Moon into Cancer: Coming Home

Saturday morning through Monday morning
Eastern Standard Time

Three of Cups ©Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Saturday, February 4
Moon enters Cancer 1:04am
Moon trine Neptune (Pisces) 1:06am
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 4:44am
Imbolc: Sun reaches 15 Aquarius 5:22am
Moon sextile Jupiter (Taurus) 6:54am
Moon trine Chiron (Pisces) 8:22am
Moon opposite Pluto (Capricorn) 5:07pm
Moon inconjunct the North Node (Sagittarius) 10:00pm

Sunday, February 5
Moon inconjunct Mercury (Aquarius) 4:17am
Moon inconjunct Sun (Aquarius) 7:12am
Moon sextile Mars (Virgo) 6:01pm

Monday, February 6
Moon trine Venus (Pisces) 4:29am
Moon square Saturn (Libra) 7:30am
(begin void of course)
Moon enters Leo 8:24am
Moon semisextile Neptune (Pisces) 8:35am
Moon trine Uranus (Aries) 12:01pm
Moon square Jupiter (Taurus) 2:23pm
Moon inconjunct Chiron (Pisces) 3:30pm
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 11:34pm

The Moon moved into Cancer very early this morning, shifting from the bright, airy connections of Gemini into the slower, deeper movements of her home Water sign. If you woke this morning from dreams of ancestors, nurturing, food, warmth, mother, then look to the Cancer Moon.

We also reached astrological Imbolc early this morning as the Sun reached 15 degrees of Aquarius. Today, as the year turns toward greater light, Aquarian insight is available to us along with Neptunian visions: The Moon's first contact was a flowing, Watery trine with Neptune newly arrived in her home sign of Pisces.

Yes, I wrote "her" for Neptune. The name is a male god, yet Neptune's energy has many feminine, yin qualities. In many cultures, ocean deities are female. The glamour, the lyricism, the dreaminess, the easy contact with emotions and the subconscious––these are yin and feminine, although of course men have and experience them too, just as women have the fierce drives of Aries.

Today's energies are strongly in this Watery, yin arena. The Moon stands in challenge to the quick-acting, direct Uranus, while flowing energy with Jupiter in slow, sensual Taurus as well as with healing Chiron. Opposing Pluto, we experience opportunities for transformation that, floating in this visionary space, might feel easy to sense but tricky to articulate.

newborn lamb

Imbolc is the time of the goddess Brighid, triple goddess of the hearth, of poetry, and of smithcraft, which the ancient Celts saw as transformation at work.

I invoke her today with Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's Three of Cups from the Shadowscapes Tarot, perfect for this day of the Moon, Neptune and Pluto.

At Imbolc, the ancient Celtic calendar shifts from the dark half of the dark half of the year (from Samhain to Imbolc), into the light half of the dark half of the year (until Betaine).

One reading of the ancient meaning of the word "Imbolc" is "in the belly" and we enter a time now when yang energy begins to stir, arising within the womb of winter stillness.

With the Gemini Moon, we gathered lots of new information. Now, we sit with it. We reflect. We feel. We allow. Tonight, the Moon makes an awkward aspect with the North Node, signalling that adjustments are needed in our path forward. Tomorrow, that same aspect with the Sun and Mercury tells us to slow down, notice where things are not comfortable, and adjust. A connection with Mars, retrograde in detail-oriented Virgo, gives us the precision of insight we need.

Early Monday morning, connections with Venus and Saturn offer creative energy just before the Moon steps into Leo's creative fire. As we enter the week ahead, we may find that our time in reflection and stillness gives birth to new passions, new play and new ideas.

While the Moon is in Cancer, we cultivate stillness, allowing time for feelings.