Moon in Cancer

Sunday evening through Wednesday morning

Just after midnight Sunday, the Moon enters her home sign of Cancer, opening Monday as a day of hearth and home, warm feelings, and protection of family and tradition. Monday is also Valentine's Day, which some dismiss today as a marketing ploy, but whose roots go back to Victorian times, to Spenser, Shakespeare and Chaucer, and to ancient Greece and Rome.

ocean Valentine

Cancer is the cardinal Water sign, in which feelings lead the way. Valentines are designed to express our feelings, sometimes with humor and sometimes with tenderness, but clearly emotions are the focus.

Cancer is a deeply traditional sign, and the history of Valentine's Day reflects this. In ancient Greece, this time of year was associated with the marriage between Hera and Zeus. In medieval times, nesting birds were said to chose their mates on Valentine's, a day associated with courtly love and its traditions of honor and loyalty.

So, Valentine's Day was not a time of unbridled passion or secret liaisons, but a day to declare openly who we love, and to make that declaration into a contract. This kind of love, the Cancer Moon is very comfortable with.

Yet the course of true love never does run smooth, as Monday's transits suggest. The gentle Cancer Moon squares exuberant Jupiter in Aries, the classic contest between getting what I want now, and devoting myself to the one(s) I love.

Oppositions to planets in Capricorn bring out another aspect of the Cancer Moon. Pluto, the asteroid Vesta, and Venus are together in Capricorn. Both Cancer and Capricorn are committed to traditional values, but where Capricorn is ready to take on the world, Cancer prefers to stay at home.

One theme we may experience Monday, then, is where to find the balance between building a nest and learning to fly. Where is our comfort zone? How can we establish the secure base we need, so we can go out and climb mountains to reach our goals? Another aspect Monday can help us find a solution: Mercury in clear-thinking Aquarius flows energy in trine with Saturn in harmonious Libra.

Tuesday morning, the same question comes up in another form as the Cancer Moon squares Saturn in Libra. Will heart or head lead the way? Can our feelings and our thoughts find ways to support each other and work together?

Overnight Tuesday, the Moon reaches the last degrees of Cancer, connecting with both Neptune and Uranus. Once again, we have an invitation to incubate dreams of vision and intuition, as the Moon enters her time between times.

Very early Wednesday (4:14am EST), the Moon roars into passionate Leo, the sign of Friday's powerful Full Moon.