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Full Moon at 29 degrees 33 minutes Sagittarius. June 20th, 2016 at 7:02 am EDT
Sun enters Cancer: June 20th, 2016 at 6:34 pm EDT
This year the Full Moon and the Cancer/Summer Solstice arrive within hours of each other at a time when the Northern Hemisphere is awash in the light of the Sun.
The Summer Solstice brings with it a culmination of light. This moment calls in the literal light of the Sun and all the symbolic goodness it brings into our lives. The Sun represents success, cheer, confidence, what gives meaning to life, vigor, vitality, life force, and joy.
This year we have a very special solstice event as the cosmos have folded in this symbol of light three times into this celestial moment. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, we have the longest day and shortest night of the year. The Full Moon is the Moon at the peak of its light. The Full Moon is at the final degree of Sagittarius, close to the place that holds the Center of our Galaxy, the spiritual Sun around which our home Sun is revolving.
The Light of the Sun
In the Vedic tradition, light is worshipped as Agni, which is fire. The first words in the oldest known written text in history, the Rig Veda are Om I meditate on fire – Om Agni Mide. This points to fire as a correlate of the light and a reflection of the Sun. Fire, like the Sun, is purifying, drawing forth all impurities and burning them. What remains are only the purified forms. Offerings to fire are raised to the sky in the form of smoke where they can be offered to deities and return to the earth in a different form. Fire holds the place of the Sun at night after the Sun goes down; it is an ancient reminder of higher possibilities, moving upward, and a higher plane of existence.
Astrologically, this is a time to call in the symbols of the Sun, infusing our consciousness with its good qualities of life force, cheer, ascension, and success.
With the Sun in Cancer, with the Grand Cross of June mostly behind us, and with Mars stationing direct at month’s end, It is possible now to get traction beneath us, leading to another culmination in August. Cancer is the sign opposite Capricorn and it is just as excellent a builder. A Cardinal sign, it is a time when we can find the energy, warmth, and support to initiate the changes that need to be made and to root them into an every day way of being. Planets in Cancer mollify, cool and soothe challenges from the past months and acts as weavers to build a bridge to a more supportive future.
The Sun reminds us daily of the joyous light of life. Accessing the power of the Sun consists in holding its symbol within our hearts and cultivating a positive response to life. These qualities, like any other, become strengthened, deepened, and more easily accessible the more this way of being is called on, like a root note in a song.
The Full Moon in Sagittarius
This Full Moon also represents a culmination. Each Full Moon is the peak of the Moon’s brightness. That this Full Moon falls on the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice is an amplification of the theme of light.
At the final degree of Sagittarius, this Full Moon represents the ripeness of the 
Sagittarius quest. This degree, called the anaretic degree, is the most saturated in Sagittarian themes. Here we find the learned philosopher, who has not only asked questions but earned answers by observation of life. Here we know that the philosopher finds a deepening of the questions rather than any straightforward answers. This final degree speaks of the adventurer who has journeyed to innumerable locations and knows the deeper heartbeat of lands and their peoples. Upon the 30th degree of Sagittarius sits the mountaintop sage who in reverential silence receives the wisdom of all the ages that are always floating in the cosmos, accessible to the humble and disciplined.
The mutable signs represent a period of gradual dissolution from the established steadiness of the previous season into the freshness of the new season. Mutable signs are in both places, embody all ways of being, and through this diversity are able stretch skillfully enough to become bridges themselves.
This lunation speaks of a culmination of a transition. In this Full Moon moment you may find yourself deeply considering a transition. This is the time to think about what is TRULY desired and what needs to be done to accomplish that desire, but only if the desire is true. This space of the Zodiac can take on a “whatever it takes” attitude that can bestow remarkable strength and will power. Yet, the ends to which that will power is being applied should be judiciously considered*.
The Full Moon conjunct the Center of the Galaxy = The Galactic Center = The Spiritual Sun of our Sun
Vedic Pundit David Frawley notes that the Galactic Center is the place of the spiritual Sun of our Sun and holds the energy of Shakti, the Goddess force that creates the Universe. This place also relates to the form of Adya Kali, the Goddess of Time and Eternity.
Additionally, according to Frawley, the Galactic Center, located at about 27 degrees of Sagittarius, offers a connection to the higher energies of life and intelligence.
The alignments at this Full Moon are a reminder to hold to our core and our center, what gives us life and what we are here on this earth for. To always remember that through the seasons of life. Sagittarius is a sign that asks the deep questions of life, and lives them to find an answer. In the Spirit of Sagittarius, we might let it be okay if the answer never quite arrives, and the questions keep deepening and offering fruit in the place of certainty.
Wishing you a wonderful Solstice and Full Moon. May you hear the call of your soul, your path be illuminated, and may you taste the sweetness of living the questions of your life.
With love,
Ichrak
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*Austin Coppock, 36 Faces, The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans
All images by Flickr user Moyan Brenn
