Full Moon in Cancer: Where We Started From

Full Moon in Cancer

detail: Two Rabbits, Pampas Grass, Full Moon

Eastern U.S. Time Zone

Monday, January 9
Moon opposite Sun (Capricorn) 2:30am
Moon sextile Mars (Virgo) 8:48am
Moon inconjunct Venus (Aquarius) 1:44pm
Mercury (Capricorn) sextile Chiron (Pisces) 4:12pm
Moon square Saturn (Libra) 9:25pm
Moon inconjunct Neptune (Aquarius) 10:03pm
(begin void of course) Moon enters Leo 11:35pm

As Sunday moves into Monday, we welcome the Full Moon in Cancer, illuminating how things are for us at home, with family, with tribe, with tradition, with Mother.

In the sign of cardinal Water, the Moon's home sign, emotions are strong. Feelings are illuminated, offering the chance to feel deeply, see clearly, commit to what we most value, and shift what needs to move so we can heal and grow. Mercury and Pluto are also in Capricorn, supporting thought, communication and transformation.

This Full Moon happens with the Moon at 18 Cancer and the Sun at 18 Capricorn, highlighting our connection with how-things-have-always-been-done.

In these times of great change, it sometimes feels as if there's nothing to hold on to––or nothing we should hold on it, that it's time for everything to go and all to be made new. Yet this is not the way of the our world. Everything arises from what came before.

In chaos theory, this is the sensitivity to initial conditions, the butterfly effect. In mathematics, the importance of initial states is part of Markov chains. Where we can go depends on where we've been.

In these models, though, there is no intentionality and no meaning. The butterfly neither intends or causes the tornado, and a walk through a Markov chain is random. The fact that such models can accurately mirror biological and social processes is unsettling. Are we living in a random universe?

This Full Moon offers the chance to look at where we've been through the lens of meaning. The archetypes of the Mother and Father, and the myths, symbols, and stories that surround them, are some of the most powerful we have. How do our cultures present Mother and Father? How have we experienced them in our lives? What does that mean for where we can go?

As always at the Full Moon, I'm offering a guided journey. This journey, recorded as an mp3 and supported by the sound of my drum, takes us into a meaningful dialogue with the energies surrounding this Full Moon, helping us prepare for the illumination to come.

At this Full Moon, we explore where we've come from. Our life journeys are tied to the family, tribe and traditions that nurtured us. Understanding those origins, in a deep and compassionate way, brings more freedom to build on what is strong and nurturing and to release what weakens. When we see more clearly where we stand today, we choose where to step next with greater awareness and love.