June is Asking Us To Be Brave

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].

Courtney Chandrea:
Hello everybody, welcome to the Nightlight Astrology Podcast. Today we're going to be doing an overview for the month of June, unpacking the astrology of the month.

Usually, with these overview podcasts, you'll see four of us here. If you haven't noticed, there's someone missing today. Adam's been super busy at the end of this month of May, getting, you know, this is when we record the June overview at the end of May.

He's been preparing for Norwac, preparing for the Nightlight retreat in Mexico in June, and also promoting a new book. So today you have myself, Courtney Shandra, along with my colleagues Sharzad and Bianca, will be covering this month for you.

We've got some big movements taking place this month. There's a Venus opposition to Pluto. We've got Mars moving into Gemini, which will eventually end up with a Mars-Uranus conjunction looking into July.

We've got Jupiter moving into Leo for the year, so some big things starting to kick off and take place here. So today we're going to unpack all of this for you and start to reflect on what sorts of shifts and changes may come around these transits.

Before we dig in, remember to like and subscribe the channel, it does a lot of help for this community, and speaking of the Nightlight community, if you would like to soak your roots in a little bit deeper, you can head over to NightlightAstrology.com where you'll find free daily meditations.

Adam's new book, The Oracle Speaks, is available now, and in terms of growing your educational roots, astrologically speaking, there are a couple of really great programs beginning in the month of June, as well.

We've got year one starting ancient astrology for the modern mystic, and then we've also have horary beginning in June, and both of these programs, depending on where you are in your own astrological journey, you know, year one for starting out and horary for more advanced learners.

Both of these programs are really fun. They're some of my favorite programs that Nightlight has to offer. So I definitely recommend checking those out. Now we can pop up the chart and take a look at some of the movements taking place this month. Can you see that, guys?

Bianca Selene:
Yeah, I can. Yeah,

Courtney Chandrea:
looks good. So, just before we kick off the actual transits of the month, you'll notice on the first of June we've got Mercury moving into the sign of Cancer.

We're not going to unpack this as a proper transit, but it's a significant thing to look at, especially since there's going to be lots of really interesting developments for Mercury there in the sign of Cancer this month.

We'll jump ahead to the third of June, and Shahrazad will take us off covering Mercury square to Neptune in Aries.

Shahrzad:
Yeah, I was thinking about Mercury in Cancer. Adam is not here, but I'm going to talk about Mercury in Cancer a little bit, and then get into what the square might mean with Neptune in Aries.

So, Mercury moving through Cancer, it feels like that shift from abstract logic goes to intuitive and emotional processing, and it feels like during this transit, information will be more than just information, more than data.

It is something that we feel and filter through our personal memories and sense of safety. We're thinking about Mercury in the house of the moon, like a lunar theme to Mercury. Here it feels like our communication becomes more lunar, making us more sensitive to the underlying mood or energy of a conversation, rather than just the words being spoken.

With Mercury in Cancer, this is a good time that we are maybe less interested in objective facts and more drawn to nostalgic things, heritage, emotional roots, lunar themes of our current situation.

It's also an ideal window for heart to heart conversations, reflective journaling, maybe, or revisiting the past to find a deeper sense of understanding. And then this is square to Neptune in Aries.

One thing that came to my mind with this transit was maybe feeling like a discontent where you can't enjoy the comfort of your home or situation, because you're thinking about a better version. What if that could be this way?

What if that image of something better could make us feel maybe not happy in the moment? Also maybe indirect conflict, putting aside the actual issue while using emotional withdrawal or fluctuating moods as a defense wall.

That Neptunian shadow adds to this indirectness, increasing misunderstanding and tension. So that's something to be mindful, because this is a square, so it is of the nature of tension here.

You might also feel like an urge to act and say what you want to say, but instead of a direct way, that energy might not be easy to flow. It's easy with this transit to misread the room and assume you know what others are thinking, while that might not necessarily be true.

We might find ourselves making decisions based on impulse or a feeling rather than grounded in reality. So, just make sure the decisions that we make with this Mercury Neptune square are grounded in reality, because our mind might be soaking up the mood and that big idea that we feel inside.

