Summer Solstice & a New Moon in Cancer
IX Air 🌪️ IX Fire 🏰 and III Earth 🧱
Welcome Summer, where the Sun moves into the sign of Cancer (in the early morning hours of June 21st, where I live). We are also welcoming a New Moon in Cancer on June 25th.
Reflecting on the Spring
For the Spring season (March 20 - June 20) I pulled
0 The Fool 🐣 IV The Emperor 🦅 XI Justice ⚖️
& the intention was:
“I don’t need to be right about anything, surrendering my ego, I leap. My power flows from a place of centered responsibility. I tell myself the truth with dedicated gentleness.”
This Spring, how have you taken the first steps towards the edge, trusting yourself (0 The Fool 🐣)?
How have you been asked to step into your positive power, an authority, a leader (IV The Emperor 🦅)?
& what types of truths have you been facing this season (XI Justice ⚖️)?
This Spring, I moved to a new place. I have been learning about how to meet myself here — where I feel entirely new. Practicing the lessons of The Fool and trying to interrupt second guessing, following instinct into the unknown.
I have been making decisions this season. I have been learning about standing up for myself, about acting out into the world without apology. Practicing the lessons of The Emperor and remembering my own agency, my own right to positive power, my own authority.
I have coming face to face with what is true and what is false this season, keeping my eyes wide open. I have been thinking about the lessons of Justice: coming to terms with the past to be in the present, facing the present to move into the future. I have been thinking about acting in the name of Justice, how there can be no lasting peace without the presence of Justice. I found these words from the Gay Marseille Tarot by Charlie Claire Burgess powerful in the face of the recent Supreme Court ruling.
Here are more some photos from my Spring.
A new Lunar cycle
For this last lunar cycle (the Moon was New in Gemini in the early morning of May 27th and She is New again in Cancer on June 25th) I have been working with:
VII The Chariot 🌊 VI Fire 🏆 VI Air ⛵️
& the affirmation,
“I align my actions with my truth, proud of who I am. I know that precious things lay on the other side of my fear.”
I have been reading cards at a gallery in Paris, using the samples from Discovering Beauty. I have been working on final edits, reading and re-reading, looking and re-looking at this material that I have been pouring my energy into for over a year and a half. It has required facing fear, and it has been a process of aligning my will with action and with self confidence and assumed victory.
The Summer Solstice & a New Moon in Cancer
For this Summer season (June 21 - September 22), and for this New Moon in Cancer (she will grow Full in Capricorn on July 10th, and will become New again in Leo on July 24th), I pulled,
IX Air 🌪️ IX Fire 🏰 and III Earth 🧱
IX Air (the Nine of Swords) speaks to us of our anxieties. It is a card about asking the monsters where they came from, whose altar they pray at. It is about remembering that the insomnia will pass, that our minds will heal.
I also pulled IX Fire (the Nine of Wands) which is a card about creating and maintaining our boundaries. Boundaries like the act of unplugging, making sure we know how to firm up our own protections.
And then I pulled III Earth (the Three of Pentacles) which is a card about building with others, asking and giving support in the particular ways that we are able.
Our world is a scary place right now.
The ongoing genocide in Gaza and violence in the West Bank. Wars erupting between global powers. People being kidnapped off of the streets in the US. Human life being treated horrifically by the leaders who swore to protect it. This system is not sustainable. And we see people standing up to fight back. Neighbors protecting their neighbors. People from across the world journeying across miles and miles to offer hope and protection and supplies. People working for peace on the ground.
The anxieties are real. And we have each other. We acknowledge the voices which speak to worst case scenarios — the way the media feeds our fear, the terrors that keep us up at night — and we know that they do not speak the full truth (IX Air 🌪️).
We are asked to build boundaries for ourselves and for each other. To protect our inner sanctuary, our time and energy. We must make sure we are giving ourselves the space to recoup and rest so that we can dismantle these systems together (IX Fire 🏰).
And we must lean on each other. We must work together, because all we have is each other. And together, we are far stronger than they (III Earth 🧱).
For this season, I am calling in the ability to notice anxiety and use my power to protect my boundaries, dedicating and rooting my work in the needs of the collective.
There is a need for direct mutual aid for orgs like Immigrant Defenders Law Center and Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Make it a practice of giving $5 a day in mutual aid.
There is a need to be keepers of our energy. I am leaving my phone in another room at night, setting limits on screen time. I am reading a fiction book.
Some questions to consider as we work with these cards:
How can I let anxious thoughts dissipate with light and air (IX Air 🌪️)?
Where is a place I can fortify my boundaries (IX Fire 🏰)?
How can my work support my vision of collective liberation (III Earth 🧱)?
Thank you for reading, thank you for loving out into the world. Happy summer, I hope you find moments to turn your face up to the Sun and remember your right to be defiantly joyful.
With all of my love and gratitude,
Sophia
PS If you are interested in joining a small group of witches who meet around the New Moons, send me a note 🧿 🌑 ✨
Wonderful words