Crab, Lion, Virgin

A Summer Solstice Poem

Spring: We sow seeds of the year’s learning,

Summer: Intentions flower into full bloom and beauty.

Outer schools take a holiday.

Inner school is always in session:
Full Sun and Playground 101.

Crab to Lion to Virgin:

This stretch of Zodiac Circle leads us to the harvest

when all inner secrets and milestones reveal themselves
at Autumn Equinox.

We wonder how we’ll weigh in on the Scales of Libra.

For now, forget seeking aha’s and exhausting what-ifs.

No heavy lifting.

Let insights sneak up on you suddenly

at barbecues, in water play, when stargazing.

The peak of summer is the Sun’s domain,

time to revel in your own shimmering light.

Be there for yourself.

Just be—you.

Don’t shine yourself on.

~~~

Photo Credit: Partial photo of a pen-and-ink of the zodiac as a clock entitled TIME by H. Penton Voak. I purchased it at a metaphysical shop in Chicago many years ago

Related Posts: The Summer Signs 
How the Signs "Do" Summer

All Good Things Must Come to an End

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Radical Repost: The Summer Signs

Cancer, Leo and Virgo

  

Article © 2014 -2016 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

In late 2012, I wrote about the Winter Signs. The winter triplets Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are associated with the most contemplative, quiet time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, ushered in by the Winter Solstice. Now it’s time for the other Solstice to get its due—Summer.

Revisiting the trio of signs that make up any season helps understand the quarter of the year we’re entering and how to make the most of it. Welcome to the cusp of summer—winter’s complement and the extroverted time of year.

I love that two out of three of the summer signs are ruled by the Lights, the Sun and the Moon. The third sign, Virgo, is ruled by Mercury. Together, the summer trio’s rulers are first three bodies in the orderly line-up of planetary objects from our vantage point on earth. This third of the zodiac is concerned with how we shine (Sun), what we reflect (Moon) and how we reflect in another way—how we think and process information (Mercury).

Cancer

While spring kicks off with fiery Aries action, summer starts with water and our relationship to the Moon: emotions, mother, nurturing, food, home and roots. Instinctively during this time of year, we return to the Mother of Us All, the Earth, for nurture and play. We spend more time outdoors. We revert to childhood. We sense what we should do by way of that very Cancerian, inner GPS we all own, the Moon in our astrology charts.

I found some fascinating Associations with Cancer, that I thought you’d enjoy—and I’ll add associations for the signs that follow, too. Each of these association pages on Signs of the Zodiac, Myths and Wisdom are an at-a-glance of many factoids about each sign, some obscure. For instance, I always suspected that turtles were associated with Cancer, as well as the crab, but I’d have never guessed the sphinx. Cancer’s alchemical purpose—dissolution—seems both ironic and right-on. It’s the opposite of the classical image of the Cancer mom who would kill to keep her home and family together.

That’s what transformation is about. We start out clinging to mother—or her to us—or both. To grow up, we have to dissolve that bond alchemically and create a new type of relationship with her. You’ll enjoy learning things from this list like Cancer’s tarot card, The Chariot, and her tree—the pear. (What’s that partridge doing in a pear tree in that winter holiday song?) I especially got a kick out of Cancer’s “weapon of choice,” a furnace. (A Cancer gone amok will kill you with burnt/bad cooking or incinerate you on the spot. We now know the Sun sign of the witch in the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. Aside from the fact that she wants to eat them, that Cancerian major pastime, the witch also wants to bake them in her oven/furnace.) Our fairy tales are replete with astrological imagery, archetypes as old as human history.

Summer synthesis: This is the time of year we venture away from family or with family to new places, in both literal and figurative ways. As a result, we change our relationship with them in some way. We dissolve our usual patterns to reform new ones. We often do it through play.

Kids go to camp away from Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad take the kids on a summer vacation. We miss each other or meet each other in a new way, either way. We play in Cancer’s element, water. Water dissolves.

No wonder we love summer. It starts with the sign of birth and nurturing and rebirth and replenishing. And yet something in us knows that childhood is not forever. We must defy our mothers, even a little, to begin the process of maturation and personal evolution. This never stops being true, as we always carry our mom or main nurturer in our heads.

What will you do this summer to defy Mom or Dad and claim a new piece of your freedom?

Ironic, isn’t it, that the USA—a Cancer country—celebrates Independence Day as its annual birthday party.

Leo

