Cancer Full Moon: Emotional Wisdom

We cannot tell

what may happen to us

in the strange medley of life.

But we can decide

what happens in us —

how we can take it,

what we do with it —

and that is what

really counts in the end.

Joseph Fort Newton

When awareness

is brought to an emotion,

power is brought to your life.

Tara Meyer Robson

The Full Moon on December 26/27, 2023, at 5 Cancer

is a celebration of how far we have come in our relationships and illuminates the emotional growth we have cultivated.

We can see how we have matured through a process of understanding and working with our emotional energy. Emotions may run high with the Full Moon as it is in its own sign of Cancer, but we are being supported to be present to and responsive to emotions rather than feeling helpless as they hold us in their grip and whip us about. There is a desire to spend more time at home, with friends and with family and a greater understanding of what will nurture ourselves and those around us.

Cancer brings us into the private self and the truth about what we are really feeling. The Cancer Moon will amplify what we have not yet fully processed or acknowledged. It is no accident that each year’s Cancer Full Moon happens in wintertime, often during the holidays, and when we are spending more time at home. We may be flooded with memories of our childhood and what nurtured and did not nurture us. Cancer asks us to sit and honor feelings and sensitivities associated with family, love and safety. We may have fresh insight into what has shaped us and who we are today. 

There is a potential for speaking angry or pointed words and we may encounter a dynamic that historically has triggered us. But we can make a choice we were unable to make before. We can let go and move on from some emotional dynamic that once ensnared us.

In the grief around a deep need that was not met, we can discover a fresh perspective around our parents or others who were in a position to care for our needs. By acknowledging that they did the best they could and accept what is likely not to change, we release a burden we have been carrying. We feel more peace in our hearts and find greater trust in ourselves that has us less encumbered by the past and freer to be fully engaged in the world. We are then open to having our needs met in a way that is now showing itself as possible. 

Part of spiritual

and emotional maturity

is recognizing that it's not

like you're going to try to fix yourself

and become a different person.

You remain the same person,

but you become awakened.

Jack Kornfield

Full Moons are the peak moment of each lunar cycle when something in our life reaches a culmination point. In the days leading up to the Full Moon, there is a feeling of increased momentum, activity and pressure. At the Full Moon, emotions and tides run high. Something is coming to a head through a crisis or breakthrough, and a desired resolution can be achieved. During the two weeks following the Full Moon, we are completing a movement, a cycle and distilling the wisdom from the recent lunar month, so we are ready for the invitation of the next New Moon. For those of us with planets at 3 - 6 degrees of a Cardinal Sign (Capricorn, Cancer, Aries, Libra) will give us the opportunity to embrace an emotional maturity that is within reach.

Cancer Full Moon Dynamics

Full Moon Ruler: The Moon

Saturn trine the Moon and sextile the Sun

Jupiter sextile the Moon and trine the Sun

Water Grand Trine: Jupiter, the Sun and Black Moon Lilith

Mercury Retrograde conjunct Mars, square Neptune and trine the North Node

Venus oppose Uranus trine Neptune

Chiron stations Direct

Mars out of Bounds

Cancer is

Home

Family

Mother

Nurturance

The Past

Our Ancestors

The Cancer Full Moon shines a light on the journey we have taken in relation to the people and qualities listed above so we can easily see attitudes and wounds that no longer hold us captive. We can see how we have arrived at a more generous, forgiving, self-affirming stance in how we relate to those that cared for us and shaped us, especially if they fell short in their ability to meet our needs. The Full Moon invites us to recognize our emotional maturity and to see ourselves as the source of the nurturance and connection that happens in our lives.

My story is not a pleasant one;

it is neither sweet nor harmonious,

as invented stories are;

it has the taste of nonsense

and chaos, of madness and dreams-

like the lives of all [people]

who stop deceiving themselves.

Herman Hesse

Claiming Our Sovereignty

Capricorn/Cancer Axis

The Cancer Moon in exact opposition to the Capricorn Sun at the Full Moon has us consider our connection or disconnection to our family or the idea of family. The Capricorn/Cancer axis represents our parents, teachers and authorities that shaped us for better or for worse, and how we have carried these early relationship dynamics into our current relationships.

Capricorn values tradition and the responsibility to respect and continue the wisdom of our elders. Cancer reminds us that we do not exist in isolation and that we are less individuals and instead part of a collective that created and sustains us - our ancestors, lineage and those whose shoulders we stand on. It is our families, both the family of our childhood and the family we have created. The language of Cancer speaks of ‘we’, not ‘I’ when speaking of our life.

The Full Moon reveals how we have matured. We can better see our parents and childhood teachers from an adult perspective. For those of us who did not experience good modeling of emotional maturity or healthy, nurturing relationships with the adults that surrounded our childhood, the Full Moon asks us to recognize the benefit of what we did receive, to forgive and release these adults from an expectation they may never fulfill. Rather than holding them accountable for what they didn’t provide, we recognize the steps we have taken to reparent ourselves, to assume sovereignty over our lives and not give that authority away.

The Cancer/Capricorn polarity accentuated at the Full Moon invites us to free ourselves up from something we have been holding emotionally. We are ready to move on. The Capricorn Sun calls us to step into authority of our lives, to take what we have learned, make lemonade of lemons, and get on with it. 

Sometimes you do not feel

The weight of what you are carrying

Until you feel its release.

