To Do list №8 July 2020

It's watery Summer cancer season and I just loved this list by Astro Style! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Astrology might be baloney, and some argue it's even anti feminist, but I find it a relaxing way to observe a little magic that might exist in this ancient story telling and prediction.

"Cancer season begins with the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere on June 20, 2020 at 5:43PM EDT (as it does every year), as the Sun passes over the Tropic of Cancer in its imaginary path around the Earth. (We say “imaginary” because the Earth goes around the Sun—but that’s how it appears from our vantage point.) Fun fact: The word solstice derives from sol (sun) + systere (standing still) because for about three days, the Sun seems to stop in the sky. It’s reached its northernmost point and is now switching to a southbound journey.

From lighting bonfires to bathing in streams and oceans to celebrating nature and summer’s bounty to come, there are no shortage of timeless ceremonies you can try to welcome Cancer season 2020 and Midsummer.

1. Expand your empathy.

During Cancer season, feelings are subject to change without notice, but don’t just write off these fluctuations as “moods.” This heart-centered sign helps us expand our empathy. During this month-long cycle, you don’t just walk a mile in someone else’s shoes—you can almost feel what it’s like to be living in their skin. But that doesn’t mean you should make assumptions. Now is the time to ask people, “What’s that like for you?” or “How do you feel about that?” The answers may be richer than you expect.

As a rule, slow down, get curious and start listening. Still waters run deep during this compassionate cycle, which can bring powerful healing for families and neighbors. Don’t have access to those conversations yet? Pick up a book that can help you gain greater understanding about someone else’s experience. Educate yourself on multiple perspectives and you’ll be ready to enter the discourse soon enough.

2. Don’t confuse feelings with facts.

We live in a world where anxiety has become rampant. Much of this is simply a sane reaction to the intense pressures of the current world. This cosmic climate demands tools to help people deal with their fears and uncomfortable emotions. During Cancer season 2020, sharpen your emotional intelligence with personal growth books, workshops, mediations and more. We’ve heard it said that “e-motion stands for energy in motion.” If that’s true, then why are so many of us still stuck? Most likely, we aren’t getting to the root cause of our pain—which is the hard, but necessary, work. Although Cancer season can stir up past pain and trauma, your main goal is to NOT lash out at the people closest to you. If Cancer season makes for a monthlong case of planetary PMS, just know that, like everything, your intense emotions—or someone else’s—shall pass. Best to keep a safe distance whenever you’re stirred up and not to get hooked into drama.

3. Your home and family are the focus this month.

Cancer season reminds us of our roots, whether you live in close proximity to your parents or you’ve forsaken every branch on your family tree. The Cancer-ruled fourth house sits at the very bottom of the zodiac wheel, representing our foundations. Connect with your origins, whether you do a DNA testing kit, heal a generations-old chain of pain or honor your ancestry by documenting family traditions on video. Since Cancer rules the home, use this season to enjoy your abode, whether you create a little reading nook, commandeer a corner for a meditation station or turn your front yard into a supply station for activists en route to protest. Need help making your den feel more like a haven? Our Home Decorating Horoscopes have tips for every sign.

4. Flex your epicurean muscles.

Cancer season is a time to nourish ourselves, and that can be accomplished by connecting to the food we put in our bodies. During this solar season, our palates may veer more toward rich and hearty decadence than plant-based dietary restrictions. Since Cancer is one of the zodiac signs associated with family, connect to your heritage or get a taste of other cultures through the cuisine of the lineage.

Pick up a cookbook (and watch his YouTube vids) like Lazarus Lynch’s Son of A Southern Chef. A “love letter” to his father’s culinary artistry has Cancer season written all over it. (Pass the Brown Stew Chicken and Lemon Pound Cake, please.) Or binge-watch multiple seasons of “No Reservations,” as a tribute to late Cancerian food and wine connoisseur Anthony Bourdain.

The caveat? Self-soothing Cancer can awaken an urge to emotionally eat, since food is one of our culture’s most widely accepted forms of comfort. During Cancer season 2020, slow down and indulge mindfully. Taking part in preparing a meal at least partly from scratch instead of throwing down ready-made meals while you zone out at your desk. Up your Crab cache by inviting friends over for small, socially distanced dinner parties. Turn on some pretentious-but-fun Paris Cafe station on Pandora, pour wine and prep a meal together as you laugh, talk and bond.

5. Honor the women in your world.

Make way for the astrological Alpha female! Cancer rules the zodiac’s fourth house of home, family and women—so this is a month where girls indeed run the world. If it was up to us as astrologers, International Women’s Day would coincide with the Cancer new moon. (But hey, the powers that be—or at least, their savvier, spiritual First Ladies—stopped taking our advice back when Nancy Reagan left the White House.)

Nonetheless, let us hereby declare Cancer season a time to celebrate and appreciate the maternal figures and inspiring women in our lives. We all have feminine energy within us, regardless of which gender you identify with. What we could all do: Take a stand for gender equality, in ways great and small, whether you call yourself a feminist or not. If you’re a woman, fight for fair pay. Speak up, voice your opinions, don’t end sentences with a question mark unless you’re sending a text to a friend. If you’re not a woman or female-identified, take a stand whenever you see an injustice.

