40m factory in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Moog describes the investment as “an integral part of its commitment to long-term development and manufacturing in the UK.”
UPDATE: Giant step towards UK’s first orbital spaceflight as plans for Sutherland’s spaceport get the go-ahead. Scotland-based ‘Prime’ rocket will be the first to launch into orbit from the new Space Hub. https://bit.ly/2BblJl6@orbexspace
‘Revolutionary’ Belfast shipbuilding project set to create 1,000 jobs after securing £33 million innovation grant to develop zero emissions ferries. The 13-partner consortium includes Artemis Technologies, Belfast Harbour and Bombardier https://bit.ly/2BFXpb0
Swizzels Matlow, the British confectionery firm best known for its Love Hearts, Drumsticks and Parma Violets sweets, is set to build a new 158,000 sq ft production facility in Middlewich, Cheshire
26 June Due to open in the autumn, this is family-owned British food manufacturer @wrightsflour‘s new multi-million pound mill in Harlow, Essex
24 Jun Britain’s automotive sector, including projects led by #FactoryNOW member LEVC, Jaguar Land Rover and Ford, set to benefit from a £73.5m government investment in green technologies. Funding for the 10 projects is expected to safeguard 14,000 jobs https://bit.ly/2Z7gr20
£1 billion investment: Technology giant @Huawei set to create 400 jobs at new research and manufacturing campus in Cambridge. Once operational, it will become the global headquarters of the Shenzhen-based firm’s opto-electronics business https://bit.ly/2ViM6g6 (They’re getting something big then, at least, if not 5G. The PM says he is not a Sinophobe. Even if some of us other folk might be right now, given various current arenas of aggression)
Beautiful new Azuma trains being built by Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe, Durham. Azuma means ‘East.’
I grew up here in Durham City. The railway line passed near my house. My grandfather, a lovely man I remember, though he died when I was only four or five, was a railwayman in Darlington, County Durham. RIP Fred and Beatrice.
Ross Clark in The Spectator
“Why do we hear so little about positive things such as this? There was a time when industrial investment always featured prominently in the news. Now, investment like this doesn’t even seem to feature on the BBC’s science pages – although there was room yesterday for a story about Nasa naming its HQ after its first black female engineer and one about Greta Thunberg saying that climate change ‘is as urgent as coronavirus’. To be fair to the BBC, though, no newspaper seems to have carried the story, either. True, we are still in the middle of one of the biggest stories for decades. But otherwise, all news outlets seem so obsessed with woke and culture war issues that we don’t get to learn about important pieces of investment. No wonder we end up constantly thinking that Britain’s economy is going down the pan – when the opposite is true.”
Nil Desperandum, friends, when the clock strikes midnight tonight, 30 June 2020. Anything but despair.
Let’s talk about the ultimate Tarot card of Masculinity with a capital ‘M’, The Emperor.
‘The Emperor’ appearing in a Tarot reading signifies the current extra significance of an important man in your life, at an individual level. He’s a father, husband, employer, friend or advisor.
The Emperor stands for government, law and order, other big, hierarchical organisations. He is the Armed Forces, the Police, the Civil Service.
He is the guiding principle of protection and of the guardian at work in society and in the home. See those ram’s heads on the arms of his throne? The Emperor is associated with the sign of Aries, the fiery ram of spring. In a reading it may indicate a future event occurring at that time of year.
Image below is The Emperor from The Gilded Tarot, by kind permission of Ciro Marchetti
From The Gilded Tarot
The Emperor in his true dignity is strength with justice, courage with reason: a defender, a chevalier, a sheltering tree, nesting birds held safely in his branches. He is firmness of order, rule with mercy, compassion for the weak. He upholds fair play, raising his shield so that those sheltering behind it do not get hurt or splattered with rubbish and er…manure.
He will lay down his life if that is what it takes.
He has another side to him of course: war, dictatorship, tyranny, petty officialdom, overbearing bureaucracy. The card may alternatively signify absence of structure and leadership. A bully. The Emperor Reversed is War.
Michaelangelo, Sistine Chapel
But greetings are due to The Emperor at the top of his game – best friend to woman-kind; those men that we love, and what we love best in men, the sons of the red earth of Adam.
Let your Emperor wear his crown and ermine every now and then. You may be an Empress, and you can always wear yours too.
