We’re already moving into the energy of tomorrow night’s Full Moon in Cancer. As I write, the Sun reaches Pluto, and the power of deep transformation ignites the fire at our core. Oh, you expected a nice and easy Full Moon? Not!
This is the Full Moon in the Moon’s home sign of Cancer, so it will bring all the feels: Whatever emotions we’ve been enjoying, or struggling with––well, both––will be highlighted.
It’s not about dissolving into a puddle of sensitivities, although Cancer energy can certainly do that. It’s about seeing, really seeing, where we are.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
We want to see where we are because we need to see where we’re headed.
If you’ve read my blog a while, you’ll know I once apologized for using the word intensity too often, and not saving it for the times that were really, really, really intense. Now I need to do the same for transformation, because I’ve been using it a lot (and rightly so) and this Full Moon is really, really, really transformative.
At least, it can be.
With the Moon in Cancer, the Sun is in Capricorn, and these are the most traditional signs in the zodiac. Usually, Cancer is all about home and family, and Capricorn is about hard work and respecting authority. Not really about change at all, but about staying the course.
Yet these are both cardinal signs, about beginnings, how things start. We know that beginnings are vital. So much of who we are in the world is conditioned by how, and where, and when, and to whom we’re born, and the whole world that comes with that.
Cancer and Capricorn are about the borning and the world as given, what we come into this life with. Our experiences of parenting, our early beliefs and feelings about so many things are reflected in how and where these signs show up for us.
At this Full Moon, our traditions come into direct and powerful contact with the Pluto–Uranus square, the big engine of change that pulses through everything we know. Pluto is with the Sun and opposite the Moon; Uranus is squaring Sun, Moon and Pluto.
If that weren’t enough, Uranus is with the South Node of the Moon and opposite the North Node, which means the Nodes are squaring the Full Moon too. The South Node is what we’re working on from the past (personal and collective), while the North Node is our place of becoming.
So, this Full Moon will illuminate the transformational journey we’re on, and have been on, at least since April’s Pluto–Uranus square, and for many of us, much farther back than that.
What are we feeling? What are we feeling strongly about? What are we holding tight to, even though we may have realized this is hurting us? What are we holding tight to, because we’re absolutely committed? These are Cancerian and Capricornian questions.
Where are we changing? Where are we already on the transformation train, even if it’s been in the tunnel a while? Where are we holding back, hoping for a sign? Where are we holding back because we’re afraid? These are Uranus, Pluto and Nodes of the Moon questions.
At this Full Moon, if we keep our eyes, minds and hearts open, we may get a view of the landscape. Venus and Mercury will be together in Aquarius, sign of big plans and clear thinking. Mars is also in Aquarius, ready to follow a path with clarity and commitment.
The cauldron is an ancient symbol of every kind of change. Designed to transform the raw stuff of the world into something we can eat, absorb and process, cauldrons cook. Ancestors knew cooking went well beyond breakfast to embrace all kinds of change. Ancient Irish myths include cauldrons that gave until everyone was satisfied, and cauldrons that brought the dead back to life. The Grail is a kind of cauldron, as are the vessels of alchemy and the cups on altars everywhere.
At this Full Moon in Cancer, we’re in the cauldron of life. When it arrives, a window opens. What we see and what happens after––those are the big questions.
Note: For those interested in the ancient Irish Three Cauldrons of Poesy, a LINK to one of my papers on this particular area of cauldron lore.