Those feelings can trick you into thinking that we need to take actions based on those feelings, but it's good to just consider before making a conversation or starting something new: ask, is this something grounded, or am I chasing something that might be just because of how I feel in this moment. So that's what I have for this transit.

Bianca Selene:
I really liked your delineations there, Shahrazad. I was thinking about Mercury being emotionally intelligent, and then Neptune in Aries. One other way that I was thinking about this was that, with the square dynamic, it's kind of like a dynamic shift of something, or a breaking down of walls.

This could be some kind of emotional intuitive hit that bypasses logic and breaks down a wall, that Neptunian dissolution of walls, and there could be some realizations that come through at this time. I thought that was another thing that came to mind when you were speaking.

If we are all okay, I can move on to the Venus and Jupiter conjunction on the ninth. If you guys are all good with that,

Courtney Chandrea:
sounds great.

Bianca Selene:
Cool. On the ninth of June we have this beautiful contact with Jupiter and Venus. I think of the benefics as not always automatically producing something of virtue, but producing increase, like a basic increase of something, and that's more geared towards the Jupiter significations.

Whatever already exists expands, so if there is love it grows, if there is pleasure or wealth it grows, appetite grows, and attachment grows. So the conjunction may reveal where nourishment turns into excess.

On a personal level, it could be: what are you feeding, and what feeds you back? Can abundance circulate, or must it be possessed? This is happening in the third decan of Cancer, this conjunction at the 25th degree.

The third decan of Cancer could indicate that there might be a confrontation with excess and attachment or power or privilege, and so the shadow side is the shadow side of protection and comfort.

This decan asks whether abundance will be used to nurture and protect life, or whether it becomes entangled with greed, control, and emotional possession. What becomes especially important here is that the host of this conjunction, the moon, is in the first decan of Aries ruled by Mars.

Beneath all of this is a fiery lunar impulse to push forward, and there is this independence and raw power. So there's an interesting tension happening here, where Cancer seeks security preservation and emotional merging, while the Aries moon acts like a pioneer surveying the horizon, driven by instinct and ambition.

A positive expression of this transit could look like emotionally courageous leadership, protective action, or the willingness to fight for what nourishes life. There is a shadow form here. The combination could inflate a conquest mentality, emotional impulsiveness, defensiveness, or the belief that one's desires or loyalties justify domination or exclusion.

So this is just some thoughts. I know the monthly horoscope girls are talking about this conjunction in detail, so I wanted to do a different spin on it. Hopefully this gives you guys some alternative ideas of how this might feel at this time of June. So that's what I have.

Courtney Chandrea:
That was great. Moving forward to June 10, we have Mercury in Cancer squaring Saturn in Aries. I love that both you, Sharzad, and Bianca have unpacked this dynamic between Cancer and Aries, because that's a really important one this spring.

Working from that groundwork, one thing that I'm noticing within this context with Mercury here in Cancer is all of the interesting leg work that Mercury has been doing in the feminine sign so far this year.

There is that watery retro period that took place in Pisces in early spring, that cazimi in Taurus that took place just last month, and now this month in June, Mercury will be stationing retrograde here in Cancer.

We're not there yet, but looking towards that retrograde moment in Cancer, we might begin to unpack some of this work that Mercury is doing first as it squares Saturn here, in the wake of that Mercury Neptune square, as well.

I've been seeing all of these mercurial dynamics, this cultivation and reworking of intelligence, communicability, and processes in places known for things like intuition, the body, the emotions, as necessary counterpoints to all the volatile dynamics involving the outer planets this year.

As huge shifts are taking place on the level of global structures and paradigm, we need these finer movements of information collecting and process building, as directed by Mercury, to maintain a degree of intelligibility in our bodies, in our ordinary human relationships, in our spirits.

With this square taking place between Mercury in Cancer and Saturn in Aries, we may be experiencing some friction around this lunar Mercury, as Shahrazad has already done a really excellent job unpacking for us, and this Saturn in Aries, which may be bringing up themes around corruption and authority, collapses in boundaries and structures, and perhaps most importantly, new beginnings around our responsibility complexes, and a fresh understanding of what maturity even means.

