The Sun enters Cancer I, the realm of the goddess Nike, on Friday 20 June 2025 at 10:43 pm EDT. The ruling Moon will be exalted and angular in Taurus in the fourth house, while exiled Saturn in Aries in the third house rules the Ascendant in Aquarius with Pluto just peeking up over the horizon. The Sun will be here until 1 July 2025 at 10:14 am EDT, making ten days, 11 hours, and 31 minutes. In shape and public appearance, it’s likely to be a ten-day period where billionaires and the ruling class have the upper hand — but deep changes are occurring at the level of families, households and local organizations that are likely to upend the usual logic that might makes right.

Austin Coppock called this decan Mother and Child in his seminal 36 Faces, a book on the decans, their historical meanings, and magical uses in astrology. T. Susan Chang called it The Dance Begins. Both of them note its association with the Two of Cups from the Tarot — which shows a youthful man and woman presenting each other with a cup, from which rises the red, winged lion of alchemical lore, at least in the Rider-Waite version of the card drawn by Pamela Colman Smith. The card represents both the union of souls, and the emergence of a third thing from that union — like a relationship, or a baby. The Golden Dawn taught its members to call this card the Lord of Love.

The pagan calendar originating in Alexandria, Egypt, and derided by Cosmas of Jerusalem, though, assigned this decan to Nike. Nike is the goddess of victory, usually understood as victory in battle. The worship of Athena Nike, Victorious Wisdom, was one of the ‘democratic priesthoods’ of ancient Athens; scholars believe that Athena and Nike were originally two separate goddesses, but gradually got fused into a third aspect. By the third century BCE, Athens had a priestess of Nike chosen annually by lottery and paid a stipend of fifty drachmas out of the city treasury and the budget assigned to be distributed by the city’s financial managers. It’s hard to make a strong comparison between ancient and modern money, but it might be useful to think of this stipend as worth about a month’s salary. Depicted as a winged woman bearing a laurel crown, by the Roman era she was not only granting victory in battle, but also providing the triumphant wreath to the winners of athletic contests, and also to the first placeholders in the ancient world’s equivalents to rap-battles, slam poetry contests, dance-offs, and theatrical festivals. Throughout the ancient world, Nike was portrayed as a bold winged woman standing on the open hand of either Athena or Zeus — the gift of either wisdom and effective craft, or raw power and authority.

Which is to say, that one success leads to another. If you brought a child into the world — either a real baby, or a project or endeavor to which you gave your heart — you could nurture it with wisdom and intelligence, or you could develop it through strength and bravery. Either way, you had to bring it up into the world and help it succeed over and over again. Nothing was done once, for all time, and then completed — over and over, Nike would award you the laurels if you practiced and developed and nurtured your “child” to success.

Though the Moon rules all of Cancer, the first decan belongs to Venus’s administration, and she’s currently hosting the Moon in Taurus. Creative labors at and around and for the home or family are likely to yield positive results, especially when you give time out of your day to preparing good food, creating enriching activities for family and friends, and adding the secret ingredient of love to all you do.

Cancer I’s origin-point, is also the astrological moment of the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, where the Sun’s apparent course across the sky reaches its highest and most northerly point. While of course the Sun itself isn’t moving relative to Earth (we move around it), this apparent motion represents the high-tide point of the cycle of light and shadow. All sorts of organisms on Earth are aware of this transition — many species of tree in my neck of the woods, for example, start migrating their sap into the rootball immediately after the Solstice, reserving their essential liquors against a snap storm, and triggering their fruits to ripen more quickly into seed. The goal is to give their seeds and fruits as much possible time to germinate as possible, while also holding on to their own life-force.

The twelfth parts of Cancer I (which I call dodeks, from the original Greek word dodekatemoiria) are reiterations of Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and Libra —the process by which two lovers first feel their love blossom, then proclaim it, then retreat from that declaration to analyze it more carefully, before coming back together more consciously and deliberately to honor their commitments.

Dates to Watch

June 24, 11:16 am EDT — Sun Conjunct Jupiter in Cancer is likely to feel good, since the annual conjunction of the Sun and Jupiter is usually one of the “personal best” days of anyone’s year — and this one is more likely than most to be awesome. Even at the worst of times, this day is usually a break from the terrible stuff to be a favorable moment of peace. Accordingly, schedule time with friends. Work hard and play hard. Set aside time to plan the big goals and intermediate objectives of the next year. Live joyously, and transmit that joy to others. Try to give a specific blessing to at least one other person — and consider using Gandalf’s words to Barliman Butterburr from Lord of the Rings as your inspiration: “May your beer be under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years.” Notice that it’s specific, time delimited, and beneficial not just to the person, but to everyone in their circle and community.

