Summer Solstice 2009 - What's Coming in July, August, and September

by Robert Wilkinson

The Summer Solstice falls on June 20 at 10:46 pm PDT, June 21 CDT and points east. It's the longest day of the year, and said to be the point at which "free will" acts more powerfully than any other time. It is a point of decision, and kicks off Summer, the season of work, play, productivity, and lots of sunshine for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. If you're "down under," remember to have a little compassion for us up here in the north when December 21, the Winter Solstice, rolls around and we're freezing while you're enjoying the beach! What follows are some hints as to what we all can expect to experience over the next 3 months, regardless of where we live.

The charts for the Summer and Winter Solstices provide guideposts for what will follow in the 90 days after those points in time, just as charts for the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox each show what will follow in the period after those points in time. This Summer Solstice chart shows quite a few conjunctions. There's the ongoing Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius I've already written about extensively. We also find Venus and Mars conjunct in mid-Taurus, and Moon conjunct Mercury in Gemini.

These conjunctions indicate a merging and blending of the areas the planets in conjunction rule. So Lunar and Mercurial affairs will be joined over the next 90 days, just as Venusian and Martian affairs will also be tied together. We've already been experiencing the blending of Jupiterian, Chironic, and Neptunian affairs, and will through the end of the year. Of note is that Mercury and Venus are in the signs they rule, making them extremely powerful influences for the coming season.

The planets fall in a Bucket Jones pattern, with Pluto the leading planets, the Sun the closing planet, and Saturn the handle, or nozzle, focusing all the other energies. I wrote a bit about how Saturn as nozzle for all the other planetary energies works in It's the Vernal (Spring) Equinox 2009 - What's Coming in April, May, and June, with more about how to use Saturn's powerful energies in Astrology at Work in March, April, and May 2009 - Saturn Offering Freedom from Mental, Emotional, and Material Chains. Please check these again for a greater understanding of how to use Saturn's energies wisely during this coming season.

This is the first Summer Solstice with Pluto in Capricorn, thus creating a powerful opposition between the Sun and Pluto. This challenges us to find confidence in the midst of chaotic conditions, and use self-discipline and deep insights to pioneer in new directions. It is said the Solstice and Equinox charts show the weather patterns to come, so this chart would seemingly indicate some extremes on the way!

This opposition has two things working on/with it. Venus and Mars are semisquare the Sun, and sesquisquare Pluto. The Sun is quintile Saturn, which is tredecile Pluto. The first shows lots of internal crises with external agitations, while the latter is specializing and should bring forth long term gifts and unique conditions within which we can express Saturn's lessons we've been learning since Autumn 2008. The blessing is that Venus and Mars are both trine Saturn, showing it's a great season for building solid structures in whatever areas of life (the houses) this trine falls in.

The Moon rules Cancer, so it's the ruler of the Sun. We find a Balsamic Moon in Gemini at the Solstice, indicating the next 90 days are completely future oriented, where we can see or release seed ideas that will guide our future growth, or the future growth of whatever collective enterprise we're doing. The Moon is conjunct Mercury in its home sign, making Mercury the effective ruler of the entire pattern due to it ruling the signs of the Moon and Saturn.

Expect the next 90 days to be very Geminian. Lots of ideas, short journeys, information exchanges, contacts with those who are literally or metaphorically brothers and sisters, with paradox everywhere as well as things going everywhere and seemingly nowhere. There will be a strong element of irrationality in the air, due to the Moon and Mercury in the Gemini zone of the Grand Irrationality. This of course means the coming season contains multiple major "forks in the road of destiny" for the entire world. I'll be composing more on the Grand Irrationality's significant presence and influence in July and August in a few days.

Thus wherever we have Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces in our charts, we'll be put under major pressure that may not make much sense, but it doesn't have to. There will be lots of non-rational and even compulsive energies influencing events. These will precipitate the need for us to make significant choices and changes in these areas that will define our "destiny" for some time to come.

While many things will be stirred up from the subconscious or unconscious sides of existence, we'll be learning how to be "Zen archers" and become more sure in our ability to hit the mark. Expect radical repolarization on the ego level, as well as protests. These will help us become more certain in our direction, and offer opportunities for us to prepare ourselves mentally and skillfully for future opportunities in the above areas.