The square between Mercury and Saturn may push us towards developing clear and concise language around the needs of the body, the emotions, mothers and children, or the home, in the face of navigating greater structures that are unwilling or unable to support these things.

Perhaps this looks like small-scale systems or individual minds taking on the brunt of these needs, as the gaps supported by our old structures grow larger and larger. As this responsibility shifts into the dexterous hands of Mercury, our understanding of the problems might become clearer and more complex.

Our ability to articulate and advocate for them might become clearer, which may play a really significant role in how that sense of responsibility and structure is shifting for Saturn as well.

Bianca Selene:
I really like that, Courtney. I was thinking about this Mercury square Saturn aspect. I know Adam has this in his natal chart, Mercury square Saturn. I have this in my natal chart. I love how Liz Greene writes about this Mercury Saturn contact as carrying the sense that communication has weight to it and that thoughts don't just flow easily. It's like a psychological restriction.

It's almost like these thoughts have to bypass some internal scrutiny before they can be expressed. For a lot of people, this time may look like difficulty finding the words for what they're feeling, or feeling emotionally blocked, or second guessing whether they're allowed to express certain needs at all.

I've had that challenge in my life too. I think the tension could feel very familiar to people trying to explain emotional realities in environments, as you mentioned, that don't really make space for them, trying to communicate care or exhaustion or grief while feeling like the world demands efficiency and resilience, like there's no space for this.

I really appreciate what you shared. Liz Greene's way she describes Mercury Saturn contact brought that up for me. So,

Courtney Chandrea:
I think that's going to flavor the retrograde moment that's coming up later this month really well too. These are all good things to be paying attention to as we move through, to bring with us into that retrograde period.

Moving on, on June 13, we'll see Venus ingressing into Leo, and then the day afterwards, we have a new moon in Gemini. Shahzad, will you head us off with that one?

Shahrzad:
Sure. This Gemini new moon, I just don't see it as a very typical Gemini nature. We see that the ruler Mercury is in Cancer, and it just feels like there's a private resolution theme to this. Uranus is also co-present in Gemini.

I'm thinking of aha moments with this new lunar cycle. The host Mercury being in a water sign, maybe that breakthrough with this new moon isn't a public announcement. It's more a deep internal realization about your history, your family, your hidden self.

Maybe you're learning to speak the language of intuition, noticing that most powerful truths are felt rather than shouted or put out there. I see this new moon as the opportunity to learn that the most sacred things are actually the things that we can share with other people.

Since we have time, I'm going to share a brief story by Attar of Nishapur, a 12th century Persian mystic and poet. He has a story called The Conference of the Birds.

This is a tale about thousands of birds, a metaphor for all the souls of the world, who go on a journey to find their true leader, the legendary Simorgh, a benevolent bird in Persian mythology.

These birds travel through seven valleys. In the first valley they have to let go of their beliefs. In the second valley, they let go of reason. In each valley, they have to lose something. In the fourth, they let go of detachment.

At the end, only 30 birds remain. When they finally reach the peak of Mount Qaf, they don't find that giant golden bird, their leader Simorgh. Instead, they look into a lake and see their own reflection.

They realize that the teacher is actually themselves, that the guide they were searching for across all these valleys was the collective soul that they all had within themselves. That story came to my mind with this new moon.

We might be looking out there for discovery or a sign from outside, but what if that sign or discovery is within us? What if we don't have to wait for something from outside to tell us? Maybe the answer is looking within into the mirror of our own history with the theme of Mercury in Cancer here. So that's what I have for this new moon.

Bianca Selene:
Thank you, Shahrazad. I love hearing stories from other cultures. That's a beautiful one. I'm talking about the next transit on the list, June 16: Venus in Leo trine Neptune in Aries.

Venus in Leo especially wants love to be radiant and heartfelt, alive and visible. It seeks warmth, affection, and creative self-expression. Neptune in Aries adds a visionary, pioneering quality. It's the dream of becoming something more courageous, inspired, or spiritually alive through desire itself.

This transit can produce moments where people feel larger than life, more poetic, or emotionally swept up in attraction and creative breakthroughs.

