While the Sun is in Cancer we discover the power and pleasure of turning our attention inward. We learn to take care of our inner reality so that we can take a secure sense of self into the world. The Cancer archetype teaches us how special and critical it is to be with our sensitivity, our feelings, our emotions, and our body.
There is always a rhythm of ebb and flow between active and receptive energies. The signs of the zodiac alternate between active/yang (the fire and air signs), and receptive/yin (the water and earth signs.) This year the month the Sun is in Cancer is exceptionally yin and receptive.
June 20 – The Sun Flows into Cancer
3:34 PM PDT (19:34 GMT) through July 22 at 2:30 AM PST (9:30 GMT)
Late in the day June 20, if we stop (or even slow down) enough to notice, we can tune into the hush, silence, stillness, and gentle flow of peaceful energy as the Sun enters the most yin feminine sign of the zodiac.
The Cancer archetype is about how we live with our inner, emotional, feeling, and energetic reality. Our Cancer job is to manage our energy and emotions so that we don’t waste and misuse our precious life force.
Cancer invites us to check in with our feelings and to discover our emotions as the female polarity of our inner guidance system. As we learn to pay attention, we find out that our emotional body communicates very important messages that make it possible to monitor our well-being and make careful decisions about how to navigate our lives.
Cancer is a very private sign. If we don’t go inside and feel our emotions in our body, we don’t have access to our own secrets –we are a secret to ourselves! We can decode our own mystery by being present in feeling awareness to what we experience in our emotional and physical bodies.
According to Tantric Numerology (as shared by Yogi Bhajan) those born in July (Cancers and some Leos) have a karma number of the seventh body – the aura. The karma number indicates the aspect of our soul design that is the most challenging. The aura is the porous energy field around our body that encodes the energetic make-up of our being. Like the shell of a Crab, this field is very delicate and is always in a state of being impacted by both inner and outer influences.
We strengthen our aura from the inside.*(1) If we are fearful and oversensitive emotionally, our aura carries this fear. As a result we have a built in tendency to hide to protect ourselves. To release fear imprints, to build a strong aura, and to feel secure, we have to consolidate our energetic identity by being present inside our skin. Our main Cancer job is to be cozy, close, and nurturing with ourselves.
June 29 – Mars Goes Direct
4:38 PM PDT (23:38 GMT) at 23 degrees Scorpio
Mars went retrograde at 9 degrees Sagittarius April 17. Mars retrograde is good for introspection and for listening to our hearts so that we know what we really want. But we can feel thwarted when it comes to taking action and making things happen. This all changes when Mars goes direct. We feel like we can move forward again. Pay attention to your attitude on June 30 and monitor any changes in your approach to getting things done.
July 4 – Cancer New Moon
at 12 degrees 4:00 AM PDT (11:00 GMT)
Cancer is ruled by the Moon and the sign the most associated with the divine feminine principle, whose basic nature is receptive, reflective, and releasing/letting go. We are drawn inward so that we can connect with our subtle inner world.
This Cancer New Moon initiates a deep internal awakening within each of us. The Sun, Moon, Venus, and Mercury are all in Cancer. Chiron, Neptune, South Node and asteroid Pallas are in Pisces. Mars is in Scorpio. Nine celestial bodies in water signs creates a sensitive mood for the first weeks of July. Jupiter and the North Node join in the feminine earth sign Virgo.
During the first half of July our attention will be on how we handle our emotions and take care of our emotional and physical needs. Our touchstone is self-care.
June 30-July 22 – Grand Water Trine
First Venus, then Mercury, and the Sun (all in Cancer) form a grand trine with Mars in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces. The planets in water signs form Grand Water Trines over a three week period. July 16-17 – the Sun (Cancer), Mars (Scorpio), Chiron (Pisces) align at 25 degrees.
Trines (triangle formations) make it easier to relax, go with the flow, and open our hearts. This ‘soft’ energy facilitates clearing up misunderstandings, healing wounds, and moving on.
