Cancer season is traditionally a time for reunions, spinning yarns, and nesting.  It's a good time to grow stronger in your own blood and soil -- the power of your ancestry, and if you're lucky, a sense of place where you were raised.  This is an antidote to the throwaway culture that bops from one drama to the next.  

Dig deep!  I plan to get back to my story, one that I've been working on since mid-April, but that is in danger of dying from neglect.  This is a month for nurturing those creative babies, and real ones.  I've got lots of babies in my aviary -- 3 mockingbirds, a grackle and a mourning dove.  

And just in time, I have a family vacation to St. Augustine planned to meet up with family.   It's the oldest city in America and has had five flags (five nations), almost as many as Texas, which has had six flags.  

This makes me think of that word nation, and its etymology, from nasci, to 'be born."  

​nation (n.) 
c. 1300, from Old French nacion "birth, rank; descendants, relatives; country, homeland" (12c.) and directly from Latin nationem (nominative natio) "birth, origin; breed, stock, kind, species; race of people, tribe," literally "that which has been born," from natus, past participle of nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci), from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.

We're heading toward America's birthday, July 4th, which is also my birthday (!), and I reflect on this question, "what is a nation?"  What kinds of societies come from globalism, and what kind come from preserving those unique regional cultures or nations?  

Astro-wise, Mars in Cancer (June 4th to July 20th), and this means the motivation is toward the very personal, and what naturally flows out of your emotional and ancestral history.  

The Sun goes into the sign of the Crab on the 20th, then Mercury on the 21st.  

One way to look at Jupiter and 7th House is how you know yourself by way of responses you get -- out there.  And what a strange time we live in with avatars and timelines, where the self-image is almost an abstract thing -- out there on the 'net.  

It's a time when you might make a comment, like my husband did the other day on my uncle's Facebook timeline, and not get a response back.  He shrugged it off, but we both take note of that kind of thing, and how odd it it, such a divergent etiquette than the way things used to be pre-social media.  

The usual give and take has somehow given way to new rules, I guess because social media has become a kind of soap box or personal pr machine, where responses are optional. There's also a 'look at me' theme, with so many wanting to be seen, heard, 'liked,' but all at the same time.   

Having that door open to a response takes energy, and that's one reason I don't like the format of Facebook with dangling remarks that are never answered, or sharp exchanges with cousins that are not resolved in person.  

Now this is a wild sync, because as I check my own writing on Jupiter in Libra (for ThoughtCo, formerly About.com), I see I wrote about 'The Facebook.'  

• The Facebook Launched (2004) -- With the stated goal of expanding social networks, this synced with a Jupiter in Libra year, and everybody started collecting "friends."  

Does this all lead to a sense of being fractured energetically, and having lots of loose ends?  Symbolically with Jupiter this year, it's one of growing through the give and take, especially with one other.  But it can also be your self-image, and learning from the responses you get. 

Jupiter Libra can bring out that question, who are your real friends?  One of my friends is about to turn 50 (and so am I!) and her daughter is asking for memories for her birthday celebration.  It's really got me thinking about her and me, and our close friendship since we were at least 10, but I think before that.  

And recently I was really wondering, what does she think of who I've become, and things that happened over the years?  It's those people that really, really know you, that have always known you, that are the most profound mirrors of who you are, and who you've become.  I think it would take time, and maybe some glasses of wine (he he) to get to the heart of that question, as our paths diverged in many ways.  

There are those whose opinions of us matters more than others.  That's part of the Libra dance, too, isn't it?  Everyone reads us from their own perception, and that's part of what we can weigh, to take what's of value in their responses, and leave the rest!  

I've never really liked strawberries unless they're buried in a dessert like the one shown here.  I like though that June 9th's big one is the Strawberry Moon, as I'm a fan of eating in season.  It was named by the Alqonquin, and adopted by European settlers in America..  Read more about the Strawberry Moon in the Farmer's Almanac.

So it's at 18 degrees Sagittarius, and that means the Sun is opposite in Gemini.  Here are some themes to ponder:  

• Knowledge and the elevation of truth as an ideal.  
• Instincts, passion, vitality and what lights the fire.
• Keeping your eyes on the target aspirations, while being open to the new and relevant.  Great time to re-set your aim, of what's most important.
• Goals for health, especially increasing endurance.