We go into the zodiac domain of Cancer the Crab Tuesday 21 June 2022 and we sail once again into the zodiac domain of the mysterious and elusive Cancer the Crab, scuttling across the heavens as we arrive at the summer solstice. The word solstice comes from the Latin ‘solstitium’ – meaning the sun stands still. Now the sun appears to move sideways/crabwise as we pass the peak. The North Pole has now hit its maximum angle of tilt to the sun, 23.5 degrees, and now we are on the return journey.
This is the great astronomical event with which we came to associate the zodiac sign of The Crab. Butwhat does it look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it? It’s that time of year again.
Common associations
The pincers: Zodiac symbol of Cancer
Ruling planet: Moon (although it is not a planet, it is counted as such in astrology)
Key phrase: I feel
Body: The chest, breast, heart
Birth Stone: Stones and metals fall under the rule of planets, not signs, but through its association with the Moon, Cancer has affinity with pearls, silver and crystals.
Colour: White, silver
Tree: all trees rich in sap
Flower: Acanthus (prickly)
Tarot card: The Chariot (see how it is a shell?) Drive, Control, progress, teamwork, and the harmonizing of different elements. If someone asks ‘when? and we draw The Chariot, it could well mean to expect developments in early summer.
The Chariot, Rider-Waite Tarot
Astronomy
Cancer, Latin for crab, is in a dark region of the sky. It is the faintest constellation in the Zodiac, with only two stars above the fourth magnitude: Acubens (The Claw) and Al Tarf (The foot.)
Cancer is visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the early spring. Look for it in March about 9 PM . In the Southern Hemisphere, you will see it in the autumn.
It’s almost impossible to see Cancer with the naked eye or even binoculars, looking between Regulus in Leo, the lion, and Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of Gemini. And it doesn’t look much like a crab at all. It’s a faint, upside-down Y shape, more like a crayfish or lobster. It was called the Crayfish in classical astrology, and in Egyptian astrology, The Scarab. But whatever it’s name, it’s always been seen a creature with an exoskeleton; an arthropod, and Cancer appears to rise crab-wise; not sideways, but backwards in the zodiac when the Sun’s entry into the constellation sky space of Cancer occurs at the summer solstice -or used to, three thousand years ago. These events change over time due to the wobble of the earth, an effect known as the precession or procession of the equinoxes.
Wiki: The constellation of Cancer
Cancer may be faint but it’s got a great star cluster glowing at its centre. Praesepe, or ‘The Manger’ is one of two Messier objects in Cancer, identified in 1771 by French astronomer Charles Messier.
Its modern name is The Beehive Cluster. Seen through the telescope it looks like a swarm of bees. To the naked eye it is a small, fuzzy patch of light -like a tiny cloud floating through the stars.
Public Domain: The Beehive Cluster
As the sign of the Sun’s greatest elevation, Cancer was considered nearest to the highest point of heaven – and by the NeoPlatonists was called ‘the Gate of Men’ through which souls descended to Earth to be born. The opposite constellation, Capricorn was the ‘Gate of the Gods’, where the souls of the departed rose back to heaven under safe escort by Hermes, the messenger of the Gods.
Cancer also contains a planetary system; 55 Cancri, containing five known planets. It’s 40 light-years away, and is just about visible to the unaided eye. The innermost of its planets is a “super Earth,” several times heavier than Earth – but none of these planets has the right surface conditions for liquid water, or life as we know it.
Myth
Cancer is associated with the Twelve Labours of Hercules after he went mad, mistook his wife and children for monsters and killed them all. His labours were performed in token of penance.
The first of his great challenges was to kill the Nemean lion. This being done, he had to deal with the Lernaen Hydra, a terrible water serpent with blood so toxic, it could kill you by inhalation. Hercules is shown here wearing no face mask, but he went off to the swamps of Lerna duly armed with a face covering, a sword to chop off its multiple hissing heads, and a torch to cauterize the deadly poisonous dead necks pronto.
Bur Hercules also had another problem. The goddess Hera was his enemy, despite the fact that his Greek name, Hera-cles/Herakles means ‘the fame or glory of Hera’. But she hated him. There were a number of reasons, starting when he was a baby and was given to her to nurse but he was already and strong, chewed her on the- well, never mind- but she had been ill disposed ever since, not to mention resenting Hercules as an illegitimate son (yet another one) of her gadabout husband, the great god Zeus.
Now she sent a crab to harass Heracles, as if The Hydra was not enough to deal with already. The crab faithfully did its best, nipping Hercules again and again, until Hercules stepped on it and crushed it, or in other versions of the story, killed it with his club.