June 25, 2025 at 6:32 am EDT — the New Moon in Cancer, in the 8th Mansion of the Moon called The Gap. The conjunction takes place in the first house (at my location), indicating the importance of using the next two weeks to build your brand strategically and intelligently… and to focus on making new friends by being friendly. You may think that you don’t have a brand, though… and you would be wrong. In the 21st century, everyone has a public face through social media, and it’s a good idea to focus on making that face kind, open-hearted, and willing to meet others for mutual delight and assistance.

Mercury Ingress to Leo, June 26, 2025 at 3:08 pm EDT. Mercury shifts from a Moon-ruled sign as a night-loving planet, to a Sun-ruled sign. Shift your thinking from learning about your workplace environment to communicating what you learned. Engage your boss in the mission-driven conversations that help both of you identify how you can better use your expertise to achieve objectives related to your work. Be sure to communicate that compensation is an important part of your willingness to do the work.

Special Considerations

All of the visible planets are on one side of the axis that runs between the North Node and South Node — a combination that some astrologers have called The Belly of the Beast. It’s considered to be an omen of special warning and riskiness, especially with only Mars above the horizon in a night chart — a marker of war, or, since it’s in Virgo, at least of war-analysis and study by the military bureaucracy.

House Delineations

The First House of self and self-presentation is Aquarius, ruled by sextile Saturn – exiled in Aries and in close cooperation with Neptune; and hosting Pluto. Lean into your particular variation of the archetype of the prophet, howling God’s critiques of society from the wilderness. If you can get paid for such jeremiads, so much the better. You may find that your imitation of peasant cooking at potlucks and summer picnics wins rave reviews; visible mending on your clothes may be seen as delightful and quirky instead of weird and disturbing.

The Second House of wealth and possessions is Pisces, ruled by trining Jupiter exalted in Cancer, and hosting the North Node. It’s easy to want more than you can afford right now, and your desires may be quite out of touch with reality. Triplicity ruler Mars is opposed, while Venus is sextile and in a place of rulership. “Treat yourself” is a lovely sentiment, but it’s worth asking if the treat is backed up by treasure. Smaller daily delights, like in-home visits with one friend are better than grand gestures like a six-course Michelin-starred restaurant tasting menu with twenty people.

The Third House of siblings and extended family is Aries, ruled by inconjunct Mars and hosting one triplicity ruler, Saturn, and also Neptune. Triplicity rulers the Sun and Jupiter are square. Plans with extended family and kin are disrupted by ongoing expansions of your daily routines and daily expectations. It’s hard to keep your own fire lit when people keep bringing you water. Some cold calculations and boundary setting may be needed, even with people you love.

The Fourth House of home and family is Taurus, ruled by present Venus and hosting the Moon and Uranus. The comforts of one’s true home and family — the place and people who provide love and peace and joy and contentment — pull on your heartstrings and your bodily desires in powerful ways this week. It’s worth listening to that inner voice and sticking close to locales and people who build your peace. However, disruptions may never be all that far away — sudden shifts of venue and companionship are likely.

The Fifth House of pleasures, pastimes and children is Gemini, ruled by inconjunct Mercury and hosting the Lunar Perigee. Leaning into traditional roles with your kids (“because I said so,” or “I’m the parent and you’re too little to understand”) will be easy but it’s not necessarily the best course of action. Harsh limits and punishment are easily found, but the real value comes from leaning into the vision and teaching them how to plan (“we can’t do what you want today, but let’s work on figuring out when we can do that.”); keep these promises, by the way? Your own hobbies may require trips to the hardware or fabric store, but limiting costs should be borne in mind for at least the first four days the Sun passes through this decan.

The Sixth House of daily life, routines, and employees is Cancer, ruled by the exalted and sextile Moon in Taurus, and hosting the Sun, Jupiter, and Mercury. Big-hearted and generous gestures with your employees, underlings, direct reports, should be planned for and then delivered. It’s a great time to schedule raises, leave bigger tips, and lead the team from the front, rather than direct them from behind. Don’t drink too many of the beers at the company summer picnic, tho.

The Seventh House of peer relationships is Leo, ruled by the inconjunct Sun with triplicity ruler Saturn at the trine. The role of a spouse, significant other, business partner or rival is highlighted and noticed; be cautious about how you speak about them to friends and family members; note their accomplishments and achievements and avoid griping — the minor complaints are likely to be long remembered but praise will quickly fade into background.

The Eighth House of duties and responsibilities is Virgo, ruled by sextile Mercury in Cancer and hosting Mars and the South Node. Hard work in the summer sun, such as working in the garden, can lead to heatstroke or lesser troubles like sunburn or exhaustion or dehydration. Unpacking the past or unearthing family legacies brings trouble, as well — Analyze the cost-benefit relationship of your odious tasks with more caution than usual; if the bureaucratic office has long lines and no air conditioning, this might be the week to postpone getting your license.