Brian Weiner

Emotional Expansiveness

Beneficial aspects between Jupiter, Saturn and the Full Moon

There are a series of sextiles and trines between Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and the Moon bring good fortune. There are new opportunities for giving and receiving nurturance that can be sustained. We can strike a good balance between extending ourselves to others and holding healthy boundaries.  

Jupiter and Saturn are in sextile through the first months of 2024. This is a fortunate aspect; it is stabilizing (Saturn) and expansive (Jupiter). We are seeing the results of what we have been working through or healing. Something new is taking shape that will take root and continue to grow.   

Saturn trine the Cancer Moon and sextile the Capricorn Sun. This is a fantastically grounding energy. We feel how we are connected to something larger than ourselves, and this gives us a spiritual strength to forge on (Saturn in Pisces). Being accountable for how we have acted in the past and seeing how we will do things differently moving forward, fosters strength of self and strength of purpose.

Jupiter sextile the Cancer Moon. Jupiter is almost standing still for the next weeks at the same place that the October 28 eclipse occurred.  The October 28 eclipse activated something that we have been considering since. We are now encouraged to trust what we are seeing, feeling, desiring. In relation to the past, we can be honest with ourselves about what we have been holding or clinging to, and now feel safe enough to let go. We are less tentative about the next steps we want to make. There is renewed trust in possibilities.

Water Grand Trine: Jupiter trine Sun and Black Moon Lilith. Self-reliance is strengthened. We feel worthy of our dreams, of what we see for ourselves in the future. Black Moon Lilith brings awareness of the wounds and the injustices of our life, but rather than trying to numb ourselves from feeling the crushing blow of something that once happened, we can find a spaciousness and a deeper level of compassion for ourselves. In this, we no longer feel small or powerless, but come to know we are much larger than any situation or person that might hurt us. There is less fear about the emotions that live within us. Increased confidence emerges as we are more connected to the full range of our emotional and intuitive nature.

While AI may be able to process

vast amounts of data

and perform complex tasks,

it will never be able

to replicate the unique qualities

of human emotional intelligence (EI).

EI is what makes us human,

and it's what allows us

to connect with others

on a deeper level, to empathize,

to inspire, and to lead.

Farshad Asl

The Rub

The Dynamics between Mercury, Mars and Neptune

There is a twist to this Full Moon that stirs impatience, confusion, or discouragement. The dynamic tension between Mercury, Mars and Neptune (planets of Thoughts, Passions and Ideals) may have us feeling triggered in a way that stirs up old memories and emotional patterns to be cleared.

Mercury Retrograde (December 13 – January 1). Mercury has slid back into Sagittarius after spending the first weeks of its Retrograde in Capricorn. We are prompted to review plans, revisit conversations or do a little more research on something we are wanting to launch in the New Year. The river of life will pick up speed as we turn the corner into 2024, so taking this last week of December to contemplate what we may have missed or overlooked, will yield positive results. It can also be a time where we catch up with ourselves by getting rest, cleaning out a closet, or handling mail that was set aside. It is beneficial to spend this time to better align ourselves with what we plan on attacking with the New Year.

Mercury conjunct Mars square Neptune and trine The North Node. Communications may not go smoothly. Thoughts are impassioned. There can be an enthusiasm to speak our visions or our beliefs. We, and others, may be impatient and quick to react. We may need to own something, apologize for something. It will serve us to think before we speak and not just blurt out what is on our mind.

Mars is Out of Bounds through January 23, meaning Mars has traveled outside the ecliptic path. This intensifies the impulse for bold action. There is potential for taking bold new strides forward as well as bold missteps. Again, we are cautioned to look before we leap, to heed the Mercury Retrograde by considering our words, re-examining the fine print of a contract, or taking the extra step of re-evaluating a plan one more time before taking action.

The Mercury, Mars, Neptune, North Node configuration is also a time where

• Creative energy is high. We can write a poem, redecorate, invent a new main dish.

• The dreams we have during sleep may be potent and offer us a message. 

• Things may not be looking how we envisioned them, leading to disappointment or discouragement (Neptune square Mercury and Mars).  If some door has shut, look for the window that has opened. It serves us to stay flexible, adaptable and open. 

• Our immune systems are weaker so we can look to taking our Vitamin C, getting a good night sleep and strengthening our immunity.

• People may not show up or suddenly be absent. We are not to take this personally. Emotional energy is high, and we are each doing what we need to process and care for what is stirring within us. 

We are all just walking each other home.  Ram Dass

Other Notable Influences that Shape the Full Moon Invitation

Venus trine Neptune oppose Uranus. Our desire nature is strong and deep shifts may be taking place around what we think we want. There is clarity around a desire that is waning and no longer holds the allure it once had. Something is being rewired within us in preparation for what the new year will bring. It is not about knowing what is coming but trusting our impulse on how to best prepare. 

Chiron in Aries stations direct. We have been healing what zaps our confidence. Working through issues of powerlessness or seeing ourselves as a victim, we are reclaiming the courage to be more authentic. Resonant with the Cancer Full Moon, we are taking the steps needed to reparent ourselves and restore our self-worth.

Pluto is at the last degree of Capricorn until January 24 and will return to this degree again next fall. This marks Pluto’s final period of time in its 15-year Journey in Capricorn, a journey that has signaled the deconstruction of systems and society that no longer serve the collective. As Pluto transitions out of Capricorn, those invested in things staying the same will make increasingly urgent and desperate attempts to maintain the life they know. As Pluto gains momentum in Aquarius, the desire to hold on to what we already know will fall away and we will look towards a future that is a marked departure from what we, our parents and our grandparents have known.

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