Last year, we received a double dose of Cancer energy with two successive New Moons in Cancer, one in June and then again in July. Perhaps the skies knew we needed an extra dose of the protection, healing and nurturing that Cancer offers us, as we collectively experienced the pandemic and all that entailed.
We have come a full year since those days, and yet it feels (to me at least) that a little healing and nurturing is still more than welcome! For many of us, pandemic rules are relaxing as coronavirus transmission and hospitalization rates decrease, but many folks are struggling with how and when to move forward — to mask (or not), to gather with friends and family (or not), to get vaccinated (or not) — as they create yet another “new normal” and perhaps step into a new post-pandemic way of being.
And there is still much out of balance in the natural world which can influence our lives beyond the pandemic situation, such as the current “heat dome” breaking temperature records in both Canada and the USA, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and forest fires.
Yes, healing is needed… for the forests, for Mama Earth, and for us.
New Moon Energies
What wisdom does this New Moon in Cancer offer us? How can it inspire each of us to step into our own sovereignty, to move from perhaps feeling diminished or less powerful with what is happening around us and instead trigger ways of being and actions that manifest in learning, growing and supporting our community — however large or small that community is — and our Self?
Cancer is a Cardinal sign, signifying initiation and new directions or projects. It is ruled by the Moon and the Water Element, both of which govern our emotions, inspire our intuition and celebrate the Divine Feminine.
Water is such a powerful, persistent and life-giving force. And yet that same powerful force, which can carve rocks out of mountains and change the landscape and shorelines with hurricanes and rivers and floods, can be a gentle supportive energy in all its forms: solid (ice), liquid (water), gas (vapour, steam).
Water calls to me so strongly. I love the feel of a gentle rain on my face on a hot dry summer day. I love the sounds of a murmuring brook or spring in a forest or meadow, the sound of the waves crashing at the shore. And I love walking in water’s liminal state when it is neither liquid nor gas but is experienced as a gentle fog or mist, which for my ancestors was an entrance to the Otherworld, one of the “thin places” (which also included stone circles, fairy trees, holy wells, springs, sacred hills, shorelines and more) where folks would go to nurture their mind and their spirit, their soul. When I walk in the fog or mist, I enjoy its stillness, its soft touch on the skin, and the connection to the Spirit.
Can you use the dual and complementary aspects of that Water energy this month? Can you embrace its strength and gentleness, its ability to nurture and be nurtured? And can you raise your awareness to its shadow side, when needing turns to neediness, when self-nurturing turns to self-indulgence, when one’s emotional state dips into wallowing?
If and when the shadow arises, acknowledge it, recognize it. It’s there to tell you something. And then connect to the intuitive quality of water to understand what the shadow is revealing, its wisdom. Thank it. And then embrace Water’s ability to overcome resistance and let it allow you to flow into balance, allow you to float on the surface above the turbulence and move forward.
Lunar Theme
For this lunar month, I took my inspiration from Mary Oliver’s poem Moon and Water, shared in the picture below. My lunar theme is Refold / Unfold My Self.
I too need to refold myself into my own life — and to unfold what is emerging —connecting to the best parts of myself, flowing like water, finding ease through transition and change and chaos. I embrace the cosmic hug of Cancer’s archetypal maternal and supportive energy, which can strengthen our own nurturing and sustaining Inner Mother, and connect us to our Divine Feminine and to the source of creation itself.
How are the New Moon and July energies manifesting within you, and around you?
Does this theme resonate with you . . . or is there something else, even more aligned with your way-of-being that is calling to you?
Share your thoughts in the Comments area below, or our private Facebook group, the Wise Woman Bean Gealach Circle.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks