Cancer III, The Overflowing Cup as named by Austin Coppock, is associated with the mythic power of Hekate the goddess of magic. The Sun enters this space on July 12, 2023 at 10:23 am EDT — inaugurating about ten days of magic and mystery before the Sun enters his own sign.

That moment will be the completion of my fourth year of astrology columns, which began with Leo I in 2019. Funny how the last four years has been kind of a hellish introduction to the art of astrology-in-public for me. Do I even know how to write positive columns? Oh well!

Hekate was the goddess of the three-way crossroads, and of magic bringing us more than we could possibly want. But sometimes abundance grows tiresome… and in the ancient world, of course, the abundance was seasonally appropriate: you couldn’t have apples at a time they weren’t ripe, and high summer was often a starving time if the previous year’s harvest was bad. Does that seem counterintuitive? Consider that there is a time in the summer when bees risk starvation, because the flowers are gone (and the pollen with them) but the fruit is not yet ripe and there is no new sugar to feed on. Note how many of your fruits and vegetables come to your table from just down the street or across town… and wonder to yourself, could I live if I had to do without produce from California, Chile or southern Spain? Those might not be the exact growing regions for your part of the world, but they all produce food for global markets, and you should attend to that in this season of magic.

Cancer’s third decan is administered by the Moon, who undergoes her own transit through the sign of her exaltation in Taurus. There’s a really elegant sextile here between Moon and Sun, as she wanes and darkens in the morning hours, and she receives him like a woman reclining on her couch, asking to be fed freshly washed grapes… and he’s star-struck, awestruck, at what seems to be on offer. Is this a time for him to demand favors… or to fall down and worship? The Lot of Fortune seems to suggest the choice is his… but what he chooses has some effect on how the rest of the day will go.

The four dodeks, or twelfth-parts, of Cancer III are given to Pisces, Aries, Taurus and Gemini — a combination that says much about the nature of this kind of affair. At first the golden-headed princeling is at a loss: is this a seduction, or merely a woman reclining on a couch? Should he be arrogant and forceful, or subservient and gentle? Aries suggests he comes to a decision and makes a move, while Taurus makes the determination of whether his advances are acceptable and well-received. The two become one in Gemini, and then two again, as each partner in the coupling makes a decision about whether this was good enough to try a second round… or a third. Not every pairing is a perfect encounter — and yet in each, the two become one in flame and one in body, before separating again for a more intellectualized evaluation of what has occurred.

Planetary Placements

We’re looking at a Day Chart with the Ascendant in Virgo, while Mercury is inconjunct and an evening star. This makes Mars one of the stronger planets in the chart — dignified as a triplicity ruler and in the angle of the east. Expect war to get considerably more technical and analytic in days to come: detailed lists of casualties and equipment destroyed on the Ukraine-Russia firing line. A certain amount of heavy pruning may also be in the news as fire and flood destroy crops and orchards, fields and forests. It’s also not hard to see that most planets are above the horizon, suggesting that large political issues are more likely to affect coming plans than personal or family economic decisions.

The Nodal Axis remains in Taurus-Scorpio, but the shift will occur during this Decan on July 17-18. Money troubles may come home to roost, and be alert to sudden and unexpected growth in your responsibilities or duties to others. The transition comes at 3:59 pm EDT on July 17, bringing the initial manifestation of the axis to the sixth-twelfth house line; a sudden increase in work responsibilities (like “new duties without new pay”) is likely to be the first indicator of your shift. Your reserved time is likely to be lost.

Pluto in the fifth house, retrograde in Capricorn III The Throne suggests that hobbies and pastimes may be occupying a considerably larger share of your free time than is really warranted… but some of your current projects have the potential to create larger carry-on effects. With Pluto at the bending of the Nodal positions, there an additional warning that you may be using your recreational time as an escape strategy or avoidance mechanism for confirming that your bank accounts are doing what they should; and that your boss is paying you properly. Both need to be looked at — wage theft and bank fees are both real issues: double check your bottom lines.

The Seventh House of relationships to spouses, significant others, and business associates is home to both Saturn in The Labyrinth and Neptune in The Cup of Blood. Both are retrograde, promising delayed but structurally deep results — the one promises roundabout routes into complex topics, while the other indicates enthusiasms unmoored from realistic assessments. Be aware that you’re likely to find some important people in your relational web swayed by tidal forces of propaganda beyond your control. Meanwhile, your partner or spouse may be pussyfooting around an issue they want you to address, but can’t bring themselves to say directly.

In the Ninth House of travel and the journeys to both distant places and the inner realms of mind and soul, we find Jupiter, The Moon, and Uranus, activating the latter two decans of The Lingam-Yoni and The Prayer Beads. The result is a complex dance between asceticism and sensuality, between fragile mortal obedience to divine command on the one hand, and the raw and primal lucidity of human agency on the other. The Moon is in the Fourth Mansion “The Follower” associated in Persian texts with the star Aldebaran — a place of violence and trouble, like the back alley behind a bunch of illegal speakeasies, gambling parlors, brothels, and drug dens, where deadbeat customers, underperforming employees and disgraced spouses are dragged to face the consequences of their discovery in this place of bad reputation. We may come to regret the license we allowed ourselves to explore and go beyond what was permitted — but penance alone will not save us, we need a monkish discipline (or at least the appearance of it) to mend fences and save ourselves.

In the Eleventh House of friends and associates, The Lot of Fortune and The Sun activate the second and third decans. We find freedom and success in pursuit of allies and associates whose gender identities and preferences run counter to our own; that is to say — we benefit from diversity in our friends’ group activities these next ten days. Don’t stick to the people most like you, reach out to those who are least like you and make firmer connections. Yet with such instructions, it’s easy to overcommit with enthusiasm, early on, and then be burned out for a full week. Pace yourself friends. It’s not a marathon and it’s not a sprint, but something in between. And you can’t do it all… but you can do some of it, and that will be enough.

Finally, Mercury and Venus occupy and activate opposite ends of Leo in the twelfth house of self=inflicted obstacles but also dreams actualized. Neither planet is particularly strong here, but it’s time for you to focus on communicating your goals, and creating the steps that lead to their achievement, rather than just setting them and forgetting them. Your expertise as achieving your vision must be communicated in order to be believed — by yourself, most of all — and then you need to carry that vision forward a little at a time. Do not delay out of perfectionism: act now, with what you have.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.

Virgo:

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces:

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Leo:

Colophon

I have a Patreon account for those who want to support this column as it continues its third year. Those funds support artists, artisans and thinkers that I regard as contributing to the well-being of the world. You can also buy me a Ko-fi in $3 increments; any column I write after receiving a Ko-Fi donation will be open to the public).  You can also schedule an appointment with me using Accuity Scheduling, for a natal or solar return consultation.

If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.

I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.

I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.