This is the first Full Moon of the calendar year, and the Moon is very much at home in her own sign of Cancer. We are invited to really feel our feelings and allow our emotions to come out, especially if we have been trying to keep them under control or suppressing them. Full Moons tend to bring our emotions out anyway, as whatever has been bubbling away beneath the surface demands release. “Better out than in” could be Cancer’s motto!
Cancer is the sign of the family, our childhood, our emotional patterns, our roots, and sense of belonging. As such, this is a good Moon to tend to this aspect of our lives, spending time with family or people who feel like family, as well as contemplating our childhoods and the effect they have had on us as adults. The Moon is sitting directly opposite the Sun and retrograde Mercury in Capricorn, so we could well find ourselves looking back into the past and reflecting on days gone by. Sometimes the past holds clues that can help us in the present day, whether through our own reflection or possibly by asking family members about things that happened when we were too young to remember.
Many of our emotional patterns have a very simple origin, which could be a decision we made when we were little in order to stay safe, or a “message” we received during childhood, either overtly or covertly, or something that happened to us. With Mercury currently retrograde this is the perfect Moon to look back, not to mention that the Cancer part of us likes to look back at the past, sometimes with considerable nostalgia. This Moon could heighten our emotions and bring our inner child into the foreground, possibly through an irrational outburst or an old, inappropriate coping mechanism, or possibly by helping us to feel our emotions and allow our vulnerable side to show itself.
The Capricorn part of us may prefer to keep our emotions under control and show a stiff upper lip, but the Cancer part of us knows that sometimes it shows great strength and courage to show our vulnerability and let our loved ones know how we actually feel. Of course, the Cancer part of us can also feel insecure and needy at times, in which case it is helpful to use a bit of Capricorn’s capacity to parent ourselves and to take responsibility for our actions and reactions. Cancer relates to our family and childhood, while Capricorn relates to our parental and societal conditioning, so the focus of this Full Moon could definitely highlight the past and how it has shaped us.
The two greatest influences on this Moon are Uranus and Chiron the Wounded Healer. Uranus is forming helpful, supporting aspects to the Sun, Moon and Mercury, bringing the potential for change and shifting out of old, outworn patterns that no longer serve us. This is very helpful energy to have around, as it clears out the cobwebs and can bring about realisations, insights and epiphanies that can bring amazing breakthroughs. Uranus is also the planet of long-term memory, and so we could find ourselves remembering aspects of our past that could be very revealing and profoundly liberating. Uranus can bring curve balls and surprises that help to jolt us into greater awareness and set us on the right path.
Anyone with personal planets or angles around 15° of a sign, especially the fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, will currently be feeling the exciting, enlivening, liberating and awakening energy of Uranus the most acutely. Uranus certainly does have the potential to help us to blast through blocks and shake off old conditioning, that’s for sure!
Chiron the Wounded Healer will be forming a more dynamic, challenging square aspect to the Sun, Moon and Mercury, although it will probably play out a bit earlier because the square with the Sun is exact on 2 January. However, it will still be part of the energetic build up to this Moon. Chiron in Aries could bring up some sensitivity and potentially trigger old wounds that may not have completely healed over. We could find that our hurt child reacts defensively, or we could find that some open, candid honesty is helpful for healing issues that have been festering from the past. Aries does like to bring any thorny issues out into the open for them to be aired, so we could find that we have the courage to face things that we might usually shy away from.
Anyone with personal planets or angles around 12° of a sign, especially the Cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, will feel the energy of Chiron the most acutely, which could be somewhat painful on the one hand but incredibly healing on the other.
Neptune is also forming a wide, supportive trine aspect to the Moon, which provides a soft, gentle, compassionate, loving energy to this Moon which can help us to remember that we are all not so different from each other, when it comes down to it. Neptune can help us to connect to one another in a way that can dissolve any egos, walls and barriers, revealing our true spirit and essence.
Venus and Mars are forming a harmonious aspect to one another during this Moon, which could be very helpful for our relationships and could also ignite our passion and enthusiasm. Venus has recently moved into Aquarius, which is quite a detached but friendly place for the planet of relationships to be. It could help us to take a step back and be more objective within our relationships. Aquarius is friendly but not too familiar! We could find ourselves being able to undo some old patterns and relate to others in a different way that feels more authentic and truer to who we really are. The Venus/Mars trine will be exact on 9 January.
The Sabian symbol for this Moon, at 17° Cancer, is: “The unfoldment of multilevel potentialities issuing from an original germ”, which Dane Rudyar describes as “The life urge to actualise one’s birth potential. What is pictured here is simply the process of germination. As it unfolds from the sundered seed the plant pierces the crust of the soil and reaches up toward the light. Germination is the crucifixion of the seed. The seed becomes the germ, just as the Tibetan student meditating silently and peacefully on the Mandala is followed by the Christian Crusader - and, at a materialistic level of productivity, by the engineer-technologist intent upon transforming the globe for the greatest possible enjoyment of the greatest possible number of human beings. Action polarises meditation. The keyword is GROWTH”.
We all started as a seed! This Moon could certainly bring up some material around our childhood, our upbringing, our family and the conditioning we received growing up. We are all born with so much potential, and then life shapes and moulds us into the person we have become. It all depends on how we were tended to as seedlings! Our original, unique spark is always there, but other influences and experiences also have a big impact on our patterns and tendencies. With Retrograde Mercury so prevalent during this Moon, it is quite likely that we are going to have conversations that hark back to the past or messages that are important for us to hear that take us back over old ground. This could be an emotional Moon, but as Cancer would attest, it is always good to get in touch with our feelings!
Much Love
Amy
xoxo
Painting : “Seed” by Michelle Pier