After we’ve tried our wings a little, extending ourselves beyond the reach of home, hearth and parents—literal or internalized—we are ready for the sign that celebrates our Me-ness, Leo. Ruled by the Sun itself, Leo is the middle sign of summer and at the center of its bell curve through time. No wonder it is yellow-orange, sunny and full of self-expression. It peaks in the season of heat and play.

We have to break the spell and the umbilical cord to some degree in order to be Free to Be You and Me, the name of that wonderful, classic children’s book by Marlo Thomas. In order to be full of ourselves, we’ve got to be a little less full of our parents’ influence. Thus Cancer’s alchemy of dissolving parental ties prepares us for Leo selfhood.

One of the funniest Leo lines in movies comes from Mel Brooks in his History of the World, Part 1. He says, “It’s good to be the king,” especially when he’s doing anything that no one else could get away with. In a sense, Leo time is about getting away with things, about letting ourselves be king or queen in some way, just as Leo is king of the jungle. I always enjoy when an older movie produced by MGM includes the roaring lion. He’s a big scary version of our house cats, yet everyone knows that in most cases, his roar is bigger than his bite or scratch—unless you mess with him or his family, something Cancer and Leo have in common. I think of them as the cosmic parents.

According to the Leo associations, Leo’s alchemy involves digestion. That sounded more Virgo to me, at first, until I thought it through. Leo is ruled by the Sun, the source of life itself on our planet. Without our Sun, we’d all die. What a responsibility. There’s something within Leo that has to stand back at some point and take in his enormous kingdom. He rules it all and his ruling Sun makes or breaks it all. That would be a lot for anyone to digest.

We have to take in the Shining Orb of Us and determine how we will shine and nurture the life around us that we have taken on in this incarnation as our “kingdom.” Digestion involves absorption. When someone acts “too Leo,” we say he or she is too “self-absorbed.”   A purely archetypal Sun Leo would be looking to find the right balance between being too self-absorbed, but proud and strong enough to be the Light around which others revolve.

During summer, each of us gets a bit of Solar Leo to remind us of this pure sunny archetype. We worship that Sun in our outdoor play, back to the beginning of human spirituality. Of course, each of us “does the Sun” in the style of our own Sun sign. Yet all of us have to meet these challenges of self-expression and leadership, of making sure we have absorbed both our own solar power and keep our light a shining beacon for us—and others.

Leo time is a time to strut, roar and eat/digest some great foods cooked on the fire. Again, our instincts are right on zodiacal cue.

Virgo

Even though I’m a Virgo Sun (the Radical Virgo, even), it has taken me many years to own that my Sun sign is part of summer. I was born eight hours from the autumn equinox, and being a planner who tends to lean into the future, I have always considered myself an autumn person. I am actually a late summer person, nearly as late as you can get. (I thank Chinese medicine and acupuncture for convincing me, finally, that I have the chronic physical strengths and weaknesses the of the Late Summer constitution.)

During the month of Virgo, many people go back to work or school and generally buy into the idea that summer’s over on Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Like me, the whole world seems to hurry autumn, when summer is not officially over until September 22 or 23.

You’d think when summer is so much fun, we’d want to cling to it rather than rush headlong into the harvest. I think we’re just avoiding the next alchemical step of summer associated with Virgo—distillation. This idea, covered in Virgo’s associations, is all about synthesizing for future use what we got out of summer. My first spiritual teacher called summer the inner growing season. No matter how big we are, in order to really grow, we have to go home and write that report, What I Did on My Summer Vacation. And if what we did in school is a proper analogy (of course, it’s proper—it’s Virgo!), we need to share our experience with others.

I think we often would rather bury ourselves back in work or school than face the meaning of, and often our feelings about, our summer romance or what happened to us out there in that freer time of the year where our inner child had its heyday. Instead of mourning the freedom we lost, we can celebrate the insights we’ve gained. That takes some alone time and often comes best out of writing or journaling to distill the essence of our personal growing season. That’s why our wise teachers asked us to write those experiential equivalents of a book report. (And if you did any summer beach reading, your teacher might add that assignment, too.)

Play, be yourself, and report what you learned are the three simple steps for making the most out of summer.

May your summer be full of freedom, creativity and meaning.

~~~

 

Photo Credits: Sun and Moon and Zodiac Signs © goccedicolore - Fotolia.com

Experiential playwork: Explore the Associations lists in this article. See what jumps out at you as new or just catches your eye strongly. What do you learn new about the summer signs? Thanks for sharing your ahas in the Comments.

