The Zodiac Speaks

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The 21 of June is the summer solstice, first day of summer, when the Sun enters the constellation Cancer.
The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol, sun plus sistere, to stand still. The solstices (there are two each year) are the longest and the shortest days of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, from the winter solstice to the summer solstice, the sunrise occurs a little farther south each day. On the day of the summer solstice, the Sun pauses and appears to stand still in its gradual movement northward. The solstices are the farthest position of the Sun to the Earth, but because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the Sun’s rays in June are the strongest in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the tropical zodiac summer solstice occurs when the Sun enters Cancer. This constellation signals our need to gather relationships around us and to create a safe haven for the harvest to come. It is the season to relate, to form openings to our heart. Whatever we have planted at springtime now begins to show promises of harvest and needs Cancer‘s careful protection. We prepare for sharing the bounty to come.
Cancer, a water sign, is ruled by the Moon, the Great Mother, and her sustaining and nurturing powers are felt strongly this time of year. Cancer rules the breasts, chest, arms and hands, the parts of us that embrace and create. On the negative side, this force can mean hanging on too tightly, possessively. Cancer collects and makes boundaries, and sometimes does not discriminate for fear of losing what it has collected.
The constellations of the summer will follow one another, and there will be changes as pass through Leo into the time of harvest in Virgo. Align yourself with the movement of our Earth around the Sun.
The universe is fundamentally an interconnected whole, informed by creative intelligence and pervaded by patterns of meaning and order. Astrology reflects this sense of order and correspondence to human affairs. In this way it can help give meaning to an otherwise chaotic world.
The esoteric axiom, “as above, so below,” holds true for a universe integrated into an intelligible whole. The words of Plotinus, the most influential philosopher of later classical antiquity, speak directly to this understanding: “The stars are like letters which inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky…Everything in the world is full of signs…All events are coordinated…All things depend on each other; as has been said, ‘everything breathes together.’”
Cancer notables: Czeslaw Milosz, Kirsten Flagstad, Ann Landers, Eva Marie Saint, Gina Lollobrigida, Pablo Neruda, and Alice Munro.