Full Moon in Cancer

Full Moon in Cancer, Friday January 6th at 11.57 PM

Full moons are a climax of energy and light. They represent a time of powerful illumination – where the hidden comes into the light – and release. This full moon in Cancer coincides with Epiphany: one of the oldest festival days of the Christian church. Epiphany marks the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi. A divine reveal. The word epiphany, of course, means a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation. And this is what our first full moon of the calendar year is; a potent, revelatory moon. A sacred check in, which is full of wisdom and nurture.

The moon is ruled by Cancer; it is innately at home here. As the traditional ruler of the fourth house, Cancer explicitly speaks to the theme of home – our sense of home –in the form of family, ancestry and our origins. This energy spans time, relating to the present moment of our current home and family, our near and far familial past, and all the way back through ancestral time.

Some of us get on with our families and some of us don’t. What this moon is inviting us to do is not to think so much about the interpersonal relationships within our families, but to observe how we have been shaped by them. What habits, preferences and ways of expressing emotion are inherited from our backgrounds; from the unique familial culture that shaped us, particularly in our formative years?

Reflecting on how our family of origin has influenced, and continues to influence, us can illuminate patterns and behaviours we may want to transform or let go of. This moon allows us feel into our authentic self. What belongs to our true soul and what belongs to a narrative created by the family unit and the stories it tells itself? To transform and evolve in healthy ways, it is imperative that we understand that we are not just these stories, or versions of ourselves, created by the family. This may be particularly pertinent after the holiday season, where we have spent a lot of time within the containers of our families. This moon is the ideal opportunity to let go of any identities, or identifications, which no longer fit with who we are now.

An aspect which is hugely supportive of this idea the sextile between the moon and Uranus (associated with breakthroughs and change) in Taurus (nurture), empowering us to open up to curiosity, change and adaptability about our lives. Cancer is very much about safety and feeling safe means we aren't triggered into a stress response of fight or flight. If our nervous system is balanced and calm, we won’t become emotionally overwhelmed (emotional overwhelm is a shadow quality of Cancer). Safety inspires openness, as opposed to panic, which shuts us down. Feeling safe means that we are an ideal state to transform.

How to work with the energy of this full moon in Cancer? Any practice that creates a feeling a safety within you – meditation, being in nature, taking a bath – which then allows the emotions that come up (and remember, this is a revelatory moon; a moon of epiphanies) to move through you. Cancer is a cardinal water sign and deeply emotional, so these feelings may be experienced as waves. Waves are created by energy passing through water. Be the water. Let this energy move through and out of you.

Lynsey Allett4 January 2023