Radical Reposts: The Planets – Sun

Let’s start our year of reposts by topic in the usual way we speak in astrological sentences—by planet, sign and house. (I’d normally say, for instance, that I have Sun in Virgo in the 5^th House or Moon in Capricorn in the 9th.) Given that natural order of astrological conversation, I’ll start this blog bibliography (blogography) with anything I’ve ever posted on the planets, signs and houses in that order. Later we’ll get fancier with aspects, aspect configurations and the multitude of other topics covered here over six years.

Numerous posts are about all 12 Sun signs, comparatively. I’ll put those in a separate recap when we get to signs, because they cover much ground about the entire zodiac. Many of those offerings are humorous. This first grouping will be more specific to exploring your Sun in particular—not emphasizing how it relates to the other Sun signs.

While some posts recapped are specific to a year or timeframe, I have listed those with at least some generic information about the Sun or Sun in a specific sign within the article, poem or post.

Generic Planets

What Planet Are You From? (30-Aug-09)

A tour of the planets to reassess your resonance and determine which planets influence you most.

Who Would Play Your Planets? (20-Jul-09)

A new way to envision your chart by assigning famous people the roles of Sun, Moon, Mercury, etc.

 Generic Sun

And the Sun Stood Still  (17-Dec-13)

A Winter Solstice poem about the power of the Sun’s “putting on the brakes” to herald the introspective time of year. What do we do when the Sun goes down?

Summer Solstice: “Let the Sunshine In”  (13-Jun-09)

The Sun and Summer Solstice. Summer is primarily a celebration of the signs Cancer and Leo. American schools may get out in Gemini and go back in Virgo (so appropriate as the Mercury-ruled mental signs), but most vacations and the bulk of summer occur when the Sun is in Mom and Dad. That’s right! Mom and Dad.

Sunny Side Up!

 These articles help you explore your Sun or explore the Sun in a particular sign.

Explore Your Sun

Planetary Fishing: The Sun  (1-May-13)

Welcome to our first planetary fishing expedition! Today we'll examine the Sun in the sky—and the Sun in your chart—more deeply.

Starstuck: Overcoming Performance Anxiety (15-Aug-11)

Leo, ruled by the Sun, tells us performing has something to do with fire—with being stoked. How the Sun and the 5^th House play into performance anxiety with practical suggestions for overcoming it.

Your Solar Return and Solar Return Meditation (7-Jun-09)

Once a year, the transiting Sun returns to the exact same position it held in the sky at the moment of your birth. This happens at a different moment each year, within a day or two of your birthday. This fun-omenon is known as your Solar Return. A guide for harnessing your Solar energy!

Sun in Specific Sun Signs or Sun Sign Archetypes

Aries

Aries Auntie: Learning Astrology through Children (31-Mar-14)

What I learned about astrology from observing my Aries niece and nephew—and how children often are the best teachers about astrological archetypes.

“God is Not an Aries” (26-Mar-09)

A tongue-in-cheek editorial on why God cannot possibly be an Aries. For starters, the answers to our prayers and most manifestations take much longer than an Aries would wait. Unfortunately, most of us are pretty “Aries,” Aries or not.

Cancer, Leo and Virgo

The Summer Signs (6-Jun-14)

Revisiting the trio of signs that make up any season helps understand the quarter of the year we’re entering and how to make the most of it. Welcome to the cusp of summer—winter’s complement and the extroverted time of year.

Virgo

Virgos of the World UNITE! Get Radical (21-Mar-09) The Radical Virgo blog launch post. The vision behind The Radical Virgo and why you don’t have to be a Virgo to play in this sandbox made of star-stuff.

The Radical Virgo (11-May-09)

A reprint of my article after which this blog was named, first published in The Mountain Astrologer in 1992. The response to my new vision of Virgo has been overwhelmingly positive and timeless. If you have any planet in Virgo, here’s the reason to get radical—or to the root (what “radical” means) of your Virgoness. Even if you have none, find out why the world needs the sign of Virgo more than ever—now!

The Radical Virgo Revisited (13-Sep-13)

An updated expansion of the original article, “The Radical Virgo,” with a focus on information synthesis and global service. When I speak of a Radical Virgo, I mean the word radical in these dictionary senses, the Virgo energy carried (1) to the utmost limit, extreme; or a Virgo known for (2) favoring or effecting evolutionary or revolutionary changes. I want to add to this definition, (3) A Virgo who expresses the very root of the Virgo archetype, because radical also means root.

