How deep do our roots really go?

The Hebrew month of Sivan is always somewhat restless, but this year it’s downright jumpy with Sun and retrograde Venus/Noga in Gemini, and Mars/Ma’adin in Pisces. These mutable signs are more skittish than usual now. The mood is mercurial even as we enter the month of the giving of Torah, whose Tribal ruler Zevulon embodies the need to keep moving. We’ve been building up our souls while moving down the sefirot or emanations of the tree of life since Passover, and now we’ll discover if that tree has roots, and if so, how deep do they go?

Retrograde Venus in Gemini squares Mars/ Ma’adin in Pisces and conjuncts the Sun June 2-3, making us less than discriminating in our pleasure-partnership choices, especially during the lunar eclipse at the Full Moon in Sagittarius June 5. If love’s arrow has missed it’s intended mark, feelings of rejection and disappointment may lead to hurtful words disguised as “honesty.”

These experiences generate a primal need for comfort, triggering inchoate compulsions. The temptation to drown one’s sorrows in reckless excesses of fleshly pleasures is powerful and dangerous, and should be actively and consciously resisted.

Mars sextiles Pluto and Mercury/Kochav stations retrograde in Cancer June 18, setting the stage for the great turning of tekufah Tammuz: the summer solstice New Moon/solar eclipse in Cancer June 21. The near-manic waves of emotional restlessness earlier in the month now crash upon the shores of uncertainty.

Information is muddied. Economic anxiety, institutional instability, “homeland security” issues and fierce feelings of familial and tribal protectiveness compete for the headlines. The question of whom and what to trust takes on enormous importance now.

What have we to rely upon? Only our Heavenly Parent. The roots we’ve grown this year during the counting of the Omer, and our connections to each other will hold us together through the wild windstorms of these volatile times.

Planetary ruler Mars/Ma’adin in Pisces throughout Sivan energizes you to complete unfinished business, tie up loose ends in unresolved relationships, and pursue answers to dangling questions. The Full Moon/lunar eclipse June 5 inspires a renewed connection to past idealized relationships with lost loves, former spiritual companions, and religious communities. Are your memories colored by regret or are you simply idealizing the imperfect past to avoid confronting an unpleasant present? Examine where heart connections have become frayed and mend them by reaching out to that special someone you’re missing. Chances are they’re thinking of you, too.

Planetary ruler Venus/Noga retrograde in Gemini through June 24 inspires a retrospective review of your material world. Questioning your own acquisitiveness and culling your possessions for real-life relevance is less about “sparking joy” than it is about confirming your values. The square of Venus to Mars conjunct the Sun June 2-3 allows you to examine lifelong friendships and traditional loyalties in a new light. Your legendary patience pays off when you decide to ignore transitory differences of opinion in favor of preserving long-term relationships. Wisdom to discern that which has lasting worth is your productive and positive focus now.

Venus/Noga retrogrades through Gemini all through Sivan, turning the clock of your heart back to remembrance of things past. The Full Moon/lunar eclipse in solar opposite Sagittarius June 5 triggers cabin fever. Foreign/exotic people, place and things are unbearably attractive to you now, and while physical travel may still be challenging, you’re finding unusually creative ways to intimately connect. Planetary ruler Mercury/Kochav retrogrades in Moon-ruled Cancer June 18, and the Cancerian New Moon/ solar eclipse June 21 reminds you “there’s no place like home,” though the “home” idealized in memory hardly resembles your real life.

The Full Moon/lunar eclipse June 5 is a big wakeup call for your health. It’s time to radically reverse gears and run, don’t walk, toward a more balanced and holistic lifestyle. June 21st’s New Moon in Cancer/solar eclipse on the summer solstice/tekufah Tammuz reveals all the wisdom, experience and sense of competency you’ve developed and built on over the last year and a half, which is being integrated into your persona. The respect and admiration you’re receiving from others may be surprising, but not undeserved. Strengthening your mindbody connection invigorates and empowers every part of you.

The glorious Sun-Venus/Noga conjunction June 3 turns on your love light. Truths hiding in shadow are revealed at the lunar eclipse/Full Moon June 5. A “big idea” appears like an overhead light bulb June 11. The solar eclipse/New Moon June 21 empowers deep exploration into the gap between your professional and private selves. The quest for integration is really a desire for intimacy. Excavating the hidden places of your own subconscious and unconscious mind is done via partners who mirror your own process, excavating ancient fears and extracting primal self-doubts from tightly wedged places in the heart.

