​The Sun enters Cancer at 11:33pm eastern on Sunday, June 20, marking the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere—called Litha in the witches’ Wheel of the Year. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, at which point the days begin to grow shorter and the nights grow longer. From the peak of its strength, the Sun begins to move toward its symbolic death and rebirth at the Winter Solstice. This year, as the Sun moves into Cancer, its ruler the Moon is in Scorpio, the sign of its fall or depression. The brightest light of the year is revealing where our needs feel unmet, the places that feel neglected or abandoned. The Moon is in the waxing quarter lunation phase, a time of pressing through resistance, overcoming challenges, and establishing the viability of this cycle—proving what is possible even when the support we may be seeking feels absent or unavailable. The Moon is also square Saturn and opposing Uranus in Taurus, wading through the residue of this week’s exact Saturn/Uranus square. Our foundations may feel shaken and unsteady. But the Sun is also applying to a trine with Jupiter in its domicile of Pisces, and it is co-present with Venus in Cancer. Provision may not come from the sources we expect, but there are resources available to us is we follow where the currents are carrying us. As that which you have been grasping is shaken from your trembling hands, surrender to the flow, moving in the direction of abundance rather than clinging to the places where it feels as if there is never enough. May we each trust that our lives are simply tributaries streaming into tides that nourish us even as we pour ourselves into them. As we move from the longest day toward the longest night, may we remember that we are never alone.
 
[First image reads “Astrology of the Wheel of the Year: LITHA, 20 June 2021” in golden letters on a dark green field of flowers and stars. Second image shows the chart for the moment of the Sun’s ingress into Cancer, and reads “Litha, the Summer Solstice, 20 June 2021, 11:33pm, Columbus, OH, USA”]

June 14 is the second exact square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. Saturn is retrograde, and the Moon is in Leo, making an exact T-square with them—opposing Saturn and squaring Uranus. Without essential dignity here and heavily maltreated by the opposition to Saturn, this aspect with the Moon could be especially hard on our bodies and emotional well-being. Remember the pleasures that have sustained you before this moment, the desires that have taken you down revolutionary pathways, but also be prepared to create considerable space for rest and recovery this week. Seek support whether from movement practices, somatic healing, bodywork, sexual healing, or co-regulation with other bodies where you experience grounding and trust. With Saturn retrograde, we might find ourselves dragged backwards or regressing through pressures and conflicts that we thought were already overcome or resolved—or perhaps reliving old fears or tired narratives that limited or foreclosed what we could feel. Like buildings swaying amidst an earthquake, we must cultivate flexible, enduring tensile strength—strong enough to hold on and flexible enough to remain standing. These squares between Saturn and Uranus this year are teaching us lessons in resilience, how to come into right relationship with change, where to commit to holding stable shapes and where to resist rigidity in order to open to radical change.
 
[Images reads: SATURN SQUARE URANUS 14 June 2021 in chartreuse letters on a brown background.]

​Jupiter is still in Pisces until July 28, but stationing retrograde later this week.
Several nights ago, the Moon was in its domicile of Cancer, applying to a conjunction with Venus, both receiving a superior whole-sign trine from Jupiter. It was a night for ritual and reverence, connecting with these celestial bodies and inviting their support.
May abundance and ease find each of you in the midst of all of that we are struggling for.

On June 10, there will be an annular Solar Eclipse at 19º Gemini—9º from the North Node. This eclipse is conjunct Mercury retrograde in Gemini and square to Neptune in Pisces, both of which are signatures for potential confusion, misunderstanding, and miscommunication. Mercury is within one degree of its inferior conjunction with the Sun — moving into the heart of the Sun or cazimi. It could be that just as we come to some kind of clarity regarding Mercury’s retrograde, a shadow is also revealed, a side of the situation that we could not see before.
 
Do not expect to fully understand the events around this eclipse and anticipate that more will become clear with distance. Gemini is often concerned with information and communication, gathering and synthesizing data to develop a particular point of view. But at this eclipse, these are precisely the kinds of processes that may experience disruption.
 
Remember, eclipses can describe unpredictable events, sudden or dramatic changes unfolding in different areas of life. Most often, solar eclipses—which occur when a new moon is within close proximity to the Moon’s nodal axis—describe significant or dramatic beginnings. These events can unfold suddenly or over the next six months. Look to the signs in which the eclipses occur in your own chart to see which areas of life they might be describing. If they occur within a tight orb—I use 3º—of a planet or angle in your natal chart, these eclipses are more likely to indicate more significant events in your own life.
 
[Image reads: SOLAR ECLIPSE IN GEMINI 10 June 2021 in yellow-grey letters on a dark background]

​On June 3, Venus in Cancer will make a trine with Jupiter in its domicile of Pisces, both at 1º. I think this June 3 trine between Venus and Jupiter may be one of the most auspicious aspects of the year. Venus is the planet of love, union, relationships, desire, pleasure, beauty, aesthetic harmony, and justice. Jupiter is the planet of abundance, expansion, growth, wisdom, faith, and belief. Jupiter is in its domicile, and Venus is the ruler of the water triplicity by day. Together they create supportive conditions for collaboration, for investing in shared beliefs and values, for connecting our personal desires and pleasures with something larger than ourselves, for making art and love that can guide us to more expansive wisdom and perspectives of the world.
 
Consider prioritizing pleasure and connection today. Notice what feels good and move in that direction. Remain sensitive and responsive to your own shifting desires as well as what your friends, lovers, companions, and colleagues want as well. Follow ease and flow and see where they can take you.
 
Venus made a conjunction with Jupiter in Aquarius back on February 11, which was the start of a Venus/Jupiter cycle. It may be worth recalling what was coming up for you around then and notice how it has grown and evolved to this point now.
 
[Image reads: VENUS TRINE JUPITER 3 June 2021 in light aqua letters on a light blue background]

“What I hope is becoming clear is that sex and sexuality, even in their most mundane forms, involve our already more-than-human bodies mediating more-than-human sexual partners, incorporating more-than-human technologies with consequential entanglements with a much larger world that is far more than human. ‘Ecosexuality’ is a term for these and many other entanglements of human sexuality with the nonhuman world. Broadly speaking, ecosexuality directs attention toward various ways in which sexuality is already ecological, and the ways in which ecology might be understood as sexual or erotic. This term has come to be used by artists, academics, activists, environmentalists, people working in sex industries, and others. Its dimensions can be practical, material, biological, metaphorical, representational, conceptual, and philosophical.”

Excerpt from “Ecosexuality: Toward Pleasurable Relationality With the More-Than-Human World,” a short piece I published in UnBound Zine Issue 9: “Awakening”. Many thanks to executive director Lashonda Love for inviting me to contribute.
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on ecosexualities in performance, and this piece summarizes some of the important ideas that have continued with me from that work. I write about how I understand ecosexuality, the work of Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle who first introduced me to ecosexuality, the ways ecosexuality can disrupt human exceptionalism and anthropocentrism, and awakening to the deep pleasure of belonging with-and-in this world.
I hope you check it out!
https://www.unboundartscollective.com/current-issue

HAPPY PRIDE!
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[Images above include screenshots of the article described above, in two-page spreads on a light green background. Image below shows the cover of Issue 9 of UnBound, an illustration of two nude brown figures woven through vines and flowers.]