The Full Moon in Cancer is exact today at 3:07pm PST. This is going to be a wildly emotional Full Moon, as Cancer is the sign that invented feelings at the personal level. This is the sign ruled by the Moon itself, so we are deeply connected to our internal landscape any time the Moon is in this sign. But it’s a Full Moon, which means we are releasing things from below the surface of the unconscious that no longer serve us. If the Capricorn mansion is all about climbing the mountain of our desires and ambitions in the outside world, what we release in a Cancer Full Moon is anything in the inner landscape that keeps us from a powerful expression of those desires and ambitions.
Cancer is the mansion of self-care, where we learn to put our own oxygen mask on first before helping others. The problem with this is that many of us were born into family dynamics where our needs were not put first, and we learned to abandon ourselves because our survival may have depended on having very little needs in the face of caretakers who could not meet them in the first place. Even if this was not a traumatic experience – not everyone was born into violence and chaos as I was – Cancer is where all of our emotional patterns have their roots, and it can be extremely vulnerable to reveal your tender underbelly in a world that doesn’t feel emotionally safe.
But we are no longer children, and our emotional safety is in our capable, adult hands. In order to be powerful in the outside world, we now understand that vulnerability increases our emotional intelligence, and fosters more personal power when dealing with life on life’s terms. Cancer is also the memory of the zodiac, where we can stay so attached the past, we can’t move effectively in the present. Because Cancer is the sign of home, hearth, and family, this is a Full Moon that can help us release some really deep attachments. But of course, deep releases and healings can be painful, and this is the most emotionally tender of all the signs, and so this passage may have all the feels rising up in a big way. Black Moon Lilith, a point that tells us where the deepest shadows are held, and acts as a kind of mascot for shadow work, is at the mastery, final degree of Cancer. She is helping us dig deep below the surface to find the source of some of our emotional wounding.
Growth requires growing pains, and the intensified emotions in this Full Moon are not random. If you recall from last year, Chiron held the Great Eliminator angle with the South Node from late August to late December, the last hit being just eleven days ago. Chiron has a 50-year orbit right now, which means he moves slowly, and so this transit still has influence over this lunation. All Full Moons are like a healing of sorts, as letting go of old unconscious material that no longer serves us can certainly be a healing experience. Having this side bar healing mechanism will ensure that anything you go through during this lunation will be part of the psychic surgery that is the current landscape. Chiron is forming a Square with this Full Moon, which means it is indeed a healing of epic proportions, but this will also increase the emotional sensitivity that this Full Moon is bringing. Trust that all these deep feels are valuable to your ongoing growth.
Mercury is retrograde in Capricorn and is, in fact, Conjunct the Sun in what is called the Inferior Conjunction that happens at the midpoint of every Mercury retrograde cycle. This is a powerful moment of insight, because the planet of the mind is turned toward the unconscious while it is moving backward. When it aligns with the Sun like this, we get a glimpse of what is happening down below the surface. I often call this the “aha” moment of Mercury’s retro, because we are often treated to some download of awareness with regard to what we are unconsciously processing during the entire retrograde. It is incredibly fortuitous that this Full Moon happens at the same time as this important meeting of Mercury and the Sun. This inner insight will assist the process of healing that this Full Moon is bringing.
There is some spiritual assistance in all of this as well, courtesy of Neptune. A loose Trine from the Moon to Neptune, the Great Spirit, allows us to feel supported by forces much greater than our own as we move through this deep healing. There is no wound that Spirit cannot heal, and this is a moment to be very grateful for that. Moon in Cancer Trining Neptune in Pisces is also a deeply emotional transit in and of itself, but this energy is more like being held by the arms of the Divine as we weep. This brings a softer, gentler, and more compassionate energy to the deep feels of the lunation, and if you are moving through any narrative that is particularly painful, or driven by grief, this Full Moon may knock you on your ass emotionally. The Trine with Neptune will help you feel safe, even if you are also feeling emotionally pummeled.
Perhaps I’ve saved the best for last, but the Sun is Trining Uranus during this lunation, amplifying our conscious awareness to an extraordinary degree. This makes the lunation a complete wild card, and amplifies absolutely everything about it. Uranus is still very close to the North Node of the Moon, so this lunation dials right into the Nodes as well. Uranus wants us to wake up to our potentially fully. The North Node points us in the right direction. Whatever healing we move through right now will also help us move further, faster, and more powerfully toward our sense of dharmic purpose. Uranus participating so directly in this New Moon may inspire some big breakdowns, but with breakdowns come breakthroughs, and that is the ultimate aim of Uranus, and of this Full Moon, so have at it!
