2018 Cancer Full Moon

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December 22, 2018
9:48 AM PST / 12:48 PM EST / 5:48 PM GMT
0 Cancer 49 / 0 Capricorn 49

The Cancer Full Moon lights up the parental axis, just in time for the annual celebration of the birth of a child.

We might be acting like one. Or like Mommy. Or swinging from one to the other…or being both at once.

This Full Moon’s emotional culmination is raw, unfiltered and as nonrational as can be, with the Moon in her home sign, and at the very beginning to boot. Issues of nurturing, caretaking, family and security are all over the cresting waves.

Do you feel safe? Cared for? Nourished? At home? Who’s the Mommy? Who’s the Daddy? Who’s the baby?

Answers, and reactions, will be all over the spectrum of maturity: pouty and cranky; tender, sensitive and loving; pragmatic and resourceful. It might bring heart-warming moments with loved ones…or drive home how unsupportive current conditions are.

Nostalgia and sentimentality are inevitable. This time of year runs us through a gauntlet of traditions and memories that spelled magic, wonder and awe when we were young. Think back to your early days, or observe young children around you. Children don’t justify or rationalize. They simply want. They request. They demand. They expect fulfillment, and they throw tantrums when they don’t get what they want.

This Moon says to take a cue and indulge. (Not in the tantrums, of course, although they will be prevalent.)

Venus, the ruler of our desires, is in a tight and direct current with Neptune, weaver of dreams and illusions. This duo oversees love and creativity, from the mere mortal level to divinely inspired or sent, and they will likely prove to be welcome companions just now.

The link casts a sweet, loving glow into the emotional tides. The aspect enhances the lure of memories and the sensation of living outside of ordinary time.

Venus and Neptune could have jaded, world-weary adults believing in Santa again, or in the goodness of humanity, which may amount to the same these days. That prospect arose at the Sagittarius New Moon two weeks ago, which pressured Neptune and his then companion, action hero Mars. The impact sent requests out into the cosmos and likely spurred some action as well.

Now Venus is opening our hands and hearts to receive, to trust, believe and simply allow. And if we need a push, Mars is still close enough, just barely, to Neptune to go after what we want.

It’s the stuff of Hallmark Channel movies, or commercials that end with a ring and a kiss. (Anyone else keeping a tally of engagement announcements?)

Romantic or not, the love vibe could inspire you to get over family, parental and/or nurtuing issues that have dogged you for years. The Full Moon is making an out-of-sign t-square to Chiron, who is in the final months of cleaning ancient wounds in the last degrees of Pisces. The configuration has the power to force healthier boundaries, to let people carry their own baggage, to shut down pity parties, maybe to move beyond feeling left out because you don’t celebrate Christmas and it is all around you. And to push you to make your own nurturing a priority. Perhaps see to it yourself, even.

With this Moon’s line-up, being responsible to and for yourself could, paradoxically, involve letting the kid within come out. Maybe your parents didn’t do such a bang-up job years ago; maybe your current family, blood or chosen, isn’t adequately meeting your needs; maybe you haven’t taken good care of yourself either…but you’re in charge of you now.

Saturn, the planet of adulting, is putting simple, incremental, concrete acts of stabilizing and commitment on offer. He’s in a door-opening aspect to both Venus and Neptune, who are making the doorways enticing indeed. Loving yourself, forgiving yourself, taking care of yourself are foundation pieces. They’re at your disposal now, and make it safe for your inner child to come out. And they provide a platform for extending love to others.

So celebrate magic, and memories, and lights that sparkle against a dark sky. Take comfort in traditions and favorite foods and, most of all, in the wonder of just being alive. Make wishes. Give hugs. Act on childlike impulses. Cut away the situations that hurt Open yourself to sustaining love. It’s a two-way street.