June 23-24, 2017
7:21 PM PDT / 10:21 PM EDT / 3:21 AM GMT
2 Cancer 41
Get out your teddy bear, your blankie and your favorite childhood food.
And woe to anyone who reaches for them without permission.
This year’s Cancer New Moon is awakening the toddler within — and activating his vocal cords, muscle and most basic, unfiltered impulses.
Cancer is the Moon’s home, and the first and rawest of the water signs. Emotions rule this roost, which encompasses everything that makes us feel safe and secure (and the absence of which threatens us beyond reason) — Mommy, the comforts of home, food and tradition, family and tribal associations.
Our awareness and experience of them all are up for the annual reboot. This year’s model is unlikely to be quiet, gentle or still.
It comes quick on the heels of the solstice, when the Sun enters Cancer, on June 21 this year. The chart for that day sets a show-me undertone for the summer, with Venus and the Moon both in earthy, sensory-focused Taurus. Wants are not theories or wishes, but desires that require physical fulfillment (and multiple helpings, to boot).
Those desires underlie the subconscious, childlike impulses stirring at the Cancer New Moon. It carries a profound potential for sweetness and tenderness, with giving and receiving nurturing serving as the currency of love.
There are other potentials as well, of course. Oversensitivity and poutiness, for one instance. Defensiveness, protectionism and combativeness, for another. Aggression and attacks, for yet another.
We’re more prone to express and act on Cancerian impulses because of company this Moon is keeping. She’s close by Mercury, ruler of our thoughts and words, and he in turn is closing in on Mars, ruler of drive, motivation and follow through.
Neither Mercury nor Mars is particularly comfortable sloshing about in the waters of Cancer. Mercury does better flying through the air than swimming, which drags his gait. Mars is awkward as well, stomping through a cozy cosmic kitchen in battle gear and boots. Frustration, pressure or going overboard are all possible results.
Hence the activation of inner toddler vocal cords and muscle. They override adult filters (just watch) that might otherwise restrain us from hugging, putting our hearts on our sleeves or tearing up. From squawking, acting like babies or reacting as if someone is trying to take a toy away. From standing up for someone (or thing) we love.
Watch for a rise in cooking as caretaking and courtship, in expressions of love, in contact with relatives (alive or in your head), in protecting turf and in fighting words.
This Moon bodes well for both existing and budding relationships, with the M-gods encouraging emotional outpourings and actions backing them up.
On a mundane/national level, this Moon and her honor guard may inspire a feeling of unity by reminding us of how we are family. The lineup may also draw acting out by the masculine archetype, in the form of aggression by angry, threatened men.
Use this New Moon to shore up your own sense of safety and security. Listen and respond to the rumblings of your inner toddler. Give it rest and treats and soft objects to hold.
Upgrade the comfiness of your home. Fluff the cushions on your couch and bed. Put the appliances in your kitchen to actual use, or at least sit at the table to eat, if you balk at the notion of preparing a meal.
Nurture yourself; nurture people you love (and tell them you love them), especially the one(s) you’ve been wanting to bring closer.
And if (okay, when) you see someone on the warpath, consider whether the battle has anything to do with you. If it doesn’t, step out of the way. Maybe have milk and cookies and a nap. And maybe have that regardless.