As the editor of the Arizona Society of Astrologers newsletter, I compose an overview of each month. Today we take a look at the primary factors for the month.

This year the month of June features major cross currents the first three weeks of the month, with the inferior conjunction of Venus retrograde joining the Sun at 14 Gemini and both square Mars in mid-Pisces. We’ve all “graduated into a new realm of Being,” and now the deck is getting reshuffled, so keep your eye on the big picture as well as philosophical-ethical truths, cultivating divine discrimination (Viveka in Sanskrit) while not getting deflected by passing distractions.

As I told you last month, the very intense and scattered squares of the Sun-Venus “inferior conjunction” in Gemini square to Mars in Pisces at the beginning of the month results in the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto all in octile-series aspects to each other. This will generate enormous friction for those with planets and points in the second decan of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, as well as around 24-28 Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.

Because of where the friction occurs, stay focused on details, learn to relax with a sense of humor and a clear vision of what’s true and what’s not. There will be “crisscross” energies dominating late May and early June, so be flexible, don’t be attached to perceptions, and generate happiness, especially when others are having a hard time.

We also have a very weak Penumbral Lunar Eclipse and a much more powerful but very short Solar Eclipse this month! Every year the Full Moon of Sun in Gemini and Moon in Sagittarius is said to be the time when the World Teacher radiates the Wisdom Teaching for the year to humanity. As all Eclipses are “cosmic recyclers” removing that which we no longer need in our lives, it seems the wisdom of this year requires us to “let go let god” and accept that in “moments of pause which presage change,” it’s best to be alertly ready to act, and not fall into distress at now knowing what’s ahead.

The Solar Eclipse falls just after the Summer Solstice on a critical degree, indicating that some will change their allegiances based on what’s leaving, or have to let go of something to demonstrate their willingness to align themselves with a larger or greater reality. In any case, we’re now in the era of North Node in Gemini, showing our line of greatest evolutionary development is through seeing the many ways to learn and communicate a given thing, especially with an eye to raising the standard of our understanding or what we’re offering our world.

Now that Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have all gone retrograde, we’re retracing planetary themes related to their respective shadow zones. We got our first experience of their spans when all were direct, before going retrograde; we’ve now begun the second transit of the span which will yield different perspectives on that span of experience. The third is when the planet is again direct, when we should be familiar with whatever we have to learn from that span.

As I told you last month, these retrogrades will demonstrate in several major ways. The houses where Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are going retrograde will be an area of focus, and planets and houses in our charts involving Taurus, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces are all going into review mode. By mid-month Mars is square Neptune, and the Sun is quincunx the forming Jupiter conjunct Pluto, showing the need for adjustments and sacrifices to expand in regenerative ways which restore heart energy and help us to find a greater radiance.

Last month, when Mercury made the square to Neptune and quincunxes to Jupiter and Pluto, it gave us signs and signals about what must be done when the Sun also squares Neptune and quincunxes Jupiter and Pluto. Now that Mercury is in the second face of Cancer, it’s in its shadow zone all month, so we’re getting a front end “feeling knowing” related to the powerful oppositional tensions of July which are a prelude to 5 months of Mars in Aries making squares to Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. Still, with Mars in favorable quintile to Saturn and then sextile to Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn, this should be a relatively productive month, even if things seem a bit “sideways” at times!

We end the month with Mars’ entry into Aries, where it will stay for 6 months. That means planets and houses in our charts involving Aries and Scorpio will shift at that time from the deep, mystical, cloaked Water sign of Pisces to a fiery initiative which flames up on a moment’s notice! However, because it makes a powerful sextile to Saturn at the end of June and beginning of July, we can use Saturn productively to begin movement toward a larger vision of a greater good.

This time of transition and intensifying friction will last through January 2022. Adjustments and sacrifices this month will help us focus our magnetism and cultivate heart strength, while the retrogrades will give us a chance to rehearse, research, reconnect, and remember we are here to bring Spirit into manifestation. Again, pay attention to details, cultivate a sense of organized service toward a better future, and remember to laugh at the absurdity of many things.

Since I also include this in the newsletter, I’ll offer it to you here:

PLANETARY MOTIONS IN JUNE 2020

SUN – 12 Gemini through 9 Cancer
MERCURY – 5-15 Cancer then back to 11 Cancer
VENUS – 16 Gemini back to 6 Gemini
MARS – 13 Pisces through 2 Aries
JUPITER – 27 Capricorn back to 25 Capricorn
SATURN – 2 back to 1 Aquarius
URANUS – 9-10 Taurus
NEPTUNE – 21 Pisces (all month
PLUTO – 25 Capricorn (all month)
TRUE NORTH NODE –30 Gemini (all month)

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SIGNIFICANT ASTROLOGICAL OCCURRENCES IN JUNE 2020

FULL MOON LUNAR ECLIPSE/WORLD TEACHER FESTIVAL; June 6; Sun 16 Gemini, Moon 16 Sagittarius
MERCURY STATIONARY RETROGRADE – June 17 at 15 Cancer
SUMMER SOLSTICE/SUN ENTERS CANCER – June 20
NEW MOON SOLAR ECLIPSE – June 21; Sun and Moon at 1 Cancer
NEPTUNE STATIONARY RETROGRADE – June 22 at 21 Pisces
VENUS STATIONARY DIRECT – June 24 at 6 Gemini
MARS ENTERS ARIES – June 27