column
by Johanna MacPherson
This issue, we inaugurate a new astrology column by Johanna MacPherson, who has been counseling clients with astrology since 1979 in terms ranging from the very personal to the very political. She enjoys the interesting signatures of karma, destiny, past lives and esoteric symbolism in the stars &fraq34;a natural for Widdershins! (For a good-bye to our former columnist, Donna M. Pinkston, see the Raven's Call on page 14.) For this issue, Johanna gives us a look at the stars of June and the Summer Solstice. For future issues, she'll cover the whole period between Sabbats.
The month of June holds more action in planets that any other month this year. Sparks are going to fly. Stay out of small aircraft, and don't believe everything you hear. Mercury retrogrades in Gemini just as Saturn has rolled into that sign for the first time in 29 years. All eyes are on the sign Gemini; if it holds your sun or moon or ascendant, you are really going through it. For all of us, Gemini means liveliness, optimism and exchange. There is no real recession; the money is just moving around, speedily.
On the opposite side of the Zodiac, Mars, god of war, also retrogrades in Sagittarius, very close to Pluto, god of the netherworld, also in Sagittarius. These are the planets of war and transformation; read that as death and rebirth. It is intense. Thus, from Sagittarius and Gemini, the signs of information and its meaning, Mars and Mercury oppose each other, traveling backward over degrees just crossed.
Let's back up a little and look at the Full Moon on the fifth of June. This moon is called the Honey Moon, and sometimes the Strawberry Moon. The day of the Full Moon brings the conjunction of the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury in Sagittarius to oppose the Full Moon, Mars and Pluto in Gemini. Count seven planets involved in this group &fraq34;including the sun and the moon, we only deal with ten planets, so 70 percent of the solar system will be involved. This axis stretches across the two signs that have the most stars in their constellations, in effect the Milky Way where it intersects the Zodiac. These signs of Gemini and Sagittarius rule the mind, in all its sensory and cognitive skills. Restlessness, travel, new vistas will open up &fraq34;but they may swallow us in destructive gulps.
The part of this we can see best will be Mars. Observe a spark that could ignite the energy around the world. It will be set off by this most unusual combination.
Mars represents action, violence, machinery and war. Mercury rules all our senses and our ability to keep track of time and sequence. But retrograde, Mercury brings distortion in communication. Maybe we can perceive a different meaning, a shadow to the truth, an agenda hidden between the lines. This lineup is also an important stop in the 60-year cycle of Jupiter and Saturn, the planets of commerce and necessity, and has some uncanny similarities with the planets on December 7, 1941 &fraq34;Pearl Harbor Day.
This axis is interesting as it is also the line of the horizon of the United States' chart. Sixty years ago, Gemini and Saturn were on the United States' ascendant. Now the country's seventh house, of enemies and allies, is feeling the drastic shift of the Mars and Pluto combination. Our thoughts need to travel with the changes and intelligence that are firing, rapidly and inevitability, the mighty energy crisis. Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came? These are dangerous and very interesting times.
The Summer Solstice falls on the twenty-first day, the thirty-eighth minute. This is the entrance of the sun into Cancer, marking the furthest travel of the sun's orbit to the south. The solstice is the nurturing point of the year, when warmth, fertility, light and comfort flood the Northern Hemisphere. Earth is in position between the light of the Sun and the center of the galaxy itself.
In 2001, the solstice emphasis is on relationships, community and communication. The momentum is youth, new ideas and rapid change. The obstacles will be dogma, righteousness and violence. Here the Tarot symbol of the Lovers, number six, combines with wily Pan, the fifteenth card, bringing us to the experience of discovering our twin, our lover, while testing our own ability to be real in the combination.
In your solstice ceremonies, celebrate the combination of wildness and civilization, of individuality and partnership, all opposites. Sage and frankincense will help clear and integrate these diverse qualities; dance and games will stimulate mentality and experimentation. This year holds a grand trine in air. All three Mercury retrogrades this year will occur in air signs, Aquarius, Gemini and Libra. Our minds are being messed with, have no doubt of it. Talk, communicate, confront and notice truth. It will be concealed in smoke and mirrors, hot air and loose cannons.
Visibly, the month of June belongs to Mars and Venus. Venus is Hesperides, the beautiful morning star, rising before the sun. Mars is the ruddy late star hovering in the southwest. The constellations of the early summer are Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, straight overhead at sundown.
