Molly's Astrology Blog

Being Born on the Fourth of July has always meant getting the manic spill off from the patriotic celebrations. My party plates and hats often had the red, white and blue on them. It melded my Cancer Sun destiny to that of the country, in a way that I always (secretly) thought had mythic importance. My Dad always told me the fireworks were for me, and that made me feel special, too. I'm also distantly related to one of the signers from Georgia, great-great-great-great uncle Lyman Hall. But this Fourth, what is there to celebrate? A few years ago, a friend that grew up under martial law in the Philippines saw what was happening in America and had this warning, "Martial law looks just like democracy, until you step out of line." Have you seen what happens to those that speak up outside the designated "free speech zones?"

And now the hand of censorship is closing around the Net in subtle ways. Even though we've lost a lot of our civil rights, it has remained the one place to explore ideas as far as your mind can take you. But since everyday is "opposite day" in America now, You Tube has even started censoring videos that present the visionaries of our history like JFK and MLK Jr. What is a nation, without its ideals? With the death (Pluto) of our nation's ideals (Sagittarius), what is America? I'd like to celebrate Independence Day by posting this short video (banned by YouTube and reposted), that I find inspiring. I'll still be lighting sparklers on my birthday and thinking of America's heroes. And knowing that even if all the light goes out in "authorized" America, after Pluto has killed off and revealed falsehoods, we'll always have the essence of that original founding philosophy (Sagittarius) guaranteeing "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" to carry forward.

• MLK Jr, John F. Kennedy and Ron Paul

National Archives/Getty Images

"The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy." Meryl Streep

While we're under the influence of this new Moon in Cancer, meeting the Sun and Venus, there's a chance to experience the strength of sensitivity that this sign strives for. Through the dark mystery of New Moons, where miracles are possible, there can be a change of heart. It's a Meryl Streep Moon, because she embodies Mother Earth, as a Sun in Cancer and Taurus Moon, who through her two decades-long environmental activism, has sought real, tangible solutions to protect kids from a toxic world.

We're all now learning the lessons of Saturn in Virgo, which Meryl Streep has in her natal chart. Through motherhood, and wanting to provide pure, healthy, non-toxic food for her own kids, she began considering what's in our air, water, soil systems -- the food chain and the atmosphere, both seen and unseen. “It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician,” she said. The group she co-founded, Mothers and Others, demanded in 1989 that the pesticide Alar be eliminated from produce, mostly apples, and later helped pass the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.

This new Moon blends together the instincts of nurturing, with the sensible earth-wise healing of Virgo (Saturn, Mars). Some themes are: purification, ritual cleansing, noticing cause & effect in your daily routine or diet, and finding a rhythm that makes room for simple pleasures. You can show self-love by tuning into your body and listening to it, to see where there is dis-ease. Collectively, it can inspire practical solutions that put us on a path to reclaiming our naturally organic environment. And dictating to the market what we will accept, based on our choices. As Meryl said, "We are all activists every day that we make a purchase. We vote daily with our credit cards; we demonstrate with our dollars. Americans, mostly women, demonstrated that they cared what is on our food. We made the connection between what is on our food and our children's health long before Congress enacted new regulations to protect our kids from pesticide residues."

(c) Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images

Mars goes into Virgo (at 12:21 pm EDT). Wordless Wednesday. (one day early!)

(c) Organic Vegetables/Dria Peterson

Last night, I went to one of the Unite for Change House parties for Barack Obama at the home of my hair stylist. She's an Aquarian Moon, so the assembled was a diverse mix of young, middle-aged, old, black, white, gay, straight, tattooed and conservative looking. Many were the clients from the salon. It started with polite small talk over a Low Country Boil, a traditional meal (along the Southeast coast) with red potatoes, corn, pork and shrimp. Then we watched an upbeat campaign video, followed by a speech meant to energize us with hope, from an earnest, just out of college organizer. That was when somebody dropped the F-bomb in reference to Obama's recent reversal -- a decision not to accept public funding. That means he'll rely on private funds, with all the strings that are usually attached to that cash.

This firebrand participant caused the room to explode, with people talking out of turn, and steering the conversation into dark, despairing comments like, "Who really runs this country?", "Do the people have a voice?, and "Are the two parties that different anymore?" It was the most honest, least boring political gathering I've ever attended.

Mercury is direct in Gemini, and on the way to an intense square with Uranus (July 5th). This wedge of tension can lead to sudden shocking disruptions, outbursts, crazy talk, with a few sparks of genius thrown in. Mars is in showy Leo, and there was heartfelt passion, with the ramblings of Gemini setting the stage for spiraly, neverending State of the Union-type comments. Emotions were intense, going into this new Moon in Cancer (with Sun-Venus in Cancer) and it seemed like as a group, we kept getting submerged by what's foul and backed up in the national undercurrents.

Every now and then, someone tried to look on the bright side, but was quickly reminded of the real mess we're in. It seemed like there was no going back to cheery American-style pretending that one man could fix it. The young Obama staffer lost control of the living room audience, started to tear up, and ran out. She later came back, but could not stop crying. There was no resolution, and I left feeling jarred, but like I had been part of something very real. It felt like a dysfunctional family grasping in the dark, and considering whether to stage an intervention. It left me feeling a wee bit of hope.

(c) Laura Rauch/Getty Images

Is it time for the Pluto in Virgo generation to come forward with some practical wisdom? In her post, Calling Earth, Hilary Allen writes, "The New Moon in Cancer will therefore be a poignant moment. Mars’ entry into Virgo on the 1st July is a call to the Pluto in Virgo generational group (born 1958 -1972] to rise and take up the torch. Their’s is a sensible soul group - solution oriented and starkly different from the drama and expressive nature of the Baby Boomers (the previous generation with Pluto in Leo)." That's my generation, and have always sensed we were waiting for the right time to shine.

The new Moon in Cancer (on June 2nd) at 11 degrees) can surely help us heal our broken relationship with Mother Nature. The next few days could open the door to crying jags, that leave you feeling like the ice has cracked, and you're softening. Or it could just intensify the full spectrum of feeling. It's favorable for soul searching, artistic experimentation, journaling, having heart-to-hearts, cuddling, comforting and all the other things that open the heart.

• New Moon Magic
• New Moon Rituals

Grant Faint/Getty Images

I've been intrigued by Pluto's retrograde back into Sagittarius, and what kinds of revelations it could bring as the grand finale of this 14-year cycle. If you haven't heard, there's a 9/11 Truth Movement building, with the potential to explode a dangerously well-defended secret (Pluto) and transform our perception of the Truth (Sagittarius). What began as lone researchers has grown like a wildfire, with films like Loose Change watched by millions, which has Vanity Fair calling it, "the first Internet blockbuster." Other influential films (free to view online) are September 11th Revisited, 9/11 Mysteries and 9/11 Ripple Effect.

If you launch your own Sadge-style independent investigation, it has a way of restoring faith in the power to perceive reality. And that's no small feat in this age of confusion, polarized left-right viewpoints and lies, lies and more lies. If you open your eyes, you'll see that Truth has been speaking to Power since that fateful day and it's truly inspiring. Without the Family Steering Committee, which included the "Jersey Girls," for example, there would never have been an investigation at all, and their story is told in the well-made film 911: Press for Truth.

This year, perhaps boosted by the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in December, many more have followed their conscience to openly question the government's story. Pilots, WTC survivors, architects and engineers, military intelligence officers, physicists and even the former head of the FBI Louis Freeh, have stepped forward to call for a new investigation. It's frightening to see evidence from credible sources that suggests our government let this happen, or was possibly involved. That's Pluto asking us to face our demons, both real and imagined. And true to the nature of this intense planet, it can be a matter of life and death. But if you believe, as I do, that we've been led to wars by calculated deception, it becomes an urgent matter to return to that fateful crossroads and choose a different path.