That the Moon and Mercury are both quintile Uranus shows a highly specialized energy that marks a culmination of old efforts, with unique opportunities to achieve closures in Pisces areas of our lives. Uranus is on a degree showing "the power of creative visualization by which great Dreamers transcend outer reality," and "complete dominance of circumstances." Use information, ideas, and perceptions to practice these, and you should find yourself on top of things wherever Pisces falls in your chart.

Tender care and exercise will stabilize practical affairs, focused through karmic confrontations. These will help us unlock caged-up energies and neglected inner powers and strengths. You may find that the old ideas and views cannot confirm new conditions of existence, so continue to be pulled toward the larger Aquarian ideal presented by the stellium.

The North Node shows us the line of greatest development is to join in a collective enterprise building for a long wave future. The South Node indicates these growth patterns will demonstrate as irruptions and sudden bursting forth of fiery energies. The Moon trining its North Node shows these will be evident, understandable, and stabilized by the events of the next 90 days.

So overall, expect radical shifts and confrontations, major decisions that reorient our direction, and some fairly extreme circumstances that will yield practical stabilizations. The pot of personality will definitely be stirred, and some egos will be forced to repolarize.

We stand on the threshold of some fairly weird events, but our training should help us adapt and learn how to move and groove through irrational circumstances. Radical transformation is in the air, leading through larger visions, greater commitments, emergent powers, new approaches, and major reorientations.

Just remember what your duty is as you confront what needs to be unblocked. Pay attention to details as you continue to move into a greater or higher "venerable standard" that we've all been exploring since late 2008, trying to find what has personal relevance to our higher purpose. We'll be living elements of that standard by late September, and moving into new ways of doing our Dharma. Happy Summer Solstice!

© Copyright 2009 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Dirk]

Just in time, Robert! I was eagerly awaiting your view on the Solstice. Here in the Netherlands it has a Cancer ascendant - right on top of my Mercury - and the Moon-Mercury conjunction right on my Descendant. With the already pronounced Mercurial note in the Solstice itself, I'm looking forward to experiencing the complete music this Solstice will bring!
Thanks very much and I hope you will have a terrific weekend.

[Matt]

Robert,

So many wonderful pieces in this post to meditate over - thank you. Most important, I pray your remarks regarding the Moon/Mercury quintile to Uranus manifest fully; I'm totally grooving to the Mars conjunct Venus in Taurus energies these days.

I remember you wrote for the winter solstice about a ritual you perform for closure and openings. Do you do a ritual for the summer solstice too?

[duse]

Robert,

This might seem a silly question to ask, but do you super-impose one's Natal Chart -- or even an Event Chart -- onto the Solstice Chart to see if there are any notable aspects made between the two?

I'm' just curious. :^)

duse

[Alice]

I like your comment about the "multiple major 'forks in the road of destiny' for the entire world." This may explain the sense of free fall that I and others have been experiencing lately. As I've written in my blog, I compare it to "the breathless feeling, the catch in your breath, when entering a cold lake on a warm summer day."

[zeta]

Thank you for the post Robert. It feels big. Major reconnections in unexpected ways. Like Matt, wondering if there is a ritual I can do, or if there is something I can put into play that will help?

[JP]

Hi Robert,

Great stuff as usual. And as usual an inquiry form me :)

What's your take on the "mutual reception" of planets in signs adjacent to one another. For example the current situation of Uranus in Pisces, and Neptune in Aquarius, where each planet is in the house of the other planets "ruler", and also in adjacent signs.

I've read other astrologers who give this effect significant influence, and I have yet to hear you mention it, and thus I inquire about your opinion thereof.

Thanks.

[Valerie]

Hi Robert, yeah it's me again. A really wonderful article as usual. And all of it applies to me. All the craziness I've just been through, just getting laid off, my birthday on the 29th, progressed moon exactly on my natal sun. I'm terrified, but excited just the same. My career at a crossroads. Sitting in the void just like you told me to... or should I say, flying in it. I've got lots of ideas, the seeds you mentioned. Have no idea what the hell I'm doing next but I'm sure the universe will guide me. One day at a time. And by the way, all kinds of crazy stuff is happening to the people around me, everyone I talk to. Layoffs, deaths, changes. It's going to be a VERY interesting solstice period... Carpe diem!

