Moon returns home in Cancer, Thursday 12.3
The Vedic rishi Parāśara calls the Moon “vāta-kapha constitution with a large/wide body, she is wise, has good intuition, sweet speech, is changeable/fickle-minded, and is a hopeless romantic.”
The Moon is the most sensitive planet, which typically receives an uplifting boost while transiting its sign of exaltation, Taurus. Due to the recent lunar eclipse, this jolt of socially conducive energy was spoiled, which flipped the positive energy into a more reflective, solitary monk-ish category advised during eclipses.
A few days have passed, and now we enter the threshold of the Moon’s homecoming in its natural sign of Cancer. This is a realm of nourishment, healing, and renewed creative energy. Punarvasu is the nakshatra ranging from 20 degrees Gemini to 3 degrees and 20 minutes Cancer, which is where this transit occurs. “This asterism is called ‘the star of renewal’ and represents the purification of self, change of personality, and the ‘return of the light,’” (Harness).
Punarvasu is ruled by the planet Jupiter, is Deva like in nature, primarily motivated by Artha, and connected to the deity Aditi, who is the mother of the demigods. As well as marking the beginning or birth of Cancer, punarvasu also encompasses the final 10 degrees of Gemini, and can in this way reflect the dying of Gemini virtues. The whole zodiac is in a fluid state of birth, growth, and death between the signs and nakshatras. What we can then infer is that the glory of Gemini being intellect, wealth, promotions, and education, has reached its victory lap and is in need of compassionate detachment to smoothen the transition into the beginning of Cancer.
This is where Jupiters influence shines, as the guru who provides the wisdom attained after intense devotion to research and study. Learn to detach from the material wealth and high-level of acquired knowledge to enter into the sattvic potential of this bridge from Gemini to Cancer, and trust that creative energy will replenish in the cardinal waters of Cancer.
Mercury Combust, Saturday 12.5
In the Vedic tradition, any planet that comes within a close orb to the Sun is combust and their significations are burnt to a crisp. However, the Sun is the all-pervading spiritual source, the galactic center of light, energy, and truth. So what burns away during combustion are the planets tamasic potentials. Combustion serves as a clarification that refines the virtues and supports the highest nature of the planets.
What we have here is a common dance of Mercury being combusted. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, therefore its orbit never moves too far away, leading to frequent conjunctions and combustions.
Currently in Scorpio, what we will experience with this Mercury combustion is the destruction of bad discernment/bad comprehension/bad notions. This will open us to receive experiential truth otherwise out of reach of the rational mind.
“When planets become too close to the Sun, their material nature is burned up (combustion), but their spiritual significations are purified and made clear. The highest knowledge of the Sun is beyond the material plane” (Cole).
Namaste!
References:
- The Nakshatras, the Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology, Dennis Harness
- Science of Light, Volume 1, Freedom Cole
Image credit: Jersey Family Fun