Look at that heroic crab getting well and truly stuck in there. Hera rewarded its courage, tenacity and loyalty by placing it in the heavens. But she had given this careful consideration. placing the Crab in a dark area of the heavens with only faint stars. Crabs need dark, quiet places to thrive and hunt and be at home. However, its shy, retiring placement is also the highest point in the zodiac, and the humble, unassuming but unexpectedly formidable and faithful crab is the highest herald of the heavens, the unassuming usher of the summer solstice.
Cancer is the fourth sign of the Zodiac and represents those born between June 20 and July 22. It is a cardinal water sign, one of the four cardinal signs, which are the signs indicating the arrival of a new season. The cardinal signs, Cancer, Capricorn, Aries and Libra are instigators.
Cancer is all about the shoreline, and tides, monthly and annual. Cancer is uniquely both the moon and the sun.
The sign of Cancer, ruled by The Moon, is a cardinal sign, herald of the seasons, announcing the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere. The corresponding court card in the Tarot is the deity of the shoreline with all its ebb and flow, and its teeming rock-pools, The Queen of Cups,
Ruled by Cancer, the Queen of Cups from the Rider-Waite Tarot
Personality
There is no such thing in reality as THE Cancer personality. Your sun sign is the keynote of your astrological portrait but of course it’s not anything like the whole story.
An archetype is a distillation. An essence.
The archetype of the Cancer personality is complex, elusive and riddled with contradictions. Cancer stands for both mother and father. It is the zodiac sign of the nurturing parent. Cancer famously adores babies and small animals, all wild things; and struggles with separation. The empty nest can be anathema to the Cancer parent.
The old man is tender with the plants and with the child, But he is a tough man, a former fighting man, wearing the uniform of a Chelsea pensioner.
By Rose Maynard Barton
Cancer is the sign of hearth and home, and expanding this theme, it is the sign that records the stories and artifacts of national tribal and family identity, collating and curating ancestral legacy; historical, cultural and genetic.
Cancer it is the sign of memory, nostalgia, sometimes regrets. It is the bittersweet longing embodied in a Welsh word ‘hiraeth‘.
It is the longing to return to happy childhood haunts. Maybe a rock-pool.
Perhaps for those who did not get to enjoy even such simple delights, The Crab is the zodiac’s Peter Pan of Never Never Land.
Public Domain Painting by Albert Edelfelt, Finnish artist 1854-1905
Famous Cancer subjects in history:
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Robert the Bruce, Garibaldi, Henry the Eighth, Lord Horatio Kitchener, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alan Turing, Nikola Tesla, George Orwell, Benazir Bhutto, Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel…a few contemporary well known subjects include Prince William, Julian Assange and pop star Ariane Grande.
Commons Wikimedia Mandela voting 1994 By Paul Weinberg – direct donation from Author14 October 2009, 19:07:42 (original upload date), CC BY-SA 3.0,
Cancer sign natives are as we see from this much abbreviated list of its most famous rock-pool denizens – in many ways deeply private, but mighty formidable.
You see in this list of people, the heart of The Crab, the shell -and the giant claws. You can see the longing- the ‘hiraeth’. You see its powers of analysis-and endurance.
What is astrology and why do astrologers study the Moon?
Humans have been studying the Moon since at least 25 000 years ago. This is only natural. It is the closest celestial body to Earth, exerting visible effects on the tides, and on every living thing that depends for its way of living on the behaviour of the tides, and possibly a whole lot more besides, though this is debated, eg; crop growth, hormonal cycles and moods.
‘Astrology’ comes from Greek and means ‘the study of the stars.’
It’s about the search for meaning on earth as seen mirrored in the sky, seeking to understand human behaviour through the symbolic influence of planets and other celestial objects, Luna, our Moon being the closest.
Astrology began as humanity made conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by paying attention to astronomical cycles. They did this largely for practical planning purposes, for example:
When would the wild cattle- the aurochs migrate – and they could organise a hunt?
When would the salmon or other fishes spawn?
Early evidence of sky-monitoring appears as markings on bones and cave walls in the Neolithic period 25,000 years ago, recording the movements of the sun, and the moon and its influence upon tides and rivers. This timekeeping led to the creation of the first written calendars in the Bronze Age 3,300 – 1200 BC by the Sumerians in the ancient Near East.
Symbolically, because it has no light of its own, The Moon represents our shadowy side, our dreams, hidden health, and the impulses that drive our behaviour whether or not we are consciously aware of them.