Planetary ruler Mercury/Kochav in Moonruled Cancer heightens emotional sensitivity, while a square from Mars/Ma’adin in Pisces challenges you to up your compassion game. Your internal judgment is detectable, especially during Mercury retrograde June 18-July 11. Remember that “there for the grace of God” goes you. Your communities are your comfort zone and all of them are undergoing change during this time, much of which distresses you. A critical spirit won’t quell fears but detaching yourself from preconceived notions of what the still-emerging “new normal” will look like can help. Replacing punishing perfectionism with open curiosity heals the heart.

Planetary ruler Venus/Noga in retrograde Gemini squares Mars/Ma’adin and conjuncts the Sun June 2-3. The curtain parts, the spotlight is on you, starring in a revival of your own romantic life. But who is the co-star? Your “what-if” fantasy is located on the road not taken. Is it really too late to correct past wrongs, and were those wrongs so very wrong to begin with? This isn’t a good time to be without wise counsel. Your vulnerability to the winds of regret makes for poor decision-making. Seek mature perspectives and avoid allowing impulsive actions to damage long-term goals.

Classical Planetary ruler Mars/Ma’adin in wise warrior Pisces gets a workout during Sivan, with squares to Venus/Noga June 2, the Sun June 6, and a conjunction to Neptune/Rahav at the last quarter Pisces Moon June 13. If ever there was a time to go with the flow, it’s now, before modern planetary ruler Pluto’s conjunction with Jupiter June 31. Don’t waste precious energy resisting the inevitable; make the inevitable work in your favor by integrating all your accumulated wisdom, maturity, and experience which will be crucial for what’s ahead by the New Moon/solar eclipse June 21.

Tribal ruler Benyamin’s identity integrated all the tribes via the Holy of Holies, which stood within his portion. Your identity feels threatened by restriction. Customary delights such as spontaneous travel and adventures are cut off and there’s nowhere to run; you’re either running in circles or running on empty. “Freedom!” is the battle cry of June 5th’s Full Moon/lunar eclipse in Sagittarius, squared by Mars/Ma’adin in Pisces, revealing your perceived antagonists as mere projections of your own fears and insecurities around feelings of confinement. Like Benyamin, integrating others into your identity builds trust and intimacy: the Holy of Holies.

With the retrograde of planetary ruler Saturn/ Shabbtai, along with Jupiter/Tzedek and Pluto retrograde in Capricorn, you may be feeling like wheels stuck in the mud: spinning, but not going anywhere. Your best destination this month is inward. The Full Moon/lunar eclipse June 5 draws you back into family history, ancestral trauma, and generational secrets. The Cancerian New Moon/solar eclipse on the summer solstice/tekufah Tammuz June 21 inspire tender, protective feelings, an outpouring of compassion toward the imperfect humanity in which we all share, releasing a long-withheld forgiveness. Forgive yourself as well while you’re at it.

Normally stable friendships run into disruptive communication bumps June 5 at the Full Moon/lunar eclipse. “Frank talk” becomes hurtful when honesty is an excuse to vent passive-aggressive anger. Feelings of frustration can be soothed by sweetening the judgment you’re feeling toward the more inhumane aspects of humanity June 8-11. Tribal ruler Asher’s emotional generosity is needed to cultivate compassion. Imagine those whose beliefs and politics you despise as the innocent, pure babies they once were before the cruel and capricious whims of life caused such a toxic wounding. Develop an empathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on.

Wise warrior Mars/Ma’adin in Pisces this month avoids confrontation and but bides the time. Mars conjunct Neptune/Rahav at the last quarter Moon June 13 finds you fighting tooth and nail for your ideals, but in a smart way. Experience has taught you the powerful are vulnerable to their own vanity; June 18-21 exposes their weaknesses, and Neptune’s retrograde in Pisces June 22 returns you to the scene of the proverbial crime. Gather your allies and sharpen your wits: You’re setting mine traps for predators encroaching on your field of dreams, where you’re preparing to kill them with kindness!

The writer, an author and multimedia communicator, began her career as a professional astrologer in the 1980s. She holds a BA in journalism from San Francisco State University and an MA in Jewish studies from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, where her thesis topic was astrology in Jewish cultural history. Find more of her work at astrolojew.com