New Moon in Cancer – July 10, 2021, 01:16 UT
The New Moon occurs at 18+ degrees of Cancer on July 10 at 01:16 UT. About nine hours later the Moon has reached the midpoint of Alicanto and ǂKá̦gára at 22+ degrees of Cancer. Alicanto and ǂKá̦gára are the two most recently named trans-Neptunian minor planets. A midpoint halfway between two planets combines the qualities of the planets in question. If there is a third planet at the midpoint, then all three qualities are combined. Alicanto and ǂKá̦gára are trine to each other at the moment.
474640 Alicanto is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO), orbiting the Sun well beyond Neptune in the outermost region of our Solar System. Alicanto’s orbital period is about 6070 years. ETNOs may be influenced by gravitational interactions with the hypothetical Planet Nine, predicted to have mass of five to ten times that of the Earth.
474640 Alicanto was discovered by American astronomer Andrew C. Becker in 2004 at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in 2009. In the astrological chart it is now in conjunction with Ceres at 23+ degrees of Taurus. The object was named from Chilean mythology in May 2021.
The Alicanto is a mythological bird of the Atacama Desert whose wings shine at night with beautiful, metallic colors. Its presence usually represents good luck. It only appears in the nights and guide lost travelers to a safe place with the shine of its feathers. A miner who follows it can find treasures, but if the Alicanto discovers that it’s being followed, it will turn off the shining of its wings and scuttle away in the darkness of the night. Also, if the miner is not of “good heart” the Alicanto will guide the miner off a cliff.
469705 ǂKá̦gára is a trans-Neptunian object and a binary cubewano. The primary body was discovered in 2005 by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona. Its companion ǃHãunu was discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. The orbital period is around 290 years. The system is currently undergoing mutual occultation and eclipsing events, which have begun in 2015 and should continue until 2035. Astrologically the binary is now at 22+ degrees of Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces.
The names ǂKá̦gára and ǃHãunu were officially approved in June 2021 by The International Astronomical Union (IAU). In the mythology of the ǀXam people of the Karoo region of southern Africa, ǂKá̦gára and ǃHãunu fought an epic battle in the east using thunder and lightning, producing mountainous clouds and rain. The conflict was over ǂKá̦gára returning his younger sister, ǃHãunu’s wife, to their parents. ǀXam is considered an extinct language of South Africa. Its last speakers died in the 1910s.
The conjunction aspect also combines energies that are represented by the planets in conjunction. In the chart of the English novelist Mary Shelley (Aug. 30, 1797 – Feb. 1, 1851), the Moon is in conjunction with both Alicanto and ǂKá̦gára in Sagittarius. The conjunction is square to her Mercury in Virgo. Mary Shelley is famous for her novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which tells about a young scientist who creates a hideous creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. The novel is considered an early example of science fiction. Mary Shelley also edited and promoted the works of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English romantic poets.
