2010 Cancer New Moon

by Stephanie Azaria

2010 Cancer New Moon / Total Solar Eclipse
19 Cancer 23
3:41 PM EDT / 12:41PM PDT/ 7:41 PM GMT

The out-of-sortsness of the past two weeks is coming to an end and leading to something purposeful, at last. Part of the reason it’s been so uncomfortable to be in our own skins is that fundamental themes of safety and security have been stirring in every fiber of our being. For the past year, we have been coming to grips with major shifts in mindset and outer circumstances around the issues of home, family and career.

The beginning of this cycle, during last July’s eclipses, helped us get clearer on what no longer has a place in our lives, and particularly on we don’t want anymore, from specific jobs, houses and relationships to attitudes, dynamics and ways we have interacted with family. Last month, on June 26, the Capricorn Full Moon lunar eclipse revealed what has been developing in those areas since we headed down a more focused, streamlined and intentional path in the middle of January.

The two weeks since that eclipse have suspended us in a stew of emotions, realizations and changes from the inside out. With July’s New Moon solar eclipse in Cancer, we take all these emotions and realizations and stewing and use them to set our course into the future.

Think about what’s gripped your hearts and minds for the past two weeks. We’ve received message after message that has surprised, stunned, turned a preconception on its head, opened our hearts wider and wider and wider and connected us more deeply to our own personal truth and that of certain key people. What we’ve been hearing hasn’t often lined up with our expectations or desires, but it has given us a starker, more honest view of our worlds and of the roles the people around us are capable of playing. And it has helped us clarify and recommit to our own core needs and desires. If you recently learned that someone wasn’t capable of fulfilling a particular need of yours, for example, your reaction was not to continue to expect it from him, was it? Even less, to cross that need off your list? Didn’t you instead restate your intention to have this need met without attachment to the identity of the source — and calibrate your attitude about the position this person plays in your life?

These kinds of reactions boil down to acting responsibly for yourself and taking charge of your needs to the extent possible. In many instances that extent may be only becoming mindful of and intentional in your responses; in other words, internal action may be the other thing you can do. You don’t really have control, for example, over whether your job is going survive a round of lay-offs or whether a buyer is going to make an acceptable offer on your house. You can, however, decide what you want, need and are willing to accept in advance and apply those decisions to what happens, rather than sitting back passively and feeling you have to take whatever does float your way on whatever terms it presents. Acknowledging and committing to your needs, setting your personal guidelines and then applying them, unwaveringly, constitute taking responsibility for your needs.

Perhaps you haven’t been thinking specifically in terms like these. Still, some kind of parallel process has been going on, even if it’s been along the lines of, “I don’t like/want any more of [X]; I want [Y].” Whatever you’re saying yes to, whatever you’re welcoming is laying stepping stones for the path that’s growing out of this eclipse. It’s an outgrowth, and a new and improved version of, another one you crafted two eclipse cycles back. This month’s solar eclipse is a direct reboot of themes and events from early July 1991, when a solar eclipse took place at the same degree of Capricorn on July 11.

This time, we’re building the path proactively. Mars, the planet of ambition and drive, is in a tight trine to the New Moon, which makes it the most natural thing in the world for us to take practical steps to ensure that our core security needs are met in a healthy, self-advancing way, without sacrificing our well-being for that of others. We will effortlessly implement the decisions and realizations we’ve been making over the past couple of weeks. Even if we are not consciously thinking about those decisions and realizations, any effort we expend toward structures and goals that are healthy for us, that respect our boundaries and that further our own well-being will have an amplified, exponential effect — as if we barely tap a gas pedal and the car accelerates within seconds to 60 mph.

With that kind of power at our disposal, it makes all the sense in the world to harness it. Think about the issues and needs you’ve been grappling with — where you feel at home, where you want to live, the identity of your true family (chosen counts, sometimes more than blood, and don’t we all know it), what you need in order to feel safe, secure, wanted and nurtured, what kind of emotional and financial security you want to build, and where you want to make your place in the world at large. Set some goals and some targets. State them more in terms of how you want to experience them than the specific forms they might take. Then sit back and let this eclipse shoot you onto the fast track to them. We’ll have two more power-up stages, at the solar eclipses at the beginning of next January and July. Effectively, though, we’re already heading for the next eight to nine years of our lives.

Here is Lynda Hill’s interpretation of the Sabian Symbol for the New Moon at 20 Cancer, reprinted with her kind permission from her book The Sabian Symbols As An Oracle, the Special Edition:

VENETIAN GONDOLIERS IN A SERENADE.
Commentary: ‘Venetian Gondoliers in a Serenade’ is a Symbol that speaks of the ideals of romantic fantasy. Although it can sometimes sound like an old cliché, the ‘Gondoliers Serenading’ is the sort of fantasy or special event that many people long for or desire. To be pampered, cared for and transported to a place of romance can be just what is needed, though there may be a need for caution if the romance is really a fairytale.

Oracle: This Symbol encourages the breaking away from any restriction of expectation and letting yourself float on the pleasure of romance. Someone may be a little frustrated or bored, and looking to find ways to satisfy their emotional needs. This is not the time for seriousness, however, don’t be fooled by any insincere charades. You may need to develop trust in those around you to be able to surrender to your feelings spontaneously. If the circumstances are right, surrendering to romance should be enjoyed to the hilt. Don’t let doubts get in the way of love or passion; but, do be cautious that you’re not being used for someone’s imaginary or idealistic life. Look to see if you are ignoring the truth of a relationship in order to satisfy someone else’s needs. Read between the lines of what’s truly being said, or the emotions that are conveyed. Look for anything misleading or overblown. Someone may try to convince others of how good they are, or compete with others for love. Be wary of reacting to others who have recently come into the picture, especially those that are vying for affections. Those working hard at winning others over can lead to not being taken seriously. In the end, people get found out for who they really are. Seek out honesty and truth and love will fill your life.

Keywords: Romantic fantasy. Singing and music. Performance. Public speaking. Impressing people with joy, romance, fun and the wonder of life. Venusian displays. Issues of the truth. Ease of communicating. Working to win people over. Appealing to the beloved. Elegance. Floating on the emotions. Festive atmospheres. Nostalgia. Boats. Water.

The Caution: Insincere charades. Retreating into one’s self. Saying whatever it takes to get what one wants. Superficial displays. The delusion of being beyond criticism. Emotional manipulation. Sucking up to others. Misplaced trust. Competing for affections or attention. Losing one’s self.

If music be the food of life, play on. William Shakespeare

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. Voltaire

Love is like a violin; the music may stop now and then, but the strings will remain forever. Anon

The French are true romantics. They feel the only difference between a man of forty and one of seventy is thirty years of experience. Maurice Chevalier

If you describe things as better than they are, you are considered to be a romantic; if you describe things as worse than they are, you will be called a realist; and if you describe things exactly as they are, you will be thought of as a satirist. Quentin Crisp

Beware of over-great pleasure in being popular or even beloved. Margaret Fuller

*The excerpts from Lynda Hill’s book The Sabian Symbols As An Oracle, the Special Edition, © Lynda Hill 2002, have been reprinted by permission of the author.