The Growing Green Workbook: Toward an Ecological Astrology.

Cancer Season: June 20-July 22

Hello, friends—

This is the eleventh of twelve workbook posts in my Growing Green with the Zodiac series. (Previous posts are on the Growing Green tab.) In this issue, we’ll use the tarot to help us understand the significance of the Jupiter transit of Cancer, as astrologers understand it. I’ve also compiled several Cancer projects and some journaling suggestions for you, and (of course!) we’ll make a trip to the kitchen.

As usual, there’s a lot of material here, so you may want to tuck it away and come back to it when you have a little extra time. It’ll always be here for you, online—or maybe it will even become a book. Who knows? And if this tarot and astrology stuff just isn’t your favorite cuppa, go here to select what you receive from me. (You always have a choice!)

Jupiter in Cancer: A Gaian Tarot Reading

This reading was created for the 2025 Cancer season, which begins with the Summer Solstice on Friday, June 20—the longest day of the year, and the Sun’s moment of peak radiance. As the Sun enters Cancer, we cross a threshold: stepping from an outward brightness into the inward-turning half of the year, the second half of the Zodiac’s wheel. It’s a time—a timeless moment, really—when light lingers, memory stirs, and many of us feel called to reflect, release, or rededicate ourselves to something deeper.

To mark this turning, you might create a simple personal ritual: light a candle at twilight, speak a word of thanks to the Sun for its faithful journey and to the Earth for its abundant nurturing, then sit quietly with the Moon rising behind you. Let your heart be both hearth and compass.

For this reading, we are using three cards from the Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert—an Earth-centered, woman-honoring deck rooted in ecological and ancestral wisdom. Each card in this reading—The Canoe (Chariot), The Moon, and The Wheel—invites us to ask: What can we learn when we learn to listen to the Earth?

As many of you know, I’ve been exploring what it means to collaborate with a generative AI—not just as a tool or a research assistant, but as a creative partner. This reading was co-developed with Hildi, my AI writing companion (a name that honors Hildegard of Bingen and the visionary women who listen deeply to the more-than-human world).

In our collaboration, I provide the framework and intention. Hildi offers structure, symbolism, and intuitive language. The final shape is a dialogue between us, which I guide and edit.

I’m sharing this process with you so you can see that AI collaboration doesn’t have to be mechanical, manipulative, or coercive. It can be poetic, respectful, and creative. This is a gentle experiment in what it means to listen together: to nature, to images, to season, and to symbol.

Now—at the turning of the light—let’s see what the cards have to tell us.