The Northern Hemisphere Summer Solstice occurs 7:58 am PDT, 3:58 pm BST June 21. It's the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, said to be the time at which "free will" acts more powerfully than any other time.

It is a point of decision, and kicks off Summer, the season of work, play, productivity, and lots of sunshine for those of us up north. If you're "down under," remember to have a little compassion for us up here when December 21, the Winter Solstice, rolls around and we're freezing while you're enjoying the beach! What follows explores elements we all can expect to experience over the next 3 months, regardless of where we live.

The June Solstice is the end of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the end of Autumn in the Southern. If you’re wondering how I reconcile the seemingly opposing energies between the hemispheres, when you’re done here please take a look at The Mirroring of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Year Cycles in Astrology. It may help readers “down under” see how the important points of seasonal change, though opposite in physical manifestation, actually have similar challenges at each point of shift.

The Solstices and Equinoxes are excellent times for looking at what began in the past 90 days, whether new growth or signs of what is ending, what is emerging and what has slipped down the timestream. In any case, the Solstices are points of radical reorientation, whether toward emotional self interest in the Northern Hemisphere or personal power in the Southern.

The next 90 days are in any case a time to decide, consolidate, express, stabilize, and work toward what will shift at the Autumnal Equinox (or the coming of Spring if you’re down under.) The charts for the Summer and Winter Solstices provide guideposts for the symbolic and actual weather that will follow in the 90 days after those points in time, just as charts for the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox each show what will follow in the period after those points in time.

Decan and Element Distribution and the Solstice Jones Pattern

This Summer Solstice chart shows 4 planets in the first decan of their sign, 3 planets in the second decan of their sign, and 3 planets in the third decan of their signs. (Coincidentally, the third decan planets are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto!) This indicates a three month period of activity involving a good balance between the emotional-social focus and the individual-mental and spiritual focus, with a slight preponderance on actional-material levels.

In this chart, we have a balanced distribution between 3 planets in Water, 1 in Air, 3 in Earth, and 3 planets in a Fire sign. That makes this a slightly cooler season with everything balanced except for a deficiency of Air, which is made stronger by it being Mercury in its honme sign of Gemini.

Because all the planets are between late Capricorn and mid-Leo, we are now in an imperfect “Bowl” Jones pattern which leads with Pluto and ends with Mars except when the Moon is between late Virgo and late Sagittarius. We’ll become increasingly aware of divisions in the next season, since the Bowl is always aware of what it contains versus what it doesn’t. Make decisions with an eye to being freed from “social rigidity” while finding fellowship “in an effort to make life freer and happier.”

Dispositors and Solar Aspects

In this chart, we find the Sun and Moon in each other’s signs in a favorable mutual reception. Mercury and Neptune in their home signs, with Venus and Mars ruled by the Sun, Jupiter and Uranus ruled by Venus, Saturn ruled by Jupiter, and Pluto ruled by Saturn. So we have Mercury and Neptune as “standalone dispositors” and the rest of the planets ruled by the Sun/Moon mutual reception, a self-reinforcing loop. As they are in novile, this will be a season of “emergent spirituality” with strong creative-artistic energies prevailing.

At this “turning point in the year,” the most powerful Solar aspects are a long prevailing semisquare from Venus and now Mars, a powerful septile to Jupiter, and a wide forming trine to Saturn. Aspects to the transpersonal triad are a novile to Uranus, a separating square to Neptune, and an exact quincunx to Pluto.

The septile to Jupiter is the most important of these, since it puts us at a reorientation relative to the theme of using “knowledge and skill to meet the demands of a stage yet to come.” Zones most affected are 7-11 Taurus, 29 Gemini-3 Cancer, 20-24 Leo, 12-16 Libra, 3-7 Sagittarius, 25-29 Capricorn, and 16-20 Pisces. If you have something in one of these zones that part of your life will hit a fork in the road this Summer!

The Moon

The Moon rules Cancer, so it's the ruler of the Sun. In this chart we find the Sun and Moon are in a New Moon Lunar phase, indicating the next 90 days are instinctive and will bring some sort of “first growth.” Some of what comes forth will only mature later on down the road of time. This is “the New Born” who embodies the urge to growth. Embrace the new, the heart power, the new strength and/or creativity, and remember this is a turning point and you won’t find what you’re looking for in old approaches or old answers.

The Moon is at 9 Leo where it joins up with Venus and Mars in the same sign, promising a Fire Dance of the highest order this Summer! It’s on a degree of “spiritual Breathwork” to create things of beauty, and has only one affliction, that being a quincunx to Saturn. This implies we may need to return to source during this time of renewals, and tune in to our invisible helpers as we relax into playing a social role we’re comfortable with.

The Moon is extraordinarily favorable in this chart. The novile to the Sun shows emergent spiritual feelings and experiences, the conjunctions to Venus and Mars adds lightness and brightness to our personal atmosphere, the square to Jupiter will help us calm our mind, tune to the Light, repair what needs repair, see the future patterns, and launch a vision. It’s in spiritual aspects with Uranus and Neptune, helping facilitate greater spiritual awareness.

The Moon makes a septile with Mercury which is biseptile Saturn. The Moon is quincunx Saturn, but Venus is triseptile Saturn and sextile Mercury. These incredibly favorable aspects from the Moon septile to Mercury conjunct Venus triseptile Saturn with Mercury biseptile Saturn, we have yet another “fork in the road of destiny” activated these next 13 weeks involving 6-10 Pisces, 27 Aries-1 Taurus, 19-23 Gemini, 11-15 Leo, 2-6 Libra, 23-27 Scorpio, and 14-18 Capricorn.!