The Ninth House of learning, travel and religion is Libra, ruled by inconjunct Venus. Triplcity ruler Saturn opposes, while the other two, Mercury and Jupiter, are square. School is probably ending soon, and long-distance trips take longer and require more costs than usual. Your daily routines and local commitments make going on a trip more challenging than usual.

The Tenth House of career and reputation is Scorpio, ruled by sextile Mars in Virgo. Organic data-gathering with a hardscape bibliography and footnoting, is likely to serve your career better than entering information into ChatGPT. Important folks are going to lose their jobs because they left the work to AI this week… don’t let it be you, and do the heavy lifting of both your own intellectual and physical labor.

The Eleventh House of friendships, allies, and organizations is Sagittarius, ruled by inconjunct but exalted Jupiter in Cancer, and hosting the Lunar Apogee (usually called Black Moon Lillith). Triplicity ruler Saturn is trine but exiled, while Mars is square but peregrine. Duty and chore often get in the way of hanging out with friends, and limitations of both time and location often delay or entirely cancel plans. When time is available, transgressive topics are often up for discussion, but you may learn things about your friends’ politics or sex-lives that you find upsetting. Try to keep an open mind.

The Twelfth House of obstacles and opportunities is Capricorn, ruled by squaring and exiled Jupiter. It’s a time for thinking through what you want to achieve in the next six to eight months; like your ancestors before you, you should be concerned about what happens “when winter comes.” But the specifics of your situation are likely colored by unexpected hardships, and the challenges of having a big vision that you don’t currently know how to create — and you may feel as Luke Skywalker does, “I can take you as far as Tosche Station” because the empire is so far away. Ask your inner uncle to stop talking, and focus on what you want to achieve. Take a few steps into a larger universe.

Horoscopes

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.

I recommend reading your Sun sign, Moon sign, and Rising sign for best results. I write them with rising sign in mind, but several people have told me they find that they do better with all three.

Aquarius: Look around your neighborhood with a studious eye. Study any siblings or close friends with a haruspicator’s analytic attention to the omens. You’re well positioned this week to being able to offer constructive and essential ideas for both personal and local improvement , by being able to cut away the optional from the fundamental, and by seeing your way through both the maze of obstacles and the labyrinth of excuses. Yet it’s important to remember than unsolicited advice is often received as harsh criticism rather than valuable critique. And in some cases, stepping in to do what must be done rather than offering the plan to someone else to execute, would be essential. Try to identify one thing worth fixing every day, and try to do something about it, even if it’s only writing a postcard.

Pisces: You’re feeling hungry for stuff these days, and there’s a sense that without … the tool, the material, the pattern, the resource, the money, the item of clothing … that your playtime and happiness will not be complete. Let me suggest putting it on your wish list for a birthday or upcoming anniversary? If it’s important enough, chances are that someone will acquire it for you and deliver it in person. Meanwhile, get to know your neighbors, your neighborhood, and your closest friends better. Schedule a picnic, invite a friend to an outdoor adventure, go on a ‘pilgrimage’ to a secret place. Find delight in your own place, and stand tall there.

Aries: Big plans often go hand in hand with hard limits, even if you’re working on realigning your inner circle with your vision — or limiting or separating yourself from the parts of your life that aren’t serving you right now. The trick is to be able to put your plans into motion in small ways on a day to day basis while maintaining your regular responsibilities and tasks. This often leads to the need to unearth past plans and resources, dig them out of the archives or storage (or the trash bin), and figure out how to recycle or re-use them in new ways. This also means managing household tasks promptly and easily — and passing them off to contractors or handymen wherever possible; avoid doing the tasks that you won’t do well, and be prepared to buy back your own time by using money to buy professional services.

Taurus: Household matters should come to the fore this week as you use your family’s space as both stronghold and place of rest, both for you and for friends and allies. Allow the light to shine clearly on your spouse or significant other if someone lives with you, but make sure that your home can be a welcoming place for guests and visitors, and a place of lush and enriching conversation and emotional release. Some of your usual pastimes may have to be cast aside or ignored (or safely stored away), but treasured recipes should come out of hiding and be made useful. Your boss or supervisor at work may be more concerned with profits than with taking care of their people, including you — help refocus them on your shared values and common mission for better results. At the same time, you may want to be thinking about how to exit this job and find a new place where you’ll be valued and honored for your experience and formal professionalism.

