Midlife Transits

It is what it is. 2010 is a year of changes for Cancer, changes that will happen on their own timetable. Let’s take a look at some of them. Jupiter will move from Aquarius to Pisces this year on the 17th, although sun in Aquarius will keep the Aquarian theme going into February. This heralds changes in joint or marital finances.

On the 15th, there’ll be an eclipse in Capricorn, the sign opposite yours. There was an eclipse in Cancer at the very end of December. This pair suggests changes in relationships, perhaps major changes, such as getting married or engaged. Mercury is also in your relationships sector all month. He goes from retrograde to direct motion right around the time of the eclipse. If things do not seem all that promising when it comes to relationships at the beginning of the month, take heart. That can change quickly at mid-month.

The other moon event of the month is a full moon in Leo, the sign of children, at the very end of January. This could bring minor changes in personal finances or matters relating to your own children.

The big themes of the year have to do with those aforementioned relationships, which are scheduled for something of a transformation, and an emphasis on your solar sector of travel abroad and then changes in your career. The emphasis on travel begins right away. Stay tuned for developments on the career front in the summer.

Every year, the job sector in the Cancer solar chart heats up around Thanksgiving and stays hot until just before Christmas. Maybe you have a job where the holiday season is especially important. Regardless of what industry you work in or what kind of occupational hat you wear, this year is no exception to the busy-on-the-job trend, although I will admit that this year we’re not looking at the best economy we’ve ever had. Still, your job related new moon occurs on the 16th of December, a perfect time to turn over a new leaf in that area. If that doesn’t sound appealing, you could turn over a new leaf in the area of your health and fitness routines.

At the 21st of the December, the focus traditionally shifts to your relationship sector. This is an intense sector of your chart these days (and for many days to come) because Pluto is traveling through it with the intent of gradually transforming your relations with others.

Another annual tradition, your ‘I need a day of rest’ full moon, occurs on the 2nd of December this year. Behave accordingly.

Last but not least, there’s a full moon eclipse in your sign at the very end of December. Since not all eclipses affect all individuals, it is possible nothing will happen. If something does happen, it will affect you directly and will help you define yourself. Greater self-definition often comes from dropping something unnecessary from your life, so that may happen. People are not always pleased to let something go, but what goes at this time was not part of your true essence and has likely been getting in your way.

Okay, let’s start off with the good stuff in what’s overall a rather weird and overloaded astrological month. The sun’s in your job and health sector from the 22nd on. No issues there. In fact, it’s a good time to start healthy new habits to keep from gaining weight during the holidays. (Tip: Eat an apple before heading out to a holiday party. It’s very filling and reduces the urge to munch on everything in sight.)

Speaking of parties, there’s a full moon in your party sector on November 2nd. No issues there. You could host one yourself in fact.

No, it’s right around the middle of the month when everything gets wacko. There’s a new moon in your solar house of falling in love on the 16th, but it’s surrounded by confusing, surprising and downright ugly aspects. It is impossible to say how this will affect your particular situation, but issues are scheduled to arise. In fact, if any sign is likely to be affected by all that’s going on, it’s yours, as you are a cardinal water sign.

There’s a fight between planets in cardinal signs (Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Libra) and a happy trine between planets in water signs (sun in Scorpio and Uranus in Pisces). Not only that, Neptune, Jupiter and Chiron in Aquarius have to square the Scorpio planets, just to make everything more unpredictable. It’s like the good, the bad, and the incomprehensible.

That’s why we’re looking forward to that November 22nd date, when the sun moves into Sagittarius. Things will mostly calm down by then. Mostly.

Mars is still in your sign until the middle of the month. Mars is the planet of desire; while in your own sign, his desire is usually to encourage you to be yourself and stand up for yourself rather than accommodate yourself to the plans of others. He tries add strength to your personality too.

You also have Pluto in the sign opposite yours, and he puts the focus squarely on others. If this all works out exceptionally well, you’ll have plenty of contact with others while maintaining your own integrity and some moxie. If it doesn’t work out well (or if you were born on the first day or so of your sign), then conflicts could ensue until Mars leaves your sign on the 16th. By the way, Pluto has the most effect on marriages or other committed relationships, so those who are merely dating are less likely to be affected.

Mars’s next stop will be your second house of possessions and property. Mars here will be in opposition to Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron in your solar 8th house of stuff like insurance and estates, wills and legacies.  The second half of the month is a good time to get your stuff organized and documented for insurance purposes.

Saturn will also enter Libra at the end of the month, where he’ll turn his eagle eye toward your family life.  But we’ll deal with that later. It’s unlikely to have much of an effect on you until next month, so we’ll leave that aside for the time being.

