Horoskopanalysen

The summer solstice: the longest day and the zero point of Cancer

Around 20 or 21 June something happens that you can notice without any instrument: the Sun stops climbing. For weeks it stood a little higher at midday each day; then it stays where it is for a few days, and after that it sinks again. This is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere — and the point on which astrology anchors its zodiac.

What happens in the sky on that day

The Earth's axis does not stand perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit; it is tilted against it by a good 23 degrees. That tilt, and it alone, produces the seasons. At the summer solstice the northern hemisphere is turned towards the Sun most strongly: at midday the Sun reaches its highest position of the year, directly above the northern tropic.

In southern Germany the day then lasts a good 16 hours, on the Baltic coast more than 17. North of the Arctic Circle the Sun stays above the horizon round the clock — hence the midnight sun, there and not in central Europe. The Latin name solstitium means literally the standstill of the Sun, and that is exactly what the observation shows: the point on the horizon where the Sun rises travels north for half a year, comes to a stop and turns back.

The heat comes later

July and August are warmer in central Europe than June, although by then the days have long been getting shorter again. The reason is the inertia of mass: the ground, the air and above all the sea go on absorbing more heat for weeks than they give off. Only when the two balance out does the temperature turn. On the coast this takes longer: water warms up slowly and gives its heat back just as slowly.

The zero point of Cancer

The zodiac of western astrology is not anchored to the constellations but to the course of the Sun through the year. Four points fix it, and the summer solstice is one of them:

So Cancer does not begin on that day by chance, it is defined by it: a stretch of the solar year that starts at the highest point. It has nothing to do with the constellation of the same name; in June the Sun has long since ceased to stand in front of it anyway.

Something practical follows from that: the moment shifts by a few hours from year to year, because the year is not a round 365 days. Anyone born on 21 June may still be a Gemini or already a Cancer, depending on the year and the time of birth. At the edge of a sign no table from a magazine helps, only the calculation — you can get a first impression from the free horoscopes.

Why these points are called cardinal

Astrology calls the four signs that begin here the cardinal ones. The word comes from the Latin cardo, the door hinge: the place where a door leaf turns. The name also fits for a sober reason — these four dates are the only ones in the solar year that are not agreed on but set by astronomy. Every other date in the calendar was fixed by somebody. Cancer is the water sign of the group; what that means is set out under the four elements.

Fires, St John's Day and Midsommar

Fires lit around the solstice are recorded in many parts of Europe. The church calendar placed the birthday of John the Baptist on 24 June, half a year before Christmas; that is why these fires are usually known in Germany as Johannisfeuer, the fires of St John. In Sweden, Midsommar falls on the same days. There is no need to make secret lore out of it: where the light is scarce, the brightest point of the year was always worth an evening.

What you can do with the day

Write down when the Sun sets where you live on that day, and make the same check around 21 December. No text about the seasons teaches as much as those two figures side by side. And because the solstice halves the year, it serves as a turning mark: what has moved on since the spring, what has been left undone? You will find the signs the Sun travels through over the year under the zodiac signs.