It's my sense that the biggest threat to me and all of us is social engineering, like the staged hoaxes and orchestrated campaigns to shape mass behavior and perception.  This seems to be sending many over the edge.  It's a threat to our health, sanity and even physical survival.  

What's helped me is gaining knowledge about social engineering, and doing what I can to shield myself from it.  More and more truth is thought to be 'relative' and fluid, and social engineers work 24-7 to massage perception, bending it for certain ends.  

In logic, there's the truism that there are no contradictions in nature.  And what we see in the synthetic reality being imposed is constant and relentless contradictions.

I find it takes discipline to use critical thinking skills, common sense and to avoid being drawn into the latest faux drama designed to keep whole populations in a state of trauma.  There's that saying that the truth sets you free, and I've found that's true in my life.  

There are many traps of heart, mind and spirit, and the Strawberry Moon is one for firming up resolve to not be distracted by the manufactured chaos.  It's a pretty good one for making a collage or take a committed step toward an aspiration (with Saturn close by).

Gemini and Sagittarius are also to do with being part of the sharing of what you know.  And that makes it one for being a presence, finding the humor in a situation, taking bits and pieces and forming a new collage or phrasing or framing.  

Some might think of travel under this Moon, or see a spike in curiosity, that can open up a new pathway.  I note that Jupiter (Sag's ruling planet) is still retrograde in Libra, so keep that in mind if you're in a swirling eddy of inertia, or finding it hard to get a response from others.  Jupiter turns direct though with the Full Moon (June 9th), so let's see if things shift, especially in Libra matters (relationships, fair play / legal case, biz partnerships, beautification plans, etc).  

Feel free to leave a comment, say hi or give your thoughts on the Strawberry Moon.

References for Victory over Social Engineering:

Gnostic Media.com - Jan Irvin covers it all, and has great info on the Trivium, the restoration of critical thinking.  

This may be jumping into the deep end for newbies, but check out Mass Hypnosis and Trigger Words.
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​I hope you all are hanging in there, in these upside down times.  I've been busy with the bird season (wildlife rehabilitation) and setting up our roadside produce stand.  See more pictures from the garden below.

To be honest, we haven't had a ton of visitors yet, but those that have stopped by are those that appreciate how hard it is to grow organic food, and are able to take the time for a face-to-face encounter in our automated world.  And just like with readings, I know I attract quality over quantity and that's the way I like it.  

​I'm eager to do more readings, as I've really missed it.  I'm offering an early Summer Special, to Fall Equinox.  This can be given as a gift, or as a treat for yourself.   

​Click below to sign up for a one hour session at $50, and email me at wildbeegrove@hush.com to set up a time.  

You can request a straight up astrology session, or Tarot or both.  All readings include some psychic flashes and surprises, and of course, encouragement.  

I recently saw a documentary on the heart that had me in tears toward the end, and reminded me of something big.  It's called Heart vs Mind - What Makes us Human?

A really handsome reporter seeks to answer the question about which is more important, the mind or the "little brain," the heart.  In his intro, he proposes that instead of becoming a soulless culture, we've become a heartless culture.

He looks at the Ani papyrus (above) at the British Museum, with the Egyptian theology of weighing the heart against a feather, representing Ma'at or the goddess of truth.  I've always found this compelling, and it got me wondering about the price we pay for living a lie.  Even when we're only unconsciously succumbing to programming that's part of the culture of deceit.  

This Leo eclipse is one to break through entrancement or thought matrices that are not aligned with the heart.  A big one at the moment is the divide and conquer political reality show that's wasting a lot of peoples' vital energies.  I see the constant newsfeed of division,
including race baiting, as a tactic to keep people from looking at the continuity of a more long term plan unfolding.  

As American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks said in an interview I did with him back when Obama got in, same train tracks and destination, different conductor.  He talked back in 2010 about how young people "went to sleep, very complacent...Internet savvy, Twitter savvy, Facebook savvy and that's where their social interaction is, and in the meantime, the reality is going on in this country and nobody is saying anything about the war."  

This is also good commentary in my opinion - Trump's New World Order.

