THE COSMIC EYE Monthly Forecast: Cancer Season 2020

Cancer Season

Tony Howard and Vanessa Montgomery team up to discuss the hallmarks of 2020 Cancer season in this new series. We cover the monthly moons, headlining signatures *hint* 6 planets retrograde, that Capricorn-flavoured Jupiter/Pluto meet up, Mars heading into Aries for a six-month marathon (+more). We share what’s on our coffee table, then round out with key takeaways and a monthly mantra. Geek out on the astro tech specs while combining them with the psychological humanistic side astrology offers, ie how this month’s energy could best be utilized with an eye on consciously navigating potential pitfalls.

THE COSMIC EYE Monthly Forecast: Cancer Season 2020 Transcript

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Tony Howard: Well, hello friends, and welcome to this episode of the Astrology University Podcast, and this is The Cosmic Eye Monthly Forecast: Cancer Season. Really happy to have all of you here listening and happy to be joined by Vanessa Montgomery, author of Star Power. Thanks for joining us, Vanessa.

Vanessa Montgomery: Hi Tony, you’re welcome. Hi everyone, thanks for joining us.

TH: So this is our second forecast episode, really excited for this and Cancer season. And we’ll be doing these monthly when the sun sign changes, instead of the first of the month, well, it’ll be just a bit before the first of the month. And we have some regular sections in our podcast that we’re gonna go through today and we’re gonna start out with Cancer season. So Vanessa, can you lead us into Cancer season and what that’s all about?

VM: Hey, yes, sure, Tony. So Cancer season, the season of The Mighty Crustacean as I like to call it.

TH: I love that. And I heard that before, that’s really great.

VM: I met a Mighty Crustacean at a party, and that’s what she said about herself when I asked her sign, “I am the Mighty Crustacean”.

TH: Nice.

VM: And so I’ve taken that on board. So it’s a season of serious self-care, as well. Cancer is yin cardinal water. To get down to basics. It’s the beginning of a season, in this case, in the northern hemisphere is summer and pushing off into the season with traits of warmth becoming more dominant. The sun’s on the Cardinal Cross as well and the yin factor so receptivity around this month, something to take into account.

“I feel” and “I care”, are the statements of cancer. I feel, my feelings, what are my feelings and getting clear on that and I care because no one cares quite like Cancer does. I don’t think people realize quite how deeply. It feels all the feels. There’s an archetype of the mother or the matriarch. And I also like to think of the hard shell clutch with Cancer, because it’s on that axis with Capricorn, which is big business and small business, so yeah, the purse, the hard shell clutch.

They care personally, Cancer cares personally, so wherever cancer is in your chart, that’s what’s gonna be highlighted this month, and perhaps lean into that for the self-care element as well. It’s very personal, yeah, my personal feels, I personally care, in a personal way, it’s very like immediate emotional bonds and connections as well.

It’s very family and clan-based, there’s a family values, home security, comfort food, food, which brings me to America. Happy Birthday, for July the 4th, because America has a sun in cancer, it’s literally a cancerian, and because I’m Australian, I always think, well, when I discovered astrology and that places have signs, I just thought, well, America is just so cancerian, the traits are so strong, you can see the rising, and the moon and everything in there, but that cancer is so strong, so I wanted to have a little look at that just to open up as the classic cancer is America that open up that idea. Tony, being in it, in the cancerian bubble, can you see those cancerian traits?

TH: Yeah, definitely. I’m focused right now a bit more on the negative, and I think nationalism is a component of the cancer archetype that America does pretty well. I always get a little bit uncomfortable on July 4th, I have to admit it’s my least favorite holiday, because nationalism makes me feel a little frightened, when it’s celebrated that intensely.

So, just because of the history, not necessarily in this country, I mean, including this country, but just the history in the world of nationalistic movements and the harm that they can cause and do, but yeah, I definitely… Comfort food and security for sure has drives for cancer, you can totally see those in the American archetype or in the United States.

VM: I think so, and yeah, there’s the positive and the negative, all the light and the shade to every sign, and you can certainly see that in America. There’s not more of one or less of the other, one’s not better or worse, but it’s just interesting to look at, so I definitely see the positive and the negative with America, and I’ve written a few things down here in the positive, that home cooking, certainly, the patriotism is as we didn’t, never had that in Australia, we just didn’t have any country pride at all until we held the Olympic games and we had a little moment of pride.

But yeah, America’s very patriotic. It’s true, and there’s a good side of that as well. The sitcoms are all kind of based around the home and the family, which I think we get a lot of that here in Australia. Movies are very strong on the emotional connections and conveying emotions while it’s not wordy like English maybe say… So I think that’s that cancer really getting the feels across the connections.

