The Joy That Makes The Impossible Task Possible

Summer Solstice and a full moon at 1° of Capricorn

Risograph joy from Julia Katarzyna (@juliakatarzyna)

Thursday, June 20th is the Summer Solstice, the peak of the light and the longest day. It’s the official start of the summer season, the season of fruit and heat and all that the Sun gives us; the season when its impossible to think so much, and we are called very deeply into our bodies and the earthy, vibrating present. Then right in its wake, on Friday evening at 6:07pm PST, the moon peaks in fullness at 1° of Capricorn, the holy sea goat. Whenever a solstice meets with a new or full moon, it deepens the field of meaning and heightens the potency of the threshold. The joining of a Winter Solstice with a new moon or a Summer Solstice with a full moon is particularly fortunate and amplified, because their meanings rhyme. Both a Summer Solstice and full moon indicate that a current of manifestation, which initiates, nurtures, and grows new forms, is coming to its fullest expression. And then that current will transform into a current of liberation, which will begin to release us from any forms that are exhausted, complete, or no longer needed. The inhale becomes the exhale, the expansion a contraction. It’s a big finish is what it is, initiating a new phase of life.

So Thursday and Friday are high holy days, for those of us who honor the natural clockworks as sacred. The energies now flowering and culminating had their start on the Winter Solstice, or the new moon in Capricorn back in early January, when a lot of us were orienting our hearts towards a new year— a year that we are now halfway through. You can honor these days in whatever way you want — just quietly bringing your awareness to it, or slowing down a bit as you cross over, are ways of offering your respect. You can also really celebrate! It’s traditional to make a big fire (safely), either in the morning or in the twilight, gather with friends and family, make medicine and art, and let your heart fill with joy and specialness. Anytime from Solstice eve through the weekend, you can make use of these ideal conditions for connecting with yourself and connecting with the natural world, feeling what time it is in your own life, and listening to your inner teacher. Reflect on the mountain you’ve been climbing, the life you’ve been trying to create, the world you’ve been trying to change. What have you given your attention and power to in the last six months? Does that align with what you were hoping to give your attention to, the intentions you set? How has the situation evolved? How are you doing? Where do you deserve some witnessing and some high fives?

It’s unusual to have a Capricorn full moon on the solstice—just at the start of Cancer season, at that first degree. It means there will be two Capricorn full moons, back to back— the next full moon will be at 29° of Capricorn, on Sunday, July 21st. So our first month of summer this year is bookended by Capricorn’s practical, big picture, outer world, outer work energies. Capricorn is cardinal earth, initiating earth. Its gift is for creating real and lasting material abundance, and its creations take time. Because they take so much time, it also has the gift of patience. Capricorn is the sturdiest of teachers, and depending on the degree of our resistance to it, sometimes the strictest. Ruled by Saturn, Capricorn is big on duty, responsibility, growing up, showing up, and doing the work. It’s like, be an adult, mind your blood sugar, focus on the practical steps before you to make what you need to make; be patient, be dogged, be devoted. Live a life of consequence.

The Moon understandably finds it a little hard to be in Capricorn. Its domicile is the protective, caring waters of Cancer, Capricorn’s opposite. So we can expect full moons here to exaggerate any tensions between our physical and emotional care needs and the needs of our work; between our inner life or family life and our outer world callings. If we are depleted, we will really be feeling it. If we’ve been confronted repeatedly by forces beyond our control, we may be having some hard feelings about how hard it all is. If that’s you, see if you can start to soften those feelings a bit just by activating some gratitude for yourself and all the work you have done—emotional, mental, physical, spiritual. Really appreciate any moves, however small, in the direction of your healing and your bigger dreams. Whatever it looks like right now, you are closer than you have ever been. Even in failure, we are learning what doesn’t work, what we don’t want, or what’s simply not for us or not meant to be in this life, and that’s progress.

And, if we are not depleted, we will also be feeling that, and it will feel great. If that’s you, if you’re rolling into this summer season energized by your life and work, energized by the demands of this moment in time, ready to expand to meet them, humble bow. It wasn’t always this way, and it may not always be this way, so really celebrate. It should be said, while Saturn and Capricorn call us into our adult life and work, neither insist that the work be exhausting and joyless. On the contrary; they know that the right limitations, and our total, wholehearted commitment to them, will bring us profound joy and liberation. It’s never too late to learn this lesson, and always a good time to relearn it, or reinforce it—the right boundaries and limits are like guardians of our lifeforce.