[Matt]

JP -

Scary... I've been contemplating the importance of mutual reception as of late too (although this arose from my ever continuing study of my own chart, but I digress... Venus in Aquarius in mutual reception and trine exalted Saturn in Libra). I did some google research and didn't find much on the net that was noteworthy, sigh.

[cb]

Hi Robert

Can you tell me the significance of Saturn in the same degree on June 21 as Venus conjuncts Mars in Taurus as Saturn was on April 22 as Venus conjunct Mars in late Pisces. I am just experiencing a little deja vu with a guy in my life with these 2 dates and am wondering how to best understand the venus/mars/saturn connection.

Thanks!

[kelsta]

Hi Robert,

As someone from the southern hemisphere I do keep wondering how differences in seasons and those crucial markers of the year- the longest day and the longest night, mesh with astrology. How do these smaller, less cosmic, changes interact with the larger ones? And is your enjoyment of your surrounds, the warmth, growth and abundance of summer, reflected in your reading of the slower turning of the planets and stars? I'm curious because I can't help but feel you'd be writing something very different if you were sitting in my cold seat tapping away at your computer on the longest night of the year! Keen to hear your thoughts.

And thanks!

[Chickie]

Your Highness,

The GI is in force in my life as I write. I have four projects that are in limbo due to starts and stops from obstacles that I'm learning that I have most likely attracted on my own. The present south node is exact on my 0 Leo sun....my natal North node is 0 Aries 12th house and of course S node 0 libra 6th house. Do these nodal trines, sextiles and exact oppositions assist me at all. I need movement!!! help please?

[Chickie]

CUT TO THE CHASE,

Basically I'm beginning to feel like a zero! HELP!

[victoria]

The sizzle I am feeling from Robert and co. and on other sites and in my immediate environment is only matched by the sensation of experiencing the moon and venus and mars and saturn in the heat lightning of the dawn this morning. You are all so alive and vibrant. I am humbled by your experiences. Sometimes I just have to say thank you to existence.

[Robert]

Hi all - Just in time - it's the countdown! A most Happy Solstice and beneficial effects to all!

Hi Dirk - So your Mercury will be heavily stimulated these next 90 days, as well as your 7th house. Hermes is the "Guide of Souls," so maybe you'll recalibrate how you're doing your Being through new ideas, views, and abilities to coordinate. Am already having a focused time. Big changes to be set in motion immediately.

Hi Matt - I'm sure you're enjoying yourself as much as possible with the Venus-Mars in Taurus. The quintile will bring forth gifts and skills where it's active in our charts. I tend not to do a similar ritual at the Summer Solstice, since it's not the beginning of the year, but in some ways the end, since from now on the collective exerts a motion of fulfillment and withdrawal of the life force. Perhaps it would be a great ritual for those in the Southern Hemisphere, since this begins their Winter and therefore their time of increasing light. Those down under might want to do that kind of closure and opening ritual. I did suggest some possible ritual themes for this Summer Solstice to Zeta down this stream. And you're right in that there's little out there on the Mutual Reception. But you will find a lot here throughout dozens of articles.

Hi duse - No. I would impose the Solstice chart on the natal. It's a moment in time that impacts us rather than vise-versa. As for events, it depends on what level you're asking, but to some extent it still has a meaning for us rather than us having a meaning for it. You can see how different events would work in each way.

Hi Alice - Septile series aspects do in fact set up non-rational situations that are forks in the road of choice and change. The Grand Irrationality has been in major motion for quite a while, and from time to time gets more intense. We approach the threshold of a new era that will look radically different than what anyone on Earth has experienced before. This is truly a pregnant pause for humanity, and your phrase captures a sense of it.