One myth in Maori cosmology is the story of Hinemoa and Tutanekai. This is a love story, but it's also a story about desire crossing boundaries through inspiration, longing, and courage, which aligns closely with this Venus in Leo trine Neptune in Aries.

Tutanekai lived on Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. At night he would play music on his koauau, a wooden flute. Hinemoa, hearing the music from across the water, became captivated by it. The music itself is quite Neptunian, very enchanting.

Despite family restrictions, because Hinemoa's family were strongly against her venturing out to be with Tutanekai, she swims across the lake at night, guided by the sound of the music and the fire lit island in the distance.

This imagery maps well onto this transit. We've got Neptunian vibes with the enchantment and the longing. Venus in Leo brings the romance, dramatic devotion, and heartfelt expression. Aries brings the courage and action, crossing danger, pursuing desire directly.

Coming up within the next day or two, Venus is approaching an opposition to Pluto. This myth can also be read as the lake crossing as some kind of initiation. Hinemoa leaves behind the safety and expectations of her world in order to pursue desire and love.

Pluto reminds us that real longing changes people, even when the union succeeds. The crossing itself is transformative. Their story becomes one of the greatest enduring love stories in Maori tradition.

Courtney, you will speak more about this Venus Pluto opposition in the next transit. So I'll leave that to you guys.

Courtney Chandrea:
No, you set me up really nicely, Bianca, for this Venus Pluto opposition. I like having this ping from Neptune to Saturn show up again and again as planets hit them. It's such an interesting dynamic.

We have the longing that comes up, and then the refinement that comes up with Saturn. When you have Pluto thrown in the mix, as we do with these fire aspects, as we have these trines like Venus hitting Neptune, then hitting Pluto, later she'll hit Saturn, it creates a really interesting narrative.

I appreciate the way that you wove those things together. I will pop this chart to the next day when that Venus Pluto opposition takes place. I also wanted to say I really love the story that you shared, Shahzad, about the Simorgh.

I've encountered this mythological figure before, but I've never heard the bit about the 30 birds, which adds the sense of the collective soul and brings so much resonance and mythological significance that I didn't have access to before.

Shahrzad:
Thanks, Courtney. I wanted to mention to the audience, if they're interested, this book is translated into English. The name is The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur.

Courtney Chandrea:
That's awesome. I'll have to look for that. With Venus's opposition to Pluto, I'm reflecting a lot on that new moon in Gemini that Shahrazad covered, because this opposition between Venus and Pluto seems to be invoking some of those same themes.

We've got Venus in the sign of the sun. At the time that the opposition takes place between Venus and Pluto, we see the moon coming in fresh off of that new moon, as if she's carrying over a message for Venus from the sun.

I was thinking about this sense of history, of collective soul, and ancestral memory creating breakthroughs via that new moon that you unpacked, Shahrazad. I was thinking about how those themes would translate through the sun, especially as it pertains to this place of Leo.

The first thing I thought of here was legacy, the sense of our human stories that carry us through time and inspire us. They ignite something in us. They give us courage and keep the fire burning in our hearts.

Whatever new connections might have been forming during that new moon may be fueling Venus here, along with her recent trine to Neptune, as she comes head to head with Pluto in Aquarius.

Venus Pluto aspects often resonate with the Hades Persephone myths. There are so many different retellings of this story, and all of them evoke varying qualities of this Venus Pluto archetype.

We've got shifting and problematic power dynamics that show up in relationships, binding and release themes, scandals, spice. All of these are very Venus Plutonian themes.

One of the most important questions that comes up around this story involves Persephone's agency, especially when thinking about the pomegranate seeds that keep her bound to the underworld. Was she tricked, or did she eat the seeds knowing what would come of them?

This is a really big question when unpacking this myth. The answer to the questions can shift too, depending on where our growing edge is. The soul is always changing, and what it needs to hear at any given moment changes too.

One thing I've never heard in all of these retellings is that Persephone was force-fed the seeds. She put the seeds into her own mouth, which tells me that there was something about Hades, something about the underworld as represented by Pluto, that she wanted or needed to ingest.

Whether she ate them out of hunger, out of necessity, or because there was something about the underworld that she longed to take into herself. When we're talking about Venus in Leo, we're talking about a Venus that knows something about the consequences implicated in her decisions.

