Full Moon in Cancer - December 29, 2020
On December 29th, 2020 (7:29 PM PST and 10:29 PM EST) the last Full Moon of the year glows in the nurturing and healing sign of cancer. The sign that feels everything and holds it all deep within. She’s fluent in the language of emotions, so she’ll most definitely know how to make you feel safe and protected. Just imagine a den, a womb, a cave, or even a bubble bath, or maybe even imagine that you are cozied up under a pile of blankets. Can you feel it? It’s a place where you can let your guard down, completely sink into your skin, and be whatever or whoever you need to be. You can fall apart, fall asleep, or fall into the moment of your inner world. There is No judgment. No fear. Only acceptance of what is. This is Cancer. She is home. She is comfort. She is compassion, trust, and pure acceptance. Her shadow shows up if she clings too tightly to her role as nurturer and ends up becoming invisible. It’s easy for her to put a spotlight on everyone else’s needs, while forgetting to share or tend to her own. The trick she needs to learn is how to shed her shell and reveal her self – feelings and all.
So what might this mean for this Full Moon?
First of all, I must mention that this is the 4th Cancer lunation of the year. Yes. 4th. We began the year with a Cancer Full Moon Eclipse, followed with a New Moon solar eclipse in Cancer in June, then another New Moon in Cancer in July, and now we land on this one. I think we’d all agree that we’ve needed extra doses of nurturing and gentleness this year.
While I wish I could say this Full Moon was closing the year in gentle Cancer form, it’s not. Instead, it’s wrapping up this challenging year with a difficult alignment to Chiron, the centaur associated with the Wounded Healer archetype. I mean how perfectly fitting for 2020 that this is the note we end on, and maybe it’s exactly the “closure” we need. Chiron most definitely brings up our wounds, those tender places from where we’ve been hurt, but we must remember that Chiron is twofold. It is not just dealing with the wound, but also with healing. The healing often materializes when we tend to the pain of another instead of being consumed and trapped by our own. This doesn’t mean we dismiss our pain, but rather we open to it, and when we do, we find that our gift is in our tender hearts.
So with Chiron being triggered alongside a Cancer Moon, there’s a good chance that we are feeling some emotional, physical, or even spiritual pain connected to home, family, childhood, our belongings, or even our family myth. Whatever comes up for you, try to use the cancer energy to create a safe space so that you can feel whatever it is you need to feel, and do your best to tune into your heart.
Full Moons do involve a bit of tug of war between the Moon and the Sun. With the Sun in Capricorn we must picture: discipline, structure, and hard work casting a light onto this nurturing, healing, and sensitive Cancer Moon. In other words, when we deeply tend to our inner world we are ultimately growing our emotional maturity. This means we are creating something deep within ourselves that we can trust and lean into.
So maybe this Full Moon will be an opportunity for you to let go and heal some of your past hurts, or maybe you can release some of those heavy burdens that have weighed you down for far too long. Or maybe you show up for a friend and create a safe space for her to see what she needs to see. Or maybe it’s an opportunity for you to be completely honest about the things you need in your life. If you’re unsure about what to do, draw that bubble bath, block off your calendar, light those candles, drink that hot chocolate, curl up inside your cozy blankets, and spill your heart to that ever accepting friend.
The point of this Cancer Full Moon isn’t to dwell in any of these emotional states, but to find ways to surrender to the things you can’t control. In other words, go find what makes you feel safe enough to let down your guard and then go and do that; because right now it’s the perfect time for you to release everything you’ve held onto throughout this difficult year. If tears fall, allow the drops to carry the medicine out from the depths of your soul and back into the world. Or maybe you’ll find that rest and relaxation are the best medicine for your weary body.
I’d also like to add that Neptune, the mystical and dreamy planet, and Uranus, the planet associated with radical change and freedom, are making helpful alignments to this Full Moon. Maybe Neptune will show you that you are part of a much bigger story that is somehow all intertwined, or maybe it will help you open to your dreamer, the part of you that uses the imagination to see possibilities in everything. Uranus’s energy is likely to show up with some insights about what it is you need to feel more aligned with who you really are.
As we approach the end of this year, take a moment and reflect upon all you’ve experienced. What emotions or situations have followed you throughout the year? What have you been holding onto? What do you feel? What are you ready to release? What will 2020 continue to hold for you? Is there anything you need to fully let go of so that you don’t carry it into the New Year? What is it that your heart needs to share?
Be gentle with yourself as this year comes to a close. There’s no need to push anything forward or make anything happen. Let your ideas and dreams emerge when they are ready.
While we all might feel pulled during this Full Moon to feel our emotions, we will all experience this lunar energy differently depending on where Cancer is located in your chart or if you have a natal planet associated with it. If you would like a more personalized reading, I’d love to set up a session with you.
>>>play on<<<
[*Note* The ABOVE contains a personification of the sign Cancer. The sign is not gendered and the SHE could just as easily be used as HE.]