It's a trap that's been created, for this phase of a long range plan.  On the upside, the unveiling continues, with more awakening to what's fake, and that can lead to a more freer, more authentic way of living.  One of my favorite resources for developing the critical thinking skills to know what's true and what's false is Jan Irvin's Gnostic Media.  

It's been an important part of my own journey to realize that as Irvin says often "mysticism is the tool of tyrants," and even what we know as the New Age has shadow players and goals in it.  There was a time when I was very steeped in magical thinking, and that, like virtual reality-based living, is one way to lose touch with physical reality.  

If there's a role for me to play as an advisor now, it's likely to be to help others build confidence in their knowledge and to help suss out their own truthful path in the real, nature-based dimension.    

Leo Blast of Sunshine

This Leo eclipse (23 degrees) is symbolically a blast of sunlight, to give a charge to what's true.  Fire, fevers, the Sun -- these all burn off the foggy confusion.  

The Sun and Moon sync with sparky Uranus Aries for outbursts that are perhaps long overdue.  The luminaries are also at a fine angle to Saturn in truth telling Sagittarius.  

Chaos is a trigger word being used by the psy-op media.  But if chaos is the atmosphere we find ourselves in, let's create our own natural order, based on the heart, and its knowing.

Breaking the Spell

The Leo Eclipse is a blast of the Sun and living color.  It can break the trance of the seductive and enveloping virtual, largely synthetic culture, that's grabbing so much of our attention.  In an article called Trapped in the Net, David Thrussel writes on the Obesity of the Mind:  

"In the clamour to advertise in every mental space (and monetise every social interaction), we are fast losing the room to think, be creative, be playful – to ponder."

That's exactly what the Leo eclipse breaks open -- the room to be creative, playful and to ponder.  To scramble a habit that has you jumping online or staying hooked in to the virtual distractions all day.  

I can't say I don't struggle with this myself, because I live in a rural place, and the 'net is my bridge to the wider world.  Sometimes I really do feel addicted.  The net has changed my life and allows me to work from home and connect with folks from around the world.  How amazing is that?  

And yet, I know instinctively that something profound has been lost since I was young and it has to do with the de-animation of real life.  My husband and I watched this video last night by a young guy called The Lie We Live about this very thing.  

A message of the video (which has images of factory farming, so caution is advised) is that we each have a choice and we can choose to break the entrancement.  The only thing I take issue is the familiar blaming of humanity for doing this to ourselves.  Yes, there is choice, and yet, there are massively empowered forces at work driving humanity toward these calamities for their own "order out of chaos" ends.

The Real and the Unreal 

I'm definitely at a crossroads with this very theme, as I spend less time online and more time preparing for the produce stand we're planning on the farmlet.  I'm also going into my third season of bird rehabbing and have an expanded aviary for doves.  

I also plan to shift away from astrology, and it abstractness, in sessions.  I'm not sure yet how that will take shape.  In all honesty, I've never seen myself as an astrologer, and it's time that it take its rightful place as a thoughtful add-on, or astrology lite.  Yes, I know astrology to a certain level, but I see it as a energetic matrix to be considered loosely, not as the end all be all.  See that image below?  That's me and astrology with Saturn crossing my Midheaven, ending a phase.      

And yet, I have a strong sense of wanting to serve, to be a guide and use my experience and knowledge in this way.  It's cathartic to be truthful -- that I'm an astro lightweight, and a heavyweight when it comes to a passion for truth, and living it.     

I think my gifts are to do with awakening the inner knowing, and helping others live their truth, particularly with life calling.  I'll be looking at a simple way to change what I'm offering by Spring Equinox.  

So 'til next time, thank you for your very valuable attention, and I welcome comments or questions below.  

A DIY quick tip, is to have a ponder on Saturn as the trunk, and Jupiter is the encouragement to climb.  

There are two ways you can look at this:

• Saturn and Jupiter in your own Chart.
• Transiting Saturn and Jupiter, in the Houses of your Chart.  

In 2017, Saturn and Jupiter both change Zodiac signs.  