Yeah, I never hear the term home security for the whole country and then for individual homes too. Home security is a big thing in America, and that leads me to the shadow side of cancer, there is a fearful… On the axis of Cancer-Capricorn, there is a fear in there, so issues of safety are really quite prioritized. And maybe sometimes being a cardinal sign is offensive, takes the offense, like that fear of the other countries, so sort of goes out with the nippers, to other countries, making sure they stay back.

It’s very nostalgic. Cancer, the water sign tend to be quite nostalgic and and Cancer’s definitely how things used to be in self-focus, the comfort wear with the track suits. Americans wear a lot of track suits and I think it’s that Cancer comfort wear, home-on-the-couch kind of vibe.

Yeah, very famous for the food. Even fast food comes from America, like grab that comfort, eat the feelings, on the shadow side of it, push them down. So, yeah and Cancer’s the mother, the big mother. I think with that Pluto return, it’s like stepping up into your own sort of parental leadership role with this as well. Anything else you’d like to say for Cancer before we go to monthly moons?

TH: Yeah. I think nostalgia is big. You know, Vanessa, you may not know this but in America, we… Or in the United States, we have a film that we watch every Christmas, called, “It’s a Wonderful Life” and it strikes me as a really nostalgic movie. Well, first of all, it was made in 1946 and we still watch it every Christmas.

VM: Yeah, I didn’t know that.

TH: Yeah, it’s like our biggest Christmas movie. I was just thinking about the main actor in it and the director, neither of them are Cancers, Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra. One of the things I think Cancer can do with nostalgia and history, and all of us can do this, is we look back historically in a way that’s not necessarily objective, right? So one of the things we humans are fond of doing is remembering an idealized past that actually never existed. And the United States has some trouble with that and it’s why the current president’s slogan worked in part because it’s referring to that kind of idealized past that never… It was never quite like we imagine it.

So it can be a problem, but it’s also a kind of… Has a lovely glow about it, nostalgia, as well. I mean, I’m somebody with a lot of planets in the Fourth House, but this also makes me think of Marcel Proust who had a Cancer stellium in the fourth house, including the Cancer sun, and he wrote a very famous and very, very, very long series of books called In Search of Lost Time and the title speaks for itself. So, yeah. I think you’re totally right on with that as well. So I think our next section is monthly moons and eclipses, is that right?

VM: That’s right, the monthly moons. And it’s the last blast of the eclipses on that Cancer-Capricorn axis as well. So that was taking out people left, right, and center all through 2019, of course, bunched up in a larger signature there. So this is the final part of that and there’s two new moons as well this season. There’s one on the very first day of Cancer and there’s one on… I think it’s the last day. So the second is July 20, at 28 Cancer. The first with the ring of fire, an annular solar eclipse, is at zero Cancer on June 20.

Eastern Daylight Time, that is. And sandwiched in between is the full moon in Capricorn with a lunar eclipse on July 5th or July 4th PDT. And so then we get that this Cancer-Capricorn axis isn’t it, and with Saturn going back into Capricorn for a little while, it’s just… It’s gonna heat off all of that Cancer-Capricorn stuff and of course, wherever these are happening in your chart, again, it’s gonna set those things off.

And I’m thinking about that nostalgic idea for where’s Cancer in your chart as well as on the world stage and for the Cancer, Capricorn countries? My country is the opposite in Capricorn, so we’re on that axis as well with America and we are quite influenced and I think we’re quite tied in in certain ways, so that’s interesting. So, two new moons, get two goes, at making the new moon intentions.

VM: So I would just sort of comment the same ones again for the second one and you’ll have the whole month to tweak them, which will be interesting. Around intentions setting on the new moon is more like safety, security, what you want your chosen family or family to be like, or what you want for your family and putting down those plans.

It’s about putting down roots, too, isn’t it? With Cancer. Yeah, home issues. I know for myself, I’ve already sort of started thinking about home and where I wanna be and what I wanna do. And you’re doing home stuff right now, aren’t you? It’s already happening in Cancer season. Well, almost…

TH: Definitely yeah, focus on the home. That’s not an unusual focus for me with six planets in the fourth house. Spending a whole life with that intention.

VM: Yeah. That’s true. Even more so now. So with that polarity, with the full moon in Capricorn on July 5th or July 4th. It’s a real parental axis, the big mama, the big papa and stepping into being parenting yourself, and not waiting for someone else to come along and do it. The polarity between Cancer being that emotional connection and then Capricorn’s the boundaries, and the work is the home and then the external vocational vibe but again, depending where you have them in your chart, what do you think about that axis? What do you have to say?

TH: Oh, I think it’s interesting this time around because last year, we had the nodes in Cancer and Capricorn, and now they’re in Gemini and Sagittarius. But what we have in this cancer season is the Sun in Cancer and then Saturn going back into Capricorn right at the beginning of July. So we have the two symbols that we might associate with father archetype in the sign of Cancer, mother archetype. So that’s interesting to contemplate. It seems that, in my mind, it’s calling for the father archetype to bring in more of the Divine Mother into its experience and actions.

