In a recent Facebook post, renowned healer, writer and teacher Denise Linn shared a message from nature that profoundly changed her outlook on life. It involved a tiny killdeer bird who’d laid four eggs next to Linn’s gravel driveway on the dry, desert landscape. “Every day,” said Linn, “I watched her faithfully tending her eggs. When the sun blazed overhead and temperatures climbed over one hundred degrees, she shaded them with her body. When fierce winds swept across the land, she shielded them from the drying gusts. When the nights grew cold, she settled over them, wrapping them in warmth.”
Day after day, week after week, Linn silently encouraged her little friend. “You’ve got this. Keep going.” But as the weeks stretched on and the normal incubation period for killdeer eggs – 28 days – stretched into two months, Linn became concerned that the eggs were no longer viable. So, she shifted her prayer to something quite different: “You’ve done enough. It’s okay to let go.” True to her Cherokee heritage of heeding signs from nature, Linn began wondering which of her personal dreams she might need to surrender.
And then one day…a tiny crack appeared in one of the eggs. Then another. Within hours, all four eggs had hatched. Linn laughed out loud – grateful that the persistent mom hadn’t listened to her. Shortly thereafter, the baby birds were racing across the landscape. What Linn had believed was a sign about letting go turned out to be a reminder that we don’t always know what’s happening beneath the surface – and that patient nurturing can overcome all odds.
“So, hell no!” she wrote. “I’m not giving up on my dreams. Sometimes what appears lifeless is quietly growing. Sometimes what feels delayed is simply unfolding in its own perfect timing. Sometimes the miracle is only one more day away.”
That feels like a fitting message for the Cancer New Moon (July 14, 2:44 a.m. PT). This lunation can bring new beginnings that require deep gestation, patience and nurturing. And, at 21 degrees, the Sun and Moon are conjunct retrograde Mercury at 19 Cancer – introducing an unpredictable element. Mercury has been moving through Cancer since early June and continues its journey through August 9 (turning direct on July 22). Two months is a long time for itchy Mercury to spend in a dynamic cardinal sign. Besides the usual misplaced items, computer snafus and other frustrations, the Winged Messenger has been bringing up family, domestic, and emotional patterns. If you’ve been feeling more sensitive than usual and trying to tough things out, Mercury is likely the culprit. Yet this cycle can also bring deep healing. Try to be patient and trust the process, even if it feels like the proverbial “two steps forward, one step back.”
The upcoming New Moon occurs as Jupiter at 3 Leo is about to oppose Pluto at 4 Aquarius on July 20. This profound transit, which also involves Uranus in Gemini and Neptune in Aries, provides an excellent opportunity to trust the Life Force to guide us in the right direction. As I mentioned in my last essay, this pattern – with four major planets connected at 4 degrees of speedy fire and air signs – has been called Barbault’s Basket, after the French astrologer who saw it coming many years ago.
The exquisite dance between these major planets, building now and peaking on July 20, has been heralded as a collective consciousness shift or an opportunity to make something brilliant happen. Yet it’s occurring while the Sun and retrograde Mercury are in protective, emotional Cancer. So, do we charge forward with bold new plans at the Cancer New Moon near Barbault’s auspicious Basket? Or should we wait to take action until after the Sun enters dynamic Leo on July 22 and Mercury turns direct the next day? (Note: The week of the July 29 Aquarius Full Moon, closely connected to lucky Jupiter, looks quite auspicious. More on that next time.)
Meanwhile, trust your instincts, as breakthroughs could occur at any point depending on what’s being triggered in your chart. Watch for signs, as Denise Linn did, and remember that your perspective may go through shifts and changes. What you thought would be a clear outcome might turn out to be something quite different. Linn reminds us that it’s essential to trust the unseen, underlying process. As she puts it, “The killdeer’s message was simple: Keep going. You may be much closer than you think.”