Hey loves,
Last week we celebrated the Summer Solstice, the Pagan holy day of Litha/Midsummer, and the initiation of Cancer season…. and we have now completed one quarter-turn of the wheel of the year together this year. Woohoo! Thank you all for being here, especially to all you loyal long-time readers & listeners. There are a good number of new folks here too- thanks for joining and taking a plunge into these mythopoetic waters with me!
It has been an intense couple of weeks, and I’m grateful that this week’s forecast offers a little more… quietude. We begin the week with the sun finishing up it’s transit through the Gate of Extremes (15), the gate that is activated during the Summer Solstice each year. It’s a gate that holds the tension of the light’s longest reach and the quiet pivot back toward balance as the days begin to get shorter. Designated by the 2 trigrams Earth over Mountain in the I’ching, it is also known as Humility or Modesty in the ancient Book of Changes. The yielding Earth above the still Mountain teaches us that the most sustainable power is quiet, even invisible. It’s the strength of patience, of alignment with natural rhythms, of knowing our place without needing to prove it.
Gate 15 emphasizes living according to our own natural rhythms (even if they’re irregular or unconventional), the I Ching’s Earth-over-Mountain encourages humility, balance, and right proportion. Together, they speak to a profound lesson of the solstice: the importance of staying centered in extremes.
The Solstice and the Gate of Extremes mark the shift from Gemini to Cancer season, which are both, in some way, signs that are represented by duality and extremes. Gemini is the twins who are ping-ponging ideas back and forth, recognizing and highlighting diversity of thought. Cancer the crab, similarly, is an animal that lives on both land and water, inside and out of its shell. Whenever I witness a crab I am moved by it’s constant movement along the shoreline, which seems so in-line with the gate of extremes- the recognition that we are part of a larger ecosystem, and that we can live within the diversity of life that exists on this earth.
This week on Tuesday the 24th, the sun is meeting up with Jupiter in the Gate of Extremes for this year’s Jupiter Cazimi, bringing abundance and expansion to the area of your chart where Cancer falls and helping us embody this dynamic, pivotal energy of solstice-time in a big way.
On Wednesday, the sun moves on to Gate 52, known as Mountain over Mountain or Stillness, for the remainder of the week. Sol immediately meets up with the Moon there for the new moon in the sign of the Crab. Jupiter then follows the sun to this gate, staying there until July 21st, so this is important energy to consider as it influences the entire month ahead. The Gate of Stillness is all about having the ability to concentrate and remain still for long periods of time, particularly when focused on something meaningful, and trusting in divine timing.
Bottom line: We begin the week with the energy of the crab moving in and out of the waves, along the shore, and then the crab stays still, waiting patiently for the right moment to act.
Speaking of tapping into inner stilllness,
Join us THIS WEDNESDAY for a 🦀 Cancer Season Astro-Breathwork Journey
(Wednesday, June 25 @ 5pm mst)
These monthly sessions are a great way to learn about the upcoming transits, integrate the themes of Cancer season in your body, and release emotions that are no longer serving you.
We'll start out with an overview of the archetypes, elements, human design gates, and dates to note for Cancer Season. This part is a lecture format, but your input and discussion is very welcome- the more interactive the better!
Then we take a quick bio-break and prepare our space for the 40 minute breathwork journey, a practice that I call Revolutionary Breath. The theme for Cancer season is "Self- Care & Compassion"
»»» Click here to register!
This week in the Wheel of the Year:
MEDICINE WHEEL Direction: SOUTH
WUXING Element: FIRE
PAGAN Season: LITHA (Midsummer)
ZODIAC Season: CANCER (June 20-July 20)
I’CHING Hexagram/HUMAN DESIGN Gate:
Last Friday the 20th- Wednesday the 25th: Gate 15 = Earth over Mountain: “Modesty (Humility)”, aka the Gate of EXTREMES
Thursday the 26th- next Monday the 30th: Gate 52 = Mountain over Mountain: “Keeping Still (Mountain)”, aka the Gate of STILLNESS
MOON Phase: New Moon in Cancer in the Gate of Stillness, 52 (Wednesday June 25th at 3:31am PST)
PLANETARY dances:
Jupiter Cazimi (Jupiter conjunct the sun in Cancer) in the Gate of Extremes- Tuesday, June 24th
Mercury enters Leo (Thursday, June 26)
Tuesday, June 24: A Jupiter Cazimi in the Gate of Extremes
A Jupiter cazimi (when Jupiter is conjunct the Sun within 17 arc minutes) signals a moment of illumination, expansion, and divine clarity. The word cazimi comes from the Arabic "in the heart," meaning a planet seated in the throne-room of the Sun, receiving royal audience. Jupiter, planet of growth, vision, and truth, becomes supercharged in this exact alignment. When this moment takes place in Gate 15, the Gate of Extremes, it radiates a unique message: there is wisdom in rhythm, power in humility, and grace in embracing your irregular nature.