ARIES, your ruling planet in June is taking the support timbers out of all you believed in and all you thought was noble. This cycle will change your mind in many, many ways. Travel will be interesting at best, and dangerous sometimes. Keep your senses open, and don't fight, chill. Take another look, another drink, and find out the name of the mysterious stranger. Then think in French.
TAURUS, crossing over to the other side in June brings the awareness of what others have that you need and what others think of your talent. This is a curious game you are in. It isn't honest, yet it is somehow inevitable and will be profitable later. Notice what everyone just ditched; beware the fascinating stranger. Sex can be dangerous, and then again, could be so educational.
GEMINI, everything that can happen in June will happen. All of you born under the Twins worry sometimes about your own sanity. It's just the fantastic duality, the ability to see shadow and light, backward and forward in the same instant. All your senses are spinning, but so many illusions are fighting the big battle now for the new, and they seem more real than ever. For you, the spotlight is on the mirror of the other.
CANCER, some kind of roller coaster is taking you in June into a revision in all the systems you counted on. Expect nothing but broken promises where the new infrastructure is concerned. And be aware of a sinking energy in yourself that is trying its best to access the higher spirits. Your guardian demons and angels are cavorting in a riotous frenzy. The duels are of wits. Your own wit is exhausted, but your dreams are not.
LEO, the marketplace is just like the goblin market, where the shapes that once were rational have just morphed into monsters. And your heart is breaking one more time for the lost Lenore... evermore. Experiment, probe and take notes! This is the breakout moment for all your wildest ideas, but they need just one more polish, one more twist in some fantastic gesture. You know one, at least.
VIRGO, as if you don't have enough on your plate, now everyone is yelling at you from all corners. Little fits at work are nothing compared to the Big Change comin'. The shift at the foundation is the right idea, but it may be the end of the month before anything sane is possible. Speaking of insanity from all directions &fraq34;if you can make fun of it, you will be the leader of the wise.
LIBRA, travel plans are scrambling, and local alternatives are frying. Sounds like cooking, but it really means revising and trying not to appear so shocked. Your people have taken off their masks, and the images are flickering and looming. Prepare to be surprised, lied to and cheated all at once. Yet, knowing all that, there will come the breakthrough that makes clear the answer you were looking for.
SCORPIO, the fetching new interest that seems too tempting for words may vanish with your wallet, suddenly. Just know that you are being sought, that the partner is both forging ahead to build you the best homestead and also holding back for the real deal. The speaking parts are very overacted, and certainly not illustrating the truth. Don't give the new lover your money, nor the gypsy, either.
SAGITTARIUS, the wheels are spinning so fast that you have lost the time you had to make all the preparations for how far you are really going. Relationships, marriage and your identity reflected back to you in endless ways are the flags flying over your life right now. Everything that matters is everyone else. Yet for now, notice the deceit, the hiding, the attempted escapes by everyone who matter
CAPRICORN, just when your safest thoughts were settling back into a secure niche, the Harley Davidson gang of thousands roars through your consciousness. And the new systems you so neatly finished and refurbished may take you for a Firestone blowout ride. Spirit and practicality are warring again, and the hellhounds have both in mind. Watch your back, but also listen when they invite you into the hidden room. Much secret wisdom is revealing itself.
AQUARIUS, for once it is imperative that you not listen to people. They are too much in pain, in change and in confusion to tell you anything right now that you need. Your heart, the seat of the expression of your life, is spinning out of control. Let it fly, and let it sing you a new song of how you are here to help us all. If it doesn't start with you, it won't be good enough for anyone else.
PISCES, the cheating on you did not originate with your parents, but this may seem like a revisitation of the family from the fall of the House of Usher. The most certain thing is the commitment to place you just made, even if it is full of termites. The exterminator made a mistake. Hold fast in spite of the irritations. You have made a better choice than it now seems like you did.
Johanna MacPherson has long records of Mercury retrogrades &fraq34;as for Mars, those stories aren't as funny. She has a background in archaeology, art history, literature and religion. Business, finance, self-awareness and relationships are places her astrology can illustrate and heal. Check her Web site at www.astrojem.com or e-mail astrojem@mindspring.com. Readings are available by appointment; call 282-9908.