Solstice Full Moon

The Solstice marks the turning of the year and the turning of seasons. In the northern hemisphere, the Cancer Solstice is the solar peak of light for the year with the longest day and the greatest height of Sol, whereas in the southern hemisphere it marks the nadir of darkness which heralds the forthcoming season of increasing light. The Full Moon in Capricorn on 22 June 2024 will illuminate the sacred quality of the days surrounding Solstice, inviting the descent of the Sun’s radiance within us, illuminating our inner Sun of centeredness, knowledge, and faith. Amplifying the lunation’s potency, the Moon in Capricorn will be out of bounds in southern declination, reaching an extremity of southern depths in sky at the same time the Sun ascends to its highest altitude. The Solstice Full Moon is an invitation to create space and time for celebrating Life, for communing with one’s inner Self, and for honoring and celebrating one’s many relations.

The reanimation and renewal of Solstice Light we experience during these pivotal days of the year can foster stillness, reflection, and contemplation. The word solstice refers to the Sun standing still in declination, as the elevation it ascends to in its daily motion stays the same for days. However, not only is the Sun standing still this year, but we will also be experiencing a period of a major lunar standstill that will peak in 2025. As this means we will experience an extreme of directional Moonrise and Moonset, with the Full Moon also out of bounds in southern declination, altogether there will be an extreme of lunar depths that can open unusually deep relationship with the luminosity of the Solstice Sun. Our ancestors constructed circles of stones such as Stonehenge to mark the extraordinary relationship between the Sun and Moon we will experience for the first time since 2006.

In these days of so many events and our own sense of time spinning with an amplified feeling of time moving fast, it’s remarkable that both the extremity of Solar Light and the unbounded depths of Lunar Light simultaneously involve symbolism of stillness which will beckon contemplation of your path in the season ahead. With the Moon reaching full illumination within the nocturnal, earthy home of Saturn, it is further significant that the star of Kronos is also slowing down, preparing to station retrograde a week after the lunation on 29 June at 19°25’ Pisces. The stationing of Saturn in stillness will intensify our relationship with Saturn and bring numerous storylines related to Saturn into culmination. As Saturn is one of the greatest and most consistent measurers of time, we will have the opportunity to ground in the details of daily life with realizations of what needs our prioritized attention and where we may need to construct stronger boundaries or more efficient structures. Yet Saturn is also stationing only ten degrees away from Neptune, opening the walls of Saturn to vaster realms of insight into the invisible influences underlying reality. While some may fall under the sway of the multiplicity of illusions within a dominant culture subsumed by a virtual hall of mirrors, the combined influence of Saturn and Neptune can also bring clarity through the truth and integrity that does not dissolve under their disintegrative waves.

The Capricorn Full Moon will be separating from a square aspect with Neptune in Pisces and applying to an opposition with Venus in Cancer, drawing awareness to the Mother of Necessity, the star of Aphrodite, and her immaculate cycle of time. The New Moon in Gemini on 6 June 2024 formed a conjunction with Venus in Gemini only two days after the conjunction between Venus and the Sun on 4 June which seeded a new cycle of Venus. The light of the Solstice Full Moon will shine on Venus gestating in her invisible phase of being in combustion under the beams of the Solstice Sun. As Venus was reanimated by the Sun while also applying toward square aspects with both Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, the new cycle of Venus as well as the lunar cycle reaching peak illumination are both configured to the otherworldly influences brought by the combination of Saturn and Neptune. The light of the Full Moon may illuminate some desires that need to be laid to rest or released into the sea, but the creative new directions that feel powerful and potent with new life will be important to follow and explore, remaining curious where they may lead your creative processes. Venus will not become visible as an Evening Star until the next lunar cycle coming in July, and so the waning half of the present lunar cycle will remain a time to stay with the mystery of whatever Venus is preparing to give birth to in July when she returns to visibility following sunset.

In the ingress chart for when the Sun entered Cancer, which in mundane astrology can be used to forecast the season ahead, the Moon in Sagittarius was forming a square aspect with Saturn in Pisces, with both Moon and Saturn in the homes of Jupiter. Not only does this emphasize the Full Moon in Capricorn being in the home of Saturn, but it also highlights the significance of the relationship between Jupiter and Saturn in the season ahead. The building square aspect between Jupiter and Saturn (the first two of which will occur on 19 August and 24 December) will be the biggest astrological theme from the Cancer Solstice until the Capricorn Solstice. Saturn and Jupiter will be coming into a critical phase of growth that is rooted in their great conjunction in Aquarius that took place during the Solstice at the end of 2020. We’ve all collectively and personally gone through immense change since the end of 2020, and so the Capricorn Full Moon is positioned to bring illumination and realization regarding the larger shapes of change taking place in storylines. Moreover, on a smaller scale of time, the Full Moon in Capricorn is also applying toward a square aspect with the lunar nodes, giving additional insight into the ways your life was altered by the recent Aries Solar Eclipse in April and Libra Lunar Eclipse in March.

Indeed, the Solstice Full Moon will be the first of two consecutive Full Moons in Capricorn, meaning that Saturn in Pisces will be lord of three consecutive Full Moons: the Capricorn Full Moon on 22 June, the Capricorn Full Moon on 21 July, and the Aquarius Full Moon on 19 August. With Saturn stationing retrograde on 29 June at 19°25’ Pisces followed by Neptune stationing retrograde on 2 July at 29°55’ Pisces, the waning half of the lunar cycle will bring significant realizations regarding your relationship with Saturn and Neptune that will continue to deepen as we experience two more Full Moons under the rulership of Saturn, in particular the Full Moon in Capricorn on 21 July that will be forming a harmonious sextile aspect with Neptune. Saturn and Neptune time periods are psychological, emotionally, and spiritually demanding as well as disillusioning, yet they also bring extraordinary opportunities for forging newfound integrity in spiritual practice and discipline while not only clarifying and honing one’s ideals but also finding ways to bring more of one’s ideals into reality. The influence of Saturn and Neptune will become much more intense in 2025 and 2026, and so the month ahead will be an important time for gaining greater understanding for the ways in which they are already influencing your life.