The Virgin Myths (11-Sep-13)

Exploring the rich mythology of Virgo, “a nurturing mother to all the earth.” How the Virgo Maria and these archetypal maidens round out our understanding of the V-sign: Demeter/Ceres, Dike, Astrea and Erigone.

Wordgo: The Virgo Way with Words (25-Apr-09)

Why are Virgos in love with words? For years, I have used the Celestial Influences astrological calendars. There is a two-word affirmation for each sign every month. The I-statement for Virgo is “I Analyze.” That job would be really difficult to do without words—lots of them!

September: Old Home Month on The Radical Virgo (1-Sep-13)

Prelude to exploring the sign of Virgo and the cusp of autumn in some of the articles, above.

Libra

While this article isn’t about Libra per se, it’s about one of the major Libran concerns—relationship.

Finding Love in Later Live—or Whenever Venus is in the Neighborhood (15-Oct-13)

All the wisdom this Venus in Libra has accumulated in many years of a complex love life, written at the request of a reader, full of tools on how to manifest your relationship … even how to help romantic issues through the use of flower essences.

Scorpio

Scorpio for a Day (26-Oct-09)

This popular Halloween post is much more than a laugh-a-minute and a virtual costume party. You’ll learn more about Scorpio than you ever wanted to know by seeing how all the other signs dress up and act like one!

  

Sagittarius

Jumpin’ Jupiter! Happy Thanksgiving (23-Nov-09)

No holiday could be more “Jupiter” than the typical American Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the USA is perfectly placed when the Sun is in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter—the pre-game warm-up to the most Jupiterian of all holidays, Christmas. Holy Sag! It’s your time of year.

Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces

The Winter Signs (30-Dec-12)

A quiet contemplation of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Exploring the introverted time of year, as well as introverts and extroverts, the Myers-Briggs Personality inventory, and the gifts of being an “innie” and the inward time of year.

Stillness: Our Retrograde Winter 2014 (2-Jan-14)

Winter starts with Capricorn. Cap sways to rhythm of Saturn, the planet that rules time itself. Winter forces us to face: the sand keeps running in our hourglass. All those questions about fulfillment are more poignant, indeed more urgent, when there’s more sand on the bottom than the top. The gifts of winter and retrogrades revealed.

Aquarius

 

The Chart of HAIR ~ Why We Should Care (14-Oct-10) .

“This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius!” —From Hair by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. Have you noticed? The peace sign is back—and not just on The Radical Virgo logo. The peace sign celebrated its 50th anniversary and Chiron Return in 2008, the same year as the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. The psychedelic movement has weathered its midlife transits!

The Astrology of Independence (2-Jul-14)

Often cited as the archetypal independent sign, Aquarius is often too busy with issues of society to get too close to individuals. Not to mention, with Uranus as its ruler, Aquarius is about as predictable and constant in relationships as lightning in a summer storm. Changeability is deeply woven into the Aquarian nature, and like Sag, Aquarius does not like fences or “shoulds.” On the other hand, when Aquarius—or any of the more independent signs—is there because he or she wants to be and isn’t pressured to commit until ready, Aquarius can ultimately thrive in relationship and learn to relish interdependence.

Pisces

A Prescription for Planets in Pisces: SoulCollage® Your Natal Chart

(7-Mar-11)

Would you like to increase your understanding of how the astrological archetypes express themselves in your life? The abundance of planetary activity currently in Pisces suggests you might find your answer by creating a set of SoulCollage® cards based on your natal chart. This may appeal to people with natal planets in Pisces or other “artsy”Astro-signatures. It’s like a personal Astro-tarot deck.

Mercury Retrograde Stellium in Pisces, Void Moon (26-Feb-13)

A poem of a near-drowning experience in the Pisces archetype. It starts:  So quiet on the Western front. I hear the ear-splitting echoes of my own thinking.

Late Pisces

The Tail of the Fish (13-Mar-13)

Explore the late degrees of Pisces. In a previous article, The Winter Signs, I referred to the Sun's sojourn in Pisces as “the dark of the Sun,” parallel to the “dark of the Moon.” This refers especially to the last days before the Sun cycle starts over. It's a sacred threshold.

~~~

Photo Credit: © Jut - Fotolia.com

Radical Recommendation: Revisit The Top 10 Posts of All Time!