6. Go global with your girl power.

Did you know that one in three girls in developing countries are married before age 18? Not only are they left uneducated and economically disempowered, complications during pregnancy are the leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-old females, globally. Help girls and women gain access to education, healthcare, and economic empowerment. Women make up the majority of the world’s poorest citizens. Yet, educating girls—which is forbidden in many parts of the world—is proven to be one of THE keys to ending poverty and forwarding world peace. A small micro-loan from an organization like Kiva—which you could totally donate to if inspired—can help a woman start a business in a developing nation. Or see if one of these other organizations from this list of Great Charities for Women and Girls speaks to you.

7. Make a date with your muse.

All human beings are creative. It’s our birthright and it’s in our DNA. Our ability to tap into that force depends on how willing we are to put our inner control freaks in the corner and allow the muse to track us down. We have to be quiet in order to RECEIVE the download of creative energy, and that’s hard for many people. We’re afraid that if we don’t keep a tight grip on our emotions, someone will come in and take advantage of us or worse, hurt us irreparably.

Caveat: Self-protectiveness is a Cancerean trait, but we all need to connect to that vulnerable underbelly of the sensitive Crab during Cancer season 2020. Cancer is one of the zodiac’s most feminine, receptive signs. During this solar cycle we ought to loosen up, soften, widen our embraces and roll out the energetic Welcome Mat. To connect with the creative force within ourselves, we must quiet our “inner chatter” enough to let divine inspiration flow through."

A Virtual Summer

As we navigate this new normal in the year of Covid, I start to dream of traveling. The truth is I'm not a huge lover of travel, but the home orders are bring a need to experience escape. This months list are my favourite things "Summer" old or new, they help me travel in my mind.

Adrift (À Deriva)

It is the 1980s, and fourteen year-old Filipa is spending her vacation at Búzios with her father, Mathias, her alcoholic mother, Clarice, and her two younger siblings in their beach house. When Filipa feels that the relationship of her parents is deteriorating, she snoops in her father's office. There she finds pictures of Mathias with his American lover Angela hidden in a drawer of his desk. When Mathias and Clarice announce to their children that they are not going to live together for a period, the confused Filipa believes that Angela is responsible for the separation of her parents, though she soon discovers that the marriage of Mathias and Clarice is built on a bed of lies.

It is the 1980s, and fourteen year-old Filipa is spending her vacation at Búzios with her father, Mathias, her alcoholic mother, Clarice, and her two younger siblings in their beach house. When Filipa feels that the relationship of her parents is deteriorating, she snoops in her father's office. There she finds pictures of Mathias with his American lover Angela hidden in a drawer of his desk. When Mathias and Clarice announce to their children that they are not going to live together for a period, the confused Filipa believes that Angela is responsible for the separation of her parents, though she soon discovers that the marriage of Mathias and Clarice is built on a bed of lies.

Stealing Beauty

For 20 years many visitors have come to the villa on an Italian hilltop owned by an English artist. Lucy, a 19-year-old American, was last there four years ago and wants to meet up again with the young Italian who kissed her and corresponded for a while. And she has brought the diary of her late mother filled with enigmatic poems that suggest Lucy was conceived on that hilltop. Lucy wants to find out if Daddy is the Italian war correspondent who wrote to her mother for 20 years. Then again Daddy could be the dying English playwright in residence or the artist who uses a chainsaw on tree trunks for his sculptures. The three, of course, have no idea that Lucy is there to solve a mystery. They, the artist's wife, daughter of that wife and the daughter's American lover are most intrigued by Lucy's virginity.

Now And Then

Three strong women -- Roberta Martin (Rosie O'Donnell), Samantha Albertson (Demi Moore) and Tina "Teeny" Tercell (Melanie Griffith) -- return home to reunite with their childhood friend Chrissy DeWitt Williams (Rita Wilson) and see her through the end of her first pregnancy. The four lifelong friends share their memories of the unforgettable summer of 1970, the summer their innocent younger selves (Christina Ricci, Gaby Hoffmann, Thora Birch, Ashleigh Aston Moore) grew up.

Under The Tuscan Sun

Three strong women -- Roberta Martin (Rosie O'Donnell), Samantha Albertson (Demi Moore) and Tina "Teeny" Tercell (Melanie Griffith) -- return home to reunite with their childhood friend Chrissy DeWitt Williams (Rita Wilson) and see her through the end of her first pregnancy. The four lifelong friends share their memories of the unforgettable summer of 1970, the summer their innocent younger selves (Christina Ricci, Gaby Hoffmann, Thora Birch, Ashleigh Aston Moore) grew up.

Swimming Pool

is a 2003 erotic thriller film directed by François Ozon and starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upmarket summer house in Southern France to seek solitude in order to work on her next book.

Southside With You

Harvard Law School student Barack Obama, while working as a summer associate at a Chicago law firm in 1989, arranges to meet Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer and his supervisor at the firm ostensibly to go to a community organizing meeting. However when they meet in the morning, he tells her that the meeting is at 4pm and he wants to fill the time till then getting to know each other. She initially is apprehensive as they work together but agrees.

They visit an African art exhibition at a local art center which features an Ernie Barnes exhibit, and share stories about growing up while walking through a park. At the community organizing meeting, Obama gives a rousing speech which is well-received by the audience including Robinson. In the evening, they view a screening of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, and have their first kiss outside an ice cream parlor in what winds up being their first date.