VM: Well, it’s definitely happening with older boys and the prams out jogging down at the coffee shop. I think that’s so great. The dads are getting their moms on, their inner mom, and vice versa, which fantastic.

TH: And it seems like we’ve come far enough that it seems like it’s more embraced and it’s a more comfortable…

VM: Yeah, it’s definitely more integrated, thankfully. And I do think, again, I’m thinking more for America at the moment, not to go too into what’s happening, but just that idea of there’s basically no leadership. And I think in some ways it’s a good thing, it’s like clear, no one’s coming to save anyone, it’s up to the people to step up and parent, step into that role and not be the biggest Cancers.

It’s the 3rd sign of the zodiac. It’s the child as well, yeah, don’t be the child with the big hungry eyes waiting for someone to come and pick you up and put a blanket on you and give you a bottle of milk. You gotta step into it and get that polarity going and yeah, step into being the matriarch or the patriarch.

When we get to the books we’re reading, I’ve been reading a bit about that, it’s that it’s the commens, it’s the communal, isn’t it? It’s like, we’re all in it together. Cancer’s very clannish, like Scotland is quite clannish and Cancerians like that too. And it’s that larger extended family, not just that… Which is a more natural way that we’re meant to live, so yeah, I think that’s a good thing.

TH: Home, hearth and country are really featured, right?

VM: Very much, yeah, very much. Yeah, and it’s all connected, isn’t it? From your own fire pit to the nation, which is one big family, to the world, which we’re actually all related if you go right back. We are all one big family, and it’s something great to remember over this particular season.

TH: Yeah, and I also really liked how you called out in that phrase that people might have missed ’cause it just came by what… Quickly, was that your chosen family?

VM: Yes, absolutely.

TH: And sometimes it works out that our own family is nourishing and supportive, and sometimes it doesn’t work out like that.  And we seek out our family that is nourishing and supportive.

VM: And you can certainly have a blend as well, and that whole idea of blended families is much more a common thing now. And if you do have that beautiful warm family, often, you’ll take in the waifs and strays to benefit from that as well, which is really nice. I think the chosen family is really important. I was right that in my horoscopes also.

Yeah. So moving on to… Give me the headline signatures.

TH: Alright, so we can share these, but we have a six planets retrograde. That’s a lot of planets. So a lot of retrograde… A lot of retrograde energy. We still have Venus retrograde ’till around the 25th of June. So we’re gonna be wrapping up Venus retrograde right here at the beginning of Cancer season.  

VM: Is it still out of bounds? Or is it going in?

TH: No, no, everything’s back in bounds, now we had Mercury out of bounds and Venus out of bounds at the same time, and everybody’s back following the rules again.

VM: Nice.

TH: We did have a really fascinating… Just as a quick aside, fascinating and also tragic correlation with Mercury out of bounds, where Briana Taylor, who I’ll speak about in a moment, was born with natal Mercury out of bounds, and then I was really moved when there was a campaign put out around the internet to… Well, there are two campaigns. There was a campaign, say her name, you were seeing that slogan, ‘Go around and say her name’, I thought that was fascinating, that was coming out during when Mercury was out of bounds again in cancer in the same sign, it was out of bounce in her own chart, but that was fascinating and moving, and then also on her birthday, we were being asked to send birthday cards to senators to try to raise attention to her story.

We also have Mercury retrograde in the cycle as one of the planets,  one of the six planets retrograde, so we’ve kind of Mercury retrograde in Cancer this time. We have Mars going into Aries, that’s big news, that’s definitely part of the headlines this month, in part because we have a Mars retrograde cycle at the end of the year, which means we have a very long period of Mars in Aries for several months.

Well, Mars is in Aries, Mars will conjunct Chiron, that’s an important aspect this month and we have a Jupiter and Pluto making the second of its three conjunctions of their three conjunctions this year, so I’ll be talking about that in some detail today.

VM: Do you wanna just into that now? I’m really curious to hear about it.

TH: Sure thing. Yeah, definitely, it’s a really powerful, powerful archetype, and I think it’s unfolding in the backdrop of some other big cycles this year. The Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January and also the beginning of the Saturn-Uranus square that started at the end of March and at the beginning of April, when Saturn went into Aquarius and got within 4 degrees of or above the square with Uranus as a major trigger this year.

And then, Jupiter conjunct Pluto, which first pass was on April 5th when Jupiter conjuncted Pluto at 24 degrees Capricorn while Saturn was at 0 degrees Aquarius. And then again, June 29th, those exact same degrees. We have Jupiter conjunct Pluto at 24 Capricorn and then Saturn at 0 degrees Aquarius. So in April 5th when those planets were conjunct, all 3 planets were direct, and this time June 29th, all 3 planets will be retrograde, and I think that’s really interesting.

