Walking The Labyrinth, Droid Snapshots, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, June 2011, photo © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
The July Sun boils. Tomorrow may hit 100 degrees. It’s the heart of Summer in Minnesota, when deep Winter dwellers finally allow themselves to emerge from their cabin cocoons to frolic in the grass and spend intimate time with family and friends. The shadow of the July Thunder Moon will rise at 3:54am on July 1st. This New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse in the watery depths of Cancer offers an opportunity to enhance and transform relationships, and release outdated emotional patterns that might be holding us back. This is especially true of family relationships, since the sign of Cancer is rooted in home and family ties.
The partial eclipse also opposes the expansiveness of the planet Pluto, emphasizing the need for transformation of old patterns and routines. The Midsummer eclipse is a time of healing wounds, and setting intentions that allow us to work with old habits in new ways. There will be surprises that will jolt us awake and leave an opening for the clarity we need to move forward.
Be safe and have a good July 4th Holiday. Venus transits into the sign of Cancer on July 4th, calling out the feminine. Walk a labyrinth. Pay attention to the Sun, Stars, Moon, and Sky. The Earth will love you for it. Here’s an eclipse ritual I found in Llewellyn’s Sabbats Almanac. I thought it might be a good way to dive into the eclipse of a Midsummer night’s dream.
∞ Cancer Eclipse Ritual ∞
Think of a particular relationship or issue from the past that has been lingering or holding you back. Write a letter to the person (or people) involved that relays your honest feelings and emotions. Describe how you would like this situation or issue to change and what you need to feel better about it. Then, on the day of the New Moon, go to the ocean or find a stream, lake, or other body of water where you can be relatively private. Read your letter aloud to the spirit of the water and ask this spirit to help guide your message to the right place to allow you to heal, transform, and be free of these feelings that you have been holding on to.
-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, June 30th, 2011, Eve of a New Moon in Cancer Solar Eclipse
-related to posts: ode to a crab — haiku & mandala, Mandala For The 5th Element — The Role Of Ritual In Our Lives, World Labyrinth Day, Winter Solstice — Total Eclipse Of The Moon, winter haiku trilogy, November Frost BlackBerry Moon, Winding Down — July 4th Mandalas, Squaring The Circle — July Mandalas (Chakras & Color), The Shape Of July — Out Of Darkness Comes Light, Here’s To Rain On The 4th Of July
Hello QM,
Just back from Carcassonne, France (Cathar country) and it was very beautiful. Not going to make it across to see the wee bear family this year – maybe next year. Fingers crossed X
My Mum’s birthday is on the 4th of July, she’ll be 80. I was feeling so down about her being in the nursing home and SO angry at my sisters for putting her there… then I read your post. I’m having a tea for her on Sunday afternoon, her two sisters will be there and I’m going to make the most of it and make sure they all have a great time (I might even get them to walk a labyrinth!) At midnight I’m going to write down everything I’ve been feeling and thinking over the past year, take it down to the river and give it up to Ione and her water nymphs to carry it away…
Thank you for being there just when I need it,
Annie
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Thanks for this post. I need to do some letter writing and get down to the river, maybe I’ll head for the creek instead and do some reading and releasing.
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annie, wow, that sounds so exotic — Carcassonne, France. I was just thinking about you today, annie, and wondering how you were doing. I am sending good energy your way. And to your mother and sisters. Sounds like a tough situation. I, too, have some family things I want to write down in a letter tonight. I plan to also write in the wee hours of the morning. I think I might go to bed and get up at the height of the eclipse. I like that silence. I don’t know why it is that families can be so hurtful to each other. Or maybe I can understand that part. Maybe the part I don’t understand is that people don’t ever go back and talk about it, apologize, say they are sorry, love, let go. They carry all that around for the rest of their lives. I used to be more like that. It’s really hard to forgive when you are in the middle of something emotionally hard.
I went to see Krista Tippett (NPR’s Speaking of Faith, then On Being host) last week and one thing she talked about was how the Virtues anchor our Spirituality. But some of the Virtues are very difficult — like Forgiveness. Forgiveness sometimes happens over generations. And the hurt can be carried down for generations, too. Inter-generational healing takes a lot of time but is very important to the thread of families, to love. At least, that’s what I think. In a nutshell, things like being hospitable and kind to people in the day to day might be a lot easier than forgiving those who have hurt us. Say Hi to the Water Nymphs on your side of the planet. I’ll be thinking about you tonight.
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Bob, I’m so glad you might do this with me. If you do, I’d love to know what body of water you visit. I was thinking about that here in Minnesota. We have lots of lakes. But I like the idea of reading my letter over the Mississippi River and letting it carry it where it needs to go.
When the Gulf Oil Spill happened, a friend invited a circle of people over to do a ritual of healing. One of the things we did was send our blessings and prayers out into the waterways nearby. She literally carried the water from the circle and poured it into the pond that led eventually down to the Gulf. It was very powerful. In a world where it feels like we have so little control over the ability to help those in need, sometimes a wing and a prayer may help more than we know.
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I love this ritual idea. It’s hard to think of just one person. I may have to address several in one letter. Water is large, flexible and spacious, so I am certain it will be able to hold all of them. The place where I work is next to Lake Washington in Seattle. I plan to head down there on my lunch break to talk with the water.
How was the early morning time for you? 4:00am, right?
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Teresa, some interesting developments on this letting go ritual process. I did not write on this in the middle of the night like I planned. I found myself avoiding it Thursday night. Went to bed about 2:30am and did not wake up.
So I ended up doing it yesterday when I got home, about 6pm. I wrote the letter and found that I’m not yet in the forgiving stages of the person I am writing to. I am still angry and in the thick of some of it. It’s a good first start to write the letter. I learned where I am and what I need to feel resolved with it.
It doesn’t mean we will get what we need from the person we are writing to. They may not be capable of it. But I can learn what I need for myself to be able to learn to let go. Often I have found I have to move on without the other person being involved at all.
I am going to go to the river over the weekend and read my letter. Let the Mississippi carry it where it needs to go. It felt good to write. I’m not all that comfortable with the amount of anger I feel about it. But that’s where I am. Hope it goes well with your letters.
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annie, Bob, & Teresa, this is the spot by the Mississippi River where I read my letter this afternoon. I stood on the rock and read it aloud, let the wind and water carry it where it needed to go. I have to admit, it wasn’t that easy to read it and to know that I feel the way I do. But there it is. There is something powerful about rituals like this. Some kind of opening happens, at the same time something breaks. Will see where it carries me.
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I love this suggestion thank-you. Where have I been I think now. Keeping up writing practice but forgetting about the wonderful inspiration and often relief I feel when I visit Red Ravine. I’m late, but I look forward to this practice in the next couple of days. Thankyou,
Craig
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Craig, thank you so much for your kind words. I hope your practice went well. It does my heart good to know that some find inspiration & relief here. Relief is a good word for what I feel when I slow down, read, and respond to readers on red Ravine. It just doesn’t feel like there are that many places that move like the Turtle anymore. This place might be one of them. Hope you’ll stop by again.
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Teresa reminded me on the haiku piece that it’s the Full July Moon. It’s in Capricorn, a toast to the balance between home and work. Here’s a link to her Moon haiku (LINK).
It also made me remember that I wanted to come back to this piece and mention that Uranus went retrograde on July 9th and will remain in retrograde for 5 months. Here’s what the Sabbats Almanac says:
Hmmm. Sounds about right.
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