Cancer New Moon 2017

Another New Moon ~ Wow. It seems like only a couple of days ago I was writing about the Full Moon. The pages of time keep turning.

Like all new moons, this one is about releasing, letting go, setting the intention for gathering back in. A Cancer New Moon feels like coming home because Cancer is nurturing and protective. Being ruled by the Moon, and currently influencing the New Moon, showers us with a fluctuating emotional current.

Mercury entered Cancer a few days ago. Since Mercury rules the mind and communication, this New Moon is poised to allow us access to more sensitive communications with those around us. We have an awareness not only of our own feelings, but also those of others. Stay mindful during this time of any tendency to overthink an action or situation. With the intense focus on watery Cancer emotions, this could lead to higher anxiety. If that happens, be gentle with yourself. Breathe and relax. Let go. Remember, that's the gift of the New Moon.

Neptune, the planet of compassion, is currently in its shift to retrograde. Neptune inspires dreams, imagination, creativity, psychic openness, and divinity. It connects us to both subtle shifting energy and high spiritual realms through its magic and etheric juiciness. Its creative domain is primarily visual arts, like photography and painting, yet it can also influence movement arts, music and literature. If we allow ourselves openness to to any of these arenas, Neptune and the strong empathy of the Cancer New Moon will work together to bring our gifts forward. This is not a time for us to hide within the hard Crab shell of Cancer.

What emotions tug at you during this New Moon? How are you experiencing 'home'? What creative gifts are coming to the foreground more strongly for you? How are your dreams or imaginings currently influencing you? What are you considering communicating to one or more people you care about? What is holding you back? What might you be overthinking? Where may you be attempting to hide? What do you need in order to show more compassion to yourself?

January Full Moon in Cancer

©2017 ML Monroe

Today's Wolf Moon rests its haunches in emotional, compassionate, feminine Moon-ruled Cancer. For those, like me, who like the play of numbers, it occurred at 3:33 a.m. PST. Since this is the first Full Moon of 2017, it is setting the stage for the remainder of the year. It calls us into our truth and power.

A Full Moon in Cancer brings emotional responsiveness to the forefront ~ and that includes intuition, empathy and dreaming. You may process many emotions during this time. Let the emotions bubble up and let them go ~ they may not all belong to you. Safe surroundings and people could help with the feelings of vulnerability that surface too. Take time to recognize what newness is flowing into your life and allow it in, even if it's beyond your comfort zone. One caveat: be careful and aware of the reasons behind the choices you make. Though this is a time for newness, it is also a time for clear intentions.

A Cardinal Grand Cross joins this Full Moon, adding its energy and tension to the mix. It's formed by the Moon in Cancer and the Sun (and Pluto) in Capricorn on opposite ends of one bar, and Uranus in Aries and Jupiter in Libra on opposite ends of the cross bar.

With the Full Moon in Cancer (security, emotional needs, family, home) and the Sun in Capricorn (work, outside world) crossed by Jupiter (big picture beliefs and morals) and Uranus (the unexpected, freedom, innovation), there is opportunity for conflict and high emotion. The energy of this Grand Cross is not new and will be continuing for some time to come. It's time to plant the seeds that you want to see grow and flourish over the next several years. These seeds are not only personal, they are also communal and will ripple out to the world around us.

For you who feel Pluto's influence, it may uncover some buried matters or issues with others in authority or attempting control.

In numerology, 2017 is a '1' year [2+0+1+7=10; 1+0=1] which makes it a year of beginnings. In Tarot, it is the year of the Magician, the bridge between Spirit and Humanity, and the carrier of alchemy, the stuff of transformation. The Magician signifies that you have the power to make a difference as long as you consciously make the attempt.

What emotions are surfacing for you right now? What is challenging you? In what area of your life is there tension? Where do you feel vulnerable? Who do you trust with that vulnerability? What decisions are coming up for you? How clear are your intentions as you go forward? What is beginning for you this year? What is transforming?

