Eventful Week: Solstice and Eclipse Same Day.

Here comes the flood of stardust and cosmic downpour. As promised 2020 is the year of change and we are just half way through.

The next week is full of celestial events. While still under Venus retrograde influence, we will have Mercury Stationary (17 and 18 of June), followed by Mercury Retrograde from June 19 until June 13. Throw in an annular solar eclipse on June 21, which happened to also be the Solstice. A great deal of events which on their own promise to be very intense, and together can be mind blowing. It seems the astrology of 2020 does not accept the social distancing rules and stand there together in the sky.

Venus Retrograde started on May 14, right when many countries, states and cities experimented with reopening their economies. As we discussed in prior emails, whatever one opens during Venus Retro might be shut down soon thereafter. Venus retro already created a great deal of strife and discord among couples, new and old. I implore all of you guys who are in a partnership in life or work to take Gemini’s advice and breathe deep, practice the forgiveness and acceptance that the North Node in Cancer taught us for the last 18 months, and don’t set an appointment to the divorce lawyer just yet. 

When you try to download a huge file while editing a video as well as listening to music, sometimes your computer get frozen, crushed, and locked. One approach is to hit the ESC button again and again, trying to escape the situation. But there is no escape from Mercury Stationary. It happens for about 12 days a year, two days before and after each retrograde. In these days, Mercury, the ruler of communication, trade, messages, intelligence, synchronicities, and commerce, appears to be frozen in the sky. He is stationary, ain’t moving.

Imagine your mail person, coming every day with packages of things your ordered and since forgotten. He pats your dog, smells the roses and asks you kindly to trim the bushes around the mailbox so he can reach more easily. You greet her with a “good morning,” she answers politely. That is Mercury Direct. Three times a year for about three weeks, your mail person is a bit loco. They are a bit grumpy, pissed you did not cut the bush as she asked, she leaves the mail out in the rain in protest. She is disoriented and hungover from a party last night and does not pay attention and mixed up the mail etc. It is OK, you can still look for your mail in your neighbor’s box. But when Mercury is stationary, the mail person does not even show up. 

Now this does not mean that Mercury is not strong during stationary period. He is extremely powerful but not in a practical way. It is said that his subtle and more illuminated aspects are activated. In the case of Mercury think of inspiration, aha moment, an eureka, an intuition, an insight. I think you will be surprised by how many ideas (not all useful) you will get when Mercury freezes for these two days. 

Mercury Retrograde June 19 – July 12 
Since everything is one and all are connected, there are no coincidences, only synchronicities as in meaningful occurrences. It is an interesting synchronicity that of all years, in 2020, the first day of Mercury Retrograde falls on Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger, read the federal orders in Galveston, Texas, declaring all slaves in the state free. Below is the chart for that day. Look at the perfect red cross forming between Mars (war) Moon (family) Pluto (power) Sun (authority) and Jupiter in the base (Justice and education). To me this cross is a visual prophecy embedded in the chart, that this so called liberation is a war that just begun. When I cast the chart I immediately saw in the cross the KKK burning of crosses and lynching that will last well over a century. 

At the base of the cross in the chart above, you can see Jupiter, strengthened by being positioned in Sagittarius, his own sign. He is retrograde, meaning the lesson will have to be learned again and again. He is the king of the gods, lord of education, truth, mass media, travel, wisdom and philosophy. Only education and honesty can help us overcome many of the lessons we are facing around the world.   

For those who know a bit of Astrology you can see that the the cross is crowned with the Sun (Self expression) conjunct Uranus (Freedom and revolution) and indeed another name of June 19 is “Freedom Day.” It also means that there is hope for all of us, those that are still enslaved to racism and those who suffered the oppression past and present. Uranus is also called the “Awakener” and in 2026 he will return to Gemini after 84 years and will be there for seven years. Gemini tarot card is called the “Lovers” and as you can see below, I think the picture tells a whole story. These cards were created between 1938-1943. In 1943 Uranus was last time in Gemini. It was also when Uranus was in Gemini when Europe was freed from the Nazis and the concentration camps were liberated.  The Lovers card predicted 25 years before Dr Martin Luther King’s world-changing speech, “I have a dream,” that black and white boys and girls will hold hands together:  

One day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boy’s and white girls as sisters and brothers

Brothers and sisters! Gemini comes from Gemelos, the twins, brothers and sisters…
From June 19, Mercury is retrograding in Cancer (the sign of the U.S.) giving us a chance to rectify (Tikun) the 4 century long karma and pass laws against lynching, change policing policies, and fight inequality and racism. What the last eclipse of June 5 quickened is the response from many politicians around the world: 

Never before in the history of modern polling has the country expressed such widespread agreement on racism’s pervasiveness in policing, and in society at large,

New York Times

Solar Eclipse on Solstice
June 21 is the longest day of the year (Northern Hemisphere) and is the first day of Cancer, the sign of compassion and family. The Moon is the ruler of Cancer, so she is happy to come back to her archetypal palace. However, she is confronted with an solar eclipse. Like we said many times, eclipses are an energetic turbo, a time warp, pushing everything to its extreme. So take heed, sky-watchers. June 19-22 can be very intense.  

The Sabian symbol of the eclipse is a “Sailor ready to hoist a new flag to replace an old one” It has already started manifesting from the last eclipse that took place June 5. All over the world, flags, symbols, names of bases, statues and images are being toppled, thrown into the water and removed. The old is being replaced with the new. And it is done by a sailor, a person of the sea. Remember, Cancer is the sign of the sea. 

Since it is a solar eclipse (new moon) magnified by the solstice, you can use this day to initiate something in your life. But be aware, be very aware, that it is Venus retrograde and Mercury retro. Not the best time to launch anything but still you can think, or even better, feel what you need to add to your life and then officially begin it mid July. Solar eclipses affects leaders, and self-employed, and is associated more with masculinity (could be women or men who are aggressive, implosive, individualistic and outgoing).The stories the eclipses weave usually take 6 month to narrate.  

Conclusion
As Above so Below, if there are rain clouds above, it will be wet below. The 17th and 18th allow the stationary Mercury to give you some focus and slow down. From July 19, let Mercury teach you what needs to be done or undone through meditations and synchronicities, serendipity, and meaningful coincidences. June 20 and 21 take heed with all the movement not to clash into or with people. Whatever happens around and inside of us now is being engraved in the collective unconsciousness. Let it be kind eloquent words of compassion and understanding.