And then the third pass of Jupiter-Pluto will be November 12th, and Saturn will have, will be in Capricorn that time and really close, so Saturn will be really kind of… It’ll be a Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto sandwich, and then all three planets will be direct then as well.

So it’s a whole year of Jupiter-Pluto. So it’s really worth talking about some of those significations, and I’m not gonna do a full version of that because as I was preparing our material for today, I realized I wanted to create a webinar around this, so I’m working on that right now, but this is a little piece of that and those ideas.

I was also really inspired by an article written in November of 2019 by Brian Clark on the Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions, and you can find that on his website, it’s astrosynthesis.com.au. In that article, he suggested the issues of justice and tolerance of diversity would capture our attention in the cycle, and wow, did he get that one right? Right? I mean, when I read that, and I was a little delayed reading the article ’cause it came out November, and I had it in my reading list and I just got to it, and I was like, “Wow.”

He was really really on to something there, and he writes at the end of the article, “As Jupiter and Pluto combined, a new level of tolerating the diversity of human laws and systems becomes available.” And it’s a really positive kind of forecast of Jupiter and Pluto coming together, and one that really came true, right? It’s coming true as we speak, and I wanna talk about that. So let’s break it down a little bit.

So here, he was pointing to Jupiter’s association with laws, with justice and with the courts. And then in Capricorn, we’re really especially focused on accountability, on government policy, on organizations and systems. I think Pluto in the mix here is calling our attention to those issues that we’ve kept in the dark too long, those things that we’ve been afraid to face or talk about, and also to the dark hidden web of power dynamics and corruption.

And Brian weaves in the story of Jupiter and Pluto in myth as he always does so well, and these are two brothers in the miss, sky god and an underworld God who rarely come together, and they each kinda have their own domains and rarely hang out, so to speak.

And he suggests that when they do, there’s an opportunity for shadow, Pluto, and light, Jupiter, to dance together, to work together for seriously positive outcomes. But that’s all dependent on us on how we respond, and on our personal awareness and willingness to do the work that Pluto is asking here.

Pluto always asks us to face what it’s bringing up with eyes wide open, and it always tends to be things that we don’t want to face. Like for instance, the corruption and violence in the criminal justice system in America.

If we’re the one that’s doing the harm, if we’re the one addicted to and entrenched in systems of power over others, and benefiting from that experience, we’re not likely to be seeing our situation openly, but the potential is there during this cycle, and the potential is definitely there to be called out, and we’re seeing a lot of that right now.

And with Jupiter here, I’m thinking of this as almost shining the light on the Plutonian, so that we see what’s happening, it’s just… It’s impossible not to see it. And right now, we’re seeing the abuse of power by police, by judges, and by politicians, and it’s not that it wasn’t there always, and that people didn’t know about it, it’s just that it’s reached a fever pitch of attention. The seeing through is important, I think, especially since it’s happening at such a collective and global level right now. And as an aside, I think that has a little bit to do with Saturn being in Aquarius, but that’s another story.

But in a rare moment in our history, we’re miraculously, also seeing some accountability, which I’ve personally just been waiting for with these planets being in Capricorn. I was really seeing that as a high potential, and it wasn’t really happening so much last year with Saturn in Capricorn without Jupiter there while Jupiter was in Sagittarius.

It was like the desire for accountability was there and the attempted accountability was there, but it wasn’t until now, in this moment with Jupiter and Pluto conjunct in Capricorn, with Saturn being in another sign, in Aquarius, that we’re seeing some very real accountability and some very real actions. Remember, this Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign, so this isn’t just talking about accountability or thinking about it or saying, “Wow, we really need to fix our criminal justice system in America.” This is actually taking action to do something, and we’ve seen some really quick swift actions, which has been really, really inspiring and beautiful.

I really think it took Jupiter coming in there to shift that balance. In the events that have transpired since George Floyd’s murder in the United States on May 25th, which it’s hard to believe that it hasn’t even been a month, these events happen so quickly, we’ve actually…

VM: Really fast.

TH: Yeah, really fast. We’ve actually seen the officers responsible swiftly arrested and charged. That hasn’t happened before this quickly, and with this much conviction, and with this much social action. Jupiter with Pluto is intense, it’s fierce, it’s dynamic, and it’s righteous whether rightly or wrongly.

On June 12, another black man named Raychard Brooks was also murdered by police at a Wendy’s drive-through in Atlanta, and that was just days ago, really… I wanna say unbelievable, but unfortunately, it is very believable in our country. And just yesterday, the officer responsible was charged with murder and today turned himself in. We haven’t really seen that before in this way.

