Cancer New Moon 2013
July 8, 2013 12:15 AM PDT / 3:15 AM EDT 7:15 AM GMT 16 Cancer 17
“It’s like a wave. Resist and you’ll be knocked over. Dive into it and you’ll swim out the other side. This is a new and different world. The challenge is to cope with it and not just cope — but thrive.” — Mrs. Greenslade, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
This month’s Cancer New Moon ushers in a new phase in families, nurturing and emotional security. It prompts us to take in and act on the waves of emotions that have been throwing us about for the past month.
We are in an intense, volatile time. The element of water is dominating events and our experience of them, and it is one that our conscious minds can neither control nor entirely fathom. Uncanny, unnerving impulses are pulling and pushing us, as our water-based bodies and emotional beings respond to the fluctuation energies around us. Influences we can not see, can not grasp and can not halt are triggering nonspecific anxiety, physical discomfort and primal, nonrational behavior.
Think of the flow of the tides, dogs howling at the moon, or a werewolf transforming under its light. Think, in fact, of the moon, which is an apt symbol for the cause. Find an image of the Moon card from the Tarot. Really look at it. In the Rider-Waite tradition, the card shows the Moon with her eyes closed and three animals responding to her enigmatic command: a wolf (representing the wild), a dog (the domesticated) and a crawfish (the nonconscious) emerging from the water. Whatever version of the Moon card speaks to you, tack the image in your line of vision as a reminder of what’s going on.
It may help you understand the potential of this month’s Moon, which is in her home sign, Cancer, the most emotional, nurturing and moody of the water signs. Issues loom large here of home, family, parent and child relationships, emotional security and safety, food as a vehicle for such, nesting, traditions and loyalty to the clan. Apple pie, motherhood and country are one short-form summing up of this amniotic sac. Even shorter is the phrase I frequently use for this placement: Mommy Moon, which generally begs the question of who’s Mommy and who gets to be the baby.
For the past few weeks, one celestial body after another has entered Cancer and completed this summer’s defining astrological configuration, the free-flowing round robin of energy through the water signs known as a grand trine. This New Moon is already past this completion point. She is no longer in the process of setting off the grand trine, but instead setting up what we are going to do with all the emotions and waves and currents we’re experiencing.
What do feel washing away? Washing in? You could be looking at the past wistfully; you could be letting some parts (and people) go and reconnecting with others; you could be sensing soul-feeding connections emerging from the spray. Don’t be surprised if you experience and encounter an upsurge in sentimentality, nostalgia and tearing up. (Listen to “Sunrise, Sunset” at your own risk; don’t say I didn’t warn you.)
This is an appropriate time to begin approaching your day and your life in more conscious awareness of your feelings and their power. Periodically sit with them. Don’t analyze; don’t think; simply sit. They’ll come to you more easily with quiet or down time. Carve out the space and time to sit quietly by yourself at least once a day. The time it takes to drink a cup of coffee is enough. Let them guide you. Wait until they lead you to send a text, make a phone call, make a decision or walk out the door to run an errand. Instill this approach under this New Moon and it will become a habit.
Look around your home, too. How can you make it more comfortable to you? Fluff the pillows. Soften edges with soothing fabrics and lights. Make your bedroom more cozy.
What about your food? Don’t fight it: food is intrinsically connected to feeling loved and safe. If you are going to take comfort in it and you ARE going to take comfort in it — do it mindfully. Go ahead and indulge in a cream-filled doughnut, or ice cream, or pie; just make it a really good one. Sit at the table. Use your favorite dishes, even if you’re eating alone. (As the mother in Repo Man says, “Put it on a plate, dear; it’ll taste better,” and this article explains why.) Don’t multi-task; pay attention to the food while you’re putting it in your mouth. And if after the last swallow you’re still feeling unfulfilled, ask your body what the hunger’s really about.
Look at the emotional flow from you to others, too. This Moon marks a new beginning in how you express, not just receive, caring and nurturing. With your own mother, too, if you’re brave enough to allow that. (How many of you felt a physical shutdown or terror at that concept? Be honest.)
How can you — the real, true, authentic you that is showing its face more boldly to the world — share love? No smothering, please, no controlling and no guilt-inducing, guilt-demanding sacrifice. No matter if your family background is the stuff of a bestselling memoir. No matter if you don’t have the greatest track record in this department. A new world is emerging this summer. Allow your emotions. Trust them. Let them flow.
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