Self-care is giving the world the best of you,
instead of what’s left of you.
Katie Reed
The Full Moon on January 6, 2023 at 16 Cancer
invites us to look at how we can be more at home in ourselves and in our lives. This may mean there is something for us to do. It can also very well be about not doing something, or at least cutting back on all we are doing. In recent weeks, we have been putting together a strategy for what we want to achieve in the coming months, yet with Mars and Mercury both Retrograde, this is not the optimal time to launch a plan. What is optimal, is to take time to create the conditions that will have us feel a whole-hearted readiness to move forward.
Ask: "What can I do today to nurture myself and the life I am living?
Cancer Moon oppose Capricorn Sun and Mercury (in Retrograde)
Cancer Moon square Chiron, sextile Uranus, trine Neptune, sextile North Node
Capricorn Sun/Mercury trine Uranus
Gemini Mars trine Venus
Mercury, Mars and Uranus Retrogrades end in January
I lied and said I was busy. I was busy; but not in a way most people understand. I was busy taking deeper breaths. I was busy silencing irrational thoughts. I was busy calming a racing heart. I was busy telling myself I am okay. Sometimes, this is my busy - and I will not apologize for it.
Brittin Oakman
The Full Moon invites us to take a step back and catch up with ourselves, so we can give the care and attention needed to what is missing or neglected. Cancer illuminates our desire for the security of home and family, and to what we need to feel physically and emotionally secure. We are to nurture who and what we love. This includes ourselves.
Listening to and honoring our feelings will guide us to engaging in what will replenish and renew areas where we are experiencing deficiency. We are cautioned to not get ahead of ourselves, or grin and bear it in the name of taking care of what we think must get done.
Feelings we have minimized or brushed aside in the name of accomplishing something point to identifying where we have become depleted. We may wish to give of ourselves to our work and to those we love, but if we are running on empty, then what? By slowing ourselves down and engaging in personal care now, we will be more productive and satisfied with our future efforts than if we continue to push forward in the name of... whatever.
Moon oppose Sun and Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn
The Capricorn New Moon two weeks ago had five planets in Capricorn, a sign that exemplifies responsibility. We have been contemplating what we are dedicated to achieving and what responsibilities we may need to assume to accomplish our goals. Likewise, so that we maintain a measure of balance and well-being, we are also looking at what responsibilities we need to release that are not aligned with the future we want to create.
The Capricorn/Cancer axis is about responsibility. While Capricorn applies rational and detachment to determining a pragmatic approach to getting things done, Cancer approaches responsibility through our feeling nature and a desire to generate comfort. Where Capricorn is at ease with the word responsibility, Cancer prefers to translate this to mean: what am I wanting to nurture.
The Capricorn/Cancer axis brings work/life balance to the forefront. Our public life (Capricorn) versus our private life (Cancer) are accentuated as are the relationships with our families versus relationships with our work and people we engage in the world. We can gain clarity on family and work dynamics, have insight into how one does not need to be sacrificed in the name of the other. The Cancer Moon invites us to use our intuition and feeling nature to discern how to best care for ourselves so we can also care for all that is important to us.
Mercury conjunct the Sun. In its retrograde motion, Mercury has reached the point of Cazimi, where our minds (Mercury) have entered the heart of the Sun and are illuminated by its light. This is the peak moment of the retrograde which affords insight and understanding on issues or plans we have been mulling over. We can find our minds are illuminated by a fresh perspective on how to view or approach something that allows us to break out of a rut in how we approach our responsibilities (Uranus trine Sun/Mercury). The Full Moon further supports an expanded understanding of how we can fulfill our responsibilities in a way that allows us to sacrifice our well-being.
To reap the benefits of the Full Moon, we are to slow down and take some time for ourselves and not give over to an inclination of staying busy, trying to get everything done. We can recognize that we need some time to regroup and catch up with ourselves. This is especially true if we are feeling overwhelm, uncertainty or frustration. Carving out time to take a step back rather than just plugging away at a checklist of tasks will reap unforeseen benefits in the long run. We are supported here to rest, recuperate and take care of ourselves, because our ability to nurture anything else will not have the desired result if we do it from a place of exhaustion or resentment.