We’re even seeing some positive action taken in response to Brianna Taylor’s murder. She was murdered by police as she slept in her home, they basically, it was like case of we got the wrong… “Oops! Sorry we got the wrong person and murdered you.”

On June 12th, the same day that Raychard Brooks was murdered, we had a positive outcome as Louisville, Kentucky announced that a new law named ‘The Briana Taylor Law’ will ban no-knock warrants in Louisville, Kentucky. So that’s how she was… That’s how they basically entered her apartment, it was a no-knock warrant, which means they could just storm in.

In other cities and states are expected to work on similar laws. Colorado is in the midst of passing some really sweeping reform, that’s really amazing. And I know that some of you have heard about the actions taken in Minnesota as well. So justice is being served, and this is something to celebrate. And in these times where we’re focused on the darkness with Saturn and Pluto as we need to be, there’s a lot of positive things transpiring as well, and there are things to celebrate and really great victories.

Found it really interesting. I went on the Black Lives Matter site today, and their current organization support merchandise, so like if you go on the website, they have merch that you can buy to support the organization, and t-shirts and things like that, and they’ve got two of their big slogans right now are freedom and justice, which just are really great Jupiterian slogans, right?

And then the last thing I wanted to call your attention to in terms of positive outcomes here, the Supreme Court in the United States, which I think the Supreme Court itself is a fitting Jupiter Pluto expression being the highest court of law in the United States, and it passed down two important and rather earth-shaking decisions in the last week in support of the Dreamers preventing Trump from immediately ending DACA. This program that was protecting folks born in the United States, and delivered a really big defeat for him there.

And Brian Clark in his article talks a lot about calling out injustice and shining light on power dynamics that aren’t equitable, and I think that’s a great example of that. And the Supreme Court also issued a ruling that protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from being disciplined, fired or turned down for a job, based on their sexual orientation. And as you and I were talking right before we started this, we were like, “Did that not already exist?”

VM: Yeah, I did assume that would already be a thing, and which shocked me that that’s just coming now.

TH: It is shocking. And it’s just another great example of the validation of that statement. Again, I’ll just read it out again, that he wrote at the end of his article as Jupiter and Pluto combined a new level of tolerating the diversity of human laws and systems becomes available, and the diversity, celebrating the diversity of humanity and learning to live together, learning to live together with respect and having laws that protect us.

VM: Yeah. Well, I’d like to add a little thing to that, which I notice, it really goes with what you’re saying as well, how… People are saying “Defund the police”, it’s already started happening in some areas so quickly that’s amazing, putting it into other areas, and then I think it’s Minnesota, they’re starting to, they’re looking at how can we do make a community-led safety sort of situation. And to me, that’s that Pluto getting in completely like a conjunction is about the birth of something completely new.

Yeah, it’s the structure. Pluto is like really… It’s gonna be something you’d never imagined and it’s already happening, that is amazing. And it also makes me think of this being Cancer season, those planets are in Capricorn, so it’s restructuring something and it’s the community-led side of it is really interesting as well, taking back to the commons and the people, and not just like a big daddy or big mommy with the stick. So that’s such a beautiful way of opening up those archetypes and how they meant to be actually.

TH: Yeah, and Pluto there is kind of correlating with transforming our system of control over others or it’s transforming our system of policing others. And there are some really, really creative and interesting ideas circulating about in the wake of all this. But if you just think about what you just said, Vanessa, with defunding the police is such a great correlation with Jupiter being in Capricorn with Pluto, ’cause you have Law and Justice, and you also have one of those planets that’s associated with finances and money, but we always have to put everything in the bigger context. And Venus right now, and the other planet that we associate with money and finances is retrograde.

Defunding, taking away the money and putting it somewhere else. And some of the ideas circulating have to do with… It’s not just about having no police, it’s about distributing the duties that the police have.

For instance, police a lot of times respond to mental health crisis calls, and that’s not really the best person to respond to those calls, and so some cities are like, “Yeah, actually we should probably have mental health professionals responding to those calls. So why don’t we do that?” Yeah, great idea. But again, this redistribution and transformation of the systems, I think the transformation piece is coming from Pluto here.

VM: Hugely, and Jupiter is just going to amplify everything, isn’t it?

TH: Yeah, well, they’re both planets of amplification. I think Pluto… Richard Turner uses this word Titanic with Pluto, which I just love, and Titanic intensity. So Pluto tends to intensify what it touches, and Jupiter tends to expand it, so it’s like Titanic expansion, I guess.

VM: And yeah, complete overhaul, isn’t it? Like not even an overhaul, it’s just completely different transformation, which is the case.

TH: And then being in the earth sign, I think, is that it’s like, it’s Cardinal, it’s like, Let’s just do something about it. How about now?

VM: Yeah, and something real. Let’s not just talk about it.

TH: Yeah, definitely.