The Headlines
June 05, 2020 Full Moon in Sagittarius (Lunar eclipse) June 13, 2020 Last Quarter Moon (Waning) June 21, 2020 New Moon in Cancer (annular solar eclipse) June 29, 2020 First Quarter Moon (Waxing)
The Full Moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite of the Earth from the Sun on the same celestial longitude and we can see the entire illuminated portion of the Moon.
The New Moon is the first/last lunar phase when the Moon is located between the Earth and the Sun and the moon is largely invisible, hidden in the sun’s glare.
A Full Moon in Sagittarius happens in late May/early June when the lunar sky path is crossing the ninth sector of the zodiac – 240-270 degrees, containing the constellation of Sagittarius, and the sun moves into the opposite zodiac sector of Gemini. The Full moon of June 2019 was also in Sagittarius.
A New Moon in Cancer happens in late June- July when the Sun is also in the zodiac sign of Cancer.
What do the moon phases mean for you and me, symbolically?
In general terms, folklore suggests that:-
A waxing Moon building up to the Full Moon is the optimum time to grow, build, add to, make or get something. It is all about bringing something new in, or bringing something to completion or fruition. Some may perform magical summoning rituals.
A Full Moon is the optimum time to take stock and evaluate, or to gather, collect, harvest or cash in on something.
A waning Moon is the optimum time for ending something, clearing out what’s no longer wanted or needed, including unhelpful or unhealthy habits. It may mean releasing something, or even getting rid of something (someone.) Some may perform magical banishing or protection rituals.
A New Moon is the optimum time to make a decision, and start from scratch,
What is theFull Strawberry Moon?
This is strawberry harvesting time in the northern hemisphere, which before modern agriculture methods was only a very short season. These full Moon names were used during Native American and Colonial times to help track the seasons—they came from the Algonquin tribes who lived in the same areas as the Colonists.
In Europe we have traditionally nicknamed this moon the Honey Moon…first crops of honey, and gifts of honey were presented to newly-wed couples…hence the term honeymoon.
The month of June is the most popular month for weddings, and it is no coincidence that it gets its name from the classical goddess of marriage, Juno (also called Hera in Greek mythology.)
A strawberry moon sounds very nice indeed. But what about this one?
Sadly, probably not this time, at least not in public life in the US, and to a superficially lesser extent in the UK, with major talks coming up with the EU. And now we are days away from the lunar eclipse, when an energy peak of this kind may theoretically be expected.
Full Moon in Sagittarius
The major Arcana Tarot card associated with the zodiac sign of Sagittarius is Temperance; traditional meanings: healing, balance, timing, waiting, diplomacy, moderation
The Rider-Waite Tarot
The court card associated with Sagittarius is the Knight of Wands: traditional meanings: energy, initiative, adventures, new ventures in study, marketing, the media, travel, writing, performing arts, disruption, gossip and fighting.
What does this mean for me and you?
Temperance is generally a deeply optimistic card, just as Sagittarius is an upbeat and optimistic sign of the zodiac, full of fun and ‘can do’ energy,’ if somewhat impulsive on occasion. We can get a lot done and have a few laughs.
That’s the brighter side of this June full moon.
BUT this will be a lunar eclipse, a Gemini-Sagittarius eclipse, plus, the planets Mars and Venus go retrograde this month, and Mercury went retrograde last month, and this all translates as volatile, potentially quarrelsome or even warlike energy. There is frustration here. Sagittarius is the desire for travel, and right now, that’s an urge that can’t be satisfied for a lot of people who would normally be making travel plans by now, or looking forward to summer travel. This is an eclipse with a focus on discontent.
Globally and historically, astrologers have correlated these sorts of planetary combinations with events of war, and with earthquakes.
At home there could be an unusual degree of tension, or sudden eruptions of anger.
Take a deep breath and count to ten before starting or responding to any arguments. A lot of people are a little out of sorts.Some are way, way out of sorts.
Likewise, we could overdo things around this Full Moon, eating or drinking. We could even overdo the exercise if we’re not careful, and hurt ourselves.
Do your own thing but ‘gently does it.’
Speaking of which, will there be a second wave of #Covid19 in the wake of starting the release of the lock-down? Logically, that would seem almost inevitable as the price of returning to normal, although my cards have been indicating small spikes of increased infections rather than a second wave as such, between today and 21 June, as we are trundling along just below the critical R rate of 1.
If we do have to return to lock-down in the UK because of lack of proper self management, well, Cancer is the card of staying at home…and the card of the New Moon 21 June is in Cancer. This date or thereabouts looks like the next turning point one way and another.
