The Moon will initiate a new phase with the Sun on July 14 at 2:44 a.m. Pacific time at 21° 59′ Cancer. This lunation comes just a few days before the sky will enjoy a rare and magnificent alignment among the outer planets, one that offers encouraging possibilities for our collective futures.
Cancer is our cardinal, forward-moving water sign, perhaps the most emotionally sensitive of the whole zodiac. Cancerians (I’m one of them) are often typecast as shy, reserved, self-deprecating, though there’s much more to anyone’s natal chart than our Sun sign.
Given that Cancer’s totem is the Crab, it may be silly to think of Cancer’s style as assertive—crabs move fast but sideways. Cancer, though, is also associated with the Creatrix, the mothering instinct to protect and self-protect. As one of the initiatory signs, Cancer’s desire is to give birth—whether that be to babies or projects—and then to nurture the offspring with quiet power, like a mother hen or a back-stage boss.
A New Moon in Cancer is an optimal time to plant something that requires loving attention, and then to watch it grow.
This year’s Cancer New Moon on July 14 features a conjunction with communication planet Mercury, in the midst of one of its thrice-yearly three-week periods of retrograde motion. Mercury retrograde in Cancer adds a punch to the energy of the Cancer New Moon because Mercury represents the mind and all its functions. A time of retrograde motion calls for re-membering, re-vising, re-interpreting—all the action words that start with “re-.” Mercury retrograde in Cancer is time for the most emotional of memories, the highs and lows, from celebration to mourning.
During this period of Mercury’s retrograde motion, I’m thinking about the meaning of remembrance. It’s what we do when feeling the presence of loved ones, past tense. Yet remembrance is also done in the present. It is central to any long-term spiritual practice. On Buddhist paths, it’s called sati, or mindfulness. The mind naturally wanders, and the simple practice is to remember: Oh, yeah, I’m sitting here now, breathing. Or, as in Sufi traditions, the practice of zikr, which means remembrance, diving into breath and sound to feel the presence of the Divine Being. Returning, again and again, like a Mother continually tends to her charges.
This New Moon of loving remembrance heralds a span of a few days, from July 18 to 22, when a rare, precise, harmonious transit among outer planets will grace the sky and speak to those who love to read its symbols.
Pluto (power) at 4 degrees of Aquarius, Neptune (envisioning) at 4 degrees of Aries, and Uranus (breakthroughs) at 4 degrees of Gemini will form a harmonious triangle with each other while Jupiter (magnificence) at 4 degrees of Leo will trine Neptune and make an encouraging sextile aspect with Uranus.
In astrological aspect theory—forgive me for delving into it a bit—suffice it to say that the planets are considered to cast light and to “aspect,” i.e. “see” each other. When planets “see” each other’s light in the “soft” aspects of 120-degree trines and 60-degree sextiles, they reflect an exquisite sense of love, harmony, and beauty. So much so that decades ago, a famous French astrologer of mundane (worldly) events, Andre Barbault, predicted that the rare transit of July 2026 would herald a leap forward in altruistic technology, human consciousness and global unity.
At best, such prediction is a dicey business because even an accurate prediction may be about a trend more than about discrete events. On planet earth right now, our affairs are anything but unified or progressive. We are in scary times on just about every front.
Yet one of the mysteries of astrology, in my view, is that it is less useful for prediction than it is for offering inspiration.
The transit of July 18-22, variously dubbed a “Barbault Basket” or a “mystic triangle,” or a “minor grand trine,” will be a Work of Art for those who choose to reflect on it. At the highest level, the symbols involved are Uranus (advancing) in curious Gemini; Neptune (dreaming) in assertive Aries; Pluto (power) in community-building Aquarius; Jupiter (expansion) in creative Leo. All on a big stage, and all while the Sun will still be in the nurturing waters of Cancer and while Mercury’s backward motion calls for remembrance, past and present.
What a time it is, mid-summer, mid-July, to write, paint, play, sing, be loud, join charitable organizations, to protest evils, and to demonstrate in any way possible something everyone can relate to, which is care for the world.
Blessings for the New Cancer Moon and for the shiny mystic triangle of July 2026!
~ Sara
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