3:11 AM PST / 6:11 AM EST / 11:11 AM GMT
3 Cancer 19 / 3 Capricorn 19
The heavens are giving a phenomenal boost to the Christmas season this year. The day that celebrates a child’s birth sees the moon full in Cancer, the sign of motherhood, home, family and tradition. It’s an appropriate placement, given how associated this time is with family gatherings, festive meals and time-honored rituals. True, all of these have a way of adorning emotional baggage, but don’t be so sure the usual unpleasantness is in store this week. It has the potential for a surprisingly sweet, yummy time, a swelling of hearts and a well-needed respite from the harshness of recent weeks.
Emotions are running high. The Moon is in her home base, which encourages hypersensitivity, even in the Scrooges among us, and turns emotional barometers up to 11. For a change, our feelings are actually lining up with the emphasis of this time of year. Cues for how to feel and act may be bombarding us in stores, on TV and online, but they are not what’s triggering the emotions cresting within us. Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, whether you’re with family, stuck at work or waiting out the long weekend on your lonesome, you’re likely to be riding a wave of nostalgia, sentimentality and renewed appreciation of blood and chosen bonds.
The event and the days around it are occupying their own extraordinary spot on the time/space continuum. This Moon culminates amid clouds of …. well, no one knows quite what. We’re in a fuzzy-woozy atmosphere that feels unhinged from normal reality. That atmosphere is with us for the foreseeable future, thanks to an ongoing clash between Saturn, lord of order, and Neptune, lord of formlessness and transcendence. This Full Moon is in a direct, easy flow to the magical, unearthly, illusory end of that clash, which pushes this week’s experiences into a sweetness bordering on cinematic.
The link to Neptune is pouring glamour into the swirling wisps and clouds and fog that envelop life now. They’re filling with gentleness, kindness, tenderness and compassion as well . Breathe them in deeply; they are a healing mist, and they are spanning timelines and dimensions. They teem with the best qualities of any Christmastime you’ve experienced, along with the best qualities you’ve not yet enjoyed. You may be surprisingly, acutely aware of how deeply connected you feel to the peo
ple around you (yes, even your relatives; even the people for whom you have a carefully compiled list of grievances to air). This may include recognizing the role that has been played for you by gatherings and relationships you have taken for granted, and at times resented. Even if you’re a
lone, you’ll likely wise up to what you need in order to feel safe, secure and loved (and come away determined to bring that into your life).
Some moments and interactions may feel uncommonly precious, thanks to a nagging realization that this experience will not last and will not come again in quite this form. Savor the moment and the people who are sharing it with you. Next year’s Christmas season and late-winter gatherings will have a different configuration; everyone is moving on. Your exit cue will begin tugging at you on the 25th itself, in the midst of the day’s activities, when Uranus the awakener stations direct and permanently tilts your perspective. You may be opening presents, giving a hug, changing the TV channel, helping yourself to pie and coffee. Suddenly you will know you’re heading off, maybe not that day, but soon, and into your own direction.
It’s possible, of course, that some people will translate these influences through a darkly clouded filter and fall into self-pity, taking things personally, or feeling victimized, unappreciated or unloved. If you sense yourself succumbing to any of these, stop. Pull yourself out and do something nurturing, for yourself first of all. The loving and healing possibilities of this Full Moon are not to be squandered.
Use this Full Moon to experience and explore what makes you feel safe, secure and loved. Spend time on activities that feed your soul and let everything else go. (That impulse is why so many peoplehave gone into this season deliberately shelving all kinds of activities that once filled their schedules.) Enjoy this time, its traditions, gatherings and sharing food (don’t fight it; indulge), and the people you care about. Let people off the hook – your parents, your kids, your siblings — and do the same for yourself. Be present in this holiday season like you have never been before. Well, at least, not as an adult.
May sweetness, tenderness and abiding love be yours.
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© Kathy Biehl 2015. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.