This isn't the untried bravery of Aries, but the courage of the post-stice lion, that keeper of legacy who holds the knowledge that darkness is coming and chooses to act bravely anyway.

Venus in Leo, as she wrestles with the alien darkness of Pluto in Aquarius, may be showing us that grappling head on with this darkness and taking it into ourselves somehow plays a necessary role in keeping us human and preserving the authentic heart of our relationships, especially when we find ourselves in subterranean realms.

I'm so sorry, guys, my cat just opened my door, which is very Venus. But I'm going to pass this over to Bianca for the Venus trine Saturn.

Shahrzad:
I just wanted to add something, Courtney. I really loved what you shared. With Venus Pluto contacts, I always think of Frida Kahlo.

Venus Pluto contacts are not necessarily easy for everyone. They can show up in different ways. When this transit happens, Frida put that pain into art. When Venus and Pluto meet, it's not necessarily easy. You have to go to the underworld and come out more purified.

I think those difficult journeys to the underworld are worth it, coming out purified. Frida did something with that pain. What can we do with that pain? I love that. Thank you.

Bianca Selene:
On the 25th of June, we've got a couple of transits. I've broken them down separately. First I'm going to talk about Venus in Leo trine Saturn in Aries.

We've been talking about Venus in Leo ever since it moved into Leo, so I appreciate all the different ideas on how Venus in Leo expresses itself, or what it knows with that fixity and with the light fixed and diminishing.

Venus in Leo naturally expresses many of the qualities that Saturn in Aries struggles to trust within himself. Venus in Leo tends towards radiance, creative confidence, and the desire to be seen and celebrated. Not in a bad or shadowy or unhealthy way, but just to bask in the warmth of a Venus in Leo type.

Saturn, in its fall in Aries, can feel cut off from instinctive confidence. Aries usually acts first and trusts in its vitality, but Saturn introduces hesitation, fear, or self-consciousness.

This could look like wanting courage while doubting your right to act on that courage, wanting vitality while feeling disconnected from it, and wanting to initiate while feeling psychologically stranded or restricted.

This is where Venus in Leo can become incredibly important in the trine, because she represents the willingness to radiate despite the vulnerability. The Saturnian struggle in Aries often comes from trying to earn the right to exist before acting. Venus in Leo acts as though existence itself wants expression.

The Venus trine Saturn can symbolize rebuilding confidence slowly, or learning authentic expression. This trine can feel like the discovery that discipline doesn't necessarily extinguish joy. Coming from a Capricorn rising, a little bit of discipline can go a long way in enhancing joy in the long run.

The trine can also feel like learning that responsibility and vitality can coexist together, or finding structure that supports aliveness rather than suppressing it.

Take the myth of Hinemoa and Tutanekai swimming across the lake. That is Aries courage under difficult conditions. But what calls her forward is this Venusian music, beauty, longing, love. The courage does not emerge from willpower alone. It emerges because something beautiful becomes more important than the fear within.

That is what I have for that transit. Did anyone have any thoughts before I move on to the next one of that day?

Courtney Chandrea:
No, that sounds great. Go right ahead.

Bianca Selene:
We've got the sun in Cancer squaring Neptune in Aries. Just keeping this really short. The sun in Cancer squaring Neptune in Aries brings a tension between the need for emotional security and the urge to pursue an emerging vision or ideal.

Cancer wants safety, belonging, emotional clarity. Neptune in Aries pulls towards inspiration, reinvention, and acting on instinct, often before things are fully clear.

This can feel like being emotionally drawn towards something meaningful, but not yet fully understanding what that is. There can be uncertainty about direction, emotional hypersensitivity, or idealizing people or futures. There could also be tension between safety and freedom.

Because Neptune is in Aries, the impulse is to act on the dream immediately, but the square suggests clarity is still emerging, still forming. At its best, this transit can soften rigid ideas about who we are or where we think we're supposed to be going.

The sun square Neptune aspect can open a space for greater compassion, imagination, and emotional openness. It may invite us to listen less to certainty and more to subtlety, like dreams, symbolism, moods, intuition, creative inspiration.

