This feels like an appropriate Moon to be having, when many of us are spending more time at home and some with family or at least thinking about family members, whether still here or departed. Cancer is the sign of the home, family, motherhood, childhood and our ancestral roots, and the Moon is very much at home in her own sign! A Cancer Moon can help us to get in touch with our inner child, to express our emotions, and to allow ourselves to be more vulnerable than we might usually be. This Moon could bring up some nostalgia, as we look back into the past, possibly fondly, and possibly not so fondly! There certainly is an emphasis on our inner emotional landscape, our domestic scene and our family and childhood during this Moon.
The Sun is now in steady, disciplined, goal-oriented Capricorn, sitting directly opposite the Moon in sensitive, emotional, nurturing, protective Cancer. As ever, the key to a Full Moon is to find some balance between the energy of the two signs, rather than veering too far one way or the other. Cancer represents our inner child, while Capricorn represents our inner parent. We can all find ourselves in “irrational child” mode from time to time, as someone or something triggers our childhood emotional patterns, causing us to “act out”. Capricorn is the part of us that has learned to control our emotional responses and can help us to parent our inner child when it is activated. And there is always the potential for inner child activation during the holiday season!
However, it can go too far if our inner Capricorn has learned to suppress and control our emotions so much that we have lost touch with how we really feel and are afraid to allow ourselves to be vulnerable or show our true emotions. Capricorn is great for helping us to be mature and to not let our emotions get the better of us, and of course it is sometimes very appropriate to keep our emotions in check, depending on the circumstances. Cancer, on the other hand, helps us to get in touch with how we are feeling and to admit when we are feeling hurt, or sad, or angry, or vulnerable. Sometimes it shows more strength to allow people to see our vulnerability than it would to pretend that we have everything under control. It is a fine balance between showing our feelings but not being a baby, between taking responsibility for our emotional landscape but not totally repressing it.
This Moon could bring up these themes, while also helping us to understand our parental conditioning and how our childhood has shaped who we are as an adult. This could be a good time to recognise any emotional patterns that might be sabotaging our adult relationships. These patterns could certainly be much more obvious to us at this time of year! Cancer helps us to feel the feelings, acknowledging and honouring our inner child, while Capricorn helps us to process whatever comes up and take responsibility for it.
This Moon is supported by both Jupiter and Saturn, which is very helpful, especially as Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn! Saturn helps us to be sensible, grounded and “adult”, and to be accountable for whatever comes up for us during this Moon. It helps us to be a bit more controlled and can give us the emotional strength, integrity and resilience to face whatever we need to in order to grow. Jupiter helps us to understand whatever comes up, seeing the bigger picture and understanding how all the various pieces fit together. Jovial Jupiter is an expansive, benevolent, growth-oriented planet, helping to bring warm feelings, generosity of spirit and humour to the picture!
Mercury is still retrograde during this Moon, which could add to the potential for retrospective nostalgia. It brings opportunities for looking backwards in order to somehow help the present. Mercury is in Sagittarius, the truth seeker, and is joined by Mars, the warrior planet, which could be interesting! Sagittarius is quite a blunt truth sayer, so we could find that we have the courage to say things that we might usually hold back, and people could “speak their truth” in a rather forthright manner! Sagittarius does bring the potential for Foot in Mouth Syndrome! There is the potential for heated discussions, but at least Sagittarius has a sense of humour, which could help us to see the funny side of things. Indeed, the truths we speak could also be of a very loving nature! With Mercury retrograde, it is possible that we could be bringing up old material from the past and going over old ground.
Neptune in Pisces is forming a challenging square to this Mars Mercury conjunction, which adds another element to the story! Neptune and Pisces, amongst other things, rule drugs and alcohol, which can bring the potential for the festive tipple that could make people blurt out things that they might not usually say. Of course, it does also bring the potential for angry drunken arguments, but let’s not go there! However, it is always good to get the truth out into the open, and hopefully Neptune can help us do so with kindness and compassion. Neptune’s influence could make us a bit more passive aggressive and indirect in our action and communication, so it is important to be very clear, open and direct in order to avoid any misunderstandings or miscommunications.
However, with Neptune in aspect to Mars we could feel quite lethargic and unmotivated, and in aspect to Mercury we could find that our minds are more easily befuddled and confused, so that we forget what day of the week it is! Although that is nothing new at this time of year! Those of us with personal planets or angles around 25°of a sign will be feeling the energy of Neptune and this honest, forthright combination of Mars and Mercury the most acutely, especially the mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.
Neptune, however, is also forming a beautiful, supportive trine aspect to Venus in Scorpio, which can help us to relate to one another from a higher place. Neptune is the higher octave of Venus, so the two dancing gracefully with one another is a very welcome ingredient for this Moon! It can help us to relate to one another from a place of loving kindness, compassion and empathy, and to see past any walls that we might usually erect to protect or defend ourselves. Venus in Scorpio is not superficial in the slightest, calling for a deeper, more real, more intimate kind of relating, whereby we reveal all that we are, rather than just the “pretty” parts. Neptune can help us to open our hearts to one another and show our soft, tender underbellies, although this could also be under the influence of the festive tipple!
Overall, this Moon feels like a gentle, loving, nurturing one, although the Mars Mercury conjunction does add a bit of grit! However, getting the truth out into the open is always a good thing, especially if hidden resentments have built up over the years, causing toxicity. Better out than in, as they say! At least we have Neptune’s ego-dissolving, softening influence, reminding us to be kind and opening our hearts to one another. Neptune reminds us that we are all in this together, bringing an atmosphere of compassionate, loving kindness that can help us to think of others and not just ourselves. Meanwhile, Cancer calls for us to be gentle with our inner child if it shows itself, while Capricorn calls for us to take full responsibility for anything that might come rising up during this sensitive Moon.
Much Love
Amy
xoxo
Painting: Mother and Child: Aspruha Panda