Today marks the beginning of summer, the longest day of the year, and a time of celebration at Stonehenge and everywhere else across the northern hemisphere. What exactly is the summer solstice, and what makes it worthy of feast and fun? In short, the solstices (one occurring on or around June 21 and one occurring on or around December 21 each year, marking the beginning of summer or winter, depending on your hemisphere) occur because the Earth is tilted on its axis; it is on the solstices that the sun is tilted most toward (the summer solstice, with longer, warmer days) or away from (the winter solstice,  with cooler, shorter days) the sun. Because of the Earth's tilt and the

This Gemini New Moon occurs Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 7:16am EDT (11:16am GMT). The Moon joins the Sun in Gemini, making this a time focused especially on communication. But, since Gemini is the sign of the Twins, there will be two opposing forces that will need to be balanced, whether that be internal vs. external, masculine vs. feminine, introversion vs. extroversion, etc. Information will be fast and free-flowing, and it will be up to us to discern what we need and to balance that which is seemingly opposite. Perhaps you are still negotiating the information you sought out during the Full Moon in Sagittarius on May 27. There will be a Sun-Moon square to Virgo, which will give

When discussing, studying, or investigating astrology, it can be all too easy to focus on only our sun signs. It's quite common to meet someone and inquire about what sign they are, to determine potential compatibility. Many books give annual forecasts based solely on sun signs. Even the daily horoscopes in our local newspapers focus only on sun signs. But, though it is easy to use sun signs as an over-arching and quick way to look at what the stars have in store for us, it is highly important to remember that we are an amalgamation of our entire natal chart (one reason my Leo best friend is so different from me,  a Leo with a moon and ascendant in Virgo). One way to understand

Readers, please enjoy this guest post by Sally Cragin, author of The Astrological Elements. [caption id="attachment_2614" align="alignright" width="147" caption="Image by Zoe Timms Photography"][/caption] One of the really-cool aspects of having a book is bringing it directly to the people in the hopes they will buy your book. Sort of like an infomercial, but live. As a typically indecisive Libra, I decided the best way to go with "my product" is to go full-speed-ahead and find something in (*plug#1!!) The Astrological Elements that will appeal to as many people in the audience as possible! Yes, totally shameless. But look at it this way. Isn't it nicer to be served a piece of cake