While clarity may not come through logic alone, something meaningful can emerge through reflection, through rest, through spirituality, or simply allowing ourselves to sit with uncertainty for a while rather than forcing immediate answers. That is what I have for that transit.

Shahrzad:
I really like that. As someone who has sun Neptune co-present, I was thinking that June 25 might not be the best day to think about what I want to do with my life. I struggled with that so much, my whole life. What am I supposed to do? What am I meant for?

After a long time, I felt inside, oh, I feel like I should be an astrologer. I went to a Hellenistic astrologer and said, does my chart support that? She said yes. I'm like, okay, finally. But Neptune contacts are not really the best times to make important life decisions. Just keep that in mind.

Bianca Selene:
Thanks, Sharzad.

Shahrzad:
Next, on June 28, Mars at 29 degrees of Taurus, sextile Jupiter at 29 degrees of Cancer. On the same day, Mars ingresses into Gemini. I think that is a very important transit because it's things wrapping up at 29 degrees, that completion of a planet's business before it crosses into the new world.

Mars is out of his element in Taurus, like a soldier forced to work as a gardener. Mars is like, what am I doing here? The energy can be frustrating with Mars in Taurus. The energy can be slow, frustrating. There's the fixed pace of Taurus.

But I see this sextile as a positive thing. I see it as that final breakout, maybe after weeks of being held back by Mars in Taurus, the red tape or limitation of it. There is a door opening, a sense of now or never before Mars goes into Gemini.

Jupiter, so fertile, so protective, so generous in Cancer, acts as a benefic patron for that Mars that is having a hard time in Taurus at 29 degrees. Jupiter is like offering a hand to the struggling Mars. Jupiter is like, I got you.

The energy can be tired, but that Jupiter contact feels like suddenly there are resources, support, divine luck, right time, right place, maybe something related to home, family, or foundations, those Cancerian themes, and also Taurus, that garden.

I'm thinking about using this energy to exit a difficult situation, to finish something that has been lingering and needs closure. Very good time for finishing things up on this date. If you're working on something and you feel like you just can't do this anymore, don't quit.

On this day there might be a second wind, or a helping hand that arrives to help you cross that finish line. That's what I have for this transit.

Courtney Chandrea:
I love that, especially given the context that the day after this moment we have Mercury stationing retrograde, and then a full moon. There's a really palpable sense that things are about to change direction here.

Shahrzad:
You want to get things done before Mercury retrograde? Yes.

Courtney Chandrea:
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so. I flipped the chart forward. We're looking at Mercury stationing retrograde in Cancer on June 29. Here Mercury is stationing retrograde, and with only a couple of hours then we'll see the full moon.

These two things are really intimately woven together, just because we've got Mercury in the same sign as the sun here. It feels especially significant too, when we consider that the last phase in Mercury's cycle with the cazimi that took place back in Taurus last month alongside the new moon there, with Taurus and Cancer's shared concern for material containers such as bodies, homes, the earth itself, and what comfort and care really means as it pertains to these things.

We can easily imagine a thread carried over from that cazimi new moon moment in Taurus to this retrograde full moon moment in Cancer. Mercury is developing something along this thread.

Here in Cancer, it's drawing in themes around protection, emotionality, memory, as Shahzad mentioned previously, and also initiation or change as it pertains to this bodily thread relative to Cancer's status as a tropical sign.

Thinking about Mercury's recent entanglement with the lunations during its last cazimi, and now its retrograde, I would just like to point out the fact that the cazimi took place in Taurus, which is the sign of the moon's exaltation, and Mercury is now retrograding in the moon's home sign.

I don't think that this is an accidental thing. Mercury is always dancing around the sun, often even likened to the sun and its significations, but here we see some sort of ongoing process of Mercury courting the moon, and the moon's concerns playing a greater role in flavoring the lunations of the moment. This process is changing Mercury in turn.

It's also really interesting to notice that Mercury's retrograde here takes place just three degrees short of Mercury reaching Jupiter. We call this a reformation when an aspect is going to happen, but last minute a planet changes direction.

The reason this feels so significant here is because it harks back to Mercury's last retrograde period in Jupiter's sign of Pisces, when we experienced so much conversation between Jupiter and Mercury, especially pertaining those three trines Mercury made to Jupiter early in the spring.