VM: Yeah. Yeah, well, I was looking at a few of the other times in history when these two planets have come together, Jupiter and Pluto, and a couple really stood out, which was the end of Apartheid in 1994 and Quit India in 1943, that were both… Yeah, and so, similar to now in some ways, and I thought of because of the Apartheid ending in South Africa, Nelson Mandela, he is a sun in Cancer person.

VM: And he does have Jupiter conjunct Pluto in his chart, in the opposite sign of Capricorn, where they are now, his is in Cancer so half a cycle away. So I’ve added a quote from him, which is, “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others” and that’s really at the core of everyone having that freedom and equity and equality, isn’t it?

It’s like, “Yeah, you can’t just live off cheap things from china where people are slaving away, it’s gotta really be in balance,” it’s about that larger community that Cancer-Capricorn, it’s about everyone being served, not about self-serve.

TH: Right. Everyone… Protecting everyone. Like with the phrase “black lives matter,” there are certain people in the United States that take issue with it and there’s been a Blue Lives Matter movement, which is about, “Well, what about respecting the police?” And then, “There’s all lives matter,” and people who came up with those slogans didn’t understand the original slogan, Black Lives Matter was just calling out an inequity. Right? Yeah, it’s not saying that certain people matter more than others, it’s saying, “Actually, what it looks like to us is that black lives don’t matter, so we’re kind of saying actually they do, so we’re calling out an inequity,” and again, it ties in to Brian’s prediction for this moment.

VM: Yeah and because of the retrograde, it’s such a long… We get such a long go at it, don’t we? And then we’ve got Mars going into Aries for six months.

VM: So that goes in during cancer season, it’s going to retrograde and then go forward again, and so that’s going to be… Not this month squaring, but it’s going to move into a few squares with these planets and just to tip it off even more and make sure that action happens, we’re all gonna get a few goes at it.

So that’s on the collective level, that’s also, where is that in your chart? What areas of your life are you redirecting and completely transforming? I think it’s interesting to look at where people have Capricorn with that Jupiter and Pluto as well as the Saturn hook-ups in there, where’s Mars going to be in your chart for six months in its own sign of Aries?

TH: Yeah, so you should stop right now and look at your chart and see where Aries is, that’s the next story that’s unfolding.

VM: Yeah, yeah. And then it ties into what Tony has just been talking about too. So Mars retrogrades every two years. It has the longest time between retrograde drinks, and the last time it retrograded in Aries was 32 years ago. And for those people that have had 32 years plus of life, that was in 1988. So you could learn by any mistakes or awesomeness from back then for this time, and I had a little chat to Tony about, “Well, what was happening in your life in 1988, Tony, and what could you learn from that now?”

TH: Yeah, definitely, the short version of the story is, I wasn’t stopping and slowing down when I should have been. I was moving forward, I was pursuing a dance career and I got a knee injury and I felt pretty invincible and I kept dancing on it. And I had a lot of energy ’cause I was young, I was 18, and at the time, I had never had an injury, so I didn’t know how to take care of myself, and I kept dancing on it, and one day I was limping up my fourth flight walk up, kind of picking up my injured leg to get up each stair, and I was like, “I don’t think this is normal.”  

And then the mistake I made was I kept dancing on the injury, and then it wasn’t able… Basically the story ended with me never being able to dance again. So it was a sad moment the next year, as I took a year off to recover and the doctors told me that I might not ever get the full use of my knee back in a way that I’d be able to dance again, and I never did. So it’s basically, the message of the story, is if life is telling you to slow down during Mars retrograde, which that’s coming up in… Is it near the end of September? Is that right?

VM: I haven’t written down when it actually goes into retro but yeah.

TH: It’s this fall. It’s for sure retrograde in October. Anyway, we’ll be talking about that in one of the later episodes. But for right now, you just wanna look where Mars is in your chart, and for right now, you’re gonna get that full steam ahead energy. So this month isn’t necessarily the time to slow down, at least with your Mars actions. With all the other retrogrades we could argue for that for sure.  But it might be that if you are kind of feeling full steam ahead with Mars in Aries, I mean if you were expecting things to calm down this summer, I’m not sure that’s gonna happen.

VM: I don’t think it will, but it is… Yeah, Mars in Aries is go, go for it, isn’t it. I see it as… Because of everything that’s happened and everyone’s been in lockdown and maybe really slowed down for a while there too, this is where you really can get back up to speak, pick up those bowls and really get ahead of where you’ve been… Yeah, sort of not heading, but then of course, when the retrograde comes and we’ll talk more about it then, there is gonna be a moment of, “Hang on a sec, let’s just look at where we need to reassess, and you can’t just keep burning on through at that point, but at this point you can definitely get back up to speed.

And I was thinking about what I was doing in 1988, and what can I learn from that now? It was a really great year, I loved it. I discovered gay clubs and I was in high school so I didn’t do my assignments, I just showed up to exams.

And I didn’t go back and do the work and balance it out with five planets in Sagittarius, my dream was of going to… Just basically pursuing academia or going to art college and probably just doing degree after degree at that point and traveling the world. But I had to delay it because I didn’t do my assignments, I still can’t believe I didn’t keep my eye on my prize, I was just… Aries is immediacy and Mars is pretty hot-blooded, so it’s just gonna go after some sort of immediate thing and possibly take the eye off the prize, so I think that’s…

TH: Well, I do think that we can both be forgiven for the hubris of being teenagers.

VM: But we can learn from it this time, for sure, yeah. I think it’s a pretty fun vibe, it just could get a bit clashy at some point when it moves into those squares. So as Tony already mentioned, it will be meeting up with Chiron as well, July 13th-14th so we’re discussing things around, I’m getting overheated and that the idea of don’t keep driving the car.

If the heats going up, you have to take that little cool down rest, inflammation being inflamed, and of course, people are very on the edge at the moment, and those tempers, and I think a rash…  Rash, impulsive, taking the leap, like not looking before you leap situations could arise. And with Chiron conjunct Mars, especially in impulsive Aries, a shadow of that could be a wounding Chiron action versus healing action, so be very conscious about that. Look before you leap.

TH: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And yeah, I think that that’s also really interesting, that moment where Mars conjuncts Chiron in the context of that whoosh that’s coming after Mars has been in Pisces and moving… When Mars moves from Pisces to Aries, it’s pretty dramatic, I just think of it as, okay, go.

And then Mars hits Chiron and we have this moment that’s really interesting the whole of July, and then against the backdrop of the Jupiter, Pluto, which brings with it the self-righteousness that’s fueling positive action in a best case scenario, but what about when you’re kinda crossing the line from self-righteousness into hubris. What about when you’re crossing the line into pride and arrogance and then Mars and Aries leap before you look. So definitely… That little conversation with Chiron in the middle of July, I think that that image of overheating is really perfect. It might be a time to cool down a little bit.

VM: Yes…  I’ll be conscious about like, direct that energy, be conscious about where you… It’s like driving a car that Mars in Aries, a really fast car, be really conscious about your path, maybe map out the destination, maybe map out the path, rather than just sort of driving this Formula 1 beast and hitting a wall or something like that.

I actually thought everything that’s happening now might happen once that Mars got into Aries, I’m surprised that happened in Pisces to be honest, so I’m really curious about what to expect once it really puts the metal to the… The pedal to the metal.

TH: Well, when I’m talking with clients about Mars in Pisces, one of the images I bring up is fighting on behalf of the defenseless or being aware of others’ needs for protection and stepping into that role. And I feel like we did that with the collective. I feel like we responded immediately to the wounds of these people in these situations and…

Yeah. Another image, I think with Mars and Chiron there, July 13th, a positive one that I always bring up with Chiron is just stepping into the mentor role or the teacher role to embody that energy in a positive way.

VM: Yeah, so Mars being leadership, so leading by that kind of example, that’s true and actively taking on that mentorship. All right, so this takes us to our next section, our next segment, which is, “What’s on your coffee table, Tony?”

TH: Okay. I love this. I feel like we need to introduce some fun, little music interludes here…

VM: Or get a triangle.

TH: Yeah.  So on my table is From the Moment We Met, I just got this… Sorry, I’m doing the virtual background, so I have to be still… This is a book by Brian Clark, which is really fitting. I’m reading a lot of Bryan Clark right now, and this is The Astrology of Adult Relationships, so I’m really excited about this one. I just just cracked it. But let’s see if there’s a description here in the back. Relation… “Relationship astrology and synastry is not just an exploration of compatibility and possibility, it causes to honor the mystery and soul of our attachments, not for what we want them to be, but for how they truly are.” So I’m pretty excited about this one.

VM: Written by a stellium in Libra person on relationships.

TH: And what’s on your coffee table?

VM: Well, this month, I have just finished Witches, Witch-hunting and Women By Silvia Federici, which is more… Yeah, it’s like a quicker version of her preceding book, which was Caliban and the Witch Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation.

And it’s because I answered a call out for something and that we were talking about, we wanna take in ideas of smashing patriarchy, capitalism, and a few other things. And I just thought, “Well, I suppose I don’t know about the beginnings of capitalism. I’ll look into that,” and it took me back to, yeah, the Middle Ages.

And Sylvia talks about the beginnings of capitalism there, how that was working. Basically, it was about losing the commons to private capital, and also she had the feminist aspect, as well, and tied in the witch hunts and what was happening with destabilizing communities and things like that. So it was, again, hard reading. Devastating, so sad.