The world is not a designated safe space for any single living creature. Safety is the greatest illusion of all in the modern bubble. There is only ever risk mitigation, and if we really want freedom, and not just to talk about it, we must be prepared to manage it for ourselves. The alternative is to have it managed for us, with or without our consent, and even then, regardless of what we think about that prospect, it is still no guarantee of safety.
So then.
Will the UK have to go back into strict lockdown?
Line of Five Reading: King of Hearts (yes)- 5 Spades (no)- 7 Clubs (no)– 3 Clubs (no)- Queen Diamonds (yes)
The crux card here is the 7 of Clubs, the work card, a difficult, erratic card of holding one’s own, the need for the nation to go back to work, and also a card of moral courage in the face of heated opposition, and even, in modern parlance ‘trolls’ and ‘haters’.
A return to the original terms of lock-down looks like a 2/5 chance. So, definitely possible. We wish it was a 0/5 or a 1/5. But it’s not a 4/5 or 5/5, so not looking highly probable. There might be a close call as the R rate pushes up to 1 again, or it may even rise higher, in which case it may be sufficiently briefly, that we only just escape a further lock-down.
Those who are at a statistically low risk, they need to think more about the way they move around, and use extra careful public hygiene. Those at a statistically high risk know who they are, and need to keep their guard up, and be careful where they go, and when.
Napoleon may not have meant it as a compliment when he said we were a nation of shopkeepers, but still, we need to keep it that way. The alternatives are too bleak to contemplate.
Small is beautiful, and so is local.
New Moon in Cancer
The Chariot from The Gilded Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
The major Arcana Tarot card associated with Cancer is The Chariot: traditional meanings, victory, progress, ambition, determination, self control, teamwork, but also lack of self control, waging war, riots, and disruption.
The Chariot itself is the shell – the carapace of the Crab. Cancer may be seen as gentle, but it is also a hunter. Children must be provided for.
The court card is The Queen of Cups; motherhood, children, home and family, the arts. Here it refers to homeschooling too. This is in general a gentle, reflective card.
However, this new moon will be a lunar eclipse, and Venus, retrograde during this new moon, is famous as the classical goddess of love and beauty but is also the hottest planet, hotter even than Mercury. Mars is famous as the god and planet of warlike energy. Homeschooling might struggle somewhat today, parents and children tired and fractious. Astrologically this influence eases after 25 June when Venus goes stationary, and things flow more calmly.
What does this mean for me and you?
Where the Full Moon in general brings a peak or a re-boosting of energy and initiative, the New Moon in general represents a time of greater introspection and a pause for reflection. This seems especially the case during this New Moon.
This annular solar eclipse suggests this may not be business as usual in New Moon terms. There could be offers or surprises, and these seem most likely close to home; new developments, perhaps news of a baby on the way, or an unexpected call from a relative or old friend you haven’t spoken with in a long while.
The full moon this year additionally falls on a day designated Father’s Day in the UK. The ultimate Tarot card of fathers and fatherhood is the Emperor card.
This is also the card of government, Law and Order and the Army, whose members and officers are citizens too, and whose ultimate duty is to protect the people of their nation states, and to protect and promote their collective interests, in whichever country, under whatever government.
These are all coming in for exceptionally heavy stick at present, struggling in their different ways with not only arenas of political difficulty, but a pandemic of unproven origin and peculiar aetiology. Covid19 is now suspected to be a vascular disease as opposed to a strictly respiratory disease; a veritable viral Frankenstein.
Failures and frailties notwithstanding, I will still convey my respectful greetings to all that is the very best in The Emperor as embodied in the Tarot.
I dreamed last night I was in a darkened room by an open window; a white voile curtain fluttering, billowing in the breeze. I don’t know if I was trying to get in or out. Possibly out, but someone else was there, preventing me.
From the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
It was a Tarot dream. That was a pretty close representation of the Seven of Swords there; the card of diplomacy and deceit, strategy and stealth, surveillance and sabotage, fraud and theft.
Often though, it is simply about the need for tact and discretion, and do we really think we could function in any relationship,intimate, familial, professional or public if we always said exactly what we really thought at any given moment in the interests of you know, honesty and transparency.
Wouldn’t life be so much smoother, better and happier for everyone if we did just that? Said what we wanted, how we wanted, when and where we wanted? All in the name of Truth. Anyone who thinks so please queue here. Your very own flying pig will be delivered as soon as pigs can fly. And please, no pushing in the queue.