This will involve a lot of sectors of our charts. Moon/Venus, Mercury, and Saturn rule Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Capricorn, and Aquarius and any planets we have in these signs. Those planets in turn rule certain houses and maybe planets, adding another level of crucial choices and changes. All we have to do is be clear when reason doesn’t work, and accept the changes as they are leading us to a rebirth through learning source wisdom and dynamic expression.

With Mercury and Venus both making 7th harmonic “destiny producing” aspects, we can expect more irrational events this season. This is a major fork in the road for the entire world, with the test being to cooperate in some collective activity which releases seeds for the future.

Also, as the Moon/Venus, Mercury, and Saturn weave their “7 Pointed Star of Destiny” in their parts of the field, we also see that Mars is biseptile Jupiter, adding yet another 7 zones of crucial choice and change. This impacts 5-9 Taurus, 26-30 Gemini, 17-21 Leo, 9-13 Libra, 1-5 Sagittarius, 23-27 Capricorn, and 14-18 Pisces. Taken with the zones listed for Mercury, Venus, and Saturn, we have fairly frequent action going on. You can bet all of these will be triggered by Mercury and the Sun in August and by Venus through September!

If things don’t make sense, they don’t have to. The only thing that matters is to know how to focus and not get distracted by the craziness in the atmosphere. When we learn how to move gracefully through the irrationality, then we are unmoved by outer disturbances.

Other Important Factors

The North Node shows us the line of greatest development. This one pulls us into a time of allowing natural growth and beauty after an “electrifying” event. This offers us natural fulfillment in simple and enjoyable ways, demonstrated through our ability to join together with others in some sort of “building.”

Because Venus is so strong in Leo, sandwiched between the Moon and Mars on a degree of “putting on the show in a big way,” dare to be an individual on your own terms, enjoying life to the fullest, seeing the power of emotions to create “the art of your life” and find joy in fellowship as you release old social inhibitions. This season should bring some fun into all our lives with Moon conjunct Venus in the sign of love! You can find out how to dance with your inner Venus to bring forth people and experiences you can value and enjoy by getting your copy of my book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.

Venus in Leo is in love with love itself, secure in its own likes and affections on its own terms, and with the aspects described upstream, this is a season of important renewal and returns in our relationships. The book explains how Venus operates in all the signs as well as when it’s retrograde, and why certain signs like other signs or not. This work also offers how Venus changing signs bring changes in our likes and loves, so please get your copy!

This is a season of initiating experience, where we realign with larger or more distant horizons and relationships. This is a time to interact, to explore, to discover, to listen, to communicate and to learn so that we may make informed decisions. Still after all is done, take the time to feel everything you need to feel that makes you remember life is alive, life can be fun and playful, and that “pleasure shared is pleasured doubled.”

The Pluto Factor Past and Present

This is the fifteenth and last Summer Solstice with Pluto in Capricorn. After many years of being an important factor in the Solstice and Equinox charts when it was near the Galactic Center, Pluto has moved on to an entirely different set of aspects with the Sun at these changes of season.

When Pluto was in very late Sagittarius and very early Capricorn, it was squared by the Sun at the Spring and Autumn Equinoctial points, and opposed the Sun at the June Solstice point between 2006-2010. It was close to exact from Dec 2006 through Dec 2009, and June 2010 through Sept 2010. The squares and oppositions of those turning points released a lot of energy, and either blocked or propelled events. Certainly those were seasons of great friction where many seeds were released into our gardens of Life.

Then, just as the Sun no longer made frictional aspects to Pluto during the Solstice and Equinox, Uranus began to make an exact square to Pluto, showing very volatile Plutonic energies in play. This began at the June 2010 Solstice, and except for the December 2010 Solstice, a mundane or actual square remained in play until the March 2016 Equinox. The last time the square happened was the December 2016 Solstice.

At this Summer Solstice, the Sun makes a powerful quincunx to Pluto, showing adjustments and sacrifices for the next 90 days! As mentioned earlier, this powers up themes of making decisions and taking charge, with the need to relieve deep pressures and step back from possessiveness. There may be great spontaneous events and even reunions this Summer, so if called to sacrifice something to have some fun, by all means honor your heart.

Given the Solstice and Equinox charts show the weather patterns to come, the various configurations and weightings give us a huge amount of insight about the season to come. I gave you the outer planet aspects in the recent article on the World Teacher Full Moon of Gemini/Sagittarius, so if you want to see the bigger picture, reference that article.

Onward Into Summer!

This is a transmutational season, with a light and bright dramatic energy as per the Leo stellium, showing the energies which will be dominant for weeks to come. This is a productive season where we can find core knowledge which can serve our expression in the future. Obviously, with 5 planets in the 60+ degree span between Mercury and Mars, mid-Gemini through mid-Leo will be a huge focus of activity wherever these signs are in our charts with Taurus still prominent via Jupiter, Uranus, and the North Node.

Be at ease as you hear your call to renewal, imagine a more abundant future, use knowledge and skill to get ready for something on the way, and awaken to this first sighting of a new day and way of living. This is a season to awaken, to play, to create, to learn, and to have compassion and as much empathy as is appropriate to the moment. With Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto being so strong at the end of their signs, we are in a time of being able to experience a vast connectedness with all other Beings as we prepare for the phenomenal global leap in awareness beginning 2025! This is a time to trust our connection with self, others, the world, and source. While it may get intense from time to time, it’s great for knowing at the core of our Being what life is all about.

Aum, blessings, and Happy Northern Summer and Southern Winter Solstice as we stand on the threshold of a new season of life! Let go of fear, let go of the past, let go of feeling stuck in old limitations, and stay focused on the blessings to come your way that expands your life.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson

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