by Robert Wilkinson
The Northern Hemisphere Summer Solstice occurs June 21, 8:54 am PDT, 11:54 am EDT, and 4:54 pm BST. It's the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, said to be the time 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 up north. If you're "down under," remember to have a little compassion for us up here when December 21, the Winter Solstice, rolls around and we're freezing while you're enjoying the beach! What follows explores elements we all can expect to experience over the next 3 months, regardless of where we live.
The June Solstice is the end of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the end of Autumn in the Southern. If you’re wondering how I reconcile the seemingly opposing energies between the hemispheres, when you’re done here please take a look at The Mirroring of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Year Cycles in Astrology. It may help readers “down under” see how the important points of seasonal change, though opposite in physical manifestation, actually have similar challenges at each point of shift.
The Solstices and Equinoxes are excellent times for looking at what began in the past 90 days, whether new growth or signs of what is ending, what is emerging and what has slipped down the timestream. In any case, the Solstices are points of radical reorientation, whether toward emotional self interest in the Northern Hemisphere or personal power in the Southern.
The next 90 days are in any case a time to decide, consolidate, express, stabilize, and work toward what will shift at the Autumnal Equinox (or the coming of Spring if you’re down under.) The charts for the Summer and Winter Solstices provide guideposts for the symbolic and actual weather that 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.
The Pluto Factor Past and Present
This is the eleventh Summer Solstice with Pluto in Capricorn. After many years of being an important factor in the Solstice and Equinox charts when it was near the Galactic Center, Pluto has moved on to an entirely different set of aspects with the Sun at these changes of season.
When Pluto was in very late Sagittarius and very early Capricorn, it was squared by the Sun at the Spring and Autumn Equinoctal points, and opposed the Sun at the June Solstice point between 2006-2010. It was close to exact from Dec 2006 through Dec 2009, and June 2010 through Sept 2010. The squares and oppositions of those turning points released a lot of energy, and either blocked or propelled events. Certainly those were seasons of great friction where many seeds were released into our gardens of Life.
Then, just as the Sun no longer made frictional aspects to Pluto during the Solstice and Equinox, Uranus began to make an exact square to Pluto, showing very volatile Plutonic energies in play. This began at the June 2010 Solstice, and except for the December 2010 Solstice, a mundane or actual square remained in play until the March 2016 Equinox. The last time the square happened was the December 2016 Solstice.
Like last year’s Summer Solstice, Uranus again makes another biseptile to Pluto in this Solstice chart. Though it is out of orb between late July and late September, by October they’ll be back in that “destiny producing” aspect through the December 2019 Solstice. Expect radical events in the coming two seasons! This is a major fork in the road for the entire world, and things may become extraordinarily irrational at times.
If things don’t make sense, they don’t have to. The only thing that matters is to know how to focus and not get distracted by the craziness in the atmosphere. Sometimes, when we keep our heads when all around us are losing theirs, we come out on the other side looking and feeling good!
Given the Solstice and Equinox charts show the weather patterns to come, the various configurations and weightings give us a huge amount of insight about the season to come. I gave you a lot of information about the outer planet aspects in this recent article about the Christfest Full Moon of 26 Sagittarius-Gemini, so please check it out, since it goes into greater detail about the larger friction in the collective atmosphere and what we can do about it!
Decan and Element Distribution and the Solstice Jones Pattern
This Summer Solstice chart shows 2 planets in the first decan of their sign, 5 planets in the second decan of their signs, and 3 planets in the third decan of their signs. This indicates a three month period of activity involving a heavy emphasis on the emotional, social, and cultural areas of life, and a little more focus on the individual-mental and spiritual areas of life than the actional-material areas of life. In this chart, we have a good distribution between Water, Air, and Earth, with only Jupiter leading the occupied span in Fiery Sagittarius.
After months of shifting between a variety of different patterns, at this juncture they are arranged in a way that creates an imperfect “Splay” Jones pattern with elements of a “Locomotive.” The spread doesn’t fit into a convenient classic Jones pattern. It would be a Bowl, except the Mercury and Mars are outside the hemispheric occupancy of Sag through Gemini.
That means a primary determining factor is the very wide open span between Mercury and Mars in Cancer and Jupiter in Sag. In a Locomotive pattern, the open span is ideally a trine’s length (120d), but this one is 143+ degrees, so it’s also a modified Locomotive pattern. This energy will predominate over the next 3 months, so expect a lot of stuff to happen that doesn't fit well together, and from time to time needs to be rebalanced, but somehow still creates a stable yet dynamic field. Because of the impending transits of Leo will create a perfect Locomotive within just a couple of weeks, I’ll also include the explanation of that pattern.