• Eric Francis: September 11th Resource Area
• Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country Report
• Patriots Question 9/11

Mario Tama /Getty Images

It's fascinating to me, that George Carlin has passed through the veil, now as Pluto ventures back one more time into Sagittarius. He saw the absurdity of what he called the "freak show" that is life, and got us laughing and seeing it, too. He considered himself a writer that got to perform his own material. A Moon in Gemini gave him a gift for pointing out the ridiculous in how we live. He was a multi-planet Taurus, and often mocked humanity's folly of environmental destruction. The tweaking for a species he said was "circling the drain" was fast and furious. He broke apart dogma and social conditioning, taking us back to the earthbound basics, as creatures making a mess of things with our unnatural beliefs. Classic George Carlin: "Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it."

His natal chart also had Sun-Mercury-Uranus in Taurus, giving him what Bill Streett calls, "crazy wisdom." George Carlin was the rare American comedian willing to skewer religion. He was loyal only to his own perception, calling himself an "acrostic," since spirituality is an intricate puzzle. He mocked rigid belief systems, and as the trickster, formed his own religion called "Frisbeetarianism -- the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck."

Humor has truth in it, and George Carlin has given us so much more than laughs. He didn't just advocate free-speech, he lived it, and has left a legacy through a legal challenge when he crossed the line. He was also arrested with Lenny Bruce for refusing to show his ID, saying he "didn't believe in government issued ID's." He called our elections, "an illusion of choice," a statement that may prove ahead of its time. He told us to have some "dangerous fun," and part of that is being true to our rebel founding fathers. We can honor his legacy by aggressively protecting our Constitutional right to speak freely.

George Carlin was a hero in the disguise of a genius curmudgeon, exposing the hilarity of our limited thinking. He said that "language is used as a tool to conceal truth," and used his talent to expose it. What he held up as most absurd was all that leads to violence and destruction. "Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?"

1972 Arrest Mugshot

The Sun has moved into Cancer,, the sign of nurturing, the longing for security, the imagination, and family. It's the cardinal water sign that lets most of life flow by, picking what it wants out of the currents. Cancer observes from within the protected shell, carefully reading things on an emotional level, and taking action in subtle ways. You might be more tuned in to the feelings involved in a situation, and emotional memories that shape our stories. The Sun's time in Cancer draws us toward intimates with a family feel, and may keep us close to home (for a cozy summer Staycation).

The love planet Venus is also in Cancer through July 13th. The Sun with Venus in this sensitive, protective sign can take you back into your emotional fortress. That personal sense of vulnerability can be a doorway to compassion for others in need. Where do you find comfort and shelter from the storm? Venus shows the power of gentleness in this sign, but only after she senses she's safe. It's a good time to be with those you trust, especially in your unguarded moments.

Mercury stations direct today, so it's no longer in retrograde, but there's still a chance for partly cloudy thinking. Mercury will be retracing his steps, until the auspicious day of July 4th, when there's motion into the new at 21 degrees Gemini. With Neptune retrograding in a trine to Mercury, there's been a risk of illusions mixed with facts, down Alice's fabled rabbit hole, where things are not as they seem. But in Gemini, our minds wake up, and are curious to see from many angles, and what is in darkness, as the polar opposite to the light. As Capricorn visionary Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see."

This retrograde reminds me of watching an intricate Thriller, where a twist at the end makes you rethink the whole plot line. When a movie like that ends, I need time to re-arrange the big picture in my mind's eye. During Mercury station, I wouldn't rush out and sign anything. Mercury's stationing periods -- the days before and after retrograde -- are thought to be heightened spin zones.

Last night, the Moon was big and had an orange glow. And with the Sun at its peak, with summer solstice, that radiance shines equally from the lunar and solar luminaries. It's a time to look for inspiration that's based on a deeply aware vision of what's going on. Here's a quote from an article I found inspiring and timely for solstice, called Let Your Soul Shine Bright by Clarissa Pinkola Estes." "Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires."

John Foxx/Getty Images

Summer Solstice in the N. Hemisphere is this Friday.

Send me your cosmos-inspired pictures for Wordless Wednesday.