Why Meditate?

When I saw this image, I giggled. And I knew that I had to use it in my blog. Because, really, in today's world, what is there of more mythic dimensions than Google?

We live in an age where more and more research is being done on and about the brain. There are more methods of seeing the various centers of the brain and experimenting with how a variety of input effects it.

Meditation changes the brain. Lots of research available on the internet tells you that. The most significant information I discovered what that the brain without meditation is stuck on ME. There is a Me Center in the brain that connects it with the bodily sensation and fear centers of the brain. Without a meditation practice, the strongest neural connections are within that Me Center and between that Center and the fear centers. That keeps us focused on how much all those sensations mean there is something wrong in MY world and with MY safety. It keeps us stuck in repetitive loops about our personal mistakes or how people might feel about us or whether or not a pain in our bodies means something is terribly wrong.

When we have a meditation practice, we can see more clearly. The connection stretches and relaxes between part of the brain that focuses on how things are for or with ME and the bodily sensation or fear center. That allows anxiety to dissipate and calms down the neural path connections. It means we can more easily ignore the sensations and allow the responses to relax and weaken.

Also, we begin to strengthen our empathy for others. We stop perceiving them as Other and see them as more like us. It encourages our ability to understand where another person is coming from by allowing us to use the part of the brain that relates us to the other person in terms of motivations, state of mind, woundedness, etc.

A daily practice of only 15 minutes makes deep and abiding changes in the connections of those neural pathways. It's funny that science now can prove what people who meditate have always known: meditation strengthens our brain's ability to better assess our interactions with others and within ourselves. It moves us from taking things personally to empathy and understanding others. It relaxes and changes our connections with the bodily sensation and fear center so our reactions are more balanced and holistic.

My personal practice has wavered and often shrunk to almost nothing only to expand to 20+ minutes a day over the years. I feel and see the differences. And I know that sometimes, when I look for answers and quick responses, Google seems so much more knowledgeable. I have to remind myself to trust the knowing within rather than the factoids outside myself.

What is your daily practice? Do you find meditation helpful? Have you been meditating regularly? What are your responses to others? How do you perceive aches and pains in yourself? How do you want to perceive things in the future?

Emotional Flow

Oracle of the Dragonfae by Lucy Cavendish

From the guide book:

"... From time to time, I have found my own sadness overflow, and it is at those times that I need to return to water, to commune with that element's wisdom until I am calmed, soothed, and refreshed. ... Know that simply by going to a body of water, this can be your bath, a lake, river, pond, puddle or even oceanic majesty, you will be soothed. ... Your life swirls and flows like water...keep moving too, to avoid stagnation in sadness. Sensitivity is yours for this lifetime, ...allow your sensitivity to flow,..."





After a healing session with a friend, I drew this card from the Oracle of the Dragonfae deck. The commentary, from Andelle's point of view, aligned well with the healing session. Sometimes I am, if not precisely sad, certainly out of kilter with my most centered, calm and productive self. At these times, I find myself drawn to bodies of water ~ from hot tubs and soaks in claw-footed bathtubs to Lakes Michigan, Trillium and Union to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Sometimes even a walk in the rain is calming. Having always been sensitive, even to the point of empathetic, I have learned to use the water to assist in allowing for, as the card suggests, emotional flow.

Since recently returning from a trip to the Ocean, I feel more in that flow than before I left. I feel more awake to my own emotions, more aware of the subtlety of actions and reactions in others, more alive.

Much of what I do in my life involves supporting and listening to others. Setting personal boundaries and protecting myself from being emotionally hijacked by their lives, actions and stories, is vital to my own health and well-being. I am grateful for healing sessions with friends as well as for the diversity of divination decks that remind me of the importance of balance and flow.

What do you do to keep your emotional flow balanced? How do you recognize when you need to readjust yourself? How often do you need to realign? Is it a constant timeline (for example, every other month or daily) or is it fluid, triggered by specific or particular events? What assistance reminds you to be grateful?