Tons of mutable action in the skies in September. This isn’t normally a bad thing for Cancer, but the energy is all irritated with itself this month. You may just want to hide in your house and wait for everything to go away. You’ll get a chance to hide in the house when the sun moves into Libra on the 22nd; til then you’ve got some stuff to engage with.

The area of challenge for Cancer has to do with knowledge and beliefs. As challenges go this is not a bad one to have. You can actively work the energy and get a growth spurt by attempting to learn something. Not a big something like Arabic or Japanese but a relatively small month-sized something. Read a book and let the ideas challenge your normal way of looking at something. Re-read a book you read long ago and see how your perspective has changed. That way you’ll be using the energy instead of letting it use you.

Mars is also in your sign this month, all month long. Venus is in Leo until the 20th. Mars loves to spend money. Venus in Leo loves to bring it in. Or maybe it’s vice versa. Either way, if you need more money so you can spend it on stuff, use the energy to go out and get it.

August is money month! The vital and energetic sign of Leo is lit up for most of the month, and in your solar chart, Leo means money and all things related to it. Numerous opportunities are likely to present themselves. Now, I grant you, it may be numerous opportunities to spend money rather than opportunities to bring it in, but hey–we all know how fun spending can be.

If you really do need to increase your cash flow, maybe you could consider having a garage sale or an eBay selling fest. You’ve probably got great taste and a ton of wonderful items around the house that you could exchange for cash if you needed to.

Speaking of money–there’s also Aquarius energy this month. Aquarius in your solar chart relates to other people’s money or joint assets. There’s an eclipse in Aquarius on August 6, and it’s lunar. Lunar eclipses mean getting rid of something or letting go of something that just does not work for you.

An example would be letting go of a seemingly worthy goal to control your husband’s spending. An eclipse can make you realize that is just unrealistic and that the best way to handle things is to give him his own damn account to play with and just keep the real family budget away from his vague and spendthrift habits. Less stress for you; less stress for him. That’s just an example; your results will vary and they may have to do with things like debt or taxes or insurance or even inheritances. But the bottom line is — if it don’t work, let it go.

This year, your birthday month sees a lot planets in fixed signs, plus Saturn in Virgo in your solar third house of daily life.  Earth energy is abundant too, with Pluto in conservative Capricorn and Mars in stubborn Taurus for half the month. Add it all up and you seemingly get a recipe for stable month with slow and deliberate action, with not much change in your routine. But that’s only half the story.

The rest of your solar chart is just rolling right along like a train on greased wheels, not entirely under control. For one thing, we’ve got eclipses this month (July 7 and 22) that affect you and your partner sign of Capricorn. We’ve got Uranus in your solar house of travel, stationing, getting powerful, and then retrograding. We’ve got jumpy Gemini energy bouncing around the sector of your chart that deals with the subconscious mind.

The eclipses indicate rapid personal growth for you, whether you’re in the mood for it or not, often occurring in surprising or even bewildering ways. Partnerships and your love life may be affected too. Uranus in your solar 9th house likes group travel or travel with friends, and it indicates that broadening your horizons in some way could be very beneficial, even if that simply means studying some interesting subject. And the Gemini action indicates that your subconscious mind is percolating with spiritual growth.

The bottom line is that during the next 12 months, you are going to be going a great distance–mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and/or physically. Next year at this time, it will be your career that will be ripe for action and change, but for the moment it is your personal development that is key. If you were born at the very beginning of your sign, the depth and breadth of your growth will be tremendous. All areas of your life will be affected. But even Cancers born later in the sign will be going and growing this year. You’re at a turning point, Cancer–and hopefully that’s good news.

June starts out with your chart in pre-birthday month contemplation mode. You may not feel much like reviewing the year that’s past and gauging your performance, but your chart does. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to cooperate with it. After you’re done reviewing the last 12 months, pick one (just one) major project or goal for the upcoming 12 months and set an intention or wish around it. Then come June 22 (new moon in your sign, yay!) write it down and then put the piece of paper somewhere where you won’t look at it all the time. Then watch your wish magically come true by this same time next year. Couldn’t hurt!

After the 21st, of course, the sun’s in your sign, which means you get to do whatever you want! If you were born around the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, probably no one will be able to stop you from doing what you want. That’s because Uranus is trine your sun all throughout June and July. Actually, from late May to halfway through August. That’s incredible. And incredibly good. Time for that dream trip to Paris maybe?

Saturn’s going direct in Virgo today. Take a look at this post if you want to see what that means in general. Below is information for your particular sun sign.

Here’s an example of how to do a short little horoscope for yourself using keywords. (I have a list of keywords on the Practical Astrology home page. Scroll down to see them.) Also, if this mini horoscope seems off, you can look at the one for your rising sign if you know it.

Okay, so our keyword for Saturn in Virgo is going to be gloomy or gloominess, since that’s what Saturn in Virgo has seemed to bring. If there are people out there not having a gloomy time with the Saturn in Virgo portion of their lives, they’re not telling me about it.

