This week’s agenda: Getting into our feelings with the Cancer full moon
The holiday season can be emotionally overwhelming to some when it comes to family matters, whether it’s because their family is incomplete or because they’re estranged from their loved ones, and the onslaught of Christmas-themed images of happy home life can definitely get a little too much for those whose families fall on this side of dysfunction.
If you’re one of these people, the coming full moon on the 22nd would probably (definitely) not make things easier. Happening in Cancer, the sign that’s all about emotions, home, and family, this full moon will be a double whammy of feels related to feeling secure, protected, and belonging somewhere or to someone. Astrology skeptics can scoff all they want about this kind of woo-woo stuff, but the moon does have an undeniable pull on earth, from our emotions to the tides. Full moons illuminate, with their brightness, the stuff we push down and keep hidden so that we could deal with them.
The Cancer full moon will happen when the Sun is in the sign of Capricorn (December 21 – January 19), which is Cancer’s opposite sign. While opposing zodiac signs have some basic similar underlying values—in this case, security, stability, tradition, and having roots—each also has a vital lesson to teach each other. As Cancer is ruled by the moon, people with their sun and/or moon signs in Cancer can be moody, needy, and sensitive AF. On the flip side, though, they cannot be accused of being emotionally inaccessible; inside that shell, protected by their pincers, are nurturing and sentimental souls. Capricorn, meanwhile, is ruled by Saturn so they tend to be very serious about responsibilities and success even at a young age, which could lead people to think of them as dour, ambitious, and/or manipulative, but never not dependable. One operates on emotions while the other tends to use their logic—and should they be inclined, Cancer and Capricorn can work together and teach each other how to balance their respective strengths and weaknesses.
One area that both signs are linked at is family, and so the upcoming full moon could really dredge up some realizations about the way we’ve been brought up, the stories we’ve been told about ourselves since we were young, how they still affect us today, and which ones no longer serve us. The effects of this astrological event could be felt days before or after the full moon, and so if you start to feel a little emotionally raw as Christmas Day draws nearer, be gentle with yourself. Let yourself feel whatever comes up (unless it’s indigestion, get that shit treated stat) and acknowledge its validity—but don’t hold on too tight to it.
(Adding this The Good Dinosaur clip just to make you cry.)
After purging these emotions, try to explore where they’re coming from. What insecurities are they rooted in? Which part of your life do you feel needy and/or unsupported, and how could they be linked to the dynamic between you and your parents or other authority figures in your family? The answers won’t come easy, but the realizations that this examination will bring will be worth the trouble.
