Plant your seeds, set your course and get to making sex magic my dudes, the new moon arrives in cardinal Cancer on July 17 at 2:32 ET.
New moons, in name and meaning are slate cleaning, field clearing restarts that usher in a fresh lunar cycle.
The new moon always aligns with the zodiac sign the sun is currently moving through. In this case that would be the tides and tumult, pinchers and poignancy of Cancer.
The new moon is the darkest phase of the moon’s cycle, a point of pure potential and an invitation to begin.
Cancer is ruled by the moon and lords over the fourth house of roots and ancestry and thusly his lunation is about homecoming, nourishment, gratitude and connectedness.
As the moon is not visible during this phase of the lunar cycle it stands as metaphor for the shadow parts of our selves that we keep spirited away from other and that we ourselves fail to see, heal or integrate. Because the moon is most at home in Cancer this new moon is particularly potent for initiatory energy, raw inspiration and work that allows intuition to take the lead.
Cancer governs the realms of domesticity and attachment; the homes me make and the homes we make of each other. The tension that exists in Cancer folk and this new moon is a pull between the steady need to be needed and the waxing and waning pains and pulses of the human heart.
As the brilliant astrologer Colin Bedell of QueerCosmos reminds us, “Of all the twelve zodiac signs, the only one who’s lesson is absolutely required, mandatory, necessary for graduation is Cancer’s. Neurobiologically we are hardwired for everything Cancer takes a stand for; belonging, connection, belonging to self, belonging to place, belonging with people.
In the absence of belonging and connection, there is always cardiovascular and cognitive decline. Unless we understand everything this zodiac sign takes a stand for, we suffer.”In this sense, our likelihood of survival depends on the strength of our relationships and our willingness to need and be needed.
Fun fact: a group of crabs is called a “cast,” and functions to protect and provide for the collective whole. Apropos of this, Cancer reminds us that we require the structure and support of community to heal, that we are all called to play different roles in the saga of our shared human experience, and that together we can protect, promote and progress.
Cancer governs the realms of domesticity and attachment; the homes me make, and the homes we make of each other.
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As the great moon ruled, cosmic mother Cancer is deeply invested in both survival and the alleviation of suffering. In kind, Cancer season and the Cancer new moon in particular ask us to acknowledge and divert patterns that hinder our evolution or limit our ability to connect, forgive and forge ahead.
It is the hour to love ourselves with the unconditional totality and radical acceptance of the maternal ideal. Much is made of the sensitive nature of the crab but Cancer folk are not just more susceptible to emotional upset but also to the joyful and the sublime.
A sunset or a sonnet is just as likely to affect them as an injury or injustice and thank the gods of art and the ideals of humanity for this truth. In the spirit of the sign and under the darkness of this moon, remain vulnerable at all costs and ever available for the acutely beautiful.
Problematic poet Pablo Neurda was born during a Cancer new moon and his chart amounts to SIX Cancer placements including sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Neptune. A water priest through and through, Neruda speaks to the opaque potential of the new moon, the thread of human connection and the oceanic expanse of love without cause or condition in his poem “One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII,”
In the spirit of the sign and under the darkness of this moon, remain vulnerable at all costs and ever available for the acutely beautiful.
“I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers; thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.”
I hope this new moon pulls at you to shake hands with your shadows, love without pride, feel without fear and to imagine a future in which you are wholly at home in the world.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the stars
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling
