Read your horoscope affirmation for this new moon here

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There is no audio meditation this week. I've been unable to record one because I've been blessedly un-alone for the last 8 days, sharing space with some pretty incredible folks who are doing amazing work around embodiment and activism. Becky Hartt is one of those people. She is fierce, intelligent, and the voice of the future. In place of guided meditation from me, I hope you'll listen to this.

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New Moon in Cancer, conjunct Mercury and Venus The new moon on July 4th sits smack in the middle of the sign Cancer. Cancer is the mother and caregiver, clan/kinship/family, our first experiences of home, and the spaces now where we feel private, personal, and safe. On the physical plane Cancer rules the stomach, breast tissue, and the pleura (fluid) lining of lungs. It is cardinal water - the initiation of feeling. Cancer (and Leo) sit smack in the middle of the zodiac and reign over the center of our bodies as well as the center of our earthly perspective. Cancer rules the moon and Leo rules the sun. From these two signs the innermost planets and their rulerships extend out sequentially through both the body and the zodiac. Given this central place and orientation it is significant that the sun and moon conjunction (new moon) is held on either side by the next two of personal planets, Mercury and Venus.

This new moon is one that is felt on a deeply personal level. Depending upon your associations with this energy it could feel either incredibly nurturing, highly emotional, or both. Feelings of home and belonging are acute in our consciousness. We may be in spaces that bring us back to familiar memories, patterns and longings. We may be recognize how far away home is, or how far away we’ve moved from a collective understanding of home. For those of us who are migrants or descendants of migrants we will feel (perhaps subconsciously) a yearning for roots and the deep sadness that comes when those roots are severed and/or forgotten. And for those of us who still occupy the land of our ancestors we may strongly feel the tidal shift of globalization and a world at war, wondering how long we will be able to stay… For most of us home is a place that is precious, potent and fragile.

New Moon, Mercury, and Venus opposite Pluto in Capricorn Globally we are shifting. This has to do in large part to the 4th age of industrial revolution. The Internet and electronic communication technologies are expanding how we understand family and familiarity. For the first time in our remembered history we are connected with others across the globe through shared interests, values, and culture. We may not have ever met in person or speak the same language, but we find kinship together through invisible threads connecting devices that are quickly becoming inseparable from our bodies. This shift is part of what is disrupting traditional power structures that depend upon closed ideas of identity, and that rule through fear of otherness (Pluto in Capricorn shadow.)

For all of us everywhere, home is a planet that has always been in flux. And it’s important to remember that. It’s important to remember that flux is a natural state as information rapidly multiplies and as shifts of culture and values become quicker and more extreme. The insane grappling for power that pushes people to extremism is perhaps the perfect definition for amnesia. We forget the incredibly small span of time that we occupy. We think that this moment now, and our power or lack of it will last forever. We forget that sustained wealth and health for future generations will depend upon collaboration rather than control.

In an amplified fear over lack of stability and permanence, it is also important to remember that we are at home in our bodies. If we can see clearly the damage that is done when we are severed from this home through the power of forces that have taught us to fear, mistrust, and abuse our bodies – and have given us permission to do the same to others’ bodies as well – perhaps we can begin to amend the damage that we are inflicting upon the shared body of our planet. This new moon is a time for all of us to make a strong, clear intention to come home.

The new moon forms one angle in a planetary arrangement called a ‘mystic envelope’. This aspect pattern is formed from two oppositions (Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn, and Jupiter conjunct the North Node in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces) which create two trine and sextile aspects between them. This aspect pattern lends an extremely strong sense of balance, structure and harmony between the signs and planets involved. However, to work with this opportunity we have to use our gifts and talents (trine and sextile) to integrate and make sense of our challenges (oppositions.)

The mystic envelope formation meets resistance on both sides from two T-Squares: Uranus in Aries is square to the Capricorn/Cancer opposition and Saturn in Sagittarius is square to the Virgo/Pisces opposition. Uranus and Saturn in turn form a sesquisquare to each other. The sesquisquare is a minor aspect pattern and not one that I normally consider for these columns. However, the role that Saturn and Uranus play in this charts story is important. Saturn is the force that wants material structure and accountability. Currently it is inhabiting the sign that rules spiritual and religious belief. Uranus is the force that wants freedom, revolution and change. Currently it is inhabiting the sign that rules the individual identity and personal willpower. The squares that they form to the envelope pattern suggest conflicting forces that seek to undermine collective resolution through reactive patterns and dogmatic insistence. Beware these tendencies in yourself.

Here is a collective affirmation for this planetary arrangement. If it resonates for you I ask that you cut and paste into a document that you print. Look at it every day for the next two weeks. Send it to your friends and family. Share it on social media. Let’s see if we can all do this together…

I am at home in my body and offer it unconditional love and gratitude. I support those around me to inhabit their bodies by practicing forgiveness, affirmation, and kindness. I am awake in my choices for consumption and I consider the impact of their production and use. I support the potential of my community working together to increase access to sustainable choices for all.

Here is a meditation: Wherever you are imagine the Earth below you. If you can feel it then do. If it's between some layers of concrete then let your memory feel it. Give thanks. Remember the people who tended this place before you were here. If you are an immigrant (and for those of us who call ourselves American but do not come from indigenous blood... this is us too) remember the lines of your blood as far back as you can. Remember that every body everywhere has the same basic needs. Love. Healthy food. Clean Water. Clean Shelter. Consider what it means to have a reciprocal relationship to what gives life to you and the ones you love.