Fortunately, the fleet footed messenger Mercury is moving quickly and will be returning to visibility as an Evening Star following sunset in the week after the lunation. Not only is Mercury moving fast, but Mercury is also out of bounds in northern declination, adding to the extremity of unbounded perception available within the illuminated Solstice Light. Mercury is separating from a sextile with Mars in Taurus and applying toward a trine aspect with Saturn in Pisces that Mercury will complete on 26 June, followed by a trine aspect Mercury will complete with Neptune in Pisces on 2 July. As a result, Mercury is in perfect position to help problem solve and clarify whatever issues will be coinciding with the intensification of Saturn and Neptune during the waning half of the present lunar cycle.

Capricorn 1 Decan

The Full Moon will illuminate the first decan of Capricorn corresponding with the Two of Pentacles arcanum illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image of a juggling magician set against a backdrop of sea change embodies the capacity of Capricorn to penetrate into structural forms and impact matter from the underlying fabric of reality. Fittingly for a decan focused upon shaping material fortune, the first face of Capricorn is ruled by both Jupiter and Saturn. T Susan Chang in 36 Secrets wrote that Jupiter’s rulership of this face is shown through the metaphysical lesson of the Two of Pentacles: “the only constant is change.” Chang wrote that while the Two of Pentacles portends that nothing will be remaining the same, its connection with the first decan of Capricorn also signifies that there will be opportunities opening up to take advantage of for new growth and experiences. It’s a perfect image for the Capricorn Full Moon illuminating the turning of the season at Solstice.

Austin Coppock in 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Headless Body” to the first face of Capricorn, stating it “entails the descent of the spirit into the body of the world itself,” bringing consciousness to deeper and deeper levels of matter to “set those powers in motion” as well as “use the higher, logoic functions to guide them along their course.” Coppock analyzed the attribution by the 12th century philosopher and astrologer Ibn Ezra of a bestial man carrying a cattle prod to this face, suggesting it reveals the capacity of this decan to not only set material forces in motion but also steer them in order to create change such as new sources of work and sustenance. Coppock further illuminated that since “the figures which roam this decan can root deeply into what soil they find themselves in,” using discernment in choosing which location to lay down roots within is critical. If we wish to utilize the capacity of Capricorn for building a sturdy foundation that will support the development of enduring structures, we need to be mindful where we choose to begin construction.

While Coppock cited the image of a headless man holding a sword found in the Hellenistic text Liber Hermetis as the inspiration for his image of “A Headless Body,” it’s further interesting that it also directly connects to the image for this decan found in Demetra George’s translation of The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius (a Greek language text ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus during early Roman Imperial period, possibly around 50 CE): “Body of a man without a head, dressed in a scarab skin wrapped around his chest, small water urn in right hand, left hand stretched out upon thigh.” While the image of scarab skin in The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius fits well with the scarab-faced deity Khepri in Egyptian religion who represents the rising sun, creation, and the renewal of life, the fact that the figure is also carrying a water urn reveals the purification and spiritual regeneration that can be experienced during the solstice when the Sun enters the first face of Cancer. Like the headless Ketu associated with the South Node of the Moon, the headlessness of figures associated with the first decan of Capricorn also reveals the extraordinary power of this face for attuning with the spirits of material forms.

Moreover, the “atavistic consciousness” Coppock described within the first decan of Capricorn that “descends into the natural world with ease” connects well with the Hellenistic text 36 Airs of the Zodiac attributing the ancestor of earth and body-based healers, Asklepios, to the first face of Capricorn. Asclepius, son of the Sun god Apollo and a mortal woman, embodies a centered focus which integrates all surrounding realms, both material and immaterial. Rooted in Earth, Asclepius is a healer who emerges in times of crisis and cathartic change, reverent of Nature, in balance with masculinity and femininity, and reliant upon ritualistic incubation to find healing cures. Asclepius is associated with healing through dreams, an incubatory process that reveals the connection between external symptoms and the underlying unconscious. With his hermetic staff planted in the ground, Asclepius weaves together meaning from celestial and chthonic realms through discernment centered in his sensual nature, applied to his work through disciplined spiritual practice.

The capacity of Asclepius to monitor synchronicities in waking and dreaming life for deeper meaning will be especially helpful to cultivate with the imaginal influence of Saturn and Neptune in Pisces intensifying in the month ahead. The first decan of Capricorn being the face of Jupiter and Saturn also connects with the importance of Jupiter and Saturn forming their first waxing square aspect in the season ahead since their great conjunction during the Solstice at the end of 2020. As the Full Moon in Capricorn initiates us into the second half of 2024, it will be worthwhile to reflect upon all of the changes that have happened since Jupiter and Saturn formed their conjunction on 21 December 2020 in addition to the changes that have taken shape since the previous Solstice on 21 December 2023.

Let the Solstice light of the Full Moon in Capricorn stimulate your full presence and capacity for bringing sensual awareness to the myriad fluctuations of growth and decay. Find ways to center within the integrity of your own essential values so that as you remain open to flowing with the wider changes occurring, you will be able to stay rooted in creating and directing in line with what matters most to you. As we are at the dawn of a new season, may the Solstice Light bring you guidance and contact with the dawning of new realizations from within.

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Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

George, Demetra. (2021). Egyptian Decans: Star Gods of Time. Astrology University.