So What is a “Splay Pattern” and how does it work?
This chart is fairly spread out in terms of planets in signs, since the 10 planets occupy 7 signs and are fairly spread out around the zodiacal wheel in irregular groupings. This widespread distribution creates a “Splay” Jones Pattern. As Marc Jones put it, “the arrangement is neither even nor symmetrical,” revealing “strong and sharp aggregations of the planets at irregular points.”
Dr. Jones states “This suggests highly individual or purposeful emphases in the life, where the temperament juts out into experiences according to its own very special tastes.” This pattern “makes its own anchorage in existence,” and has a quality of “rugged resistance to pigeonholing, either in the near conventional compartments of nature, or in the idea-pockets of associates.”
He goes on to state this pattern gives a “persistent emphasis on individuality,” and the “spokelike emphases of the planetary groupings” are random, but have a “tripod” footing and approach to life circumstances. He says this pattern “reveals a very intensive personality who cannot be limited to any single steady point of application.” This temperament is “particular and impersonal in its interests,” rather than “universal-impersonal” or “particular-personal.”
This implies that affairs will be diversely spread out, some will not mesh well with others, and there will be a “hub and spoke" quality to what happens these next 3 months. This spread shows a wide diversity of things going on that promotes individuality.
So What is a “Locomotive Pattern” and how does it work?
This type of spread, with all the planets occupying 2/3 of the signs with an empty third, creates an imbalance that leads to power if we can find the compensatory “weight” to make things move forward smoothly rather than rock side to side creating friction. Target what is needed, and provide compensatory energies accordingly.
As Marc Jones put it, “this type of horoscope reveals a balance of this sort in the life. A third part of things… consisting of a free span in experience, is set against a two-thirds part, embracing a related but limited span in experience…. The basis of the dynamic is found in the native’s resulting strong sense of a lack or a need, of a problem to be solved, a task to be achieved in the social and intellectual world around him.”
Dr. Jones states “The temperament reveals a self-driving individuality, an executive eccentricity that is not … unbalance but rather is power. It exhibits a dynamic and exceptionally practical capacity which is neither the broad universality of the Splash pattern, nor the special obsession with some particularly narrowed aspect of experience characteristic of the Bundle people.
He goes on to state “The Locomotive classification is … moved more by external factors in the environment than by aspects of its own character. The point of application for the powers of the self is shown … by the “leading planet,” or the one of the two in the empty trine which forms its aspect clockwise in the zodiac, irrespective of any distinction as “applying” or “separating.”
Jupiter is the leading planet and Mars is the closing planet in the Locomotive. Find appropriate social-spiritual Sagittarian initiative to embrace experience with an eye to new truths, new understanding, and the freedom to “break on through to the other side.” Because the leading edge is in Fire, and the closing edge of the Locomotive is in Water, open through inspiration, move through the experience, and at the end come out with a greater sensitivity and caring about what truly matters, as well as a revelation about why you are as you are and what need in your world moves you.
As the Locomotive keeps things out of balance, Jupiter in Sag is now the front end to finding the way of initiating activity that must be accompanied by a compensatory “weight” to keep things moving forward rather than sideways. The more we work with the imbalances by elevating our view to get a broader perspective and frames of reference, the easier it will be to navigate the imbalances in this pattern and come to a different way of acting on our needs. With Sag leading, show enthusiasm as you reorient; with Cancer closing, embrace the adventure with an eye to your expectancies, making sure they're what you truly want and need.
On this Solstice, we see 1 planet in Fire, and 3 in Water, 3 in Air, and 3 in Earth. That makes this a season of a balance between practicality, emotional experience, and interactive experiences. And even though there’s only 1 planet in Fire, it’s Jupiter in its home sign leading the entire occupied span, providing inspiration and a sense of adventure in the entry to all potential activities.
Dispositors, Aspects, and the Lunar Influence
In this chart, we find Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune in their home signs, with the Sun in the sign ruled by the Moon in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn in its home sign of Capricorn. Saturn is therefore the final dispositor to the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus and Pluto! I recommend that for the next 90 days you get acquainted with your “Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend,” learning all you can to accelerate your growth in taking command of your life and destiny.
That leaves Jupiter in its home sign of Sagittarius and Neptune in its home sign of Pisces as “standalone” rulers of themselves and no other planets. Clearly Saturn’s influence will dominate the coming season!