Saturn represents your solar 3rd house. The 3rd house can mean a lot of things, but it often has an effect on the circumstances of your daily life. So let’s say it ‘s just been a gloomy atmosphere around you for awhile. Seems like nothing but one minor bad news message after another. It kinda bums you out. Come the 16th, you say to yourself, I’m tired of being in a semi-bad mood all the time. I’m going to think happier thoughts! And you do. The semi-bad mood kind of lifts.

All the bad news in the world doesn’t necessarily go away, but it stops affecting you as much.

Things like that can happen. Not that exact thing necessarily, but things like that. Again, take a look at Practical Astrology if these keywords don’t suit.

May provides a strange mix of the emotional and the unemotional in terms of influences for Cancerians. This is especially noticeable toward the end of the month when the sun is in non-emotional Gemini and your solar 12th house of the subconscious mind. This energy happens to blend with a big huge glob of energy in your mysterious solar 8th house of deep emotions. In this 8th house will be Jupiter, a planet that often represents joy. So it’s like you can unemotionally analyze some source of deep joy in your life. Kinda strange, but kinda wonderful.

And there are more mysterious dualities afoot. The full moon on the 9th is in Scorpio in your solar 5th house of strangely enough joy. But a full moon in Scorpio often represents sorrow. So are you scheduled to be sorrowfully joyful? Some sweet sorrow, as Shakespeare would say, as you take temporary leave of a lover? Could well be.

I’m hesitant to predict. But it all seems kind of deep and bittersweet and yet detached, as though you have a rare chance to observe yourself feeling your way through life. Unusual month and the unusual vibes continue at least until your birthday, so don’t be too worried if you seem to be living in a dream world for awhile.

There’s a little bit of home-related energy in April, Cancer, at the full moon in Libra on the 9th. But most of the month’s energy revolves around your interactions with the outside world. There’s Aries energy throughout the month. Aries in your solar chart represents how you define yourself in the world, usually through professional or career activities, although any highly visible role will fill the bill.

There’s also a lot of Taurus going on in April, and that has more to do with making a positive contribution to others or society. This can be done through friendships, charity work, donations to worthy causes, working with others in an association or group and so on. The new moon in Taurus occurs on the 24th, a perfect opportunity to turn over a new leaf in this area if you’re of a mind to. The sun and Mercury are also in Taurus from the 19th and 9th respectively.

Put the Aries and Taurus energies together and you get things like a good month to run for office in a professional association, club, or other organization that could help you increase your stature. Mercury is also good for things like socializing with one’s siblings. If you haven’t had a chance to catch up with yours lately, April might be the time to do so. Yet another use of the month’s energy would be to join an exercise group or class (Aries loves exercise, Taurus in your chart loves groups, Mercury loves classes!).

There’s also a bit of Pisces energy in the air, still. (Mars, Venus for a couple of weeks, and Uranus). Pisces represents your solar chart’s attempts to make plans for the future. Around the 17th, there’s a combination of Mars and Uranus energies in this sign that could really goose up your energy as far as boosting your resolve and determination to stick with whatever plans for the future want to make.

There’s a new moon in Aries on March 26, Cancer, and it opens up a world of opportunity for you. Or at least it should. Aries represents the most visible, public, and career-oriented part of your solar chart, and it is associated with happy things like getting a promotion at work. A new moon represents…well, the start of something new in the sector in which it falls. So new visibility or new career beginnings would be a pretty decent shorthand for the new moon in your solar 10th house.

But it’s not like your career and public visibility energy starts on March 26; no, it’s in play all month. That’s because Venus is spending an incredibly long time in Aries this year, thanks to a handy retrograde motion. Venus is actually in your solar career house from February 4th to June 6 this year, with a short break in the middle for it to dip back into Pisces.

So the party’s already started and in March it’s just that some additional guests arrive. There’s the sun coming in on March 20, Mercury on March 25 and then the new moon on March 26. Mars will also eventually enter this sector, too, although not until later in April. Bottom line: set your career intentions around the new moon and get pleasantly serious about implementing them this year.

Next order of business: a whole ton of Aquarius energy. This energy puts emphasis on your solar 8th house of the past, and it’s in play all month too. Mercury starts the month in this sector, along with Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron. That’s quite a crowd in one itsy-bitsy sign.

One implication is that you have an opportunity now to think about your past and get certain things straightened out in your mind. Another implication, pertinent to the entrepreneurial among you, is that the 8th house energy and the 10th house energy could combine to have you dealing thoughtfully with credit or tax matters as the month opens. You could be paying down debt, restructuring it, or angling for new lines of credit. Whatever your situation, you are in far better astrological shape than most signs when it comes to the twin matters of debt and taxes.