Capricorn, more than either of the other earth signs, truly loves complexity and limitations, and actually seeks out impossible tasks or unsolvable problems—of which, in adult life, in the real world, there are countless. It seeks this because it’s the part of us that longs to be fully applied; that longs for a proper challenge, one that will take everything we have to give. In its highest vibration, Capricorn represents great spiritual strength, this alchemical combination of strict discipline and lightness of being that allows us to climb the tallest mountains, and swim the darkest depths of ocean. I’ve experienced it as this state I can only achieve when I am in it to that degree, fully present, connected to meaning and purpose, doing work I was meant to do, undaunted by how hard it is, regardless of where it leads. It is a state of grace, and it is a state of joy—the joy that makes the impossible task possible. It’s that unwarranted, unfuckwithable joy that lightens the heaviest burdens, allowing us to carry them long enough for them to transmute. In this state, I stop getting in my own way with constant analysis and over-thinking and fear and reactivity, all draining my energy and slowing down the process. I let go of the need for life or work to be simple, or easy, or even good; I stop resisting life. Alana Fairchild writes about this in her Wild Kuan Yin Oracle, for the oracle which inspired the title of this post:

At a certain point in the journey, when we have learned to surrender judgement, and learned to open with increasing acceptance to all experiences that life delivers—even the ones we would prefer never to have to repeat—we will be ready for this new way to be. To walk the path of joy may seem simple, and it is, but it is simplicity that has been well-earned through finally letting go of the need to control, understand, or judge. Life just is. We live it as best we can. And so do others too. We no longer need to compare or criticize ourselves or others. We come out of our heads and into our hearts. And in that journey, we discover a kind of freedom of spirit, a place within where joy can happen, spontaneous and unbridled.

Take all this with a large grain of salt readers, I’m high on a Summer Solstice Capricorn full moon. But also, straight from Capricorn and its abundance wisdom: there is something each of us is meant to do, and, we will need our joy to be able to do it. Whatever this calling is, it may not be “work” in the way the dominant culture or our families of origin have defined. It may even seem a lot like play. It may be the thing that we earn our livelihood doing, and it may not be. It is definitely connected to our maturity, to our individuation. It can only emerge when we take ourselves and our gifts and our limited lifetimes seriously—not too seriously, but seriously. With two Capricorn moons happening, in a year where we’ve never needed real, healed adults more, I just know we are going to see something about this that we haven’t been ready to see before now; something important.

If you are already know your work or purpose and are doing that work, at any stage, I want you to truly let loose a big joyful howl this Solstice full moon. If you are actively searching for that work, or starting to imagine it, I want you to let excitement and hope fill your whole heart. If you are not pleased with how you have defined work for yourself; if you have been doing work you strongly resist doing, or that does make you feel alive and applied, I want you to throw all your old definitions out, all at once—make space for some new ones that both honor the work you are doing, and give you the space and courage to seek what you need. And, all work aside, if you have not had the time for awhile to tend to your joy, please consider this season a time to get into that. This Solstice full moon wants to help all of us clear any remaining blockages—past, present, and “future imagined”—to letting our creative lifeforce flow, to letting our spirit soar, to knowing the gift of being alive, so that we can proceed to inhabit a little more of our potential.

A birth chart reading giveaway

It’s solstice birth chart reading giveaway time again! I have really loved doing this. If you have ever wanted to get a birth chart reading from me, this could be your chance. Over the next ten days, paid subscribers can enter to win a one-hour long recorded birth chart reading with me over phone or Zoom this summer in July or August. If you are already a paid subscriber, you can enter just by replying to this email and saying yes please, or sending an email to thecultofmindy@gmail.com with “Yes I want a chart reading” in the subject line. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, but the prospect of getting a chart reading is sweetening the deal, go ahead and upgrade your subscription and then send me that email. Enter by Sunday, June 30th at midnight PST! If you have previously won a reading, you can still enter this one, we can trust the forces of giveaway fate. 4 winning names will be pulled the first week of July, whenever I’ve returned from camping on the coast, and if it’s you I will send you an email with instructions on how to book that reading.

Whether you enter or not, very serious thanks for following and supporting this particular river of writing. It is an honor and a pleasure to be in community with fellow moon students. I wish you a very merry Solstice, and a summer of living and giving, and getting exactly what you need in return.

Ritual & Writing Prompts

Below, for paid subscribers, inspiration and loose instructions for Summer Solstice ritualing and honoring this full moon in Capricorn, as well as a creative writing prompt for those feeling called to write.