The chart for the moment of the Summer Solstice is called the Cancer Ingress chart, and cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) ingress charts are a very useful way to predict national and local events. The planetary positions are the same world-wide, but the angles and houses are location-specific, and the chart cast for a nation’s capital is used to predict for the entire nation. As always, I’ve cast this chart for Washington, DC, as an indicator for the entire country.

I know that some people question how a cardinal ingress chart can be predictive for an entire nation. The proof’s in the predictions, though, so let’s take a quick look back at the Aries ingress chart, which I wrote about here, and check some of those predictions with a few examples.

• “Violent expressions of emotion around political beliefs”. Sadly, the Boston Marathon bombings happened just weeks after I wrote this. Casting the Aries Ingress chart for Boston shows both Mars and Uranus on the Ascendant.
• “Violent weather and environmental events” and “major flooding in parts of the country” Moore, OK was decimated by the widest tornado ever recorded, tornadoes and flooding were widespread, including record flooding in the Midwest and Texas , while the South and Northeast were drenched by tropical storm Andrea, and wildfires in Colorado  and California caused widespread destruction.
• “…anything to do with mining, fracking, extraction of resources will be a focus, and industrial, mining, or environmental accidents cannot be ruled out.” Within days of the equinox, a train derailed in Minnesota, spilling almost a thousand barrels of tar sands crude. Two days later, in Arkansas, an Exxon-Mobil pipeline burst, spilling an estimated 12,000 barrels of crude oil. On April 17, there was a fatal explosion at an Exxon-Mobil refinery, and another fatal and highly destructive explosion at a fertilizer plant in West Texas. In June, an explosion at a Louisiana chemical plant killed one and injured many. 
• “We are also likely to see exhibitions of moral courage…and possibly some more remarkable scientific breakthroughs” Edward Snowden took his place with Manning and Assange as he blew the whistle on the NSA at considerable personal risk, and Nature announced a breakthrough in cloning human stem cells 

You can see that the cardinal ingress chart technique can be very accurate. What we’re looking at when we interpret these charts is a national shared focus of attention and awareness, at events that resonate on a collective level. Now let’s take a look at the Cancer ingress chart, and what it can tell us about the summer.

The primary aspect in this chart is the Saturn-Neptune trine that first became exact last October, stayed pretty much within orb through the winter and spring, and was exact again early in June. It will make its last exact aspect in mid-July, when it forms a grand trine with Jupiter and Mars (more on that in a future post). In the ingress chart, both Jupiter in Gemini and the Cancer Sun are already within orb of a grand trine to the two outer planets, and the USA’s natal Jupiter forms an exact grand trine with transiting Saturn and Neptune. There are other Jupiterian indicators — ingress Jupiter closely conjunct the IC, square the Ascendant/Descendant axis, and conjunct the Sun. Transiting Jupiter is approaching a conjunction with the USA’s natal Venus and then Jupiter — a Jupiter return — and, as always in the Cancer ingress chart, the Sun is conjunct the USA’s natal Venus and Jupiter.

Grand trines are generally considered to be beneficial, but, like any aspect, they can manifest in many different ways. The signs involved in a grand trine play well together, but that ease can lead to being stuck in a rut, isolation, inertia, and a sense of entitlement. The grand water trine in this chart, with another water trine between the Moon and the ascendant, Pisces ruling the chart, and both the Moon and Sun in water signs suggest a major focus on water over the summer — scarcity, pollution, and/or flooding. Neptune in the twelfth house, the Moon and Saturn in Scorpio, with Scorpio on the cusp of the eighth house suggests there may be public health issues involving infectious disease, possibly water-borne. We can also expect great waves of emotion washing through our collective awareness.

The trine, along with Venus and Mercury conjunct in the Scorpio Moon-ruled fifth house, suggest great creativity — artistic endeavors that emphasize both the practical and the spiritual, and dive deeply into the realms of social taboos, challenging the status quo. We may also see new, creative solutions in science, business and other realms. Watch for it!

Jupiter, still in detriment in Gemini, closely conjunct the Sun (leadership) in the fourth house (the party not in power) in tight opposition to the MC (which it rules) and square the Ascendant axis, along with Pluto in the tenth square Uranus in the first suggests that political posturing, power plays, confrontation and one-upmanship will be much in the news. Foreign policy and financial issues will also be center stage, and the electorate will probably demonstrate some intense displeasure with the performance of their elected officials. Mars in Gemini in the third, quindecile both the MC and the Moon indicates an embattled news media, and transportation-related problems.

It’s interesting to look back at the mid-sixties, when there was a similar trine between Neptune and Saturn, but this time Saturn was in Pisces, and Neptune in Scorpio. There was also a strong, recurring Uranus-Pluto aspect in the sixties as well — a conjunction in Virgo, which was opposed several times by Saturn as it transited Pisces.

Some of the most memorable things about the mid-sixties in the USA were the massive cultural changes that occurred — erupted might be a better word — during those years. The civil rights movement was in full swing (the Selma to Montgomery marches took place in 1965) the anti-war movement was well underway (the first anti-war march on Washington, DC also occurred in 1965), and the hippies, with their penchant for mind-altering drugs and experiences (Neptune in Scorpio) were challenging the “might is right” post-World War II mindset with strong pacifist ideologies (Saturn in Pisces), and leading the sexual revolution. Second-wave feminism was incubating in the heat generated by de Beauvoir’s and Freidan’s insights, while the newly-founded National Organization for Women fought legal battles for affirmative action. Underground presses flourished, and music went in many new directions, drawing inspiration from different cultures while incorporating electronic technology. Art and fashion were equally colorful and diverse. There were comparable cultural upheavals world-wide.

I believe we are seeing and will continue to see similarly profound cultural changes during this trine of Saturn and Neptune, particularly in the areas of women’s and LGBT rights, environmental awareness, and resistance to governmental corruption and corporate greed. These themes will be reflected in art, music, fashion, movies and other forms of creative expression. This will be an emotionally-darker and less-colorful era than the sixties, but even more intense and life-changing. The grand trines that are forming through July can, on a personal level, drive us deeper into apathy and entrenched behaviors, or guide us towards beneficial changes that connect us on a human level into a collective mindset that is focused on healing, empathy and spiritual awareness. I’ll look more at the personal aspects of the upcoming Water grand trine in my next post.