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New Moon in Cancer, Cancer, Cardinal Water, the primal waters where life begins and grows, the amniotic womb, the primordial ocean from whence life crawled onto the earth. Cancer is Mother, the principle of mothering, nurturing, bringing into being. Mother regardless of gender or genitals. We all contain the ability and sense to mother, to birth, to bring into being and, further, more importantly, perhaps, to nurture into life.
This is a very powerful new moon and a very powerful time for setting intentions and planting the seeds we wish to grow and harvest this year. This moon is conjunct the sun (as new moons always are) in Aries—sign of the ram, which begins on the vernal equinox (in the northern hemisphere) each year and kicks off spring, season of birth, growth, fertility and virility. Aries season is always a time of action—and, if utilized wisely, of planning and setting goals and intentions to channel its wild energies within. This particular moon, however, is also conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer, and Mercury, planet of our minds, thoughts, language and communications—giving it a slightly more nuanced, complex and somber flavor.
This new moon is a bit of a paradox, on several levels. Pisces is the end of the zodiac, the end of the astrological year, the last stretch before the new moon in Aries begins the spring, the birth of a new cycle. Pisces, like all mutable signs, is the brink, the edge, the liminal in-between as one season bleeds into the next. The winter melting, almost without notice, into spring.
We began the new year deep in Venus’ retrograde through Capricorn—asking us to deeply examine the structures and foundations of everything we value, relationships, love, beauty, art, money, finances, pleasure. As Venus conjoined Pluto, this excavation went deep into the recesses of our past, our subconscious, even into generational and ancestral layers of our psyches and physiology. The good news is, this week begins a major shift in this energy and a big push for forward momentum.
The moon conjuncts the sun at 18º of Cancer on July 9, initiating a new moon cycle and a moment of pattern-setting for the next two week period—as well as the next six months (until we return for the full moon in Cancer, January 17 2022, closing the cycle). The constellation of the crab spans the portion of the sky assigned to Cancer—the word cancer itself is Latin for crab—and this crustacean spirit animal has much to teach us about the lessons and journeys of Cancer season, and this Cancer new moon in particular.
Pisces is the end of the zodiac, the twelfth house, the final resting place where everything dissolves back into the cosmic ocean. It is the end of the astrological year, the close to the cycle. And Pisces is also the beginning. It is the grave and the womb, the place where energy separates and disintegrates and then recombines to give birth to spring, to the first house, the beginning of the cycle, to the I AM that is Aries season. Aries is our birth; Pisces is the womb that gives birth to us, the mother ocean, and also the place of our death, ego death or physical death. This new moon in Pisces reminds us that every ending is a beginning, every beginning contains an end.
Happy lovely new moon in Aquarius! After so much intense astrology (13 months, and more to come… Saturn/Uranus squares begin next week, whew), PLEASE enjoy the deep joyful breath of this new moon, sharing the day with a conjunction between the two most beneficial planets in the solar system—Venus and Jupiter.
All other aspects aside, the new moon in Libra is an excellent time to set intentions, not just for the next month, but also for the next six months (until the full moon in Libra in March 2021). And in spite of all of this crazy tension and energy from all the squares and oppositions, I really want us to hold this focus and seed our visions for the future. For ourselves, for our relationships both interpersonal and as a collective society.
This new moon in Cancer is a black moon—the second new moon in a solar month (like a blue moon is the second full moon in a month). The last new moon in Cancer was June 21, 2020.
A black moon is like a super-charged new moon, a time of cycle formation and intention setting that will play out not only for the next month, for the next three years (until the next black moon in March 2023 in Aries).
This is powerful energy to use consciously and wisely.
