A moment of realization is worth a thousand prayers. — Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox, Natural Born Killers
It may seem obvious, but it’s often forgotten: All change begins with awareness.
I call this the ABC’s of Change: Awareness Before Change.
Without awareness, you will stay stuck in the same patterns, behaviors, and habits.
Awareness often arrives in the form of insights.
And if you want to have an insight, you must be willing to look within. It’s built right into the language: insight — to see into something.
The capacity to reflect, to traverse your interior, to navigate your emotional landscape and see into your wounds, your triggers, your reactions, and how they shape your experience, falls in the water element.
Attaining this insight and awareness often requires us to sit with ourselves for longer than feels comfortable and to look at things that may be painful to see. But the alternative — to stay stuck in the same patterns repeatedly — is more painful.
If recent weeks have left you feeling confused and muddled, and if you’re willing to abide some discomfort on the way to new insights, you may find some clarity as Mercury and the Sun form a conjunction — known as a cazimi — at 9º08’ of Cancer, at 1:06 am ET on July 1.
Exposing the Shore
Shortly before the Mercury cazimi, on June 30 at 5:07 pm ET, Neptune will station retrograde at 27º41’ of Pisces.
Like the other outer planets, Neptune spends approximately half the year retrograde. So the retrograde itself isn’t such a big deal. Rather, the Neptunian energy is most prominent around the time that it stations. As planets station retrograde, they slow down and pull focus.
Astrologer April Kent notes that when Neptune stations retrograde — especially in the ocean of Pisces — it’s like the tide washing out to reveal what’s on the shore. She explains that
these are moments when mysteries are unveiled, blind spots are removed, and we are revealed to ourselves in new and often surprising ways.
The Neptunian energy might feel hazy, like a deep fog. Just a fog burns off in the heat of the sun, creating a clear day, the conjunction of Mercury and the Sun can bring us clarity from Neptune’s haze.
Mercury Cazimi in Cancer: A Homecoming
Mercury is the messenger, and as it is infused with the light of the Sun it can bring us insights, downloads, and clarity.
This is a great moment to help us make sense of the things that might have been feeling murky and hazy.
Mercury can be a talkative planet, and sometimes the insights we receive at a Mercury cazimi come through conversations and external messages.
In Cancer, a water sign where emotions and the felt sense reign, the cazimi pulls us inward. That doesn’t mean you won’t get reflection from conversations, but the true insight comes when we reflect on those conversations and the patterns that they expose.
Cancer is the sign of home, foundation, and lineage. It where we are nurtured, and where we learn to renurture and reparent ourselves. Home can be a physical place, but in this context I think of “home” as a personal experience: finding your rooting in knowing who you are.
Water reflects. In Cancer, the Sun reflects our inner knowing. This is an opportunity to go within and really tap into what we know is our calling and purpose.
On The Astrology Podcast, astrologer Austin Coppock described this cazimi as
an intimate moment of reflection that can help us to settle where things are, or be settled with where things are.
As Coppock explained:
This Cazimi speaks to our ability to go inward and reflect and remember on a core level something about who we are and what we want out of life and what we are here to accomplish.
An Invitation to Trust
Mercury cazimis can offer moments of profound insight and clarity. But there’s a shadow side to watch for.
Sometimes when I hear about that promise, I can go into overdrive, looking everywhere for messages. If I’m not careful, I can enter the shadow side of Mercury by overthinking things. Every conversation might leave me wondering: Was that the message? Was that the sign?
There’s a point where we can look too hard for the messages and then start to second guess and doubt ourselves.
This cazimi is happening in Cancer, a sign of intuition and emotion. Neptune is stationing in Pisces, also a sign of intuition and emotion.
The lesson for us here is to avoid trying to be too logical or rational. This Mercury Cazimi is one where we are invited to feel into it.
Remain open. Listen to the conversations. Notice what pulls you. Pay attention to the signals from your body and your sensory experience. Listen to your heart. Notice what’s coming through.
And trust it.
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