The Moon is at 20 Aquarius, promising all of us a message from Spirit as a reward for our willingness to manage ourselves in some sort of group work. The Moon is triseptile to Mercury and Mars, making for a very powerful septile-driven configuration, boosting the “fated” sense of what’s going to happen. This is made more powerful by Mercury ruling Venus and therefore Uranus in its “chain of dispositors.”
The primary zones affected include 18-22 Aquarius, 10-14 Aries, 1-5 Gemini, 23-27 Cancer, 15-19 Virgo, 6-10 Scorpio, and 27 Sag-1 Capricorn. If you have anything in these zones, your life will definitely hit major forks in the road, and you’ll have major choices to make affecting your future, especially wherever you have these zones and Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and Scorpio on the cusps. Again, it doesn’t have to “make sense,” but you do have to keep your wits about you so you don’t get distracted by the general agitation in the air!
The Moon at 20 Aquarius tells us we will be blessed, and understand the significance of many things by the time this season is over. Dr. Jones tells us this enables us to recognize “a transcendental or superior wisdom” where we can receive “inspiration and assurance,” demonstrated by our faith and strengthened “through an ever-constructive attitude of mind.” It is a degree of Conviction and “a facility for ordering all personal desires in a cosmic framework and a gift for knowing when to act and what to do.
The Moon rules Cancer, so it's the ruler of the Sun. In this chart we find the Sun and Moon are in a Disseminating phase, indicating the next 90 days are about assimilating, evaluating, and weaving together what we learn and offering it to others. Inspire others, and be inspired by others, in what you share with them and what they share with you. Synthesize it all together in a view of the whole, and you will receive the blessing of the Moon.
In the Solstice chart there are a huge number of extremely important forming and just separating aspects showing the recent past has been very intense for many. These aspects indicate a season of important choices and changes that will transfigure all of us in some way!
Significant forming and closely partile separating aspects include the Lunar aspects I gave you above, as well as Moon quadrelftile Sun, sextile Jupiter, and quintile Uranus; Mercury novile Venus, quindecile the Sun, conjunct Mars, biquintile Jupiter, and binovile Uranus; Venus is decile Mars, opposed Jupiter, novile Uranus, square Neptune, and biquintile Pluto; and the Sun quindeciles Mars, and is pentelftile Saturn, sextile Uranus, biseptile Neptune, and quadranovile Pluto. You can find out more about the outer planet aspects by going to part 3 in the recent World Teacher Global Wisdom Full Moon series.
Venus is involved in 2 powerful configurations; one features Mercury, Venus and Uranus in a 9th harmonic (novile) series, indicating the promise of many revelations and spiritual events and insights for those with planets or points near 3-8 degrees of Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, 13-18 degrees of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, and 23-28 degrees of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. The spiritual energies of these 9th harmonic aspects indicate realizations either before or after a period of gestation.
Venus also makes a very powerful mutable T-square by its opposition to Jupiter and square to Neptune, generating a void between 16 and 19 Virgo. Don’t worry or be too nitpicky, especially in your interactions, and stop fussing about things which can’t be solved by your fussing. Be proactive in cultivating your neglected power, allow your “will to wholeness” to break up old complexes, and listen to your inner voice to hear wisdom.
The 9th harmonic noviles, binoviles, and quadranovile along with the 11th harmonic elftile series aspects are part of the “spiritual aspects,” which include the septile-series aspects, the novile-series aspects, and the elftile series aspects. The quindeciles, decile, quintile, and biquintiles are all aspects of specialization, gifts, and various sorts of inner and outer unique events.
Other Important Factors
The North Node shows us the line of greatest development is to see the permanent elements of our existence, and how our lives demonstrate “as above, so below.” We can all see how our celestial patterns infuse our personality tendencies, with the backdrop of more eternal patterns for us to aspire to. In Cancer, we are learning to care in deeper, more personally fulfilling ways. We are learning through nurturing and being nurtured, caring for and being cared for.
With so many specializing and spiritualizing aspects, we have major events promised in the next season. Lots of interactivity, lots of specialization, lots of realizations after a period of waiting, with tremendous serendipity promised by Saturn’s tredecile to Uranus. Of course, with Uranus biseptile Pluto, Sun biseptile Neptune, and the Moon triseptile Mercury and Mars, we will have a lot of unstable and irrational forces in play across almost every sector of our charts! With the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Mars Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all involved in septile-series aspects, this are going to be “fateful,” for better and/or for worse, depending on how we handle these VERY unstable tides.
As always at this time in history, don’t get distracted by the craziness or irrationality in people and circumstances, and don’t worry if a lot doesn’t make sense. The biseptiles require that we keep a sense of perspective and a healthy self-awareness so we’re not pulled where we don’t need to go, whether in action, feeling, or thought, while the triseptiles show us the need for cooperative pioneering group work.