Politicians are often accused of dishonesty, but in the real world the truth is so rarely black and white except at the most mundane level.
Is the Seven of Swords alerting me that somewhere deep down I suspect someone of telling me porky-pies or trying to nick my personal data or credit card information? It has warned me before – correctly, but sadly I understood too late to prevent it.
And sure, my security software keeps blocking a suspicious domain about 20 times a day. Always the same one. Which reminds me, if you are in the UK you can report suspicious email accounts here: Avoid and report internet scams and phishing: https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing
Perhaps I ought to give that dodgy site a closer look next time it pops up, and grass it up to the gov.
Back to that open window in my dream. I remembered. I drew that card only yesterday, and my sleeping mind must simply have been processing that event. Though I drew plenty of other cards yesterday, so why did this one stick with me, rather than the others?
I think it’s to do with the furore surrounding the movements during lock-down of UK government aide and advisor to the UK Prime Minister, Dominic Cummings (for the benefit of readers outside the UK. )
Mr Cummings has been accused by the mainstream media, and in other quarters of having breached lock-down guidelines two months ago by driving himself, his wife and small son up from London to his home in Durham to be nearer a family support network in case of emergency. His wife had been ill with covid19, and now he felt that he too was becoming ill. Later his wife wrote that he had indeed, been extremely ill.
My mind must have been working on this while I was asleep, possibly trying to decide what I felt about the appearance of the Seven of Swords in this context.
Tweeted this morning 26 May
Seven of Swords. Strategy, stealth, surveillance, secrets. Often, but not necessarily sinister. Diplomacy or deceit? Ever had to avoid a gossip or a nosey neighbour, not telling them your business in safeguarding a loved one’s privacy? Then this was you. #Tarot IMG Ciro Marchetti
I already did a bit of card reading and pendulum dowsing back on Sunday, to see if it looked as though Dominic Cummings would either resign or be removed from his post, and it looked like a probable no, at least not in the short term, although there was nothing remotely triumphalist about this.
Why do I say that? I drew the 3 of Cups reversed. A card of ANTI celebration. This represents his household, understandably stressed, as one would imagine, placed under such a state of unanimously hostile siege. Nice for the neighbours too – the real neighbours.
Whataboutery. There is plenty of it about. Ian Blackford has been leading the charge, but did he take covid19 up to Skye with him in March? And Stephen Kinnock, etc etc. Stones and glass houses everywhere you look.
And it is easy to see plots where there may be none. The Seven of Cards is about state secrets as well as personal secrets. It is about covert surveillance and espionage, and sometimes this is wrong or criminal, but at other times the ends justify the means. As in, for instance, patient confidentiality. That would also fall under this card.
I do not presume to know anything more than anyone else. We will all form our own judgements, but I do see the anti-Leave lobby continues active, is extremely powerful, monied and well connected, and has not given up that fight. This extraordinary public health situation may seem to someone to present an opportunity not to be missed, to get rid of Dominic Cummings, with the UK still in transition and with key discussions upcoming in June.
The media reporting of this story has seemingly been deliberately calculated to weaponize not only the grief of the bereaved who were not present with their loved ones at the time of death, but their worries and doubts. Did THEY do the right thing by their loved ones? If others did things differently, pushed or broke ‘the rules,’ and it is judged that they did right by their family, does this now mean they did wrong by theirs?
No, it doesn’t mean that. Not for one minute. But the very idea would be beyond bearing, and that demands a scapegoat. It seems Dominic Cummings opponents have understood this perfectly well, and have been aiming directly for that bulls eye, and the MSM whether wittingly or not, are certainly pushing that angle.
If you dislike, or disagree with or disapprove of Dominic Cummings, you may feel this is all perfectly OK,. But even if you don’t, or you’re not sure, you might feel this is not fair play, or something’s not quite adding up…on both sides of the argument.
I can’t help wondering if he is not protecting not only his wife, son, parents and of course himself, but something else he cannot discuss – is not free to do so…could it possibly be to do with something that is happening in Barnard Castle ?
I have learned through previous readings that aside from the traditional list of meanings, which is obviously in need of updating so that the Tarot keeps up with modern life, the Seven of Swords is also THE card of statistics, data collection and modelling, and medical testing and research.
Should this be anything at all to do with the matter of that particular journey- and if and when there is a sufficiently safe and effective vaccine for #covid19, would you want to have it, yourself?
True Tarot Tales 