Gemini: It’s likely a time when you’re doing many of the traditional things that you usually do at this time of the year, but you’re probably eager to overthrow these norms and try something new, different, and creatively powerful. THere’s this concept of the imp of the perverse, the desire to do something extraordinary, creative, beautiful and just a bit risky, as a source of contentment and delight. You may be holding some of your friends at arms’ distance too, as you find that the current desires are lighting a fire under you to get something done, and dousing the flames of your old affections. Financial opportunities abound, but there’s a risk that you’l be more generous to others than you are to yourself. It’s a good time to hold onto receipts, keep records, and otherwise track your generosity to others.

Cancer: There’s this concept called “The Nine Delights” as a way of setting up your daily routines, and this week you might try them out. The idea is to make at least some of the nine sources of happiness part of your life every day: a walk, a meeting with a friend, eating something yummy, having an encounter with the divine, play time, resolving a problem that bothers you, losing track of time and yourself in a project you care about, sex, or something surprising. This might be the week to try out this lifestyle philosophy, and see if it would serve you well for the long haul. At the same time, you might consider throwing a dinner party at your house for some really close friends that you’d like to be closer to. That’s a way to combine friendship, yumminess, and playtime all at once. And depending on whom you invite, sex could easily be on the list, too.

Leo: It may be a week to shine some light on yourself in relationship to others: are you currently single? Partnered? How does that feel? Would you like that to change? The best ways to look at how this plays out are from an economic standpoint (is your current relationship status costing you money or saving you money … because after all, two can live as cheaply as one, but for half as long.). Does your relationship status help you in your workplace, or hinder you? Does it increase your household chores and management, or is that a shared burden? Does your status allow yo auto travel, or does it keep you close to home? There’s not necessarily a right answer to these questions, but they’re worth asking, and deciding if your’e satisfied with your own answers.

Virgo: You may be facing some economic turmoil this week, as travel costs surge or delays or problems with training slow down the completion of certifications. Spending time with a friend may be more valuable than trying to gut through the issues; they may be able to help you find the big picture, as well as fill in the details that currently escape you. Find things to express gratitude about daily, in the next ten days; you may discover that this becomes a useful habit throughout the year. It is a good time to find creative ways to sightsee, to travel, or to learn new skills, but you may find that your overall duties keep blowing up in unexpected ways. Take care of your health and self, but recognize that a partner may be drawing on your resourcefulness and cleverness in unexpected ways this week.

Libra: Travel matters are highlighted but perhaps delayed as you face the expectations of more local responsibilities. Have the right paperwork on hand wherever you go, and treat gatekeepers with a mixture of gratitude and flattery; at times, forgiveness may come in handy, too. Your financial limits may be revealed in embarrassing ways; carrying cash and other forms of traditional wealth might me more useful than a credit card. Some long-range plans may have to be broken up and rethought in more structured ways, as a planned “organically arising event” fails to come through in a timely fashion.

Scorpio: Your reputation at work this week may feel a bit like being the archivist as people keep asking you for access to old materials, parts, and documentation that has been squirreled away by you or someone in your department. Breaking some of your usual unspoken rules about money may feel like it’s the right course of action, especially if it comes to helping a friend, but that generosity is unlikely to be reciprocated. Don’t make a loan that’s too big, but rather a gift that’s right-sized to your ability to manage the fallout. A review of household expenses is probably in order. Finding ways to encourage your team creatively and emotionally will land well, but there’s also bound to be hiccups. The boss is on a tear in your workplace; it may not be personal but expect to catch heat.

Sagittarius: Your friends may be worried about you this week, and are likely to help you break out of your self-isolation, but in order for them to succeed, you’re going to have to break out of the daily grind yourself, and leave some of your usual projects and patterns behind. You also should make communication with your community a priority. You have dreams and ideas about the sources of your delights, but hit seems to be hard to make them come to fruition right now. Remember when eating an elephant to cut it into small bites. You’re hungry for family matters to resolve, in part because career issues seem to be such a sh*tshow, and your daily routines are so out of order. Learn to break some of your personal boundaries this week, but do so in small ways — do nothing irreversible.

Capricorn: It may seem hard to plan or prioritize any of your big projects this week, and you may feel like sitting in the dark for a while. Yet it’s worthwhile to sit down with your spouse or your partners in business or significant others, and write a mission and vision for yourselves for the future. Your household is likely to be under considerable constraints for the next few years — planning for what you want and how you’re going to achieve it means divvying up responsibilities and expectations, and knowing what you want to achieve when. Some of your pleasures and hobbies cost very little money, while others are delightfully expensive luxuries — figuring how how to achieve the luxury while on a budget is part of the work of the next ten days. However, you can certainly treat this budget-trimming exercise like a bougie retreat or spa day, and enjoy the moment as a kind of last hurrah. Being more generous to your allies than to yourself, too, is on-brand for you — but don’t cut away all of what makes you happy for their sake.

Colophon

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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.