If we want to understand some of what might be taking place for us now as Mercury is stationing retrograde again in the same sign where it was contacting Jupiter, we might look back to what was happening for us between the places of Pisces and Cancer during those several weeks of mid-February to early April.

This can give us some really important context for the work that Mercury is developing here now in the place of Cancer. From that period of development that took place in Pisces, Mercury is now honing in on the impact of the personal and the specific.

Mercury is taking all of that spiritual, intuitive, and emotional intelligence cultivated in the place of Pisces during its retrograde earlier this spring and dropping it into a contained environment. This is like the crab shell of Cancer.

Mercury is beginning to negotiate what it means to express from that place of expansive intelligence in the nitty gritty of our own everyday lives, through those oddly specific quirks of our own specific bodies, our families, our homes, and communities. So that's what I've got for the retrograde.

Does anybody have anything they'd like to add before we jump to the full moon?

Shahrzad:
Love that. Wonderful.

Courtney Chandrea:
Let's take a closer look at the full moon. I'll see if I can pop it. Removing the moon to the eighth degree of Capricorn.

Shahrzad:
I love that you're talking about the full moon in Capricorn, bringing that symbolism with your Cap moon.

Courtney Chandrea:
Honestly, I'm nervous about this transit because last year's full moon in Capricorn didn't... oh my god, on the day of the full moon, our basement flooded. I remember that.

Shahrzad:
I'm sorry.

Bianca Selene:
It's an abundance of water overflowing in the house. Jupiter's still in Cancer, so we'll see. I'm holding my breath, not out of the woods yet. But I love that you said about the full moon in Capricorn. If there's anyone most qualified to talk about a full moon, it's Courtney.

Shahrzad:
Exactly, all Cap moon inquirers.

Courtney Chandrea:
I appreciate you guys. With this full moon moment, with this Mercury retrograde moment, and with Jupiter about to leave Cancer for good, we're seeing a fruit pop into being out of this Cancer Capricorn axis.

If that fruit, that pearlescent body of the full moon is appearing in Capricorn, then we might think about Cancer as the roots of the tree. For the past year, these roots have been soaking up all of the watery goodness of an exalted Jupiter.

Often we emphasize the friction that takes place across sign oppositions, as takes place in a full moon, but we might also think of the way that they balance each other. One is necessary to the other. Whenever you pour into the one, the other will grow too.

Perhaps this fluidity is particularly clear here across the Cancer Capricorn axis, because this is one of the places where the moon, our most fluid of celestial beings, gains and loses dignity.

As Cancer has been getting all of this love lately, as we've been breaking open our experiences of comfort and nurturance and care, the simultaneous softness and strength of our bodies and emotions, we might suddenly realize that we want or need to use these experiences towards something difficult, towards building something, towards risking the comfortable fertile grounds of Cancer, that gateway of humanity, and ascending a Capricornian mountain that is the gateway of the gods.

We might be thinking a lot about legacy here, with Jupiter peering over the edge of Leo, wondering what all this comfort is really for, what it's meant to be nourishing, and what we even want to leave this place with when it's time for us to go. So that's what I've got for that full moon.

Shahrzad:
Thank you, Courtney. I really hope that this Jupiter in Cancer thing protects you during this full moon.

Courtney Chandrea:
I hope so too. Yeah, so going to the last transit, June 30. That's a big transit. You'll probably see more conversations about this on the Nightlight Astrology podcast, and that's Jupiter ingressing into Leo.

Honestly, I was thinking: the greater benefic moving from that protective water energy of Cancer into the fire temple of the sun. It feels like that quiet internal growth of the past year with Jupiter in Cancer is transforming into a radiant and visible, sun-like energy and authority.

To me, it feels like whatever seeds were being planted when Jupiter was in Cancer, Jupiter in Leo will bring to the stage.

While Jupiter in Cancer was focused on that private nest that you built, the ingress into Leo will shift the focus from what was hidden and happening in your home, in the internal world, to the visible part of life, the public stage.

This represents a powerful intersection between Jupiter's expansive nature and the fixed noble essence of the solar throne. It signals a period where opportunity and abundance will be found through self-presentation that comes from integrity and authenticity.

