Moon into Cancer

Saturday afternoon through Monday evening

Mother and Child by Edelfelt

The Moon loves Cancer, her home sign, the sign of home. Cancer is cardinal Water, where emotions come first and we go to receive warm, nurturing support from mother and tribe. Here, the Moon is at her most traditional and protective.

At its most challenging, Cancer clings to the familiar even when it's toxic, too fearful to move into the new. At its best, Cancer rests in the warm support of traditional roots, using that strength as a base for growing in many new directions.

The best and worst are highlighted in this Cancer Moon's first aspects. Just after entering Cancer at 5:02pm Saturday, she flows energy in trine with Neptune in Pisces, reveling in deep, spiritual connections.

Then comes a series of challenging square, beginning with Uranus and Mars in Aries, overnight. The Moon in Cancer is simply not comfortable with the fast pace of dramatic changes set by these two, and worries about it. Will a new point of stability ever be reached, or are things spiraling out of control? Will we sweep away the good with the bad, ending up with a newer, more modern, mess?

In these times, we've all felt this anxiety. The Cancer Moon offers a time to explore it, to lean into our discomfort, in the words of Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron, and find the soft heart of compassion within.

Sunday, the Moon opposes Pluto in Capricorn, traditional feminine protecting tribe, family, and the way things are opposite traditional masculine determined to achieve goals in the world. Again, we feel our way into difficult emotions around sweeping change.

More squares follow: to Saturn in Libra, and to Jupiter in Aries. Saturn in Libra values relationships but recognizes the limits to what can be done. Jupiter in Aries is charging optimistically ahead into the unknown. Saturn and Jupiter are opposite now, trying to find a balance between change and tradition. The Cancer Moon squares them both, asking, how do we feel about this? How can we nurture ourselves and each other?

Overnight Sunday, the Moon finds respite in a flowing trine with Venus in Pisces. These planets in these signs support each other in feminine ways of knowing that value relationship, compassion and nurturance.

child laborer in the mills, 1908

Very early Monday, the Moon is back in challenge, squaring Mercury and then the Sun in Aries. Again, the Moon asks for time, gentleness, and a little caution ... not values Aries recognizes as worthwhile!

The Sun-Moon square marks the waxing half Moon, the time when our New Moon wishes are tested. Now that the shape of things to come is beginning to emerge, do we really want that? How strong is our commitment?

The Sun-Moon square also begins the Moon's void of course time, until she steps into passionate Leo at 11:37pm EDT Monday. The Cancer Moon is often associated with calm respite, but given the energy of the times, we may find this transit challenging as the Moon tries to carve out a little space of security in the midst of a whirlwind.