Hi Zeta - I believe that it's always a good thing to create ritual in moments of shift and reorientation. The ritual Matt refers to is specific to the Winter Solstice (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere!) This Solstice is more a moment of free choice and acceptance of a reorientation to move into working toward future harvests. Perhaps it could be useful to do a ritual to identify what is to be captured or harvested in the coming season, what is to be left behind, and what we really care about that must be embraced as a habit.

Hi JP - Mutual Reception reinforces the energies of each, whether through friction or harmony or specialization or whatever. It constitutes a "closed loop" of sorts. Adjacent signs usually have areas of natural harmony, but also areas of disharmony, due to modality and element. That would be a subject for an article in itself, as would the many possible ways Mutual Reception could manifest. If you want to know more I've mentioned it in dozens of articles. Just use the site google and have fun following the various paths through the archives.

Hi Valerie - With P Moon on your natal Sun, you're beginning a years' long journey of scanning your entire life, with each month corresponding to a year. Go slow, since psychologically you're going to re-experience every feeling you've had since birth. That means all kinds of hidden things to be nurtured, while other things can be felt and left behind. I suspect this coming Solstice season could be good for all kinds of things.

Hi cb - It could mean many things, too numerous to list here. For one, we experienced Saturn's energies RX when the conjunction was in Pisces (opposition energy) and its ruler was in Taurus, and we're experiencing Saturn direct now when the conjunction is in Taurus (trine energy) and Saturn's ruler is in Gemini. Deja vu experiences often happen when a significant planet is in the same place or aspect with something from the past.

Hi Kelsta - I believe I answered part of your question in an earlier answer. I've always found it fascinating that the seasons related to the signs work one way in the North and the opposite way in the South. I believe the general principle of the "breathing in-breathing out" of the light force is the same, but work at different times through different signs in different hemispheres.

Perhaps the "meaning" we give to the signs must shift based in hemispheric realities. However, because we divide time to show the stages within the larger cycles of death, dormancy, rebirth, growth, fulfillment, and decay until the next death and dormancy, then that process must drive whatever meaning we give the various signs and images. Remember that lesser changes always are linked to and largely an effect of the greater Changes symbolized by archetypal processes. Great subject for discussion!

Hi Chickie - Demonstrate your light while letting go of needing to control the realm! The Nodes are strongest when the Moon is making aspects to them. The planets do not assist per se, but they do indicate the limits of what we can and cannot do at any given moment. Sometimes movement is good, sometimes not. In any case, you are not a "zero," but probably having a hard time over having a hard time. Your intensity is up right now due to other conditions you described in your last email. Follow through as Venus and Mars occupy your Solar 10th, and remember that as they move into Gemini you should see a LOT of things happen!

Hi Victoria - This is a somewhat active and supportive community, so glad you can recognize it! Being alive and vibrant is always a good thing, since the alternative is being dead and inert. I believe that what we share here in the way of experiences is helpful for all, so that's why I encourage comments. And your phrase "Sometimes I just have to say thank you to existence" is something I often feel!

[DianneM]

Hi Skipper (sometimes it feels like that)

I think solstice and feel like "things should be sorted" but the patterns again, and still in ever diminishing circles (strangely this is a good thing helps with identification).But enough already!
Is this the paradox? I wonder?
Would love some advice on the sesquisquare. How to best use them. I have two of the "beloved" things Saturn in the 11th aspecting Sun Taurus (24.01) 3rd and Moon Leo 6th...Jupiter 27 Scorpio, there too...

Happy New starts to all.
Dianne
PS Melbourne has a winter...the North are warming themselves.

[duse]

Robert,

In re-reading this article, this sentence struck me: "That the Moon and Mercury are both quintile Uranus shows a highly specialized energy that marks a culmination of old efforts, with unique opportunities to achieve closures in Pisces areas of our lives"

Assuming this energy is one that is present for the next three months, would transits to this degree (8 Gemini, I believe ... *I've included dates below) be the times when events or circumstances arrive to help place that energy into motion? Help shape it into an event or opportunity?