Gate 15, as the axis of the solstice, is the portal of natural variation, the permission slip for lives that do not move in straight lines. This highlights the wild precision of our bodies tuned to the natural clocks of tides, moons, and seasons. It governs extremes of light and dark, land and water, in and out of the shell, the full range of tempo and experience that this life has to offer. This gate says: You are not too much. You are not too little. You are right on time.
With a Jupiter Cazimi here, the invitation this week after the solstice is to expand our tolerance for difference. This applies to differences within ourselves, differences between ourselves and others, and differences in the irregularity of becoming who we are throughout our lives. This moment may illuminate how deeply conditioned we’ve been to move in lockstep with systems that punish inconsistency. Jupiter’s light in this gate affirms that growth happens in spirals, not linear schedules. It’s not about speeding up or slowing down, it’s about aligning with your own eccentric current.
Opportunities during this transit:
See clearly how your extremes are part of your genius, not something to fix.
Reclaim the sovereignty of your own rhythm
Expand your compassion for others whose timing, needs, or path don’t match your own.
Experience growth through humility. This is not shrinking down, but yielding to something larger than ego, like the humble warrior
There is a greater order at play during this cazimi, one that values diversity of pace, shape, and light. When we honor all the extremes in our lives, including our energy, our moods, and our general sense of timing, we make space for collective wholeness. True inclusion begins with rhythm: letting each being move as they are designed to.
This cazimi plants a radiant seed at the heart of the solstice: Your irregular rhythm is not a flaw. It is a code to emerge as your most authentic self.
Jupiter just entered Cancer and will be transiting through all the gates of Cancer over the next year, expanding on the themes of the Crab in it’s journey. So, as I mentioned earlier, it is wise to contemplate these energies even more than usual, as they will be present over the entirety of the coming year!
Wednesday: The New Moon in Cancer in the Gate of Stillness (52)
This year’s Cancer New Moon occurs in Gate 52, the Gate of Stillness. In the Human Design Bodygraph, this is a pressure point in the Root Center that teaches the profound power of immobility. Gate 52 is not about withdrawal or avoidance, but about focused grounding, the kind that allows true clarity and movement to arise only when the body and mind are still enough to hear it.
In the I’Ching, this gate aligns with Hexagram 52’s double trigram: Mountain over Mountain. This is also known as Keeping Still, or The Mountain. The mountain is unmoving, not because it is inert, but because it is anchored. Its silence is not passive, it is the stillness that holds space for vision, for integration, and for truth to echo in the quiet.
From the I’Ching:
‘Joined mountains. Stilling.
A noble one reflects, and does not come forth from his situation.’
In the Gene Keys, Gate 52 follows is the path from the shadow of Stress to the gift of Stillness to the siddhi of Silence. At the shadow frequency, this energy manifests as restlessness, tension, or a chronic pressure to be doing something, often leading to burnout, anxiety, or misdirected effort. But at a higher frequency, that same pressure becomes the capacity to hold steady, to anchor attention in the present moment with patience and grace.
The Gift of Stillness isn’t just about physical calm, it’s a field of focused presence that creates peace around it. At its highest expression, the Siddhi of Silence reveals the mystical truth that all action arises from stillness, that behind the noise of the world is a sacred, unchanging stillpoint where consciousness dwells. This New Moon offers a glimpse of that inner mountain, a chance to recalibrate from doing to being, and from stress to serenity.
As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
– Albert Schweitzer
The New Moon in Cancer draws us inward already, toward the emotional body, the lineage body, the waters of origin. But in Gate 52, that inwardness finds form. This New Moon is all about listening, gazing into the still pool where the future drops its first ripple.
Key Invitations of This New Moon:
Pause with purpose. Stillness is not stagnation. It is choosing not to react, so you can respond from center.
Let your nervous system lead. If your body says “stop,” stop. This is the kind of moon that restores what over-efforting erodes.
Come home to your spine. The mountain lives inside you. Feel where you hold tension and where you are asked to simply be. The standing yoga asana Mountain pose is a great one to return to over the course of this week.
Allow emotions to settle like sediment. What’s true will emerge in the stillness.
Opportunities:
Deepened presence with family, land, and ancestry
Clarity about what’s worth committing your energy to and what’s not
Strengthening your relationship with rest as an active force
Challenges:
The pressure to do something may trigger guilt, especially in our productivity-obsessed world
Emotional restlessness may arise if stillness feels unsafe, so tend your body like a sanctuary
Stillness is not the absence of movement, but the cultivation of rooted attention. In this fertile pause, something ancient can be remembered. Something essential can take root.
Let this New Moon be a sacred stillpoint in the wheel of your year. This moment of calm inward reflection right after the Solstice’s fiery energy is a chance to ground into the quiet, so when movement returns, it does so with purpose.
Stay in touch!
You can find me at astrosomatics.com, @cyclesoftimepodcast and @astro.somatics on Instagram, or subscribe at cyclesoftime.substack.com to get the pod in your inbox every Monday.
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Thanks so much for reading, y’all!
xox,
Alison
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