THE LAST Full Moon of 2020 occurs this week, when the Moon is at 8°53′ Cancer and the Sun is at the same degree of Capricorn. All Full Moons affect the emotional tides within us, but with this Full Moon in sensitive Cancer, we will be feeling that lunar pull even more than usual. The lunation reaches fullness at 7:28 p.m. PST on Tuesday, December 29.
Most of us have already been feeling homesick – for loved ones, for a sense of place, for our usual routines, and for the familiar traditions of the holidays. Cancer is the sign of home and family, mothers and childhood, the past of our memories and the ancestors who came before us; with the Full Moon in Cancer this week, we become even more in touch with our yearning for those deep and lasting heart connections.
EMOTIONS can be largely unconscious, but they affect us nonetheless. Full Moons, when the light of the Moon lights up the night sky, are opportunities for us to get in touch with the feelings that have been mostly hidden. If you feel especially emotional or protective this week, or interact with someone who seems moody or irrational, realize the depth of the emotions that are being processed, and be kind.
Our digestion may be less than robust with this Full Moon. Cancer rules the stomach – symbolically, our ability to “digest” life experience. When we feel deep emotions, it is common not to feel like eating, or to have the food we eat sit like lead in our stomachs.
Be especially gentle with your body this week. Eat lightly if your stomach is upset, and sip fluids that are both nourishing and nurturing, such as a ginger tea or warm apple cider. Even just the act of sitting down with a warm cup in our hands can tell our bodies to relax and remind us that everything is OK.
AT THE TIME of the lunation, Chiron is square the Sun and Moon, forming a cardinal T-square. This configuration represents tension that needs an outlet or a crisis that must be addressed. The planet at the apex – in this case, Chiron – indicates how the tension is expressed and gives clues to how it can be resolved.
Chiron is currently in Aries, symbolizing a wound that says our existence is inconsequential, that our being or not being doesn’t really matter. This wound is often the motivating factor behind expressions of anger and aggression, which can be based in the fear that no one will pay attention to us if we don’t yell or throw things. This is the wound behind the belief that we will never have what we want.
THE HEALING of a Chiron wound is facilitated by self-nurturing, echoing the themes of the Cancer Full Moon. To accomplish this healing on the deepest levels, we must feel compassion and express love to the fearful child within us. This is the part of us that over-reacts to any sign of being ignored or having its rights denied. It is the part of us that lacks self-confidence, and so feels it needs to defend itself, often loudly.
If you feel a tantrum coming on, instead of exploding, or judging or repressing that part of you, try sitting with it for a while. Imagine yourself hugging it with genuine love and caring. Physically hug yourself, too. And if you observe another in the throes of an emotional display, see what happens if you focus on opening your heart before you respond. Our hearts have great wisdom, always.
THE PLANET Venus is very active this week, forming aspects with other planets almost every day. Venus brings into our experience themes of relationship, values, and financial matters.
We start off the week with Venus in hard semisquare aspect to Saturn (Monday) and to Jupiter (Tuesday). If friends or loved ones have goals and perspectives that are very different from ours, these days could be challenging as the philosophical gap becomes increasingly apparent.
After meeting those challenges, Venus moves on to square Neptune on Wednesday. Neptune is the planet of understanding and compassion, so this aspect can help dissolve barriers. But, since this is a hard aspect, we’ll need to be aware of a desire to gloss over problems that need to be addressed. We’ll also want to guard against taking on a rescuer or martyr role.
On Thursday, Venus aligns with the karmic South Node. It often occurs that this alignment brings someone from the past back into our awareness, often as an opportunity to resolve old business so that we can move on. This “past” may be earlier in this life, or in another lifetime. The Venus-Uranus aspect on Friday can help us let go of the issues that have been raised, and can also help us break free from entanglements and attachments.
THE OTHER main influence this week is a Jupiter-Neptune semisquare that perfects next Sunday. Since Jupiter and Neptune are both slower-moving planets, this aspect will be in effect throughout this week and next.
Although a semisquare is a hard aspect, it is softened a bit in this situation because Jupiter and Neptune are basically compatible planets. They share joint rulership of Pisces, and have faith and spirituality as mutual goals. As such, we can look to this influence to help us expand our spiritual practice and perspective this week.
But, even as we spend more time in the ethereal realms this week, we will need to keep at least one foot on the ground. Watch out for a tendency to wear the proverbial rose-colored glasses or to slip into avoidance or apathy. As a follow-up to this Jupiter-Neptune aspect, Saturn will be semisquare Neptune on January 20. At that time, we may experience disillusionment and disappointment if we’ve assigned all outcomes to faith without doing our part to assist in the process, whether that assist be in tangible form or “just” prayer.
FIRST CLASS OF 2021! On Wednesday, January 13, I’m offering a class covering the first four months of 2021, entitled “Uncharted Waters: Setting Sail.” Here’s the class description – I hope you can join us! (“If Your Birthday Is This Week” follows the class description.)