Thanks, Robert. :^)

duse

*notably the conjunction to that degree made by Venus on July 12 and Mars the 23-25 July, the sextile from Mercury on 22 July and the Sun on 31 July, Mercury square 8 August and then Sun square on 31 Aug, and Tr Venus square 27 Sept

[Morvah]

Sengellerig! (Knowing mind)

Having just experienced, stone cold sober,one of the most significant and extraordinary days of my life, I have just re-read this article. As usual, loving your awareness! Now need to learn new ways to use this very humbling knowledge with wisdom and care.
No ritual here either, just gasping in awe of the Cosmos!
Shanti

[wild horse running]

Your Highness,

The water is beginning to churn....I understand your comment about "Saturn will bring me to
maturity by fall"....today tho the sun opposing Pluto is conjunct my saturn, and I see and
understand, and it is intensly uncomfortable emotionally. I see the parts of myself that
have a past due expiration date, in the people I am dancing with. It all looks so simple now,
but what it took for me to get here, and see what it is I need to let go off/pass away, I have a new
compassion for others who are "fixed/stuck", and having hardships in order to find their way.
Makes me also wonder about my Mercury Rx natally, and wether it is hard for me to "get things"...

Namaste....

[Siri]

I'm having a horrible time right now. So stuck. I feel I need to be doing something differently, but *I can't figure out what that is.* I've tried going to my Tarot cards for answers, but all they do is reflect my current state of mind back to me (quite accurately). Ugh.

[Siri]

I meant to add (I was too quick with the "post" button) that my chart isn't of much help right now. Venus transiting my untenanted 10th house suggested that I wouldn't get laid off during the first 6 months of the year (and I haven't been, yet), but beyond that is a large feeling of restlessness and the need to live more authentically... and somehow, at the same time, be able to meet my need for food, shelter and clothing.

[duse]

Siri,

Have you checked your Progressed Chart for where the SP Moon is? If it's not found in transits, progressions as well as where the recent Lunations fall in your chart can give a lot of info.

Duse

[Siri]

Thank you for that, I will look at it.

[Robert]

Hi DianneM - Maybe the Summer Solstice brings us all "crop circles" in our lives? ;-) I have found sesquisquares irritating but not crisis producing. I have two in my chart, and I've observed they keep prodding me to (inter)act, whether I feel like it or not. Never quite crisis producing, but also never quite as easy as I'd like between the planets involved.

Hi duse - Yes, subsequent transits to an event chart do tend to trigger elements of that chart, on subtle planes if not obvious. And of course, for us to be involved, it must have relevance to our personal charts.

Hi Morvah - We and cosmos do a dance on so many levels that I suspect we'll only comprehend the fullness of it after we drop the body and view the movie of our life!

Hi WHR - Sun opposed Pluto brings things to the surface we cannot ignore any longer. Natal Mercury RX usually gives insights after the fact, so the best thing you could do for yourself is build in a time lag between when you notice or hear something and when you make a judgment on how to act or not act. It works on a different time continuum than direct Mercury, but you usually get valuable insights after a time of reflecting on all factors, including those others don't notice.

Hi Siri - Sorry you're stuck. The cards probably could show you some things, but unfortunately the limitation to reading them is our own pre-set attributes. Hard to think in language we don't have until we have it. That's why I always recommend the I Ching as a balance wheel to the cards, since it can give us "objective" observations whether we understand them at the time or not. The chart merely shows what's up, but it cannot live our lives for us, nor make the hard choices we must make as spiritual Beings on our journey to Self-realization. Realization is not Application, though any useful application must come from what we have realized. Work we do for others is 6th house, not 10th. Restlessness may be personal, or collective, depending on our chart influences. And the P Moon does show our subjective experiencing of points in our larger journey.

[Robin]

I have a very important question. My best friend who is 26 years old and whom I have known since we were 14 has admitted herself into a mental hospital. She has been diagnosed with Bi-Polar/Manic Depressant. She is saying thee most crazy things but also things that seem to be coming in the future. Also at times she is completely herself. Her energy is very chaotic and I have trouble being near to her. I am sooooooo confused wondering if the summer solstice has anything to do with it. (shifting of energies?) Can anyone help? Is anyone experiencing the same thing?

[Robin]

As for my above question this change in her happened on the 21st. She also mentioned the summer solstice.