A Cancer Full Moon Reflection

 

 Rodin's Orpheus and Eurydice

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo Ad Meskens, July 2009)

This month’s Full Moon takes place at 7 Cancer on December 28th and 10:22 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

But that’s hardly the only astrological item on the calendar. Within hours of the Full Moon, asteroid Hel goes direct at 3 Taurus. And Achilles goes retrograde at 11 Virgo. And dwarf planet MakeMake goes retrograde in late Virgo (29 Virgo, to be exact).

With all of this happening as the Sun has just moved into Capricorn, it’s a ‘first high water mark’ after the seasonal “changing of the guards” (as it were). Capricorn being a cardinal sign, this is an action-oriented period, whether we’re doing the actions, on the receiving end of the actions, or merely witnessing the actions.

With all the ‘standard’ planets in early numbers as this Full Moon occurs with the exception of Venus and Mercury (the Nodes too, but they’re not planets) there’s a natural focus on the Self which comes on this Full Moon, but whether that’s truly about you (the who you are or how you’re going about living your life)…or whether that has you comparing yourself to someone else or to where you want to be? That’s individual.

However…all those stations plus the New Moon are rather interesting, particularly when we consider their placements against Sun in Capricorn, Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius and Mars in Aquarius.

What I mean by this is probably most easily seen in a picture…

With the exception of the Moon (which often acts sort of like an astrological “trigger”) all the other “personal planets” (Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars) are grouped rather close together. All four are in public signs, with Venus, our ‘what I put out determines what I get back’ and Mercury (the idea, communications and mentality planet) in interactively expansive/idea-testing Sagittarius. Against this we have the Sun (consciousness) and Mars (assertion) in two signs which are more global and less localized.

What do I mean by that? What I mean is that while the talking and the thinking and the everyday transacting of life is personal, the aims and the parameters are global, structural and/or systemic. So whatever we’re doing, there is the immediate level of dealing, coping and transacting…and there’s a more universal level of the aims, the goals, the “rules of the game” and the many ‘world factors’ we have to take into account.

(Oh yes…and that may be your world…or it could be the world…or both, depends on you and your chart!)

The minuses of this ‘personal grouping’ lineup are likely to turn up as irritating moments when others don’t agree or don’t appear to be cooperating with your aims. Or where you try something then find out it won’t work in the long run. But the plus is that you’re going to feel united in your own mind about what direction you’re going in (or want to go in) at the moment.

Into all this comes the Full Moon. Like any Full Moon, this one will mark a ‘high tide’ moment in some way which feels personal. Or which means something to you personally. This Full Moon having reached its fullness from a start at 21 Sagittarius, this is something akin to the (Sagittarius) effort ‘coming home’ to us. Or maybe sinking in, as we discussed back in this month’s New Moon blog.

LINK to blog post on the December New Moon

But what’s happened to bring us to whatever point we are at now at the Full Moon doesn’t fully describe the energy to be expected in the lives of those most affected by this Full Moon. Taking place in Cancer, the first of the zodiac’s watery emotional signs, right away we know the feelings evoked are basic. Maybe even primal. The degree – 7 Cancer – that the Full Moon takes place at is specifically known for manifesting in various ways, too. Emotional issues are the obvious and physical or rash actions or reactions fall right in line here. Results stemming from rash choices or unstable/ill-founded methods, methodologies or assertions also fit in here.

But then, so does unmitigated joy. And feelings of relief, gratitude and peace.

So which is it going to be? That would all depends on what you’ve been doing prior to this time, of course – Full Moons represent the culminating of one phase of a process before you move on to a next. If you think of them as a check point, that’s not far off. It’s at the Full Moon that we realize what’s right and what’s wrong…or, to put it in Monopoly-Speak - where we can collect $250 and continue on our way and where we do not pas ‘Go’ and do not collect that $250.

(Going to jail is an option, but not mandated!)

So ask yourself this…Achilles going retrograde at 1 Virgo speaks to how well you do something and whether you’ve been doing whatever it is that you do well and with a sense of time, place, responsibility and morality. Those who haven’t will have the harder time and tougher day – that’s part one of the ‘it’s that simple’ formula.

Part two would be asteroid Hel going on station and turning to direct motion. Representing ‘the hard time’ we may give ourselves or get from others, Hel is turning from the ‘getting in our own way’ phase to the ‘being put on notice’ by others. Those phrases (getting in our own way and being put on notice) should be taken literally only with a grain of salt; asteroid Hel tends to be all about how life gets made harder for us, and since we each have a little asteroid Hel in our charts, that is where we tend to ‘trip ourselves up’ or ‘ignore at our own peril’ and such. For the past several months Hel has been retrograde, indicating a time of either making our own lives harder or when we learn how and why we tend to do just that.

 A Blue Moon

(photo credit: Craig Deakin, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK,  September 2012)

As Hel goes direct, those who have done their “homework” will get tested by circumstances and survive not by ‘give it to them’ or ‘giving in to them’ but by understanding who they are and why they do what they do.

The more I watch this asteroid…the more I tend to think it has everything to do with getting us to be better people and live up to our better standards. You know, those ‘better angels’ of our spirit.

Which makes the name of the asteroid rather ironic, yes. But it does seem to work!

The last symbol we need to check in on here is dwarf planet MakeMake. Named for a Rapa Nui (Easter Island) deity, MakeMake represents a ‘creator’ or ‘creative’ energetic generally referring to bringing something into being. With MakeMake going retrograde at a critical degree (29 Virgo) this signals intensity, and perhaps…or maybe hopefully?…a degree of self-reflection.

Which works with any Full Moon. Considering that the Full Moon is the physical manifestation of our inner and most mortal or spiritual selves (the Moon) reflecting the Sun without any of daily life (the Earth) “getting in the way” what we have and haven’t been doing and how well or properly we have been doing it – even how morally our choice has been or our efforts have been…those now come to a moment of reflection.

Considering where the personal planets are, our aims may be meeting with resistance. Or maybe we need to adjust our expectations or methodologies. Some of us will now realize that the course they’ve been on isn’t taking them where they want to go.

How this happens – whether you ‘see’ it for yourself or life somehow thrusts some hard-nosed reaction in your face – whatever that is, the good news is that this is just a Full Moon. The upsurge, the ‘high tide’ of emotion will soon enough ebb.

So you can …maybe…grit your teeth and ignore the whole thing.

But if you do, who are you kidding? The good news is indeed that life goes on. The bad news is that if you ignore some problem, life goes on and catches you even harder when things come around again.

Cancer being the zodiac cycle’s ‘foundational’ emotional energetic, this is where we plant our flag and found our plans. Many of us will now strap on those shoes and set a new path, knowing it’s (MakeMake) time to get done those things which really need to get done – and done properly.

For such people, this is likely to be a time of challenge and pride-in-self. They’ll sleep soundly knowing they’re taking on their own dragon hunt and that they know how to slay the problem and ultimately win their own respect and with that, open the door to finer days yet to come.  
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