(Image by Jen Holga)
This New Moon in Cancer is one of the most inspiring moments all year. It is about care for one another and for yourself. Through loving another, we learn to love ourselves, and through loving ourselves, we learn to love another.
You cannot give from an empty cup, so it is about taking time to yourself: honing in on ways you can support your own well-being. Collectively, it makes us empathize and feel on levels that bring us to tears. Watery worlds of healing open up to us, which allow us to heal those near to us.
Cancer is the sign of the zodiac that represents home; not just the home base you occupy, but also the people in your life who feel like home. It’s a good time to say, “I love you,” and to enjoy cocooning a bit with those you are closest to, or just cocooning alone. We recognize the body as a home for the spirit within, and the spaces in your life (or in-between life happenings) that can make you feel most like your most authentic self.
As a the moon goes dark, it is a time for reflection and shadow-work. The sign of Cancer asks that you be gentle with yourselves, however, honoring how far you’ve come in your goals and setting new intentions for the coming weeks and months ahead.
Setting goals for yourself that lie in this home domain are important now, and resetting your innermost clock when it comes to new realizations of your life’s purpose. Recognizing that the homes we create for ourselves can be full of Love, and that this is a foundation for the rest of our yearly cycle. What we nurture within is radiated outwardly.
This Lunation directly involves themes of Jupiter in Aries. Venus is sextiling Jupiter and the Moon is squaring Jupiter, causing the planet of buoyancy and excess to be a focal point. These Jupiter aspects might have you over-committing, and it’s important to remember that setting high goals can be advantageous as well as feel unattainable. Be honest with yourself about what you are able to take on these days. What really matters?
Neptune also stations retrograde in Pisces on the same day as this New Moon. As god of the sea and the other-world realms, Neptune helps us to tap into this watery restful energy.
On Neptune stations, there is often the energy to want to ‘zone out’ or seek magic. This theme of ‘watering yourself’ comes up. As I’ve already said, the wisdom of Cancer states you can’t draw from an empty well. I know many of us feel emotionally worn out. Tune into what it is you need to feel safe and secure. What is restful and replenishing in order for you to recharge?
Cancer represents the watery vessel. In medical astrology, Cancer signifies organs which are round or holding of fluids, the breasts, uterus, stomach, ovaries and testes, and the lymphatic system. They are organs which can be both empty and full. They cleanse, feed, grow, eliminate. These actions speak to how we treat our own bodies, both individually and collectively. Are you filling your own cup? Are you running yourself empty? Cancer asks us to slow down and take stock of how we can nurture ourselves to replenish the system to take on new tasks, new growth, new life.
It is no wonder then that such a spotlight has been placed on the reproductive organs in recent days, particularly to those of women, while the Sun has entered this sign. Venus in Gemini has also sparked so much conversation over women’s bodies. Roe v. Wade being overturned has ignited a fire and an awareness of the faults in our system.
This controversy comes at a pinnacle time on our nation’s history, during the United States’ Pluto-Return year. Pluto moves in approximately 246 year cycles. This year, Pluto has come to the position it was during the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As god of the underworld, Pluto’s return has been working, and will continue to work over the coming years, to uncover shadow that has been lurking in our nation’s very foundations, in order to transform it for the better. It is important during this time that the Constitution be investigated. What we thought was a right to women, to control her own body through Roe vs Wade was overturned because protection of women was never intended to be a part of the Constitution.
“A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect” —WEB Dubois. The Constitution was never meant to protect women or indigenous people, or immigrants, or LGBTQ, or black people. The Constitution is outdated. We need a new system that protects everyone, not just wealthy, white landowners. We are already heeding the call of this country’s Pluto-Return and shining a light on the shadow.
Empathy. Care. Sacred Pause.
That this New Moon in Cancer directly precedes the Fourth of July during the year of Pluto‘s exact Return is no coincidence. Cancer is the mother archetype. The patriarchy needs to shift to incorporate a motherly model now that we are aware of it’s downfall and shadow. More inclusive models of care, protection of the most vulnerable, and unconditional support must be acknowledged. In nurturing others, we are fulfilled.
The Moon loves being in Cancer. It is a refueling period for sure. This is a comforting moon with lots of beneficial aspects.
Saturn is trining the moon and Mercury making for harmonious conversations about our emotions and our level of responsibility. Saturn is also sextiling mars, so this means that not only do we have conversations about our goals, but the ability to creatively set them into action and take control of our personal authority in some way. Where are you aiming your fire?
Ultimately this Cancer New Moon is about shedding old layers of the self, and refilling the body vessel through nurturance for others and for yourself. All of the planetary alignments surrounding this day are meant to help us do just that: to share kindness and abundance, to take responsibility for our emotions, and to direct our passions towards peace, finding ways to give of ourselves that actually fill our cup. Asking for a time out when you need it. Giving people the restoration moments they might need, however that looks for them.
Recommended plants for this moon:
-Nettle for the inner warrior.
-Fennel for aiding the stomach digestion and for milk-making mamas.
-Lavender for lifting your mood up if you are down, and for bringing you down into your body if you are too up in your head.
-Rose for nourishing the soul. Always.
-Watery fruits and veggies: melons, cucumbers
-Drink so much water- stay hydrated.