This is a season of initiating experience, feeling everything we need to feel to make our decisions and do the actions we need to do. After we act, it will be important to seek new understanding and a new vision to move toward. Keep it all practical and on track, pay attention to details without being too much of a perfectionist, and when in doubt, let things cook a little, since it will all be made clear eventually.
Aum, blessings, and Happy Northern Summer and Southern Winter Solstice as we stand on the threshold of a new season of life! Let go of fear, let go of the past, let go of feeling stuck in old limitations, and stay focused on the blessings to come your way that expands your life.
© Copyright 2019 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you for all this knowledge and the vast database, you've collected over the years!
I wanted to write some feedback, since I just looked up what you wrote about the Equinox, since I've noticed a great change in me. Previously so mellow, so much so that for years people have been using me, manipulating and deceiving without serious consequences. During the last 3 months all that has changed. I've noticed the power arising within, putting limits and confronting people who've been confused about my transformation. And now I checked that the Equinox Moon was conjunct my Pluto (opposite Venus in my natal chart). Astrology truly is amazing... Many thanks.
Posted by: Mar | June 20, 2019 at 02:59 AM
What do you mean with “The spiritual energies of these 9th harmonic aspects indicate realizations either before or after a period of gestation.”? I have 2 angles Venus and the north node, which are making aspects to other planets. I’m trying to understand how it expresses in my life.
Posted by: Maggie Meermans | June 20, 2019 at 06:49 AM
Hi Mar - You're most welcome. It's my blessing to give it to the world. Glad you have begun to find your power to chart your life course as you see fit, setting your own boundaries and eliminating patterns which previously frustrated your Higher Self from expressing itself on its own terms.
Yes, astrology is amazing! That's why I'm still at it after 48 years!
Hi Maggie - I regularly offer that all novile series aspects introduce an element of gestation, whether something is going into it or coming out from a gestative period. All novile series aspects hold the promise of realization and revelation, pointing us toward whatever spiritual pulse governs the planetary interaction.
A natal novile or binovile or trinovile or quadranovile is different than a prog 9th harmonic aspect to a natal planet, and of course inner planet transits all make multiple 9th harmonic aspects to every planet in our chart every year, Mars every 2 years, Jupiter every 12 years, and so forth. If you want to learn more about "the whole cycle" and how the various stages occur from conjunction through the waxing aspect into the waning aspects and back to the conjunction, it's all in my book "Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend."
By observing the various 9th harmonic aspects made by transits after their conjunction with our natal planets, we can see how various facets of those planetary behaviors evolve, come to realizations, and fulfill a spiritual lesson involved with that planetary function within us.
Posted by: Robert | June 20, 2019 at 07:22 AM
Thank you Robert! The last paragraph shed light on my confusion. Because of too much happening in the chart (say last 2 years) I have these moments of total black out messing up all the information when trying to put pieces together and understand what for God sake is going on. There is so much weird stuff, or strange, or dysfunctional, or unexplainable (for my level of understanding), spiritual etc. much of all this is also great no matter how weird it is. I’m not really sure why I want to put structure into the ongoing, maybe that to have control over it or be prepared. Indeed, I see amazing evolution of some natal planetary function which i never imagined I can master. What’s more than fantastic. The way how it’s occurring is traumatic though because it’s given to who is still not ready. Maybe to give example, at the winter solstice 2017 happened something unexplainable to me (or at least I still haven’t find someone to explain it to me or to guid me through it) what, I think, it was sudden accelerated awakening of unprepared person. So maybe that’s what means “gestated” realization or revelation...at the time when the 9th harmonic transit makes the aspects to the planets/points what were involved back than, I can have the picture of what the spiritual lesson is about.
I have your book “Saturn: Spiritual master, Spiritual Friend” and also the book about Mercury. They are absolute treasures! Amazing books also for people like me who are not astrologers. So I am at the stage to figure out the cycles but the harmonics somehow still do not sink in (even if you write about them quite often). I still try to figure out what they do with the natal...I hope it makes sense.
Posted by: Maggie | June 20, 2019 at 12:30 PM
Hi Robert! Thanks so much for your wonderful work, enlightening as always!
Posted by: Bridie | June 20, 2019 at 11:53 PM
Thank you as always, great wisdom and insights.
"....as we stand on the threshold of a new season of life! Let go of fear, let go of the past, let go of feeling stuck in old limitations, and stay focused on the blessings to come your way that expands your life."
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | June 22, 2019 at 06:15 AM