The first time California-based Jeannine Schrantz set foot on African soil, she knew she had come home. Her partner, Alan, had convinced her to take a month-long road trip between Uganda and Rwanda in Dec. of 2009. “He told me [Africa] would capture my soul – and he was so right,” she shared in a May 2020 article in Science of Mind Magazine.
The couple had heard of an orphanage in the vicinity, so they’d brought soccer balls for the kids. Despite having no road signs to guide them, they somehow found the place and were greeted by curious, smiling faces who were thrilled to receive the gifts. There were thirty children living in a small house, being tended to with no financial support by the orphanage director. “The kids were starving,” recalls Schrantz. “Yet no matter how little food they had to eat or clothes to wear, they knew they were safe and loved.”
When Schrantz got home, she sent the orphanage money. Then she began making annual trips, staying months at a time, ultimately working on projects across four nations as part of WE CAAN (Wellness and Education for Children and Adults of African Nations), the organization she founded.
Having children had never been part of Schrantz’s life plan. Yet now she has 125 of them. “My soul was seeking a purpose,” she explains. “I was winding down from my career and looking to offer something in a different way. I had always done volunteer work. But I am an introvert and a private person, and I never dreamed I would undertake such a calling and commitment. It was entirely outside my comfort zone. Yet I have never felt anywhere else the way I feel in Africa. It is my soul home.”
The deeper meaning of home and family has been up for all of us since the Sun entered Cancer at the Solstice. Now, this theme becomes intensified at the Cancer New Moon (July 9, 6:16 p.m. PDT), which urges us to birth something new or strengthen our roots. While you may not be moving to a foreign country, you could be selling your home and relocating to another state or purging and transforming your current home. Or, perhaps you’re pondering family matters or dealing with unhealed issues from the past. The Sun and Moon will be opposite Pluto, bringing up feelings related to power and purpose, control and release, birth and death. Something important is arising at this New Moon, but grabbing hold of it might require letting go of something you’ve been hanging onto.
Adding to the intensity of this lunation, Venus and Mars are approaching a conjunction in passionate Leo (exact on July 13). This fiery pair will be ratcheting up the heat – and also, potentially, the summer fun. It’s a sexy combo, and flirtations will surely be on the menu. However, Venus and Mars have both recently opposed strict Saturn and squared unpredictable Uranus (July 1 – 8), so love and money have been quite changeable. As my friend Fern at wisestarsastrology succinctly describes the current Venus activation, “We have a chance to confront and release outdated values and pleasures from the past, including how we value our own worth.” She observes that we can “enhance our Venus potential and update it to the current moment.” Sometimes it takes a bit of a shake-up to motivate us to do such a thing, as I’ve been discovering lately in my own personal life!
So if you’ve been going through the wringer or feeling a bit unsteady, take the opportunity to bathe in the healing waters of the upcoming Cancer New Moon. And pay close attention to your gut feelings – they may be calling you to a new sense of purpose and/or family, as they did for Jeannine Schrantz.
Well said. I guess we are all feeling like we have been thru the wringer!! Makes it a little less daunting to know we are not alone!!
Yes, here’s to solidarity! And a happy New Moon to you, dear Blaine…