This 3 week period is an invitation by the cosmos to relax, heal, and transform by connecting with our sensitive yin half of our being. We are being supported by the Divine Mother, but we have to make ourselves available with meditation, silence, and solitude. We can receive help and access to our own truth when we are not drowned out by external distractions. Give yourself space away from your cell phone and computer! Slow down, recharge, reorient, and receive the blessings of Divine Mother Love.
July 19 – Capricorn Full Moon
3:56 PM PDT (22:56 GMT) at 27 degrees Capricorn.
At each full moon, a different set of polarities speak to us. The Cancer/Capricorn polarity pair teaches us that our inner development is the foundation for our outer contribution. We learn about balance and integration of the demands of our inner and outer lives.
Both Cancer/water and Capricorn/earth are feminine/yin energies. The Cancer archetype is about inner maturity, feelings, needs, emotions, and recognition of our subtle, sensitive self. The Capricorn archetype is about consolidating our personal identity in our vocation, service, and position in the world.
The Cancer/Capricorn polarity pair teaches us that we need to go inside (Cancer) before we go out (Capricorn). In our yang dominant society, we have been trained to stuff our feelings, to stiffen up our emotions, and go out in the world with willful courage. But the foundation of courage and fearlessness is built from within. Willfully imposed courage can collapse when the air seeps out from our over-inflated, empty ego balloon.
Cancer teaches us that our most important home is our inner sacred space. Capricorn reaches into our inner space for nourishment and support in the world. From our inner truth we can define limits and create boundaries that foster inner/outer balance.
Both Cancer and Capricorn are cardinal/active signs that initiate, create, and like to be in action.
They teach us how to be directed from within as we operate in the world.
Growing Up Emotionally
With the awakening of feminine, we are becoming more and more aware that a culture dominated by the patriarchy creates serious problems. One such problem is our emotional immaturity, which is basically caused by ignoring, degrading, and denying the feminine, emotions, feelings, body, and yin receptivity.
One manifestation of emotional immaturity is how we create a false sense of security and identity. Without a strong confident, confirmed sense of self, we feel threatened when we are confronted with diversity and life styles other than our own. We try to compensate for our lack of self-identity by building up a camaraderie with people who espouse the same views and outlook on life.
When we share our lives with others who agree with our opinions and beliefs, we feel safe and are self-affirmed in our shared negativity and anger. We agree to agree on liking and hating the same things. We agree that our confrontation is with others who don’t share our same opinion. In other words, we agree to project our internal negativity and conflict outside ourselves.
Our shared prejudices and beliefs are a source of comfort and affirmation that we are OK. This is an immature emotional position that supports an identity structure that is based on superficial, external validation and outer confirmation of a childish ego. We are not good at accepting differences and challenges when we have no internal identity structure to confirm ourselves or to cope with what doesn’t coincide with what makes us feel comfortable, validated, and loved.
When something happens to change the game, we have to think about our life differently and grow emotionally.
Those who follow the crowd end up in crowded places. Our inner reality is crowded with people who we think we need to please. Those whose inner reality is filled with love have plenty of space and have found confirmation and pleasure by following their hearts.
Be Cozy with Yourself
The month the Sun shines is Cancer is a special time to be with ourselves and our inner reality. Our main Cancer job is to be cozy, close, and nurturing with ourselves.
Silently be with your breath, the sensations in different parts of your body and your spine. Experiment. What can you be close and cozy with?
Be with yourself so there is someone to be with when you are in relationship.
“What individuality can there be if you do not know you? Individuality without you is just difference. Individuality with you is uniqueness.” Yogi Bhajan
References and Footnotes
Austin, Stephanie, Cancer New Moon – July 4, The Mountain Astrologer, June/July 2016, p. 101.
Austin, Stephanie, Capricorn Full Moon – July 19, The Mountain Astrologer, June/July 2016, p. 105.
(1) Directions to strengthen the aura are given in Your Life Is in Your Chakras by Guru Rattana, Ph.D.
Profound and beautiful. I thank you