In these waning days of the Sun in Cancer, I have been confronted over and over again with things that lie beneath. The root of the matter. These haven’t been secret just overlooked. So not the deliberate secrets of Scorpio or the lost knowledge of Pisces but the simple things that lie beneath everything else, this is the Cancer zodiac sign. Distracted by the giant tree above, one doesn’t often notice the roots much less the health of the roots.
About a week ago, in my chair in my home an alarm was sounding so faint my husband could not hear it. All the electronics were turned off and still the alarm sounded. So faint when there was talking or noise it was unnoticable but as soon as it quieted down it kept its alarm. I put the blinds down and it grew even quieter but still I could hear it. I think it is the shrill alarm of a distant failed septic system – its sound bouncing down the creek and hitting a tree trunk and quietly blasting the front windows behind my comfortable chair. There are many unoccupied vacation homes along the creek. A literal alarm saying look at what lies beneath something is wrong.
My friend was visiting their heartdream too. The festino of Santa Rosalia was underway and it is a remembrance thanksgiving for life after the devastation of a centuries old plague. The festival reminds the city that people are here today because of all the pieces of them survived that plague all those centuries ago. The theme repeats again as the health of the roots.
The Imum Coeli (I.C.) means the “bottom of the sky”. It represents your roots and your foundation. The horoscope represents your life as a tree with the I.C. the roots connected to the past, with the Midheaven, the crown of the tree, stretching up into the sky and the future.
You may have a planet near your I.C. that acts as a foundation stone for your life. For me, I have 5° Taurus Chiron. The Sabian symbol is “a widow at an open grave”. If you have read my story, you might recall that everytime I think there is a solid Tauran foundation beneath me it disintegrates and I find myself looking into the abyss again. The next symbol is “a bridge being built across a gorge”. That is the message that is always delivered to me and by me. You can stare into the abyss or you can get on with the hard work and build the new bridge. The horoscope provides the symbols of your life which is itself a bridge between worlds. The tree of life with its roots in past and its branches stretching high into the future.
Let’s examine the horoscope of the festino trip. This is a highly significant journey for my friend. This chart resonates strongly with their horoscope. Unlike the previous journey, this one is about the deep family, deep beliefs and the peaceful neighborhood. Cancer Sun, Sagittarius Ascendant ruled by the Leo Jupiter and the Gemini Moon. As a ninth house Sun, playing the role of Jupiter and finding their way to the cathedral, to ancient temples and culminating in participation in the religious procession of the relics. Deep at the heart of this chart, the I.C is on 25° Pisces on the Sabian symbol “the purging of the priesthood”. This is about reformation of beliefs with ancient roots. This is not about giving up the old beliefs but trimming, removing or restoring beliefs. The Leo Jupiter is seeking Leo’s Sun which lies in Cancer. Seeking family. This is a person who is the grandchild of immigrants who has been severed from ancient roots by the previous generation’s emigration. Now the old roots have been found and are still healthy. What next? The Aries zodiac sign in the fourth house shows a tremendous amount of energy in a new beginning. Maybe the next step might even be to return.
On the cusp of the American Revolution, an 120 year old elm tree became a powerful symbol for radical colonists who demanded separation from England and its King. It was named the Liberty Tree and the radicals tarred and feathered people under its branches and used it to rally around. Sometime between August 28 and August 31, 1775, the elm was attacked by loyalists who hacked it down and eventually produced 14 cords of fire wood. A British soldier may have died falling from its branches. The Virgo Sun is reformation. The representatives of mother and father. Moon and Saturn trine the Gemini Uranus square the Virgo Sun. A division, a divorce. Reformation.
The loyalists clearly did not understand the true symbolism of the tree. Severing the tree from its roots, the stump and roots remain but eventually were wiped away although some of the roots were given to a historical society. The idea of American liberty was symbolized by a tree that grew from roots that had a hundred and twenty year history of deep connection to the British crown. Severed from its roots, the branches and trunk were burned and the connection of America liberty to its old roots was permanently severed. A year later, the Declaration of Independence heralded the birth of a new tree. A new sapling had sprung from a seed with new roots that would take root and spread.
The resonance with the Festa trip chart helps to clarify what was going on. When the Ascendant-Descendant, I.C and Midheaven are all in mutable zodiac signs, the natal chart represents when the tree of life is undergoing change. The Festa trip is a future reformation of belief. Virgo Midheaven, Sagittarius Ascendant. The Felling of the Liberty Tree chart says the tree’s destruction was during an active reformation of old beliefs. Sagittarius I.C., Virgo Ascendant. The Liberty Tree’s felling did not destroy the ideals of liberty, Gemini Uranus. Its felling represented a severing done by supporters of the crown. The old story says a British soldier fell to his death from its high branches. As above, so below. The felling of the Liberty Tree is the symbol showing the coming American Revolution. For the loyalists who wanted to maintain their ties to Britain, better it would have been to let time and rot fell the old tree. Instead a new seed was planted. America’s I.C. is on 1° Aries which represents a wholly new beginning.
Pluto has just finished his transit of Capricorn, taking away all the dead branches, and he had been putting immense strain on Cancer’s roots. Will the tree of life produce new growth to replace the deadwood? As I write this immense wildfires are burning the crowns of entire forests in Canada with some in northern Minnesota and the air quality in Virginia is thick with smoke affecting visibility on the ground. For those trees, the future is gone and only the roots and the past remain. It is a powerful symbol like the Felling of the Liberty Tree. Neptune is in Aries. A new beginning. What will Ontario and Minnesota’s roots do? Pluto has completed his destruction of the dead so that a rebirth can begin. The alarm over the septic system continues to sound because the house is dead. There is no life and the septic system, unlike the roots of a tree, does not have the capacity to restore life. Santa Rosalia’s bones were marched around Palermo and the health of the city was restored and millions of new branches have appeared since. After such a destruction as Pluto has just completed of Capricorn, we are all widows standing at the open grave. Now is the time to choose, will you stare into the abyss or which you build a bridge over it?