Astrology 6/20-6/26: Polarized Light

This week the skies above reflect the polarization below. The week begins with Monday morning’s potent Full Moon in Sagittarius, which opposes the Sun in Gemini mere hours before the solstice.  Here day and night reach the point of their greatest inequality, with day dominating in the north and night in the south.  Meanwhile, much of the week is pulled taut and then spun by June’s second mutable Grand Cross.

Yet no polarization so stark can endure.  Just as unity inevitably breaks up into strife, extremes are similarly fated to collapse back toward the center.  Day and night, after their moment of maximum polarity this week, will begin to move steadily back to equilibrium.  It is this process, the slow wobbling of the scales back toward balance, which defines the coming season, the third quarter of 2016.

Mutable Grand Cross:  Storms and Centrifuges

As the week begins, Mercury has already re-activated the Grand Cross which began the month, and will keep it spinning until the weekend.  Though there will certainly be a modicum of the usual argumentation, confusion and complication which attends Grand Crosses, for those willing to approach this solstitial cross as a process rather than a moment, it will serve as a centrifuge, separating muddied matters.

A centrifuge spins substances rapidly, using centrifugal force to separate the lighter components of a liquid from the heavier material.  In alchemical language, this is the separation of the gross from the subtle.  That which is allied to the gross will be flung to the periphery, while that which is of a subtler nature will stay closer to the center.

This centrifugal process of separation is particularly important in the context of the ongoing square of Saturn and Neptune, whose second exact aspect occurred last week, on the 17^th.   Saturn and Neptune’s square has thus far highlighted a variety of hazardous mixtures.  Indeed, the stark realities and wild fantasies whose toxic intermingling has defined much of the last nine months are in dire need of separation.  Our dreams are irreplaceable, yet they should not be confused with the facts.  Yet our recognition of what-plainly-is should not keep our spirits from aspiring to something greater or even seeking respite in fantasy.  Their messy conflation, however, poisons us.  By separating them, we purify the waters of our mind, and give both the subtle and the gross their due.

So let the the whirling centrifuge separate the gross from the subtle.  When it stops, matters will be clarified considerably.

The Silver Arrowhead:  Full Moon in Sagittarius

While the centrifuge spins, the Full in Sagittarius arrives early on the morning of the 20^th (3:59 AM PDT.)  Though any Full Moon is worth noting, this one is particularly interesting, as it is the second Full Moon in tropical  Sagittarius in a row, and occurs just hours shy of the solstice.  This relatively rare phenomenon places an unusual amount of emphasis on the Archer’s sign.   Given that a Full Moon’s primary power is to bring things to fruition, this second Full Moon suggests that things signified by Sagittarius will come to maturity much more quickly than expected.  As this is the second installment, it behooves us to look at the first for what will be fructified.  The last Full Moon in Sagittarius was on May 21^st, and was tightly conjoined to retrograde Mars.  Storylines which began in the days surrounding that lunation are the ones likely to get a quickly produced sequel.

One example of this rapid fructification is the Iraqi campaign to retake the city of Falluja from Daesh/ISIL, which was made announced on the last Full Moon.  Already the offensive has moved with shocking speed, and been joined by several other fierce offensives against Daesh/ISIL by powers including the US and Russia.  With the arrival of the second Full Moon and Mars’ upcoming station, matters are likely to continue to develop rapidly over the coming fortnight.

It also is interesting to note that the Brexit vote is scheduled only a few days after the Full Moon, on June 23^rd.   This Full Moon, at 29 Sagittarius, happens to fall directly on the natal placement of Uranus in the 1066 chart often used for England.  Uranus describes radical breaks and sudden ruptures, and it is thus quite appropriate that the vote on such a thing take place shortly after the Full Moon spotlights the topic in the country’s natal chart.

As it falls in the last degree of the sign, there is a finality about this Full Moon.  It is not the beginning or middle of processes which it testifies to, but their ultimate result.  Though the arrow may travel far, it is what lies at the end of its journey which is of greatest consequence.

Height and Depth: The Solstice

Only hours after the Full Moon on the 20^th comes the solstice, the point of maximum inequality between day and night.  It marks the longest days of the northern hemisphere’s year and the longest nights of the south.

The solstice sees the Sun cross from tropical Gemini into Cancer.  While Gemini volatizes and divides, Cancer condenses and unifies.   Things slow, and attention drops from heads into hearts.  Words fall away to reveal the emotions propelling them.  Take the crab’s outstretched claw and walk the spiral path back to the origin of things.

This transition takes us from this season into the next.  The second quarter of 2016 saw a wide variety of new challenges emerge and conflicts open up, courtesy of Mars’ retrograde.  Though some of these fires have been put out, many of them will take much of the third quarter to run their course.  The season ahead is thus one of outcomes rather than beginnings.