• Jupiter in Libra to October 11th, then in Scorpio  
• Saturn in Sagittarius to December 21st (Winter Solstice) 

I see Saturn in Sagittarius as really inspiring everyone to discern between what's fake and what's real, i.e. "fake news."  This is a tough one in a media environment that's all-over-the-place and much of it steeped in disinformation.  I predicted the rise of independent media, and with trust in Mainstream media at a historic low (30%), there's a hunger for trustworthy info framed in a way that's coherent.

Saturn in Sagittarius exercises the intuitive capacity "to know" truth from falseness, and begin to trust that sense.  And to catch the excitement -- and sense of stability -- that comes with adapting to expanding awareness.    

I wonder if Jupiter in Libra is upping that sense that "beauty will save the world*."  I look forward to Jupiter into Scorpio in October, and it comes in the days before Samhain, for some mysterious journeys and revelations.  

You can look at how transiting Saturn aspects your planets, and which House, for the trunk.  And in what way Jupiter is encouraging you to climb.  

If you'd like me to look at this in your chart, I'm bringing back the 1/2 Hour Reading, and offering it at a sliding scale rate -- see Readings.  I have more time to do Readings, and possibly on the same day by phone or mp3.  

I saw this old oak recently in Jacksonville, FL, where there's a park built around it, down by the St. John's River.  The branches have on them resurrection ferns, an amazing plant with superpowers. They can survive extreme drought and there's a cool time-lapse of them coming back to life on that link.  


*Dostoyevsky Quote

This Wintertide has been my most more Yule-y ever, and this nearly the last night of the Twelve Nights of Yule starting with Winter Solstice, going to January 1st.  

I had three owl happenings, with the first being this card (above) from my mentor Pat, the longtime bird rehabbing mentor in Savannah, who happens to be in her eighties.  She took this of a Grey-Phased Screech Owl she rescued in 2016.  

The second was hearing an actual owl on Christmas Eve, which was so amazing, and rare.  
There were two, so it was a call and response.

​The third happening was getting a gift of an owl fixture for our house-in-progress from my friend Kathy.  

The Owl is Cailleach-oidhche in the Druid Oracle, a totem of "detachment, wisdom, change."  The Cailleach is familiar of the crone or hag-godess, and a messenger of death.  I saw one swoop down in Druid Hills of Atlanta, when my father was in his last days.  

From the Oracle:  For most birds, the coming of darkness renders it impossible for them to feed, but the owl's exceptional hearing enables it to pick out and swoop on unsuspecting prey during the night. Twilight has been described as owl-light, and going for a quiet walk in the woods at this shimmering time of twilight is an excellent way to develop a sensibility to the Otherworld and the inner soul of Nature."  

The Winter is a time of long nights, when twilight ends the day almost as soon as it starts.  The owl-light begins the long night of dreaming and tuning in to the Otherworld.  Perhaps that was the message of the Yule owl, who came to me this season!  Best Wishes to You...  

Yule Selection:  

​Wild Hunt 2 Cosmic Yule:  Odin, Thor, Santa and the Julbock - Odinia.org (Seana Fenner)

Greetings!  It's starting to get cozy, with Fall breezes even here in the Deep South.  The recent hurricane brought home the power of the air + water elements at their extremes.  Even great oaks with their massive root systems were brought down in some places.    

Right now, I'm researching for an article on Samhain, with a book called The Stations of the Sun:  A History of the Ritual Year in Britain.  It's by Ronald Hutton, a rather serious historian, who clears up the convergence of the Catholic All Saint's Day and some of the folk traditions of Ireland and Wales.  Look for that on About.com.

With the winding down of the year, I'm also winding down readings....

I sense things are coming to a natural close with readings, so act now if you're really wanting my take on your chart or transits.    

With our off-grid situation, I offer them as an mp3 on the Readings Page.  It's not ideal, and I know a lot of the magic is in the give and take of the moment.  

My own path feels very in-between, with so much chaos in the psycho-sphere, and wanting to stay real and move away from "magical thinking."  I sense it's important to be alert, and question everything, and avoid the overly abstract expression of astrology, or seeing its symbology as set-in-stone.    

That's why I'm wanting to ground my writing in the solar year, and its celebrations, rooted in the traditions of the European folk.  I still see value in astrology as a tool for finding shape for life purpose, and as a mirror of inner character.

I hope you are enjoying the cozy comforts of the season, and finding some peach and vigor too, in this wild time at the edge.