TH: I was gonna say, you weren’t doing the light reading this month.

VM: Oh, no. Feeling a bit crushed under the weight of all the things, but just to one, doing the Sag thing, looking at that bigger picture, again, the influence of the Capricorn at the moment, it’s really interesting to look back in history and herstory and time. And look at where the founding, like what even became before this. Maybe looking at how things were might help look at a different future for now. Where can we go past… Where is there? What are the options beyond capitalism and privatization and… Yeah, it’s been really interesting, but heavy.

TH: Wow, good one, good one. Well, I do wanna, now that you mentioned that one, I do wanna mention a book that I listened to in the car as I was driving from Colorado to Oregon this month, which was really amazing, and definitely check this one out if you haven’t heard about it, but it’s called, Tell Me Who You Are, and the authors’ names are Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi.

The subtitle is “Sharing our stories of race, culture and identity.” And I did some Race and Culture Studies in college, and so I’ve read a lot of this type of material in a real academic way, and this is written by two young women who after high school, they did a year off and traveled around the world recording stories with people who actually experienced racism, for instance. And it’s so moving, it’s so brilliant, and it’s an engaging read. And they make kind of complicated concepts really easy to understand. So definitely check it out. It’s a real timely book to read right now as well.

VM: Oh yes, timely and accessible is good.

TH: Accessible is good, yes.

VM: Yup, like that. So this takes us to our final segment, which is our monthly mantra and key takeaways. So, Tony, key takeaway.

TH: Yeah, key takeaways. I’m gonna go with, “Get fired up, but cool off after.”  So that’s speaking to that Mars and Aries energy in the backdrop of the Jupiter, Pluto, and also the message of Chiron jumping into the mix there with Mars for some healing. And also in the context of Cancer season, and keeping in mind that self-care is definitely something that should be on all of our radars. I also have, “Take righteous action, but be aware of your own pride and potential arrogance or hubris.”

VM: Okay. Yes, the two sides. I keep thinking of a race car with that Mars in Aries. Even race cars because they burn so hard, they take a lot of pit stops. Everyone checks them over, and I think that’s that self-care element, so pit stops, regular pit stops.

TH: That’s such a great image, that’s so perfect, thank you. Yeah.

VM: Thank you. So my takeaway is the self-care, and we are one big family, and it’s really important to remember that, and again, that takes us past the us and them divide. And it’s so important at times like this too, to remember that united they stand, and what is divisive? What’s dividing you? Who is that benefiting? ‘Cause it’s not you.

So we’re one big family and make sure you self-care as well on the private, very personal level. My monthly mantra is, “I am safe. I feel safe. I am safe.” And really embody that feeling of inner safety and security, and if you are feeling on edge or like that’s not the case, bring it back in. I’m just gonna stick with that one because that’s so essential. I am safe.

TH: Yeah. And keeping it simple like that. And that’s just such a powerful one. I think that’s a powerful one in the context, even if we think about the pandemic right now, and just the fears that we just have come through and are still experiencing for some of us of… I remember that moment unfolding at the end of February and the beginning of March, where we’re like, we didn’t have hardly any information, it was all unfolding anew, and there was a lot of fear and panic.

And fear and panic is definitely part of the Saturn Pluto archetype in Capricorn, just very dramatic and really obvious in the culture. So a great one, great one, great one, Vanessa. So mine has to do with Cancer archetype as well. And mine is, “What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours. I take responsibility for my own feelings.”

And the idea there is that we turn inward and focus on the work that we can do. And part of that is about expressing your needs with Cancer, so it’s not that you just are self-sufficient, that’s Capricorn, it’s that you say, “Hey, I actually need some help. Can you help me out?” Right? So that’s taking care of yourself too. That’s honoring your own needs and taking care of what’s yours.

VM: Communicating your feelings.

TH: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely.

VM: Alright, well, that wraps up another season, Cancer season, of the Cosmic Eye monthly forecast.

TH: Beautiful, thank you so much for joining me and I’m so excited about this series that we’re doing. It was super fun to put together and it was really great having you here and having this chat with you, Vanessa.

VM: Thank you so much, Tony. I’m loving it as well. Thank you so much everyone for listening and have a wonderful Cancer season.

TH: Alright, and we’ll see you next time.

VM: Stay cosmic!

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Elizabeth Motyka

Love this podcast. Have enjoyed the first 2 episodes a lot. Gives me a chance to pause and look at what is happening in the sky. Especially helpful now with all the retrogrades. Love the idea of looking back also in time to the last time these transits were happening. 88 that is a cautionary tale for sure.

Astrology University

Thanks Elizabeth!

Oceanpeople

Tony,
I just love how you team up with Vanessa! This podcast is so helpful, I sent it to my friends when they tell me “something is going on in the Universe!”

Astrology University

Thank you!

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