I see authenticity as a keyword of Leo. Creative leadership and the cultivation of personal authority. This is a good time for official recognition if you've been working hard in the shadow during Jupiter in Cancer. Jupiter in Leo brings that seal of approval from whatever can give you authority.

It's a moment that the internal truth becomes an external fact. Because this is a fixed fire sign, Jupiter will have that presence, that Leo presence, that charisma. The archetype that comes to my mind is a sage that is on the stage.

Jupiter in Leo is not quiet. Authenticity and truth are very important to Leo. It's a truth that must be lived out loud through authentic expressions. For Leo energy, failing to live by your own truth is like suffocating.

As a Leo moon, I'm telling you, the one thing that Leo can't do is doing something that doesn't align with my values. With Jupiter in Leo, maybe it's a good time to see what my values are, where I feel like I can be authentic, and how I can tap into that authenticity more and more based on whole sign houses.

Another aspect I was reflecting on is the archetype of the leader that doesn't seek power but has the desire to be a source of light, illuminating the path for others, passing that torch of light, sharing that light.

The quality of this period could be that we need to lead with a warm heart and a generous spirit, to share our wisdom, and not stick to the shadow of the ego. I know there are connotations about ego with Leo, but thinking of the sun, which rules Leo, the sun gives light to the world every day, no matter what, with no expectation.

We can think of Jupiter, this benefic planet. How can I share prosperity or light with others without any expectation? How can I be gentle with people's hearts and remember that it's not about me, that I'm not the center of the universe?

Jupiter in Cancer was helping with that deep emotional work. Now it's time, maybe, to share that medicine in any part of your life. Share those rays of light with the earth in abundance without expectation, shedding light on the path of others.

Becoming a lantern for others reminds us, going back to that story of the birds, that it's not always about us. I do have some light within me to give to others. So that's what I have for Jupiter in Leo.

Courtney Chandrea:
That was beautiful. With this ingress into Leo, there's going to be some intensity as Jupiter hits these outer planets in Aries and in Aquarius. Just remembering the heart of Leo is what a beacon to carry with us as we move through these more intense periods of time going forward.

Bianca Selene:
I really liked how you said, Shahrazad, that now it's time with Jupiter going into Leo to share that medicine, those rays of light. I really love the Leo illumination, the brightness, the warmth that you feel from Leo energy. Really love that picture.

Shahrzad:
Thank you.

Courtney Chandrea:
Thank you both for bringing your brilliant minds to this month's overview. I think we did a pretty good job covering it, despite the Leonine interruptions from the cat and everything else. I think we had a lot of fun, so we'll wrap it up here.

We'll let you guys know where you can find us going forward. I'll just start with myself, because it's easy. Find me on Substack at Dream the Wilderness.substack.com, where I have regular astrological forecasting and general talk about astrology on Substack. I post once a week.

You can also book readings with me there on Substack. There's a little header at the top where you'll find booking. You can find me on Instagram at Dream the Wilderness. I've just started playing around on YouTube as well at Dream the Wilderness, though the YouTube videos are more bookish content, but I do have some books meet astrology videos coming through that space. If you're interested in that particular overlap of books and astrology, you can find me doing that there. I'll pass it off to you, Bianca.

Bianca Selene:
You can find me on Instagram, Bianca Celine Astrology. Shoot me a DM, I'm very responsive there. If you want to have a chat, I love having astro chats with people. If you want to book a reading with me, my website is biancaceline.com.

On YouTube, I do collabs with a couple other Nightlight students, Ryan Hunt and Mindy De Graffenried. It's called Faith Meets Fate, where we talk about religion, astrology, and navigating identity shifts. Yeah, check us out.

Shahrzad:
You can find me on Instagram, New Moon Inner Healing. My website is the same, newmooninnerhealing.com. You can book a reading on my website. Anything from 8th house Stellium to Leo Aquarius axis Saturn, whatever, night chart Saturn babies, you can reach out and we can talk. So yeah.

Courtney Chandrea:
Beautiful. Thank you, guys, for sticking around and hanging out. We'll see you next time. Bye bye bye bye.