Every one of us needs to show
how much we care for each other
and, in the process,
care for ourselves. Princess Diana
New Patterns around Nurturance and Taking Responsibility
The Moon’s invitation is supported by influences from other planets
Moon square Chiron. We can heal patterns or beliefs around self-nurturance. Many of us were not nurtured in the way we needed as a child. Nurturance was not modeled to us in a balanced, healthy way. We grew up to nurture others without an experience of being nurtured. By listening and taking care of our bodies at this time, we can repattern our relationship to nurturance, which will then have us nurture and give to others in a healthier way. This may very well occur through the experience of being sick. Sickness can force us to take time off work, to rest, to cancel what we have scheduled in our calendars because of the pressing need to prioritize self-care.
Moon sextile Uranus and the North Node. Something new is rising up, ready to break through into our consciousness. The planet of change and freedom, Uranus supports us to move beyond limiting patterns and beliefs about how we hold and approach responsibilities, commitments and self-responsibility. We might surprise ourselves by the messages we receive at this time if we listen to and validate feelings that arise around what makes us feel alive and what has us feel depleted. New information or ideas can emerge within the content of small interactions or minor everyday activities.
Uranus is readying to go direct on January 23. A week before it goes direct, Mars will go direct on January 12 followed by Mercury turning direct on January 18. By the time Uranus goes direct, all planets will be direct! We will be greenlighted to launch plans, make changes and move our life forward. For now, we are to do what is needed to be ready for this.
Moon trine Neptune. In the hours following the Full Moon, our rational minds will be fuzzy as our imagination, creativity and intuition are magnified. We may have a dream while we sleep. The lyrics to a song that suddenly pop into our head contain a message we need to heed. The bird sitting on a windowsill or the shape a cloud seems to make might inspire us with insight.
Slowing Down to Engage our Curiosity
Mars Retrograde. The planet of action, Mars is moving very, very slowly throughout January, even after it turns direct on January 12. If we try to charge forth to make something happen, we may tire easily or feel like we are just spinning our wheels. Restlessness may set in if try to push the river. Slowing down allows for something to come together had no space to before. If we trust that new life and new growth will come, we can be curious about what we may have missed or glossed over. We can more readily see what we can do now that will have us be better prepared to move forward when the moment arrives to launch into our next great adventure.
Mars trine Venus in Air Signs. Air signs are about communication and interaction. We may wish to talk through ideas with others, write down what is coming to us, or engage in some kind of research that can introduce new concepts or ideas that can support us. We can see the power of our thoughts and our words and may wish to make changes in the way we talk to ourselves or others.
It's a little embarrassing
that after 45 years of research & study,
the best advice I can give people is
to be a little kinder to each other.
Aldous Huxley
The Great Bear and Cancer
Just above the constellation of Cancer is the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Human cultures across the northern hemisphere learned how to survive and how to reap the benefits of each season by observing the Bear. We knew what foods were available to us by watching the bears eat berries in the spring and fish in the summer. We also observed and mimicked what they did to survive the winter. Like bears, we wintered in caves.
Many of Cancer’s attributes are associated with the Bear. The Crab, after all, is not known for its nurturing or mothering behaviors – but the bear is! And what does the bear do in the winter? The bear hibernates. In caves, they slow down their heart rate, sleep and dream. Our ancestors likewise withdrew into caves to tell stories, spend time with family, catch up on sleep, make clothing, and use winter as a time to rest up. Winter was a time when our ancestors discussed what they learned from the previous year and forged their dreams for the coming year.
Our ancestors sat around and kept a fire burning throughout the winter months. We can therefore say that the Cancer Full Moon is asking us each to identify what we need to do to keep the home fire burning in our hearts and homes and lives. Are our hearts, our relationships, our work filled with warmth or has something gone cold? In contemplating this, we will each know what needs rekindling and attention so that we are at home in ourselves and able to continue nurturing all that we love.
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